Disclaimer: I do not own any of the anime/manga/movies/etc. that I write about; otherwise I would be a millionaire NOT writing on fanfiction publishing my own ideas.
Warning: This chapter contains spoilers for current chapters of canon Naruto, read at your own risk!
Chapter 4
"Good morning cla- NARUTO, WHAT HAPPENED?!" a scarred chunin teacher named Iruka greeted, then shouted at his class on Monday.
The class turned to look at their blond haired peer and couldn't help but stare. Naruto looked like he'd received the worst of a cat mauling, mine field, and mud run all at once! His clothes were splattered with (what Iruka hoped was) mud and some dried blood and had jagged tears everywhere. His face was covered in scratches and it looked like he had a black eye and was missing a baby tooth. All in all, Naruto looked like death worn over.
Chuckling sheepishly until he had to hold onto his still tender ribs, Naruto said abashedly, "Would you believe me if I told you I slipped and fell?"
The entire class sweatdropped at this and Iruka sighed while pinching the bridge of his scarred nose. If the blond could joke about his condition and come to class, then it obviously looked worse than it did. Eyeing the whiskered child, Iruka said, "Just take a seat Naruto, and go see the nurse after class."
Naruto nodded while going to gingerly sit down in the back of the class. While he normally was one for attention, this wasn't the kind he had in mind and would rather stay in the backs of everyone's minds for now. Also, it gave him plenty of opportunities to speak to his new furry "friend." Tora was perched idly on Naruto's shoulder, feeling significantly lighter than what his large form suggests. No one paid the tiger-like summon any mind, since he'd made himself all but invisible to anyone who wasn't his summoner.
Late last evening, Tora had decided Naruto had enough training for the weekend and picked him up from the Forest of Death. The past two days for Naruto had been, for lack of a better term, hell. The giant tigers had been relentless in their pursuit of the young blond, and if that wasn't enough there was giant leeches, poisonous plants and animals, as well as quicksand pits to look out for. To say Naruto was surprised to be alive when Tora showed up and hauled him back home was like saying Kakashi liked reading smut, a huge understatement. He'd been covered with even more wounds that night and collapsed on the bed in pure exhaustion, after thoroughly cursing Tora out, and didn't even have the strength left to change his torn and dirty clothes. Naruto awoke with a start that morning and had to rush to class after grabbing a quick bite (47 bowels of ramen) at Ichiraku's.
Naruto sent a silent glare at his orange furred companion who was chuckling still at his disheveled appearance. While he knew he couldn't match the summon physically, Naruto swore on all Higher Powers that he'd prank the ever living daylights out of the tiger as soon as he got the chance. Iruka started onto the days lecture on the Second Shinobi War, which Naruto soon started to lose focus on until he felt a sharp pinch on his cheek. Trying not to yelp and with tears in his eyes, Naruto stared up at Tora in both anger and confusion. The powerful summon gave a glare with his pale eyes and whispered harshly, "Pay attention brat! I refuse to have an idiot as my summoner, so if I have to I'll force you to focus through every lesson until you get it through that thick skull of yours to listen!"
Naruto gulped and meekly nodded while turning his attention back to Iruka-sensei. No point arguing with a large tiger who could easily eat you, or worse increase his insane training regime even more! After several hours of being forced to listen, Naruto sat on one of the benches provided by the academy for lunch breaks with a groan. This one was hidden by trees and bushes to give the blond some privacy so he could talk to Tora. Not only were the lessons dull and boring, but Tora kept pinching him with his sharp claws every time it looked like his attention was wavering! Fortunately by this point, Naruto's advanced healing had done its miracles on his body and the scratches and bruises were all but none existent, it was just the exhaustion that remained. Naruto received a chill as he felt Tora leer down at him from the tree branch perched above his seat.
"Constant vigilance, brat!" the tiger summon roared as he leapt down at his blond haired student with his claws extended. Naruto managed to roll out of the way in time as the bakemono crashed into the ground right in front of him with a swipe to the chest. Without thinking, Naruto's newly honed instincts made him grab one of the practice kunai he kept in his supply pouch and tossed it at the white eyed tiger. The blade actually hit true and sunk into Tora's hand. They both stared at the blade for a few awkward seconds before Tora responded.
"YEOWCH!" he hollered as he danced around comically with the blade sticking out of his hand. Realizing what he was doing, Tora quickly tried to compose himself and save what dignity he had left by pulling the blade out of his paw and turned towards Naruto with his throbbing hand clasped behind his back. "Nicely done, brat," Tora complemented in what he hoped was a casual tone. "Your reflexes have improved nicely."
Naruto bashfully rubbed the back of his head with a grin on his face before he gained a confused expression. "I'm actually surprised I made that. I'm usually the worst shot in the class, yet I was able to hit the bull's-eye while on the move too!"
Tora grimaced as he thought of his aching hand as a 'bull's-eye' but gave a sagely nod of his head and explained, "It's not really surprising when you think about it. That training I've put you through wasn't just for fun, you know?" Naruto gave a sour look as that training had been far from 'fun,' "You've been hardening your reflexes by surviving both my sneak attacks and all that survival training in the forest. With increased reflexes comes increased hand-eye coordination as well as a stronger mind and body. In a few more months, I wouldn't be surprised if you were on the same level, if not higher than, your peers."
Naruto gave his summon a grateful smile and went back to the table to start eating his lunch before class started back up. Tora decided to go back up the tree he was on and lounged lazily among the branches while enjoying the afternoon sun soaking his fur in warmth. Suddenly, his sensitive ears picked up movement in the nearby bushes. Looking over with his white eyes, Tora noticed a young human girl peering through the bushes to watch his equally young summoner. The girl's hair was a dark indigo color till it was nearly black, she wore a baggy jacket over her small frame, and her skin was a pale color that nearly matched her eyes.
'Byakugan, hm?' Tora mused as he observed the girl. Seeing those pale white eyes caused the bakemono to think back to when his kind first roamed this world and met the first chakra user. She was a beautiful woman named Kaguya Ĺtsutsuki, the one who ate from the Shinju to help end the wars over the land. Tora's clan, who inhabited the world at the time, found out about a human learning chakra and sought her out. Thinking her capable of bringing peace to the world, Tora's people taught her how to properly use it, since only animals had any real understanding of chakra. Eventually, she developed eyes similar to the bakemono, and it was called the Byakugan.
Later, she had two sons, Hagoromo and Hamura, who inherited her strong chakra and their own eye techniques. Hagoromo inherited the Rinnegan while Hamura gained the Byakugan. It was around this time, however, that Kaguya became corrupted by the power she had, as those with too much power tend to do. By using the powers given to her by the Shinju, she became a being of immense power and destruction known as the Juubi, or Ten Tails, and set out to reclaim the chakra she deemed as "hers", namely that which her sons inherited. Knowing that the children, who were young men at this point, needed help to defeat the power hungry demoness, Tora and his people lent their aid to the two brothers. Teaching them all they knew about chakra, the brothers and the bakemono's went to fight the Juubi.
The battle was intense, to say the least. While the brothers, Tora, and his people were all strong in their own right, the Juubi's power was on a completely different level. Finally, the brothers succeeded by sealing away Kaguya's consciousness, while Hagoromo sealed the Juubi's chakra into his own body. Tora himself was one of the few survivors of his clan, and vowed to watch over the two brothers to make sure they didn't make the same mistakes as their mother. It turns out that he needn't worry, however. Both brothers seemed to have the world's best interest in mind, and worked hard to help the lives of the people who lived there. As time went on, Hagoromo had two sons; Indara and Ashura. Later, as it came time for Hagoromo to pass from this world, he took the chakra from the Juubi that he sealed and created nine entities known as the Bijuu, or Tailed Beasts. He then spoke with Tora, and asked the tiger monster to return to his realm until the time came when someone worthy as his successor was to summon him. That was the last time Tora was in this world, yet he made sure to hear the news of the world from other summons who went to the human world from time to time.
Snapping out of his reminiscence, Tora looked back at the young girl with the Byakugan, whom he assumed was a descendant of Hamura. The girl seemed to be looking at his summoner with a shy look of longing, as if she wanted to go speak to the boy but was too nervous to gather up the courage to go into the clearing.
'Looks like she's got a crush on the brat, huh,' Tora thought idly before a mischievous grin worked its way onto his fanged mouth. Gently floating down behind the hiding girl, Tora placed his hand on her back and gave a push. The push was enough to send the girl stumbling into the clearing with Naruto in it with a surprised 'eep!'
"Huh?" Naruto said dumbly as he saw the pale eyed girl stumble into the clearing. Noticing that the girl fell over, Naruto quickly went over to see if she was alright, never noticing the mane of orange hair poking above the bushes before it quickly disappeared into the trees.
"Are you all right?" he asked in concern while gently propping the girl into a more comfortable sitting position. Unbeknownst to Naruto, said girl was blushing up a storm and was going through a mental tirade at the moment.
'N-Naruto's t-talking to m-me! Oh, he m-must think I'm such a k-klutz! W-what do I s-say?! W-what do I d-do!?' the pale eyed girl thought frantically.
"Hey, are you okay? Your face is getting all red and stuff," Naruto asked as he placed the back of his hand against the girls head as he'd seen mothers do to their children to see if they had a fever. Hinata, startled by the contact and her already raging emotions, did what any shy girl in her position would do.
She fainted.
Naruto immediately panicked and worried about what to do while Tora lounged in one of the branches of the trees, laughing his furry head off. Seems like life as the brat's summon wouldn't be so dull after all!
AN: Sorry this chapter's a little shorter than usual. I just wanted to find a good place for it to end. So the main idea of this chapter was for some background information on Tora and how he knew the Sage. It also gives a way for Hinata to be 'noticed' by Naruto in a believable way. Next chapter I'll show the budding relationship to the two as well as show more interaction/training between Naruto and Tora. I'll try working on Yellow Flash, Blue Blur next so there's that to look forward to. As always, please Read and Review. Keep on being awesome people!