Author's note: While this does contain elements from Spiderman, this is NOT a crossover. Naruto's not going to fight any of Spiderman's enemies (and not just because I don't know them all), and the story's not going to follow the story of Spiderman, except for maybe a couple of things here and there.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or Spiderman (and I'm only going to say this once for Spiderman). If I did, would I really be writing a fanfic? I think I'd be too busy drawing comics or making movies.
So with all that out of the way, let's begin with Chapter 1.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
Naruto sighed as he followed his group on their tour through OrochiCorp Laboratories, which was situated on the west side of the metropolis known as Konoha. He was bored out of his mind. "This science crap is so mind-numbing! Why couldn't they just let us have summer vacation a couple days early instead of making us go on this stupid field trip?!" he screamed in his head.
Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, age 15 and a freshman in high school, had blonde spiky hair, blue eyes, and was a little over six-feet in height with an athletic build that many of his female classmates couldn't help but notice. He was wearing his usual outfit—a white shirt that was unbuttoned to his chest and with the sleeves rolled up, a short-sleeved long black coat with a high collar, black jeans, black tennis shoes, and a black headband with an orange swirl on it. A necklace with an opaque green stone and two steel balls on either side hung over the exposed part of his chest.
Normally, the energetic young man would've been ecstatic to be in the big city, away from the boring small town of Hajime where he lived that was on the southeast border of the Land of Fire, but after getting up very early in the morning, riding on a bus for over two hours, and then finding out that wandering around a bunch of labs while some tour guide rambled on about some sciencey crap that Naruto couldn't care less about was all his class was going to do while in the city...well, needless to say, his enthusiasm died and there was no bringing it back.
"This sucks! The only reason I came on this stupid trip was to look around the city! Well...I guess there's the stupid paper I have to write about this trip too that I can't really afford to blow off, but still!" Naruto let out another frustrated sigh as he continued to tail his group, getting further and further away from them as he didn't care enough to walk faster to catch up. "This really sucks," he grumbled aloud.
Passing by an open door, Naruto peeked inside the room only to find it was a large closet of sorts for the researchers' lab coats. A mischievous smile spread across his face as an idea occurred to him that he was sure just might brighten his day. He slipped into the room, closing the door behind him, and proceeded to grab a lab coat that looked as though it would fit him and cover his regular coat. He folded his black coat collar down to hide it beneath the lab coat and then took off his headband and stuffed it into his jean pocket before buttoning up the lab coat. "Let's go see what I can find outside the tour..."
Trying ever so hard to stop grinning like an idiot, Naruto poked his head out of the room and looked left then right to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing it was, he walked out into the hall, doing his best to act nonchalant and stuffing his hands into the lab coat's pockets for added effect. Coincidently, this led him to a rather fortunate discovery, which he pulled from the pocket to stare at for a moment in disbelief before his infamous grin returned.
"A keycard... Hehehe! Nice! This day's about to get a whole lot better," he said quietly to himself. He let out another small chuckle before suppressing his grin again and continuing his way down the hall.
Several minutes—and several close-calls with other researchers who could've caught him had they come closer—later, Naruto found himself alone in a large room that had many cages lining the walls and some out in the middle of the floor. Each cage contained an animal. But these animals were clearly different—experiments. The cage nearest to Naruto contained an orange toad. What marked it as an experiment, though, was the fact that it was nearly half Naruto's height as it sat there crouched in the cage looking up at him. The blonde boy stood there staring for a minute before moving further into the room. Toward the back of the room, he found possibly the biggest cage in there, and inside was a creature appeared to be a fox the size of a horse with nine long tails waving around behind it. Its red slitted eyes narrowed at him as it bared its teeth and let out a growl. The dark orange fur on its back stood on end and the long rabbit-like ears flattened as the fox lowered itself into a defensive crouch.
Despite being separated from the creature by the thick bars of the cage, Naruto couldn't help but feel afraid of the fox. He also noted somewhat in the back of his mind that the fox was the only animal in the room to show aggression. But there was something about the fox that fascinated him, and so Naruto tried to calm the creature down.
"Hey, hey, boy. It's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you," Naruto said in a low voice, assuming the fox was male, while holding his hands in front of himself in a placating gesture.
The fox stopped growling and raised its head a bit. Taking that as a good sign, Naruto stepped a bit closer to the cage. "See, boy? I don't even work here. No need to fear me," Naruto gave the creature a small smile.
He was now standing right in front of the cage and successfully kept himself from jumping back when the fox poked its nose out to smell the boy. Seeming satisfied with whatever it was it found out about Naruto, the fox suddenly became docile, sitting down and lowering its head toward Naruto as if to allow the boy to pet it. Never being one to make the most intelligent decisions, Naruto stuck his left arm into the cage and started scratching the fox behind its ears. A peaceful minute passed until suddenly, the fox turned its head and sunk its teeth into Naruto's arm. Yanking his arm back the second the fox released it, Naruto did a small dance of pain as he held his mouth shut with his right hand to stifle his screams.
But then before his very eyes, the wound began to heal. His blood hadn't even dripped from the wound, and then suddenly all the punctures from the fox's teeth began to close, taking the pain with it. Regaining control over his shock, Naruto looked at the fox and asked, "What did you do?"
"Gave you a gift," the fox said simply in a clearly male voice, causing Naruto to fall backward in alarm.
"Y-Y-Y-You t-t-talked?!" the boy stuttered in almost a shriek.
"Keep it down!" the fox scolded with a low stern voice. "Yes, I talk. Obviously. That's just one of the things these...white-coats," he spat the word, "have done to me."
Naruto stood up slowly, his eyes never leaving the fox. "Okay, I guess in some weird, mad-science way that makes sense. But what did you just do to me?"
"Like I said, I gave you a gift. I look forward to seeing how you use it," the fox told him cryptically. "Before you ask," he said, interrupting Naruto before he could start, "I'm not going to go into specifics. I doubt you'd understand them anyway. Simply put, expect to find yourself stronger and your senses enhanced in a day or two."
"Is it gonna hurt? You didn't make me into some werefox, did you?" Naruto asked worriedly.
"I don't know if it'll hurt, but I'm 99 percent sure you will remain fully human," the fox answered.
Naruto made a strange choking noise. "O-Only 99 percent sure?! What if you're wrong?!"
"Calm down. I have a good feeling about this. But there is something you should know," the fox told him. "You must never tell anyone about this except for those you fully trust with all your heart. If you tell just anyone, you'll more than likely end up a lab rat like me. Understand?"
"Yeah, I got it," Naruto nodded. "But speaking of you in here, is there any way for me to free you? And do you have a name?"
"My name is Kurama, but forget about freeing me. I will do that myself in due time," the fox replied. Before Naruto could say anything more, Kurama's ears perked up. "You need to go. The real white-coats are coming, and you can't let them see you. Go!"
Nodding, Naruto said, "Thanks, Kurama!" and ran for the door. He crouched behind a cage next to the door as it opened and two researchers walked through, and thanking his years of being a prankster for making him so sneaky, Naruto slipped out the door behind them without them ever knowing. Once he was back into the non-restricted area of the building, the boy ditched his lab coat—which he noted gratefully hadn't been damaged or bloodied—and keycard, tied his headband back on, and fixed his black coat's collar. Then he made his way back to the lobby where his group was supposed to rendezvous after the tour to wait.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
Finally on the bus heading for home, Naruto leaned back in his seat and sighed in relief. Next to him was his friend Arashi, a boy with brown eyes and dark green hair that was spiky but not as much as Naruto's. He wore a dark red T-shirt, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes.
Hearing his friend sigh, Arashi raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "What's wrong, Naruto? Didn't you enjoy the field trip?" He chuckled as he knew full-well that Naruto had been bored out of his mind in that place.
Naruto hesitated. On the one hand, yes, the field trip had sucked for the most part, but on the other, what had happened with Kurama was fairly intriguing. "Can I trust Arashi with this, though?" he asked himself.
Arashi had been Naruto's friend since junior high, but even then the two mostly only hung out at school. Because of Naruto's reputation for pranking and getting into fights because of his short temper, the other kids tended to stay away from him even when he was little. No one wanted to get in trouble because of him, so casual acquaintances and one friend were all Naruto had among his peers, which there weren't many of in the small town. And whenever Arashi helped Naruto out with a prank, he had a tendency to ditch Naruto immediately if it seemed like they were going to be caught.
"Nah. He'd blab as soon as he had an excuse too. 'Sides that, I don't even know if there's anything to tell yet. Kurama could've just been driven nuts by the experiments they did on him," Naruto told himself. Out loud to his friend he answered with a shrug, "Could've been worse, I guess. I'm just glad it's over now."
Arashi chuckled. "When you disappeared for awhile, I half expected part of the building to explode or something."
Naruto had told his group that he'd gotten separated and lost and that he'd immediately went to the lobby to just wait for them. His teachers were a bit skeptical as were most of his classmates, but since nothing had blown up and security wasn't after him, they let it slide without a word.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Why would I ever do that?" Naruto asked innocently.
"Sure, sure," Arashi replied dryly with another laugh.
Naruto smirked and settled further into his seat. Closing his eyes, he said to Arashi, "Wake me when we get home, will ya?"
"Sure thing, buddy."
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
The next morning, Naruto woke to his alarm buzzing away, and went to hit the off button just like any other day. What wasn't like any other day was when his light smack to the alarm ended up smashing it to bits on his nightstand. Still half-asleep, Naruto didn't really notice, and he threw back the covers with a yawn before getting out of bed. He made his way to the bathroom across the hall from his room to do his morning routine and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Down in the kitchen, Naruto's mom Kushina, who had long red hair, gray eyes, and wore a long green dress, was cooking breakfast as her husband, Naruto's father Minato, who had spiky blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore a blue T-shirt and blue jeans, sat at the table reading the newspaper when they heard their son scream and rushed upstairs.
"Naruto! What's wrong?!" Minato shouted. Seeing his son wasn't in his room, he stood outside the bathroom, ready to rush in to help Naruto.
"I-I'm fine, Dad! I just woke up with a freakin' huge spider in my hair, and it freaked me out," Naruto lied as he thought of an excuse fast. "I'm okay now!"
"Are you sure, sweetie?" his mom asked. "You sounded like you saw a ghost or something."
"Yeah, I'm fine! It just really surprised me is all!"
"Okay, then. Finish getting ready for school or you'll be late," Kushina told him before heading back down stairs with Minato following behind her.
"Okay, Mom!"
Once his parents were downstairs again, Naruto sighed and ran a hand over his face as he stared at his reflection. On each of his cheeks were three marks that looked like whiskers, his fingernails were longer and pointed like claws, and his eyes were red and slitted like Kurama's. Baring his teeth, Naruto could see that his canines were larger than they had been before too.
"Oh, man...What am I gonna do?" Naruto asked himself. Taking several calming breaths, the boy noticed his eyes were beginning to fade back to their normal blue with human pupils, and that gave him an idea for how to make the other changes disappear as well. Scissors weren't working on his nails at all—they couldn't cut even a little bit—and he had no other idea how to fix his teeth and whisker-marks. So he tried the only other thing he could think of. He concentrated on his hands, and soon enough, he found he could make his nails go back to their normal length. And as for his teeth, they were still larger than normal, but they had shrunk enough to not be noticeable to anyone. The whisker-marks, however, seemed there to stay.
"At least I can fix those with make-up...though just the thought of wearing that crap makes me feel like a girl," Naruto grumbled as he slipped out of the bathroom and snuck into his parents' bedroom.
Half an hour later—most of which time was used in getting the make-up to blend on his face—Naruto came down to breakfast dressed and ready for his last day at school. He wolfed down his food, feeling more hungry than normal as well as being short on time, and soon he was out the door and running to school.
"Glad I finished my paper about the field trip last night," Naruto thought as he continued to run. This was when he got yet another surprise for the day.
As he was running on the sidewalk, he suddenly noticed he was keeping pace with the car on the road next to him. The blonde boy looked from the car to the next speed limit sign as he passed it and saw it said 30 mph (48.28 kph). He nearly tripped and skidded to a halt.
"Whoa, what the crap?!" he shouted. "I just ran over three blocks at the speed limit of a car?! What in the—"
Naruto was interrupted from his thoughts by the school bell, which he was still a few blocks away from. "Crap!" he shouted as he took off again, making a mental note to slow to a normal person's speed when he got closer to the school.
He reached the school and his class just in time, not winded at all from his run. Taking his seat, Naruto prepared himself for what he thought would be his last mundane day at school for the year.
He was so wrong.
Halfway through his first class, Naruto started to notice the clock's ticking as well as the other students' breathing and occasional tapping of their writing utensils seemed much louder than usual. It was to the point that the tapping sounded like hammers on wood, and the ticking was nearly as loud. The fact that he could hear everyone's breathing was, well...disturbing. And his hearing wasn't the only sense that was suddenly improved either.
Naruto, who usually sat in the back to avoid gaining the teacher's attention, could now see the blackboard as if he were sitting in the front row, and he could smell his individual classmates' scents—some of whom he REALLY thought could use a bath—as well as what was being cooked for lunch in the cafeteria. He was pretty sure his sense of touch and taste were improved too.
By the time the bell rang for lunch, which nearly deafened the poor boy, Naruto's head felt like it was splitting in half. Taking his lunch that his mom had given him before he left for school, the blonde wandered out into the school courtyard, seeking a nice quiet place to have his lunch. He picked a big, shady tree on the edge of the courtyard and sat leaning against it as he ate.
When lunch ended, Naruto's headache was nearly gone, and feeling grateful for that, he made his way to his next class. It was back, unfortunately, by the end of the day, and he fell asleep in his bed the minute he got home.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
"Naruto? Naruto!" Kushina called as she gently shook her son. "Naruto! Wake up! It's dinnertime!"
The boy in question woke up wincing at the loud assault of his mother's voice. "Mom, please be quiet," he whined as he grabbed a pillow and covered his head with it.
Kushina looked at her husband who was leaning on the doorframe watching his wife and son. Shrugging, he said, "Maybe he's sick. Let me try."
Minato, who was much quieter in tone than his wife, crouched by the bed near his son's head. He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, and asked, "Naruto? Are you okay?"
Naruto uncovered his head a bit to look at his father. "Yeah. Things are just too loud today for some reason. Gave me a headache."
"Oh, my poor baby! What's wrong?!" Kushina shouted, causing Naruto to smash the pillow to his head so hard it was like he was trying to make it one with his head. Suddenly, though, he found himself being pulled from his bed and shaken as his now angry mother yelled, "Do you have a hangover?! Is that why your ears are so sensitive?! You're too young to drink! Why would you—"
"Kushina!" Minato hissed quietly as he grabbed her arm to stop her shaking their son. "You're just making it worse!"
The redheaded woman gasped and released her son, and he fell back on his bed with swirls in his eyes. "Oh, Naruto, I'm so sorry!" she whispered.
Naruto grabbed his head and managed to sit up. "It's okay, Mom. I can see why you'd think that. But I promise you guys that's not it. I haven't been drinking. It's just...a bit of a migraine. It'll go away soon, I think." Mentally, he said, "I hope."
Kushina sat down on the bed next to him and ran her hands through her son's hair to soothe him. Naruto leaned over and laid his head on his mom's shoulder, feeling better already. With a gentle smile on his face, Minato sat on Naruto's other side and rubbed his son's back.
"Naruto, supper's ready. You feel like eating?" the older blonde asked quietly.
Naruto sniffed and knew his mom made ramen, and his stomach growled instantly in response. The three of them chuckled quietly.
"I guess that's a yes," Kushina said as she helped her son up.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
After dinner, Naruto thanked his mom for the food before making his way back to his room. He barely managed to shower, brush his teeth, and put on pajamas before collapsing on his bed again. Instantly, he was sound asleep.
Meanwhile, Kushina and Minato stood in their son's bedroom doorway looking concerned.
"Kushina, correct me if I'm wrong, but was our son wearing make-up?" Minato asked.
"Yeah, it looked like my concealer, and it was smudged on his face. I think I saw a bit on his pillow earlier too," she replied.
The blonde ran a hand through his spiky locks and sighed. "And did you notice his alarm clock?"
"Is that what all those pieces on his nightstand and the floor next to it were?"
"I believe so."
"Oh dear..."
"Yeah, so our son's wearing make-up, killing his alarm clock, and having extremely sensitive hearing problems," Minato summarized.
"What is going on?" they both asked simultaneously.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
The next morning, Naruto awoke headache-free and feeling much better. And it didn't take him long to notice that his hearing wasn't quite as sensitive as it was the previous day.
"Maybe it's just the initial transformation or something like that. If that's what's happening to me, that is," Naruto guessed.
He got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. Seeing his whisker-marks were still there on his face in the mirror, Naruto sneaked into his parents' room for the make-up again. However, just as he was about to put it on, he heard the door close behind him, and looking up at the mirror in front of him, he could see his parents behind him with their arms crossed and stern looks on their faces.
"Naruto, what're you doing with my make-up?" Kushina asked.
"N-Nothing, Mom! Just gotta zit that I'd like to hide. Hehe," he laughed nervously while keeping his head down and not looking back at them.
"Since when do you get zits, son?" Minato inquired as he moved closer to Naruto.
"And why would you need to hide it now? School's over and your dad and I don't care if you've got a zit," the redheaded woman added as she followed her husband.
Naruto cringed lower, trying to keep his face hidden. "I-I-It just looks r-really bad, so I—"
He was cut off as Minato grabbed his son's chin and lifted his head. The older blonde gasped. "Naruto, what in the world?"
"WHAT IS ON YOUR FACE?!" Kushina shrieked in rage. "DID YOU GET A TATTOO?! WHY ON YOUR FACE?! AND WHY WHISKERS?!"
Naruto quickly stood up and waved his hands defensively in front of himself. "No! They're not tattoos! They're—" He suddenly remembered Kurama's words. "'You must never tell anyone about this except for those you fully trust with all your heart. If you tell just anyone, you'll more than likely end up a lab rat like me.' ...I trust Mom and Dad with all my heart, but I don't think they could handle me telling them where these marks came from. Aside from getting in trouble for sneaking into restricted areas of OrochiCorp Laboratories, they'd probably think I had some kind of disease or that I was about to die or something. No, telling them will just make 'em worry... What do I do...?"
"We're waiting, Naruto," his father said sternly as he just barely managed to calm down his wife to the point she didn't start shaking Naruto like the night before. "If they're not tattoos, then what are they?"
Naruto sighed. "Sorry, Dad, Mom. They really are tattoos. I snuck off at one point during the field trip yesterday to have them done."
"How when you're not old enough?" Minato asked as he was now physically restraining his wife.
"Lied about my age, Dad. They didn't really care to check if it was true," Naruto lied.
"Kushina, calm down at least for a second," Minato whispered to her. She complied, and the blonde man walked closer to Naruto and peered closely at the whisker marks. "These seem well-healed for new tattoos." He lightly slapped the marks and noted that his son didn't even flinch. "And they don't hurt at all either..."
Naruto looked into his dad's suspicious eyes. "What can I say, Dad? I just heal fast."
"Hmm..."
"Well, if I'm lying about them being tattoos, what else could they be?" Naruto asked.
Minato rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess you're right about that. So that means you, an underage minor, went and got tattooed without your mother's or my permission."
Swallowing hard, Naruto looked down at the floor and nodded. He heard his father sigh.
"Naruto, I just gotta ask: Why?"
A somewhat clever reason suddenly came to the boy's mind that he was fairly certain might make his parents a little more sympathetic to him. "Well, I wanted to be more unique, I guess, and I chose whiskers 'cause, well, being a prankster, I thought, 'If I trick people like a fox, why not look like one?'"
Minato raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't think that people might think you were going for looking like a cat?"
"No," Naruto shook his head. "But you know me, Dad. I never really think anything 100 percent all the way through."
The blonde boy suddenly found himself being pulled into his mother's arms. She held onto him tight as she stroked his hair. He had looked so sad and so sorry that Kushina couldn't help but feel compelled to comfort her baby, even if he was 15 years old and now taller than her.
"I guess we can't get rid of them now," Kushina said quietly as her son returned the embrace. "What's done is done. But, Naruto," she pushed him off a little so as to look at his face, "don't do this kind of thing again. Do you hear me?" Naruto nodded, and she said, "Good! Now, it's time for breakfast. I'll see you downstairs." She gave him another quick hug before turning and leaving the room.
Naruto looked at his dad, who was still standing there looking at his son with a stern expression. Minato's face quickly changed into a smile, though, and he ruffled his son's hair. "See you downstairs, Naruto. Finish getting ready first, although," he took the bottle of concealer and replaced the cap before putting it back where his wife kept it on her dresser. "Please do it without putting on make-up." He grimaced slightly.
"Yes, sir!" Naruto said happily with a salute. "I didn't like wearing that girly crap anyway."
"Good to hear, son," Minato laughed. "See you downstairs."
In the kitchen, Kushina looked at Minato as he walked into the room. He sighed and said, "You know we still need to punish him for this."
Kushina nodded sadly. Despite her short temper and tendency to shake or punch her son and husband over the head as an initial reaction when they did something wrong, she didn't enjoy punishing her child at all. "What would you suggest?"
"Hmm," Minato paused to think. "Well, grounding him seems a bit pointless. He doesn't have a girlfriend currently, and his only friend Arashi doesn't come by or ask Naruto to do anything all that often."
"Maybe we could just take away his video games for awhile. He seems sorry for what he did anyway," Kushina suggested.
"I guess that could work. A month without games still seems pretty lenient," Minato said.
"A month?! Why so long?" the redhead asked her husband incredulously.
"Kushina, he got a tattoo! If that's even what they really are!" Minato argued.
She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'if that's even what they really are'?"
Minato sighed. "I don't know. I don't like doubting our boy, but I get the feeling there's something he's not telling us. Tattoos don't heal that fast, and that doesn't explain the weird bout of sensitive hearing and the smashed alarm clock. So if they're not actually tattoos, we're still punishing him for lying."
Now it was Kushina's turn to sigh. "I guess you're right. I hate punishing him, though, especially the first day of his summer vacation."
"I know," Minato said as he pulled his wife into a hug. "But no one said being a parent was easy. And we'd be bad ones if we actually enjoyed punishing our kid."
"True," she replied as she hugged him tighter.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
A month later, Naruto was happily playing his video games again for the first time since his summer vacation started. When his parents first handed down their punishment, he was upset and angry. Not so much at his parents—he knew they were being rather lenient, and he understood their side. They thought he had gone off and done something big that he wasn't legally old enough for, and while that wasn't the truth, he still felt he deserved the punishment for lying to them. No, what he was mad at was the stupid fox that had decided to cause his problems without even asking him first. Halfway through the first week, though, Naruto decided being angry about it wasn't helping and chose to use his time training himself to control his new abilities.
Over the next three and a half weeks, Naruto discovered that he could grow his nails and teeth longer at will, and that his nails could cut through metal. He also learned he could run up to 40 mph (64.37 kph)—he tested that by running next to cars he was pretty sure were going the speed limit while making sure no one could tell who he was of course—and that he could jump as high as his two-storey house and was strong enough to bend a crowbar with his bare hands. All in addition to his enhanced senses, which he could now control at will.
In short, the teen felt indestructible. Or as he put it after training one day, "a total badass".
As he sat in his room playing a video game, he started wondering what he should do with his new abilities. "I'm pretty unstoppable...most people would probably choose a life of crime in my shoes. I mean after all," he chuckled aloud, "bullets may still work on me, but they'd have to catch me first." He paused in his thinking as he listened to the main character of the game talk to his uncle. The game was about a superhero, who was the main character, and he was currently having the same problem as Naruto about what to do with his power. Then the character's uncle said something that not only stuck with the superhero, but with Naruto as well.
"With great power comes great responsibility."
The uncle went on to explain that when one is in a position of power, they should do everything they can to help people and protect them, and that one is truly strong when fighting to protect the people they care about.
"I wonder if that's what I should do. Crime isn't really my style anyway... But a superhero?" Naruto shook his head. "Argh...! This is too weird for me!" Pausing his game, he laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. "Then again, things stopped being normal when I walked into a room full of oversized animal experiments. Maybe I should just go with it. Normal's boring anyway...I'd need something to hide who I am, though, obviously. And what should I be? A superhero's gotta have a cool name. Let's see...I got my abilities from a fox, so Fox Boy?" he cringed. "Ugh. No. Fox-Man? No, that's still kinda lame. Perhaps if I added something else to the fox part..." He sat up again and looked around his room.
Due to his fascination with ninjas, Naruto had a bunch of ninja weapons displayed around his room. Kunai, shuriken, swords of various types and sizes, and even a genuine outfit that he'd worn a couple times for Halloween. And he not only owned these weapons, but trained to use each kind as well.
Naruto chuckled a little as he got up from his bed and looked at all his ninja paraphernalia. "So something with 'fox' and 'ninja' or 'shinobi' in it. Fox Ninja? Fox Shinobi? Shinobi Fox? Hmm...possibly the third one, but not quite." He rubbed his chin in thought. "...Something with 'kitsune' might work. Kitsune Shinobi? Kitsune Ninja? ...Yeah! I like that one! Kitsune Ninja!" He laughed and grabbed his ninja outfit out of the closet. It was a traditional outfit—mask that covered the whole head except for the eyes, black shirt with a mesh armor beneath it, black gloves and pants, and black sandals that cover the entire foot except the toes. Naruto had saved for a long time to buy a genuine ninja outfit, and now he had the chance to really use it. But first, he wanted to make a few small modifications. Turning off his game, he got to work.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
Two weeks later, Naruto was done. The kanji for 'kitsune' was sewn in dark orange thread on the back of the shirt, and he had altered the gloves to allow his nails—or claws as he was calling them now—to come through while making sure his fingertips were still covered. He knew it'd defeat the purpose of hiding his identity if he left anything like fingerprints behind. He also made an equipment pouch and shuriken holster out of black leather to carry his weapons. The pouch was to be worn on the back of his left hip, and the holster on the side of his right thigh. He considered carrying a sword as well, but decided against it for the time being.
However, just as he was about to start his life of crime-fighting, Naruto's parents told him something that would put his plans on hold and change the next two years of his life.
"Naruto, would you please come down here?" his mother called from the kitchen.
"Sure! Just give me a second!" he yelled back as he hid his costume in the closet. He walked downstairs and into the kitchen only to stop dead in his tracks at his parents' serious faces. "W-What's up, guys? Am I in trouble?"
Kushina crossed her arms. "Is there a reason you should be?"
"N-No! Not that I can think of. But you guys look like I did something," Naruto quickly defended himself.
"It's nothing you did, son. Just sit down here and listen. Your mother and I have something to tell you," his father said while taking a seat at the table. Kushina sat on the side opposite him. Naruto took the seat on the end of the table between his parents.
There was a long silence before Minato spoke again. "Naruto, we're sending you to live with your grandparents in Konoha."
"W-What?!" Naruto sputtered. "Why?!"
"Naruto sweetie, calm down," Kushina said as she took his hand and held it. "Your father and I have something important we have to do, and as much as we'd like to, we can't take you with us."
"You have to stay and finish school," Minato explained before his son could ask why again. "And we don't feel comfortable leaving you here alone, and it's not that we don't trust you—we do."
"We just don't want you to be alone," Kushina continued for her husband. "Staying here by yourself would get very lonely, so we'd like you to live with your grandparents while we're gone." Seeing Naruto's sad face, Kushina quickly added, "It won't be so bad! Maybe you'll make more friends there, and you've always liked the big city better than this town anyway!"
"That's true," Naruto nodded. "But I'm gonna miss you guys." His voice was quiet and sad as he just stared at the tabletop. Kushina moved her chair closer to hug him, and Minato got up to join them.
"It'll be okay, son," Minato said, though his voice betrayed him as it caught in his throat.
Kushina was fighting back tears. "We'll be back as soon as we can, Naruto! We promise!"
"What do you guys have to do anyway?" Naruto asked, biting his lip to keep from crying as well.
Minato shook his head. "We can't say, Naruto. We'll tell you about it when we get back, but for now, we can't say anything."
"You really will come back, though, right?" the boy asked with worry. Whatever they had to do sounded dangerous if they couldn't tell him about it.
"Definitely. We'll definitely make it back to you, son," Minato reassured him.
Nodding, Naruto said, "Okay then. When are you guys leaving? And when am I going to Konoha?"
Kushina was crying now, so Minato answered, "Tomorrow. We're taking you to your grandparents, and then leaving from there."
Naruto looked up at his dad in shock. "Why so soon?!"
"What we have to do is rather urgent. We don't want you to worry—we WILL come home again. But it's something we can't delay," the older blonde told him.
"If you're gonna make it back, why's mom crying?" Naruto asked his father while fighting harder to stop his own tears, which were starting to make it down his face.
"Same reason you are, son. She doesn't want to be apart from you for so long," Minato told the half-truth as tears pricked at his own eyes. In reality, what he and his wife had to do was dangerous, and there was a possibility that they wouldn't make it. But he didn't want his son to worry, and there was no way he and his wife would let something keep them from coming back home to their son again.
Naruto didn't press the issue even though he suspected the other half of the truth. He might be clueless most times, but he could tell when his parents were hiding something just as they could tell when he was. Disentangling himself from his parents' arms, Naruto got up from his seat.
"I'll go and get packed," he said as he wiped his eyes and headed upstairs to his room.
Minato stood up straight and helped his wife up. He held her in his arms for a minute while stroking her hair before saying, "Come on, Kushina. We should get ready to go too."
She dried her eyes and nodded and followed her husband upstairs.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
The next day, after a long and solemn car ride to Konoha, Naruto, Kushina, and Minato stood in the home of Naruto's grandparents—Minato's mother and father—Tsunade and Jiraiya Namikaze. Naruto had just put his stuff in the guest room, which was the only room on the second floor besides a bathroom, and now he was saying goodbye to his mom and dad.
Kushina pulled her son into a hug. "Goodbye, Naruto. We love you."
She released him, and Minato hugged him next. "We'll be back as soon as we can, son. Be good for your grandma and grandpa."
"I will," Naruto sniffed. "You guys be safe and make sure you come back. I love you, Mom, Dad."
Minato tightened his embrace before releasing him and ruffled his son's hair. Kushina then kissed Naruto's whiskered cheek and hugged him one last time before she and her husband walked out the door and got into their car. As Naruto watched them drive away, his grandparents each put an arm around him to comfort him.
"Don't worry, Naruto. They'll be back before you know it," Tsunade said in an attempt to comfort the boy.
"Yeah, nothing can stop that son of ours or his wife!" Jiraiya declared with a cheerful grin.
Naruto just nodded sadly before heading up to his room. Tsunade started to go after him, but Jiraiya stopped her with a hand on her arm.
"Let him be for now, Tsunade. I'm sure the gaki will cheer up in no time," he said.
"I hope you're right," was her only reply as she leaned against him.
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
A week had passed before Naruto felt better enough to venture out into the big city, and since he had only a week left of his summer vacation, he decided he should make the most of it and try to make some friends if he met any kids his own age. He wandered the city for hours, stopping at arcades and comic book stores and he even came across a ramen stand that he declared after only the first bite was the best ramen in the world. But in all this time, he still hadn't met anyone his own age. Sure, he'd seen a couple guys in the arcade that looked around 15 or 16 years old, but he didn't approach them as they were hanging out together and just felt it would be too awkward to do that.
Feeling lonely, Naruto decided to take a walk through a park before heading home. He checked his phone to see if Arashi had texted him back, but sadly he hadn't.
"Feh. He's hardly said anything back to me the entire vacation. Didn't even say goodbye when I left. Some friend," Naruto grumbled sadly in his mind.
He was broken from his thoughts, however, when he suddenly heard what sounded like a girl yelp in pain. Focusing his enhanced auditory sense, he then heard a male voice say, "Serves you right for ruining my shirt."
"Hey, boss," another one said. "Look at her eyes! She's one of those stuck-up Hyuuga!"
"Yeah, you're right. Bet she thinks she didn't do anything wrong by gettin' ice cream on me," the one called "boss" growled.
"Let's teach her a lesson!" a third on exclaimed.
Naruto ran toward the voices, which were coming from the other side of a small group of trees. As he made it through the small wooded area, he saw three guys surrounding a young girl about his age. She was terrified and crying, and the guy in the middle pushed her down.
"Get down on your knees and beg my forgiveness!" he yelled at her. From his voice, Naruto could tell this was the one called "boss".
"I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry!" the girl cried in a quiet voice.
"I can't hear you! Speak louder!"
"I-I-I'm s-sorry!" she cried again a bit louder.
"You Hyuuga think you're so much better than everyone else. I'm gonna teach you that you're not worth crap!" the "boss" shouted as he took a step toward the girl. However, he suddenly found himself flying backward, feeling as if his face had just been hit by a truck.
The other two guys stared at their leader in shock before turning back around to see Naruto still holding his fist out from when he punched the "boss". The Hyuuga girl looked up from the ground to see the spiky-haired blonde boy in the long black cloak standing before her with his back to her.
Pulling back his fist, Naruto growled at the three bullies, and the leader sat up holding his face as the young hero-to-be said, "You jerks wanna fight somebody so bad, how 'bout you fight me?"
*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*
Let me know if you like the story! If you don't, then don't waste my time or yours!