A/N) To be honest I don't really know what pairing I should give Naruto. Currently I have Kyubi in mind though. Maybe the shinigami too… Note they're all females. Note, as I have more of an idea where my other story is going I'll focus on the other story a bit more than this one.
Side Note: This story will be updated slowest once per month on the first of every month. Give or take a few days.
Disclaimer: I hereby claim that I do not in any shape or form own Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. The story, ideas and eventual characters of my own design are mine though.
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Everyone and Anyone can make mistakes. Chapter 2: A guilty conscience.
"Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company."
― Mark Twain
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It is said that every sentient being with enough practice can enter their own minds, entering what some call mindscape. After all if we can think and have dreams, who's to say we can't enter a dream-like world at will? Thus a mindscape. A place where a person has control over anything and everything. A place limited only be one's imagination. A place which is said to reflect a person's character and mental health. Most sentient beings never 'discover' their own minds while those who do rarely master their minds to their full extent. With such a world in every being, this begs the question, "Can one truly do anything in the world, even slow down time to a point where a new born could have the mental maturity of a fully-fledged adult? Or if it is possible to invite another being into one's mind?"
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Naruto has just finished another cycle in the final level of hell, his fiftieth to be more exact. While he has managed to hold onto a semblance of time by counting how many cycles have passed, which should have been impossible. Even Naruto had limits. He could feel his grip on his mind slipping every minute, ever so slowly creeping towards the point of no return. It was like insanity and sanity was waging a war in his mind and with each passing moment insanity won a bit more. His rational side told him his body was tired, but he couldn't feel it either.
Within Naruto's mindscape his tenant watched as Naruto's mindscape slowly changed with arms folded. Luckily or unluckily for the tenant the last sane parts of Naruto's mind connected parts of the cage that kept the tenant sealed within Naruto. Due to this the tenant can see what Naruto had and is going through. The tenant itself had to keep itself at an arm's length to avoid being trapped in the same torture as Naruto. As the tenant watched she knew that Naruto's mind was slowly losing, as except for the parts of his mind that were still sane everywhere else had crumbled and fallen into the abyss below. It wasn't hard to see that bit by bit more of Naruto's mindscape crumbled and fell as the boy's comatose body lay in the middle of his sane mind.
As the Naruto's tenant the Kyubi watched she tried to convince herself that this wasn't her problem. For the cage that kept her trapped was actually both Naruto and her mindscape, a shared space that was linked.
'It doesn't matter if he loses his mind, as long I'm in this cage I can reinforce his mind here. I won't be affected…not…at…all'
She watched as one by one the connections between Naruto's sane mind and hers fell from his side. Soon there was only one left. She would have been content watching Naruto's mind crack if it weren't for the uncomfortable feeling that gnawed deep within her at her very soul.
'What happens to him isn't my problem…so what if he was hated by his village I didn't ask to be sealed…so what if he is paying for my sins…' such thoughts kept repeating in her mind as she adjusted her legs and suppressed the urge to twitch her hands.
'Is this feeling…of guilt?" Kyubi asked herself. Despite her efforts at convincing herself otherwise. Soon even she couldn't stand it anymore. A single tear fell from her left eye, soon many more followed. She dropped onto her knees and her hands covered her face.
'This is my fault…this is all my fault…Naruto…' thought Kyubi as she conceded to her deeper feelings.
'I'm sorry Naruto…I'm SORRY!' with this thought finished Kyubi charged up her chakra and attempted to pull Naruto in her cage. The cage meant to protect the boy, would be working against his only hope now. Pain filled Kyubi's being as she kept forcing as much chakra as she could through the seal. It was unbearable and in any other circumstance she would have had keeled over. On her side of the cage was a beam of chakra the size half the size of Kyubi. On the other side was simply a small stream. A true testament to the power of the seal keeping her in. She focused despite the pain as she was determined to save the boy before the last connection fell. Getting up she bent her knees and spread her legs slightly, both her hands were thrown in front of her palms open. Her body trembled from the exertion and pain. The small stream of her power finally reached the boy and it morphed into a small claw. As the claw clasped around one of Naruto's hands the pain that had filled her body suddenly doubled. She crumbled fell onto her knees and the claw quickly lost it shape.
'Foc…FOCUS!' repeated Kyubi as tears of guilt, sadness and pain streamed down her face. The second her chakra lost contact with the boy the pain halved. Placing a bent leg on the ground and the other beneath her she bent her back slightly and thrust one hand forward with the other by her side. Bracing herself for the pain this time her chakra took on the shape of a claw once more and grabbed the boy's hand.
'Ark!' coughed the Kyubi from the sheer amount of pain she was going through. It was as though hundreds of daggers were stabbing into her soul. Sweat started to appear on her body as the signs of exertion appeared. Her body was shaking from both pain and exhaustion but she wouldn't give up. She started to pull her chakra back as the very part of his sane mind he was on just crumbled. With all her might she yanked her chakra back, her arms thrown behind her. Unfortunately Naruto's body got caught by the bars of her cage and was still outside. Quickly she jumped up and dashed towards the side of the cage and reached out to grab the boy. The second her hands passed the cage though she felt lightning course through her body. The pain was nothing she had ever known, even the pain she felt before was nothing compared to this. Even so she was determined to rescue the boy. Both her hands quickly wrapped around Naruto's torso just as soon as the last connection fell. With the last of her strength she pulled and Naruto was finally safe from the insanity that had taken over the rest of his mind. For as long as her presence was there her own will could reinforce the part of Naruto's mind that was linked to hers. Kyubi soon fell unconscious from her exhaustion and the pain that still echoed in her body, but not before she pulled Naruto to her. Jailor and captive both unconscious as they both slept soundly within the embrace of each other, despite the slight trembles that ran through her body occasionally.
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Somewhere else a certain goddess felt a small tingle. The very same goddess that was summoned 12 years ago to the human realm.
'Hmm? Probably nothing. After all our creations will probably handle it.' The goddess convinced herself.
She and rest of her sisters were currently playing an intense game of poker and she quickly resumed her poker face.
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Kyubi woke up with a jolt as she sat up stiffly. She looked around slightly confused until she saw a familiar body and suddenly everything she had done rushed back to her. Kyubi was about to nurse her head as a headache formed but when she moved her hands they didn't feel right. In fact certain other parts of her body didn't feel right either.
'What…no…no!' exclaimed Kyubi in her mind as she was horrified at the state her arms were in. Up to her elbows here arms were covered in severe second degree burns. Quickly she tried to 'will' a mirror to appear in front of her but found that she couldn't.
'Did the seal…make his will stronger than mine in this linked mindscape?' thought Kyubi growing slightly panicked as her nostrils flared and her eyes dashed around the cage looking for some sort imaginary answer. She found none.
Unfortunately when she was sealed so did her physical body. Thus any wounds she received in any part of Naruto's mindscape even a shared one would also hurt her real body. She couldn't even summon up the chakra needed to heal her physical body as after her show of power the seal had decided to go into lock down and totally seal off her power and mindscape, so she was currently trapped in their linked mindscape. The chakra she had stored up slowly over the years of her imprisonment from small trickles let through the seal had been used up earlier. Probably from her rescue of the young blonde. So she can only rely on her natural demonic healing abilities and hope that the wounds will not leave scars. For now though she has to bear with her wounds.
The sudden feeling that she was being watched caused her to quickly look at Naruto to discover that he was slowly waking up. Panic started to set in as she started to imagine what he might do to her. As unfortunately for her while Naruto was in the linked mindscape the seal would make his mind stronger than hers meaning he could do almost anything he wanted. Fortunately for her though Naruto could not attack her psychologically or kill her for if her mind cracked than then her presence maintaining the shared mindscape, which was actually a part of Naruto's mindscape linked to her, would disappear and the shared mindscape would crumble like the rest of Naruto's mind. Now she just had to make sure Naruto knew that too.
Naruto just looked at her, stare would be more like it. She was at one corner of the cage, her knees brought toward her body with her arms hanging limply by the side. She noticed that the fake smiles and mask he constantly wore were no longer there.
'Probably lost that annoying false persona when parts of his mind shattered.' Thought Kyubi with a less than hopeful tone.
For when a person's mind starts to slowly shatter and lose itself the mind will attempt to preserve itself. It would push away all the less important things first while preserving priority things like a person's core personality. Which meant that Naruto has lost his mask. Although the mask might have helped to shield his core personality for spending time in a shared mindscape often puts a personality at risk of outside influence. More specifically in this case Kyubi. Kyubi really did not want to deal with someone that had a similar attitude to her.
"Who are you?" the simple question knocked Kyubi out of her mental tirade.
'What should I do? If I tell him I'm the Kyubi he might decide to take revenge on me never mind that I rescued him'. Kyubi hesitation did not go unnoticed to Naruto but he simply waited as unknown to her Naruto could hear her thoughts in this shared mindscape as Kyubi. She took a quick glance at Naruto's eyes before quickly pointing her eyes downwards. Her body fidgeted and her muscles were tense. After a few minutes Kyubi finally decided to simply come clean. If she was going to lie to Naruto she might as well have just left him to lose himself.
"Naruto. I…I'm the Kyubi." Whispered out Kyubi as she looked down at her knees, head down, afraid of his reaction. After a few minutes of not hearing a response Kyubi looked up at Naruto. Naruto's face was stoic, but was that slight amusement she saw on Naruto's face?
"I asked who you are, not what you are." Replied Naruto his tone tinged with a bit of humour.
"What…? But…aren't you mad? Angry? Even a bit at me for what I caused you!? At least HIT ME!" whispered Kyubi, increasingly loud, in disbelief. Her knees no longer tucked into her chest, instead below her. Her eyes fixed onto his, conveying disbelief, eyes wide open. She was the reason he was hated, the reason he was an outcast since he was born, even the reason he was suffering for sins he did not commit. Yet…
"Slap!" a stinging sensation made itself known on her face and she was quickly broken out of hysterics. Then she felt the embrace of the smaller person. She was just a head taller.
"Kyubi. I won't, refuse to be like the ignorant villagers. I will not judge you before I even get to know you. The very fact that you rescued me also tells me that at least some part of you feels sorry and regrets what you've done. So, thank you for saving me." Said Naruto in a warm and comforting tone.
" Now then, what is your name?" asked Naruto again with more than a bit of humour tinged into his voice.
"Kaz…it's...Kazumi" stuttered Kyubi as she slowly broke down into tears and sobs wrecked her lithe frame, despite the pain from her arms Kazumi wrapped her arms around Naruto's frame as she found herself on her knees, her head level with Naruto's. Naruto, despite having lost his clown mask never did have much experience with such situations so he decided to keep his arms around her in a hug. Although he soon noticed something…embarrassing…
"Ka…Kazumi-chan, your clothes…" Naruto stuttered out as his face flushed. Looking down Kazumi checked her own state of dress and quickly blushed as well. The red kimono she wore was somewhat damaged. Apparently in her rescue attempt parts of her elegant kimono got damaged and the upper half of her kimono barely covered the top part of her body. Though being a few hundred years old and in a recent state of emotional distress she didn't react very violently.
"I can't do anything Naruto, You're going to have to imagine me in a fixed kimono Na-ru-to." Kazumi whispered into Naruto's ear in a slightly cheerful tone after she had bawled herself out. He decided to save himself more embarrassment and simply did as he was told. Taking a step back soon Kazumi was dressed in another elegant white kimono with crimson rims and orange kitsunes. He then noticed the state of her arms and slightly burnt parts of her face and neck. Kazumi seemed to realise this too at seeing Naruto slightly flinch at the sight of her.
'I wonder if the same thing applies to her body' thought Naruto as he imagined that Kazumi was perfectly healthy. Kazumi felt her hands feeling better and her muscles were able to relax not having to bear the pain any longer. An awkward smile found its way onto Kyubi's face as she was flooded full of relief, both physically and mentally. Though this moment soon came to an end when Naruto finally asked the million dollar question.
"So Kasumi…what happened?"
Kasumi sat down and hugged her knees, she chewed on her lips unsure if she should tell him what really happened…what if it changes his mind? What if he does decide to take revenge on her? Literally reading her line of thought Naruto lifted her head to face him with his fingers. Kazumi looked everywhere but his though. Her head struggled to get out of his grip every so often.
"Look at me Kazumi" she stopped moving her head by her eyes were still lowered. With another gentle nudge she slowly raised her eyes to meet Naruto. She was met with warm eyes that seemed to look into her soul.
"Listen, Kazumi, you may have done many less than sensible things in the past, but to me what matters is that you cared enough to save me. You could have left me to be lost in my mind, you could have simply sat here and watched. For this, I promise I won't treat you unfairly." Said Naruto in a voice that seemed to betray his physical age. This little speech only seemed to make Kazumi feel even worse about herself though.
"I didn't want to save you…I didn't want to. I wanted to watch as you fell, but…but I couldn't…I DIDN't WANT TO SAVE YOU!" Kazumi's whisper gradually rose to a shout as she moved to a side with her hands burying her head into her knees.
"But you still did didn't you? What matters to me was that you did." Replied Naruto once more in a soft but warm voice.
With those simple exchanges of statements, a new friendship forged. Whether that bond would stand and develop into something more still remains to be seen. With that Kazumi started her explanation, one that would either make or break their new found friendship.
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A millennium ago the gods created three races to do their jobs for them, but these races could only rule in their own dimensions. So they came together and they created the juubi. The juubi's job was to ensure that the human realms under the gods' watch never got destroyed. Yet the juubi was caught off guard, by the very thing it was supposed to protect. A handful of humans knew of the juubi's existence. They sought to take the juubi's power for their own kind. After all, the kind of power only belonged in their own race right?
The Rikudo sennin seen as human's saviour was nothing more than a selfish and greedy human. His eyes, the rinnengan, were a mutated version of the juubi eyes with less than one percent of the original's power. The chakra the sennin had was a diluted form of the youkai from the juubi. With the juubi's own power the rikudo sennin conducted vile experiments in an attempt to make sure that humans could make their own chakra. When he came of old age the rikudo sennin feared that the juubi would seek to take revenge so he came up with a plan. He forcefully drained the juubi of most of its powers and split them into nine parts. The nine bijuu known today. The rest of the juubi was sealed and launched into space, forming the moon.
The rikudo sennin was however still scheming. He had unknown to anyone else collected nine animals. When he had split the power into nine parts he had placed each part within an animal.
A raccoon was the first and a fox was the last.
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Nine beings reborn with great power. They sat in a circle facing the rikudo sennin. The man was slowly slipping away. They understood, he was not like them, despite his immense power he was still human.
"My children. Even as I am nearing my last breath I have seen many things." The nine watched their father's form as he struggled to even speak.
"I have seen parts of your destinies." They paid more attention as their father appeared to be giving them his final wish.
"One by one you will all be trapped within humans, but be patient and wait. I know it will probably be painful but wait. One day a human will be born that will come to possess immense power. Stronger than all of you. When that day comes, support him." His children bowed their heads in acceptance. As they watched his frail hand drop weakly onto his chest. It would be the last time they would see his eyes.
Tears were shed as they remembered the experiences that they had experienced with their father in their young and short lives. Their father had went to sleep, his soul had moved on. He had went to his final rest with a smile on his face.
Sadly for them, they never knew that the smile their father had wasn't an innocent one. Neither was it for them. Had they not been caught up in sorrow they would have seen the malicious smirk under it. They human's plans were well underway.
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They had roamed the lands for years, lost and unsure of what to do. Once in a while they would visit and help the humans. Their intents and souls so pure.
However their 'father' had left instructions for his followers. The nine new bijuu whom were not nearly as powerful as the original were eventually resealed by the rikudo sennin's followers after many generations. His followers had developed and learnt over time, but their natures were not different. The nine were treated as nothing more than weapons or pets. Throughout their imprisonment there would always be small chances for them to escape. Unfortunately every time they escaped they would commit sins that were atrocious and crimes that would have had them executed if they could have been. The nine weren't originally like this, but centuries and decades of imprisonment within beings who would treat them as less than trash had taken its toll. They were not insusceptible.
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"The seal of my previous hosts prevented all possible contact I could make with my hosts, one day I found myself being forcefully pulled out and put under a genjutsu by the very thing I created, the sharingan. Before I knew it I was sealed in you." Said Kyubi was she toyed with Naruto's hair as he sat in between her legs. Her other hand was clasped between Naruto's. Here she paused. This would be the hardest part. Somewhere throughout her explanation she had partially show her demonic traits. She had fox ears instead of human ones and single tail was being caressed by Naruto. Unknown to Naruto, he was helping Kyubi a great deal by unintentionally soothing her nerves and slightly arousing her. Steeling her nerves she continued as she unconsciously tensed her arms. Something Naruto did not miss.
"The seal on you, was different. It allowed us to communicate with each other and apparently it linked us in many ways. When you died so did I, since I'm obviously still trapped in you. However this came at a cost. My sins became linked to you and you ended up being punished because of me." At this she stopped, fearing his reaction. Her eyes were closed and her arm that was twirling Naruto's hair came to rest on her leg as her shoulders tensed. Naruto did not say anything. Neither did he even stop caressing her tail. Kazumi did however feel him slightly tense up however. After a minute of silence Naruto let go a sigh.
"If my punishment is to spend eternity with you I don't think I would mind too much." Stated Naruto in a voice tinged with humour. Kazumi felt her face turning red at this, to think that a mere boy could make her blush like a high school girl seeing her crush.
"Actually, I do know a way for us to escape hell. It's just that currently with your state you will most likely die…" whispered Kazumi softly, unsure of herself as her ears flattened onto her head. At this Naruto raised an eyebrow.
Meanwhile Kazumi had an internal debate. She knew a way to force open a portal back to her home. However she would need her physical body to do it. So, what about Naruto?
'I could teach it to him, but then I would have to mark him as my mate and convert him then train him. With my presence in him he would likely have a lot of power after the conversion but…he would have to work for years to perfect his control over it. Not to mention he would have to physically condition his body which would be impossible in here, unless…I got his permission to modify his body…' thought Kazumi as her facial expression changed from contemplative, to frustration, to embarrassment, to annoyance then hope. Turning Naruto around to face her she steeled her face, then she started to tell Naruto her plan. Not knowing that Naruto already knew what she wanted to say.
"I don't mind being a demon Kazumi-chan. If being a demon means being like you and being human means being like those villagers, I'd choose to be a demon any day. Besides, I wouldn't mind you claiming me as your mate either if you don't. Maybe we might even develop feelings for each other." Naruto quickly started before Kazumi could. Though after a few seconds she started to blush heavily and get a tad angry when she realised it.
"You can…You can read my thoughts!" shouted Kazumi towards Naruto who simply had an unbearably playful grin on his face. After a few moments of being speechless she just gave up and dropped her shoulders and raked a hand through her hand.
"Then I guess I don't have to warn you how much it's going to hurt." Laughed Kazumi as an evil glint appeared in her eyes. Suddenly she lunged forward and bit down on the right of Naruto's neck and started to inject a special form of energy into him. The energy, was a special form of energy that a kitsune can only ever truly use once that, would mark Naruto as her life's mate. Forever binding her to him. Naruto only had time to show no small amount of fear before pain filled his very soul.
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A/N) Kyubi's name will be Kazumi in this story as to me Kurama sounds a bit too male-ish. Kazumi means harmonious beauty.