Title: The Eternal Bond
Author: AkatsukiDaybreak
Summary: When creatures from another world begin arriving in the shinobi countries, everything will change, especially for a certain blond with a demon inside of him. Crossover with Digimon.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Digimon. If I did I would be far too busy counting my money to care that fan fic of them existed.
A/N: This was an idea that's been bugging me for a while, so I hope you enjoy it.
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Naruto winced slightly as he squirmed to find a comfortable position in his bed. He didn't think anything was broken and he had expressed that sentiment to the ANBU who had carried him home when she had suggested he go to the hospital. He had long since given up on that place. All the nurses just glared at him and he healed just fine on his own.
The Old Man had warned him not to try to ditch his ANBU watchers when they were changing shifts. It wasn't really his fault, he just didn't like being followed all the time. Nor was it his fault the villagers hated him. He had asked the Hokage numerous times, but the only response he got was a sad expression. He even once tried to ask a villager once and he only got told that he never should've been born.
The tears began to well up again. It wasn't his fault he had been born. All he wanted was to be accepted, to not be hated, or at the very least for them to keep their hate to themselves. Why couldn't they see he was just a kid? He'd never hurt anyone and all the pranks he pulled were harmless. It wasn't fair.
Not particularly feeling like crying tonight, he carefully sat up and reached over to the nightstand beside his bed. He retrieved a small, rectangular device from the drawer and placed it close to his chest. It felt like another heart was beating alongside. Whenever he felt upset, that steady beat would always calm him down.
He really didn't know exactly what the small gray thing was. It had a screen and some buttons that didn't appear to do anything. He had found it while he still lived in the orphanage and it had become a sort of treasure to him. No one but him even knew about its existence.
"I wish I had someone who cared about me," he whispered, "I know there's Iruka and old man Hokage, but I want a real friend, someone who's like family."
Suddenly, the device in his hands began to vibrate and grow harm. Naruto opened his hands to reveal a ball of white light. He watched in amazement as several objects flew out of it and then passed through his bedroom window as if it wasn't even there. Finally, the light dissipated, leaving its place two things.
The first was might have been the gray device, though now it was orange with yellow accents and was more of a rounded triangular shape. The second, even more surprising to the young blond, was a furry, round, yellow creature curled up on his lap asleep.
"Wow," was all he could manage.
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Elsewhere in Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke turned fitfully in his sleep. Nightmare visions of his family being killed over played in his head. Itachi stood over the corpses of the entire clan and laughed. The emotionless visage of his older brother slipped away to reveal a hideous demon.
"You couldn't stop me," it taunted, "And you're too weak to even avenge them. You'll never be strong enough to defeat me! In fact, you're so pathetic I won't even bother to kill you. I'll just leave you to suffer for the rest of your life!"
He clutched his head and begged for it to all stop. The lifeless corpses of his parents stared accusingly at him as he pleaded with to get up, to not be dead anymore. He made every promise he could think of to them, just to get them to get up. All the while, Demon-Itachi laughed at his suffering.
"Make it stop!" he shouted both in the world of the dream and the real world.
Suddenly, the sun began to rise over the nightmare landscape and his laughing brother and dead family evaporated. Then the sun fell from the sky and into his hands and he knew nothing more.
In the physical world, Sasuke involuntarily clutched a black and red device to his chest. For the first time since the massacre, he didn't wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat to find that his nightmares were true.
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In the Water Country, Haku curled up in his makeshift shelter. He vaguely wondered if tonight would be the night that either the cold or his empty stomach would kill him. A part of him wished that they would, just so that his misery would end. Perhaps the next life would be kinder to him. At least it couldn't possibly be worse.
He tossed and turned for a while before getting up and going to look at the stars. This was a bittersweet activity for him. When he was younger, he and his parents had bundled up and gone out on cold, clear nights to look at the stars. His father would point out all the constellations while his mother got them all hot tea out of her thermos. They had been happy, but that was just a distant memory.
His eyelids began to grow heavy as he noticed something strange. A star had suddenly appeared in the sky. Stranger still, it seemed to getting bigger. It took a few seconds for Haku to realize that it wasn't getting bigger, just closer. He jumped out of the way quickly to avoid the falling object, only for it to stop and just hover over the stop where he had been sitting.
It was a strange white thing with blue accents that was surrounded by an aura of light. Hesitantly, Haku approached it and slowly reached out to touch it. As he clutched it in his hand, warmth spread through his body. He felt very tired now and decided to go back to 'bed.' As he settled in for the night, he felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time.
Hope.
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Atop a roof in Suna, Gaara gazed up at the moon with Shukaku gibbering madly in his head. He wished the stupid thing would shut up and go away so that he could sleep and people would stop hating him. His gaze passed over the homes in the village. How he envied those people, sleeping and loved. Sometimes he thought it would be easier to just let it take control of him and do what it wanted so he could get away for a while.
He gripped his bear tightly and sighed. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't Kankuro or Temari have been burdened with this? Why not anyone but him? The only small joy he could take out of it was that he had Yashamaru.
He was snapped out of these thoughts as the sand rose up to protect him from something. Gaara quickly turned, but saw no actual source of danger. Curiously, the sand refused to let go of whatever it had just captured. Not used to having to force the sand to do anything, Gaara strained to get it to let go. Finally, a gold and tan colored device fell to the ground.
Interested, he reached out for it. Shukaku began screaming in his head, no longer for blood and carnage, but for him not to touch that thing. It practically begged him to smash that device into such tiny pieces that no one would ever be able to recognize it. Ignoring the protests of his prisoner, the young redhead picked it up.
Immediately Shukaku shut up. A wary happiness welled up in Gaara. He reached out to command the sand and it complied. He brought up his thumb and tried to bite down on it, only for the sand to act to protect him. Waiting with bated breath for a few minutes, he found that the taunki's mad ramblings did not return.
For the first time in his life, Gaara had complete silence in his head.
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Four Years Later
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"But Rena-chan, my grades have gotten way better! Why can't we have ramen tonight!" Naruto protested.
"Because Shikamaru's laziness is the only thing keeping you from being dead last in your class," Renamon replied, "Besides, it cannot possibly be good for you to eat ramen for every meal. I honestly have no idea how the two of us kept from dying of malnutrition before I digivolved."
Naruto lowered his head in defeat and reached for his chopsticks. Renamon also reached for hers and they pulled them apart in unison.
"Itadakimasu," they said.
Naruto's glumness soon faded as he ate the meal in front of him with gusto. Most of it was gone before Renamon had even eaten a few bites. She simply shook her head as she observed her partner.
"Have I ever told you that you're a good cook, Rena-chan?" Naruto asked.
"Thank you Naruto," she replied, "Though I'm sure you'd enjoy my food even more if you took your time to savor it."
Naruto flashed her a huge grin and rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry, but it's just so good," he said.
"Better than Ichiraku?" she asked.
Naruto immediately looked conflicted. He obviously didn't want to insult her, but Ichiraku Ramen was his favorite. Renamon couldn't help but chuckle at his predicament.
"I was only kidding," she said, "I know Teuchi-san is a better cook than me, but I appreciate that you didn't want to hurt my feelings."
She reached for her tea, only to pause midway. A furious pounding on the door caused her to jump out of her chair. She rushed to the door and hurriedly opened it. On the other side was a male cat masked ANBU with short brown hair.
"We need to take Naruto-kun and get out of here," he said, "There's a mob forming downtown to kill the two of you. Hokage-sama is trying to break it up, but we may have a riot on our hands."
"Rena-chan?" Naruto asked, "What's going on?"
The young blond had moved behind her.
"Get back Naruto," she said, then turned back to the ANBU.
In an instant, she crossed her arms and summoned her attack.
"Fox Leaf Arrowheads!" she shouted as she launched razor sharp shards at the ANBU.
He jumped out of the way onto the railing behind him, but her attack still grazed his leg. He drew a kunai and took a defensive stance.
"What are you doing?!" he demanded.
"I have excellent hearing and the only thing I can hear out there is a quiet night," she replied, "You should've tried using a genjutsu."
The ANBU snarled.
"You demons killed Ai-chan and now you walk around this village like you own the place! I'm going to kill you and free the Hokage from your control. They'll call me a hero!" he declared.
"Fox Leaf Arrowheads," Renamon called as she launched another attack.
The ANBU jumped to the left and Renamon stepped out of the doorway to pursue him. The ninja attempted to form some hand seals, but Renamon interrupted him with another round of Fox Leaf Arrowheads. He jumped back onto the railing and ran at her, throwing a few shuriken. She leapt up in the air to avoid them.
"Wisteria Punch!"
Blue flames engulfed her hands and feet. The ANBU jumped after her, extending his arm to punch her in the face. Instead, their fists collided, leaving Renamon with a sore hand and the ANBU with a second degree burn. She used her leverage to push herself up and drive her foot into his face. He screamed as mask fragments embedded themselves in his skin and flames lapped at his newly exposed flesh.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed as he attempted to rip off the remains of the mask, "I'LL KILL YOU LIKE YOU KILLED MY SISTER!"
Renamon landed on her feet and readied to finish him. However, two blurs interrupted the progress of their battle. A blond rat masked ANBU had pinned her opponent to the ground while a brunette with a rabbit mask stood in front of Renamon. The cat masked man was now rambling incoherently as he struggled under the other man.
"Take him to Ibiki," the rabbit masked ANBU ordered, "He was likely just after Naruto for revenge, but it won't hurt to be certain."
The rat ANBU nodded and he and his captive disappeared. The rabbit ANBU then turned to Renamon.
"Are you and Naruto okay?" she asked.
"Yes," the Digimon replied, "Though perhaps you could explain why he would call us demons and claim we killed his sister. Does it somehow relate to the looks Naruto and I get from the villagers that tell us to drop dead?"
The kunoichi shifted uncomfortably.
"Naruto is…unique and that's all I can say," she replied, then changed the subject "You were lucky. He was just a high level genin posing as a member of ANBU."
"Considering I look like a fox, I assume this has something to do with the Kyuubi attack I've heard about."
"That's classified."
At that moment Naruto poked his head out of the apartment door.
"Is it over Rena-chan?" he asked, shock and fear still apparent.
"Yes, Naruto," she answered.
He ran over to her and wrapped her in a hug.
"I was so worried about you," he said, "I wanted to help you, but I was scared."
"I know," she said, stroking his hair, "It's good that you let me take care of it. You might've gotten hurt."
"Don't worry Rena-chan, because when I'm a ninja I'll be the one protecting you!"
She laughed a little and rubbed his hair.
"I'm sure you'll be one of the finest shinobi this village has ever known."
The ANBU cleared her throat to get their attention.
"If the two of you will excuse me, I must go. I'm going to send a team to watch over you two for tonight and possibly the next several days. This was likely just an isolated incident, but it always pays to be diligent."
With that she was gone, leaving Naruto and Renamon alone at their doorstep. The fox released her young partner and walked back into the apartment.
"Let's get back to our meal before it gets cold," she said.
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Two Years Later
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Naruto's classroom was all abuzz with excitement as the day of the graduation exam had come. Renamon could sense that Naruto was especially nervous, considering he had already failed it twice. Each time she had forced him to do extra homework, taken him out to train with the ninjutsu and taijutsu he had learned, and forbade him from eating ramen. He improved each time, but he still couldn't do one essential thing, make a bunshin.
Now as they waited for his turn to take the exam, she prayed his inability to make a bunshin would not cause him to fail. Unfortunately, she knew it was the tipping point. His bookwork and test scores were very bad, though she had tried to help him improve. On the other hand, training with her had pushed his taijutsu, weapon, and kawarimi skills into the upper half of his class and he seemed to be a natural at henge, at least when transforming into nude women.
Renamon took the opportunity to scan the room. Stoic Sasuke sat behind them, looking like he wished the world would drop dead so everyone in it would stop bothering him. Shy Hinata was in the corner, fidgeting nervously. In the past Renamon had tried to encourage her little crush on Naruto, but the young girl was far too timid to admit it and Naruto wasn't exactly good with subtlety. Unfortunately, Naruto had, no matter how much discouragement Renamon gave, developed a crush on Sakura.
If there was one person Renamon didn't like, it was Haruno Sakura. The pink haired girl hit and yelled Naruto every time he awkwardly tried to ask her on a date and sometimes just because he paid her too much of a compliment, just because he wasn't her precious Sasuke-kun. The first time she saw it happen, Renamon bloodied the girl's nose and then had to explain to the Hokage that she was only defending Naruto.
For the rest Naruto's classmates, Renamon felt very little but apathy. They tended to avoid Naruto, but her six years in the village had taught her that it was probably just their parents prejudices rubbing off.
This line of thinking always brought Renamon to a big question: why? Over the years she had formed all shorts of theories. The one that seemed most plausible in her mind was that his parents were missing-nin who betrayed the village. Whatever the reason, it still did not excuse such treatment of a child. Even in the mon eat mon Digital World (from what she could remember of it anyway), defenseless Baby level were left alone except by the worst of the worst.
Her contemplation was interrupted by Iruka entering the room. Renamon found the chunin likable as he was genuinely kind to Naruto, even if he did seem a bit wary of her.
"All right class," he said, "As you all know, today is day of the graduation exam. To graduate, you have to perform the bunshin no jutsu."
Naruto groaned and Renamon had suppress the urge to do so herself. Naruto's anxiety was palpable as student after student went into the exam room and emerged with either a leaf hitai-ite or a disappointed expression.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka said from the other room.
Naruto gulped and got out of his seat. Renamon offered him a supportive smile, but remained where she was. Every time he took the graduation exam he insisted that she not watch. She never protested, knowing that she would make him more nervous. Her eyes never left him until he was through the door.
Seconds stretched into hours as she waited for him to return.
"It had to be bunshin," she muttered to herself, "If only it had been henge."
Finally he emerged, a downtrodden look on his face. Renamon hurried to his side to comfort him. She put a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's go get some ramen," she said, "then we'll practice bunshin until you get it down."
He gave her a forced smile and nodded. They made their way out of the academy and through a group of students and their parents. The pair received many dirty looks, but they were used to it by now. Their pace was unusually slow for a ramen run and the normally loud blond was quiet. Renamon didn't try to force a conversation.
At Ichiraku, they found Mizuki waiting for them outside of the stand.
"Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto said, "what are you doing here?"
"Naruto," he said, "can we talk?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I know that you must be really disappointed that you failed the exam and you've made a lot of improvement, so I wanted to give you a chance to pass the exam. I'm technically not supposed to tell you, but it can be our little secret."
He motioned for them to come closer and they leaned in.
"If you can successfully break into Hokage tower, steal a certain scroll and learn the first jutsu from it, you automatically pass the exam. But you have to do it alone."
He gave Renamon a meaningful look.
"Why is this such a secret? Why not offer it as an alternative to the regular exam to everyone?" Renamon asked.
"It's actually left over from a long time ago. It's still a legal way to become a ninha, but we aren't supposed to tell anyone in case someone who isn't ready to graduate doesn't get lucky. I'm telling you about it because I know that you're ready. So, what do you say?"
"I'll do it!" Naruto replied quickly.
"Good," Mizuki said, "You have to wait until dark and you must do it alone. If she comes with you, you'll fail. The scroll will be marked as the scroll of the forbidden seal. After you have the scroll, go to a spot in the woods where there's an old wooden shack. Practice the jutsu there until I show up If you master it by the time I get there, you pass. Good luck."
With that he left, leaving Naruto excited and Renamon wary.
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That night, Naruto made his preparations for the exam. Renamon convinced him to wear something more subtle than his orange jumpsuit and he brought kunai and shuriken just in case.
"Rena-chan," Naruto said, "I want you to promise me that you won't follow me."
"Naruto, I heard when Mizuki-sensei told you to do it alone."
"I know, but I also know that you're worried about me and that you'll probably try to follow me to protect me anyway. I really want to pass and Mizuki-sensei is a chunin so he'll definitely catch you. Besides, if I'm going to be a ninja I have to prove that I can take care of myself. So please, just stay here."
The look on his face was pleading with hard determination buried underneath. Despite her misgivings, she couldn't help but have faith in Naruto.
"All right, I give you my word as you partner that I'll stay here and not interfere," she replied, "But be careful, something about this doesn't feel quite right. Good luck."
"Don't worry 'cause I'm going to pass this test and the next thing you know I'll be Hokage."
Pride welled up in the fox Digimon as Naruto walked out the door, but she still silently swore to herself that if anything happened to him she would allow rage to consume her and turn her into a virus-type. Then she would make the previous fox attack look like a child having a temper tantrum.
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Naruto didn't get home until morning. He was barely in the door when he began regaling Renamon with his story of stealing the scroll, working on the Kage Bunshin, Iruka catching him, Mizuki's betrayal, the revelation about the Kyuubi within him (which cleared up a lot), Iruka taking a shuriken in his back to save Naruto, his use of Kage Bunshin to defeat Mizuki, and Iruka giving him his own hitai-ite.
Renamon was so proud that she promised him that they could eat at Ichiraku every night that week, but then they would be on a strict regiment of meals that would be good for him.
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Itadakimasu: a phrase used before meals meaning literally, "I receive."
Henge: transformation
Kawarimi: Replacement
Bunshin: clone
Hitai-ite: Forehead Protector
A/N: Okay, I just want to clarify that I don't hate Sakura, but a Sasuke fangirl is hard for me to write, so I'm just trying to get her away from that without damaging her characterization too much. So yes I've bashed her somewhat, but only for the purpose of making her likeable and not useless sooner.
Also, I can't write a fight scene to save my life, so if anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it.