The golden fox.

Chapter three: Settling in for the long haul.

ああお母さん、私はあなたがそのように、寒さで私を残していないが大好きです。

私は、私は十分に強く残念ではなかった午前。

私はまだ自然の冠を剥き出しいない。

私を許して。

Ā okāsan, watashi wa anata ga sonoyōni, samu-sa de watashi o nokoshite inaiga daisukidesu. Watashi wa, watashi wa jūbun ni tsuyoku zan'nende wa nakatta gozen. Watashi wa mada shizen no kanmuri o mukidashi inai. Watashi o yurushite.

Oh mother, I love you so, don't leave me in the cold.

I am sorry, I wasn't strong enough.

I have not yet bared nature's crown.

forgive me.

The basement, two days later, 5:00a.m., Naruto POV.

My hand was bleeding across the ground, I looked myself in a puddle of spilled water. I've been up for a while now...eighteen hours...constantly training. The fox spirit his 'hinting' that if I meditate too long, then my body will slowly fade from it's condition.

I growl at myself, forming three clones around me. "Bring it..." Was the only thing I got to say, and one of the my clones was already besetting me with a fist to myself. I manage to bring out my hidden knife, one I kept under my shozoku sleeve.

I backward thrust my elbow into the clones face, making it stumble, before finally I stab it in the heart. It dispels, but my other two were already on top of my. I managed to get one, slicing it across the neck, but the other one managed to land his foot into my face.

My nose broke from that kick, blood slowly gushed from nostrils. The metallic smell of blood was so strong, I could taste it. "You can do better...more..." I closed my eyes, and slowly formed more clones. Six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ten clones.

I brought out my other knife, and held both of them reversed grip. I watched as the clones charged at me, and I got ready. The first one brought out his own knife, and I managed to block it with my left knife. Holding him in a deadlock, for which ended with knife gliding across his skull.

I felt a presence behind me, and sent my foot back. Striking a clone hard in the chest, knocking it into the wall. It was hard enough to leave a impression, another one came from my side. I simply thrust my knife that way, stabbing it into the neck.

My eyes burned with sweat, they glowed red from the demonic energy I had pulsing through my body at the moment. My hands also started to glow, and I decided to drop my knives. "Kuru..." I simply say demon song, and they all charged. All six of the remaining clones, the first one made it to me, and it got my palm in its face.

I unleashed a wave of my chakra, making it explode. The next one simply had my claw meet it's throat. "Control...remember that the blood lust is your friend, and your greatest weapon..." Four remained.

I felt a tail come around my neck, constricting my airway. I choked a little bit, but thrashed about. Enough to loosen the grip, and backwards headbutt the clone. Sending him stumbling backwards, I stumped my foot on a knife, before slide kicking it into the air.

I took aim, before flipped on my hands, and kicked the knife into the clones chest. Dispersing it. Three left. I continued my barrage of ass kicking, and found the third to last clone holding my bow.

It loosed an arrow, which I barely dodged. Clanging against the floor, where if I had not moved, my leg obscured. The other two clones took this moment of distraction, and simultaneously smashed their fist into my face.

Knocking me into the wall, leaving another impression. I coughed off blood, and fell to my knees. I waited until they got closer, thinking I was defeated. That's when I unleashed my own simultaneous attack.

My tail, I hardened with chakra, slammed into the clones chest. Killing it, and I pushed the forearm of the other clone towards it's own neck. Breaking it. The last one, the one with the bow, and the one with the original

It nook another arrow, and ready to launch it. Only for me to find a knife, it got thrown quicker than it could move it's hands off the string. Needless to say, the knife went into it's eye socket, dispersing it.

I was breathing slightly heavy, having already done this seventeen times. A total of seventy clones have been killed so far, but I knew my practice was far from over. This was to increase my chakra reserves some more, along with my body.

No doubt the poser would at least NEED me at some point, might as well not get lazy. I looked at my shozoku, it had blood stains in it. I sighed, and looked around my now lit up room. The tin man had installed lights the other day, and lights that I just now turned on.

The light slightly hurt my eyes, but I paid no heed to it. I looked to see some blood smears on the ground, probably because I had blood slowly trickling down my mouth. "Fuck..." I said, slowly readjusting a broke finger.

"You still good to go?"

"Yes..."

"I think you can do...say...fifteen clones. All with knives."

Ops room, 6:45a.m. Normal POV.

"Oh glorious morning fellow friends, isn't the sun most beautiful today!" Starfire announced, the others came in, except Robin. Being groggy, and looking like they were tired as hell. The boy wonder was looking ready to start the day as usual, and took his seat at the head of the table.

"Morning eve-wait, where is Uzumaki?" He questioned, he looked around. This was the second/all the time he has missed a meeting, and today they had combat training. The others looked around, while Raven rolled her eyes.

She heard the intercom turn on, and sighed. They couldn't just ignore him, could they? "Uzumaki Naruto, a.k.a Kitsune. Please come to the ops room at this time, please come to the ops room at this time." Robin stated professionally over the intercom, he stood up waiting.

A few minutes went by, which turned into a half an hour. "Friend Robin, I think we put as they, a reminder of a wake up." Starfire stated, though in poor taste the English language. Bird boy pressed the intercom button again.

"Uzumaki Naruto, a.k.a Kitsune. . . ." He growled the last part out, but got no answer. Hell, didn't the idiot know how to use a intercom?! The sound of something crashing, followed a chorus of yelling threw them off.

"Stupid fucking clone."

"Fuck you, asshole~!"

"Kiss a dick!"

"You idiot, it's kiss an ass!"

"Fuc-gahh!"

The others just stood up, not wanting to move. The only thing that made them move was a clone flying past them, shattering a glass window. Though didn't know it was a clone, "Titan's g-wha?" Robin started, but watched as another followed suit.

Naruto came walking in, dragging a clone with him. He looked at them, before snapping on the clones neck. A snap was heard from the clone, before it bursts into smoke. Everyone had a mixed reaction about what they saw.

Robin was on the fence, on one end he was impressed. On the other, he had just smashed a damn window, and he'd never hear the end of it from Cyborg.

Cyborg was visually pissed off, but was shutting his mouth when he saw the blood coming out of Naruto's mouth.

Beast Boy saw the brutality of his method, and cringed, knowing that an "old friend" of his had a similar method of fighting.

Starfire was really having mixed feelings. She was disgusted about how brutal he was, having a sister that pulled the same stuff inside her home planet of Tamaran. Though, she was slightly impressed...due to her Tamarainian culture being strong inside of her.

Raven stood there blankly staring, her emoticlones where doing the mixed feelings of it all. Happy was disgusted, Knowledge knew what had happened, Rage was slightly...intrigued.

The blooded boy in front of them simply looked at them, "what are you looking at." Robin was half ready to help the prick, before he made the snide comment. The cuts on Naruto's face though kept bleeding slightly.

"Dude, c'mon seriously...you got some issues." Beast Boy commented, though the stare Naruto gave him was that of pure anger. The redhead boy only then smirked, before he looked at the 'leader' of the posers. He took a seat, and propped his feet on the table. Which were covered in blood.

Everyone looked at him, as if he had just killed someone. "Um...Naruto...where is all that blood coming from?" Robin asked, though the incredulous stare the boy wonder gave Naruto was only making the dyed redhead stare back.

"Got a problem, bird boy?" Naruto said, rubbing his tail, which came off his waist. He always liked to rub his tail, even if he didn't admit it. The two boys stared at each other, before Robin shook his head.

He then got down to business, "anyway team as you know. It is time for training...well was." He stated while staring at Naruto, who shrugged. Cracking his neck slightly, making popping noises. The bird boy just rolled his eyes under his mask, before he went back.

"Anyway, today I have all of us patrolling the city. Starfire will be with me, Cyborg...or Beast Boy. You take Naruto, show him the ropes. Raven, you take who doesn't want Naruto." The half demon glared hard at Robin.

"If he only knew..."

"Well, kit show time."

"Yeah..."

They all got up, "Titans go!" Robin shouted, while Starfire and him ran off. Raven waiting for her partner saw the two friends look at each other, doing rock paper scissors, Cyborg won out. Beast Boy sighed, before waving goodbye. He turned to Naruto, who was now leaning against the wall.

"So...Beast boy, wanna party with this animal?" Naruto asked, knowing he couldn't back out of it. Which made the other boy cringe, if this boy didn't mind being bloody from himself...he knew damn well that he wouldn't mind doing to others.

The Beast, and the Fox moved out. Naruto walked with his tail hanging loose, and looked at the green skinned boy. Who was fidgeting slightly to tell him the rules of engagement. "Hey, dude, listen ah...haha.." Naruto's fox eyes looked at him. Motioning for him to continue.

"You know how the fight, but here in Jump City we have rules of engagement. They're simple, but honestly hard to go by. We're not allowed to kill, so no killing bro." Naruto rolled his eyes, "posers..."

"Though we're not allowed to kill, we can subdue. Also, no stealing...I'll have to report you." Naruto knew that rule was made for him, and the boy looked at him giving him a nod. The green clad boy nodded, and he continued.

"Also, since you don't have a communicator, you have to stick by me if we get into trouble." The fox boy stopped, before he smirked. The green clad boy turned to him, "what?" Naruto simply brushed past him. Already knowing how to make this guy's day a living hell.

Oh, he would too.

Jump City, 2:00p.m.

"Go, come on give us your money!" A thief shouted, holding a Ak47 in the air, shooting a few bullet into the air. Several others held hostages as the bank teller got the manager's keys. The teller was fidgeting, making the thief more angry.

"Come on already!" The sound of someone walking made the thief turn around. Only to have a tail come around his neck, a small green mouse crept past him. A navy blue dressed boy, clad in a ninja like robe kept his red tail over the man's neck.

The green mouse transformed back into Beast Boy, who looked at him. Whispering, "dude...stop I think he's done!" Naruto simply loosened the grip, the thief fell down, barely breathing. The bank teller looked at them.

"There is three more, please save them..." She begged, while whispering. The green boy was about to charge in as a Gorilla. When the sound of a vent lid hit the ground made him stop, and he barely enough to time transform into a fly when a robber came to check on his buddy.

"Hey, bitch what happe-gah.." The man silently sounded his pain, Beast Boy re-transformed into his human self. Knocking the man out cold, he heard the sounds of crawling, very fast crawling coming from the vents.

"He's going to get those people killed!" Panicked Beast Boy, who motioned for the woman to stay down. The next thing he saw, through the blurred glass window was the sight of one of the gun men getting hanged by a wired noose, before the other started to fire.

"Shit!" Beast Boy yelled, only to charge to where he saw Naruto grabbing the gun off the last robber. Who backed up against the wall, holding his pistol at the half demon. The other robber hung, barely conscious.

"Get back!" He yelled, Naruto went to charge, but the man grabbed a woman. "I'll blow her fucking brains out, man I'll do it!" The duo of titans watched as the man clicked the hammer. Naruto only glared harder.

"I am giving one chance...sir...if you don't put the gun down and surrender. I'll be force to 'subdue you'" Naruto strained out, the man just looked at him, and laughed. That was the snapping point, faster than the eye could see, Naruto was right in front of the man. Holding his hand over the guns muzzle.

It fired, making a hole inside the boys hand. Though this only caused Naruto to pulse chakra into the gun, making it blow up in the man's hand. Blood was pouring from both their hands, but Naruto didn't show any sign of pain.

The man watched as the woman he held ran behind the green guy, "Kitsune stop!" BB ordered, trying to sound tough. He only watched as Naruto grabbed the man's hand, before squeezing it hard. "Everyone out!" Naruto shouted.

The crowd of hostages made haste, and ran out. Naruto raised the man up, "you sick bastard, you were really going to pull trigger weren't you?" Naruto asked, sniffing the man over. Seeing if he had explosive, he found none.

Beast boy was trying to cut down the hanged man, before he actually died. That's when his advance hearing heard a snap, and saw a bone jotting out of the man's leg. Beast Boy saw Naruto's foot firmly placed on his leg too.

"Naruto, stop, he's down dude!" The half demon, simply raised the man back up. Before slamming a palm into his face, he crouched down. Glaring hard into the man's eyes, before holding a claw to his neck.

"If you ever think about doing stuff like this again, or even attempting a break in...I'll gut you." Naruto stated, "are we clear?" The man nodded furiously, scared out of his man. He started to piss himself, and Naruto smiled.

He took out a knife, and Beast Boy shouted. "Dude don't!" He shouted, trying to release the hung man, who was starting to run low on air. However, the next thing Beast boy knew was the knife cutting the wire.

The knife, placed itself inside the wall, the stone reinforced wall, opposite of Naruto. He smiled, walking towards the door. "Let's go Beast Boy." He ordered this time. The green boy just stared in shock, had he just saw that?!

He ran out after Naruto, only to see that crowd cheering for him. "Titans, Titans!" They cheered, but from outside the crowd he couldn't see Naruto. The said half demon was actually inside the alleyway behind the bank.

He was avoiding the crowd.

Jump City rooftops. 3:49pm

Naruto slowly held his palm, which had a hole in it. He focused red energy into it, healing it ever slowly. "Good job kit, that's a way to send a message." The boy nodded, slowly pulling out previous bone fragments.

Beast Boy, finally found Naruto's scent. Arriving at the rooftops, and saw the redhead with his mask and hood down. Healing the hole in his hand, "dude seriously, what is your malfunction!" BB yelled at Naruto.

The redhead boy looked back at him, smirking, "you said subdue." He then went back to healing his hand.

"Yeah I did, and he was down. So why, why did you break his leg!" BB demanded, the redhead stop, before noticing the wound was completely. He smirked.

"Because, I want to send a message...I'm not like you posers." Naruto stated, standing up, putting his back to the city.

Beast Boy had enough, "We're not posers!" He transformed into a cheetah. Intent of ramming Naruto, only for the redhead to easily dodge him. The changeling barely changed into a bird in time to avoid asphalt.

He looked at Naruto, stunned, before transforming back. "Dude...no way..." He stated in disbelief.

"I'm superior to you poser, so back off of me, call your little buddies. Tell them that we just got down with a bank robbery. I'm really sick, and tired of this day. I'd rather prefer the other half demon.." Naruto stated, mentioning Raven.

"Dude don't you even start! You think so better than everyone else, you are just a sad excuse of wannabe Slade!" Beast Boy shouted, Naruto just stared at him blankly. Before he shook his head, giving a frustrated sigh.

"I don't even want to be here anyway, JDF scum, and your 'justice league' forced the matter. So suck it up, besides if you so called heroes done a better job in Japan then nothing would be wrong!" Naruto blurted out, before shutting his mouth.

"What was that?" Beast Boy asked, noticing how quickly the half demon put his hand over his mouth. The said half demon just started going into a cussing fit, cussing BB, and even the city out. Before he finally calmed down, and looked at him.

"Nothing, but by the end of thirty days, I'm out. I'm not going to JDF either, so you can suck on that one." Beast Boy looked at him, their new member was crazy. He felt himself going into comfort mode, something elasti-girl taught him while he was inside Doom Patrol.

"Dude...what happened in Japan?" Naruto looked at him, before flicking him off.

"I don't want to talk about it, so drop it!" He yelled, and this made Beast Boy recoil.

He walked closer to Naruto, and finally noticed something else inside the boys eyes. Besides anger, rage, and all that good Jazz. The boy had a bit of fear in them, and loneliness. Almost a form a sadness.

"Dudes got some bad issues." Beast Boy thought. He watched as Naruto looked back over the city. Waiting on the other Titans to yell at him, but he didn't care. Besides, he'd be able to sleep tonight, since training days didn't move into Friday.

Slowly Naruto closed his eyes, and he sat back down. Waiting...

"I'm such...such a loudmouth..."