Chapter 12

Naruto was staring up at a giant tunnel made from trees growing around the perimeter, which had to be at least five stories tall. The leaves of the trees looked like they were sparkling and Naruto was able to see that what was sparkling were actually gold colored acorns. He looked at them in confusion. There were no acorns in Konoha. He heard some shuffling and sensed two strange animals approaching.

"Why is the entrance open?" He heard a male with a slightly high-pitched voice say from within the tunnel.

"Can't you smell that? There is something at the entrance." Another male with a lower voice responded. Naruto blinked in surprised as two kitsune appeared from within the tunnel. They were by far bigger than any he had ever seen before. He guessed that they were just under five feet tall, two feet wide, and six feet long.

"It's a human!" The one that had the higher-pitched voice said circling Naruto, sniffing, with his tail twitching excitedly. He was brownish-red with a white stripe on his chest, white on the tip of his tail and paws, and white around his light brown eyes going down in a strip on the top of his snout.

"Stop that, Uwaki. It's rude." The kitsune with the lower voice ordered. He was dark grey with a greyish-brown back and hazel eyes. Uwaki lowered his head and tail and walked back towards the entrance of the tunnel to stand next to the other.

"Sorry, Majime." He muttered.

"What are you here for?" Majime asked Naruto seriously.

"I don't know. I was just trying to use Kuchiyose no Jutsu and then I appeared here." Naruto replied, eyeing the one called Uwaki. He saw his tail start wagging furiously.

"Really?! We haven't had anyone appear to us for a summoning contract before!" His ears began twitching as well. "Majime! We have to bring him to the Patriarch!" He said excitedly slightly pouncing on his paws.

"Yes, yes, calm down." Majime said looking at the other in disgust. "Please, follow us…"

"Naruto." Naruto supplied.

"Naruto-san." Majime said with a nod, turning around and leading him into the tunnel. Once Naruto had walked a few feet into the tunnel, he saw the branches of the trees move to cover up the opening.

"That's pretty cool." Naruto said in appreciation.

"Isn't it?! It's always done that. It only opens for us and apparently you! You're the first human that it's ever opened for." Uwaki told him. Majime stayed silent though Naruto noticed his tail and ears twitch slightly in annoyance. They walked in silence down multiple hallways. They met with other kitsune along the way of varying sizes, some as tall as three stories high, all of which looked at Naruto in curiosity. He realized that he must be in a massive forest somewhere for there to be so many trees creating such large tunnels.

Eventually they came to a large room, which had to be around seven stories tall by seven stories wide. As they walked deeper in, Naruto saw the biggest kitsune yet laying on a bed of leaves. When Naruto and his guides stopped right in front of the bed, his guides lowered themselves on their haunches, bellies touching the floor and heads, ears, and tails down.

"Kashikoi-sama, this human was brought to us due to attempting a summons without a contract." Majime told the massive kitsune. Naruto saw it rise into a sitting position. The kitsune was a brilliant shade of light silver that seemed to shine, with darker silver at the tips of its ears, around its eyes, and on its paws, belly, and back. It had the brightest shade of green eyes Naruto had ever seen. It had on a turquoise collar with a diamond shaped red jewel larger than Naruto was hanging from a silver hoop attached to the collar.

"Thank you, Mijame, Uwaki. You may return to your posts." Kashikoi said with a deep and calm voice that seemed to resonate throughout the room without being even slightly loud. Naruto felt an overwhelming need to bow, just as he had when first facing the Kyūbi, which he did as his two guides backed out of the room backwards, still low to the ground. He heard movement and looked up, into the eyes of the massive kitsune. The tip of his snout was just inches from Naruto's chest and was as tall as the distance between the top of Naruto's head to his pelvis and wider than Naruto was. He tried not to think of how easy it would be for such a large creature to swallow him whole. Kashikoi was looking intensely at him, as if he could see into his soul.

"You house the Kyūbi within you." Kashikoi stated.

"Yes." Naruto replied, bowing his head back down.

"But that is not why you have been brought to us. You are a seeker of knowledge. The Kitsune are honored to have you amongst us, Idaina-sha." Kashikoi said, slightly bowing his head to Naruto. Naruto frowned at how he was addressed.

"I am no one great, Kashikoi-sama." Naruto said in discomfort.

"Oh, but you are. You just have yet to realize your destiny. We have known of your coming for many years. We never thought we would be in your presence, however. It was not foretold that you would come to us as your summons." Kashikoi stated calmly. "We have never had anyone sign our contract before. It is an honor for you to be the first." He added. Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Not anyone? Ever? You've been around for many years, haven't you?" Naruto asked. He could tell that the kitsune in front of him was quite old, just from the energy coming off of him. Kashikoi smiled.

"Indeed. There has just never been anyone suitable until now."

"How can that be?" Naruto asked in confusion

"Humans seeking summoning contracts are generally looking for summons to help them fight. The Kitsune are not fighters. We are hunters of knowledge, masters of disguise and subterfuge, infiltration and espionage." Kashikoi explained. "Will you join our clan?" An empty contract appeared before Naruto.

"I would be honored." Naruto replied without having to think about it, signing the contract with his blood. He didn't feel like he needed help with fighting, but the knowledge and infiltration would definitely come in handy. He felt a burning on his chest once he had finished. He lifted up his shirt to see a black kitsune's paw print on the skin just above his heart.

"That is our clan's seal. You will not need a blood sacrifice when you summon us due to that."

"Thank you." Naruto said, bowing again. "It's best that I don't stay long. Do you know how I can return to my village?" Kashikoi gave a devious smile.

"Goodbye, Idaina-sha. Until we meet again." He said, before Naruto found himself once again in the training ground back in Konoha. He noticed that he was alone and figured that the pervert had gone off to watch more naked women, so he decided to go back to Plan A. He headed to the Forest of Death to train for the rest of the day.

Naruto was surprised to find Anko waiting for him once he met up with his clones.

"What's up?" He asked her. He could tell that something was wrong by the way that she held herself and refused to look at him.

"I can't believe I didn't know." She said, annoyed.

"That the Grass-nin was Orochimaru?" Naruto asked. Anko nodded her head.

"I was his student! Around him for years! How could I miss it? It was so obvious! The fucking tongue!" She yelled, punching a tree that caused it to fall over towards some of his clones. The clones used the tree as practice for the Rasengan that he was attempting to modify, causing it to explode. His other clones used the shrapnel for target practice. Naruto would have smirked at how his clones reacted so quickly and used their environment to their advantage had a depressed Anko not been standing in front of him. He didn't think she would appreciate him praising his clones while in her state, especially since she glared at his clones when they did it.

"Look, don't beat yourself up over it. You weren't expecting it. It's not like he was just some chūnin or genin. He's an S-class nin for a reason. Not only that, he's one of the Legendary Sannin. If you had known that it was him, then that would have been more surprising than you not. Besides, now you're aware that you missed it. That will make you pay more attention to your surroundings. You probably won't miss it if he tries it again."

"Yeah, you're right. It just pisses me off, you know? I thought I was better than this." Anko said with a sigh, scratching her head irritably.

"Now you will be." Naruto replied with a shrug. Anko gave him a nod and turned, ready to leave, before she looked back to him with a smirk on her face.

"These clones are damn useful. You've gotten so strong in such a sort amount of time. You're probably stronger than I am now." She told him.

"Nah, I still have a ways to go. I'm nowhere near as strong as I should be." Naruto said with a frown, watching his clones.

"You've given yourself a goal that's fucking unreachable. I can't wait to see you make it." She said with a wink, disappearing in the trees.

On Naruto's way home later that night, he was contemplating the likelihood of Orochimaru still being within Konoha's walls. Would he leave without Sasuke? Should he put some clones on him as guards, just in case he came after him when he was alone? What if there was some sort of midnight attack on the village? There were too many possibilities and Naruto didn't like it. He wished he could send out clones, but with the village on high alert, he would probably get caught and he didn't think the ANBU would appreciate him getting involved in their business. Besides that, he wanted to keep his Ryokō no Kage a secret and the ANBU would probably notice him using it eventually.

Naruto then remembered what Kashikoi had told him and quickly summoned four small kitsune that were just slightly larger than normal ones and asked them to scout the village and return to him in the morning. They gave a nod and ran in all different directions, disappearing quickly into the dark.

When Naruto finally made it to his apartment, he was so tired that he almost missed the fact that the seals he had put on his door were missing. He knew that it was too late to sneak up on whoever was in his apartment. He hadn't been hiding his chakra signature and he hadn't tried to be quiet coming up the stairs. He figured that whoever was in there wasn't there to kill him, because they could have done that while he was standing outside the door. He tried turning the doorknob, finding that the door was also unlocked. Naruto opened his door and stared blankly at the mess in his apartment. There were sake bottles littering the floor and take-out boxes on his coffee table. Sitting on his couch, drinking yet another bottle of sake was Jiraiya, who turned to Naruto when he stepped through the doorway.

"About time you got home. I was getting tired of waiting. There's absolutely nothing to do in here. You must be bored all the time." Jiraiya said, slightly slurring his words. "Nice seals, by the way. They almost gave me a problem trying to get in."

"Have you been here drinking this whole time?" Naruto asked incredulously, closing and locking his door behind him. "And why did you break into my apartment?"

"Well if there was anything else to do, I wouldn't have needed to pass the time drinking, now would I? And the door was locked. How else was I supposed to get in? I suppose I could have broken a window, but that would have just made it cold in here." He replied, taking another drink of sake.

"Why did you have to get in at all?" Naruto asked with irritation, frowning as he started picking up empty bottles and throwing them in the garbage. He just wanted to sleep. He was exhausted and needed to get up early tomorrow to train again.

"Is that any way to talk to your sensei? And here I am, being kind enough to stay with you so that we can spend more time training." Jiraiya said with a sigh, finishing off the last bottle.

"No, you're crashing my apartment. There was no invitation and you're not my sensei. Look, I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Do what you want." Naruto said told him, cleaning up the last of the mess. "Not like I could stop you anyways." He mumbled as he closed his bedroom door.

"True." He heard from outside the door.

Naruto woke up at dawn to see the four kitsune sitting patiently outside of his window. He opened it and let them come in. They immediately shook themselves and jumped onto his bed, curling up in the spot he had just vacated.

"Notice anything?" He asked them, sitting down near them on the bed.

"There was a strange boy that smelled like a raccoon that sat on a rooftop all night. He barely even moved! It was kind of creepy." One of the kitsune answered.

"The Suna jinchūriki." Naruto turned to his bedroom door, seeing Jiraiya leaning against the doorframe of the open door. He hadn't even heard him open the door. "If he sleeps, the Ichibi takes over, so he just stays awake." Jiraiya told them.

"That doesn't sound healthy." Another kitsune said, scrunching his face.

"It's not." Jiraiya said with a shrug. "I'm amazed kid. The Kitsune are known for not allowing anyone to sign their summoning contract. I'd even heard that their home is impossible to find." He said, looking serious for once. Naruto just shrugged in response.

"Well, what I found was more interesting." The kitsune who commented on Gaara's lack of sleeping said proudly. "There was a murder last night!" He said excitedly. Naruto and Jiraiya's backs straightened and their eyes sharpened.

"Who?" Jiraiya and Naruto asked at the same time.

"The Kazekage! The snake-man killed him and stole his face!" The kitsune said with the same amount of excitement.

"Gross!" Another kitsune said. The other kitsune agreed and showed signs of disgust.

"So he plans on disguising himself as the Kazekage. That means he'll be here at least until the end of the chūnin exam." Naruto thought out loud, frowning. "This is bad. A visiting Kage was killed in our village. This will definitely cause a war with Suna. It's also going to cause an issue with the other Kage's. They might see us as a threat or think we are trying to take them out. This could start a war with not just Sunagakure but with the other Shinobi Nations." Naruto turned to Jiraiya. "What should we do?" Jiraiya was quiet for a minute, thinking.

"We do nothing. If I know Orochimaru, and trust me, I do, he did it quietly and we are probably the only ones that know about it right now. What's done is done. If we bring attention to it, then it will look like we knew it was happening and did nothing about it. If we act as though we didn't know, then we can play it off later when it's found out." Jiraiya said, rubbing his chin.

"Either way, Konoha looks weak. We weren't able to stop a missing-nin from entering our village or killing a visiting Kage. Not only that, it was a missing-nin from our village. It doesn't matter what we do now, because the damage has been done." Naruto said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead. "At least we know who he's disguising himself as and we can keep an eye on him. We won't be surprised this time around. Thanks guys, you can go home now." Naruto told the kitsune. They yipped happily and disappeared.

"I'm glad you're smarter than I had heard you were back in the Academy." Jiraiya said with a smile.

"Why would you care about when I was at the Academy?" Naruto asked suspiciously. Jiraiya blinked for a moment, looking as if he had just spoken too much, before ginning idiotically and scratching his head.

"The old man mentioned it, that's all." He said, laughing awkwardly.

"Uh-huh. You've been keeping tabs on me. You knew who I was even before we met in the alleyway. Are you the one that takes me out if I become a threat? I would have thought it would be the Hokage, but I guess you would be a good choice too." Naruto said off-handedly. Jiraiya stared at him in shock.

"What in Kami's name gave you the idea that there was someone assigned to 'take you out'?" Jiraiya asked incredulously. Naruto gave him a deadpanned stare. "Oh, right. Well, no, I wasn't assigned to take you out. I just had an interest in you, is all."

"And why is that?" Naruto asked, giving Jiraiya a look that told him that he was not giving up the subject. Jiraiya sighed.

"Well, I guess it isn't really a secret and you know a lot more than I thought you did anyways. No need to hide anything from you. I was your dad's sensei and…" Jiraiya trailed off awkwardly. Naruto glared at him in annoyance. "I'm actually… your godfather." He finished with an uncomfortable smile. Naruto stared at him blankly for a few minutes.

"You're…my godfather." Naruto repeated emotionlessly. Jiraiya nodded. Naruto stared at him, with the same emotionless eyes for a minute longer, before walking past him, through the living room and out the front door. Jiraiya hurried to catch up to him.

"Where are you going?" He asked Naruto, keeping up with his fast pace and looking at him in worry.

"To the forest to train. I have an overwhelming urge to beat the shit out of something right now." Naruto replied blankly, refusing to look at the man.

"I understand if you're angry. I would probably be too, in your position. Thinking you had no family, then realizing you did. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I was just-"

"I'm not angry." Naruto said with the same emotionless voice, cutting him off. "I'm disturbed. If my father had a perverted sensei like you and was close enough to you that he chose to have you be my godfather, then that probably means he was like you, right?"

"Well, I'd like to think he took after me. He really seemed to look up to me, that's for sure." Jiraiya said with pride. Naruto gave him another blank stare as they entered the Forbidden Forest. "Oh! This is where you train? This is actually a really good place. Well then, let's get to it, shall we?" Jiraiya said, rubbing his hands together. "And please, just watch at first and don't go copying me right away like that again."

Translation:

Idaina-sha: According to Google-translate, means Great One.