Welcome to my first Naruto Fanfic. Enjoy!
Italics are thoughts/conversations inside Naruto's head
Naruto screamed. Kyuubi screamed. Madara laughed darkly at his victim's pain. He finally had the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the last of the tailed beasts. Soon he would put his plans into action, and the world would be his. Or so the madman thought.
The last of the Akatski worked to complete the extraction, and the seventh tail was reached. In the seal on the young blonde shinobi's body, the ultimate failsafe was triggered. This was the final line of defence, written into the seal by the Fourth Hokage, disallowing forced extraction from the jinchuuriki. Upon reaching the seventh tail, the Kyuubi felt its chakra, its whole psyche; begin merging into Naruto's.
The extracted tails began to return into the young man's body, to the astonishment of the remaining members of the Red Dawn, and the utter dismay of their leader. Now was the demon lord's turn to laugh. Taking possession of the jinchuuriki's body, the Kyuubi spread its chakra from the limp form, creating an insubstantial energy body.
"You dare to harm my brethren, and my kit?" Thundered the glowing chakra beast, "I shall destroy you!" Madara turned the Eternal Mangyoku onto the giant red eyes, trying to control the enraged youkai like he had done decades before.
"Foolish Human," Kyuubi laughed, "You can no longer control me. The failsafe was triggered, and I am merging with my host. Before I go, I will show you the error of your greed."
The giant chakra fox whipped its multiple tails through the condemned shinobi, the mere touch poisoning their bodies. The Kyuubi laughed manically, seeing the life of the dying jinchuuriki flash through its mind. Roaring in the shared pain, the demon used its claws to destroy the statue that held its captive brethren. The tailed beasts flooded from their broken prison, and converged upon their rapidly dying saviour.
"Kyuubi no Kitsune, you shall not cease to exist." They intoned as one. With a blinding flash, and explosion that rocked the entire continent, the mountain hideaway belonging to the Akatski was annihilated.
The Kyuubi no Kitsune was heading towards the Village Hidden in the Leaves, under the control of a madman. The demon felt an odd sense of de ja vu.
'Ah, so this is what they did. I can change things for my kit.'
In an unexpected move, Kyuubi threw out one of its tails, knocking a tall blonde haired man off the back of the boss toad, disrupting the seal array he had been placing. The youkai lord smiled, then let out an ear splitting roar, causing a minor earthquake.
The beast ignored the tug it felt from the madman Madara, trying to urge the demon lord further towards the village. In the partial merger, Kyuubi had taken a part of its host's soul, entwined in its own, back into the past. The madman did not have full control this time.
An imposingly tall white haired man replaced the previous blonde in completing the seal on the newborn child; an older man in battle armour joining him. The Kyuubi thrashed its head, and let out another shrieking roar, fighting against the outside urges to kill and destroy everything in its path.
The white haired man completed the seal to the best of his ability, and stepped away from the one in armour.
The elder man performed the hand signs, sending his chakra into the seal, calling upon the shinigami. As the death god appeared, reaching to take the Kyuubi's soul and imprison it in the newborn child, the great youkai laughed. Laughed and hoped that the shinigami would take the madman who was at fault too. Then, there was darkness. A strangely familiar darkness. The Kyuubi no Kitsune chucked darkly, and settled itself to rest in the sealed cage.
The Kyuubi was startled awake after its prolonged nap. The jinchuuriki was suffering through the first poison attempt; though this time the boy was older. Not by much, but at least slightly older. The boy's chakra was dealing with the poison. His healing was like a kekkai genkai, inherited from his birth-mother. Ignoring the poison, the youkai lent his chakra to its host's pained screaming, hoping to alert another human to the child's distress. Maybe they will catch and execute the traitor this time.
Another of the white masked ANBU slammed through the door, sensitive nose picking up on the scent of the poison laced into the child's bottle.
"What have you done?" The Wolf masked ANBU growled.
"Apparently nothing, the damn demon is still alive." The other muttered ruefully, knowing full well the consequences now that he was caught. A brief flash of movement, and the attempted poisoner's head rolled on the floor, free from the body it had previously sat upon. Blood sprayed over the infant, and the Kyuubi enjoyed tasting it through the child's senses. The wolf ANBU turned his eyes to the blood-stained child.
"Oh look, it's Wolf-san." Rumbled the Kyuubi from its cage. At the sound of the beast's voice inside his conscious, the jinchuuriki abruptly stopped crying.
"Ah, you can hear me little one." Stated the youkai, "Smile for Wolf-san, my kit, he stopped one who would hurt you." The child of barely one year of age, smiled at the masked man. The man couldn't help but think how innocent the child looked, even covered in blood.
"Well, I suppose I'd better get you cleaned up." Sighed the Wolf. With its kit under suitable care for the time being, the Kyuubi turned to thinking of how it could protect the child and itself, and make its vessel strong enough for what would come in the future.
'I saved that useless human this time, and the kit is still being poisoned.' The great beast shook its head sadly. 'Now, what can I do to one-up that damned Shukaku? The Ichibi vessel had the sand. What can beat sand? Wet sand can't move as fast. And no need for a gourd with all the water in the air and the ground.' The beast mused, then set to work.
The small, thin four year old child smiled impishly as a wall of water appeared from seemingly no-where, blocking the sharp kunai that were thrown at him. He giggled at his would-be attackers stupefied expressions, as their supposed sneak attack turned to dust. Raising one hand, the water wall morphed, reaching towards the stunned men, sliding through their nostrils and open mouths, into their lungs, drowning them within their own bodies. The small blonde watched in morbid fascination as the men clawed at their own throats and chests, trying desperately to breathe. As the men moved their last, glassy eyes open with expressions of absolute terror, the strangling water receded from their corpses, returning to the damp ground. The child picked up the forgotten kunai, pocketed them, and cheerfully skipped away.
'Did I do good Father?' The child mentally asked.
"Yes my kit. You did very well." Complimented the demon, "Now hurry, the Hokage will be displeased if you are any later." The child nodded to himself, and sped up to a run, heading towards the Hokage tower. The ANBU team stationed to watch over the child, slid out of the shadows and silently followed. The child ran straight up the outer wall of the tower, and slid into the office through an open window.
"Hokage-sama." The small blonde greeted.
"Naruto, why do you still call me 'Hokage-sama' when we are not in public?" The tall, blonde Hokage asked wearily.
"Fa-Kyuubi told me that the name 'Father' is earned, not given. So Kyuubi is 'Father', and you are 'Hokage-sama'." The child replied, grinning innocently. The demon chuckled in his cage.
"I guess I deserve that." The man muttered to himself. The Fourth Hokage was rather ashamed of his actions in regards of his son. After the boy was born, and the Nine-tailed Fox sealed within, Minato was too lost in his grief for his deceased wife to pay attention to him. Naruto had been raised by the ANBU and the demon fox imprisoned in his body. Shortly after the boy's third birthday, he was unintentionally witness to yet another attempt on his son's life and he hadn't even known about the boy's water based defence mechanism. The respectable Fourth Hokage was then told by the ANBU on duty that the boy had been able to defend himself with the demon-given ability since he was a one year old. When the man retreated to his private quarters that night, he cried for how much of his own child's life he had missed.
"The Kazekage and his son will be here soon."The Hokage told the boy. Naruto merely smiled innocently in response, and followed the village leader to the meeting room.
While the two village leaders got to discussing the renewal of treaties and trade allowances, Naruto looked to the only other child in the room, a silent, red-headed boy about his own age. The other boy didn't greet anyone, show any expression what-so-ever, nor sit down and join Naruto in his drawing.
"Hey Kit." The Kyuubi called, "That one holds the Ichibi. He is like you." The little blonde smirked as he got an idea. Father had told him that the Shukaku vessel used sand like he used water, so that logically meant that that was what was contained within the gourd on the red-head's back. Concentrating, Naruto fed his chakra into the water vapour in the air, directing as much as possible into the sand gourd. The humidity of the room dropped drastically, and the little red-head fell on his butt from the sudden extra weight. Naruto giggled and his demon sniggered.
"Hi, I'm Naruto." The blonde introduced himself to the still surprised boy. He sat next to the red-head, handed him some paper, and placed a crayon in his hand. "What's your name?"
"Gaara." Replied the still stunned red-head. "Aren't you scared of me?"
"Nope." Naruto replied easily, "Father says he's stronger than Shukaku." Startled, Gaara looked towards the Hokage.
"No, that's Hokage-sama." Corrected the blonde, "Father." He tapped a finger to his own head for explanation.
"You are like me?"Gaara asked. "And how did you know about Mother?"
"Father told me. He says 'Mother' is in pain and you should see a seal-master." Naruto calmly explained, continuing his drawing. "You going to draw something?"
Gaara looked to the yellow crayon in his hand, and the blank paper in front of him. With one more wary glance to the blonde next to him, he began drawing as well.
Naruto stomped towards the Hokage's office. The ANBU guarding the door cringed at the angry aura the small blonde was giving off, and hurried out his way. They had all seen the boy throw people with giant waves, or drown them in their own bodies before. Though he'd never hurt anyone who wasn't actively trying to kill him, they were still wary of the chibi jinchuuriki.
"Where is Wolf-san?" The little boy demanded of the Hokage. The man looked up from his paperwork.
"On the mission I gave to him." The elder blonde replied. "You have Cat to watch you today." In truth, he knew this would be coming. Wolf had been on permanent Naruto-watch since the child was born, and was one of the few ANBU who actually interacted with the boy. To be perfectly honest, the Fourth was a little jealous of his ex-pupil.
"Cat-san doesn't talk to me. I want Wolf-san back." Was little Naruto's reply.
"Well I'm sorry, but I need my ANBU to go on missions when I tell them." The Hokage replied evenly.
"Who's going to help me practise with my kunai now? I want my Wolf-san back." The boy whined.
"Alright, first off, Wolf is my ANBU, not yours." The Hokage snapped, "And I'll help you with your kunai if you want."
"When? When you get home at midnight?" Hissed Naruto, before he turned on his little heel and stormed out of the tower, Cat the ANBU trailing in his wake.
'Father! He took away my Wolf-san!' Naruto cried to his tenant. 'He took him away from me.'
"I know, my kit, he is just jealous. You must make do without for the time being. Wolf-san will be back." The Kyuubi tried to reassure his distraught vessel. "I will teach you a jutsu that you can show Wolf-san when he returns, yes?" The boy still sniffled a little, but turned his total concentration to the demon's instruction. Once his vessel was otherwise occupied, concentrating on the sheet-less Kakuremino no Jutsu variation that it had just explained, the Kyuubi retreated to his thoughts.
'Foolish man, taking away Kit's only human contact. Now how will he learn things like human emotion?' The demon mused. 'I assume the man will feel guilt and return Wolf-san. It would not have been easy to convince him to leave my kit to begin with; I will have to distract Kit until Wolf-san is returned.'
The Wolf masked ANBU spent the next six years doing almost back to back missions. As soon as he had the energy to ask after Naruto, or begin covertly looking for the child, he was called on for another mission. He felt that his old sensei was punishing him for the argument they'd had regarding Naruto's upbringing, and the council's intervention into such. He'd eventually given the Hokage a nice black eye in his frustration. Six years of exhaustion was a long punishment for a black eye.
The wolf ANBU stumbled into the Hokage's office late one night of the sixth year, to report before heading home to sleep. It had been a tough mission; his uniform was covered in dirt and dried blood, only some of which was his own, and he hadn't slept in four days. The man was on the verge of simultaneously collapsing, and giving in to the hallucinations that were buzzing around in the back of his mind.
The Hokage studied his subordinate while the man gave his oral report. Slowly his guilt rose as he took in the man's battered appearance, and bone weary stance.
"Mask off Kakashi." He quietly ordered. Beneath the ceramic wolf mask, was a cloth mask covering the bottom two-thirds of the ANBU's face, his right eye was dark grey and half closed as though fighting off sleep, the left closed in an effort to preserve chakra, and somehow looked mildly bruised under the scar. Even the man's silver, gravity-defying hair seemed to be wilting with exhaustion. The Hokage winced.
"As of now I am officially retiring you from active ANBU duty. You will return to normal jonin status, and be taking on a genin team including one Uchiha Sasuke, as per the council's request. You will be testing the team in seven days time. Until then, you are on paid leave to rest. Any questions?" The blonde explained.
"No, Hokage-sama." The silver haired one replied in a flat, dead tone. The hokage winced again.
"Alright, dismissed." He sighed, holding out the student profiles of the three genin. Kakashi placed his ANBU mask on the Hokage's desk directly in front of the man, took the profiles, bowed once, and slowly made his way out of the tower, and towards his home and bed.
It wasn't until the morning that he was supposed to meet his genin team that Kakashi finally looked at the student profiles.
Naruto and his new team were the last left waiting for their new jonin sensei. The pinkette, Sakura, was simpering and cooing over the brooding Uchiha, who was pointedly ignoring the girl. Naruto decided to meditate. He could calmly await the tardy teacher by the fox's cage, thus ignoring his team mates as much as they were ignoring him.
"Kit, a jonin is approaching." The fox informed him.
"Thanks Father." The blonde replied, leaving his mediative state.
Naruto brought his right hand up to his shoulder, calling forth vapour from the atmosphere, creating a ball of chakra reinforced water in the palm of his hand. As soon as a silver topped head peered around the half-open door, Naruto hurled the ball of water at the man. It splattered right in the jonin's face, soaking his head and shirt. Before the man cleared the water from his singular visible eye, the blonde rearranged his features from a foxy grin, to an angelic smile. Coupled with his big blue eyes, blonde hair, soft tan skin and small stature, his mere appearance tended to keep him out of trouble. Who could stay mad at an angel? The jonin finally cleared the water out his face enough to see and speak.
"So we have here, a devil (looking to the Uchiha), an angel (looking to Naruto), and a... flower? (Looking to Sakura)" He muttered, sounding utterly bored. "Meet me on the roof in two minutes." The man then 'poofed' away, with a swirl of leaves and a small cloud of chakra smoke.
"Why'd you do that for Naruto?" Shrieked Sakura. Sasuke merely glared.
"He was late." Was all the blonde responded with, heading for the stairs to the roof.
'He smelled like Wolf-san.' Naruto told his tenant.
"That's because he is Wolf-san." Growled Kyuubi, "His being your sensei wasn't changed by my disruption of the time-line."
'Good. Though I wish the pink banshee being on my team would have changed though.' The boy grumbled back. The great youkai merely chuckled darkly, choosing not to divulge that previously the boy had had a ridiculous crush on the girl at this age. Naruto had already been informed of his previous over-abundance of orange clothing, and as a result of having seen the Kyuubi's memories, had steadfastly refused to wear any orange. Ever. Which, of course, completely spoiled all of the demon's fun. Black shinobi pants and sandals, and a blue sleeveless hooded jacket, were nothing to be made fun of.
"You know, last time around, all you did to the poor man was make a chalk duster fall on his head." Kyuubi sniggered. "Last time you got him dirty, and this time you got him clean, it cancels itself out." Naruto snorted out loud.
"What are you laughing at, dobe?" Sasuke sneered unpleasantly. Naruto gave him an evil grin, and then walked past the other boy, onto the roof. The brunette felt a chill go down his spine at the blonde's expression.
After the introductions, Kakashi told the team about the test the next day, where to meet and when. Once again, the man made a quick jutsu escape. Naruto's team mates left as well; Sakura trying to follow Sasuke, and Sasuke trying valiantly to leave the girl behind.
'He forgot about me! My wolf-san forgot about me!' The blonde boy felt like crying.
"Stop it." The demon snapped, "Use your nose Kit. The man was trying to suppress his nerves every time he looked at you. Now stop acting like a spoilt brat." The Kyuubi growled in its cage.
'I... Yes Father. You're right.' The boy calmed his internal tantrum.
"Of course I'm right. You can make it up to me by finding those missing nin we read about in the Hokage's office .Now hurry, I am hungry."
'Yes Sir!' Naruto smiled. The boy took off, moving as fast as he could, in the direction of the missing nin's last known camp. Wouldn't the ANBU be surprised when they found tonight's mission done for them?