Prologue
A low humming is all he could hear inside of the blackness that had once again claimed his mind.
Dreamless sleep was not unusual to him, safe from the nightmares that haunted his waking hours when left alone to his own devices. However this darkness was not the same as those times, it felt safe, like pulling a thick blanket over his head to hide from the monsters that existed all around him every day.
This time was different though. He focused his mind and pushed through the thick darkness, what had once been a haven when he was younger now stifled him most nights, and as always he found himself inside of a large sewer pipe. The air was thick with the smell of death and decay; a graveyard could not have been stiller than this place as far as he was concerned.
The only sounds were of that distant humming, and drop of water striking the water's surface rhythmically, as though in time to his heart beats. However it was the many smaller pipes that caught his attention, each and every one glowing a fierce blue as they disappeared into the darkness behind him and on to wherever they went to.
He stepped forwards and listened to the sound of his footstep echo through the empty hallway. He took a breath before answering the singing with something of his own making.
"Her room is painted Heron Blue
Lit by candlelight and chandelier
And from her headboard perched so high
A million dreams have passed her"
He heard a soft gasp in reply, the song finally breaking as he began to slowly walk forwards to the source of that constant song that he had heard throughout his entire life. His footsteps echoed loudly, but still his voice overcame those echoes and resonated around and through the hallway, lending the air a break from its deathly stillness.
"Don't cry my love don't cry no more
It overwhelms my breaking heart
A minor swell of violins
I cannot bear to hear them"
He carried on moving as finally the end began to come into sight. The pipes now were interwoven with one another, criss-crossing here and there as orange and blue mixed together into a sickly purple that slowly faded back into the vibrant blue that rushed through the pipes that were now almost humming in resonance to his song.
"Don't sing that old sad hymn no more
It resonates inside my soul
It haunts me in my waking dream
I cannot bear to hear it"
He sang as he approached the massive cage that appeared before him out of the darkness; massive golden bars reaching up to the roof of the hallway that ended where this massive construct began. A single small piece of paper lay over the centre where the two doors met one another. Inside a figure could only barely be seen, a single, lone figure, like a lost soul in a graveyard where the living no longer bothered to pay their respects.
He approached closer, still singing, and the figure seemed to slump as though defeated, though even at this distance he could make out her figure in the kimono that she was wearing. He touched the gates as he uttered the last verse of his song
"Don't play those violins no more
Their melancholic overtones
They echo off the floor and walls
I cannot bear to hear them"
He finished singing as the woman turned to regard him with deep red eyes, the colour of arterial blood that has been freshly spilled; they shone in the faint light of the pipes, dancing colours in those orbs that shifted from that deep red to a light ruby and back again as she shifted slightly.
"Hello Kyubi" he whispered to her and her body shook with a great sob as the name echoed off of the walls and floor, disappearing into the darkness behind her.
Her kimono, as she stepped into the light, was heron blue.
Chapter One
"Hello Naruto"
"It has been a long time"
"It has"
Naruto stood watching as she walked up to the bars and knelt down before them, eyes hidden by her black hair that spilled down to hide her eyes and face. He touched the bars and said nothing for a time.
The silence was back, oppressive and ominous, as though holding its breath for something devastating to occur within this construct of his mind.
A true representation of me, he thought ruthfully as he noticed the oppressive air. Its stillness an odd contrast to the liquid rushing through the pipes around them, not that they added any noise to the silence that had engulfed them in its thick embrace. Naruto sighed and sat down in the water, noticing how it failed to dampen his clothes at all, as fake and dreamlike as the rest of this place where both his curse and blessing resided.
"That was…" the Kyubi said once the silenced had stretched, she paused and then continued "beautiful. How did you know?" she asked and Naruto chuckled softly, voiced coloured with a vague amusement
"I remember our last meeting, all those years ago" he told her and she looked down once again, apparently unable to hold his gaze for an extended period of time as he watched her so closely. Seeing how she shifting uncomfortably and kept her gaze wandering everywhere but him.
"Thank you" she replied and Naruto smiled softly
"I think I should be thanking you, for everything that you have done to keep me sane throughout all this" he said and she nodded stiffly
"You're welcome" she said and Naruto sighed slightly
"Your guilt…its haunts me" Naruto said and Kyubi flinched slightly
"I know" she replied and Naruto leant forwards
"Then stop dwelling on it. You have done everything you can to make it up to me, that is all that I care about. I have already forgiven you" he said and she nodded, body trembling as she fought off another wave of sobs
"W-what about the others?" she asked and he sighed once again, leaning back on his hands he regarded her for a moment
"They are human, but so am I. I am allowed to hold a grudge against them, you have done what you can to fix the problem you created, they have not" he told her and she nodded, taking a deep breath before looking up at him.
He wondered what she saw, looking into his crystal blue eyes and beyond the hard outer layer, pressured by years of cruel abuse, and into the shimmering insides that revealed all to those who cared to look deep enough into his soul.
"I have not done everything" she said clearly and he shrugged his shoulders, rolling them as he felt his muscles ripple as he moved.
"Is that so?" he asked her with interest and she nodded
"I have one more gift I could grant you" she said and he looked at her for a moment
"Is it a contract?" he asked and she blinked in surprise before nodding. He nodded to himself and looked down into the waters while she sat silently, waiting for his decision.
He had met the Kyubi for the first time when he was six years of age, having been viciously beaten by a drunken mob of civilians, the Anbu having arrived too late; once again, to do anything more than run clean-up and make sure he wasn't injured any more than he already was. He had found her and they had spoken. Since that day she had sung in his mind, her grief haunted his waking hours but it helped him to sleep with the other demons that lay under the surface of his mind, waiting to claw their way back out into his conscious mind and ravage his thoughts and feelings.
"I'll take whatever I can get" Naruto responded at length "but this'll be the last gift from you" he told her and she nodded, shoulders losing their tension as relief filled her expression, causing Naruto to sigh to himself as he watched her form something out of pure chakra.
"Here it is" she said as she passed it to him through the bars, he was slightly surprised that the seal allowed it to pass through into his hands, but he decided not to dwell on it. The realm of seals and various dimensions left him a little lost, such as how signing something in the deeper recesses of his mind could allow a physical change to take place.
"Hmm" Naruto muttered as he unfolded it and read through the tiny list of names on the parchment
"Three others?" he asked her and she nodded
"We foxes are rather picky about who we choose to allow to summon us, the last candidate died almost a hundred years ago now" she told him and Naruto nodded
"Well then, I just hope your various relations won't mind me then" he said and she nodded
"They shouldn't do, what with you containing me and all, but" she shrugged "some of them can be...stubborn at the best of times" she told him and Naruto nodded
"Fair enough" he muttered as he finished signing off the contract, watching as it dissolved into black ink and crawl onto his left arm
"Since there's no physical sealing scroll left in the 'real' world, I need to forge it on your flesh" Kyubi explained and Naruto raised an eyebrow as he watched the ink form strangely beautiful patterns on his flesh, almost like something tribal.
"Is that all there is?" Naruto asked once it had finished covering up his left arm
"That should be all, though you might want to summon someone soon, so they don't get agitated with you" Kyubi said and Naruto chuckled
"Well now, this is quite the gift" he said as he flexed his hand and turned it over, seeing the symbol for 'seal' imprinted on his palm in ink and seemed to be tinged red in the faint light from the pipes all around them.
"Like it?" Kyubi asked almost shyly and Naruto chuckled softly
"It's very nice" he told her and she smiled brightly as he stood and stretched
"Are you leaving?" she asked and Naruto looked down at her, still kneeling in front of the bars where he himself had been sitting moments before.
"I need to wake up at some point" he told her and she blushed slightly
"I know that" she responded while pouting slightly "but, will you...come back?" she asked while looking down at the lap, fingers rubbing together anxiously while Naruto knelt back down and took one of her hands in his
"I will" he told her as he kissed one of her knuckles before standing and moving to leave this place. He turned around once to see her watching him before he closed his eyes and allowed dreamless sleep to once again claim him and bringing him away from this place.
He awoke to light pouring in through his tattered curtains. He groaned as he sat up and swung his legs off of the bed before taking a look around the place he called home for the moment.
Above him more windows allowed light to pour in from the early morning sun, spilling honey coloured light into his apartment and lending it a warmth that rarely dwelt there. The wooden boards that made up the floor were no longer covered by a carpet, though a large rub covered the centre of the room, its once blood red colour having now faded to a greyish red. A desk sat off against one wall while on the opposite wall sat shelves filled with various bits and pieces of junk that all held some kind of purpose that only Naruto could guess.
He stood up, feeling the cool wood beneath his feet, and crossed to what passed for a kitchen in this small place, the whole thing being just one fairly small room in an apartment that was had been passed up for demolition several times now. He started the gas burner that sat on top of the non-functional gas stove, pulling a plate from one of the above head cupboards as he set about making himself something somewhat decent to eat.
As that was going he crossed to his bathroom of cracked tiles and a shower that only produced hot water for five minute bursts, not that it bothered him that much anymore.
He walked over to the mirror and rubbed the stubble on his face as he looked at the fairly rugged face that was staring back at him, looking like it belonged on the face of a soldier more than a sixteen year old boy. He traced one of the very faint whisker marks on his face and wondered if it was Kyubi's doing as well, making them fade slowly from view.
He then stepped back to take a look at the arm that was now covered in tribal like tattoos that hid a rather special thing from view, by hiding it in plain sight; a summoning contract, impossible to recreate or transfer to another medium so long as one original still remains in existence. He could recall reading about many seal masters that had tried and failed to understand the true nature of such contracts. Even the seal of his stomach was not fully understood, not even by the man who made use of it.
It was a special type of seal, created during the Dark Ages of man, when the ten tailed beast had wandered unchallenged through the world, sowing darkness and despair wherever it went; a very powerful seal, practically unbreakable by anything other than a seal of the same design.
He sighed and rubbed his face, washing it before returning to eat his meal and get dressed.
He shrugged on his black jacket and dark jeans along with the tight climbers shoes that he had purchased from one of the shops that hadn't been trying to make his life a living hell that particular day.
He tore off the sleeves to reveal the sealing array now written onto the flesh on his left arm, without a shirt underneath he sighed as he sat down, turning a fan on as he sat against the rear wall and ate while listening to the radio talk crap about the weather and sales going on in the town that day. It only took five minutes before he kicked it, causing it to fall and the areal to snap off, so that now all there was, was static pointlessly crackling away until he finished and turned the damnable thing off.
He chucked the plate into the sink and pulled his long hair back into a rough ponytail before he stepped out of his room into the blazing sun.
He pulled his jackets hood over his head and started walking. Ignoring the looks and whispers, the sneers and snarls, as he walked through the street towards the outer edges of the town, not missing how more than one person moved out of his way as he moved along with his face wreathed in shadow from his hood, and body moving along like a predator.
He eventually made it to his usual training ground. Noticing that no one else was there he sighed in relief as he put down his hood and began to stretch in preparation for what was to come next.
He could never hold down a job, and had even dropped out of the civilian academy due to the hatred many of the teachers and students felt towards him. It was more the teachers than the students. He couldn't really blame them; after all it is human nature to seek culpability in a time of tragedy. And since the Kyubi could no longer be harmed, it fell to the sacrifice to bear the weight of the hatred that people inevitably felt for the lives and livelihoods that had been lost during the attack.
Many would call this fate. But it is a sign of strength, to cry out against fate, rather than to bow one's head and succumb as so many others fail to do. He had felt deep hatred for those around him, though he was careful never to fear them more that necessary, to fear them any further would have been redundant, but with that hatred he fostered it into purpose and chose to further rule his own fate by becoming something that they would in turn be forced to fear.
He finished stretching and instead began to move through the motions of various styles of fighting that he had studied and sought to learn. Moving slowly at first, but gradually growing faster and faster as he moved through each of them one by one until he was almost a blur as he allowed instinct to take over and move his body as it saw fit, becoming a passenger in a body controlled by something he had created, but had now become greater than its creator.
He stopped suddenly as someone stepped into the training grounds. He turned to find her watching him with an amazed expression, even as he allowed himself to relax, although his eyes still flickered around as he tried to sense anyone else hiding in the trees around him. He had never been ambushed here, and he wasn't about to start now.
"That was amazing" the girl said rather loudly.
Naruto looked at her, allowing his eyes to quickly flick over her as he tried to place her name.
She was wearing a pink sleeveless blouse and dark green trousers that clung slightly to her contours. Her hazel brown eyes stuck to his and he could not help but notice the twin buns on her head that her hair was piled in to.
"Thank you" Naruto replied after a few moments of tense silence, at least for him.
"Are you like that all the time?" she asked and he stood up straighter, allowing his muscles to relax as he realised that she had indeed come here alone. But paranoia, especially when for a good reason, makes everything a threat until proven otherwise.
"I usually practise here at this time everyday" he told her and she nodded, looking impressed
"You're not a ninja are you?" she asked as Naruto wiped some sweat from his brow
"No" he replied as she began to stretch
"Why does a civilian need to be that strong?" she asked and Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly
"I'm certain you can guess. I cannot be unknown to you" he replied and the girl nodded
"Uzumaki Naruto" she replied and Naruto sighed while cracking his neck
"And you are Tenten" he replied and she gaped at him
"How did you...?"
"I look and I listen" he interrupted her "it comes with the territory, anyone and everyone is a potential enemy as far as I'm concerned" he told her and she nodded, looking down for a moment
"That's a nice tattoo" she then said as she raised her eyes and noticed it.
Naruto flexed his arm as he also studied the lines and swirls painted onto his flesh
"It is" he agreed as he turned his attention back to her
"Did you get it recently?" she asked and he nodded
"Yesterday night actually, I thought it would go well with my image" he replied and she nodded
"It does" she told him and he chuckled softly
"Is that so?" he asked as he sat down on a fallen tree trunk on the edge of the clearing "and why are you talking to me, Tenten-san?" he asked her and she looked away
"I just wanted to" she replied, sniffing a little as though put out by his question. Naruto sighed to himself as he watched her.
"You know what I mean Tenten-san. You must have heard the stories and the warnings that all the parents tell their children, so the question is, why would you bother trying to speak to me?" he asked her again and she looked at him
"Because I didn't believe them" she said and Naruto smirked while shaking his head slightly
"Very well, I can see your every bit as stubborn as I've been led to believe" he said and Tenten turned her head again for a moment before facing him once more
"Why'd you stop?" she then asked and Naruto chuckled
"Well you are nosy" he said and she stared at him "very well, paranoia is an art I have perfected somewhat. I am...uneasy when someone else is around me" he told her and she looked away from his eyes again and he sighed
"Then would you like me to?" she asked and he looked at her
"Well it beats sitting here for the moment" he replied and she nodded while pulling out several types of weapons from the pouches on her belt. She took aim at an imaginary target before letting fly.
Naruto watched her closely as she continued to do so, even throwing a sword at the target. Naruto waited until she was finished before clapping slightly
"Very impressive" he said with admiration in his voice, watching as Tenten blushed slightly at the praise
"Thanks" she muttered and Naruto stood up
"However" he started as he took one of her weapons and took aim "you rush too much when trying to strike at the targets" he told her as he took several more out of the weapons "also your motion are jerky and waste energy" he said and she watched him as he took position.
He calmed his breathing before starting. His arms moved fluidly as he blended each action into the next, almost like a deadly dance, as he allowed a few moments to get his bearings to hit the targets.
He stopped and faced Tenten who was looking at him, mouth open in absolute astonishment
"How did you do that?" she asked as Naruto sat back down on the log
"A lot of practice. All I'm trying to say is that it's all well and good that you can release a lot of weapons at the same time, but it will all be for naught if you cannot hit any of your targets with them" he explained and Tenten nodded before smiling
"I'm glad I talked to you now" she said and Naruto blinked before laughing.
"Thank you Tenten-san" he replied
"What're you doing for the rest of the day Naruto-san?" she asked and Naruto shrugged
"I'll practice for as long as I can, but then I've got things to do in my apartment" he told her and she looked thoughtful for a moment
"Can I visit?" she asked and Naruto looked at her long and hard before shrugging
"If you want to. But I'll warn you now, it has definitely seen better days" he told her and she shrugged
"I've probably seen worse" she replied and he sighed heavily
"I'm sure you have Tenten-san. However I believe it's almost time for you to be getting to school now" he said while looking at the sun even as she glanced at her watch and cursed
"Damn it, I'll see you later Naruto-san" she called out as she ran off.
Naruto waved after all for a few moments before sighing and sitting back down.
He wondered about just what he was getting himself into with her. He was a lone wolf, someone who needed nothing from anyone, something of a requirement if you were to survive long enough in the kind of life he had ended up with, thanks to one man's implacable stupidity. Still, from what he knew of Tenten there should not be any problems. She was as stubborn as could be and was damn right vicious if pushed too far by someone. So that should never become a problem for him.
Still, he wondered about whether or not letting her in would be a bad thing. He was still human after all, and it was all well and good talking to the voices in your head, but that tended to make people believe that you were rather crazy and should be avoided whatever happened. Not that he could blame them for thinking that.
His whole life he had struggled against many unmoveable forces that had sort to define and shape him in one way or another, everything from a living weapon to something that should be killed at the nearest possible opportunity, something that had been attempted more than once without the Hokage knowing about what was going on.
The Hokage was someone Naruto could certainly do without. He had sought to turn Naruto into little more than a weapon, with subtle cohesion and lies until he was shaped into just the right shape for that mans needs. With a moral compass as skewed as any of the other weapons that man had at his disposal. Naruto had resisted from day one however, it is difficult to lie to someone who has seen all of mans wanton cruelty and lived through it all, tempered at hard as carbon steel.
So he had not bended the way that man had wished him to. Soon after that their 'relationship', if that is how it could be defined, disintegrated and the old man began to leave him alone to his own devices at long last. He still visited, still tried to force him into becoming something that he had no interest in becoming. There was, after all, no glory in being something that exists only in the dark and has a reputation for murdering entire families, including their own.
There was no honour to be found in murdering one's own, even for the sake of power; even if he had no one to call kin.
"Naruto" someone called out and he turned to come face to face with the very man who had just been plaguing his thoughts
"Hokage" he grunted in return as he stopped moving through his dance/practice and gathered up his jacket once again
"Please" the old man said "don't stop on my account"
He was wearing the official uniform of his office, as always, which consisted of a red kimono over which sat the white cloak upon the back of which the kanji for 'fire' sat. His dark eyes were sharp like an obsidian blade and it always felt like he could pierce through into your very soul if he looked for long enough. Three lines under each eye and a goatee completed the image, along with his spiky grey hair.
"I was finished anyway" Naruto told the man as he glanced around in case anyone had come with the man. Although he doubted that even he would be able to locate any of the Anbu perched in the trees around the clearing, there to mostly make sure he couldn't get away and that no one would interrupt the Hokage while he 'spoke' with him.
"I'm sure" the old man said with a small smile, though Naruto didn't miss the flash of irritation that passed through the man's eyes, such was the effects of the eyes, the windows into the soul.
"What did you come here for?" Naruto asked although he could already guess
"To ask you why you're not in the academy" he replied and Naruto turned to face him, locking eyes with a man that had cowed Anbu simply by looking at them. For all his age had perhaps dulled his skills his mind remained as sharp as ever, and he certainly was not above intimidating people to get what he needed out of them.
"I have answered this before" Naruto replied and the Hokage's eyes narrowed slightly
"Then answer it again" he said and Naruto narrowed his own eyes, seeing the glacial orbs reflected in the obsidian of the old mans, like clear blue ice that obscured what lay beneath the surface.
"I am not there because there is bias in the way the teachers teach me, and the children have been brainwashed by their parents to hate me. That is all." he replied simply and the Hokage nodded
"The same as always" he muttered as Naruto put his jacket back on and turned to leave
"And what of that tattoo on your arm?" he asked and Naruto turned to face him
"A gift from a friend" he replied and the man's eyes narrowed
"Really?" he asked and Naruto scoffed
"I'm leaving. Save your questions for someone who cares to answer them" he said and strode off, aware of the ninja's in the trees watching him as he moved out of the clearing and back into the town and to his apartment.
He walked back into his home, tossing his jacket away as he rubbed his face, feeling the stubble as he stripped and walked into the shower, feeling the lukewarm water cascade down across his body as he washed away both the sweat and the distaste he felt at meeting that accursed man one again.
Scrubbing at his hair as he stepped out after a few moments he walked back into the main room and sat down in the centre while staring at the mark on his hand.
He knew how such a contract worked. The theory went something along the lines of pulling creatures from various alternate dimensions, hence the signature in blood to bind the summoner, into this one with a burst of chakra that was regulated automatically by the various seals locked up inside of the scroll itself, or on someone's arm as the case may be. It was powerful and unknown. However it required specific sized bursts to pull through different creatures of various powers, otherwise you could end up with anything coming through, regardless of what you wanted to pull through.
So for someone who had never bothered to learn any chakra control or the like he was at a loss as to how he was going to be able to use this with any real efficiency giving that little bit on information.
He put his hand against the ground, still sitting with wet hair and no shirt, and pushed chakra into the seal while praying that he wouldn't summon something massive and end up destroying his apartment and every other home around it as well, along with probably killing himself and causing mass hysteria, as funny as that would be to see.
The lines erupted from the ground, forming a strange circle for a brief moment before they collapsed again and a sharp cracking noise echoed in his room. He looked up to see a woman looking down at him, surprise written all over her face as she looked around her.
"What the..." she trailed off while Naruto sighed and leant back on his hands while looking at her.
She was wearing a light brown tank top and red shorts that clung to her, more red and black fabric covered the lower half of her legs where they seemed to blend into black shoes very much like his own, completing it was a red, gold and black feather hat that hide her silver hair, save for the tips. Everything looked normal until he realised that she had a light brown tail to same colour as her top waving about slowly behind her even as her hat fell off and revealed the two ears perched on top of her head for the whole world to see, twitching and turning as she listened to the unfamiliar sounds that no doubt were engulfing her right now. Her skin was a light brown over taut muscles that twitched as she looked around.
She looked down at him with dark blue eyes like the depths of the ocean, mouth forming a faint line as he noticed three pale blue lines on each cheek, like his own fading whisker marks, though hers looked tattooed on. Most likely some kind of clan marking, or so he thought.
"Did you summon me?" she asked, her voice had a light timbre to it, coloured with a faint growling noise from her throat even as Naruto stood up and picked up her hat that had fallen to the floor in her confusion.
"Good morning to you as well" he said after glancing outside at the sun, handing the hat back to her as she took it, still glaring at him slightly
"Did you?" she asked and Naruto sighed as he pulled something out of one of his cabinets before walking back over to her
"I did" he confirmed as he took a bite of his cereal bar, offering one to her which she took with some relief
"Thank you" she said and he nodded
"No problem, I did...invite you here after all" he said after a brief pause, noticing that he didn't quite know what to say in this kind of situation
"Any real reason?" the woman asked and Naruto shrugged
"Kyubi told me to summon one of you guys soonish" he replied and she looked at him hard
"You are the container?" she asked and Naruto nodded
"Yeah, I got to talking with her a little while ago and she decided that it'd be a good idea to lend me this summoning seal" he told her while gesturing to the markings on his arm as the woman studied them before looking back up at him
"Well then, that's fair enough I suppose" she said while Naruto sat back down on the floor
"Make yourself at home if you want, I have some questions and I'm sure you don't want to be standing up there the whole time" he said and she nodded while sitting down in front of him, her tail swaying gentle from side to side as she watched him almost curiously
"First of all" Naruto began at length "what is the price I must pay for summoning you?" he asked and she blinked before tilting her head and smiling slightly
"Very observant of you Summoner-san. The price depends on who you summon, some just want to fight while others will desire something more...tangible from you like food or an action" she explained and Naruto nodded while keeping his eyes focused on her "there are quite a few of us, so you should be prepared for just about anything when you summon another one of us" she said and Naruto nodded
"Fair enough. Second question then, how are you divided up?" he asked her and her smile broadened slightly
"We have different classes, in essence, for example I'm part of a warrior caste while others may be part of the assassins or even simply regulated to relaying messages for you" she said while Naruto nodded and thought upon his next question for a little while before meeting her gaze again
"What trial must I pass in order to earn the right to summon you all?" he asked and she outright grinned
"Well as far as I'm concerned you can summon me whenever, and since Kyubi-sama has already chosen you, I'm certain many of the others will be willing as well, though some might be..."
"Stubborn" Naruto finished for her and she grinned again
"Precisely" she replied and Naruto sighed while rubbing his face before he suddenly found her head in his lap. He raised an eyebrow at her even as her ears twitched
"The price" she said and he chuckled softly to himself even as he began to rub her ears, feeling her nearly purr as he did so, feeling the fur like softness of her hair as he did so while she closed her eyes and apparently decided to just enjoy his ministrations.
"Are you alone here?" she then asked and Naruto looked down at her to see her eyes were still closed, though one of her hands was lightly scratching against the wooden floor
"Yep" he replied to her as she frowned slightly
"Isn't it lonely?" she asked and Naruto chuckled
"Sometimes, but by this point I would like to think that I have grown used to it" he replied and she nodded her head slightly.
"Anything else?" she then asked and Naruto thought for a moment, still rubbing at her ears before he replied
"What's the hierarchy like?" he asked
"Why?" she asked while looking up at him
"Because if I summon more than one of you I want to know that you won't just start fighting amongst yourselves" he told her and she nodded
"It's much like a pack, though on a much bigger scale in general. So if you're going to summon more than one you might need to threaten them to behave"
"With what?"
"Not summoning them again, many of us enjoy our lives anyway, but there are certain things that we miss out on when not coming to your world"
"I see. Well then in that case..."
He was cut off when a series of sharp knocks came from the door
"Friend?" the fox asked and Naruto nodded
"Something like that, I'll see you later then" he said and she smiled while standing up
"What's your name summoner?" she asked
"Uzumaki Naruto. And yours?"
"Nami, see you later"
Then she was gone with another sharp crack, distinctive of something being summoned without all the flashy and unnecessary smoke.
He stood up and crossed to his door while slipping on his jacket once again, brushing his hair back to something that resembled its normal shape, tying it back as he finally reached out and opened the door to find Tenten standing opposite him, looking slightly impatient.
"Good afternoon Tenten-san" Naruto greeted her and she smiled a bit
"Hello Naruto-san" she replied as he gestured for her to step in.
He heard her gasp as she walked into the place that he called home. He knew that she would find it at least slightly shocking, considering it was a better home for rats than a human at the moment, not that Naruto had ever cared enough to keep it tidy or clean. He knew where everything important was, and that was all that really mattered as far as he was concerned.
He sat down as Tenten began to look around the small space. She was most interested in the various items that were sitting on the two large shelves on the wall opposite to the windows. They were filled with various bits a pieces, ranging from needles and thread, to pieces of metal and steel clips. All arranged in a strange kind of order with those that he found most useful at the bottom and those of less importance at the top.
"It's an impressive collection" Tenten said and Naruto chuckled softly
"I thought you'd say something like that" he admitted and Tenten turned to him before sitting down on the floor in front of him
"So..." she began, fidgeting slightly as the silence began to stretch before Naruto laughed quietly and stood up.
"Something to drink?" he asked and she nodded although he was no longer facing her as he pulled out a pair of cups and began to make some tea, setting the pot over the gas burner as he waited for the water to come to the boil.
"Don't you get many visitors?" Tenten then asked and Naruto glanced to her
"Judging by what you see here, do you think I do?" he asked her and she looked down, blushing slightly at his light reprimand of her question
"Sorry, but surely the Hokage or someone must come here" she said and Naruto knew that she was referring to the social carers that were supposed to ensure that nothing ever happened to any of the orphans, though Naruto thought it was more of a political thing to ensure the council didn't get any more ammunition to use against the Hokage and his advisors.
"I don't get visitors Tenten-san" he replied as he poured out the water into the two cups, gently stirring them before he walked back over to her and handed it to her.
"Thank you. But isn't that illegal?" she asked and Naruto shrugged
"It depends, I'm seventeen at the moment so by law I can make the judgement about whether or not I want to be checked up on any more, I told them to go away and they haven't shown up since" he told her and she hummed as she sipped at her tea while he put his beside him and left it to cool while they spoke.
He didn't really care for tea, or coffee for that matter. They were either too bitter or too sweet, and with his speedy metabolism he certainly didn't think that a caffeine rush would do him any good.
"Don't you get lonely here then?" she asked and Naruto had to stop himself from laughing at the déjà vu he suddenly experienced
"Not really, human beings are adaptable creatures and I've long since learned to deal with it" he told her and she nodded, though he could see the sadness in her hazel eyes.
"Then what do you do all day?" she asked and Naruto shrugged
"It depends. Sometimes I train the whole day, other days I read, and on others I scavenge for clothes and food" he told her and she nodded
"So...you train to protect yourself?" she asked and Naruto nodded
"Pretty much, it also appears that you dislike those with little strength" he said and she looked away
"I just don't like them" she muttered and Naruto chuckled
"Hence the reason why, perhaps, you seem to spend a lot of time with Neji" he commented and her cheeks flushed a deep red that made him chuckled again
"If it was anyone else I'd think you were stalking me" she muttered and Naruto smiled slightly at her
"Well then, your reaction tells me that I hit the nail on the head, so to speak. The question is, why exactly are you aiming for something with a heart about as lively and warm as our resident Uchiha?" he asked and she looked at him for a moment before speaking
"Why do you care?" she asked while tilting her head, sounding genuinely curious about his reasons.
"Because for all my detachment I can and do give a damn about people if I want to" he told her and she nodded while looking down at the empty cup in her hands, fingers tracing the slightly cracked ceramics as she thought about her answer for a moment, Naruto taking the time to finish off his drink before it became too cold.
"He's not weak like many of the other boys that have asked me out over the years" she explained to him while he nodded and finished off the rest of his tea, putting the cup down in front of him as he leant back on his hands and watched her try to explain herself to someone that was essentially a stranger.
"He's...cool" she said while shrugging "he's had a tough life and yet has come through it all stronger for it" she told him and Naruto nodded while looking up to the windows on the ceiling and looking out at the clouds passing by above his head.
"Well then I think you may want to reconsider what you think about him" he told her and she looked at him as he stood up and crossed over to his 'kitchen' where he leant against the counter
"What'd you mean?" she asked and he looked at her seriously
"He treats he cousin Hinata with as much distain as the rest of the main branch family" he told her and she blinked
"Well form what he told me..." she started but Naruto held up a hand to silence her for a moment
"It's all well and good if that's what he told you then? He doesn't know anything at all" he said
"And you do?" she asked and Naruto shrugged
"I know very little about that night, less than him I suspect. But he is as ignorant and foolish as the rest of these villagers as far as I', concerned. The boy doesn't even consider the fact that Hinata suffers just as much, if not more, for her position in the main family" Naruto told her as a finger tapped the dirty countertop as his sharp blue eyes watched her closely as she fidgeted and tried to obviously make sense of what he was saying
"How do you know that?" she asked and Naruto hummed as he looked up at the sky again
"I know that because no one ever pays attention to me unless their being hateful. As such I overhear some rather interesting conversations a lot of the time, like her father telling her off for being weak when all she was, was unwilling to harm her little sister" Naruto explained and Tenten looked down at the ground
"I see" she said and Naruto hummed to himself
"I'm sure you do" he said as he sat back down in front of her
"Does she?" Tenten asked and Naruto shook his head
"She does not know that I know. I have seen her from time to time, watching me, but recently she has not been doing so. I think she failed to find exactly what it was that she was looking for, whatever it was" he told her and Tenten nodded.
"So...you think that I should give up on Neji then?" Tenten asked and Naruto shrugged noncommittally
"Up to you" he replied to her as he lay down and looked up
"So you don't care?" Tenten asked and Naruto looked at her questioningly
"Do I care about someone who I've known for less than twenty four hours? Not really" he told her and she looked away
"Thanks" she muttered sarcastically and Naruto shrugged
"Give it time, people like me don't make friends easily Tenten-san, the scars of betrayal run far too deeply for that not to be the case" he told her and she nodded
"I see" she said while looking closely at him "so what would I have to do to be your friend Naruto-san?" she asked and Naruto smiled slightly
"Loyalty is all I ask" he said and she smiled brightly at him
"Okay" she said and Naruto smile slightly again while turning his attention back to the skylight above him.
"Can I see you tomorrow?" Tenten then asked and Naruto looked at her
"If you wish" he told her and she smiled at him once again while standing in order to leave
"I need to go, I have work at the shop" she told him and he nodded while standing and taking her to the door, opening it for her as she stepped out
"Thanks for talking to me Naruto-san" she said and Naruto waved her off
"Think nothing of it" he said and she nodded half-bowing to him as she ran off to her work.
He sighed as he turned around from the closed door, resting his back on the hard wood as he rubbed his face with his hand before shaking himself slightly and walking into his room.
The light was beginning to shift to a pale orange as the sun began to set, and it wouldn't be long before he would see the pale silver light of the moon, casting a chilling glow on everything and everyone around him. But for now the light began its slow shift from white through to orange and yellow while the sky slowly transformed to adopt the new colours of the night.
He threw the cups into what passed for a sink and took a moment to compose himself before moving over to the door once again and stepping out into the quickly cooling air, the sun apparently taking its warmth with it as it disappeared below the false horizon of trees.
Naruto quickly made his way through the streets to his usual training area, unmindful of the growing chill in the air as he moved, finding it as empty as ever and without any civilians being out to try and disrupt him as he made his way there.
This time of evening he found to be the most peaceful, with all the daytime shops already closed and all their customers at home while the night time lot were just barely beginning to open their doors, so everyone was still getting ready for whatever occasion they were going out for, which left the streets oddly deserted and gave the impression that the town was little more than a ghost town, of course the lights streaming out of various windows disrupted that impression quite entirely.
He arrived at his usual place and sat on the ground in the centre of it. Looking at his arm he wondered about who would next come to him when he summoned them. The problem with having this as a civilian was that there was no way he was going to have access to any chakra control techniques, he didn't even go to the civilian academy for god's sake, so that meant that when he summoned it was like plugging a random number generator, he could never tell just what he was likely to get from summoning something. For all he knew he might get an absolute bitch and be unable to summon anything else from that particular caste of their hierarchy.
Still, he put his hand against the ground and pushed as much chakra as he could manage into the seal on his arm. He felt a small tug and then a sharp crack resounded and a woman was sitting in front of him.
She was dressed in a fairly tight black shirt that had leather plates attached, it had no arms but she was wearing gauntlets that came up to midway along her forearm while her trousers were much the same. A sword sat on her back and she had night black hair done up into a ponytail, clearly showing her ears and tail, both slimmer than Nami's.
She opened her eyes to reveal two orbs of pure gold, glowing with an inner power as she regarded Naruto carefully, his hand still pressed to the ground, a small amount of blood imprinted upon the ground as he pulled his hand away, regarding her carefully as he watched her watch him.
"Greetings Naruto-san" she eventually said, bowing her head slightly as Naruto sat up straight
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage" he admitted and she nodded
"I guessed as much, my name is Kuro" she said and Naruto blinked at the slightly odd name
"A pleasure" he said while bowing his own head to her before she stood up
"Are you ready?" she asked and Naruto blinked before sighing and standing up.
Training day in and day out for the better part of a decade had made him quite formidable, even for a trained ninja, especially if they let him get within range. He had had no one to teach him the ins and outs of combat, but living on the streets, essentially, had lent him many of the skills that he needed in order to train himself to be an efficient fighting machine. The lack of chakra had never held him back before, since there were always ways around such limitations.
He stood in front of her and shook himself out, cracking his neck before taking up a stance, hands lifted slightly in front of him as Kuro also took up a stance in front of him
"I will not go easy on you" she said and Naruto regarded her levelly even as he suddenly pushed forwards, much to her apparent surprise, though she regained her footing fairly quickly as he attacked her suddenly.
She lashed out with her hands and Naruto dodged, deflecting her strikes as he analysed her style and shifted to counter it with his own, deflecting her attacks as he tried to move in close even as she seemed to flow around his own strike, constantly attempting to get behind him to cripple him. He shifted as she turned and managed to catch her arm, twisting it sharply, forcing her to twist closer so that he managed to land several solid blows on her before she twisted herself free and withdrew slightly, watching him carefully, before attacking again.
Naruto dodged the first barrage of blows and lashed out with a few of his own until they were moving in synch, like a violent dance as the sounds of bone hitting flesh resounded throughout the clearing while their feet stirred up the dust as they quickly shifted to keep their own advantages.
Suddenly she pulled out her blade and slashed down at him. Naruto twisted to one side before catching her arm and forcing it even further down as he swept her legs out from under her while delivering a sharp punch to her kidney that caused her to roll away, coughing slightly as she tried to stand. Naruto was already upon her though. She barely had time to raise her blade back up before Naruto was attacking, knocking the blade arm aside as she tried to swing across only for him to duck and move inside of her space, punching her in the stomach as he moved behind her and forced her to the ground as she doubled over in pain, locking both her arms behind her as he took her blade and placed it to the back of her neck.
She stopped struggling after a moment and the two of them remained perfectly still, both slightly out of breath form the difficult fight.
"Very well" she said and Naruto stabbed the sword into the ground as he got off of her and pulled her to her feet before brushing himself down.
"I take it that I pass?" he asked and she nodded
"You'll be able to summon us" she said and Naruto nodded before looking at her
"What about the payment?" he asked and she looked at him before smiling slightly at twitching her ears which made him raise an eyebrow as he sat on the ground and she put her head in his lap
"Are all of you like this?" he asked and she smiled up at him
"Some of us, the stronger ones just want to fight, though others want things like clothes and the like" she explained and Naruto sighed
"Well thanks for the heads up" he said as he continued rubbing her ears, listening to her growl lowly in satisfaction even as he turned his eyes skywards to see the moon taking its place in the sky.
He closed his eyes and sighed to himself, wondering just what no lay beyond this.
The End
A new idea that's been kicking around my head for a while, please tell me what you think.
Another new idea may be being posted soon and for those wondering about Dog and Fox I will do chapter 12 and then overall the entire thing while Spirit Master goes on a little break.
That's all people, thanks for reading.