Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise, nor any of the other series I will be drawing inspiration from in this fanfiction. This is a work of fiction created purely for enjoyment, and no money shall be gained in its production.
Author Note: With that said, there are several fanfictions out there that delve into the possibility of something other than just the Kyuubi being sealed behind the navel of one Uzumaki Naruto. Therefore, the basic idea of an additional tenant is not of my making. On the other hand, I have yet to see anyone use this particular combination, and found myself inspired.
I do apologize if my use of the term 'Youki' is out of place for the Naruto setting.
It is, however, a common term used in several other settings to universally refer to 'Demonic' energies, which is the context that I utilize it with in my writing. I do try to make a distinction that it is still a form of Chakra though.
And so, without further ado...
BADGER
Chapter 01
Fugu had woken up that morning with a feeling that today wasn't going to be his lucky day, and coming from a man who had the misfortune of being the last surviving member of the Okamoto Clan of Konoha, and being cursed with a name that literally meant 'bad luck', he knew all about having a bad day. What he had not expected, however, was for this particular day to be 'Giant Bijuu Rampage' bad.
Quickly donning his porcelain badger mask, the ANBU finished securing all of his gear, giving a last look around his otherwise empty clan compound to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. All of the preservation seals that the previous seal masters of his clan had placed around the walled in properties were in working order, and the massive blood seal that Minato Namikaze had placed around the outer wall of the property would keep anyone without the Okamoto Clan Bloodline from entering without his permission, as he was the only one remaining.
"Ittekimasu," Fugu muttered to his empty home.
With a heavy heart, he spent a moment waiting for someone to respond with 'itterrashai', knowing that he would never hear the voices of his family every again. The Second Shinobi War had particularly harsh on his family, and a poison attack that had struck the clan during a family gathering had killed all of the children present, while leaving those survivors barren.
While a successful method of attack, when it had been discovered that a single attack had ended a bloodline several great Clans had banded together, ignoring the dispute of their nations for this one battle, and fell upon the group of Mizu ninja who had designed the attack. While the bloody vengeance had been a good balm on the wounds of their hearts, the Okamoto clan had been sentenced to a slow death.
One by one the remaining members of his clan had died either in battle or by the still lingering effects of the poison. His own manifestation of the Doton (Earth) Chakra bloodline was the strongest that his family had seen since his grandfather had carved the likeness of Hashirama-sama's face into the mountainside overlooking Konoha with a single Jutsu. When it had come time to put Minato's face up as the Yondaime, they had called upon Fugu himself to do the honors, adding it to the faces of the Shodaime and Sandaime that his grandfather had put there before his own death by old age a few short years before the poisoning.
Shaking his head from his musing, Fugu closed the door of the Head of Family's home behind him, glancing around at the other empty buildings that used to house his entire clan as he made his way to the massive wooden gates at the edge of the property. He knew that this was likely the last time he would see this place, as many had died going against the Kyuubi already, and he only hoped that he'd had a change to leave a legacy of his own behind before he died.
Moments after he left through the open gate to his property, the metal banded slabs of hardwood slid shut behind him as if guided by invisible hands, the deep engravings of Fuuinjutsu seals lighting up with chakra as they sealed the property away. If a home had the ability of conscious thought, it would have been sad upon knowing that it would never home a family again, sealed away from the world in a space-time Jutsu that would allow none to enter.
Looking off towards the sounds of distant battle, Fugu felt the unmistakable taint of Youki filling the air with its dark miasma. Even with the Kyuubi's approach slowed by a constant wave of Konoha ninja, nine the massive tails could be seen flailing in the air over the edge of the nearby hills. Although the Yondaime had a plan to defeat the Bijuu, it was up to the loyal men and women of the Ninja Corps to hold the beast off as best they could. If it managed to reach the village, there was no knowing how many lives would be lost before the day was won.
It was in this, that Fugu might be able to grant Konoha one last gift with the power of his clan.
While no Jutsu cast by a Ninja seemed to have any effect on the Bijuu, as it was made entirely of its own malicious Youki Chakra, the toad summons had managed to gain some ground on the beast under the command of Jiraiya the Toad Sannin. Sadly they did not have the summoning abilities of the other two Sannin to call upon, as Tsunade had left a few years ago on bereavement when the last of her own family had died, and Orochimaru was off doing research in another country. Summoning contracts were rare enough that only a few were known to be possessed by any one village, and the Summon Clans themselves were known to be particularly picky about who they allowed to sign their contracts.
As luck would have it, there was one final contract held by a Konoha ninja, long held by the Okamoto clan. It was only with their extreme Doton natured Chakra that they were able to summon the durable members of the Badger Clan, known allies of the Toads. While not as damaging as the Snakes, as agile as the Toads, or possessing the abilities of the Slugs, the Badgers were known to be one of the most durable of the Summon Clans.
One little known fact about the summoning Jutsu was that the durability of the summons was heavily dependent on how much Chakra one was able to push into the Jutsu. That was why it took the most Chakra to summon the Boss of a Clan, as they were by nature the largest and strongest of their kind. With the Doton nature of his clan's bloodline, the Badgers summoned by his clansmen were well known for how long they could stay in combat before being dispelled back into the Summon Realms. In this case, with them going against the destructive ability of the greatest of the Bijuu, they were going to need to push as much Chakra as possible into this summons.
Making his way towards the battle, Fugu leapt from rooftop to rooftop, the full moon overhead giving more than enough light to navigate by as he neared the edge of the village. Using chakra to stick to the slippery roof tiles, the ANBU sent a burst of Chakra through the Chakra Coils in his legs, supercharging the muscles for a brief instant before each leap, propelling him further and faster than he possibly could have by muscle power alone.
Cursing to himself as he reached the outer wall of Konoha, he leapt to the top of the earthen construction, and wall-walked down the outside of the fortification. Ignoring the shouts from the ninja manning the wall, Fugu reminded himself that the Yondaime had ordered the younger generation to keep themselves out of the battle, declaring this an internal issue. Being one of the younger generation himself, the ANBU was supposed to be there manning the wall as well, but he had decided to ignore this order as he had a greater purpose to fulfill that night.
If he had thought the oppressive aura of Youki had been bad in the village, it was much worse as he got closer to its source, the voices of dying ninja now easily distinguished over the sounds of destruction.
Switching from leaping rooftops to leaping tree branches was second nature to the ANBU as he now made his way through the forest on his final approach. His earlier feeling of dread and anticipation seemed to drain from him as a sudden calm filled his being, his mind focusing with brilliant clarity on his last few moments of life. These trees had stood there for generations, ever since the First Hokage had used his Mokuton Jutsu to grow the forest there in a single instant, thus giving the namesake for the Village Hidden Among the Leaves.
Reaching the edge of the destruction, he had to leap from the cover of the trees, landing on the torn up dirt left behind by the massive area attacks of the Kyuubi began, the splintered wooden remains of the forest that had stood there digging into the soles of his sandals. For a brief moment, one of the giant scarlet eyes of the Kyuubi pinned him, freezing him in place as the gigantic fox demon noted his presence. Luckily, its attention was drawn away a moment later as a massive Earth Dragon attack hit it in the side, drawing the beast's attention to the foolish human who had dared attack it.
Taking a quaking breath, Fugu pulled out a handful of Chakra Pills and shoved them in his mouth, quickly taking out a kunai and pricked his thumb just hard enough to draw a bead of blood. As he went through a modified set of hand seals for the summoning technique, lines of ink began to glow all over his body with a pale blue light, a complex Fuuinjutsu activating as he began channeling.
One of the reasons he had taken so long getting to the fight had been the preparation he had taken in drawing this seal on his body, aided by a couple of Earth Clones to draw on the areas he could not reach himself. The design was a secret long held by his clan, created to draw every last drop of Chakra available from the caster for one last Jutsu keyed to the seal. It had been created as a kind of dead-man's switch, that would allow the user to ensure that they would not be held in enemy hands in order to keep clan and village secrets safe, a holdback from the harsher times of the War.
Never before had this seal been used when keyed to a summoning Jutsu, but Fugu had hopes that the extremely strong Doton bloodline he carried, combined with the Chakra Pills he swallowed just as he finished casting it, would give his summons enough durability and power to hold off the Bijuu long enough for the Yondaime to arrive. Taking more than one Chakra Pill at once was known to be fatal, the excess Chakra quickly burning a ninja from the inside out as their Chakra Coils stretched and burst, overflowing with energy it was unable to contain. But Fugu knew he was already going to die, so spending his last few moments of life in indescribably pain as his body ruptured on the inside and burnt like a cinder meant little to him, a smile on his face in spite of the pain as his last sight was a massive cloud of smoke let out when his summoning technique succeeded.
Hachimitsu was the Boss of the Badger Clan, a massive honey badger whose wide shoulders stood even with the top of the Toad Boss Gamabunta's head. Coming from a summon race where it was normally the male boars traditionally stood at the top of the chain, with the sows following in their stead, she was the first female Badger Boss for a good reason. There wasn't a single Badger in her clan, short of the Badger Sage who had been the Boss before her, who could take her in combat. She could out fight, out eat, and out drink any challenger that came her way.
One of the only things that marred her record as being the best Badger Boss in recent history was the fact that there was only one remaining summoner, the unique requirements of their own summoning requiring a rare density of Doton Chakra hardly ever found amongst their allies in Konoha. Shortly before she had become the Boss, while the previous boss Yuudai had held the honor, most of the names on their contract had faded to gray, the signers having died. When Yuudai had replaced the Badger Sage upon the previous Sage's death, there had been only three signers on the contract.
When she was summoned to battle that night, there was only one signer left, and she appeared in the Ninja Realm just in time to see that good ninja die by the same Jutsu that had summoned her there.
Precious moments past as her dark brown eyes gazed upon the now lifeless body of Fugu Okamoto, a man whose every last drop of super-charged Doton Chakra now filled her summoned body in a way that it had never been before. Confusion and sorrow filled her as she realized that not only had Konoha lost the last of a once great clan, but her own clan has lost its final connection to the world of Ninja, and she wondered what could have possibly driven the foolish ninja to do such a thing.
It was in that moment that she realized that she was not alone, and her dark eyes turned to gaze at the shocked face of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.
Deep within her chest, a low growl began to fill the night as Hachimitsu saw the source of her loss, making the forest seem to tremble as the earth beneath her clawed feet shook with the force of her fury. Moonlight shone off the silver fur of her back, making the black fur on her sides and bottom seem to disappear into the night, her ivory fangs standing out clearly against the darkness.
In a flurry of movement, the battle started between a furious honey badger and a startled and somewhat anxious fox demon. While the ego of the Kyuubi did not allow it to accept that any creature, be it man or beast, could possibly be its equal, instinct was telling it that going up against an angry badger was not a good idea. The fact that this badger was half its size didn't matter much in this case, as it was literally glowing with earth-natured Chakra, which was going to make it a pain and a half to do any damage to the beast, even with the Kyuubi's own powerful claws and teeth.
Later on the Kyuubi would look back at this moment as one of the more embarrassing times in its long life, right next to those times it had been mind-controlled by the Sharingan. That, and the rabbit incident, but nobody ever dared talk about that one.
Appearing via Hiraishin in a flash of yellow light, Minato Namikaze stumbled half a step as his senses caught up with his new surroundings. After the fight against the man claiming to be Madara Uchiha, he had hoped that disrupting the man's control of the Kyuubi would have stopped the beast's attack. Sadly, he had underestimated the rage the Bijuu felt after being imprisoned for so long within the women of the Uzumaki line.
Preparing himself for the fight of his life, Minato paused halfway through the hand seals to summon Gamabunta when fully he realized what he was looking at. The trail of destruction left in the Kyuubi's wake had led it to just within view of the massive fortified earthen walls of Konoha, the Sandaime standing at the top of the defenses with the older generation ninjas at his side, ready for the final defense. Further behind them, on the rooftops of some of the closer buildings within town, the Hokage could see several civilian families looking on in terror as well, backlit by the fires created when a Bijuudama attack from the Kyuubi had hit the village earlier.
Looking over to there the Kyuubi's glowing red form stood out against the moonlit hills, his eyes bulged momentarily in disbelief as he noticed the situation the tailed beast had managed to get itself into.
Knowing the ninja of his village as any good Hokage should, Minato immediately realized that the massive honey badger currently locked in mortal combat with the Kyuubi was the summoned animal of the Okamoto clan, of which at this point there was sadly only one member... scratch that, of which there were now no members, he realized upon seeing the lifeless form of Fugu Okamoto lying on the ground next to where he was standing, obvious signs of chakra burns and burnt sealing ink seen on the dead man's visible skin.
Apparently the man had managed to still summon the Badger Boss before the Okamoto Chakra Sacrifice Seal had taken his life, which was impressive in its own right if only for the simple fact that it was normal for a summon to dismiss shortly after its summoner died. Luckily for the people of Konoha the dense Doton Chakra that had been channeled into Hachimitsu was perfect for defense, much in the way that a Doton Bushin was capable of taking much more damage before dispelling. Never before had Minato ever seen a summoned animal literally glow with the excess chakra of their summoning.
Several wounds could be seen even with the thick fur that covered her loose hide as Hachimitsu tangled with the Kyuubi. One lucky strike had hit her over her left eye, causing it to swell shut, and several holes seen through the silver fur on her back glowed red with Youki, in sharp contrast to the glow of the Doton Chakra that had powered her summoning.
By this point, the fight between Fox and Badger had reached a kind of stalemate, with the shorter form of Hachimitsu underneath the body of the Kyuubi. Powerful jaws were locked in place, her ivory teeth latched on to the base of one of the Bijuu's nine tails as it tried to get an angle to attack her with that did not cause it more pain from her bite.
Seeming to realize that there was nothing else to do, the Kyuubi lifted its head to the sky, the massive energy of the Bijuudama forming in its open maw. While it might damage itself in the attack, it would definitely kill the irritating animal chewing on its tail, and allow it to go back to destroying the village.
Upon seeing the black ball of energy beginning to form, Minato cursed himself for getting distracted. Knowing that he would not have enough time to both summon Gamabunta and teleport the Kyuubi and its Bijuudama away from the village, he hoped that the badger would do a good enough job to distract it in the few moments it would take him to channel the energy needed for a Hiraishin of this magnitude.
Realizing that the Kyuubi was as restrained as it could be at the moment, and quite well distracted thanks to the honey badger, Minato decided that he would not need to summon Gamabunta for this fight. Using a quick Shunshin to appear on the back of the Kyuubi, and holding on by channeling Chakra through the soles of his feet for grip, he used the Hiraishin in a method he had never foreseen to teleport himself and both of his massive passengers to his hideout deep within the forested hills outside Konoha.
He had a village to save, and a demon to seal away... no matter the cost.
Sarutobi stood on the top of the village wall, Enma strapped to his back in staff form, and trembled as he saw the Kyuubi's mouth open up towards the sky, and the massive black ball of yet another Bijuudama begin to form within its maw. They had been lucky so far that Hachimitsu had managed to so thoroughly distract the beast, with only one Bijuudama having struck the village before it was summoned. That is, as lucky as one could be when they had still lost so many lives against the beast.
"Where is Minato?" Sarutobi asked himself, wondering what was taking the Yondaime so long.
Noticing a figure leaping on to the back of the Kyuubi, he immediately recognized the white coat and yellow blond hair of the Yondaime, and felt a moment of relief upon seeing the man finally able to join this battle. Gasps of relief from the ninja around him soon turned to shock as both Fox and Badger suddenly disappeared from sight.
"Minato, did he teleport himself and the nine-tails-" Sarutobi's question was interrupted by a distant flash of light far off in the hills, which was soon followed by a familiar earth shattering boom as the shockwave of the exploding Bijuudama reached them. "Out there!"
Giving a quick command do the forces around him to help the survivors in the village, Sarutobi quickly made his way off the wall and into the forest, burning Chakra through his body to speed his way to where the explosion had just taken place. Trees past by him in a blur, his attention focused on the evil Youki of the Bijuu that he was approaching, preparing himself to assist the man he had chosen to inherit the Hokage Hat.
As he got closer to his destination he saw a strange barrier on top of the hill, quickly realizing that it was being formed by the distinctive Chakra Chains of the Uzumaki Bloodline. The same Chains that had allowed both Mito and Kushina to contain the Bijuu within themselves, which meant that perhaps... No, Kushina did not look in any shape to be able to hold the Kyuubi within herself, as it seemed it was taking the last of her energy to merely hold it in place, her long Chains spearing into the ground behind her, wrapping around the struggling form of the Kyuubi, seeming to ignore the honey badger still clamped on its tail.
Movement catching his eye, Sarutobi noticed Minato kneeling in front of Kushina, the small bundle of cloth lying on the ground between the couple. With trained practice the Sandaime could easily see the hand seals his successor was using, Snake, Boar, Ram, Rabbit, Dog, Rat, Bird, Horse, Snake, followed by Minato slapping his hands together.
"Shiki Fuuin!" Sarutobi gasped. "He moves to seal the Kyuubi with his own death!"
Wishing that he could hear what the two were saying to each other, he could only watch from beyond the Chakra Barrier, helpless to act. He could tell that there was some argument between the blond haired Hokage and his crimson haired wife, but any argument when the Shinigami had already been invoked would be a losing argument for both sides. Once called upon, the Shinigami always took its due.
Noting the arrival of two other Konoha ninja with a terse nod, he kept his attention locked on what happening in front of him. Even the slightest detail might become monumentally important later on, and if the barrier happened to fall, it would be up to him again to defend the village with his life.
"What's happening, Sandaime?" asked one of the new arrivals.
"We're too late, they've already put up a barrier around the Kyuubi," Sarutobi replied, punching the solid wall of Chakra. "Whatever they're doing, they're doing it alone!"
Suddenly the Kyuubi reared its head back in a pained roar, a giant wave of Youki spilling from its form and into the chest of the Yondaime. Seeing final confirmation that he had indeed interpreted the hand seals he had seen correctly, Sarutobi was forced to watch on, powerless to assist.
"It is the Shiki Fuuin," he said to himself. "I can't believe he actually used it!"
"But the fox remains, he didn't seal all of it!" the other Ninja replied. "But it did shrink!"
Unfortunately, it was at the exact moment that it shrunk that Kushina seemed to faint for a moment, the chains binding its form loosening enough for it to attack. Launching its clawed right paw at the insignificant form of the newborn human child they were preparing to seal it into, the Kyuubi tried to end any chance of being reimprisoned. At the same time Hachimitsu resumed her own attack, tearing into the now smaller body of the Kyuubi, doing great damage to it even as the Bijuu managed to pierce the bodied of the two parents as they leapt in the way of its attack.
Thick chakra chains tightened again around the Kyuubi's body, leaving it defenseless even as the Badger Boss continued to tear into it, causing wound all over its body.
On the other side of the barrier Sarutobi at first wondered why the two had gotten in front of the deadly attack instead of dodging, before realizing that the small bundle of cloth was Minato and Kushina's newborn son. Sorrow filled him as he realized that he was watching the last living moments of two friends, and the only moment that their child would spend in their living presence.
Upon seeing Minato summon Gamatachi the Scroll Toad, the Sandiame noticed Minato giving the key to a complex seal to the summon before dismissing it. Upon looking the scene over, he realized exactly what the Yondaime was planning.
"I see," Sarutobi muttered. "He intends to save the village by making his son the new Jinchuuriki!"
With the forms of the Fox and Badger locked together in combat as they were, and Minato focusing on sealing the last of Kushina and his own chakra away in the Eight Trigrams Seal, the grip of the Shinigami was less than discerning, taking hold of both of the massive animals sharing the clearing with them. Realizing a moment too late what was going on, never having even heard of the Shiki Fuuin, it was too late for Hachimitsu to try to escape, and thus she was dragged into the seal with the Kyuubi, the sealing process ending with an almost blinding flash of light.
Moments later the barrier dropped, Kushina no longer alive to keep it active, finally allowing Sarutobi to enter the clearing. Leaping over to the still bodies of Minato and Kushina, he kneeled down and closed their eyes with a gentle hand, sorrow etched into his wrinkled face. Upon hearing the sudden cry of a child, Sarutobi looked over at where the newborn infant lay, the blanket that had bundled it fallen open to reveal the complex seal on his stomach.
"It's fresh," Sarutobi commented, recognizing the seal. "So, Naruto is the new host of the Kyuubi."
