._.-._.-Ignore at your own discretion-._.-._.
I know I should be updating my other stories instead of starting a new one, trust me, I know. But for some reason, call it author's block or whatever you want, I'm unable to write new chapters for my current stories.
A while back I read somewhere in this site, that the best way to get out of an author's block is to focus on something else, ideally another story, and thus I thought 'hey! I have tried everything else, what can I lose trying this?' and lo and behold here is my attempt at getting out of this author's block. Hopefully it will work and I will update my other stories; Werefox preferably, I have let that one forgotten quite a long time already.
A WARNING: I don't think I will ever finish this story. I'm just using it as a stepping stone to be able to update the other ones, and publishing it for the heck of it! People are free to use what I write in this story for whatever non-profitable purpose they wish, I don't care.
I don't want to take this story too seriously because then it would lose its purpose, thus it will probably turn into crap and have tons of plot holes. Flames, critiques and advice will be duly ignored for the same reason, in this story only. I gladly accept all of that for my other stories.
So, on with the story, it's quite cliché and I know that so don't even bother pointing it out.
Standard disclaimer: I only own food and the computer where I'm writing this. Other than that I'm completely broke.
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Prologue
Fox spirits, beasts of myth and mystery. No one knows much about them because few, if any, have seen them. The village I live in, however, is afraid out of its wits by their mere mention, and by extension, me. I read somewhere that ignorance breeds fear, throw fear into a crowd and it will join with their confidence in numbers to breed hate, which then will grow into violence. So, if you do the math it's quite obvious that, since they fear me, my life isn't that good.
But I'm a different case, I know about fox spirits. I should, since I coexist with one every day. In a beginning I didn't know about this soul residing within me. I was kept in the shadows about it by the man I called a grandfather, and learned of it only because someone let it slip, if not for that, I would still be clueless.
Since I learned of it, I never talked with the fox, I was afraid and, to be honest, resentful towards it. Until a while after the revelation I lost control and the fox took over.
Flashback
"Is this the first time you lose someone important to you?"—asked the masked shinobi within the ice mirrors—"this is the life of shinobi"
"Shut up"—whispered Naruto while holding the body of his rival—"I won't forgive you"
End Flashback
After that I don't know the details of what happened, the rage took over and I lost all sense of myself. The fox went on a rampage against the first target in front of it, he mauled Haku mercilessly.
In the end I regained my senses and we won that fight. But I was so exhausted by the end of it that I was unconscious for two days, that's what my companions told me anyway. It was during this time that I first talked with the beast.
Flashback
"So the human finally dares to visit me"—said the fox as its host entered stepped in front of the cage it was in—"Weren't you afraid, kid?"
"I don't know how you did it, stupid fur ball, but I won't ever let you take over again!"—growled Naruto. The fox seemed actually amused by this.
"Hahaha, as if I would want to actually take your weak puny body! If I did before, it was so that I didn't die. It's not in my best interest for you to perish just yet"
"I don't care, you will be sorry if it happens once more. And what do you mean with just yet?"
"What it means, human, is that I just have to wait a little longer and I won't need you alive anymore"—the fox said this with a cruel smirk.
"Oh yeah? And why's that?"—asked Naruto apprehensively.
"Hehehe, because in just little more than a month from now, I will be 10,000 years old, at that time I will finally get my last boost of power and rise to be the king of demons, the Juubi! Hahahahaha"
"So, it's not that you will be free then, you just become more powerful, that's fine, you will still be caged in there anyway"—said Naruto. Kyuubi got angry at that.
"You will free me human! You won't dare to keep me prisoner! You humans have no right to keep me caged! I will devour your soul brat!"
"The fact that you got so worked up just means I'm right. Not even with that power up you will get, will you be able to break away from me"—Naruto smirked triumphantly. This comment gave the Kyuubi pause.
"You're insightful! Since when?"—The fox asked. Clearly taken aback by Naruto's uncharacteristic demeanor.
"Where have you been stupid legged rug?"—asked the blond openly smirking—"That I act stupid for my own safety doesn't mean I'm actually dumb"
"And why would you do that? Letting the other humans believe you're weak"
"Now who is dumb? Because if they fear me as it is and become violent because of it, then if they thought I was a bigger threat they would act out. As of now they only make cruel remarks about me, I can live with that no problem. But if they fear me more, they will become more desperate to get rid of me, and then they will openly try to kill me, something they are wary to do for now because of the Hokage, but even that won't be able to stop them if they become desperate. I act weak, fox, because of you (1)"
"Then you really are stupid, if you show them that you're strong then they will be wary of acting"
"No, they won't. They would if there were few of them, but there are many so they will act, knowing that in the end they will overcome me with numbers. With enough people even civilians can kill the Hokage, and I'm not as strong"—said the blond—"Even with you I wouldn't be able to survive something like that. I'm not dumb, I know you have been healing whatever wounds I get while training, but I also noted that it takes some time. If worse comes to shove, not even your healing will save me from death (2)"
"Foolish human! Prey will always run away from predators, you only have to show them which you are and they will run"
"Maybe, but that's instinct. Humans have next to no instinct at all; they have overcome it with their so called rationality. It's the reason there have been so many wars"
"Well then, if that's true then I won't need to make you free me. The humans of your village will do it for me"—the fox chuckled malevolently. Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Why?"
"The moment I get my rise of power, not even this seal will be able to contain the energy that will be released. Everyone, regardless of if they are shinobi or civilian, children or adults, nearby or faraway, they all will notice the wave of power that my ascension will cause! And they will all point to you when it happens. And they will deem you a threat and kill you. Hahahaha"
"If that happens you will die too!"—growled Naruto.
"And just as I said. It won't matter; my only concern is that you don't die before that. If you die I will only go to makai, it won't be permanent though, I will be able to escape easily enough and in less than a year I will be roaming the earth again. This time, as the demon king!"
"Really? And what prevents me from informing the Hokage of this?"—asked a peeved Naruto.—"What impedes me of preparing, now that you have informed me, a new vessel for you to be sealed again. If I learned something from Haku, it's to protect that which I love. And while most people in Konoha are assholes that I couldn't care less about, there are a few who I care about. If I'm going to die because of you, I will make sure you can't do anything to harm them"
"You damn human! I will crush you and that village if you even dare and try to seal me again! I will devour all your souls!"
"You will do that anyway"—said Naruto calmly. He felt better now that he had gotten the fox annoyed.
"If you do anything to prevent my freedom I will make sure"
"You got me curious, what happens if I die before that?"—asked the blond.
"And why should I tell you?"
"Because, you seem so desperate to prevent such outcome that I might just try to find out"—the kyuubi's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You wouldn't dare"
"Wouldn't I? Now that you're threatening the people I love I might do just about anything"—the young shinobi challenged—"So, why are you afraid of me dying before your power boost?"
"Grrrrr…Because, if I go to makai before then, the countdown to my power boost will restart. I will have to wait 1000 more years before I get another chance, and by then the Hachibi will have a chance too. There cannot be two kings, so I will have to fight for the title, and while I can beat the Hachibi now, I won't be so sure by then since we will have equal powers. If you die now, I will remain being a kyuubi and hachibi will become a kyuubi too. It's not in my best interest to have a rival for kingship"
"Hehehe. I see"—Naruto said slowly, Kyuubi narrowed his eyes suspiciously—"What says you, Kyuubi, if we strike a deal?"
"Hehehe, you're in no position to strike deals kid. In the current situation I have the complete advantage. There is nothing you could offer that would interest me"
"Really? I can offer not to kill you now"
"You? Kill me? Hahahaha, good joke kid, but you've neither the gut nor the power to do so"
"You forget we are in my mind, my realm, my reality. I can effectively destroy you if I wish and then you will be sent to makai"
"You will die in the process, runt"
"Do you want to try? I have free time from here until I have to wake up"
"What do you want?"
"Are you really so afraid of not becoming the juubi?"
"I'm the kyuubi! The strongest demon in existence! I won't let the hachibi take the throne just because one little human brat didn't know his place! I will not be inferior to that stupid squid! Name your price, scum"
"Hehehe, who would have thought? You were right Kyuubi, the people of Konoha won't doubt when pointing at me the moment they feel your ascension. I want two things from you. I want the means to survive me releasing you. I won't have you inside me any longer if I can help it, the moment you become Juubi my life will become worse and if I release you that can change. With you and me being separated, people won't have more option than to accept I'm not you. The second thing I want is a substitute for the power I will lose the moment I set you free. I want the means to defend those I care about from anyone, including you"
"Grrr…impudent human. You dare ask impossibilities. Neither request can I grant. The first because this seal was made with the power of the Shinigami, the power of a demon can't override the power of a god. Other than that, I know nothing about seals so I can't do shit about this one, otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion. The second request is even more outrageous, no matter how powerful I become, I cannot grant power equal to that of demons; the most I would be able to do is grant you power equal to that of powerful humans"
"I see. Then what can you do, useless demon"—Kyuubi, insulted by the remark decided to brag about his power, again.
"You insolent human, you cannot even hope to be as powerful as the weakest demon. Don't ever call me useless! I'm the next king of demons! My powers go beyond your wildest dreams. You humans have seen how destructive I can be, that's only the surface of my abilities! I can breathe life to the dead land, or bring famine to the richest soils! I can tap into the knowledge of the universe and tear down the dimensional walls! I can exterminate an entire race with but a flick of my tails! You dare not…"
"Hold on! Let's track back a little. What was that you said?"—asked Naruto quite seriously.
"Hmp…that I can exterminate an entire race with but a flick of my tail. I haven't done so with the humans because you're so spread across the land that it's just not worth it."
"Not that, you stupid fox. The thing about dimensions. Are you telling me there are other dimensions out there?"
"Millions!"
"Perfect, and are there humans in other realities? Can you bring them here?"
"Sadly, yes. And if by here you mean inside your mind, then yes. But I can only bring those who died the moment I summoned them or just an instant before."
"Then, this is what we will do, fox. You say you can give me the power equal to that of powerful humans. The day of your ascension, just as you get your new power, you will summon the ten most powerful humans you can get from ten different dimensions and give me their power and knowledge. Since you can't fulfill my request about being safe during the extraction, I also want your word that you won't attack the place I call home"
"Hehehe, it won't matter, brat. Nothing will save you from perishing when you release me, why bother? Besides, why should I grant you the power of ten? You shall be content with one"
"I suppose that you don't want to become the TEN tailed demon king. You want your tenth tail, you will give me the power of ten"—said Naruto defiantly.
"Tch…alright. But not even with the power of ten humans together will you be able to defy any demon"
"Give me your word. As a demon, and as a future demon king, promise on your soul that you shall fulfill your end of this deal"
"And I shall bind you likewise, human, to fulfill yours"
End Flashback
After that, Kyuubi and I talked for the remaining of my unconsciousness. Discussing the details of our agreement. On the day of his ascension, I would go to a location away from any civilization and set barriers to prevent anyone interrupting us. I needed to do some research on barriers. After his power boost he would summon the ten most powerful souls available to him and give me their powers and memories. I would release him afterwards.
Why was I doing this? Out of despair. If I didn't, then the fox's power up would make the people uneasy about me and they would try to kill me. It wouldn't take long for the kyuubi to get out of Makai with his newfound power and he would be free to cause chaos everywhere, and I wouldn't be able to protect my loved ones. With this deal I at least have a small chance of surviving the extraction and defending my home from the fox itself if necessary.
The fox asked me why I was so set on killing myself. Truly, I'm not. I really wish to live a long and prosperous life. But the only thing that seemed to frighten the fox enough to strike a deal with me was threatening to send him to makai before it was convenient for him.
.-._.-._.
I woke up two days after the battle at the bridge, and by then the structure was almost complete. My team and I would be able to leave not even a week later. Once in the village we spent a few days doing D-Ranks and training, we were back to our usual routine. Until Kakashi informed us about being entered into the chuunin exams.
Things were very hectic for the following few of days. First was the nervousness of being entered into such a big event, knowing that our skills would be heavily tested. Then there was meeting those Suna shinobi. That redhead, Gaara, he gives me the creeps, I believe he also has a demon, but kyuubi wouldn't say anything. The first test of the exam was quite taxing. Not physically, but mentally. The proctor was a master of putting people on edge; I never thought a written exam would be so exhausting.
The second test was even worse. And their lives were at risk more than once. We had to survive an encounter with Orochimaru, the member of the Sannin who turned traitor. The kunoichi of our team, Sakura, had to fight against a team from Oto for quite a while before she was helped by Rock Lee, another Konoha Genin. Sasuke awoke a dark power given to him by Orochimaru and pounded the Oto team to the ground.
After that, things seemed to have calmed down; we were finally able to reach our goal and pass the test. But, immediately after that, we were thrown into a set of preliminary fights to see who got to fight in the final test; I had to fight Kiba Inuzuka.
I won, but I had never been so ashamed before that. If I'm honest, I won just because of luck. I might be seen as an idiotic braggart; I'm anything but, and I will be the first to admit that currently I'm weak. Even if I fought to my best abilities without worrying about what the people might do is they find out I'm not as weak as they believe, I'm still too weak for a shinobi.
We were given a month to prepare for the finals. I went and asked Kakashi for training, but he told me he would be training Sasuke. I was enraged at first; I needed as much, if not more, training as Sasuke. But then I remembered that the time for Kyuubi's power up was very near. It was for the best that Kakashi didn't train me then, I don't need to be under his watchful eye when shit hits the fan.
Right now I'm in a cave a couple of hundred miles away from the nearest village, which is quite far from Konoha. Normally Genin wouldn't be allowed out of the village unless it was for a mission. But with the Chuunin exam as a factor, it wasn't as suspicious if one of the participants went away to get some training. So I had no opposition on my way out. All in all, it took me 3 days to reach this cave, so it should take a Jounin at least one day to get here, quite a lot of time to do what I need to do.
I created a group of eight shadow clones and sent them to create a barrier. The barrier I found was created by Orochimaru himself for the research & development division of the village, in order to protect them from any unexpected reactions from their experiments. So it was quite resistant against jutsu, explosions and whatnot. It's called the Four Flames Barrier, but I thought, more is better so I modified it to be the Eight Flames Barrier, thus the eight clones.
I stood in the center of the cave and ordered a new clone to knock me out. I don't have the patience to meditate and this works just as well. I woke up in front of the fox's cage.
"The time is near. I can feel the power building up"—commented the fox, not even acknowledging the blond.
"Remember, they must be the strongest you can get, otherwise I won't consider your part as fulfilled"
"As per our agreement, my part will never be fulfilled as long as you draw breath"
"True, but you won't be free if you don't do your very best. You can go the rest of MY life without attacking my home village; after I die it won't be my problem"
"Such selfish human"
"We, humans, are selfish, and with the crap I have been put through, I believe I have earned the right to be selfish."—At that moment, the Kyuubi started to glow and eerie red.
"It's time, I shall reign supreme!"
The energy wave was felt everywhere throughout the nations and every village was put on edge. In Konoha, underground, a man covered in bandages who had been enjoying a cup of tea, saw how the cup broke while in his hand. Things were about to become…troublesome.
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(1) This is true, in the manga there was NEVER a mention of the villagers attacking Naruto physically. That trend started here in fan fiction as a tool to push for certain outcomes, but in cannon Naruto was never physically mistreated; just verbally, and in whispers at that. The mistreatment of Naruto was that people of the village actually went out of their way to IGNORE him, not abuse him.
(2)This is true too. Those who really pay attention to the manga and don't exaggerate things will notice that Naruto's healing, though fast, isn't immediate. Wounds take less to heal, but it's still not instant.