Heya. Thanks for all the reviews and feedback! This chapter is quite (Very) late, but I hope you all will enjoy.
The first thing that came to Naruto was the pain.
It was like his entire body was on fire. Like he had nails hammered into him. His head, too felt like a brick. He couldn't even tell which way was up. Was he standing up? Was he lying down? He couldn't even tell. His eyelids felt like they were sealed shut with hot glue, and he couldn't even move an inch. He couldn't even scream.
Agony was a mild word to describe it.
How long would it last for? It felt like an eternity had already come and gone. Was this hell? Had he already died? Naruto felt slightly disappointed. He hadn't even become a shinobi yet, much less become the Hokage. But these thoughts were banished when hope had finally arrived.
A wave of comfort washed over him. It was like jumping into the onsen after a day of training, or a mouthful of Ichiraku's after a few days of ramen deprivation. It was a calming, pleasant feeling. An ephemeral, pleasant warmth. It was hard to describe what he was feeling. Naruto had felt it before. It was a tiny, insignificant corner of his consciousness, but Naruto was sure he had felt it before. Was this... chakra?
The pain that had been tormenting him ebbed away, eased by the chakra that overcame him. Slowly, he felt his senses return to him. He felt a supreme softness envelop his back, and he knew that he was not lying on his own bed. It felt like he was sleeping on feathers.
The next thing that came to him was the sound of sobbing. It was feminine and muffled and barely audible, but just hearing it caused an ache in his chest. He forced his eyes open, searching for the source of the sobbing. The sudden light caused him to flinch, and his vision was a blurry mess. As his vision returned to him, he focused on the girl before him, and Naruto's breath was taken away.
It wasn't as if he hadn't met any pretty girls before. By Naruto's standards, Sakura-chan more than qualified as a 'cute' girl, and it wasn't as if the other girls in the academy were unattractive.
But as Naruto laid his eyes on the girl before him, Naruto was rendered speechless. She wore a gray yukata, with a sakura-patterned golden obi fastening it in place. Long, black hair that ran to her waist framed her face, which was also unbelievably cute, and the pupils of her eyes were a mesmerising scarlet hue and the fox ears and the tails swishing behind her were the same beautiful red. But above everything else, something else caught his attention. Her expression was one of pure sadness, almost one of repentment. Tears ran down her cheeks like a stream without repose.
It was a blemish within a perfect picture. The girl was so unbelievably attractive and cute and pretty that the 11-year Naruto did not have the vocabulary to describe her, but the tears that ran down her face were an ugly splash of paint across the perfect picture. Even so, Naruto was beyond awed, and a single thought came to him.
'Holy shit.'
It was a simple, primitive thought. It was the simple desire of a prepubescent teen, and yet it was more than anything he had felt while looking at Sakura-chan, or any other girl. He wondered how much more perfect it would be if she had a radiant smile instead.
The ache that had been relentlessly assaulting him increased tenfold, clawing at his chest. His mind went completely blank, and with the wisps of consciousness left he instinctively reached out towards her. His vision flashed before him again, and before he knew it, the world was black again.
Naruto's mind sank into the abyss of sleep once again.
Naruto blinked.
It was an unfamiliar ceiling. Or the lack of ceiling, rather. The sudden brightness of the midday sun was piercing, and Naruto reflexively shielded his eyes with his arm. The sky was an azure blue, clouds lazily floated overhead, and the hustle and bustle of wildlife that was synonymous with the forests of Konoha were audible. Sitting up, he let the events of the previous day sink in.
Was that all a dream? Did he just fall asleep during training?
No, Naruto concluded. There was no way that was a dream. It was too real.
The damage to his attire was a testament to that.
His goggles were completely shattered, and the jumpsuit he loved so much was covered in blood, mud and was torn to tatters.
A small sadness came over Naruto. The pair of goggles was the first gift he had ever received from Jii-Jii.
Then what about the scene he saw after that nightmare? Was that a dream? And how was he completely uninjured despite those injuries?
His mind wandered to the tear stricken girl he had seen. He wasn't sure if that was a dream. How was it possible that such a pretty girl could exist? She had a doll-like, inhuman quality to her beauty that just took his breath away. And what was with those fox-ears and those tails?
"Oh, you're finally awake."
A sudden voice snapped Naruto out of his brown study. Surprised, Naruto turned around, only to find a girl right in his face.
Literally. Naruto nearly brushed his nose against hers, right before staring into blue eyes.
Pretty, blue eyes.
And short silver hair.
And twitching, furry fox ears.
And- wait what?
He stared again for a moment, just to make sure he hadn't been seeing things.
But he blinked once, and twice, and they were still there.
Wait - didn't the girl in the dream-
And it was about right then that he realised that he was right in the face of a girl.
"W-w-w-what the!" He exploded, his face completely scarlet as he recoiled away. His adolescent mind began to race, and blood rushed to his face.
The girl looked at him with a strange expression on her face, and for a second, Naruto thought that he saw a small, mischievous smile tugging at her lips.
Huh?
But by the time Naruto had blinked, it had all but disappeared, replaced by the strange expression she had worn.
Naruto didn't like that look, he decided.
"Pervert." She abruptly accused, shattering the silence.
"What?" Naruto gaped, staring at her.
What on earth? What had brought this on?
"You're a pervert." She repeated coldly, turning her head away.
"W-wha - I'm not a pervert!" The blonde protested, his face growing redder.
She shot him a skeptical look, narrowing her eyes.
"Liar." She accused again, a small, teasing smile beginning to show.
"I don't believe you. You were staring at me so intently like you wanted to kiss me."
Naruto's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.
"I wasn't! I was just-"
It was then that the girl looked and pointed downwards toward him. Silenced, he followed her finger with his eyes, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His boyhood was standing at full mast, squeezed uncomfortably in his pants.
Checkmate.
"Look at that. How can you still deny that you're a pervert?" She asked knowingly, the teasing- no, sadistic smile growing even wider.
"I'm- that's a normal - I just woke up - " Naruto blabbered, his face already resembling a tomato's.
"Hmph, just admit that you're a pervert already. At this point, you might as well change your name to pervert, why don't you?" She continued, her smile continuing to grow even wider.
"LIKE I SAID, I'M NOT A PERVERT DAMN IT!"
If her grin could grow any wider, it would've probably split her face.
Naruto didn't like this girl.
He glared at her, and she responded with the same smile that sent his blood pumping with rage.
He had spent the better part of the afternoon arguing with this unreasonable girl, who had just placidly smiled and thrown accusation after accusation at him, and now the sun was already barely visible behind the trees.
It wasn't until his stomach had made its displeasure known by growling audibly and the embarrassment kicked in that the exhaustion had also caught up to him, and he fell flat on his butt.
She was sadistic and teasing and unreasonable and had that infuriating smile on her face as she made fun of him. Girls were supposed to be gentle and kind, and she was anything but.
So it was with a grudging admiration that he had to admit that she was way out of Sakura-chan's league. At least when it came to looks.
Shocking, right? He wouldn't have believed it if someone had told him that yesterday.
The other fox girl in his dream didn't count.
He found his eyes drawn to the fox ears twitching on her head again, and was reminded of a very simple fact.
Humans don't have fox-ears.
Wait, what?
Humans don't have fox-ears, his brain repeated, stating the obvious.
That's right. Humans don't have fox ears. His eyes widened as the truth dawned on him.
She wasn't human. Neither was the girl in his dream.
"Wait." He suddenly said, breaking the awkward silence.
"Hmm?"
"Humans… don't have fox-ears right?" He asked, uncertainly.
"Yeah, of course not. Why?" She asked, bored.
"That means… you're not human?" He asked rhetorically.
"Of course not. Humans don't have fox-ears and tails like kitsune do right?"
Naruto felt his jaw drop to the ground.
Kitsune? Like the nine-tailed fox?
"What? Did you just realise? I thought you would've known that I was a kitsune just from the feeling of my chakra alone. I mean, you are training to be a shinobi right, Naruto?"
Naruto suddenly felt really stupid.
"I-I mean of course! I was just - wait… how do you know my name?" Naruto trailed.
"Its written on your forehead, you know." She said, smiling.
"Huh?" He instinctively reached up to his forehead.
"I was lying." She said, and Naruto really, really felt like hitting her.
"Oi! Don't - "
"Naruto." She interrupted, and Naruto fell silent immediately.
Gone was the jovial, teasing, sadistic, irritating smile of hers, replaced by tightly pursed lips. Her furrowed brows spoke of uncertainty and her eyes reflected an uncharacteristic seriousness.
Naruto wasn't sure he liked this side of her more.
She got into a seiza position, and with the utmost seriousness, she placed both her hands on the ground and bowed deeply with her head nearly touching the floor.
"My name is Yoko of the Korishima clan, child of Kazuko, my mother. I am to serve as your retainer henceforth, and I am forever to be in your service, Naruto-sama."
It seemed like Naruto's jaw had been hitting the floor quite often recently.
It couldn't really be helped, though, given that the kitsune-girl-fox-girl who had been irritating him to no end was now bowing to him and calling him Naruto-sama. It was also quite unfair that she was undeniably incredibly pretty when she was being serious, even if she said she was a kitsune.
But it's not like his heart skipped a beat or anything, okay? Definitely did not happen. Sakura-chan was still number one in his heart. Probably.
"Naruto-sama, is it alright if you respond somehow? If you don't say anything I'll have to continue bowing to you like this, and I really don't like bowing to a perverted master like you." She suddenly said, interrupting his thoughts.
Naruto resolved to keep silent until the next morning.
Hokage's office
Hiruzen was flabbergasted.
No, given the frantic frenzy and panic of the past day, flabbergasted was a weak way to put it. It started in the morning, when an ANBU agent was found unconscious in the ANBU headquarters in his birthday suit. He thought it was pretty amusing, right until the moment he realised that he was the ANBU in charge of observing Naruto.
He had placed an executive order to all available shinobi in the ANBU and Jonins in the village to search for him. Even the clan heads like Hiashi and Tsume were not spared; they made full use of their Kekkei Genkai in their efforts to find him. Fearing a repeat of the Hyuga incident, he even sent men to the borders of Fire country.
However, all their efforts were in vain.
Despite having some of the best trackers and sensors in all of the Elemental Nations, they couldn't find as much as even a scent or a trail to follow. Tsume and Kuromaru were boisterously proclaiming that they had found a lead, only for it to end right at the Hokage Monument.
So much for that.
And what of the Hyuga's all-seeing vision and unparalleled range? Were they so incompetent that they couldn't even find a single boy with an orange jumpsuit and blonde hair? And how about the chakra sensing abilities of the Aburame? Surely they couldn't expect him to be satisfied with a "we were unable to locate him" as an answer?
After a day of relentless searching, Hiruzen had caved to the pessimistic voices speaking in his head. That Naruto was kidnapped by Kumo or Iwa, and that they were torturing him relentlessly as revenge. Or that they were brainwashing him, filling his head with propaganda, and were planning to use him as a weapon against Konoha? Or was it the organisation that Jiraiya had warned him about, the Akatsuki?
His head ached with pessimistic worry. Above Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki, above Naruto's lineage, and above his own role as the Third Hokage, he was truly concerned about Naruto. Naruto was more than everything the councillors made him out to be. He was more than just a weapon.
Naruto was his grandson.
These thoughts rekindled the burning spirit of the Third Hokage. Just as he was about to declare a status of emergency and a meeting to discuss matters, a truly unbelievable miracle occurred. From the crystal ball he had been so fond of using, he saw the Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja in Konoha. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, blinking again and again.
Naruto had been found. And it was no exaggeration to call it a miracle. After an entire day of relentless searching, of all places... he had been at the Hokage Monument.
It looked like Tsume was right after all.
But how could it have been? How did he evade the eyes of everyone in the village for an entire day? Even now, his keen senses could not detect a trace of Naruto's chakra signature, despite being less than a hundred metres away. Not a trace. He continued to stare at the crystal ball, utterly flabbergasted. The air was eerily devoid of the usual clamour Naruto's presence would bring.
It was just then that cold, freezing chakra rushed into the empty air. His senses went haywire, as the overwhelming feeling of chakra, chakra so deep and similar to that which he had once felt overcame him. His breath was caught in his throat, and the Professor felt genuine fear again.
The Kyuubi.
His traitorous mind screamed at him. The similarities were unmistakable, but just as no two fingerprints were ever the same, no two chakra signatures were ever the same.
Just then, the ominous, cold chakra assaulted his chakra system, but by the time the fact that he was being attacked by a genjutsu registered, he knew it was too late. As he struggled against it however, he saw a figure in the shadows before him. His eyes widened with realisation, but his consciousness faded.
Kitsune.
Base of Operations of Root
Shimura Danzo was a shrewd man.
It was a rhetorical statement, like saying that the sun was hot, or saying that snow was cold. It was synonymous with his name, and everyone with a decent head on their shoulders knew to be wary of him.
Danzo was a schemer a planner, manipulative and obsessive. To him, humans were like pieces in a chess game. Some were more useful than others, but they each had their own uses. A queen was unparallelled in its versatility, but yet a knight could be potentially more devastating. Knights, bishops and rooks may dominate the board, but in the end it was the movement of the pawns that decided the match.
His genius was not in his fighting prowess. His genius was in establishing Root. It was an arduous, meticulous and long process, a project that had began during the beginnings of Hiruzen's initial reign and had lasted even until now. Root was the evil born to facilitate Konohagakure's success, but it was forever destined to be hidden in the shadows. Who was it that had silenced the councillors in the Fire Daimyo's court when they vehemently opposed funding Konoha? Who was it that rooted out traitorous elements in Konoha, that quelled rebellions before they had even began, and executed questionable, morally ambiguous missions that Konoha's front office would have nothing to do with?
Danzo was sure Hiruzen knew of, and understood the significance and importance of Root. It was the sole reason that he had closed a single eye to his actions, and the only reason that he had not been executed many, many years ago for his admittedly atrocious actions.
He had inducted many promising prospects, having closely monitored their development from even before the academy. He polished them, giving them the optimal training. It was the nature of his training that allowed Root to house many of the best shinobi in Konoha. Efficient, deadly, and emotionless, they were the true black ops in Konoha. And yet, not a single member of Root was on the bingo books. Fame was a recipe for disaster. The more well known an individual was, the more dangerous it was to take up missions. Danzo thought it was an absolute waste that many of the finest shinobi such as Minato or Itachi had not been inducted into Root.
However, Danzo had recently laid his eyes on an even bigger catch.
Uzumaki Naruto, the Jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox. Danzo had been keeping tabs on him from the instance he knew of his status and his heritage. He tracked his progress in the academy, and he had recently come to know of his failure to pass the exam for the second time in a row. He was labelled as a dud, someone who would never make it as a shinobi.
It truly angered him. Were the instructors at the academy really so incompetent? From his perspective, the jinchuuriki was a diamond in the rough, an incomplete product. Within him resided the nine-tailed fox, the most powerful of the bijuu. He also clearly inherited the Uzumaki's vitality, and a seemingly endless stamina, having evaded capture by chunin and jonin for the better part of a day. And yet, his potential lay untapped and left to rot as he spent his days frolicking around in the academy.
If only Hiruzen had relented to his requests, he wouldn't have had to take action…
The sudden appearance of two familiar chakra signatures alerted him to the arrival of two of his operatives.
"Fuu, Torune, report." He ordered, the men appearing in tandem with a shunshin. They immediately knelt before his presence, placing their katanas on the ground before looking back at him.
"Danzo-sama. The subject engaged the jinchuuriki at the clearing on the Hokage monument at 20:37, causing grievous injury to him. It appeared that the subject was overcome by his anger and was aiming to eliminate the jinchuuriki. Unfortunately, we were unable to interfere in time." Fuu immediately said, voice monotonous in its delivery.
Danzo immediately stiffened, but he relaxed as he realised that there were extenuating circumstances. Fuu and Torune had never failed him before. He gestured for them to continue.
However, they simply looked at each other uncertainly, before turning to face the floor. "We… do not completely understand what had occurred, Danzo-sama. Just as we had ascertained the subject's motive to eliminate the target, We moved in to apprehend him but both the jinchuuriki and the target had... disappeared." Torune continued uncertainly.
"Disappeared?" Danzo asked, incredulous.
Torune nodded solemnly in confirmation.
"We performed a search around the surrounding area, but we were unable to locate either of them. However, we found a headband a certain distance from the fight we had observed, as well as some blood stains."
Danzo brought his hand up to his head, massaging the bridge of his nose and leaned back into his seat. What a failure. He refused to believe that Fuu and Torune, his two best agents with impeccable mission records, had simply lost sight of their targets, a rusty, mediocre chunin and a poorly trained academy student.
He had spent a considerable amount of resources to create a hole in Konoha's surveillance for the purpose of that night's operation to capture Naruto, and he had even filtered out possible candidates to use as a scapegoat for their purposes. They had singled out Ryuichi Odato, a former chunin who had been forced into retirement with the loss of his arm and his fragile mental state. He had been wallowing in depression and alcohol recently, and it wasn't too difficult to locate him.
Kotoamatsukami was like a drug, Danzo thought, his right eye throbbing with intense pain. It was the apex of genjutsu, allowing for control and manipulation unparalleled by any other. The best part about it however, was the subtle, undetectable nature of it. It completely overwrote the minds of their targets with whatever he wanted, and thus it was impossible for people to sense the disruption in their own chakra systems. It also ensured that Hiruzen would not be able to trace the attack to him even if he had utilised the Yamanaka's abilities to interrogate Ryuichi.
However, it definitely came with a price. The intense pain that overcame him whenever he used it was a testament to that. He could not wield it like Shisui could, and never would, but he would have thought that he would have adapted to it by now…
But now, with Naruto missing, Hiruzen would be alerted, and increase the ANBU surveillance around him. It would surely be harder to capture him now...
"Bring the headband and blood samples for analysis. Dispatch two squads, increase the perimeter of the search. I want the Jinchuuriki in by tonight." Danzo spat, his voice underlined with fury.
The two agents disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Danzo's lone visible eye blazed with his rage; His mind worked like a whirlwind, formulating a plan. He would get what he wanted, no matter what.
It was all for Konoha.
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