Nine Tailed Symbiosis
Chapter 4
"From the Ground Up"
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest fear is fear of the unknown."
- H.P. Lovecraft
Naruto walked underneath the canopy of leaves provided by the forest he was in. A yawn escaped his lips showing his fatigue from waking early. The area was uncomfortably cold even with Naruto's winter clothes on. Ice had glazed the tips on the pale green blades of grass covering the floor. Every breath he took was frigid and visible as the faint puffs of white faded into the air. The smell of water dampened the area as his heavy boots dug into the soft soil. Winter was approaching in Konoha and the boy was in the thick of an early winter morning.
Naruto had never done this before, usually preferring to take shelter in his home until early spring. It was reasonable to avoid the cold, it brought ailments that could kill. Ninja worked all year round, operating in extreme climates is required of them anyways, and few people that weren't active ninjas where out. This made it the perfect time to begin his first real training. The nine tailed fox decided it would be perfect to test his endurance in this weather. Instead of the conventional methods, he would use natures natural gymnasium. Body building was out of the question because of his age, so stamina was the only thing they could train.
He currently was on his way to a large clearing he had discovered when younger. He didn't use the place often, in fact he only visits the spot when board and spring time is at its peak because of the various flowers that bloom there. The nine year old boy was listening to an other worldly voice that only he heard. "You are not going to do what you consider exercise, you will do what I consider exercise. Because you are so weak right now, you will first practice increasing your stamina. I don't need to explain the reason behind running for longer." Naruto replied with a grunt. "Listen, you are not strong, you are not clever, you are not special. Just get better at what you're good at." The boy nodded and reached the area, taking in his surroundings. A small stream now flowed through the area and trees parted revealing bland grass, a dull scene. "Since you don't have any prior experience, you're going to run ten laps around the clearing before going home." He Naruto sighed before walking over to the stream and stretching his legs, preparing to run.
The boy ran two laps before feeling winded, the third lap caused him to begin sweating, the fourth lap made him tiresome before finally collapsing on the fifth lap. "Darn..." He whispered to himself. He stood up quickly and considered taking off his heavy clothes before shaking his head at the thought. He had learned first hand how cold ice can be when he was pelted by random kids last year. He fell again, this time returning to his knees rather than his feet. He stared at the ground for seconds before punching it. "Not strong..." He thought before an image of Naomi appeared in his mind. "Not clever..." He thought as an image of Sakura appeared. "Not special..." He whispered, an image of Sasuke appearing too. The thought caused his temperature to rise, people like them were always considered special. His vision gained an orange hue as he thought of all the times he failed. He thought about how hard it was to keep up with the other kids, how everything seemed to come natural to them. "They always did earn praises for just about everything..." His pupils narrowed slightly as the normally soft features dotting himself became hardened, more rugged. Without realizing it, he began growling as his eyes glared at seemingly nothing. As he continued to spiral into this sense of anger, a voice echoed clear in his ears.
"Now you know of my power, use it to finish this..." The voice belonged to the nine tailed fox. Naruto, without slowly began jogging, eventually sprinting, soon after settling into a run on all fours as he completed all the laps quicker than Naruto finishes eating ramen.
Naruto, though grinning from the rush, soon fell to his knees, sudden exhaustion plaguing him. "Wha-what happened?" He questioned. His body relaxed and his vision reverted back to normal. "Wait... those images..." He whispered. "They may not be friendly, but the certainly didn't act like that..." He thought.
"Well it looks like you finished... Time to head home, your little stunt used nearly all of my stockpile..." Spoke a warped voice. Naruto lied still on the grass, eyes still open, thinking.
"K-kyuubi... Why did you show me those things?" He thought.
"I didn't show you anything. You saw those on your own. That hate and resentment was only yours. When you pulled on the little chakra I had, it amplified what you were already feeling."
Naruto began struggling to stand on his hands and knees, the cold breeze stinging his face. The sun had risen just past the tree tops of the clearing. He slowly began to walk back to his home, he pondered what the fox had said. "... didn't show you anything... on your own... only yours... you were already feeling..." As he thought of this he stumbled past a girl at the tree line. He ignored her as he kept stumbling along a path home. A muffled speech echoed before a hand grabbed his shoulder. He was turned around, coming face to face with Naomi. Her blonde brows furrowed in confusion before she asked him a question.
"Yo Naruto, you okay? You don't look so well..." She trailed off. He blinked once, replying after regaining his senses.
"Yeah, yeah. Starting to feel better, I just tired myself out while walking in the forest." He lied to her. Truth be told, he didn't want to talk at the moment.
"You sure? You look like your sick." She commented, eye scanning him for abnormalities.
"Really, I'm fine. Just a little tired." He smiled softly, eyelids drooping, and kind of wobbling.
"Still, you're not looking too good. I ain't got anything to do, so I'll make sure you get home without falling flat on your face." She grinned to him. Naruto deadpanned at her comment. He simply turned to go home. He slouched forward as he shifted his weight from foot-to-foot ungraciously while trying to maintain balance. Meanwhile, Naomi tails behind him, arms resting behind her head, and a frown on her face. The two proceeded down the street, blissfully unaware of the looks formed from disgust and hatred sent their general direction.
The two quickly reached his home where he struggled with keys as Naomi stood away from the steps, still frown... After Naruto opened his door, he said to her: "Hey, I appreciate you walking me home, but its time for me to go. See you around..."
"Yeah... I'll see you later..." She finished with a wave to Naruto as she turned to walk away. He stared for a moment before walking inside. He felt better than before, but only slightly. He deep chuckle rang in his ears causing him to blink away the fog inhabiting his mind.
"Kyuubi?" He questioned, waiting for an answer, one that never came. His brows furrowed as he decided to address it on a later date he walked straight to the shower. It wouldn't take long before the blonde was back out, dry and in a fresh pair of clothes. He walked over to his cabinets and looked inside, eyes probing the darkness for food. He stopped grabbed a box of cereal and went to the table, grabbing the refrigerator door as he did so, swinging it open. He reached back and grabbed the lone carton of milk and began pouring it...
After his breakfast he got ready for school, which started pretty late in morning. It took less than 30 minutes from his day to make it over to the ninja academy. Strangely enough, he was feeling energetic, all traces of fatigue from the previous exercise had disappeared. He went into class with a smile on his face, the first in a long time, so foreign was this that the teacher noticed. He unconsciously gripped his hand underneath the desk where a kunai was hidden in the event of danger in order to protect the class. Naruto kept the smile throughout the day, very rarely dropping it. The classroom, normally stuffy and warm now was cold and mildly uncomfortable. This caused his sunny disposition to stand out even more. It even appeared as if he was taking notes, but we all know better. For deep inside the constructs of his mind lay the nine tailed fox and it had merely barrowed him.
"... On the final day we will and bring her to an excluded part of the forest and this nightmare will be over." His massive eye turned to him a grin also appeared. "No more will you go hungry. No more will you have to worry about friends. You and I will be free of these damned chains!" The massive fox bellowed a thunderous laugh before looking to the boy in front of him. The look in his eyes caused the fox to pause. His eyes were laced with fear and his body twitches echoed his hesitation. The boy wasn't ready for what the fox had been planning and was unsure of the fox's loyalties. "Fear not, boy. You are not the target of my anger, nor the target of my plan. You won't have to be worried about being treated as if you were trash, and I won't need to worry about being weak, I will be free with my power..." The eyes narrowed as the fox decided they had spoken enough. It turned and moved further into the darkness, retiring for the time being. Naruto's vision focused on the darkness, magnify before spiraling until everything faded from side. By the time he awoke from his meeting with the fox, the class had just about ended. Everyone was gathering the items, backpacks, notes, and other things. Naruto quickly stuffed the items into his sack before exiting as he rushed to his home again, he needed to think, time alone...
By the time he arrived at his home, he noticed four people following him, more of the hidden ninja that always followed them. He heard their sandals rubbing against the ground as they raced along the roofs of Konoha. "Who are they?" He thought as he detoured into a alley and raced across it. His face turned grim as the ninja kept up. He sped around another corner, but to his dismay, they rounded it less than a second later. He began heading towards the forest, one of his natural safe havens, the ninja were getting closer to him, he couldn't fathom why they chose to approach him now. "Why now, of all the times the could've chosen to talk, why now?" He kept sprinting; however, he was tiring. He didn't have the once endless pools of energy, the misery and depression caused him to fall out of shape as well. How much longer would he run before being caught? More importantly, what would they do to him if he was caught? He dodged a cart of what looked like lettuce heads, one of the coverts failed to and crashed into the cart. "He was right on me... I didn't prank anyone recently, so why are they looking for me?" Suddenly the hokage's daughter flashed into mind. "Her..." He new why now, they probably where just doing a follow up check. "Yeah, they probably just want to make sure she didn't blurt out a secret or something..."
Naruto was well into the forest and decided to slow down. Before he slow anymore than a fast jog, three throwing stars implanted into a tree trunk near his head. He turned and caught glimpses of the ninja using the trees trunks to leap. With the realization of peace being out the window, he decided to turn and run to his most used spot in the forest. It was special because he constantly practiced pranks here. Granted he never used them, too worried that someone might react badly to one, he still practiced. It took his mind of things sometimes. He had booby trapped the area with pranks to ensure anyone who wondered into it would be to frustrated to continue and potentially find his little testing ground. As he leaped over a large fallen tree, a throwing knife narrowly missed his head, cutting some of his hair off as a result before stabbing into the ground. His eyes widened and he began pushing himself to get to his test area quicker, their aim was getting better.
He began to weave around the trees, it took more energy to keep doing this, but made it significantly harder to nail him with one of their weapons. He saw a pink splat on a tree, indicating his goal wasn't far. He smiled as he bee lined to it, until another throwing knife flew towards him. It sliced open his right arm, causing immense pain. He stood, with some difficulty, and continued. The group became closer with each passing millisecond until a explosion and splatter echoed. The last two stopped and looked to a comrade. The ninja had been dowsed in pink paint and was hanging off of a random branch. He had tripped one of the boys traps. A series of strings in the air attached to lids of compressed paint. When the strings where pulled with enough force, the lids would come off allowing a blast of paint to erupt.
Though worried, the three turned and pressed on. He obviously wasn't dead, the prank didn't have killing capacity. As the three continued to track the boy, descending further into the forest, they had to stop and avoid dozens of traps, their numbers kept growing too. Eventually they agreed to rest before continuing. The three began to fall; however, two noticed the trap and avoided the same fate of their partner. The branch collapsed, a net shot up, catching the guy in the air and tightening, forcing him to remain still.
"Get me out!" Shouted the man. He tried to struggle, all in vain as the net just made him more uncomfortable.
"I guess breaks are out of order." Commented one of the two females attached to tree trunks.
"Damn..." Comment the leader. "We need to get the little shit and fast..."
