Here's Chapter 5 of One Twentieth of a Whole. It's an important one to be sure; this should close up the Introductory Arc, and the moment I bet a lot of you have been waiting for will occur in this Chapter. But, first it's time for some Q&A's.
Tutenstein: It's been mentioned that Minato has offered Naruto the same training that he gives to Haruki. Naruto, refuses such training because he doesn't want it. The same would occur if he were assigned a tutor.
Gen. Malaise: Yes, he'll shape up, though it might not be in the way that you're expecting. Remember, he's only seven years old, and this is the introductory arc, so he has plenty of time to change.
XiaoSan: Just read the Chapter.
Well, that's over with, so he it goes!
Chapter 4: Bijuufication
Naruto didn't pay attention in class for the remainder of the day. His mind was already too clouded with the events that were going on in his life. He vaguely wondered if the baby had been born yet, and how it would view him as they grew older.
Luckily for his grades however, there wasn't much taught in the curriculum that would affect it in any way. The first hour of the class was spent talking about the field trip that would occur in a couple of months. Apparently, they would be travelling to the site of the battle of Kikyo Pass, and learn about the events that took place there. On the way there, they would be doing some basic terrain identification and training within the southeastern section of Hi no Kuni's forest.
Naruto remained silent the entire day, and was still silent when Iruka had placed the permission slip on his desk. Except, it wasn't more of a permission slip that a contract. Meaning if they were somehow attacked on the way there and students were killed, then it was not the village's fault.
Naruto had found out that it wasn't their fault on more than one occasion...
The bell rang for the day, and Naruto as usual waited in his seat for Toji and his thugs to file out before he left. The bad part about it was that Iruka occasionally started to reprimand him, because all the sensei's attention was directed at him.
Fortunately for him, he snuck out of the classroom without any kind of lecture. When he got outside, he was supposed to meet his sister at the front gate of the academy so they could walk to the hospital together, but he was currently having the unpleasant experience of almost being trampled over by much larger students.
He reached the front end of the academy three minutes later, but his sister was nowhere in sight. Most of the students were filing out of the gate, and pretty soon he was left nearly alone on the desolate academy grounds.
He finally spotted her walking towards him a few minutes later, no usual spring in her step. Instead, it was replaced with a slow, solemn walk and a stoic expression on her face. Her dress was still in tatters.
When the girl spotted him standing at the gate waiting for her, a light fury ignited in her eyes, and she bolted into a run. Shoving a surprised Naruto out of the way, she ran off into the street on her own, leaving Naruto in the dust behind her.
Naruto gingerly got to his feet. His sister was becoming more and more hostile to him, and that thought was making him sad. She resented him so much that she wanted to run away, even while injured?
Naruto watched her disappear into the distance with pained eyes, and he slowly set off to go home, "permission slip" in hand. He just hoped that his sister wouldn't stay mad at him forever.
Haruki finally calmed down once she had gotten away from her stupid brother. He had been such a dampener on her mood for the entire day, and she didn't need that in the slightest when she was about to look upon her newborn baby sibling for the first time.
She stood outside her mother's hospital room, and reproachfully touched the door knob, as if she were debating on whether or not to open it.
She steeled herself and swung open the door. Her parents turned around when they heard the door open, and their faces turned to frowns when they saw that Haruki's dress was in tatters, and that Naruto was no where to be seen.
Her father got up from his spot in a chair while her mother remained in the bed rocking the new baby.
"Haruki, what happened to you?" Minato asked, noticing the purple bruises all over her face and body. Haruki refused to meet the worried gaze of her father, and in a moment of weakness looked at the ground while tears poured from her eyes.
Both of the parent's eyes were on the five-year girl as she cracked underneath their gaze.
"I-I... g-got b-beat up t-today at s-s-school..." she cried softly.
Minato and Kushina's eyes widened, and Minato placed firm, yet gentle hands on Haruki's shoulders.
"Tell me, Haruki. Who is it that beat you up?" he asked, his tone containing little more than righteous anger.
"T-These three b-bigger b-boys at s-school. They t-talked a-about how they've b-beaten up N-Naruto for the p-past y-year, and they b-beat me u-up b-because I w-was r-related to him..." she wailed.
Minato's breath hitched in his throat. Those boys have been beating up Naruto for over a year? Then how come he had never noticed anything? Snapping himself out of his daze, he turned back to the crying girl, and wrapped his arms around her.
The girl's breathing slowed after this happened, and she nuzzled into her father's chest.
"Shh, it's going to be alright, baby. I'll go over to the academy later today and see if we can get this whole bullying problem resolved." he said, as he stroked the back of the girl's long, blonde hair.
"D-Daddy..." she mewled, and Minato noticed that his jacket was gradually becoming sopping wet with tears.
"Shh, shh, it's going to be okay..." he said, as he kissed the top of her head. He then let go, and looked down at his daughter with a firm, yet gentle look.
"Where's your brother, Haruki?" he asked.
Haruki squeaked, and avoided the gaze of her father. She didn't believe she would be able to avoid telling him what she did, so she thought it best to just come clean about it right now, to save her future problems.
After being told what she had done, Minato stared at his daughter with a certain amount of sternness in his eyes. Haruki suddenly found her toes to be very interesting at that moment.
Minato sighed.
"What you did was very wrong, Haruki." he said, kneeling down and turning her head to make eye contact.
"Look at me. How do you think your brother feels now, being bullied for almost a year, and being blamed by you for your hardship?" he asked. Haruki shook her head, a clear symbol for "no".
"I bet he feels like the lowest form of life on Earth right now, Haruki. Not because he has been bullied for the past year, but probably because he blamed himself for the bullies tormenting you, and you letting him know you feel that way is making it worse for him."
"But, he-" she began to protest.
"I don't want to hear your excuses, Haruki. We're a family, and families forgive each other's mistakes. The entire village of Konoha is based on this principle, with the Will of Fire proclaiming we must love and cherish our comrades and village. Or are you telling me that you're denying the ideals of the previous generations, and are not a believer in the Will of Fire?" he questioned, putting Haruki on the spot.
Kushina had had quite enough.
"Minato, she's-" but she was cut off.
"I DO believe in the Will of Fire, daddy! And I DO love the village! I love Konoha more than anything in the world, and I would gladly protect and cherish every single person in this village!" Haruki proclaimed.
Minato smiled brightly, radiating a feeling of warmth to the young girl.
"Good. But, if you truly believe in the Will of Fire, then I want you to apologize to your brother as soon as he gets home. Are we clear?" he asked.
Haruki nodded fervently, but inside was that feeling that she just couldn't apologize to him.
"That's my girl..." said Minato, feeling proud of his daughter. "Now, I believe we've made you wait long enough. Don't you want to meet your new baby sister?" he asked the girl.
The girl didn't react as much as they had expected, but they didn't know of the permanent change that occurred in Haruki that same day. Their vibrant little girl would soon be replaced with a colder, more serious one.
She walked over to where the infant was being cradled by her mother, a shaky yet genuine smile forming upon her face as Kushina unveiled the baby's face.
"Hello, I'm your big sister. I hope we can be best friends..." she said, desperately hoping that her new sister would be much stronger than their brother.
Haruki absent-mindedly noticed that this girl looked nothing like her. Rather than the long, rich yellow hair, it was a coarse, fiery red, thoroughly reminiscent of her mother's shade. Like her, she had no whisker marks or blemishes across her cheeks, though her skin tone was more in line with Naruto's than hers, which was odd for a newborn baby.
She was a lot smaller than when she was a baby, though she may very well become tall in the future.
"We've decided to name her Yukiko. Isn't that such a pretty name? Much like yours, Haruki-chan," Kushina said happily,
Haruki reached out to touch the baby, but the infant's eyes fluttered open at that exact moment. Surprised at the face that loomed forward, the baby began to bawl at the sight of her older sister, her cries echoing throughout the entire mansion.
Haruki stepped back in shock, covering her ears as he mother went to shush Yukiko. Minato smiled awkwardly at the incident, though his grin rapidly turned into a frown when he glanced upon his older daughter.
"I'm going to my room. I'll apologize to Naruto when he gets here..." she muttered crankily, taking off out the door in a hurry.
Minato's frown deepened. It looked like it was going to be a long week...
Naruto's excitement at meeting his new sibling had been killed much earlier, when he had assumed that his other sibling now hated his guts. Instead of rushing to the hospital at his top speed, he instead wandered through the village like a zombie, not really taking in many of his surroundings.
He reached the hospital about fifteen minutes later, and recieved his mother's room number from the nurse at the front desk. But, while he was his way there, he came across the person he wanted to see the most and least at the same time.
He met Haruki, as he was walking down the corridor of the second floor. Her eyes were surprised and slightly angry when they met, and one could tell that she was not yet prepared to speak with him.
"Haruki..." he whispered, his shock nearly as great as hers. He at least expected to meet her again with their parents, but right now they were in the same exact situation as they had been earlier.
Haruki was being uncharacteristically silent. She hadn't bowled him over yet just like she did a few minutes ago, but she seemed to be pondering something great, yet he just couldn't figure out what it was.
Haruki's mind was indeed a raging storm. On one hand, she wanted to listen to her father, and apologize profusely to her brother to prove her ideology was not false, but there was another side to the argument that came into being.
Every time she stared at his face, she recalled the incident that had happened earlier today. The bullies, with their mocking scowls and big fists. Her brother, who was supposed to protect her from them, was easily beaten down, leaving her to fend for herself.
If he hadn't been so weak, all of this would have never happened, now or in the future. It wouldn't have...
Those two options hovered around in her mind for a few moments, to forgive him or not to forgive him? Naturally, as a five-year old, she went with the most selfish option in this case, and the choice to not forgive him won out in her mind.
She put her hands on her hips, and glared at him forcefully.
"Just to let you know, I'm never going to forgive you for what happened here, so don't try and get me to apologize." she scoffed, turning her nose into the air and walking by him. Naruto slumped; he had been expecting a reaction like that, but the reality of the situation still hurt.
He was about to walk past to go the room, but Haruki was going to say one last thing.
"Oh, and by the way, Tou-chan asked me to apologize to you, so if you could, tell him that I did... okay?" she added.
Naruto gulped in slight fear; there was definitely the hint of a threat in that sentence. And with the Kyuubi backing her up, she could easily make his life a living hell.
Naruto's paranoia made him nod, to which Haruki seemed satisfied.
Like Haruki before him, he entered the hospital room gingerly, taking his time with the doorknob. But, relief washed over him when he realized that his parents were pleased to see that he was alright.
His father asked him about earlier, to which he said that he had met Haruki and she had apologized to him. They didn't know how big of a lie that actually was.
His father vaguely told him to go meet his new sister, and he only half listened to his speech. The thought of Haruki entered his mind again, and he realized that there might be two Harukis around the house from now on.
But, as soon as he laid eyes on her, all those feelings of doubt and paranoia washed away. The mere sight of the red-haired infant girl was enough to take his breath away. He vaguely remembered a similar feeling from five years ago, but today would be the only time he would remember it clearly.
The baby looked so weak... and so innocent... that it looked like just a touch from even him would break her instantly. Kushina smiled at her oldest's look of wonderment at the new family member, and leaned the girl closer to her oldest sibling.
The infant girl fluttered her eyes open, and unlike before, she didn't freak out at the sight of a new arrival. She eyed her brother curiously, especially when he lifted a shaky hand to touch her cheek.
Yukiko laughed at the contact, surprising everyone in the room. As Naruto tried to move his hand away, she raised her little hands and grasped one of his fingers. He dumbly watched as Yukiko placed his index finger in her mouth, still giggling as she sucked on it.
Naruto's dumb look was replaced by a look of pure joy, and he produced a more genuine laugh than he had done in months...
Three months later...
Life went on as normal in the Namikaze household, even after their newest arrival caused all of them a great deal of turmoil. They all aged a little bit, with both Naruto and Haruki passing their birthday's, and Yukiko's growth becoming more evident.
Naruto was still struggling with his ninja training, while Haruki was still thriving under it. Naruto had finally accepted his father's training, though he had shown no signs of rapid improvement under Minato's tutelage. Everyone was beginning to realize that maybe Naruto just wasn't cut out to be a ninja.
Haruki still avoided him like the plague, ditching him in the academy grounds as soon as she got the chance. Meanwhile, Yukiko still adored him, always at her happiest when he was around. She also cried when he was away for too long.
Which is what she would be doing while he was away on the two-day field trip. Naruto didn't want to go, but this was a mandatory assignment for anyone who wanted to pass the class, and his parents were making him go.
So, here he was, accompanied by five Chuunin Academy Instructors, and the rest of his class through the southeastern portion of the Hi no Kuni forest. He leafed through his survival book at an alarming rate, trying to know about the various hazards that existed throughout the forest.
They were planned to reach the battle site by tomorrow morning, so they had all day today to catalogue some helpful information for their future lives as ninja. Iruka, who was leading the charge, would occasionally stop walking and explain to them something about a particular plant or something. Needless to say, it wasn't very entertaining.
But, the real kicker for them was when it was time to break into groups. Naruto had been dreading this ever since this field trip had begun. After all, no one in the class was particularly fond of him, though some of the kids were worse than others.
Iruka had begun reading off the names of those who would break off into pairs, though Naruto wasn't really paying attention. He was just repeating one thing in his mind over and over again.
"Please don't be Toji! Please don't be Toji! Please don't be Toji!" he prayed in his mind, so much that he didn't even register his name being called out and his worst fears becoming reality.
When Naruto finally opened his eyes, most of the other kids had gone. It felt like a rock dropped in his stomach after he saw who was sauntering up towards him, a wry smirk all over his face.
It was Toji, and he was looking giddier than he had ever before.
"Hey, Namikaze! Looks like we're partners on this retarded assignment, buddy." he said sarcastically. Naruto gulped and nodded, while the much larger boy slung an arm around his shoulder.
"Iruka-sensei assigned us to bring back five types of medicinal plants and identify three types of poisonous plants. Now, we're going to be going into the back section of the forest. . ." he pointed to an incredibly dense section of the forest.
". . . And you're going to do all the work for me. And don't you dare send off the emergency flare that the senseis gave us! If you do, you'll be choking on those poisonous plants you're going to identify. You understand?" Toji asked, while Naruto nodded frantically.
"Good. Now, we'd better get going before all the others get back. . ." he added, roughly dragging Naruto back into the dense section of the forest. It would be the last time anyone saw either of them. . .
"I've found something!" yelled Naruto, once the two were away from the trail. Naruto seemed to be somewhat excited about identifying plants, but anyone could tell that Toji was just bored. He would probably take up his old habit of beating Naruto up soon.
"Atropa Belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade. It's one of the most poisonous plants in the survival book! It seems to be able to grow here because of the thick shade cast by this very dense section." Naruto noted.
The two were underneath the thick canopy of trees, and completely cut off from everyone else. So far, Naruto had harvested five health plants and identifed two poisonous plants, so with this last thing their mission would be done. Toji just sat on his ass the entire time.
"That's great, Namikaze! Just hurry up the harvesting before I punch you. . ." said Toji lazily. Naruto grinned forcefully, even though he felt the need to rip the bully limb from limb. Toji was already walking into a deeper section of the forest, while Naruto struggled to bring up the rear.
He wanted to identify more plants, but both of them noticed the landscape become increasingly more barren the farther they went, until eventually they reached a large clearing that was permanently withered.
"What. . . . happened here?" asked a bewildered Naruto.
"I don't know. . ." said Toji seriously, before a wicked grin came upon his face as he spotted a small cave over to his right.
"But. . ."
As Naruto was surveying the damage, he suddenly felt a sharp kick to his back. The boy grunted, painfully falling to the ground, while his notes and books flew all over the place. He was kicked again, this time in the head. It caused a light flow of blood to come from his forehead.
"It seems you've gotten everything that I need, so now I can take my time beating you up just like I always do. I'll just tell the senseis that you got roughed up by all the sharp plants in the forest."
Toji punched Naruto again, causing a spurt of blood to come from his mouth. Toji relished in his pain, turned around to sniff the air. At that moment, he felt an intense, sharp pain puncture through his left leg.
The older boy cried out in pain, and shakily looked down to see the source of it. There, lodged in his left leg, was a standard kunai held by academy students during their practice. He glanced over at Naruto, who had opened a small pouch on his right hip, apparantly to grab that kunai.
Toji ripped the blade from his leg, watching blood gush out of the wound.
"You bastard! You bastard! Do you realize what you've done!" Toji roared. The bully walked over to the downed Naruto, and raised the kunai high above his head. Naruto's eyes widened in shock before Toji stabbed the kunai into the right part of Naruto's abdomen.
The eight-year old screamed similarly to Toji, through the part to when he was stabbed to when Toji yanked the kunai out of Naruto. Toji was prepared to stab again in his anger, but the adrenaline and blood loss to his leg finally forced it to give out, and Toji collapsed into the ground while dropping the kunai.
Toji clutched his leg in pain, completely paralyzed to be able to do anything to Naruto. Naruto too should've been in a similar situation, but for some reason he felt like moving. It was as if some strange drug had just intoxicated his senses, and it was forcing him to move.
It seemed to have a similar effect on Toji, who unlike him wasn't moving at all. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto thought he saw some kind of faint wisp emerge from the cave a little ways away.
The cave? Naruto hadn't noticed that before. It looked big enough to house him, and it would provide suitable shelter, because there was no way he would be able to make it back to the group with his injury.
Naruto began to crawl over to the entrance of the cave, ignoring the wounded Toji. Every time his kunai wound would hit something, pain would rocket through his body and he would pause for a few seconds.
He felt inexplicably drawn to this cave for some reason, even though he had never seen it before in his life. From his view of the inside, it was indeed spacious enough to house him, and was completely free of moisture. Hopefully, he could rest here for the night and recuperate from his wound. Either that, or the senseis would come get them.
"Come to think of it, Toji took the flare away from me a little earlier. I don't get why he hasn't fired it off yet..."
He wasn't going to go back to Toji and ask though; the short problem with the kunai had already reminded him of why he didn't want to become a ninja. He wasn't going back to Toji now, he just hoped that guy didn't get up while he was in the cave.
He crawled into the cave, weakly testing the rock ceiling so that it wouldn't cave in. The boy made his way towards the back end of the cave,where he could relax against the hard, rock wall.
The cool shade of the cave relaxed him slightly, despite the fact that he had a shredded hip. The rock wall and dirt floor were cool to the touch, and the eight-year old felt that he could fall asleep on it.
He was about to fall asleep, but he saw a strange flash occur out of the corner of his eye. He swiveled perhaps too quickly for his injury, trying to locate the source of that flash, if there even was one in the first place.
He almost sighed in relief when he saw nothing, but the sound of a clearly distinguishable hiss filled his ears after that moment. He didn't see anything, but it almost sounded like the hissing noise was coming from inside the wall.
A few seconds later, and Naruto saw it. It began as little more than a prick of the substance, but it grew rapidly, oozing out of the wall in a miniature waterfall. The substance was golden in color, though it didn't seem to be tangible enough to take on a solid form.
Naruto desperately backed away from the wall, still watching the golden, chakra-like substance ooze out of the wall. When there was enough of it, it spread onto the floor, rapidly approaching in on Naruto.
"No! Get away!" he yelled at the wisp, backing into the farthest corner of the cave. But, that turned out to be the wrong move, because as soon as his back made contact with the wall, the strange yellow chakra began oozing out of the wall faster.
The yellow substance easily disintegrated the flimsy layer of clothes on Naruto's back, and Naruto's skin and the yellow chakra came into contact for the first time.
The boy screamed in pain as it felt like his entire back was being lit on fire.
Naruto collapsed from the pain of having foreign chakra absorbed into his system, allowing more of the yellow chakra oozing out of the wall to attack Naruto's backside. In the meantime, the chakra coming out of the other wall had converged in on Naruto, and the eight-year old boy experienced the unpleasant sensation of being attacked by foreign chakra from all directions.
The yellow chakra climbed up all sides of his body, until he was covered in a think layer of golden energy from head-to-toe.
And then, it happened...
The boy was pretty much having the experience of drowning in a sea of fire. The foreign energy was on him at all directions; he was submerged completely in it, and it suspended him in mid-air, engulfed in a pool of chakra.
The last of the chakra in the cave piled onto the boy, but Naruto was so delirious with pain that he couldn't see what happened next.
Naruto's entire body was beginning to disintegrate. And Naruto would be conscious for all of it.
The yellow chakra was doing corrosive damage to his skin. It started out by charring, but that wasn't enough as the chakra completely destroyed the now-blackened skin, creating little particles of black dust that spread out into the wind.
Naruto vaguely noted in the excruciating pain that his skin had been vaporized, but the chakra was already beginning to attack his muscles and organs. Soon, they too shared the same fate as the chakra consumed more and more muscle tissue.
His chakra coils were completely eroded, and his abysmal capacity of chakra was completely consumed by the more powerful force. If anyone outside were to see the display, that would lay eyes on a grotesque skeleton being eaten away by chakra, little black bits of dust flying off the body.
But, the bones too held the same fate, and soon there wasn't even a small skeleton that remained in the way of the chakra's attack. After the bones had been absorbed, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing more than a large pile of black dust on the ground next to a swarthing mass of chakra.
But, Naruto was indeed still alive. His pain sensors had been destroyed along with his muscles, but Naruto had been too afraid to look. He tried to open his eyes, but found that he didn't even have any eyes. Yet strangely, when he did that command, he could see the entire world through his mind's eye.
He looked around, and saw that this place definitely wasn't heaven. Come to think of it, this was the same exact place he had been before. Was he still alive? Relief coursed through his entire being.
"Phew, just a dream..." his consciousness thought, but then Naruto took a look at his "body".
There was no body, just a yellow mass of chakra where his body had been. He tried to scream, but no sound came out. He tried to move, but he was only a soul trapped within chakra.
That's right, he was a soul now. Just a leftover consciousness that the chakra had decided to keep. He would be dead, should be dead, but this chakra decided to keep his consciousness intact, and support it with its own substance.
The new ethereal being tried to move, but found that the chakra was unresponsive to him. Rather, the chakra was moving his soul for the time being.
Now that the failed Bijuu had a consciousness, it instinctively knew what had to be done. Still, with such a weak consciousness of a human, it wouldn't become a very strong being, at least right from the get go.
Fueled by a consciousness, the chakra oozed out of the cave and into the clearing. It spread out over the entire space in a thicket, consuming the wounded Toji and everything else that would get into its path.
Then, the chakra began to converge...
And it grew.
And grew.
And grew.
It grew until it was over five hundred feet tall, and Naruto was already aware of the change in size. The chakra merged and bended until it was a rough shape of something, and that was when the real work would happen.
The chakra began to shrink, becoming denser and denser in the process. It packed itself so densely that the chakra began to solidify.
The chakra packed itself into makeshift bones... and organs...
And, a body...
The final result was a being of about one-hundred feet, and it had a great resemblance to the animal called a lizard.
The chakra's work done, it was time for it to go into a permanent sleep, and allow their guest consciousness to take control of the new body...
Naruto didn't know what to think when he actually gained control of this new, powerful body. On one hand, he had watched the entire process occur with the chakra creating this body, and apparently he had been randomly chosen to control it.
The old Namikaze Naruto was gone, and its place was just this... this... thing.
Naruto looked at his gigantic body; he really was a freak.
He was over one hundred feet, for God's sake. He had golden-yellow, reptilian skin, that was covering in these ugly scales all over his body. His eyes were these freakish, completely circular things; the irises were colored a bright red, and his pupils were elongated.
Alone his neck, legs, and spinal cord, cruel looking spikes that could gouge through a man's torso poked out of Naruto's ugly, yellow skin.
On the ends of his four feet, there were ridiculously sharp claws that were almost three feet in length. He opened his mouth, and felt serrated, sharp fangs, every single one of his teeth. And to top it all off, all he had on his ass was this pathetic little stump of a tail.
His family would never want to see him again; his village would never want to see him.
His family. His village.
Naruto began to breath heavily, mulling over the revelations.
"My family... my village..." He breathed harder.
"MY FAMILY! MY VILLAGE!" he thundered in his mind.
He attempted to scream those words into the wind, but all that came out was a series of roars and clicks. And Naruto knew this as well.
Naruto looked around himself insanely, and in his panic tried to pursue the best course of action. But his clouded mind couldn't come up with a solution, and his churning emotions led the behemoth to bolt told the village, his massive weight knocking over trees as he pursued his goal.
Iruka was beginning to doubt his eyes when he viewed that enormous monster rise above the treeline.
It was a Bijuu, no doubt about it. Even if he had never seen a Zero-Tailed Lizard be documented on records, the acrid feel of a Bijuu's chakra was unmistakeable. The other Chunnin had already noticed it too, but he silently prayed that none of the children actually turned around to view that monstrosity.
The children didn't seem to feel the tension that had arisen within their senseis, but they noticed that tension turn to fear when the new Bijuu darted in a particular direction.
The direction... of Konoha.
"Aoba, get the children to safety at the Kiyko Pass battle site! It isn't safe for them to go back to the village at this moment. I'll head back to Konoha and warn Hokage-sama about the approaching danger." he whispered to his second-in-command for the field trip.
"Okay, but we're missing Naruto and Toji... Are you sure you want me to go on?" asked Aoba, doing a quick documentation of the children.
Iruka didn't hear any of that, his panic already setting him back towards the village. He just hoped he could get there before the Bijuu could.
Aoba muttered something under his breath, and hoped he could get the children away without them noticing anything.
"What! Are you kidding me?" roared Minato, when he absorbed what Iruka had just told him.
"No I'm not, Hokage-sama. What I saw in the forest was a Bijuu-class chakra beast that was currently heading in the village's direction. I've never seen this one in the textbooks before, but the resemblence to a Bijuu is identical..." said Iruka.
"What about your students?" asked Minato.
"I sent them ahead to safety with Aoba. I figured that it would not be safe for them to come back to the village..."
Minato slumped down in relief.
"So that means Naruto is okay..."
Minato grit his teeth in panic. So that was the heavy chakra that had fallen over the village. He knew he had a bad feeling about that chakra, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.
Sighing, Minato looked out of the window of his office, and his eye's widened when he took in the figure that was appearing from beyond the horizon. It was huge... it was a lizard, and it had the same feeling as a Bijuu.
There was no mistaking the resemblance in Iruka's report.
Minato rose out of his chair, eyes fixated on the being. A scream broke off his daze, and Minato looked down to see that a few villagers have already noticed the great being approaching. The village was already being sent into a panic.
"Iruka..." Minato begin solemnly. "I have a very important order that you need to fulfill." With that, Minato leaned in and whispered the order in Iruka's ear.
Iruka's eyes widened.
"Are you sure?" he asked, not surprised when his leader nodded.
"Alright..." the sensei agreed, but he paused when he reached the door.
"What about you... Hokage-sama?"
Minato sighed, and fastened his jacket around himself. Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a very special set of seals, scrolls, and kunai.
"I will... engage the target."
Naruto was nearly on the gates of Konoha, his panic-stricken mind a torrent.
Maybe now he could get some help.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" came a voice from directly in front of him.
A large puff of smoke about his size appeared a distance in front of him, and this warty, red toad smoking a pipe blocked his way. A small figure jumped onto the toad's head, and Naruto didn't know whether to be pleased or to panic.
"Dad! It's me, it's Naruto!" he yelled, desperately trying to reach his father. But, all that came out were the same roars and hisses that he had made before. His heart dropped into his stomach when he realized that his father couldn't understand him.
"Minato. Don't tell me you've called me here to deal with a second Bijuu attack." Naruto heard the toad say.
"I'm sorry, boss. But I need you to deal with this being right now. It resembles a Bijuu, but it isn't one that we've documented yet."
"An undocumented Bijuu? I didn't know there could be such a thing... Why should I have to fight something like that when we don't even know its strength?" asked Gamabunta.
"Blame Jiraiya-sensei for letting me sign the contract in the first place..." said Minato, a grin coming onto his face.
Gamabunta smirked for a moment, before it gradually evolved into full-blown laughter.
"HAHAHAHA! It really is Jiraiya's fault, isn't it? Well, since you're my best summoner and everything, I'll lend you a hand this time. Besides, this one can't be as difficult as the Kyuubi..." Gamabunta commented.
"We're going to need some oil first, okay boss?" questioned Minato.
"You got it!" roared Gamabunta, as he spit oil out of his mouth at the great best.
Minato flashed through some quick hand seals.
"Katon: Gamayu Endan!" Minato cried, igniting the oil with a quick fire technique.
The oil went up in a burst of flames, which Naruto panicked and moved his barely responsive body to the right. He attempted to retreat and go back later, but Gamabunta and Minato were ready for him.
Gamabunta hopped over the beast and blocked his path away, but Naruto reflexively kicked his front right leg out. The lizard's claws penetrated the toad's right shoulder, but Gamabunta wasn't finished yet.
The toad slowly drew his giant dagger, going for the kick slice to Naruto's reptilian head. Again, Naruto reflexively raised his other front leg, standing on his back ones and blocking the blow. Gamabunta attempted to slice through the arm, but found that the scales were just too tough.
"Boss!" cried out Minato as Gamabunta hopped back.
"Those scales are really tough!" commented Gamabunta.
"What should we do, Boss?"
"I don't know! We'll just have to keep fighting until something works!"
The two giant animals continued fighting for another five minutes, with Naruto gradually getting pushed back by the more powerful toad. Naruto had lasted this long on nothing more than reflexes, but that was all about to change.
It was in the middle of the fight, when Naruto noticed all these chains seemed to wrap themselves around his body. Pretty soon, Naruto was completely restrained by them, and was rendered unable to move.
"Kushina!" Minato cried happily, as his wife was sitting in a reclined position a ways away from the battle.
She grinned foxily back at her husband, reassuring him of their victory.
"You can stop now, Minato! I've got 'im from here on..." she said, flashing through some hand seals.
Naruto's reptilian eyes widened when these enormous spikes materialized out of nowhere. Four smaller ones and one huge one, bigger than the rest, all pointed at him. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion of what was happening.
"Mom! Stop, it's me!" he roared, but the same results as before happened yet again.
Naruto roared in pure pain as the five impaled him directly through his four feet and his chest. A surge of electricity coursed through his body, and he could see the spikes jutting out of the other end of his body.
Her baby daughter was still asleep at her side, even during when she drew lines all across her stomach, followed by a big black circle where her navel was. Kushina flashed through some more seals.
"No! NO!" Naruto yelled, as his body began to dematerialize again. His solid form became wispy again, even though it didn't dull the sense of pain at all.
The now gaseous Naruto completely flowed into the markings on his baby sister's stomach, the ugly black markings disappearing as he did.
The little girl didn't stir at all, completely unaware that her brother had just been sealed within her...
Wow, what a Chapter! The longest one for this story yet!
I bet that threw a lot of you for a loop, and there are probably a lot of questions I'm going to get.
I figure I'll just answer one right now, just because I know someone is going to ask me: "Why would his parents create another Jinchuuriki?"
Don't worry about that! I have thought that far ahead, and I'll cover the issues with that in a later Chapter.
Anyway, I'll see you next time, and please, please Review this Chapter. I would like to see a lot.
Goodbye,
Alban55