Chapter Four: Walk, Don't Run

Ero-sennin: perverted hermit (Jiraiya)
Konohagakure: Hidden Village of the Leaf
"Oieh!": Seishi's trademark exclamation when she's irritated.
Sunagakure: Hidden Village of the Sand
Watashi wa kitsune desu: I am a fox (spirit).

-s-s-s-s-s-

Hokage's Office...

"Hokage-sama," stated a worried dark haired man with a thin strip of clothe across his face, standing in his lord's office doorway.

"Yes?" the aged man asked, looking up from his piles of paperwork.

"The ANBU teams sent out have found the user of last night's burst of chakra. A messenger was sent to state her location." Glancing at the report he held again, the spiky haired man shifted nervously, sweating a bit.

"Hmm? Who was it, then? Any threat to Konoha?" Sarutobi asked calmly, though his mind was in turmoil. Just who had that amount of energy to use so blandly in this day and age of peace?

"Undetermined, sir." The guard gulped. "You won't believe this, Hokage-sama, but she is currently having breakfast with one... Uzumaki Naruto."

When the man looked up from his clip-boarded paper, Sandaime was gone in a puff of spoke.

-s-s-s-s-s-

Naruto's Apartment...

Currently, Naruto and Seishi had just sneezed in union over their thirteenth bowl of ramen. Rubbing his nose, the Kyuubi carrier glanced discretely up at the mysterious girl's smiling face before looking away a moment later. Though he was curious about who and what she really was, only knowing her name (and he wasn't even sure that was correct) and Seishi's love of ramen rivaled his own, he hadn't asked again.

Seishi was busily slurping her new miso ramen as Naruto waited the last two minutes for his before sniffing the contents, sighing in contentment and pondering whether or not to ask. Before his decision was made, though, Seishi spoke, slamming her bowl with unregistered force onto the table.

"Uzumaki-kun," she began seriously. Naruto gulped unconsciously. "Can I call you..." She was interrupted by the microwave's beeping, much to the younger's relief, though both sweatdropped a bit.

"Oieh!" Seishi moaned, leaning back in the blonde's rickety chair. "So troublesome!" Naruto had run off, intent on getting his new cup ramen (he always made two, just in case).

A knock at the door broke the girl's concentration, her tipping chair falling over with a loud crash. "Coming!" she called, nursing a bumped head that quickly healed as she saw Naruto rushing into the room, worried. She pointed to the door as the eight year old rushed away again, this time to open it, and placed the chair upright.

Seishi, as ditsy and baka-ish as she seemed, was anything but stupid and impulsive (well, maybe a little). She knew her arrival would cause suspicion, and she had chosen what to do: tell the truth. Well, part of it to the Hokage and Naruto, anyway. To the villagers, she'd be Uzumaki Seishi, elder cousin to their resident 'demon child', from somewhere discrete; she just wasn't sure where, yet.

'Suna, maybe?' Seishi questioned herself, and became lost in memories.

Sunagakure, Hidden Village of Sand, was one of the only nin towns lucky enough to have a demon Kazekage who loved it enough to protect it during the Youkai vs. Ningen second war. Narashi, Gaara's grandchild as well as Naruto's in her future, belonged there, and to Seishi he was more than a half nephew; more like a little brother.

Narashi looked just like his kitsune grandfather, and Seishi had mistaken an 8 year old Naruto for a younger future-Kazekage. It had been a common one, when the boy was younger. Now the resemblance only served to make her incredibly homesick.

Now the current leader of Konohagakure (her Papa's demolished home) the Sandaime Hokage was at her young father's doorstep, no doubt searching for the creator of the chakra surge. She could sense the ANBU keeping watch from a safe distance, letting their leader handle her.

'What to do, what to do,' thought Seishi, tapping her chin with a tanned finger.

She couldn't do anything as the aged, wrinkled man entered the room, only to see a young woman slurping on ramen noodles in the Kyuubi carrier often did. Sarutobi sweatdropped as he took the young boy's offered seat, said blonde pulling out a chair for himself.

"Ah!" Seishi sighed in satisfaction, putting the bowl and chopsticks down on the table neatly. Clapping her hands twice, the girl politely exclaimed, "Thank you for the wonderful meal!"

The Hokage cleared his throat, gaining the attention of both youths. The grandfatherly man then smiled, stating cheerfully, "Good to see you are in fine health, Naruto-kun. Who is your guest?"

Before the kitsune could answer, Seishi stated with a fox grin, "I'm Uyoku Seishi! My, you're just like Papa said you were! Is it true you're as perverted as the ero-sennin?" Sandaime had the grace to blush lightly, having a good idea who this person called 'ero-sennin' was. The girl continued after a deep breathe, "Oh, yeah. Otou-sama regrets what he did to the Village, hai hai! Wished to send his deepest apologizes, and since he's not here, I'll inform you for him!"

Naruto was silent, a bit confused by her babbling, as Sarutobi stared at her in curious surprise. All he got from reading her chakra patterns was good intentions, love of various things, a slight sadness covered up quite well, but overall an unwavering determination for doing the right thing. The type of chakra she had, however, was another story.

"What are you, then, Uyoku-san?"

Seishi continued to smile as she replied, "Watashi wa kitsune desu."

Having his hunch confirmed, the Hokage asked again, "Just who are you? And do you intend to harm the Village as Kyuubi did eight years ago?"

The girl blinked before replying childishly, "What Otou-sama did? Nah! Papa wouldn't let either of us do such a thing. Not that we'd want to, anymore in his case, mind you!"

"Otou-sama? Papa?" Naruto whispered questioningly, staring at his guest with wide eyes. The demon sealed inside him... was her father?

Seishi turned to him, smiling happily. "Hai! Otou-sama is Kyuubi no Kitsune and Papa is Uzumaki Naruto-san! Konnichiwa, younger version of Papa!"

Speechless, her supposed father gaped as the Sandaime stuttered, "I-impossible!"

The kitsune youkai shook her head, expression turned serious. "His daughter I am, yes. Just look in Ara-jii-san's journals if you don't believe me! Besides, it wasn't Otou-sama's fault. That stupid snake-man Oro-chan tricked him!"

"Snake? Oro-" the Village leader started urgently.

He was interupted as Naruto cut in, "If I'm your Papa, that makes you... my daughter?" The blonde gulped, staring at her with an unreadable expression, inwardly extremely nervous.

Seishi shook her head, smiling at the confused boy. "Nope! That's just a possible timeline. Besides, my presence here created a paradox, so this is a whole new dimension! Cool, ne?"

"What jutsu did you use?" asked Naruto, sitting at the edge of his seat cutely as Sandaime listened in interest.

Seishi just smiled enigmacally and gladly answered, "A space/time one I created myself!" At the two male's shocked looks, she only giggled.

"EH?" exclaimed the kitsune carrier, blue orbs as wide as dinner plates.

His supposed daughter only smiled. "Yup yup! All original. It can travel dimensions, too, but takes up a lot of chakra and knocked out my reserves, leaving me vulnerable for a set amount of time."

"Why did you come?" Sarutobi asked, taking a puff from his pipe.

The girl only smiled sadly. "So Papa wouldn't have a lonely childhood, among my other reasons. I just want one of his dimensional selves to be happy growing up."

'Such a devoted daughter,' the Hokage thought, staring at her in silence. Naruto gazed at her in wonder, amazed that anyone (even his own daughter, by another self, which confused him to no end) would go through so much trouble to ensure his happiness.

After a moment of silence, Naruto was the first to speak.

Voice dangerously calm, the blonde began, "So... your telling me that you created a draining jutsu to come here, created a paradox and destroyed a timeline, all so I wouldn't be lonely?"

Seishi just smiled, humming to herself, and stated an affirmative answer.

Taking his future teacher and friend Iruka's example, he pulled a 180 from his usual cheerful self and yelled, "You IDIOT!"

But before the eight year old could continue his rant on Seishi's behavior, said girl muttered to herself, "You sound like Otou-sama and Natsu-nii-san, Naruto-kun..."

Starting abruptly, the young boy blushed in embarassment, turning his face the other way. Only Sandaime-jii-san and Iruka-sensei called him Naruto-kun without malice or dangerous sweetness willingly, and he wasn't used to people being so casually friendly with him.

"Natsu-nii-san?" questioned the Sandaime. Had she more half-breed siblings from her Naruto and the Kyuubi?

Seishi just smiled obliviously, though she knew to tread carefully around the subject of the future. "Yup yup," she stated in a hyper, Naruto-like voice and explained, "Natsu-nii-san married Ranku-nee-chan of the Mange Uyoku and had Narashi-kun. They live in Suna!"

Hokage-sama stared at her for a moment, mentally sighing. It seemed her answers only brought more questions to mind. "Why would Naruto-kun's-" He glanced at the still blushing boy staring at his ramen bowl. It was hard to imagine the Yondaime's legacy a father at the moment. "-decedents live in Hidden Sand?"

Seishi waved her finger back and forth, shaking her head 'no'. "Un un un, Sandaime-jii-jii. I can't go telling you the future, now can I? Besides, my presence has already changed things."

There were so many things she wanted desperately to tell him of her time, from her Uncle Uchiha Itachi and Sasuke's cursed fates to the old man's grandson, Konohamaru's, achievements. But that would risk a future she was desperate to change, and her coming to the past wasn't just so her young Papa wouldn't grow up weary and wary. Much more importantly (not to her, to the timeline she'd grown to dislike at an early age from her parents' and others' stories) to change were resting on her willing shoulders.

The Sandaime sighed and stated jokingly, "You can't blame and old man for trying, now can you?"

Seishi just chuckled and winked. "Nah, you can't. But don't worry; just trust me to change things for the better. If I ever need help, I'll just ask!" She smiled at the aged man, who did so in return.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Sandaime-jii-san," she commented, grabbing her and the blankly staring Naruto's empty cup ramen as she stood.

"How far in the future from now do you come?" asked Sarutobi curiously as Seishi threw away the trash she held and began to make two more instant ramen bowls.

Looking thoughtful for a moment, the female kitsune answered with a smile, "Around 500 human years or so, give or take a few decades."

Both males stared openly, the younger stopping with noodles midway to his mouth to gape.

Naruto, surprisingly, was the first to overcome his shock. "I'm alive five hundred years in the future? What am I, immortal?"

Seishi's face darkened, blue eyes identical to his own turning deepest blue bordering violet. "All of our kind live forever, in some form or another, Naruto-kun. Whether physical, spiritual or bound to nature, all of us are always very much alive."

'True,' rumbled a deep voice within Naruto, forcefully manifesting itself with burning red youki in the form of a... cute little fox kit? (Scary in it's cuteness, I suppose.)

Seishi squealed in delight, but not because of Kyuubi's stuffed animal-like appearance, but because she'd missed him, "Otou-sama!" Hugging her second father tightly, without getting burned by the demonic chakra, said demon would've had trouble breathing if his form was physical.

"Bah! Let me go, child! You are acting too much like that baka brat." Seishi released him, smiling, and ignored Naruto's protesting at being called a baka brat. "And I cannot believe my future self regrets anything. It is this place's fault that-"

His daughter interupted him with a scolding tone. "He is not here anymore, Otou-sama! Don't take it out on people who have nothing to do with what happened nine years ago (here)!"

Kyuubi growled, baring his chakra fangs in anger. "This place spawned that bastard! No kit of mine-"

He was once again interupted, and the girl's tone was now icy, surprising all three males. "Do not dare finish that sentence, oh great and mighty Kyuubi-sama." She spat the title and continued, head bowed and voice softly fierce, "It hurts to see you like this, you know. Is your anger, your rage, so blinding that you would go against your responsibilities, honor, and ideals and harm innocent people once again?"

Eyes turning a glowing red much darker than her fellow fox demon's, with subtle hints of purple around the edges, Seishi raised her head and her tone became cutting, "Do not blame those with no current connection to the ningen who destroyed our Clan. No father of mine," she paused, glaring, "is so dense as to assume his daughter is an immature imbeciles unable -or unwilling- to defend her family's home!

"No matter how much you hate them, fear the snakes no more!"

Then there was only silence, and an unbroken glaring contest between a father and daughter demon pair.

-s-s-s-s-s-