Notes: I wrote about seven different openings for this story because I couldn't decide which one was best. But this is the one I finally went with.

Summary: Under the light of the red moon, Kushina alters the seal, and Naruto is only the first child to receive the Nine-Tails. A young Itachi steps up to save his brother and his village, but the power needed to do so does not come cheap.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Judging by the way some of the people who technically do respond to and service the fanbase, I'm not even sure I'd want to now.

Senjutsu for the Soul

A Naruto Fanfic by

Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Prologue: The Heiress of Kurama

Kurama Yakumo had no idea what it meant to be normal. She had been raised by a collection of uncles and aunts, none of which were anything but strict with her. That much, at least, she understood: she was the heiress of the once mighty Kurama clan, blessed with unrivaled talent in genjutsu, and the entire clan's future depended on her becoming a great kunoichi.

That was what she had always been told, at least.

At the same time, Yakumo had been raised in isolation. She never saw any other children, and she was rarely even allowed to leave her own bedroom. She had never seen anything beyond the walls of her clan's manor, and rarely ever met or even saw a person that wasn't related to her.

It was perfectly safe, and at the same time, one of the worst curses imaginable.

Yakumo figured out very quickly that not one person in her family actually loved her. No one comforted her when she cried, no one held her when she was lonely, and no one ever told her that they cared for her.

No one except the voice in her head.

By the time she was six, Yakumo's talent in genjutsu had grown to the point where she could give this voice a physical form in every way that mattered. It looked exactly like her, at least to begin with. But over time, as Yakumo became more and more disconnected from humanity in general and her family in particular, the voice's body began to resemble a classical oni from one of her fantasy books. But it still listened to her when no one else did, so Yakumo didn't much care how it looked.

Painting and reading were the only hobbies that Yakumo was allowed outside of closely supervised training. Both were considered essential to her development: since she was never allowed outside, she had no other way of knowing what the world was like, and a Kurama's natural genjutsu talent would be wasted on a girl with no imagination. But the one thing Yakumo never did was waste her talent. As soon as she was certain that it would not be detected, she began casting simple illusions on a few of her relatives. She only commanded them only to bring her news, and in this way learned so much that had been kept from her.

Yakumo had been told that her parents lived outside the manor, in the nearby village of Konoha, where she would one day go to recieve ninja training. She learned that her parents were long dead, killed in a mysterious fire when she was just a baby.

She had been told that she was the only surviving member of the main branch of the family, but this was technically false. Yakumo's grandmother had had an illegitimate son by an unknown man, but the boy was never recognized by the clan. He had grown up in Konoha and started his own family, and was killed when the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the village. His daughter was still listed among those missing but never confirmed dead.

Based on the little information she'd gathered, Yakumo had painted her late uncle as a short, muscular man with shoulder-length dark red hair, and hard, green eyes like small chips of emerald. Yakumo sometimes hoped that her cousin had survived, not out of any feelings of love, but because she wanted nothing more than to abandon all the responsibilities her clan had heaped upon her. Another potential heiress would force the clan to reconsider Yakumo's role, no matter what her cousin's origin had been. Their numbers were now too few to be picky about who returned them to their former glory.

The things that Yakumo painted had a way of coming true. Sometimes this was due entirely to her talent with genjutsu, subconscious or otherwise. Sometimes, however, she firmly believed that it was simply the hand of fate.

So when Yakumo woke up one night to find a pink-haired girl with emerald eyes standing over her, she knew, without question, that she was no longer alone in the world, and that her hopes had finally been answered.

"Don't worry, Yakumo-chan," the girl said with a warm smile. "I'm your cousin Sakura. I'm here to take you home with me."

If Yakumo had still been thinking of the manor where she'd spent her whole life as home, such a statement might have at least been puzzling. But she accepted it at once, and stared at the slightly older girl. "You're Uncle Hibiki's daughter."

Sakura nodded, her smile lessening somewhat. "I didn't think they'd told you about either of us."

"They didn't," Yakumo replied as she went to her closet, selected a traveling cloak, and pulled it on over her nightclothes. "I had to find out for myself. I'm glad I did." It was then that she noticed the boy with long, dark hair, leaning in the doorway without a care in the world. "Who's he?"

"Shikamaru," Sakura answered without looking. "A friend of mine."

Yakumo noticed then the way there seemed to be shadows pooling around Shikamaru's feet, but had dreamed up stranger things herself, so again, didn't question it. Instead, she grabbed her paints, stuffed them into a small carrying case, strapped it onto her back, and turned to face Sakura. "I'm ready."

Sakura blinked and opened her mouth, clearly about to ask if Yakumo was sure she only wanted to take a cloak and paint set with her. Then her mouth flattened into a thin line, and without warning, she stepped forward and swept Yakumo into her arms, hugging her tightly.

It was the first time that Yakumo could ever recall being hugged, and at first she had no idea how to react. Certainly Sakura was only doing this out of pity. It wasn't as if they even really knew each other yet. But then she felt Sakura's lips brush against her ear, and heard the heartfelt words.

"I'm so sorry I left you here with them, Yakumo-chan. But I'll never leave you behind again. I swear it on the blood we share."

Yakumo did not cry. She had long ago become convinced that it simply did her no good. All the same, she felt the need to release something that was building up inside her. "Do either of you have a fear of fire?" she asked.

Sakura drew back and stared at her uncertainly. "No. Why?"

"Because it's going to seem very hot pretty soon," Yakumo said, closing her eyes. "I'll do my best not to target you, but I can't make any promises."

At this, Shikamaru stood up straight. "Hey, if you can't aim properly, maybe you shouldn't be-"

"Leave the fire to me, Yakumo-chan," Sakura interrupted. "I've had more practice at it, so my aim is probably better."

Yakumo smiled as the hallway was suddenly enveloped in flames. "I guess you really are my cousin. But I hope we don't actually have to walk through that."

"Leave that to me," Shikamaru said. The shadows at his feet rushed into the hallway and sprang up, forming a dark door against the wall.

"How will that help?" Yakumo asked uncertainly.

Sakura smiled and took her hand. "Don't worry. Just believe in us."

Yakumo nodded, but still had her doubts as she followed Shikamaru and Sakura out into the hallway. The doubts were replaced with wonder the moment Shikamaru came in contact with the door, and continued forward as if walking into a tunnel. The same happened to Sakura, and then Yakuma as she passed through. "How...?" she whispered.

"Let's just say that there are some things hiding in the dark that you should be afraid of, and leave it at that," Shikamaru replied without turning around.

The tunnel came to an end just outside of the manor. They had only taken a few steps from it when the tunnel collapsed into shadows again, which rushed back to Shikamaru's feet. Yakumo stared at the gaping hole in the manor where the tunnel had been previously, then shook her head and decided there was no time to figure out what had just happened.

They hadn't gone far when a kunai slammed into the ground just in front of Shikamaru's foot.

"Not another step!" an elderly voice roared. Yakumo recognized it at once and tensed up, but both Sakura and Shikamaru remained fairly calm as the old man melted out of night with a scowl on his face.

"Stay out of our way if you don't want to get hurt," Shikamaru warned, sounding bored.

The old man's eyebrows narrowed. "You think I would just let you walk out of here with Yakumo? How dare you insult the Kurama clan, boy! I, Kurama Unkai, will not allow it!"

"Don't get involved, oji-san!" Yakumo shouted. "Just let us leave!"

Unkai ignored her, and was about to bring his hands together for a technique when his gaze landed on Sakura, and more specifically, her pink hair. There was a brief pause, and then the air was suddenly filled with kunai, all aimed at Sakura.

The shadows at Shikamaru's feet sprang up, creating a dark barrier between the projectiles and Sakura, but each one vanished on impact. Shikamaru's attention was ahead of him, so he didn't notice when an elderly hand with a kunai emerged from the ground near Sakura's foot. But as the kunai slashed at Sakura's ankles, she vanished, just as a large rock crashed down onto Unkai's arm with a horrid snapping sound.

Unkai hissed in pain as he managed to cancel the illusion with his free hand and roll away, but his arm remained useless as the three children surrounded him.

"I'm guessing since you're trying to kill me that you know who I am?" Sakura asked mildly.

Unkai glared at her. "Of course I do. That you still draw breath is a mark of eternal shame on our clan."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Just to clarify, you hate her because of her family, right?"

"She should have died long ago, with all the other Uzumaki."

Sakura blinked at that, and traded surprised looks with Shikamaru. "I think you're confused. I'm not an Uzumaki."

Unkai snorted. "There's no mistake. Your hair is proof. Your father was born with the same deep red hair that they were so proud of."

"That's it? That's the only reason you can think of to hate her?" Shikamaru asked. "Because she's related to a bunch of people that don't exist anymore? Couldn't you at least blame her for something she actually has some control over?"

"I will not waste more time defending my reasons," Unkai snapped, slowly getting to his feet. "Yakumo is not going anywhere, and you two are going to die here."

"Big talk for an old man with a busted arm," Shikamaru snorted. "I think you really don't know who we are."

Unkai frowned, not liking the boy's confidence. "You stand against the current head of the Kurama clan. Exactly why should I be afraid of you?"

"It's easier if we show you," Sakura replied, squeezing Yakumo's hand.

In that instant, Yakumo saw exactly what Sakura meant to do, as well as the part she wanted Yakumo to play in it. Illusions were second nature to Yakumo, and she sensed that they were for Sakura as well. It was almost eerie, how quickly they began to breath in synch, and when Yakumo felt Sakura's chakra blanketing the area, it was a simple matter to add her own into the mix.

Yakumo had come up with things that were nearly as terrifying, but even she would not have dared to create this particular illusion herself, at least not against a local. Thankfully, Sakura only wanted her help for the background, so Yakumo was spared creating the worst part. She knew it had worked at once: the blood drained out of Unkai's face, and a very noticeable wet patch began to form at his crotch as he sank to his knees. There was no more hatred in his eyes, only terror. The fight was over.

Shikamaru was the first to turn and walk away. Sakura followed, tugging Yakumo along behind her. But before they could leave the property and vanish into the surrounding forest, Unkai spoke one last word. Yakumo could tell he meant it less as a statement of fact, and more as a final warning to her.

"Jinchūriki," he whispered.

Yakumo froze at once. She had known Unkai all of her life, and he had never been a man to share secrets lightly. Even Yakumo only knew what the word meant because she had drawn it out of the mind of an ANBU that visited the manor. There could be only one reason why Unkai would blurt out the word now, having never used it to Yakumo's knowledge before. Worse, it explained so much: Sakura's disappearance from the village, her enormous genjutsu talent, the very illusion she had chosen, and why it had seemed so very real, even by Yakumo's admittedly high standards.

"Yakumo-chan? What's wrong?"

Yakumo blinked, realizing that Sakura and Shikamaru were both staring at her. It was obvious at once that they either hadn't heard the word, or were doing a supremely good job of pretending they hadn't. But it didn't matter: whether it was a trick of the moonlight or simply a product of Yakumo's own mind, Sakura's eyes seemed to glow bright red.

"N-Nothing," Yakumo murmured. "It's nothing."

But it wasn't, Yakumo realized as they kept venturing forward. It wasn't nothing. It could, in fact, be everything. She didn't realize that her concern was so obvious, however, until about ten minutes later, when Shikamaru brought them to a halt at a ditch along the road, where they crouched down to rest. Yakumo certainly needed it, as she had never been in peak physical condition, and hadn't run so long in quite a while.

"It's going to bother you until you ask, Yakumo-chan," Sakura said abruptly. She was pointedly not looking at her cousin's face, which Yakumo suspected could mean nothing good.

"Are you a jinchūriki?" Yakumo asked softly, her eyes round with worry.

"Yes," Sakura replied simply.

Yakumo stared at her, until Shikamaru chimed in, "We both are." Yakumo's head whipped to him, and he was also avoiding her gaze.

"B-Both of you? How is that possible? Was there more than one tailed beast that attacked the village?"

"No, just the one," Shikamaru sighed. "But it was the most powerful one, so extraordinary methods were used."

Yakumo bit her lip. "So... two jinchūriki were needed?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "I don't know if I'd go so far as to say two were needed. The popular theory is always that only one is absolutely necessary per tailed beast. But that isn't the way things worked out for us."

"It's okay, you know," Sakura murmured. "If you don't want to stay with us because of this. We'd understand." She looked as if she had been expecting and dreading this point in the night.

"Was it a lie?" Yakumo demanded at once. "When you said you wouldn't leave me behind again? Were you lying?"

Sakura blinked and turned to stare at her cousin, clearly shocked.

"You promised," Yakumo whispered, her eyes narrowing. "You promised on our blood!"

Sakura shook her head in wonder. "You mean, you don't care that-?"

"I'm one, too!" Yakumo cried, leaping to her feet.

Sakura and Shikamaru tensed as Yakumo's chakra spiked and then skyrocketed. A black, tar-like substances dripped from her eyes and gushed from her mouth, forming a dark puddle that rose from the ground and began to rapidly assume a vaguely humanoid shape. In seconds, the puddle had become a monster with protruding fangs and an elongated horn jutting from either side of its head. It towered over them, wearing what looked a great deal like a set of Yakumo's clothes, which didn't suit or fit its lanky body in the least.

"See?" Yakumo shrieked, pointing at it. "This is my demon! I'm a jinchūriki, too! So..." She trailed off, and then her expression crumpled as she collapsed and buried her face in her hands. "So please don't leave me behind!"

Sakura and Shikamaru glanced at each other, even as the demon bent over Yakumo and began to awkwardly pet her brown hair with a clawed hand clearly not intended for such affection. Sakura soon joined it, wrapping her arms around Yakumo and rocking her gently back and forth.

"Don't cry, Yakumo-chan. We won't leave you." Sakura paused and glanced thoughtfully up at the demon. "Does it have a name?"

"I call it Uroko," Yakumo said between her sobs. "It was my mother's name."

It was clear from the embarrassed look on the monster's face that this was not even close to being its true name, but it said nothing against Yakumo as it sank into the ground and vanished from view.

"This is going to be troublesome, isn't it?" Shikamaru asked after a long moment.

Sakura glanced back at him and smirked. "No more troublesome than any of us, I imagine."

"We should probably tell her about our neighbors, though."

"That can wait," Sakura insisted.

"Along with the part about you being mistaken for one of Naruto's relatives?"

Sakura paused with her mouth open. "I'm not so sure that was a mistake, Shika. Kushina-sama had deep red hair, too, and we know where Naruto's hair comes from. If my grandfather was an Uzumaki, and Unkai was right, then... maybe."

Shikamaru chuckled, and found himself unable to stop. "Man, Naruto's going to hate this. He just has no luck with women."

Sakura laughed as well, though hers was more strained and almost bitter. "We'd better keep moving. The sooner we're back in the village, the less likely we'll be followed."

"I almost forgot," Yakumo murmured, wiping her face on her sleeve as they started to run again. "What's your family name, Sakura? I need to know what to call myself from now on."

"I think you have the wrong idea, Yakumo-chan. Mine is the same as yours, and yours isn't changing."

Yakumo stared at her uncertainly. "But... surely your family hasn't been calling itself Kurama all this time while not being part of the clan. They would have never accepted that."

"You asked for her family name, and she gave it to you," Shikamaru replied. "You didn't ask if she had ever changed it, which she did."

"There's no need to change your name," Sakura explained. "As for why I changed mine, I felt it was right at the time, and I still do. We're daughters of the same clan, and anyone who has a problem with that will just have a problem with it. You should always take pride in who you really are."

"And who are you, really?" Yakumo asked hesitantly.

Sakura smiled at her. "I told you already: I'm your cousin. Your roommate, too, if you want. Or you could take one of the other apartments in our complex. The whole thing was empty before we moved in, so there's plenty of room."

"Um, I don't have any money," Yakumo murmured, looking embarrassed.

"Neither do we," Shikamaru pointed out. "The Hokage arranged everything." Noticing Yakumo's worried expression, he quickly added, "It's fine. He gave us permission to come get you."

"Actually, he gave us permission to visit our families," Sakura corrected. "But considering we hardly caused any damage, he'll probably overlook this."

"But what makes you think he won't try to separate us?" Yakumo asked.

"He won't," Sakura insisted. "He owes us that much."

Yakumo started to ask about that, but Shikamaru cut her off. "It's a very long story, and now isn't the best time to tell it. Once you're home, and you've gotten the place all girly, then you two can stay up and talk all night."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, he isn't living with us. I'll introduce you to everyone else later. They're an odd bunch, but they're good people. You can trust them."

Yakumo sensed from the way that Sakura spoke about these people that she already trusted them herself, just as she also sensed that there was plenty that Sakura hadn't told her yet. But that didn't matter just then. For the first time in her life, Yakumo knew what it was to be free, and the only direction she was interested in going was forward, together with her cousin and her first friend.

Continued in Chapter 1: A Mother's Curse

Only one child had to be chosen. But Kushina refused to leave her son entirely alone, and saw to it that Naruto would have dependable comrades: bound by love, friendship, pain, and the same curse he would bear for the village's sake.