Author Notes: Well now that's really an amazing thing, I hadn't expected to actually get those reviews. Well because you all gave me so much feedback (and so much of it was positive too) I will post this next chapter. And kudos to Xardoth, who will get the preview of chapter four… eventually…
Chapter Five "Haha! What Happened to Chapter Four!"
A Demon's Dream
Disclaimer: mmm… how can I say I own not Naruto? Let me count the ways…
And it went that smoothly for those who weren't directly involved in the matter, he showed that he wouldn't deal with it anymore, and then he disappeared. Hell, they didn't even notice he disappeared until a bunch of drunks filed a missing person's report, wondering where their punching bag had gone off to. The Rookie Nine, now short two members for the entirety of the foreseeable future, and with two still in critical care as well, were distraught at the loss of their group's apparent soul.
"I heard he had the worst injuries out of all of those that went on the mission, but he was released the same night, only a few hours later!" Ino, the loudest in Kiba and Naruto's absence, and definitely the best rumor-monger, was grilling Sakura for information while their group sat at, oddly, Ichiraku ramen.
They were all surprised when Hinata broke into the conversation, without stuttering, and with a voice that almost matched Kiba's in strength. "He was the worst off, Ino-san, he had a hole punched through his chest and his face was half carved off to boot. I saw it myself," she didn't acknowledge the other blonde's surprised glance as she slurped down some of the broth, but her bluster and confidence were making her insides shake with gleeful temerity. She was of course, quite frightened, but she was determined that she could fool them, and then she could be stronger.
"N-no way! Sasuke wouldn't do that! Not to his own teammate!" It didn't matter who said it, but it was incidentally Ino.
"Yes he would," three of the others, Shikamaru, Shino, and Sakura all said at the same time. The whole group looked at Shino, who had apparently studied with Kakashi, for his bowl was empty and none of them had seen his face while he ate. The bug-user shrugged at their attention, Sakura picked up where the other two left off.
"Ino we've both known that Sasuke was obsessed for a long time, that insanity is part of his hotness" Hinata rolled her eyes and Shikamaru muttered his trademark phrase. But no one interrupted the love-sick girl "He'd do anything to reach his goals, very definitely including trying to kill his 'best friend'… I just don't see how its possible he was out the night after that. Tsunade-sama shouldn't have even been able to heal those wounds."
"Perhaps she did not." Damn, bug-boy was talkative today. Hinata made a mental note to take the boy to more ramen, he seemed to speak more like this. The eyes focused on him were pleasantly inviting him to continue (read: threatening dire and lasting injury). "Naruto's strength and abilities always seem to match the situation he is presented with, increasing and decreasing accordingly. Coupled with the healing factor bloodline he has demonstrated, I believe that his own body may have healed itself."
The group quieted for a long moment, thinking on this bit of information. When Shino stood up and paid for his meal, Shikamaru spoke. "He's not unkillable, Shino, no-one is."
Shino paused, considering for a moment before he continued on his way. "Uzumaki does not need to be unkillable. He only needs to do his duty before he takes more damage than his bloodline can survive."
That rather well broke up their meeting, and the genin (and Shikamaru) paid for their meals and left. Ichiraku Teuchi and his daughter Ayame shared a knowing glance as the shinobi departed, but neither spoke a word. Naruto trusted them, and damned if they weren't going to honor that trust for all they were worth.
As a ninja, he preferred to travel in the fastest way possible.
For he, and most Konoha-nin, that would be leaping from branch to branch in the upper canopy. Failing that, in such a time as the present when there was no need for speed, he would've liked to walk, to dimly appreciate the nature around him. Neither was an option to him right now, because the other portion of Uzumaki Naruto was finally asserting itself, and proving to the stunned other half, that the seal was quite inadequate.
That didn't mean the Kyuubi was running for Naruto, it just wasn't letting him walk, and it wasn't letting him leap in the trees. Worse than that, the blonde couldn't seem to want to, which was confusing to him, instead, he was forcing chakra into his legs and running as fast as he could. He'd been doing this since he met with Tsunade, and that had been some significant amount of time ago.
What had it been now? A day? Two? Only a few hours? A full week?
The ground gave small puffs of dirt as his feet lifted and slammed down again, and Uzumaki Naruto decided that it didn't matter how long he'd been running, because he wasn't hungry and he wasn't tired, his legs didn't even hurt because his muscles were healing up so quickly. He finally started to slow down, and then skidded to a stop, not well enough though as he still tipped forward and over the edge of a cliff.
Panic set in quickly, and he did the only thing that seemed logical to him.
"OH SSSSSHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII- huh?" the ground was not rushing up to meet him, and he could feel ground sliding beneath his feet. Ah. Kyuubi had lashed out and stuck his feet to the rock wall, but his chakra pathways were rather abused from the running, and he couldn't cling in place.
The ground was only a few feet from him now, so the blonde midget sprang off the rock and fell on the ground, and was almost instantly asleep, discovering suddenly that his geas-crafting half had been keeping his exhaustion from him.
The dungeon, once more. Well, Naruto's mindscape had once borne a striking resemblance to one, that or a sewer. But now… It was different.
"Like the new image here? Hell you mostly control what we do outside, I figured its my right to govern what our mind looks like right?" his nine-tailed counterpart asked from the other side of the bars. The blonde gave his other self a glare when he realized where they were.
"You decided to make it look like the Valley of the End?"
"Valley? I thought it was the Valet of the End…" Naruto sweatdropped at his other's cluelessness. Kyuubi was completely oblivious as he regarded the stone statues of… well of valet drivers and muttered something about humans and their similar words.
Aren't you supposed to be the smart one? "Ah hell, it doesn't matter… Why did you want to remind me of this place exactly? And why doesn't your cage totally block you off from me?" He motioned to the substantial gap between the cage and the sides and bottom of the valley.
"Oh, yeah that, well basically the seal was designed to block the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Since I'm rapidly becoming less that and more the pseudo-demon half of Uzumaki Naruto, the seal is becoming moot and accordingly breaking. That combined with the fact that I wasn't nearly at my full strength when I attacked your village…" the fox trailed off as he regarded the gaps around the edges and the missing bars in the cage itself, poking at them inquisitively.
"Wait, the seal is breaking up? How is that even possible, does that mean you'll be free?" quickly noticing his easily disrupted twin was losing it, Kyuubi attempted to reassure him.
"Whoa! Wait up kid, now just think a minute, if that seal breaks up and I'm freed then we both die!" Now in full panic mode, the demon fox slapped his head and wondered why neither had ever developed good personal skills. "ehh… that came out wrong. Okay, hold on brat!" He reached through the bars of his cage and grabbed his other self by the scruff of his neck, and pulled him right up against the bars. "LISTEN 'A ME!"
Naruto shut up for a second, hyperventilating and still panicking.
"Ol' pops, I figure Yondaime was your dad, didn't want us sent off to the Shinigami at the end of your life, so he made it such that the seal would break down and end Uzumaki's contract with the Death God, making it possible for us to do the normal bit of life after death, get it?"
Oddly, he seemed to. Kyuubi grumbled something and set him down. "There's a problem though… If this seal does break down, it will obliterate both you and me, and Uzumaki Naruto won't be either of us anymore, he won't be who everyone knew him as anymore either. I don't want that. You don't want that. No one wants that. I've got a plan to stop it!" The other beamed a ridiculous smile.
After a few minutes, Naruto hesitantly asked "W-what's the plan…?"
"Not telling!"
Naruto slapped his forehead. "At least tell me why this is the Valley then?"
After the pause went on for thirty seconds, he looked up from his palm and saw him glaring at himself harshly. "To remind you of the villagers, your promise, and most importantly of all. To remind you of your hatred."
"So that's it, you really are going to help me become a demon aren't you?"
"I don't know what its going to be…" Showing his own unusual moment of wonderment. "but you and I are going to be something most curious, that's for sure."
Naruto groaned at his other self again, not sure precisely when he woke up. He was still in the Valley of the end and it seemed like dusk now, he stood up to watch the sun slowly sinking over the horizon and gave a soft sigh. Honestly, what the hell had Konoha ever had on just this? It was peaceful and serene here… Except for a noisy giggling from somewhere behind him.
Giving a moment for himself to think about that simple statement made the blonde wonder just how giggling to be a noisy or obtrusive sound, but somehow the current giggler made it possible. That implied that if the impossible was being done in a harmless way, then either his pervert sensei Jiraiya was here (he discarded the notion because the Valley of the End had now popular bathing spots he knew of), his pervert sensei Kakashi was there (he discarded that notion too, because his sensei had promised not to follow him out here) or some other pervert was behind him.
So he spun on his heel and stuck an accusing finger at the source of the sound with one of his loudest ready-to-shout expressions on, but the denouncement died in his throat and his finger shifted direction while his eyes turned again to the size of dinner plates.
Few things in the world shocked Naruto, most of the things that did were just bizarre, the things that most people would say What The Fuck to, his mind scrambled in an attempt to take it as a real thing, ending up hurting him in the process. So naturally watching a huge statue hold a car door open for another stone giant, climb in and drive the massive rock vehicle away again caused a visible trail of smoke from his ears. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he summarized his stance on the issue.
Kyuubi looked up from the fancy oak desk and the old fashioned typewriter he was tapping away at when he saw his other self wake, and gave him a rude look. "Are you going to complain that the Valet of the End are doing their jobs?"
"Wh-Wh-Whaa…?" The blonde deadpanned towards his clone on the other side of the inadequate cage. He stared at him and noticed the banner on the desk 'Author of the future bestseller: Inju Inju Yokai' the background image was… enough to make the genin fly backwards with a massive nosebleed and a huge grin, mostly because the yokai on the cover had whisker marks and yellow hair, while the girl had discarded a jacket bearing the legend 'gambler'. He rebounded to wakefulness after a second and carefully ignored the banner this time, and the statues. "Why am I still in the Valet of the End?"
"Oh that. Simple, I wanted to tell you to go see the grave of Zabuza," the statement prompted an overexcited Naruto to stare and jump with a grin.
"You're gonna teach me to use Zabuza's sword!"
Kyuubi blinked at him and then stepped forward to flick him in the head. "I used to be a demon, remember? What use would I have for a sword style? And why would you steal a dead man's sword, have you no honor?" The two stared at each other for a moment. "Never mind"
After a moment Naruto asked "So… why are we gonna go there then?"
Kyuubi returned to his desk and resumed typing again. "It'd do you good to see people you consider precious, besides, you need to honor the local spirits since you didn't last time, right?" Naruto gave a guilty nod. "Good, then its settled," he plucked a cigar from his mouth "now get outta here kid, ya bother me," and he forcibly ejected the other from the sealscape.
Waking with a sudden start and a slow throbbing in his legs, Naruto was surprised to find it was dark out already, the only illumination coming from the almost-full moon up above, casting the valley in a dark blue light. He smiled at it again, even at night it was so much the better than Konoha, and then started his run across the river and up the opposing rock face. As he began to channel chakra through the thin pathways in his legs he noticed the ache formerly present in them dulled and then faded away completely, he gave it the barest of thoughts before deciding that his chakra was being consumed the way the fox's was, his body not caring whether the chakra was demonic or mortal in origin.
That in and of itself carried disturbing implications as his body ran on chakra-boosted autopilot, his mind explored these implications. If his body used and two different chakras and achieved the same effect without any apparent increase in drainage -he certainly wasn't feeling any more tired right now than he normally would at this pace- then was there really a difference between the two chakras? His mind echoed with the Kyuubi's words we are both only a half of Uzumaki Naruto. Did that mean that who he thought he was wasn't really him? Was he Uzumaki Naruto or was he just a part of his personality?
In most cases where Naruto had been faced with other people facing the same kind of crisis of self, he had been in the position where his life was never full of the luxury with which to turn introspective. Since becoming a shinobi, he'd had to spend much less time fighting for his life from the betrayers who had assaulted him in the past, but instead of that he'd been fortunate enough with time-consuming missions and a desperate fixation with a certain emerald-eyed tramp, when neither had been presented to him he had spent his waking hours training fanatically, or doing his daily routines, managing to evade any questions he might have come to. The more active part of Uzumaki Naruto grimaced as he realized he was a coward, too afraid of himself and the real world to face it.
So for now Naruto decided that if he was, to the body and the person Uzumaki Naruto, the same as the demon fox was… Maybe there was validity to the demon's voiced complaints, if the seal was doing what it seemed like it was, maybe he wasn't even a demon anymore. Another sliver of his novice introspection asked the question that stopped his thinking completely.
Are you sure that you're not a demon too?
He shut his mind off at that point and focused on the terrain before him and pushing more chakra into his legs.
Kyuubi, and why not? He wasn't Kyuubi no Kitsune, that had died some years ago when the beast was sealed away, but he still was a being, an entity separate from his origin but still linked to it. Thus, with great reverence, the orange-clad redhead signed a grandiose version of the characters for nine-tails at the end of his first volume.
Deciding that the second volume could be written later, he peaked around the edge of the seal, watching the sky of Naruto's half of the sealscape. The orange haired creature reflected that his host was really a crappy ninja right now, not for his lack of stealth (after his own rampage to Konoha he really couldn't call anyone on a lack of stealth) but for his inability to take in and analyze his surroundings. Kyuubi reflected that perhaps that wasn't fair, after all, the boy was used to being completely safe in here, and he was strong enough that in most cases it didn't matter whether he was aware of it or not.
But still, the sky burning on Naruto's half, and there were even the fine webs of white clouds stilling the fires close to the seal, really all but the barest range over the horizon was consumed in brilliant blue fire. Most who understood things about the mind, would recognize that the death god's seal was a depiction of the mind, like any depiction, it was chuck full of symbolism. Whereas the previous view had been the sewer, letting Kyuubi keep track of Naruto's mental state, and the amount of stress he was under, and the second (Konoha) had served to demonstrate his own ability to manipulate the sealscape, this current form served the main purpose of Kyuubi understanding Naruto's chakra and his body.
Kyuubi wondered vaguely why he was going over exactly how the current sealscape represented the other half, but chalked it up to being still in an author-ish mood.
Putting aside his reflection of moods, the Kyuubi observed the sky again, which had once been a serene blue, and was now a very angry, lightning-and-tsunami blue, undulating here and there as it lit or darkened. It was the kind of strange light show one would see if they were underwater, watching oil burn hot enough to be blue on the surface, except that the fire in this case seemed to look back, and it was filled with a strange, repressive anger. Staring at the fires of the sky filled the Kyuubi with an intense, impotent rage, and as soon as he looked away from it he felt angry, tired and depressed, he pushed out the influence of the fire from his mind and shuddered slightly.
Again Kyuubi was aware that he had once been completely a construct of abstract thought, that pillar of might had been powered by demonic chakra, but no one ever really bothered to explain what that was, or how it was different from regular chakra. Apparently people's thinking still affected the Kyuubi enough in Naruto's youth that his chakra had twisted and become something to match their imaginations, and so, Kyuubi knew what his chakra did to Naruto, and Uzumaki Naruto by extension. And to put it as simply as he could, Kyuubi decided that demonic chakra was among the most insidious, evil, corrupting, life-destroying drugs ever made by humanity.
Not technically a drug in the literal sense, it wasn't a thing to be ingested, but the body did consume it, and it had to come from an outside source. And it was addicting, terribly addicting, it just took more time than most drugs did to do it, which perhaps was all the more vile. Certain drugs (the Kyuubi had decided that he liked researching human vices) seemed to addict rather rapidly, the change in personality apparent, and the user themselves became aware of the problem, mostly because their bodies could go into withdrawal.
Demonic chakra did something different, it amplified and carried the emotions of the source, it healed over damage with astonishing speed it was inhumanly potent… But cells touched by the chakra were subtly twisted by it, not a problem if it was only used in short, sporadic bursts, cells died off and were replaced fast enough it didn't matter. A source of constant demon chakra though, would continue to train the body to accept chakra working just like demon chakra, when the flow cut off, it demanded the same of normal chakra, and then the body and the inner coils did their work.
That was what the burning sky showed the Kyuubi, it told him that almost all of the chakra his vessel's body was pumping out was demonic in origin. Did that mean Naruto was in fact a demon now? No, but it meant he was becoming more like one, his chakra pathways were slowly becoming used to his own potent chakra now as well, the fine web of white lines in the sky told him as much. Maybe the past fourteen years were enough to totally addict the blonde's system, would his personality start to change now that he was picking up that predilection towards demonhood (1)? Kyuubi doubted it. The boy did have an almost indomitable spirit after all… Still this was cause for concern, the fact that the sun hadn't set yet on his side meant he still clung fiercely to his humanity, they needed to be rid of that, and the sooner the better.
Naruto, his mind firmly rooted in the present, glanced down at his orange-clad legs, which still felt perfectly fine even after he had run the entire way to the Great Naruto Bridge. Again, he had gotten himself moving so fast that he had a hard time slowing, and he gritted his teeth angrily as he dug two long furrows through the dense earth of this merchant trail. Desperately trying he pushed more of his chakra through his legs, applying the water-walking technique to try to stick himself in place.
It half worked, his feet stuck to the ground now, and he had stopped moving. On the other point his body still had a lot of momentum built up so when his feet stopped, the rest of him went on, pulling him forward, over, and into the stonework bridge face-first. He lay still for a few minutes before his feet shot out to a less agonizing pose, chakra ceasing to flow to them, and releasing them with a 'pop' sound.
All of this had been observed by an old, wizened man leading a team of oxen with an empty cart. The fashion he dressed in suggested he was from Water country, perhaps even the hidden village of the mist, given the oversized beatstick strapped to his back. The man paused a moment, observing, prodded the leaf-nin with his shoe and got no reaction. Presuming the boy was dead, he shrugged, and led his oxen and empty cart over the boy's body. The ox, being a kinder soul than its retainer, stepped over the boy, rather than on him.
Sadly (for Naruto at least) the heavy cart still had to roll over him. And roll it did, crushing his shoulder and a few ribs, and if that sickening crack was right, probably one of his thighs as well. As the night stretched on, as it tends to do, another passing merchant had also presumed the boy dead, and rolled him off to the side of the bridge, his mashed face now planted firmly against a small bronze plaque bearing the dedication of the bridge.
The merchant moved on into the city, curious why there was a dead body wearing such bright clothes at the base of the bridge. He would get an answer, a terrifying one albeit, later on that week, but for the moment he was eager to unload the cargo of silks he had. As the sun rose up the next morning, the dead body groaned unpleasantly, and lifted itself up and took a brief internal check.
Naruto hadn't always been one for introspection, last night's experience had assured him that it was an unpleasant thing, not meant for man in his sanity to endure. But at the moment, he decided it was a necessary evil. Kinda like vegetables. Fortunately for most everyone, Naruto's brain function was quite slow at dawn, and so it took him a long time to realize that all his injuries still hurt like he had just gotten them, although they had already healed. When the pain from his body reached his brain, it patiently waited for all of it to arrive, and then unceremoniously hit the blonde's cognitive capacities all at once.
Even though he suddenly understood the pain, it took another two minutes before he reacted.
"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" was his self-deemed appropriate response. It frightened small children in the country of Wave, and made little animals run for shelter near the Valley of the End.
Kyuubi winced too for good measure.
The reaction had gotten him to wake up, but hadn't alleviated all of his anger, or his pain yet, so he expounded on the word in a calm and clearly thought out process to explain his particular mood with regard to this current setting. "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, this, really, hurts, FUCK fuck fuck." His demeanor shifted a bit as he began using more colorful, less uniform lines. Thoughtfully provided by his other half.
"Godfuckingdamnitwhothehellrunsoversomestupidwoundedpersonlyingintheroad!" After he'd calmed down for a minute, finally getting over it, he looked around where he'd been, and noticed the bronze plaque, bearing the words 'In dedication to Tazuna, who gave the village back its prosperity' he snorted at the plaque unamusedly and walked on, leave to the cranky old drunk to take all the credit.
Honestly, didn't the guy have any decency? Kakashi did a lot of work for the bridge too, Sasuke almost died, and Sakura had protected Tazuna throughout the whole thing, even if she didn't fight so much. Hell, Zabuza had killed Gatou, and Haku had died for Zabuza. And Uzumaki Naruto had… had…
And Uzumaki Naruto had a giant bronze-looking statue of himself looking at the bridge with a huge fox-like grin and his thumb stuck forward in an approving manner. Well then. That was certainly a fascinating development. Naruto and Kyuubi were both, for once, shocked into silence at what they had achieved together.
Picking up his jaw from the ground, Naruto looked to the little plaque at its base… Well little in comparison to the statue. This plaque read differently than the other, it said 'The people of Wave country, have forever been changed by the interference of one boy. When we had lost our spirit, and our courage, he showed us the lighted path, the path to freedom, prosperity, strength, and pride. In honor of the boy who gave us everything, we dedicate our country to his name, his way.' – Tsunami, founder of the Wave ninja academy, in reference to Uzumaki Naruto (2).
Naruto continued to stare at the plaque for some considerable time, despite his scream, most of the village was still asleep, given that it was just after dawn. One particular person who was awake, stepped out of a restaurant stall to see a boy who he was sure was dead, standing beneath a statue of himself. The silk-trader blinked, and when he looked back again, the boy was gone. The trader fainted on the spot.
End Chapter Five: What happened to chapter four!
(1): Note the use of the term predilection, that means tendency towards, not necessarily that he is a demon. Yet. As he gets closer to it, Naruto is being tempted by the power there, hence the tendency but not the completion.
(2): Honestly, this is bugging me, I know I deviated from canon, but it is a fanfiction, the main issue is this; Why is it that there are so many TsunadexNaruto fictions, but not a single TsunamixNaruto, even when the times where he leaves the village he normally does go to wave? She's closer to his age, or is it because she's a mother? If anyone says its because she isn't defined so much as a character, go look at any pairing in the world, people pull personally histories from thin-air, if not slightly less cleanly places.
Author Note: Well… Finished the chapter, if I post it either one person begged me or ten people reviewed. Uhm… I don't know if I like this one or not, but I guess it doesn't matter much. Anyway, ja ne (author dons a valet driver's cap).
