"You just have a knack of interesting things happening around you, don't you Naruto?" Danzo asked.
"The universe is out for me, what can I say? Oh right, speaking of which, Tayuya, Uzuha, Izanami, Haku, you four will sign the Sea Serpent Contract. Mikoto, F ū, you two will sign the Salamander Contract," Naruto said, pulling out the two contracts and setting them in front of the two groups.
"Why specifically us?" Mikoto asked.
"Salamanders specialize in Fire and Earth and Sea Serpents in Water and Wind. Both of them have some that make use of Lightning. Since you and F ū specialize in fire and earth respectively, while Tayuya and Uzuha have a major affinity to wind, and Haku and Izanami have major affinities to water. Kushina already signed the Sea Serpent contract. I thought it would be best to have summons to supplement your own abilities. Of course, the final decision is up to you. Fire can synergize well with wind," Naruto stated.
After some shuffling, Tayuya and Izanami decided to sign the Salamander Contract, since both of their secondary affinities were used by the Salamanders. "Do not forget Naruto, the Chunin Exams are in three weeks. Do not overwork yourself too much," Hiruzen said as Team 11 departed the office with waves. The Sandaime sighed as they left. "Why do I get the feeling that they won't listen to us…"
"On the bright side Hiruzen, the more trouble Naruto gets into, the more money and reputation that we gain," Danzo quipped. The Sandaime just sighed again.
…..
One week later…
"I'm pretty sure this isn't what the geezer meant when he said take it easy, shithead," Tayuya said as they ran through the palace.
"Oh come on, this isn't that hard," Naruto said as he dodged an arrow.
"Well, this is getting really damn annoying, really damn fast. Go on sochi, we'll hold off the soldiers," Kushina said, turning around and unsheathing her katana, Uzuhime.
Mikoto unsheathed her katana, Kurokaze, and stood alongside her redhead friend. "Yes, we'll take care of them. Go on, you six," the raven-haired woman said.
The rest of Team 11 nodded and continued on. "Kuchiyose: Sagari/Kuchiyose: Makomi," the duo said and signed simultaneously. Puffs of smoke appeared next to them, halting the warriors' advance.
A sea serpent and salamander appeared on the sides of Kushina and Mikoto respectively, height matching their summoners. "Did you require me, Kushina-sama?" Sagari asked.
"Who needs to be immolated today, Mikoto-sama?" Makomi asked.
The duo turned their gaze to the now sweating traitorous troops. "Slaughter them!" they shouted simultaneously, launching into the army.
…..
"Brute force? We'll take care of this, go on ahead," F ū said, Tayuya nodding in agreement.
"Ha, what can you little girls do to me?" Kongo scoffed, disbelieving expression on his face.
Tayuya put on her tekko and F ū slipped on the gauntlets that Naruto had designed for her, based off of the equipment that the blonde had seen Galia wearing. The gauntlet was made from the extremely chakra conductive metal that Naruto's chakra receivers could be melted down into, the tips of the fingers pointed to allow for piercing damage. The duo began their assault.
Tayuya charged straight at the brute, throwing a heavy fist at the man. He raised a fist to block, arrogant smirk on his face. As her fist smashed into the man, fire shot out from the plate outwards, burning and pushing Kongo away as he screamed in pain. "Kuchiyose: Doki!" Tayuya shouted, three puffs of smoke appearing. Three figures taller than her shot out of the clouds, launching Kongo into the air with diagonal kicks from a crouched position. The three demons that Tayuya had created were each based on Naruto, Mikoto, and Kushina, as tribute to the three strongest and more experienced members of their team.
F ū launched herself into the air by kicking off a pillar of earth that she raised underneath herself, appearing above Kongo. She spun a single time before slamming a gauntlet enhanced with earth chakra into his stomach, slamming him fatally into the ground. "Well, that was easy," the former Jinchuriki said, taking off her gauntlets.
"Yea, the fucker talked way more than he could take. Let's go catch up with the others," Tayuya said. They ran off to join up with the group.
…..
"Are you sure it was a good idea to let them get taken like that, Naruto?" Uzuha asked as the four ran along.
"Michiru will not change unless he speaks Shabadaba himself and understands his own wrongdoings and issues," Naruto said. He stopped suddenly, sniffing the air. He felt his reactions slow down slightly. "Enemy…"
Izanami and Haku stepped away from the two blondes. "We will take care of it, Naruto," Izanami said.
"Subdue, do not kill," Naruto said, departing with Uzuha after receiving nods.
The two young women stood back to back, reaching their senses out. "Meisaigakure no Jutsu, Izanami," Haku pointed out. Petals began to surround and fly around them.
Izanami quickly expelled the invasive chakra from herself and Haku, cancelling the genjutsu. "Darkness Release: Shadow Realm," Izanami said, shrouding the room in darkness. "Perfume," she whispered quietly to her friend.
"Sensatsu Hyosho," Haku said, producing ice from her body and forming them into needles. She launched the projectiles, hearing a cry of pain as Izanami released her hold on the light in the room.
They looked at the woman with light pink eyes and wearing a white wig. F ū and Tayuya arrived in the room. "The shithead ask to retrieve her?" Tayuya asked. Izanami nodded.
The women picked up their prisoner and Izanami slapped a chakra-sealing seal onto her. They moved to follow Naruto, not needing to question his decision. He wouldn't treat her badly unless she was a sick individual anyway.
…..
"Hm, interesting weapon he has there," Naruto said. "It somehow allows him to both petrify people and manipulate stone as he wishes from a distance," he observed as he set down Michiru and Hikaru.
When Naruto and Uzuha had finally caught up with Ishidate, the blonde had decided to help Hikaru rescue his father safely. He let Uzuha take care of Ishidate. "Naruto, stop watching and help me!" Uzuha shouted, comical tears running down her face as she narrowly dodged attacks.
"Stop moving!" an enraged Ishidate shouted.
"Ishidate, stop fooling around and kill Michiru!" Shabadaba yelled angrily, stomping his feet on the ground.
"Stop running, Uzuha, you won't get anything done if you don't trust in yourself," Naruto lectured, ignoring the two villains.
The pigtailed blonde just sighed and nodded. She dodged another couple of launched rocks and dashed forward, surprising herself with her own speed. Uzuha ended up right in front of Ishidate and quickly slammed an outside crescent kick into his face, knocking off his wig as he flew away. He landed on the ground with a thump, but not without throwing an unexpected attack. Uzuha grunted in pain as a rock spike embedded itself into her left leg. Naruto narrowed his eyes, but the pigtailed young woman just held her palm up towards Naruto, telling him to stay back.
"Why aren't you helped Uzuha-neechan!?" Hikaru shouted, tears welling up in his eyes.
Naruto shook his head, but Hikaru could see the conflict in his eyes now. "I would prefer that the people around would never need to face danger, that I could protect them all. However, she and I both know that she needs to do this alone in order to grow…if I shelter everybody that I know and love, I will either crush myself when I am unable to do so or leave them unexperienced and unable to protect themselves" Naruto said, "Uzuha is strong, she can finish this by herself."
Michiru and Hikaru both looked uneasily at Uzuha, who was running some basic diagnostic over her leg. Ishidate stood back up, rage etched on his face. Shabadaba walked happily over to the leader of the Three Wandering Ninja, ranting on how he should finish off Michiru now, ignoring Naruto since he had not done anything yet.
"Would you SHUT UP?!" Ishidate said, angrily grabbing onto Shabadaba's clothes. His expression turned from rage and annoyance into shock as Shabadaba became petrified.
Uzuha formed a Rasengan in her hand and created a shadow clone to help her move. She grimaced in pain, the shadow clone not helping very much as Michiru hardened his face in determination. He ran forward with a battle cry, picking up the surprised Uzuha and began to run towards Ishidate. The man in question turned around and ripped out a piece of rock, smashing it and launching more spikes at the running man.
The spikes crumbled as Michiru closed his eyes to brace for the pain, only to be surprised along with Ishidate. Uzuha grinned and Michiru looked back at Naruto, who grinned his signature foxy grin and gave a thumbs up. The blonde then vanished from sight, appearing next to Ishidate and chaining his arms and legs, in place of Chamu so that the tiger didn't get hurt. Uzuha and Michiru charged at the man, her Rasengan morphing into an even larger variant with a crescent moon at the center of it. She slammed the ball into Ishidate, knocking him backwards into Shabadaba's stone body and killed both of them.
"Good job Uzuha," Naruto said nonchalantly, catching her as she jumped down and kissing her on the lips lightly.
The rest of Team 11 finally caught up eventually, while the father-son pair were just relaxing, with F ū carrying Karenbana, the woman that had been part of the Wandering Ninja.
"Good job everybody," Mikoto said with a smile on her face.
"Oh, going out in teams is just so fun!" Kushina commented happily.
"Glad you're having fun Kushina," Naruto deadpanned.
The woman blushed at her own behavior. "Why don't you call kaa-san, kaa-san again?" Uzuha asked quietly, making sure their clients couldn't hear the mini-discussion.
"I call our mother by name because she and I both prefer to treat and address her as a man would a woman rather than the more familial interactions. Just like I do with you, Uzuha," Naruto said, pecking her on the lips again. She blushed as Naruto returned his attention to the group.
"Why did you want us to catch Karenbana anyway?" F ū asked curiously.
"She didn't seem to be entirely invested with Ishidate and Kongo. I was wondering if I could recruit her as a spy of sorts. Nobody else seems to like using Meisaigakure no Jutsu," Naruto said, drawing swirls on the ground with his finger, mini-storm clouds raining down on him. "Anyway, we can talk more about that when she wakes up. We can head back to Konoha now."
"Wait!" a voice behind the group shouted. They turned to see a smiling Michiru and Hikaru.
"Please, before you leave, stay here for a while. We must thank you for escorting us back and opening my eyes to what a fool I've been. I'm sure Hikaru would love to have you here for a while longer as well," Michiru said exuberantly.
Team 11 looked at each other before turning to the new king and happily accepting.
…..
Naruto sat on a roof, watching his team going out to mingle in Tsuki no Kuni (Land of the Moon). Izanami and Uzuha were running around with some children of the land, giggling as they played. Tayuya played a beautiful song on her flute, drawing an audience for her performance. Mikoto and Kushina were relaxing together, just walking and talking. F ū strolled around, taking the opportunity to satisfy her craving for regular interaction, having been starved of it in Taki.
"Why aren't you down there with your girls?" Karenbana asked, standing behind Naruto.
The woman had woken up during the night. Naruto calmed her down and offered her the general details of the job, giving her time to think about it. While she had been thinking about the offer, Karenbana began to hear sounds through the wall from Naruto's room. She had discovered Team 11's inner dynamics rather quickly that night.
"Well, they're nearly always with me anyway. Despite what they say, I know they need space for themselves," Naruto said nonchalantly.
The woman just nodded. "Anyway, about that job…you said that I'll get funding from you and a home if I want one, as long as I look for information that you want?" Karenbana asked. "How do you know you can trust me with money, to not run away?"
"Hold out your palm," Naruto said.
She stuck out her hand and Naruto marked it with his mark. Karenbana looked at it strangely for a moment before her body started to shift. She grew from her rather short height of 4'11" up to 5'4", body growing proportionately, face shaping itself to be thinner and more mature, and hair growing out, popping off her wig to reveal longer, smooth brown hair that went down to her shoulders, bangs cupping her curving out to cup her chin. She gaped, looking at her own body, as Naruto made an ice mirror to let her get a more complete view.
"W-what did you just?" Karenbana stuttered, unable to complete her sentence.
"As long as you don't end up working for a criminal group or doing a job like that, I'll let you go if you don't want work for me," Naruto said, tossing a scroll at the woman. She unsealed it only to be surprised again, finding that it contained 100,000 ryo in it. "That should be enough to sustain you for long enough to get back on your feet somewhere, maybe even in Konoha. That's an initial payment of sorts, you'll earn a salary of 10,000 ryo per week if you decide to work with me. As for trusting you, that mark insures that you won't ever betray me. So, what do you think?"
She sat stunned for a few moments before nodding fervently. "Deal! If this is what I get for helping you out, then I'll definitely take it! Don't expect me to become one of your women though…"
Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "If you want to, you can, if you don't want to, then don't. All up to you," Naruto said. "Anyway, your first mission will start when we get back to Konoha. You'll be working alongside somebody I know to find out more about a group named Akatsuki," Naruto stated.
Karenbana paled at the name he mentioned. "Akatsuki? What do you want with them?"
Naruto now looked genuinely surprised. "You know of them?"
"Yea, we had run across them when we met clients in the past, back when I was still part of the Wandering Ninja," Karenbana answered.
"Is there anything you could tell me about them? Like members or numbers?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Well, they appear to work in pairs…the two pairs that we ran across were both man and woman pairs. The first pair we met were a red-haired guy named Sasori and a blonde woman named Kuhatsu…they kept arguing about art…and the second group was some weird guy with green pupils and red sclera named Kakuzu and some crazy woman with a giant scythe named Satsuka that kept screaming about Jashin," Karenbana listed.
"Kakuzu…" Naruto mumbled, scrolling through his memories. "S-Rank missing-nin of Takigakure…he should around 88 years old right now if records are correct…but this description of him probably isn't coincidental…he apparently stole kinjutsu (Forbidden Techniques) from Takigakure, so that most likely has something to do with it.
Satsuka, S-Rank missing-nin of the former Yugakure (Village Hidden in Hot Water) …joined Jashinist cult, from your description. Not much known about them…
Sasori of the Red Sand, most likely, if the trend follows. S-Rank missing-nin of Sunagakure, puppet-user…no further information.
Kuhatsu, S-Rank missing-nin of Iwagakure, Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai, stole kinjutsu from Iwagakure, blew up Iwagakure, perpetrator of many other bombings…"
"Why do you need to know?" Karenbana asked.
"Akatsuki is a group of S-Rank missing-nin that are rather notorious for always completing their missions. What my kyofu, Jiraiya, discovered is that Akatsuki are secretly after the containers of the Biju, the Jinchuriki. Currently, they are gathering resources and information on where each tailed beast is…though F ū and I no longer actually contain our tailed beasts, they will be after us since most do not believe that the tailed beast can be extracted without killing the Jinchuriki…" Naruto explained. "Regardless, it should be fine…"
"Fine? Fine? You have the Akatsuki after you!? How is that fine?" Karenbana asked, not understanding how he could be so calm with knowledge like that.
"Well, if I was fraught with worry over all the things that happened in my life, I would most likely not have held it together up till now, besides," Naruto said, eyes flipping to his Rinnegan and nine tails flaring out behind him, "I will not allow myself to die before I can stabilize this world…nor will I leave my loved ones alone."
Karenbana took a step back from the silent threat that his suppressed, yet still overwhelming presence gave off. He'd refined his control over both his aura in human form and released form so that sensors would not be able to easily read his presence, he would not crush others with his aura, and he would not give off a distinctly demonic feel to those more attuned to sensing it, like the Biju and people from other worlds.
The woman looked at Naruto for a few moments, the blonde having sat down and put away his tails. She just shrugged and sat down next to her new employer in peace, looking down at the town.
…..
A week later… Back in Konoha… Naruto's Mindscape
Naruto sat meditating as his clones slowly dispelled, having done more experimentation with nature manipulation, shape manipulation, applications of chakra, and then reading some more books that Eika had brought from the other world. He heard a roar from elsewhere in his mindscape.
"Looks like my new tenant is finally up," Naruto commented, heading towards where he'd placed the new Kyuubi.
…..
Kurama raged and thrashed his tails against the cage holding him. 'This is not Uzuha's mindscape! Where am I?!' he thought to himself as he tried to break free of his prison. As he raged, a blonde figure approached.
"Hello there, could you stop banging on the gate now? I'll let you out if you calm down," the new man called out.
Kurama growled at the human before him. "Do you know who I am?! I am the Kyuubi no Yoko! I demand you release me from here!" he roared.
Naruto sighed slightly. It looked like being one of the more powerful beings of your world required you to mention your overwhelming power and automatically go to intimidation as a way to gather information. Naruto pulled out his tails, earning an expression similar to a raised eyebrow from the giant orange fox in the cage. Then he targeted all of his killing intent at Kurama and stopped concealing his presence.
"Be quiet and be civil," Naruto stated bluntly.
Kurama began to sweat under the pressure of Naruto's power. 'He's no human…' he thought to himself as he stopped thrashing around. "Where am I? Who are you? What happened to my last container?" the fox asked.
Naruto smiled and put away his tails. "My name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto and this is my mindscape. You are currently sealed in my body rather than Uzuha's. And don't worry about her, she's perfectly healthy and safe now," Naruto answered, foxy grin on and thumbs up.
Kurama let out a sigh of relief before snapping back. "Tch, I didn't worry about her…why would I care about a puny human?" he said indignantly. "Anyway, why am I in you instead of her now?"
"Well, that's a long story…" Naruto said.
…..
"I'm not sure what to say about that…" Kurama said, genuinely perplexed by all the random shit that happened in his life to lead up to now.
"Tell me about it…" Naruto sighed.
Kurama then giggled perversely. "So, you have a harem, huh?"
Naruto palmed his face. "Oh Kami, please don't tell me I have an ero-sennin in my head now…"
"Oh calm down, I've been locked up for the few decades, let a guy have some fun," Kurama quipped.
"Anyway…do you want to get out or what? I could release you and let you mingle about in the human world," Naruto offered.
"Hm, I honestly don't know. It sounds like a lot of interesting stuff happens around you, so I might just stick around here. I would get bored of the human world rather quickly, though…it would be nice to get some outside senses again…could I ask a favor in return for our partnership of sorts?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"I'd like for you to allow me to connect to your senses, so I can feel the outside world. You can kill the connection whenever, so you can have your privacy with your women. I'd also like for you to allow me to speak to you mentally while you're awake," Kurama stated.
"I don't see a problem with any of that," Naruto replied, "though I'd like one slight change."
"What would that be?"
Naruto walked up to the seal on the gates holding Kurama back. Reaching towards it, another hand suddenly gripped his wrist. "Hold on a second, Naruto…are you sure you want to do that?" a man's voice said.
Naruto turned to see a face he thought he would never see. "Tou-san?"
Minato Namikaze stood there in his full glory. "Hey Naruto…I don't have much time to be here with you, so I'll get straight to what I want to say. I'm sorry that I forced you into that life by putting the other Kyuubi in you…I had believed in the village to look past their hatred…" he said wistfully.
"Ah, it's fine tou-san… I grew stronger because of it and now I'm exactly where I want to be…" Naruto replied.
The blonde Hokage chuckled. "Yea, you're taller than me, you've got women that love you…speaking of which, treat your mother well, won't you?" Minato said nonchalantly.
Naruto recoiled a bit and chuckled nervously. "Ehehe, um…you're not mad?" Naruto asked.
"Well, I'm dead, so it doesn't matter that much, does it? I think it was good of Kushina to move on and find new love, rather than some people who just sit around and mope about it, allowing it to drag them down. I must admit, you're a much better match with her than I was," Minato said. "I've had a lot of time to think about it and I believe that you'll treat her the way she deserves. Besides, from what I understand of the incident when she awoke again, I assume she begrudges me for my actions," he sighed, drawing some swirls on the ground with his finger.
Naruto and Kurama both sweat dropped at this. "Can we get back on topic now, tou-san?" Naruto asked.
"Right. Anyway, are you sure you want to release the seal?" Minato asked before being stopped by Naruto's held-up palm.
"Kurama has gotten over his animosity for you, tou-san, why can't you do the same for him? Jiraiya told me of how you both wanted peace for the world, hoped for people to change and see the same vision you did. But, how can you do that if you want make an attempt to understand Kurama? The Biju are not weapons and masses of anger, tou-san…and you should understand this if you've seen my life through my eyes," Naruto said. "You should also know that I understand exactly what I am doing."
Minato nodded with a smile on his face. "Yes, I understand. You've made great strides towards ending the never-ending cycle of violence and hatred of the world…I'm proud of you, son."
"Thanks Dad," Naruto said with a soft smile on his face as Minato began to fade.
"Well, looks like my time is running out. Keep going strong, Naruto," Minato said as he faded away completely.
Naruto watched him depart with a soft smile, heartened by his father's approval of how he'd lived his life so far. "Well, that was really anti-climactic…I expected more anger, tears, and inspirational speeches than that," Kurama quipped.
"There wasn't much for him to tell me that I didn't already understand," Naruto replied. "Anyway, back to business." Naruto opened up the gate holding back Kurama.
"Why are you doing this, Naruto? More access to power?" the giant fox asked, genuinely curious and shooting out a guess.
"Not to sound cocky, but I already have power in spades, Kurama. No, what I want is a friend…a comrade to stand with me, not a prisoner to siphon energy from, not a partner that I have no attachment. I want you to be my friend, Kurama," Naruto said, holding out a fist.
The giant fox looked genuinely surprised at the man in front of him. 'When was the last time I was actually treated like a person?' Kurama thought to himself. He started to chuckle. "You're a strange person Naruto," Kurama said, body starting to shift and a cloud puffing up. "But, I think we could work well together…don't get me wrong though, I'm just doing this to ease my own boredom," a voice said indignantly.
The cloud cleared to reveal a near-copy of Naruto, with a few changes. His hair was orange and red, rather than Naruto's three colors. His appearance was naturally more feral and hair wilder. Kurama bumped his fist against Naruto's, as both felt a surge of power in their bodies. Kurama shifted back into his natural form and walked out of the cage, enjoying the forest that Naruto had created.
…..
A week later…
"Sorry for calling you in early, but I have some news. In a week, the Chunin Selection Exams will commence. Let's hear first from the jonin watching over the new genins first," the Sandaime said.
The assembled crowd of jonin shifted around, allowing Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma to pass.
"The Kakashi led Team 7, Sakura Haruno, Hanabi Hyuga, Sai…under the name of Kakashi Hatake, I nominate my team to take the Chunin Exams."
"The Kurenai led Team 8, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka…under the name of Kurenai Yuhi, same as previous."
"The Asuma led Team 10, Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka…under the name of Asuma Sarutobi, same as previous."
The Sandaime nodded. Iruka was about to speak out against their haphazard nomination of their new teams, but stopped when he took a look at each of them. Rather than the nonchalant expressions that Kakashi and Asuma normally had on, their expressions were serious and determined. He held back his words.
"Now, then, other teams?" the Sandaime asked.
"The Gai led Team 9, Tenten Higurashi, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee…under the name of Maito Gai, I nominate my team for the Chunin Exams."
"The Mikoto led Team A of Unit 11, Izanami Kuro, Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, Tayuya…under the name of Mikoto Uchiha, I nominate my team for the Chunin Exams."
"The Kushina led Team B of Unit 11, Uzuha Uzumaki-Namikaze, F ū, Haku…under the name of Kushina Uzumaki, I nominate my team for the Chunin Exams."
"Anybody else? No? You are all dismissed then to notify your teams," the Sandaime said, as the jonin trickled out.
Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma looked dejected as they walked out, while Mikoto and Kushina were humming and walking alongside each other. "Did you guys have to enter this year? I finally passed a team and actually put in effort to train them and you do this to me?" Kakashi whined.
"Why didn't you all tell me that this year was the year you were entering?" Kurenai asked.
Asuma just sighed. The rest of the jonin that were walking out looked sympathetically at three rookie team jonin. They'd encountered Unit 11 on missions before now and nearly every, if not all, shinobi in Konoha knew of their record. They were a scary bunch of 'genin.' "Hehe, we wanted it to be a surprise. The looks on your face were definitely worth it," Kushina snickered.
"Look on the bright side. Naruto won't deliberately go after your teams, since he knows all of them. The genin also don't necessarily need to win the tournament to be promoted to chunin rank, anyway," Mikoto stated.
"Why hasn't the old man just promoted your entire unit anyway? They're more than qualified," Asuma commented.
"Well, he said that it's because it is both a tradition and a great way to tell other villages not to fuck with you!" Kushina said, pumping her fist in the air.
"Not in those exact words, but something along those lines," Mikoto added.
…..
"Come on Uzuha, just ten more laps," Naruto said.
"This…is…TORTURE! NOT TRAINING!" Uzuha yelled, panting heavily.
"Hey, if you get the body, you get the training that helps you use it the best," Naruto quipped, slapping her on the ass, making her yelp and speed up a bit.
'This is surprisingly entertaining to watch,' Kurama commented.
"Why am I still training anyway? You said I'm already high Chunin level!" she whined loudly.
"You never get enough training Uzuha. Besides, the stronger you get now, the less danger you're in in the future," Naruto commented. The pigtailed young woman just groaned more.
…..
'Aw, why'd you have to stop tor—training her?' Kurama asked.
'Have to give her a break or she'll die, Kurama. Uzumaki regeneration only goes for so long,' Naruto answered, now strolling around the village.
"Ouch!" a little kid's voice shouted out.
"Hey! That hurt, you little piece of shit!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow and dashed over to where the voices came from. He sighed when he saw who was there.
…..
"Konohamaru!" Moegi shouted, worried for her friend.
"C-c-could you please let him down? We're sorry for running into you while we were playing around," Udon asked nervously.
"Tch…I hate midgets, especially young, rude ones…makes me want to kill them…" the war-paint wearing, hooded guy said.
"Kankuro, if we get in trouble for this, Gaara will kill you…" the girl with blonde hair in four ponytails warned.
The two children shivered in fear for their friend, but couldn't do anything. Moegi and Udon both had tears welling up in their eyes before they suddenly started smiling again. "What are you brats-?"
"If you have time to mess around with a couple of kids, shouldn't you be training for the exams?" a voice suddenly said from right behind Kankuro, startling both him and Temari. He spun around to find his face in the chest of a very tall man. He jumped back slightly in shock.
'Wow, he's really handsome,' Temari thought to herself, blushing slightly.
"Who the hell are you?" Kankuro asked, taking off the mummified packet on his back.
"Hey, you're going to us Karasu here?" Temari asked frantically.
"I would stop before your friend on the tree gets mad at you," Naruto pointed out, surprising a red-haired boy.
Sand swirled around on the ground between Temari and Kankuro and a person appeared. "Kankuro, stop it…you're an embarrassment to our village," the boy said.
"Sorry Gaara…" Kankuro apologized.
'Do you feel that Kurama?' Naruto asked to his tenant.
'He holds the Ichibi no Tanuki, but…'
'Something feels wrong…corrupted,' Naruto said, completing the thought. 'Hinoko, what was the name of your youngest sister?' Naruto asked, tapping into the link directly.
'Shakumi,' the woman replied.
Meanwhile, a different conversation was going on in a different mind. 'STAY AWAY FROM HIM!'
'Mother?' Gaara asked nervously, having never had the voice in his head in such a state before.
'He's DANGEROUS and I want his BLOOD, but stay away from HIM!' the voice screamed.
"You are…the container of the Ichibi no Tanuki, are you not?"
The three Suna genin froze. "H-how did you-?" Temari began to ask.
Naruto lifted up his shirt, making Temari blush more at the sight of his muscles. He channeled chakra to his stomach, making the seal pop-up on his body. "I am the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko," Naruto stated. "There's a problem with your sealing. Would you like me to fix it?" Naruto asked.
The Sand siblings looked surprised. "You can…make the voices go away?" Gaara asked.
'DON'T LISTEN TO HIM, IT'S JUST A TRICK! A TRICK TO MAKE YOU LOWER YOUR GUARD!'
Naruto nodded. Temari looked genuinely hopeful. "Can you really help him? Help my little brother?" she questioned.
"Yes, I should be able to…we'll need to go to a more controlled environment. If you don't trust me, bring me to where you're staying and get your jonin sensei to ensure that I do what I promised," Naruto responded.
The three siblings looked at each other for a moment before accepting the offer, desperate to help Gaara.
…..