I loved writing this, it was hard but I am getting into a real flow for this story...

Naruto had never known true devistation. Not when Sasuke abandoned the him and the Leaf, they were not truly friends. Not when Sakura abused him, she was never going to like him anyway. Not when he learned of his heritage, he never really knew his father so there was no connection to the man.

No, he knew nothing of truest agony until this precise moment, seeing Azula dying in her bed, her skin mottled and purple, her mouth dry from mouth breathing... her eyes glazed over with a mix of pain and old age. He knew she would die at any moment, the day he and Jiriaya were planning on leaving. He was at a loss for what to do, think, say...feel.

"Naruto... my boy, my son in all but blood... I am sorry you have to see me like this, on my dying day. I beg your forgiveness... and ask you a favor. When I am done talking, I need you to take my life, can you do that?"

Naruto gasped." No... never... Why?"

"You need to understand why death is sometimes a mercy, my final lesson to you..."

He sniffled, then nodded even though she would never be able to see it. "Alright... I... I love you Azula."

"And I you, so much. My perfect student, protege... my love, my last love. The best students I've had in a hundred and fifteen years. You my precious boy...you will be my legacy, remembered through the ages, my immortality through you." She laughed, a horrible broken sound. "I lasted as long as I could to teach you, but now my strength fades as does my will... and so, I ask you this... one you take my things and bury my body, what is your new goal? You have never shared it with me, and I would like to know should there be an afterlife afterall."

"I... I want to shine, to show to world it is wrong about me... I want to help people like me, Jinchuuriki but also those born to terrible circumstances. That's only part of it but the part that I have come to accept. Does that make sense?"

She laughed again. "A beautiful goal and one I can forsee you acheiving... my boy... now... it is time..."

Naruto pulled out a Kunai and placed it over her heart, closing his eyes as he pulled on his chakra. "I love you." He said before jamming it home, piercing her heart and taking the sweet life of Azula, his beloved and only true Sensei. Tear fell, naturally, but sooner then he expected, Naruto stopped crying and cradled the women's body to his chest, singing the same song she once sang to him, the day he first woke up.

Pulling his fingers to a single handsign, he summoned a dozen clones. "Gather wood... and create a pyre. The rest of you pack the stuff like we were supposed to. We do not have a lot of time, but we must honor her..."

The clones said nothing, and moved to do as he said, all of them under the sway of endless grief born from endless love.

:::

It took only an hour for them to be packed, dressed in their old fake clothes, and ready to burn away the once living vessel of Azula. They lay her on the pyre, built with love by a clone, dressed in her nicest clothes. She was to be burned with a ring of flowers she liked around her, a bow she had placed on the wall of her home too worn to be used to fight. She looked like a warrior and a mother all at once, a fitting image.

Bowing, Naruto quickly lit the pyre, along side his clones, and watched as the fire consumed her body all while singing the song she once sang him, a song that would forever remind him of home and happiness. He stayed there for hours and when her body disapated into nothing but ash and bone fragments, he collected her remains. He buried some not far from her old home, planting a single seed from a local cheery blossom that he charged with his chakra, hoping it would help it to grow.

This is what he would do, plant a little bit of her remains wherever he went, with a seed and his chakra, hoping that her remains would grant life to even more beings across the world. A beautiful sentiment he knew she would appreciate... or, rather he hoped she would.

Far too soon, he found himself walking behind a hung over Jiriaya, walking towards the setting sun, making their way to the next town in question. Jiriaya said nothing to Naruto, too hungover to really care, or notice the deep depression in the boy's heart, the small scent of ash clinging to his clothes or deep seated hatred he felt towards the annoying Toad Sage.

"""

That night, as they lay by the fire, quite a bits a way from the next town, Naruto closed his eyes and focused on his mindscape, easily slipping into it. He wasn't worried about being caught unawares, dozens of clones had been created earlier that day, they were training well into the night and some would follow him disguised as birds or squirrels, making it so that if someone came along that was a threat, they would dispel and wake the boy from his works.

In his mind, Naruto strode to Kyuubi, stopping shy of the cage as a new image stopped him. There, etched into the side of wall of his mindscape, was Azula, only she was dressed in her armor, sword out and ready to fight. It was a beautiful image, one his mind must have created. He felt tears prickle at his eyes, his heart aching at the simplicity of how he truly remembered the women before him, even in her death she was a warrior and that stuck home...

He was grateful, that she would never truly fade as long as he was alive... he was her legacy, her immortality and he was okay with that.

"A beautiful image, she is to be remembered, even I will remember her." Kyuubi's warm breathe smacked into him as he spoke,. "Do you wish to continue your training or do you merely need reliable company?"

"Both, to be honest... I have eleven months only, and I need to continue to grow... so let us start. What debate shall we have today? Then we can work on seals."

The Kyuubi was quiet for a long time, or what passed for a long time in the drifting space that was Naruto's mind. "How would you, if you could, remove yourself from the Toad Contract, if morality was not an issue?"

Energized by this subtle but simple past time he had come to enjoy, Naruto dived right in, filled with a rare enthusiasm. "Well, for starters I would decimate their local economy and sacred objects through pranks-"

"""

The days passed and Naruto felt his skin crawl, he hated being around Jiriaya so often. The man was irritating, annoying and not Azula. He didn't ask him how he was doing, what he was interested in, what he wanted. There was no dialouge, even as they reached the next town the man just dismissed him to go and sleep around, drink and do whatever it was that he did. Naruto hated him for it... They had worked, during the time to the next town, using Kyuubi's powers only Naruto faked and faltered, getting mocked a bit before they just stopped. It was... debiliating and made him want to leave the man all the more.

Thankfully he now had Kyuubi's voice in his head, the Fox as it turned out had a dry wit and loathed the Toad Sage for a million reasons. He mocked him so constantly that it was hard to not laugh obnoxiusly whenever he started off mocking the man. Naruto did his best to behave himself but it was hard. He was rewarded for his efforts by the promise of actually mastering Kyuubi's power, which they finally got started on the moment Jiriaya left to go and do his thing. Naruto sent a clone to watch the man, in the form of a rat, and settled to actually channeling the power of the Fox.

It was hard work, requiring pure focus even with the Fox's assistance. The power leeched on his darker emotions, but as Kyuubi told him, having worked with Azula he had already faced his mental hangups on his darkness and thus was far more attuned to that side of him. His limits, as it turned out, was about six minutes before his rage got the better of him and he had to shut down the power entirely. Thankfully he was never as destructive as before, as he had been when Jiriaya had trained him the year before, when he scarred the man's chest.

As before, his limit was three tails, but unlike before he was in full control of himself in that state. His mind wasn't clouded by hate, rage or whatever. He was stronger too, Kyuubi said he was already just reaching chunin level thanks to his training with Azula, so in that state he could defeat most Jonin with some ease. No Kakashi level Jonin but Ebisu and people like that.

Things did get weird though, when Naruto finally started to channel the Dark Emotion sensing powers...

"Kami, my head hurts, is your head always like this?" Naruto groaned as waves of negative energy overwhelmed him. The town, several miles away, felt like a bomb going off, with something akin to screaming oozing into his mind.

The Fox laughed. "Not now, but when I was younger yes. There is a reason I am a loner, being around that kind of dark emotion... it causes a soul deep ache only you and I can understand. It is a powerful skill, one you must learn to deal with if you are to master it. It will make it nearly impossible for anyone to hide from you."

"I can get that... I can sense Jiriaya, through my clone I think... he is in so much pain, is that why you hate him so much?"

"More that he chooses to abandon you for his pain, he has had more then enough time to deal. People who give into their darkness are weak, as are those that refuse to deal with it at all. Jiriaya in a way is both and I hate him for it..."

"Remind me to break his nose later... he's a dick and he deserves it." Stretching Naruto, fell into a stance, and moved through his sets. Using just the first layer of Kyuubi's powers, just before a Tail manifested, made him just barely break into Low Jonin level speed and strength. He was three or four times stronger in this state, it made his chakra just different enough that sensors could not track him down. It would be the perfect tool to break into Monk Monestaries and kill some Missing ninjas or thugs. "Once we get used to this state, we should start killing... There is a Monstary nearby, thirty or so miles away. Can a clone survive in using your powers for that kind of distance? If so, we can spy on them long enough to steal scrolls and stuff like that."

He all but felt the Fox nod. "I do beleive they can, we can test that now. Create clones and have them disguise themselves before traveling as far as they can. If they make it to the Monks then perfect, answer is right there and they can start spying. We only have ten more days here, before that idiot will make us leave. We should be able to steal their scrolls and such in that amount of time. You could easily start to master their combat style and sealing style by then, which will put us closer to you becoming at least a seal expert by the time you reach the Leaf.

I have another idea as well... I sensed a summon creature when you were first leaving the Leaf, I never pointed it out as we were not talking. If you can travel far enough you might be able to have a clone recapture it and then it can help you break the Toad Contract or at least help with that."

Naruto blinked. "You are a genius, my dear foxy friend. Remind me to give you something later, seriously that was awesome. Hell, even if that fails with more sealing skills we can figure out how to break the contract on our own. Either way we are closer to freedom!"

Both satisfied, the two continued to train, with Kyuubi offering suggestions to better his form or compliments to impressive movements. Overall it was a wonderful training day for the two of them...

Even if they ended up stopping to bury a fragment of Azula's bones... he was so solemn through this, that his clones that were reading up on Azula's scrolls and books stopped to watch and mourn over the loss of their beloved Sensei.

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was fun, I loved writing it.

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.