Jinchuuriki no More
Chapter 4: Loss
Kyuubi was seriously starting to regret her unusual act of kindness. She revived the kid not 5 minutes ago and now he was already beginning to deeply irritate her.
The first thing Naruto did when he woke up was to stare at her, completely silent, for about three seconds. Then he tore out of the apartment screaming his bloody head off.
It took her about 10 seconds total to hunt down the kid with the force of an angry god. Unfortunately, the two caused quite a scene, with Naruto howling hysterically and Kyuubi trying her damned hardest not to savagely murder the brat again in broad daylight.
After harshly tackling the kid and pulling him into a headlock, she dragged him back to the apartment. Then, she forced him onto a chair and bound his hands and feet together. She also gagged him for good cause, since the last thing she needed was more screaming.
So for the past 4 minutes, the two immersed themselves in a prolonged staring match. Well, Naruto glared furiously, but Kyuubi just gazed regally back at him. Neither of them said a word.
Tick. Tick.
Another 5 minutes went by.
Kyuubi licked her lips. These kind of situations generally eluded her… usually her counterpart would either be groveling at her feet or deader than a fossil.
"You know brat, your friends were here." She stated finally not really knowing how to start.
Naruto's eyes widened. A visitor came by? With this… monster in his apartment?
"Some pink-haired girl and a girl with funny eyes. Both of them looked your age."
Another pause. Naruto paled. He tensely imagined, poor Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan, standing innocently at the doorway, shocked to encounter a cold-blooded serial killer at his home. Oh no. She must have killed them. She probably slaughtered them. A wave of righteous vengeance began to erupt within Naruto, but he was chained.
Silence.
As if sensing the boy's increasing distress, Kyuubi clicked her tongue. "I didn't kill them, if that's what you're thinking. They weren't worthy of my effort." She noted smugly.
Naruto felt his body relax. 'Hinata-chan… Sakura-chan… they're ok…"
"Although… the funny eye girl did bring you some rice cakes." She held up a colorful box for him to see.
His eyes widened. Someone actually gave him a gift? Hinata-chan - she was so nice to him. He made a mental note to definitely get to know the Hyuga better.
Kyuubi smirked. "Just so you know, they were delicious." She opened the box, showing him it was empty and tossing it aside.
Naruto scowled. That bitch! Eating Hinata-chan's rice cakes while he was incapacitated! The box was big too, it must have contained a large number of cakes. The Kyuubi was such a pig. (Although he could hardly say he was any better).
The red-haired Demoness yawned. Yes, having a one-sided conversation was rather boring. But still better than the alternative, which would be a lot of troublesome accusations, annoying questions, and angry curses.
Tick. Tick.
Kyuubi stretched, sighing contentedly. Then she narrowed her eyes, bursting out a wave of killing intent, focusing on the blonde ninja.
"Listen brat. I have a change of plans. I feel like trying this human thing for a while. Don't get your hopes up. Don't you dare think about trying to kill me again, because I will Tear. You. Apart. Got that?"
Naruto nodded meekly.
"Good. Also. I will be staying here. Your bed is mine now. You can sleep out here." She pointed at the couch in the common area.
He nodded again. Mentally, he groaned. This was undoubtedly the beginning of a very, very uncomfortable living arrangement.
She smirked. "Good boy. Hmm. I'm forgetting something… Oh. I told your puny friends that you somehow managed to summon me. You will refer to me as Kitsune if anyone asks."
He nodded. He never expected the Kyuubi to actually carry out this human experimentation plan. But it was definitely positive compared to the alternative.
"However! In private, you will refer to me as Kyuubi-sama. You are now my servant in every manner. If I tell you to kneel, you kneel. If I tell you to strip, you strip. If I tell you to jump, you ask how high. …No wait, you jump first, and then you ask me how high. My every word is LAW. Do we have an understanding?"
Naruto hesitated slightly, but then nodded, bowing his head. What other choice did he have?
Kyuubi walked up in front of Naruto. She bent down sensually, until she was at his eye level. She tipped his chin up with one elegant finger.
"Naruto-kun. You are fortunate that I am so… forgiving. Do not forget that."
She untied his hands and feet, but didn't remove his gag. She put one finger on her mouth, advising him to keep silent, and stay seated.
She stood back up at her full height. She was a few inches taller than Naruto, but with the amount of divine power she radiated, she might as well have been a giant.
"I'm going for a walk. Do not follow me. Those girls mentioned you have some kind of training, you should attend to that. Do not mention me to anyone, and do not answer any questions about me."
With that parting note, she slammed the door, leaving Naruto in complete silence.
XXXXXXX
The blonde ninja panted out of breath, as he entered a clearing surrounded by trees and forest shrubbery.
"You're late!" Jiraiya said sternly, leaning against a large tree with a notepad and pen. The Sannin checked his watch. "Very late."
"Sorry, Jiraiya-sensei…" Naruto said. He wanted to explain to the old hermit what happened, but then realized it would be far too much trouble. "I had diarrhea…" He went with the most commonly accepted-no-questions-asked excuse.
Jiraiya scrunched his nose. "Tsk tsk. Oh well." He brightened. "Don't worry. I'm glad you weren't on time. I was able to finish a huge section of my next book, Icha Icha Harem! Hehehe." Jiraiya started reading his scribbles, giggling perversely.
Naruto wrinkled his forehead. One could always rely on the perverted hermit to keep himself entertained.
He recalled something the Kyuubi told him.
"Ero-sennin! What do you know about my father? Was he really the Yondaime Hokage?"
Jiraiya dropped his notepad in shock. Holy crap! How did the kid find out?
In Konoha, the open secret was that Naruto was the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Everyone knew that (except the youngsters and Naruto himself until recently). But the fact that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime, was an S-class secret. It was decided by the village council that the blonde boy would never know of his heritage.
At the time, the Sandaime and Jiraiya had reluctantly agreed, though they knew that that knowledge, would at least soften the tarnish of Naruto housing a demon. The village elders, Koharu and Homura, along with Danzo and the vast majority of clan heads, all voted in favor of prohibiting that information made public. Their reasoning at the time was that the enemies of Konoha would kidnap the baby and hold him hostage, using him as political leverage against Konoha.
While they succeeded in preventing such a disaster, the consequence was that Naruto grew up vilified instead by his own villagers. Whether this was worse or better than the alternative, no one could say they knew the answer. Until now, the status quo was expected to continue.
The legendary Sannin gave Naruto a hard look. The fact that the boy knew was immaterial. He had every right to know! To be honest, Jiraiya had been planning on drafting repeal of said law as soon as the Chuunin Exams ended.
But how did he find out? Who told him? Such a revelation was tantamount to high treason. The spilling of S-class secrets was extremely dangerous to Konoha. Jiraiya decided not to prod at the moment though. He did not want Naruto to feel that he had done something wrong.
Jiraiya decided it couldn't hurt to finally tell him about his legendary father.
"Your father…" Jiraiya began to share some of the best stories he had about Naruto's father. As Minato's sensei, Jiraiya knew the Yellow Flash far better than anyone else in the world, save perhaps Kushina.
By the end, both ninja were rolling around howling in laughter as the old hermit shared anecdotes of Namikaze Minato's life. For those few hours, Naruto was in simple, pure, heaven.
"… yeah, so that was how that mission ended. Hmm…" Jiraiya checked his watch. "Wow! It's already late afternoon! Kid. You ready for tomorrow?"
Naruto stopped short. His grin faded quickly. Between the old hermit's wonderful stories about his father, coupled with whatever the hell happened that morning, Naruto had completely forgotten about his upcoming tournament!
The two quickly reviewed the strategies for tomorrow's matches. For the past month, Naruto primarily trained for the fight against Neji. To this end, Hinata graciously volunteered to be his training partner, and they spent many days practicing this matchup.
"Okay Naruto. Since we don't have much time left, let's spar quickly. You can use Kage Bunshin, since you'll definitely need it against the Hyuga."
Naruto nodded. The two leaped at each other, Jiraiya taking it easy but still making it challenging enough so the boy could improve.
Midway through the spar, the blonde promptly formed the seals to execute his favorite technique, as he always did.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He shouted, imagining 20 clones.
A wave of smoke.
In front of him, Jiraiya stopped suddenly and gave Naruto a concerned look.
"… Naruto… what is going on…?"
Naruto looked around. Where were his clones? What the hell?
As the smoke cleared, he saw something lying on the ground. He stepped closer. To his horror, it was a half-mutated clone, green, similar to the ones he summoned for his academy graduation test!
"Jiraiya-sensei!" Naruto cried, distraught.
The Toad Sannin furrowed his eyebrow. 'Something MUST have happened between yesterday and today. Something the kid is not telling me about.'
"Naruto... try it again." He said.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Still, the same result.
Naruto felt sick to his stomach. This was horrible - his entire battle strategy, his complete weapons arsenal, revolved around the Kage Bunshin. To not be able to summon the clones made Naruto feel terribly vulnerable. Naked, even. Powerless.
"Naruto. Look at me. What. Happened. Between yesterday night and today?" Jiraiya asked sternly.
The blonde boy wanted to cry. How could he explain this morning's events? How could he reveal to Jiraiya that he had accidentally freed the Kyuubi? That she strangled him, causing him to black out? (A/N: Naruto doesn't know that he actually died. He just assumed the Kyuubi didn't bother to finish him off.)
But then, a shudder ran through him. It was as if the temperature suddenly dropped 50 degrees, as realization dawned on Naruto.
The Kyuubi had completely escaped. The seal was torn, the entire jail had collapsed. She had left him with absolutely nothing.
Being the Jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi was both a curse and a blessing. Sure, people hated you, wanted to use you, and treated you like a ticking time bomb. But the amount of power, the infinite chakra, his superhuman regeneration, these were all elements that Naruto had long taken for granted.
And to suddenly lose them? It was akin to losing his arms. He broke down, dropping onto the ground, gripping his head tightly in a mixture of shame, regret, and horror.
Naruto could not answer his sensei. To his credit, Jiraiya did not press his question. The old hermit picked up his pad and started reading. He had never been the kind to force any answers out of anyone. Tsunade, Orochimaru, even the Sandaime, were much better than him in that regard. But in this case, he figured this was most appropriate.
Without warning, Naruto turned tail and ran, face stricken with tears. Jiraiya did not chase.
XXXXXXXXX
Naruto was running aimlessly through the village, not caring who he ran past, ignoring anyone who waved to him. His entire mind was focused on this new, traumatic, reality…
The Kyuubi's chakra allowed him to make shadow clones by the hundreds. The Kyuubi's power gave him strength at the times he needed it the most. The Kyuubi's regenerative powers kept him alive against all odds.
Powerful waves quaked through his body, as his mind was in chaos. Without the Kyuubi… he was… he was…
'NOTHING.' He thought desperately.
He was dead last in his classes! He knew no special Jutsus besides the Kage Bunshin and some useless henge's. His taijutsu was completely average. His genjutsu was nonexistent. He had no bloodline limits that he knew of. He had no special pets, no clan jutsus, no cursed seals, absolutely, positively, NOTHING!
Naruto's entire world was literally crashing around him.
He did not know where he was headed. All he knew was that the impossible had just become the truth. What was simply unthinkable just a day before, was now reality. He was now just a completely, ordinary ninja. He was Jinchuuriki no more.
He crashed into a person. The impact caused him to fall over almost immediately. But the figure remained upright, as if he was only a light breeze. He looked up, and through his blurred, teary vision, he saw a woman. With long, billowing red hair and crimson eyes.