Yang Discourse
There are rumors that say, Senju Hashirama created the Hidden Leaf forest, from a single acorn, and that he could use the trees that grew from that seed, to spy on anybody traveling within the forest. It has even been believed, that he could travel to anywhere in the forest, faster than his brother could Hiraishin. He knew everything that happened to any of the trees in his forest, and if he needed nourishment, he could simply eat the wood of any tree, whether it came from his forest or not. That's how in tune the First Hokage was with his Bloodline, and of course, he could manipulate any form of wood, whether he sprouted it or not.
As Naruto ran, he did not know that, all he knew is that he had to get away from this place and hide. Naruto ran through the forest, running in a blind panic, since doing what he did, he has been sensing things. They were not big, quite small really, most seemed to be at rest, with only a few moving around significantly. He did not know what they were, and in his distressed frame of mind he did not care. He did not care, until a significantly large version of what he was sensing, loomed large in his path, and that was when he came face to face with a bear. Naruto could feel it, as if he could feel himself, he seemed to be able to feel the ebb and flow of the bear's blood, through its blood vessels, and he sensed the articulation of the bear's bones. Naruto seemed to be able to sense the bear's physical condition, like he would his own body, Naruto even in his panic was an analytical person, so the evidence led him to a conclusion. It was getting close to winter, the bear was tired and hungry, it has not been having much luck in hunting, and then Naruto comes blundering into his territory, so he lost his temper and wanted to kill Naruto.
Naruto felt sorry for the bear, but he wanted to live more, and he did not have the energy to run anymore, now that his panic had abated. So, as the bear lunged, Naruto put up his hand, and sent his chakra into the bear which halted as it began to choke, and spasm. It's eyes became wide as it tried to retreat from whatever was happening to it. Too late, as Naruto's chakra manipulated the iron in the blood of the poor animal, the bear's heart began to pump faster and faster, as Naruto expelled the gases the bear's blood carried allowing it to respire. Naruto watched regretfully as the bear died, because he caused the bear's body to betray it. Naruto approached the downed beast, as he felt the bear's pulse stop, "I'm sorry," Naruto said to the carcass, "but I just can't die yet, I had to live, I'm sorry you had to become my latest victim."
It just was not Naruto's way, to leave perfectly good food lying around, without using as much of it as he could, and the bear deserved to have his death, mean something. Naruto did not have any tools so he decided to see what his power, and ingenuity would allow him to do, so he cast his senses around, but they came to the corpse again. Naruto realized, he could still feel the bears presence, as whatever he sensed before was still there, he tried to move whatever he sensed, which caused a spike of black iron to shoot-up through the bear's skin and fur, before falling back and crumbling into iron flakes. That's interesting, that obviously came from the blood, but I'm sensing other things near there. It seems to go all over the body, Naruto tried to move what he was sensing, it was a little tougher to move than the blood, which means it took longer, but in less than a minute, a white piece of bone also poked itself through the skin of the dead bear. Wow, I thought I could only manipulate metal, not bone, he mused.
"You weren't doing anything to the bone, kit," came a voice from inside his head, "it's the calcium in the bones you were affecting. Calcium is a metal; therefore, you can only affect metals."
To say Naruto was more than a little weirded out, about having a voice speaking inside his head was like saying the ocean is wet, it was obvious and not even worth mentioning. Before he could ponder anything, Naruto was pulled into his mind…
[… he was standing within a dank sewer, with the water reaching up to his ankles, he looked around, there seemed to be only three directions he could go at the moment, one direction led into darkness, while the other led into a brighter area, and one seemed to lead somewhere with a silvery light shining down the corridor, needless to say he went towards the brightest light.
Naruto came into a chamber wider than most, this seemed to be the origin of the flow of 'water', and intermixed with this blue fluid, a small amount of orange 'water' flowed steadily from the center. It was lost almost immediately into the mixture of the blue, that it might as well have not existed, but even Naruto, at age six, knew that even a single drop in the ocean, still added to the ocean's abundance. Naruto followed the orange 'water' back to its origin, only to find a massive cage, and within that cage, crouched low and staring at the boy, was an immense animal. The animal seemed to be a cross between a rabbit, because of it's long ears, and a fox, from the rest of its body. The intelligent eyes of this massive creature held neither hatred, nor love for the boy, it merely studied Naruto, withholding judgement until further notice.
At this point, despite being six-years-old, Naruto, had to grow-up fast, whereas other kids, even other orphans, had the luxury of being children, because of the hatred of nearly every person that lived in Konoha, he never had that. His very well-being, depended upon knowing whom he could trust, and who to watch out for, his very life since he was four depended on that. Mistakes earned him pain, good-calls got him some food, and a warm place to sleep, so he had to weigh each choice he made carefully and avoid making snap decisions. He also had to be able to think logically, and leave his emotions out of his decision-making process, otherwise he would not have reached the age he was now, the ripe, old age of six.
"You must be the Kyūbi," Naruto surmised, and the fox, remaining silent nodded, "do you have a name," the fox nodded again? "You know me, since you've been sealed inside me from birth," Naruto began, "sorry about that, it's been a bumpy ride, what with people assuming I'm, you. You're not going to tell me, your name, are you," Naruto asked with a sigh, to which the fox shook her head? "Why did you tell me, the calcium thing, then," he asked?
For the first time since their meeting, the Demon Fox grinned, "I didn't," the Kyūbi informed Naruto, "that was my Yin, or dark half, the half that governs my mind. I am Yang-Kyūbi, or the light half, I govern the body of the being you know as Kyūbi no Kitsune. I learn everything he learns, and have his intelligence, he gets my power, and desires, though separated, we are still one being."
"Well, thanks for the information," Naruto stated, then remembered something, "Yin is down the dark hallway isn't he," and the fox just nodded again, and Naruto turned to leave, before looking around at his surroundings? "This can't be a very pleasant place to live for a Fox," Naruto concluded, "I apologize for being such a lousy host, let me try to change a few things around here." Naruto closed his eyes, and thought of a pleasant forest glade, with trees scaled to the size of the fox, with the sun just reaching its zenith, along with birdsong filtering through the atmosphere. Naruto opened his eyes expecting to see his imagination had taken hold of his surroundings, he blinked his eyes rapidly, because he was still in the sewer he had been in when he first arrived.
For the first time since entering his mind, Yang-Kyūbi showed an emotion, other than the mask of neutrality she had worn from the beginning, that of unrestrained mirth. "Ah-ha-ha-ha…," there was not much room for movement in the cage, but Naruto even as he sulked, arms crossed with wounded pride, got the impression that if Yang could have, Yang would have been rolling over as she laughed her ass off, finally getting control of her laughter, Yang began explaining what the problem was, "if you think it's that easy to shape your mindscape, you've got another thing coming. These walls here are your minds way of describing your personality, which is shaped by multiple factors, most prominently life experiences, and as we both know, you haven't had very many good experiences. The Mindscape is actually in what psychologists would describe as the subconscious mind, jinchuriki are among the few beings in existence, that can access that part of the mind, this chamber represents your ego, or self. Yin-Kyūbi, because of the nature of yin, resides deep within the well known as the ID, or inner desires, which I wouldn't recommend going to, unless you're ready to relive every evil thing ever done to you, which given how you're life has gone so far, will be quite a lot."
Naruto thought about it and concluded that Yang was right, maybe someday he would try to go into that part of his mind, but he knew he was not ready yet. "But I can't stand to see anybody caged like that, I refuse to treat you like a prisoner, I took it that you would only share your name with me once you trusted me," Naruto did not need the nod from the fox, to reach his conclusion, "and the best way to build trust that I know of, is to do something nice and meaningful, for the one whose trust you wish to earn. You have done a lot over the years to help me," the fox's eyes were wide with surprise that the kit figured that much out, which Naruto noticed, "I noticed that my injuries, whenever I would get beat, seemed to heal faster than normal, and I've more endurance than many Chunin in the village, that, since you're the Yang half of Kyūbi, must mean you've been helping me stay alive, when by rights, I should've been killed many times over. My observational skills, analytical mind, and even my mode of speech, are vastly different than any other six-year-old I've met, they're skills most adults don't have, or I wouldn't be looking for a new home, right now," Naruto informed his tenant, "I believe I have Yin to thank for that, am I right?"
Yang regarded the boy standing in front of her, searching for any form of duplicity, and upon finding none, she answered, "you are correct, kit," then added, "but I didn't do it for you, I did it so we wouldn't die, because if you die, I die. When the Yondaime and his wife, formed this seal," she informed him, while pointing to the seal engraved on a metallic plate, "they called upon the power of all three, Pillars of Existence: Kami, Yami, and Shinigami, they bound my soul to yours, Naruto, for all eternity. So, you see, I didn't do anything for you, I was doing it for myself, so I may hang onto life as long as possible."
"That doesn't change anything in my eyes," Naruto said, while shaking his head, "it only reinforces my stance, that I need to do something to help pull my weight, anything however small could mean the difference, between living and dying."
Yang continued to stare at this boy, who seemed to grasp the realities of their situation, but she had to ask, "Why are you doing this? I get wanting to do your part to help us live, but we could go on as we were before, the yang me, healing and strengthening you, while the yin me, makes you more aware of your surroundings, and allowing you to think clearly, and we'll continue to live just fine," Yang finished and weighted for his answer!
Naruto just pointed at the area below yang, "because you're giving me, so much more," he stated. "That's your chakra, isn't it," she looked down to where he was pointing, then back and just nodded? "You're giving me your essence, you're chakra, and I'll wager yin, is doing the same thing, giving me his chakra, and what's worse is it's being taken against your will, for this to be an equal bond, I have to give something to it as well. Now, stop with this interrogation and tell me what I can do, to be an equal partner in our continued survival!"
Yang-Kyūbi smiled brightly, with all her pointed teeth, and replied, "Come closer, Naruto…"]
Naruto came to, exactly one second in the real world, after he had been pulled into his mind, "whoa; these knew senses are going to take some getting used to," he exclaimed!
[Not to worry, I'll lend you my experience with them," Kyūbi reassured him, "but remember to think to me, rather than speaking out loud, or people will think you're crazy.]
{Right, got you," Naruto thought, "so I'm linked to Yang-Kyubi's senses, which are the senses of a fox, and the mind of Yin-Kyūbi, which essentially returns you to being one complete being, in spite of the separation between the two halves, I'm the conduit through which you experience the world around us, outside of my mind. That about sum it up, Kyūbi?}
[Exactly, Naruto," Kyūbi confirmed, "while I refuse to nurse-maid you through life, you can think of me as a guide, and extra conscience, if you will, you don't have to listen to a word I say, you must still follow your own judgement," Kyūbi told him, "and you may use my chakra anytime you want to carry-out your will. You must still learn how to use it, but I'll help you with that, your own chakra and metal release, I leave to you to train in learning how to use," Kyūbi concluded the recitation of the terms of their deal, then asked, "we still have a deal?]
{we have an accord," he stated, in his mind}, Naruto nodded as he set to butchering the bear for meat, and clothing, according to the Biju's instructions.
