This is my first FanFiction and all reviews are welcome. Comments are responded to at the end as well as some other info so please read and I hope you enjoy. R&R
Last time: Things have getting tense on the mountain side let's hope things hold.
Last update 7-17-15
"I Mc-Crashland do not own Naruto"
'Thinking' "Talking" "Demon Talking" 'Demon Thinking' {A/N} Word Expanded at the end
Chapter 8 It's Just a Fox
Naruto stood his ground Kunai in hand and held revers grip in his right hand, his left palm backing it at the ring. As the sound got louder he picked up more sets of running feet lightly over the snow.
Sprinting around the bend on the cliff side was a large white fox. As the fox approached, it paid the dagger wielding boy no mind and opted to take the inner path of the cliff side passage. There was no worry as it passed the staring boy who backed up some to provide max distance. Before he could calm himself after the fox passed him not even registering his presence, there was another, and another, and another. The large group of white foxes speeds up the path just like the first. As he prepared to defend himself if needed he allowed himself another step back to allow them to pass by without incident.
As the group of 5 passed the smallest and last of them hit a small patch of ice, causing him to slip and slid towards him and the cliff. Reacting fast and on instincts alone, without even thinking about it Naruto tossed the Kunai at the ground to his right and ducked down to stop the foxes slide. When the small fox was stopped it righted itself and moved after the group ahead of it, but before it fallowed its kin around the corner it stopped and flipped around to face him.
"Thanks mister!" It yelped in a childish voice before sprinting up the pass.
Naruto starred wide-eyed at the spot just occupied by the little fox before staggering backwards in shock. Before he could even register what had just happened he tripped on his pack and landed on his back just by the edge just as it gave out to the sudden addition of weight.
The 7-year-old scrambled for a hold but all he found were loose rocks and giving snow. In another desperate motion he reached for his bag hoping for any type of hold but just barely missed as he slid the rest of the way off the path and descended off the almost sheer snow-covered rock face.
As Naruto descended down the cliff he attempted to reach for anything, small branches and jutting stones but he would just rip past them with red and bleeding hands. Then with a sudden thud he landed half way down the hard shelf on the cliff side. Taking the air into his lungs that he lost on impact he tried to calm himself.
His head was throbbing as the world above him spun and faded in and out, getting darker each time, till the world was lost to him as it all went black.
When Naruto finally awoke he calmly looked around at his surroundings, the first thing he noticed was all the green, and lack of cold. He sat up and got a better look at the woodland forest around him as he calmed himself he registered the sound of a waterfall to his far right out of his view.
He remembered this place, this was the where he fist stumbled on an Uzu shrine. It was by coincidence that he ran across it.
Flashback
He had been fallowing the river up until he hit a cliff side where the water came straight down in a massive waterfall. Preparing to move to his right at the bottom of the cliff face he was stopped when something on the other bank caught his eye. Looking closer he could make out an old road made of cobblestones that were overgrown with moss and covered in leaves.
Being naturally curious he backtracked and found a place to cross, just a little up from where he crossed he found the overgrown road and followed it back towards the waterfall. Passed the waterfall the road veered to the left going for a few minutes before going up the mountain. After following the road for a good 30 minutes it finally ended up at an old-looking shrine, deciding it wouldn't hurt to take a look he approached the abandoned building.
When he reached the building covered in ivy he could make out a strange design over the entrance so reaching up and gabbing hold of the viney plant he pulled relieving the rest of the strange symbol. Stepping back he got a better look only to frown, he recognized that symbol it was worn on the back of the Konoha flax jacket the only difference being the white color where the ones on the jackets were red.
But on each of the pillars holding the awning were the words Uzumaki. His name... his last name... the last name of an orphan. It just made no sense to him, he was supposed to be some no named orphan in the vast village of Konoha, but here was his name all the way in the Land of Trees.
With a whole new level of excitement he rushed up the steps and into the shrine. The inside was just the same as the outside with two differences, it was dark and without all the plants. But never the less he could see it was bare, and rundown.
Scattered throughout the room was some worn furnishings like a desk, a shattered chair, an empty book shelf and a glowing seal in the corner that made him freeze. Throwing caution to the wind he moved forward and knelt to the floor to get a better look. The seal on the floor wasn't big, about 8 inches in diameter and was written using kanji and an intricate pattern.
What really caught his attention thou was that the seal was slowly pulsing a bright blue. But this glow was obviously not producing real light, because the area and things around it where still dark despite the seemingly bright light. While he was contemplating it he reached and touched the seal tracing two rings that made up the outer wall with his index finger. His hand jerked when his finger caught a splinter in the floor looking at it with a frown the plucked the deep splinter out causing a drop of blood to flow and fall into the floor where the seal was located.
Sticking the hurt finger in his mouth to sooth the sting, he stared angrily at the seal only to see it changing color from blue to white and red. Completely forgetting about the pain he watched as parts of the seal began to spin accompanied by four clicking sounds. When the seal stopped spinning there was one more, louder click followed by a hiss of escaping air and the floor under the seal gave way to a ladder leading down into a well-lit room.
Seeing no intimidate problem with the situation he climbed down the trap door and reached the bottom after 15 feet. This new room was three times as large as the entire shrine above seemed form the outside. But this room was anything but bare; in the center of the room were 4 identical work tables with what he could only describe as lab research equipment. On the far wall was a book shelf the top half filled with scrolls and the bottom half filled with journals, over to his left was a desk with a single scroll siting at the center accompanied by an ink stone and brush.
Opposite the desk the entire wall was covered by a very old-looking map the center of which depicted a massive caldera able to hold the entire of Konoha and its own mountain comfortably. And not too far away from the edge of the caldera were some words that said "Uzumaki Shrine" showing that this was his current location and not too far form that was the outline of the river he was following coming straight form inside the volcanic crater.
After staring at the map for a good while he moved to the desk, avoiding the tables in the center so as to not break any of the equipment strewn about it. Reaching the desk he looked at the scroll and opened it. The first line consisted of a date and name; the date set it at 22 years old and the name "Ayumi Uzumaki" getting a bit more curious he opened the scroll more revealing a letter.
"To my predecessor, whom ever you may be I write this to you to explain Uzumaki shrine number 34 The Cage to you in the case you have not been informed. The Cage was located and set up over a two-hundred years ago for the prosperous of studying the Bijuu, and that endeavor was successful having captured and contained the Nanabi for 50 years before it being released and given to are allies in the waterfall village. But the research continued with the help of Mito Uzumaki in Konoha and her personal findings into the Bijuu. The final analysis of The Cage finds that it may have been used by the Sage of the Six Paths in holding down the Jubi in the proses of sealing and would be able to contain even the Kyūbi. If you're reading this then you were chosen to be my replacement after my visit to Uzu and I wish you the best of luck in continuing the work that is done here. May you always hear the wind."
Naruto closed the scroll and took another look around the room now knowing what this place was. It was a place of research and the way Ayumi spoke implied that the other shrines were like this one, used to explore and expand the knowledge of the Uzumaki.
Setting the scroll back on the desk he moved to the map and looked closer at the shrines location compared to the top of the The Cage and noticed a path leading from the shrine straight to the top. Deciding he wanted to see this caldera with his own eyes he moved left to the latter and noticed something he missed before, the wall he came down on had two photos one on either side of the latter. Moving closer he started with the one on the right. The photo depicted the shrine in black and white, from when it was in its prime. Out in front were four people all wearing similar robes, two male both mid-20s, one with long hair pony-tailed to the left and had his hands tucked in his sleeves but the look in his eyes were of excitement and pride. The other one looked a bit younger his hair was a few inches but it was spiky the only real contrast to it was the long rats tail coming down form just behind his right ear and draping over his solder to reach his belt, his smirk was cocky and mischievous like he had just won the right to be there in a bet. The two women of the group looked identical with the difference being their hair styles and if Naruto was a gambler he would bet they were twins, but the one on the leaf had her hair in a Hime cut with the framing bangs just two her chin and her eyes and smile giving off the vibe that she had just won the lottery. Her twin was sporting a high pony-tail and glancing at her sister and to Naruto at least, seemed to be rolling her eyes with a happy devilish smirk.
Planning to look at it more later when it got dark, he moved onto the one on the left, it showed a large crater with even cliffs and a single ridge around the outside and over top the crater was a large seal array. And on the inside was a larger than life beetle siting in the bottom 6 wings and one long tail seeming to be at rest.
Wanting to get to looking with his own eyes he quickly claimed the latter and sat his pack in the upper room and left the shrine to move up the over grown trail. After about an hour of hiking up the mountain trail he reached the ridge and looked over the giant crater the bottom of which was forest like the one outside the mountain in the center was a lake with a river flowing out in his direction and moving into the mountain.
Along the top where he was standing was a dirt and rock trail going around the rim and a little ways away on the trail was a large rock with a giant seal facing inwards looking straight across from it on the other side of the crater was another and two more similar ones two its left and right.
Before dusk hit Naruto had made his way down the mountain and set up a fire outside the shrine to cook his food for an extend stay. He had spent most of the evenings looking at the scrolls, most of them were on sealing but all of them were gibberish to him. There were also scrolls on jutsu recreation based on the Nanabi's powers most concerning with flight.
He had stayed a total of five days and taking all the books and scrolls with him thanks to a book storing scroll that was the first on the shelf it was the only one he was able to get it simply being used for storing scrolls and books in was filled to the brim with block shaped seals and the entirety of the shrines collection took just under a quarter of the space it provided.
Clearing his head of thoughts of the past he picked himself up and moved towards the sound of the waterfall. When he came upon it there was a noticeable difference the blue water was glowing and roaring down the mountain in great amounts and every now and then there would be a bright flash of red before it would be over powered by the blue.
Taking his eyes off the glowing falls he found the road to was different, it was clean and clear of leaves and moss almost looking new. Thoroughly confused he ran up the road making his way to the shrine only to stop before it and stare at the unobstructed view of the shrine it being as new as the day it was in its photo. He proceeded to walk towards the building only to stop when a sudden and loud roar echoed form the top of the mountain.
Deciding on which was more important he moved to the trail and proceeded up the mountain only to see a seal covering the entire top of the caldera. This seal was extremely complex and far beyond anything he had seen even the one used to contain the Nanabi in the same location, the center of the seal was made up of thousands of kanji syllables slowly moving in a swirling pattern to the center, on the outside were 8 large kanji slowly spinning around the outer edge.
Looking down past the seal Naruto saw what he never through possible. In the bottom of The Cage was the Kyūbi no Kitsune staring him straight in the eyes the nine tails flailing in his backdrop.
"You are truly a fool, you uncoordinated ape!" It bellowed form the floor of The Cage up at the boy, causing him to stubble back some. "I can only wonder how I was stuck with you as my host, a weakling child ape such as yourself."
"How are you hear!? I read that you died almost 8 years ago!" Naruto yelled down at the fox while looking over the edge from his hands and knees.
"You apes will believe anything told to you, like how your once great Hokage was able to kill me. I will teach you something, you cannot kill the immortals. We are made of pure chakra and it is impossible to destroy chakra. What the blasted man did was seal me into the only thing left that could hold me." Said the Bijuu in a cold tone squinting at the boy as if it the stair would burn a hole through him.
"And what was that? The Cage? Because it was empty when I was here not two months ago." He responded whilst doing a retake of his surroundings.
"This place would have held me if there was anyone left to use it. No. The only thing left that could possibly hold me would be the body of a main line Uzumaki. Of which there was only one, and that one was you. The only thing from me and true freedom is the seal that binds me to you!" He barked out lunging at the seal above him only for it to stop him.
"If you're not in The Cage, but inside me then how are we hear at the shrine?" Naruto asked on the verge of a major mind over load.
"This is your mind, the only other link to me you have is the river which has become the representation of your chakra network such as this lake has become one for mine." And now that Naruto looked he could see the lake had become a glowing red. "Your mind had found the greatest prison in which to keep me and changed it from what was a large sewer to this. A much better location I would have to admit."
"So how is it that I got here? The last thing I remember was falling off that cliff in the Land of Iron." He asked saving other questions for another time.
"You are still there, you currently have 4 broken rips a sprained ankle a fractured wrist and several broken finders all lacerated badly but there is good news you are not freezing to death. But your here because you went into shock upon impact with the ledge, which by the way is not going to hold your weight for long." Naruto was stunned about this whole situation, he just found out he was holding the Kyūbi inside himself and he was currently on the deaths ledge and there's... "Stop you ape or you will destroy us both." Naruto stopped and looked at the fox below him.
"What?" He questioned.
"I said you would destroy us both if you gave up." Stated the fox.
"But you said you couldn't be killed." The white-haired boy replayed.
"I can't but I can be destroyed there is a difference, something destroyed can be rebuilt but it cannot be the same. There is something that all us Bijuu fear and that is to destruction, when that happens our chakra is forced in all directions and depending on how far it goes the longer we are in agony from 10 to 100 years we could suffer and would lose ourselves to the pain. And I will not go through that so you will save yourself or I will force you!" He yelled out snarling the last line.
"OK you over sized plush toy how am I supposed to do that. It's not like I'm in any shape to move, or do I know how to get out of here. So got any advice, Oh great and powerful trapped one!" Naruto shot back at his furry tenant.
"This may surprise you but you are not my first host nor are you the second, and over the past century I have not been idly grooming myself. There is a ninja technique that you could use to save yourself, as for you physical state all there is left to heal is two other ribs." He answered.
"But you just said that I was all beat up like two minutes ago and now it's just the two ribs, are you ling to me fox." Accused the boy finally getting frustrated.
"Don't be naïve you and I both know of your clans' rapid healing factor, further aided by my presence. As for your two minutes it has been an hour outside of here just in the span of are conversation, not to mention your wandering. As for how you will make it up to the path, you will have to climb it, but because the snow you would just fall again unless you use your chakra to bind your hands and feet to the cliff wall." The fox replayed beginning to get annoyed at the boys stubbornness.
"Fine but how is it that I will get out of my mind." He stopped when the entreaty of the landscape lurched.
"The ledge is giving way. Get. Out. Now!" The fox yelled, and with a start Naruto shot up the world turning white with snow followed by another lurch beneath him. Breaking his daze he reached for the cliff side adding chakra to his hands and digging in deep just as the overhang crumbled beneath him showing the canyon below.
Looking down Naruto swallowed. "Dam that was close." he whispered to himself.
"No Shit." He heard a whispered replay coming from inside his head. Deciding to ignore it for now he added chakra to his feet and dug them into the side of the cliff. Looking at the cliff above him he looked for the strongest looking stops, then taking his left hand out of snow-covered rock he noticed that his fingernails were more like claws.
"What's this?" He questioned the only thing that could be listening.
"Think of it like extra traction." That only thing replayed.
Saving his yelling for a safer place he reached up with the clawed hand and dug in, he could feel his chakra puling at the wall and helping to support his weight. Then he pulled out his right foot and dug it higher in the cliff then he repeated the proses with his right hand and left foot, on the way up he had some accidents where he would not add enough chakra and his boot would slip or he would try to place a hand that was charged only for it to suddenly fly off the rock face. But even with the slow going he made it to the path only for him to fling himself on his back away from the edge and take long and deep berths, he lifted his hand and watched as the claws pulled back.
After several minutes of just siting he picked himself up grabbed his pack and Kunai and moved up the path to find a safe place to rest for the night. After about a half hour of walking he found a cave in the mountain side, reaching the entrants he looked inside to find if was already occupied by the fox pack. The older ones were eying him suspiciously and he was thinking on what to do when he noticed the small one sitting in the back.
Making eye contact with the small one he spoke. "May I join you?" The boy asked the small fox causing all the others to turn in and look at the kit. The small kit seemed to have a guilty smile as if he got caught doing something it was not supposed to do. Looking around it gave off a strange questioning like *Yip to the others causing them to turn back to the boy, the largest of them stood and moved in fount of the boy the larger fox had a black diamond in the center of its head and stared with icy eyes. The obvious leader barked and nodded its head for the boy to enter which he politely accepted with a bow. "Thank you for sharing the space."
The leader barked and did a head jerk towards the small one. "Oh..." He turned and faced the kit. "Thank you for vouching for me." The thank you earning a happy *yip from the small white fox.
Naruto having set his pack down was ruminating through it and pulled out a scroll, a kettle, and a portable cooker. He looked at the curious foxes and smiled. "Have you guys ever had ramen?"
4,431 Words.
Sorry for the long wait, lots of things have been going on between now and the last update family visiting, school/work, camping trip for 5 days. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Have a good dayとは、次回お会いしましょう.
dash666 100th follower. Advence15- Thank you for telling me that was a parity big mistake and I am thoroughly embarrassed.
FlameFox1- Thank you for your comment I will attempt to add more action into the story.
Dragon-master999- Your insight was helpful, but keep in mind I am not a personal writer and not even they come out unscathed when being edited. And Perdition is a word and is the auto correct for Permition. But it's Permission.
OoOXylionOoO- All of the comets you left where vary nice so Thank you for reading and commenting. Tchouss.
TigezzTail- Thank you that was one of the things I was striving for was to keep him away from the main show or where other many other FanFictions take him.
Uzu Kitsune- I'm glad you liked that, everything to do with the shrines was never planned before hand and just popped into my head when thinking about what to wright when he was waiting in the book store and why he would want an old map.
Guest 1- I wonder what your reaction will be but sorry went on a long camping trip and had relatives over it has been a long 4 weeks.
Guest 2- I don't know about that for this part of the story but maybe when there older. And not 7, they would probably need to be at least 15-16 before I feel comfortable about wright any type of lemon.
Ayumi (あゆみ): Japanese name meaning "pace, stroll, walk."
