Kushina returned a few hours later to her hidden room, just like she had she would. She cast a bemused expression toward's her guest, finding that she had one more guest now than she had when she had left. Kakashi was settled in on the cushions, reading a book. Kushina noted that it was the latest Icha Icha book. Hinata was meditating in the corner, her eyes shut. Kushina could sense the chakra rotating through the girl's body. And Naruto was sitting near the table, making the ring on his middle finger take one shape after another.
Watching him intently, and occasionly making a comment, was a tall woman with long silver hair, held back by a blank headband. Brownish-red eyes squinted every now and then, focusing exclusively on Naruto and his experimentings. The woman wore a tight red v-neck shirt, black fishnet visible underneath, going past the sleeves, which stopped at the shoulders, and down to her shoulders. Her lower bottom was covered with a pair of black shorts, knee high shinobi sandals on the rest of her legs.
"Naruto, who is this?" Kushina asked evenly, not remembering letting such a woman into her home. This woman was one who she would remember letting in.
"This is Kitsune." He answered, returning the ring to normal. "She is in one of her physical forms, and actually the 'demon' who attacked Konoha and was sealed into me as a baby." He continued, now giving full attention to his mother. "But I won't reveal anything else without her permission."
"I already know." Kushina said, sitting across from Naruto on the floor. "Your father's family had long been making friendships and deals with 'demons', as the rest of the world called them cruelly. He knew that most of them were not actually cruel or evil. The evil acts that they did was brought on by some stupid human's actions."
"So, someone with a brain. And someone who actually uses it." Kitsune stated, clearly impressed. She held out a slender hand. "I believe that it is a custom of you humans to shake hands during a formal introduction. I am Kyuubi no Kitsune, though you may call me Kitsune, as Kit does here." Kushina shook it with a smile. "You have a question. Ask, and if I can answer, I will."
"Well, I knew of the steps and changes that would take place, including your new ability to take a human form. But I'd always thought that the human form would have fox ears and a tail." Kushina admitted sillily. "I know, it's silly. But, it's what I thought." Grinning ferally, Kitsune made her ears and tail pop out.
"I can hide them at will." Kitsune explained, flicking her tail lightly. Kushina couldn't miss the strength and stamina that this woman had. She had a feeling, that if Kitsune wanted to, she could easily wreak chaos anywhere she chose with no problem. "And yes, I could." Kitsune agreed, reading Kushina's mind easily. "But I won't. When I was living in the mountains away from civilization, my only desire was to live in peace. Now it's to protect Naruto here. And I know he would not approve of that. And he could even still stop me, as I'm still technically sealed into him."
"Were you invisible when you came in? I didn't see you enter." Kushina asked. "Let me guess, you were in your fox form, also smaller, riding somewhere in their bags or something."
Kitsune smiled and nodded. "Actually, in his pocket." She said, jerking a thumb towards Naruto. "Kit, I think you got your brains from your mom. Granted, Minato was smart, but extremely air headed. Unless you got him mad. Then few people could stop him." Naruto grimaced at being compared to his parents. Kitsune ruffled his hair in response. "Like it or not, I consider you my kit. You have three parents, two of whom are in a good position to embarrass you."
"Kushina, what did you mean by powers earlier? You said Naruto may have some powers." Hinata suddenly asked, stopping her meditation. She came over to them, stretching her stiff limbs. Kakashi was still completely into his book. "I have a feeling they have to do with Kitsune."
"Another smart one!" Kitsune exclaimed, tickling Hinata with her fluffy tail. "I also consider you my kit, by the way. And yes, his powers are directly tied to me. While I was still in his body, they were bound and sealed. Upon Minato's planned next stage of the process, which is how I am now, they were unlocked. Naruto need only become aware of them."
"What do I need to do?" Naruto asked eagerly. "And what are they?"
"The first one is heightened senses. You should now have every sense of yours heightened to the maximum." As Naruto became aware of this, his eyesight, which was already good, became even clearer and more focused. He was able to hear a lot more than he had ever been able to it. Naruto wrinkled his nose as his new heightened sense of smell kicked in.
"Urg, that was one sense I did not need heightened!" Naruto complained. "Now I know how Kiba feels with his smelling." Kitsune smiled.
"And the second one will come in very handy." Kitsune promised. "Focus on me, very intently." Naruto did so and he suddenly saw a bright red aura surrounding Kitsune. "It's not an aura." Kitsune corrected. "You can see chakra. Only instead of like the Hyuuga's Byakugan, it's the person's 'aura.' Over time, you won't need to concentrate to see one's chakra. This also allows you to predict your opponent's next move, as well as scan one's chakra to determine what his chakra nature is and tell which area's of study he/she is best suited to."
"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed, already making plans to start training that sense until he could do it automatically with no effort. "By area's of study, do you mean like ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, and all the other types of jutsu?" Naruto asked. Kitsune nodded.
"But don't only focus on those abilities." Kakashi said as he joined them. "That'll what end up in your death." Kakashi promised. "You must become good in every area to be a good ninja. And don't forget about the two other types of jutsu, doujutsu and fuuinjutsu. Your father was good in all of those areas except doujutsu, which he couldn't use because that uses the person's genetic bloodline limit. And Minato-sensei didn't have one."
"Fuuinjutsu?" Naruto asked, never having heard of this one. (And no, I did not make it up. It's stuff like sealing demons into human hosts and stuff like that. Check out for more details on that if you would like. It's basically sealing techniques.)
"It's the type of jutsu that is basically sealing. You and Hinata already know the most basic use of it." Kakashi explained. "It not only allows one to seal demons, though that has a very high price, but to seal elements as well." Naruto remembered a time when he had seen Jiraiya seal some black flames into a scroll. He realized that he had already seen some fuuinjutsu.
"While I am thinking about this, those who I can trust will meet us tomorrow at noon at a secret place I'll show you to." Kushina told them. "They want to meet you all before they go riding off into the sunset with us." Everyone gave her a funny look as she said that last phrase. "What?" She asked defensively. "Those were their words, not mine."
Hinata yawned. "Well, that settles it." Kushina said. "It's lights out now. You all need to rest. Especially for tomorrow's meeting." Kushina grabbed a scroll from near her bed and unsealed it, more bedding and pillows appearing. "I don't have enough for everyone. I have some of the most commonplace, and some of the wierdest, things sealed into scrolls." Kitsune popped back into her fox form and lay near Naruto's feet as he got into bed.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Kakashi roused everyone the next morning at around ten. Well, he got everyone up except Kushina, who was up before him. While Kakashi got Hinata up, Kushina got Naruto up. Kitsune took her human form. "I'll get Kit up. You gotta know what to do, otherwise he takes forever to fully wake up." Kushina turned to Hinata, who was cuddling with a big chibi doll of Naruto.
"Kitsune, what's up with that doll of my son? It's kinda creepy." Kitsune laughed at Kushina's question.
"Hinata cuddles with that over the real Naruto." Kitsune told her. "On the first night they left, she was physically and emotionally drained. While asleep, she pulled him down next to her and wouldn't let him go. Naruto had no choice but to sleep where he had pulled down to. Naruto had that made to give her the comfort that she feels the need for at night, while also using that doll as protection for both of them."
"How does a doll protect them both?" Kushina inquired, confused.
"Hinata doesn't sleepwalk into Naruto's bed this way. And if they don't sleep in the same bed, he knows that her purity is protected. He would hate himself greatly if he did something he regretted because of a teenage boy's hormones. As you should know, it's not that hard for something small to become big, to cross that line." Kitsune explained.
"Yeah. Maybe it would just be better to get it over and get married." Hinata said while still half-asleep. Kushina blanched at this, Kitsune laughed, and Kakashi was thinking something along the lines that this would make a great book. "Oh, what did I just say?!" Hinata asked, having shocked herself into full awakeness.
"Why not?" Naruto asked, everyone turning to him with shocked expressions. "Well, we are forming a new village. And we do love each other. So it was bound to happen eventually. Hinata has a point, get it over with now, and we'll be happier in the long run." Kitsune pulled on Naruto's ear painfully, making him wince loudly. "Hey, hey, what's this for?!"
"Don't speak about marriage so flippantly. Marriage is a sacred thing, not to be taken lightly." Kitsune scolded. "For all we know, this may just be a fling of yours."
"No way!" Naruto swore. "There's no way this can be only a fling. Don't you know what they say? Blondes are the fun ones, redheads are the types you have the fling with, and dark haired ones are the ones you'll want to spend the rest of your life with." He grinned and pulled his ear of Kitsune's grip. "Now, come on, didin't someone say something about a meeting?"
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Kushina had led them to all to a small junction in her maze of tunnels and left through a door. After that, a big, run down building five miles away from the door. The door creaked as they opened it. They met face to face with about a dozen waiting people, all sitting in various places around the room. One of them had the eyes of a Hyuuga. That man looked shocked and ran before Hinata, getting on one knee. "Lady Hinata! Had I known that you were one of the ones making the new village, I would have had no hesitation of joining you. But what are you doing away from the clan? Not that I don't like seeing you again."
"I left because my father got too controlling." Hinata answered. "I, along with my boyfriend Naruto, both seek a place where we can be ourselves. So we decided to form a new village, and make that village a place where we're all free to just be who we are without clans who judge us. But who are you? I don't remember you at all. And please, get up. You don't need to do that for me."
The man got up. "Lady Hinata, I am Toushiro. I was in the clan until shortly after you turned one. I could see the potential you had. But before I saw you as the heir, I saw you as Hinata, a sweet little girl with no evil in her at all. I hated to think of what the Hyuuga Clan would do to you. But I had no power to change that, as I was only a member of the Branch Family." He said. "And I see that you have not changed. I'm glad to see that." Toushiro smiled.
"I was only able to do this thanks to Naruto. I still have self esteem problems thanks to my clan. But we're working on that." She said. "I hope we will be able to count on you in this endeavor. We've already made some strong allies. But we'll need all the help we can get, in order to make this dream come true."
"Lady Hinata, I will do so gladly. Finally, a good person from our clan. But may I ask two small favors of you and your boyfriend, Naruto, I believe you said his name was." Hinata nodded to both of those things. "One, well, no one here is any good with Jyuken, they don't even know it. May we spar every now and then, just to keep our skills sharp?"
"Of course. But I'm not completely perfect at it, thanks to my father refusing to train me properly." Toushiro shook his head.
"Of course, if you would like, I can help you there. I was very good at it from a young age." Hinata smiled brightly at this. "And Naruto, I have a favor to ask of you. Would you hear me out?"
"Of course." Naruto promised. "If I can help I will."
"I want to have a match with you. In order to see just how good you are. I want to know if you are strong enough to be Lady Hinata's consort, as she deserves someone strong." He declared, earning a grin from Naruto.
"And if I'm not?" He asked daringly. Toushiro smirked.
"We'll have to wait and see." He promised, getting into a fighting stance. "Do you accept my challenge?"
"I do." Naruto stated, also getting into a fighting stance, one completely different from the one Hinata had always seen. "And Kitsune..."
"I know." Kitsune said with a grin. "This is a fight between men. I'm going to let you handle this one on your own. Make us proud."
Notes:
Jasaiya: -fangirl scream- Sorry, I just had to. This turned out so well! And over 2500 words, a pretty good length for me. I usually only average about 1500. Well, the reviews are going to be interesting for this chapter. I'm going to spend some time on the next chapter as well, to make sure it's a just awesome magnificent fight scene!