Gamahime

(Toad Princess)

Chapter 1 - The Name of the Wind

A five-year-old Naruto looked back and forth from the person she most dearly loved and respected to the busty blonde woman with a scary attitude in wonder. Apparently Jiraiya-oji had brought back the woman from Kami knows where to Konohagakure no Sato, how he had managed to do so didn't register into little Naruto's mind. She blinked for there were some words, the complicated ones, that she could not understand yet but the woman was obviously saying no while Jii-chan tried to convince her.

Uzumaki Naruto looked up to the ANBU-san that was currently at her side, holding her little hand in his. Now, usually with the cloaks and masks it was pretty difficult to discern male from female but for some unknown reason she had always known which person was a man or a woman. Jii-chan had told her that she had enhanced senses. This particular ANBU-san was a boy, a teenager at most, and his mask was that of Ookami-san.

The ANBU-san looked back at her with spiralling red and black eyes and she couldn't help but smile up at him. After all, it was known within ANBU-san that she liked those kinds of eyes. She didn't know why, and she didn't particularly care, but Jii-chan had actually raised an old eyebrow at the knowledge. ANBU-san patted her hair with his other hand and returned to his original position.

Ookami-san was one of, as Jii-chan said, her bodyguards. They took care of her wellbeing and safety. Meaning they got to kill anyone who harmed her. It had actually happened very often, and she was no stranger to death, but as she looked with child-like wonder as a man died she couldn't feel bad or guilty. The one who usually took care of the whole killing thing wasn't Ookami-san but Inu-san.

She looked to her left to see the other ANBU-san of her group of bodyguards. Little Naruto was fond of Inu-san, for he had been with her for as long as she remembered and actually knew who he was. Hatake Kakashi and his summoned dogs had kept her company always. While ANBU-san were usually silent, Inu-san talked to her about whatever she wanted to know. He told her stories of his missions, of his sensei, who had been this Yondaime Hokage person, and his former teammates. Inu-san also described the outside world for her.

Inu-san eye-smiled at her, for he was not wearing his Inu-san mask and she grinned back at him. He took her other hand and resumed his previous position. Actually, she knew little about Ookami-san. He had pretty eyes and really black hair; he was young for an ANBU-san apparently. Little Naruto knew that his name was Uchiha Itachi, one of the important people of the village, but little else. Inu-san had told her that Itachi-san had a little brother named Sasuke who was her age. She had been ecstatic to know that Sasuke could become a friend of hers but later she realised that while she was in her white house she couldn't befriend anyone who wasn't ANBU-san.

Little Naruto started to giggle and the adults actually turned their heads to look at her. She blinked back as the laughter died. "Sorry, Kurama-sama said something funny." She explained while smiling.

Jii-chan's eyes widened and she frowned slightly in worry. Had she done something wrong? She didn't want to go back to her white house. The Hokage approached her and got down to her eye-level while frowning in thought. "Who is this Kurama you speak of, Naruto?" he asked.

"Well, Kurama-sama is a very gentle person, you know." She smiled again in delight. "I wish I could meet him in person, he told me it wouldn't be… " She scrunched her face in concentration. "Wise! That's it! So, he told me he was a really big fox with nine tails. Weird, right? I haven't seen a fox with nine tails! But what he tells me is always the truth so I guess…"

Seeing as her left hand was being squeezed by Inu-san she promptly shut up and looked at her hand and then up to the worried face of Inu-san. What? Why didn't they understand? Kurama-sama was very nice to her compared to the other people that lived in Konoha! She harrumphed and freed her hands from their captors while crossing her arms in a pout.

"Oi, kiddo." Someone called. She smiled at Jiraiya-ojii, who had just jumped in the Hokage's office via window. Little Naruto ran to him and tackled his legs, which tore a chuckle from her Ojii-chan. "So you say that you've been talking to the Kyuubi, eh?" At her nod he sighed. "I see, what has it told you?"

She frowned. "Kurama is not an it! He's a he! And he says that I shouldn't have told you that I could talk to him because you would do bad things to me!" Little Naruto let go of her Ojii-chan's legs and crossed her arms again in anger. She spaced out for a few seconds and she frowned childishly. "A-and Kurama never lies! He says that he'll never lie to me because I'm his… his…" she pouted because she couldn't find the word but lightened up as it was told to her. "Vessel! Yup, that's what he said."

The Sandaime sucked in a gulp of air and sighed. "Naruto, are you telling me that you are now talking to the Kyuubi and to us?" he asked with a troubled voice.

Naruto grinned and nodded. "Yup! He said that our minds are… connected? Or something like that so that I'm… able to speak to you and to him simul-sim-" she threw her hands to the air and gave a frustrated cry. "Why are words so difficult!" she pouted. "Great! Now he's laughing at me!"

Ookami-san let out an amused chuckle and everyone looked at him with surprised expressions. Never mind that Naruto could talk to a bijuu, or that Naruto actually trusted it. Naruto growled in annoyance. "What? You too Itachi-san! How unfair!"

Naruto's rant about fairness ceased and everyone looked at her curiously, she seemed to be concentrated on something that was clearly bothering her. She furrowed her brows, pouted and finally glared at them. "I'm not leaving with that lady." She sniffed. "Kurama says that she's a bad influence for me."

The busty woman glared at her and snorted. "And you believe that that thing has better judgement than Sarutobi-sensei? Gaki, you're mad."

The little blonde spitfire took a step towards her and glared harder. "Yes! I love Jii-chan but he's been lying to me all this time! Kurama told me the truth! No-one of you did!" she blinked and tears started to form. "H-he told me that my mummy was his p-previous vessel! A-and that my daddy is this Yondaime and, and you, you never told me!" Tears streamed down her face while it twisted with anguish. "He told me th-that's the t-truth and, and I believe him! You told me you didn't know who they were!"

Naruto continued sobbing while the adults watched in contained sadness. Actually the busty woman glared icily at the Hokage. She hadn't known anything about this! The child had the right to know that her parents were heroes to the village! Senju Tsunade approached the little wreck of a girl and lifted her towards herself, hugging her tightly.

Lulling the girl to sleep she glared heatedly again towards all the male presences in the room. "She's mine, and no one of you have any say in the matter, are you hearing me, sensei?" she snarled. "I can't believe you actually lied to her face and went along with your life as if nothing was wrong!" She whirled towards Jiraiya, "And you! You useless blob of meat! You didn't tell her anything? You're her fucking godfather for Kami's sake!"

Jiraiya winced. "It's an S-class secret, Tsunade-hime. Punishable by death." He sighed as Tsunade faced his next victim, which happened to be one very guilty Hatake Kakashi. "Kakashi wasn't allowed to talk to her about her parents, but that doesn't mean he didn't tell her things about their lives." He rubbed his face with his hand. "I think it's best we let her rest for now and talk to her tomorrow. Then, there's the whole Kyuubi thing…"

Birds chirped and a very annoyed little blonde growled at being waken up so rudely. Her dream hadn't been nice at all. First she had seen a scene she'd rather forget. It was very dark, midnight she guessed, and someone who was not an ANBU-san had broken in her apartment after very confusing actions she had grabbed a kunai that the unknown man had dropped while fighting Karasu-san with detached wonder. The man saw an opening and took it, lunging at her with a short sword. Naruto had panicked and brought the kunai to her chest, facing towards the evil man.

She remembered her bloody bloody hands, oh there was so much blood, and the man's face, surprised eyes looked at her in disbelief. She had stared right back, not understanding what had just happened. Her hands were moist, too moist for her liking. Ookami-san had regarded the scene with swirling blood red eyes and she had smiled at him uncertainly.

That was when she had blacked out of the unpleasant dream and jumped into a less distressing one. In this one she was falling, merely falling while puffy clouds floated around her and a pretty blue bird flew at her side. Now, she just kept falling. Down below was a pretty big lake surrounded by a forest. Still, there was no end to that particular dream.

Naruto changed into a summer yukata that Jii-chan had given her a few weeks ago. It was simple, blood red with swirling patterns around the lower area and her sleeves in yellow. The obi was black with a golden silk rope to decorate it. She huffed and went into her little kitchen not surprised to see Inu-san and Ookami-san sitting there. Well, Inu-san was sitting while Ookami was standing against the right wall. Kakashi waved at her while Itachi-san nodded once and went back to… whatever he was doing before.

She went to the table, grabbed a chair and dragged it towards the kitchen fires. The two ANBU watched as a five-year-old girl went about her kitchen as if it was meant to be. No child should be comfortable with fending for themselves at this age. She made some pancakes, eggs and picked an apple from the fridge while humming a soothing song. Little Naruto dragged the chair back to its proper place and moved the plates from the kitchen to the table and setting the required utensils to eat. She put three glasses on the table and filled them with delicious fresh milk. Satisfied with herself she sat down and waited for Ookami-san to sit.

She smiled as he did so and grabbed her fork. "Itadakimasu."

The other two said the same and started to dig in. Little Naruto started with a pancake coated with chocolate and placed an egg in her dish. Munching happily she recalled the events of the previous afternoon. Kurama said that the encounter had been too emotional for her and that she had blacked out. Also, he explained that she would, most likely, leave Konoha for the sake of living with the angry lady. She pouted internally at the fox. How unfair. Kurama had been kind enough to tell her that the village was a dangerous place for her to live in, since the villagers harboured a deep hatred for her and for Kurama.

While snorting derisively he had told her that the civilians believed that she and him were the same entity. She had giggled, it was silly. She wasn't a mountain-sized fox! The comment had amused the Kyuubi but he had corrected her. He was bigger than the Hokage Mountain. Little Naruto had oohed and aahed at his size, making the old demon a bit proud of himself.

Naruto was a bit hesitant to leave Konohagakure. While the villagers treated her like trash the shinobi were mostly okay. Some were wary of her but didn't mistreat her or anything. After all, Jii-chan would've been very angry with them if they had done so. Speaking of the old man, they had this funny game where she had to maintain a leaf on her head without making it fall. It had been quite tricky at the beginning, but with everyday practice she had gotten the hang of it. Jii-chan would place a leaf on his nose and balance it, she giggled, and it was quite funny to watch, really.

"You see Naruto, all human beings have an energy we call chakra. It is a mix between spiritual energy and physical energy and it's what ninja use to do their jutsu. Remember when I summoned Enma?" at the girl's eager nod he had continued explaining. "The jutsu is called Kuchiyose and it summons animals form another place through a pact of blood. But without chakra we can't summon anything."

"Pact of blood?" the little one asked, nose twitching.

He had chuckled and nodded. "You sign with your name using blood as ink on the summoning scrolls that the summons hand out to people if they feel are worthy for them. I have the summoning scroll for monkeys and it has been passed down by many Sarutobi." The girl's mouth formed a big o. "There are other summons, too."

Little Naruto had bounced. "Really?"

"Indeed. For example, Jiraiya has the scroll for toads and Tsunade has one for slugs." He hesitated for a moment. "Orochimaru has the one for snakes and you know that Kakashi-kun has one for dogs."

Naruto sighed and stuffed a bite of pancake into her mouth, savouring the chocolate with gusto. Maybe someday she would get her own summons, she was sure they'd make awesome friends. Kurama told her that maybe when she grew stronger he could give her the fox-summoning contract, since he didn't have it himself even if he was the lord.

"Gochisōsama-deshita." She heard Ookami-san murmur. She smiled to him. "I will be leaving early, Naruto-kun. I have a mission shortly." The Uchiha apologised to her.

Little Naruto frowned and tilted her head. "Is that mission Jii-chan told you to do?" Something flickered in his eyes but he nodded nonetheless. "M'kay. But…" she frowned even more than before. "Take care, okay?"

Itachi nodded again and rose from his seat, approaching the little girl silently. He undid the clasp of his necklace. "I will not be here for your birthday, Naruto-kun. I hope you don't mind a premature gift." He handed the necklace to her and she beamed at him and suddenly threw her arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug. "I see you like it. I'm glad." His face softened somewhat and watched as she put his wooden necklace on, smiling up at him again.

She suddenly furrowed her brows and bolted towards her bedroom. The two ANBU glanced at each other with wonder. The girl was highly unpredictable, after all. Little Naruto returned with sparkling eyes and something cupped in her hands. He took the object from her and allowed a small smile to curl his lips. Itachi heard her rant about how it wasn't fair because she wouldn't be there for his birthday either so she had decided to give him a premature gift too.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." He said as he clasped the leather bracelet on his right wrist, taking notice of the little silver bell attached to it by a chain.

"You like it? That's great! I made it myself, it was a bit tricky making a braid out of leather but Jii-chan taught me how to infu-inf…" she sighed. "Infuse? Yes, infuse things with chakra." Naruto smiled, rows of white teeth and sharp fangs showing. She was positively glowing. Her eyes dulled and for a few seconds both ANBU panicked but let relief wash through them as their intensity returned. "Besides, Kurama says that it will help you." She mentioned in a sharp voice.

Itachi's eyes widened marginally until he sighed quietly and nodded. "Please, relay my gratitude to him, Naruto-kun." The girl nodded and smiled giving him another hug and let him go. Itachi nodded at Hatake-senpai and left through the window.

Kakashi took the opportunity to look offended and he brought a hand to his chest in fake pain. "What? No gift for me? I'm wounded."

Little Naruto stuck her tongue at him but giggled anyway and tucked a hand in her obi, bringing out a cute dog-shaped wallet. It matched her own toad-shaped own, her lovely Gama-chan, so he handed it to him. Kakashi eye-smiled and patted her head. The girl twirled away and started to dish the dirty plates and glasses while the last Hatake watched her.

He was actually remembering a rather morbid memory. Little Naruto had killed twice. It pained him that such a little and young thing could have already blood on her tiny hands. Uzumaki Naruto was the sweetest girl he'd ever met, kind with everyone and everything. The second time she had killed she had stabbed a man with a kunai in self-defence against an enraged civilian while Karasu had been fighting off two more idiots.

The first time had been more gruesome and bloody. It had been at midnight, when the ANBU changed shifts. Itachi and he usually took the nightly ones, because the girl was more of a nocturne being after all. She was sleepy during the day and a ball of energy at the night. The villagers had busted her door open, yelling and cussing at the demon child while she curled up below her bed.

Eventually they had found her, claiming that they would exorcise the evil from the possessed child. When he and Ookami had arrived corpses littered the floor, smelling of scorched flesh and rotting meat. In the middle of it was a very stoic little girl. Staring at the bodies emotionlessly. Her white sleeping yukata was torn and bloody and undone. An angry pink scar was healing and to his horror it went from the middle of her chest to her right hip, slashing through her stomach.

When Naruto looked at them a chill gripped his spine with icy hands and twisted his entrails, setting his gut aflame.

Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster…

Her eyes were cold as winter and dead as a rotten corpse. Empty of everything.

…and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

Done while listening to Sora of Escaflowne's OST.

I'm having a bit of writer's block, so it'll take some time to update the other stories. Also, I had to get this one published because it haunted my mind, so yeah. There you go.

As always reviews and alerts are highly appreciated.