Title: Sentient
By: Nagashi
Rating: T
Genre: General/Suspense
Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
Summary: Uchiha Madara pays a visit to the Kyuubi. Oneshot.
It was midnight in Konoha.
For a place full of highly trained ninja, it seemed the peaceful. The streets were quiet, and the ANBU patrol groups were – of course – completely silent as they made their rounds. Only the dull glow from the occasional window shed any light onto the streets below.
The only noise came from one apartment, where – with a man in black standing over him - a sleeping twelve year old Uzumaki Naruto let out a growl.
The Kyuubi snarled and roared and tried to reach through the bars of his prison. His eyes, blood red, seemed even fiercer and more bloodthirsty than normal as he thrashed inside his cage. If an average human – even a shinobi – was around to look the demon in the eye, they would have likely been paralyzed in terror, their body not responding to the one thought that would have come to mind: RUN.
Uchiha Madara, standing before the nine tailed fox, smiled. An orange mask covered his face, but his left eye spun round and round, Sharingan activated. His back was straight, his black clothes were rumpled, and the man kept hopping from one foot to the other.
"Aah, so restless, silly, silly Kyuubi-kun." His voice was loud, high, playful, mocking almost, sounding completely relaxed. "Calm—"
An impossibly loud roar swallowed his words, the force of which should have blown the man backwards; he didn't move an inch.
The man raised a hand and gave a wave. "Ha-ha, come on, you're stressing out! I was going to say calm down. Really now, every time I visit you I get treated so badly. It breaks my heart! All I ever want to do is talk, you know."
His only reply was another roar.
"Aw, come on... not even a 'hello old friend' or 'how've you been'?" The man chuckled softly, and ran a hand through his pitch black hair. His Sharingan stopped spinning for just a moment, and looked directly at the enormous demon. "No... 'free me, Master'?"
Claws pushed through the gaps in the prison bars, so fast seemed to slice the air itself, but were forced to stop just inches before the Uchiha's face. The beast let out a low growl.
"LEAVE."
"Aw, can't a guy just come to check up on an old pal?"
The Kyuubi's red eyes glowered at him, and gave a snarl so filled with hate it could have been mistaken for a hiss. "LEAVE. NOW."
"Alright, fine, you caught me: it wasn't really you I came to see." Madara admitted grumpily. "But, ha, please don't be angry! I was in town and just thought I'd check how much your vessel's grown. And, you know, while I'm here, I thought you might appreciate the company."
Another low rumbling noise escaped the demon fox. "WHY HAVEN'T YOU TAKEN HIM?"
The Uchiha blinked innocently. "Who?"
The claws retracted and slammed through the bars again, followed by another ground shaking roar.
"Oh, right, Naruto-chan! 'Kay. You should have been clearer, ha-ha! Well, it's not time yet, is it? I'm gonna wait until he's done training with the old hermit, maybe opened the seal himself a little more, you know?" He stamped his foot grumpily. "Everyone's taking so long to find their Jinchuukri, it's boring. I've got nothing to do!" He snorted. "Gonna be about three years before we take you out of here."
There was a pause before the the floor rumbled with mocking laughter, and the Kyuubi grinned. "FOOL." He licked his lips. "I WILL NEVER OBEY YOU AGAIN. YOU'RE DELUSION IF YOU THINK YOUR EYES WILL ENSLAVE ME A SECOND TIME, AND SOON I SHALL BE FREE. THE BOY IS WEAK. HE WILL NEED MY HELP MORE AND MORE, UNTIL EVENTUALLY..."
Red chakra bubbled inside the cage, and a tiny version of the Kyuubi slithered out, barely solid, taking each step towards Madara carefully. It snarled, and spoke.
"WHEN I AM OUT, MY FIRST ACT WILL BE TO TEAR YOU TO SHREDS."
"Bored now."
Madara raised a finger and touched the creature on the nose, and squealed in glee when it vanished in a mighty explosion of chakra.
"Every time I visit you, it gets more fun to do that! You keep getting them bigger and bigger the more he uses your chakra, huh?" He let out a sad sigh. "But it'll be awhile from now until we meet again, my dear Kyuubi-kun. I won't risk checking up when Naruto-chan is with the legendary Jiriaya, 'kay. Miss me?"
The real Kyuubi stared through his bars, fury etched on his face. "THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU WILL DIE."
Uchiha Madara, one-hundred and fifty years old, burst out laughing. "Kyuu-kun, we both know that ain't gonna happen, huh? Until next time."
The Kyuubi let out one last terrible roar, his teeth biting and claws scratching at his imprisonment.
The still sleeping Uzumaki Naruto clutched his stomach in pain, and awoke with a gasp. "Eh? What the hell was that?" He glanced about the room, yawned, and seeing nothing scratched his head. "Bad ramen, or summin', eh..."
The boy rested his head back on the pillow, and pulled himself into a tight ball, until eventually his breathing slowed and gentle snores echoed through the room. From above, he seemed almost peaceful. He never saw the Uchiha who stared down at him from where the man stood on the ceiling, using chakra to defy gravity, identifiable only by the orange mask he wore.
"Goodnight, Naruto-chan."
There was a popping sound, and then he was gone.
The streets of Konoha became quiet.