When Naruto returned to his apartment, the first thing he did was to sit down, and start to meditate. Ever since the battle on the bridge, he'd felt a presence inside his head, a nagging voice.
As Naruto relaxed, his world began to swim. When everything righted itself, he stood in a sewer, in front of a massive cage. The door was held shut by a tiny slip of paper, with a picture of the seal on his belly upon it. Though he'd never been there, he somehow knew that this was inside his mind, the place where the Fox was imprisoned. "Kyuubi no Kitsune! If you're in there, say something!"
"Shut
up, Kit! I was asleep. What brings you to the doorstep of my
cell?" "You ask much of me, Kit. I can only do so
much, behind these bars. What you ask requires a trade of sorts."
"I come to learn. I come to ask you to
teach me. I don't know anything about my parents, or the rest of my
clan. The only family I have is Brom, and I barely know him. I ask
you to teach me, tutor me. I may be the village idiot, but I want to
learn."
Two days later, Naruto sat in the forest, by strange coincidence on the very spot where Brom had burned the scalps. He opened a small crate, and withdrew a small fox kit. He drew a seal on it's belly, and focused on the demon's chakra within him. Naruto's hands flew through the thirty-seven seals of the jutsu, and as he performed the last one, he bit his thumb and smeared a streak of blood across the inked seal on the fox's belly. There was a flash of light, and Naruto blacked out.
When he awoke, Naruto saw the fox kit walking toward
him. "I suppose it worked, but why did you use a
baby?"
"Because a baby's chakra network is less
rigid, and it was more likely to survive. The same reason that the
Fourth Hokage used me to seal you."
"I see. I can
still draw on my chakra, but I can't draw very much."
"I
left a few signs out, so I could control your usage. The chakra's
still inside my belly, separate from the rest. We can both draw on
it. I don't want any rampages. Okay, Kyuubi, I let you loose. Now
tell me about my family..."
At that same moment, Brom was in his backyard, grooming Daredevil and speaking to him. "Devil, I know that I was foolish the other day, and I apologize," he said as he curried the horse. "I should have realized that a proud warhorse such as yourself would object to me treating you like some common pony. But you also have to realize that I am no boy, and that so long as we are bound by the seal, we are stuck together. Your enemy is mine. My enemy, yours."
"I understand, Abraham, and
I apologize as well. I was just as arrogant. Together we
stand?"
"Together we fight!"
Back in
the forest, Naruto listened in rapt attention as Kyuubi used its
claws to scratch names and images in the dirt. "That is how
your ancestor, Uzumaki Okugi changed his name to Van Garrett. His
line split off to form the Van Tassels, and your cousin Brom is the
result."
"Whoa. You've done a lot of
reading."
"What do you expect me to do, Kit? Sit and twiddle my fingers for twelve years?""Point. By the way, do you know any jutsus?"
"I think you
mean, am I able to use jutsus? I know many, but I am unable to use
any in my present state. With training I should be able to relearn
some of them."
"Okay. Let's go see what the
others are doing, eh, Kyu?"
"Kyu?"
"Well,
I can't very well call you by your proper name, so I'll call you
Kyu. No other option." The fox grumbled something unintelligble,
and fell into heel at Naruto's side.
People were staring as Naruto walked down the street. Some threw rocks at him, as always, but he dodged them easily. He and Kyu came to the secondary training field, and found Sasuke rapidly eviscerating a series of dummies with a saber. It wasn't the one that Brom had given him. "Whatcha doin', Sasuke?"
"Training. That saber lesson was like a wart. It grew on me."
"Cool saber. New?"
"Yes. I call it Inazuma, Lightning. I forged it myself."
"You can forge weapons? I never knew that."
"One must make ends meet."
"Can you teach me?"
"Why do you want to learn?"
"Because it's cool, and because like you said, a guy's gotta make ends meet."
"Okay, but this is a secret. I don't like to teach. Meet me here in an hour." That said, Sasuke went back to his training. Naruto wandered off, and ate some ramen at Ichiraku's.
When he returned to the
field, Sasuke was off in a small shack near the edge of the forest.
"Here's the plan, Naruto. I'll teach you to make a weapon, but
only once, so pay attention. Here's a piece of steel and some
tongs. Use the Goukakyu no Jutsu to heat the steel to white-hot. Then
lay the steel on the anvil and use the hammer to shape it." Sasuke
took a second piece of steel and demonstrated. "When the metal
cools, heat it again and keep working it until you have the shape you
want." Naruto stood, thinking. "Hey, Kyu, what should I make?
I want to give it as a gift to Sakura.""Make
the blade long, and thin, diamond-shaped, and narrowing to a point
like a massive senbon needle. I read a book on swords, and read of a
type of sword called a rapier. They said that it is a thrusting
weapon, held in great renown."
Naruto pounded the
blade out, and beveled the edges.
"Now, you dip the blade in oil to temper it." Naruto complied.
"Next is the guard. It's more delicate work, so be gentle." Naruto slowly worked another piece of metal out into a supple guard, and mounted all on a cherry-wood grip. After that Naruto stitched together supple leather made from ox hide, and made a sheath.
Sasuke was inspecting the sword. "I'm impressed. What do you call it?"
"Sakura no Toge. Sakura's Thorn. It's a rapier."
"I'm impressed. Now that you know what's what, get out of my sight, and I hope Sakura likes her gift."
"How'd you know it was for her?"
"The name." Was it Naruto, or was Sasuke beginning to lighten up?
The next day dawned bright and beautiful. Naruto and Kyu were walking down the street when they spied Sakura ahead. They rushed ahead, and called out. "Hey, Sakura! Come here!"
She walked over. "What is it, Naruto? It had better not be a prank."
"It's not. I have a present for you. I made it myself, and spent all night polishing and engraving it. Here." He handed her a wrapped package. She unwrapped it, and saw the sword. The guard looked like cherry blossoms floating on a breeze, and the grip was polished cherry wood. She drew the rapier, and saw that he'd engraved the blade as well. A line of petals traced their way down the blade, which was razor-sharp. She turned it over, and saw on one side of the blade was some writing.
"Sakura no Toge. Sakura's Thorn," She read. "It's beautiful, Naruto. Why?"
"I guess I could never actually tell you myself, so I guessed a gift would express it better. I love you."
A look of sorrow crossed Sakura's face. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but my heart belongs to another. But we can still be friends, right?"
"Of course. Have a happy life with Sasuke."
"I never said it was Sasuke who has my heart. In fact, it's Brom."
"My cousin?"
"Yes."
Naruto walked away. He went to Ichiraku's and spent most of his day eating ramen, trying to drown his pain in noodles.
