Shadowed Leaf

Origin

Standard Disclaimed applies: I don't own Naruto, but anything not from the original series is mine.

When Athan and Kakashi and Temari returned, Naruto was in a very reflective mood. The scroll had been more than informative. It had detailed just who and what Athan was in as much detail as the Ketsukage had available to him, which turned out to be quite a bit. Kakashi and Temari noticed Naruto's mood and left the room. Athan made her way over to him, a box of take-out in hand, which she set down next to him. He looked up, turned towards the food, and began eating, almost mechanically. He loved Ramen and now was hardly any different, but after all he'd read, some of the thrill of the stuff had deserted him temporarily. Athan had gone to her side of the room, facing away from Naruto, and ate her own Ramen quietly.

After topping off his third and final bowl before Athan had even finished her first, he turned to her.

"Athan?" He said, causing her to straighten up from her slightly slouched position.

"Yes, Naruto-sama?" She asked, still eating.

"Turn around." He said. He couldn't stand it any more. He HAD to know what she looked like. She began to reach for her mask. "Leave it off. And take off the headband, too." He said. This had finally occurred to him, with prodding from Kyuubi, after they had absorbed the information on the scroll. He noticed her stiffen even more.

"H-Hai...Uzumaki-dono..." she stuttered, pulling off her hitai-ate, and turning to face him. He sighed in exasperation at her falling into the habit of calling him that again, but let it slide. Naruto's eyes went wide as he finally got a look at her properly.

The girl had a nearly perfect heart shaped face, and her silver bangs framed and shadowed her forehead. But they couldn't quite hide the markings on it, which appeared to be part of a very large design. Said design was unique. Two large black marks slanting downwards vertically in a 'v' shape ran from forehead to about the length of the bridge of her nose, where it merged into a larger horizontal design that ran across the nose itself and spread to her cheeks. Three larger marks, resembling slash marks rested on either side of her upper face, her eyes planted right between the space between the tope and middle on each side. At her mouth, the sides of this large design briefly spiked inwards around her nose just above it. And at her jaw line, two to each side, were something that could have passed as extremely deep whisker marks, much fuller than his own. She had a pert nose, full, lush lips, and a strong yet feminine chin. With the bangs of her silver hair no longer obstructed at all by the headband, and the rest of it flowing down her back as it had been, it gave her a very captivating presence. Naruto felt his cheeks turn red.

Athan seemed to be blushing as well, though not as much from the fact that she found Naruto attractive (which she secretly admitted to herself that she did, but shoved the idea aside, thinking there was no way her master liked her in that way), but more because of the fact that he was seeing her naked face for the first time, and she felt...self-conscious. She shrunk away from her master, and averted her gaze. Though it took the movement of her head and eyelids to make this known, as given that her eyes were entirely black and thus looked as if they were naught but empty sockets that had a 'wet' look, nobody could really tell where she was gazing. Not so long as none of her doujutsu were active, anyway. And like with the Hyuuga and their Byakugan, the Kokugan was the cause of this appearance of her eyes.

Naruto and Athan stayed like this for a few minutes. Athan looked highly uncomfortable without her mask. And Naruto was pretty sure he understood why. He got up off his bed, and walked towards Athan, who looked nervously at him. What he did next surprised her, as he knelt down on the floor and bowed to her.

"I'm sorry. For everything you went through. It's all my fault." he said. "If there's anything I can do to repay you...make up for it..."

Athan went pale. and she sucked in a breath in horror at this fact.

(Naruto blinked. Was it just him, or did she have fangs?)

She knew that he'd read the scroll while she was gone. That had to be the cause of this. But it wasn't his fault. It just wasn't. If anything, Naruto gave her a purpose. She joined him on the floor, kneeling in front of him and gently pulling him out of his apologetic stance.

"Uzu...Naruto-sama...you have nothing to apologize for." She said. She could see the flash of fire behind his bright royal blue eyes, and almost was certain what was coming next.

"But-!" The blonde's words were cut off by a silk soft skinned pair of fingers at his lips, each tipped with a sharp claw.

"I was born for you." She said. "I will fight for you. If necessary, I will die for you. I am yours, because I always have been. Just as she has always been his. He abandoned her, but she never gave up her loyalty. I will not abandon mine." She said, with a surpassing firmness in her tone.

"Athan, you shouldn't feel you have to do anything for me. My father and I...we put you through hell. I'm a Jinchuuriki. I know what it's like."

A few minutes silence hung in the air.

"...October Thirty-first, huh? That's kind of ironic."

She smirked. "I was born for you." Was all she said by way of reply. Naruto couldn't help but give a wry bark of a laugh.

"So...your mark is different." He said lamely. She nodded.

"Hai. Sentojita are different from Jinchuuriki in a lot of little ways. And a few big ones." she grinned. Though it fell away rapidly. "But there are a few similarities I don't want to think about."

"I can imagine. The scroll didn't give me all the answers, but a lot of it was easy to put together."

Indeed, it most certainly was easy to put some of it together. But it was the next few passages of the scroll that made the most impact on the Jinchuuriki and his tenant.

"...Uhm..." Naruto started, but seemed unsure as to if he should continue. Athan blinked at him curiously. "C...could I...could I see it?"

Athan noticeably turned red, but pulled away the flexible armor at her stomach, and lifted her shirt up enough to reveal her belly.

The marking looked like a gothic style roman letter T with two spikes crossed behind it, with the points sitting on either side of the dagger pointed end of the pillar of the T, and rested just above her belly button. All in all, it looked like it could have been a tattoo, rather than the mark of the Sentojita.

Doubtless, you wonder what a Sentojita is and how it differs from a Jinchuuriki. The scroll went on. Naruto had been startled a moment or two at the roar of shock and even anger that had come from Kyuubi at reading that name. As well as who Youko no Okami is. Let me start by giving you as much background as I can.

Okami is immeasurably old, yet she is much younger than your Kyuubi no Youko. This is, as I said before, due to the fact that she was created by Kyuubi. From what little she has told us over the years, Kyuubi created her when he was very young. Exactly why he did so, she was never sure. But she served as his Vassal- As Athan now serves as yours- for many hundreds of thousands of years. Okami was created to be a Senbijuu. A creature who existed as both servant and guardian for her creator. The other Bijuu, she would later claim, followed his example. As Kyuubi was a prideful being, he created her to be able to reach a power level roughly eighty percent of his maximum. In other words, where Kyuubi has nine tails, Okami has seven. Hence, she is the Shichibi no Senbijuu, and the strongest of her kind. Whether he intended for her to eventually reach his level of power, or if he was only capable of creating a creature that fell just short of his maximum is something only he would know.

Eventually, the other Bijuu followed suit, with each baring less tails (usually by two) than their creator, save for Shukaku's creation, whom manifested a half tail. And for a time, it seemed, life was good.

At some point however, Kyuubi abandoned Okami, and vanished off into the world on his own, as did the other Senbijuu and their creators. While there is precious little known about the fate of the other eight Senbijuu, we are very much aware of Okami's fate.

"Fucking duh. Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to tell us she was even still ALIVE." Kyuubi grumbled mentally. Naruto, despite himself, chuckled a bit from the Kyuubi's rampant sarcasm.

At some point many years ago, before any of the Shinobi villages in this continent began their march towards becoming just that, Okami found her way to a small village here in Kurayami no Kuni, and became it's protector. Without Kyuubi to serve and protect, she felt her life had no purpose. When she stumbled upon the village she had come across, it had been under attack by rogue outlaws. This was back in the days when Samurai hadn't been seen for what they were, and many still believed they were heroes. Shinobi were few and far between in those lands, and many of them in our land resided in this village. She came to our defense, driving the outlaws from the village.

"Sounds like something she'd do. Damnable soft-hearted fool." Kyuubi muttered darkly. Naruto was curious, but said nothing.

Because of Okami's kindness towards us, our village took her in (after much convincing on our parts to get her to agree) and she became the patron saint of our village and lands. (Here, Kyuubi had let out a half growl half snort of mixed sarcastic derision and anger) But her first and foremost thoughts were always on the well being of her creator. Once our village was strong enough, we began to send our Shinobi out to locate Kyuubi, so as to have a means of keeping our protector abreast of his movements and doings. Even though she knew he wanted nothing to do with her anymore for whatever reason, knowing his condition at almost all times was enough to set her mind at ease.

During the time our village had grown to the point where it was a fully functioning Shinobi village, your Shodai Hokage had founded Konoha in Hi no Kuni. Our Shinobi scouts aboard had encountered those of Konoha. And after a few tense months in which neither side was entirely sure whether or not the other could be trusted, an alliance was arranged via marriage between one of our lesser clans, who had begun to develop a lesser version of one of the most deadly doujutsu we'd ever seen, born out of the fact that their blood was so much less suited for the full Limit that a lesser version began to become prominent among them. They branched away from the primary clan from which they were part, and had eventually settled in Konoha after discussing things with our own council of elders and the Sandaime Ketsukage. This particular clan has since risen to great prominence in your village, though there are more than a few schisms within it. Still, they flourish. Though most of them have likely forgotten their origins, I am happy to hear that they have made their own name for themselves.

Eventually, the orphan known as Namikaze Minato had traveled to Kagegakure to further strengthen the alliance between our lands with the concept of a combined Leaf/Shadow village. Essentially, parts of our lands would be considered the home of an embassy for the Leaf, and the same in Leaf for the Shadow. Unfortunately, this idea, though it gained great support on both sides, has more or less been forgotten in the wake of events which took place in the month and a half preceding your birth.

You are no doubt very obviously aware of what occurred the early morning of October tenth, in which Kyuubi attacked your village, and the man who you may or may not be aware was your father (Only a few people were informed that he and the love of his life, your mother Uzumaki Kushina, were expecting a child. The Fifth Ketsukage was among that small number, as such, I am aware of it because I had access to his files.), sealed the demon within you.

What you likely are not aware of however, is that on August fourth, Kyuubi had been nowhere NEAR fire country. In all truth, Kyuubi was to the far north in the Country of Steel. Although we have no idea why he was there, Kyuubi suddenly turned south sharply, making a beeline for Fire Country. To this day even we aren't sure why, but he seemed to be very intent upon the place.

As we were allies with Konoha, we gave them fair warning ahead of time, but were unable to figure out a means of defense against the creature. Okami refused to have any part in fighting her creator, but did not prevent us from honoring our alliance. (Though it went without saying she was upset with us for raising a hand against her master. )

We attempted a joint defense with Konoha at the border to Fire Country, but failed to stem Kyuubi's advance. Those of us who survived were taken into medical care. Eventually, your father sealed Kyuubi within you. However this caused a quandary for Okami.

Part of her wanted to finish what Kyuubi started and level the village. But she also knew that Kyuubi had been the aggressor, and they were only defending Hearth and home.

Kyuubi was strangely silent.

At the heart of Okami was the desire to continue to serve Kyuubi. But she knew that she wouldn't likely be allowed to just stroll into the devastated village. Her chakra is demonic, though not malicious, but few Shinobi in that part of the world would have accepted her. And it was feared that she would simply cause the villagers to panic, disregard Sandaime Hokage's protection of you, and try to murder you while you were still an infant.

The only answer any of us could come up with came from a Yogensha. He was a reclusive hermit who lived in our village, and who had, apparently, foreseen this. He had strange mystical powers no one else in the entire country possessed. His solution was to create a vassal for you, using her very essence as the power source, just as, in many ways, Kyuubi is your own..

Rather than a Jinchuuriki, however, he proposed to create something he knew of, but which was very rare, and so far as he knew, had never been attempted with a demon as powerful as Okami:

A Sentojita.

Naruto was pulled from his memory of the scroll by the opening of the door to his room. The two got to their feet before anyone walked in. The person who walked in however, was no threat. It was simply Kakashi, giving one of his now infamous eye smiles.

"Hey you two. I'm going to scout around town for a few hours and see if I can find out anything of relevance to our mission. There's a few places in town where one can get fairly reliable information on almost anything. And then I'm going head to bed. You should relax for a bit and sack out as early as is reasonable. We head out in the morning at first light and head straight for the border." He said. He hated to admit it, but he'd been eavesdropping on the entire conversation, but he felt justified. He knew Naruto well enough to know that the information on that scroll was going to be enough to leave him disturbed as hell until he apologized.

He had to admit he was surprised at Athan's responses to the entire thing though. She honestly seemed scared when he apologized to her, and that struck him as truly sad. Naruto was sincere in his apology, and his belief that what the girl had likely had to deal with as a child was his fault. The way she'd so hurriedly tried to assure him that she was okay with it...

He was sure that she was terrified of him asking her to go away.

"C-C'mon, Hinata, I was just kidding!" Sakura said with a nervous laugh as Temari came back to their shared room. The blonde haired girl blinked in confusion.

"Did I miss something?" She asked, causing the other two girls to turn her way. Sakura all but glomped the other girl, who had thankfully put her food to the side for the moment, but she was taken by surprise nonetheless. Sakura dragged Temari over to Hinata, looking half exasperated, and half worried.

"Temari, thank Kami you're here! Talk some sense into Hinata would you? She's acting crazy!" the pinkette panted helplessly. "I mean, she's just taking this whole thing too far!"

"Taking what too far?" the sand kunoichi asked.

"I am not taking it too far, Sakura-san." Hinata said before she could get her answer. Both girls were surprised to hear no stutter in her speech for once. "What you said makes absolute sense, and I'm NOT going to just let that...that...hussy...just think she can seduce Naruto-kun and get away with it!"

Temari stared for a moment or two, during which Sakura looked at her pleadingly for help...

And then she burst out laughing. Causing the other two girls to look at her in utter confusion at the blonde girl's reaction.

A Sentojita, or Warbound, is a hybridization of human and demon. The scroll further explained. However this does not result in a Hanyou. Like yourself, Athan can access the chakra of her tenant, and can use that power to great effect, summoning a number of Okami's tails. But a Warbound differs greatly from either Hanyou or Jinchuuriki, in that a Hanyou is born of a human parent and demonic parent, and a Jinchuuriki is the result of a forcible sealing. In either case, there is no known way for a Hanyou to become fully human or fully demon, and a demon sealed within a Jinchuuriki is subject to the lifespan of the human whom they are imprisoned with until they die. (Yes, at some point Kyuubi WILL be free. Of that, our Yogensha was certain, though he would not say when or how his freedom would come.) A Sentojita is the result of a demon WILLINGLY entering the body of a human and imparting upon them their power, and the demon entity can also emerge from the host at will and act on it's own. Though most are fully content to remain within the gestalt life form they have become with their human counterpart. Each Sentojita has a 'seal' mark on their body (Though the seal is not meant to imprison, but rather to provide a gateway), which again, is similar to the seal you and Gaara carry on your bodies dependent on where they were sealed. In your case, it was your stomach, in Gaara's, his head. Unlike with Jinchuuriki however, these seals do not fade from sight once placed upon a Sentojita, but remain easily viewable. Luckily, the marking for a Sentojita is usually capable of being passed off as a tattoo of some kind.

However, Sentojita are an extremely rare creature, and they face a unique challenge in that, unlike Jinchuuriki such as yourself and Gaara and Yugito, who carries the two tailed Bijuu known as Nekomata, who have to consciously try to tap into your power and who often have only minor markings that will allow anyone who might know what to look for to notice your status, Sentojita grow up with mutated chakra coils, giving them much more power than ordinary people and even, initially Jinchuuriki, who need to learn to tap their supernatural powers, (though some of them, like Gaara, have powers that are entirely involuntary at first and they must learn to control) the Sentojita is born with distinct markings somewhere on their body (In this case, the markings on Athan's face) which makes it impossible for them to blend into society and pass the marking off as a birthmark. (Though the Yogensha spoke of the fact that some have managed to pass them off as ornate tattoos in places where the people around them don't know what the Sentojita is)

Your whiskers are something that could easily passed off as a birthmark, tattoo, or even some form of blade induced injury. However Athan was not so fortunate as she was born with Okami within her, unlike with you, as you were born before Kyuubi was sealed within you. In this regard, she is like Gaara, whom became a Jinchuuriki while still in the womb, though Athan's gateway for Okami is the same as your prison for Kyuubi. In any event, her facial markings were with her from the very moment she came from the womb.

Unfortunately, this also left Athan with a severe problem. Okami was dearly loved by everyone in the village, especially the children. Having grown up as the vessel of a being whom was hated by the village, and who was responsible for the death of the Yondaime, whom Konoha loved and hailed as a hero, I'm sure you can imagine the kind of thing she went through. This was far rougher on her than my predecessor had realized it would be. Although in essence, Athan IS Okami (Her clan having the name as well was a sheer, if ironic, coincidence), she is regarded by much of our village as a murderer. Many feel that if she had not been available so readily, our village would not have lost it's great heroine and immortal protector. They do not realize that Okami is very much alive in Athan and as such is part of her. Unfortunately, unlike with Konoha, no such law was put in place protecting Athan from the villagers, as Okami had made her intentions to become Sentojita with Athan quite plain and it became a moment of significance in our history books and I'm sorry to say, my predecessor did NOT have the foresight to put such a law in place to keep people from abusing her that were at least somewhat effective with you. Only her healing factor prevented her death several times. It took several years before Okami would be capable of actually emerging safely from Athan to protect her if the need arose, and by that point it was already too late. My predecessor DID provide what protection he could, though by this time it was far too late.

She has lived a hard life because of Okami's willingness to use her for her Warbound. But as you know, depending on the power of the being involved, no ordinary human can handle such a situation safely unless they are very young. This is, sadly, the reason your father was forced to seal Kyuubi into you as an infant. Had he tried to use a condemned criminal, Kyuubi would have immediately shattered the seal and the body of the criminal and been free to wreak further destruction upon Konoha. The same was true for Okami. Only an infant could be used, and naturally, the situation was one of 'the younger, the better'. As it was, most of the children at this point were either too old (to be Sentojita, or else not far enough in the stage of fetal development for it to work. Generally such fusions, as with sealings, can only be done to a child close to birth (such as Gaara) or just newly born, such as yourself. Athan's mother was at roughly two and a half weeks from giving birth, when Kyuubi crossed the border into Fire country and attacked Konoha. She was, unfortunately, our only option.

Athan was born at the stroke of midnight on the morning of October Thirty First.

Her mother died two hours later, and the remainder of her family wanted nothing to do with her.

Thus, like you, she is an orphan.

Meanwhile, despite Temari assuring Hinata that Athan wasn't about to seduce Naruto anytime soon (though the blonde was halfway toying with the idea of setting her fellow blonde up with Athan on a date just to see Hinata pop a synapse- which she promptly discarded as an idea as a minor wave of jealous snuck up in her own heart), the Hyuuga heiress would not be swayed.

"I am going to make sure that little black eyed tramp knows that he's off limits." she swore to her two roommates solemnly.

The Unenviable author's post notes!:

Whew. That was rather wordy. Sorry for the lack of forward movement in the story this chapter guys, but I just was on a roll with the scroll. There's a bit more in the scroll itself, but not as much of it relates too directly to Athan. More to come on that front, but it'll be minor stuff at best.

So, Hinata has definitely gotten past the 'shy and passive' stalker phase into the possessive 'He's Mine, dammit!' stalker phase. Yes, at some point, those two are going to come to blows. Place your bets now, people. The odds makers in vegas await your call. .

Temari is starting to show her interest in Naruto a bit more strongly, though subtly. How will this affect the current dynamic among the group? Hinata is having conniptions over Athan. Can you imagine what'll happen if she finds out Temari IS interested, instead of just worrying that she might be? And for those who think I ruled out Sakura as a potential member of the harem, if I go that route? Wrong. I haven't ruled her out. She simply hasn't shown any interest just yet. That could change.

And now a few things. Number one, Athan's face markings are based on the black sections of the following picture:

http://members(dot)aol(dot)com/Warwolf243/Medallion(dot)jpg

Many of you might remember it as being the design I used in Spirit of Vengeance, if you do, good eye. I plan to go back and finish that story one of these days, but I couldn't resist re-using the design. Another visitor to created two gorgeously done images of the main character of SOV with the markings on his face. However the final image doesn't quite seem as striking as the profile image seen in the sketch he did. However, here are both images. The sketch (especially the side profile) is the better of the two I think, but both are very good.

http://members(dot)aol(dot)com/Warwolf243/Takato(underscore)Spiritsketch(dot)jpg

http://members(dot)aol(dot)com/Warwolf243/Takato(underscore)Spirit(dot)jpg

For those who didn't recognize it, the symbol on Athan's stomach is actually the insignia of WWE's own Undertaker, as seen here.

http://smg(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/v189/KingofHearts316/WWEAttitude/th(underscore)UndertakerSymbol(dot)gif

The fanart contest is still open folks, and I've yet to see any entrants! C'mon people, work with me here! I'd like to actually get a picture of her up in time for her birthday!

As a few thoughts:

grey 0 mage: Athan is not a Japanese name, it is a Greek word that means 'immortal' and was a pun on the fact that Athan is a Sentojita, which means she is, in some respects immortal because she is as seen in this chapter, in essence, a demon.

Kai Orihomunon: The Gobi no Bijuu, Houkou, is the five tailed among the BIJUU, not SENBijuu. There is a difference between the two types explained in this very chapter. I also have learned that the five tail is actually a dog, not a wolf, according to the chinese myth upon which the Bijuu are based. So unless Kishimoto-san changed the Gobi from a dog to a wolf, then the five tails is a dog. My Gobi no Senbijuu is something else. Meanwhile the seven tail (Shichibi), Okami, is definitively a wolf. Also, according to my Japanese English English Japanese dictionary, the proper spelling is Okami, which is also probably why the videogame of the same name has the same spelling as the one I use.

Furthermore, after some further research of the legend, I realized I used the wrong number for Okami last chapter (accidentally referring to her as Sanbi, or three tails, when she's actually Shichibi, the seven tails), and have since corrected the oversight.