God of Illusion, Host of the Devil's Arm

by Thanathos

Naruto's sister was chosen for the sealing. The Yondaime lived. Despite his talent and hard work, Naruto slowly faded into the background of his sister. He suffered a crippling accident. His desperate attempt to fix himself will change the world.

6. Birth of the Devil's Arm

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
_

Naruto's return from dreamland was not an easy one. He felt weak and drowsy, and it took him over a minute to even realize he was awake. What had alerted him was the pain that had come with every breath. His lungs were on fire, his limbs seemed to be filled with lead, and it felt like a hedgehog was starting a rampage inside of his head. His itching eyes told him that it was four in the morning, and everything hurt. What was going on?

The answer was simple, yet for a second, Naruto's mind simply refused to believe it. Natsuki, who in the past weeks made it clear, in those few moments he allowed her to notice him, that she hated Naruto's guts, was laying on his bed, beneath his blanket, one hand somehow having crawled into his the jacket of his sleep-wear, resting right above his stinging heart. How on earth had she overcome Mekura? He knew exactly that he had put her, and for a change his parents, under it just last evening! While he had used the version that faded by itself, it should have taken at least another day until they should become aware of Naruto's existence.

The blond boy gathered all his strength. "Natsuki, get out of my bed!" He hissed.

Natsuki blinked, looked up, and her face turned into a grimace. "What are you doing here?" She hissed back.

Naruto took a calming breath. "In case you haven't noticed, this is my room."

Natsuki looked around, noticed this to be true, blew Naruto a raspberry, and bolted out of the room, eager to get some space between the two of them.

Naruto sat in his bed, wondering how long he'd have to bear these visits from Natsuki that only brought him pain. Suddenly he felt a burning sensation in his throat, he felt as if he had to throw up. He left his bed and staggered towards the bathroom connected to his room. He made it to the sink before he collapsed in a fit of coughs. Were it not for the sound-blocking seals that his father had installed on all bathrooms to ensure privacy, Naruto was certain half of Konoha would have been shaken up by his newest plague.

After a few minutes, the fit ended. "What was that?" he asked himself, before his gaze was drawn to his working hand. It was red with blood.

-0-

Naruto stared at his bloody hand. There, sticking to his fingers, was the proof of what he had told his parents all the time, that Natsuki's presence was harmful to him. But only now did he truly realize how harmful. 'This can't go on.' Naruto told himself 'Either Natsuki is banned from my room... or I have to leave. It is getting worse, and I am certain that unless something happens immediately, I will die.'

Naruto left his room and headed towards his parents. With evidence like this, they had to do something, or else he would lose what little faith in them was left, and pack his bags for good. As it turned out, his parents were still caught in Mekura, giving Naruto opportunity to do something that he could normally never do; he could eavesdrop on his parents without them noticing.

At first he had planned to simply cancel the jutsu, but...

"We have to tell Naruto. It's just getting worse the longer we take, and I feel like breaking down every time I see him." Kushina stated.

Naruto froze, and focused all his attention to his ears. This seemed serious.

-0-

Minato sighed. "You're right, but it's just not that easy. Every time I want to tell him, my throat tightens up. It's like my tongue just fails me, or the words themselves don't want to be spoken."

Kushina laughed joylessly. "How poetic we are when it comes to excusing how pathetic we are."

Minato looked at his wife. "He has a right to know, and Tsunade is right when she says that waiting will only make it worse, but how, that's the great question. Honestly, I wish I could just order Tsunade to do it, she has experience in those kind of things, and aren't usually doctors the ones who deliver such news?"

A shrug answered him. "Usually. But can you blame her for dropping that duty on us?"

Now Minato was the one joylessly laughing. "As much as I'd like to, no. This is hell. I've actually been practicing my confession to Naruto for weeks, but it just won't come out when I want it to."

Kushina nodded. "I know. I did too, but when I see the hope in his eyes, I just can't bring myself to crush that."

Minato sighed again. "It's much harder than initially expected. It's not like I can just walk up to Naruto and say 'Hello son, I forgot to tell you something. Remember when you fried your arm on the gate? Well, that killed off most of your nerves and shattered your chakra-paths, so you'll never be a shinobi, or even able to use your arm again. My bad.' How do you tell your child that his lifetime-dream can never become real because you forgot him on his own birthday?"

Had Naruto been holding something, he would have dropped it.

-0-

Naruto's eyes widened. Shivering, he looked at his left arm, which was lifelessly hanging in it's sash. Suddenly everything made sense. His parents' behavior, the pitying looks, the odd tolerance the shinobi had shown when he had watched them train, even the most dangerous and secret jutsu. They had known! Everyone had known! EVERYONE HAD KNOWN THAT HIS ARM WOULD NEVER HEALED AND NOBODY TOLD HIM!

Naruto had to get out of here, or he would go insane. Already the urge to smash things was getting unbearable. He ran out of the compound, Mekura ensuring that his father ignored the small impulse of the gate opening and closing, as it wasn't an alarm, but merely a notification. His parents had in the meantime decided that the news would be delivered on their next planned holiday aka day off, which was in three weeks, and slowly turned to different topics.

Naruto didn't care what else his parents had to say, he needed to be alone right now.

-0-

Minato frowned. He had just gotten a really bad vibe, but he couldn't imagine why. He checked the impulses of his seals, having learned from the birthday-catastrophe to trust his gut more than his head in such situations, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. So whatever it was, it wasn't in the compound. Probably in his office, printed on deceivingly white, innocent-looking paper.

The chunin-exams were coming up in Kumo, and he had to organize everything, seeing that Kumo was not an allied village, the work was piling. He had no idea if he would be home before tomorrow evening. "Kushina, I'm a bit worried. I won't be here until tomorrow evening at the earliest, and you..."

Kushina nodded. "I have border-patrol for the next few days, as I am still an active shinobi. I know. But Minato, I trust your sealwork, and don't forget, we have both been gone for a few days before, and they were just fine. They'll call friends over, have lots of fun, and make a mess out of the house. And in an emergency, there are at least three ANBU in the nearby outpost at all times. Not to mention that our friends and fellow clan-heads always send some poor soul to make sure the children don't blow up the house while without parental supervision." Her voice grew quieter "And I don't think either of our children will mind some time for themselves."

Minato nodded, a bitter taste in his mouth. The situation with Naruto was getting worse for them every day, when they saw him trying to work with an arm that would never work again. He felt pathetic. He had handled with the Kyuubi and the Shinigami, but in front of his own son, everything that he prided himself in, his silver tongue, his wits, his charisma and confidence just evaporated. He couldn't recall a moment in his life where he had felt as helpless as when he stood before his son and tried to explain the true extent of what had happened to the boy. He only hoped that Naruto would not learn of his crippling from anyone but his parents.

As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for, you might get it. The gods had granted Minato's wish, but not in the way he had wanted.

-0-

Naruto was storming away. He had no goal in mind, he just had to get away. Fortunately, the ANBU watching this sector had, somewhat accidentally, been caught in one of his temporary Mekura two days ago, so for another hour, he was safe from their eyes, and seeing that it wasn't even 5 AM yet, the streets were practically deserted.

Naruto left the main streets, where a few early risers, like bakers, were already up and about, and instead went into the darker alleys, where he was alone except for his nonhuman friends, who could feel his mood and decided to give Naruto some space. It wasn't time for food yet anyways.

Unknown to Naruto, he was approaching a sector of Konoha that nobody had entered since the Kyuubi-attack. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but in this sector, the Kyuubi's youki had gathered and seemingly gained a mind of its own, leaching onto any living being that entered it and draining it dry, even converting the victim's flesh and bones into energy, leaving nothing behind but agonized cries that stopped abruptly. Of course the youki's territory had been fenced, but as fate would have it, the part of the fence on the side Naruto was approaching from had been destroyed, and since nobody ever went even close to that sector, nobody had found out and repaired it.

Naruto was blissfully ignorant of what trouble he was in as he walked through the fence's remains and into what had been termed 'the Dead Zone', still upset about what he had learned. While he had lost his faith in his parents, this newest betrayal had stung deeply. 'Why am I even surprised?' He asked himself, before going vocal.

"I'm a fucking cripple and nobody tells me! Now it all makes sense. Why should I waste my time training Naruto swordsmanship, he won't be able to wield one anyways. Why teach Naruto jutsu, it's not like he'll be able to use them. Why bother training him in anything, it's not like he'll ever be a shinobi! Let him watch, it's not like he'll ever be able to perform anything he sees!"

He kicked an empty can, making it fly through a window twenty feet away. Apparently, sand had filled the thing, as the glass shattered. Naruto didn't care. He broke down, hysteric sobs shaking his body. It was all coming down around him. His world was crumbling, and there was nothing he could do. His arm was gone for good, and he had learned that Tsunade was considered the greatest medic of all times, if she couldn't fix it, and apparently she had been the one to proclaim that it couldn't be fixed, then there was no hope.

"It's not fair." Naruto muttered, bitter tears running down his cheeks. Why always on him. What heinous act had he committed to deserve this? Why couldn't the gods torment someone else, just for a change? "Why me? Why does everything bad have to happen to me?"

Naruto was not the type for brooding and self-pity, but right now, it was just too much. So entranced by his misery, Naruto did not even notice the red mist that had formed behind him, seeping out of all cracks, forming into a almost solid wave of red.

-0-

The youki was not really intelligent, nor did it have any real instincts. But with it's time spent hunting for anything that foolishly approached, it had learned to not simply latch itself onto the pray while spread out too thinly, or else the sustenance could slip free and escape. Also, as many creatures had an instinct that warned of rapidly approaching objects, the youki had developed a simple tactic. First it would gather, then slowly and carefully approach and glue itself to the body without actually doing anything. Once the prey was 'secured', the bulk of the youki would shoot forward, engulfing the unfortunate victim, drain it of all chakra, before beginning to turn the rest into something that would further support the youki as a whole.

Following it's tactic, tiny strands of youki had attached themselves to the newest prey, a much larger one than youki usually captured, and prepared the rush. By the time the creature noticed, it would be far too late. NOW!

The red wave branded against the body, working its way from the bottom of the backside towards the head. The prey still hadn't noticed anything, as its eyes were shut. However, it also didn't seem to feel anything. If such a complicated emotion as confusion could be felt by the youki, this would be it. However, it spread, covering the entire body.

Suddenly it released the creature, as if burned. The youki had found that not only was this organism resistant to youki, but it was also flooded with itself. The youki had sensed itself inside of the organism, and released it, deeming it friendly.

Naruto hadn't even noticed just how close to death he had just come, although he felt a burning sensation, he accredited it to his grief. By the time he opened his eyes, the mass had dispersed.

-0-

Naruto had enough of this. He had cried his heart out, and it had felt good, but enough was enough. He was not an emo, nor a brooder. He had received a blow that he hadn't expected, it was time to get back on his feet. His left arm was screwed for the foreseeable future. Fine, he had come this far without it, he'd go further without it. His twelve-seal-set was almost complete, it just needed some more fleshing out and tests. With them, he would be able to erase his jutsu-difficulties, not that he didn't plan on learning one-handed seals anyways. As for taijutsu, there was always a way, he just had to find it!

Still, this newest betrayal had hit him hard. He hadn't noticed it, but he had been starting to let his parents back into his heart, which made it all the more painful. Naruto realized that this was the first time since his birthday that he was actually angry with his parents. He had been displeased and annoyed, but never truly angry. He had allowed his parents to hurt him again.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Rest assured, it won't happen again." Naruto muttered to himself. To him, his blood-relatives would from now on be nothing more than landlords and and unwanted roommates, and if turned out that he couldn't heal his arm here, or if it healed, he was out of here.

He didn't have to worry about time. For one thing, he hadn't even entered the academy, and from his fa... Minato Namikaze's words, he wouldn't be entering it, so there was no hurry to leave. He would be a civilian, and civilians had the right to leave whenever they dang well pleased. They couldn't make him a missing-nin, as he had never served Konoha, and thus could not desert it. The only potential problem were the clan-laws.

Every clan-member had the right to leave and go elsewhere without leaving the clan as long as they weren't bound otherwise, like with shinobi-duties. That was the reason the Hyuuga made such generous use of the Kagonotori no juin, or caged bird seal. If they didn't, any Hyuuga that was declared a servant would pack his bag and be gone. However, only the clan-head could officially release one from the clan, meaning that a Hyuuga who left was still a Hyuuga, and a Namikaze who left was still a Namikaze. If they made it clear that they had no intention of returning to the clan, the clan still had the right to call them into service, meaning that for a set period of time, or until a certain number of missions were completed, the 'free' clan-member had to return and serve the clan and the village the clan was allied with. On the upside, once that was done, if the person demanded to be released from the clan, the head had no option but to do so. The man had done his duty, and there was nothing more they could demand from him. Even better, such people could leave the village without any repercussions as long as they hadn't committed a crime, as they were essentially hired on a mercenary-basis. The only catch for the clan was that the order to return had to be delivered personally. That didn't mean a clan-member had to do it, but the order had to be given in written form, and the one who delivered had to give it directly to the one it was addressed to. However, once the courier had located the recipient and said recipient realized what it was about, he could not run away, block the courier or ignore the order. If they found and identified him and had the letter, then the man or woman would have to serve their time.

And while the idea of cutting all ties with his relatives sounded sweet, Naruto had no intention of wasting four years of his life, as he doubted they'd give him the B-,A- and S-ranked missions to shorten the time, serving Konoha. So once Naruto was out of Konoha, he would drop off of the face of the earth. He already had gathered a few materials, namely jutsu that could not be dispelled and would change his appearance. And it was his stupid sister of all people who had given him the idea!

She had screwed up a henge in the way that she actually transformed into what she wanted, only that the result hadn't been good for her. She had spat blood for five minutes, and anyone without the Kyuubi would have likely been screwed up for good, but Naruto had analyzed what she had done, how she had done it, and what one should do to minimize the damage on the body. It was far from perfect, but he could now permanently change the color of his eyes and hair, and slight alterations on his skin.

Still, he needed to find an outlet for his remaining anger. He looked around, and gave the wall a fairly powerful kick. "What the hell?" He called as he jumped back.

Half the wall had collapsed. Naruto looked around, and for the first time realized something. "Where the hell am I?"

He was in a place he had never seen before. The place was obviously abandoned. The buildings looked damaged, some had collapsed, some looked like they had been crushed by something, and nowhere even a trace of life could be found. Naruto knew he hadn't left Konoha, but it sure seemed like it. He looked around, and saw the monument. At least he could orientate himself now. Still, this place was dangerous. He looked through the newly-made hole in the wall... and blinked. The falling fragments had smashed through what appeared to be a hidden door. Naruto knew he should be leaving, but his curiosity was stronger. He carefully entered the building, prepared to jump out of the way the moment anything rumbled, but nothing came. He noticed that the walls and ceiling were supported by steel beams, meaning that it was fairly unlikely that the whole thing would simply collapse. So he carefully approached the hole in the ground.

His suspicion had been right, it led to a set of stairs. Naruto had to climb a bit to avoid the rubble, but he could advance.

"Who would build something like this?" Naruto muttered. "What is it? A deserted ANBU-base? Maybe this was once a ROOT-station, before the Sandaime closed that branch? Rats, I can't even see my own hands, if I only had some light."

The next moment, he nearly had a heart-attack and jumped up in shock. Torches had lit up, lighting the way to the bottom of the stairs roughly twenty feet down in a ghostly blue light. Naruto looked around nervously. "Hello? Is anybody there?" No answer. "Uargh, it's so bright, turn off the torches!" Nothing. "It's obviously not voice-activated. What else could it be?"

He looked around, and noticed that there were two seals above the step he had just rested his foot on. Apparently they were a detection-barrier, sending a thread of chakra between them, and lighting the torches when interrupted. Good. "Shit. What if this place is booby-trapped? HELLO? I'M LOST!"

Nothing. Naruto decided to proceed, with extreme caution. And indeed, he found no less than seven traps, ranging from more seal-threads over fake stairs to a section of hallway behind the stairs where he had to paint a certain array on a piece of paper before the ceiling came down and crushed him. Finally, he was standing in a chamber, apparently the only chamber, as there were no further paths. Again burning torches lined the walls, sending their flickering light and giving everything a creepy feeling.

The room itself was a disappointment for any treasure-hunter. There was a stone basin let into the floor in front of him, not big enough for Naruto, but it would be enough to bathe an infant or wash his face. The far wall had a desk, a drawer packed with folders, and a few broken clipboards that looked as if someone had thrown them on the floor next to a number of odd machines that Naruto could make no sense of. On his left side he saw a row of six long cages, each containing beds of varying sizes. The beds in the first two were adult-size, the next three growing smaller until the final cage, in which there were at least forty cribs. What was odd was that all were fastened with leather-straps, as if to keep them in bed. Perhaps this had been a station for insane ninja?

The wall on the right on the other hand gained Naruto's attention. It was filled with jars containing a liquid that in this light looked greenish. All jars were made of glass, the same size and labeled. It was also the wall closest to the basin. Naruto approached, looked if there were any traps. Seeing none, he grabbed the closest jar and held it to his face, trying to decipher the writing.

"Who wrote this, a chimpanzee? Even Natsuki doesn't write this bad. Let's see, KU... RA... I have no idea what that's supposed to be... K+? What's that supposed to OUCH!"

The glass had become brittle with the years of exposure, and when Naruto tightened his grip, it shattered. A few splinters pierced into his flesh while the liquid splashed everywhere. "Uargh, yuck! I think I swallowed some. Eew. Tastes worse than the medicine for my arm, I didn't think it was possible." He looked around for something to rinse his mouth with, but came up empty. He dropped the broken glass and looked at his palm. It wasn't too bad, only one of the glass-fragments had pierced into his flesh, and enough was sticking out for Naruto to carefully grab it with his teeth and pull it out. It bled a bit, but otherwise it seemed fine. He'd get it disinfected later.

He looked around and saw that one of the jars was not standing in the cabinet like the others, but on the desk. More careful this time, Naruto approached, not touching it. He read the label, and it was a different one. He frowned to make out the kanji. "Accelerated... whoever wrote this needs lessons, badly. Wait, is that supposed to mean regeneration? Accelerated regeneration? Then maybe the other thing wasn't Kura, but cure, and the name of some disease. Is this stuff" He looked at the jars "medicine?" His eyes wandered to the bottle of accelerated regeneration, to the basin, and back again.

Then he carefully picked the jar up, carefully as if it was a little bird, and carried it to the basin. He pulled off the lid, and poured it into the basin. "Medicine works best when directly applied where it's supposed to work, so..." He looked around, before picking up a shard of glass and making a shallow cut on the back of his useless left hand that was still hanging in it's sash. Then he lifted it up and let it soak in the liquid, prepared to pull it out on a moment's notice if something bad happened. After all, it was not like his arm could get much worse. Still, better safe than sorry, so he cut off the arm's circulation before letting it take a dip. If the stuff was really bad, he'd make it outside before collapsing, seeing that the traps were deactivated. Then he would most likely be found before anything horrible happened. Who knew, he might actually reach the hospital himself.

"Great Naruto, very optimistic." He scolded himself. Then he hissed. The pain wasn't unbearable, it was really like being disinfected with alcohol. It burned and stung, but one could grind his teeth and bear it. Still, Naruto was about to pull out his hand, when he noticed something. "Wait, am I hallucinating?"

He narrowed his eyes, blinking a tear of pain away, and had a closer look. "YES!" The cut was getting smaller! It was a slow process, so slow that one really had to focus to notice, but it seemed to be working!

In fact, Naruto felt the stinging pain wander up his arm, and had to grin despite the pain. Even though it was pain, Naruto had never had more feeling in that arm since he woke up in the hospital. The only reason for such feelings were that his nerves were healing, even if just a little bit. He looked at the jars again. If all of this was medicine...

And here a part of Naruto that had been practically removed by his life reared its head. In this moment, he was no longer the calm and collected prodigy. The minor and very painful success on his arm had made him giddy, and reduced him to what he physically was: a child with free pick in a toy-store.

"A lot helps a lot." Naruto muttered as he grabbed more and more jars, pouring a bit of everything into the basin without even looking at the in any case unreadable descriptions, a wide grin on his face. After this, he probably would never have to be afraid of getting sick again. Maybe he would even be immune to whatever it was Natsuki was doing to him!

Had he bothered to read, he would have noticed that the tags didn't have the names of medications on them, but other, quite familiar names, like Akimichi, Nara, Uchiha, Senju, or Inuzuka.

What he had found was in reality one of Orochimaru's first laboratories, which he had abandoned long before he actually left Konoha, both because it was too small and ill-equipped for what he needed, not to mention that the experiment had all failed. At the time, Orochimaru had gathered genetic material from anyone he could find that had anything special, and used it to create a mixture that, so was the plan, could grant the abilities to other people who did not originally possess it. While he had been able to create the solution, all attempts to inject it into another person had failed. The solution did its job, but the body rejected the changes, causing death. Orochimaru had used younger and younger hosts, eventually resorting to building incubators and letting embryos absorb the liquid, but not even they were able to withstand the changes. When the last one died, Orochimaru had given it up. This was not the way to gain kekkei genkai, so it was of no use. Originally he had intended to destroy the place, but before he got the opportunity, he was deployed in war, so he had just removed all traces that indicated just who had been working here and left. Who cared if the lab was found, there was no trace of Orochimaru's presence, and everything left in it was useless anyways, he cared neither for the corpses, the anyways outdated equipment, nor for what was left of the solutions. If it was found, he would just have to lay low for a while. He had even left most of the traps deactivated, showing just how little he cared for it. Eventually, Orochimaru had forgotten the lab even existed, a new method of gaining kekkei genkai involving directly injecting the DNA into the embryo taking up his entire attention. After the Kyuubi had attacked, Orochimaru had written the lab off for good. If it still existed, all evidence would be eroded away by the youki-residue by the time anyone entered it.

Now, due to unique circumstances, Naruto's body was filled with youki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, which was flowing fairly docile through his system, as the goal it was supposed to do was not destruction of the carrier, but in fact toughening him, or, if you considered who it was supposed to be in, her. This youki had began to pool in the left arm, the one section of Naruto's body where his natural chakra-flow did not obstruct it. So when Naruto chose to make the cut there of all places, the youki was more than prepared to deal with the new arrival, integrating it into Naruto's system after deeming it beneficial.

However, the youki inside of Naruto was limited, and so was it's ability to incorporate or destroy foreign substances, more so since this was not the body of a jinchuuriki. In fact, it was nothing short of a miracle that the process of gaining the increased regeneration of a woman Orochimaru had located, but at the time been unable to collect had not killed Naruto, who was blissfully unaware of just how deep the shit he was about to jump into was.

-0-

Naruto looked at the basin. It was filled almost to the top with bluish-green liquid. Getting all of the jars had been a pain, since he had to move the desk and chair to reach the ones on the very top, and being careful not to drop any. But in the end, he had succeeded. The basin was filled with some liquid from every jar, and he had used one of the weird metal instruments to mix it thoroughly. His arm was still aching, but now he could actually move his index-finger a bit without the other three following suit. Soon he'd be better than ever.

He grabbed another shard of glass and made a deeper cut in his hand, this time cutting a bit up the arm, while being careful not to sever any veins or arteries. What good was super-healing and immunity against diseases if you bled out before it could activate?

Naruto looked into the turquoise liquid one last time. "With this, I'll be better than ever!" He called, while letting his hand slide beneath the surface. He smiled to himself. "I'll make the stupid arm move, and if it's the last thing I do!" Little did he know that the odds of it really being the last thing he'd do were so close to 100% that not even Tsunade would have made a bet on it.

It started with the burning he had already felt before, and for the span of roughly ten seconds, that was really all there was, a pain that was bearable, but getting stronger. Then...

"GUARG? Gurgle ARG-...!"

From one moment to the next, his arm exploded in a wave of agony equal to when his arm broke, then worse as it spread through his entire body. Naruto didn't even have the strength to cry out. He was twitching uncontrollably, foam bubbled out of his mouth and dampening the gurgles, his pupils had contracted to a point where one couldn't even see them. Blood ran from his nose and ears, and his skin had turned gray as ash. In the last moment before merciful darkness surrounded him, Naruto cursed himself for his stupidity.

-0-

One solution the youki had easily handled. Two had been a small effort, but no problem. However, this whirlpool of liquids that were never intended to be mixed to begin with overrun all defenses it could set up. The solution was slowly seeping up the arm, not only killing but literally shredding all cells it came in contact with. The host's entire body was wracked by seizures of protest at the invading source of painful death. In a jinchuuriki it would have been easy to fight the liquid off, but here the reinforcement of youki was cut off, meaning that what was currently in the body was all that was there to fight. And there was not enough to prevent doom. This youki was also slightly diluted, as it had not been released directly by the bijuu, but of a jinchuuriki. It was simply not designed to exist outside of a living organism.

One thing that one must understand about bijuu is that they are comprised solely of youki. There is no flesh, no bones, no internal organs. There is a center of will, generally located in the head, where the mind was, but no real brain or nerves. What kept the bijuu solid was the fact that even though the central mind was focused on one spot, every single flicker of youki was filled with a certain set of instincts, which tell it: 'Any energy-source that gets in contact is to be drained and all energy is to be absorbed and converted to youki unless ordered otherwise', 'youki with identical signature is not to be absorbed, but assisted and aided', and 'the continued existence of the collective has highest priority'. In a way, a bijuu was nothing more than an ant-hive of demonic energy. There was the central mind, the queen if you will, and the remaining youki was the workers and soldiers that absorbed nourishment for the creation of more youki, and for the simple youki, there was no hesitation when it had to separate from the main body to deal with an attacking force, even if the price was its own existence. However, for youki that for whatever reason was left behind, the last order changed. Since there was no central will, it gradually changed its main-goal to 'self-preservation until reuniting with the main-body is possible'.

These leftover youki was important for the biuu, and most of all for the Kyuubi, who had never been sealed away, since such youki gained intelligence and could at the time of reuniting very well be smarter and more knowledgeable than the main-body, in which case the information and intelligence was shared with the collective to ensure that the 'mind' was strengthened. When a bijuu was sealed inside a living host, it generally absorbed information from the host's brain to increase its own strength, a two-edged sword. The information was not mere knowledge and intelligence, but also personality up to a point. The bijuu could, if smart enough, purge itself from the tainted thoughts if they were deemed detrimental, but the process had to be done quickly and the knowledge absorbed from the host should not be used as the center of the personality, as an increasing number of sealings with an increasing number of personality-traits taken from the hosts would destabilize the personality, leading to madness, as in the Ichibi's case. Kyuubi, never having a host to milk for knowledge, had been reliant on these residue, which was good for its mental state, but held the problem that if the fragment was sealed away, a new mind could grow, which usually lead to a few problems with the little upstart, but that was a different story.

One must realize just how close youki of identical signature were to each other to understand what happened next. The youki in Naruto's body was getting overwhelmed, and knowing that it needed this host, did something unusual for youki-residue. It remembered. It remembered that not long ago, there had been contact with a large mass of itself, and used the unconscious host's tenketsu to send a part of itself outside, in the form of a wave carrying what was essentially a distress-signal.

The entire mass of youki in Konoha, spread out thinly over a space of more than a square-mile seemed to look up. A shiver went through red mist, and it rose from all corners to swarm towards one building like a giant swarm of red locusts rose up, as one poured down the formerly hidden passageway and slammed into the chamber with the force of a typhoon. Whatever happened to be around in that room was pulverized in the steadily increasing pressure of the youki, with the exceptions of Naruto, who was lifted into the air almost delicately, the youki having successfully identified the source of the S.O.S.-signal, and the liquid that had caused the mess, that was blown out of the crumbling basin and into the air, where the youki did a rudimentary analysis of the root of the problem. As the mass interacted with the youki inside of Naruto, the outside youki found something it had been looking for ever since it had been separated from Kyuubi, a host in which it could rest without dissolving it or being suppressed.

In fact, in Naruto the youki had found something that was not only rare, but something that had never existed before. Naruto was an anomaly, or rudely stated, a freak of nature.

A jinchuuriki was different from a normal human. For one thing, a pregnancy took a month more and was dangerous for the mother's life. Another, lesser known fact was that as soon as a jinchuuriki was created, no matter if infant or old man, a new function of the body started a new reaction. It had been labeled a 'surge'. The idea was simple. After the seal had solidified and everything settled, the bijuu sent waves of youki through the host's body. This was not even done out of evil intent, it was in fact to get the body used to the youki that would eventually be flowing through the body. The first times this happened it was extremely painful for the jinchuuriki, then the body slowly got used to the surges and eventually not even noticed when it happened. This was necessary to prevent the body from being torn apart if the youki had to be unleashed. If a jinchuuriki unleashed more chakra than their body could handle, it usually began with the skin tearing off, going on with damaging muscles and internal organs until the bones were crushed and if the flow was not stopped by then, the brain stood risk of being liquified.

The case of Naruto and Natsuki was truly unique. Not only was the creation of the jinchuuriki in an unusually early stage of life, directly after birth, but there was a twin. Not an identical twin, but close enough. What Natsuki had been doing, subconsciously, was that instead of biting her teeth together and bear with the surges until she couldn't feel them any longer, was that, by direct contact with her twin, she was able to reroute the youki from her into his system. While Natsuki had no idea what was going on, the subconscious knowledge of 'when it hurts, get to Naruto and all gets better' was anchored in her mind. And while Naruto's body was not the one the youki was supposed to be in, it's genetic makeup was similar enough to fool the youki, meaning that it worked how it would in a jinchuuriki, instead of simply destroying the body. Of course, Naruto was not a jinchuuriki, so he lacked what was really needed to handle the youki, namely the increased regeneration. Instead of healing instantly, the damage the youki caused to get the body used to it took days, sometimes weeks, to heal. However, as Naruto was an infant at the time and not an adult, his adaptability was at its peak, and his body slowly built up a resistance to the youki. At first there was no real problem with that, as the surges happened roughly every two months, giving Naruto enough time to heal before the next wave came. However as the years passed without Natsuki being any more resistant to the youki than at birth, the Kyuubi was losing patience and started sending more youki in shorter intervals. Naruto's body had eventually become unable to keep up with the increasing amount and slowly started breaking down, as the youki was still attacking his organs, which had eventually damaged the lungs, leading to the bloody cough.

Still, Naruto's body had a high resistance to youki, and since there was no seal, youki in his body was not restricted in any way. For the youki, it was as if it had found utopia. A host in which it could rest, in which it could easily gain sustenance, and in which it was not bound to the host's will. So the youki decided in that moment to stop its existence as a scavenger, and become a symbiont, as it felt the need to prevent its host's destruction. While most of the body was lined with internal chakra that would have been a bother, one limb was free of that, the left arm. Coincidentally, this arm was also flooded in solutions of unknown origin, a threat to the future host's life. However, now that the solutions could be easily destroyed on a whim, the youki grew curious. What was this? Could it be used for the advantage of the symbiosis? Perhaps a poison that they could accumulate and then produce as a weapon. What they found was even better. It was a mixture of DNA containing several clashing abilities. While this could not be spread through the host's body, it could be used on the limb that would house the youki.

So instead of simply wiping out the solutions, the ones in the body and outside of the body were absorbed by the left arm, which restructured itself to take them, and potentially more. The abilities gained in this way would not be accessible by the host, but the symbiont would be able to use them for the host. The only solutions the youki, which also restructured itself to be able to achieve symbiosis without damaging the precious host, forming a core inside of the arm, from which it could freely produce more youki should the need arise, did not remove from the host's system were the two that had initially been absorbed and already bound into the system of the body. As it fundamentally changed the arm, forming new chakra- and youki-coils that had bridge-like connections to the host's own system, but was not in any form reliant on it while repairing and optimizing the arm's structure. The host would have control of the limbs movements, most of the time anyways, but final say on everything regarding that arm still lied with the symbiont

-0-

Naruto groaned. His throat was bone-dry and he felt dizzy. He slowly pushed himself up and looked around. Where was he? Then he remembered. "Oh yeah, I found this room with the medicine."

His entire body ached. He cursed himself, despite the feeling that the words in his throat turned to sandpaper, while he beat his knuckles on his forehead. "Idiot! What stupid idiot would just mix unknown medicines together like that? You're behaving like Natsuki! What possessed you to do something so..." He froze. His gaze wandered to his knuckles. "No way." He whispered. He had been beating himself with BOTH hands!

He flexed his left arm a few times, and cried tears of joy when his arm obeyed, even if it felt a bit strange. But he immediately called himself to attention. Two times he had let himself be controlled by his emotions, and both had led to great amounts of pain. It was time to stop acting like a little kid, and start thinking like he had the past weeks, cold hard intelligence, nothing more.

His arm was healed. That was good. However, if he went and shouted that to the world, not only would that raise many questions, but it would also mean that all the people who had let him watch their training would stop doing so. Not that he had any plans of staying for very long, but if he kept his arm a secret, then the search-parties would be looking for a boy with a crippled arm, not for one with two working arms. He could sit in a restaurant with slightly altered appearance, and they would ignore him as they saw him eating with his left arm. No, that his arm worked was an information given out on a need-to-know-basis, and nobody needed to know. Also, it looked a bit different. The skin was a bit paler than before, and the nails were sharpened to short claws, similar to the ones that the members of the Inuzuka-clan had.

Then he looked around. He was certain that it had been a squeak that woke him up, so what was squeaking? The answer was simple. It came in the form of a rat with a white spot between its eyes. "Shiro!" Naruto called out in surprise. The rat had apparently followed his scent all the way down here. He stretched his right hand out, and the rat allowed him to pet it. "Hello you. How long was I out?"

The rat squeaked again, its tail slapping the ground three times. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of it, but he was hungry anyways. "What do you say we find some food? And water. I really need water." The rat seemed to nod gleefully.

"Then lets get out of here." Thankfully he had grabbed his wallet before he had left the house.

He left the chamber and the tunnel, before trying to find the way he had come from. "Let's see, the monument is there. From the position of the faces, the market should be that way." With that, he began to jog, Shiro sitting on his shoulder, nose twitching.

Something was different about the boy, the rat knew that. He was still the same nice person, but he smelled different, especially the arm. The arm smelled powerful, and as if it were a completely different being. Still, food was more important.

-0-

Twenty minutes after they left, a squad of ANBU appeared, looking around worried. "That youki has been here for years, it can't just evaporate from one minute to the next." One wearing an hawk-mask muttered.

Another, wearing a beaver-mask, looked at the third member, an owl-faced one. "Do you sense anything?"

Owl-mask shook his head. "There's no youki left, but the traces that it was here are too strong to get any other signal. There is no source of chakra or youki nearby, but the youki has been here so long that everything seems to emit residue. Even if an army of kages had stood right here ten seconds ago, I wouldn't be able to tell. I can hardly sense you over all the interference, and you're constantly emitting chakra."

The hawk-mask shook his head. "This is pointless. We're not going to find anything out right now. Let's return for now and leave the rest to search-parties."

Beaver-mask sighed. "Do you think the barrier will give any clues?"

"Not likely." Taka answered. "The youki-interference has always been a bother. If one gets into a one-mile radius of it, and the market is closer than that, all the guys from the barrier see is a big blur. Let's call it quits."

The others nodded, and a second later, they were gone. Fortunately it was a windy day, or they would have noticed some footprints leading out of a collapsed wall and towards the market.

-0-

Kushina was in the kitchen, making a late breakfast. It was nine in the morning, and she had returned from her border-patrol not even ten minutes ago, only to find Konoha in a state of chaos. The youki that was still lingering and attacking anything since the Kyuubi-attack had suddenly just disappeared right after she had left, and even now, three days later, nobody knew why. At first everyone believed Natsuki had done something, but that had not been the case. Poor Minato hadn't been home for a single second since that day, as the council held one meeting after the other, and this would likely go on all week. Although now finally some had gathered the courage to enter the 'Dead Zone', and came back reporting that the youki truly was gone. She herself would probably be called away again soon, but there should be enough time for breakfast. She looked up when she heard the door open.

-0-

Naruto sighed. He had seen Kushina's shoes, so he had to be polite, lest he be bugged even more. He had found out on the market that he had been out for three days. "I'm back!" He called.

Kushina's voice rang out of the kitchen, and Naruto, despite having no faith in his parents left, felt like he had been punched in the gut. "You were out? Anyways, breakfast will be ready in a minute, could you wake Natsuki?"

Naruto stood there, gaping in disbelief. He had been gone for three days, and they had not even noticed? Mekura had worn off ages ago! This was the straw that broke the camel's back. His face twisted in anger- He would be out of here this very day, one way or the other. They obviously didn't care about him, so he wouldn't force his presence on those who obviously didn't need it. "I'm not hungry." He called back, before heading up to his room, a short stop to inform Natsuki of the meal waiting downstairs, calming himself. There was no need to get angry. Anger was counterproductive, and wasted on people one didn't care about. He had no time for irrational anger. He had to pack.

Naruto had no way of knowing that both of his parents had been gone these last three days, that Kushina hadn't even been here half an hour and had believed him to be still laying in bed, that there had been nobody but Natsuki and other kids in the house and any adult in the vicinity had kept all their focus on them, as some of them didn't even know that the Hokage had a son.

As such, Naruto was determined to be out of Konoha before sunrise, unless it turned out he had to fine-tune his genjutsu now that his arm worked. He already knew where he would go first.
_

Chapter 6 is finished. Phew. I honestly had not planned on writing another chapter this soon, but circumstances have decided for me. Sorry for the long wait, but my mother decided that her and my definition of 'cleaning a room' were different. I still had some shit that I really didn't need stuffed under my bed in the same cases they had been in when we moved, and some more in the cellar, the German equivalent of a garage ^_^. So I had to unpack everything, decide what I want to keep and get rid of the rest, and no computer until all was done. Then tragedy struck, for details, check my profile. In apology for the long time between updates, I have made this chapter extra long.

There was still too little dialogue in this one, but there really was nobody to talk to. After Naruto leaves and travels for a while, I'll have to give him at least one human traveling-companion, so I can show more of Naruto's personality. Not immediately, but maybe after a few years on the road. I already have a few in mind, but do you have any suggestions?

So, the cat's out of the bag. I have described what happens to Naruto when Natsuki climbs into his bed, something I considered doing next chapter, but decided that I had let you wait long enough, and I have revealed the Devil's Arm, although you'll have to wait a bit longer to find out all it can do. The surge was important to explain Naruto's survival in the youki-cloud, why it would help him and why he was such an attractive host for the youki. They will be mentioned once more in probably the next chapter, when Naruto's parents find out what was going on between Naruto and Natsuki, since for her next surge, Natsuki won't have Naruto for a lightning-rod. And it will hurt!

As for the Devil's Arm, I'll give some explanations beforehand, to prevent some flames. To all those that say 'You've made Naruto godlike, he has all the special powers in Konoha and the ability to absorb more? WTF?' First, yes, he has all special abilities in Konoha, and yes, by absorbing DNA through the arm's skin, he will be able to gain even more. But haven't made him a god with that. You see, Naruto has no control over if and what ability his arm will use. So if he points his arm at an enemy, maybe he'll just stand there looking stupid, maybe his shadow will extend, maybe his hand will grow gigantic or maybe roots will break out of the soil to attack. As for doujutsu, the arm can grab Naruto's face and temporarily bestow one on one of Naruto's eyes, however as long as it does, the hand has to be on Naruto's face, so the arm can't be used for combat while the doujutsu is granted. Also, the arm will seek carriers of unknown abilities to gain them, which usually means he wants some blood, even if just a drop, on the skin, and seeing that it can move without Naruto's consent, that has a lot of potential for trouble. Can anyone imagine the arm telling Naruto to get a drop of blood from someone like Kakuzu? The arm will also seek something else, but you'll learn of that later, I can't give everything away, now can I? Anyways, Naruto will not become dependent on that arm, quite the opposite. He will deem it a too unreliable weapon and keep it in a sash and special bandages, only using it when Naruto absorbs something new, or he has absolutely no other choice. And before you ask, the youki has changed itself to better fit with Naruto, so it is no longer Kyuubi's youki. It is youki just as strong as the Kyuubi's, but it has basically formed its own, individual existence and has no interest in leaving the host, let alone merge with the Kyuubi. It won't be really smart, more like an animalistic, instinctive intelligence, although it will be able to, through their special connection, understand what Naruto tries to tell it. If it'll listen is a different story.

As for the disguise, some have noticed that I used the solid henge, but with a little twist. I mean, let's just think this through. Chakra or no chakra, such a transformation must be perfect and extremely complex, unless used for minimal changes. If one, in the fashion that Natsuki or canon-Naruto do, changing into people of different size or inanimate objects without properly taking into account all effects and solving the resulting problems, then they are going to screw their body up big-time, stretching or compressing their internal organs beyond what is healthy. So when Natsuki turned into someone (Minato) who was notable larger than her without altering her internal organs, she damaged them as they were suddenly stretched, and frankly not big enough to support the new body, leading to strong internal bleeding. Had the Kyuubi not intervened, Natsuki would have died. Naruto only uses it for minimal changes in hair-color, eye-color and the pigmentation of his skin. While he may perfect the solid henge, he will never use it without at least ten minutes of proper preparation to ensure that he won't kill himself with it, or on clones, who don't have internals that could be damaged. So it will be a jutsu used solely by Naruto, as neither his sister nor his parents really want to repeat Natsuki's experience, and even then solely for disguise or by clones.

Next chapter Naruto will leave Konoha, and the parents learn some uncomfortable truths. I'll probably manage to get far enough to show Naruto's first stop. Where do you think that will be?

Well, I've asked two questions, namely where you think Naruto will go and who might become a traveling-companion, as I want your opinion on those topics and my story as a whole. Please, tell me what you think of my story.

Looking at the poll, I think can safely say that we have a majority. I have never had this many people react to a poll, and I'm overwhelmed. You have given me your opinion, and I thank you for it. Your will shall be done.

Now onto the Q&A

Q: Is Orochimaru still in Konoha?
A: No, he defected, just like in canon.

Q: Will there be time-skips?
A: Maybe to Shippuuden, if I decide to go that way, but until then, only minor ones.

Q: What are Naruto's affinities?
A: Naruto's condition is special. He will eventually be able to use all of them, but he will do so rarely leaning towards never. When using ninjutsu is unavoidable, he will use special jutsu he has developed himself, though I'm not going to give everything away. Just this much: Naruto will be using an energy that has much potential yet was never exploited in the canon and fillers.

Q: Will Naruto have a special weapon?
A: Well, he won't be unarmed. But he won't have any legendary blade or something, the way I see him, he'd rather have a good, yet ordinary blade and make it special using seals.

Q: When will the story lighten up a bit?
A: Probably within the next two or three chapters.

Q: When will there be fights?
A: All in good time, real combat will come, but not in the next few chapters. This is still the learning/buildup-phase.

Well, that was all I had to say, so

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