Chapter 2
Disclaimer\:/ I do not own Naruto or any IP affiliated with it.\:/
Naruto awoke tired. No, scratch that, Naruto woke up in pain. He felt as if there were red hot irons inside his very bones, a searing and sharp pain shooting through his entire body. Soon after passing out in the middle of the forest, some Anbu had taken him to see the Hokage, who then went on to order Naruto safely returned home, Iruka had gone to the infirmary to check on his wounds, which hadn't hurt as much as it appeared but still could do some damage if not taken care of right away. A lot had happened. He sat in bed, remembering the events from earlier.
*'Flashback'*
Naruto woke up in a strange, dark, and downright filthy place. It appeared to be a mix between a boiler room and sewage pipes. The ceiling, however, was nonexistent as it seemed to stretch on and fade into nothingness. There was a dark green, swamp-like murky water that went up to his ankles, which felt freezing cold around his open-toed sandals. When he looked around the area it was full of pipes and concrete, with dark shadows and what looked like either mold or moss on the walls, most likely a combination of the two. What was most obvious was what seemed like a sort of grate, with a large lock in the center. The air seemed to get thicker as he got closer to look better at it. Once he got up to it all he saw was what looked like two blood-colored eyes looking at him in the darkness, that was until a bright orange paw with sharp claws extended came flying at him from above.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto shouted, just barely jumping back in time to avoid the strike.
A large growl was heard from what seemed to be a large fox, almost the size of a building. "What are you here for you brat." spoke the fox.
"W-What on earth are you?" sputtered Naruto.
"Hah, I can't believe I had to get stuck with such an idiot runt for a host." Stated the bright orange menace, voice dripping with sarcasm. "You really stand in my presence yet you don't even know who I am? You really must be clueless."
It was only then that Naruto had found out this wasn't any normal fox, other than its large stature. A fox usually possessed one tail, this one had far more, and it didn't take long to find out just how many.
"Wait, you're the Nine-Tailed Fox! The Kyuubi no Kitsune! The one who attacked the village and was defeated by the Fourth Hokage!" Exploded the blonde, eyes widened in shock.
"Hehe, It sure took you long enough, runt. Even when I'm in your body you still can't remember what I am."
"Why are you here Kyuubi? I don't remember asking for you." questioned Naruto, forgetting that he was with the very Nine-Tailed Fox that had killed countless shinobi, and could be considered the very essence of hate itself.
"You dare ask me that as if this was my choosing?! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO CAME TO ME BRAT!" Roared the fox.
This sudden shout surprised and stunned Naruto, resulting in him falling onto his back into the sewage-like water. Which had then agitated Naruto greatly.
"WELL, AT LEAST I'M NOT THE ONE STUCyou'reA CAGE FURBALL!"
"CALL ME THAT AGAIN AND IT WILL BE WRITTEN ON YOUR TOMBSTONE AS THE LAST THING YOU EVER SAY!"
"WHATEVER FOXY, JUST TELL ME WHY I'M HERE THEN!"
"Hmph, Like I should even answer to you, you're still so stupid you don't even know what caused you to grow rabid." Argued the Kyuubi, with plenty of huff in its voice.
This statement caused Naruto to ponder and review what had happened that night. "Let's see, I accidentally stole an important scroll, I then was caught by my sensei, and I beat Mizuki with around a hundred feral-like shadow clones." muttered Naruto, leaving the Kyuubi to sweatdrop.
|Man, he has some major tunnel vision doesn't he.| The demon fox thought.
"Wait, was it you that I had all that red chakra from?" quizzically asked Naruto.
"Haha, it seems you're not totally good-for-nothing. You activated one of the eight stages of my power. You unlocked the first tail, which I will admit is impressive with it being so early on in your shinobi career." Explained the Nine-Tailed Fox.
"Wow! So does that mean I can use your power?" questioned Naruto.
"If you can learn to control it, which would either be taught by me or someone stronger than you who'd do nothing but beat you down until you could use it on command."
"Yeah, I think I know my choice on that one... " Naruto sweatdropped.
"Well good luck on convincing me of anything. If you can somehow prove to me you're capable then I might just help you out."
"Ha! I'll show you I'm strong in no time! And then you'll have to teach me!"
"Don't get full of yourself brat. Only if, and that's a strong if, you can prove you're a capable ninja then will I consider it. Now hurry up and get out of here, I need some shut-eye." Said the fox, walking back into the abyss behind him.
It wasn't soon after that that he had suddenly blacked out, continuing his sleep until he woke up the next morning.
*'Flashback end'*
Naruto decided to get out of bed and make some breakfast, he had a whole week of training left to do, and when he thought about what happened during the night he wasn't sure whether that was real or not. After all, it felt too real to be a dream, but he knew it wasn't real life. He also hadn't thought about it at the time, but he wasn't sure if he should trust the Kyuubi right away, it did want to destroy Konoha.
"I have no grudge against Konoha, there was just an incident that occurred. I don't plan on sharing what anytime soon either."
"WHO'S HERE!" Naruto screamed, dropping his bowl of (thankfully) uncooked instant ramen. He soon heard howling fits of laughter too, which he soon realized came from inside his head. "Wait Kyuubi, are you talking to me through my mind?"
"Ha! I am indeed. Anything you think I can hear. So don't go thinking about anybody in ways I don't wanna see!"
Naruto soon blushed at the implications, quickly feigning ignorance.
|Well, can you hear this fox?| Naruto thought.
"I can hear you perfectly."
|Well Kyuubi, can I ask you something?| Naruto asked.
"Well you just did but I'll allow it nonetheless."
|How come you trust me so easily? Did I think you just hated humans in general? Also, you really aren't against Konoha? And one more thing, what was that last night?| questioned the Blonde.
"Brat, I've seen everything you've seen, felt everything you've felt, and heard everything you've said, I know you inside out, and that's no stretch. You wouldn't use anybody for personal gain, so I have reason to trust you. And I have no reason to hate Konoha, I'll tell you that I never wanted to attack the village. It was unfortunate circumstances that led to that event. And yes I do hate you puny humans, but trust and hate are two different things. And finally, that was your mindscape, your mental world that you can change and manipulate, It's where you'll find me, you just have to meditate or sleep to get there." The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox explained.
Naruto didn't have a reply to that, mainly trying to have something that would matter to the fox.
|Hey Kyuubi?|
"What now you runt?"
|Thank you.|
"Hah, Brat, I couldn't care less about you, I just want out of you and to be free again, I don't care what I need to do to get it."
|Well, it's still nice to have someone who listens for once.|
This time the Kyuubi didn't have any reply simply giving a "Hmph." before cutting the mental link, making Naruto jealous that he didn't know how to do that. But with that out of the way, Naruto decided to finish making breakfast, picking up the noodle cup that was still on the ground. He finished eating it relatively quickly, drinking water from the faucet along with it. He went to then go change out of his nightgown, and after looking through his clothing, he realized how desperately he needed to go shopping, what he ended up wearing were some simple shinobi sandals, along with some worn-out gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt that was almost a size too small. It was in the middle of getting his shirt on that he heard a knock on the door. Opening it he was greeted by one of the Konoha Anbu.
"Naruto Uzumaki, Hokage-sama has requested your presence in his office, please visit there at once."
"Uhhh… Yeah sure, I'll be over there soon."
This seemed to satisfy the Anbu as they seemingly vanished, but it was just a Shunshin, quickly leaving the area. Naruto was always a little weirded out by the Anbu, no matter what you did you could never get a reaction out of them, or at least nothing that would be visible, making them seem expressionless, other than the humorous banter between the ones that guard the office of the Hokage directly, which seemed anticlimactic at first glance. Naruto then went and strapped his Hitai-ate around his forehead, and headed out the door to meet the Hokage.
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Along the way he had gotten the usual glares and cold looks from the villagers, they had always been this way, and it had never been fun. If he listened closely he could hear people murmuring about him becoming a shinobi, and how people assumed him as unfit for the occupation. Luckily the Hokage tower wasn't far from his apartment, after a few shortcuts,, he finally walked right through the doors to enter the office. He was greeted by the Hokage giving a small smile and beckoning him to sit down.
"So what's up Ji-Ji?" Naruto asked.
Hiruzen soon had a displeased look on his face. "Naruto, I heard you had used the Kyuubi's power last night, I want to know exactly what happened and any instance you've had with the Kyuubi."
"Well,, first I started to use some of its chakra, enough to get one tail, or at least that what's the Kyuubi told me-"
"You can talk to the Kyuubi?! Tell me what it's told you, Naruto, this is an important revelation." The Third cut off.
"Oh well nothing much, just explaining what happened, how I took enough chakra to activate the first tail of its power. When I had fallen asleep last night I woke up in what Kyuubi told me was my mindscape, and it said if I prove myself it'll teach me how to use the tails! Oh, and don't worry Ji-Ji, Kyuubi told me that it doesn't have anything against Konoha, just something or someone else, it hasn't said anything about that yet." Naruto described.
Throughout hearing Naruto's explanation, the Hokage had gone through some emotions such as displeasure, wonder, and curiosity. The Hokage knew what a mindscape was, but the part about not being against Konoha was strange, clearly, there was something else that went deeper then he knew yeen he was torn on what to tell Naruto about the teaching part if he allowed it that could endanger Naruto, but if the Kyuubi wasn't against Konoha, then there couldn't have been enough of a risk to prevent that, besides Naruto and the Kyuubi would probably train in secret if he didn't allow it.
"Alright, Naruto, I'm going to trust you and allow you to handle the situation, but under no means tell anyone about what's going on, this is an S-ranked secret, and only those I give special permission to may be allowed to know about this. So keep this to yourself."
Naruto only nodded in response.
"Good, only Kami knows what would happen if everyone in the village found out about this." Hiruzen paused. "Now moving onto other matters, we documented taking down Mizuki as a low B rank mission, and as such, you will be compensated well for it." Said the Hokage, handing Naruto an envelope.
When Naruto took a look inside it was filled to the brim with what looked like around 120,000 Ryo. Now saying he was amazed was an understatement.
"W-W-WHAT!? HOLY SHIT! THIS LIKE A YEAR'S ALLOWANCE!" Shouted Naruto in disbelief.
"Naruto, my boy, language."
"R-R-R-Right."
"Don't blow it on anything you can find, be smart about this. And one more thing too, take this slip of paper. It'll let you get into Shinobi Library below us. There you can find books about everything ranging from taijutsu to politics, including some lists of Jutsu that no one wants to read. If you want anything you are free to take it, as long as it is within your skill level, of course, however, the weapons you will have to pay for along with the clothing." Stated the Hokage, handing Naruto a piece of paper with the Hokage's signature on it, while taking a puff of his pipe in the process.
"Wow, thank you so much Ji-Ji! I'll make sure to put what I find to use." Stated the overly excited blonde, exiting the office.
"You know we should probably get some new clothes first, you look homeless, still better than that orange straightjacket you were wearing, but still awful." stated the Fox, finally making itself known.
"Hey! I thought it was good! It had pockets and everything!" Naruto protested.
"You have as much fashion sense as a dog."
"Like you know anything." Naruto grumbled.
"Just go downstairs and let's get some necessities."
Naruto continued walking down the steps around the Hokage tower until coming across a wide sliding door with a chunin stationed in front, as Naruto handed him the signature and was allowed inside, he took a few seconds to let his eyes take in everything around him. The room wasn't too big, it was a bit smaller than the Hokage's office. To his immediate left, you could see plenty of leftover ink and brushes, with sealing paper scattered around. There was a paper target that was full of holes just above that, following along that side of the wall there were bookshelves that were full of worn books, along with unused scrolls and some clean brushes, this pattern continued until it was interrupted by a countertop, sticking out from the left wall until the middle of the room, where then it had extended into another wall that was blocking out what seemed to be a tiny storage closet in the upper right corner, then on the other side of the wall that was facing NJutsu were some chairs and tables, a few of them being more than busted. Then on the immediate right side of the wall were shelves containing scrolls of what was supposedly new Jutsu, there was a rug in the center of the room making that empty space feel as if it had more there. There was a rough-looking man who was on the bigger side, he was balding and you could easily see he used to be a shinobi, in some of the chairs were what seemed to be two jonin shinobi making casual banter. Naruto felt like he walked into the wrong room as soon as he put one foot through the door.
"Hate to break it to you, but this seems like it was the right room."
|Well, it's way better then what we had before, which was absolutely nothing.|
Naruto first went up to the man who was the shopkeeper, albeit a little intimidated by his presence.
"So what're ya looking for?" said the man, with a little gruff in his voice from having a mere genin inside.
"Well I'd like just the shinobi attire, navy blue pants along with a black T-shirt, and a utility belt please." ordered Naruto.
"No problem, that'll be about 15,000 Ryo though kid, so you gotta pay up first."
After paying for it and putting the clothes in a bag, Kyuubi suggested looking through the bookshelves for any basic info. While looking through them, they ended up finding Fuuinjutsu: Level One, A Complete Guide to Taijutsu, Ways to Increase Chakra Control, and Weaponry 101, Naruto decided to skip out on the Jutsu list, for now, wanting to understand the Kage Bunshin and increase his control first. It was still relatively early in the morning, and he decided to start reading some of his books, he headed over to Training Ground 3, or otherwise known as the Third Training Ground. Once he arrived he sat down and started reading, he went with "Ways to Increase Chakra control and started reading. At first, it was boring, just purely explaining what chakra was and it's dynamics, but once he got further into the book that was when he noticed it was crazy.
"WOAH! Kyuubi, did you know I can walk on walls just by channeling chakra to my feet!?" questioned Naruto, unable to contain his excitement.
"Of course I know that you brat, that's something the most basic shinobi should be able to do and remember you don't have to shout out that you're talking to me you know!"
|Oops, sorry there.| thought Naruto, mentally scratching the back of his head.
"Now hurry up and train yourself, I'm not the one teaching you yet, so get to it!" Shouted the Kyuubi.
|Right, Let's get started.|
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AN:/Hey everybody, I hope you enjoyed this second chapter, It didn't go as fast as I had hoped it too, but in some cases, it also feels almost too fast, next chapter there will be more events and more action, thank you, everybody, who is supportive, NarutoFanatic15 out.\:
