Shi no Mae no Seikatsu: Kaminari Kitsune no Taitō

(Life before Death: Rise of the Thunder Fox)

(死の前の生活:雷狐の台頭)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach. Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto and all things related to it, and Tite Kubo owns all that is Bleach. This story is simply a product of envy and admiration towards those with the proper ownership to the two series.


Chapter 1: Step To Me

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Satō, sat in his office looking through the files of the newly graduated Genin to decide who to place them with and who would go well together. Finally he reached one that made him smile sadly. The file was of a girl with sun-kissed hair, slim face and whisker marks on her cheeks, three on each. Her name was Uzumaki Naruko, someone Hiruzen saw as his unofficial grand-daughter, despite her distrust of him; she had become a strong shinobi, even with her, quite simply, horrible childhood.

At birth she had the strongest of the bijū, the Kyūbi no Kitsune, sealed inside her by the Yondaime Hokage, at the cost of his own life to protect the village. Hiruzen had proclaimed to the village what Naruko was, a Jinchūriki and a hero. But it had backfired; instead she was seen as the Kyūbi itself by a majority of the civilians and even some of his shinobi. In fear of what might happen to her, he created a law; no one could speak of what Naruko had sealed within her, at the penalty of immediate execution.

Naruko had been put in an orphanage, since he knew of no one who could care for her. He would visit often, and he knew she was being mistreated by the staff, she had told him so, but he had no proof, so he could do nothing. Until Naruko's fourth birthday, he had arrived at the orphanage unannounced and had found her being abused by the head of the orphanage. He had ordered the ANBU with him to seize her and take her to the Torture and Interrogation Force to be questioned and punished for treason. He had then asked Naruko to point out every one of the staff who had mistreated her, in the end only three staff members remained, all young women in their twenties.

Then Naruko had asked her jiji if he could get her a place of her own, not wanting to live in the orphanage anymore. Hiruzen had been hesitant, but could ultimately not deny her wish. Unfortunately he could not let a child live on her own, so he was forced to make her a legal adult and the only place he could get her was in the Red Light district, he hated to let her live there but she was so happy to her own place she didn't care where it was, the only thing she was sad about was that she left her only friend at the orphanage.

A year later, things had started to take a turn for the worse, while Naruko enjoyed living by herself; it meant she could now go outside more. There she discovered that a majority of the population glared at her for some reason she did not understand, and stores would raise the price of their wares by atleast three times when she tried to buy something. She didn't want to go to her jiji and bother him so she kept quiet and survived any way she could. As a form of revenge she started pranking people, training her stealth and trap making without knowing it.

On her sixth birthday, her life changed forever; a mob had formed and dragged her into an alley and started beating her, before one man had started to unbuckle his belt while they tore off her clothes. But before anything else could be done, an explosion of lightning and red chakra had come from Naruko, killing the mob and a sword had appeared in her small hands. One man had survived the powerful blast and was slowly crawling back from Naruko, who stood up and walked towards the man. Red, cold eyes had locked onto the man's brown ones before she thrust her new sword into his heart.

This was the scene Hiruzen and the ANBU squad with him encountered when they arrived, right before Naruko passed out, and met the Kyūbi. That day changed her, she grew quiet, and cold to those who would glare at her. She decided she could no longer trust people, not even her jiji, not after learning about the Kyūbi and that he had kept it from her, who knew what else he kept hidden from her? The only ones she wasn't directly distrustful to were the Ichiraku family, they had never treated her badly or lied to her. She dedicated herself to training and becoming stronger to defend herself and the few she called friends.

At age seven she was near genin level in fighting abilities, and it was during a training session where she met her future sister figure. Mitarashi Anko, a woman feared for her sadistic tendencies and hated for being trained by a traitor. Anko had been impressed by the fox girl and helped her, from training to simply getting a good price at a store, and she joined the small circle of people Naruko trusted and one of a few to see Naruko smile. Many saw this as a horrible thing, as Anko influenced Naruko a great deal, making her more sadistic and violent, though not as wild and loud. As a result her pranks turned wicked, when before she would have just painted a store in horrible neon colors, now she was more likely to set fire to their wares instead. Many had tried to have her punished for it, but there was never any evidence linking her to it.

At age eight Anko let her sign the snake contract, and taught her many snake techniques. She also learned that the sword that had appeared two years before was sentient, and a part of her, the manifestation of her fighting spirit, and established a connection with Kyūbi, spending many hours simply talking to the kitsune, gaining its grudging respect and learning that it didn't attack the village of its own will, but was forced. They even established a deal of sorts, Naruko let the kitsune see, feel and hear what she did, and he would lend her chakra when she required it, she told no one about this, not even Anko. She also started the Shinobi Academy, which she quickly found very boring.

At the age of nine she finally heard the name of her sword, and learned to use its techniques in secret, only Anko knew of this, as her sister/teacher. She kept learning, getting stronger. She also went to her first bar and started drinking and smoking.

Hiruzen, when he found out had tried to talk to her about it and get her to stop, but she didn't listen. Even when Anko tried (At the Hokage's request) she didn't stop, saying that "She was a legal adult." And had the right to do it if she wanted to.

Now, at age thirteen she had graduated the Academy with good marks, putting her somewhere in the middle of the class, even though had skills of around low to mid Chūnin level, according to Anko, and her stealth was good enough to disgrace the Hokage monument during daylight without being caught.

As Hiruzen looked at her file he was thinking on whom to put her with, Kakashi had requested her, but he wasn't sure that was the best place for her, Kakashi would have an assault type team, and while Naruko would fit fine in there, it would dismiss Naruko's stealth and trap making abilities. Looking at two other files he knew what he was going to do.


Uzumaki Naruko walked down the street towards the academy, hair done up in a spiky high ponytail, dressed in blue cargo pants with medical tape around her right thigh and both ankles, a midriff mesh shirt under a long sleeved blue midriff V-neck shirt with a red whirlpool symbol on the back. She had a red sash that around her shoulders, carrying a black and red katana with a fox-head shaped tsuba and an oddly shaped blade inside a black sheath. She also had a kunai holster on her right thigh over the tape.

Walking in to her class room she saw that she was one of the last to arrive, sitting down at the top of the room next to a window she sat down waiting for her "teacher" to arrive.

A few minutes later however a rumble and screaming voices could be heard before the door to the room was thrown open and two girls tried to run inside only to get stuck before managing to squeeze themselves in. These girls were Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, in Naruko's opinion, a disgrace to kunoichi everywhere, thought they did have potential, but they wasted it on fantasies of being married to Uchiha Sasuke, someone Naruko despised, everybody loved him and praised him and gave him so much special treatment, all because he was the "last loyal Uchiha" and yet the brat threw it all away and ignored and was disrespectful to everyone.

Before the two girls could start their yelling again Naruko spoke, her quiet tone somehow being easily heard by everyone in the room. "Ino-san, Sakura-san…please sit down and be quiet."

Not wanting to draw her anger the two quickly found places and sat down. The class had all seen what happened if you pissed off Uzumaki Naruko; the man who had done it still wasn't out of the hospital.

Finally their teacher, Umino Iruka entered, and was pleased to see that for once the class was quiet.

"Alright class, as of today you are all shinobi, to get here you've faced difficult trials and hardships, but that's nothing, what comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are a Genin, first level shinobi. All the Genin will be grouped into three-men squads, each squad will be led by a Jōnin, an elite shinobi." He explained.

"I will now announce the squads."

Naruko was having a hard time to not scoff at the Chūnin. 'Trials and hardships? The only one who knows any kind of hardship here except me is Sasuke, and he could have it a lot before if he wasn't such an ungrateful brat.'

Focusing back on Iruka she heard. "Squad Seven, Uchiha Sasuke, Akamichi Chōji and Haruno Sakura."

Before he could continue he was interrupted by Sakura's yell of joy, but immediately sat down and fell quiet as she felt Naruko's eyes on her.

"Next, Team Eight, Hyūga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. Now Squad Ten, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruko."

'So, an assault squad, a tracking squad, and a C.I.A squad, huh?' Naruko thought, looking over at her teammates, Shikamaru was ok, if lazy. Ino wasn't bad either, if she could drop the fan girl act.

After waiting for a couple of minutes her attention was drawn to the door as several people entered, a beautiful woman with ruby red eyes called for Team Eight while a tall man with black spiky hair, and beard, wearing the standard Konoha shinobi uniform with a sash with the kanji for "Fire" on it around his waist called for Team Ten, her team.


The Jōnin had led them to a barbeque shop, and they were now sitting in a booth, the three Genin on one side and the Jōnin on the other.

"Well, I guess we should introduce ourselves, I'll go first. My name is Sarutobi Asuma; I like smoking, sausage and soba with tororo, I dislike asparagus, my dream for the future is to settle down with a wife and have a few children. My hobby is to play shōgi." Asuma said, before pointing at Ino. "Your turn."

"My name is Yamanaka Ino; I like gardening, shopping and Sasuke-kun! I dislike Forehead Girl, and lazy bums! My dream is to marry Sasuke-kun and become a good shinobi! My hobby is shopping!" Ino proclaimed loudly, Asuma nodded before pointing to Shikamaru.

"Mendōkusei…My name is Nara Shikamaru, I like cloud watching and sleeping- I dislike fighting and anything troublesome. My dream is to marry a regular girl who isn't too ugly and not too pretty. Have two children, first a girl, then a boy. Retire after my daughter is married and my son becomes a successful shinobi, and spend the rest of my life playing shōgi or Go. Then die of old age before my wife. My hobbies are could watching, sleeping and playing shōgi or Go." Shikamaru said, giving a very detailed introduction. Asuma again nodded before directing his gaze on Naruko.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruko; I like Anko-nee, foxes, lightning, training, ramen, smoking and occasionally drinking. I dislike the three minutes it takes to boil water for ramen and I hate people who can't tell the difference between the scroll and the kunai. My dreams….doesn't concern you. My hobbies are training, watering plants and pranking." She said, smirking a bit at the last part.

"You drink and smoke?! You're only thirteen!" Ino exclaimed.

"And I've been a legal adult since four, besides we're ninja now; we're allowed to do anything an adult is."

"Okay, now that we know each other, to business, tomorrow we'll meet at training ground 10 at seven A.M, were I will test if you are worthy of being Genin." Asuma said.

"What?! We already became Genin though." Ino exclaimed.

"That exam was simply to see who qualified to become Genin, tomorrow will be your real test. Now unless you have any questions, you are all free to go home and get ready for tomorrow."

"Asuma-san...are you related to Hokage-jiji?" Naruko asked.

"Yes…he's my father." Asuma confirmed. Naruko nodded before leaving.


The next day Naruko was waiting at training ground 10, lying on a branch with her back against the trunk, smoking while practicing her calligraphy.

Sensing a presence she looked down and saw Ino sitting down against the tree below her, not noticing her presence. Shaking her head Naruko went back to concentrating on her calligraphy.

A loud voice cut through her concentration, looking down to see who decided to be so loud at 7 am.

Ino, of course it was, apparently because Shikamaru finally got there, just before the designated time.

Sighing Naruko put away her scroll and brush before dropping down, right next to Ino, scaring her in the process.

"Kami, Naruko-san please don't do that!" She said, holding her hand over her heart.

"Gomen Ino-san, but the fact that you didn't notice me above you when you sat down at the tree is atrocious for a ninja, I wasn't even concealing myself. I'd recommend you be more observant, it might save your life."

"That is very true, Naruko. You should listen to her Ino, it is good advice." Asuma said as he appeared in a Shunshin.

He led them over to the middle of the training ground, a big open area with a small river. "Now then, your mission is to capture and acquire information on the location of a scroll, how you do this is up to you. You have one hour starting…now!"

Two of the three aspiring Genin immediately jumped into the foliage, while Naruko simply stood looking up to the sky. "Aren't you going to hide as well?"

Naruko simply took a final puff on her cigarette before putting it out and flicking it off to the side. When the cigarette landed she was gone.

'Hmm, good stealth, especially Naruko, I can't even tell where she is.' Asuma thought.


As she looked for her teammates she thought to herself. 'How should I treat them? Neither have done anything to earn my ire, but if I open up…'

'Treat them neutrally then, and if they earn the right let them see your true self.' A voice in her head said.

'I guess that is the best option, thanks Sei.'

'Anytime Kit.'


"Ino-san, Shikamaru-san." Naruko said as she dropped down behind them.

"Naruko, I thought you'd find us. It was troublesome but I made a plan, but it'd be helpful if we all say some of our abilities. I can go first, I'm good at planning, decent at taijutsu, don't really know any genjutsu, I know the academy three and the Kagemane no jutsu." Shikamaru said before looking at Ino.

"Uh, I'm a sensor. I know the academy three and know the Shintenshin no jutsu. My taijutsu is good, I'm good at genjutsu but don't really have any useful ones and I have good knowledge on herbs and poisons."

Naruko nodded as she absorbed the information.

"I'm good with taijutsu and kenjutsu, I can only do one genjutsu except Henge and I can make solid clones and I know a few lightning ninjutsu and I can summon snakes. My stealth and trap making is among the best in the village, at least according to Anko-nee."

Shikamaru nodded before telling them his plan.


As Asuma was waiting, a barrage of kunai came flying at him from the forest. Grabbing one he deflected the rest, only to have to move to the side to dodge several chains coming from behind him.

Landing and feeling a presence behind him he turned and blocked a kick from Naruko, who ducked down and tried to sweep his legs from under him. He jumped over her attack before sending his own kick, hitting her in the head, only for her to disperse and turn into lightning, shocking a log, as Asuma had quickly used a Kawarimi to not get shocked.

"A Raiton: Kage Bunshin, Naruko? That's quite impressive. I thought only Kakashi knew that technique." He addressed the blonde girl, who had emerged from where the chains had come from.

"Then I guess it was him who left a scroll of it on my kitchen table a couple years back while I was out, I'll have to make sure to thank him for that. I thought I might as well put it to good use." She shrugged.

"So, you plan on taking me alone, is that it?"

Naruko didn't answer, instead settling for punching towards Asuma with her right hand and with a cry of "Sen'eijashu!" several snakes shot from her sleeve, intent on biting and restraining him.

"Snakes?!" Asuma exclaimed before jumping back to dodge the approaching snakes, he almost didn't notice the chains flying at him from the side. "Shit"

Quickly using Kawarimi he re-appeared in time to see the sharp kunai-like ends on the chains pierce the log. "I should've known Anko let you sign that contract. And those chains…" He trailed of as he looked to where the chains came from, seeing another Naruko, with chains coming out of her hands and arms. "I guess I have to take this seriously."

Asuma said as he pulled out his chakra blades. Naruko frowned as she made another hand seal. 'Just got to push him back a little more.'

"Raiton: Denkō Noroshi!" She exclaimed shooting an electrical discharge, that then changed into a big fox that rushed at Asuma.

"Fūton: Daitōppa!" Asuma said as he ran through hand seals before a strong wind slammed into the lightning jutsu, dispersing it.

Naruko appeared next to Asuma, swinging her sword down on him, he blocked by crossing his arms over his head before kicking Naruko away just as another clone came in with a swing, Asuma knowing better then to destroy it at such a close range settled for dodging, trying to get some distance.


Shikamaru and Ino watched as Naruko pushed Asuma back towards them.

"Holy shit, she's actually keeping up with him! How much was she holding back in the Academy?!" Ino whisper-yelled.

"Mendōkusei, Asuma-sensei is holding back thought, a lot. Get ready their almost in position."


Asuma was impressed, this girl was strong, much stronger than most Genin, and he had the feeling she was holding back, dodging another swing he jabbed at her, aiming to make her fall back, but in an impressive show of agility, she bent back, so her upper body was parallel with the ground, before flipping and pushing off his chest, sending him stumbling backwards.

"Now, Shikamaru!" Naruko exclaimed as she landed. A shadow quickly stretched from the bushes, connecting with Asuma's shadow, forcing him still. "Kagemane No Jutsu, success."

"Jagei Jubaku." Naruko said, as a big snake crawled out of her sleeve and wrapped itself around Asuma, further immobilizing him.

"Ino, your turn." Shikamaru said.

Nodding Ino quickly made a hand seal before exclaiming, "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" and dropping down unconscious.

Asuma went limp for a second before jerking up again and Ino, now in his control of his body, said. "Okay, I have the location." Before returning to her own body.

Nodding Naruko let her snake go before tying Asuma up with some ninja wire and signaled for Shikamaru to let go of his technique.


After avoiding a few traps that guarded it, and got the scroll, they returned back at the training ground to see Asuma waiting for them.

"Good job you three, thought letting Naruko fight all by herself was reckless. Never the less, it work and you got the scroll, so you pass. You are now Team 10." He said, getting a whoop of joy from Ino, a "Mendōkusei" from Shikamaru, and a nod from Naruko.

"Now how about we go celebrate."


AN: And that's the first chapter of the new story. Meant to have this out Monday but it was being difficult. As you've probably noticed Naruko is wastly different from Shi no Seikatsu, but don't worry, as the story progresses she's going to become more like in that one. Yes she uses snakes, I love Anko and wanted to give her a role in Naruko's life and snakes are awesome as well. You got a glimps of the name of Naruko's Zanpakutō in this chapter, however she probably won't release it until the Chūnin Exams. I gave Naruko Raiton affinity, anything else would be dumb. I also gave her her mother's chakra chain ability, 'cause to me it only makes sense that she'd be able to use them. I'm trying not to make Naruko too powerful...it's hard not too. But she won't be beating any Jōnin yet, but she'll be able to hold her own against them for a time. I put Naruko on Asuma's team as i thought she would fit better there, and since she has to get a close connection with Shikamaru eventually.


Translations and stuff:

Sandaime Hokage - Third Fire Shadow

Konohagakure no Satō - The Village Hidden In The Leafs

Bijū - Tailed Beast

Kyūbi no Kitsune - Nine Tailed Fox

Yondaime - Fourth

ANBU - Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai - Special Assassination and Tactical Squad

Jiji - Old man, Grandfather

C.I.A Squad - Capture Interrigation Assassination Squad

Mendōkusei -Troublesome

Kagemane No Jutsu - Shadow Imitation Technique

Shintenshin no Jutsu - Mind Body Transfer Technique

Raiton: Kage Bunshin - Lightning Release: Shadow Clone

Sen'eijashu - Hidden Shadow Snake Hands

Raiton: Denkō Noroshi - Lightning Release: Lightning Signal Flare

Fūton: Daitōppa - Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

Jagei Jubaku - Binding Snake Glare Spell


Till next time, Cuius of Caelum.