Disclaimer: Honey, I don't need to own Naruto to write fanfiction.
Author's Note: This is my second Naruto fic, and any constructive critism or the pinpointing of mistakes, no matter how little or large, would be highly appreciated (hint, hint). Oh, and the chapters will get longer (unless their fine the way they are?) Anyways, on with the story!
The Current Beneath The Ice
"I'm sick of it,'' was all that the vessel of the Kyuubi could tell himself while furiously practicing his tai-jutsu on a poor, defenceless tree. "I'm sick of Kakashi-sensei always focusing on his precious so-called prodigy, and I'm sick of Sakura constantly obsessing over an ice cube who has absolutely no interest in her- especially when she could be training. Who knows? She might even have the potential to become remotely useful!!!"
The tanned, blond boy suddenly sneered in disgust. As hard as it was to believe, he had once been infatuated with the only female on his team. Naruto honestly didn't know what he had seen in the pink-haired bitch. After all, there wasn't anything strikingly beautiful about her, nor was the emerald-eyed kunoichi's personality anything to rave about. Still… Naruto had learned the hard way (with a certain Uchiha, might I add) that the line between love and hate is very fine and often blurred.
Frowning, Konoha's #1 loud-mouth ninja realized that he had come upon the subject of his rival…
"Sasuke-teme," Naruto hissed out loud, his gorgeous sky-blue eyes flashing red for a split second. The genin continued his assault on the tree with renewed fury. Oh, how Naruto hated his onyx-eyed jackass of a teammate. The raven-haired Shinobi seemed to be one step ahead of the Bijuu container at all times.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
The last kick aimed at the tree had been accidentally chakra-enhanced, and had caused said target to fall. This, in turn, had resulted in a domino effect. Those poor, poor, trees…
"Nice going kit," a deep voice growled out mockingly from the depths of Naruto's mind. "At this rate, Konoha won't be called the Hidden Leaf for much longer,"
"Shut the hell up, fox!!" the 12 year old snapped rudely, embarrassed that he let his anger get the better of him.
"Ever heard of manners, kit?!?" the Nine Tails roared indignantly. "And to think that I was just about to… well, nevermind.You probably couldn't handle it anyways. A jutsu like mine is obviously far better suited to someone like… oh, I don't know-that Uchiha brat perhaps?
"What are you talking about?!? If Uzamaki Naruto can't handle it, no one can!! After all, I'm the future Hokage!" was the proud, confident, and somewhat annoyed reply to Kyuubi's belittling.
The demon fox smirked inside his cage. His host had unwittingly fallen into his trap. "I suppose I'm willing to teach you a few techniques. I am, of course, a far superior trainer compared to your idiotic excuse for a sensei-even if I do say so myself. So… what do you think? Do you want to learn from me?"
Naruto was quietly contemplating the consequences of accepting help from his tenant. Though the Nine Tail's tone seemed innocent enough, what was the beast getting out of training a human? After all, Kyuubi never did favours.
"Relax. There's no catch, kit," the answer to Naruto's unsaid questions came, accompanied by dark chuckles.
The orange-clad boy thought this over for a few moments, quickly deciding that this wasn't an offer that he could pass up. Even though Naruto was still suspicious about Kyuubi's motives, he figured that anything that the renowned fox demon could teach him was going to be MUCH more useful than the basic tai-jutsu that he had been practicing.Besides, he might finally be able to kick his ego-centric rival's ass with the new jutsu-it would do well for Sasuke to be knocked off his ridiculously high pedestal for a little while."The sooner I learn this technique, the better," the blond genin reasoned.
Little did our enthusiastic Shinobi know that he would be side-tracked by an encounter with a sinister force far sooner than he could have ever imagined…