Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Kishimoto Masashi does…

"spoken"

"as spoken by Kyuubi"

-thought-

-as thought by Kyuubi-

Awakening of the Slumbering Beast

Chapter 2: Enter Akai-chan the mighty… cub

He was uneasy, there was an ominous feel to the air. Swishing his nine tails in agitation, the mighty kitsune decided to go for a walk. Then there was sudden feel of vertigo when a vortex of violent energy was formed, sucking the demon towards its gaping maw. He tried to fight, bringing forth all the power he had gathered during the long years of his life, but to no avail. When the vortex finally died down the great beast noticed that he was no longer on his native plane. Instead, the place felt as if it was part of the human world. Growling in frustration the demon took notice of a considerably strong sealing circle, a circle that would contain one such as him for a few moments.

-Most curious… to summon me here against my will, and try to trap me with such trifles. What are these humans hoping to accomplish?-

His bloodlust began to rise, the humans had to be punished for this indignity. Glancing about he took note of the humans who were positioned around the circle. Roaring in rage the demon gathered chakra into his tails and slammed them against the irritating circle that was between him and his prey. The humans, he noted, were in a flurry of activity, trying desperately to complete series of hand seals for some unknown purpose. He would have none of that, baring his impressive fangs he roared again, this time in wicked glee as he felt the circle begin to give away. Incidentally the humans seemed to notice this too, as their concentration began to break… Ah the smell of fear was thick in the air. Then the circle gave a way with a boom of finality and the demon gathered his tails in preparation for a strike that would destroy these fools in an instant.

That was when the jutsu hit. Pain… white hot, blinding pain. Trying to rally his mental defences against the onslaught of agony he began to falter. Feeling defences crumbling around him he sought out what he surmised was his tormentor. And there was a man with a pale face, black hair and yellow eyes… and a Hitai-ate sporting a leaf symbol.

-Konoha… why would they?-

The thought was cut short, when the pale faced man completed another jutsu bringing forth another wave of blinding agony. Amidst the searing pain he could make out words, whispers all repeating the same thing.

"For the glory of the leaf… By the order of the Hokage... Konoha will have your strength…"

Slowly but surely he let the whispers crawling within his skull take his sanity, only thing that mattered was revenge. Death to the bastards who had tried to steal his powers. And the pain, the pain wouldn't go away before he would make them suffer, and suffer they would. Minutes, hours or maybe even days later, it didn't matter because there had only been pain and rage, he had arrived to the Hidden village of Leaf. With wild abandon he tore into the assembled ninjas who desperately tried to fend of the embodiment of their inevitable death. He revelled at the feel of tearing flesh, the sound of blood gushing when he tore the miserable rats apart. Then even through the insanity he could feel something powerful approaching. There, he recognized the man, standing atop a giant toad was the leader of these fools… He would die and with him the village would die as well. The moment of gloating came with a price though, when the Yondaime Hokage leaped on his head, right between the ears and slammed something against his forehead. Then there was a familiar feel of vertigo and again a sucking vortex… Then there was nothing.

Naruto shot up from his bed, covered in sweat and breathing hard. He shivered at the memory of the dream, it had been… vivid to say the least. Quickly patting his head and butt he was relieved that he hadn't grown ears or tails or anything else weird. Shivering again at the memory of feeling relished by massacring humans, he decided to pay the bastard fox a visit… this had to be her fault anyway. He did pause to consider the feelings of agony he had felt during the dream and decided that, maybe the ordeal of having his senses tweaked the day before hadn't really been all that painful… then again compared to what he had felt in the dream… Shivering once more he forced himself to relax and entered Kyuubi's den. To his utter amazement and dismay the demon in question was sleeping, quite comfortably it seemed. Naruto blinked several times to make sure that yes, the demon was indeed asleep. He grinned when Kyuubi suddenly yapped lightly and began to twitch her legs.

-Damn! I wish I had a camera right now, this would be über blackmail material… The 'Queen' of Foxes dreaming like a small puppy. Too bad I don't know any water jutsus either, nothing like being doused with cold water for a wakeup call.- Grinning to himself Naruto decided to settle for the next best thing. Composing his face into best 'Iruka' likeness he drew a deep breath and let loose a bellow of "HORA! BAKA KITSUNE... NO SLEEPING DURING CLASSES!" The results were beyond his expectations.

Kyuubi jumped up and promptly banged her head against the cage. After taking stock of the situation she growled angrily at the boy, now rolling on the floor laughing "What the hell do you want brat? Don't you know that it's middle of the night?" She glared at Naruto who was in the process of composing himself "And why in the blazes did you have to interrupt the best dream I've had in years… I was just about to pounce on that rabbit too."

Naruto, who had just gotten over his fit of mirth, got slightly annoyed at this. "You dream about rabbits huh? Well for your information I just had a very, very nasty dream… And I was YOU in that dream. Basically I got sucked into somewhere, then subjected to a whole lot of pain and then massacred better part of Konoha's ninja forces. So… I was wondering if you could tell me why the hell do I would see something like that." The last part came out as something between a demand, request and accusation and was accentuated by agitated swishing of the two bushy tails that he sported while in Kyuubi's realm.

The said demon was quite thoughtful. -So the kit had the same dream. Curious as to how he would see it… I wonder- Sniffing slightly she took in the smells that were wafting from Naruto, there was strong smell of sweat mingled with agitation and quite surprisingly only a minute scent of fear. She giggle to herself, quite the kit indeed. "That was how I remember it happening, I had the same… dream. But tell me did you have any other 'fox like' dreams?" When Naruto indicated negative, she pondered for a moment before explaining. "I told you that it wasn't my conscious choice to attack Konoha. It's possible that I, on a subconscious level, wanted you to see what really happened. You see kit, I need to gain your trust and subconsciousness is something that even great demons such as I can't quite control. If it's any consolation I promise that I will do my best to keep any other such… unpleasant dreams from you."

There really wasn't much Naruto could say to that. The explanation had been plausible and Kyuubi did sound sincere and even apologetic, if such a term could be applied to her. He was here anyway so why not seize the moment. Making himself comfortable he glanced at the demon and began to inquire about what was going to learn today. "So… Kyuubi-chan what wi…" He got now further before being knocked on his back by a furious roar from the newly named 'Kyuubi-chan'

"You will not call me that… I absolutely detest that name. If you wish to call me with a endearing name then call me… Kyuu-chan" The last part was squealed in overtly cute and girly voice. Naruto naturally fell flat to his face and lay in a twitching heap. When he finally got up he kept his distance and shot wide eyed glances towards the cage. "Oh come on now kit, you seriously think I care what you call me. If you think me as Kyuubi-chan then you do. And judging by the eager expression you had on your face you were about to ask me what you should be learning today." She snickered at the boy's startled face… So easy to read this one, he really should get some lessons in keeping a game face, or get a mask like his 'uncle'. "You have set of new senses, claws which will serve as efficient weapons if you learn to use them and a pair of tails which can be used for similar purposes. Logically one would start with them. Also I would do some more chakra control exercises as most Kitsune abilities require quite precise control… and that control will greatly help you in learning new jutsus as well."

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself back on his futon. Judging by the sound of breathing Sasuke was still asleep but Kakashi seemed to be awake so he muttered a low greeting. Smelling food he decided to get up and go see if Tsunami required any help in the kitchen, Kyuubi had been implying that he might stay short if he didn't start eating stuff besides ramen and since he didn't know how to cook… After Naruto snuck out from the room and towards the stairs Hatake Kakashi sat up. He had been awake for the past two hours, woken suddenly by Naruto who bolted upright, then slumped back onto his futon and then, just as suddenly, dressed and simply walked out. He really needed to find out what had happened, but that could wait until they could speak in private. Shrugging he too got dressed and proceeded to shake Sasuke to see if he was feeling well enough to come downstairs for breakfast.

Half an hour later everyone had gathered downstairs to eat. Sasuke's attendance had brightened up the table, even if Sasuke himself was in a surly mood. He had immediately noticed Naruto's eyes and felt, quite frankly, annoyed. How dare the dope activate a bloodline limit, specifically something that looked like a doujutsu. It would be insufferable to have someone compare him, the rookie of the year, to the 'Dead-last' of the academy. It got worse however when Sakura, seeing his weakened state, took it upon herself to feed him causing him irritation to no end. And then… she began to babble about Naruto's new abilities making sure that she stated, multiple times no less, that the vaunted Sharingan would definitely be stronger and that he was stronger. Naturally this didn't sit well with Inari, to whom world now revolved around Naruto. He began to argue in loud voice that Naruto was 'super' strong and not a pale 'super' wimp like Sasuke. This lead to a cataclysmic disaster in the form of Mt. Sakura erupting…

Naruto could only grin at the insult. That was something that he couldn't say without an instant, and painful, retaliation from Sakura, who despite being pissed at the brat who was slandering the love of her life, could not bring herself to beat up a small kid. Finishing his breakfast he decided that it was time to leave, so he excused himself and raced out the door while donning his sunglasses. Back at the table Kakashi was watching the argument between Sakura and Inari with interest. He also noted that Sasuke was trying to get his attention while he, feigning ignorance concentrated on the bickering duo.Sasuke obviously wanted to know more about Naruto's 'bloodline' but simply could not bring himself to ask about it. Seriously, Kakashi thought, if he wants to know, then he should ask about it. He needs to open up more anyway and making him talk would be a step towards the right direction.

Finally growing tired of not getting noticed Sasuke all but growled at his sensei. "Now what is this all new bloodline limit the dope's suddenly developed… what does it do exactly?"

Kakashi's eyelid drooped lazily until it covered about half of his visible eye and he let out a contemplative 'hmmm' "Well… it does… we really don't know…" Smirking behind his mask he watched the Uchiha heir's countenance darken with barely held anger. Before the boy could speak up Kakashi continued. "You saw some of the visible changes that have taken place. What basically happened is that when the bloodline limit kicked in Naruto developed enhanced senses. Eyes, ears, nose and the like."

Sasuke mulled over the information for a while then proceeded to question further. "So basically he has developed senses of a… what… a cat or something? I mean the eyes looked bit catlike."

Kakashi thanked the kami for his mask, which kept his relieved expression safely hidden. He had been dreading that Sasuke would associate the eyes with a fox for some reason, while they did really resemble cat eyes more. He nodded in agreement with Sasuke's declaration and then pulled out his infamous orange book… he needed something familiar to fall back to. Sasuke on the other hand was contemplating this new information. So the dope had actually gotten a better nose, big deal… -Pppft… I'll still kick the dope from here to Konoha. It's not like he's going to get stronger from smelling things.- With this final though, which brought out a self-satisfied smirk, Sasuke decided that he still needed to rest a few days.

Several hours later Kakashi came to the clearing where Naruto was practicing. He noted several things at once. There was a broken tree that looked as if it had been hit extremely hard and that there was another tree with a Naruto shaped dent in it a good twenty yards away from the first tree. More interesting were the facts that Naruto was sporting quite menacing claws and bit disquieting, crimson eyes. Also there was an eerie shimmering or distortion that moved in the air behind the boy. Clearing his throat he brought the blondes attention to himself. He only raised an eyebrow when the claws, fangs and the distortion disappeared and the eyes turned back into blue. With curiosity barely held back he sat on a rock and asked. "So Naruto… how's the 'new' body coming along?"

Finally, now he had someone to brag about all the cool senses he'd gotten. Not to mention the chakra boost and… trembling with excitement he proceeded to tell all he'd found out about himself so quickly that any listener would make out about quarter of the actual content. After a swift bonk to the head and a stern order to calm down and explain things… slowly… He began again "It was awesome when I came out from the house and entered the forest. There were so many sounds, the leaves rustling, birds chirping, running water and the like. And the smells…I have identified 9 different woodland animals already!" The last bit was exclaimed in proud tone. "Lessee, yeah after I got the hang of being outdoors and actually could concentrate on my immediate surroundings without being overwhelmed by the sounds and smells, I started to experiment with my own body. The thing is I got more than I bargained for… You saw the claws, fangs and eyes… and my… tails." Naruto's grin widened matching the widening eye of his sensei.

There was a moment of silence after which Kakashi managed to utter in a strained tone "What tails?"

This question what quite unexpected, what was he blind? Surely he had seen the neat looking tails he manifested when tapping into Kyuubi's chakra, or when he focused his own chakra into his rear. Doing just that, Naruto brought his newly formed tail to the fore. To his amazement there was no tail there, only a slight distortion in the air. Dumbfounded he grabbed a hold of the distortion and held on tight, while listening to Kyuubi's amused explanation in his mind. "It would seem that your tails are invisible to the normal eye kit. Perhaps your ability to see them was a result of using my chakra or perhaps you simply need to activate your… what was it you called it 'Shinkugan'."

Kakashi watched in amazement as the distortions he had seen earlier reappeared and moved in front of Naruto, who suddenly seemed to be amazed as well. His amazement only grew when the boy seemed to grab the distortion and stare into space after that. Then Naruto's eyes turned crimson again and the boy let out a small sigh of relief. And relieved he was. Naruto could again see his cool looking, flaming red bushy tails with white tips. Swishing the tails around with a feel of contentment, and pointedly ignoring Kyuubi's giggles for 'foxlike behaviour', he turned to look at Kakashi with a wide grin. Stroking one of his tails, and lashing the other out to encircle Kakashi's hand he declared "These tails…"

It took about an hour to explain it all, how tapping to Kyuubi's chakra would manifest tails, claws and fangs and turn his eyes crimson and how he could channel his own chakra to create a similar effect. Kakashi was sufficiently shocked when he learned that Naruto had, in addition to his enhanced eyesight, gained something extra. Frowning he began to mentally list possible ways to test and bring out the full extent of his nephew's new ability. Leaning backwards he glanced at the sky overhead. "Hmm… You can see your tails when you activate your ability, tails which are made at least partially of chakra… That would indicate an ability akin to the Byakugan of the Hyuuga-clan. Then again you can't seem to be able to see actual flow of chakra… most curious. We should test if your eyes help you see through genjutsu or if they help you memorize jutsus." Nodding to himself he continued to rattle of possible abilities ignorant to the fact that Naruto was getting bored as he had already heard pretty much the same from Kyuubi.

Deciding to interrupt his sensei Naruto pointedly cleared his throat. Feeling a questioning eye on himself he began. "Then there is the fact that I'm slightly stronger and faster than before, nothing major but still there's a difference. On a related note my chakra reserves have increased noticeably." At this he blushed a bit and pointed at the damaged trees. "See, Kyuubi suggested that I keep working on my chakra control as some of the kitsune abilities that I should be able to use require good control… So when I tried to climb the tree I actually gathered, what I thought was sufficient, chakra and tried to run up the tree only to have the tree splinter and blow me across the clearing and into the other tree." He then walked at another tree and firmly planted his foot on it, then lifted his other foot and began to walk up the tree. He did waver a bit but all in all it was quite the performance. "As you can see, I think I got it right…"

Motioning for him to come down Kakashi could only feel proud of his student. He had during the explanations taken note of the fact that Naruto's clothing seemed bit small for him. It clicked when he said something about strength. Naruto had practically overnight developed much more bulk than previously. Not that he was a walking mass of muscle but still it showed, good thing too because now Kakashi had a good excuse to steer him towards proper ninja dress code. Seriously, bright orange was not the colour of choice for covert operations. And then there was the issue of teaching him a new jutsu that would suit his abilities quite well.

When Naruto came down from the tree he was amazed to see Kakashi removing… shin guards and then handing them to him. Naruto inspected the leather covered armour plates with a confused look but put them on at the Jounin's insistence. After he had secured the pieces on his legs he looked up and asked. "So what are these? Some ultra-powerful ninja equipment or something?" He could almost see a sadistic gleam in Kakashi's eye when he began a rapid series of hand seals.

Finishing the seals Kakashi began to examine the now quite startled Genin. After Naruto had run around the clearing a few times as per orders, Kakashi frowned and began a new set of seals. Again he motioned Naruto to do a few laps around the clearing. His frown deepened, the boy looked barely winded…Time to up the ante, again hands blurred forming seals. This time to his relief Naruto was moving sluggishly when ran around. After a few dozen push ups, pull ups and sit ups Naruto was barely able to draw breath. Smirking behind his mask Kakashi proceeded to explain. "I take it that you have already noticed that moving is somewhat… difficult. There are special seals engraved on the plating of those shin guards, seals made by your father that is. I actually have his bracers that are identical to those, but they are back in Konoha so in the mean time I'm lending you these… You should stick to your normal training regimen and take these off or cancel the effect only when you are bathing or sleeping or in a serious fight."

He struck a teacher like pose "Now most shinobi try to increase their strength, stamina and speed by wearing weights, weighted clothing or carrying around extra equipment. This is all well and good but consider yourself wearing a weighted suit on a mission. You need to wear the weights over a long period of time to gain most benefit from wearing them, and you are on missions about half of your time. If you get into trouble there's no time to start removing any weight suits or the like. Thus Arashi-sensei created these, small metal pieces that mimic the effects of a weight suit by genjutsu… and it only takes a word to dispel the effect. He really was a genius when it came to crafting seals."

Ending his lecture he checked the position of the sun and decided that lunch would be ready soon. Flipping open a scroll pouch he pulled out two scrolls and tossed them to Naruto, then turning around, started to walk out of the clearing. Just as he reached the forests edge he stopped and turned his head to look at the bewildered boy. "There are the seals required to change the intensity of the genjutsu. And a new jutsu for you, I think it will suit your new abilities quite well… I'm sure you are familiar with it as it is the Kiri Gakure no Jutsu." He turned again but stopped and turned back for the last time "Oh and if you want to advance your chakra control, try water walking…" with that he vanished leaving a stunned Naruto behind.

Naruto had been startled when Kakashi began to flash through hand seals all of the sudden. Then he had grown initially bored when ordered to run around in circles… it was stupid... or had been until he noticed that he had trouble walking, let alone running, with his usual bounce. The blonde had been somewhat reluctant for such a tremendous increase in his workload and was about to object until he heard few magic words like 'increase' and 'speed'… it annoyed him to no end that whatever he did Sasuke-teme was always faster. Not to mention that this training method was designed by his father, that fact alone made it worth trying. His objections now forgotten Naruto was eager to get back to training when Kakashi tossed him two scrolls of all things. He had expected to get some instructions on how to cancel the genjutsu but to get the whole set of instructions and a new jutsu-scroll to boot. He was now ecstatic but before he could flip open the Kiri Gakure scroll he was stopped cold by Kyuubi's commanding "Not now kit, save the scroll for later. You have plenty of time to study it tomorrow when you are guarding the bridge. As for now I suggest you learn how to dispel the genjutsu on those shin guards and then get to the water walking exercise your sensei mentioned… a reasonably good idea, coming from a mere mortal."

And so it went for the next few days. Naruto was alternating between practice and guard duty. The practice consisting walking on water and climbing trees while trying to focus on different scents or sounds at the same time, something which he was getting better at… He actually was able to take note of subtle differences in the background noises and scents while still focusing on the task at hand. It was what Kyuubi called awareness of the surrounding environment, which was 'natural' to all foxes. Naruto had scoffed at this, the damn furball was always saying things like that, as if it was not a common trait among all wild animals.

The guard duty didn't actually give Naruto much time to study his new scroll. Not that there were any threats or anything, but simply because there were so damn many workers as nearly every able bodied man and boy had volunteered to help in finishing the bridge. As such Tazuna had been forced into mainly overseeing the work instead of doing actual work. Not that he minded really, he was after all and old man. Naruto, being himself, wasn't really all that interested in Tazuna's explanations on allocating manpower and finer points of logistics until the old man began to point out similarities between the bridge building effort and Konoha… and how a Hokage should know about allocating right resources for the right job. This naturally piqued Naruto's interest, he was going to be Hokage someday so maybe it would be good to learn some tricks of the trade from a small scale 'replica'.

After the fifth day Sasuke finally declared that he was feeling well enough to take part of the mission again. He really didn't want to waste time guarding some stupid bridge, but had been pointedly told that no guarding would mean no training. So he had decided that it was prudent to start guarding so he could get back to training… Naruto might have a tiny bit closer to his level while he had been lazing about.

When sun rose the next day, Naruto had already gobbled down his breakfast and was sitting crosslegged near a stream. His face was a mask of intense concentration, with an elongated canine poking from his mouth indicating that he was channelling Kyuubi's chakra. This went on for an hour or so until suddenly a small ball of bluish flame sprang from his palm… and winked out from existence the next second. Naruto blinked at his palm, then released Kyuubi's chakra and wiped his sweaty forehead. Even if his chakra control had improved in bounds and leaps during the last few days, and he was using Kyuubi's chakra which was innately more kitsune like than his own, this was going to be harder than anything he had done before. He stood up and splashed his face in the stream. Good thing he had grabbed a few rice balls in case he'd stay out here over lunch because he was already feeling bit hungry. He was munching on a rice ball when he heard a piteous sound that was a mixture of whimper and mewing. Cautiously following the sound to it's origin he found the most miserable sight of his life. There lay a thoroughly wet and obviously exhausted ball of reddish fur.

To say that Naruto was amazed was an understatement. He immediately knew that the creature I front of him was a small fox but still it was the first time he'd seen a real fox. That really wasn't the source of his amazement, it was rather the burst of maternal emotions that he felt coming from Kyuubi. The said demon was at the time giving instructions to her vessel. "This kit is thoroughly exhausted and probably afraid. Tap into my chakra, it should give you more familiar feel and lessen the little ones fear. Then slowly take of your jacket and put her into it… then head back to the house."

Soon after Naruto was running towards the house carrying a sleeping kit that was wrapped in his coat. It had been surprisingly easy to gain the kit's trust, all it had taken was leaking out a little Kyuubi's chakra, something which the kit seemed to recognize instinctively and a strategically placed rice ball. Running over the list of instructions from Kyuubi Naruto tightened his grip on the 'nest' he was carrying and opened the door only to meet the inquisitive eyes of both Tsunami and Kakashi. Shrugging he motioned them to be quiet and continued to elaborate "I found this poor thing in the forest, by the stream. She was wet and obviously exhausted so I figured she could bunk with us till we find her parents." Needless to say neither Kakashi, who was well aware of what was sealed in Naruto, nor Tsunami, who was instantly taken by the sheer cuteness of the small animal, objected. Tsunami went a step further and offered to get the poor little thing a plate of milk and some minced meat. As both items were on the 'approved foods' list Naruto readily agreed. Taking the milk and meat and collecting his new pet Naruto made his way to the room where he set his jacket on the farthest corner. Then he, still tapped into Kyuubi's chakra pulled out a futon and placed it near the fox and tried to recreate the bluish flame he had managed to form earlier.

Sometime after lunch, which was delivered to him by a curious Tsunami, the kitsune cub woke up. She poked her head from the pile of orange jumpsuit and looked about. There was the weird, two legged fox that shed its fur and had an odd feel about him. She decided that a small yap would bring about some attention. When he heard the yap Naruto let his concentration slip. He had managed to recreate the flame several times and had managed to hold it together for almost two seconds this time. Focusing on the kit he then realized that he had no means of communicating with the fox and decided to ask for help. A question of "Hey foxy, you wouldn't happen to have a trick that would make me understand fox now would you? Or better yet a trick that would make her talk human?" was promptly answered.

"Yes… and yes. Pick her on your lap and come to see me." "Baka kitsune, I can't bring stuff over can I?" There was a growl in his mind "If you couldn't then why the hell were you wearing that, that thing you call a nightcap when you were here after the nightmare? Just try it." Shrugging Naruto slowly reached at the kit who seemed to tense but allowed itself to be taken into his lap. Then, going through the now familiar process of relaxing his mind, he… and to his surprise the small kit were in Kyuubis den.

The small kit looked about in stunned silence, then let out a yelp which translated itself as "Wow, where are we?" in Naruto's mind. Without thinking he answered with a court "Kyuubi's place…" and was about to elaborate when he realized that he had actually understood the fox. His bewilderment was apparently obvious, judging by the multitude of giggles coming from Kyuubi's cage. Shaking herself out from the mirth Kyuubi leaned closer to the gate and said "Greetings little one, as the other said you are in my place now. I am Kyuubi Queen of the Foxes…" at the last part Kyuubi glared at Naruto as if daring him to snicker at the title. The small kit was awed though, she was young, yes, barely seven weeks of age but still she had heard of Kyuubi. She had to wonder what had really happened. But that could wait, the revered Kyuubi was speaking again. "This kitling found and saved you, now he would help you find your parents after you have recovered. It might be easier if you would be able to communicate on the outside world as you can here so I'm going to activate some of your heritance, something that happens to only a few and select kitsunes. This will help you to understand what he is saying, and in time will give you the ability to speak the language of men…" She then turned her gaze from the awestruck kit towards now cautious Naruto. With a honeyed tone she continued "…as for you, ill surrender more of myself to the seal. Don't worry I'll be careful this time… and it will only hurt… a bit." With that last and, at least to Naruto, rather worrisome statement red chakra began to ooze through the gates quickly enveloping both Naruto and the fox cub.

Moments later Naruto opened his eyes only to regret it instantly. The pain hadn't really been all that bad but damn, what a headache. Feeling the pulsing pain diminish somewhat he opened his eyes again and looked down only to meet a gaze of two golden-brown eyes with slitted pupils. After a moment of mutual staring Naruto decided to break the silence and asked "So, did you really learn to speak or was that old hag all talk?" Not really expecting an answer he was surprised to see the kit opening her mouth and trying to voice something out. Then she tried again, and again but the words simply wouldn't form. Noticing the effort Naruto asked incredulously "You can actually understand what I say but can't form the words to answer?" seeing the kit bob her head he whistled with appreciation. "So maybe I could understand you as well. Why don't you try… um... yapping at me or something."

The little kitsune let out a long series of yaps, barks and growls which loosely translated as "Who are you?... Was that really Kyuubi-sama?... Where am I?... and... You smell funny."

Sighing at the kit Naruto proceeded to explain at length. By the time he had finished Akai-chan, as the kit was named by her parents, was resting comfortably in a baby carrier that circled Naruto's shoulders and hung against his chest. The baby carrier had been provided by Tsunami who on her way to get the dishes had spent a good fifteen minutes petting the ecstatic kit. At Kyuubi's suggestion Naruto had stressed the importance of not trying to speak human when there were others near, not that Akai really could do much more than mouth the beginning of the word 'Naruto' in a rather comical way. It was okay to yelp at Naruto who could then relay the message as a gut feeling or something.

The new addition to Team Seven was received in overall good spirit. Sakura naturally was no better than Tsunami and instantly fell in love with the adorable little ball of red fluff. She actually didn't want to let go of the kit until she started to yap at Naruto to come and rescue her… It was time to eat after all. Sasuke coldly dismissed Akai as an 'annoying rodent' that Naruto should keep away from him. And then there was Kakashi who simply rose his eyebrow and decided that explanations could wait for the next day, that didn't keep him from petting the little animal tentatively or from realizing that he really wasn't all that surprised to see a small fox dangling from Narutos shirt… not really after all that had happened in the past week.

The next day Naruto and Akai, who was hitching a ride in the baby carrier, set out on a brisk pace. Following the stream they came soon enough to the place which Akai recognized. Tapping into Kyuubi's chakra Naruto began to follow the scent of fox that was permeating the area. Not much later a family of six foxes came to view causing Akai to struggle out from the baby carrier. The adult foxes, after doing a hasty check on Akai, continued to stare at Naruto who was quite unsure what to do. He was about to ask when the male fox suddenly whirled and vanished into what seemed to be a passage in their den. Naruto only smiled at Akai who was giving an embellished version of her adventures to now obviously jealous litter mates. He was just about to ask Akai about her father when the said male returned, followed by an aged, almost silver coloured, fox. Naruto instantly recognized the newcomer as important one when the cubs stopped their play and quieted down. The elderly fox then slowly and deliberately stepped in front of the boy and bowed respectfully. "How may we thank you for saving one of our own mistress?" it asked in a clear voice.

Naruto, after picking his jaw from the ground proceeded, much to Kyuubi's amusement, vehemently deny being a mistress of any kind. He then began to explain the whole set of events that had lead to him meeting Akai and so on. The story, which was translated into 'fox' by proudly grinning Akai, kept the entire fox family captivated. While the adults were still digesting the story, the cubs led by Akai pounced on the hapless Naruto who soon fell laughing under the onslaught. After a while the cubs calmed down and Naruto began to think of leaving. He had grown fond of the small kit but still, this was her family. He thanked the old fox and was about to bid his farewell to Akai only to find the kit safely tucked in her baby carrier. He petted the small animal and in a sad tone said "Look Akai-chan… this is your home, your family…"

He was going to continue to explain about the prejudice and hatred he faced in Konoha and reasons as to why she couldn't possibly come with him, when the old fox, and to his surprise Kyuubi interrupted. "She has made her choice kit, it's now up to you if you will take her with you… There will be responsibilities of a pack leader and to an extent… older brother." Naruto looked from the kitsune family, who were staring at him expectantly, to the small adorable eyes that belonged to his self proclaimed 'sister'. -Aw what the hell… I got over the shock of having Kakashi as an uncle so I guess I can take having a kitsune-neechan…- Reaching to scratch Akai between the ears he said "Guess you and me are going to stick together then…?" After a series of long goodbyes and earful of good advice to both, Naruto and Akai began their trek back home. They were however, only halfway when Kyuubi presented yet another ideal 'training' mission.

Kakashi was intrigued to say the least. He had grown bored soon after giving Sakura her training objectives for the day and had decided to check up on Naruto. After an hour of futile searching he had decided to find a comfortable tree branch and had begun leafing through 'Icha Icha Paradise vol. III'. Still he found it difficult to concentrate on the, normally very captivating, content of his favourite book series. The fact was that Naruto, and Kyuubi for that matter, had gone to find the family of a fox cub that had very conveniently appeared. There was always a possibility of a deception, something that kitsunes who were notorious tricksters were more than capable of pulling off. After deciding that he should renew his search for the boy he had summoned one of his nin-dogs and ordered him to track Naruto's scent and had been following the dog when he came face to face with the scene in front of him.

Naruto, while in good mood, was still trying to figure how the hell he was going to explain Kakashi the fact that he now had a fox as a sister and pack mate. Shrugging inwardly he took note of Akai, who was happily chasing a butterfly, and moved the deer carcass that he was carrying on better position. Both he and Akai came to halt almost simultaneously when they all but stumbled on a very, very interested looking Kakashi. Smiling bit sheepishly Naruto shifted the deer on his shoulders again. "Ahh Kakashi-sensei… There's really a very good explanation for this…"

And so the days went by. Team Seven had now split their shifts into one day of guarding, one of training and one of resting. For Sasuke this meant that he was on the bridge one day, then trained one day and did his best to avoid Sakura the other. For Sakura, it was guard duty, little training and fawning over Sasuke. And for Naruto, it was really guarding and learning from Tazuna one day, training chakra control and trying to get his fox fire to last more than a few moments and teaching Akai, combined with a healthy amount of playing, the other days. Kakashi simply sneaked about, watching as Naruto honed his stealth skill by hunting wild animals for Tsunami to cook, watching Sasuke try to evade the love sick Sakura and well doing what he usually did when he had too much time on his hands… reading his beloved orange book.

After a few weeks the bridge was finished and so was the first serious mission of Genin Team Seven. For Naruto it had been busy time. He had found out that the malicious demon Kyuubi wasn't actually all that bad… for a demon anyway, had found out who his parents were and had found a relative… heck he had even adopted a sister. Now they were heading home, leaving behind the newly named 'Great Naruto Bridge'. Naruto's backpack was bulging with gifts, now they given to him but were actually for Akai-chan. He had an assortment of chew toys, a food and water bowl, few balls and a plethora of toys in general. Akai-chan had certainly wormed her way into everyone's heart, even the usually cold Sasuke had been seen petting the little kit on an occasion. Naruto could only chuckle as he thought how the good citizens of Konoha would react to a sight of a small ninja fox, complete with a miniature Konoha Hitai-ate that she now wore around her neck marking her as an official member of Team Seven, walking down the streets of their beloved village.

Other than that Naruto had improved drastically. He had pretty much mastered the art of tuning out background noise while still remaining alert to any changes. For the smells he could now identify most common smells and could easily pick out his team mates by their specific scents. He had also found that his claws didn't only look intimidating but could easily be converted as vicious slashing or stabbing weapons. And then there were the tails that he surmised were the more useful part of his new arsenal… they could be used for grappling as well as clubbing someone. He stopped his listings to stare at Sasuke's back. -Up yours Sasuke-teme! I even found out what the Shinkugan does… maybe I can't just monkey any jutsu I see but still…-

It had been a week earlier when Naruto and Kakashi had been able to determine at least one of Shinkugan's features. Kakashi had taken it upon himself to teach the boy his father's knowledge and had decided to start with taijutsu, something that he had easily copied with the Sharingan. Naruto with his new eyes 'activated' had not been able to copy, but rather to understand the taijutsu forms he was being taught. He was able somehow to see the purpose of each move, what they were meant to do, how they flowed from one to the next and also to an extent memorize them. All in all he had in a few days adapted the lower tiers of the Yondaime's taijutsu, which was specifically designed to work in conjunction with Hiraishin no jutsu and the Rasengan. From what they, and Kyuubi for that matter, had deducted Naruto couldn't copy anything on the spot, instead he needed to practice the said taijutsu in order to use it himself. The ability to break down and analyze any given taijutsu move was a distinct advantage though, if you could see what the purpose of the move… or a series of moves was, you could easily formulate a proper defence or counter attack against it. This was shown in action when Kakashi had to admit that if Naruto would have had his claws extended he would be suffering from a severely torn, if not totally ruined, hand.

Besides all that Naruto now had an extra set of ears and a sharp nose that were fiercely loyal to him. Akai-chan had become almost inseparable from him. The kit was still only a pup but had proven to be an asset, she was for one a very light sleeper and woke up at the slightest of sounds… unlike Naruto, who despite his keen ears could sleep through an all out battle. Smirking to himself Naruto picked up the said kit and placed her in the baby carrier. The gates of Konoha were just beyond the next bend and foxes were not generally liked in the Leaf Village. He was really looking forward to seeing the villagers gape in impotent rage when he strolled around the streets carrying a fox in a baby carrier… at the least it would give them something to gossip about. Deep in his mind Kyuubi was trying hard not burst out in uncontrollable fits of laugher. Kazama Naruto and Kazama Akai had returned.

TBC… (in a week or so)

Shinkugan means Crimsoneye

Kiri Gakure no Jutsu means Hidden mist technique

Hiraishin no jutsu means Flying thunder god technique

Akai means red.

Author's rant (again)

Well here's the second chapter of this fic, I know there was the (in a week or so) written after the tbc in the last chapter but I, for better or worse, seem to have caught cold. And seeing as there is the worst ever winter storm outside decided that it would be prudent to skip school. Thus after being bored I decided to write this chapter. If the storm continues and/or my cold continues expect an update later this week…

As it is, I've tried to address some issues pointed out by the reviewers, namely trying to start a new paragraph every time the speaker changes and overall improve the formatting. Seriously though I have absolutely no eye for layout so don't expect too much there. Anyway at least I tried right? (Do, or do not… there is no trying!) 

Now I know that giving Naruto a fox cub as a companion/sister/whatever is a real cliché… I debated with myself whether or not I should dump Akai… I decided to keep her in the fic mainly because she's there to add some fluff (literally)… there really won't be much of fluff or general romance until after the Chuunin exams anyway. Also Akai-chan, being so darn cute, will be a nice factor when we start the club for 'rabid' Naruto fangirls .

Another real clichés are the foxfire and the doujutsu. Foxfire I ripped off from Shippo in Inu-Yasha and from wikipedia's kitsune page. I just felt that it would be cool to have some innate kitsune abilities for Naruto and I have a few practical combat oriented uses for foxfire (like say flaming rasengan?). The doujutsu was more debatable, seriously there are tons of fics in which Naruto can either a)see chackra b)see through genjutsus c)create genjutsus, including the ability to trap people with Kyuubi d)copy ninjutsu e)copy taijutsu or g)a combination of the above listed ones. I tried to be slightly original here by taking an analytic approach on the whole taijutsu issue, which I feel is Naruto's greatest weakness, along with his chakra control. Also about Naruto seeing his tails only when his Shinkugan is active… they are composed of demonic chakra… so the Shinkugan can also see demonic chakra and it's manifestations, or something 

Oh and did I mention the training 'weights'… lets not even go there… pretty please.