Blue Kitsune: Sorry it was taking so long, I just had to worked on a new chapter for everyone and didn't have time to send to a beta, so please read and review. Oh and if anyone wants to be my beta for my stories, please let me know.
Chapter Ten
"Naruto…Naruto…where are you? Where are you my little fox?"Naruto was running, running through a forest. It looked familiar somehow and then realized that this was the Forest of Death. He was running in the Forest of Death, chased by somebody. Someone he knew.
"Naruto…I'm coming for you…" The voice called out everywhere and Naruto wasn't sure where he was hearing it. It was almost surrounding him in this place."No stay away bastard!" He yelled as he lunged through the trees, jumping from branch to branch to escape. It seem endless and the voice chuckled evilly in his head as the hunt continue.
"Naruto…I know where you are…I know you came back…and you brought back 'gifts' for me…how very thoughtful of you." Naruto stopped in his tracks as he heard it speak again. "So many and all for me…"
No! No not that! "You stay away from them bastard!" He shouted but his voice dimmed, the words seem to become choked in his throat. He tried to speak once more. "Stay away from my kitlings!"
"Oh but they are also my kitlings as well as you are mine too." Strong cold arms encircled around Naruto, holding him tightly and Naruto unable to struggle against the steel vise. He felt himself turned around and saw himself staring into two black orbs that slowly turn to blood before his eyes. He saw the heartless smirk touching his face and then closing the distance between the two as he lowered his head towards Naruto's face.
"Welcome back Naruto-kun…""EEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A loud scream and crash was heard and echo on the top floor and outside the open window to the forest. The nine kitlings who were still sleeping from the exhaust of yesterday evening woke to their father's yell. The children opened their doors, looking at everyone with beady eyes and wondered what just happened? Why did their father scream like that?
Naruto sat up in his bed, his hand on his chest, feeling his heart hammering inside. He breath hard and then used his other hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. That dream, god that wasn't good! He shudders as he recalls what it was. The bastard had been in there and he had almost felt, smell and taste him.
God…Naruto groaned within his hands before he heard the door burst open and a rush of air came attacking him with nine kids jumping on his bed.
"Daddy, what happened? We heard you scream? Were you attack?" They bombarded him with questions before he had time to answer them as another popped right out of their mouths. The children look all around the room, just in case there was an attacker and went to search in all the tiny corners to make sure the area was clear. When they finished they went back to their father and had that look that asked what was wrong?
"Well um see Daddy had a bad dream." Naruto said as he placed one hand behind his head as he spoke. The children tilted their head sideways, their ears flecking in confusion. "Huh?"
Kagura was the first to ask as she cuddled Kyuubi. "What dream was it daddy? Was it very bad?"
Yeah almost like a bad wake-up call to reality, Naruto thought but didn't say it out loud. Instead he made up a small lie. "I dream someone went and kidnap all the ramens in the world."
That was pretty stupid but it seem the children bought it as their mouths hung open and their eyes bulge as they screamed, "WHAT!"
In an instant, all the kids ran to the kitchen to check if their precious cargo of ramens were save and not gone.
Well almost all the kids.
The girls stayed on his bed. They were not easily tricked like their brothers and knew something was wrong. Diaya sat on one of her father's sheet covered legs while Naruko took the other. They were holding him down as they glared at him.
"Papa that was a lie and you know it." Hana spoke calmly as she stare with cool black eyes. Naruto knew it was impossible to get past her as her waves were able to read vibes off people whether they lied or not. Naruto sweatdropped on the inside and wondered if there was a way to hope for a miracle to come his way.
Unfortunately there was no rescue committee coming and he would have to answer under the interrogation of his daughters. And the boys would come back soon once they saw the ramens were safe and be at him like their sisters.
'Naruto may I suggest some things?' Kyuubi asked and Naruto was grateful for the fox's help. 'Yes anything tell me now, hurry!' He listened as the fox told him what to say and Naruto couldn't believe the stupid stuff she told him. 'That's what you want me to say! That's stupid! They're not going to believe that crap!' But he might as well give it a shot.
"Well the truth of the matter was you guy, hehe, I dreamed that there was a huge scary panda-badger attacking yelling 'Yeeha! Oh Baby!' like some cowboy and that there was a scarecrow and flower dancing with a dolphin and a cat tap-dancing. And then there was a dog with a boy on his head yapping with a guy having bugs all over them and a pineapple person with twin green beasts and another flower arguing with first and then a toad and…" Naruto went on and on, the girls becoming surprised and confused at the lame excuse their father was saying.
"A panda-badger saying 'Yeeha!' like a cowboy?" Diaya said. "A scarecrow, flower and dolphin dancing?"
"Cat tap-dancing? Pineapple person? Twin green beasts…" The girls felt sweatdrops rolling down their head as the more lame the story became. Suddenly the boys came back to the room, carrying cups of ramens.
"Hey the old stinking toad man's here and oh, we found a television and guess what's playing? BLEACH! Yeah! We have cable people!" The girls jumped off their father's bed and race to follow their brothers to where the TV was to watch one of their favorite anime shows. Just before they left, Kagura took one peek behind to her dad.
"Um, Daddy?"
"Yeah Kagura?"
"Next time, don't tell us something weird like that again. It's freaky to imagine a cat tap-dancing and a panda acting like a cowboy."
"Heheh right…" When his daughter left the room to join the others he started mentally screaming at stupid foxes with their lame excuses. Once he finished his mental rant he decided to take a quick shower. Jiraya should be ok with the kids for a while he hope as he headed to the bathroom and turned the water on cold.
After Naruto finished his shower and dressed in some clothes he had in his pack he headed downstairs to the living room to search for his ero-sennin.
"Hey Jiraya sorry I was taking so-- Jiraya where the heck are you?" He went to the kitchen first, not sure if Jiraya would be there or not but went to check anyways. He search all the downstair rooms, from the ones last night and when he came across his kids sitting around the TV that was showing a orange haired boy fighting some weird monster he decided to ask where Jiraya was.
"Oh he's hanging around somewhere." Yondaime answered while some of the boys snickered trying to keep to them the private joke.
Ok…he think he got it. Naruto went to search back in the hall this time looking up and he saw him all right.
Hanging with a rope caught on his foot with scrolls wrapped around his body like a mummy.
Big fat words were scribbled on that said 'Fat toad' or 'stinking fat toad' or 'pervert hentai that scares kids away with his huge nose', stuff like that. Naruto sigh to himself as he saw Jiraya who was struggling with the binding of the scroll looked down at Naruto with a glare.
Better get him down. Naruto went to the wall where one of the kunais were embedded in and threw it across the room and cut the rope suspending Jiraya. He heard a thud and then went to unbinding the scrolls that Jiraya had trouble undoing.
"You know for one of the sacred sennins, I can't believe you fell for such a simple trap." He cut the scroll covering his mouth and wish he hadn't as Jiraya spat in his face, "Shut up, I didn't think they were that smart seeing as you are their father and all. I didn't believe that they would lay something like this in the doorway!"
Naruto continue to cut the scrolls while Jiraya continue to curse fox-kids and their tricks. Well at least he and his sensei had a sorta common dislike for demon foxes but Naruto wouldn't dare as much hate those of his own flesh and blood.
Just ones with really lame excuse ideas.
He and Jiraya were in the kitchen, preparing breakfast before the kids started running into the room when they smell the good aroma in the air.
"Breakfast all right!" The boys took seats on the left while the girls took the right. Jiraya glared at the boys, knowing it must've been them who had him tied up in the first place. Naruto, not wanting a food fight in his home decided to serve the boys while Jiraya served the girls.
Home, it was funny calling it his home, even the village after leaving for five years. It felt almost like a welcoming to come back but it was also not because of his past and the well sake on his children when they had to get enrolled.
Yeah speaking on enrolling, he turn to Jiraya who finished serving the girls and watched with wide eyes as all of them wolf down their food in a mad pace. "Hey any word on the registering in the academy?"
Jiraya turned his eyes away from the kids and blinked before he remembers the message Tsunade had given him. "Yeah go to the Jounins lounge at noon and talk with one of the instructors, a couple should be willing to accept them. If not, hand this to them." He gave Naruto a scroll that had the emblem seal of the Hokage on it. He figured that it must be something important and since she was Hokage, whatever was written in here must have the power to get the teachers to accept his kids.
"Oh and you got to see her before you do that, 'special request' to you know. Probably at around ten maybe."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "My kids know about Kyuubi so you don't have to say it like that in front of them." When the kids heard mentioned of Jiraya insulting their fox-sorta mother figure, they turned and glared at him.
'Keep insulting our family and you're a dead stinking toad man' that glare went as far to say and Jiraya seem to get the message.
Naruto knew that it was still early and was seven, seven thirty now with two and a half hours before going to see Tsunade for whatever reason and then wait by noon to discuss registering school but it was only seven and still another five hours away. Well there was only thing to do for the next five hours.
"Kids after breakfast we are going to clean this place up."
"WHAT?" Not exactly the reaction he wanted but he saw Jiraya grinning as he saw the looks on the boys' faces. Well at least someone was happy.
Everything in the place was silent until there was a loud shout and then "KAGE BUSHIN NO JUSTU!"
Smoke came into the large room and when the air was clear, there were over a thousand black and blond hair kids along with adult Narutos standing around the real ones. "Well at least we got this down all right!" Saru said as Naruto went to set places for the children to clean. Their rooms obviously the first thing but he set a list of other rooms on where he and the kids would most likely clean in the house.
Naruto: Living rooms and setting 'security' traps in places (Learn secret behind them to make sure to get off/on switch or whatever)
Yondaime: Living room (help with Naruto), sweeping and setting furniture. If finished early clean the tower.
Ramne and Saru: Kitchen and dining room. Putting food away, which Jiraya kindly brought over and then have food set later for lunch. What food: Ramens of course!
Iruka: Studies, organize books and scrolls in which capable to doing so. (Why else was he named after his namesake? He loved reading!)
Haku: Outside shrine dojo. Clean place up. (Naruto on looking outside the window saw the weed covered shrine and thought Haku would enjoy that to have solitude and concentration inside the dojo)
Diaya: TV/entertainment rooms. Set games and have them cleaned up.
Naruko: Clean with Yondaime and Naruto in living room and tower. Clean upstairs too with them.
Hana: Bathroom, um…he was running out of rooms to think that needed cleaning!
Kagura: Garden (Beside the shrine he saw a vast garden that was very much in need of tending and he believe Kagura would enjoy doing so.)
When he had told everyone where they would be stationed at, the kids and their bushins hurried out and went to work. The faster they got this done, the more freetime they would get.
"Umm Haku?" Haku along with his bushins arranging the incenses inside and hanging the large ornate bells on the temple looked up and towards Kagura whose clones were weeding the garden. "Yeah Kagura?"
"Isn't it weird?"
"What, what weird?" His sister gave a stare that indicate that she had something on her mind. "You know with daddy, he doesn't seem like himself."
"How come?" He helped one of his clone set up the sacred bells onto the outside doors and then walked over to Kagura. She twiddled her fingers in the dirt and looked at the ground slowly.
"Daddy, I can sense he doesn't like being here…somehow daddy doesn't want to be here."
"You felt that too huh?" Kagura nodded and then plucked one of the flowers, a violet off the ground. "It's almost like he's trying to hid something from us about this place. He never told us more than just being a ninja but not of this place."
"Yeah I agree he never did say what happened and why he left. Kyuubi might know but I doubt she'll tell us even if we are part of her kits." Kagura sighed then looked up to the sky, wondering what could have possible been that happened to effect their father this way.
While she was looking away, Haku had the same gaze he had while he decided that he best find the answer out himself.
Blue Kitsune: I was thinking of writing more for this chapter but this was as much as I could do for the people waiting for the update. I hope you like and will continue as plan. Promised!