At Any Cost
Being face to face with a demon will do things to you every now and again. Being its jailer does a little bit more than scare you.
Oh right, Naruto doesn't belong to me.
As usual, I've only seen the anime, never read the manga, please do not be irate.
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"You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" Mizuki's voice rang out across the woodland scene, stilling the sounds of the forest, the animals scattered in fear, and the two other ninja present caught up in their own internal processes.
Oddly, the blonde ninja laughed while the whirling shuriken flew towards him, the wonderful, giddy laugh of the insane. Mizuki's eyes narrowed in uncomprehending fear as his massive shuriken simply stopped in mid-air, what in god's name was going on here? The ninja trainee just kept laughing as he stepped forward and grabbed the shuriken from the air, bolting forward again and leaving his badly injured sensei where he was.
"Human fool! I am not the Kyuubi no Kitsune! I am merely its vessel, and its pardoner!" his voice thundered unnaturally over the forest, murderous joy shining in his bloodshot eyes. The grey-haired nin had just enough time to leap backwards to another branch before the blonde struck where he had just stood.
Kill him. Silence demon! REND HIS FLESH FROM THE BONE! Another word and you shall receive that torment yourself while I keep you agonizingly alive.
Tinges of visible red exploded from beneath the blonde nin's feet and threw him into the air. Honestly, at this point Mizuki's instincts were raging at him that his victim had so many openings in his moves that he should take advantage and kill him, but he couldn't make himself move. His body just wouldn't answer his instincts, mostly because he was too stunned, the academy's dead last should not have this kind of power, he couldn't be tapping the Kyuubi could he?
At the apex of his acrobatic feat, the blonde released a torrent of that baleful chakra, the integral killing intent of and just the pressure of it bringing the traitor to his knees. The shuriken spun madly in the leaping ninja's hand, the air whining pitifully as it was sliced neatly, the arm swung forward and the blade dug into the hair, and the flesh, and the skull and then the brain, the motion tugged the skull and slit it away, the braincase exploding outward from the starting point at the base of the neck before the out-of-control blade flew away and stuck into a tree.
The blonde glared evilly at the rebellious shuriken before he lifted the supplies Mizuki had been carrying. A pair of kunai and a few handfuls of shuriken, the two tremendous ones as well but… meh, what of them? Oh, shit! He had forgotten all about Iruka, he turned to look for his injured sensei and saw him laying face-down in the mud.
"No no no, don't be dead Iruka-sensei!" check the pulse? Faint, but it's there, thank gods. ANBU weren't stupid, they'd find them soon, right? Yes, absolutely. Stay with sensei, make sure they take him to the hospital.
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How might that scene look to an ANBU? One academy instructor with his head exploded, another badly injured and unconscious with the demon child almost crying over him? To most it might look very bad for a certain demon vessel, but Hatake Kakashi was not most ANBU… in fact he was no ANBU, anymore at least. He happened upon this scene and wordlessly picked up the hysterical blonde and his academy teacher, and launched himself through the trees with his human cargo.
The hospital staff whisked away the injured teacher and the blonde made to follow them, an unexpected hand on his shoulder halted him. Killing intent whipped up in a frenzied storm around him as he turned to look at the grey-haired jounin, his azure eyes going bloodshot once more.
That level of killing intent was enough to kill small animals, but the trainee evidenced amazing control over it and had it quite squarely focused on one Hatake Kakashi. The aforementioned nin was nigh rooted to the spot in terror, but he was a ninja, and he was trained to ignore his fear, all he said in answer to his unspoken question was "The hokage needs to see you. Now."
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Vessel's perspective:
Now there are really only two people I respect and give a shit about in this crap-shoot, Iruka-sensei –currently being wheeled into intensive care- and Hokage-ojiisan. Hospital staff has never done a damnable thing for me, I don't trust 'em, but they seemed worried about sensei.
Damn it.
So I nod and the spike-headed freak lets go of my shoulder. Oh right, I let up on the killing intent, I have to work on that, its getting out of hand again, maybe meditation excercises?
Hmm, we're moving now, did I mean to do that? Crap, the sinner must be trying to reach out of his punishment again, hehehe… Oooh I bet that hurt.
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Normal Perspective:
The blonde midget started snickering with sadistic glee at something his natural killing joy flowing freely as he did. The ninja in front of him felt his stomach turn at the bizarre cross between insanity and killing intent, and unconsciously increased his pace towards the Hokage tower. At a more active level he was impressed that the trainee could keep up with him over the rooftops, but the amount of chakra he was using with each leap was far in excess of the normal need.
Kakashi wasn't entirely sure if that was more or less impressive.
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"What made you think that you could graduate after you failed the exam proper?"
The Sandaime didn't want to be this way with his favorite ninja trainee. He knew that the boy was in the right, after he had explained Mizuki's offer the failed genin test and what he had done in the forest.
He hadn't mentioned drawing out the Kyuubi's power though. He had made no inference of it and so his next words put the hokage ill at ease.
"I know how strong I am, I put Mizuki-sensei in his place after all didn't I?" Naruto beamed a wide grin at the hokage before he continued. "But you owe me old man, I did the execution bit since he mentioned me being Kyuubi an' all, so what's the story behind that? I know I'm not really the demon, that I'm its container, but how did that happen? Was the fourth really that shitty?" That got a reaction
"NARUTO! Do not speak ill of the Yondaime!" Hatake's voice, oddly enough.
"And why not? I've been told, just like all the children, that he killed the demon, and I find out that it's a lie? What am I supposed to think about ol' short-office?" (1) Sarutobi stared at the blonde, dumbstruck by his blatant hate of the fourth, what the devil brought this on? Other than a lifetime of hatred and derision… hm.
"Because it was a demon, Naruto. It couldn't possibly be killed, so he made sure to forever isolate it from this plane by binding it into you, he wished for you to be seen as a hero-"
"Bah, villains last longer in history," the hokage winced.
"You aren't thinking of betraying the village are you?"
"Never crossed my mind, ojiisan, just making an observation. We have more training to do since I didn't graduate… Guess I'll just graduate with everyone else eh, Hokage-jiisan?" He left in that particular way that was exclusive to himself. Leaving the Hokage to ponder the eleven-year-old's actions with his head in his hands. Again the perpetually late jounin interrupted his reverie.
"Hokage-sama, when he graduates, please place him on my team." Before the hokage could question or even acknowledge the jounin, he had vanished in that oh-so-Kakashi manner of leaving. The hokage turned and glared at a portrait of the Yondaime.
"You know, I hate you sometimes…"
Author's Note: This story has been sitting in my compy for a while now. I just wondered what'd happen if Naruto acted like other people probably would, being tempted with a source of practically unlimited power and never having been given a set of common values.
Sinner- The Kyuubi, of course. For a switch I'm not gonna give fuzzy much characterization in this, the demon will be as insane as Shukaku.
Pardoner- Naruto feels, that as the demon's carrier he is also supposed to make it suffer until it has proven worthy of life and freedom again.
Insanity- Lots of it all around, really it's only seeming to be insane because he doesn't suffer accepted standards, values and mores. Then again, isn't that the normal meaning?
Short Office- Yondaime was hokage for months. MONTHS. Sarutobi has been hokage for not years, DECADES.
Review? Please?