Chapter 2: Student of the Blade, Disciple of the Beast

Wow I'm happy that my story gained generally positive reviews in its first chapter and over 200 followers. I'm going to explain some stuff I didn't clarify in my last chapter and respond to some questions I was asked or people noticed of the last chapter.

Kagura: I rushed the ending of the chapter so I messed up in her hair style. In my story she will have dark purplish hair, instead of the brown hair I mentioned last chapter. My bad, I kinda messed up. She still travelling looking for her brother and has yet to find the blade she uses, Archenemy.

Naruto's age: He is 3 years younger than Kagura and if you add 7 years, he's 20.

Well let's begin chapter two and thank you for those who supported this story's first chapter.

Begin.

"You wish to become my student?" Kagura asked Naruto, who was kneeling in front of her.

"Yes Kagura-sama." Naruto said respectfully. Kagura cold eyes stared down at the kneeling Naruto before turning away to leave.

"No." Kagura bluntly said as she prepared to continue on with her journey. Naruto looked up with shock before standing up and running in front of Kagura.

"Wah, why not!?" Naruto asked with a near childish manner. Kagura looked down at the shorter Naruto.

"I have bigger priorities than taking you in as my student." Kagura said again as she tried to walk pass Naruto. Naruto stepped in front of her again as he gave her a rare stern look.

"You probably believe that I am weak and do not deserve to be your student, but I swear at everything I believe in, I would not be a nuisance if you take me." Naruto gave a stern look. Kagura stared at the hardened blue eyes of Naruto as she gave him her answer.

"It has nothing to do with your skills, I just have other priorities." Kagura said with a calm tone. "I'm searching for my brother and taking you as my student, will only slow me down."

"But I promise that I won't! Please believe me!" Naruto pleaded. Kagura just stared at his eyes unsure why he was so persistent.

"I respect your persistence, but my answer is still the same." Kagura walked passed Naruto and followed the road toward the next town. Naruto wasn't gonna give up so he ran toward the wagon from the now deceased farmer and grabbed his stuff. He gave a quick word, silently thanking the old man for his hospitality and promised him one last thing before following Kagura.

'I will pay you back one day old man, one way or another.' Naruto pulled a flower from the ground and set on a tree before setting three stones down. He then ran up the road to catch up to Kagura. He noticed her walking with a calm aura around her as she gently hummed a tune.

"Oh wow, that's a pretty sound Kagura-sama." Naruto said from behind her. Kagura stopped her humming and looked over her shoulders to find a grinning Naruto.

"I told you I won't take you as my student." The swordswoman said coldly, involuntarily getting Naruto to shiver.

"I just happened to go the same way as you Kagura-sama." Naruto said with a sheepish smile as he walked behind her with his arms behind his head. Kagura cold stoic eyes stared at Naruto's, before looking back forward.

"I would appreciate if you stop calling me in such a manner." Kagura said.

"But that title suits someone as pretty and strong as you; unless you want me to call you Kagura-sensei." Naruto said with another sheepish smile. Kagura actually let her emotions show as she sighed with annoyance.

"Your persistence is more annoying than admirable…" Kagura continued to take the passage toward the next town, before deciding to question Naruto's eagerness to learn from her. "What is your name boy."

"Naruto Uzumaki, at your service!" Naruto said loudly, causing Kagura to give an annoyed glare for his optimism. Naruto gave a sheepish laugh as he noticed the glare from Kagura.

"Naruto, aren't you too hyperactive for what you just witnessed." Kagura questioned as she witnessed what happened earlier. She was too late to save the old man who was devoured by the giant beast. She didn't understand the boy in front of him as he kept smiling like nothing happened, when he just witnessed someone get killed.

"Well the old man was very nice and liked to smile a lot, so I don't want to disrespect him by crying or frowning." Naruto said with a smile. Kagura stopped walking and turned toward Naruto. That's when she noticed; his smile was a mask to hide his real emotions. She knew because her calm composure was also a mask to hide what she really was feeling.

"So you force a smile for the man you witnessed get killed? Was he close to you?" Kagura asked, curious if the reason he kept smiling was because that elderly man was his grandfather or someone close to him.

"Well I just met him yesterday, he allowed to hitch a ride with him." Naruto said, causing Kagura to look at him with pure shock. She was able to see through his forced smile because she could understand him, but someone else would have not noticed.

"You… This is not the first time you forced a smile for someone else." Kagura said to Naruto.

"No it's not, I used to force a smile all the time in my former guild. People would worry less about me if I smile at them so it was just easier to hide a smile than to reveal what you truly are feeling." Naruto said as he stared at Kagura. "You should know the feeling, I can tell your calm demeanor is only a facade you form to hide yourself." Kagura eyes widened in shock by Naruto's words, as it quickly formed into a demanding glare.

"I'm not trying to hide anything." Kagura said with a slight tone that promised someone may get hurt if he continued. Naruto ignored this as he gave his thesis about her.

"You can try to hide it as much as you want from me, but your eyes tell your whole story." Naruto said as he stepped forward, standing couple inches shorter than her. He stared deeply in her eyes as he continued from what he was saying. "I can see through your eyes that you are really lonely, some sort of loneliness that you had for a long time. You probably wish to find your brother because he is the only one you have and you are tired of being alone."

Kagura pulled out her blade and pointed it at Naruto's neck. "I warn you, shut up!"

"I also understand why you don't try to get rid of this loneliness by interacting with others, it's because you are scared." Naruto jumped back as he dodged a horizontal slash directed toward his neck. Kagura fractured the remains of the mask of emotions she had in place as she glared deeply at Naruto and purposely tried to hurt him. Naruto noticed this and continued to dodge the many attempts by the swordswoman as he continued to talk. "Are you scared that people would leave you again if they tried to get close to you?"

"SHUT UP!" Kagura screamed as he continued to dodge more slashes. Naruto was getting lucky as he barely was able to dodge her, mostly thanks to the small sessions of training by Makarov.

"Why are you afraid of letting people in!" Naruto screamed back, but this time luck was not on his side. Naruto tripped and fell back as Kagura headed toward him. Naruto stared at the tip of the blade as Kagura stared down at him. Naruto would have been a blushing mess by the weird predicament they were in, if it was not for the blade between his eyes. Kagura sat on top of the young teenagers abdomen to keep him in place as her free hand was on top of his left pec.

"I don't trust people easily; people are not as trustworthy as they let out to be." Those were Kagura's words as she stood up from Naruto's abdomen and gave one last glance toward Naruto. "I would advise you not to follow me if you desired your life."

With that, Kagura sheathed her blade and decided to take a passage off the road. Naruto stared at the retreating form of Kagura with a frown. He didn't believe what she said since he could tell it was a lie. He could tell she was afraid of something, something deeper than just what she let out. He sighed from her stubborn attitude of letting her emotions free as he stood up and picked up his belongings. 'Well I'm not different.'

He checked if all his belongings were not damaged during that little scuffle. That is when he noticed something off. The black book he has been carrying has changed appearance. The fabric has become different as it appeared to look more like that of a reptilian skin. That strange letters that were on the front cover were no longer there, as the only thing there was a strange jewel that appeared as a snake's eye. It was a golden color as a black slit ran down the middle. Naruto stared at it with awe as he couldn't help but be mesmerized by such a thing.

You are still unable to hear me, even though it has weakened

"Wow that is so cool!" Naruto said as his hand caressed the weird jewel in the front cover of the book. He wanted to learn why this happened but quickly looked away from the book when he heard a scream. Naruto looked toward the direction of the scream and realized that is where Kagura left to. He put the book back inside his bag and ran toward the scream. He ran as fast as he can until he saw something he never saw before.

A strange beast that had the characteristics of three different animals roared as he slowly stalked toward Kagura, who was against a tree with a heavily wounded shoulder. The beat had the head and body of a lion, muscular legs of a goat and a thick purple snake's tail slowly moving behind him. Naruto also noticed scars connected the many animals parts that made him believe that it wasn't born like this. Naruto quickly jumped into action when he saw the hybrid beast spring itself toward the injured Kagura. Once it was going to reach the injured Kagura, Naruto appeared and kicked it away.

"Naruto…" Kagura weakly said before crying out in pain. Naruto turned toward her to see what appeared to be signs of poisoning. He was about to check on her and see if he can stop the bleeding, but he had to stay on guard when he heard a loud roar from the strange beast. He jumped away from Kagura so the beast would not try to attack her.

"Stop! That thing is too strong!" Kagura tried to warn Naruto, but he was not going to take being called weak again. He gave Kagura a small smirk and a thumbs up, before calmly taking a stance.

"I never really explained who I really am Kagura. I am Naruto Uzumaki, a mage who can barely wield magic!" Kagura eyes widened in horror when she heard this and wanted to scream for him to get away; but the beast has waited long enough and jumped to attack. Naruto patiently waited for the beast to come close enough, until he brought his hands down and launched himself up. He pulled his right leg back before sending a hard kick down to its head. He then launched himself away and to the other side. "I'm not able wield magic properly, but I am not weak!"

The beast regained its composure before opening its jaws toward Naruto. Naruto eyes widened as he saw the hybrid of a beast spit fire out of its mouth. Naruto narrowly dodged the fire thanks to his small training sessions involving his reflexes and muscle memory to immediate danger. Naruto then had to duck when the beast's tail came darting toward Naruto. He then jumped away when the tail crashed down toward the young blonde. He was then surprised when a fireball went flying toward him in his small state of surprise. He crossed his arms in front of him as he knew he was unable to dodge this time.

"Naruto!" Kagura cried out when she saw get hit by the fire. The died down to see Naruto with his hands in front of him, severely burned. The sleeves of his orange jumpsuit were burned off as he took the full force of the attack. Naruto didn't have time to relax as his leg was grabbed by the tail and thrown toward a tree. His back hit the tree hard as he was thrown with such force.

"AH, dammit that hurt!" Naruto said as he tried to stand up again. He was thinking that he probably bruised or broken a couple of ribs. He stood up with a bunch of pain circulating around his body as he stared at the beast before him. He wasn't going to give up and prove to everyone he was weak, he would defeat it even if he would die in the process. He was going to prepare himself again until Kagura threw a rock toward the beast, trying to provoke it. Naruto turned toward Kagura who had a pale complexion, due to the heavy blood loss. Her hand shook as she held a katana ready to fight the beast, even though the way her body was moving was denying her the chance to fight.

"Kagura stop! I can take care of it!" Naruto screamed toward Kagura, but she angered the beast. It ran toward Kagura with inhuman speed and appeared before her. Kagura ignored the pain as she side stepped away from the beasts strike and attempted to strike its legs, deciding to disable its use of its legs. She would have been successful, but the beast was actually faster. It stopped the blade by biting down on the blade, using its powerful sharp teeth to break it in half. Kagura was shocked by its actions, she didn't notice it pulling its tail back. Naruto watched in horror as Kagura was thrown away by the beast. She crashed into a tree a couple feet from him.

Helpless

Naruto stared at Kagura, who gave him a weak glance. She reached out her hands toward Naruto and gave him a weak smile.

Hopeless

Naruto reached out his own hand as he let his mask break, showing his emotions. Tears streaming down his eyes as his lips quivered in fear.

Weak

Naruto tried to walk toward her as he tried to reach her in time. He wanted to help her in any way he can, even though what she said earlier. He didn't know why but he didn't want to see her in pain. He didn't want to lose another person in this cruel world. He was only a few feet away from her as he continued to walk toward her, but the world became quiet from what happened next. Kagura was consumed by the bright flames of the hybrid of a beast. The flame consumed everything as the leaves burned with the skin of the beautiful Kagura. The flames died down to show the flawless skin of Kagura, severely burned. He stopped breathing for a minute as he saw this and that's when he saw it, pure darkness.

So you finally heard my voice

A pitch black energy consumed him as it brought a heavy air to the surrounding. The beast took several steps back when he sensed the feelings of pure negativity in the air. The energy that surrounded the blond mage began to take a more human form before two wings shot out. The black energy began to be absorbed into the skin as it showed the figure within. The new figure opened its eyes, showing it to be that of a reptilian. Its slitted golden eyes stared around until its saw its prey. It licked its lips in delight as he hungrily looked at the beast. It opened its mouth as he let out a deafening roar.

"RAHHH!"

End

Alright that was the 2nd chapter for this story that got many great feedback. Thank you again for the amazing support and hope this chapter didn't disappoint.

The next chapter will explain the reason for the book and what happened to Naruto in the conclusion of this chapter. I apologize again if this conclusion was a little rushed.

Please review again for this chapter, I really appreciate everyone's support for this story.