50 SHINOBI-THEMED CHALLENGE
04. Inner demons
It was supposed to be a secret. No one else was supposed to know that Sakura Haruno had the long-lost dragon spirit sealed deep within her. Unfortunately, that damn Kyuubi had smelt it on her, and now the secret was out. Well, at least she had someone to talk to about it now.
Naruto's attachment to Sakura had never been a mere coincidence. Nor had their infamous friendship.
It had actually been thanks to Kurama that the pair had grown so close over the years. Well, Kurama and Ran, the dragon spirit the ancients had sealed inside a newborn Sakura.
From that time, Kurama had slowly been pushing Naruto towards the pinkette… he had always enjoyed Ran's company when they had been free of their human prisons, as the fox-demon liked to put it.
Ran, on the other hand, had thought quite differently about his human container. He seemed to enjoy living vicariously through her and only ever interfered when he felt her life had truly been in danger, though that only appeared to be whenever Kurama's human was nearby.
The cheeky fox demon had never meant any harm to Ran's human. He knew Ran was quite fond of the girl, though he didn't quite understand his reasons why, but he respected his friend's wishes, and reined his power in quickly.
As the years went by, Kurama ceased his escape attempts, as requested by Ran, and they both remained hidden inside their vessels, though always making sure they remained close to one another.
They both thanked the ancient spirits on the day it had been decided their humans would be paired together in their team, though Ran was not quite fond of the male his human had become so attached to.
Kurama did not care for any of the other humans besides his container and Ran's, so he found himself quite content that his container often fought with the dark-haired boy.
Secretly, Ran found joy in this too.
He knew his human would be more than irritated should he ever let her know his true feelings on the matter of the dark-haired human, so he never once let her know.
Kurama didn't quite understand why exactly Ran never let on about his dislike for the young male, but then again, it wasn't often he understood Ran's actions.
They existed well though, living, fighting together, side by side… even if the dark-haired boy had been there too.
Fortunately for the demon spirits, especially Ran, the dark-haired human left the village, bringing them a long-awaited peace.
Unfortunately for the demon spirits, their humans just did not seem to want to let go of the dark-haired human.
Ran's loathing of the boy only escalated at this. Ran thought he was beginning to understand Kurama's loathing for humanity, but the fox demon knew his friend was only just scratching the surface.
After Kurama and his human returned without the irritating human, Ran rejoiced, as did Kurama, but their humans did not share their enthusiasm on the matter.
Kurama and his human left to train with the blonde's mentor for several years; working to harness Kurama's power when it was needed. Sakura, on the other hand, had taken the complete opposite direction from her close friend.
Sakura had instead chosen to ignore Ran's presence, believing it was because of him that her beloved Sasuke had left the village.
Upon his return, Kurama had been quite upset at seeing the pink-haired child. His container was unable to sense it, but there was only just the barest hint at Ran's presence within the human female's body.
He had to pull his friend out from the deepest parts of the female's soul, and even then he was so much more silent than before, not wanting to raise a fuss with his human, should he be forced back down into her deepest parts.
Ran was a shadow of his true self.
Even the blonde human was able to see this.
Kurama was proud to see that his human was coaxing the pink-haired human to train with him in the ways of using Ran's power to her advantage.
He knew it really wasn't much, but he knew it made Ran feel useful once more. It also meant that he could spend time with his old friend again.
Kurama really had missed his friend, and their training was beginning to bring Ran out from the hiding place he had made for himself inside his pink-haired human.
Unfortunately, their human's leader sent them out on a mission to retrieve the dark-haired boy before the female was able to become attached to Ran again, and he sank further back inside her.
Kurama and his human had come to terms with the other male human no longer being a part of their group, they merely wished for his capture and an end to his torture of Ran and Sakura.
When they came face-to-face with the dark-haired boy and his master, the humans had deemed themselves useless, so Kurama decided to step in and take over from his container.
Their enemy had the Sharingan though, and locked Kurama back in the cage where he belonged.
Before he was fully captured though, the fox demon called out for Ran, hoping the dragon spirit would be able to defend their humans and capture the Sharingan wielder.
Ran was aware of the danger this male posed for their humans and many others, and took it upon himself to take control of his human's body and fight on her behalf.
Her practising with Kurama and the blonde had made it easier for him to be able to take control in times such as these.
The Sharingan wielder saw Ran taking over Sakura's body and attempted to control the dragon spirit as well, but Ran had kept it very secret that he was impervious to any doujutsu and made quick work of the Uchiha, making sure to keep his eyes covered so he would not be able to harm any other humans or Kurama.
All the villagers had been quite surprised when the team of four waltzed through the front gates of Konoha, Sasuke in tow, especially after hearing the rumours about the Uchiha and how ruthless and powerful he had become.
Those in the village leader's inner circle were even more surprised to find out that it had actually been Sakura who defeated him; having kept Ran a secret from the world for all for all her past and deciding to continue to do so forever more.
Sasuke and the container's team mates would not speak a word of Ran due to the fact that the group had come across the dark-haired boy's older sibling, who had explained all his wrong-doings in the hopes that his "foolish otouto" would instead choose a more peaceful road in life.
All Uchihas, save this one stray Uchiha, were exactly the same, according to Kurama, and he trusted absolutely 0% of them, but this one seemed something other than Uchiha. This human was completely selfless; the complete opposite of any previous Uchiha Kurama had ever known.
After the young man had told them all his story and his younger sibling completely rejected, Kurama, Ran, and Itachi had all decided to erase anything even slightly resembling Ran or Itachi, and they had also decided to make it seem as though it had been Naruto to defeat the young Uchiha, not the young female container.
The same went for the males the containers knew as 'Sai' and 'Yamato'. It was better if they knew nothing of the dragon spirit; the fox demon and dragon spirit did not know enough of the pair.
They had, however, decided to finally let the Hokage in on the fact that Ran existed, as long as it stayed amongst only those extremely trusted few.