Disclaimer: Refer to prologue
Author's note: Refer author profile
"…Nee-chan…"
There was anger. Anger at the humans. Fragile little upstarts whose greed knows no bound. Incessant anger that blotted out all coherent thoughts. At what though, she could not quite remember.
"Jū-Nee!"
Then there was pain. Pain beyond anything humans could possibly imagine. Pain of essence being forcefully ripped from flesh, blood and bone. Her mind reeled from the shock, trying to make sense of what was happening.
"nee!... up, Jū-nee!"
But most of all, there was betrayal, as it dwarfed the anger and pain in comparison. There was the fear and humiliation of its helplessness. The anger at the treachery and with it came hate. Seething unforgiving hate towards that man who called himself its priest! Priest? What priest? That doesn't make sense! And who is that screaming?
"…YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP NOW, JŪ NEE-CHAN!"
That voice… Naruto? Why is she yelling…? Kuso! Trouble?
Jū snapped awake, searching the area in panic for threats but found none. It took her a good full minute to realise that the screams had been coming from her, not Naruto who was trying to snap her out of the dream. No, she decided. Not a dream, but a memory. Other memories. Jū frowned. It had been a while since she had one. Not since she thought she had assimilated all of them. She felt an uneasy shiver up her spine. But they certainly weren't the fox's.
"Nee-chan, please, you have to wake up!" A frantic Naruto whimpered from the top of her muzzle. Within a blink of an eye, the giant fox transformed into a blonde haired woman, holding the clearly upset younger blonde in a tight and comforting embrace, whispering soothing words over and over. "It's alright. It's alright. I'm here… shh…"
"Alright my foot!" the small figure yelled when she calmed down enough to push her sister away. "What the hell was that? I was worried sick when your chakra suddenly went wild!" Naruto exclaimed, eliciting a wince from Jū.
"… and If I hadn't manage to suppress your chakra, half the village would be onto us like shit on Velcro!"
"Naruto!" Jū was about to chastise for her use of language before the implication of what Naruto said sunk in. "Wait, you managed to suppress my chakra?" Jū asked, both surprised and impressed.
The upset blonde continued her tirade "Well, duh! Else we would be running from half the village already, and don't change the subject! I'm still waiting for an answer!"
Despite the situation, Jū found herself reining in her laughter as Naruto fixated her with her best stern look complete with crossed arm and a pout. It was times like these that made her felt glad to be in a mess like this. I suppose this is what having a family is like. She mused.
Giving her best reassuring smile, she hugged her younger sister again, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble. I'm not a very reliable nee-chan, ne?" Her smile grew wider when as she expected, the younger blonde blushed and opened her mouth to voice her protest, a protest that was swiftly silenced by a finger to her lips. "Iya, you have every right to be upset, Naruto. It was… Just a nightmare. A bad dre-… memory… I'll be alright." Somehow, she found herself unable to write the whole jumbled thing off as a dream.
"Do you… want to talk about it?" came the muffled and hesitating query.
"No. Well, not now, but perhaps some other time. Thanks for asking though, Naruto-chan. It means a lot to me." They held onto each other for a while longer before Jū had to pull away from a reluctant Naruto.
"Ah, it's getting late. You should get up now. I'm sorry to wake you up so suddenly."
Smiling slyly, Naruto drawled, "Well, you could always teach me a new jutsu!"
"Why you sly little fox!"
Naruto giggled uncontrollably as her sister grabbed her in a playful noogie. "I do learn from the best!" She managed to choke out from her own peals of laughter.
Jū ruffled her hair one last time before sighing in feign resignation, "Alright, since you've done so well lately and as you've demonstrated earlier being capable of suppressing my chakra, I guess I can teach you something new."
"It's not a Jutsu though, mind." She added hastily.
"Who cares? It's something new! When do we start? Can we start now? Please! Please! Please! Please! Please~!"
Jū rolled her eyes before agreeing weakly, "Hai, hai." And winced as Naruto whooped in excitement and started bouncing around the room to get ready. She could not help but chuckle at her antics. Since when did I start feeling so old?
Late Morning
Konohagakure
Naruto wiggled restlessly in excitement in her fox form as she listened raptly to her nee-chan explaining the basis of Senchakra and how to sense it. A small part of her couldn't help but be in awe of Jū's knowledge. The things she had been taught thus far were things that she had never heard or read of before, making her wonder about the scant few stories Jū had shared with her about her travels when she was free, what it was like to see her go all out.
"… Now since I'm adept at this, I'll draw in a small amount of Senchakra so that you can know what to feel for, and remember no trying this in your human form yet until I say you're ready unless you want to end up as a rock. Any questions?"
Naruto stopped trying to reach the itch on the back of her ears with her hind legs, "Eto, you said I'll turn into a rock if I draw in too much Senchakra, how would I know how much is too much?"
"Like I said before, I'm just teaching you what to look for, opening your senses to the Senchakra, not to actually draw on it. That's still too dangerous for you yet, and if you happen to draw in some, I could easily flush them out using my chakra, but you'll probably be stuck as your fox form for a while with the influx of my chakra, which is why we're doing this in the fox form."
"Yosh! Let's get started then!" Naruto enthused, eager to start.
"Hai. Remember, you need to stay still and focused when trying to sense or gather senchakra, and don't try to draw in any." Jū cautioned
Naruto sighed, "You're such a nag at times, nee-chan." She groused before giving Jū a reassuring squeeze. "Wakata."
"Alright, stay focused, I'll start now."
Naruto closed her eyes and focused all her attention onto her navel, feeling both her spiritual and physical energies. For a few minute, she thought she wasn't getting it until she felt a sudden influx of alien energy. It was very subtle. She probably wouldn't have noticed it being there if Jū hadn't told her to concentrate.
Cautiously, she reached out with her own chakra to get a sense of this Senchakra. She was filled with awe when her chakra came into contact with the foreign energy.
It was like she could suddenly see, as if she had been blind her whole life as she could feel the sunlight on the leaves, the water moving through the trees, the insects crawling up the trunks, the grass bending from the gentle caress of the breeze, the very last dew evaporating from the blades of grass, even the tickle of worms digging beneath the ground. Who knew this boring patch of ground is actually so alive?
"NARUTO!"
Jū's voice shocked her back to her senses as she blinked dazedly, finding herself looking at a worried Jū in human form inside the seal, shaking her rather roughly. "Eh, what is it, nee-chan?"
"You weren't responding and I got worried! Is everything okay?"
Naruto blinked in confusion before grinning "That was amazing! I could sense everything around me! The trees the grass even the ants and water! Ne, is this how you can sense everyone? It's so awesome! I betcha we can sneak up on Jiji now, dattebane!" She looked to her nee-chan for approval but was caught off guard by the sudden tight embrace Jū had around her.
"Ano, Nee-chan?" a confused Naruto ventured before Jū released her again. She felt doubly confused when Jū fixed her with an unreadable expression. "Did you know how long you were out for?"
"A… a few seconds?" she volunteered uncertainly.
"You were out for one solid hour." Naruto winced. No wonder Jū was frantic.
"Ah…" she felt at loss for words, though it made her happy to see Jū that worried for her. Still, it made her feel bad for making her worry at the same time. "I guess that makes us even huh?" which earned her a light cuff to the head.
"Baka Naruto!"
Naruto giggled a bit before noticing the catch in Jū's breath. "Nee-chan?"
That seemed to snap Jū out of her thoughts, "Ah, gomen. Just… old memories."
"A-Anyway, since you seemed to have grasped the chakra very well, lets see if you can try to sense it on your own. I'll try to guide you as you need."
Naruto beamed brightly, eager to impress her precious person, she sat down again to still her emotions and focus. It didn't take her long this time to sense the chakra now that she had a vague idea of what to look for, but it still took slightly longer than the first time. This time however, she pulled back as soon as she could once she felt that she had established a connection with the Senchakra just in case.
"Ne, how was that?" she asked expectantly at Jū. She couldn't help but feel satisfied at the surprised look on her nee-chan's face.
"Well… I guess you more or less got the hang of it." Before mumbling softly to herself, "Sensei was right, it's no fun teaching a prodigy."
"But we'll stop at that, I don't want you to risk trying to gather Senchakra yet. It's still too dangerous, but you can practice getting used to the chakra. It should help when the time comes to actually draw upon it but for now it's very helpful at detection. Well, since you'll be stuck as a fox for a while longer, you should start practicing a bit and this time try to use it while still moving."
Jū smiled wanly as Naruto, eager to impress, already started darting as fast as she could through the woods, using only the Senchakra to guide her.
"Naruto, look out!"
Giddy with excitement and overconfidence, Naruto was too focused on the things far ahead of her to pay attention to her footing when she stepped on a loose branch before crashing and tumbling into a clearing.
Jū wince before shaking her head. That baka… Her eyes widened in surprise however when she realised Naruto had come to a stop at the back of a very familiar presence.
Naruto whimpered a little from the pain of the fall. However, before she could pick herself up, she felt someone grabbing her by the scruff of her neck before she came face to face with a one-eyed masked shinobi. It only took a cursory glance from Naruto to recognise him as a Jōnin.
The Shinobi seemed to study her with a bored gaze before suddenly pulling his other hand out from his pocket. Alarmed, Naruto braced herself for the strike.
"Yo!"
Naruto would have sweat dropped if she was able to until she heard a soft chuckle from Jū.
"Ne, Jū-nee, do you know this weirdo?" Naruto unconsciously whispered in a hushed tone.
"It's alright, there's nothing to fear from him and you don't have to whisper. He can't hear us you know."
"Yes, but well…. His chakra…"
"Heh, so you noticed huh? Certainly not ordinary huh. This is the Copy-nin Kakashi Hatake. The man who is said to have copied over a thousand Jutsu." Jū introduced nostalgically.
Naruto blinked as the copy-nin held her in a more comfortable position on his arm while searching his pocket and offering her a dog biscuit.
Naruto squirmed as the treat was shoved in front of her while Jū laughed. "Ne, It's alright. Just play along Naruto."
Heeding Jū's advice, Naruto tentatively took a small nibble from the treat. It tasted alright and she slowly munched on the rest of the biscuit, not wanting to be fed more dog food than necessary. Kiba would never let her live it down if he ever found out.
Thankfully the Jōnin did not force any more treats down her throat, but that didn't stop him from doing something worse.
"What brings a kit like yourself out into this part of the village?" Kakashi asked, mostly to himself as he gently stroked Naruto behind her ears. "I hope you're not lost are you?" Naruto growled indignantly, earning a chuckle from the Jōnin.
"I guess I'll call you… Akazukin. How would you like that?" Mistaking Naruto's look of abject horror for approval, he nodded. "Akazukin it is then." Before setting Naruto on his head.
Jū by this point was laughing her ass off in the seal. "Shut it, Jū nee!"
"Aww, but Akazukin is a beautiful name." She teased half-heartedly, causing her cute little imouto to puff her cheeks out and blush. "Damare!" before tuning out Jū.
Naruto wiggled herself into a comfortable position on top of the Jōnin's head the way she had seen Akamaru position himself on Kiba as the Jōnin moved to the centre of the clearing.
Naruto tilt her head curiously as they stopped in front of a large crystal shaped stone monument.
"Ne, Obito, Rin, Sensei… I brought a visitor with me today. This is Akazukin. Akazukin, say hello to my team mates and sensei."
Not really sure what was going on, Naruto decided to play along, "Yip yip!"
"Heh, she's a bright one isn't she? Anyway, things are as usual in the village… You know, the usual silly challenges Gai keeps making up. Sandaime has been…"
Late Evening
Naruto's Apartment
Stepping out of the shower, Naruto slowly toweled herself dry.
Unable to stand the silence anymore, Jū prompted. "Naruto, you've been quiet this whole while. Is everything alright?"
"Ah, Nee-chan. Gomen, I didn't mean to worry you… it's just that… that man… Hatake-san, H-he's one of otousan's student isn't he?"
Inside the seal, Jū sat upright. This was the first time Naruto ever referred to the Yondaime Hokage as her father. Then again, they rarely ever talk about her parents. Jū weighed her words carefully, "Hai. That he is." It was time like these Jū find herself unable to read her young charge.
Putting on her clothes, a light t-shirt and shorts, Naruto walked towards the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water before sitting down by the window, gazing out into the village. Taking a sip from the glass, she poured the rest of its content over a small potted plant.
"He seemed lonely."
Jū smiled. Ah, so that's what it is.
"Can we go there again sometime?"
"Of course, Naruto. Of course."