Kitsunebi was proving tricky. He had no idea how to master it. It's not as if he could ask anyone, or read it in a book.
He sat in the same abandoned clearing with the pond, thinking. Fire. What did he know about fire? The Uchiha liked fire. He scrunched his face, trying to remember. Right. Sasuke-teme demonstrated a jutsu once, without actually doing it, in the classroom. There was a Tiger hand seal, among others, and… two fingers in front of his mouth for some reason? At least Naruto thought so.
Of course! As a fox, he didn't use hands, he used his mouth! Maybe the fire should come from his throat instead. Climbing to his feet, he concentrated on a Tiger seal and gathered his chakra in his throat. He inhaled a large amount of air, feeling a weird tickling sensation in his mouth. Then he exhaled.
It came out in a ROAR! Naruto lost concentration and tripped over himself in fright, landing on his butt. The gathered chakra, now without direction, exploded inside his mouth, prompting a coughing fit. Naruto doubled over, gasping and coughing, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
When he finally calmed down, his lungs still screaming at him, he sat there and just blinked. He could roar?
Awesome! He sounded dangerous, truly demon-like. The roar has been deep and loud, super scary. Naruto found himself grinning. It wasn't fire, but it will have to do.
And now he wanted to know how he looked when roaring. Did he look like a fox? Maybe he should do it again, over the pond, so he could look at himself. Or even better!
Grasping the ingenious idea, he made a bunch of clones.
"You!" he pointed at the one closest to him. "You remember what I did when I roared? Well go on, do it!"
"Boss?" interrupted another clone.
"What?"
"We should roar a little quieter. Or ninja will come after us, and they don't like demons, remember?"
"Oh… Right! Then you do it, but quieter," commanded Naruto.
The first clone grumbled, slightly offended at being dismissed in favour of another.
The chosen clone readied himself, hands in a seal, gathered chakra, and roared. It came out more as a wheeze.
The first clone went down, laughing and pointing.
The wheezing clone glared. "Shut up, you!"
"Right, everyone! Again, next!" called Naruto.
And so it went, each clone trying something new, some less chakra, some more. Some just exhaling, some trying a human roar and then changing it. Sometimes it failed, sometimes it was just human yelling, but in the end, they managed a decent roar. It needed just enough chakra, concentrated in his voice box without him making noise. The amount and speed of the exhaled air regulated the loudness and sound.
It was so COOL!
It even looked awesome. The chakra in the roar opened his mouth wide, showing teeth, his whisker marks standing out in stark relief.
Naruto didn't know when was the last time he had so much fun. The other Narutos were almost like his friends, with different opinions, and even if sometimes they argued with him, they always listened to him and did what he ordered. It was… nice. It was like having friends. At least he thought so…
And now he was super hungry. Ramen!
This grandson twerp was annoying. He kept following him around ever since Naruto yelled at him, like some lost puppy. And now he wanted Naruto to teach him. Hah! Impossible. Naruto was a demon fox, no way a human could learn such awesome techniques.
"Come on, Boss, please?!" whined the kid.
Boss?
His clones called him boss, and they did whatever he told them to. This should be useful.
"Oi, kid. What does that stuck up teacher teach you, if you really don't like him?"
"Huh?" asked Konohamaru, confused.
"Come on. I'm your boss now, so tell me all that you know, and we will go from there," Naruto commanded, chest puffed up. It worked like a charm.
.
They ended up in a clearing, with Konohamaru explaining all he knew about chakra and fire and lightning.
"Well, Ebisu-sensei says that chakra in a body is aligned to one element more than the others. There are five elements: earth, wind, fire, water, lightning. Some ninja are aligned to two or more elements, but it's rare. And some bloodlines have chakra that they inherit, like a child from their parents, and the whole family have the same ability. In Konoha, fire affinity is the most common. But not all ninja are good with elements, it's just easier for them to learn the jutsus for that element. Like my uncle, for example. He is wind natured, he uses some wind jutsus, but he fights with taijutsu, and he has knives that channel wind chakra and are super strong. Soo… is this what you wanted to know?"
Naruto ignored him, thinking. Elemental chakra, huh? He obviously has fire and lightning affinity, but maybe wind too, if kitsune can fly? Hmmm.
"Hey, are you listening to me?" demanded Konohamaru.
"Yeah, yeah, kid. So, let's try it."
"Try what?"
"Elemental chakra, of course," huffed Naruto. Was this kid slow or something?
"You can't do that! My teacher said it's too advanced. You have to be chuunin at least, to master elemental chakra."
"Uh-huh. And how much did you learn under him again? You said I was your boss." Naruto crossed his arms. "Well? Are you gonna train, or just slack off?"
"I'll train! Boss!" shouted Konohamaru.
They tried experimenting with wind chakra first. Konohamaru didn't know much about it, but at least he knew something, since he saw his uncle Asuma train in Sarutobi training grounds, and could describe the techniques pretty accurately.
Naruto listened to the explanation, but couldn't really use much of it for his own purposes. He wanted to fly! In all pictures depicting kitsune, flying foxes had little balls of wind under or close to each leg. So, first order of business, balls of wind chakra.
It was hard. Naruto managed to make a rough ball of chakra floating above his hand, but it was faint and without definition. It looked more like floating lights in swamps, known to be caused by some other spirits, not so much kitsune. They often led people to abandon the road and get lost.
Maybe he could do that to?
He tried to move the ball, made it hover away from his body, but that was even harder. In the end, he managed to make it float on the outer side of his wrist, like in the pictures.
"How are you doing that?" asked Konohamaru in wonder. He had been copying everything Naruto did, without much success. Apparently making chakra visible was very difficult for him. Being human and all.
"'Cause I'm awesome, duh," bragged Naruto.
"Now, how do I make it windy? Did your uncle say something about that?" he asked.
"Dunno… he has this jutsu, like a twister." Konohamaru mimed a twisting movement with his finger. "It takes all the fallen leaves from the ground and makes them float. Uncle Asuma said it could do the same with people, just pick them up and toss them around." He sounded excited when he said that.
"Wow. Sounds like what I need," grinned Naruto.
He stared intently at the ball of chakra hovering by his wrist, willing it to twist. When after a few minutes still nothing happened, Konohamaru huffed and let himself fell backwards on the grass. Naruto wasn't giving up so easily. After another few minutes he managed to slowly rotate the whole ball, but it wasn't even noticeable, the orb being the same on all sides, gently glowing blue/white.
"Boring!" whined the kid, now lying on his front and absently twisting a handful of grass stalks.
Oh!
Naruto turned so both his hands were in front of him, then with a finger of his left hand started making twisting motions inside the chakra ball by his right hand. It wasn't long before he got a result. Strands of chakra started rotating like… a twister! It was slow, uneven, and awkward, but it worked!
"Whoa! Boss, you are a genious!" praised Konohamaru, jumping up to have a closer look.
So COOL!
.
After knocking out Konohamaru's perverted sensei with his Harem Jutsu, in a true kitsune style, the two boys made a pact to meet again, and get some real training done. With stars in his eyes, Konohamaru promised to ask Asuma all about wind techniques, before running home.
It was… different walking through Konoha now. All the glares, all turned backs, all quiet murmurs, they all made sense now. The all knew he was a demon, and they didn't trust him. He will show them! He was a trustworthy demon, the best demon ever!
He was making his way towards the Academy, hopeful about getting a team and finally becoming a ninja.
He walked into the classroom head high and grinning. A few steps in, he noticed Sakura-chan and Ino fighting for a seat near Sasuke. His heart twinged a little, because he liked Sakura-chan, but she for some reason liked Sasuke more.
And then stopped short.
He had read so much about fox wives and kitsune seducing men, and it confused him. He knew boy-foxes change into women, too, but does this mean he should like boys? Could he even date Sakura-chan, being a demon and all? Before the sealing, he was bazillion meters tall. And… and at least 900 years old. Would it be weird if he dated a human girl?
"Gah! So weird!" he yelped, scratching his head. His life was so baffling!
"What's with you, Naruto?" yawned Shikamaru, slouching in his seat just a step away.
"Ehehe…" Naruto quickly sat beside him and was saved from explaining by Iruka-sensei, who just came through the door.
He wondered about his future teammates. Shikamaru would be okay, but Kiba was rude and always wanted to fight. Sasuke was a bastard and Sakura… weird situation, moving on. Ino was annoying.
"Team Seven is Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," announced Iruka-sensei.
Ugh.
.
Naruto was slowly wandering towards home, lost in thought. Kakashi-sensei's questions gave him a headache. His likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future? Everything has changed now. He still wanted the same things he did a week ago. But…
He liked ramen.
He hated… mean people. And when there's no ramen.
His hobbies? Learning how to be a good ninja demon? It's not like he could say that.
And his dreams? He'd always wanted to be Hokage so people will notice and acknowledge him. Because no one ever did. But now he knew why. He was the Kyuubi, and people turned away because they feared him or hated him. He killed a lot of people in Konoha, so Naruto understood the hatred, even if he didn't like it. But he wasn't that kind of demon anymore. He forgot all of it, he was almost human now. Did they even know that? Did they think he remembered, that he knew if he killed their… children and husbands and sisters, every time he looked at them?
A chilling thought.
He wanted to yell at them that NO, he dudn't remember! He was a good person now. And the sealed part of him will become a good demon, too, he will make sure of it! Sadly, he couldn't assure them of his good intentions. The law forbid talking about it, Iruka-sensei said so.
Sigh.
Can he become Hokage as a demon? Should he? Is it right?
Naruto felt a squeezing sensation in his heart, and he stopped in the middle of the street to clutch at his chest.
He really, really wanted to be Hokage.
Maybe he will be able to. But if not…
If not, he will find another dream, a bigger dream. He will become something even more amazing than Hokage, believe it!