Sorry for the wait guys. Lots of crap happening to me. But you don't want to hear me complain, so here's the next installment.
Gaining a Friend
Naruto-sama, are you alright?
Naruto slowly opened his eyes to look directly at the large black fox in front of him.
"I feel like I was hit with a kaiton jutsu, you're Shikon right?"
The black fox bowed towards the boy.
That is correct Naruto-sama. I-
"Cut the sama. We're going to be working to gether for quite a while and I'm nothing special…yet."
Naruto could have sworn he heard the fox snort.
Naruto-sa- Naruto, you are something special. Call on some chakra. Make it visible.
Confused, Naruto summoned a large amount of chakra to his hand. But it was a little more than he thought. He had called what would be a fair amount of his chakra before. Now, after the ritual, a massive ball of chakra shot off of his hand.
It was maroon.
"What the hell was that and why is my chakra red?"
Your chakra is not red. It should be, but it's not. When my father returned to Makai, he left his chakra with you. Youkai is more than enough there. The chakra should have overpowered yours and transformed it into pure demonic chakra. Somehow your chakra fought and merged with my father's. That also explains the amount.
Naruto groaned. A year ago he would have been yelling and screaming about how cool he now was, but he knew what this meant.
He looked over at Zabuza who was still a little stunned by everything.
"I'm going to have to relearn charka control, aren't I?"
A nod
"And it's going to be a lot harder this time, right?"
A nod
"Crap"
Actually Naruto, said the demon. That's not true.
The blonde looked hopeful.
You'll never be able to relearn chakra control. It's just not possible with that much chakra.
The blonde looked crestfallen.
Luckily, my father decided to give you Bijuu Tsume. Because they are demonic weapons, you can focus your new chakra to them, but we need to know what your chakra affiliation is.
"Why would we need to know that? Isn't demonic good enough?"
A wry chuckle escaped the kitsune.
And don't you forget it, but your chakra is a combination. You could use each part separately if you wanted, but you need to understand your chakra for both to work together.
Finally, Zabuza decided to speak up.
"Hey Naruto, before you work this out and get pissed because I never tested you for affiliation, Kyuubi said not to. I think he didn't want you to have to relearn elemental manipulation. There are some sheets of chakra paper in my pack. Go get 'em."
Grumbling, Naruto stretched himself out and got up.
"Stupid, lazy sensei. Won't get the stuff in his own pack. I oughta-what the hell happened to my body?"
He had finally noticed the changes. He looked like a twenty year old. He had long, wiry arms and legs, surrounded my steel like muscle.
It's pretty unnerving for a fourteen year old.
"As best as I can tell, the chakra forced your body to expand to contain all of it. Don't complain, it's an advantage. Shikon, what else happened to the kid?" asked Zabuza.
Probably increased speed, reflexe-
Zabuza had whipped out a kunai and launched it at an incredible speed towards the back of Naruto's head. Before Shikon could warn his partner, the former jinchuuriki had turned around, jabbed his finger through the hole at the back of the kunai and launched it back at his sensei even faster than it had gone at first.
Zabuza only escaped because he pulled up Kubibkir Houcho.
Naruto seemed surprised by what he had just done.
"How did I do that? I felt it coming towards me and then my arm just reacted. It was so fast!"
That was your animal instinct taking control of your new reflexes with knowledge from your reasoning side. Instinct told you to react, reason told you how, and reflexes did it. Quite impressive. I've never seen a human react so well.
"Nice! Imagine what I could do with Bijuu Tsume."
Zabuza hopped up from his seat, still wondering how the kid had managed to dent his sword with a stupid kunai.
"Kid, stop calling those claws Bijuu Tsume. The warrior uses the weapon. The warrior defines the weapon. The warrior names the damn weapon."
The fox seemed affronted.
But Zabuza-san, he should be honored to use Bijuu Tsume. No human in a millennium has used them. And you think he should just change the name?
"Yes. A weapon is an extension of the user. It is part of the user. Everything about it has to fit the user. The name counts too. Heck, I renamed Kubikri Houcho. It seemed to fit. Naruto, ignore the furball this time and rename the claws."
Shikon kept a glare for a few seconds, but then slumped in defeat.
You are right Zabuza-san. He should rename them. Forgive me; I have little experience with mortals. When you are eternal, names become quite important.
"Shukumei"
Both of the others turned to look at him.
"I name them Shukumei. Fate. Now we're getting sidetracked. I'm going to get the chakra cards."
While Naruto walked back to the camp, Zabuza had a few things to say to the fox.
"You know, if he can't learn jutsu that require control, I don't have much left to teach him. He'll learn his fighting style from you and I can't teach him how to use his wind affinity."
You have taught him well I think, if my father gave him such gifts and- wait did you say wind affinity?
A nod
Then why did you send him to get the cards and how did you know?
"I tested him pretty soon after I accepted him as my apprentice. I needed to know if I could teach him my water jutsu, but it didn't work out. The reason I sent him off is this."
Zabuza slowly reached up and unwound the bandages on his face. He hated doing it, but he wanted to look the fox in the face.
"I'll never tell him this, but that boy is a son to me. I will not let anything happen to him if I can prevent it. I don't care if you are a demon, I will find a way to kill you in the most painful way possible if you cause any harm to him. Understood?"
Shikon gave a thoughtful nod.
Hai. I understand. I think my father and Naruto made the right choice by appointing you sensei. Put on your bandages, the boy's back.
"Hey sensei, did I miss anything?"
The Demon of the Bloody Mist looked over at the demon fox.
"Nothing important, now pump some chakra into a card. If it's fire, the card will burn and-"
"And if it's earth it will crumble, get wet if it's water and cut in half for wind. I remember sensei. Geeze, you'd think I never listened to you or something," he said with his foxy grin.
Zabuza groaned and sweat-dropped.
"Just get on with it. Wise cracking blonde…"
Naruto let out a chuckle and pumped some of his now maroon chakra into the card.
The results were…unique.
At first it was normal. The card cut in half for wind, slightly unusual for someone from fire country, but at least the reaction was normal.
Then the normal ended.
Each half of the card had a different reaction. One turned the cerulean blue of Naruto's old chakra and the other turned the dark red of the Kyuubi's demonic chakra.
But that was still not the weird part.
The card halves…started fighting with each other.
The two halves, apparently powered by Naruto's chakra, bounced at each other around the clearing. It was rather entertaining to watch. Naruto, Zabuza and Shikon formed a sideline and watched, with eyes like pin balls, as the pieces of paper flew around trying to cut the other.
Then, in a move that could only happen in anime/manga, the pieces hit each other at full force and merged into a piece of purple paper.
For a minute they were all in a stunned silence until slowly, Zabuza started chuckling, then Shikon joined in. Soon they were rolling on the ground laughing until they ached. Naruto glared at them for a second, but couldn't resist a chuckle himself.
Naruto, if your chakra is any indication of your personality, I won't be bored as your partner.
After Zabuza managed to get a hold on himself (it's not often the Demon of the Bloody Mistt laughed), he managed to be confused.
"So what the hell did that mean? I get the wind part, but the rest?"
Before Shikon, the walking repository of knowledge that he was, Naruto looked up.
"Let me take a crack at it. I'm wind natured, that's obvious. The two halves that changed color represent my human and demonic chakra. They fought just like my real chakra, but they merged too. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say I can use both separately if I want, but in tandem they'll do more damage."
Shikon looked impressed. This mortal had intelligence.
Very good, Naruto. Yes, you can use them separately, but there isn't much point. If you can't do jutsu, there aren't any real advantages I can think of.
A triumphant gleam appeared in the blonde's eye. Zabuza cringed when he saw it. Normally, that look meant a lot of mischief or brilliance. Sometimes both. Just to be safe, the "Demon" sent off a quick prayer to kami. Couldn't hurt.
"Oh come on, oh wise and powerful demon. You can't think of anything? Imagine what a exploding note charged with demonic chakra would do? What about guiding shuriken using wind chakra? No advantages…sheesh."
Again, the fox was shocked. He had just assumed that the mixture would be better, but the boy was right. The mixture would be two volatile for tags, but a pure demonic charge would simply make the explosion amazing, and guiding shuriken? The metal would melt if demonic chakra was involved. The boy was brilliant when it came to tactics.
Most impressive. I stand corrected, though I can't see you using either of those often. Those claws are close quarters weapons. Speaking of which, why haven't you put them on yet?
"Well, I didn't see a reason to. I can't wear Shukumei all the time. How would I function when whatever I touch will get cut up?"
Just put the things on.
"Geez, fine. Hold your horses."
Naruto grabbed Shukumei and pulled them on over his hands. At first they were too large for him, but as soon as he pulled the gauntlets down his forearms they tightened quickly over them and retracted into black, hardened leather braces.
"Huh? What happened, Shikon?"
Shikon let out a sigh. The kid could figure out how to use chakra in ways a demon couldn't but he didn't manage to figure out the gauntlets?
Push some chakra into the bracers.
Still a little confused, the blonde pushed some of his chakra to his forearms and there was definitely a reaction. The black leather seemed to spread up his hand and formed overlapping scales of black metal.
Naruto looked at the weapons on his arms. It felt right, as if he was supposed to have them. He could barely feel that there was something over his skin. He flexed his grip and observed the movement. The claws weren't too much longer than his finger, maybe an inch. The metal covered his fingers in several jointed pieces, completely covering the digits. Oh, using these would be fun!
I see you approve of the weapons. To retract it into the bracer again, just pull away the chakra. Now for the next few months we'll be training you to use your combination chakra around the claws. The wind element will make them incredibly sharp and the demonic chakra will be corrosive against other humans. You have a most powerful combination.
And train they did. Naruto worked for weeks with a dedication that was soon to become normal for anything he deemed important. He was able to cut trees and rocks into pieces with little effort. His chakra was almost limitless. Shikon took him hunting with him and taught the boy to stalk his prey and to use his now heightened senses to his advantage. Zabuza continued to teach the boy in anatomy, specifically, where to aim for with his claws. Fairly soon, the nukenin had to admit that the boy was at least as good as him. Who was he kidding? He couldn't compete with Naruto at all. His speed was too great, and that instinct combined with his sharp mind?
No competition.
He had only one weakness.
The kid wouldn't fully allow the instinct to take over and work unless he was in a corner. He still clung to his old self unless he was near death, and quite frankly, that didn't happen too often. Sure, they gathered a lot of fights as nukenin, but when he fought in tandem with Shikon or Zabuza, there weren't many who could stand up to them. He just wouldn't let go.
Until that terrible day
—1 year later—
"Kisame, Itachi, I have special mission for you."
Uchiha Madara, the head of Akatsuki, was in a good mood. He had received intelligence that would greatly aid his plans to capture the Bijuu.
"I have heard reports of a pair of nukenin who are worthy of our attention."
Itachi blinked and answered slowly.
"But sir, we don't have room for any other members, and none of the jinchuuriki have abandoned their villages that I know of."
"You think I do not know this? I need no new servants, but this shinobi has a companion. A black seven-tailed fox."
That got Kisame's attention.
"But the fox demon has nine tails. Does the information check out?"
"Of course it does! Do you think I would be so foolish as to bring it up if I was not sure? Besides. The Kyuubi container was killed two years ago. This would have to be another demon. Not as powerful as the Kyuubi, but powerful enough to be in our realm. I want you to capture it."
The shark man spoke up.
"Leader-sama, I understand why emo boy is going with his clan's connection to the foxes, but why me?"
A grin spread across the ancient man's face. It was creepy to see.
"Oh, didn't I mention? The other shinobi is an old friend of yours. Momochi Zabuza."
Kisame's body went rigid. That fool was still alive? Impossible.
"But he was reported dead by Konoha, sir. Surely-"
"The report was wrong. It's him."
Itachi decided to ask a question this time.
"If the swordsman is still alive, the cold the other one be the supposedly dead jinchuuriki? They were supposed to have died at the same battle."
"Impossible, the boy would have to be a lot older than he is to be this man, and he is too skilled. This one had gained a reputation. Konoha's records say that he was the worst ninja put through the academy in ages."
"So you want us to capture the demon?"
"Hai."
"And Momochi?" asked Kisame.
A cold smile passed over the leader's face.
"He is of no use to us. Kill him."