Chapter 4: History of the Kyuubi
Kyuubi's time sense proved impeccable once again, as the group landed on the ground outside the fence. They were met almost immediately by a masked ANBU, who took the scroll when Gai handed it to him. Nodding, he handed it back to the jounin, and motioned them on. No gate existed to this fence, and the group of ninja lunged over it in a single leap.
The ruins had an eerily natural quality to them. It looked like they had simply sprung from the ground, carved and shaped into buildings as they had come up. The combination of artifice and growth was disturbing. The Kyuubi guided them to a wide staircase, flanked by a pair of broken statues. As they walked down the stairs, Naruto couldn't help but notice that the statues had what looked like fox tails.
By the time they reached the bottom of the stairwell, Naruto had come to the conclusion that whoever built these ruins had a stair fetish. And then promptly tried to get that out of his head, regretting his years with Jiraiya.
They very shortly ran into their first problem. A fork in the path.
"The power of our youth will carry us on!" Gai declared, as he pounded his palm with a fist. "We shall split up."
Yamato shook his head. "We have a guide, don't forget."
Naruto nodded, and shortly found himself in front of the Kyuubi.
"Remember that saying about right and left?"
"Right is wrong and left is right?"
"Unless there is the symbol of a nine tails on the wall between the paths, that holds true."
Naruto's eyes opened, and taking the lead, began guiding them down the left path.
And down more stairs.
"I think I'm developing a fear of staircases." Tenten muttered. Lee gave her an inquisitive look.
"Why, we've only gone down 205,857,320,982,347 of them. Your power of youth should still be burning strong!"
Tenten's eyebrow twitched, as she reached for a kunai. Neji grabbed her arm, shaking his head.
Naruto was more concerned with the room in front of them.
"Fox, care to tell me which door is supposed to be the one on the left?"
Kyuubi ground out a chuckle. "None of them. Step into the center. Time to see if you can get the antidote at all."
Ignoring the parting shot, Naruto noticed the seal on the ground. A fox pouncing, its nine tails flaring above and below it, encircling it. "Step on it, boy"
Cautiously, Naruto stepped forward.
Yamato watched the jinchuuriki, as he cautiously stepped into the center of the room. It was the first circular room they had come to, with six doors on the edges, including the one they had come out of.
In fact, if you ignored the door they were in front of, the doors were evenly spaced along the wall.
The seal below Naruto's feet suddenly came to life, the lines of the pouncing fox and its tails glowing, throwing up rays of light. A grinding noise echoed, and Yamato heard stone slam into stone, as the door behind him closed.
Neji turned, instantly counting heads. Gai, Lee and Tenten were all inspecting what had appeared to be doors, but were proving to be black stone slabs. That man, Yamato, was standing in front of the door that had just slammed, obviously as startled as the rest. And Naruto was standing in the center of the room, staring shocked at the glowing lights below him.
"Naruto, what did you do?"
"Not a thing."
The answer was not from Naruto. The boy's voice wasn't half that deep. His voice didn't sound like he gargled with pieces of bone, and he didn't have half that much deadly intent in his voice.
Naruto turned, slowly. Watched a familiar form step out the slab to the left of Yamato. "Shit."
Kyuubi's grounding chuckle resonated in the small room. "Relax, kit. I can't hurt any of you, as much as I wish I could. My soul is still tethered to you, for the most part. Just enough to make me non-corporeal, but not enough to have me influence the decision."
"Oh yeah? What decision?"
Kyuubi turned his attention to the black slabs. Naruto's curiosity got the better of him, and he followed the fox's eyes.
Glowing spheres had appeared in front of the five black slabs. The one to Yamato's right was blood red. Continuing to turn, Naruto saw a sphere of leaf green in front of the slab Neji had been examining.
Lee and Gai were staring at a sphere of glowing white, while Tenten was staring in wonder at a sphere of water blue. Kyuubi stepped aside, revealing a sphere of black so deep, it seemed to try and absorb light.
"These ruins are the remnants of an ancient civilization." Kyuubi began, circling the room.
Tenten snorted, as he passed. "Really, I thought that was kind of inherent in, ya know, being ruins. And how do you know about them."
"Because I destroyed them. And, before that, I was one of them. These ruins, are what's left of my people."
Naruto had the image of thousands of Kyuubi running around in these ruins. Somehow, he wasn't sure how they would fit, but he didn't ask. The fox would tell at some point. He never could resist feeling superior through his bragging.
"Care to listen, flesh-sacks. I might be convinced to tell you."
Naruto snorted, before he plopped onto the ground, watching the Kyuubi. Taking the hint, the rest of the group made themselves comfortable. Kyuubi snorted, then laid himself on the ground.
"This civilization was built upon a common religion, and ruled by a council of five, headed by the head priest."
"A theocracy?" Yamato asked. "There hasn't been a theocracy in eons."
"Not a human one." Kyuubi corrected, his tails twitching.
"That's great and all. But what does this have to do with the glowing dots, fox."
"Patience, kit. Those colors, according to the teachings of the Kitsune, each represent one of the five forces that drive every creature in existence. They teach that everything from the smallest insect, to the greatest of summoned creatures, and demons, are driven by at least one of these forces."
"And it's going to judge what drives Naruto to find the antidote?" Lee asked.
"No, but yes. It is going to judge which of these five forces exert the greatest pull on the kit. This room was used as a test for those who would aspire to become priests. It was required that they be guided only by the force of white."
"Ah! So they required that their priests be guided by the forces of good!" Lee nodded, sagely.
"No. None of these forces are inherently good, or evil. All of them come with the potential for both."
"So what are these forces?" Tenten asked, looking up at the blue sphere again.
Kyuubi shook his head. He really didn't want to put up with these flesh sacks for eight hours.
"White, rather than a color of good, was the color of order. Justice, duty, fairness and equality" the Kyuubi nearly spat these words. "These are all white at its best. At its worst, it is fanaticism, willing to go to brutal lengths to enforce their rules and order on others. Like the Hyuuga clan."
Neji jerked his head up, glaring at the fox.
"Their obsession with controlling their precious eyes has developed a nice, orderly system. But outside the main family, they look like the controls of fanatics.
"Blue symbolized intellect. At its best, it is civilization. Information and knowledge compiled together for the common good. Orochimaru, however, is a good example of the evil in blue. His thirst for knowledge is so great, he will sacrifice anything, anyone, for it. He's got the right idea, I think." Kyuubi's grin was malicious.
"You just like destroying things." Naruto growled. Kyuubi's grin spread even wider.
"That's passions. We're getting there. But black represented power. The theory that you could do what you wanted until someone stopped you." Kyuubi tried to ignore Lee and Gai's crowing about the passion of youth.
"How can that theory not be bad?" Naruto asked. Kyuubi stared at the kit, and laughed. A barking, roaring laugh that echoed off of the ceiling. Naruto scowled. "What's so funny, fox?"
"You'll get the antidote. I'm sure of it. And as for your answer. Before Orochimaru used his cursed seal on him, your friend Sasuke was at least partly black. He wanted power to do what he believed was right, to avenge his clan, and restore it. And Akatsuki serves as a good example of black at its worst. Anything that they can use to get power, including lives, is worth sacrificing."
"No kidding." Naruto muttered. That they hadn't gotten to Gaara in time still rankled, even if he was alive still.
"Passions was represented by red." Kyuubi moved his chin towards the sphere. "You and I are good examples of red, kit. Both of us find power in our emotions. But the emotions you draw upon are those that are thought of as good, like friendship and compassion." Kyuubi had to struggle with the words. Naruto somehow knew they weren't things he was used to saying.
"I am fueled by those thought of as bad. Anger, rage, destruction." Kyuubi closed his eyes, purring as the words rolled off his tongue. Naruto shuddered at the almost sensuous pleasure of the fox at the thoughts. After a moment, the demon seemed to remember himself, and shook.
"The natural world was symbolized in green. The natural progression of life and death, growth and decay. They wished to maintain the natural balance in everything, both the world and individuals. At its best it was a selfless healing force. But it could become so obsessed with the thought of preserving the natural that it would destroy whatever it perceived as unnatural. Even if that wasn't, in fact, the truth." The disgust in his voice was tangible, as he turned his head to face away from his jailor.
"Is that what happened to you?" Naruto asked the Kyuubi.
The demon's head jerked up, staring hard at the boy. He'd forgotten, again, that naivety and stupidity were not the same thing.
"Yes." Kyuubi said, setting his head down. Ignoring the inquisitive eyes of every one of the pathetic flesh-sacks. He didn't need to say anything.
Really, he didn't.
Oh, all right!
"As I said, the Kistune priests taught that all creatures were born with at least one guiding color. But many were born with two. It was also believed, with good reason, that all Kitsune were born with at least one of their elements, as white.
"The elements were arranged in a circle for a reason. The colors on either side of a given color, were natural allies to its guiding force, in one way or another. Those across the circle from it, were its natural enemies."
"So you were born with red and white?" Naruto asked. The Kyuubi snorted.
"No. Many Kitsune were born with that combination of color. They went on to become warriors, defending their people against all enemies. I was born a complete anomaly. I was black and red."
The room around them wavered, as Kyuubi stretched out his powers. And suddenly, they found themselves in the base of a stone tree. A kitsune woman lay, recovering her breath after the exertion of birth. A second kitsune, clothed in a flowing green cloth similar to Sakura's old Chinese-style dress, held a child. Smiling, she set it in a basket. The pupils of her eyes began to glow, a green and a white dot spinning in the center.
And, eyes widening, she screamed.
"Remember white at its worst? Fanaticism reared its ugly head."
Naruto didn't have to listen to what Kyuubi described next. It was too familiar.
It was his own childhood.
And everyone in the room knew it.
"Finally, I left, swearing I would get power, no matter the cost."
The young kitsune, fur black as night in the horde of white and cream coated foxes, ran, head covered by his hands. A stone bounced off his back, knocking him to the ground. He rolled to his feet, and kept running.
"Sounds like Sasuke is just like you. Seeking power for vengeance." Naruto said, looking at the fox.
The demon mulled on that for a moment. "No. Vengeance isn't a passion. The anger that spawns it is, but the vengeance that powers your precious friend Sasuke is a state of mind."
"A blue." The fox was impressed. The kit could learn. Who knew?
"Yes. I went, and eventually gained power beyond their reckoning. For you see, I had met a woman of great power. I had, in fact, become the mate to a goddess of destruction."
A woman appeared, tall, and skinny. A black and green yin and yang symbol replaced each pupil. And by her side, stood the black furred kitsune.
"But she asked for proof of my, passions. I remembered the pain of my youth in this place. She saw the anger that it still burned in me. . And gave the power to seek my vengeance."
Kyuubi stood at the entrance to the city. Apparently, they knew he was there, because dozens of armored kitsunes charged him, swords flashing through the air. Every element imaginable arced through the air at the black-furred fox.
At the last moment, he was replaced by a white-furred fox, garbed in a black skin-suit. His confused eyes had just enough time to register horror at the forces coming upon him, before he was crushed under the weight of elemental attacks.
"And, well, you've walked through what happened"
Standing between two identical statues, two of the white priests in their ceremonial garb, Kyuubi blew the tops off of the two statues, before heading down the stairs.
"I followed the scent of their fleeing survivors to this very room. Stepping into the center, I waited. I could smell them from beneath the very panel of floor you stand on."
The black-furred kitsune watched as the spheres disappeared. The black and red ones lit up again. And instead of the panel beneath his feet letting him into the hiding place of the kitsune survivors, a massive crystal lowered out of the roof.
A blinding flash of light, and raw energy was slammed into the room.
"I was nearly killed by their trap. But my mate saved me. She considered my proof adequate, and gave me the power I wanted."
"You call me Kyuubi like it is some kind of demon. While it may have come to mean that over the course of time, in the beginning, it was nothing more than a name. In the language of the Kitsune, Kyuubi is the Darkest One."