Thanks to my friend, Firetemplar415 who betaed this for me! I apologize for the overdue update. I believe I've proverbially bitten off more than I can chew juggling five writing projects at a time, two of them being Naruto stories. I hope you enjoy it. :D
Naruto watched his wife out of the corner of his eye. She had come a long way in her six months of training as had their son. At the beginning, he had been forced to use his shadow clones to restrain her when Killer B would provoke their son into attacking. Finally, Shikamaru and Kakashi decided to step in to assist with helping Reiki with her anger management. Kakashi volunteered to be the one to taunt her and stir up her ire while Shikamaru would talk her through the assault on her opponent rather than pummeling him sloppily in a blind fury. If Kakashi had not been such an excellent copy cat, she would have caught him by surprise and beat his ass many times because she would often go against her instructor's directions for that purpose. Occasionally, she was able to get the drop on him which always resulted in an injury. Most were deep tissue wounds that did not look bad on the surface despite the fact he was suffering from hemorrhaging organs or muscles so severely bruised he could no longer move them. Reiki would heal him afterwards so she could come back and do it again the next day. She had progressed enough that she would stop short of injuring her sparring partner no matter how much she might want to, keeping her head and control over her thoughts and body. She had been told to save the desire and ability to cause mortal injuries for the battlefield or a real fight against an actual enemy. Today she might make an exception for the man training their son.
Naruto saw her jaw tighten and winced. B had hurled Kitsune across the training area to disorient the child with the intention of seeing if he could get a grip on himself before he smacked into a tree. The boy halted his body from flipping through the air to hit the ground on all fours. Raising his head to glare sparring partner, his lips receded from his sharp teeth and there was a malicious glint in his red eyes. Excellent! He was proud of his son. Since the other kids had learned of Kitsune's new tutor, they kept their mouths shut and always gave a wide berth for him to pass in their presence. Naruto knew from experience all it took to make people leave one alone was gaining the ability to kick ass and say to hell with the names. If your opponent was going to be dead, who cares what his name was?
Reiki stayed still without moving a muscle except for the ones in her jaw as she watched the fight in front of her. Her fingers curled into fists, but she did not move any further when Kitsune's rage filled frontal attack was easily, and almost boredly, deflected by Killer B who slapped the boy away with one of his big hands. She was thankful to her incredible coaches who had instilled her with the ability to think past the rage. Little did her husband or her son's trainer know, she was busy taking in every move of the big man while planning her counter attack for a future time. They were under the mistaken impression that a silent woman was a blessing from Kami. Naruto had already forgotten the Pervy Sage's advice that a silent woman was a thinking woman, and she's usually plotting someone's death.
Naruto's blond eyebrows drew together, and he scowled with disappointment as well as apprehension. Something seemed to be a bit 'off' with his son's fighting skills today. The child seemed distracted and uninterested in taking the training session seriously. He walked toward Killer B raising his hands in a gesture of surrender so the man did not get carried away and think he was being assailed from the side. Of course, Reiki would have been the one pulling a sneak attack on him, not the boy's father.
"What is it?" Killer B asked, holding the livid child back with a big hand against his reddish-brown head.
"Stop it!" Kitsune growled, swiping uselessly at the man who was casually holding him at arm's length. "I wanna kick your ass!"
"I need to talk to my son for a minute," Naruto said, grabbing the boy by the collar to pull him away from the man who in the child's small angry mind he thought he could actually hurt. Turning his child to face him after walking away far enough to gain them a bit of privacy, his bright blue eyes looked directly into the feral red eyes of his son. Sometimes it hurt to see so much of the nine tails' in his own child. However, he reminded himself that this was his child and not that damn demon's. "What is it, Kit? What's bothering you?"
"You're my Daddy right?" the child questioned his father returning the earnest gaze.
"Well, yeah, of course but what does that - " He was cut off by a sharp exclamation by his son.
"The kid's say Kuruma got Mama pregnant! They say I'm not yours at all. They call me a demon. They say I'm not even human!" he bawled, covering his face with his hands as tears slid down his whisker marked cheeks that were just like Naruto's.
Reiki moved toward the two most important men in her life when she saw her son crying just before his father embraced him comfortingly. She was barred from going to them by a massive arm knotted with hard muscles that was flung out in front of her. If she had not been so annoyed, she would have laughed at the deep crimson blush that colored B's dark-skinned cheeks when he realized he had put his arm up right across her breasts.
"Um, uh...uh," he mumbled with embarrassment before moving his arm so he could self-consciously rub the back of his head as if straightening his long white braids. "Let them have a moment."
Reiki opened her mouth to speak then quickly closed it again. Just shut the hell up and think before you speak, Shikamaru had reprimanded her on more than one occasion. She realized that she was about to destroy a golden opportunity by opening her mouth to blurt out a smart ass remark. While those two were distracted and B had no one to spar with, this would be her chance.
"All right," she sighed with mock submissiveness, stepping back from him to increase the distance between them. Give your opponent a false sense of security, Lazy but Crazy Smart Ninja's words echoed in her head. Holding her hands behind her back like an innocent child, she looked around at their surroundings casually while twisting one of her braids as if she were nervous and shy. She was none of those things right now. Not even close. "Sooooo...while we wait, would you like to spar with me?"
"What? Are you serious?" Killer B laughed, surprised when her only reaction was a gentle smile. He had at least hoped for a few harsh words from her mouth that could be quite sassy and downright audacious sometimes.
"Well, if you don't want to..." She hesitated in her speech, turning as if to walk away since he seemed uninterested in a fight despite her being very interested in one.
"I am supposed to begin working with you next week anyway. No time like the present right?" he queried, assuming a fighting stance with his fists raised.
"Right," Reiki agreed, turning back to him with a malevolent grin on her face.
Killer B was considered a sharp-witted man who could easily pick up on the true thoughts and emotions of someone by touching them. Somehow he had missed this earlier when he had accidentally flung his arm over her chest. It had probably been due to his overwhelming embarrassment. He knew immediately by that scary smile on her face that he had fallen into a trap. Oh, well, she was just a woman. He could handle her. Hunkering down a bit to gain more leverage in his stance, he waited for her onslaught as she charged at him like an angry bull. He found it disappointing nothing had changed in her for six months because he was hoping for a real scuffle with her. His head tilted in confusion, and he was caught off guard when she put her hands out in front of her as if she were going to push open a door or something. Did she think she would just be able to knock him over and be done with it? Or was she plotting to push him across the clearing into the small hill behind them?
Reiki did neither of those things. She pressed her hands against the top of his shoulders, vaulting herself over his head in a cart-wheel. Her fingernails dug into his skin to grasp him as she swung her body down to plant her feet firmly into the small of his back. She readied herself for the inevitable fall but used the momentum she had gained by running to roll over when her back hit the ground while hanging onto her huge opponent. She flung his body as far as she could, turning over onto her belly to watch him land on his back. Jumping to her feet, she waited for the stunned man to get to his feet before she bumrushed him, grabbing him around the waist. Pushing him back several feet, she finally felt his balance shift and his footing falter so she used the simple law of motion, a body in motion has a tendency to stay in motion, to pick him up off his feet before slamming him down into the ground.
B lay in the indentation he had made in the ground without moving. Struggling to breathe, he gasped, "What in the hell just happened?"
Naruto leaned over the man, blocking out the sunlight which made an impressive golden halo around his head. "Congratulations," he chuckled, reaching down to grasp the man's hand to pull him out of the Killer B sized crater. "You just experienced one of my wife's favorite moves. I've peeled my ass out of the ground because of her more times than I care to admit."
B got to his feet, rubbing his sore neck. He was thankful for his ability to withstand damage and pain. If he was just a ninja, or just a man for that matter, her hit would have hurt like hell. "Well, Mama, that was pretty damn good. What else have you got?"
Reiki lunged forward ducking below his arms that tried to wrap around her. Pulling back her fist, she released a punch to a place that no man can withstand, not even B. She stood over him with a satisfied smile after he hit his knees with his hands tucked firmly between his legs.
"You don't fight fair," he wheezed, hoping his private parts were not permanently damaged. Although he was single and did not really have the desire to procreate, he did enjoy indulging in purely recreation activities of an intimate nature from time to time. He prayed to Kami that the evil woman standing in front of him had not taken that ability away from him.
"Nothing is fair in life sometimes," she muttered calmly as she watched him fall forward onto the ground. She was done. Turning on her heel, she began to walk away. Looking back over her shoulder, she called to her son, "Kitsune! Let's go get Nariko from school."
"Okay!" Kitsune yelled in agreement, running to catch up with his mother. He put his hand in hers, looking up at her as they walked. "Mama?"
"Yes, baby?" she returned, smiling down at him. She ran her fingers through his spiky light auburn hair.
"Did you kill Uncle B?" he asked, genuine concern drawing his eyebrows together. After seeing the man lying on the ground, twitching and writhing, he was not sure if Uncle B would survive.
"No, baby. I just hurt him a little bit," she answered although she figured Killer B would beg to differ on the little bit part.
Reiki sighed noisily regretting that she had resorted to a dirty, unfair trick to bring the man down. Looking down at her son, she knew she would be willing to do anything to keep those she loved safe. Although Kitsune was never in any danger, it had pissed her off greatly to see him being put through such rigorous training. He was only a child for Kami's sake. Naruto had warned her that one of these days, things would happen that would take Kitsune and Nariko's childhood and innocence away. Unfortunately he knew that first hand because the same thing had happened to him many times over. However, it had been highly frustrating that he would not expound on exactly what he was talking about. He only shook his head when she asked, kissing her on the forehead with the assurance that he would take care of them and keep them safe no matter what threats came their way. Threats? What threat could possibly be coming their way? She had noticed that he had been spending more time at the Hokage Tower in meetings either with her mother or several of the more powerful ninjas of the village including the ANBU. What was going on? Every time she asked, he would not tell her a thing.
"Mama?" Kitsune called, swinging their hands as they walked hand in hand.
"Hmm?" she rejoined, kicking a rock ahead of her that her son kicked as well when they reached it.
"Am I demon?" He pulled her to a stop, staring up at her expectantly with round hopeful eyes. "It is inside of Daddy. Is he inside of me too?"
Reiki took a deep breath. In a way, yes, the demon was inside of him. To avoid an uncomfortable discussion about the biological workings of how a baby is made, she simply answered, "No, honey. The kids that call you that are the demons."
"Mama?" His eyes met hers as he reached to hold both of her hands.
"What is it?" Reiki could feel the tears forming in her eyes as she looked down at her little boy who was struggling for the words to express what he wanted to say.
"I love you, Mama. I'll never let anything happen to you or Nariko or Daddy or anybody I love!" he declared, putting his arms around her waist.
"I know you won't, honey. I love you too," she murmured, the tears streaking down her cheeks. "Come on, your sister is waiting for us."
~\..'../~
"Okay. No damn dirty tricks today, do you hear me Reiki Uzumaki?" Killer B demanded, shaking his finger in her face as if reprimanding a child.
"All right, come at me with all you got," Reiki said, waving her fingers in a 'bring it on' gesture.
"This is bound to be spectacular," Naruto said to Jiraiya, elbowing his less than happy father-in-law in the side.
Jiraiya had been against this from the start. Maybe he was just being biased. The only people who had ever trained his daughter was him, her mother, and her husband. Now she had teachers coming at her from all directions. He had not been pleased after being told of the anger management lessons with Shikamaru and Kakashi. Then when he heard of her being trained by another jinchūriki, especially one who had been called the perfect jinchūriki, he had gotten angry. His daughter had been through enough training and should be concentrating on being a mother and wife. He never expressed this opinion out loud because his wife and daughter would have beaten him to a bloody pulp for being so old-fashioned. Of course most of his reasoning was based on his past mistakes and how he had never allowed Tsunade to be that since he had skipped out on them. The rashness of the young and stupid was always to be regretted later when nothing could be done to change it.
Tsunade had calmly explained to her husband time and time again how it was good for their daughter to be exposed to many different fighting styles and people with various abilities in an environment other than combat. A miscalculation or one moment of being taken by surprise could lead to her death there. At least now Reiki could learn from her mistakes and not repeat them. She knew this was best for their daughter, but it had made her begin to contemplate if they had done their child a disservice by keeping her training so restrictive. Jiraiya had insisted that if she had brains and brute strength that was all their daughter needed to defeat any foe. He had been quick to remind her that Reiki had a husband to protect her as well. What the hell was Naruto around for if not to protect his family? Was he simply a decoration in their lives? Tsunade had given up on trying to get through her husband's thick skull to make him understand the concept of broadening their daughter's scope of experience. She had come to watch the match today out of sheer curiosity to see how her daughter would perform.
Reiki and Killer B went at each other with everything they had in front of the small audience that had gathered around them. Reiki punched Killer B, using her awesome strength to off set him before she jumped to kick him in the face with a bicycle kick. She screamed when he grabbed her ankle and slammed her down onto the ground. His punch was stopped by her hands before it could contact her middle as she lay on the grass. He was immediately brought down onto his back when she grabbed him behind the knees and pulled forward as he stood over her. They continued on this way for quite a while until Reiki's stamina began to falter. They had agreed to use ninjutsu only; no chakra, no special abilities, and no punches to the privates. Finally, Killer B got the best of her, mercilessly grabbing her by the arm and leg to hold her over his head like a hard-won prize before he prepared to issue the final blow.
Naruto heard an unearthly snarling sound to his right that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He had heard that growling before and it could only come from one source. Gazing down at his son, he was unable to move or speak when he saw the tell-tale purple tendrils of chakra rising from the child's skin. It was the same color and bore the same energy pattern of the chakra that arose whenever he and Reiki combined theirs. Since Kitsune was their child and a combination of them, it was only fitting that he would produce that chakra.
Jiraiya had heard the sound as well and watched as his grandson took on a decidedly more animalistic appearance: his nails and teeth lengthened, growing more menacing in sharpness as well as appearance. He had seen the boy's father look like this many times while he learned to master each of the nine tails' forms. His eyes widened as he saw another tail emerge, then another.
"Don't hurt my, Mama," Kitsune growled in a voice something like Kuruma's but higher pitched since he was only a child.
The onlookers stared in awe as the child rushed toward Killer B in a purple blur. Naruto flashed forward in a blaze of orange to catch his wife as she fell because his son had hit the unsuspecting man like a missile, launching B backwards through the air to land on the ground several yards away with a loud 'off' being uttered from his lips. The white-haired jinchūriki sat up with a huge grin on his face. Instantly getting to his feet, he was ready when the purple ball of chakra flew through the air at him. Raising his arms, he deflected the rasengan which dissipated harmlessly due to its instability. It was still impressive the boy had even formed one and got it that far.
"Kit, stop!" Reiki yelled, her gaze intent and unwavering on her son. She motioned for the child to come to her when he looked at her.
"Why are you making him stop? This is amazing! Did you see what he just did?" Killer B asked if she were blind and had not been able to see what was happening a few yards away.
"I saw," she muttered, glaring at the man before turning her attention back to her son. "Baby, you can't do this until you're taught to control it better. You'll hurt someone...or yourself."
"That's one amazing kid you got there," B complimented, ruffling the boy's wild hair.
"How could he not be?" Naruto returned, his chest puffing out with pride. "Think about who his parents are!"
"Don't forget the grandparents!" Jiraiya yelled.
"How could we ever forget the grandparents?" he mumbled in mock aggravation. He knelt down beside his wife who was holding their son in her lap. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just didn't expect this to come so soon...to see him like this...at such a young age," she murmured, her words coming in a stilted manner while she fought to control her emotions. She kissed her son's forehead as he lay against her chest, exhausted and panting for air.
"Reiki, I know he's your baby. He's mine too," he reminded his wife, stroking his son's head. He chuckled when the boy's hair popped right back up into the unruly spikes. "But he's also...something else."
"We've always known that. Now, he's painfully aware of that as well," Reiki returned, enveloping the child protectively in her arms. This was happening because of the cruelty of the other village children. Some things never change. The child's father had been a victim of vicious taunts and hateful words. At least Kitsune had his parents to help him through it.
"We knew it was coming." Naruto took his son from his wife so she could stand up. "It was inevitable because of how he looks."
"Knowing doesn't make it any easier," she mumbled crossly, brushing off the grass and dirt.
"Let's go home," he suggested. "I believe we're all done for the day."
Reiki agreed that Naruto could not be more correct in his assertion. She was definitely done for the day and so was her son who was laying limply in his father's arms. Tomorrow would be another day for both of them to explore the wild and wonderful world of training with Killer B.