After school, Hinata-chan and I walked back towards the Hyuuga compound where a Branch member was ready, as always, to take her either to the Main House or to the dojo for training in the Jyuuken. We walked calmly up to the gates and greeted them, a young woman, looked at me with narrowed eyes as she listened to Hina-chan's pleas.
"And as long as Naruto-kun's there, I'm not going to get hurt. I'll probably just watch him for a while than come back. Please? Please please please!" Hinata-chan begged. Judging from the feel of her thoughts, she was trying not to roll her eyes just as desperately as I was. After a while, the Branch member was worn down by her reasoning.
"Okay, okay." She quieted Hina-chan. "How about this: I'm going to go for a walk and tell Hiashi-sama that you came along. If you aren't back by the time I reach this front gate, you'll be the one to explain everything to your father."
"Thank you, Shiratori-chan! I'll be back really soon, okay?" Hinata-chan shouted over her shoulder, dragging me behind her. After a while, she stopped and spun around. "So what's so important that you needed to wait till after school to tell me?"
"Not here. We're going to the forty-fourth," I explained and Hina-chan visibly paled.
"You don't mean-"
"Don't worry, I've been going there to train for the last few weeks. Everything in there knows not to mess with me," I said, grinning my trademark grin.
"I'm sure," she said, shaking her head slowly in exasperation. "Is this that serious that we have to go all the way there?"
"Yes. Are you up for a race?"
"Oh, you're so on. Kai," she smirked, deactivating her chakra-sensitive weights and stretching. I followed suit and smirked as I felt over two hundred pounds of pressure disappear from my limbs and chest. "What are you up to on your weights? I have twenty on each arm, twenty-five on each leg."
"That's nothing, I have forty-five on each limb and another twenty-five on my vest." I smiled at Hinata-chan and got into a runner's pose. She rolled her eyes and shifted into the pose, knowing that she'd lose this race. "On your mark, get set, HEY!" I shouted, watching Hinata-chan run off without me, only a dust trail left behind her as she rocketed away from the village.
When I caught up with Hinata-chan, the gates to the Forest of Death were in sight. I leapt past her in a long bound and jumped close to the gate, flying over the high gate and landing on a tree on the other side. Hinata-chan stopped dead in front of the gate, glancing upwards before shaking her head and slipping in through a hole in the fence a few yards away.
"Cheater," I teased. She just smiled and flipped her hair away from her face and jumped to meet me in the trees. My hand formed the ram seal and I felt the weight return to my body. "Follow me and stay close, the animals in here don't know you as well as they know me," I cautioned her.
"Okay, I'll be right behind you," she reassured me lightly, reactivating her own weights. I rocketed through the trees, following my path of kunai slashes towards my favorite clearing. After a few minutes, it came into view.
The clearing itself was huge, about 120 yards long and fifty yards wide. Dotting the grass were craters of various size, all remains from my former training sessions. Unlike Team Seven's training grounds, where I still went while it was unused, I only used the Forest of Death during the more serious ventures that I set for myself; here I could train without fear of being discovered. I had never been followed into the Forest of Death and only Kakashi knew the exact location of my clearing. It was here that I re-learned the Rasengan and Rasenshuriken. I had mastered Sage mode in this clearing and began to learn the Hiraishin with a three pronged kunai given to Kakashi by my father when Kakashi was promoted to jounin.
"What happened here?" Hinata-chan asked, looking short of breath at all the destruction.
"I was training. There's a reason the animals know to leave me alone," I shrugged. I jumped to the branches of my favorite tree and sat down, patting the limb beside me. On one of my first trips to this clearing, I had discovered that, from the top branches of this oak, I could see all of Konoha spread below me, Hokage Mountain in the distance. The mountain still seemed empty, lacking both Tsunade's and my own image carved into the rock. Now, gazing at the village, Hinata-chan jumped up beside me and smiled at the view.
"This is beautiful."
"I know. You'd never think that one of the best views of Konoha is from the Forest of Death. Anko-chan would feel scandalized," I chuckled, remembering the eccentric purple-haired kunoichi. Hinata-chan laughed, leaning against my arm. We sat, enjoying the view and each other's presence until I cleared my throat. "I'm leaving the village for a few years." I winced, feeling Hinata-chan's sense of betrayal from our link.
"What? Why? Did something happen?"
"No, nothing at all. I need to get away from the village for just a while. I need to start some rumors and reestablish my spy network. I'm going to leave a Niku Bunshin behind that will go to the academy while I'm gone, but I need to go before too long."
"Can- can I come too?"
"I'd love it if you could, but I don't see how. You have your Hyuuga training to do and I'm not sure even a Niku Bunshin could survive a Jyuuken training spar. I think we'll have to be apart for a while." I felt Hinata-chan's feelings, sharper than any words, stab my heart. All I could do was try to defend my reasons and hide my own feelings about my leaving as I pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry Hinata-chan, I'll be back soon. It'll be just like when I left with Ero-sennin. You didn't like it then but you still let me leave. And I won't be gone for as long this time. If all goes to plan, I should be back in just over a year. That's not too bad, is it?" I comforted my Hina-chan. She shook her head against my shoulder and sniffed once. "I have something to give you," I said quietly, not wanting to startle her. "Two things actually. Only one of them is really from me, I guess."
Hinata-chan looked up, meeting my blue eyes with her lavender. "What is it?" she asked, shifting her weight away from my and allowing me to stand. I reached into my school bag and took out a scroll. I opened the scroll and bit my thumb before smearing the blood onto the large seal on the paper. Another, larger, scroll appeared. The outside of the scroll was etched with dark red and purple flames originating from each horizontal edge. I opened the scroll, revealing my name and my handprint written in blood below a heading that stated, 'Demon Fox Summoners'. I held the scroll open to my mate.
"This is technically from Kyuubi. He said that you deserve to summon foxes and I agree completely. The choice is yours, though. If you sign this contract, then you'll have your own pack. Your pack can be both mortal and demon foxes; for example Koyuki and Mai are both in my pack."
"So why does Kyuubi want me to sign this? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but I am a little confused."
"He wants to… keep it in the family," I mumbled, my seven year old face flushing. Hinata brightened and bit her thumb, reaching for the scroll. I held it open and she signing her name Namikaze Hinata. I rolled my eyes but she didn't seem too concerned.
"It's still my last name, time travel or no. Besides, Kyuubi knows who I am, I don't think he'll mind, especially if he wants the scroll to stay in the family," Hinata-chan defended her reasoning.
"I didn't say anything, Hina-chan." Anything to not get hit again, I thought to myself before wincing, watching Hinata raised her fist threateningly.
"What was that, Naruto-kun?" She asked in her sweetest, yet strangely evil, voice. My eyes widened ever so slightly. The armies of Iwa? Bring it on, they're no problem to the one and only Rokudaime Hokage. Hinata-chan's fist? Now I'm scared.
Heh, kit. You're so whipped! Kyuubi laughed at my expense, reveling in my terror.
Shut up Kyuu. That just means that your vessel is whipped. You sure know how to pick the, I smirked back at him, knowing that would rub him the wrong way. We continued to joke around back and forth until my instincts warned me that something was quickly approaching my head. I tried to duck but I was too slow, I rolled too far and fell out of the tree. Glancing up, I saw Hinata-chan smirking at the treetop.
"I guess you don't want your present," I goaded the Hyuuga heiress. Her eyes, shining with momentary joy, met mine before she leapt off of the tree, did a double front flip, and landed at the base of the tree trunk in a crouch. "You know, I remember when you could barely talk in front of me."
"And I remember when you kissed Sasuke and got beat up by a crowd of fangirls. What'd you get me?" she pressed. I groaned. Somehow, she always found a way to bring up that memory, a memory I'd rather crumple into a ball, set on fire, and laugh maniacally to the sky as it burned.
I reached into one of my pockets, grasping a small box. "No, this is not a wedding ring. Your father would kill me if I proposed at age seven," I smiled, watching Hinata-chan's eyes examine the black box before opening it slowly. Nested in the center of the velvet was a small charm, hanging on a silver chain. The charm was a highly detailed fox and completely silver, a small seal on the back of it. "That seal is the Hiraishin marker. I can use my father's technique from anywhere, at anytime, to travel to your necklace. If you need me, all you have to do is take off the necklace and feed it some chakra. It'll alert me and I'll come. That's not it thought. Bite your thumb and put a drop of blood on the charm." Hina-chan looked overjoyed at the seal and confused at my request. She played along and placed a drop of blood on the silver charm. "Now watch."
We both watched as the drop of blood shrank, the crimson liquid being absorbed by the metal. When the drop was completely gone, the metal changed. In the center of where the droplet hit, a pinpoint of darkness grew and spread across the fox, retaining the details but coloring the fur. When the darkness reached the fox's eyes, it changed, dying the eyes a pale lavender. I smiled and pulled out my own necklace, already changed. The blond was just as bright as my hair, the eyes the exact shade of my own.
"How did it-"
"This is a special metal, only forged in the demon's' realm, called chi tekko, blood steel. When you placed your blood on the metal, it absorbed your DNA and changed itself to match. The charm is now a part of you and it won't change again, not matter who bleeds on it. I've did the same with mine, to test it out before I gave you yours. Do you like it?" Hinata-chan's way of response was to kiss me on the cheek and give me a tight hug. It was then that I remembered the Branch member, the young woman who was probably returning from her walk right about now. "Oh my gosh, we've got to get you home!"
"Up for another race? No weights all the way to the Hyuuga gates?"
"You're on. Kai," I muttered. Hinata-chan formed the ram seal and murmured 'kai' before shifting into the runner's pose.
"On your mark… Get set… Go!" She shouted and we dashed back towards Konoha.
~Back in the Clearing~
"Niku Bunshin no Jutsu," I muttered, biting my thumb as I added my blood to the jutsu. I stumbled as I felt the chakra leave my chakra coils. Instead of a cloud of smoke, the flesh clone materialized out of the shadows of the trees, a joking light in the eyes of the other Naruto.
"Yo, Boss."
"Hey. Do you know what to do?" I asked my clone.
"Yep. Be loud, act stupid, and annoy Iruka-sensei. Anything else?"
"Yes. I've given you enough chakra that you do have some sentience unlike more primitive clones. You're going to grow and you won't poof away the first time you're hit. You'll be able to heal and to mend. With that in mind, that does not mean you should take unnecessary risks. You have our memories- stay as close to the original timeline as possible."
"Uh, Boss? No offense, but you got beat up by Sasuke-teme's fan girls a lot. Do I have to go through that again?"
"I'm sorry but you do. I've given you enough demonic chakra that you should heal as fast as I do but that's the best I can give you. I'll be back as soon as I can, but until then I'm afraid you're stuck with Sakura. Don't insult Sasuke-teme too much and avoid getting slammed into Sasuke. I don't need that memory twice," I shuddered.
"Is that all?"
"Yep. Go meet Kakashi then do whatever I- we- would do. Have fun," I smiled at my clone and he darted into the Forest of Death, following my familiar route out. "You can come out now, Hina-chan," I said, looking at where my mate was hiding. She stepped out of the bushes with as much dignity as she could muster and walked over to me.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Positive. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about. Remember the Hiraishin. I've been practicing it, I think I've got it down." I said, pulling out one of my father's special kunai and twirling it in my hand before throwing it across the clearing and into a tree trunk. I closed my eyes in concentration and followed the seal's signature. When I opened my eyes the next second, I stood at the tree, one hand on the kunai. I smiled at it briefly before depositing it back into the pocket I had reserved for the Hiraishin.
"Show-off," I heard Hinata-chan mutter on the other side of the clearing. I grinned, Shunshining back to her.
"You know, this is technically a Namikaze clan jutsu. Maybe I'll teach it to you in a few years."
"Maybe. I'm not sure I'd use it that much."
"What? Don't want there to be a Raven Flash? Hmm… What would your Bingo Book name be?"
"I've never thought about that. What about you?"
"Well, Yellow Flash was already taken," I said winking before Hinata-chan raised her fist. "I guess I haven't thought about it that much. I'm already the Fox Sannin and Fox Sage. Isn't that enough?"
"I don't think so. You're seven years old, nobody calls you that now," Hinata-chan reasoned. "Shi Kitsune?"
"Death Fox? I don't know… Oh, I know," I said mysteriously, grinning, the perfect name coming to mind.
"What?"
"Check the Bingo Book in a few months. I'll be there."
"And what are you going to be doing to get into the Bingo Book? Keep in mind you're seven. People aren't going to take you seriously."
"Probably not, but that's what's going to circulate more rumors. How exactly was a seven year old able to infiltrate and destroy one of Orochi-teme's bases? Could he really use the Rasengan?"
"You're having too much fun with this."
"I don't think so. If I make a name for myself now, I could stop Orochi-teme from giving Sasuke the cursed seal."
"But if you do that, he doesn't leave, and that's what triggered a lot of what we know… I got it!"
"What?"
"Let him get the seal but beat Orochimaru up so he'll be weaker for the battle with Sandaime-sama. Then, right after he gets the seal, you go into his mindscape with the Yamanaka jutsu and kill the part of Orochimaru's soul. That way he'd keep the power but stay sane without that snake whispering in his head," Hinata-chan explained. I stood there for a moment, dumbstruck.
"Why didn't I think of that?"
"Because you aren't Shikamaru. Or me," Hinata-chan teased, a small smile on her face. The smile fell into a frown as I picked up my backpack off of the ground. "Are you sure about this?"
"I'm positive. I've already made the flesh clone and he has his instructions. I'll be back and no one will be the wiser." Hina-chan smiled sadly and raised a hand to her necklace. "Remember, give it chakra and I'll know. I'll be there, I promise." I gave her a tight hug before I looked into the forest, the opposite direction from Konoha.
"I guess you should get going," Hinata-chan sniffed.
"I'll be back as soon as I can. I even put a Hiraishin seal in my room in Kakashi's apartment so I could get back that much faster."
"Well, wait are you waiting for? Get going, fox," Hinata-chan laughed, wiping her watery eyes.
"I'll see you later, vixen," I grinned before Shunshining into the forest. Glancing back, I saw Hina-chan wipe her eyes before smiling and waving in my direction.
You're so whipped.
Shut up Kyuu. I'm going into Sage mode. I need to be in Suna as fast as possible, I said, getting into the lotus position. I felt Kyuubi shrink back in my mind, allowing me to fully relax and sense the nature chakra around me. I absorbed as much as my body could balance and opened my eyes. Sage mode for the Demon Fox Sage was a strange thing. Unlike the other Sage forms, such as Toad, I didn't remain humanoid. Instead of gaining a few attributes of a fox, I completely turned into one, a blond fox with blue eyes just a shade darker than my own. This form was my trump card, not many ninjas know how to attack a fox.
I glanced behind me and saw five tails slashing the air behind me. If I had eyebrows, they would've been raised.
Hey Kyuu, didn't I have three tails last time I went into Sage mode?
Yeah but then you trained your ass off. Congrats, you're a five tail. That was good enough to be in my honor guard. Do you feel honored?
You, the all-powerful Kyuubi no Yoko, had an honor guard? For what, tea parties?
Kit, he growled warningly. That guard were my personal soldiers, don't disrespect them. They're like what's-his-names' ninjas. Danzo?
ROOT? I'd call them more puppets than soldiers.
What's the difference? And shouldn't you be running? Something about saving the Shukaku kid?
Damn, I almost forgot. I pressed my paws to the ground before leaping to the treetops. I forgot how fast this form is, I said, running over the quickly disappearing trees.
You're just lucky you spent all that time practicing it. I remember when you just learned this form and you kept running into trees! Kyuubi laughed, his chuckled booming in my ears. I ignored my old friend as the terrain shifted into a grassy plain riddled with boulders.
I stopped for the night when I could see the desert on the horizon. I shifted out of Sage form, stretching painfully as my bones and muscles grew and shrank into my natural human form. I quickly made two shadow clones, one to hunt and another to help me set up camp and gather firewood. The clones darted into the tall grass, ready to complete their assigned chore while I reached into my backpack and brought out one of my scrolls. I undid the seal on the paper and began to set up the tent.
When the tent was set up and my belongings safely put away I heard my clones returning.
"Report?" I asked, wondering if there was anything out of the ordinary.
"There wasn't much out there," my hunting clone said, holding up a dead rabbit. "There were a few Konoha nin plowing through the woods, scaring everything else away. I assume they were on their way to Suna judging from the direction they were running. They're taking a less direct route- around the majority of the desert- so we should be fine. They didn't have a tracker with them."
"Good," I said quietly, taking the rabbit as my other clone placed the dry wood a distance from my tent. "Anything out of the norm on your end?"
"Nope. Just the average plains animals. No summons that I detected or any ninjas hiding around," 'I' said, light the fire. When two clones had reported, they disappeared in a puff of smoke. I started cooking the rabbit over the fire when an idea popped into my head.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
"Hey, Naruto-sama. What is it this time? Where are you?" My youngest summons asked me.
"Hello Koyuki. I was wondering if you'd like to join me. This is the Suna/Konoha border. I'm going to visit an old friend."
"Which one? Temari-chan?" Koyuki's eyes lit up. Strangely, she had enjoyed hearing about the Sand ninja. She seemed to share a kinship of sorts with the blond kunoichi.
"No, her younger brother, Gaara."
"The redhead? Shukaku's vessel?"
"Yes. I've been working on a seal to strengthen Gaara's original seal. When he was younger, the old raccoon drove him nearly insane. It was only after I beat him up at the Chuunin exams that he calmed down."
"Sure, I'll come. Who knows? I might get to meet Temari-chan."
"You will. She was very protective about her brothers. Just remember that nothing you know about happened yet. She's just a kid. And try not to talk until I tell you it's okay. I'd rather not scare them off. Their father should still be Kazekage."
"Deal. Are you going to eat that?" Koyuki asked, staring hungrily at the finished rabbit. I laughed and took it off the fire before splitting the meat evenly between us. We sat in front of the fire for a while longer, just talking and joking around. When I got tired, Koyuki agreed to keep watch and I fell asleep in my tent, watching Koyuki's shadow pace the camp before sitting in front of my tent.