Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Naruto.
Meetings of Importance
By: Akki no Tama
Chapter One: Meet Shinobi
A pink haired girl sat on the grass, crying softly. She wiped at her tears as she tried not to touch her hair, in case it revealed her overly large forehead. It was like this everyday, she would go outside and as soon as the adults were out of hearing range, the other kids would mercilessly tease her.
She hugged her knees to her chest, trying to stifle her sobs. The tears only made the other kids laugh anyway.
So there she was, curled up in fetal position with only her misery as company. She wished she had friends.
Suddenly, a pink flower was thrust in front of her face and came to a stop just an inch from her eyes. She blinked rapidly in surprise and stared at the hand holding the flower-wasn't it a sakura blossom?-and shuffled in discomfort. The hand holding the flower was small, a child's hand, and it was wearing a fingerless black glove that had a spiral symbol stitched in white at the back.
She peaked cautiously at the hand's owner. It was a boy that was probably shorter than her. He wore a black t-shirt that had the same white symbol on the glove at the front. He wore black jeans that had white pockets that weren't tight fitting nor loose. A chain hung from one pocket to another, odd for someone his age. It also looked too long for him. A black bandanna was tied to his head, covering the top part of his shoulder length blond hair. He wore a friendly smile on his face, had three scars on each cheek, and had the most beautiful blue eyes ever.
She thought she was going to faint at how…how…cute he was. He was somewhat feminine looking but had enough masculinity to show he was male. Then again, it was sometimes hard to tell the difference in gender for kids.She numbly took the flower from his hand and he smiled even wider at her.
"Hey! You should smile more!" the strange boy said. "My 'nii-san told me people feel a whole lot better if they'd only smile more." He pointed at his smile and then made a motion with his hands showing her to do the same.
The pink haired girl made a weak attempt and managed to get a small, shy smile going.
"There! See? You look a whole lot better!" he said energetically. "Hey, what's your name?"
The girl shuffled a little and mumbled, "Ha-Haruno Sakura."
"That's a pretty name," the blond child said. "Hey! It's the same name of the flower I gave you! Cool, huh? You know, that flower matches the color of your hair. That's so neat!"
Suddenly, there was a beeping noise, interrupting what he was going to say next. The blond child stuck a hand in one of his pockets-the one without a chain-and pulled out a circular black object, it also had a white swirl on it. He flipped it open and there were some weird noises-growls?-that came from the odd object. He nodded at it, closed it, and put it back in his pocket.
"I have to go, Sakura-chan!" he said in a regretful tone. "Maybe I'll see you some other time!" He waved at her with a smile and ran off, his chain jingling.
She waved at him shyly until he was out of site. She froze when she realized she didn't know his name.
Sakura looked at the flower she held and couldn't help but smile, hoping to see the cute blond boy again.
Naruto looked back and forth, searching. He growled in annoyance when he couldn't find what he was looking for. The eight year old pulled on his chain-a gift from Yusuke-and unhooked it from his pants. He held one end of it in his left hand and held what looked like a handle of something attached to the other end of the chain. He flipped out the blade, making it into a mini scythe. His weapon of choice has about ten inches long and was black and white.
His older brother Yusuke chuckled a little when he found out he wanted to be trained into using it and said how "fitting" it was for him. He would bring death to his enemies. The teen gave him the chain and told him it would make the weapon long distanced but he could make it into a close combat weapon as soon as he took the chain off. Naruto remembered he smiled in childish delight when Yusuke unhooked the chain from his own pants.
As his mind wondered, he became distracted and didn't feel the presence of someone approaching him.
Bam!
"Owww! That hurt!" Naruto whined.
"Stupid ningen brat," the demon growled, its overly large fangs making it hard to understand. The demon was an unbecoming shade of purple and had scales. It was the demon Naruto was assigned to kill, the demon had dared to leave Yusuke's lands and escape to the human world.
His older brother had no been too sure of this arrangement. He had thought Naruto too young for such things, still did. He only relented after Hiei said more and more demons were growing bolder to cross the two worlds. Still, Yusuke only let him go after the low ranking ones. Naruto had an odd suspicion that his older brother sent someone to watch him during these missions but couldn't prove it.
Naruto snapped to attention when the demon started to move. It wasn't very fast, but it was still a demon and had several years of experience compared to the blond. It was an E-class demon, so it was a good start for him. If he could kill the demon, he might be able to prove to Yusuke that he could handle harder missions. At least, he hoped so.
Naruto decided to take the offensive. He threw his scythe and swung the chain, aiming for the neck.
The demon ducked and rolled to the side, stood on all fours, and charged.
Naruto didn't expect that and was caught off guard. This demon certainly fought differently from Yusuke or Kurama. He wished he had more experience with fighting other people but Hiei refused to fight a child and Kuwabara said it went against his honor code. Kurama only agreed to spar with him once and a while after Yusuke repeatedly asked the red head for months. His older brother didn't bother asking Hiei, knowing how he was, and said Kuwabara probably wouldn't help him much anyway. After he said that, the orange cropped teen got in a fight with him, ending up with Kurama threatening them with something Naruto couldn't see. He thought it was photos but he wasn't sure. That fox sure was sneaky.
Naruto was thrown into a tree and he winced in pain. He took his scythe and dug it into the bark above his head, using that as leverage to jump a couple of feet onto a tree branch. He jumped to another branch to avoid being hit by the purple demon.
The demon flipped onto the branch the blond abandoned and jumped after the blond. Naruto jumped back onto the ground and tripped on something. He glanced at what it was and quickly picked it up and threw it at the demon.
The kunai flew towards the demon, who fell off the branch to avoid it. Naruto quickly took advantage and used his scythe to cut the demon's foot. The demon howled in pain and Naruto silently slit the side of its neck to avoid getting the wind pipe in the way of his cut.
The demon quickly died and Naruto stood there, breathing heavily from exertion and adrenaline. These missions were harder than he thought.
Hopefully Kurama wouldn't nag him on his now dirty clothes like he does to Yusuke every once in a while. Sometimes the demon lord came home with his clothes ranging from completely ruined to slightly dusty.Yusuke would always grumble and then he was forced to clean the clothes himself.
Naruto dusted himself off, hoping it would become magically cleaner. Didn't happen. He sighed in defeat and began to run towards to village he saw earlier, where he met that pink haired girl, Sakura. It was getting dark and he needed a place to stay. Hopefully Yusuke wouldn't worry too much.
Naruto ran out of the inn he tried to get a room in and scowled darkly as he walked down the road. His face showed anger but his eyes betrayed nothing. Now he remembered this place, it was the hell hole Yusuke rescued him from. He was leaving pronto! No way would he stay in this place. Even if he had to travel all night.
Some people looked at him curiously, wondering why he was so angry looking. The few who recognized him scowled openly, whispering darkly to their friends, who immediately looked at him in disgust.
The blond grew annoyed. He angrily stomped on the ground with every step he took and didn't watch where he went. His emotions always did blind him, Kurama had warned. Yusuke taught him to mask his emotions but they both failed to teach him how to block it from affecting his mind.
Slam!
Naruto fell on his butt and quickly stood up, apologizing to the person he walked into. It was a boy who scowled at everything and everyone. He had raven hair which reminded Naruto of his older brother's, coal black eyes, and a pretty boy face. Naruto had already forgotten his anger from his surprise.
"Sorry! I guess I wasn't watching were I was going!" Naruto said, smiling in apology.
The boy glared at him and walked away.
"Whoa, that didn't go well," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head, a habit he picked up from Yusuke. He frowned. "Enma-sama! Everyone in this village sucks!"
"Hmm…That isn't a very nice thing to say."
Naruto jumped in surprise at the person who spoke to him. He stared wide eyed at a man wearing nothing but black clothing and white armor, along with a porcelain dog mask covering his face. His spiky silver hair peeked from behind his mask.
The man held up a hand in greeting. "Yo."
Naruto stared at him and then glanced around him. When he realized the man was talking to him, he hesitantly replied, "Hi…"
"Hokage-sama wants to meet you," the strange man said.
Naruto stared at him in confusion, then a look of comprehension crossed his face. He looked up at the sky for a minute before nodding. "Alright. Can you show me the way? I don't remember it."
The man nodded and then stuffed his hands in his pockets before leading them to the tower.
Silence engulfed them and Naruto wanted something to break it. It was so uncomfortable and he hated it when it was quiet. Therefore, he had to break the silence, meaning he had to strike up a conversation, even if it was one sided.
"So, how's…um…this village?" Naruto asked, pausing when he couldn't remember the name of his old home.
"Konoha? Hmm…I'd say it's been doing well. How about yourself?" the man asked.
Naruto looked at him suspiciously, wanting the man to know he didn't trust him. "What's your name?"
"Mine's?" Naruto could tell he was being purposefully stupid. Shinobi. Humph.
"Uh-huh."
"Hm…It's Kakashi," the man answered after a pause. "How have you been doing, Naruto?"
Naruto closed off his emotions and inwardly smirked. So the man was trying to earn his trust by being friendly, huh? That might have worked before he met Yusuke. Well, he could be purposefully stupid too. The demon lord would snort at that, saying he was naturally stupid. Then Naruto would play a prank on him and he would retaliate by giving him a noogie. "Me?"
"Yup!"
"Hmm…I dunno…Yesterday I guess I was ok. But the day before that I was really bored. There was nothing on TV and there wasn't really anything else to do. I tried to draw a picture but it came out all messed up. I showed it to 'nii-san and he said it looked nice but I could tell he was trying not to laugh."
The man nodded to show he was listening, but Naruto could tell he grew bored of his childish talk.
"Oh! Do you know what?" Naruto asked excitedly. The man turned his head, as if in interest. "I love ramen! It's the best thing in the world! Well, next to 'nii-san. It has all these different flavors! I think all of them are good! But my absolute favorite is miso ramen! 'nii-san likes ramen too but he won't let me eat it all the time, he told me it would get me so fat that I would explode!" Naruto widened his eyes and looked at Kakashi fearfully, which was fake but the other didn't need to know that. "Would that really happen? Ahh! I'm going to die! I love ramen but-"
"We're here," the shinobi interrupted, a little hastily, Naruto mentally noted with satisfaction.
"Oh! Cool! Thanks!" Naruto happily skipped into the building, Kakashi following silently behind him. Kakashi nodded to the secretary as he pasted by. Naruto stopped in front of the big twin doors and pushed them open to find an old man behind a desk. The old man was smiling at him.
Naruto easily smiled back, remembering he was the few, if not the only one, who treated him like a normal kid.
"Hey, 'jii-san!" Naruto said loudly, earning glares he felt on the back of his head.
"Naruto, it's good to see you again," the Hokage said warmly. He nodded to Kakashi and they were left alone, the doors closing behind Naruto. "How long has it been? Three years?"
"I guess," Naruto answered, sliding into the seat in front of the Third. "How have you been?" Naruto blinked at how mindlessly that came out, though his tone was polite. He could only pin the blame on Kurama. Surprising how he could rub off on him while the other people he hung out with were so…not polite.
"Fine, fine. How have you been? Have you been taken care of?"
Naruto nodded. He frowned when nothing else was said. The blond crossed his arms and said, "Cut to the chase, 'jii-san. What do you want to know?"
The Hokage stared at him more a moment before he stated, "You grew up."
"Well, I was trained by Urameshi Yusuke himself, you know," Naruto answered smoothly, but the last bit came out prideful.
"I see…so he kept his word…I must admit, Naruto, I still am a bit surprised about him. He's nothing like I would imagine. Of course, all I've heard about him were rumors…" The Hokage paused. "How is he taking care of you?"
"Well enough," Naruto answered bitingly. He muttered, "Better then this place."
The Third caught the last bit and sighed with deep sorrow. "I must admit, this village disappointed me in how they treated you. I suppose it was all for the best that you left."
Naruto shrugged.
"Did he tell you about…did he tell you why?" The Hokage studied Naruto for any reaction.
Naruto looked at him with dead eyes. "Yes, he did. He also said that it was a stupid reason to hate me. It wasn't my fault, I couldn't do anything about it." The blond placed his small hand over his stomach. "You know, he couldn't remove it. He got all kinds of experts, demon and human alike. They told him that our energies have intertwined too much and it would kill me if Kyubi was removed."
"I see." The Hokage looked away guiltily.
"You remember that scroll you gave him?" At a nod, Naruto continued. "He showed it to me, about a month ago, actually." He sighed. "I…He told me not to blame anyone…'nii-san told me they didn't know any better…and not to blame the ignorant…and the scroll told me the same thing. I know why the Yondaime…my otou-san…chose me to be the sacrifice…he said he knew how they would react despite his last wishes…"
The Hokage nodded in understanding. "This must be hard for you."
"It…is…a little…but it would have been harder if I had stayed in this village…" Naruto shook his head. "Can you actually believe otou-san asked me to become a shinobi of this village?"
The older man blinked in surprise. He hadn't known that. Of course, he hadn't read the scroll, he respected the Fourth too much for that. "Are you going to be?"
"I don't know…" Naruto held his head in his hands. "I asked Yusuke-'nii-san…he told me it was my decision and he would support whatever it was…I want to be strong…I want to be as strong as him so if he's in trouble, I can help him. But I also want to fulfill my father's last wishes…I can't do both."
"Why?" The Hokage honestly didn't know.
Naruto answered immediately, as if he had thought of all this before. "How can I grow strong in a village that hates me? I'd rather not have hate become my reason to grow strong, or for something so negative. It sounds so empty and it's just too depressing. Besides, I don't think I can protect a village that won't appreciate my efforts."
"Naruto, what do you do right now? What could you possibly be doing to go this far out?" The third looked at him with intense eyes.
The blond blinked slowly, processing the question. "Well, I'm helping. I mean, I'm guarding this world from the demon realm. At least, a little bit."
"And why do you do it?"
Naruto frowned and looked at the Sandaime as if it was obvious. "Because I want to help, of course!"
The Hokage smiled gently. "And yet, no one here appreciates your efforts. In fact, they don't even know there are guardians to protect them from demons. Tell me, Naruto-kun, why can't you do both?"
The young blond sat there for a long while and thought about it with a frown. His arms were crossed and his eyes were closed, the very picture of concentration. Sandaime sat there quietly, patiently waiting for his answer. Afterwards, he had his answer.
"It's different," Naruto finally said. "To protect this world from demons, I remain impartial to what is actually happening in this world. I blindly protect it. Actually living in this village and actively protecting it from demons and other humans is unfair. Why should this village be different from the others? Why does it get more protection?" Inwardly, Naruto was amazed he used so many big words with such a big concept. This was way beyond an eight year old's thinking. Kurama really was rubbing off on him. Yusuke wouldn't show such insight unless he was forced to.
The Hokage smiled again, albeit a little more sadly. "Do you understand what a shinobi is?"
"Duh! That was the first thing the academy taught us." Naruto felt a bit insulted he would be asked that.
Sandaime shook his head. "No, do you understand? Naruto-kun, you know what a shinobi is, but do you understand what it is to be one?"
This time, Naruto paused to think about it. "Well…a shinobi would do anything for his village," Naruto said, thinking out loud. "To kill, to protect, to grow strong for his village's glory. To be nothing more…than a tool. To have no emotions, because…emotions would…interfere with the misson." Naruto gnawed on his lower lip, trying to remember what had been taught to him so long ago.
"Correct."
Naruto's eyes flashed and he exclaimed, "Than what is the point of protecting this village? Why should I become a shinobi? Damn it, why would anyone want to be? With the way your priorities are set, all of you will die anyway!"
"Ah…but Naruto-kun, then why would Urameshi-dono want this world to be protected?" the Hokage asked gently.
The blond froze. He didn't know.
"I wouldn't mind you coming back to the village," he continued. "I trust that you know what you are doing and it certainly isn't my place to question someone like Urameshi-dono. But, wouldn't it be nice to understand why you are protecting such a world?" The Hokage sighed. Naruto felt guilty for shouting. He was old and he looked so tired. "You can grow strong with ambition. When you have something to protect, you grow even stronger."
Naruto nodded slowly. After a few moments of thinking, he said, "I…think I'll become a shinobi, just to honor otou-san's wishes. He never did mention how long in the scroll, so maybe I'll only become part time or something." Naruto shrugged.
The Hokage thought about this. It would certainly benefit the village. Who knew how strong Naruto was, especially with Yusuke's training…it was just unfortunate the village couldn't have treated Naruto better. Then he wouldn't have had to lead such a difficult life. It would have been a simpler but also unhappy life if he stayed here, it was a dangerous but happier life he was living now.
"Yes…that's a good decision," the Hokage answered. "I don't know how long you are willing to stay here or how far you wish to take your career as a shinobi. No matter what rank you stay at, even at genin, I only wish for you to find your answer."
Naruto closed his eyes in thought, then nodded in agreement. "What's the age people usually pass the genin exam?"
"Twelve." The Hokage pulled on one of his drawers and took out a book labeled "Shinobi: the Basics." He handed Naruto the book. "This is all that is required for the academy graduates."
"I'll be back in four years, then." Naruto took the book and nodded to him. He left the office. "I'll work hard!" he added over his shoulder. 'Old people,' Naruto thought with a smile, 'are really smart.'
He walked out of the building, every pair of eyes on him. After a short distance of walking, he spotted that boy he bumped into earlier. He was sitting next to a lake. The blond decided to go over and talk to him.
"Hey!" Naruto greeted. "Remember me?"
The other boy glared at him.
Naruto, undaunted, took a seat next to the boy and smiled back at him.
After a moment of glaring with nothing as a response but a smile, he looked away and glared at the water.
"You know, if you continue to do that, you'll get wrinkles," Naruto stated. He smiled. "It takes a whole lot more muscles to frown than smile." Naruto remembered how Kurama had told him that when he had scowled after being denied ramen.
"It's none of your business," the boy spat out.
"Someone's in a bad mood." Naruto frowned. "What's wrong?"
The boy turned to give him a vicious and hostile look before looking at the water again. Naruto grew annoyed at the other's lack of change.
"Hey! I'm trying to be nice here!" Naruto said angrily. "Jeez! Fine, be that way!"
Naruto stood up to leave but then stopped. He got this mischievous look on his face. He whirled round and pushed the dark haired boy into the water. The boy spluttered when he came back up. He shot the blond an angry look.
"Hmm?" Naruto gave him an innocent look. "What's wrong?"
The boy splashed water at him. Naruto stood there in a moment of shock, looking surprised at the smirk playing on the other's face. He carefully put down the book he was still holding. Then ensued a water fight.
It was childish. It was immature for them. But it was fun, the most childish fun they had in a long time. Just two kids playing around with nothing else to do.
"Shinobi," Hiei sneered after Naruto finished talking.
Hiei had been at Kurama's house at the time, one of the rare times he was visiting. Naruto always thought the constantly angry demon wasn't the type to visit, so he concluded Yusuke or Kurama black mailed him. Said demons were there too. Yusuke was casually leaning against the kitchen counter. The more reserved Kurama was sitting on a chair.
Yusuke had moved in with Kurama when it became obvious that his mother couldn't take care of Naruto. It was a good thing that Kurama had already moved out of his mother's home. (Yusuke had a vague suspicion that Kurama might have been just a little jealous of having his mother taken away from him, even if it was just a small part.) Naruto had come home looking like he had been in a brawl and his clothes were stiff, as if they were wet and then dried. He also brought home a rather thick book.
Yusuke shared a look with Kurama and said, "Whatever's fine is fine. You want to do both, right?" Naruto nodded. "All right, Kurama already came up with a suggestion if it came to this. You'll have to be in disguise when you're a shinobi or when you're out killing demons. Which one will it be?" The demon lord paused. "Or you could be in disguise for both."
"Um…I…don't know." Naruto looked confused. He didn't know which one to do it in. There weren't really any cons or pros for each profession, and if there were, they cancelled each other out. He had only taken on a couple of missions before, so would it make more sense to disguise himself when he was out playing shinobi? But, not many people knew he was actually doing those missions and the ones who did more mostly in this room.
Hiei snorted in contempt. The demon didn't like ningen shinobi, that was obvious. The other two ignored him, used to his attitude. The Kurama said calmly, "Want to flip a coin?"
Yusuke pulled out one and said, "Heads it's spirit detective, tails it's shinobi." He flipped it and expertly caught it, flipping it once again and slapped it unto the back of his other hand. "It's heads. Guess you'll be wearing a mask or something when you're out on missions."
Kurama pulled out a metal mask that would cover the bottom part of the blonde's face. Yusuke saw it and took off the pair of sun glasses on his head.
Naruto pushed up the sun glasses, they were a little big on him. "Why do I need the sun glasses?"
"You're eyes stand out," Hiei answered for them. Naruto blinked in surprise. Hiei rarely talked to him. He got a faint feeling the demon didn't much like him.
Yusuke leaned back and inspected him. "It looks kind of…awkward. We'll need a better disguise."
"I feel stupid," Naruto complained with a pout.
"You look like it too."
The blond glared hotly at his older brother, but it only made him look like he was pouting. Yusuke refrained from commenting, but had a small smirk.
"Yusuke," Hiei suddenly said. The demon lord looked at him curiously. "I heard rumors that Yomi was getting upset with you."
"That guy never liked me, anyway," Yusuke said carelessly with a wave of his hand. "I only visited once and that was to tell him I was the new king, remember?"
"King Yomi is most likely upset that you disregard your duties so much," Kurama said. "He worked hard to obtain his position as one of the three kings, you inherited yours. He takes it very seriously."
"It's not as if I didn't have to secure my position," Yusuke said angrily. He didn't like to talk about demon matters with Naruto in the room, but at the moment that wasn't why he was upset. Yusuke hated being king and had never once thought he deserved it or was fit for the position.
Kurama noticed the curious look on Naruto's face and decided the discussion should be held at a later time. "Naruto, you must be tired. Go to bed."
"But-"
Kurama had a small glare and that silenced Naruto immediately. He never saw Kurama angry before. He wasn't right now, but the young blond could tell he was a bit upset. Naruto grudgingly left the room. He hated the fact that Yusuke and Kurama would keep things like that from him. It's not like he hadn't seen blood shed before, but they seemed to think this was something beyond simple killing.
He had no idea that it was.
Naruto knew about death. He had seen it. He had caused some of it. However, he had never before questioned why someone would kill. He unconsciously thought that demons killed simply for pleasure, that he killed to protect, and that Yusuke killed to protect, too. In his world, there was only either to kill in defense or for pleasure. White and black. The thinking of a child.
Yusuke sighed and rested his head in his hands. He stared unblinkingly at the table top.
"Do you think he'll break?"
Kurama glanced at him from across the table. Hiei had left hours ago.
"It's necessary."
"He's a kid."
"You can't protect him forever. Besides, he'll learn how to adapt."
"…Do you think he'll hate me?" Yusuke let go of his head and leaned back in his chair. His brown eyes stared at Kurama. They were unfocused, the kitsune noted.
The red head thought about it. "He holds you in high esteem. His image of you will crack."
"I'm not perfect. I'm a demon, what does he expect?" Yusuke said defensively.
"You know how children like to think things in terms of good and evil at that age." Kurama looked out the window. The street lights had turned on. "Usually, a demon would be immediately thought of as evil. To him, you are an exception. He doesn't look pass that."
"Am I evil?" Yusuke asked softly.
"No, my lord, you are not." Kurama smiled gently.
Yusuke sighed. "But I'm not innocent either."
"What demon is?"
"Yukina."
Kurama smiled. "Ah…but she is an exception."
A corner of Yusuke's lips twitched.
Silence.
Yusuke eventually asked, "Do you think he'll hate me?"
Kurama frowned, trying to figure out what the question was asking. He finally answered, "He'll understand once he thinks about it. When he realizes that not all demons are 'evil', he will wonder why you never let him enter that part of your life. After he realizes that he couldn't, he'll forgive you. During that time, you'll have to learn to be patient." He stared at the demon lord. "Yusuke, I'm not overly concerned about Naruto. You, however, worry me."
"What?" Yusuke gave him a confused look. His eyes gave him away.
Kurama glared at him. "Don't give me that. I separated myself from the Makai years ago. What is happening to make you think so much?"
Yusuke chose his words carefully and said slowly, "You know there has been a war that is just itching to break out, right?"
With narrowed eyed, Kurama nodded.
"I think…it's going to happen within the next couple of years."
"By who?"
"…I don't know."
Kurama thought about that for a moment. "Hiei will side with Mokuro?" Hiei was, after all, serving under the demon queen. Not only that, he was also her heir. Yusuke had a fragile alliance with Mukuro that could be broken up at any time. They collaborated with Yomi to hunt down any of the demons who illegally left their land or world.
"Maybe."
A tense atmosphere filled the room.
"Why so long?" Kurama finally asked. "Why wouldn't it happen right now?"
"The other two are waiting for something. I think they want to see if one of the three of us will make a mistake. Also…I think Yomi is building up an army." Yusuke silently added, 'And with the amount of time I spend away from my kingdom, it'll most likely be me who messes up.'
Kurama nodded, satisfied with the answer. For now. Yusuke was still holding something back. The teenager was too easy to read for someone like Kurama, but they had lived together for the last couple of years.
Yusuke sighed and wearily rubbed his eyes. "It's times like these that make me regret throwing out my beer."
End Chapter One
Okay, end of chapter two. See? A few more things changed in this. I discarded the idea of Naruto becoming a spirit detective. How could he be one if Yusuke is a demon king/lord thingy? It didn't make sense so I took it out of the story.
If some of you are still confused, Naruto is kind of acting like a spirit detective. He protects the shinobi world from the demon world from low class scum, but he doesn't serve under spirit world. His information comes from Yusuke's network and a bit of Mokuro's and Yomi's.
Yusuke's a bit darker in this fic since in this he actually took the throne. He has a bit of self resentment for some of his actions, thought he tried to be as peaceful as possible. In the original story line, he thought up of the Makai Tournament. He will eventually think of it, but the reason why he didn't think of it yet is because Naruto interrupted his thinking process. He was too busy juggling his life with Naruto in the human world and his duties as king and lord in the demon world. Once Naruto becomes a shinobi, Yusuke will have time to think.
In this fic, Kurama wasn't asked to be Yomi's right hand man. Eventually, he will be asked but it would be better for me if that will come later.
Well, for the relationships of Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei, what do you, the reader, think? They didn't seem very close during the whole Makai thing, but they were a bit worried for each other…I think. I need to fit in Kuwabara somewhere, but it'll probably be next chapter. He'll be like an uncle figure for Naruto, I guess.
Any questions?
Reviews…would be nice.
