Away and Back - Chapter 1
This came out of nowhere. Well, at least it's a bit longer than my last chapter so that's good, right? Now, you can go read and tell me what you think later... I hope.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
[START]
Naruto ran full-speed through the streets, getting a few confused looks from the villagers. He pumped his arms harder trying to get to the gates as fast as he could. Tears flew out of his eyes, leaving wet spots on the ground behind him.
Finally, Naruto reached the gates. He saw two guards standing there and walked up to one of them. The guard crouched down.
"Where are you going, demon brat?" the guard sneered, ruffling the boy's hair.
At the word "demon," Naruto's bottom lip trembled and tears welled up in his eyes.
"What's the matter? Do you want your mommy?" the guard said in a mocking tone.
Finally, Naruto lost it. "I HATE YOU! You-you-you VILLAGERS! You're so mean! I HATE YOU! I'M LEAVING!" Naruto screamed, the tears spilling over and running down his cheeks. With that, he finally put his days at the academy to use and ran past the village gates, past the guards, and into the forest surrounding Konoha, leaving a mysterious trail of killing intent behind him.
The guards looked at each other and the one who had talked to Naruto jumped towards the Hokage Tower. "Hokage-sama!" the guard shouted as soon as he got to the Hokage's office.
"What is it?" Sarutobi asked, looking up from doing his dreaded paperwork.
"The demon just left the village and headed into the forest!" The guard reported, standing at attention. Then, realizing what he just said, he started to apoligize. A kunai pierced his heart before he could finish. The guard dropped to the ground, dead.
Sarutobi glared at the man who had broke his law in front of his face. Then his expression became somber. I was so sure Naruto would change his mind and come back. I didn't thnk he would actually leave, Sarutobi thought. Then his resolve hardened. Those ungrateful assholes… Once they hear my announcement tonight, oh will they regret what they did. With that, he summoned his most trusted ANBU, four that knew understood that Naruto was just a boy and no demon. "Cat, Dog, Hawk, Bear," the Sandaime greeted. The four raised their hands to their heads in a salute. "Spread word in the village. Tell the villagers to go to the Town Square tonight and say that the matter to be discussed is urgent. Dismissed." The ANBU swiftly jumped out of the windows and sped off in different directions. Sarutobi knew there was no way he could find Naruto once he was in the forest. He should know. The Jounin and Chuunin in the village had always complained to him how Naruto always got away with his pranks, mainly because no one could find him.
Sarutobi sighed deeply and glanced at the crystal ball on his desk. Making up his mind, he focused his chakra into it and watched as Naruto traveled deeper and deeper into the forest.
Naruto shuddered as a breeze blew through the trees. He was used to being alone in the forest, but back then, he could always go back to the village. This time, he wouldn't be able to. He would have to go somewhere else. On the bright side, he wouldn't have to be beaten by the villagers anymore or would he have to endure the cold, angry looks that everyone, save fore the old man Hokage, gave him. He smiled at that.
"You sure know how to cheer yourself up but what are you going to do now?" A voice suddenly said.
Naruto stopped walking and was immediately on guard. He quickly turned around in a full circle, looking carefully at the foliage of trees around him but saw nothing. Now, he wasn't stupid. He just acted that way to get the villagers off of his tail, saying he was going to "destroy them all" or something. If he had to give his opinion, he would say he was smarter than everyone in his class, except for Shikamaru and maybe Sasuke. "Who's there?" He yelled out into the trees. When he got no response, he tried again. "Show yourself!"
"If you insist…"
Naruto suddenly felt himself losing consciousness. He fought it for a minute, not sure what type of trick this was, but he made no progress in "waking" himself up. He reluctantly gave in to the darkness invading his mind. When he open his eyes, he was in a sewer-like landscape. There were pipes everywhere on the ceiling. When he stood up, he noticed he was standing ankle deep in murky water. There was a dark feeling in this place. The most notable thing in the room was a gigantic cage with a paper that had the kanji for seal on it. "Seal… What's inside the cage then?" He got an answer.
"So, kit, I finallly get to meet you." A demonic voice said to him.
Even though Naruto didn't know who the speaker was yet, he had a strange intuition that it was female. He squinted at the cage and noticed a vague furry shape inside it. He cautiously walked closer to it and finally he was close enough to see what the cage held: the Kyuubi no Kitsune. "Kyuubi…" Surprisingly, his voice held no fear whatsoever. It only held shock at realizing the Kyuubi was female. "Where are we?"
The Kyuubi hmm-ed thoughtfully before answering. "We're in your mindscape, kit. Do you know why?" She looked at the small blonde in front of her, waiting for an answer patiently.
Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "If this is my mindscape… and you're in my mindscape… That means you're inside me… So judging from the paper on this cage and your appearance, you're the Kyuubi no Kitsune and you're sealed inside me?" He looked up at the fox for a confirmation.
"Yes, kit. I guess you aren't as stupid as you act," the Kyuubi said, an amused look in her eyes.
"Wow, Kyuubi. For the strongest bijuu of the nine, you're nicer than I thought." Then a thought struck Naruto. "So if this is who you really are… Then why did you attack Konoha all those years ago?"
A look of grief and pain crossed the Kyuubi's face, one that Naruto knew all too well from his own experiences. The Kyuubi turned away and retreated to the back of the cage, where Naruto couldn't see her. Apparently, Naruto already knew she was female, and she was glad she didn't have to tell him. It caused her little happiness, though, as the feeling of sadness washed it away. "Call me Kibo, kit, not Kyuubi. That's only my title."
Naruto couldn't help but notice the strained voice of the Kyuubi and how she didn't answer his question. "I-I'm s-sorry for asking… K-kibo." He felt utterly alone in his own mind as soon as Kibo had left him. To Naruto, Kibo had just become a friend to him, demon or not, and he had damaged the bond before it was even fully formed. He looked down shamefully and turned around until his back was facing Kibo. He understood the fox's pain, as he could feel a part of it too. It was the same as how he felt when he watched all of his classmates, except for Sasuke, go walk away from the Ninja Academy with their parents. It was a strong, yearning feeling that wouldn't go away no matter how happy one was. He stood there sadly, remembering all the times he had come home to an empty apartment. Yes, he understood Kibo's pain very well.
His breath hitched when he was suddenly lifted off of the "ground" by something very soft and orange. It took him a while to realize it was the Kyuubi's tail. He panicked when he noticed it was carrying him past the bars of the cage but relaxed when he felt the tail wrap around him… almost as if Kibo was hugging him.
To say the Sandaime was worried was an understatement. He was having an all out panic attack in his office. Who wouldn't, after seeing your surrogate grandson suddenly drop to the floor? However, he quickly calmed himself and closely watched what was happening to Naruto, usinghis crystal ball. He knew he couldn't be dead because of the emotions flitting across his face: happiness, sadness, pain, grief, etc. The thing he was most worried about was Naruto finding out about the Kyuubi. He didn't know how the young blonde would take it. What he didn't know was that he was already too late… Not that Naruto would let him know it, though.
[END]
Wow, it only took me a day to upload this one. Oh, right. I'm procrastinating because I don't want to do my homework. Yes, I know Kibo is OC but I didn't want Naruto to have no one to help him right from the start so, yeah... Theses updates are going to be scattered so don't be surprised if I update after one day and the next tim it's a month. I have school and a lot of homework.
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Ja ne!
K.N.