First off, I want to thank the first review I got, which was from *Que drum roll*... WolkaiserDrake! WolkaiserDrake commented 'Nicely done'. I would also like to say thanks to everyone who's left a review so far, as all of them are positive! Now, to address the pairing. I have set up a poll and will be closing said poll 4 weeks after I upload this chapter. I've had it up since the last chapter but I forgot to mention it and let's be honest, it's too much work to go back into the chapter and edit it in. I would somehow screw up the flow... Trust me, I've done it before. But enough of this, I won't take up any more of your time cause honestly, who reads the author notes at the beginning? *cough* not me *cough*...
'Wonder if he'd be uncomfortable if he was awake...'
Naruto was currently sitting about seven feet away from the dragon, who had finally fallen unconscious. By the time they got to clearing the dragon was in critical condition... Not that he wasn't already, but now he was suffering from extreme blood loss, despite the makeshift bandages they applied to him.
Naruto shivered as a gust of wind blew through the clearing. It was a rather cold evening more so than usual. Quickly moving into the shelter of his tree, Naruto didn't notice Fang sitting in the shadow of the entrance. That could've also been blamed on his eyes not being adjusted to the darkness. Naruto let out a yelp of surprise when he was tackled by Fang, who had waited patiently for him to let his guard down.
"Ger off meh!" Came the muffled voice of Naruto, who had his face stuck between the ground and one of Fangs paws.
'I don't think so Naru,' Fang replied, 'I still have to get you back for that little stunt back there, and you know how foxes feel about being called a dog.'
Fang proceeded to lay down on his small frame, effectively becoming a living blanket. Naruto grumbled at how unfair this was. He was annoyed at how easily she could pin him down.
'Seriously, not even the ANBU can pin me down, and they're the best of the best. So how is it that Fang can pin me down without even trying?' Naruto thought to himself, "Can you at least let me turn onto my back? It's rather uncomfortable having my face pressed into the ground."
Fang just sighed, and in one movement had effectively flipped him onto his back, all without standing up...
'What the hell?' Naruto questioned, 'How the hell did she... You know what, it's probably better for me not to question how she did that.'
Fang leaned down till her nose was touching his. Flinching slightly at how cold her nose was, Naruto sent her a confused look. Fang continued to do this for a while before she abruptly pulled away. If Naruto didn't know any better he'd say that she was blushing.
'I'm keeping you warm.' Fang answered, 'Don't think that didn't see you shivering. Besides, this is part of your punishment.'
Naruto stared, unsure how to react. Normally his punishments were tort- *ahem* physical training.
"Okay? I'm just going to, you know, get some sleep?"
'Yeah yeah, get some sleep. I'll be here.'
(About 2 days later)
Naruto sighed as the ghost of a shinobi that had died in the Kyuubi's attack attempted to run him through with his tanto. Ever since he could see them, there was always one that was consumed by his or her rage. At first, he thought nothing of this, mostly because they could interact with physical beings, but this changed when one of them became something other than a soul.
When you die, you can either move on, be consumed by Shinigami-sama, or be tied to the physical plane. When you're tied down due to emotions, the results can be... Disastrous. About a year ago, there was a spirit hellbent on inflicting some sort of injury on him. She had been at it nonstop for a month when one day, instead of attacking, she stood there and stared at him.
Now, normally this wouldn't be a cause for concern since most spirits do that. What was a cause for concern was her eyes. Where there used to be brown eyes filled with hate, there was now brown eyes that had no pupil. Where there used to be white, there was now black. But the most worrying of all was the blood that was flowing from where her pupil used to be, along with the rather... disturbing feeling he was getting from her.
This was something that he had never seen so, being cautious, he edged around her, trying to keep her in his eyesight while at the same time keeping as far away from her as possible. Pressing himself up against the alley wall, he slowly slid by her. It was slow, painstakingly so, but he was getting the feeling that if he took his eyes off her for even a second he would regret it.
As Naruto moved, the spirit just turned her head to follow where he was going.
"You know, this isn't too bad," Naruto muttered under his breath, "at least she's not attacking me."
By now Naruto was behind her, allowing him to release the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Closing his eyes for a brief second, he took the second to gather his wits. Opening his eyes, Naruto felt his breath that he had just released come back and choke him. The woman had turned her head to look at him.
"Nothing weird here," Naruto attempted to comfort himself, "Just a woman with her head on backward."
... Yeah, he never said that he was good at it.
Moving quickly, Naruto kept his eyes on her as he made his way out of the alley. Standing on the corner of the alley was none other than Senju Hashirama. (A/N I should mention that because Naruto has more spiritual chakra, it allows him to interact with them. This means that he can touch them. This also means that one can slit his throat while he's sleeping... Keeps him on his toes ^^)
"Watch where you're going young one." Hashirama scolded Naruto, not having realized who he was and that he was still alive; nor did he notice the thing that Naruto was trying to avoid.
"Sorry," Naruto muttered quietly, trying not to make any sudden movements.
Hashirama paused, taking note that the boy had yet to turn and look at him, and was staring at something in the alleyway that he had just come out of. Hashirama placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, flinching at the warmth that came from him.
'This boy is still alive?' Hashirama had never once seen someone who was still alive that had the ability to interact with spirits, 'And was is making him act so cautiously?'
Peeking his head around the corner, Hashirama didn't notice anything wrong... At first. There was a cat on a window ledge, a flower that looked to have been left without water for years, a woman bleeding from her eyes and her head turned the wrong direction, a dumpster that was- Wait, what?
Hashirama's eyes snapped back to the woman, immediately noting that she was completely ignoring him in favor of the boy.
"Boy." Naruto turned his head slightly so that his ear was facing more towards whoever it was that he had bumped into, "What is going on with that woman?'
"You can see her too? You can see the blood and the messed-up head?" Hashirama blinked, wondering why he was asking. Who else would he be talking about? "Yes. Now can you tell me what's going on?"
"I'm afraid that I have no idea either. Just yesterday she looked completely normal, and was trying to kill me as usual."
This took Hashirama aback, not knowing how to reply to that. Thankfully he didn't have to.
"When she appeared today, she was like this. I'm not sure what's going on, but her yin and yang (A/N Spirits that reside within the physical plane have some yin chakra which is what allows them to manifest) felt... twisted. It feels like someone took her chakra and jumbled it." Was Naruto's rather rushed explanation, "I feel like the second I take my eyes of her that something will happen."
"Do it." Naruto almost turned to the man but managed to keep himself from doing so.
"Are you crazy? I may be strong, but this feeling I'm getting is telling me that I'm not strong enough!" Naruto snapped, "Unless of course, Lady Luck decided to smile upon me today and somehow your one of the strongest shinobi's in history."
"Do you know who you're talking to boy?" Hashirama asked, "No, but my luck sucks so I doubt that you can help me." Naruto replied with a scowl, "Not to be rude or anything."
"Boy, I am Senju Hashirama, one of the founders of Konohagakure. Do you still believe that I won't be of any help?'
Naruto's jaw dropped.
'What the hell are the chances!' Naruto thought to himself, 'Seriously, what the fuck?'
"Now boy, tell me what I can do. I assume you know of some way to defeat that woman." Hashirama felt slightly put off by asking a child how to defeat something.
"The only things that can harm spirits are other spirits." Naruto paused, "Well there are some exceptions to that. I can interact with spirits because my yin chakra is much larger than my yang. You can knock a spirit out with a concentrated pulse of yin chakra while yang chakra won't do much of anything. Spirits can be killed using weapons too. Its the same principle as when you're alive. You stab them, they bleed. You slit their throat, they die. However, the weapon has to either be infused with yin chakra, or it has to be made by a spirit, which would give it the properties of a spiritual weapon. You have to already know this, right? I mean seriously, you've been a spirit for a long time."
Naruto finally looked away from the woman. He knew that was a mistake the second his eyes had left her.
"Look-," Hashirama tried to warn Naruto.
Naruto didn't realize that he was embedded in the wall until Hashirama pulled him out of the wall, only to jump out of the way of an ax kick. Naruto shielded his eyes from the dust and rocks that were kicked up from the force of the woman's attack. As soon as the dust settled, Naruto lowered his hand from his eyes.
'What the...' Naruto was honestly speechless. Where there used to be a wall was now a hole and the ally? The ground looked to have been turned into fine grain sand.
He shuddered at the thought of what that would have done to his body if the attack had connected. Seriously, that woman is way too strong.
'Wait... Wheres the woman?' Naruto barely managed to raise his kunai in time to block the one that came out of nowhere.
Naruto's left foot slid forward while his body turned to the side. Not a second later the woman performed a flying kick, going through the space where his chest had just 's right hand shot forward, catching her neck with his forearm. The woman's body followed the laws of physics and crashed into the ground. Hashirama took that moment to finish her off. Appearing above her, hands flashing through hand signs faster than Naruto could see, he cried out the name of his jutsu. (A/N This is one I made up, I honestly can't remember what his Jutsu's names were and I'm to lazy to look it up ^^)
Suiton Style: Unprecedented Death!
Rather than some huge amount of water crashing into her or something, all that appeared from Hashirama's jutsu was several hundred rain droplets. Naruto sweat dropped. This is the strength of one of Konohagakure's founders?It's rather... Underwhelming to say the least.
Not even a second after the thought passed through Naruto's mind did something happen. All the water that had landed on the women's body had become a needle and had impaled her. Naruto couldn't help but stare at the gruesome sight. The woman's body was being held up by the hundreds of water needles that had impaled her. She slowly turned her head towards him and spoke in a raspy, chilling voice.
"The void lusts for you. The void will have you. You can not escape us, we will always find you. You will be ours!"
With those foreboding words, she went limp. Seconds passed before she started to disappear into nothingness. Hashirama walked over to him, obviously looking to have his questions answered.
"Boy, you and I are going to have a nice long chat about what just happened and why a former Konoha shinobi became a murderous lunatic."
Naruto gulped.
And that's a wrap! This is shorter than the other chapters but I'm behind schedule. Thank you to those who commented and supported me. I set up a poll about whether or not Naruto should be bi. I'll see ya in the next chapter. Oh, and before I forget, I wish to say thank you to my beta for putting up with my stupidity ^^. Couldn't have asked for a better one ^^. I suppose I should let you all know that I am in high school, but fear not, I am 18... In a few weeks. lets be honest, no one truly cares if your 17 or 18. There's not much of a difference. But the main reason I am telling you this is because when this school year ends it's going to be much harder for me to type out this story. My computer which already sucked decided to completely stop working so I have to type this out at school. That all... See ya next time!