It was nice to see my second chapter get more reception! Hopefully, you enjoyed reading it, as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for all those who reviewed and their kind words! Here's the third chapter. It makes me feel giddy that people are taking their time to read this. I've received a total of 2000 hits, 17 reviews, 59 favorites, and 77 alerts!
Chapter 3: Hello my name is-
Summary: The Daughter of the Kyuubi meets the Phantom.
I do NOT own Naruto, which is created by Masahi Kishimoto.
Hello my name is-
Naruto stared at the figure next to him; her red eyes so captivating that he could have spent years polishing those red rubies.
However, this pleasant feeling was quickly replaced with a weight on his chest, more specifically the Kyuubi's daughter. She sat on top of his chest, legs straddling his chest and her arms holding down his wrists.
'This is bad.' Naruto thought hurriedly, 'In the position she has me in, she could easily snap my neck.'
Her hold seemed to loosen as she adopted a thoughtful look on her face. She seemed to nod to herself and began making weird faces, as if deep in conversation.
Not one to be out done, Naruto quickly removed his hands from the girl's grip and used both of his hands to create a mighty palm thrust, sending the girl flying out of the cave.
Naruto quickly rose up and glided out, shaking off any debris that might have snuck into the sleeves of his robe. Upon exiting the cave, he viewed the girl who had now gotten up and was shaking dead leaves out of her hair.
He also noticed she was naked. Quite naked. Unlike other males, Naruto would not unleash a storm of blood upon any unsuspecting persons upon seeing a member of the opposite sex nude. However, did this not mean he was not prone to staring.
'Hmmmm… what's her name again…? Naruto lazily thought, still in a trance. 'Kyanari, that's it.'
On the other hand, Kyanari had went from comfortable to confused and finally to anger. She had woken up completely refreshed and in a cool comfortable place, not like that awful sewer.
'Wait a second.' Kyanari thought. 'I'm not in the sewer!' She had awoken to see some freaky mummy next to her, looking into her eyes. Without any awkward movements, she utilized a grappling move her Kaa-chan had taught her.
This thought threw her into another loop. Where was her beautiful Kaa-chan? She had not wakened in the embrace of her mother's wonderful, soft fur, but next to some creepy corpse. She quickly realized it wasn't a corpse, though, when it opened an eye. An ice cold, sapphire orb that seemed to see through her; 'Creepy.' The Kitsune princess thought to herself, as a shiver crawled down her spine, making her toes curl.
While she was thinking the corpse man had taken advantage of her lax grip and delivered a two handed palm thrust that sent her soaring out of the enclosed area. Now that she was out of the dark area, she could see that it was actually cave.
She shook off the dead, brown leaves stuck in her hair, calculating her next step against Corpse man. She got her pretty red hair out of her eyes, but was quickly blinded by the sun's golden rays.
She used her hand as a visor, effectively restoring her eyesight. While she still had to squint and adjust to such a bright source of light, her attention was focused on the ominous figure coming out of the cave.
The figure in question looked somewhat sickly, but carried himself (Kyanari was positive it was not a female) with an air of strength. Clothed in a white cloak and beneath those garments a body enwrapped in black bandages with mystical, glowing runes.
To say he looked something from the darkest recesses of her mind, or an awful fairy tale that her mother had told her once upon a time.
So when the figure paused and began to form a sentence, she took the opportunity and attempted to charge him and plant a demonic powered claw into his body. Key word attempted. Mid charge, Naruto had quickly used his robes as a fan by quickly jerking the bottom. The result was a spray of sand hitting Kyanari in the face, effectively stopping her charge and temporarily blinding her.
In a display of Naruto's new found abilities, he floated around Kyanari and grabbed her from behind.
"Now I'm sure can settle this civilly." Naruto whispered into Kyanari's ear. Kyanari shivered at the cold voice, and ignored the words spoken. She quickly butted the man's head with the back of her own, freeing her from his strong grip.
Naruto staggered backwards and held his hand to his nose. With a sickening crunch, he pushed it back into place; the bandages in that area soaking up the black liquid from his nose.
Not willing to let Naruto off without a scratch, Kyanari swiped her claws towards him. Luckily, Naruto saw this action in time to avoid bodily harm, but the sleeves of his cloak now looked frayed near the edges.
'She didn't just do that…' Naruto growled in his mind. His thoughts drifted back to the beginning of the altercation. 'I feel more vigorous and stronger. Yesterday, I probably couldn't have lifted something more than thirty pounds, but this morning I just palm thrusted an eighty pound girl out of a cave…'
Naruto quickly took that as a sign of slowly getting his strength back from Siphoning all those men, but he couldn't have been further from the truth.
He carefully moved backwards, away from the feral girl; he put his arms in front of him in a defensive position, wary of the girl's movements. Naruto was no longer distracted by the girl's lack of clothing, and eyed her carefully.
Across from him she used her hands to wipe the small grains impairing her vision. The bastard wanted to fight dirty? Then dirty he would get. Kyanari rushed at him with a rather messy low kick aimed at his shin, but it did its job when she felt it connect.
Naruto inched backwards, barely feeling the blow to his shin; either it was his new found vigor or the fact that the majority of his pain receptors had been seared away.
Kyanari didn't want to talk civilly? Well that was fine, it gave him a chance to text his new strength. Naruto pressed on and delivered a straight punch to Kyanari's gut. Avoiding the straight forward attack, she curved around and punched him in the kidney. A shot that would knock anyone out regardless of age, race, or gender. Her Kaa-chan had taught her such a maneuver, so she would never be defenseless when the time came.
She would have dropped her jaw had she not been the recipient of a brutal elbow strike, courtesy of the freaky man.
'What in the hell?' Kyanari thought, as the corpse shrugged off her skillfully positioned blow. Naruto had to grit his teeth at that blow. He had been knocked out similarly in the past and had redirected the blow.
'Two can play at that game.' Naruto thought, before he delivered a fierce upper cut to the girl abdomen. Normally, he wouldn't resort to methods on a human girl, but he was dealing with a demon girl.
Kyanari heaved a bit as her gut was pounded into. 'Corpse man is pretty predictable.' Kyanari thought, as she had time to prepare for impact by tightening her abdominal muscles.
To be honest, Kyanari felt relatively weak. Her energy had been diminished by some strange occurrence, but she still felt good. 'What options do I have?' Kyanari thought. She quickly decided to end this little scrap with a Kitsune blaze blast. She needed to knock creepy out, so she could get answers later.
'I'm so glad Kaa-chan taught me how to do this. Performing Kitsune fox fire is so much harder, I can't properly control such a small amount of demon energy.' Kyanari slid into her stance; she put her hands together in concentration, before four small balls of flame started turning clockwise behind her.
Naruto on the other hand, noticed the girl concentrating her energy by the position of her hands. He raced towards her ready to knock her out, but was rewarded with the victorious look of Kyanari's face as the four balls of flame struck him point blank.
Kyanari stood and swiped a beat of sweat dripping down her forehead. She swept her long, red hair to the back, revealing two furry, red ears.
The tail hidden in by her hair twitched in satisfaction. It was only then that she realized she was nude. From what she learned from etiquette with her mother, it wasn't right to be running around in your birthday suit.
She acted accordingly by covering herself with her long hair and using her arms to cover herself. Kyanari crossed her legs as well, before she heard loud coughing.
*Cough* *Cough* *Cough* Naruto hacked out soot, as he walked out of the cloud of smoke Kyanari created.
Kyanari's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, as the robed figure coughed profusely. Her surprise quickly turned to frustration as she clenched her hands together into fist.
"Stay down!" She said, her manner frustrated and angry. She lunged towards Naruto with her arms outstretched, quickly forgetting about her previous situation.
Still impaired, Naruto couldn't do anything as the fox girl wrapped her hands around his neck. Not willing to be outdone, Naruto quickly wrapped his hands around hers and squeezed with all his might. In turn, Kyanari's face was rapidly turning a pale color in contrast to her tanned skin.
Kyanari furrowed her brows in anger, a scowl forming on her face, even though Naruto's wiry hands were still around her neck.
She found her grip was slowly weakening, but so was his. For Naruto, he could've continued squeezing, until he remembered he had to actually protect and guard this girl. His grip slackened and Naruto ended up giving up.
Kyanari felt his grip loosen. 'I won over this tenacious monster!' She thought, but this line of thought was quickly trampled as Naruto stood up and dusted off his cloak.
"Now where were we?" Naruto said, even though his voice was dry, it sounded pleasant to Kyanari. While his voice seemed to sooth her, the anger blooming in his chest returned with full force.
She had pretty much strangled this guy to the point that no human could avoid dying, yet here he stood in front her unfazed by her assault. Was she really so weak she couldn't knock someone out? In a fit of blood rage she pounced on Naruto and began clawing at him.
Surprised by the sudden attack even though she appeared calm momentarily, Naruto held her wrist in his grip to avoid her sharp, dangerous nails from skewering the only eye he had left.
The result was a comical, but no less dangerous, brawl between Kyanari and Naruto. Both parties were rolling on top of each other, both aiming to subdue the other, failure not an option. Kyanari, still quite naked, had finally gained the upper hand and began using her hands to slam Naruto's head into the ground.
While each blow was surprisingly weak, Naruto would not allow this girl, his charge or not, gain the upper hand on him.
He quickly brought his hands forth and delivered another palm thrust into the girl' chest, sending her off his body; quite similar to the thrust he had performed he had executed in the same position that he had been in.
Kyanari's blood rage had finally subsided, as she jut her lower lip outward and blew, sending the strand of hair covering her right eye away.
She fell onto her back and sighed heavily. She stretched her body and breathed deeply, her chest rhythmically rising up and down to the beat of her heart.
"Truce?" She asked, as Naruto had taken a similar position next to her prone form.
Naruto laid next to her, thinking deeply about Kyanari and her actions.
'Kyuubi said that I cared deeply for this girl. I find that rather hard to believe…she's not very charming. She's very pretty, but from that fight I can say she's annoying. The girl never even let me finish my sentence.' Naruto thought.
'Well…you can't judge someone immediately, but first impressions have probably already been made.'
"Truce." Naruto said, his breathing calm and focused while Kyanari was still inhaling and exhaling deeply. The fact that he wasn't even winded slightly wounded her pride, but not everyone can cause Naruto Uzumaki to exhale sharply.
The two laid there for a good amount of time before Kyanari remembered she was naked, as the wind made her shiver.
"Ummm… I don't want you to get uncomfortable, but… do you have any clothes that I can have? Kyanari shifted on the ground, turning her head to face Naruto.
"Follow me." Naruto rasped, as he got up and dusted off his cloak for what had seemed to be like the fourth time within an hour.
Kyanari shyly covered herself and followed Naruto into the cave. She saw him bend down and rummage through what appeared to be a pink camo style duffel bag. While the pink was still on the darker side, it would probably be easily spotted.
Naruto rummaged through the bag and pulled out a pair of girls clothing. He lazily tossed it to her and sat down in the cave, thinking over past events and his sudden increase in strength.
Kyanari graciously took the cloths and began to dress, until she saw Naruto still sitting there, arms folded over his chest and his head drooping downward in rest.
'He's probably resting; he'll be right out of here in minute.' Kyanari thought; the least she could do for the person who she tried to beat up and then handed her clothing, despite her attitude.
However, a minute soon turned to minutes, and it had been fifteen minutes; Naruto still in the same position.
"Ahem?" Kyanari coughed, getting Naruto's attention.
"Yes?" He answered, adjusting his position to face her.
In her mind Kyanari sweat dropped, but this was quickly replaced by frustration.
"Don't you know that you're supposed to leave when a lady is changing?" Kyanari glared. Even though she was born and then sealed into Naru-. Wait, whatever happened to Naruto?
'How could I forget something like that!' She thought disappointedly in herself.
'Don't worry honey I'm sure he's fine.' Her Kaa-chan's melodic voice ringing in her head.
'Kaa-chan?' Her face the picture of confusion. 'How long have you been there? And what happened to Naruto? How am I even in world and not in seal?' Kyanari's questions came one after another.
'Slow down, Kyanari-chan.' Kyuubi said. 'I've been here ever since you leapt on that poor boy and nearly clawed him to death. Which was quite cute might I add.' Kyuubi said with what Kyanari could only imagine was a smug look.
'And as for your last two questions, I will answer both of them at once.' Kyanari nodded her head, which alerted Naruto as the girl had started off saying how he should leave, but then went into a trance. He shrugged his shoulders and went back into thought, focusing on the matters at hand.
'I'm afraid… Naruto didn't survive intact. In fact, he technically doesn't have a body anymore.' At this remark, Kyanari hung her head low and threatened to break out in tears. Her lower lip trembled at this particular piece of information and tears threatened to take her eyes hostage.
'How will I ever hold him again?' Kyanari thought, as she barely regained her composure. Naruto was looking at Kyanari strangely now, it had seemed like one moment she was going to breakdown and then she had suddenly regained control over herself.
He took it as a sign of her transition to the real world; maybe she was overwhelmed with joy? He had often seen in those cheesy romance movies people cry out of joy or love. He would never figure that one out.
The only time he cried was when he was beaten, and he was never going to cry again. Naruto gripped his sword in resolve and continued watching Kyanari from the corner of his eye.
Kyanari absorbed the information and waited for her mother to continue. Taking Kyanari's silence as a sign to continue, Kyuubi prepped herself mentally to lie to her daughter and watch her break into a million pieces.
'Naruto…while he doesn't have a body, he still exist. Inside you fragments of the seal that bind Naruto and my soul are in you. I think that's why I can talk to you right now.' The Kyuubi smoothly lied.
'So what about Naruto then? I can talk to him right?' Kyanari asked, hanging on to that quickly fleeting hope she held on to.
'Naruto…in a better way to put it is shattered. While he still exists, it'll take him a very long time to communicate with you.'
'Exist?' She questioned curiously. 'Don't you mean alive?'
'Kit…I don't think you're ready to know that yet.' Kyuubi said softly.
'No! I need to know! No more half truths!' Kyanari yelled at her mother.
'Honey…' Kyuubi pleaded.
'Please, Kaa-chan!' Kyanari begged.
'Kyanari-chan… to tell the truth, I very much doubt you will even see Naruto again. He's so scrambled that the possibility of him recalibrating himself is less than one percent.'
Naruto looked at the girl with his head tilted in interest; she had run through more emotions than he would have probably showed in a day.
He saw anger, sadness, hope, and finally desperation. He was quite familiar with those emotions, but he would never be any of those things again. He would see to it that he would sculpt himself into such a being.
Kyanari felt her legs wobble and she fell to the ground, she supported herself with her arms and knees, and she began sobbing.
Her best friend was gone. 'No!' She thought ferociously.
'If anyone can breach that one percent it's Naruto! I'll see him again one day; I know it!' Kyanari had now stopped crying. She wiped the tears away and swayed back onto her two feet, her tail wagging lazily behind her.
To her surprise, Naruto was still there leaning against the cave wall.
"Why aren't you out of here yet?" Kyanari said, annoyed by Naruto's antics.
"I was supposed to leave?" He said dumbly.
Kyanari wanted to pull her hair out, but instead pointed to the exit of the cave.
"Out. Now." Came her tired response, as she held the clothes she had dropped on the ground to her chest.
Hiding his amused expression with a quick turn of the head, Naruto left Kyanari to change, instead, leaning against a tree.
He stretched comfortably, until he felt a sharp pain in his rear. He reached down and picked up the offending objects. Four beads. Naruto held them to his eye, memories flashing through his mind.
'Promise me you'll never die!'
Naruto clenched the beads to his chest and slid them underneath his bandages, right next to his heart.
'If it makes you feel any better, I will be teaching you to become stronger, so that one day you might be able to see her again.'
Naruto slightly lifted his head, but nonetheless remained silent.
'So what do you think of Kyanari? Awaken any lost memories?'
Naruto mentally clicked his tongue in what might have been amusement or agitation.
'She's certainly…unique. Nothing from what I remember, but then again I'm not Naruto Uzumaki, I'm Charybdis.'
Kyuubi frowned at that particular piece of information. Was Naruto lost to her, and only a shell of his former self?
As if catching Kyuubi's train of thought, Naruto broke the silence.
'I'm still the same, yet improved. Don't worry.' This served to somewhat please Kyuubi, but still served to displease her.
'It broke Kyanari's heart when I told her that lie.' Kyuubi said, trying to gauge a reaction from Naruto.
Naruto sighed, before answering Kyuubi. 'You and I know it was a necessary lie for my continued existence.'
'I know, but I don't like it one bit. Kyanari's a sweet, kind girl. I'll admit she's a little rough, but she really does care about you a lot.' Kyuubi fought in favor of her daughter.
'Naruto Uzumaki.' Kyuubi gave a look of confusion. Why did Naruto state his own name? She waited curiously to wait for Naruto to continue his sentence.
'She cares about Naruto Uzumaki, not Charybdis.' Naruto solemnly said.
Kyuubi sighed in her mind. She was aware of how her daughter felt about Naruto in his current state and while it wasn't positive, it wasn't negative either.
'She'll come to care for you in time… I'm sure of it. Charybdis or Naruto Uzumaki; it's your true nature that she respects.' Kyuubi's words had a calming effect on Naruto. Maybe Kyanari wouldn't be so bad.
'Thank you, Kyuubi.' Naruto thought, as he closed his eyes and leaned against the tree.
'However…' Kyuubi paused.
'However, what?' Naruto asked, genuinely interested in the new direction of the conversation.
'Because of the incorrect tampering of the seal, there have been some unforeseen consequences.'
'Consequences?' Naruto pondered.
'Yes, with your body. You're no longer fully human, but a Kitsune Hanyou.' Kyuubi explained carefully. She didn't need Naruto breaking into a rage once she told him about what else had happened…
'I see. Well at least I'm a little bit stronger now. If I look at this I'm at least fifty percent stronger now right?'
'I guess you can put it that way. To tell the truth, when a human first becomes a hanyou they are extremely weak, as long as a month.
'But because of my 'special conditions', yes?' Naruto accurately predicted.
'That may be part of the reason, but I believe that you were actually pretty close to the state of a half demon.' Kyuubi pointed out.
'If I had to guess, you might've been one-fifth Kitsune. The physical result of this is your birth marks.'
'Hmmm, so a fifty percent increase in capability wouldn't really be true. Oh well, at least it's something.'
Kyuubi bit her lower lip nervously, letting a long canine poke out. Not that Naruto saw, but she was trying to anticipate his reaction.
'So…how do you feel about that? Becoming a Hanyou?'
'Truthfully? I couldn't care less. As long as I become stronger human or demon, I am still Naruto.'
Kyuubi ran her hand through her hair. At least she had dodged that one kunai.
'When do we start training?' Came Naruto's voice, breaking the ice for Kyuubi.
'We can start anytime you want. Today, tomorrow, or even a week from now.'
'Good, good.' Naruto leaned comfortably against the tree.
'I would like to start preferably today.'
Kyuubi nodded her head in agreement.
'Oh, by the way, why did your daughter keep attacking me when I tried to be the voice of reason?' Naruto questioned.
'Well…my daughter, I guess, seems to have a form of an inferiority complex. That may be my fault because of my status as the Kyuubi no Kitsune.' Kyuubi awkwardly explained to Naruto.
'Yes… that would answer a majority of her actions.'
'She was really disappointed with herself that she couldn't stop you or harm you effectively.'
'Really now? I couldn't tell.' Naruto replied sarcastically.
'I guess that will be all for now Kyuubi. Oh, by the way, can you communicate through your daughter's mind as well?'
Kyuubi was honestly surprised by the inquiry, but answered yes immediately.
'Hmmm, interesting. I guess I'll be taking on the roll of a bodyguard or steward to Kyanari.'
With that, Naruto stood up and assumed a push up position, starting the process of what would be a long, brutal training that would make him not so pathetically weak.
Kyuubi nodded and concentrated shifting mind channels. She felt herself slip away then back to her daughter. If she had to describe it, she would compare it to two phones in front of her while she sat comfortably in the confines of the seal.
Kyanari grumbled a bit and fit the shirt over her body. There was no way in hell that guy wasn't a human. I mean, seriously, the guy was covered in bandages and talked in a raspy voice.
'Talk about a freaky anime.' Kyanari though, fondly remembering the times she had watched episodes through Naruto's memory.
Unfortunately, Naruto didn't own a television set and resorted to standing in front of the electronics store in Konoha. Luckily, the owners of the shop didn't mind Naruto.
'Naruto.' She thought wistfully to herself, but turned her attention to getting her tail and the pants work together.
She finally decided to just let it hang uncomfortably in a flag pole type of position, sliding into the groove, which was her back.
She giggled a bit at the sensation of her cute, furry tale tickling her back.
She sighed before getting the fishnet mesh to cover the undershirt.
'Hey Honey!' Her Kaa-chan's voice rang out through her mind.
"Kaa-chan?" She questioned her surroundings.
'Mind speak, Kyanari-chan.'
'Oh, Hi, Kaa-chan!' She said, a little bit chipper than before.
'How are you doing, hmmm?' Kyuubi asked worriedly.
'I-I could be better, but besides that I'm fine, Kaa-chan.' Kyanari finished.
'That's good.' Kyuubi hummed softly in Kyanari's mind.
'So…Who is dark and creepy?' Kyanari asked, clearly referring to Naruto.
Kyuubi scowled mentally at Kyanari's assessment of Naruto and reprimanded her. 'He has a name. Don't be so rude, Nari-chan. That boy has been through a lot.'
'Wait, you know him?' Kyanari questioned.
As if reading from a script, Kyuubi read her lines perfectly. 'He's the one who took care of you when the seal was released.' Kyuubi lied.
'I was able to contact him and we have been able to reach an agreement.'
'What is he?' Kyanari asked curiously.
'If you're referring to his species, he is a Kitsune Hanyou, he'll be your body guard and steward for the next couple of years.' Kyuubi answered, somewhat irritated by Kyanari's behavior.
'Oh.' Kyanari said. Well at least she had something to relate to the mummy now.
'Oh, Kaa-chan, why am I so weak now?' Kyanari asked. Her power had shifted and she could feel it; the power she once had was… altered.
'I wouldn't say weak; your control is actually back to crap again.' Kyuubi paused, letting her daughter figure out the rest for herself.
'Meaning my control is back to nil.' Kyanari groaned, her youki reserves were rather considerable her mother had told her.
Kyanari concentrated her mind and tried to reach her youki, however, she was surprised to find another energy source instead.
'What is this?' Kyanari wondered, gasping at the feeling of the chakra swell throughout her.
'That my dear, is what the humans call Chakra. It's vastly different then Youki, but at the same time similar.'
'How…? Only humans have chakra…unless!' Instantly, Kyanari searched deeper for her youki, delving deeper and deeper. She was rewarded with a surge of red energy filling her body and the steady sigh escaping from her lips.
'Alright. So, if I can access human and demonic energies I must be a Hany- Wait, what?' Kyuubi shouted in her mind. In the world in front of her, Naruto looked up from his pushups and cocked his head in amusement at her surprised countenance.
'Surprised kit?' Kyuubi smirked in her daughter's mind.
'How? This shouldn't be possible unless the seal screwed up.'
'Well, yes, the results are technically due to a mess up, but you now possess both energies.' Kyuubi pointed out.
'As for that little comment on whether you're a Hanyou now… Yes, you have 'regressed', however, later on you should be able to overwhelm your human side with the demonic blood.'
'This is quite the interesting the phenomenon, born pure, then turned into a hanyou…'
'What was that, Kaa-chan?' Kyanari asked.
'Nothing! I didn't say a thing!' Kyuubi quickly said.
'This stinks. I'm weaker now and my control is back to crap. My demon powers and even my Kitsune form!'
'Look on the bright side; you have two energy sources to utilize now!' Kyuubi tried to comfort her daughter.
"How did I even become a hanyou…" She drifted off, her shoulders slumped and her head facing towards the floor.
'You can actually thank Naruto for that. His humanity is in your genes now.'
Kyanari didn't know whether to be angry or sad. Sad that her best friend was gone or angry that he made her feel so weak.
She sighed deeply and exited the cave and was greeted with the sight of an exercising Naruto. Catching Kyanari from the corner of his eye, he completed his final push up and sat down to meet her line of sight.
He pulled out his water bottle and took a long, cool sip from it. He sat content under the shade of the leafy tree.
Kyanari was finally able to see the figure that had resisted all her attacks, thought, the fact that her control was back to crap made her reconsider the power of her blast blaze.
The first thing she noticed that, well, the guy was possibly an actually a corpse, seeing as how he was incredibly thin. It was a wonder she thought, that a guy like that could pack quite the punch. She quickly attributed this to his demonic traits, though.
From what little skin she could see, it was an ash white, almost like the flakes of ash that fell of burning wood. However, from what she could tell, his skin also possessed blotches of uneven degrees of what might have been a tan skin color.
He was wrapped tightly in black bandages, each strip carrying a line of undecipherable symbols, a blue color.
Corpse man stood up, allowing Kyanari to see how the white robe he wore billowed around him in the wind. The robe itself seemed to drown his body in the starch white.
It was a wonder how he was able to stand, it seemed like he would fold into himself.
With vigor unusual to that of a person of Naruto's appearance, he strode up to Kyanari and kneeled before her.
'If I'm going to be a bodyguard/servant, I'm not going to do a half assed job.' Naruto grinned in his mind.
"Salutations, Kyanari-hime. Let me present myself as the mistress' servant and by proxy yours as well."
A light blush lit up Kyanari's face, but she quickly downed it. A smirk tugged at the corners of Naruto's mouth, but to the outside world, he was a servant.
"I go by the name of Charybdis; it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."
Kyanari stood there and absorbed the information. She had a servant? Cool. She thought about asking him to do some ridiculous things like: Lick his elbow, hop on one foot, or rub your stomach with your right hand while patting your head with your left.
Sadly, though, this train of thought was crushed by her mother abruptly.
'Now, now Kyanari. He won't do something ridiculous. He's merely there to assist your survival, not anything silly.' Kyuubi admonished.
'While he doesn't look like much now, he has AMAZING potential to become powerful. Trust me Kit. He's someone you want on your side.'
'Ok, Kaa-chan.' Personally, she felt that someone who looked like they could snap in two could not adequately protect her, but her Kaa-chan was always right!
"Kyuubi-hime, please be prepared to leave after I do a search of the area."
Kyuubi nodded and walked over to the tree where Naruto sat down.
'hmmmmm. This cave seems to be connected to a mountain, let's see what's on top.' Naruto thought.
Truthfully, he knew he was somewhere close to Konoha. The civilians wouldn't go out of their way to take him out of fire country, and then light him on fire. No, it doesn't work like that.
Naruto began scaling the rocks outside of the cave, going higher and higher. Kyanari watched with slight awe and jealously as Naruto ascended higher and higher.
Naruto finally reached the top of the mountain, an impressive four hundred and fifty meters from the cave. While the climb was by no means straight up vertically, it was more sloped, allowing for an easier climb.
His hand gripped the edge and he pulled himself up. 'What a good exercise.' Naruto thought to himself, as he laid there on the top of the mountain, breathing heavily.
Naruto soon regained his composure and got up to get a three-sixty degree view of his position.
Naruto chuckled mirthlessly as he realized where he was.
'The bastards killed me right behind the Hokage Monument!' Naruto thought, no doubt the denizens of the leaf village spitting on his former goal of attaining the mantle of Hokage.
'Wow, even more irony.' Naruto realized, as he walked further across the flat top of the mountain. The civilians had literally killed him in the cave located directly behind that of the Yondaime's head.
It was about two o'clock of the sun's position gave off any indication, according to Naruto.
Naruto looked over the entire damn village. Feelings of hatred and anger welled up in him until it all evaporated, like the sun over the morning dew.
He turned at glanced from over his shoulder for one last glance of his point of origin.
'When I return, it shall be for vengeance.' Naruto thought to himself, as he hefted himself down the slope of the mountain.
He finally reached the bottom of the mountain, an uplift of dust signaling his arrival to Kyanari.
"Greetings, Hime." Naruto gave a slight bow to Kyanari. Kyanari blushed again, much to Naruto's amusement.
'You're having a lot of fun with this aren't you? Kyuubi grinned a little, she was happy to see Naruto so happy again, even if it was at her daughter's expense.
'You have no idea.' He thought back. He went into the cave and quickly gathered any supplies left on the floor of the cave and put them in the camo bag. Naruto lazily slung it over his shoulder and used his other hand as a visor of sorts to shield his eyes from the rays of the sun.
"What are you doing?" asked Kyanari, genuinely interested in the mysterious figure.
"Preparing to leave, Hime. We shall be heading north west, avoiding all the major roads." He replied.
"Why are we avoiding the roads?" Kyanari questioned. Naruto silently motioned to the top of his head and to the little furry tail that now poked out of Kyanari's shorts. The girl, in frustration, had poked a hole with her nail through the fabric and weaseled her tail in.
"Oh, yea." She said, smiling and scratching the back of her head. That particular action caused Naruto to stiffen like a metal rod. For a split second he thought back to his old life, but he quickly moved on to the task at hand.
"Are you, ok?" Kyanari asked, her face etched in worry. Suddenly, Naruto realized that he had been clenching his fist, causing his whole body to tense up in turn.
Taking a deep breath, Naruto exhaled and appeared to calm down.
"I'm fine. Thank you, for your concern for this lowly servant, Kyanari-Hime." Naruto grinned again.
He walked past Kyanari with the bag slung over his shoulder and stopped before looking behind him.
"Coming, Hime?" Naruto motioned for the girl, as he stood patiently at the end of the clearing.
Wasting no time, Kyanari bounded after him, taking her place by his side.
2 hours later
"When do we stop?" Kyanari asked, feeling slightly drained. The fight with Charybdis took a lot out of her. Then again, being angry tends to leave a person feeling tired.
"Soon, Hime, soon." Naruto responded. That was what he had said the last five times. She secretly thought that he was saying that, so he would not have to give a clear answer.
The two continued their trek, unaware they would meet trouble.
Idate and his two companions ran sloppily through the thick foliage of the forest. Only a day ago, they had been on top of the world, living fine off the fat of the land. Well, as fine as leading the life style of a bandit could lead.
They had plundered, pillaged, and raped; stolen candy from babies and evaded taxes. They were bad. It was all good with the band of men he surrounded himself with. He, himself, was only a lieutenant, but he had the respect of the leader and the men.
Then all in an afternoon they had been wiped out, Idate and his two subordinates, the only survivors.
The nearby village from which they had received tribute from (see extorted) had decided to put that money to a better use and hired a team of Kusagakure shinobi.
While Kusa was by no mean a large village-the number of active ninja a clear sign, however, the quality of the ninja were superb in standards of what average shinobi. Kusa nin were not average, but they were neither power houses like Konoha's Kakashi no Sharingan or Iwa's former Stone mountain Lion guardian.
Now, he and his companions were nobody. Gone were the lords of the forest, that had been their gang name.
He sighed deeply and ran his hand through his short, brown hair.
He was brought out of his musing by his companion, Midori.
"Boss, there seem to be two travelers going through the forest. Want to pounce 'em?" The skinny man whispered, all while fingering the wooden club at his side.
'Odd, normal travelers usually stick to the road…' Idate thought. He got a gut feeling in his stomach, but this was instantly overwhelmed by the putrid stench of greed.
"Pounce 'em" He ordered. 'Well, now that were the remainder of the gang is gone, it's not like it's too soon to start up again.'
The three bandits emerged from the bush, stopping Naruto and Kyanari in their tracks.
Idate observed the two travelers. 'A cripple and a fox girl!' He thought excitedly, while the cripple was useless if he managed to grab a hold of the fox girl and sell her it would be more than enough to start up the gang. His prayers had been answered!
Instantly, Naruto assumed a protective stance in front of Kyanari, his hand on the hilt of his blade.
"Now, now. There's no need for trouble. Just put your weapons and supplies on the ground." Idate tried to lure the two into a false sense of security.
"Move, we were minding our own business, leave." Naruto commanded harshly.
"I'm sure we can come to an agreement. Haji, toss them the merchandise." Idate told the man to his left.
Haji silently toss two grey objects toward the duo. Idate smirked towards the reaction of the cripple. It was just too fun toying with them.
Kyanari peaked over Naruto's shoulder to get a look of the object that Naruto had caught. From what she could tell it was a grey collar with an inner and outer ring with spikes between both rings.
Naruto knew instantly what it was because he had once been subjected to such a device. He whipped the two collars in front of him and threw them in front of the bandits.
"We will not be slaves to pigs like you." Naruto whispered harshly.
"Oh, well. I was hoping to resolve this peacefully. I hear fox girl goes for a high price on the black market, nearly a medium sized fortune."
The man's words made Naruto bristle with rage, but made Kyanari furious; this scum suggested enslaving a free spirit of fire? Preposterous.
'Go get him, Kit.' Kyuubi growled in Kyanari's mind. Kyuubi said similar words to Naruto, and of course he had to follow is to be Sensei's orders.
"Restrain them. Try not rough them up too bad, we need them in one piece." On command, Kyanari lined up with Naruto as the two men approached.
"C'mon, kiddies, we'll be nice." The man, Midori, grinned otherwise. In charge, Naruto walked over to the man, ready to engage him in combat.
He pulled out his sword to quickly intercept a strike from the man's wooden club.
"Give it up, kid." Midori said, as he pressed down harder on Naruto's blade, gaining the advantage. However, Naruto made the man think otherwise until he used his strength in an instant, off balancing the man.
Naruto quickly took the opportunity to run the man through with his sword. With a wet squelch, he slid the ivory blade out of the man's warm body.
Kyanari and the thug Haji watched Naruto easily take down Midori with anger, awe, and on Kyanari's part a little envy.
"Screw one piece, I'm gonna beat you down!" The silent thug named Haji shouted. He raised a katana high over his head and rushed Kyanari.
Not willing to be outdone, Kyanari rushed the man as well and took a leap, her fist extending and finally hitting the man's sternum with a loud crack.
Idate stood there with his head face down and his shoulders shaking in obvious fury.
"You damn brats took my best men! I'll get you back, though!" He smirked as he took out a sealing scroll and unsealed the contents.
What could only be described as a large iron battle club now rested in the palm of his hand. The club has sharp and blunt protrusions on all sides; it was about three and a half feet long, but still impressive.
"I'm sure fox pelt and those interesting looking bandages on you, cripple boy, will fetch a handsome price!" The man roared and dashed towards the pair.
His heavy footsteps made the earth beneath him rumble as Naruto intercepted his path.
"You dead brat!" Naruto was surprised by the speed in which the man swung the iron club and was promptly sent flying.
"Charybdis!" Kyanari shouted after the flying boy and quickly brought up her arms in defense as the thug lieutenant kicked her. The hasty defense, though, was broken by the man's strong kick, sending Kyanari skidding a couple meters away.
The man loomed over her with his large iron bat raised high. Kyanari was too taken by fear to move, despite her mother's urging.
'C'mon, Kit, move!'
'No…noooo! In the end… I guess I was too weak. I'm sorry, Naruto…'
She closed her eyes, expecting to be hit, but was rewarded with nothing. She opened one eye and to her amazement, a white blade shot out of Idate's stomach. It was then dragged across in a horizontal movement and taken out.
Idate fell on his knees, and was then decapitated by a looming Charybdis from behind.
"Trash." Naruto tsked, as he wiped the blade on the man's clothes and sheathed his blade.
Kyanari ignored the decapitated man and ran straight into Charybdis' arms sobbing softly.
"Thank you so much for saving me!" She cried into his robes. Naruto awkwardly patted the girls back and tried to get her off him.
Meanwhile, Kyuubi swooned at the cute scene and would most likely take it and put it in a book of memories for future viewing.
"Hime, while this is nice, we must get going." Kyanari nodded and wiped the stray tears on her face. However, the man she had given a ground breaking sternum blast to the chest had began moaning in pain.
Kyanari growled, as Naruto approached the man. Naruto pressed his hand on the man's chest and was rewarded with a yelp of pain.
"Well, this is certainly impressive." Naruto murmured.
"What did I do?" Kyanari walked over to Naruto's side.
"You broke this man's sternum, and at the angle you punched it, it pierced his heart. He should die soon from internal bleeding." Naruto complimented.
However, Kyanari frowned. She had not been able to pull off a one hit K.O; she wasn't even trying to kill the guy in the first place.
"Definitely an impressive death blow." Naruto said, by the tone of his voice he was clearly impressed.
Kyanari looked shyly at her feet. "Oh, it was nothing." She said.
"Then I don't want to see what something is." Naruto chuckled. He quickly touched the man's forehead to Siphon his energies.
"What are you doing?" Kyanari asked, as the man convulsed.
"Oh, nothing at all." Naruto lied.
After, draining the man, Naruto stretched his shoulders. 'The lead thug gave off more life energy than the others.' He thought to himself. 'Maybe the amount I receive is dependent on the vitality of the person?' Naruto concluded.
Naruto focused on the journey on hand, and after ransacking the thugs for valuables, they had continued on in silence.
The two continued travelling for an hour and then stopped at a clearing.
"We'll stop here tonight, Kyanari-Hime." It was now five o'clock and the day was still going strong, so Naruto decided to begin training.
"Kyanari-Hime." Naruto called out to the fox princess. "Am I correct in assuming you can communicate with your mother through your mind?"
Kyanari nodded her head, as Naruto motioned her over.
'Kyuubi-sensei, please begin teaching your daughter and I.' Naruto politely asked the demoness.
'Ok, Charybdis-kun and Kyanari- chan, I will be teaching you first how to control your energies. While I have no idea how chakra works, I am told that it is quite similar to that of youki.'
"Oh, cool! Then I've already got this in the bag!" Kyanari gloated slightly, as she bought her hands together and concentrated on reaching her chakra.
An orange aura surrounded her before it snapped off, but then seem to putter a little by the signs of brief flaring in the aura.
'Now don't get ahead of yourself Kyanari-chan. Wait a second, hold on.' Kyuubi said.
Kyanari pouted a little and Naruto waited patiently for his sensei.
'There, that's a lot better.' Kyuubi's melodious voice echoed through their minds.
'While being in my true form is comfortable, I can do things more easily in a humanoid form.'
'I want you to first concentrate on drawing out your human energies.'
Kyanari, already having a grasp of drawing such energy, felt the essence of the chakra and a warm layer of the energy enveloped her.
Truthfully, Naruto had no clue how to draw his energy, but he did what he was asked and concentrated deeply.
He sat down in a relaxed position and breathed deeply. He began slowly feeling vibrations in his body, not a quick buzz, but more of sonar.
'There!' Naruto thought and grabbed for the source. A yellow aura covered him and spiked upwards, it curved near the top like a closed rose bud.
Kyanari watched passively as Naruto's energy welled around him. She grudgingly admitted Charybdis' ability to reach his chakra so quickly was astounding.
Kyuubi sighed secretly in the confines of the seal. She truly didn't know where Kyanari got such a competitive personality.
Naruto felt fine, he coughed lightly but thought nothing of it. However, this cough returned and he hacked up fat globules of dark liquid.
'Naruto stop quickly!' Kyuubi urgently cried out.
As commanded, Naruto immediately stopped channeling his chakra and was rewarded with an intense burning across his body.
Kyanari was at his side, her hand on his back, rubbing it up and down. While Kyanari could not do anything, she tried to comfort him accordingly.
Naruto let out a whimper of pain, but to Kyanari it sounded more like a light gasp. Without her foxy attachments she doubted that the noise would have been within her range of hearing.
"Do you need something?" She came to his aid.
"Water," he gasped out. "Water."
Kyanari quickly fished her way through the bag and brought out the water bottle. She brought it to his lips and undid the bandages, allowing access to his lips.
From what she could see they were very dry and cracked. However, she pushed the fact away and focused on the task at hand.
She lifted the bottle to his lips and Naruto took a grateful swig of the pure, crisp liquid. He quickly, though, ejected it from his mouth, this time as a black, viscous liquid.
He took the bottle and drained the container of the remaining fluids. He touched his chest and sighed deeply.
'What was that? Such an intense pain…' Naruto wondered to himself. He tried to reach Kyuubi, but she beat him to the point before he thought her name.
'I don't know what that is, kit. But, I have a creeping suspicion that I'll share with you later to what it could be…'
Naruto took the answer in stride. OK. So he was out of options for most likely the rest of the day. His joints ached and that blow from the hulking bandit seemed to affect him now at his weakest.
His energies as well posed a problem. If he drew upon his power every time would he be in such pain again?
'Ugh, too many questions.' Naruto thought.
He wobbly stood up, despite Kyanari's protest, and walked over to the tree. He winced a bit as he felt a low pain around his stomach.
'Yes, physical conditioning is out of the way.' Naruto hissed in his mind.
No way was he going to try to do something like gathering his energy for sometime unless he knew how to handle the situation.
He looked up into the sky. It was probably eight or seven o'clock right now. The top of the sky was dark and the sun setting in the west created a beautiful display of vivid orange and purple colors from the mixing of darkness and light.
"We should get a fire started." Naruto stood up and coughed up a bit more blood.
"You're not going anywhere!" Kyanari forced him back down. "I'll go look for the fire wood!" She said, as she walked off into the forest.
"Be careful not to be seen." Naruto shouted hoarsely as Kyanari walked away.
Soon enough Kyanari came back with fire wood. She dropped it in front of Naruto and proceeded to light the damn thing. However, Naruto soon stopped her, saying that they needed some stones to contain the fire.
Feeling much better, Naruto joined her and in no time they got enough rocks.
Kyanari tried to impress her new companion by creating a flame on the tip of her finger, but was quickly surprised when a fire ball blew up in her face.
She hastily reminded herself that her control was back to crap. She drooped at her lost, but Naruto patted her back, the sign of her fox ears drooping cluing him off.
Naruto took the cinder box from the box and after some fooling around started a fire.
They both sat comfortably around the fire enjoying the rations they slowly ate. The sun set around them and soon darkness fell.
Naruto enjoyed the silence, but was at the same time thinking on the rate the rations would disappear. From what he could tell, if they monitored consumption carefully, then it would last to two to three weeks.
Kyanari watched Charybdis poke the fire occasionally and stir the embers. The boy was a mystery to her; maybe she could try asking him some questions?
"So…" Kyanari said ", what are you doing?"
"Cataloging our items and rations." Naruto answered in monotone.
'Well that doesn't really leave to conversation.' Kyanari thought sourly.
"Your name is Charybdis, right?" Her voice broke over the crackling of the hot flames.
"That is correct." Naruto answered, holding a kunai to the light of the fire to inspect it.
"You're my servant, right?"
That struck a chord in Naruto, while he did not display it outwardly, he was nobodies slave.
After some careful consideration he responded, "That is correct."
"So you have to do anything I say?"
"Yes." Naruto did not like the way this conversation was going. Was she going to ask him to remove his bandages? What type of sadistic person would ask that? He certainly wouldn't ask a person with horrible burns to remove his or her bandages.
However, Naruto's fears were assuaged by Kyanari's next demand.
"I command you to make conversation with me." She said somewhat triumphantly.
On the inside Naruto relaxed, he looked up at Kyanari and pondered her request of all of the possible ones.
"How are you?" Naruto queried.
"Good, a little dismayed, though. I'm so happy to be in the world! Although, I am a little sad… I might not see my friend again."
Naruto took in Kyanari's words and analyzed them. It was good she was happy, though, a little refreshing to know that someone still cared about him. It was too bad he really couldn't tell the girl.
Naruto continued to poke at the fire, annoying Kyanari.
"You don't know how to start a conversation do you?" Kyanari grumbled out, a tick mark forming from on her head.
Naruto had to stifle a laugh at Kyanari's remark. Back when he was alive, he could start a conversation regardless of the opening line. Be it crude, unusual, boisterous, or just plain ridiculous.
"What do you want me to ask? What's your favorite color?" Naruto asked.
"Cerulean."
"What?"
"Cerulean, that's my favorite color." Kyanari replied.
Naruto continued stirring the flame; he had nothing to say to Kyanari.
'C'mon, share the same courtesy as my daughter. Besides, you were commanded!' Kyuubi laughed haughtily.
Naruto mind grumbled, but complied none the less.
"When was your birthday?"
"October 10th!" She proudly exclaimed. "You?"
"I don't have a birthday." Naruto responded.
Kyanari gasped, "You don't have a birthday! Everyone should have a birthday."
"Not me." Naruto stared into the fire.
Kyanari decided to drop the topic. It was obvious to her she wouldn't be able to pull anything else.
"You're a Kitsune Hanyou, right?" Kyanari scratched behind one of her ears.
"True."
Kyanari nodded her head and tried to think of another question. She looked at Naruto from bottom to top and suddenly a light bulb powered by a strong raiton jutsu made it shine brightly.
"Ooooh, I have a good one, Charybdis. If you're a Kitsune Hanyou where are is your tail and ears!"
Crap. That question truly stumped Naruto; he didn't feel like conversing much longer with the intrusive fox princess, so he decided to go with answer number B.
"Both appendages were chopped off. I was then set on fire." Naruto said, secretly proud that he could come up with such a gruesome answer.
Kyanari's skin turned white blotching out her lightly tanned skin. She unconsciously covered both her ears and moved her tails in between her legs.
"They the-" Naruto continued, but was quickly intercepted in speech by Kyanari.
"OK! No more question time!" Kyanari waved her hands rapidly.
They sat there comfortably both persons deep in thought.
'How awful… His tail and ears were cut off…' Kyanari thought.
On the other hand, Naruto was talking with Kyuubi.
'That was a mean thing you said, Kit!' Kyuubi yelled at Naruto in dissatisfaction
'I only did what I had to do.' Naruto defended himself.
'What? Get out of a friendly conversation with my adorable, little daughter!' She said angrily.
'Then you expect too much from me, Kyuubi!' Naruto lashed out angrily. 'It's only been a damn day and I'm already so tired! Give me a damn break! Now that I think about it, I don't think I really need your help…'
While the implicit threat stood in his mind, Kyuubi felt sorry for the way she acted. Indeed, she had expected much from Naruto Uzumaki; however, she had to remind himself he was only an eight year old boy.
'I'm sorry, Kit…'
Naruto seemed to relax for moment then lower his head.
'I'm sorry I reacted that way… I-I shouldn't have said some of the things I said. Please forgive me.'
'Don't worry, Naruto, I forgive you completely.' Kyuubi said.
From what Naruto remembered from the Shinigami's words, he no longer needed to sleep or even eat that much, but he had to drink a large amount of water, for reasons that puzzled him to no end.
Even so, Naruto took another bottle of water and drank it. The water was cool and velvety in comparison to the dryness of his tongue, which dryness was like that of sand paper.
The corner of his mouths slightly cracked, making it uncomfortable to stretch in widely. He cursed the people of Konoha and his family. He crunched the plastic bottle in his hands, catching Kyanari's attention.
He stood up and brushed off his cloak. "I'm going to rest. When you're done throw some dirt over the fire."
Kyanari sighed, it was now or never.
"Wait!" She rushed him and grabbed his hand.
The simple action shocked Naruto. He was not use to being touched in such a familiar way, Naruto quickly shook Kyanari's hands off his, as if he was stung.
"I-I-I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for saving me before and being so patient with me!"
Naruto was surprised to say the least. No one had ever thanked him before. It felt good that he had done something, which earned him thanks from another.
"No problem at all, it is my duty anyway." Naruto swiftly replied.
Kyanari frowned a bit. She was just his duty? Not a friend? She kept that bit to herself, but to be honest she was a little disappointed.
"If you need me no longer, I shall go rest." Naruto walked over to a tent.
Kyanari looked at the fire, an even stronger flame burning in her own eyes; the fire of determination to make Charybdis her friend.
She quickly threw some dirt on the fire, after some brief flares the fire died. Kyanari went to the tent and was greeted with a sight of Charybdis making himself comfortable.
"Decided to sleep so soon?" Naruto chuckled. He laid down and seemed to die out on the sleeping unit.
Kyanari decided to lie down as well. She put her head on top of his chest. She took in his scent, most of the things unidentifiable and mysterious. However, one thing she could identify was the smell of life liquid. Coppery and rustic in smell, like iron.
Another smell, though, that brought comfort to her was the smell of oranges and foxes. She had discovered the fruit on the off roads, and much to Charybdis' amusement had spent ten minutes trying to figure out what the object was.
She was brought out of her musing by her guard's raspy voice.
"What are you doing?" Charybdis asked.
"Sleeping." A hint of confusion on her face.
"On me?" Kyanari could've sworn a brow was raised.
"Yea, I do it with Kaa-chan all the time. It helps me go to sleep!" She chirped.
"While that is very nice and all, I'm not your mother. You cannot enter a servant's personal space without permission."
While Kyanari did not know anything about "Slave Rules", she did know if she asked nicely he would let her.
"Please?"
"No, Hime."
"Plleeaase?"
"No."
C'mon, Pleaase!"
Kyanari's verbal brigade weathered down Naruto's defense. All he wanted was to sleep anyway.
"Fine." He sighed.
Kyuubi quietly squealed in happiness. She let head lie down on Naruto's chest, the slow rising of his chest lulling her to sleep. It wasn't strange that Charybdis didn't have a heartbeat, right?
'Must be a human/ natural hanyou thing…' She thought as both hanyous entered the realm of dreams.
Dream
Naruto walked through the endless white surrounding him. Upon further venturing into the vast area he saw his lord, The Shinigami.
"Shinigami-sama." Naruto said and bowed.
"Hello, Naruto-kun." The Shinigami said mirthfully. That was one thing Naruto did not understand about the Shinigami. His tone was always like a snicker. Like he knew some great secret no one else knew.
'It must come with godhood.' Naruto thought, as he stood up.
"We have things to talk about! Like picking your method of life force extraction."
"Life force extraction?" Naruto asked, his head tilted.
"Yes! There are three methods; you can choose blood, souls, or emotion! However, you're not restricted to one method, although developing one method yields greater results than choosing all three."
"Tell me something about them, Shinigami-sama." Naruto focused his full attention on the ghastly being.
"The art of blood," The Shinigami said as if he was reading off a script. "Feast upon your opponent's life line, figuratively and literally. Through consumption of blood, one can harness the power of swift recovery and increased physical attributes. Requires lots of killing."
"There are also other delicious goodies!" The Shinigami said mirthfully.
"The art of Soul draining. Perhaps the most difficult of the three arts, though, with the most return. Pursuing this branch is difficult, for one must keep the victim alive for a period of time until his or her most vulnerable."
"It is crucial to drain at the most vulnerable point for the easiest extraction and the most fulfilling. The process usually takes two weeks to three weeks depending on condition of capture and quality of the victim."
Naruto quickly exxed that one off his list, he had no secret dungeon lair to hold people for long amounts of time.
"Benefits include greater amounts of energy and bolstered energy attacks." The Shinigami finished.
"Lastly, emotions! By evoking the emotions of others one can absorb these emotions for energy and physical attributes. For example, cause a flood for a village under severe drought, wiping all chances of recovery in an ironic way! One can then stick around and garner all the negative emotions."
Naruto considered that one, it seemed rather profitable.
"However, this must be done continuously or the user's powers will slowly degenerate."
Naruto crossed that one off. He was looking for permanent power gains.
Naruto considered all his choices carefully. He looked up at his lord to pose a question.
"Shinigami-sama, which one did you choose?"
He seemed to be caught a bit off guard, but quickly puffed his emaciated chest out.
"Personally, I chose emotions."
"Why? Wouldn't you be growing weaker?" Naruto asked.
"True, if it weren't for my mastery of emotions I would be weak. However, my range of emotion absorption is large enough to cover the human realm and then more. Whenever people feel something about death, be it negative or positive, it redirects to me."
"Such daily energy income keeps me strong and powerful. Although, I had to be close to many unpleasant people…"
"How were you able to evoke such feelings anyway?" Naruto asked perplexed.
"Well, Naruto-kun, from the time I was from, many things were taboo. Naturally, I just indulged in that and well… you get the idea."
Naruto nodded his head. He didn't want to know what freaky things the Shinigami did once upon a time. This brought him back to the subject at hand. Blood, souls, or emotion? Eventually he could master all three, but which one would help him quickest.
He had no evil dungeon and he didn't want to be close to other people. So, Naruto came on the conclusion of the art of blood.
"Blood," Naruto said, "Blood."
The Shinigami seemed to wrinkle his nose in distaste, but nodded. The boy could always pursue the two other branches of energy gain.
"Very well! I'll be seeing you soon! Oh, and by the way, the seal tampering was a bit unexpected and the results slightly unfavorable. Whatever, you'll find out soon enough." The Shinigami said, as the white void seemed to crack like a glass picture in front of him.
"Wait what do you mean!" Naruto called out, but only saw the two split pieces of glass that formed the Shinigami's wicked smile.
Naruto was there now, in his sewer of a mind. A short distance away he saw the Kyuubi's cage, remembering that she had wanted to talk to him.
He walked over rattling the bars' of the cage with his sharp nails.
"Hello, Naruto-kun." Kyuubi said, now alerted to Naruto's presence.
"Hello, Kyuubi-sama." Naruto said as he circled around the cage. "You had something to tell me?"
"Yes… Naru-" The Kyuubi was interrupted by Naruto.
"Hold on. Let's make this more comfortable." Naruto sat down and concentrated deeply little by little the blackness turned gray and then in turn became a polished white. The floor became on smooth layer of black marble, no tiles, just one smooth surface.
Grey pillars shot off the ground and seemed to infinitely ascend into the endless sky. The cage the Kyuubi was in became bent, creaking noises escaping from the groaning bars. The seal tag flew into the sky and took on the form of a constellation.
Kyuubi was amazed by Naruto's imagination and mastery; it was truly a sight to behold. The Sky turned dark and the ground was illuminated by the many millions of bright stars.
Small hold pillars this time rumbled from the ground, a perfect bust on each one.
Kyuubi smiled, had he done this all for her?
"Do you like it?" Naruto asked, now gazing into the stars. "Did you know that I enjoy looking into the stars? Each one so far away, but shining so bright? It was my dream… to become a star."
Kyuubi already knew this, but still hearing it being spoken through his lips brought a tear to her exotic eyes.
"Yes, Naruto-kun. I like it. I like it a lot. Thank you for freeing me from the confines of the cage." She said, as she walked up to the boy and gave him a small hug.
Naruto on the other hand stiffened and slid out of the Kyuubi's grasp.
Kyuubi frowned; she had expected it, though. It took time for people to change.
"So what did you want to tell me?" Naruto asked his one eye peering at her.
Kyuubi bit her lower lip with an elongated canine. It was going to be extremely hard to deliver the news…
"Well you're stronger now…" Naruto nodded his head, he understood that.
"The problem of your energies is that it is extremely volatile and unstable currently. I think meditating would help you control it or calm it, so you can use it."
Naruto smiled at that particular piece of information. He had learned mediation to make long periods of time seem shorter to escape the boredom of life.
"However…"
However? That was bad. However is always bad from what he remembered from watching movies. He braced himself for the worse, he was positive he could overcome it!
"Naruto… I don't know how to tell you this… I'm sorry…"
This was really bad.
"I'm sure its fine, Kyuubi-sama…" Naruto said reassuringly.
"Naruto… When you ripped the seal, you didn't only free my daughter. You ripped the seal so that my chakra is slowly leaking out."
"Meaning…?" Naruto asked the breath sucked out of his lungs.
"Naruto… you only have seven years left, until the seal fully breaks. At that point you either die or using that incorporation technique of yours absorb me."
Naruto let himself shake silently in anger, grief, and despair. Like the furious volcano, Mount Charybdis blew open spewing violent lava chunks, accompanied by its very own weather system.
"FUCK!" Naruto shouted, as he wrecked a bust.
"FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" It was rare for him to use such vulgar language, but the situation seemed to be highly appropriate.
Naruto destroyed more pillars and bust, while Kyuubi looked downward saddened by such an event.
'Even when I have one good thing going for me, Fate screws me over! It's not fair!' Naruto stopped his train of thought there; he would not wallow in self pity.
He punched the ground hard and in his mindscape created a crater big enough for a lake. He kneeled on his knees and banged the ground a couple times despairingly.
It couldn't be true. Only seven years to live and fulfill his ambitions? He cursed his father and his mother and all those who had treated him so.
He was Charybdis, a great demon to be! However, he was still Naruto Uzumaki, the boy of impossible deeds. He was great, god damn it! Had all his struggles been worth it? He had taught himself what others deemed impossible.
Naruto taught himself to read and write, something not even the Sharingan baby genius Itachi could pull off, even if he had copied the calligraphy, he could not put it to use.
He had gained the understanding of the dealings of those beyond his years. It just wasn't fair. But, oh no. He was coming back. Naruto Uzumaki or Charbydis, neither backs down.
"Hahahahahahahaha!" He laughed madly. So what he had seven years! He would accomplish all his goals and more!
Kyuubi came to his aid, her hands on his shoulders.
"Naruto! Are you alright?" She said in concern.
He turned to face her, his one eye glinting in insanity. "Never better…" Naruto licked his lips.
The stars of his mindscape basked our hero in a malevolent red light.
Oh yea, I'm done. Sorry for the wait I went on vacation then came back to school. Surprising, huh? Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter. I know I liked writing it. Don't forget to review. And thanks for all you great guys and girls who faved, alerted, or whatever!
Makes me feel good someone took their time to look at this!
