Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Infinite Stratos. The credit for that goes to Izuru Yumizuru and Masashi Kishimoto respectively.
Road To Acceptance/Interrupted!
Kurama Speak/~Thought~
~Flashback~
XxX Scene ChangeXxX
Normal Thought
~WARNING~
There will be small scenes of torture as well as some minor cursing in this chapter.
~As he slowly walks towards the light, he never notices the pair of eyes staring at him from behind~
Just as Naruto reached the end of the corridor he sees the giant gate of the prisoner inside of himhe shudders as he realizes where he is at. As he walks into the room he hears the breathing of a malevolent force and stops walking. He squints, trying to see behind the bars of the Kyuubi's prison and sees something shuffling behind the prison.
As he watches the cage he misses the pair of eyes follow him into the room and settle down in a corner to watch what unfolds.
Hello, Naruto. I have been expecting you for a while now. Naruto jumps after hearing the Kyuubi speak to him in a calm voice and sputters out; "What am I doing in here, Kyuubi? I need to go and finish rescuing Sasuke!" Eyes opened behind the bars but instead of being large like the last time he came here, it was around the same size as a large fox. As Naruto stared, he could begin to see an outline of the fox as he drew closer.
The Kyuubi, in Naruto's perspective, looked far from what he remembers. Instead of the hazy, dense chakra cloud covering him, it was a red-orange fur. His eyes were a shade of silver like the kunai he carries with him always. He also could pick out the nine tails lazily flowing from behind him. As he took in the new for of the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi was staring intently at him.
Well, as good as I look I think we should get to the matter at hand. He smirks as Naruto glares at him and huffs. "Fine then, why exactly am I here then? Also where are we in the real world?" Kyuubi sits and began; Straight to the point. I like that. One we are back in the village in the hospital I felt the one you call Granny try to heal you but failed. Second you are here because of all of my chakra you pulled from me in your angered state. Your body had to shut down to begin the process of healing, but my chakra cannot be used, so your bodily functions are slowly failing.
Shock encompassed Naruto as he hears the words of the Kyuubi as he repeated those words again in his mind. "Slowly failing? How slow is slowly failing?" Kyuubi grimaces and mutters under his breath, Three days at the most, and it'll take at least a week until you can use my chakra. After hearing this, Naruto slumps against the cage, not caring if the Kyuubi kills him.
"So that's how it ends for me, huh? Killed by my best friend and now slowly dying in the one place that could have helped me. By the way, Kyuubi"-Kurama. "Huh?'' My name is Kurama. Naruto turns and smiles at Kurama. "Well, it was a pleasure to formally meet you, Kurama-san, but it is a little to late for that. Thanks anyway."
Kurama can't believe what he sees. Naruto, rise and face me. Naruto shakes his head and sighs. "Whats the point, man? I'm dying. I want to spend what few days I have to think about where it all went wrong."
Kurama growls and grabs Naruto and drags him into the cage. All Kurama sees on Naruto's face is a look of sadness and regret along with it. What made Kurama flinch was the look of defeat.
Kit, I know it seems pointless, but there are some things we need to discuss. There are things that were withheld from you that you should be aware of since time is running short. Naruto looks at Kurama with a sadly curious face and nods his head, asking him to continue.
First off, I did not attack the Hidden Leaf for no reason, but that will be explained later. Right now, I think you should know who you came from. Naruto stares at Kurama like he grew a tenth tail. "You knew my parents? How? Who are they?!" Then he suddenly grew quiet and looked at the floor. "Did they love me?"
As he said this, the Nine Tailed Fox, Kurama grew saddened by what he was about to reveal and spoke up. Naruto, your parents loved you with all their heart. Up to their last breath, they kept a hold on you after sealing me into you. Naruto glanced up at the Kyuubi and thought about those words he just said. "Well, I kind of figured since we look alike-" Yes kit, the one known as the Yondaime Hokage is your father.
As Naruto suspected this he grew angry at the thought of having the Yondaime as his father after having Kurama sealed into him. But the longer he thought about it the more he realized that his father sealed the Kyuubi into because he was his son and could probably handle the burden. Too bad he didn't take into account the villagers.
Naruto gets out of Kurama clasp and walks around the cage. "Kurama, what about my mother? Do you know who she is as well?" After a while Naruto did not hear a response so he turned to look a Kurama and saw he was in deep thought...
Crap I forgot to take into account of his mother being my previous host. Oh well lets see how he handles it. Hope he freaks out a little~, he thought with a grin. Well, Naruto, your mother I knew very well because she was my previous host before someone with the Sharingan came and ripped me from her after your birth.
Naruto studies Kurama with an impassive face. "Thats kind of cool. Kurama lets get back on track right now. I'm dying in three days and the people out there have stopped trying to help me. Whats the plan?"
Kurama whips his head at Naruto and sees the expression on his face and could tell he means business. Well, there is nothing to do but wait for the end to come. Unless you can learn how to use my chakra in mere hours now I sorta kinda think I have a plan that could work.
Naruto, in a show of intelligence glares at the Kyuubi. "So what happens if it doesn't work? I end up living but being crippled for the rest of my life? Also, how exactly do you plan to have us live?"
Wide eyes and dripping water is all that is seen and heard. Kurama stalks up to Naruto and clamps a paw on his shoulder. Kit, that show of intelligence means you can learn. But the way to learn what I am about to show you is to not have intelligence, but to have trust and acceptance. Do you think you can trust me? Cause if not, we are done for.
He turns to think upon what Kurama has feels the need to trust the beast in front of him, but can't really do it. He tried to destroy Konoha. But the longer he stays in here, the less time he has to learn whatever Kurama needs to teach him and even less time to get Sasuke back from Orochimaru. Naruto turns to Kurama and raises his head with a steely determination written across his face. "What needs to be done, partner?"
Kurama smiles, which scares Naruto into thinking,"wrong choice, wrong choice!" and begins to tell him one of two things. First off, you little rat, don't call me that. We are on equal terms, with your life before mine. Naruto looks at Kurama with wide eyes and smiles abashedly. Second, let me tell you what we are doing exactly, so sit down on a chair or something.
Naruto glances through the cage looking for a chair and realizes there is no chairs! "Stupid fox, had me think it was really chairs in here. Hey Kurama! There are no chairs in here!" Kurama deadpans at Naruto; Make some then. Your mind, your rules. Naruto thinking of the most comfiest chairs make a sweet Adirondack with a feather cushion pop up. Kurama starts looking for his chair and sees there is only one and Naruto is sitting on it. Oi, where is my chair at? Naruto's eyes bug out."You want a chair too?" Kurama just stares at Naruto. "Fine, wait a sec." A second Adirondack pops up and Kurama leaps upon it.
Kurama stares at the idiot across from him and begins. Ok then, there are only four to five things that need to be done. One: you have to accept who you are and drop the mask you have up all the time. Two: Face the darkness hidden within you that run rampant within these corridors and gain inner peace. When that is done we can begin the next few things.
Naruto looks At Kurama with a wary look. "How am I supposed to accept who I am when I already do?'' Kurama Smiles at Naruto and nudges him toward the corridors. "No answer, huh you bastard fox?" Kurama, tick mark adorning his face then decides to help Naruto... By throwing him into the darkest corridor there. As Naruto flew through the air, he finally notices the eyes staring at him and wonders if Kurama knows they are there.
Kurama POV
Kurama sighs and the eyes come into view. I was wondering when you would show up. Remember what needs to be done? The eyes stare at Kurama and get closer. It's a pale version of Naruto. It nods and turns to begin Naruto's trials. Good, because he is going to need all the help he can get.
Naruto POV
"YOU BASTARD FOX, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'LL RIP THOSE TAILS OF YOURS OFF AND YOU SHALL BE FROM THEN ON KNOWN AS ĪE NO KITSUNE. YOU HEAR ME!" As he flies through the corridors he sees he is about to hit the wall and closes his eyes. "SMASH Thud.''
As soon as he hit the wall a giant smokescreen comes and drifts around as he lay twitching on the flooded floor. "~Groan~ man that was insane! Wonder if we survive this would he do it again minus the crashing. Where am I right now?" As he said that there was a large shadow creeping up on him ready to pounce.
As Naruto explored he felt a hand grab his shoulder and freaked out. "GAAH!" He jumped and spun in the air and saw a mirror. "Hey! Who's out there? Why are you here?" He says as he slips into his taijutsu stance. A deep laughter is heard as he stands there. "Look in the Mirror." Naruto glares around and tries to find the voice speaking to him to no avail. "Who are you? Show yourself!" No one answers the cry so he eases out of his stance and takes in the mirrors details: It's as tall as he is with a dull surface with a dirty silver outline around it.
As he looks in the mirror he sees a reflection of himself in the mirror that looks nothing like him right now. The reflection is taller than him by at least a foot and does not have on a shirt. His arms and legs nails are now claws. His skin is a pale color and has many scars running along it. The hair on his head is not the golden blond he has, but is a bloody red and goes well past his waist. His eyes is slitted and red with no white in them. And his teeth is as sharp as the ones he saw in the Kyuubi's mouth. All in all, it looks like the Kyuubi has taken over his body.
As he looks on in horror, the reflection of himself smiles and begins to step out of the mirror. Naruto backs up to give it room to step out and sees that behind it... Is nine blood red tails with white tips. Naruto falls as the figure steps fully out of the mirror and growls at him. Naruto gets up and walks around the apparition, ready to fight in a moments notice if its indeed hostile.
"Who are you and what do you want with me?',' Naruto warily asks. The apparition smiles at Naruto as it begins to talk: "I am Sōru, a byproduct of all the hatred that you keep inside you. All the years of pain, abuse, and suffering have came together to create me." Naruto, shocked at what was just said, falls on his back as he processes what Sakuran has told him.
"What the hell is going' on? First, Kurama's not being an asshole. Now, I have a second being of hatred within me thats not trying to kill me either. Whats next, a god suddenly taking interest in my life?"
"Wait a minute, if your a being of hatred, why are you not trying to kill me right now?" Naruto warily asks as he backs away from the being. Sōru just smiles and sits on the now dried floor. "Well, you can blame yourself for that one. If we would have met earlier in these years, you would be a stain on the wall right now as I take over and destroy the Leaf you so love."
Naruto looks at Sōru with a confused expression on his face and asks; "Why would I not love the Leaf? I was born there." Sōrusmirks at Naruto. "Let me point out you did not say you was raised there and judging by your memories, you were not popular." Naruto huffs and folds his arms.
"Back to what I came here for, Kurama said something about me going through a probable series of trials to achieve inner peace. Do you know anything about that?" Sōru looks at the mirror. "In order for you to gain inner peace, you have to let go of all your self doubts and remember what got you on this road. One of the reasons I sought you out is to help you. The mirror that I emerged from is no ordinary mirror. It is the Mirror of Remembrance, a mirror that shows you your most hated memories and forces you to relive them over again."
Naruto looks on in shock and thinks. "Damn, to become at peace with myself, I have to go through... That again. Like Sōru said, I was never raised and was abused all the time. Should I go back to the leaf? Is all of what I am about to go through worth it?
As Naruto thinks, Sōru sees a series of emotions ranging from sadness to a look of longing come over Naruto. "I see that Naruto has realized that what I said is true. I wonder what will come of this now that he sees that the Leaf is not all that he wanted it to be."
Sōru looks at Naruto as he turns to face him. "Are you willing to risk everything for inner peace? Or are you going to sit there and wait for the end to come?" Naruto, done with his thinking, looks at Sōru with a determination that was never seen before. "Everything has a purpose, I guess mine is set to begin now." Sōru gives Naruto a smile that made him think that he really was the Kyuubi.
"Now to begin, you first need to sit down in front of the mirror and look into it. When that is done, you are going to want to think about the most painfullest memories that you have, while adding some of the most recent knowledge to it, like knowing about the Kyuubi and the dead Uchiha and such. Doing that, the mirror will clear and begin to replay the scene you are thinking of. When that happens, DO NOT TURN AWAY FROM THE MIRROR! If you do, you will end up being trapped within that memory for a long time. You must hurry though, by how your body is feeling now you have a little under three days left for preparations to be finished."
As Naruto sat down, he could not help but have a sense of forebode waft over him and shivered. Sōru sees this and asks if he was ok. "Yeah, I'm just nervous about having to go through my hardest memories again." As soon as Naruto made eye contact with the mirror, he fell into a trance like state.
~Flashback~
"Get outta here, demon brat!" A random man says as he kicks Naruto out of the store he owns. "Crap, this memory, huh? Oh well lets get it over with. Better act like I did before as to not change anything." He thinks as he hit the ground. HEY what did I do? All I did was ask how much was these outfits!" A young Naruto yells as he hits the ground in front of the store. The man glares at Naruto, making him flinch. "I said, there is no clothes here that is made for demons, so scram now before I get the police here to escort you into a jail cell!"
As he sad those words, Naruto gets off the floor and runs away. As he runs he hears people talking; "There is the brat again, making trouble for Gin." "Why the Sandaime let him live I don't know, but we should do something about it." "We can't, remember the law? If we do we forfeit our life, and I for one don't think that hurting the Kyuubi brat is a smart move." "He's going to get it one day, just wait for it." They were all said while glaring at him
Later on, Naruto is walking from the one place that actually accepted him: Ichiraku's Ramen. "Ok, now if I remember properly, after this the-THWACK SMASH! Naruto was suddenly blindsided by someone and rolled into an alley that he was passing. "OW what the hell just hit me?" He groans as he leans against the wall he rolled to. "I did." A voice says as a group of ninja blur into existence in front of Naruto.
The first ninja wore a simple blue shirt with black pants and some ninja sandals on. The second one wore a black shirt with the Uchiha clan crest emblazoned on the back and some blue shorts and black combat boots. The third one wore a cloak that hid all features on him except for the large gash on his face as well as the weapon pouch of his attacker.
As Naruto looked on at the people in front of him, one pulls out a length of ninja wire. "What are you doing with that wire?" A scared Naruto asks. The man does not answer and begins to look over Naruto and begins to tie him up with the wire produced.
Naruto puts up a valiant effort to get away, but is quickly subdued by a vicious hit to the solar plexus and was knocked out.
As Naruto began to regain consciousness, he noticed that he was in a large shed and that his arms were held apart and strapped to a wall. He tried to move his legs but realized the were in the same predicament as his arms. "Hello? Somebody help me! I'm in here! Please? Anybody!" As he screamed for some sort of assistance, the door opened up to reveal the three ninja that kidnapped him.
"Well, look at what we caught you guys, a demon trying to hide amidst us normal folk." The one with the blue shirt says, "Yeah, I wonder why it came here, anyone hazard a guess?" The Uchiha smirks. "Oh well it was caught, now lets see if we can get it to bleed."
When Naruto hears that, he began to squirm and try to loosen the straps that held him down. The Uchiha suddenly pops up in front of Naruto with his arm pulled back and strikes Naruto in the gut with a devastating palm thrust that made him gasp and hack up his previously eaten ramen.
"You little bastard!" The Uchiha says as he continuously beats Naruto in the face and stomach, making sure that the hits hurt, but didn't kill him. As each hit struck Naruto he screamed out in pain and was pleading for the other two to help him. The other two just stared at him with an impassive look on their face as he was continuously hit.
When the Uchiha stopped punching Naruto, it was as if he was tossed on a conveyor belt with a ton of jagged glass tossed on. His face had a lot of cuts and was bleeding profusely as the ninja walked back over towards the other two. "Well, that was refreshing. Now, lets see if we can do something a little more...painful."
The other two ninja then walked towards Naruto with kunai in their hands and began to cut off his shirt and pants. As they did this, the other ninja pulled out a scroll with the kanji for pain on it. Naruto looks at the other ninja with a sense of hopelessness traveling over him as the ninja releases the scroll and is enveloped with smoke.
When the smoke clears, Naruto sees the ninja with a few instruments of torture. He sees a small double forked shaped piece of metal with a belt put through the middle as well as a large block of wood shaped as a triangle with a sharp edge and some metal ball and chains attached. He also noticed a table there with a few buckles on it, as well as a few red stains marking it, depicting that it was used before. He saw a pair of small knives as well as a few whips with spikes on the ends.
As he looked through the torture devices in front of him, he could not help but begin to fear for his life as the two ninja began to come towards him. "What are you doing? What have I done to deserve this?" He screams as the tears form in his eyes threatening to fall. The one with the cloak on then, tired of his talking began to wail on Naruto as he told him why.
"What have you done? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!? YOU DEMON BASTARD, YOU KILLED MY FAMILY!" As he said that, every other word he struck Naruto in the face, chest and stomach. The Uchiha ran over to him and pulled the other nin off, for he feared that the child would die before having finished his punishment.
"That is enough! You will kill him before you can avenge your family!" The Uchiha glares at Naruto and smirks cruelly. "The next few hours of your life will be the most painful ones for your final hours. Don't worry though, we'll make sure we take veery... Bad care of you." As that was said the other nin with the blue shirt came and unstrapped Naruto and stripped him of all clothing as the other two went over to the wooden construct and began to pull it over towards Naruto.
"Ah, decided to start off brutally, eh?" The Uchiha asks and the nin with the cloaks shakes his head yes. "What the hell is that thing, and why are you pulling it towards me?" The ninja with the blue shirt smirks and decides to answer. "This, Demon scum, is called a Trojan horse, and this shall be the beginning of your pain and suffering until you learn why." The Uchiha grabs Naruto with no care and forcefully sits Naruto on the sharp edge of the device.
"Ouch! That hurt! Please don't do this. I'll be good from now on, just don't!" The other ninja then grabbed the weighted chain-ball and shackled them to the arms and legs of Naruto. Just as they were finishing the preparations, the Uchiha began to speak again;"Going off what my friend there has said, the Trojan horse is used by sitting the victim on the edge and adding weights to the arms and legs, and by adding weight you sink on the edge as it cuts into you, but we are not going to do that. I'll just add enough weight to keep you from moving anywhere."
The Uchiha walked up to Naruto and tapped all the weights twice. As the final tap was done, Naruto suddenly felt as if he was being split in half. "AAAAAAH! NO! DON'T DO THIS! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!" As he screamed in pain, the other two ninja just stared at him and watched him suffer. After a few minutes they went and grabbed the whips and knives and handed over the knives to the Uchiha and began to speak.
"There is also something special about that Trojan Horse you are sitting on. It is one of the first few made for interrogating Prisoners-Of-War during the First Shinobi World War. This one was made differently than the others. This one has a thin layer of chakra conducting metal under the small frame of wood that conducts all types of chakra. I could keep going, but instead I'll just show you." As he said that, Naruto felt a small amount of heat start to build from under him. First it was uncomfortable, then it got extremely hot in a few seconds.
"AAAAAAH! Stop it, it's burning me!" Naruto screams as the metal under the wood burns red and makes the wood extremely hot under him. As Naruto screamed from the heat, the cloak wearing ninja reared his arm with the whip in it and made it crack against Naruto's back, marking it with a small line of holes from the spikes on the end.
When the whip landed, Naruto made the mistake of leaning to the side. As he did that, the wood suddenly cut the skin on him and the intense heat burned it closed. As it all happened, he screamed and only screamed. The other ninja grabbed a whip and began his assault on Naruto as well, hitting him on the chest and stomach.
This continued for an hour with two minute intervals to rest. One ninja hitting him on the back, the other hitting his chest and stomach. All while the Uchiha sat there, at the table, waiting patiently while throwing a kunai in the air repeatedly. As the two ninja began to whip Naruto again, he held up his hand, signaling them to stop.
As they walked away to talk about something, Naruto lifts his head. On it was a lot of dirt and blood, his hair was caked with dried blood as well. But his eyes. Once filled with a childish light they were now dull and darker than the shadows. His chest, stomach, and back, looked like it went through a meat grinder. But it was quickly healing thanks to the Kyuubi, so Naruto would not get an infection from it.
"Naruto, you are lucky we have too much to do, so we can only play with you for a while longer." The Uchiha says as he unstraps Naruto from the horse and throws him on the table as the other ninja Uchiha then goes and straps Naruto down to the table and pulls out one of the small knife the other ninja left behind and twirls it in his hands.
"Now I bet you are wondering why I have you strapped to a table and have a knife in my hands, right?" Naruto just stares at the man, slightly scared as he knows what is about to happen, does not answer. The Uchiha, seeing he is not going to answer makes a quick slash against one of Naruto's legs to get some form of sound from him. The slash, not being too big nor too deep, only made Naruto whimper.
"Now, we are going to play a game. I am going to ask you something. If you get it right, I'll heal you and let you free. If you get it wrong I'll strap you to the table. You answer the next question right, I unstrap you, etc. The game goes until either you answer them all right, or you end up strapped to the table." Naruto hears this and begins to think. "Wait a minute, this did not happen before, why did it change and should I answer correctly?" But before he can decide the Uchiha speaks."Now first question:
"What is sealed into you?" Naruto stares at the man and replies,"The Nine Tailed Fox." The man smirks at Naruto."Right." The Uchiha says. The man sits in a chair and glances at Naruto. "What clan was completely exterminated by one of their own?" Naruto looks at the man. "Your clan, the Uchiha, right?" The Uchiha smiles at him and says correct.
"This will be the last question. Get this right and you can leave. Get it wrong and I will torture you until you either die or pass out." Naruto, who by this time realizes that the man is not playing, only nods his head. The Uchiha notices the nod and begins to speak again; "Good, now last question:
"WHO do you fight for and WHY do you fight for them?" Naruto looks at the Uchiha warily. "What's with this question? I thought they were going to be simple, not soul searching ones." The Uchiha just flashes a knife in Naruto's face as an answer. Naruto looks at the man. "Can I have some time to think about it? This is a personal question that needs time." The Uchiha just looks at Naruto and nods.
"I wonder if this is a trick question. I mean, none of this happened last time, so why is it happening now? Also should I give my reasons for fighting or tell a half truth?" Naruto looks at the Uchiha and sees a look in his eyes. A look of sadness, not of anger and hate, like he does not want to be here. Naruto then made his mind up and released all of the doubt and everything that was once Naruto.
"Hey, Uchiha. Listen to me." Naruto says with a calm voice. The Uchiha looks at him with a look of apprehension as Naruto put his head down. "Well, now tell me, why?" Naruto just hangs his head and begins to speak:
"I fight... For the people in the Village. But the reason I fight is a whole different story. I fight to protect the few precious people that acknowledges me from the very beginning! Teuchi, Ayame, Iruka-Sensei, Konohamaru and friends, Hokage-Jiji..." As he said a name a picture of each person appears in his head and tears form in his eyes. The pressure of all the memories he had with them all coming back full force and he whips his head up with the power of the Kyuubi changing his eye color to the blood red with the slit in the middle.
"They all believed in me, even as the rest of the village hated and abused me! I have made promises that I have to keep! As long as there is someone out there that believes in me, I'll try my damnedest to help and keep them safe, and no one not even a sorry excuse for an Uchiha like you will keep me from my goals! BELIEVE IT!" By the end of his rant he is screaming at the man whom by now fell out of the chair in shock. The pressure of the words Naruto said as well as the fact he could see an aura of peace surrounding Naruto keeping him on the floor.
Naruto strains against the binds of the straps on the table and breaks them with sheer willpower and stands to his feet. Naruto calmly walks over to the Uchiha and crouches in front of the man and begins to speak. " I know there are many people who hate me for the things that the Kyuubi has done and decided to take it out on me in his stead, but what they forget is that they all doubted and harmed the wrong person. I have too many people who believe in me to have doubted myself. Everyone, all the people who have ignored me as well as the Kyuubi, are all forgiven... Just as I forgive you for what has been done to me the past few hours."
The last few words had the Uchiha looking at Naruto with tears in his eyes as well as a form of respect among the guilt and sorrow he feels for ever harming this young boy. The Uchiha gets up at the same time as Naruto and bows to him "Naruto, I thank you for forgiving me, even after all the abuse given to you by me and the others. I am truly sorry for what has been taken place here. As promised I will heal you and release you from here."
The Uchiha walks over to Naruto with a small smile and begins to heal him. When the procedure is finished, the man moves his hands from Naruto and turns away from Naruto and sits back down in the chair that was laying on the floor.
Naruto walk and opens the door, squinting at the sudden light invading his eyes. Naruto turns to give the man one last thank you just to see he is not there anymore. Naruto, wondering where he disappeared to walks through the door, disappearing in a flash of light.
~End of Flashback~
"Woo, that was a long ass flashback Wonder where Sōru and the Kyuubi are up to?" Naruto says as the memory fades and he is back staring into the mirror. Naruto stands and stretches his legs. Sōru looks at Naruto with a smile on his face and opens his mouth to speak. "Congra-" NARUTO WE HAVE A MAJOR ASS PROBLEM! GET TO THE SEAL AREA NOW! Hearing the urgency in Kurama's voice, the two look at each other and runs towards him.
As they run, Naruto can't help but look at Sōru. He looks different instead of having all the foxy bits, he looks completely human except for the blood red eyes and defined whisker marks. Wondering why he decides to ask; "Hey Sōru, why do you look like that?" Sōru looks at Naruto and grins. "I look like this because you have taken a huge step towards being revived as well as having peace within yourself. Naruto takes the answer in stride and begins to run faster towards the seal.
As the pair reach the seal they could instantly tell that something went wrong. The cage was crumbling to pieces and the rest of the place was coming apart. Naruto gasps when he sees the Kyuubi. Kurama is standing in all his glory struggling to keep everything together. "Kurama what the hell is going on?" Kurama looks at Naruto and grins savagely.
About time you got here! Listen to me and listen good. Someone slipped into the hospital room you are in and poisoned you! And since my chakra is not in your system, it spreader like a fire and you are going down faster! We need to begin the ritual now in order for all of us to survive.
Naruto pales at the words of Kurama and begins to speak as quickly as he could. "Kurama I still am not ready though, I only just finished the first trial which I think was the forgiveness of all harm that was brought upon me! I still have to finish everything else though. What are we going to do?"
Kurama gives another savage grin and begins to layout what he has planned for the moment.
Naruto, remember in the beginning when I said this was not a plan of intelligence but a plan of trust and acceptance? He nods his head in confirmation. Good, because the first plan has been drawn to shit and there is not enough time to finish everything. The plan now is to flood your chakra system with my youki while you repeat these handsigns: Dragon, Rat, Monkey, Hare, Tiger, Ram, and Dragon lastly. Repeat them three times. These handsigns go to one of the few jutsu that we Bijuu can actually use to help humans, not kill. The purpose of this jutsu is to completely replace your chakra with my youki, making you a demi-demon of sorts. Naruto hears that and begins to protest but Kurama shuts him up with a roar, cracking the ceiling and the walls.
BY THE GODS SHUT UP! Naruto hesitates, but is now quiet. It will also begin to flush out the poison. While that happens it will begin to heal you at an alarming rate while shifting around some things to make your body more accustomed to having youki and not chakra.
Naruto looks at Kurama with a saddened look on his face as well as Sōru, who hears this with a grimace. "There is no other way, is there?" Naruto says as he thinks about the fact that he will not be human anymore after this. Kurama looks at Naruto with a small frown on his face. I'm sorry, Naruto. If only we were a bit faster we would not have to do this and you would still be human after this is over. Naruto looks at Kurama with a smile on his face and walks toward the seal. "It's okay Kurama. I forgive you for everything. But I guess this is where the shit hits the fan the hardest, huh."Kurama smiles and nods as the place shakes and crumbles.
Kurama then turns to Sōru. Sōru, my friend I need you to assist us in the jutsu. The being in question looks at Kurama, confused steps up to the cage. "how could I help? I am nothing but a small part of Naruto? Kurama stares at Naruto. Naruto, stand next to Sōru for a moment. Naruto does so and Kurama begins to speak again. Ok, turn towards each other and hold a fist out, both of you. Them you both need to bump fists with each other and think of something you both have in common. If it happens correctly, you both yell out what you have in common. It has to be the SAME thing. If not it wont work properly.
Naruto turns to Sōru and grins. "Ready to do this shit, bro?" Sōru turns to Naruto with the same grin on his face. "Hell yeah, lets do this!" They both cock back an arm and fist bump. "BELIEVE IT!" They shout together as a flash of light engulfs them. When the light ends there is only one person standing there. At five feet nine inches with some definition to his frame. Eyes closed with hair going to his shoulders, the person opens his eyes to show blue irides with slit irises. He turns to Kurama and shows off his longer canines. "Kurama, lets do this shit!" Naruto goes towards the seal.
Kurama can only stare for a few ticks and suddenly remembers. Naruto come here. Since there is no chakra in here you have to use my youki to begin the technique. Its called Nine Beast Lost Art: Demonic Ascension. Remember the signs, right, Naruto. Naruto looks up at Kurama and nods. Good begin the hand signs whilst I prepare the youki. And Naruto, do me a favor, promise me when this is over you are gone from this accursed place. I know a few places you could go that is a lot better than being here.
Naruto looks at Kurama and nods as he sits on the floor of the seal and begins the seals as Kurama gathers the energy needed. As soon as Naruto hits the last one, Kurama touches Naruto. NOW! CALL OUT THE NAME OF THE JUTSU AND PREPARE TO HURT LIKE A BITCH! Kurama yells.
"NINE BEAST LOST ART: DEMONIC ASCENSION!" As he finished screaming the name of the jutsu, everything goes white.
XxX Hospital, Naruto's room XxX
Tsunade Senju, Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, head medic of Konoha General Hospital, is sitting in a room in intensive care. A room that has nothing in it but a bed and a window. In the bed is a person. That person is covered in bandages with a heart monitor attached. The person has a head of blond hair and three whisker marks on his face. That person is also dead. Someone snuck into the room and poisoned him making the race to save him futile.
Naruto Uzumaki... Is dead.
"Damnit not again. He was supposed to be different. He wasn't supposed to die like this. He was going to take this hat from me." She says as the tear began to flow. "HE MADE A PROMISE TO ME!" She screams as she falls to the floor and bawls over her loss. Shizune walks into the room and sees Tsunade on the floor crying. Shizune looks towards Naruto and puts two and two together.
"It can't be. He's gone?" Shizune asks with tears in her eyes. Tsunade only cries harder hearing Shizune's words. She falls to her knees and joins Tsunade in crying. The more they cry the more people are drawn towards the sound. Kakashi is one of the first few there, since he was in the hospital anyways. Seeing them on the floor he assumes the worst and just falls to his knees in bone wracking shakes. Kakashi comes Asuma and Kurenai along with their teams. Gai flies towards the sounds of crying hoping he can spread some youthfulness and stops when he sees everyone inside Naruto's room. He walks over and enters the door and sees Naruto sleeping in peace on the bed.
Gai walks over to Naruto's bed as everyone gets up to see what he does. They all gets closer to the bed. Gai stops in front of the bed and carefully covers Naruto's face with the cover. As he finishes with that action, everyone there begins to cry again. As everyone cries Gai turns to address them.
"Naruto. A great kid. No, a great MAN has gathered us all here under the threshold of his passing. We sit here mourning for his death when we all forgot what he fought for. Well, let me remind us of what he fought for." Gai began his speech with tears in his eyes. "He fought for Righteousness, he fought for Justice and everything that is right to him. But what he truly fought for, was every person standing in this room and out in the village. He threw himself in from of the danger that was Zabuza to help rescue Kakashi during his C-turned-A rank mission to Nami No Kuni. He did his best during all of his missions He went that extra mile fighting to protect his comrades from Orochimaru in the Chunin exams. But the greatest thing he ever did was keep the Kyuubi at bay the day he was born to today." As he said that the people who didn't know that gasped at his words.
"The Yondaime could not kill the Kyuubi, so he sealed it intro a baby that was just born. A baby that has dealt with more pain during his short life than any of us could possibly imagine. This baby was named Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze by his parents Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki." The more Gai says the more people can't believe.
The tears began to fall heavily from Gai. Not tears of youth, but true tears of pain and sorrow. He began to speak again. "This is the Legacy Of Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. In His memory, shall we pray." As he finishes his speech everyone bows their head in silence.
Breeeeep- beep-beep-beep.
Wondering where it's coming from everyone turns towards the heart monitor.
Beep-beep-beep.
Suddenly the whole room is filled with a presence that is has the whole room shaking. The presence has everyone on the floor gasping for breath. They all look towards Naruto to see what was going on just to see him go up in a flash of light. Everyone covers their eyes to block out the sudden flash of bright light. When the room stops quaking everyone uncovers their eyes to see what happened. The whole room gasps at what the see. Gai back up towards everyone else, not believing what he sees.
Standing on the bed is a man of five feet eleven inches with a toned muscle definition of an Olympic swimmer. The man has long blond hair that reaches the shoulder blades. What they really are only looking at is the three whisker marks on the persons face. The person jumps off the bed and lands in front of the crowd who takes a large step back. He opens his eyes to reveal the clear blue eyes of the person they were mourning not too long ago. The man smiles and speaks in a strained voice.
"Hello everyone. I'm back." Is what was heard as the revived body of Naruto falls face first towards the floor.
Hello Akimenokoji here. I'm sorry for the late chapter but school has become hectic with all of the tests that keep me away. Other than that, no excuses so please read and review.