Disclaimer: Naruto and Touhou project belong to their respective owners, and I will delete this story if requested.


Trail of the Fox


Chatters filled the council chamber—a chamber dedicated for meetings between the village leader and the council. This time the village leader would meet the strategic council, which comprised seasoned experts in their fields and representatives of each major clan in the village.

The strategic council's role was assisting the village leader in decision-making regarding matters with strategic value. Its decisions overruled the civilian council, for the village was a not a civilian area. Rather, it was the greatest military complex in the country, and the central of command in wartimes.

The council members were waiting for the Hokage—the title given to the village leader—to arrive. One of them, Danzō Shimura, scrutinised Hisahi Hyūga, the representative of the Hyūga clan. Hiashi was a clan head, as were other clan representatives. Hiruzen made it such to simplify bureaucratic matters. However, it was not simplifying matters whenever Hiashi was involved. The Hyūga clan's internal conflict affected Hiashi's thinking; his advice in the council were driven by emotions instead of calculations for the most part. Danzō had advised Hiruzen to replace Hiashi, but the clan insisted its clan head was its representative.

The door slid open; Hiruzen entered carrying a scroll and sat in his chair. 'Good evening. Anything that needs to be brought before the council?'

'Yes,' Danzō and Hiashi said at the same time.

'Danzo may go first.'

'Thank you, Lord Hokage. The first report is from the Land of Water. Both the ruling side and the rebels are running out of weaponry. The ruling side offers money, raw materials, and secret techniques in exchange for weapons. The rebels offer future alliance, but they want medicines in addition to weapons.'

'Noted. Anything else?'

'The second is a request. My division needs more budget. At the current budget, we cannot afford high-quality equipment. Our current budget is only enough for foods and expendable items, which impacts our performance. That's all for me.'

'Regarding the first one, is there any report from ANBU intelligent division?'

'No,' said a blond, ponytailed man, 'our operatives don't operate there. What about the combat reconnaissance, Shikaku?'

Shikaku, the man Naruto had met yesterday, was sleeping. The blond man thwacked him awake and repeated his question. 'No,' said Shikaku, 'try to ask Danzō.'

'Danzō has reported already.'

'Then why did you wake me up?'

'Council meeting isn't a place for sleeping.'

'Neither is it a place for gossip.'

'Enough, you two,' Hiruzen interrupted them before they could have descended into banters. 'Now, I want all of you to consider the possibility of arming both sides. We would arm the ruling side in exchange for money, raw materials, and techniques, and the rebel to prevent the civil war from ending too soon. Any advice?'

While the council discussed the matter, Naruto was in a ramen shop, busy stuffing himself with ramen. An impossible stack of bowls sat on the table, somehow remaining stable despite Naruto's vigour in devouring bowl after bowl of ramen before adding them to the stack.

Naruto talked with the merchant and his daughter as he ate. Those people were different. They were kind enough to accept him in their business, and they even risked their business by allowing him to hide in their store when running from villagers. But Naruto never accepted their offer to hide. He feared for their safety.

Done eating, Naruto paid with a long chain of coupons and left the store. He then walked for home through a dim-lit corridor, his usual path of choice to escape being seen. However, his choice didn't grant him safety this time. He was being followed by a band of villagers armed with ropes and makeshift, blunt weapons. Yukari was also present, jumping from a gap to another while keeping herself unknown to the world as she followed Naruto.

'Got him!' shouted a villager as he strangled Naruto. The strangling villager yanked the rope around Naruto's neck, forcing him to the ground. Naruto opened his mouth to scream upon hitting the ground, but the villager forced the rope to his mouth. Another came and struck Naruto's stomach with a wooden plank, muttering something about 'wife' and 'kitsune'. This villager would have continued had another villager not restrained him. 'Enough,' said the other villager, 'He's gonna die. The bastard doesn't deserve a quick death. He deserves slow torture until he dies!' The other village forced the wooden plank out of the villager's hand and struck Naruto's feet. 'He's gonna go to the academy. If we break his feet, he's not gonna join. Quick!'

As the other villager hammered Naruto's feet, the rest of the mob joined in the beating. They beat Naruto with enough ferocity to dye his rope with blood. Naruto saw nothing; his eyes were wet with blood and tears. He could endure the villagers' mental abuses—years of mental abuses had desensitised him. Physical abuse, however, was another matter. They had not done this since he'd met Hiruzen years ago. The pain Naruto had to endure was as strong as his first time.

'Look! The monster's crying!'

'Hah! What a loser. Not so strong now, uh, Murderer!?'

As Naruto endured the beating, Yukari watched from afar. She had come to observe Naruto, not to intervene in his life. And she had only met him once. He might deserve it for all she knew.

'So it's decided that we would arm the ruling side with low-quality equipment, and milk them for secret techniques. To make sure the war wouldn't end before we have acquired all of their secret techniques, we would not arm the loyalist civilian armies and would provide the rebels with occasional supplies so that in case they win the war, we would have an alliance secured with the Land of Water. Any input?'

'Yes, Lord Hokage,' answered a woman whose cheeks were fang tattooed, 'Actually, this is a question. Is the proposed alliance a full alliance or only military?'

'A defensive military alliance if the current daimyo would remain in power. If someone from the rebel faction replaces him, we will have a full alliance, including trade alliance and shared researches. Any more questions? If there is none,' Hiruzen unsealed a stack of paper from his storage scroll, 'I want you to read this.'

Hiruzen gave the papers to be distributed. After he was certain everyone had read the reports, Hiruzen continued, 'As you can see in the highlighted section, "fox" will join the academy this year. I want you to consider him joining your children's class.'

'Lord Hokage, before we begin the next session, may I ask a question?'

'Go on, Shikaku.'

'Who assigned this codename on him? It's too obvious.'

'Even if we have assigned a different codename, the villagers' reaction to his presence would give it away.'

'Spies use archived documents and intercepted messages as sources. So even if the villagers call him "fox", they won't think of him as the container of the kyūbi if our documents referred to him as another name. "shrimp", for example.'

'There is a problem with your idea, Shikaku. If someone has a high-level secret document about him, spies would consider him worthy of investigating regardless.'

'Then give his documents decoy information. Let's use his "habit of breaking into restricted areas" as an excuse for his constant observation, and "high potential" for not executing him.'

After a brief contemplation, Hiruzen wrote the idea and said, 'That could work. Now, what about your consideration?'

None of the council members spoke, thinking the answer was obvious. However, it appeared to not be this way to Hiruzen; Hiruzen wrote a document and was about to approve it when a council member voiced her opinion, triggering the rest to do the same. Hiruzen said nothing as protest rained upon him, wishing they wouldn't wash his sanity away. Naruto should be a weapon. For Naruto to do that, in preparation of his future as a leader and protector, Naruto had to form a strong camaraderie with significant children of the village. For this, Naruto had to grow with them.

Danzō, sensing Hiruzen's distress, addressed the council. 'I want you to reconsider your decision. He is the last Uzumaki, the key to the former whirlpool country's buried treasures. Hiruzen is grooming him to be his successor. Think of the benefits your clans will reap in the future after he has become a Hokage.'

The council members changed their mind; they accepted Naruto in their children's class and offered their children to sit close to Naruto. Some of them even offered clan treasures for the chance to build a connection to Naruto.

'Actually,' Danzō quipped, 'he would be even more useful in my division.'

Something changed in the council members' minds. They offered even more of their clan treasures, hoping their children would secure an alliance with Naruto.

'Look! The bastard's gonna die!'

'Yeah. Let's finish this shit already.'

'No, there's no need to dirty our hands with this filth's life. Just let it be, it's gonna die on its own.'

'He's right. Let's celebrate, men! It's not gonna last long with those wounds.'

Naruto's beaters left, and Naruto crawled away to his home. The night had fallen and rain clouds obstructed the stars. If Naruto could not make it home in time, he would die. Naruto struggled to his feet, and he threw himself to the ground faster than he'd managed to stand. Naruto resumed crawling home. He thought the villagers truly wanted him to die this time. It was difficult surviving with his weekly allowance and supply. Without functional feet, he doubted he could gather as much supply from the forest, if at all. Naruto hoped they had taken his life. Alas, they had crippled him so that he'd suffer until his death, either from hunger or infection.

Naruto's pain grew as the rain poured. Naruto screamed, but no one heard him under the downpour. He felt his feet burning. What it was was lost to him, but he knew it always happened whenever he's injured enough. Old man Hiruzen said it was his unique trait, an inheritance from his family—the extinct Uzumaki clan. Naruto remembered his promise, taken when the old man had told Naruto the boy would revive his family and make a name as a hero if he dedicated his life to the village. Dropping the thought, Naruto trudged his way home.

Yukari, her presence separate from the rest of this world, observed Naruto from afar. She noted that Naruto's unique presence was more powerful this time, almost intoxicating. She sensed fear-inducing aura, which spread everywhere, and boiling anger, which hid an untainted determination and a capacity for divine love. How could someone have this kind of presence? thought Yukari.

Naruto hardened his will before his apartment building. He ascended the stairs, ignoring his pain as he headed for his unit. The position of his unit was a blessing most of the time, as villagers deemed the risk of injury from using under-maintained apartment stairs was too much. This time, however, it was a curse. Naruto pushed the door of his unit and disappeared inside, not bothering to close the door. He then went to his bedroom to sleep without bothering to clean himself.

Three fox-masked people manifested out of thin air. One removed Naruto from his double bed and laid him on the cold floor before running their chakra-covered hands all over Naruto. The other one touched Naruto's forehead after running through a string of hand seals. And the last one created clones to clean the unit off blood stains and to replace Naruto's bedsheet.

Yukari observed them as they worked, noting how they moved with practiced ease. Yukari figured their masks held certain meanings, but what they represent was still unknown.

Two of the masked people vanished in puffs of smoke; the last one summoned a scroll from their arm. The third person left to the kitchen, unfurled the scroll, and summoned raw ingredients and prepared meals before storing them in the fridge. Next, they summoned a pencil and a piece of paper to write a message.

Dear Naruto

Congratulation for your first day in the academy. Although your first day will be next week, I want to congratulate you early

I have presents for you. You can find meals and uncooked ingredients in the fridge

Come see me today. I want you to meet your teacher and I have more presents for you

Hiruzen

The figure disappeared, leaving no trace of its existence. Yukari read the note and concluded that the language and writing system were identical to that of her home's. However, feeling something was amiss, Yukari decided to wait and see. She went to Naruto's room and slept next to him, somehow not disturbing his sleep, until a noise awakened her at dawn. She opened her eyes to an empty bed.

Yukari rose and headed for the kitchen. There, she saw Naruto, who was cheerful beyond belief, raiding his fridge. Yukari took writing supplies from a gap and wrote a note.

'Eh, another note?' Naruto reached for the note and read aloud, "How's your feeling?" I'm fine! Now, what's next? "Why did the mob beat you?" What the hell? They didn't beat me up! They just took my stuff and kinda forced me to do stupid stuff!' Naruto tore the note. 'Whatever! Must be villagers pranking me.'

Yukari, from the way Naruto behaved, concluded that the boy was lonely. And Naruto's cheery self gave her a hint on what the three had done to him. However, she had no proof. She opened a gap and left, noting to observe Naruto again next week.

In the Council Chamber, Hiruzen announced the distribution of next month's budget and dismissed the council, leaving only himself and Danzō in the room. 'What do you think about the arrangement, Danzō?'

'Ridiculous. First, we have Kiba Inuzuka. His pack mentality would help shrimp's integration into the class, but he's been conditioned since birth to lead. Next, Shikamaru Nara. This one is fine, but he's so close to Chōji Akimichi. While having more friend is good, Chōji is too gentle. We need Naruto to be a hardened, not a gentle boy. And while on the topic of 'gentle', we have Hinata Hyūga here. I think Hiashi wants her to pursue shrimp for his Uzumaki blood.'

'Regardless of what Hiashi has in mind, his daughter would make him comfortable. Her affection for Naru… shrimp ensures that she would not abuse him.'

'She would not abuse him, but she would not support him either. She's too damn weak to stand for herself, let alone to support shrimp. Shrimp has to be hardened, which is why we allow the villagers to abuse him. Her presence would just soften him. Not to mention the ridiculous seating arrangement. Placing these five alone in a corner with Naruto in the middle of them? That's ridiculous! He would have an anxiety attack! I'd say place him by the windows. He will be less anxious that way.'

'Sure. I'll switch his place with Kiba.'

'And have Kiba flirting with Hinata Hyūga?'

Hiruzen gave Danzō a blank stare. 'I think you're just poking into the plan.'

'That's why you put me in the council: you need someone to probe your plans for weakness so you can improve them.'

'I give. Now, do you want something?'

'More budget to my division.'

'We've been through this, Danzō,' said Hiruzen, leaving the room.

Hiruzen knew Danzō was using the fund for food for weapons, allowing his division to purchase higher-quality equipment at the cost of underfeeding his operatives. This led to a solution of raiding civilian targets for supplies, providing unintentional extra cover to the division's operations, since people attributed its actions to burglars. Naturally, the council saw no incentive to allocate more for Danzō's division.

The next morning, a commotion occurred on the Hokage Residence's entrance, caused by a guard telling Naruto to get rid of his bloody smell.

'No, brat!' roared the guard, 'Get your stinky ass cleaned and come here again!'

Naruto roared back. 'What the hell is your problem?!'

'You stink of blood, brat! Murdered anyone lately?'

'I've killed no one!'

'I don't give a shit! Go clean yourself and get back here again!'

Naruto headed home to bathe. When he returned, the guard allowed him to enter. Naruto then barged into the Hokage Office, interrupting the village leader's meeting with a chūnin. 'Whoops,' said Naruto, 'you busy, old man?'

'No,' said Hiruzen, 'come here, my boy. I want to introduce you to someone.'

The person whom Hiruzen introduced to Naruto would be his teacher in the academy starting next week. Iruka was the chūnin's given name—family name ignored by Naruto. Iruka was friendly. He answered Naruto's question to the best of his ability while taking the boy to buy supplies.

The next week, Naruto laid his head on his table as Iruka lectured about the past leaders. Everyone except Hiruzen was dead. What's so important about what they'd done? Naruto yawned. Kiba, the boy beside Naruto, refused to talk to him, favouring to instead impress Hinata, the girl before Naruto. And everyone else ignored Naruto, somehow finding Iruka's lecture interesting.

'Hey,' spoke someone behind Naruto, 'hey.'

'What?' Naruto drawled.

'What's your name?'

Naruto looked over his back, and he saw a rotund boy munching on his snack. 'Naruto Uzumaki,' said Naruto.

'I'm Chōji Akimichi, and this lazy guy beside me here is Shikamaru Nara.'

Naruto bored into Shikamaru, instilling uneasiness into the latter's soul. 'What?' asked Shikamaru.

'Think I've seen you before.'

And Naruto had met Shikamaru before. However, Shikamaru was not interested in befriending Naruto if Naruto had forgotten about him. Shikamaru's father had told Shikamaru not to befriend Naruto, only to have a sudden change of mind and tell him to befriend Naruto. It was absurd. Shikamaru knew his father was an important person in this village and that only political interests would cause that drastic of a change in someone. And Shikamaru knew that for a supposed clan-less and talent-less child, Naruto's political importance was far too heavy. Until Shikamaru could make sense, he would only watch Naruto as the latter interacted with people.

Naruto—oblivious to Shikamaru's thought—interacted with Chōji instead of listening to the lecture. The rotund boy was friendly and somewhat timid, much better than the bashful Kiba and the odd girl who always blushed hearing Naruto's voice. Naruto was certain the academy would be great.

Meanwhile, masked figures roamed about in Naruto's building, plastering explosive tags to surfaces to ensure the building and its content would disintegrate upon detonation. These people were operatives of Danzō's divion—the Root Division. They had received an order to destroy Naruto's building without causing civilian casualty. For this, they needed to ensure that no debris would be launched to the air. Collapsing the building on itself using careful arrangements of explosive was preferable, but they had no time to calculate the arrangement. They could only disintegrate the building into dust in the literal sense.

They left the building and flashed their chakra, detonating every explosive tag within the building. The Shockwave produced was immense, but the nearby buildings—abandoned after Naruto had moved in years ago—were enough to weather it.

Naruto returned home hours later, finding his home had turned into a crater. Naruto gave no reaction, mind wandering because he had no idea what to do. In the end, his mind stumbled upon his extinct family, and he was unable to hold his tears from falling. Naruto doubled over on the dust, hitting his gut.

It must be an illusion, thought Naruto, It must be some villagers' doing.

Naruto ran into the crater, hoping the pain of striking the ground would break the illusion. Falling into the crater, Naruto's front half ground against dirt and stones. But the crater was still there. No, it's an illusion.

It must be it, Naruto thought, If only I'm a bit stronger. Villagers wouldn't prank me with illusions.

Naruto lied there, sobbing until dusk, when Iruka took him from the crater to the Hokage Residence. There, Hiruzen offered to give a house for Naruto in exchange for a renewed vow to be a Hokage, an offer that Naruto took without hesitation. Hiruzen told Naruto the house would take a week of building, but it was not the case. Hiruzen told Naruto such so Naruto would live in the Sarutobi Clan Compound, the only major clan without a representative in the strategic council. Naruto would be conditioned into seeing the Sarutobi clan as his ally and would receive personal training from Asura Sarutobi—Hiruzen's son—to cement the forced friendship.

Naruto was given his house along with a generous sum of money the next week. The house was typical of ANBU facilities: containing all for a functional living but almost nothing for comfort. As such, the house had plenty of empty spaces, which according to Hiruzen was a deliberate decision to provide room for customisation and hobbies. Naruto asked Hiruzen for more money the next day, citing he wanted them for gardening. And Hiruzen gave Naruto more.

Naruto entered a gardening store. With the transformation technique that Asuma had taught him, Naruto made his way to the clerk as a wary old man. The clerk said to him, 'Hello, Sir, how may I help you?'

'I'm just starting and only have this much,' said Naruto, placing his money on the table, 'I want to use pots. Do you have something for me?'

'We do. Please wait for a moment. I shall take them for you.'

The clerk left the table and returned with a large bag of seed packages and spots. 'There you go, sir. The instructions for each plant are inside. Would you require help to transport them?'

'No, I'll carry them myself.'

'Thank you for your business. Please come again.'

Naruto left, carrying the bag on his back. On his way he bumped into something soft, akin to a person. Naruto was about to apologise when he saw no one around him. Thinking it was nothing, Naruto proceeded on his way home. The truth, however, was that he had collided with Yukari. Yukari had been searching for Naruto, as a crater had replaced his home. When searching in the market, an old man collided with her, revealing himself to be Naruto. Yukari then followed Naruto, noticing how he was still unaware of his broken transformation.

Naruto entered a crowd of villager; his presence was announced aloud. Naruto knew what was coming. He ran, knocking bystanders off their feet. Upon entering a descending road, Naruto entered his load to a cart of planks and pushed the cart before jumping into it. He mocked his chasers as he glided down.

As fate would have it, the cart struck a pothole and threw its content onto a dead end. Naruto stood confused, scanning his surrounding for escape but found none. The chasers drew close, blocking the only escape from the dead end. 'No escape for you now, thief!' declared a chaser.

'I'm not a thief!' said Naruto.

'Lie! He stole my cart,' said someone from the back row.

Naruto gulped. He knew there was no escape this time. Naruto took a plank and ran to the chasers in hope of breaking through. He struck a chaser unconscious and swept another of their feet. Someone hit the back of Naruto's head before kicking his back, forcing Naruto to the ground. Someone held Naruto's foot; Naruto flipped his body and kicked whoever was holding him. Someone held Naruto's free arm; Naruto struck whoever it was with his plank.

Naruto's chest was stomped. As consciousness began to leave him, he felt a surge of power. The red glow of Naruto's eyes was the last thing the chasers saw before Naruto shattered the foot that stomped his chest. Naruto then delivered a spine-shattering kick to the stomper's back, leaving them as a bent being that agonised as death took its time to arrive. Unsatisfied, Naruto proceeded to use the bent stomper as a bludgeon, redecorating the street from brown to scarlet.

Naruto stopped mid-action, shivering as he stared at his stained hands. 'W-what have I done? Am I really a monster?'

A villager came and yelled, 'Surprise, you little fucker!' as they kicked Naruto's back.'

A taste of iron spread in Naruto's mouth. Another surge of power came, and Naruto moved against his will, separating his kicker's head from the torso with his bare hands. The other villagers scrambled, and Naruto chased after them.

Yukari noted that the outrageous presence was much more intoxicating this time. It was strong enough that people dropped unconscious from sheer terror. And the violence displayed by Naruto was extraordinary.

Like hell, thought Yukari, and he feels nothing like a human anymore. Is he perhaps a human sharing a body with a yōkai, possessed by an evil kitsune in exchange for protection?

The fact the presence would magnify whenever Naruto was in serious injury appeared to be a confirmation. However, whether it was a willing pact was still unknown.

Naruto had caught six people when a fox-masked individual appeared and struck his forehead with a tag. Naruto dropped unconscious, and the radiating terror disappeared. The individual lifted Naruto and disappeared, leaving Yukari to resume her search for Naruto's house.

For Yukari, the house was more of a tree carved into a house than it was a proper house, as it had no joint, as though it was a single wood. Yukari observed how a team of three, which she had observed in Naruto's old house, took care of Naruto. They undressed him, and one of them took him to the bathroom. One of the other two disappeared. The last one wrote seals on a large scroll. Yukari knew not what the seals were, and she cared little. What interested her more was the house.

She took a brief tour, noting the tiny cameras in hidden places. Their positioning was clever, granting maximum coverage over the rooms while staying invisible for the most part. Next, she realised that the cables were in the wooden walls, leading somewhere not in this house. It was a monitoring site—a cage. Yukari knew people knew Naruto was special. Yukari left the house when she heard a smooth impact. A man, hair a blond ponytail, was standing on the roof. The man disappeared into the house and spoke to the people inside. Yukari was standing by the door, outside but not too far, yet she failed to hear them. Yukari entered, just in time to hear them discussing 'privacy seals'.

'Enough with the seals,' said the man, 'How's he?'

'Confirmed, sir. He has made his first contact.'

'His mind?'

'Fractured. I think he's still too emotional to handle contact with the kyūbi.'

'I see. How about his fight?'

'Disturbing.'

'I see. Let me handle this. You can leave!'

The man then waited for the others to leave before going to Naruto's room. There, he sat beside Naruto's bed and touched his forehead after chaining hand gestures. An energy, a combination of physical and spiritual energy, flowed from the man's hand to Naruto. The man let go minutes later, wrapping Naruto with a scroll containing a seal. The man then disappeared.

The scroll broke down minutes later, and Naruto woke up cheering. Naruto jumped off his bed and, as though in a tranche, collected the torn pieces of the scroll in a trash can. Naruto's face then turned cheerful. He then went to his kitchen, which had direct access to his bathroom, and prepared himself two cups of instant ramen. He talked to himself as he waited for it to cook. When it cooked, Naruto took his time eating it. He wasn't savouring the taste. He did this to pretend he's eating with a companion.

Naruto ate a bite from a cup, talked, switched to another cup, talked, took a bite, talked again, and repeated the cycle. Naruto was a lonely, Yukari was certain. 'Mind if I join you?' said Yukari, 'It would be better than talking to yourself.'

Naruto froze in his seat. 'G-ghost?'

Yukari moved to behind Naruto, pinning her arms on his shoulders to prevent him from leaving his chair. She whispered to his ear, 'My, my, aren't you lonely, pathetic boy?'

Naruto sensed warmth air around his ears. It was odd. Ghosts were supposed to be cold, but this one was warm.

Yukari gauged Naruto's presence—her close vicinity enabled her to feel deep into the boy. 'I see love and dedication. Are they that important to you?'

'O-of course they are.'

'Who do you have in mind when hearing those words?'

'The village, the villagers, the whole territory of the Land of Fire and the world.'

The courage and love subdued the anger and hatred, Yukari thought, and he feels more like a divine entity than human now. Where did the evil kitsune go?

'H-hello? G-ghost? Will you be m-my friend?'

'Asking a ghost to be your friend? I thought you were afraid of one.'

'The other kids don't wanna befriend me.'

He feels like a kitsune again, Yukari thought, Where is it? Yukari ran her hands over Naruto's body, stopping on his navel. Here you are, thought Yukari, So you're sealed in him by a shinigami. Definitely not a willing union.

'Hey, what are you doing?'

'Why do those you mentioned deserve your love and dedication?'

Naruto ran over why they deserved them, which for Yukari was a folly.

'They are cruel to you. Don't you remember they just beat you up?'

'No way! The worst thing they did is breaking my stuff and asking me do stupid stuffs. No big deal!'

Yukari poked Naruto's stomach. 'The thing here. Do you know about it?'

'It's a belly.'

'I don't ask about that.'

'Then what else?'

'I see. I will be watching, human. Try to stay alive until next time.'

Naruto sensed the warmth disappearing, and he screamed 'ghost' in absolute terror as he jumped off his chair.