Good evening to all and welcome back with 'Naruto: ninja or hunter?'.

I'm really happy that this story is having a modicum of success, and I thank you for the reviews! I also thank those who have placed this fic among their favorites or followed!

As mentioned in the last chapter, the weapons of Naruto were chosen: Saw Cleaver (4 votes against 3 for the Cane and 1 for the Axe) and Hunter Pistol (6 votes against two for the Blunderbuss) but the fact remains that he'll continue to use shuriken, kunai and the various jutsu.

So, after the death of Iruka, how will change the life of our new hunter? Let's find out! ENJOY!

WARNING: this story will contain a huge amount of gore, splatter, lemon and other things for adults, so you have been warned.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO NOR BLOODBORNE

NOTE:

"Human dialogues"

'Human thoughts / mental dialogues'

"Demonic dialogues"

'Demonic thoughts / mental dialogues'

CHAPTER 3: Curse or Blessing?

The night sky and the full moon welcomed Naruto. He was again lying on the ground on the uncomfortable rocks which was becoming a habit. A gentle breeze cooled his body, making him relax immensely but, after a few seconds of immobility, he decided to get up.

Just in time to be tackled by a girl who made him fall to the ground again. Yep, definitely a habit!

"Kurama? What are you...?"

"YOU IDIOT!" her scream silenced him instantly, making him wince slightly. He didn't notice it immediately, but at last he could hear her sobbing against his chest. Slowly, he placed a hand on her shoulder, but she drove it out with a light slap, sitting on his stomach with with a wrathful glance and some tears down her cheeks "What were you thinking?! Were you going to get yourself killed?! I counted at least six situations where you almost died!"

Naruto remained silent, looking at her dry her tears with the back of the hands "I'm The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, for Kami's sake! I am the most powerful of the Bijuu and yet all I can do is looking at my container as he tries to get himself killed! What have I done wrong to deserve this..." and, without even warn, she slumped forward, resting her forehead against Naruto's shoulder. The boy smiled and patted her on the head "I'm sorry..."

"You will be better to being sorry. If you die, I die, and even if I can resurrect, it's never a pleasant thing." Kurama whispered, then getting to her feet, immediately imitated by the boy, who he looked toward the stone house. Without saying anything, he climbed along the staircase and entered, identifying Gehrman in front of the fireplace.

"Welcome back." Gehrman's voice was calm and serene, as if Naruto had just returned from a simple walk "So, I imagine that you're here for some answers, aren't you?"

Naruto stared at the fire with sad eyes "My teacher and friend died to save me from a beast popped out from my worst nightmares...now that I'm here, I want you to tell me everything." his gaze shifted to the old man "I can not hunt without knowing what I'm hunting, right?"

A slight smile formed on Gehrman's lips "I see you've already entered in the view of a hunter, very well. Have a seat, my boy, it will be a long talk, and of course your Doll can listen as well."

Naruto did as told while Kurama glared at him "Who are you calling 'Doll'?"

The old man chuckled "You will soon understand but for now listen to what has to say an old man like me." after both were seated, Gehrman looked back at the fire "You've probably heard the name, but there is a city named Yharnam, in a place far away, beyond what you call Land of Earth. In that city, there is a remedy for all illnesses, the Blood Ministrations, used by the Healing Church, an old as powerful organization that governs the city. I won't tell you how was born the church or where the idea of using blood comes from, because I know that you'll find out alone." Gehrman looked at some weapons leaning against the workbench "The hunters were born in that city, to face the beasts that threatened it. I was the first of them, the First Hunter."

Both Naruto Kurama eyes widened instantly. That old man was the first of the hunters? In the mind of the girl were formed several questions but said nothing, so as to allow Gehrman to continue his story.

"I was the one to design the weapons similar to the one that I entrusted to you and for this they granted me a huge workshop in the heart of the city, so as to produce more weapons along with my disciples, they also hunters. Over time, however, things changed. The Church created its own group of hunters who used different weapons than ours and I was forced to expel from the workshop several hunters who had decided to create more complex, lethal and dangerous weapons. The beasts never diminished and it was discovered that the Blood Ministrations were creating a form of dependence which could not be a good sign and in fact, as expected, more people got addicted to that drug, eventually turning into beasts; even some hunters were unable to resist to that poison and turned into monsters out of control. Soon, many crazed hunters began killing their comrades. Heh, hunters who were hunting for other hunters, it seems almost a bad joke."

Gehrman looked back at the fire, thinking back to those days "Me and my comrades continued to hunt those beasts but eventually my time came. I didn't die fighting but in a simple bed, waking up shortly after in this dream...with her."

"Her?"

Someone placed a hand on the shoulder of Naruto who turned slowly along with Kurama, finding himself staring at a pair of pale green eyes.

"Good evening, good hunter." said the Doll with a small smile on her face. Naruto would have jumped off the chair in shock if it weren't for the hand of the Doll who, revealing a considerable force, managed to keep him blocked in his place.

"She's alive?" Kurama asked looking at the Doll "I never sensed anything from her and she has always remained motionless."

Gehrman smiled "Shes a doll which has been given the life, she is like a human now. Anyway, where was I...?" as the old man tried to remember at what point of the story he had stopped, the Doll walked beside Naruto and stood with her hands crossed on her belly. The boy gave her a quick look and, noticing it, the doll smiled at him candidly, making him blush slightly. All under the gaze of Kurama who had a big throbbing vein on her forehead.

"Ah yes! Now I remember." Gehrman exclaimed, making them turn to him "After waking up in this place I believed to be finished in an illusion, however I soon realized that this was a dream, but at the same time it was not. New hunters came to this dream but, even if it was just a dream, they still managed to grow stronger here so as to hunt better. In summary, this place is like an alternate dimension located in your mind where you can access even at the physical level. For example, if you were to make a cut on your arm, in the real world the wound would open in the same way."

"So that's why, when I woke up in the forest, I had the weapons that you have given to me here?" Naruto asked and the old man nodded with a smile "Exactly. It's been decades since the last hunter, but as guide, I can help you as I helped everyone else."

"Who was the last hunter who came here?" Kurama asked, visibly curious. She was a demon who had lived for hundreds of years, but she had never heard of Yharnam or all the rest. Which was odd.

Gehrman seemed to think about it "If I remember correctly, his name was Hashirama Senju and, like you Naruto, was a ninja."

Naruto gasped while Kurama jumped to her feet "WHAT?! The First Hokage was a hunter?! That damn bastard who dared to seal me for the first time was trained by you?!"

"In a certain way...when he got here he was already incredibly skilled and, to my knowledge, has used what I taught to him just to kill some beasts and face a dangerous opponent. Certainly he wasn't referring to you, so he could have made contact with me after having sealed you." Gehrman hypothesized.

Kurama's eye twitched dangerously but before the situation could get worse, Naruto asked the old man "You said that you could train me...how much would it take to me to become strong?"

His tenant turned to him "Naruto, are you sure about this? If you decide to continue you may lose something very important..."

Naruto looked at the floor for a few seconds "It's my fault if Iruka is dead...if I think about it, I had only to decline the offer of Mizuki and perhaps nothing would have happened. If by becoming a hunter I'll be able to protect my loved ones, I will have no fear of losing my life."

"I was not talking about your life..." Kurama thought but without giving voice to her thoughts.

As if nothing had happened, Gehrman nodded "I've said it and I can say with certainty that in a short time you'll be able to look after yourself without any difficulty, also here you can become stronger thanks to a very simple method."

"What kind of method?" Naruto asked hopeful to begin immediately. The idea of becoming a hunter still gave him a strange feeling but he couldn't let other people die, not if he could avoid it.

Gehrman thumped his cane on the ground and the doll moved beside him "If I say 'Blood Echoes' what do you think?"

Naruto stared at him confused "Blood Echoes? I can't think of anything about it and..." like a bolt from the blue, a memory suddenly appeared in his mind "That jutsu... the Ketsueki ekō no noroi (Curse of the blood echoes)."

"Yes, Hashirama must have transcribed it on that scroll for future hunters and apparently his intuition has proved successful. The moment you have read those few words, the curse of the Blood Echoes has been activated." Gehrman said in a serious voice.

"But...what are these Blood Echoes?"

The man gestured toward the small fountain positioned outside the door, the same from which Kurama had observed the fight between Naruto and the beast. Naruto and Kurama got up to go see and, in the thick liquid into the fountain, they saw the final moment of battle when Naruto dropped his blade into the skull of the beast, yet both noticed one thing. A thin red mist was leaking from the werewolf's body being then absorbed by Naruto through his whole body but, at that moment, the blond hadn't noticed it.

"Every time that you'll kill a beast or human infected with the blood disease, the essence of their blood will be absorbed by your body and will remain inside you until you will decide to use it to get stronger. Those are the Blood Echoes." Gehrman explain then moving his head towards the Doll "She will extract and convert them into pure essence which will melt permanently to your soul, strengthening your body accordingly."

Naruto stared at the old man and then the Doll "So...she could use the ones that I have absorbed from that beast? Even now?"

"Yes, even now. Go on."

Naruto turned completely towards the Doll who nodded "Very well...let the echoes become your strength. Let me stand close." she walked up to Naruto until she wasn't just a few centimeters from him and motioned for him to kneel, holding his right hand in hers "Now, shut your eyes..."

A white light sprang from her hands and Kurama was forced to cover her eyes with an arm to avoid being blinded. Within moments, the light faded to nothingness and the Doll let go of Naruto's hand, smiling at him.

"How do you feel?" Gehrman asked looking at the boy. Naruto looked at his hand, opening and closing it several times "I feel good, in fact I feel better than before..."

"That's the blessing of the blood but more power you'll get, more echoes you'll need to become stronger. Which means that you will have to kill more beasts from time to time." Gehrman explained with a serious look.

"I can't really tell if it's a blessing or a curse..." Kurama murmured, looking at the old man who chuckled "Matter of points of view but only time will give us an answer. Now, Naruto, I'll explain some key concepts for hunters." the boy turned to him and nodded, sitting down again "As you have already seen the hunters kill their prey with weapons decidedly out of the ordinary, especially for you ninja, but they are not the only tools in their hand." the Doll went to the workbench and returned to them with a bottle filled with a strange liquid with a cloth stuffed inside, some white pills and a syringe full of blood.

Gehrman picked up the bottle "Many beasts fear the fire and that's why hunters exploit the molotov like this to take advantage in their hunts. There are also special papers that, when rubbed on your weapon, will envelop it with flames or lightning, making it more lethal."

"Err...excuse the interruption, but we ninja can do those things without the need of strange objects..." Naruto said making Kurama giggling, but the old man just smiled "Can you actually use some Katon(Fire Release) or Raiton(Lightning Release) jutsu, as they are called?"

"No..."

"Can you learn some of them in the next few days?"

"Definitely no..."

"I thought so therefore, until you'll learn at least two Katon jutsu, use these." Gehrman said with a smile, passing the molotov to the boy. The old man then picked up a pill "This is a pill of antidote. Many beast are provided with poisonous claws and fangs. Eating one of these will counteract the poison." Gehrman then picked up the syringe "As your tenant may have noticed, her power does not allow her to heal you as before, at least as far as for the wounds that you've received from the beasts. These Blood Vials..." the Doll showed a small bottle filled with blood "They will allow you to heal much more quickly and replace the lost blood, thus allowing you to regain some vitality."

Naruto nodded "Ok, so I have to drink them and I will feel better...right?"

Gehrman raised an eyebrow as Kurama had to restrain herself from laughing. She knew one of the few fears of Naruto.

"No Naruto, you will need to inject the blood in your body with a syringe. It's still blood, so the process will be more rapid." the old man explained and Naruto paled instantly, becoming white as the doll.

The fear of needles was definitely an ugly beast. (Ok, that joke was REALLY horrible...)

"I-isn't there another way? I can wait eh, Kurama can still heal my wounds!" Naruto whined, staring horrified the syringe.

"No, there is no other way and you can't risk to die for a bleeding wound." Gehrman declared with harsh voice. The boy looked down and nodded slowly, while Kurama turned to the old man "Now that I think, how do you know about the jutsu of the ninja?"

"I can read the memories of Naruto in the same way you saw the end of his fight, in doing so I have access to a lot of knowledge of your current world. Also Hashirama, as I said, was a ninja and told me many times of his world and everything else." Gehrman explained with a smile.

"I forgot that you've trained that trees lover..." Kurama muttered, then noticing the Doll intent to comfort Naruto about the syringes with a smile that, in a few moments, also appeared on the boy's lips. The demon's eyes became red for a moment but eventually Kurama took a deep breath, trying to calm herself "So now what will happen?"

"Naruto will wake up soon. Now the wounds are closed and his body is no longer tired due to the clash." Gehrman said looking at her "You'll remain here and learn a few things about the beasts and about the lives of hunters. Although it may seem strange, I won't be always there so I need someone who can help him as well as the Doll."

Kurama nodded and the man looked back at Naruto "Now, young hunter, it's time for you to go. Come back when you have time and I will try to teach you what I know, also don't give up your life as ninja. Hashirama was a ninja and a hunter after all."

Naruto nodded with a slight smile but before fading, Gehrman spoke again "Ah, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure old man, what do you need?"

"Search clothes that are not ridiculous...I understand the love for the orange but this is just too much." Gehrman said in a flat voice. Naruto snorted loudly, then dissolving into a white light.

With Naruto

The first thing that Naruto felt was the mattress under his back. Definitely better than the rocks in the dream, that's for sure. Opening his eyes, he wasn't surprised to find himself in a hospital room, completely reserved for him.

"Naruto, my boy, are you awake?" asked an elderly sitting next to the bed.

"Hokage-jiji..." Naruto whispered, surprised of his voice since it was low and hoarse. The man, who was wearing a white and red hat, seemed to notice it and took a glass of water "Here, drink."

Naruto drank the water all in one go and finally sighed with relief "Thank you, Hokage-jiji."

Hiruzen smiled warmly, placing the glass on the nightstand "I'm happy to see that you're okay, Naruto. I rushed here as soon as they warned me of what happened."

The memories of the previous hours reappeared in Naruto's mind, leading him to lose the smile "How...how did I get here?"

"The ANBU who found you told me that you screamed until to lose consciousness, after which they brought you here. You've been unconscious for about four hours." Hiruzen said with a sad look, knowing what Naruto had been through. After several minutes of silence, the old man gently cleared his throat and placed a scroll on the bed "Your weapons are inside here. When you leave the hospital, I'll teach you how to use these storage scrolls."

Naruto nodded, picking up the scroll, and Hiruzen decided it was the right time to speak "Also, Naruto, I'd like to talk you about..."

"Of the hunters?" Naruto preceded him, surprising the old ninja who merely nodded "I already know a lot of things and I also know that the First Hokage was a hunter."

The Hokage stared at him in silence for a few moments and then ask "Gehrman?"

Naruto was surprised to hear that name "Do you know him?"

"No, but Hashirama-sama has mentioned to me a few things about his life, including his visits in the Hunter's Dream." the Third explained with a small smile.

"I see..." Naruto looked back at the scroll and then remained silent.

"Naruto, I know that for you this is a difficult moment. So much has happened in too little time and the death of Iruka is certainly a dramatic event, but I need you to be strong for what will happen from here on out." Hiruzen said with a calm voice, making Naruto turn at him "I know about the beasts and that they are dangerous and you're the only one who can kill them permanently. Sometimes I helped Hashirama-sama in his hunt but using only my ninja abilities and jutsu, I wasn't able to eliminate even an enemy. Therefore I want you to be strong, to protect the people you care about."

"But I'm not even a genin."

Don't worry, I know you and I know you're worth a lot more than other genin." the Hokage then took a headband with the emblem of Konoha and gave it to Naruto "Congratulations Naruto, you are now a Leaf ninja." the old man said with a smile and the boy smiled back at him.

"Since I know what awaits you and seen what happened to Iruka, I decided to postpone the date for the assignment of the genin teams." the old man stared at Naruto straight in the eye "Two weeks. In these two weeks I will teach you different things that will help you in the future and imagine that you also train with your new skills as a hunter."

Naruto stared at him with an incredibly serious look and nodded "I'm ready to start, Hokage-jiji!"

"Excellent, my boy! The doctors have told me that for tomorrow you should already be in full force. As soon as you get out, we'll start right away."

Naruto nodded again, looking a last time at his weapon scroll.

The Third smiled and walked toward the door, stopping before going out "Tell me, do you need anything for tomorrow? I will make sure that everything is ready by then."

Naruto thought about it and Hiruzen noticed his expression vary from 'thinking' to 'offense' to 'smiling'. Turning to the Hokage, Naruto nodded "I need some new clothes. Clothes suitable for a hunter."

Hiruzen was surprised by the request but nodded with a smile, guessing that Naruto was ready for the changes in his future life.

"It will be done, my boy. I'm sure that you'll approve your new clothing." and, without another word, he left the room. A moment later, he waved a hand and an ANBU came up beside him, kneeling and ready to serve.

"Search Higurashi-san and tell him that I need to see him immediately. I need the best blacksmith of the entire Konoha as a matter of absolute urgency." the ANBU nodded and vanished immediately after.

Watching the moon through a window, Hiruzen thought 'It is time to re-open the workshop of Hashirama-sama.'

And even this chapter is over! I apologize for the ridiculous length of the chapter but, unfortunately, it only served to fix some things in view of what will happen! In the next chapter we will see Naruto's training as well his new clothing!

Poll time! What kind of clothing would you prefer to see? More ninja and less hunter? More hunter and less ninja? Balanced? Also, what set of Bloodborne should inspire his clothing? Let me know by review or PM!

Small notice: unfortunately, the next chapters will not arrive fast as the these three (due to work and family) but I'll try to hurry up to update! I hope you can understand.

That said, I'd say good night and see you around!