Chapter One
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The background noise of the Forest seemed subdued in the clearing where a few score of giant tigers relaxed. Even the great spiders with which they constantly fought for food were not foolish enough to attack them in the glade that they had claimed as their own. However, today it was not just the tigers in the glade. Their attention was fixed on a small, rag-clad shape sleeping on the flank of one of the younger members of the group.
"Are you sure that this is wise, Hunter From Shadows" growled the largest of the tigers, the one with the most scars and one eye milky from a battle fought long ago. "You know that the two-legs hunt us, as we hunt them. To bring one into our clan..."
"He is but a cub." came the reply, fangs barely concealed. "And he has passed the initiation."
"Which you gave to him without informing us!"
"That is correct, Great Elder. The cub and I have shared our blood, and you can see the results. He is the Promised One, the cub of the One Long Lost. Do you deny that he has taken the attributes of the Clan?"
Silence answered the query and Hunter From Shadows looked down at the small figure curled up against him.
"By the ways of the Clan as held in song through the generations since we were sundered from the Kin-On-Two-Legs, I claim this... Naruto... as my kin-brother. The Bond has been formed, he will understand us as we understand him. His path is mine and mine is his. And I shall rip apart any who right deny me this!"
For several moments none of the large beings moved and the tension increased until the Elder sighed and turned his head away.
"I am not convinced... but the ways of the Clan are what have let us survive here for many seasons. Very well, Hunter From Shadows. When... Naruto... awakes, we shall see if we can use him to claim the lands promised to us by the One Long Lost. I for one look forwards to not having to battle constantly, to seeing more of our cubs survive. The Clan will support you and we will train him in our ways."
..o..
Naruto slowly rose from the depths of slumber and snuggled deeper into the soft warmth. A few moments passed, then his eyes shot open as memory returned. Before he could do more than inhale sharply, a voice sounded.
"Good morning, cubling. You have slept well, a full day and night. The Clan has gathered some food for you, you should eat. We have much to discuss."
Naruto blinked in suprise. He had understood every single part of the speech, even though it had sounded like a series of growls, snarls and coughs. Shaking his head to try and clear it, he raised one hand to rub at his face, then froze, staring at it, his eyes widening.
"My hand! My hands! They're... what happened to my hands! What happened to my feet? What the... I have a tail? What's going on?!"
A large paw knocked him down and gently restrained him. Struggling against the gentle weight, Naruto found himself looking up into the face of a cat larger than anything he had seen before.
"What happened? Simple, your bloodline limit was activated. With a bit of training, you will be the fastest, strongest, most agile two-leg in the Land of Fire."
"But... but my skin, it's furry..."
"It is part of your Kekkai Genkai, young one. The Clan accepts you, little tiger of the wind. We of the Shadow Tigers will protect you until you can protect yourself. We will teach you the ways of the Clan, how to hunt, how to stalk and how to fight. We will teach you the use of Chakra and should you prove yourself worthy, as I have no doubt you will, we will teach you the ways of the Sage. And when you pass our first tests, we shall grant you the right to summon our brethren of the five Great Clans who live in the Realm Beyond The Shadow."
Naruto stared at the large being who had, during his speech, released him and settled down.
"Who... who are you?"
"I am your bond-partner, Hunter From Shadows, but you can call me Kage, Naruto. And as to how I know your name, the Bond between us let me see your memories. You have had a harsh life, little maelstrom, but that is over. You have been renewed, Kazetora Naruto!"
"Cool..."
"Very." Kage chuckled. "But there is one thing that you must do first... you need a bath!"
"What?!" Naruto half-screamed as Kage picked him up and moved towards the stream that ran along the side of the glade. "A bath? No, put me down! Put me down! I don't want a bath, I don't wanna..."
His protests were cut off as he was dropped into the pond.
..o..
"Wow..."
Naruto smiled as he flexed his fingers. Although slightly shorter than they had been, he was not disappointed since his fingernails had been replaced with retractile claws that glittered in the light. Similar claws were on his toes and he had to keep reminding himself to keep them retracted in order to avoid having them catch on the ground and causing him to trip up.
Again.
His skin had also changed. No longer was it the dirt-ingrained pale pink as it had been, instead it was covered in short fur, white with black stripes while the skin underneath the fur had toughened up, making it harder for him to be stabbed or cut. Although he missed his spiky blond hair, he accepted its loss since it would have impeded the motion of his reshaped ears which he could swivel to catch any noise that caught his attention. The whiskers on his cheeks were not birthmarks any more, but real whiskers, having transformed when his Kekkai Genkai activated and which flanked the short muzzle on his reshaped face.
Any observer would have been hard-pushed to recognize him, only the colour of his eyes remained unchanged, although the pupils were those of a feline.
"You have adapted to your true form well, cub." Kage rumbled, walking up to his side and sniffing at him in greeting. Naruto sniffed back, savouring the complex scents he was learning to decode and Kage unleashed a rumbling purr. "Yes, you have indeed adapted. You can run through the trees, you can prowl in silence and you are learning to fight faster than we expected. For being here only six moons, you are doing very, very well."
"Thank you, Kage-nee-san." Naruto smiled. "Are we going hunting again? I love watching as you rip those spiders apart."
"Alas, no." Kage sighed, "The Elder wishes to speak with you. The seasons are turning and if you are to be the one who will lead us, you need to learn the ways of the two-legs as well as those of the Clan."
"So Elder-Sama is going to teach me, nii-san?"
"Not exactly..."
Naruto spun round to face the Elder, who was settling down, then almost as quickly dropped into a respectful crouch, head tilted to one side to expose his throat.
"Elder-sama."
"Naruto." The Elder replied, hiding his amusement at how well Naruto had adapted to using the formalities that he had been taught. "I have taught you much, the speech of the two-legs and how they interact. It is almost time for you to use this knowledge to aid the Clan."
"The Clan saved me, if I can aid it in return, please tell me how."
The Elder exchanged a glance with Kage, then turned his attention back to the two-leg that had managed to become precious to the entire Clan, even those who had been most vocal in their displeasure about having him join them.
"It is time you learned another Tale of the Clan. Settle yourself."
Naruto nodded and waited for Kage to lie down. Settling down between Kage's spread front paws, he leaned against his adopted brother's neck.
"The Clan came to Konoha during the Third Shinobi War, following the trail of the last of the Namikaze, the clan which had the Kekkai Genkai known to the humans as the Tiger Eye, the Toragan. The Toragan in its strongest form is what you have, despite the fact that you carry within you the Biju known as the Kyuubi No Kitsune, but even in its weakest form, it had many advantages. Those who carried the Toragan had sharper senses and could heal far faster than any without the Kekkai Genkai. Their fingernails were also stronger, but not as strong as the claws of the true users of the Toragan and they could understand the Clan.
"The clan who carried the Toragan were warriors, but they were a small clan. Over the centuries they were known as true heroes, the last carrier of the Toragan was your father. The humans called him by many names. The Yondaime Hokage, The Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato. We came here just before the Kyuubi attack and, at his request, became the guardians of this forest until he could arrange to have us accepted into Konoha proper and the females, younglings and elders moved to his lands.
"Sadly, he died before that could happen and we have been here since."
The Elder paused and glanced at Naruto to see if he had understood. Naruto nodded slowly.
"So... my dad was the Hokage, but he died before he could complete his promise? Then I'll do it!"
"It will be tricky." The Elder said. "He had many enemies who would kill you if they found out you were his son. And more who would kill you if they knew of the demon you keep imprisoned just by existing. No-one will believe you if you tell them the truth of who you are, they will not want to believe, for it would mean that they would need to accept that they betrayed him in how they abused his son."
"But, if I can't say I am his son, then..." Naruto trailed off and the Elder gave a bark of laughter.
"His son, no, but the son of his younger twin brother Arashi... That you could claim. We found his body on the way here, but we could never find the right time to tell Minato that his long-lost brother was dead, we could not risk distracting him from his duties, and then it was too late. We shall claim that Arashi was your father and since he and Minato were identical twins, your blood will not go against this claim. That way, you can claim your father's legacy without his enemies coming to kill you."
Naruto nodded, then he frowned again. "So, Elder-sama, how do we do this?"
"We leave Konoha using the secret tunnel at the dark of the moon, five days from now. We will journey to the destroyed village of Whirlpool, train you further for several years, then return. That way, should they try to track us..."
"Then they will think we came from Whirlpool, or at least through it! Brilliant!" Naruto crowed, then he stiffened. "Please forgive me, Elder-sama. I was excited..."
"There is nothing to forgive, cubling." The Elder said reassuringly. "It is good to see that your mind works well. There is, however, one thing you must do. Your name must change for this to work, you may reclaim it when you are secure. From the time we leave, we will train you to answer to your new name, Namikaze Toramaru."
..o..
The forest outside Konoha was silent, the normal noises conspicuous by their absence. The reason for the silence was the veritable flood of black-striped white-furred beings moving between the trees. Despite their size and numbers, they left almost no trace of their passing, nothing that even a regular Jonin Shinobi would have spotted. Only an Aburame bug-user or an Inuzuka dog-sibling could have followed them, and even then, only had they known where to look.
And the only human who knew of the exodus was asleep on the back of one of the tigers.
Unknown to the departing group, the Inuzuka, the Hyuuga and Aburume had been scouring the forest up until a month previously, hoping to find any trace of the boy. His lineage had not been revealed, but rumours of his Jinchuuriki status had been confirmed, as had the fact that he had vanished without trace, possibly taken by an enemy who wished to weaken Konoha. The entirety of the Konoha intelligence service had been instructed to keep an eye out for him, and had been provided with pictures of the blond-haired boy, a fact which even by itself would ensure that they would not be able to find him. For the Hyuuga, the fact that the young boy had saved their clan-heir and then fled from them in fear had them searching so that they could atone, a search that had failed.
The forest remained silent as the Clan moved on their way with their newest charge, who had been given the greatest gift he could ever receive.
Family.