Naruto sat in a large room, a lounge of some sort, in an ornate blue armchair. He was in a daze...
'Father...?' he thought to himself warily as he sipped on a cup of tea. The tall silver haired fox demon stared at him from across a coffee table. He lounged on the right side of a blue couch, one leg crossed over the other, his arm draped over the back. He was giving the blond the same piercing look, as if he was searching through Naruto's very soul.
Naruto suddenly found himself angry. There was no way this could be true, absolutely impossible!
Hiei, who sat behind Yoko at the window seal, shot him a look as if to say, 'get on with it...'
"So you want to explain what the hell all that was about?" he barked with a little more attitude then he meant to. "Why the hell did you bring me here??"
Yoko simply smiled and closed his eyes.
"Well to put it simply, the nine tailed fox was my son," he stated, and continued when he saw the boy's expression. "Years ago, I met a rogue fox demon female. She was wild and untamable. I brought her to my bed-" He smirked at Naruto's blushing face. "The next day she was gone, and I never saw her again. Soon after, I heard rumors that she gave birth to a male with nine tails."
Yoko leaned forward and grabbed his cup of tea, taking a long drink.
"Ok? That only explains part of it..." Naruto began, then he looked over at the fire demon in the window. "Why did you bring me here?"
The raven haired man merely glanced at him, but said nothing, giving Yoko the chance to answer.
"Because your useful," he stated. "The day that the Kyuubi was sealed within you, his energy was was infused with yours. With severe training, you could become a rather powerful demon-"
"No!" the blonde shouted, slamming his cup onto the table. "I don't want to become an uncontrollable monster like him!"
"You wont," Hiei said, having gotten up and stood in front of the blond. Looking down at him with a glare. "Provided that you do everything that we tell you, you as a person will remain in tact."
"He's right," Yoko added. "The bloodthirsty beast that was the nine tailed fox, is long gone, only the spirit remains, which, as of right now, can take control of your human body. But as Hiei said... you do everything that we tell you to do and the spirit will finally dissipate, leaving nothing but his energy which you will absorb, thus completely turning you into a demon."
Naruto looked down at the coffee table, not really sure what to think. What was he going to do? Decline and go home to the same useless life he had? Or accept and become the very thing that he was ostracized for?
"And what if I say no?"
"Then we kill you now," Hiei spat venomously. Shit. What choice did he have?
He clenched the cloth of his pants, staring at his knees.
"F.....fine.... I'll do it..." he choked out. Every nerve in his body screaming at him to stop talking.
Yoko stood up and looked down at him with the same serious stare that the fire youkai gave. Both of them looking down at him ominously made him shiver.
"Good," the fox demon said. "You will be in Hiei's charge."
He turned and walked out the door without another word. Naruto briefly noticed someone standing outside it, waiting for him. Hiei turned on him...
"Get up," he ordered, already walking towards the door. "You will be ready at dawn, that is when your training begins. Your room is across from mine, do not bother knocking on my door unless it is an emergency. Understood?"
Naruto nodded as they walked briskly through the hallways. He tried to remember the way to his, and Hiei's room, but they turned around corners, far to many times for him to remember. They stopped in the familiar hallway, and Hiei pointed to the blond's room.
Naruto stood there, watching Hiei turn a corner and disappear. The weight of what he had just done finally landed on his shoulders.
Though what he didn't realize, was exactly how much his world was about to change.....
"So..." Tsunade began, once Naruto had finished talking. "Your demon father... He must be very powerful to have fathered the Nine Tailed Fox..."
"Well yes, Yoko is powerful, that much is certain...But I believe the raw beastly power that the original Kyuubi possessed came from my demon mother." He contradicted. "But much of Yoko's power resides in his knowledge. Actually when he first told me that he fathered the demon I thought he was kidding. He's far to eloquent...."
Everyone in the room sat in silence, taking in the information that was just divulged to them.
"So how did it happen?" Sakura asked suddenly, her voice shaking.
"What?" He asked. Not being able to find the words, she gestured to his body. "Oh! Yes well, it wasn't easy. For the first three months, I trained everyday to make my body stronger. After that both Hiei and Yoko worked together to alter the seal that Yondaime placed upon me. They made it so that the day I became mentally and physically able, the seal would break and I would absorb the Kyuubi's energy and turn me into a demon."
"Really?" Kakashi mused, thoroughly interested. "And how long did that take?"
"About seven months. And for the next three years I trained as a demon. Learning and studying everything I could get my hands on."
The way he spoke of his new life so passionately, it was as if they were looking at him for the first time. He looked almost beautiful, so at peace, and so comfortable in his new body. It was like he had never been a human.
"That still doesn't explain the letter we got," Tsunade questioned. "The one explaining your death?" Naruto put a hand behind his head and grinned sheepishly.
"Yeah.. well I had gotten so used to the idea of becoming a demon. I don't know, it just felt like something I had to do. I got so driven that I trained harder then my human body could take, and it just kind of... quit. They had assumed me dead and buried me. But I guess the Kyuubi's energy preserved my body until it could recover. But by the time I crawled back out of the earth, Yoko had already sent the letter."
"But it said that you were brutally murdered, by a band of thieves!" Sasuke questioned.
"Technically he wasn't lying... They had all trained me to the point of death..." he replied. "And Yoko, his men, Hiei, and myself are thieves...."
There was a pause, everyone looked at Tsunade. Her eyes were closed in contemplation. Naruto suddenly found himself nervous, and started fiddling with his silky black tail.
"Well," Tsunade opened her eyes. "Good enough for me."
Naruto's eyes lit up lit christmas lights.
"WHAT?!" Ebisu shouted in outrage. "Hokage, clearly the boy is a dangerous beast. You heard him, he learned everything he could in the ways of being a demon. Things he could use against us!"
"Thats it!" Iruka lost his temper and grabbed the man with glasses around the shirt coller. "That may be true but he also saved all our lives yesterday!"
"You disgust me..." Ebisu mocked darkly. "Defending such vile filth!"
The bespectacled man made to slash at Iruka's face, but his fist was caught in an iron grip. They turned to see a deadly copper colored glare. The venom that seeped from the demons retina's could have melted the mans face.
"You, my friend, will not lay a hand on him..." He growled.
"Naruto, Iruka, let him go..." Tsunade ordered and they obeyed. "Now, Naruto, you will go back to my house with Sasuke and Sakura. The rest of us need to speak..."
The demon smiled at her as the other two stood up. He raised a clawed hand, and it glowed red, just like before. Sasuke and Sakura, having already seen this before, jumped into the portal that dropped down into the woman's front lawn. While everyone else just stared at it in shock. Naruto stood there string at the portal with a frown.
"You know..." he began, his smooth voice, deep and ominous. "This time around......... I will not hide myself... not. again."
And with that he jumped, and the portal disappeared. Everyone stared at the floor for a moment.
"So what does everyone think?" She asked. A few mixed responses sounded, all of them sounded unsure.
"What do you think Kakashi?" Iruka asked, looking at the masked man.
"Hmm... I think that this is all rather interesting. When he was human, he was a brat with the horrible temper. But now the he is a demon, it is almost as if he is completely at peace. Think about it... Before, he almost hated himself for what he was, but now he lives in a world where he is accept for what he is. I think, that he would be of more use to the village, rather then harm," he stated.
In the corner, Ebisu scoffed.
"I agree with Kakashi." Gai added, next to him Iruka nodded. "I say we give him a chance!"
Tsunade sighed, having no other choice.
"Fine," she finally said. "But what are we going to do about him? As he said, he will not hide himself anymore. Not that he can, what with those ears and that tail... Plus I cant keep him cooped up in my house forever..."
"Why not let him back into his old apartment?" Iruka suggested. Ebisu choked.
"That's right in the middle of town!" He argued. "We cant just let him waltz through the village! He'll cause a riot!"
Kakashi started to laugh.
"Actually, I think he might enjoy that."
"Focus!!" Tsunade barked. She sighed again, this time in defeat. "That's it, we have to tell the village....... fuck..."
When they had received the letter of Naruto's death, the news that HE was the vessel of the nine tailed fox, spread like wildfire through the children of Konoha. Tsunade knew that they, those who grew up with him, would want to know he was alive. But the adults, the ones that treated him like shit, they wont be so forgiving... especially in his current state.
"Hokage-sama." Iruka mumbled. "I'm sure that whatever happens, Naruto is more then capable of handling it."
She nodded in agreement. "So, what do we do?"
Naruto stood crouched behind a bush, a dagger clutched in his right hand. Eyes squinting for any sign of movement, ears twitching at a slight humming that suddenly sounded to his left. Small rhythmic sounds of metal slicing through the air.
He easily deflected the shuriken, aimed for his head, with his dagger. He could feel Sasuke's eyes glaring at him. Since their sparing had started, Naruto had known all along where the boy was, just from his scent alone. The fox demon smirked; it had taken Sasuke almost thirty minutes to find him. And Naruto could practically feel the anger seeping from the other boy.
He dodged another wave of Kunai and leaped, with ease, into another tree on the other side of the clearing. Sasuke followed him, aiming a blow at his chest. Naruto caught his wrist in an iron grip, and jumped out of the tree, taking Sasuke with him. In mid air, Naruto turned and flung Sasuke towards the ground with blinding speed. The raven haired boy hit the ground with such force that it caused a dent in the earth around him.
Sasuke, not seriously injured but still very sore, looked up to see Naruto standing above him. With much disdain on Sasuke's part, it was clear to both of them who had won. Naruto reached out a friendly hand and helped him up.
"You've gotten stronger," he remarked. Naruto smirked and nodded modestly.
"Yeah, well it comes with the territory." he replied as they walked back to Tsunade's back porch. "I could say the same thing about you. Your at least three times stronger then what I remember."
They sat down on the lounge chairs on the porch as Sakura came out with lemonade for the three of them.
"I'm glad you guys are back," she spoke, mainly to Naruto, as she sat on the railing. "Iruka came by with a message for you."
"What is it?" he asked taking a long sip at his drink. His demon eyes caught the hesitant, nervous look that flashed across her face.
"Uhm well," she said. "Tsunade and the other Sensei's finally came out of their meeting."
"About damn time," Sasuke remarked. They had been in that meeting all night.
"And apparently they've reached a decision..." she continued, ignoring the raven hair boy. "They're going to let you stay, provided that you do everything in your power to help in a crisis."
"Well that's not a problem," he agreed. "Like they even have to ask..."
"Well there is more," she replied, nodding. "She's called a mandatory town meeting for every man, woman, and child in Konoha, for tomorrow morning. And she's going to tell everyone about you."
The demon went ridged, a look on his face that the other two couldn't distinguish. Then all of a sudden, he burst into a fit of laughter. Not a mischievous laughter, but a hearty laughter that came straight from his gut. A laugh that they hadn't heard in four years.
"Oh that's gonna be priceless!" he laughed, tears brimming his eyes. "There is no way i'm gonna miss that!!"
Sakura smiled in response, and turned to looked out over the yard, as he continued to snicker. As she turned away from them, her eyes hardened. She was so very glad to have Naruto back. To here his voice again was like an angel had whispered into her ear. But.... in his change, she could not deny the terror that filled her body. He was a demon for pete's sake!
'He was always a demon...' a voice in her head contradicted. Well he wasn't a true demon back then........... Eventually she started having a mental argument with herself about the whole thing, that she almost didn't notice a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around her shoulders.
*I could never hurt you.....* his voice sounded. But she couldn't tell if it was in her head, or he had actually voiced it. He straightened and put his hands behind his head with a goofy grin.
"So are you guys hungry??" he asked and started to walk away. "Cause i'm thinking about making a big lunch."