Phoenix Fragment: a Mischief Fragment alternative

by Greylle (aka Kestral)

Reposted by TheBeardedOne after the original story was deleted for reasons unknown. Will only be deleted either if original author re-posts story or asks for deletion.

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Chapter One: Will Of Fire

Original Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto. This was written due to dissatisfaction with elements of his original works.

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He was a being that had been born before the current universe had come to pass. In the beginning, he was Chaos. Without a true physical form, without gender or a specific identity, he had watched as a bubble of 4D space had formed and exploded outward in a big bang.

He was known by many names, Coyote AND Raven, Puck, Oberon and Titania, among many many others — one of which was Toltiir.

As time went on he had taken many forms, some male or female or shemale or itmale or whatever. Physical form and gender was something he toyed with but 4D existence was something he did not really understand all that well. In that time he learned that pure Chaos had few adherents, and its application tended to interfere with the inherent order needed for life to exist. So Toltiir changed his nature, and embraced Mischief. Which was a sort of constrained Chaos.

4D Life was too entertaining to avoid.

When other gods stepped out of the Chaos, he was shunned by many. Too weird and too powerful, they judged him these other sentients. So his essence formed its first fragments, becoming Raven and Coyote and others through the eons.

In his D52 Branespace multiverse he observed and some nexii of chaos attracted his attention. Individuals whose existence either inspired or caused entire *-Verses to spin off for at least a brief time.

Toltiir pondered this for an eon-moment. As Puck or Robin Goodfellow he'd followed a king, or at least an essence-fragment had. Why not put a bit of him IN one of those nexii? Wouldn't THAT be a great joke on the universe? Now, who to stick with it?

The D52 Entity (who occasionally manifested in 4D space as a little black cat) turned his full (or nearly full) attention on a particular world (causing just about all sentients on that world to have a panic attack for no reason that they could perceive) and one single individual in particular.

A world on which humans, in all their variety and tiny lifespans, had spread across. A world of odd technological disparities where magic of a sort was practiced.

Oh yes. This could be funny.

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The Sealing was ready, the Fourth Hokage standing ready to activate the process with one single gesture at this point.

With a scream that would have overwhelmed a passenger jet taking off, a bird that looked as if it were entirely composed of flame struck the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

The Fourth Hokage hesitated, as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was CUT IN HALF by a single attack.

The colossal bird turned, ignoring the fallen foe, as it contemplated the mote before it.

That mote, being the Fourth Hokage, made the gesture but turned the result.

The Twelve Tailed Beast screeched again, flattening a few trees that had somehow remained standing before now. Then it was gone, sealed within the child Naruto.

It didn't take long for the Fourth Hokage to realize that the Nine-Tails was in a coma but somehow still alive. Had it been a living creature, even a colossal summons like the Boss Toad, it would have been dead but somehow the Beast was still clinging to life. Even if a good portions of its insides were now outside. It's life force was sufficient that it was still holding on somehow

Much, realized the Fourth Hokage, as he himself was. Which was a surprise as the shinigami summoned by the sealing spell should have killed him outright.

Weakened as it was, he could probably seal it without much difficulty even in his current state. A scroll would be sufficient for now. Later though — it would recover and menace things anew.

Who could he seal it in? Not Naruto, that would likely kill him with the firebird already there — and that would invalidate the sealing attempt as intent was important.

Ah, that might work.

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Iruka kept Naruto after class, one day. "Naruto, could you stay? I'd like to talk to you."

His fellow students giggled as they prepared to leave the class, mocking him once again. Quietly, Naruto stood in front of his teacher. He could almost guess, or sense, what Iruka wanted to say.

"Okay Naruto, how'd you do it? I couldn't detect any form of cheating. If only you applied yourself that well to actually learning the material."

Naruto shrugged. "I didn't cheat, honest."

The last bit of students filtering out the door seemed to disagree. "Yeah, right."

"You just suddenly understood lessons I've been trying to teach you for the past few years? You didn't cheat?" asked Iruka.

"No, I didn't. I don't know how, but it's like I been struggling under a weight all my life and then suddenly I got a break," said Naruto. "It was like ... I knew what you were trying to say just as you said it. Like the lesson soaked right in from outside: from you, from the class — it gave me a heckuva headache though."

Iruka rubbed his brow in frustration. "Come again?"

Naruto sighed. He was afraid no one would believe him. He didn't understand it much himself. "I can't explain; it was like I could suddenly see the answers. As long as I focused on the lesson, it would just come to me."

"I ... see," Iruka conceded as he nodded his head, though he really didn't see. "And you didn't focus in class before?"

"No, not exactly. I mean ... well, I tried to follow along, really." Naruto trailed off.

Honestly! That idiot! Why doesn't he just give up on being a ninja? He's hopeless!

Naruto's eyes opened wide as he spun around to defend himself. "Sakura! That's not ..." He trailed off when he saw he was alone in the classroom with Iruka. He couldn't see anyone else around.

"Are you feeling Okay? You seem a bit distracted."

Naruto waved the comment off. "Naw, I'm fine."

"Right, back to the situation at hand." Iruka was interested in getting to the bottom of things. He did care for Naruto. "I guess you could be paying more attention, your certainly have cut back on your pranks. At least, the more involved ones."

Naruto shrugged and kicked his right toe out as he shifted his weight. "It's not like that, or anything."

"Oh? Do you care to talk about it? I remember hearing something about a prank gone bad about a month ago. Something to do with an exploding tag."

"Well," Naruto drawled out, "that's just the thing. That wasn't meant to be a prank."

Iruka was a bit worried, Naruto being taciturn was out of character for the usually lively boy. "I can't help you if you won't tell me what's the problem."

"Can you? Help me I mean."

Iruka's expression softened into a smile. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, not do you want to help, but are you able to help. Would you even begin to understand?"

"Of course. I know at your age, it seems like your all alone, but there is no problem you could have that no one else hasn't experienced at your age. What is it? Is it girls? Is it how your body seems to be changing? Because, that's normal, you know." Iruka was careful to keep a calm, and fatherly tone to his voice. He remembered how embarrassing it was to discuss such issues with his dad, and he didn't want Naruto to feel too shy to discuss the facts of life with him.

"What?" Naruto screeched as his head whipped up, wide eyed and blushing. "It's not about that."

"Oh?" Iruka was careful to not show his amusement at Naruto's reaction. Perhaps, this will be one of those 'a friend of a friend' kind of talk.

Naruto responded somewhat sullenly, "It's not about some friend of a friend wondering about why his balls dropped. It's just personal, that's all."

Iruka gave Naruto a strange look before pressing on. "What ever it is, at your age it can not be so complicated that I couldn't understand it." Though Iruka was beginning to wonder if it didn't have anything to do with the fox demon everyone believed was in Naruto. Maybe I should discuss this with the Hokage.Naruto had missed this thought, with his own concerns on his mind.

"Well ... I think I need better control." Naruto admitted, reflecting on how many of his instructors had said the same thing about his use of chakra. Even in his dreams, he was reminded about his poor control.

Iruka blinked at that statement. Worry laced his voice as he asked, "Do you sometimes feel out of control? Like someone else was in charge?"

"Huh?" Naruto wasn't expecting that response, though he was beginning to pick up wisps of suspicion from Iruka centered upon the hitchhiker he was burdened with. "What? Nothing like that, sheesh! I meant chakra control."

"I fail to see what that has to do with pranks and doing well in class." Iruka was feeling a bit lost and wanted to get things back onto track. Or, at least figure out the missing links in Naruto's explanation.

Naruto sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "That wasn't an exploding tag I was trying to make last month, not even close. But that problem and what happened today in class seemed to have started at roughly the same time."

"What were you trying to do?"

"I thought, well, maybe I could use a wind technique on an origami swan to make it fly about. Perhaps to deliver a message to Sakura."

"Aha," Iruka exclaimed suddenly, interrupting Naruto, "so a girl is involved."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "That's not the issue. The issue was the piece of paper and what was suppose to only be a bit of breeze blew up in a giant whirlwind of flames."

"Well, I am sure that was scary, but maybe you just did it wrong."

Naruto shook his head. "That wasn't the scary part. The scary part was I didn't even feel the flames. The scary part is that no matter what I try, large amounts of fire seems to be involved. I'm afraid sneezing might burn my apartment down. I can't seem to control it."

"I see. Well, nothing some training can't fix. Why don't we visit the Hokage and let him know."

Naruto looked down at his feet, sheepishly, while tugging on one ear. "That's not all. That was also when I started to hear voices in my head."

"Voices?" Iruka was worried once more. "What do these voices sound like? What do they say?"

"Not 'kill, maim, murder.'" Naruto rolled his eyes. Just like during class, he seemed to pick up on what Iruka really meant. He knew what Iruka was afraid of, even if it went unsaid. "Not those kind of voices. They sound like you, and Sasuke, Sakura, The Hokage. Like everyone."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, that's why I wanted to do better in class," Naruto admitted.

Iruka was lost once more. "Voices in your head told you to do better in class?"

Naruto withdrew sheepishly. Iruka found it somewhat amusing, though worrisome as well. "Not like that. The voices ... I mean, I grew up feeling like the least favorite person in the village. I didn't really think anyone cared, well except for the Hokage. But once the voices started to get louder and talk more ... I mean." Naruto sighed as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. Iruka waited patiently. "It took time. I wasn't sure what I was feeling at first. I thought I was going crazy. But, I found there were some people I didn't want to disappoint after all. That, maybe not much, but there were actually people who cared. And I found that while I didn't care what most people thought of me, I did care for their opinion. I guess, I just sort of realized I wasn't alone."

"And so, you'll do better in school because ... the voices in your head are your friends?" Iruka wasn't sure what to say.

Naruto chuckled without humor. "No, because I figured out how much you care and I don't want to disappoint you. Or maybe I'm just crazy. I can't tell anymore, but the voices seem real. Match up well with people and what they're doing."

Iruka sighed. "Well, I do care. Have you talked to the Hokage about the voices in your head? He'll know what to do."

"Not really sure how to tell him. I'm still trying to understand it myself." Naruto turned to look out the window. And if I told anyone about those two people in my dreams, they'll really think I'm crazy.

"Well, why don't you head home to rest. And I hope to see you do as well in class as you did today." Iruka gently guided Naruto to the door before shooing him out.

Phew, that wasn't what I expected. I better make an appointment to discuss this with the Hokage. He'll need to know, and maybe Naruto needs to be examined. Glad to see him taking class more seriously. Hopefully, that continues.

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Naruto trudged home, head held low. Wisps of thoughts reached out over the astral ether.

Look at his clothes — just shameful.

Young Punk! Naruto flinched at one boiling mass of hate. He could tune the voices out more or less, but the emotions were harder to do.

I don't know why the Hokage doesn't just get rid of him.

Naruto was getting used to ignoring such thoughts, as he had learned previously to dismiss the attitude of others he dealt with. Naruto's mind was, in fact, busy thinking of something else. I guess the Hokage will hear of this, soon. I wonder how he'll take it.

Sighing, he decided to go someplace where he could train in peace.I still need to work on my control. Maybe I should give that one exercise a try. He had been dreaming of training. A nice man and a pretty lady would try to show him stuff and he'd do it. Except, it was a dream and it didn't train his body for real. And upon waking, well those were just dreams, right? He didn't want to look foolish doing something from a dream. He can just imagine Sakura laughing at him.

Oh, I wonder where Naruto is going? He looks sad.

That's not Sakura. Looking around, Naruto wasn't surprised to find Hinata pretending she was looking elsewhere. Ah yes, Hinata. Another one I can't afford to disappoint.

Naruto wasn't sure why she did, but he knew she cared. Not how much, exactly, but he could feel the compassion and concern roll off of her like waves in a storm. Unsure if it would be a good idea, he made a decision.

Walking up to Hinata, who was still looking away, Naruto tapped her on the arm. "Hi, Hinata is it? We're in class together."Oh, smooth. She knows we're in class together. sheesh.

Hinata jumped in surprised, unaware of Naruto's approach, and spun around, blushing.Nar-Nar-Naruto-kun is talking to me? All she could do for awhile was stare dumbly, at a loss for words.

"Well, I just wanted to say hi. Sorry for bothering you. Are you walking this way? I'm on my way to a training ground, myself."

Hinata nodded before shaking her own head vigorously, seemingly waking herself up. "You're not bothering me. What are you going to do at the training ground?"

Naruto shrugged. "Just some badly needed training. Can't be the best if you don't expand your limits."

"Oh," Hinata seemed intrigued, "where did you hear that?"

"Just some ..." guy in a dream. That'll sound insane. "I just heard it somewhere."

Hinata nodded.

"Well, I better be off. See you in school." Naruto waved as he walked off.

Hinata swallowed nervously, holding one hand up towards Naruto's back as he walked away, trying to say something. I want to help. Oh, why can't I be braver.

Naruto abruptly stopped and turned to her, causing her heart to nearly stop. "On the other hand, do you think you can give me a hand, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata's sudden smile was really all the answer he needed.

"Okay, about the time I started hearing the... wind speaking," said Naruto, deciding to use an old story about a ninja information specialist. It sounded a lot better than just 'voices in his head' after all. "I started to be able to do this, and I got a lot better at it."

Hinata looked around the clearing. It had obviously been used by a lot of people in the past for kunai target practice. There was even a set of kunai sitting out on an old tree stump. Or make that floating in the air.

Hinata stopped and stared as Naruto stood there with his hands out and fingers spread and the kunai floated up to form a ring in midair around his hands.

"Byakugan!" invoked Hinata, looking at chakra. She frowned as she didn't see what she expected, which would have been thin threads of chakra controlling the kunai knives. Instead they were supported by... whatever it was.

Naruto relaxed ever so slightly as he felt Hinata's reaction. Curiosity, wonder, excitement. She never felt fear or disgust or hate towards him, or if she ever had — she hadn't done so since he'd started picking up on what people were feeling.

Actually, realized Naruto, it was easier to pick up on someone's feelings than the voices he heard. He'd been coming here since it was distant enough that he wasn't getting that constant muttering of voices in the background. He'd always wanted to share this ability with someone though and it looked like he might have just chosen correctly.

Hinata reached out tentatively and tapped one of the knives with one finger, making it bob in the air. "How are you doing this, Naruto?"

"I figured out how to make things move accidently," said Naruto, closing his eyes. "Now I can hit the target nine times out of ten."

whishhhhhhhhhhhhhhh THUNK!

"The faster I make the blade go, the more often I miss," said Naruto after sending a blade at high speed into a target.

"Oh, I see," said Hinata, noting that the target HAD been hit but that the kunai was a hand's breadth from the center. "So, how can I help?"

"Actually, can you tell me how your Byakugan works? I think I might have an idea there," said Naruto.

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The Demon Fox pondered its cage inside a boy who could use neither ninjitsu nor genjutsu. Wounded badly by the Phoenix, he had spent years slowly building up the boy's chakra coils only to learn that his prison STILL couldn't access those arts properly. Kyubi looked around its cell again, and considered the raw power level of the jailor.

For one thing, the little black cat the Kyubi knew responsible for all this had apparently not found the idea of a jail cell in a sewer to be sufficiently amusing. In order to fulfill the conditions of being a seal, the containment had to be a containment but the overall effect was not quite the same.

This 'prison' was in the shape of a 'shinto' style shrine with an offering box and little jangly bells and such in the front. It was a cage still, apparently no getting around that, but one with satellite TV and books and other things.

The Demon Fox knew that it itself had been altered by the cat-being. For a few moments it had had an intelligence level that would have astounded any number of beings. Even now it retained an intelligence level that humans would have rated as about 200. Compared to its normal level of intelligence, which was far more animalistic, this was still extreme.

With a sigh, the Demon Fox considered the telephone over on a stand. Two speed dial buttons. One to its host. One to that Elder which had started the current mess.

With another sigh, the Demon Fox punched the second button.

"Hello? You know darn well who this is," said the Demon Fox into the phone. "Look. You did this. You altered things around. Now I'm here. Yes, I'm ready to make the best of the situation. Uh huh. I'll tell you what the bloody problem is. My host currently hasn't gotten any benefit out of having me here. It's like having a tanker full of jet fuel and the only thing around to fuel up is an old pickup truck. Anachronism? Look, YOU are the one who set me up with 347 channels including the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. I've also found a certain fascination with the Military Channel. Hmmm? No I don't see how they could build any of it, I just like things that go boom in a satisfactory manner. About Rock Lee though. All I'm saying is just fix a couple of tiny little things. Oh yes, as a matter of fact I DO have a few suggestions."

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"Ungh," groaned Lee as he twisted and turned in his sleep. "Turtles..."

Yes, Lee, I am the Turtle Sage, said the being shrouded in mist.

"Why turtles?" asked dream-Lee.

... mumbled the Turtle Sage.

"What?" asked Lee.

Look. I just AM, said the Turtle Sage. Nobody bothers asking about slugs, toads, snakes, and so on — and they're getting frogs and toads mixed up when they ARE talking about them. So can we just get on with your insane-yet-effective taijutsu training?

"This has a chance of making me a splendid ninja?" asked Lee.

Not only will this make you a splendid ninja, but you'll be able to kick butt on anyone who tells you that you CAN'T be, said the Turtle Sage.

"Tell me more," said Rock.

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"There is a problem," said one of the minions.

"HOW is there a problem?" asked one of the lords of the Akatsuki.

"Naruto Uzumaki contains the twelve-tails," said the minion.

"Yes. Your point?" asked Deidara, sounding impatient. It might have been a secret to nearly everyone else, but there had been enough people present to see that happening.

"If you have to seal the beasts in the order of their number of tails, won't we have to find the tenth and eleventh tailed beasts then?" asked the minion.

Deidara stopped moving forward when Itachi held up a hand.

"We've killed the last three minions to ask that question," said Itachi. "We're either going to have to address the issue or start cutting out tongues."

Deidara grinned and held up a small knife.

"There is no Twelvetails," said Itachi, addressing everyone. "Let that be known and understood. Anyone else questioning this will be given to the Corpseworks."

There was much frantic nodding amongst the faceless, but not entirely mindless, minions.

Itachi nodded once in apparent satisfaction. "Go out and find the beasts, then keep them under surveillance."

"I've got a question," asked Hidan as the minions moved out.

"Oh?" asked Itachi.

"Where DID you get that color of nail polish? It is simply to dye for," asked Hidan.