Chapter 6 – Dialogue with a Fox
Hey people, Tibo here.
Sorry this took a little longer, it took me a while to figure out how to write the Kyuubi plus this chapter is quite long.
Anyway, last chapter before graduation! No training here, in this chapter we have a test from Akeginu and a recount of Naruto's first contact with the Kyuubi.
So, my Kyuubi will be significantly different from canon. I didn't like the portrayal of the fox in the manga. Mine will be an ancient, intelligent entity more along the lines of a traditional kitsune rather than the one in the manga (expect an intelligent/deceptive/manipulative Yokai ) . It'll have regeneration, shape shifting and illusion abilities, naruto won't be spamming huge offensive power ups.
On a side note I just got the Kouga Ninja Scrolls by Futaro Yamada. It's the book the manga and anime were based off. I've had a read and it's pretty good, much more detailed than the manga, which is to be expected. . For those who are interested its translated and published by Del Ray, I got it off Amazon.
Also had a lot of love for Kisaragi Saemon in the reviews and PMs, rest assured as my favourite character in Basilisk he will feature.
In response to some questions from last chapter:
Coldblue: Naruto lacks the inherent hate that most Iga nin had for Kouga. To him the Kouga are extinct ninja clan nothing more really.
Kagerou and Saemon did kill Akeginu so there's going to be a lot of tension there.
I'm not sure if he will find about Tenzen real nature. If he does it'll be Kagerou that tells him.
ShINaiX: I love the owl idea, they can see well in the dark, fly without noise and have big creepy eyes. Perfect silent predator. I'm leaning towards an avian creature for utility purposes so I'll definitely be considering it.
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: The jonin was just some random chump. Just wanted to make it seem more realistic (if it was anyone lower Kurenai would have just beaten the shit out of them).
Standard disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Basilisk.
Naruto age 16 (two weeks before graduation)
It was the cool morning breeze that greeted Akeginu when she entered the courtyard to begin Naruto training for the day. That was nothing strange in itself as it was rarely warm down here beneath the earth. The first rays of sunlight were just beginning to penetrate the hollows roof and bathe what was left of Iga Tsubagakure in light. A few stray rays of sunlight trickled forward marking her pale oval face as gazed upon her student who had already started training.
They always begun training at sunrise, every day for the last ten years they had trained like clockwork from sunrise to mid-morning before stopping and beginning Naruto's studies. Then they would return to the training grounds in the afternoon before resting for dinner and further studies at night, though they did have the occasional nightly training, Naruto needed to learn to fight in the dark after all.
This morning Akeginu was greeted with a nostalgic sound, the sound of battle; the clash of steel against steel, the dull thud of flesh on flesh and the occasional cry of the injured. It had been a while since she had heard the sound of so many swords clashing. The source of these sounds was peculiar to say the least, in her opinion anyway. To any ordinary onlooker it would look like a dozen identical blond ninjas were tearing each other to pieces. A ninja however would be able to recognise the use of clones, shadow clones in this instance.
Yes, peculiar was the right word for it, the sight of someone killing themselves was never something you got used to and this method was atypical to say the least. She shook her head; it was almost like some form of ritualistic suicide, Naruto was literally killing himself over and over and over again.
She stood perhaps thirty feet from the malady, observing the scene with interest. Naruto was performing well against his group of clone enemies. He had managed to whittle their numbers down to four who were now in the process of surrounding him, circling him with well-trained movements, swords pointed out towards Naruto in the centre. It was like a strange dance.
Naruto appeared completely relaxed, showing no concern at the fact that four admittedly tough clones had him covered from every direction. But why would he be worried, after all he had already killed eight without sustaining injury.
Without warning Naruto suddenly stood still. As soon as he stopped moving multiple razor wires like ropes were released in a blaze of destruction. The ropes uncurled from his body as if they were alive and moved like a whirlwind out towards all four clones hitting them all simultaneously. In an instant all clones were demolished, gone in a puff of smoke.
Akeginu had to admit the technique was effective. She'd seen Yashimaru use it before, essentially he would keep the ropes in constant motion around his body cutting anything that came close to him. If you looked hard enough it appear as if the ropes were cutting a sphere through in the air around his body. (1)
For a technical perspective it was one of major advantages of the ebon rope technique – malleability. The ropes could practically move in any direction with little effort. Once you learnt how to control them they could change direction at angles and speeds that were impossible to achieve with a sword. This advantage was only compounded by the fact that the way the ropes moved in no way corresponded with the movements of the users body. Most martial artist rely on reading an opponent's body to get an advantage, this is especially true for swordsmen. However, Naruto manipulates the ropes with the tips of his fingers. His posture, footwork and stance in no way reflect what he was doing with the ropes, in fact he could be doing back flips and his ropes would still be moving and attacking independent of the rest from his body. (2) This factor, along with their steel like strength, the huge range, their near invisibility and their razor sharp edges made them vastly superior to a katana in almost every way. If only they won't so dangerous to use then more could be taught the technique, however it took decades of intense training for even the most talented of ninja to master them.
Seeing Naruto stop and pull the ropes back into his body Akeginu finished observing her pupil and moved in to talk with him.
"Quite the show Naruto, looks like you've finally got the hang of using those ropes in combat."
"Yeah, it only took me eight years," said Naruto with a light touch of sarcasm. She knew how hard he worked at perfecting the ebon ropes, he still had work to do but his control was truly amazing, he was close to Yashamaru's level right now but lacked experience.
"Well your hard work's paid off; no one can touch you with those things in play," she said, acknowledging his effort.
Naruto licked his lips and formed a slightly disturbing smile at the thought of putting his ropes 'in play'. "Oh, I'm well aware of that, my clones just found out the same thing," he replied.
She laughed at that, you'd think his clones would know better, it seemed they weren't as cautious as he was. Interesting.
"So what are we doing today sensei?" Naruto asked, no doubt wondering what tortuous training regime she had prepared for him this time.
However Akeginu's mood shifted at the mention of what they were going to do today, it was time for the next stage in her student's development and that meant only one thing; Naruto's training was at an end.
It wasn't that he'd done everything possible to perfect his techniques, far from it, or that he had learnt all the Iga clan's secret jutsus, that simply wasn't the case. No, to grow Naruto needed experience, experience you could not get from training no matter how arduous and intense it was.
He needed to face people who wanted to kill him. He needed to act where his decisions would cost lives, and understand that one wrong decision in the field could cost you your life or the life of a teammate. His training might have prepared him for those things but you could never really tell until the moment it mattered. Fortunately they already knew he could kill when needed, but killing was only one aspect of being a ninja.
There were also other techniques she could teach him, it would be a reasonable excuse to continue his training, and keep him close to her. She hadn't taught him Nenki's hair jutsu yet, but that was because she'd rather have Naruto focus on developing his current skills. Nor would she consider teaching Naruto how to liquidize his body, that technique had left her friend Jingorou's looking like he had an advanced form of leprosy. Techniques like that would ostracise him even further from the local community. Similarly Rousai's limb extending ability was essentially a bloodline, he could only fight like that because all his joints were double jointed. No, what Naruto needed was not more training but experience, real missions which he needed that village for, at least for the time being anyway.
Akeginu sighed, she was definitely feeling a bit depressed. Naruto would probably come here less and less often as he got older. She would like nothing more than to be his sensei and lead him in the field but she knew that would never be the case.
She gave herself a mental kick, enough, this is for the good Naruto and for Iga. It's time for Naruto to spread his wings.
"No training today Naruto,"
"What?" Naruto asked in surprise, in ten years he'd never had a day off training.
"Naruto… it's time for me to give you your final test," she said in a serious tone.
"Final test?" Naruto asked sounding intrigued.
"Yep, have a look," said Akeginu as she tossed him a scroll.
Naruto caught the scroll and stood up. Opening it, he gave the scroll a quick read before noticing what it was, "This is that mission you had me pick up a few months ago."
Several months ago she had Naruto 'relieve' the Hokage Tower of one of their B rank missions. It was nothing too serious but she wanted his skills to remain sharp so she regularly sent him on little tests such as this. He used a clone under a henge to distract the chūnin at the desk why he made off with one of the mission scrolls. It was yet another example of that villages appalling security. If anyone had tried that in Iga they would never had made it out of the valley alive.
She acknowledged Naruto's observation, "Mm hm. You're going to complete this B rank mission for your Iga graduation."
"Graduation?" Naruto asked.
"Yes graduation, after today you'll be an Iga genin," replied Akeginu.
An insanely good genin, thought Akeginu to herself. The title was more a reflection of experience than skill, at least as far as Naruto was concerned.
"Do you think I'm ready?" Naruto asked.
"I wouldn't be giving you the test if I didn't think you were ready. What would you say your level is Naruto? Be honest."
"Chūnin probably," Naurto said after thinking for a few moments.
High chūnin at least, she considered. She could qualify that, as soon as the mystic eyes were added to the equation is level became considerably higher, not many would be able to match him once he removed all their jutsus.
In truth Naruto was selling himself short. His kenjutsu was easily jōnin level, in fact his skill with the sword was more akin to a high level samurai than a ninja. True ninja swordsman weren't exactly common, and most ninjas who utilised swords would not be able to match his Iado and Kenjutsu combination.
While Naruto may not have the arsenal of jutsu the jōnin ninja in Konoha seemed to have, he didn't need it. She never understood the point of having a laundry list of techniques; you couldn't possibly know how to use each and every one of them properly. The few jutsus Naruto had were all he needed at this time, not to mention several were completely unique and highly dangerous in their own right. No, the techniques Iga developed hidden in the darkness of the mountains and valleys of the Iga province fed by their hate for the Kouga would be more than a match for anything this world had to offer, she was sure of it.
Akeginu looked down at the notes she had made on Naruto:
Naruto Uzumakei-Iga
Kenjutsu – B (Tenzen's Battojutsu style; Jōnin level.)
Taijutsu – C+ (Mid-high chūnin level; though style will be unfamiliar to most.)
Ninjutsu – B (S) (Basic academy jutsus; number of chūnin jutsus; several B rank chakra flow techniques; kinjutsu kage bunshin and several Iga secret jutsus: Blood projection, Blood mist and Kamaitachi, all of which would be S ranked secret techniques using the villages classification system.)
Genjutsu – D+ (High genin level; needs a teacher to improve further, it's not a field I'm familiar with.)
Fūinjutsu– C (Basic chūnin; a natural at this but hasn't had a lot of time to increase his skill level. I note the practical utility of these seals and suggest he learn more quickly, especially considering one is used to imprison the demon. As with genjutsu I'm largely unfamiliar with this, he will need another teacher or a least more scrolls on the subject.)
Iga Ebon Rope – C+(S) (Secret technique only Naruto knows, will improve level with experience; appears to be working on some sort of lightning chakra combination. Currently around high chūnin level in skill. Note that even at basic chūnin level the ropes are so devastating that most jonin would be defeated.)
Kekkai Genkai: Mystic Eyes (Absolute defence against jutsus and ninja techniques, theoretically if he uses these properly he should never lose a battle.)
Notes:
Most of the jutsus he knows are "hidden" or secret jutsus, secret techniques unique to Iga that can't be copied. The novelty of these techniques will be a huge advantage in the field so much so that i should place him on equal footing with most jonin. Taking into consideration his mystic eyes as well only the most skilled and experienced opponents should be a concern for him.
Also need to consider his ability to completely supress his chakra and move without being seen. Using the local's classification he would be near A or kage level at shin obi movements and similar technqiues. Combined with the blood mist and ebon ropes this makes him exceptionally adept silent killing and ideal for assassination missions.
Note mentality: Naruto is considerably more mature than most his age. Well aware that there is no honour in being a shinobi, that it is kill by any means necessary. Victory is all that matters.
Also note he after studying the writings of Tenzen and Hattori Hanzo the 1st in depth he has a very strategic mind.
Akeginu gave a small smile looking at her student's profile. Combining all those factors he was close to if not equal to or better than jōnin in skill level, he just lacked the necessary experience, something she would rectifying immediately.
She briefed Naruto on the mission, "The mission is to put an end to a slaver who has been operating near the border of fire and Hot Water country. You must locate the base of operations, assassinate the leader and put an end to slavery operations in the area."
Naruto just listened carefully noting each of his assignments. First he needed to find the bases; the scroll only gave a general location. Second he needed to identify the leader and kill him. Third he needed to stop the operations in the area, which likely meant killing most of the other slavers or destroying the camp. Certainly not an easy task for his first real mission, though that wasn't surprising considering his sensei, she was a hard task master.
Some might think that this was an impossible task for a genin but Akeginu knew what his skill level was and was confident he could perform admirably. She'd sent him on little assignments over the years like infiltrating the Hokage tower, or stealing certain scrolls, he would do fine. She wasn't going to waste his time with some of those ridiculous D ranked missions some of the young ninjas of the village did. Finding pets and painting fences, it was like there was a labour shortage in the village or something. No, he was going to do serious shinobi work.
"They're only thugs and mercenaries, but there's bound to be quite a few of them so it'll still be dangerous," she warned, they might be skill less thugs but anyone can kill especially when numbers are on your side.
Naruto nodded his head in agreement; he would give the mission its due.
"It'll take us a few days to get there so I suggest we leave immediately," said Akeginu.
"You're coming?" Naruto asked.
"Of course, I need to evaluate you on this, it's not personal like your first kill, this is a real test," Akeginu explained.
With that they both got up and left to pack for their journey to the border.
2 days later
The sun had just gone down on the horizon as Naruto and Akeginu stood upon an outcropping overlooking a newly set up camp. The camp was a mess to say the least; just a bunch of poorly maintained tents and temporary camp fires. There was a sprinkling of mercenaries throughout the site but most were eating dinner around a fire in the middle of the camp.
Naruto clenched his teeth as he spotted slave pens on the far side of the camp. There were few things he disliked more than robbing a person of their freedom. Most shinobi missions involved morally ambiguous work but sometimes you got lucky and got the opportunity to remove some real scum from the world.
"Looks like we've found it," said Naruto.
"Yep, this definitely it," said Akeginu as she looked upon the camp with distaste, "As bad as I suspected. What's your approach?"
Naruto took a moment to consider. He had numerous options available to him. There was the walk through the front door and slaughter them approach; not really his style, he preferred subtler forms of destruction. He could weave his ropes throughout the camp then use them to slice the entire compound to pieces in instant; tempting but that would be time consuming and there were more efficient options he could take. His best bet was a silent killing approach.
Decided he told Akeginu, "I'll confuse them with the blood mist then move in under cover and take them out one by one."
Akeginu nodded her head, "Good plan, it looks like all the slaves are in a pen on the far side of the camp, you won't have to worry about collateral damage."
He looked across the site once more observing a few patrols around the outside of the camp, "I'll cut down the ones on the permitter first then move towards the group around the campfire."
"What are their numbers?" Akeginu asked.
"I count seventeen, no more than twenty. The leader looks to be holed up in the large tent at the centre of the camp."
Akeginu nodded, he had his plan all that was left was to execute it, "Get to it then, I don't want to be out here all night," she said flashing him a smile.
He gave a small shake of his head, "I'll make it quick."
With that he dropped down from the outcropping and landed below about forty metres from the camp.
"Time to get this show started."
He took a deep breath letting his body relax. He concentrated on his pulse; the constant beats of his heart, trying to feel his blood being pumped through his veins. He could feel it like a river running through his body. He urged his blood to change course, not through his body but out of it and it responded to his will. First blood started to poor from his eyes and nose, then it started to seep through his pores. His skin became permeable and then the blood started to bubble out of every visible surface. To any onlookers it would appear that he was about to suffer from exsanguination. However, the hemorrhage of blood was just part of the technique, he was in complete control. With a small pulse of chakra the blood dispersed out into the atmosphere. Within seconds a heavy, dull red mist descended over the immediate area, cloaking the entire camp in blood red.
He raised his hand in front of his face. He could barely see it. Perfect, the slavers relied solely on their sight, and there was no way they would be able to see more than a foot in front of them, they would be defensless. With his preparation complete Naruto drew his katana and vanished into the bloody mist.
He moved like a ghost through the mist, completely invisible. Closing his eyes he prepared to locate his first target. He didn't really need his eyes for this, there was chakra in his blood, and he could literally sense everything his blood came into contact with. The slightest movement from his targets would give them away, and wouldn't you know it, they were running around like headless chickens.
Moving quickly through the mist he silently ran up to his first target. With no hesitation he reached up around the patrolling slaver and slit his throat - one down. The man didn't even make a sound as he died without even noticing he'd been attacked. The advantage of killing like this was that it was completely soundless. Target one of the vital spots on the body and you could kill in complete silence: brain, heart, lung, jugular, kidney, spine, subclavian artery, and stomach, hit one and the person is as good as dead. With the mist in place these fools were completely at his mercy.
Moving on Naruto came across his second target, this time he came up behind the man and put his katana through his back and into his heart. Two down.
Soon three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten followed. All of them died without making a sound. Some let out a whimper or a gurgle but the thick mist disrupted sound almost as much as it did sight and smell, all you could hear was silence. Even to him, the predator, the silence was a bit unnerving.
He came up to his eleventh victim and decided to do things differently. The remaining six were huddled around in the middle of camp, he wanted to try and get them to separate. So, it was time to scare them a little more. This time he came up in front of the man and cut his target straight across his stomach. The man let out a gut-wrenching scream.
Hopefully that will get them moving.
Unfortunately that was not the case. Instead of panicking and running out into the mist to die they huddled together weapons facing outwards towards the mist.
Tch, who'd of figured, I don't know whether they're smart or just cowards. Not that huddling around in a circle will save them.
With is original plan foiled by the smart and cowardly slavers Naruto opted for Plan B. He flicked the blood off his katana and sheathed it. Focusing on the group of men he dropped his arms and untangled the ropes from his wrists. Concentrating he channelled some wind chakra into his ropes making them impossibly sharp before flicking his wrists and arms out back across his body. His ropes followed like a waves out towards the men. From left and right they slithered through the mists like invisible serpents intent on prey. It was over in an instant. With the wind chakra infusing his ropes they went through the men like a knife through hot butter. One moment the men were standing on guard, the next the ropes passed them and they toppled in pieces.
Wow, that wind chakra makes these ropes insanely sharp; I barely felt any resistance even when they cut bone, Naruto observed.
Bringing his ropes back in Naruto paused. The leader was the only one left and he was making a run for it.
Idiot.
With that thought Naruto whipped one of his ropes towards the retreating slaver and lassoed the rope around his neck. Observing from the side, the man's body kept moving but his head stayed where it was, momentarily still before tumbling to the ground. His body stumbled around a bit before following discharging spouts of blood as it went.
"Mission complete."
The entire slaughter hadn't even taken five minutes. Naruto took a deep breath and dispersed the mists. With the mist cleared he got a good look at his handy work, it wasn't pretty. The entire camp was awash with blood and body parts. His mist hadn't helped, the whole camp smelt of blood and bile, but he didn't care the men had deserved it.
Done examining the bodies Naruto made his way towards the slave pens intent on freeing the slaves. Standing before the pens he didn't like the sight he was greeted with.
Bodies lay broken and chained to the bars of the cages. Unclean, diseased even they looked as if they had been through hell itself. His jaw clenched as he spotted children amongst the slaves.
He may have just killed seventeen men without hesitation but the sight of these people broken in chains spirits crushed gave him pause. It reminded him too much of his old life, he too had been abused but even then he had still retained his freedom, or at least the illusion of it, these people didn't even have that.
"Humans are disgusting creatures," he said.
Naruto wasn't aware of it, but deep inside him a certain fox was nodding its head in agreement.
Time to put an end to this, Naruto thought.
So intent was he on the sight before him that he failed to notice someone approach with speed until Akeginu yelled, "Naruto watch out!"
He dived to his right automatically, but he wasn't fast enough. He felt a sharp pain in his right arm and warmth? Looking down at where his arm should have been he saw nothing but red, and that was when the pain really hit him.
Ahh, what? My arm's been cut off. How the…
Naruto clenched his teeth and clamped his hand over what was left of his arm to try and stop the bleeding.
"Tch, missed him," said a voice he didn't recognise.
Naruto looked up and saw a ninja wielding a bright yellow sword. He recognised him from the Bingo Book, it was Aoi Rokushō . That meant that the sword was Raijin no Ken, the former sword of Tobirama Senju. No wonder his arm had been severed, the sword was meant to be ridiculously powerful. This was problematic; Aoi was a B rank missing nin and he was severely injured.
It got worse, Aoi was joined by four more shinobi who were standing around the corpse of the slaver leader. They all looked relatively experienced, non genin amongst them.
"Shit, he killed our pay cheque boss," said one of the ninja's.
"Only a kid too. Let's kill him already," said another.
Aoi moved a bit closer to Naruto with an arrogant smirk on his face, "That slaver was paying us to take care of some Kumo nin across the border, not to mention we each a had slice of the profit by keeping ninjas away from this area, you'll pay for destroying our operation."
Naruto didn't bother replying to the fool, the man had just wasted his only chance to kill him he wouldn't get another, "Kurama, take care of this."
The moment the words left his mouth his entire body became encased in a malevolent blood red chakra.
The ninjas' eyes widened and all took a step back in fear at the sheer power Naruto was emitting. Then much to their shock and horror Naruto's arm began to grow back.
First bone extended from the shoulder almost like a new born plant but growing at an amazing speed. The bone kept extending until a skeletal arm could be seen. The bone was quickly followed by ligaments and sinew attaching in various places around the bone. Muscles, veins, capillaries all started moving about like thousands of tentacles, wrapping around bone and flesh until the arm was repaired as good as new. It was a fascinating and disgusting sight. (3)
Everyone except Naruto stood stunned at what had just occurred, even Akeginu who had rushed to his side to check on him couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"You do good work," said Naruto in a calm voice. He stood looking at his arm as if he was examining a freshly minted weapon or piece of craftsmanship. His arm was completely fine, exactly as it had been before.
"Of course, who do you think I am? Or did you not believe I would perform my end of the contract?" the Kyuubi sub vocalised.
"No, of course not. I had no concerns that a Kitsune, a creature known for its deception would not try to pull one over on me " he replied sarcasticaly reminiscing about his first conversation with the Kyuubi half a year ago.
Flashback - 6 months ago
Naruto sat in silence, meditating on a rock on the outskirts of the ruins. He'd been trying to contact the fox for almost two years and it was only recently that he started to have some success. Lately he'd been able to enter his mindscape though he had not been greeted by a giant nine tailed fox or anything really except a murky cloud. It was if he had couldn't yet conceptualise his own mindscape. It just meant he needed more practice.
However, this time Naruto opened his eyes to see someplace he had never been before. This was different. He was standing on a polished rosewood floor in a large rectangular room. The room resembled the inside of a well-maintained dojo. The dark timbered floor boards were recently cleaned and the walls had paintings of various battles on them, none that he recognized though. Most of them portrayed various ninjas battling samurai across mountains and valleys.
He looked to the left, an opening let out onto a balcony giving a nice view of a well maintained garden unlike anything he'd ever seen before. There were several large ponds which were full of fish, water features and various plants all of which looked like they had been expertly cut by a competent gardener. It seemed he was on the second floor of some large structure.
Not wasting anytime he jumped down from the second floor onto the courtyard beneath. Landing he took another look around and was surprised at what he saw. The design was very different from the buildings in Konoha, in fact the building appeared to be more of a castle than anything else. The roofs of the building were layered with a gable on the roof of each story, covered with dark tiles and angled downwards. Notably there seemed to be a statue at each corner of the roof. He smirked the statue was of a little fox.
Looks like I'm in the right place, he thought.
He concluded that it was much more impressive than the clan compounds he had seen around Konoha, this place looked like somewhere a daimyo would live.
"My minds a nice place."
"It certainly is… for a human anyway," said a loud voice out of nowhere. The voice had an odd flanging texture too it, definitely not made with human vocal chords.
He decided to follow the sound of the inhuman voice. After all he was here to meet the Kyuubi and he doubted that there was more than one alien voice in his head.
Walking through the garden he made his way into a bamboo forest which made up the outskirts of the estate. After walking for several minutes he came to a hill and a very long staircase. He recognized this, there was no doubt about it; this was the same shrine that was at the ruins only…not ruined but in pristine condition. If he was right he'd find a shrine to a god he wasn't familiar with at the top of this stair case, hopefully the kyuubi too.
He begun the long walk up the steps with a curse, "Damn fox". Only that thing would perch itself a top five hundred steps at a shrine to a god.
Ten minutes later Naruto reached the summit, "That Kitsune better be up here, no way I'm walking all the way back down there."
"You won't be going anywhere boy. No get over here so I can take a look at you," ordered the loud, flanging voice.
Turning towards the shrine he saw it housed the largest fox he had ever seen, it must be close to ninety feet tall. The fox had an orange red colored fur, with black lips and striking blood red eyes. Its distinctive nine tails flowed around it caressing its body. The fox itself was locked behind a brass gate that was held in place by a piece of paper.
That must be the seal, he observed.
"Do have to speak so loudly?" Naruto asked. He knew it wasn't the most pressing matter but he'd damage his hearing having at conversation at that volume.
"That's what you ask? You've been trying to talk with me for years and when you finally get here you ask me to tone it down a little," said the amused fox completely ignoring his request to turn the volume down.
Naruto held his hands to his ears. Damn fox completely ignored me. "Tone it down fox."
"Or what?" Questioned the Kyuubi.
So the fox wanted to play this game. Naruto smirked, so be it. If the fox wouldn't co-operate he had no compulsion about forcing it to, it was not like he had any sympathy for the creature. His eyes shone brighter for a second as he activated his mystic eyes and looked directly at the foxes blood red ones.
The effect was immediate. The fox howled in pain and crumpled to the grown as if being forced down by an incredible weight. Steam started coming off the fox in waves like it's very blood was boiling though it'd more accurate to say its chakra was reacting to the eyes since the creature was basically an intelligent giant ball of the stuff.
Naruto stood still observing the fox writhing on the ground, taking note of its reaction to his eyes. He hadn't known what reaction he would get, Akeginu had told him he would get a volatile reaction using the eyes on yokai but he hadn't known exactly what type of reaction. Now he knew, his eyes hurt yokai even ones as powerful as the nine tailed beast. He briefly wondered if his eyes were unravelling the yokai's makeup from scratch, but he didn't have enough evidence to make such conclusions. After a few seconds he let up.
Lets see if the yokai is more receptive now.
"That was…unpleasant, much worse than chakra chains or mokuton," said the Kyuubi.
Naruto raised an eyebrow at that remark; it seemed the Kyuubi had been host to at least two others, and mokuton? That hadn't been seen since Hashirama Senju. There's defintley a story there.
"I don't know what your other hosts were like but I will not play this game. I have no desire to use my eyes on you but I will not allow you to interfere with my plans. If I have to subdue you I will," he said handing the creature an ultimatum.
The Kyuubi gave him an odd look before letting out a demonic chuckle. "It seems the stories about those eyes are true," said the Kyuubi.
That surprised him a little, though in hindsight it probably shouldn't have, "Oh, you're familiar with my eyes?"
"Of course, who do you think you're talking to? I've been around for over a thousand years. Those eyes…they are divine, older than the Rinnegan even."
Naruto didn't say anything, just nodded at that revelation. He and Akeginu had postulated that the eyes must either be divine or demonic in nature; they were too powerful to be developed by human means. They speculated that the Kouga dojutsu one was demonic in origin– basilisk eyes (4) is what Akeginu called them, they reflected intent and could make anyone who looked in them commit suicide, it wasn't a stretch to think they were a gift from a demon. Some Kouga ancestor probably made some sort of contract for them and passed down the dojutsu through blood.
His eyes though were different, more powerful. Even the basilisk eyes had no effect on them, their power was absolute. The only conclusion is that they came from either a stronger demon or something even more powerful than a demon. Considering the defensive nature of his eyes and that you couldn't harm people with them it seemed unlikely that they came from an evil creature.
"Intriguing," the fox observed, "you don't sound surprised."
"I'm not. The eyes are too powerful to be a human creation," he replied voicing his earlier thoughts. He was interested to see if the fox had anything to add.
"Your right, all most of the powerful dojutsus come from the supernatural world. The sharingan" it said the name with disgust "came from the Rikudo Sennin, who was for all intensive purposes a god. He himself got his rinnegan eyes form a being of a similar nature. Those madness eyes, the opposite of yours are demonic. The mystic eyes of death perception, well they come from something far more powerful. "
He didn't know what death perception was but it sounded dangerous.
"Your eyes though are different, rays of sunlight where the others are darkness. The others are born from pain, misery, and death where yours just are; they exist without any great sacrifice. The rinneagan requires mind shattering anguish to awaken, the true sharingan requires you to betray the ones you love the most, and the eyes of death perception require you to touch the other side. Yours require nothing yet give you the strength to counter all of them.
This was fascinating, it seemed the fox would be a fountain of knowledge if he could get it to co-operate, "Do you know where the mystic eyes came from?"
"No, but definitely from some powerful creature of light, even... a god maybe."
As much as he would like to talk more on this topic he had more pressing matters to deal with, "This is interesting Kyuubi but it's not why I'm here. I'm here to talk about us."
"Of course you are, why else would you be here, so go on make your case I will hear you out. Though I suggest you don't get you hopes up little one, I do not like humans very much."
It said the word 'humans' with disgust, the fox really had some issues with his species, more than just petty disgust for a weaker species.
The kyuubi then relaxed and sat down, its head resting on its paws out in front of its body.
"I do not like unknowns Kyuubi and right now that's exactly what you are. I can't have you suddenly popping up in my mind in the middle of a fight. I want an agreement in place before I go out into the field, between you and me."
"What makes you think I'd make a deal with a human, your species is not exactly trustworthy. Look at your life, all that is stopping me from destroying that village is your will power yet they treat you like trash. Why would I contract to a human?"
"I'm different from the ones responsible for your incarceration, I know what it like to be trodden on, to be abused," he replied looking to differentiate himself from the people of Konoha.
"Would you let me out?"
"No, at least not at this stage anyway. I don't trust you either," he responded.
"Then we're at an impasse," said the Kyuubi.
"No we're not, I have the better bargaining position. I either get an agreement out of you or I turn my eyes upon you and we go from there." He didn;t think threatening the creature was wise but he had to let it know he wasn't to be trifled with.
"So in the end you become an oppressor like the rest," said the Kyuubi in a resigned voice.
"Don't play the oppressed victim it doesn't suit you."
"You're right," said the fox, losing the resigned tone as quickly as it picked it up. "Those eyes may cause me intense pain but they won't completely block my power, if I fought through the pain barrier I think I could take you down with me if you use those on me again."
Naruto shook his head at the obvious attempt at manipulation; he'd have to be careful around this one, "I don't know what your problem is anyway, you have little to lose by assisting me."
"Besides my dignity?"
"That went away the moment you lost to a human and got sealed in a baby," he responded.
"I didn't lose to a human! I lost to a shinigami – big difference," the Kyuubi's eyes glowed dangerously, as if I affronted its honour by daring to infer that it lost to a human.
"My point is being stubborn about not going to help you much."
"Oh, you humans don't exactly have a good track record with keeping agreements, you'd kill your own mother for a piece of food, how could I trust you?"
"You should be able to tell, you're in my head, your aware of my experiences. I'm not like most."
"And that's supposed to reassure me? You lie to everyone, your precious sensei included, didn't tell her about that little fight with the Uchiha did you?"
"Your one to talk, you're a freaking kitsune, your species is famous for deceiving people," he stated.
"Like I said an impasse. I don't trust you, you don't trust me. You use your eyes on me and I'll kill you and likely die with you,"the Kyuubi said summarising their current position.
Naruto stood silent for a minute looking at the fox, today had gone better than he'd thought but worse than he hoped, but then again he never really believed he get an agreement out of the fox straight away.
"What's your name Kyuubi?" Naruto asked.
The fox looked surprised at his question, "You're only the second human to ever ask me that question."
"Who was the first?" He asked.
"Sage of Six Paths," Kyuubi replied.
He didn't know what to say to that, apparently the fox was on a first name basis with the most significant figure in history.
The fox stood still for a moment and then its form shuddered before melting into a bubbly red like substance on the floor.
He took a step back, "Gross," he observed; it looked like red paint boiling.
The 'paint' started to form a figure, human in shaped. The red faded and in its place stood a human female with thick, long bright red hair. Her eyes were the exact same as the Kyuubi as were the black lips, though they had become distinctly human shaped. Naruto was trying to keep his eyes of her face, which was pale and a perfect oval shape, but he was failing. She was naked, her rather ample curves on display for him to see.
Don't look down there Naruto, he urged himself as he caught a glimpse of more red hair.
He raised his eyebrow a little and asked "Shapeshifting?" Try as he might he felt a little bit of a blush appear on his face.
The fox let a little victorious smile appear on her face. Ignoring his question she started walking around him in a circle like a predator stalking its prey. Her nine tails flowed behind her, fanning out like a peacock on display.
She shook her head, "You know this form would have had your father begging on his knees."
"You knew the Yondaime Hokage that well?" Naruto asked.
"Not quite, let's say I knew someone he knew him. Surprising, you're not shocked that he was your father. You knew?" She asked.
"Suspected. I mean, my likeness is plastered on a mountain face. Considering the dates and my lack of parents it was pretty easy to figure out."
"You holding up quite well, most men would be clay in my hands by now. Figures, I finally get a male host to use my seduction on and he's not interested. Too much exposure to that sexy sensei of yours I bet."She sounded a little disappointed that her nudity didn't have him as a complete drooling mess on the floor.
"Can you put some clothes on?" He asked, he was having trouble concentrating on the important things like not dying horribly.
"Sorry kit, no can do. Usually I'd conjure up an illusion, wear a nice kimono but that won't work on your eyes. I could shapeshift my skin into clothes but that would be very very uncomfortable."
He briefly wondered if she didn't know he could turn his eyes on and off, but decided she did, she seemed to know about his training after all. She just wants to stay naked, he concluded.
"Kit?" He asked wondering about the name.
"You're a child are you not? What else would I call you?"
"Master?"
Her eyes glowed bright red again. He concluded she did this when angry. Looks like I hit a soft spot there.
"You wish," she replied, composing herself.
He wasn't getting anywhere with this, "are you going to tell me your name or not?"
"Alright kit, my name's Kurama."
"Well Kurama-san, what do you say?" He asked hoping to get an answer to his offer.
"What exactly would co-operating with you entail? I will be slave to no man."
"We can work out the details later, for now if you choose to accept I would ask that you put you considerable power to use in making sure I do not die. I want you to be able to heal any injures I get." He wanted the same ability Tenzen had, not that he planed on dying anytime soon but expect the unexpected.
"That it? I admit I have some prodigious healing abilities, but I thought you'd want access to my shapeshifting or powerful illusions,"said Kurama, surprised that he ask for so little.
It was a matter of perspective, he thought that near immortality was asking a lot. Apparently it wasn't that impressive to the thousand year old yokai, just one of her run of the mill abilities.
"Not right now, though I admit your genjutsu is intriguing. I don't need help with killing things, I just need to make sure that if by some chance I am severally injured I don't die," he said explaining his reasoning to her.
"I could certainly do that and then some, you already heal quicker than normal without any conscious effort on my part, putting a few tails worth a chakra into healing would mean high speed regeneration."
"My thoughts exactly."
Kurama paused considering his offer, "I'll think about it."
"You have my offer, feel free to let me know your decision at your convenience."
With that he turned and walked away fading as he left his mindscape.
What an interesting boy, Kurama thought, quite different from most humans she had come in contact with. Her previous hosts hadn't been anywhere near as interesting. Her last one had been a loudmouth hothead, and the one before that a seal fanatic. Both had been women as well, boring women too.
As a standard rule she despised humans, the arrogant creatures had used and imprisoned her for over a century. This one was different though; this one had approached her with an offer, not forced her or chained her to use her power but asked her for it. So young too! And those eyes, finally she would have her vengeance on the Sharingan. Yes, she'd have fun bringing this one to heel.
Ultimately it was a simple decision. Since she couldn't get out into the world this human would be her instrument. She would use him, mould him so he would favour her, do as she desired, through him she'd once again exert influence upon the world. She knew one day he'd eventually clash with the one responsible for her imprisonment and when that happened she'll finally have her revenge.
"Offer accepted."
Back in the present Naruto finished examining his arm and looked at the group of missing nin front of him. He was pissed. Not at them but at himself and he had every intention of taking his anger out on them.
"You're going to die for that," he said, voice practically dripping with malice.
Before they could respond, he raised his new hand to his lips, "shuu." He sucked wind into his mouth drawing subtle breath through his fingers. None of the nin noticed air being drawn inwards behind them, compressing before forming two separate vacuums. Two dark voids formed in the air drawing in the surrounding air with an enormous amount of centrifugal force.
That was when they noticed, "What the fu-"
That was as far as they got before the screamed, "Ahhhh," and the vacuums ripped them apart. The two closest to the vacuums died immediately, ripped in half by the force of the vacuums. The other two won't so lucky, the one of the far right had his arm ripped of and was left screaming on the ground as he slowly bled to death. The other had a large chunk of his body ripped off and was rolling around in his own intestines on the ground.
Aoi looked back in shock at was done to his men, "what the hell was that" Aoi screamed at Naruto.
Naruto didn't respond; was he serious expecting an answer? Instead he whipped out several ropes in a cracking motion cleaving the ground between the two of them.
Aoi managed to use kawarimi just in time as the log was split in half.
He appeared in a, nearby tree throwing an umbrella into the air. The umbrella opened releasing dozens of senbon at him.
It was a novel technique, he admit that much but useless against his ropes. Naruto drew his ropes back into him before whipping them in constant motion around his body. The senbon were cut to pieces by his ropes, none making it past the barrier he made.
Aoi landed about twenty paces in front of him intent of attacking with the lightning sword but before he could do anything Naruto blew another vacuum at him. Aoi tried to use Katon: Kimuchi Amura, a defensive fire jutsu.
Naruto almost laughed, it was a vacuum, unblockable, he was attacking a hole in space. The fire or rather the oxygen fuelling the fire was immediately sucked into the hole extinguishing the flame but it gave Aoi enough time to distance himself form the devastating jutsu.
Naruto decided to finish it there; he closed the distance between them to about ten paces before using his index finger on his left hand to arc a rope toward Aoi.
Aoi tried to block the rope with the lightning sword, key word being tried. The ropes could move in any direction, in a sense it was one of their defining characteristics of the ebon rope technique. This time Naruto used a pulling motion and one of his ropes change direction at an acute angle running right across Aoi's wrist severing the hand holding the sword. Cutting off the sword hand was just about the wost thing you could do to a swordsman, it was also just about the ultimate display of weapons skill. It was also repayment for his early transgression.
Aoi collapsed to the ground clutching his served hand. He did well not to scream, he'd give him that.
Naruto didn't comment though he merely raised his left hand and flicked his fingers. Two ropes immediately arced around behind Aoi injured form and wrapped him up. Naruto pulled the ropes tight forcing Aoi to scream this time.
"There a rather substantial bounty on you head, you know? I intend to collect."
With that Aoi ceased to exist. Naruto pulled his wire tight with his left arm and they sliced through Aoi's body leaving him in bits and pieces on the ground.
"Lovely," he commented at the mess in front of him.
Naruto gingerly walked over to the scene, it looked like scarps from the abattoir floor. He picked up Aoi's head and sealed it away in a scroll. He'd make sure to get the bounty on that after he became a shinobi. Naruto looked at the sword lying on the ground. Tossing away the attached hand, he picked it up and activated it. The damn thing nearly blinded him, deactivating it he sealed it away as well in a scroll.
"Too bright, I'm pretty sure they saw that in Suna."
The sword may be powerful but its useless to me. I prefer silent killing, and this is about as subtle as a brick in the face.
"Naruto!" Akeginu yelled, before trying to smack him in the head. Unfortunately for her she merely phased through him, she wasn't tangible outside of the ruins.
"Hehe, did you forget that you're not solid out here?" Naruto teased.
"Shut it Naruto wh..what the hell happened with your arm?"
"Oh, Kyuubi, happened," he replied.
"Kyuubi? The fox? You got the fox to help you?" Akeginu asked.
"Yep, I got it to communicate with me sixth months ago, this is the first chance I've had to test its abilities," answered Naruto, holding up his new arm for her to see.
"Why didn't you tell me? Do you know how worried you just had me?" Akeginu asked. She was clearly upset over seeing him so badly injured.
"I wanted it to be a surprise, I wasn't planning on telling you until I could do it properly."
Akeginu just shook her head before she stared to smile, "Well it looks like the mission was a success, all the slavers are dead and with these arseholes showing up," she gave one of the corpses a kick, "the missing would probably upgraded to A rank. So not bad Naruto, but if you ever get distracted like that again I'll cut off you arm myself."
Naruto grimaced at that, "Don't worry it won't happen again." He'd make sure of it. Getting distracted by the state of the slaves had been sloppy, he never made the same mistake twice, he'd learn from this.
Naruto quickly walked over to his arm of the ground removed the glove and ebon ropes from this. The ropes took months and a lot of hard work to make, he wasn't just going to leave them lying around. He also sealed away the arm, he would destroy it at a later date.
"Alright let's head back,I want to hear about how you managed to gain the demons co-operation" said Akeginu.
"Hold it, we should let the slaves out," said Naruto. After going through so much trouble he wanted them free at least.
"Get to it then,"
They let the slaves out and left them to their own devices in the camp. There was enough food around and he was pretty sure the healthier ones could make it to one of the towns nearby for help.
All done the two ninja headed back to the ruins in the forest of death.
2 weeks later (day before graduation)
Naruto and Akeginu sat down in the courtyard of the ruins; they had just finished sparring and were cooling down.
"Are you ready for tomorrow Naruto?" Akeginu asked.
"Ready? Like I need to be ready to pass that test. I could do all those techniques six years ago. My clones going to do it anyway, no way I'm getting dressed up just for that."
"What's the plan afterwards? I don't want you showing off too much of your Iga techniques." Akeginu asked. This issue had been bothering her for some time; she didn't like the idea of Naruto being a Konoha ninja. Konoha was a weak village and Iga nin do not serve weak masters.
In her time Iga along with Kouga had served the Tokugawa Family, the strongest clan in Japan at the time. Hattori Hanzo the 1st had engineered their service to the clan after requesting assistance when Ieyasu was attacked while passing through the Iga province. Though they served with distinction the Iga clan was never really tamed by Tokugawa, and the man had always treaded carefully around Iga despite making use of our skills.
It wasn't surprising people from Iga always opposed those who tried to rule them; it was the natural order of things. They didn't bow to Oda Nobunaga when he came to bring them to heel. It had cost them but they survived, the mountains and valleys of Iga were perfect for hiding. (5) Perhaps that was why Ieyasu had them fight Kouga, to weaken and hopefully get rid of them once and for all, afraid the dog would turn on its master.
Naruto was Iga's legacy. The sole remaining descendant, he possessed their prized bloodline and had been schooled in the Iga ryu, even trained in their secret techniques. She did not want him at the beck and call of some pitiful village especially after the way they had treated him. That village was weak, a mere perversion of what it originally intended to be by its founders. The civilians had too much power, and politicians were poisoning the village's leadership. In truth the village needed to be cleansed or destroyed. There was no way she would let Naruto and Iga's legacy be wasted on them and this village.
No, despite being dead she knew the state of the world, it was a mess, similar to the waring states period back in Japan. There was no Shogun and tension was thick, all that was needed was a spark and war would erupt. In other words it was perfect soil to grow Iga's name once again.
For too long people had been ignorant of what a true shinobi could accomplish. Naruto would remind, he'd show them why Iga had been relegated to the darkness for centuries, why they had been regarded as monsters by the rest of Japan, he would show them to show what it really means to surpass human limitations. This worlds nin may have chakra but from she could tell none of them had really surpassed human limits with chakra use. (7)
Naruto started talking again drawing her out of her thoughts, "No doubt my change of clothes will raise a few eyebrows. I'm not too concerned though, once I'm a shinobi I'm beyond the purview of the council, only the Hokage can really order me to do anything. I actually read those books on civil governance you know"
"Make sure you don't reveal your eyes," she warned him, she could only imagine the reaction if they found about his bloodline.
"Of course I won't, I'm not an idiot sensei. I'll show off a little Kenjutus and taijutsu, maybe even my blood technique if the situation requires it. The rest I'll keep hidden for now."
"Are you sure you'll be able to get away with it?" She asked.
"Yep, unless they want to amend a whole bunch of rules they won't have a choice, they can't force a shinobi to show off secret techniques. I doubt the Nara, Aburame and Hyuga clans would take kindly to a free for all on their clans secret techniques," Naruto said with a smirk.
"The Hokage will want to know where you learnt those techniques," she said, she doubted the man was a fool.
"So I'll tell him."
Akeginu raised an eybrow at that.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Not the whole truth but enough for him to believe me. I can't lie to the man, he didn't become the strongest ninja in the village for nothing I'm sure he can spot a lie. So I'll tell him a relative trained me, its true after all."
"And when he asks to see this relative?" She asked.
"I'll tell him she's passed on. It's also true in a sense."
"Looks like you've got it under control," she said.
"He can't force me and he won't, he knows that if I don't want to be found no one will find me, even more so once he finds out I've been hiding my true abilities," don't be too concerned , if worse comes to worse we can always leave, they won't be able to stop us.
With that Naruto went off to bed, tomorrow would be an interesting day no matter how it played out.
Foot Notes:
(1) Essentially what Yashimaru uses to block/cut Shogun's spit in chapter 1/episode 1, only applied to 360 degrees.
(2) This is how the technique is described in the Kouga Ninja Scrolls opening chapter. According to the book it's the main advantage of the technique.
(3)And there it is Tenzen like regeneration, only more powerful. I know his injury was a little contrived but I wanted to show of his ability in practice. For those who haven't read Basilisk Tenzen could heal from any wound even fatal ones. The only way to kill him was to burn his entire body or use the mystic eyes. I made this healing more powerful drawing inspiration from Uliquerra from bleach.
(4) The book refers to the eyes as Basilisk eyes.
(5) Got the history from the book. Hattori Hanzo the 1st (father of the guy in Basilisk) who was from the Iga province arranged a truce between Kouga and Iga (blood feud was about 1000 years old in the book)and got them to save Ieyasu's life and serve him from them on.
(6) They talk about this a lot in the book, how Iga/Kouga nin surpassed human limitations essentially becoming monsters in pursuit of being the perfect ninja (result of a lot of inbreeding too, most looked hideous). Only ones in Naruto world who could be said to achieve this the Aktuski members like Kisame, Pein, Zetsu, Zombie guys and Ochominaru (or least he's working on becoming like that) . Like the Iga nin they sacrificed their humanity to become better ninjas.
Author's Notes
And with that we're done with the introductory arc to the story. Some people my think it was a bit long (30 000 plus words) or a bit slow but my Naruto is different form Canon, I wanted to show why he was different and build a strong foundation for him so people can understand his actions and skills in the future. Now that we're done we can move on to the start of canon.
Obviously my Kyuubi is very different from canon. I thought the Kyuubi in canon was too blunt, come to the dark side and i'll give you power etc. I'm going for a more subtle manipulation, she'll try and manoeuvre Naruto to fulfil her desires, but Naruto is smart so she'll have a tough time of it. Much more intelligence going on. I had a smarter Naruto so I needed a slyer fox.
This is not a fem kyuubi romance. The relationship will be about tension, power plays and manipulation. Each will be trying to get the advantage, eventually they'll form a mutual respect for one another. I chose a female Kyuubi because i'm basing their relationship off another i read recently. For anyone who's read the Iron druid series , I'm going for a similar dynamic to the one the main character had with the Morrigan. For those who haven't read the series the main character has an agreement with the Celtic god/fae The Morrigan not to take him if he dies (making him semi-immortal, she the god of death), in return he sort of acts as her champion and does some odd jobs. He has to tread on glass around her because she's a bit whimsical and extremely powerful, while she finds the world more interesting with him in it. Though if I'm true to the Morrigan comparison the Kyuubi would probably force herself on Naruto now and again (the morrigan practically rapes the guy several times in the series).
Power wise the Kyuubi will help with genjutsu down the line, for the moment only high speed regeneration.
Tune in next chapter for graduation, mizuki getting the crapped kicked out of him, and Naruto's new sensei .