A/N: This is my first serious attempt a long Fanfic. The whole purpose of this story is to provide the basis from which my future stories can branch out. This story starts and branches off from the main Naruto storyline immediately after Naruto's fight against Sasuke. Now, without further adieu, here's chapter one of The Contract.

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Chapter One: The Deal

The first thing that Naruto heard as he slowly regained consciousness was the sound of dripping water. "Would someone turn that infernal faucet the rest of the way off!" he mumbled irritably.

"NOW YOU KNOW WHAT I HAVE TO LIVE WITH EVERY DAY," said a loud, bass voice. "NOW WAKE UP, BRAT. I'M TIRED OF WATCHING YOU GET YOUR BEAUTY SLEEP, NOT THAT IT WILL DO YOU ANY GOOD."

The blonde haired shinobi woke the rest of the way up at the insult. He jumped to his feet and shook his fist in the direction that the voice had come from. What he shook his fist at was actually the door of a ridiculously large cage that was held shut by a relatively small piece of paper that had a kanji written on it which read, "seal." "Shut up you stupid fox! I'm tired of your— Whoa…" Naruto yelled at the occupant of the cage before getting light-headed from getting up too quickly.

The fox demon laughed as the boy's tirade had been short. "IT SERVES YOU RIGHT, BRAT. THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR SHAKING YOUR FIST AT A DEMON LORD, MUCH LESS THE OLDEST AND MOST POWERFUL OF THE BIJUU," it said.

Naruto recovered and glared at the fox in its cage. "Yeah, well, at least I'm not the one trapped in a cage by apiece of paper," he retorted.

The fox growled and glared at bars of its cage as it stuck them with on of its nine tails. "IT'S NOTHING MORE THAN A MINOR SETBACK," said the fox. "I'M ASSUMING THAT YOU DIDN'T COME HERE TO HAVE TEA. WHY ARE YOU HERE AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Naruto frowned as he remembered why he was unconscious in the first place. "The last thing that I remember, I was taking Sasuke's chidori to the chest," he said slowly. He suddenly looked up at the Kyuubi, his ocean blue eyes filled with determination, and said forcefully. "Oi, you stupid fox, listen up. The chakra that you gave to me wasn't enough. I wanted to surpass Sasuke, but instead, I get his hand thrust through my chest. I need more of your power so that this will never happen again!"

The Kyuubi's rumbling laughter filled the air as it said, "BUT OH HOW I ENJOY WATCHING YOU STRUGGLE AND FAIL IN LIFE. MUST YOU TAKE AWAY WHAT LITTLE ENTERTAINMENT THAT I GET IN THIS GOD-FORSAKEN PRISON?"

"Yes! And you deserve it, too!" Naruto shouted at it.

"THAT'S COLD AND HEARTLESS, I'M IMPRESSED," the Kyuubi growled. "IF YOU CAME HERE TO WHINE ABOUT HOW BADLY YOU SUCK, THEN YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT."

Naruto glared at the Kyuubi before his face lit up as he thought of and idea. "Hey, fur ball, I've thought of a solution to both of our problems. It's gotta be the best idea that I've ever had!" he said quickly, making himself hyper from the apparent awesomeness of his idea.

"THEN WOULD YOU BE SO KIND AS TO TELL ME YOUR IDEA, INSTEAD OF RAMBLING ON ABOUT HOW GREAT YOUR IDEA SUPPOSEDLY IS," the fox said.

"Okay, I'm going to offer you a deal that you can't refuse. I want to make a summoning contract with you," Naruto said simpley.

"AND WHAT, MY DIMINUTIVE VESSEL, MAKES YOU THINK THAT I WOULD LOWER MYSELF AND AGREE TO LET A KIT LIKE YOU SUMMON ME?" the Kyuubi growled menacingly.

"Because, agreeing to let me summon you is the only way that you are ever going to see the light of day, however brief that time may be," the orange-clad ninja replied. "My only condition is that while you are out in the world, you MUST obey my every command without question."

"HMMM," the Kyuubi rumbled in it cage. "MOREOVER, WHY, ASSUMING THAT I AGREE TO THIS CONTRACT, SHOULD I CALL YOU, A LOUDMOUTHED BRAT, MASTER? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN MAKE ME DO YOUR BIDDING?"

Naruto then did what no one had ever done in all of the Kyuubi's existence. He looked it directly in the eye and successfully threatened it with death. "You will obey me because your life is still bound to mine through the seal. If I have to, I will sacrifice my own life to protect my home and my friends. Just like the Yondaime."

"HMPH!" the Kyuubi snorted. "THE YONDAIME WAS A FOOL AND YOU DON'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO KILL YOURSELF. EVERY PROMISE THAT YOU HAVE YOU NOT FULFILLED WILL REMAIN UNACCOMPLISHED AND YOUR DREAM OF BECOMING HOKAGE WILL NEVER COME TRUE. AND, EVEN IF YOU MANAGED TO FIND THE GUT TO ATTEMPT SUICIDE, I CAN HEAL JUST ABOUT ANY WOUND THAT YOU CAN INFLICT UPON YOURSELF."

Naruto's voice became uncharacteristically somber as he said, "If it will protect those that I hold dear from you, then I will do what I have to do. I can only hope that everyone will forgive me for not keeping my promises to them. On the brighter side of things, I'll be hailed as the hero who rid Konoha of the threat of the Kyuubi forever."

"YOU STILL HAVEN'T ADDRESSED HOW YOU WOULD ACTUALLY MANAGE TO KILL YOURSELF," the Kyuubi smirked. "I DOUBT THAT YOU KNOW HOW TO INFLICT ENOUGH DAMAGE TO YOURSELF AT ONCE TO SUCCESSFULLY DESTROY YOUR LIFE."

Naruto thought about what the fox had said for a few minutes before he said, "I don't think that even you would be able to heal me if I were to take my head off with one blow."

"TRUE ENOUGH, BRAT. FINE, I'LL ALLOW YOU TO MAKE THE CONTRACT," the Kyuubi conceded. "BUT, I'VE GOT TO ASK YOU AN OBVIOUS QUESTION. HOW DO YOU PLAN TO MAKE THE CONTRACT? I HAVE NO SCROLL FOR YOU TO SIGN."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with one hand and grinned sheepishly. "Actually, I hadn't gotten that far in my plan," he admitted. "I wasn't expecting you to agree so fast."

'WHY DID MY VESSEL HAVE TO BE A MORON ?' the Kyuubi thought to itself. It pondered a way for Naruto to make the contract. It would never tell him this, but he had it sold as soon as he mentioned a summoning contract. Truth-be-told, it was desperate to get out of its cage, even if it meant debasing itself and obeying the orders of a human child. Suddenly it had an idea. "HEY, BRAT, I'VE FIGURED OUT A WAY ," it said. "SEEING AS THE ONLY THING THAT IS KEEPING ME IN THIS CAGE IS THAT PIECE OF PAPER, IF YOU WERE TO SIGN IN LIKE YOU WOULD NORMALLY SIGN A NORMAL CONTRACT SCROLL, IT SHOULD SERVE THE SAME PURPOSE,"

"That makes sense," Naruto said. "The only problem with that idea is that the last time I got anywhere near your cage, you almost mauled me,"

The Kyuubi laughed as it remembered. "YOU WERE LUCKY. BUT THIS TIME I SWEAR, ON MY HONOR, THAT I WILL NOT TRY TO ATTACK YOU," it said. "Honor, what honor?" Naruto snorted. "I MAY BE EVIL, BUT I DO HAVE MY HONOR," it replied indignantly. "I ALWAYS KEEP MY WORD, ALWAYS."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Naruto muttered under his breath. He cautiously approached the cage, warily watching what little of the Kyuubi that he could see for any sign of an attack. Naruto was almost at the door of the cage when the Kyuubi moved slightly, causing him to jump back to a safe distance out of fear of attack.

"A LITTLE BIT JUMPY TODAY, NOW AREN'T WE," said the fox in a teasing manner.

Naruto glared at the fox and said, "Trying this again." He approached the cage again, this time actually making it all the way to the door. He gathered hi chakra into his feet and simply walked up the center of the cages double doors. When he reached the paper depicting the kanji that meant "seal," which was positioned approximately halfway up the door, he bit his right thumb and wrote his name in blood on it. To seal the contract, he spread the blood on his thumb to the other fingers on his right hand and left a handprint beneath his signature. "That should do it," he said to himself as he surveyed his work. He jumped down to the floor of the room, making sure to stay out if reach of the Kyuubi's claws. "So, fox, what hand seals do I use to summon you?"

"I'LL LET YOU KNOW ONCE I FIGURE IT OUT, BRAT," the Kyuubi answered.

"Thanks, you're a lot of help," Naruto said sarcastically.

"I TRY," it replied. "YOUR WOUNDS HAVE ALMOST COMPLETELY HEALED. YOU SHOULD BE REGAINING CONSCIOUSNESS ANY TIME NOW."

"Well, this has been a scintillating conversation and I do hope that we can have more in the near future," Naruto said, obviously being sarcastic. "Later, fur ball," he said as he walked towards the doorway or the room. When he reached the doorway, the room around him seemed to become hazy and then faded into nothingness. Just after Naruto had vanished from his mindscape, the Kyuubi said quietly

"OH, WE WILL, BOY. AND IT'S GOING TO BE A WHOLE LOT SOONER THAN YOU COULD EVER HAVE IMAGINED."

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Naruto awoke in a hospital bed and since the conversation that he had just had with the Kyuubi seemed like a dream, he thought to himself, "Did any of that even happen?"

"OH, IT HAPPENED. DON'T MAKE ANY MISTAKE ABOUT THAT," the Kyuubi said in Naruto's mind before fading off into rumbling laughter.

Naruto filled with dread as Tsunade entered his room and he foolishly made the mistake of saying, "I think that I just made a deal with the devil."

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A/N: Well, that's the end of chapter one. I'd like to thank Brandi Thomason for being my beta-reader and for being my editor. The reason that some of the line may be double spaced and others not is besause Brandi Thomason sent the revised verion back through an E-mail and my Wordpad was being cranky. Please review. I won't write the next chapter unless I get some reviews. Flames are accepted. I'm actually hungry and in the mood for S'mores. Lol Tsunade's reaction next chapter, that'll be fun for you guys/girls.