Hey everybody, miss me? Well here I am with a new chapter for Naruto the Kitsune, hope you like it.
One note about Naurto's eyes, they have stayed red ever since his connection to Kurama was severed. Just wanted to make sure you all didn't think I was confused.
I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.
Naruto sat at a table across from his teacher Konan. They'd sat like that dozens of times the past year they'd spent together, yet this instance was different. Though there wasn't any change to either of their faces the atmosphere was tense. Neither one spoke or tried to make eye contact. The only sound the pitter-patter of the ever present rain that was the namesake of that hidden village. Narutp heard Konan draw a breath of air and he raised his six year-old head to look at his teacher. The boy could see his reflection in her eyes, his wild mane of blonde hair, the strange whisker marks on his cheeks, his blood-red eyes that had never bled back to their original sapphire blue. The young jinchuriki felt words and emotions bubble up unbidden and just before he spoke the radio clicked on.
~They come from every state to find
Some areas were meant to be declined
Tell the man what did you have in mind
What have you come to do?
No turning water into wine
No learning wile you're in the line
I'll take you to the broken sign
You'll see the lights are blue!
Come and get it!
Lost it at the city limit!
Say goodbye 'cause they will find a way to trim it!
Everybody lookin' for a silly gimmick
Gotta get away
Can't take it for another minute!~
The following silence was even more awkward as Naruto returned to his seat with a feeble mumble of "It's lunchtime." Naruto silently cursed himself that he'd forgotten to turn off his lunch alarm as he did every time it interrupted something important. Even worse, he could see Konan's slightly upturned lips. That was paramount to her laughing herself to death. The boy sighed and finally took the initiative concerning the elephant in the room, "I am your student, right?" The blonde received a nod, "Then why the hell do I have eleven other teachers?!"
Konan winced imperceptibly as she thought back to how she'd tried to repeal Pain's decision. There was only one word to describe what happened : embarrassing.
Everyone looked on silently as the angel rose to defeat the god.
As Konan speared toward Pain in a blind rage, flurries of papers trailing behind her. The wind generated from the attack blew everyone's notes into the air and ruined everyone except for Itachi's carefully cut hairstyles. Konan brought the papers together in a giant spike above her head and just before she brought the giant spike of papery doom down on her leader, Pain struck the female Akatsuki member in the neck.
Everyone looked on silently as the angel fell to the hand of the god.
"Totally rude! I spent an entire six hours slicking my hair back in the name of Jashin! How come only Itachi was spared?!"
The Konoha missing nin spoke in a monotone as the tomoe in his eyes spun lazily, "The Sharingan sees all."
"I call BS! How can 'seeing all' keep your hair from being messed up?"
With that last comment the remaining members of the Akatsuki descended into shouting unintelligibly at each other as the leader of the organization left the room with an unconscious Konan slung over his shoulder.
"You should be more concerned with learning as much as you can. Not every one has a chance to be trained personally by twelve different S rank ninja, missing-nin or not." It killed her inside to do this, but if she couldn't convince Naruto with her words then Pain would convince the boy forcefully, "Tell me Naruto, why are you so against having so many teachers?"
The young blond looked up at the woman who'd taken him in when he'd had nowhere to go, and paused. Naruto was going to spout the first thing that came to his mind but something in his teacher's eyes gave him pause.
She's sad.
As mature as Naruto seemed, he was only six years old. He didn't understand the sadness that he saw seated deeply in his teacher's gaze. She was was the one pushing him away, but it was hurting her? The boy would be the first to admit that he didn't know Konan very well, even when he'd spent the last year under her guidance the boy had been studying on his own for most of that time. Even so, she had taken him in and Naruto was determined to repay her for his kindness. As the boy's blood red eyes focused on the blue haired kunoichi's own amber eyes he opened his mouth, "Fine. If it's what you want then I'll deal with it."
It took a moment for the kunoichi to process the boy's words. The amber eyed angel blinked once and then again, before letting out a sigh that was relieved on the surface though underneath her calm persona was a raging whirlwind of emotion. Now that Konan had avoided a confrontation with Pain on Naruto's behalf she was free to worry about the boy's well being in relation to the rest of Akatsuki.
"So, you said I'd be training under everyone in your group, who gets me first?" Naruto was honestly curious, he also figured when he started he'd be too busy to think about his feelings.
In answer to the young blonde's question the bluenette stood from her chair and moved toward the exit, "Seeing as you are by far more familiar and comfortable with me than the rest of Akatsuki it shall be I that shall oversee the first part of your new training schedule. Prepare yourself, for I have much to teach you if you are to be ready to endure the others' lessons."
Naruto gulped even as he stood to follow his teacher, as ominous as that was he'd stick it through to the end. Even if he was only six, he would endure.
'After all,' The red eyed blonde thought, 'I'm a shinobi.'
The allotted month passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye for Naruto. Konan had thrown a title wave of material at the boy in hopes of making sure that he was some semblance of ready by the time their time ran out. The result of that hastily planned intense training stood next to her. She'd put the boy through a crash course of physical training, enough so that he'd at least be durable enough to survive the other Akatsuki members' teachings. In addition to the physical training, she'd had him doing chakra exercises as well and Naruto's already considerable quantity of chakra had done nothing but grow, easily doubling over the course of the past month. The boy idly weaved a single slip of paper in a lazy pattern as the two waited for the second Akatsuki member in line to teach the red eyed blonde.
That's another thing, Thought the amber eyed bluenette, I only taught him the basics of my paper ninjutsu and he's already adapted to controlling the paper's movements, even if they aren't exact. I swear, that boy's a sponge. The Angel of the Rain once more glanced around the clearing she and her pupil were currently waiting in, as she had done not ten minutes before. As much as she didn't want to let go of her student, even if it was only temporary, Konan was impatient as well. Every moment spent in tense inaction was another that she might use to run off with Naruto and the blue haired Kunoichi was not keen on repeating her unsuccessful throw down with Pain, Where is he?
'Who is he' you ask? Well, if I were to describe this 'he' person, the first thing I'd mention would be his blueness. The man was practically a bipedal shark. Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the Hidden Mist's Seven Swordsmen, the current and latest wielder of the living sword, Samehada. The man smirked as he waltzed out from behind a tree, "So this is your squirt, Konan. He's got great taste in boxers, I'll tell you that much." The kunoichi didn't care for this particular member of the Akatuki, but even if she held no personal feelings toward him his power was undeniable. He was certainly no Pain, but his power was apparent. Even when his attitude screamed casual, his posture held the telltale signs of a lifetime of battle experience. The man was ready to spring at anything, even when he expected nothing.
Naruto who'd watched impassively, glanced at his stoic sensei before facing forward, a determination burning in his blood red eyes, "Well, you're here. Let's go." The monster of the Mist hefted his sword and smirked as he watched the look in the boy's eyes, "Well, ain't you an asshole? You ain't gonna see her 'till next year and you ain't even gonna say goodbye?"
Naruto allowed his long luscious locks of golden hair cascade in front of his face, covering his eyes. The boy turned his face slightly toward Konan, before speaking in a voice laden with restrained emotion, "I won't forget, you do the same." With those parting words, the blonde began to walk. He didn't look back.
It was raining.
"So kid," They'd been walking silently for the better part of the day when Kisame suddenly spoke, "You think you got what it takes to be a ninja?" The blue man's attitude was much more serious and menacing than his previously cheerful demeanor, and when Naruto nodded the man's smirk only widened, "Then show me what'cha got." That was all the warning Naruto got before the huge swordsman was upon him.
An instant later the sharkskin sword eviscerated the log that the young blond had substituted with. Crouched behind an inconspicuous rock formation, Naruto contemplated his options. He knew what the swordsman's blade was capable of, Konan had made sure of that, so indiscreet jutsus were out. The boy took in the scenery as he leapt out of the way of another sweeping sword strike just as a water shark was sent his way, "I ain't gonna teach no one who can't handle a little heat!" A quick application of chakra to his feet allowed the boy to barely dodge, even if the momentum had wrenched his leg out of it's socket, leaving the boy with his mobility severely hindered.
"Pitiful, if you're still this weak after a year I'll spare us both the hassle and kill you now." As the monster of the hidden mist towered over the red eyed child, Naruto remembered something important. Kisame's beady eyes would've widened if they could as his finishing strike caught nothing but air. Dozens of slips of paper dangled in the air as Naruto stood defiantly across the clearing from the missing nin feeling light as a feather, grinning even as he popped his leg's joint back into place, "Now I can move a bit easier."
Kisame gestured to the slips of paper as they began to dance through the air, "Remind me again what these are." Naruto's eyes narrowed but he answered nonetheless, "Gravity seals. I use them for training purposes, each one is designed to double my weight." Kisame parted his lips, showing all who cared to look his sharpened teeth, the sign of one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, "Then stop talking and show me the results of your training."
Naruto crouched before rocketing forward, cratering the ground where he'd previously stood. Naruto's vision tunneled as he sped toward his goal, his golden locks whipping through the air behind him. The veteran ninja clearly saw where the boy was headed, yet even as he raised his sword to swat the diminutive disciple away the boy bounced through the air before sending an open palm strike toward the large man's waiting face. Naruto smirked, thinking he'd succeeded.
And then, with a flick of the wrist Kisame's sword reversed direction and slammed into the boy with impossible speed. That sent the boy flying as blood rained down from the sky. When the jinchuriki's body impacted with something solid enough to stop his flight a huge cloud of dust was thrown into the air around him. An instant later, the boy emerged from the dust cloud, barely able to stand. One more hit and I'm as good as ground beef, Even as he thought this Naruto smirked, Good thing I've got a plan.
Two more Narutos burst out of the ground, one with his fist cocked back while the other flew through hand seals. The original Naruto chucked a Kunai and as the clone by Kisame finished his set of hand signs the throwing weapon multiplied into a wall of black death metal. But even as the fish eyed Akatsuki member swung his sword to absorb the chakra from the boy's techniques numerous slashes suddenly appeared all over the ninja's body as he was swarmed with flying slips of paper which promptly exploded.
When the smoke cleared, Kisame was shown to be sliced in man different places and he was slightly crispier than when he'd started their encounter but the injuries were revealed as superficial in the grand scheme of things as the shark man rested his still partially bandaged sword on his shoulder. "A fair try, but you still have a long way to go." Then that Kisame dissolved into nothing but a puddle as the real ninja walked out from behind a tree. Naruto stumbled in exhaustion, Samehada had been stealing a steady stream of his chakra throughout the fight, even when he'd distanced himself from the sword and it's wielder. "I could barely scratch your water clone." It wasn't a question.
Kisame shrugged, "To be honest, I'm surprised you even managed that. But you did good, you used your head when you knew brute force wouldn't work. I liked what you did with the explosive tags, scattering those with your gravity seals." Naruto sighed as he reluctantly accepted the praise, still struggling to keep his eyes open, "So you'll teach me then?"
The blue swordsman grinned his dreadful grin, "You bet."
Naruto nodded, not exactly happy as he fell backwards, his last words being a sarcastic "Yay me" as he slipped into a dreamless slumber.
So what did you think? I do apologize for the shorter than normal length, but I covered everything I wanted to and the next chapter is going to be after a huge timeskip, so yeah…
Let me know what you think, if you have any questions or advice or criticism I'd love to hear it. All you have to do is write a review.
Peace out, Pencyke out.