Sorry if I took so long to update, but Uni comes first you know.
I don't have any any ownership of Naruto or My HiME,sigh...
Now on with the story
"Naru Thinking and talking to Kyubi"
"Kyubi speaking"
"Kagutsuchi speaking
'Fight, Flight and Awakening'
There were many things that Iruka and Mizuki were expecting. Shouts of denial, anger, confusion or maybe for her to just collapse and start crying but they were completely surprised when instead of doing any of those things Naru started chuckling.
"Heh…. Heh heh heh heh" and soon she was out right laughing.
Iruka just stared at Naru as if she was some sort of mad psychopathic serial killer and asked himself just what the hell was going on, Mizuki was just plain confused, this isn't what was supposed to happen!
Naru finally managed to stop laughing and after wiping away a few tears of mirth looked up at Mizuki with a smirk and said "So tell me something new, Baka!"
Iruka and Mizuki looked on in shock so Naru continued to speak "I've known about the Kyubi being sealed inside me since I was three years old, so this is old news for me, and I have even been able to talk with her just as I am talking to you or anybody else"
"You've talked to the Kyubi?" Iruka spluttered before the other part of Naru's speech reached his mind "Wait a minute! The Kyubi is female!"
Naru looked around with a smile "Yep! And not only that, Kyu-chan is actually nothing like the stories have made her out to be, she is not a blood thirsty demon, she is actually quite noble and kind, for a demon at least, she is no different than you and me"
Iruka just stared at Naru dumb founded, the Kyubi is a girl? She is noble and kind? She's like us? Iruka suddenly felt an intense need for a drink or two or even more then two.
Naru looked up at Mizuki who's expression was even more psychotically twisted and fearful than before, seemed as if Mizuki was slowly going insane. Naru's eyes narrowed in worry, if Mizuki was slowly going insane with fear then there was no telling what he might do.
"Your right about one thing though" Naru placed her hands into a tora seal and looked up at Mizuki in determination "I'm not human!"
Iruka's head popped up at that "Not human? What does she mean?"
Naru started gathering chakra "But I am not demon either" Naru made a series of seals and with a deep breath to calm herself down, yelled "Kitsune henge no jutsu… KAI!"
Naru's body was suddenly shrouded in a cloud of dense smoke and Iruka squinted through the smoke wanting to see what had happened, as the smoke disappeared Iruka's eyes widened when he beheld Naru's true form.
Naru no longer looked like the young girl he had come to know. She now sported what looked like red fox ears on top of her head, along with a single red tail with a white tip. Her eyes were still blue but looked like a foxes, her nails were longer and sharper looking and her canine teeth were now elongated, her figure was fuller as well and looked far stronger, lithe and trim like that of a world class athlete and she had also gained a few inches.
Naru smiled a small smile after seeing Iruka's totally gob smacked expression, then looked up at Mizuki and said softly "I'm a hanyou, half human, half demon, so while I do possess demonic powers, like highly enhanced speed and strength and of course youki, I also possess human qualities, like my heart, I have a great capacity for emotion and this is what makes me more potentially powerful than most other demons, so you can be sure Mizuki that I will stop you!"
Naru watched Mizuki's expression as it went through a whole range of emotions, confusion, fear, anger, hate and too her utmost disgust… lust.
Mizuki's hate of her won though and he shouted "You a heart? You are nothing but a demon! You have no heart! And you even dare think that you will stop me! You will be the one to die! And I know just the way to insure your death"
Mizuki smirked and began spinning the Fuuma Shruiken (Sorry if I got the name wrong before) and Naru just smirked and took a stance expecting him to chuck it at her. Mizuki grinned grotesquely when he noticed Naru's new stance and he began swiveling his arm to throw the by now very fast fuuma shruiken.
Suddenly to Naru's horror Mizuki suddenly shifted his aim and threw the shruiken at Iruka who was still pinned to the wall!
Iruka would later scold Naru for doing it but Naru just reacted on instinct and jumped in front of the shruiken in an effort to protect the closest person to a brother she had.
Kyubi was just about to tell move Naru to not be stupid and get out the of the way when she suddenly felt the mysterious power in a shrouded section of Naru's soul respond to the extreme emotions she was expressing and Kyubi's senses were suddenly overwhelmed with waves of pure, hot, fiery power.
Back outside, time had seemed to slow down to a stop for Naru. She could see the overly large shruiken slowly whirling towards her, screaming like a banshee to her highly acute fox ears, She could see Mizuki grinning and laughing crazily and triumph could be seen glowing manically in his eyes, she could also hear Iruka shouting at her to get out of the way, his cries steadily getting more desperate as the shruiken approached.
Naru could feel her emotions climaxing, fear, desperation, love, anger, disgust and contempt, and an overwhelming desire and determination to protect her precious person. She suddenly felt a strange yet powerful and wonderful energy flaring in her heart, and, reacting out of pure instinct, held out her hands, as if she was about to block the deadly weapon with her bare palms, she felt the strange power flaring to even greater heights and to her surprise, along with that of Iruka and Mizuki, a wreath of fire briefly flashed around her causing her to squint and coalesced into a glowing orange spherical barrier which enclosed her inside its protective walls.
The shruiken bounced off the barrier totally reflected and crashed into the ground a few feet away and all Iruka and Mizuki could do was gape at what had happened and at the fiery balls flying rings around the young hanyou.
'What the hell was that!!" was both their thoughts.
Naru was silently wondering what had happened, she had felt the power flare against something protectively, she had felt the impact of some object and then heard the crash of the shruiken against the ground. She opened her eyes and stifled a gasp when she saw three flaming magatamas floating in circle in front of her. 'What is this, why is this so familiar? Why does it feel like I have gained something that has been missing?' she wondered when she noticed the sound of another fuuma shruiken spinning and looked up to find Mizuki still up in the tree and spinning his second shruiken until it seemed as though it was a buzz saw.
"I don't know what that was" he spat out in anger "But you can be sure it wont happen again you freak" and with that threw the shruiken as hard as he could, this time at Naru who was still standing in front of Iruka. Naru felt a flash of indignation at being called a freak and she again instinctively drew on the burning power flowing in her veins once more and again on instinct she raised her arms palms first. This time she left her eyes open, and while the wall of fire didn't flash this time, the see through, fire colored barrier rose to again enclose her safely within its depths and the fuuma shruiken was again safely deflected.
Mizuki's anger soared at seeing his shruiken deflected again. He has been planning this moment for years and he not about to let his plans be destroyed by some wretched waif of a Kunoichi! This is not what was supposed to happen! She was supposed to be either dead, or cowering before me like the whore bitch she is! She is not meant to be DEFYING ME!
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!" Mizuki screamed and Naru swore she could hear Mizuki's tentative hold on sanity and self control cracking like glass. Mizuki grabbed a kunai out of his holster and jumped into the air, diving at Naru kunai poised in front of him. Naru just smirked grimly, this is what she did best, and drew her own weapon and kunai clashed against kunai. Naru's knees just about buckled and she barely managed the strength to thrust Mizuki back and jump away, any other genin would have been defeated from that attack alone but due to the fact that Naru was a hanyou and her demonic heritage inherited from Kyubi she was strong enough to drive Mizuki back despite her inexperience.
Naru stood up from her crouch with a confident smirk and murmured "My turn!" and keeping on her cocky smirk started running at high speed which surprised Mizuki who swung at Naru's head, but missed when Naru ducked low to the ground and using her superior flexibility and balance somehow twisted in mid air parallel to the ground while still moving, braced herself against the ground with her hands and kicked at Mizuki's chest with a high powered, low slung, round house kick. Mizuki deflected the kick high leaving her body wide open to attack and thrust at her chest with his kunai but Naru continued going along with the momentum, twisted her torso and pushed with her arms allowing her to somehow flip over the thrust and spun around with another kick at Mizuki's head. Mizuki ducked and rose back up with a high powered punch which Naru blocked expertly with crossed arms and back flipped to land in a defensive stance facing Mizuki and smirked wider, Mizuki just growled in anger in response and both Naru and Mizuki ran at each other to engage in another bout of high level taijutsu.
Iruka watched both impressed and worried. Naru was using a level of taijutsu that was about mid to high chuunin, it seemed that Naru had kept more than just her true form secret if one went by the current events and Mizuki was having a high level of difficulty keeping up with the fast, strong, and highly flexible hanyou girl, Iruka frowned with worry. Fighting with taijutsu was all well and good, but there was more than taijutsu to the ninja arts, there was also ninjutsu and genjutsu to consider, and while Mizuki was never that good with genjutsu, he was on level with Iruka in ninjutsu, and Naru just didn't have that option, what with only knowing three basic jutsus.
Naru growled and launched a swift jab at Mizuki's upper shoulder aiming for a certain nerve cluster in an effort to paralyze his arm and get an advantage over the demented man only to have Mizuki catch her hand in his and while not letting go of her hand jabbed at her face which Naru caught with her other palm. Naru gritted her teeth and braced herself before pushing forward attempting to topple him over but it seemed Mizuki had the same idea and began pushing back and neither of them were able to overpower the other, it seemed it was a complete stalemate.
Mizuki gritted his teeth in frustration as he continued to push against his foe and he couldn't help but bite out "How is it you are so strong for your age, bitch!"
Naru felt a flash of irritation at the bitch comment but replied "That would be because hanyou's mature a lot faster than humans due to necessity for survival and so I am already the equivalent of a fifteen year human, and of course because of my demonic side my muscles are much stronger than humans"
This pushing against each other was getting repetitive and it seems they both agreed because they both let go and jumped away at the same time.
Naru landed in a crouch as did Mizuki and they both glared at each other, Mizuki stood up and spoke "I tire of this demon, you are an impressive taijutsu user and I acknowledge that but you and I both know that there is more to fighting than taijutsu" he said with a maniacal sneer of anticipation and Naru's face twitched in annoyance knowing he was right.
"What can I do Kyu-chan? He's not called a chuunin for nothing and I don't know that many jutsu's"
"Calm down Kit, I doubt he knows any really powerful jutsu's and don't forget that you know Kage Bunshin, and I doubt that he would survive if you used it"
"I don't know, Kyu-chan I've only known it for a couple hours and I don't know if I can use it in a battle situation yet, though I suppose I can try" Naru mused deciding whether or not she should it but it was Mizuki who clinched it.
"Time for you to die demon, and then after you are dead I'll kill your precious Ni'san and take the scroll!" Mizuki shouted and pulled out a kunai.
Naru glared at Mizuki menacingly and turned to face him head on "If you dare touch Iruka Ni-san again…. I'll kill you" she spoke slowly enunciating each word with such intense Killing intent that Mizuki couldn't help feeling a sliver of uneasiness but got over it and laughed maliciously with blood thirsty sneer.
"You wont stop me demon" he taunted and Naru just scoffed at him and raised her hands into the ever familiar cross seal.
"Just you try it trash! I'll return it a thousand fold!" Naru proclaimed proudly and with such certainty that Mizuki felt another sliver of uneasiness, but he pushed it down again. What could this girl do to him, she isn't even a genin!
Mizuki shout defiantly "Just you try it demon! Show me what you got!"
Iruka suddenly felt a massive spike of chakra coming from Naru and he started wondering what was about to happen.
"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!" Naru shouted and the clearing in front of the dilapidated cottage was suddenly flooded with clones. They were everywhere, standing in the clearing, hanging on trees, even lounging around on the cottage.
Both Iruka and Mizuki's eyes bulged. They both knew what this technique did! But where as Iruka's heart was flooded with pride, Mizuki's was flooded with fear, and he started whirling around madly looking for an escape until he became dizzy and fell on the ground.
Naru watched the fallen Shinobi with contempt as he was overwhelmed with terror and fell over his own feet "Keh, what a coward, how he ever became a chuunin is beyond me" I might as well put him out of his misery"
Mizuki was just about ready to give up and let himself be taken in, anything to get away from her when he suddenly remembered something he had in his possession, something which would be able to save him despite the girls unexpected power. Naru suddenly noticed that Mizuki had stopped trembling, and he gained a maniacal glint in his eye again and he stood back up straight while reaching a hand into his chuunin jacket. Naru suddenly had a bad feeling and she was just about to order her clones to attack when Mizuki just jumped straight into the air startling Naru who looked up to see what he was doing, Naru eyes widened in horror when she saw Mizuki pulling out a dark purple crystal and smearing it with his blood.
Iruka's heart dropped when he also saw the blood smeared crystal in Mizuki's hand and he gasped "An oufan crystal, when did he get one?"
The crystal started glowing a violent red and Mizuki looked at Naru who despite the blood pumping in her ears and the low voice he spoke in heard what he said perfectly.
"I told you demon. You will die tonight!" Mizuki said and threw the glowing crystal at the ground amongst the mass of clones and the clearing was instantly filled with great clouds of smoke and multiple pops were heard and Naru felt that over half her clones had been dispersed, judging by how much unused chakra had returned to her and giving her a boost, she was also nearly overwhelmed by sudden images, memories she could say came from the clones denoting a large, shady, beast like shape that had appeared next to them and quickly destroyed them.
Naru nearly staggered but barely managed to hold herself still. She quickly recovered and ran over to wear Iruka was and started prying him off the wall knowing that he would only get in the way as he was now.
Iruka started when Naru appeared next to him and started prying him off the wall and couldn't help asking "What are you going to do Naru? Now that this oufan has appeared we no longer stand a chance!"
"Shut up Ni-san! We are not done yet, we can't give up now! There must be a way! But right now we must run, we are too vulnerable here!" Naru shouted startling Iruka who allowed Naru to loop an arm around her shoulders and they jumped off through the forest.
Mizuki had by now landed back on the ground and he ran and jumped on the back of his stolen oufan. He then noticed that both Naru and Iruka had disappeared, and he grinned wickedly.
"So they want a chase do they, I guess I can oblige them" before shouting at the oufan "Find them!" Oufan instantly jumped off quickly at great speed, which was surprising considering its size and it wasn't long before they were close behind the tree wayward duo, and quickly closing.
Naru looked behind her and saw the large oufan quickly catching up, despite the fact they were jumping through the close growing trees of Konaha forest. Naru started cursing like an old sailor. Naru then thought of something.
"Iruka get on my back! I can't go faster if I am dragging you along beside me!" Naru shouted shocking Iruka who yelled back "What! Won't that just slow us down! You couldn't be nearly strong enough!"
Naru grinned and said "I'm a hanyou of Kyu-chan's blood remember Iruka, I am many times faster, and stronger than a human even with out using chakra to enhance my movements, so carrying you won't be a problem"
Iruka still wasn't convinced "I don't know Naru I'm a lot heavier than I look"
Naru just growled in annoyance and pleaded "Trust me Iruka Ni-san I can do it" Iruka was about to protest again but Naru looked him in the eye and said softly "Trust me Ni-san"
Iruka was caught at the trust me and just nodded and when they were in mid jump he moved and latched onto Naru's back who with out missing a beat grabbed his legs securely and wrapped her tail around Iruka's waist to further secure him.
Now that Iruka was on her back Naru could really rip loose and Iruka nearly fell off when they quickly picked up speed. He was astonished by how much faster they were going and that was with him on her back. Though now that he thought about it, it wasn't very surprising she was so fast. For most of her life she has been running and hiding from the villagers, and there were rumors that she had evaded jounin level ninja multiple times, so she had to either be very fast, or good at hiding, or a combination of both.
Mizuki gritted his teeth when he saw that he was no longer getting closer and quickly ordered the oufan to go faster.
Naru looked back and saw that the oufan was still closing in though slower than before and she gritted her teeth and tried to run even faster.
Iruka looked back himself and his eyes widened at how much closer the oufan was but didn't say anything knowing that Naru no doubt aware of it.
Iruka's lips pursed in thought and wondered out loud "Just how is it that Mizuki has an oufan in the first place?" He was startled when Naru replied.
Naru said "Do you know about the missing oufan at the stables?" and Iruka shook his head in a negative and Naru continued speaking "A B rank oufan inexplicitly went missing from the stables a couple nights ago and nobody has clue what happened, I think that this is the missing oufan, I think Mizuki stole it so that he could have an oufan with him when he left Konoha with the scroll" Iruka nodded in agreement but silently wondered where Naru got her information, a missing oufan is serious business, not something a beginner Kunoichi should know about, yet another puzzle piece appeared in Iruka's mind concerning the enigma that is Naru and he did not a have a clue in how to even begin solving it.
Naru in the mean time was having a bout of deja'vu. This was just like her dream and Kyubi was having to send regular pulses of reassurance to Naru to keep her calm and centered, though she herself was also concerned, this was indeed very similer to the dream and Kyubi had a sinking feeling that they were going to discover the unknown ending to Naru's dream.
They continued running for about five more minutes and Naru was starting to pant heavily and was getting tired, she may be a hanyou, but she was still young, and running as fast as you can with a full grown man on your back can tire one out. Naru then suddenly recognized the section of forest they were in, she had been there many times, she had practically lived in it at some point as nobody ever came to this particular section of forest much less go beyond it like she has, the Border forest of Death Gorge Valley.
Naru then started feeling something out there start pulsing resonating with something in her, it was beckoning her, pulling her, telling her to come here. Normally Naru would have avoided such a pull, as something like that was to be avoided, but this was different somehow and Naru turned towards the pulse, noting that they were now on a direct course for Death Gorge, Naru grinned, the valley was her own personal sanctuary, as she had always gone there to heal and be safe at various points in her life, she knew it like the back of her hand.
Kyubi also felt that this was different "Kit this pull that you are feeling, go with it, I think that it is related with that strange power you seemingly possess" and Naru just nodded in agreement concentrating on her running knowing that Kyubi would feel it
"Ni-san we are approaching Death Gorge!" Naru shouted over her shoulder at Iruka who only nodded, being one of the few who knew exactly what the valley was for the poor beleaguered hanyou.
The pair suddenly burst out of the tree line with the oufan close behind them and saw the quickly approaching cliff edge and Naru just continued running and just as they were about to go over Naru shouted "HOLD ON NI-SAN!" and jumped at the edge with an excited yell from Naru tail fliying behind her and a panicked yell from Iruka and they soared down at a quick pace towards the steep incline of the cliff edge and landed heavily causing Naru's knees to nearly buckle and continued gliding down the steep incline.
Meanwhile back on the cliff edge, Mizuki and the oufan skidded to a stop before the cliff edge and Mizuki couldn't help gaping at the female hanyou who was literally surfing down the incline of the valley like a professional surfer riding the wave, except without the board.
He just could not believe the audacity of what the girl had just pulled and couldn't help but feel a twinge of begrudging respect for the hanyou girl.
"Got big brass ones don't she, bloody bitch" Mizuki muttered wondering if he would ever possess the balls to do something similar if he were in the same situation a she was.
Mizuki pointed at the hanyou girl who by then was entering the jungle like forest at the base of the Valley and shouted "Get her!" at the Oufan which jumped over the edge and started crawling down at a slightly slow pace but still a fair clip.
Naru and Iruka were now running through the dense forest of Death Gorge and Iruka was looking around in amazement, it was positively beautiful!
"Naru this place is amazing!" Iruka exclaimed and Naru flashed a grin.
"Now you know why I come here all the time, and if you think it is amazing now you should see it in the day time" she said with a grin and before taking on a grim visage "but enough gawking, we're not out of this yet!" she said with an unhappy tone and Iruka just nodded.
Iruka suddenly perked up when he suddenly realized something and asked "Why are we in Death Gorge in the first place? I mean, there is no help for us here"
Naru suddenly looked pensive and said "I'm not sure, but something is calling me to the center of the valley, something I think can help us"
Iruka looked down at Naru worriedly "Is this something related to those abilities you displayed back at the cottage?"
Naru just nodded "I think so yes" and Iruka just nodded and the two continued running.
A few minutes later they finally reached the middle of the valley and saw that the rumors of a spire being there were true. Naru felt the pull coming from the spire and ran towards it but when she reached it the pull abruptly vanished and Naru stumbled and skidded to a stop with the sudden loss of contact and Naru just stared dumbly panting heavily at where the pull was supposed to come from.
Noticing that they were not about to go anywhere Iruka motioned towards the spire beside them, and knowing what he wanted, Naru strode over to the towering spire and leant down to allow Iruka to get off and lean against the wall.
Just as she let him down Naru felt a sudden wave of exhaustion flow over her and she fell to her hands and knees panting for all she was worth.
Iruka jolted at her sudden collapse and attempted to move over to her but a wave of pain from his wounds prevented such. Despite her exhaustion Naru noticed Iruka's plight and waved him off.
"It's… alright… Ni-san… don't… worry… yourself" Naru spoke between pants, and paused to gain her breath before starting again "All that running around just caught up with me, but I'll be alright after a few minutes rest" she reassured him, though she knew that she would need more than a few minutes. She felt absolutely awful. Her lungs were on fire, she was soaked in sweat as were her clothes, her arms and legs were trembling like she had Parkinson's disease and they ached like hell, Naru slowly reached down to her leg pouch and pulled out a water bottle and started guzzling it like a camel that had gone with out drinking for a year.
Naru could feel Kyubi at work curing as much exhaustion as she could before Mizuki arrived "I'm doing my best Kit but you have certainly out done yourself this time" Kyubi said shaking her head in both worry and amusement
Naru just grinned and said "I have haven't I Kyu-chan"
Naru's ears suddenly perked up when she heard a big object quickly approaching through the dense forest and although she was very reluctant to do so and cursed fluently in three different languages while doing so, slowly got up to her feet and settled into a tai chi defense pose, knowing that she would need to conserve her strength.
Mizuki and the oufan burst out of the trees and skidded to a stop just a few meters away.
The oufan stood nearly fifteen meters tall and it stood upon four scaly reverse jointed legs with three toed hooves. It had a body like a snake, and a long tail with a scorpion stinger on the end, it's upper torso stood upright like a humans, and it had six scorpion like arms with claws on the ends, it had eyes like a flies, all bulbous and multifaceted and finally its mouth was like a spiders with those two mandibles. It was a bluely green color and all up, it was an ugly son of a bitch, but no one could doubt that it was definitely strong.
Mizuki looked down at the exhausted looking hanyou before and grinned maliciously, knowing that it wouldn't be long now. He will be free of Konoha, he will have his oufan, and he will have his scroll of forbidden techniques, which he noted the girl was still carrying on her back, life was good.
Miziki smirked with a superior than thou look on his face and said "Time to die bitch, but before you do, I think I will kill Iruka first, to punish you for making me chase you this far, which I applause you for, any other being would have collapsed half way, what with you running that fast, while carrying that lout on your back"
Naru could no longer stand it and with a scream of anger ran and jumped at Mizuki fist cocked to hit him while screaming "YOU WON"T TOUCH NI-SAN!!" only to be hit back by one of the oufans claws and crashed into the ground back where she started.
Naru was seeing stars but managed to get back up clutching her side where the blow was, fortunately she hadn't been cut by the sharp looking claws thanks to her fire rat clothing which absorbed the majority of the impact.
Mizuki just waved a finger at her shaking his head saying "no no no Naru, bad girl, you must stay still and watch me kill your precious Ni-san" he finished with a blood thirsty voice.
Naru just spat out some blood and shouted "You won't touch him monster!" before wincing in pain and sinking to her knees.
Mizuki just smiled cruelly and jumped down and started walking over to her saying "All your dreams, all your hopes, all that you hold dear and all that you have accomplished and gained" he reached out to grab her hair painfully and pulled her face up to his and said almost demonically "Please give me the pleasure of taking them away"
Naru suddenly felt a wave of righteous anger, defiance and protective instincts well up in her as flashes of Iruka, Old Man Hokage, Kyubi, Tessai and all her friends from the academy and bit and pieces of good times with all of them flashed through her mind and she suddenly felt the strange power in her heart flare even higher, and higher, as if it was trying to break free, and suddenly Naru knew what to do.
And with a sudden burst of energy Naru twisted her body out of Mizuki's grip and quickly jumped away and landed in a crouch a few meters away and in front of Iruka
and stood up straight legs planted firmly on the ground and shouted in defiance "I wont let you take them from me, not when my life is finally amounting to mean something!, not after all I have been through!!, I wont let you!!!"
Resolve shown in her eyes and she drew on the power, aiding it in breaking the barrier and it was at that moment that the barrier between Naru and the fiery power within her soul was shattered and her heart burst and Naru's body and the whole area around her was awash with fire.
Mizuki was forced to jump back from the shear heat she was generating and the oufan reared back as well and Iruka just watched in awe as the flames didn't seem to want to harm him. Iruka and Mizuki watched in awe as the fire that seemed to enclose her within its depths swirled around her, Naru felt the power building up, becoming almost pleasurable and then as if on cue, slowly closed her eyes and lifted he arms up beside her palms facing the sky and then as if following her command, the flames raced and condensed around her and then all the two men could see was a spear of fire stabbing into the heavens.
Both Iruka and Mizuki could feel the sheer power being displayed but they felt that it wasn't chakra they were feeling but something else, but where as one wasn't afraid at all knowing somehow he was safe, the other was terrified, where was this power coming from? It isn't chakra! It isn't the Kyubi's power!
The pillar sudden lost density, and although it was still stabbing into the heavens it was no longer a solid pillar, it was more like a helix slowly rotating into the sky, and they could see Naru floating in the air a couple meters above the ground, slowly twirling around in the same direction as the helix.
Naru was in ecstasy! She didn't know how she could have felt so unsure and worried about this power!, she could feel it flowing through her veins through out her body and warming her soul, healing her scars, mentally, emotionally, physically, it felt like someone had opened her veins and poured essence of pleasure and healing into them, it felt so good.
The awakening was nearing it's climax and Naru couldn't help moaning in pleasure and ecstasy when it climaxed and she felt four nodes of power settle around her wrists and ankles.
Four rings, suddenly materialized around said positions, these rings were a fiery golden color, and interspersed evenly around each of them were three emerald jewels and three golden jewels, each of which glowed with their own internal power.
Naru opened her eyes slowly, as if waking from a deep slumber, and beheld her new armaments in gratified awe, the rings were floating around her wrists and ankles spinning around clockwise and they were alight with fire.
Naru looked at them in awe and then she noticed something surprising and said with a lilt of wonder in her voice "They're not hot!" then she saw that she was floating some two meters off the ground and gasped in surprise.
As she watched the rings spin around she suddenly aware of a name ariseing in her mind unbidden from the depths of her soul and Naru uttered the name that she felt resonate with her new found powers.
"HiME Element: Inferno Spirals!" Naru said and the rings flared brightly in response.
By now Mizuki was terrified and he had had enough of the girls constant defiance against all odds. He pointed at both Iruka and Naru and screamed "KILL THEM!!"
Naru heard Mizuki's scream and quickly turned around only to see the oufan rushing at her limbs slashing, eyes alight with bloodlust.
Naru narrowed her eyes in defiance and resolve and shouted "I told you Mizuki! I WONT LET YOU!!" and rose her hands towards the slashing and roaring oufan and the spirals lit up with power and to her surprise a lash of dense looking fire spurted as if from her hands and whipped out at the oufan driving it back as if it was pushed back by an enormous hand and gave it some painful looking burns and Naru was aware of the lash continuing with the arc of her arms and cutting deeply into the rock face behind her sending crashing down to the ground a great deal of rocky debris which nearly landed on Iruka causing him yelp and Naru heaved a sigh of relief when she saw him unharmed.
Naru then looked at her hands in astonishment, she did that? And Naru couldn't help uttering a marveled "Cool!" she wondered if she could control the affects and shrugged, no time like the present to find out.
Naru focused on the spirals and willed herself to move upwards and to her utmost delight and relief instantly flew upwards. She experimented with flying for a couple seconds and found that it was very easy and that she was able to fly in any direction possible and at which ever speed she choose and with that she looked at the oufan in resolution and dived at it, nimbly dodging all the blows as it struck out at her, tail flowing behind her. Naru continued having fun flying around making the beast angry when her danger sense tingled and she ducked quickly and saw that Mizuki had thrown a Kunai at her, desperation clear on his visage and he threw another barrage of kunai and it was almost too late before she noticed each of them had activated explosion tags burning on them and she barely manage to raise her hands and willed the barrier from before to form and once again the fire colored barrier rose and rendered the barrage of explosive kunai useless. She saw that this time there were three magatamas spinning in a circle in front of her as if to show that the barrier was working.
Naru looked down at Mizuki in worry wondering silently what he would do now and her worst fears were confirmed when he shouted at the oufan "Ignore her! Kill Iruka!"
The oufan instantly jumped over Naru and went after Iruka causing Naru to gasp and turn around as quick as she could and flew as fast as she could to get to him before the fast oufan could.
Iruka could do nothing as the oufan loomed up before him and stabbed at him with one of it's great claws and he let out a small scream of fear while tensing and looking away on instinct when he heard a whoosh and a crash of something heavy against a barrier of some sort. He looked up and saw Naru in front of him holding off the great beast with her barrier.
Naru gritted her teeth as the beast struck down at her again and again and again in rapid succession like a battering ram. She felt the impact against her arms each time and she felt herself slowly being pushed back against the rock face and found herself thankful that her barrier held true despite the relentless assault otherwise she and Iruka would be nothing but a smear on the ground. She felt her back slam against the rocky wall and braced herself against it to weather out the attack, she could hear Mizuki laughing crazily, shouting that he has got them now and Naru ground her teeth even harder in anger at that.
The barrage kept on coming relentlessly and Naru continued holding the barrier, but despite the barrier being seemingly invulnerable, she felt her energy slowly slipping away, she got weaker and weaker, and she started fearing for her life. Naru felt tears welling up in her eyes, and blinked them away and cried desperately in her mind 'I don't want to die! Please, Someone help me!" and it seemed someone heard.
It came as a complete surprise when something pulsed behind her and the oufan was suddenly flying through the air and crashed to the ground a fair ways away after a wave of energy emerged from the rock face behind her and pushed it away, where it landed very nearly on top of Mizuki and Mizuki was blown away, temporarily stunned
Naru just stared at the sight stupefied 'What was that' she wondered and Kyubi also stared at what had happened but couldn't help but feel relieved, it was starting to get dangerous back there.
Iruka was also gaping at the unbelievable sight that he had just witnessed but he was also relieved that the oufan was no longer assaulting them. Iruka suddenly saw a greenish light pulse in the corner of his eyes that was coming from the rock face behind Naru.
Iruka called out "Naru! Behind you!" while pointing behind her.
Naru just blinked and murmured "What, Behind me?" It was then that Naru felt the pulsing behind her, and she swiveled around and gasped.
There were some sort of markings on the rock face, and they were glowing a steady green. She reached out to touch them and at the contact, her heart stopped for a moment and she felt something like as electric shock. Then it started, sending pulse after pulse of energy thumping through her body. In her mind, she felt the echo of a colossal heartbeat matching the rhythm of her racing heart.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and she fell into what felt like a trance and a visage of something she couldn't quite discern suddenly appeared before her eyes and bowed before her, crooning in a comforting tone. Naru suddenly heard a voice in her head.
"You have finally come for me Mistress!!" a joyous, child like voice reverberated through her head and Naru started and shouted out in surprise "Who are you?'
The child like voice replied "I am your Child partner Mistress! I have waiting so long to join you Mistress, I have been watching you, waiting for you, and I was so angry at the villagers and at myself for unable to help you, I was meant to guard you, but you got hurt and it made me so sad, but if you release me, I can finally protect you like I'm meant to!"
Naru shook her head at the little tirade, the voice was filled with childish excitement and eagerness and Naru felt her heart soften at the anguish and guilt at her treatment, and she felt her heart warm at the beings desire to protect her, and despite herself, she couldn't help but begin smiling. She suddenly realized something and spoke up.
"Wait a minute, my Child partner? And what is your name?" Naru asked, feeling an unknown anticipation that she couldn't explain.
The being smiled (at least she thought it was a smile) and said "My name is Kagutsuchi" and Naru felt her soul flare in response and she felt it reverberate deeply within her psyche and she knew somehow that she would never forget that name no matter what she tried and she asked "and the bit about you being my Child?"
Kagutsuchi nodded solemnly and said seriously "That birth mark you possess, the red comet like one on you chest" and Naru placed a hand over said birth mark "That sigil proclaims you to be a HiME wielder, and every HiME has a chosen guardian called a Child who is bound to her soul along with her element. I am your Child chosen to fight for you and protect you. The Inferno Spirals which you possess are your elements"
Naru just nodded but paused feeling that something was being left out and said "There's more to this, isn't there."
Kagutsuchi rumbled in agreement "If you choose to fight alongside with me you have to be prepared to put that which is most precious to you on the line, meaning that if I die, that which is most precious to you will disappear along with me, never to return"
Naru narrowed her eyes, her most precious possession? She was about to ask another question when her sences started screaming danger and she whirled around and saw a roaring oufan running at her, bloodlust and ki froze her body and she let out a startled scream
As Mizuki rose back into consciousness he stifled a groan of pain as he grabbed his head at the onset of a blazing headache, then as he remembered what happened, a rush of anger flooded through him, dispelling any fear he may have had.
"That bitch will pay!!!" Mizuki roared and as soon as the oufan got up he shouted "KILL THEM NOW, NO MATER WHAT IT TAKES, KILL THEM!!!" anger and hate twisted his voice so much it sounded like he was a demon, and the malicious feelings from Mizuki only goaded the oufan on and it became even more blood thirsty than before
Naru watched in ki induced fear as the oufan raced to kill her when she heard Kagutsuchi's cry "Mistress! Release me! Let me help you!"
Naru snapped out of her terrified stupor and reacting on instinct dodged the oufans blow causing it to over shoot her and lost balance trying to twist around to kill her and Naru capitalized by flying down and slashing the ham string muscle of the beast causing it to fall down.
Kagutsuchi cried "Grab the sword"
Naru flew over to the sword, and settled above it and grabbed it, the sword started glowing and fire spurted out from the base.
The Oufan got up, Mizuki screaming to kill the girl.
"Pull it out and cry out…"
The Oufan turned to her.
Naru started pulling and the sword glowed even brighter, and it came free in a rush of flames.
Naru roared to the heavens "KAGUTSUCHI!!!!" and flew off as the sword fell to the ground and stabbed the earth and began glowing even brighter.
A red pulse of power from the earth welled up. And another and another. Suddenly, a circle of fire roared forth from the ground, surrounding her in a raging inferno but she did not burn.
The oufan was forced back by the sudden wall of fire that had emerged when Naru pulled out the sword and shouted out the name, Mizuki looked on in horror and terror at the sea of fire that had emerged from the ground, first it was those rings and now the girl was summoning a creature from hell!
Iruka looked on in consternation, awe and just a little bit of apprehension, he had been worried that they would not survive this night, but this moment might just be the turn of the tide. He had faith in that Naru knew what she was doing, he made a promise to trust her, and so he would, but a sea of fire emerging from the ground? One couldn't help but be slightly cynical.
Naru looked on as the fires continued to burn fiercely, she was wondering what her Child would look like, she ha seem many different oufans in the stable, many of them fearsome looking and some that were beautiful, some that were down right ugly, but she instinctively knew that Kagutsuchi would be something unique.
The fires slowly shrunk down but still continued to burn fiercely when suddenly Naru saw something and gasped as a great white Majestic dragon emerged from the flames. Its head had a sword of some sort stuck in its great jaws, it had six eyes green, with red cat like pupils, three on each side of its head just above the lips, It had four projections on the sides of its head two on top and two below its jaw and they each a green jewel set in them. Then it had another projection on its fore head again with a green jewel inset.
It had a long neck flexible neck with two rows of spines on either side of its backbone going down its length and more went along its back and long tail all the way to the tip. On the underside of its neck it had a mane of hair and it had thin black tattoos along the sides.
Its torso was mechanical looking with red armor like shoulders and then yellow jewels further down on the front. Two great mechanical vents where in the middle and then at the base of the tail there were two spinning devices, which Naru later found were energy generators.
Then Naru's eyes beheld the great wings of fire on its back. They were attached to the shoulders and Naru saw that when spread they would be almost fifty meters wide, there were also two long strands on the bottom of the wings which she could only liken to kite tail, they could be deadly for an enemy on the ground. Then finally two great big muscled arms protruded from under the wings so as to not be in the way. There were also two great hands adored with some mean looking claws.
She then saw that all up he was about 70 meters long from head to the tip of his tail and ten meters wide not including the wings
All in all, Kagutsuchi was one deadly looking creature, highly intimidating to its enemies, Majestic and courage inspiring to its allies. It also exerted one hell of a presence.
Kyubi looked at the creature in awe, although it looked bio-mechanical she knew what the creature resembled quite closely, she never thought to see one, as they were legends even to the Biju, Kyubi uttered a name in astonished awe which Naru heard and nodded in agreement. A Dragon Phoenix. An appropriate name.
Kagutsuchi suddenly moved his head and looked at her and moved towards her and Naru couldn't help moving away a bit in momentary fear, then Kagutsuchi crooned in reassuring tones towards her and Naru felt herself calming down and a warm feeling crept through her heart.
"Kagutsuchi" she uttered lovingly, moving and petting him on the snout and Kagutsuchi gently nuzzled her, making her giggle, she knew then that she would not regret Kagutsuchi's presence in her life and a feeling emerged that she had only ever felt in Kyubi's presence in her mind, peace, contentment and safety.
Naru's danger senses suddenly blared and she turned around to see the oufan jumping through the air she barely had enough time to raise her barrier and due to the oufans weight, Naru was driven into the ground. The pressure was enormous and she felt something in her chest break and she suddenly coughed up some blood, she grimaced at the familiar taste, she had tasted it many times. She continued to keep the barrier up but was about to loose it when suddenly she heard an angered draconic roar and she watched as Kagutsuchi swiveled around with a speed that belied his size and whipped out with his tail to batter the oufan away. Naru dazedly noticed that Kagutsuchi didn't have any rear legs instead preferring to just float in the air while moving or curling up on the ground like a snake.
Kagutsuchi gave one flap of his fiery wings and rose up into the air and gave a defiant roar. Naru rose into a crouch favoring her right side while clutching her left rib cage, probably two broken ribs, they'll healed overnight but they still hurt terribly. She limped over to Iruka to make sure he was protected.
Kagutsuchi opened his jaws to reveal some pretty impressive teeth and great gouts of steam. All of a sudden Kagutsuchi started sucking various bits of debris with some sort of device, Naru could only assume that he was preparing for some sort big attack. Kagutsuchi continued gathering material when suddenly his chest expanded and a red light could be seen going along his neck to his mouth.
Mizuki was watching in terror as Kagutsuchi charged up his attack. He knew deep down, that he has lost, as his oufan was out for the count, and Naru along with the beast was too powerful for him to overcome.
Naru watched as the red light approached Kagutsuchi's mouth and felt a sudden foreboding. Kagutsuchi reared back his head and then when the light reached his mouth he thrust it forward and breathed out, and the biggest and most darn powerful fireball Naru and Iruka had ever seen launched out of his mouth and screamed at great velocity at the downed oufan and by proxy, Mizuki.
Naru screamed "Get down!" and rose a barrier to protect herself and Iruka.
Mizuki didn't have time to scream when the fire ball hit the oufan, as both were instantly vaporized and then fire ball exploded.
Naru watched in growing terror as the wall of destruction approached her and Iruka and instinctively closed her eyes and she was about to scream when she felt a great presence above her and she felt herself along with Iruka being scooped up and then she was flying through the air at great speed. Naru slowly opened her eyes and saw that they were being carried but Kagutsuchi!
Naru cried out "Thank you Kagutsuchi! You saved us!" and Kagutsuchi looked at her and crooned and clicked softly, projections twitching gently in time and Naru grinned and then she looked down at the explosion they were circling. She gave a whistle, very impressed with the size of it. She suddenly noticed Iruka coming out of shock beside her and she turned to him.
"Iruka-Nisan, you alright?" she said to Iruka who took a few moments to focus and rubbed a sore spot on head that made him wince and turned to Naru with a sheepish expression.
"Yeah somehow, although I wasn't much help back there…" Iruka trailed off as he suddenly noticed that he was currently being carried by the dragon he saw earlier, a dragon that was flying a thousand feet in the air!
Iruka stifled a panicked shout and slowly looked over Kagutsuchi's paw, at the ground below him. He couldn't help giving a low whistle as he looked over at the amazing view below and he felt Naru beside him and she gave a squeal of delight.
Iruka felt sunlight hit his eyelids, and suddenly realized that they had been fighting through out the night. Naru looked up when she felt the sunlight and gave an amazed gasp as her face broke into a beautiful smile when she saw the most amazing sunrise that she had ever seen and she couldn't help thinking that the sun was welcoming her into the next part of her life, for because of the sudden emergence of her HiME powers, her life was looking much brighter for the young hanyou. Iruka looked at the sunrise for a few minutes before looking at Naru as she sat arms spread wide enjoying the brisk wind blowing through her hair and ruffling her tail.
Iruka suddenly remembered something "Naru come here for a moment" motioning Naru over, who looked at him curiously and scooted over to sit in front of him.
Iruka said "Close your eyes" and Naru looked at him questionably but complied. She felt something wrap around her forehead and get tied at the back and then Iruka said "Okay you can open them now"
Naru opened her eyes and didn't notice any difference at first then she noticed that Iruka was no longer wearing his headband and her hand flew up were she felt a metal plate with the Konoha symbol on it. She looked at Iruka in astonishment who grinned proudly.
"Congratulations on passing, Naru-chan" Iruka beamed proudly, only to have his arms suddenly filled with a joyously crying Naru.
Inside her Kyubi smiled gently and murmured softly "Congratulations Kit, you made it, you really deserve this more than anyone, I am very proud of you" Naru just continued holding Iruka who held her close while crying softly with a content smile on her face.
Watching through a crystal ball, the Sandaime Hokage smiled at the happy looking hanyou.
"You definitely deserve it Naru, I have a feeling that you are going to become one of the most powerful Kunoichi's in Konoha History, not to mention most powerful Hokage"
Sarutobi got up and went to tell the jounins that it was alright now and that the search was to be called off, the scroll was safe, Naru was innocent of any crime, and that the real culprit had been dealt with. It's going to be a good day today!
Iruka let go when he felt her pull away and looked at her with a smile "You really know how to go about with a bang don't you Naru-chan" while reaching over to ruffle her hair causing Naru to giggle. Iruka suddenly remembered something and with a mischievous smile moved his hand to scratch Naru behind her ear. He wondered if it would affect her like it would a dog and it seemed it did, because Naru assumed a contentedly pleasured expression and leant into the comforting touch of his hand scratching her ear and nuzzled it like a fox would and she even started purring, causing Iruka to chuckle and he continued scratching until he eventually pulled away causing Naru to whimper and Kyubi to chuckle, she has found a new source of blackmail, although she was happy for her.
Iruka waited until Naru was more coherent and said "Naru about this dragon?"
Naru perked up and spoke too her partner "Kagutsuchi could you take us to the front gates please?" Kagutsuchi crooned an affirmative and turned towards Konoha.
Naru then turned to Iruka and started speaking about Kagutsuchi and her elements and about the fact that she was a HiME and about the relationship she had with them and after a little prompting, she even told him about how she got so skilled at taijutsu, and about the fact of why she was hiding her true self.
Turned out that due to the fact that nobody was willing to train her in ninjutsu and she sucked at creating genjutsu but was very good at dispelling them she needed a sure safe way to defend herself against attackers, which in her life was an occupational hazard as a Jinchuriki, so she had Kyubi train her in taijutsu, who actually knew quite a lot of human taijutsu styles, both existing, an extinct. She then talked about that due to her being a Jinchuriki of the most powerful demon in existence, her very being was affected at the molecular level and turned her into a half human half kitsune hybrid. It was actually quite a boon, as she was now able to safely use Kyubi's power, meaning youki, just as easily as she can chakra, due to her demon blood, not to mention the other assets as well. It all contributed to her surviving while growing up, through both the good times… and the bad times, which was most of the time.
A few minutes later Iruka sat in Kagutsuchi's paw stroking his chin and said "That is a lot to take in Naru, but by what I saw, you are definitely going to become quite powerful and with Kagutsuchi at your side, I have doubts that you are going to fulfill your dream of becoming Hokage" causing Naru to beam happily and cheer loudly in her mind causing Kyubi to smile, she has finally gotten someone who believes her, besides the Sandaime of course.
Iruka then took a more solemn expression and said "I'm sorry Naru, for the fact that your life has been a constant struggle and that I didn't help you earlier you must have been so lonely."
Naru just smiled and hugged Iruka gently "That's alright Ni-san, I'm just happy to have you in my life now" and Iruka smiled and said softly "Thank you… Little sister"
And if he thought that Naru was affectionate before, he was stupefied, at Naru's joyous scream of delight and big hug when he finally called her 'Little Sister'.