A/N: I should say this now rather than later... Crocodile is not Gaara's reincarnation... I should also point out many of them will be OCs (only one more character is a canon character...) including Gaara... sorry to disappoint everyone...

Chapter 8: The Fox Returns

Luffy finally made to the foot of the mountain… what happened before was tiring… and that was nice way to put it… those rabbit that Dalton told them about… were giant man eating rabbits… that are able to cause avalanches… which they did… during said avalanche, due to certain circumstances… Sanji gave Nami to Luffy, and because of these circumstances Sanji was now injured… what's worse was when that fast pirate that tired to eat him and a couple of his crewmembers tried to attack him wit his injured crew members… fortunately thanks to the fact that Luffy saved one of the rabbits they saved him… so now Luffy had to climb the extremely tall mountain on his own… with Nami on his back… and Sanji in his mouth… if only that stupid fox didn't block his charka… then he could use Shadow Clone and he'd have half the load. Luffy put Sanji in mouth (just the back of his jacket) and began his climb.

Somewhere… in a sewer... from the looks of it, the Great Kyubi no Yoko sighed in it's cage…

"It's almost time…" said the great demon, "And that stupid pirate made it slip too…"

The sewer… was part of Luffy's mind… the part where it had been sealed… though out the years it's anger, hatred... evilness had vanished… while in limbo… waiting for Naruto's soul to be reborn… however it's charka still had the evil tenancies… and if Luffy unintentionally used it… it could men danger… Kyubi knew that there would be a time where Luffy would need it… however there three conditions that must be met: 1. He had to have full knowledge of his past life as Uzumaki Naruto, The 6th Hokage, The Demon Fox, The Orange Flash, The Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja… The Ramen Disposal and the names go on and on… 2. Have his life be put in danger and 3. His life must be in danger because of protecting on or more of his friends… That last one was put in after Kyubi realized that Luffy was a worse trouble magnet than Naruto ever was… after Luffy had near drowning on a daily basis… in fact occasionally when ever Luffy's life was in danger the seal he placed on the charka nearly slipped, as when Luffy was a kid when Shanks saved his life… and for smoke odd reason when Luffy almost got eaten… which explained the voice in Luffy's head.

"Well I can't wait to meet you face to face…" said the great demon.

Outside of Luffy's mind he continued his climb… he was freezing, and his hands and feet were pain… but he had to carry on for his friends.

That's when something strange happened… he no longer felt cold… he felt his hands and feet were no longer in pain not only that but he felt a power bust… like after drinking a cup of coffee… sort of that last time he drank one… well he's no longer allowed to drink coffee ever again…

But if some were to look at Luffy they see him beginning to glow red… to find all of his wounds that his hands and feet had heal and 6 whisker like marks appear on his cheeks… three on each cheek… his face… not his butt...

On top of the mountain the doctor that they were seeking was just unpacking from a little trip she did… the doctor was old and could definitely be described as a witch… well her head anyways… her body… um… her body was something a even a model would envy… that's when she felt something in the air, she smirked.

"So he's here…" she said out loud.

"Who's here?" came a voice… it belonged to her assiant Chopper, a half human, half reindeer who looked sort of like a teddy bear with antlers wearing a pink top hat and pants.

"Oh it's no one…" said Dr. Kureha.

Back with Luffy he continued his climb… nothing was going wrong… after what seemed like forever (out of boredom… not pain…) he made it to the top… he took a short breather where he stopped glowing… however the whisker marks stayed there. Luffy looked towards the castle and yelled "I finally made!"

He picked up Sanji and ran towards the castle yelling "Hey! Hey! Hey! I need help! Please help my friends!"

"Can you be a little quiet?" came Dr. Kureha with Chopper in tow.

"Sorry…" said Luffy giving his trademark smile.

Dr. Kureha smirked at the boy… Luffy laid both Sanji and Nami down on the ground. She began to examine them both…

"So can you fix them?" asked Luffy.

"Depends…" said Dr. Kureha.

"Please! Jiraiya told my brother that you can do it!" said Luffy.

"Jiraiya?" said Dr. Kureha raising an eyebrow "Hmm… so they're reuniting already…" she thought.

"Yeah I haven't met him… but… I'm going to take a nap now…" said Luffy suddenly collapsing.

"Oh no!" yelled Chopper who began run around in a panic.

"Don't worry, he's fine… he's just resting…" said Dr. Kureha, "Especially after that big climb…"

"But he doesn't even have a mark on him…" said Chopper, "He didn't even seem tired…"

"Maybe he was hiding it…" said Dr. Kureha, "That or something happened with that fox…" she thought.

In a sewer somewhere… Luffy was unconscious and woke up.

"Where am I?" he asked… but there was no one there.

He began to look around… he saw a corridor and something pulled him though it … when he entered the room he saw a huge cage with a giant creature in it.

"That's a big doggie…" said Luffy.

The creature in the cage anime fell.

"I'm not a dog… I'm the Kyubi no Yoko…" said the creature who was indeed Kyubi, "And we are in the depths of your mind…"

"Oh…" sauid Luffy who then remember something, "Hey why did you seal my charka!"

"I had to… for the safety of those around you..." sauid Kyubi.

"What do you mean?" asked Luffy.

"If I hadn't sealed off yours and my charka… partially mine… if you got angry enough you would have killed those around you…"

Luffy's eyes were wide…

"That's right… think about it remember in your past life as Naruto… everytime you anger went away from you… my Chakra would take over… think about it…" said Kyubi.

"Then why did you have seal off mine?" asked Luffy.

Kyubi chuckled, "Well I didn't for that to happen… it just sort of… well happened… I hope you understand…" said Kyubi.

"Yeah…" said Luffy.

"But I unsealed it…" said Kyubi.

"Really so I can do those jutsus? Yay!" said Luffy.

Kyubi sweatdroped, "Yeah… and the reason I did it now was due three conditions I set up… the first was for you in order for me to unseal it… the first was to have full knowledge of your past life as Uzumaki Naruto… the second was for your life to threatened…" said Kyubi before he could say the third thing he was interrupted.

"But I'm always in life threatening situations…" said Luffy, "In fact today… I almost drowned twice today and almost was eaten…"

"Yes but you must listen to the 3rd before you judge the 2nd… the 3rd was for that life threatening situation be in order to protect your friends… which explains why I didn't unseal your Chakra when you also drowned and eaten by that Hippo-man… though it almost unseal when he did try to eat you…" said Kyubi.

"Oh I get it…" said Luffy who was suddenly reminded of something, "You changed…"

"Yeah… I did… over 50 years in limbo can do that to a demon… maybe you should wake up… I bet Sakura's reincarnation is also waking up by now after being given antidote…" said Kyubi.

For about a minute Luffy just stood there.

"What is it?" asked Kyubi.

"I don't know how to leave…" said Luffy.

Kyubi anime fell.

Outside of Luffy's mind and with Nami she finally began to wake up… she found she was in a bedroom.

"Where am I?" she asked as she tired to remember… she remembered that after the attack from the Sound Ninja she was poisoned… and that she's been slipping in and out conciseness, last thing she was when she was awake Sanji was carrying her on his back with Luffy… that's when Chopper came into the room.

"What?" said Nami.

Chopper screamed and hid from Nami… well "hid" was more like it, instead of hiding his body except for one eye… he hid his one eye but not his body.

"What are you?" asked Nami.

"Well I think you're awake…" said a voice.

Nami saw Dr. Kureha enter the room.

"Who are you…" said Nami.

"The name's Dr. Kureha but you can call me Dr. K…" said Dr. Kureha, "Oh and your friends are resting in another room… ones pretty beat up… the other… there's not a mark on him… especially after climbing that mountain… reminds me of a boy I once knew…"

"Oh…" said Nami.

"Answer one thing for me… why would a pretty young thing like you wind up with poison that's commonly used by ninja from the Hidden Continent…" said Dr. Kureha.

"Um well… it involves reincarnated ninja and that's all I'm saying." said Nami.

"Fare enough…" said Dr. Kureha.

Just then Chopper came running though (when Dr. Kureha entered the room he left to check on Luffy and Sanji) fallowed closely by Luffy and Sanji wanting to eat him. The two backtracked when they saw Nami was okay.

"Nami!" said Luffy.

"Nami my sweet, your okay!" said Sanji.

"Yeah…" said Nami, then she noticed the whisker marks on Luffy's face, "Luffy what happened to your face?"

"What do you mean?" asked Luffy, "Is there a bug on it?"

"She's right… there's something on your face…" said Sanji.

"I have a mirror…" said Dr. Kureha handing a hand mirror to Luffy.

Luffy looked at his reflection… and saw Thwe whisker marks…

"When did that happen?" he yelled.

"It happened when I unsealed my charka…" came a voice that only Luffy.

Luffy began to look around for who said it.

"I can speak to you… you moron…" came the voice who belonged to Kyubi.

"Oh yeah…" thought Luffy.

"Just tell the two later when the doctor lady's not here…" said Kyubi, "Or in disguise…" he whispered as quest as possible.

"What?" asked Luffy.

"Nothing…" said Kyubi.

Chopper peeked in the room and Sanji and Luffy saw him and began to chase him for food… Nami shook her head as if saying "Why me?" while Dr. Kureha just laughed a little.

Next Time: Luffy asks Dr. Kureha to join... she accepts under one condition... if he manages to get Chopper to join... so Luffy chases the half reindeer around the castle begging him to join... meanwhile Dr. Kureha tells Nami and Sanji about Chopper's past... and why she believes Luffy will mange to get Chopper to join... Will Chopper agree to join? What Kyubi mean by "Better than her last test"? Is there a henge involved? You won't believe the ending of the next chapter!

A/N: From this chapter forward Luffy will have the whisker marks on his cheeks...