Kitsune no Ken: Fist of the Fox

Written by Neon Majestic

(DISCLAIMER: The Naruto franchise and the characters therein belong to and were originally created by Masashi Kishimoto.)

OoOoO

CHAPTER 52 – Home Invasion

Nii Yugito soaked in her hot tub inside her luxurious apartment at the Samsara Hotel. "Mmm...such a lovely sensation..." she purred contentedly, raising one foot out of the water and wiggling her toes.

Just then the telephone rang in the bedroom. "And all good things must come to an end," she groaned as, with great reluctance, she pulled herself out of the tub. "I guess that would be Hyuga-chan, coming to train again...hmm, I wonder if I should try to shock her by showing up at the door with nothing on...it's not like she hasn't already seen my goods," and she chuckled at the mischievousness of the idea.

Still, she grabbed a towel and hastily patted herself dry as she hurried into the bedroom, where the phone was still ringing. "Hello?" she answered it.

"Yugito-san, there's a lady here at the front desk who is insistent that she see you—she says she's Uzumaki Kushina, mother of Uzumaki Naruto," the hotel rep informed her.

"Hmm." That was unexpected for Yugito. "Send her right up," she instructed, and hung up the phone. "Well, I guess I'd better put on some tea..."

Drying herself properly, she tossed the towel aside and slipped into a bathrobe. Then, heading to the kitchen, she poured water into her teapot-and just at that moment there was a hurried knocking at the door. "Ah, that was quick," she said aloud as she hurried out to answer it.

Standing outside was Uzumaki Kushina herself, looking extremely agitated. "I'd say it's a pleasure to see Naruto's mother, but considering your face right now, pleasantries might have to wait, I guess," said Yugito. "How'd you know I was here, in any event? Did Naruto tell you?"

"No—I heard from Hinata. And Naruto is the reason I'm here." Kushina's face looked pained. "Hinata's sister was kidnapped and Naruto's gone to rescue her."

Yugito's face was immediately all-business. "Where is he?"

"That's what I'm hoping you can help me find out," Kushina said sternly.

"Hmm." Yugito stepped aside. "Come in. Tell me what you know."

OoOoO

"Ungh!"

Naruto grunted as Mizuki's kick connected squarely with his stomach. He flinched as the pain rocked his body—but the chains binding his limbs prevented him from doing much other movement. "Urk…you must really get a boner from this, don't you?" he rasped.

"Oh, trust me, you have no idea how I've longed to do this," Mizuki replied—and followed up the statement with a backhand punch to Naruto's face. Immediately the blond boy's mouth started to bleed, from the force of the hit.

"Yeah, Mizuki-sama! Hit the bastard again!" several nearby thugs cheered their leader on.

"All in good time, all in good time," Mizuki said good-naturedly.

Taking a step back, Mizuki appraised his prisoner: Naruto was chained by his neck, hands and feet to a tall stone column in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. His shirt and pants were partially torn and dirty now, and several ugly bruises were showing up on his face and what could be seen of his torso. "I'll give you this much—you know how to take punishment," Mizuki chuckled.

For answer Naruto threw his head forward—rather difficult to do, considering his bound status—and spat blood from his mouth onto Mizuki's chest. Grimacing, Mizuki wiped the blood off with the palm of his hand…then curled that hand into a fist and shot it straight into Naruto's midsection; Naruto grunted again as more pain shot through his body. Mizuki then gripped him by his jaw. "Not so tough now, are you, you little turd?" he growled. "I look at you right now, and all I see is a punk who just happened to get lucky last time we met. But lucky or not, you're still a punk!"

"Grr..." Naruto breathed hard, fighting off the pain of his beating. "I'll tell you one thing...you'd better start saying your prayers."

"Oh, really? And why is that?" Mizuki demanded.

"Well..." Naruto swallowed a little. "I know at least four people who're going to raise hell if they find out what you've done. And three of them are right here in Konoha Town. And one of them is my mom—and you definitely don't want to get her mad."

But Mizuki simply scoffed. "So, what, your mommy is gonna come kiss your boo-boos and make them all better?" he asked tauntingly, while his lackeys snickered at his mocking tone. "Well, guess what, Kyuushingai? As far as mommy dearest is concerned, I've already sent a few of my guys to, heh-heh, bring condolences for your death."

"You...!" Naruto started—but another blow to the stomach stopped his retort.

"Now, you just sit there like a good little boy and behave," said Mizuki, patting Naruto's cheek. "Me and my guys are going to have some fun out on the road. Oi, Kin!"

"Yeah, boss," Kin spoke up.

"Stay here and keep an eye on this runt. You can use him as a punching bag, if you want." Mizuki grinned. "Just make sure you save some for the rest of us, okay? And try not to kill him—if you kill him, he won't feel it."

"Gotcha!" Kin grinned back and saluted, then watched as Mizuki and the rest of the gang trooped out of the warehouse, leaving her and Naruto alone. "Well, now, cutie-pie, it's just me and you now," she cooed. "And I am gonna enjoy every moment of this..." And then she sent a kick up to Naruto's head.

OoOoO

"...so that's how it is." Yugito's face held a dark expression. "I was wondering what was taking Hinata so long to show up for our training session. Now I know why."

"Yugito-san...there's too much coincidence in this for my liking," said Kushina. "Hyuga Hiashi fires an employee, then that person somehow finds out Naruto was one of the Nine Terrors and kidnaps Hyuga's daughter to make a trade with her in exchange for Naruto..."

"Not to mention the recent attacks by Akatsuki." Yugito scowled. "I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow have a hand in this."

"I don't care who is behind it." Kushina shook her head. "Naruto's capable of taking care of himself, sure...but he is still my son. And if anything happens to him..."

"I understand, Kushina-san." Yugito gave the other woman a sympathetic look. "I will go out and find Naruto at once. Please don't worry anymore about it."

"That's easy to say...but..." Kushina looked down at her hands in frustration. "If only...if only I could just do something...I can't just sit still, knowing that my only child is in this kind of danger. The 365 days was bad enough, but at least I knew he had you guys supporting him. Now...now he's alone..."

"No, he isn't." Yugito smiled. "As long as I'm around, I'll do my part to aid him. And he's got you, his mother, too. And besides which, didn't he pick up some of his tactics from you and your husband? You two trained him the best you knew how, didn't you? Not to mention, he has made friends in this town...Hinata, for example."

"Yes...she's a lovely child. Definitely nothing like her father," Kushina sighed. "They may be blood, but they're as different as night and day. Hinata-chan has definite affection for Naruto...but her father would willingly throw him to the wolves for the sake of his own interests."

"At the risk of sounding uncaring, Kushina-san...please don't be too hard on Hiashi," said Yugito. "One of his children has been kidnapped, after all. He's probably reacting the only way he knows how. And, too, he wouldn't be the first person to not have a favorable view of the Kyuushingai. As for Hinata..." She smiled and nodded. "Yes, she's quite the sweetheart. Pretty innocent in the ways of the world, but she's open to learning."

"Hmm." Kushina regarded Yugito. "She mentioned that she's been visiting with you lately..."

"She asked me to train her. I accepted the challenge." Yugito crossed her arms over her chest. "It's at least helping me to keep my own skills sharp."

"Mmm-hmm." Kushina sighed. "Well...I wish I could help somehow, with finding Naruto. It's not like I'm not able...I was married to a military man, after all, and I picked up a few things from him. And I raised a Kyuushingai, so it's not like I don't know how to handle his rambunctiousness." Her eyes lowered. "I just don't know what to do right NOW."

"Then let me tell you what to do." Yugito looked intently into Kushina's eyes. "Go home. Get some rest. Leave the rest to me. I promise, I will get your son home alive and in one piece."

Kushina seemed to have an internal struggle with the statement. Then she resigned herself. "All right, Yugito-san. I'll leave it up to you." She nodded. "Thank you."

OoOoO

Residents in a section of Konoha Town's upper-class suburbs were all comfortably settled in at home, their doors and windows safely locked and bolted, burglar alarms activated, dogs in place in the various yards. The local neighborhood watch committee had advised all its members in the past two years to do their part to protect themselves and each other, to apply the timeless adage of "prevention before cure" in keeping down the crime rate in that part of the city, and so successful had they been in their drive that they had received commendations for their efforts in contributing to the fight against crime.

Vrrrm vrrrrm vrrrrrm vrrrrm vrrrrm…

Nobody in the neighborhood heard the distant noise of revving motorcycle engines, so deep in home activities and sleep were they, and so far away was the noise.

"YAHOO! LET IT RIP, GUYS!"

Thus was Mizuki's boisterous command to his biker gang, and with gleeful whoops and yells the riders followed suit. As his motorcycle raced along the streets, his long leather coat flapping in the wind behind him, his gang raced close behind as well, many skillfully holding their rides steady with one hand while holding various weapons—rocks, empty bottles, Molotov cocktails, guns—in the other. Getting closer to their targeted area, the riders revved their engines louder, picking up speed.

Hearing the engines coming close, the various dogs woke up, lifted their heads, and sniffed the air. Some of them growled deep in their throats, as if realizing what was about to happen.

Then the riders came close to the first house in the scheme, and let loose with their missiles and fired wild shots from their guns, laughing with psychotic pleasure as they did so.

CRASH! BANG-BANG-BANG! FWOOSH! CRASH! FWOOSH! CRASH! BANG-BANG!

The very first missile, a cinder-block piece, smashed through the first house's living room window. Almost instantly the burglar alarm went off, wailing loudly enough to awaken the sleeping residents. But even as they were so rudely aroused, their neighbors' fire alarm was going off as a lit Molotov cocktail burst through a kitchen window and instantly set the curtains and a carpet aflame. Across the street and two houses down, bullets burst through the upstairs windows, causing those in that room to scream and dive for cover, while at the house immediately opposite that one, more bullets struck the front door and the garage door and ripped through the resident family's car windshields and trunk.

Further up the street, the riders turned a corner and sped along, continuing to throw missiles and fire bullets randomly. A dog in one yard got struck in the head by a stray bullet and was killed instantly; a Molotov cocktail got stuck in a tree in another yard and gradually set the branches on fire. Householders and their children lay on the floor in their varying rooms in utter panic as chaos raged outside.

Finally, the motorcycles' engines died away into the distance, and the residents cautiously ventured outside to see what had happened. Immediately they beheld the property damage that had taken place and, in the case of the cocktails with their flammable ingredients, was still ongoing: damaged windows, doors and vehicles, injured or dead pets, fire that was now engaged in fights of its own with lawn sprinklers, broken bottles, random rocks and stones, and bullet shell casings.

OoOoO

Unaware of the chaos that was being wreaked elsewhere in the city, Kushina arrived outside her house, moving with slow, de-motivated footsteps. Yugito's promise notwithstanding, she still felt a keen sense of worry for her child. If only she could know where Naruto WAS, at the least...

Almost on autopilot, she pushed the key in the lock and opened the door, stepping into the darkness of the house. Turning on the passageway light, she pushed the front door shut and headed for the kitchen. Maybe some ramen will help me to take my mind off things...I think there's a cup of microwaveable ramen in the cupboard somewhere...

Searching the cupboard, she was soon rewarded with what she wanted, and a moment later she was opening the packaged cup and pouring water onto the dry noodles and then placing it in the microwave. Standing idly in front of the appliance for a few minutes, she was soon rewarded with a loud ding,and she took the now-hot cup out of the microwave. "Oooh, hot, hot, hot," she whispered as she gingerly carried the cup over to the kitchen sink and set it down there, reaching for a fork with which she'd eat the noodles.

She heard the rapid noise of footfalls behind her—then an unexpected weight pressed against her back as an arm locked around her neck and a hand clapped itself over her mouth. "No funny business, bitch, or—" the intruder spoke into her ear.

Kushina didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence—she shot her arm forward, grabbed the ramen cup, and pulled it hard toward her, in the direction of where she knew the fellow's face was. Her action was rewarded a second later with a loud scream as the hot ramen made contact with her assailant's face, even as he automatically let go of her and eased his weight off her. "AAAAGH! MY EYES!" the guy yelled out.

Not waiting for a break, Kushina spun around, balled her hand into a fist, and sent it right in between the guy's legs; a moment later he was on the ground, holding his face with one hand and his family jewels with the other and moaning in pain. But just as that one fell down, a second figure burst from the kitchen doorway and pulled out a switchblade, holding it up in menacing fashion. "You okay, Zaku?" he called to his partner.

"K-kill...kill her, Dosu!" Zaku moaned through his anguish.

Without waiting for a second invitation, Dosu rushed in, slashing with the switchblade like mad. Kushina dived out of the way, though, and lunged to one side where, she knew, the pots-and-pans cupboard was located. Flinging the door open, she grabbed the first thing she could hold—to her joy, the ramen pot she'd used to supply Naruto's friends with soup during Sasuke's tournament—and readied herself with it. Snarling, Dosu stabbed forward with his knife, but Kushina caught the blade right inside the pot and twisted it to one side, forcing the knife out of his hand; she then brought her improvised weapon up, slapping Dosu under his chin and knocking him off-balance.

Getting back up, Zaku wiped the ramen off his face and blinked to clear his vision—but something hard and cold hit him in the face and knocked him back, for Kushina had just flung the pot at his head. Kushina, meanwhile, pulled out a nearby drawer and produced two large chef's knives, holding one in each hand as she turned to face the just-recovered Dosu. Snarling behind his facial bandages, Dosu reached down and swiped up his switchblade, then stepped forward, flailing the knife in between his fingers in intimidating fashion—but Kushina promptly flung one of her knives at his chest.

Dosu narrowly stepped aside and let the knife fly past him—but as he turned to face her again, suddenly his own knife-hand got sliced as Kushina sent her remaining blade across the skin between his thumb and index finger, and with a hiss of pain he dropped his blade. Kushina promptly raked her knife across his face, drawing blood, and then she jumped back as a precaution.

"You whore...!" Dosu felt his face where she'd slashed him. Then, looking around swiftly, he picked up the knife that Kushina had thrown at him, holding it in his good hand. "You're only supposed to be a housewife! That's what Mizuki-sama said when he sent us here!"

"Mizuki?" Kushina's eyes narrowed. "So that escaped convict is your boss?"

"Y-yeah..." Zaku, just getting back up and rubbing his head where Kushina had conked him with the pot, smiled nastily. "And right now he's got your Kyuushingai brat. That guy's probably gotten beaten to a pulp by now..."

"Enough talk!" Dosu held up the knife, even as his face and hand continued to bleed where he'd been cut. "Just for cutting me, I'm personally gonna make you suffer before I kill you!"

Swinging the knife around wildly, he charged at Kushina; she, however, dived to one side and avoided him...and Zaku collided into her, slamming her back against the wall. Grinning maliciously, Zaku sent a punch to Kushina's face, breaking her lip and spilling blood...but Kushina, in response, tightened her grip on the knife she was still holding and brought it down and then up at an angle. Zaku gasped and groaned in fresh agony as the knife sank deep in between his thighs, then cried out again as the blade was roughly pulled out, only to be shoved into his side this time.

Kushina, for her part, pushed the newly-injured Zaku off her, only to get slashed across the forehead as Dosu, still wielding the kitchen knife he'd nabbed, took advantage of the opening she'd given. Kushina turned violently to one side from the impact of the knife-slash, and she was nearly blinded by her own blood running down her face, but she used the momentum to dive away from Dosu and scramble to the stove, in front of which the ramen pot lay discarded on the ground.

Snarling, and ignoring the pain of his own cuts, Dosu chased after her and swung his blade at her head again, but Kushina swerved aside so that Dosu hit the top of the stove instead; she then grabbed the pot by its handle, following which she dived in, grabbing her astonished attacker around the torso and pushing him back so that his rear end hit the wall. Kushina swiftly swung her pot up into Dosu's face, hitting him where she'd earlier cut him, and he grimaced at the fresh pain, but took the chance to grab her by the throat with his good hand. "Now I've got you, bitch," he rasped as his grip tightened and he raised his knife-hand to stab her.

Coughing and choking against Dosu's strangling hold, Kushina promptly let go of the knife she'd been holding and, with her free hand, she reached up to his face and grabbed the edge of his knife-cut, yanking down as hard as she could. "AAAAAGH!" Dosu exploded as part of his face got torn off, but he still swung his knife down, slicing Kushina deeply on the arm. Cringing as the stainless-steel blade cut her flesh, Kushina nonetheless reacted swiftly, reaching up with her injured arm and grabbing Dosu's knife-hand; she then slammed his wrist against the wall twice, jerking the knife out of his grip, but this did not prevent him from head-butting her and sending her falling to the floor.

Roaring, Dosu threw all caution to the wind and jumped at her—just in time for her to spin over onto her back, holding something...Dosu's own switchblade that he'd dropped before. Dosu's eyes widened as he recognized the weapon...and then he landed right on top of Kushina, the knife sinking right into his chest. He gasped as the blade made its way inside...and then he involuntarily spat up blood through his mouth-bandages and groaned as Kushina, with some difficulty, shoved him off of her.

"Ugh..." Kushina breathed heavily as she slowly sat up. Then she became aware of Zaku groaning on the floor not far away. "All right..." Forcing aside her own pain for a moment, she walked over to where the boy lay, coughing blood even as he held on to his mutilated private parts. "You, start talking while you've still got time."

"G...go to hell..." Zaku began—and then let out a strangled cry as Kushina shoved her fingers into his side where she'd stabbed him.

"Not a good choice of words right now, shrimp," Kushina growled. "The truth. NOW!"

"Ungh..." Zaku felt himself getting weaker. "Doctor...please...doctor..."

"Confession first. Doctor after." Kushina glared down at him and ground her fingers deeper into his wound, causing him to let out a strangled cry of pain. "Unless you want me to cut off your balls a little further...?"

"N-no! No!" Zaku disagreed vehemently. "It was Akatsuki! They busted Mizuki-sama out of jail, and then they teamed him up with some old guy!"

"And who is this 'old guy'?" Kushina demanded.

"He—he was with Hyuga Corp...that's what they said!" Zaku winced from pain; his voice was starting to slow and his skin was paling from his blood loss. "Akatsuki nabbed the Hyuga boss's kid...we were to lure Kurama the Fox...the old guy would exchange the kid for him...aw, damn it, doctor, please..."

"Where is my son?" Kushina asked in a chilling tone.

"W...warehouse..." Zaku's breath was labored. "South...side...industrial district..."

"Good." Kushina left him there on the floor and headed to where the telephone was, whereupon she swiftly dialed an emergency number. "Hello, police? Yes...I'd like to report a break-in...two crooks came into my house and tried to attack me just now...yes, they're still here..."

The sound of labored breathing coming up behind her caught her attention. Turning slightly, she saw Dosu, bleeding from where he'd fallen on his own knife, holding said knife in one hand and raising it to stab her—but Kushina, still holding the ramen pot in one hand by its handle, let out a loud scream and spun around, bringing the pot up to smash Dosu on the side of his head, dropping him right there. Then she fixed the phone at her ear again: "Uh, yeah, sorry about that...that was one of them trying to attack me again...could you send an ambulance or two while you're at it? Yeah, they're both hurt badly...me? I'm roughed up somewhat, but I'm okay otherwise...yes, hurry, please. Thank you."

"Ow...ugh..." Dosu, on the floor with fresh blood leaking from his mouth and a lot more from the stab wound in his chest, nonetheless managed to glare at Kushina as she ended her phone call. He looked to one side and saw his fallen knife...and reached out for it with his injured hand...and to his dismay, she brought the ramen pot crashing down on his hand, smashing his fingers. "Augh! Cough, cough...damn you...stupid housewife bitch..."

"I'm married to a government agent, and I have a Kyuushingai for a son. Did you seriouslythink I'd be a damsel in distress after that?" asked Kushina, even as she kicked the switchblade out of Dosu's reach. "I may be a housewife...but I'm the housewife who just beat you up with a ramen pot, you little twerp."

"Grr..." Dosu coughed again, bringing up fresh blood.

"And stop bleeding on my rug! That thing's not cheap, you know!" Kushina scolded him.

OoOoO

END CHAPTER 52

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NEON MAJESTIC: I'll be honest. I was hoping all along to come up with a scene where Kushina would prove to be a badass in some capacity instead of just being a housewife. So…her being married to a government agent, and being the mom of a Kyuushingai…it would kinda make sense that she knows a few tricks of her own and can take care of herself if need be, right?

And now, I do believe it's time to acknowledge that sections of the last couple of chapters were "cookie-cut" from previous specific works of mine.

The interrogation scene in Chapter 49 was rewritten from the opening scene in the opening chapter of my discontinued story, Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal. The scenes in Chapter 50 where Mizuki is informed of his impending break-out and then where he's actually broken out and taken to his mystery benefactor were taken from two different scenes in my discontinued The Flash 2055, where (respectively) the villain Spin was being secretly communicated with by the information broker I.Q., and the criminal Chillblaine was broken out of jail to meet that story's main recurring villain, the Brick.

Also in Chapter 50, the lunchroom scene was recycled from an early attempt of mine at an alternate-universe Street Fighter fic (that story has long been taken down from the site), and Hanabi's kidnapping was recycled from a similar scene in Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal. In Chapter 51, the scene where Mitokado confronts Hiashi was recycled from a different scene in Yu-Gi-Oh! Eternal, where the main character's rival came to meet with Seto Kaiba to coerce him into allowing use of his Kaiba Land theme park for a card-game tournament, and the scene where Naruto's captured by Mizuki's goons is likewise recycled from a scene from Eternal where Jaden Yuki was captured by the Big Bad of one arc in that story.

Finally, for this chapter, Naruto's torture scene was recycled from (again) Eternal, where Jaden was being beaten up by the above-mentioned Big Bad while restrained, while Mizuki's motorcycle rampage was recycled from a similar scene perpetrated by gangster Philo Zeiss in The Flash 2055.

Whew. Yep, that's that. And there's going to be a whole lot more cookie-cutting as I strive to bring a quick end to this story…but I still have a little ways to go before I can say that's going to be a reality. Fortunately, I have already drafted the final scene for this whole story, and I have quite a bit of material from my other fics to draw on for completing this one, and all I really need now is one major arc to be completed, and then I'll be done.

And…this is probably the longest author-note I've ever done for any story. What a record.

By the way, the poll I created concerning Hinata and Ino is still up and still active and still awaiting more votes. I've decided I'm going to shut it down once it gets to 100 votes; at current, there are some 30-odd votes there, largely in favour of Hinata being Naruto's love interest at the end of this story. So keep the votes coming in, people!

Chapter 52 is now over! Chapter 53 is up next!