Chapter 7
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
As much as Naruto wanted to leave immediately, he found that a short wait was necessary. Something was wrong with his genjutsu. His control was slightly off, meaning that he had to go to the pond in the back of the garden and spend almost two hours to regain his abilities of water-walking, but his genjutsu was odd in a new way. It wasn't that he was unable to cast them, quite the opposite. The problem was that he couldn't really control them anymore. He could no longer calculate if a Mekura lasted five minutes or two weeks. It felt as if all the requirements he had worked with, how much chakra is needed to make it last, how to dose it, had suddenly changed. To use a simple comparison, he had all the right ingredients, but the amounts were all wrong, resulting in screwed up cooking.
While this would not do, it had unintended side-effects, as when he used a color-altering genjutsu on a group of genin that happened to be practicing genjutsu, it took them three tries to break out.
"So, my genjutsu are a lot more potent than before, probably cost less chakra, but because of that, I'm overloading them. Fuck, this won't do. But still, the situation is salvageable. If I focus on Mekura and other subtle ones, I should get them under control by evening, and be out of here by sunrise. I can test the others later, there's always a bandit somewhere." Naruto told himself.
And so he did.
-0-
Right now Naruto was walking up and down in 'his' room. He had sealed up everything he wanted to keep in a scroll, mainly food, his art-supplies, his sealwork and a few pieces of equipment. With a lot of work, he had gotten Mekura back under control, though the rest of his jutsu would need to be fine-tuned all over again. His left arm was still in the sash, to keep up appearances.
He had everything he needed, as his family was asleep and under Mekura that should last until tomorrow afternoon, so there was no problem on that front. The gates of Konoha would be closed, but Naruto had found out that in an hour, a shipment of goods would enter Konoha, meaning that he had a window of opportunity for his escape. All that kept him here, second thoughts were surprisingly not it, was the question if he should leave a message.
He didn't want to write a letter in which he expressed his anger, as that would only make the whole thing look like the thoughtless action of an upset child, and destroy the significance and meaning of his decision to leave. However, he didn't want to leave nothing behind and be considered kidnapped, as that would not only put anyone he would meet at risk of being accused of kidnapping, but it would make him look weak, not to mention that if he didn't leave a message, nobody would even consider that he left of his own will.
He needed something to deliver a message. It needed to be clear, short, stylish, and most of all, obvious. The best message was useless if nobody noticed it.
His throat was dry, so he sneaked downstairs to get a drink. On his way back he noticed a framed picture. It was the picture he had drawn and Natsuki had stolen and described as hers.
As he looked at it, his face split into a smile. "Perfect."
-0-
Leaving had proven easier than Naruto had originally feared. A quick Mekura to the guards who were arguing with a merchant about something, probably taxes, a little bit of sneaking, crawling under the cart to get through the barely-opened gates, and then carefully sneaking away.
Of course he couldn't have known that the reason it was so easy was that in his training to relearn his genjutsu, some of his guinea-pigs just so happened to be the squad that was responsible for watching over the barrier that evening.
After a while, Naruto paused. It was odd. Now that he was so far away from Konoha that it could no longer be seen through the trees, he felt different. A bit of regret was there, but not much. What had truly changed was that for the first time ever, Naruto felt free.
Here, away from the civilization that he had known and detested most of his life, away from their looks, their expectations, their pity, from those that looked down on him, never seeing just who he was and what he could do, Naruto felt his heart soar. Freedom, sweet, sweet freedom. He understood why people were willing to fight and die for this feeling.
Still, now was not the time to get lost in thought. Mekura would wear off tomorrow, and in three days, his parents should receive his message, and then send out forces. In a way, it was a last test for his parents. Mekura would wear off tomorrow afternoon, and the day after, it would rain in the evening. If they hadn't sent out anyone by then, it would be impossible to find him.
Also, in three days of civilian pace, he would reach his destination. He had an improved henge up, to ensure that nobody that wasn't looking for him would find him by coincidence, just in case some shinobi returned to Konoha using his route. Where he was going?
Well, Suna was an allied nation, meaning that this would be one of the places he would avoid in the near future. Maybe after things settled down a bit, but not yet.
Small nations like Taki and Kusa were on his list, but they too were allied with Konoha and would keep an eye out for him the first few months. Ame probably wouldn't care about Konoha, but Naruto had no intention of celebrating his freedom by walking into a dictatorship.
Kumo and Kiri were just too far away, he'd be caught on the road if Konoha checked.
Iwa was good, as who would expect the son of the Yondaime to travel there of all places, but if he could come up with the idea of hiding in a territory where one didn't initially look for him, then so could the Nara. Somebody would check the vicinity of Iwa, if only to make sure that he hadn't hidden behind the border to wait for them to give up.
And while there were many other countries, most had too little to do with the shinobi-world to be of real interest for Naruto, who wanted to expand on his knowledge, not let it rot.
So he would hide in the last place one would expect from someone who ran away from Konoha. To a place within the borders of Hi no Kuni, yet as far away as the moon.
-0-
The sudden disappearance of the Youki that had plagued Konoha for years, reminding them of what they had lost, had caused a panic. Everyone knew by now that youki didn't just vanish, so if it was gone, that could not be good. Was it just hiding, waiting until a large number of people were in its grasp before returning and killing them all? Had it wandered to different sectors of Konoha, where nobody was expecting it, in search of more prey?
As Hokage, it was Minato's duty to ease the worries of his people, and so from council-meetings over public speeches to personally joining the search-teams and equipping them with reverse-summon seals that they could use should they be attacked by the Youki, or simply trapped under debris of crumbling buildings. The Youki had weakened all structures and foundations, so collapses and, in the sewers, cave-ins where nothing unusual.
Kushina wanted to show her support of her husband and joined the search-squads, of course equipped with one of Minato's seals. She was the first that entered a building, after it had been declared structurally safe enough to enter, and was the first to enter the sewers, knowing that nothing was flowing through them, as that section of the sewers had been walled off to prevent the youki from moving that way.
They had parked Natsuki with the Akimichi, to make sure she stayed out of trouble and wasn't lonely. Sadly, when they departed, both had still been under Naruto's Mekura, which told them to ignore anything about Naruto, including his absence. By the time it wore off, both had too much work and pressure on them to spare either of their children a thought.
Almost a week would pass before the Namikaze-family would rejoin at their home. And that was too late.
-0-
Naruto looked up at the sky. The first drops had fallen a while ago, and now heaven had opened all floodgates. Naruto stood there, letting the rain wash over him, washing away the last connection to his family.
Naruto sighed and turned around. It was done. The last bridge was burned, the last chance given and wasted. He was officially alone, an orphan with no family.
Without looking back even once, he continued on his path, wherever it may lead him. His first destination was still half a day's journey away, and he needed someone to let him in, not that it would be too hard, seeing that he was quickly getting used to the new concentrations of chakra needed for his genjutsu. Naruto walked.
-0-
A week had passed, and the Namikaze-family could finally reunite. The entire village had been searched, every sensor had been on duty 24/7, and Konoha could finally be labeled safe. Not only that, but now they were finally able to make use of those sectors of the village that had been unusable in the past. All in all, Konoha had gained more ground on which it could build, helping the village hidden in the leaves to flourish even more.
Kushina was home first, and immediately started preparing a meal for the family, namely a huge pot of ramen.
Minato came next, completely exhausted from getting perhaps twelve hours of sleep during the entire week.
And finally, Natsuki was brought back from the Akimichi by a random member of the clan, who left after making sure that the girl had actually gone through the door of the compound.
Initially neither parent was too worried with Naruto, knowing that the boy usually had some watchers, and even in the cases where he gave them the slip for a while, he didn't really do anything worrying, mostly just reading, playing with some animals, and watching shinobi train. Still, when Kushina entered the kitchen seeing only two people sitting there, she frowned. She knew that Naruto regularly skipped lunch, but she felt that this day, they should all be together.
"Does either of you know where Naruto is?" She asked.
"Out?" Natsuki guessed, not really caring. The smell of ramen was much more important than her stupid brother, after all. Not to mention that she had played with her friends until late in the evening, and was woken up very early, only to play more. She was tired.
But now Minato frowned. "Kushina, do you remember who we asked to care for him while we were away? I know that we were talking about him the night before, but what happened next?"
Kushina considered it, racking her memory but coming up blank, when she noticed something. "Minato, is Natsuki's old drawing giving off light?"
Indeed, the old picture was giving off pulses of light, as if trying to get attention.
"Natsuki, come here." He drew a few seals around her, gave her a slip of paper, and looked her in the eyes. "I'm going to activate a barrier around you. What I just gave you was the key to release it. If something happens, you wait until it's safe, and then you run and get help, do you understand?"
Natsuki nodded, now scared by the seriousness in his voice. Minato activated the seal, encasing Natsuki in an azure orb that would stop just about anything. After knowing she was safe, he carefully stepped next to his wife.
It seemed unlikely that someone had entered, he had two arrays to stop that, but it never hurt to be careful. Using his limited abilities as a sensor, Minato tried to see if anything was unusual. He could sense his arrays all over the house, his wife, the barrier with his daughter in it, and, faintly, the picture. There was a bit of chakra in it, but it was not enough for anything dangerous. If there was an explosive-seal on it, then it would fail with a tiny puff of smoke.
Deeming it fairly safe, Minato pulled out a kunai and tapped the frame with it, Kushina looking over his shoulder.
The crudely-drawn picture rippled. The drawn Naruto looked at the rest of the family, which had scooted closer together, then he turned away, his left arm remaining in Minato's hand, and walked out of the picture, the paper he once occupied vanishing in a fashion that reminded of a falling curtain. Then it was over. Minato stared at the picture, realizing that the part Naruto had been in had been ripped off.
"What the?" Minato muttered. Now that it was over, he saw a small seal, a fairly basic one that allowed the user to save a simple genjutsu and play it. It had been all the rage a few years ago, when everyone used the seal on chests, wallets and other objects. But how did it get here? He looked at his wife.
"Did Naruto do this?" She asked.
Minato shrugged. "That seems the only explanation. He wouldn't tip off the arrays, and would not be recorded as an intruder. But there has to be someone helping him. There's no way that he could have enough knowledge of fuinjutsu and genjutsu to make this seal. It's simple, yes, but one must at least know what they're doing to craft this."
Kushina gave him a glance. "Minato, you have the habit of leaving things lying around. Is there ANY chance that Naruto may have learned something out of scrolls that you didn't put back into their shelves?"
Minato frowned, but nodded. "It's possible, but that alone would not... oh."
Kushina looked at him. "Oh? What do you mean oh?"
Minato scratched his head. "I gave Naruto the permission to browse the library, and he may have learned something there."
Kushina blinked. "I see. In any case, we should find Naruto, and ask him what this is supposed to mean. Look, he tore up Natsuki's picture!"
Natsuki, after deeming it safe, had disarmed the barrier. She didn't really care about what was going on, she wanted her ramen! "Who cares about Nii-san's stupid picture, I WANT RAMEN!"
Kushina turned around, her mother-senses giving off a bad vibe. "What do you mean, nii-san's picture?"
Natsuki slapped her hands on her mouth, realizing that she had just made a mistake. "Nothing mom, can we eat?"
But Kushina was not stupid. "Natsuki Uzumaki-Namikaze, do not lie to me. Look me in the eyes young lady, and tell me exactly what you meant when you said nii-san's picture."
Natsuki squirmed looking everywhere but her mother, until she finally blurted out "Niisanmadethatpicture!"
Kushina blinked. "Again, slower."
Natsuki bit her lip. "Nii-san made that picture. I... borrowed it and filled in the names."
Kushina stared at her. While the crime was really petty, she didn't like being lied to, much less by her own daughter. She remembered the day, and Naruto's hurt look when punished. "So you were lying to us the whole time?"
Natsuki looked at the floor. She mumbled something that could, with much imagination, be translated to "Yes mom."
Minato looked at her. "Natsuki, you know that we don't like lies. I think you should spend the day in your room, thinking about what you did. You will be skipping mealtime today."
Natsuki stared in horror. "What about the ramen? Please daddy, not the ramen!" She begged, but her father would not be moved.
"What punishment would this be if we gave you ramen? Of course you're not getting any ramen, that's part of your punishment. Now, are there any other things you'd like to tell us about? Some other misconceptions, or lies, that you didn't correct us on?"
Natsuki frowned, folded her arms in front of her chest, and stubbornly turned her head away. "I'm not telling!"
Minato and Kushina exchanged glances. Natsuki's reply had basically been a confession that there were other things, but right now, they had a different priority.
"In any case, we should find Naruto. I'm going to ask the guys watching the barrier for help." Minato told his wife, before vanishing in a yellow flash.
Kushina took Natsuki upstairs to her room and activated the seals to keep her inside. As she did, she realized that this was the first time she had done so with Natsuki, while she must have done it dozens of times with Naruto. Considering that she was doing to to punish Natsuki for lying and claiming Naruto's work as his own, she started to wonder if there had been times when she had punished Naruto for something his sister had done.
Afterwords she herself started to look for her son. The first step when looking for someone was to ask friends and associates, so Kushina decided to do the same. It was only then that she really realized an anomaly in Naruto's behavior. He had been watched ever since his accident, and while he had occasionally slipped away, those moments were few, and there usually was some witness that could dimly remember seeing him on the training-grounds, the library, or just strolling through town. But in all the time he was observed, there was not a single time were Naruto had sought the company of someone his age, or any human contact beyond observing shinobi train. She had to ask herself why her son acted that way, being so solitary. Even if the injury had put him in a bad mood, at least one of his friends should have at least tried to talk to him. Was it possible that Naruto didn't have any friends among his peers?
-0-
"What do you mean, he may not be in the village?" Minato demanded.
While the barrier was more for detecting intruders and had a few faults, it could be used to look for a certain signature, if it was registered. Naruto's chakra-signature was registered, so he should have shown up as a red spot on the map, but it had stayed blank. The current watcher had stated that this could mean two things. Either Naruto was dead, a rather unlikely scenario, as residue in the coils should be enough to detect a corpse as long as he was fresher than two weeks, or he had simply left the territory the barrier encased. Needless to say, Minato had not taken the information well.
"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but that is really all I can say. He does not show up on the map, so either he is dead, in an area that blocks the sensors, like a compound, or he is not in the village."
Minato nodded. "I see. Thank you for the advice, I'll check the compounds that may be the one in question." He hiraishined away.
Appearing in front of the Hokage's tower, he looked around, trying to distinguish the one Naruto would most likely be in. 'Lets see, what child does Naruto spend the most time with?'
Pondering that, Minato realized that he had never seen Naruto spend time with any child. Naruto's rhythm of life seemed similar to that of a shinobi who lost those that he cherished, going through the motions of living without really opening to anyone. Kakashi would be a good example for this, although the man did spend some time with him, the last living person that he could relate with. His teammates were gone, Obito dead, Rin M.I.A., so Minato was really the only thing that kept Kakashi from completely cutting ties with the world. And even with Minato present, Kakashi spent most of his time alone.
While such a behavior was not too uncommon for old men and veterans, it was not something that Naruto as a child should have.
As he didn't know who Naruto may play with, he decided to start with the Aburame, and work his way through other the clans if Naruto wasn't there.
-0-
Kushina was getting desperate. She had gone through Natsuki's list of friends, but nobody had seen her boy, or even knew anyone who was his friend. If children don't know anyone who is a friend of their best friend's twin brother, then that is sending a very worrying message. She was currently in the Hyuuga-compound, talking to the notoriously shy Hinata.
"I-I-I'm sorry I c-can't help you, miss K-K-Kushina, b-but I didn't see N-N-N-Naruto-san."
Kushina felt desperate. "And you really don't know anyone who spends time with Naruto? Nobody?"
Hinata shook her head.
Kushina pulled on her hair. "ARGH! It's like my sochi doesn't have a single friend!" She called out. Hinata was suddenly very interested in her feet. Kushina paused. "Hinata, does Naruto have friends?"
Hinata was trying to stare a hole into the floor. She seemed to be struggling with herself. Kushina put her arms on the girl's shoulders and went down on one knee so that they were at the same eye-level. "Hinata, please. Naruto's gone. If you know anything..."
Hinata couldn't meet her eyes, but she slowly shook her head. Kushina's head sagged in disappointment, until she heard Hinata's faint voice. "N-no, Naruto-san doesn't h-have a-a-any f-friends."
Kushina stared at her. "Hinata, do you know why?"
Hinata looked like she wanted to be anywhere, just not here. She really didn't want to get Natsuki in trouble, but she was a horrible liar.
"Hinata?"
Hinata bit her lip. "W-well, I k-know how it s-started." She finally admitted.
Kushina looked at her. "Really? How?"
Hinata gulped. "W-well, it s-started really harmless..."
And so Kushina learned of the birthday-party and of Natsuki's behavior. Needless to say, Kushina was shocked to hear of such behavior from the daughter she had believed as innocent as a kitten, especially since she had to this day not lifted the 'ban' she had placed on anyone who played with Naruto, confirming that it was still active whenever asked. That was beginning to worry Kushina. Together with a few other hints that Hinata had dropped, the pieces of the puzzle seemed to match to form a picture that she didn't like. It looked like Natsuki had started to use her brother as a scapegoat. But maybe she was overthinking things.
-0-
Minato had gone through all compounds that may have blocked the scan, only to find nothing and in many cases hear that his wife had been there first. So he returned to asking the barrier-crew if Naruto had returned, only to hear that this was not the case. So after he reunited with his wife, they decided to ask Kakashi for advice, as he was a tracker and should be able to find him fairly easily. Kakashi obeyed the call of his old sensei, and had promptly arrived, for a change not late.
"So you want me to find your son." Kakashi summarized after hearing the rather distraught parents out. "That shouldn't be too difficult. I know that he spends his time inside the village, so he shouldn't have much experience traveling. When was the last time you saw him?"
Minato and Kushina exchanged a baffled look, before Minato took the initiative. "I'm not sure about Kushina, but I haven't seen anyone not involved in the youki-hunt in a week."
Kushina nodded. "I was also involved in that, the last time I saw Naruto was before the sweep started."
Now Kakashi's brow twitched, once. "You're telling me that he may have a week's head-start? The boy knows how to water-walk, so he can do shinobi-travel, which means he could be practically anywhere by now! And even if he traveled the civilian way, he could still already be well out of Hi no Kuni. Not to mention that we had heavy rain a few days ago, so if he left before that, then I'm afraid there is nobody who would be able to track him. All footprints are gone, and the rain will have washed away every scent. I'll try to get a trace, but if he left before the rain, then I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."
Kushina looked downcast, but still nodded. "Please do."
Kakashi nodded and headed out.
He had barely left, when another visitor entered. Minato managed a tired smile. "Hello sensei."
Jiraiya nodded in greeting. "So, where is this message that your son may have left?"
Minato handed him the picture. Jiraiya charged it with chakra, and the scene replayed itself. Jiraiya charged it again, taking the scene in again.
Finally, Kushina couldn't stand the silence any longer. "And? What do you make of it?"
Jiraiya scratched his head. "Well, if it is from Naruto, then the message is pretty clear. He is telling you that he no longer considers himself a part of the family, and left."
Minato shook his head. "But why would he do that?"
Jiraiya gave him an almost apologetic look. "I'm not in his head, but I think I can guess part of the reason. Look closely at the picture. You're still holding his left arm."
Minato grabbed the picture and realized that the picture was indeed torn in a way that the Minato in it was still holding the arm of the drawn Naruto, although the rest of the drawn boy was, of course, not there. "Oh god. Kami have mercy, you think he found out about his arm?"
Jiraiya nodded. "It would make sense, and it is the only explanation why the picture was torn at that particular spot. That's too much of a coincident to ignore. Either somebody else let it slip, or he overheard you talking about it, unless either of you told him?" He finished with a questioning look.
Both parents shook their heads, then Kushina clapped her hands in front of her mouth. "Oh no!" She gasped. "We talked about his arm just before I left for the border-patrol, remember?"
Minato's eyes widened as he remembered what he had said back then. Even if it was only black humor, if Naruto had somehow heard that part...
His pondering was interrupted by a number of seals going off, alerting him to a problem in Natsuki's room. His head snapped up. "Something's wrong with Natsuki!" He called out.
Jiraiya and Kushina immediately jumped up and ran to Natsuki's room, Minato leading the small stampede.
-0-
Natsuki had spent the day in a rage, throwing stuff around. She was never sent to her room, and she definitely wasn't denied ramen! That stuff happened to her brother, not her!
Eventually she had laid down in her bed, exhausted from breaking nearly everything in her room and the bathroom that wasn't sealed unbreakable. That was when the pain started. It started as a small burning, and she instinctively stood up to go to her brother. It was only then when she realized two things. One, that she could not leave her room, and two, her brother was not here, so even if she got out, it would do her no good.
The burning got more intense, and she barely managed to reach the toilet before all that was in her stomach stormed out the way it came in. she heaved again and again, even after she had thrown up everything that was in her stomach, and only tasted the bile on her tongue. However, it didn't get better.
Her lungs were burning, millions of freezing-cold needles were rammed into her skin while said skin was being burned at the same time. Everything seemed to tighten, her joints felt like they were bending in the wrong direction, her blood was boiling in her veins, burning all tissue it came in contact with. Her internals were melting, her ears were popping under pressure, and two spinning drills were slowly being forced into her eyes. Natsuki had never been in such pain before, she had never even known such pain existed. She could not even scream, the pain was just too much. All she could do was whimper.
The door flew open, and shadowy figures entered. "Natsuki? NATSUKI! What's wrong with her?" That was her mother.
"I don't know!" That was her father. A hand touched her, and she latched onto it, just wanting the pain to stop.
"ARGH?" That was Jiraiya-jiichan. The hand was pulled away, and Natsuki whimpered again.
"It hurts. Get Naru-nii." She stammered. "He makes it all better. Need Naru-nii."
"Jiraiya, what's wrong?" Her mother.
"Hurts...Naru-nii..." She muttered, then, finally, everything turned black.
-0-
Jiraiya stared at his arm, which had the imprint of two small hands glowing in an angry red. He looked at Natsuki. "Minato, I think it's a surge."
Minato stared at him. "A surge? But she's been a jinchuuriki since birth! She shouldn't even feel them by now!"
Kushina didn't understand as much about jinchuuriki, but she had eyes. She gasped. "Jiraiya, your arm!"
Jiraiya lifted it up. "It hurts pretty badly, I can tell you that much. I think Natsuki tried to channel the youki into me."
Minato gaped at him. "That's impossible! You're not a jinchuuriki, your body can't handle youki."
The older man looked at his arm. "Yes, I think we can see that."
Minato stared, at Natsuki, at Jiraiya's arm, then again at his daughter. "Now that you mention it, I never noticed any surge-pain even when she was a baby. But that's impossible. For her to feel it even now, she'd have to have channeled practically every surge into someone else. I think someone would have told us if something like that happened."
Jiraiya frowned. "What did Natsuki say before she fainted? 'Get Naru-nii, he makes it all better'?"
Minato's jaw dropped. "You think she..."
The toad-sage nodded grimly. "Yes, I do."
Kushina looked at both of them. "Can someone explain to me what's going on? What's wrong with Natsuki?"
Minato sighed wearily. "Nothing's wrong with her Kushina. Jiraiya thinks, and I agree, that Natsuki is going through a for jinchuuriki completely normal thing known as a surge. That basically means that the bijuu, in our case Kyuubi, floods Natsuki's coils, and by extension her entire body, with youki. Don't worry Kushina, it's harmless. It happens to get the body used to the youki, so that in a situation where she has to call upon it, it won't immediately damage her body. The jinchuuriki normally only feels the first few surges, before the resistance against youki is high enough to ignore it. The first surge is the worst, and it only gets better from there."
Kushina pointed at her daughter, who, even in unconsciousness, was writhing in agony. "This never happened before!"
Minato gulped. "Well, Jiraiya had a theory..." He paused when he caught his old teacher giving him the evil eye "...and I agree," He hastily added "that this is probably the first surge Natsuki has ever really gone through."
"Wait, I thought that happened as soon as the bijuu settled? Natsuki has been a jinchuuriki since birth!" She asked, remembering reading something on the topic a few years back.
Minato looked away. "Normally yes, but Jir... we suspect that Natsuki's case is a little different."
Jiraiya took over. "She tried to pump the youki into me when I touched her, and before she fainted she asked for her brother, since he 'made it all better'. We think..."
But Kushina had connected the dots herself, and remembered what Naruto had told her every time Natsuki was in his bed. It hurts. "No... You think she pumped the youki into Naruto?" She was deathly pale, and tears welled up in her eyes when she remembered dismissing and scolding him every time he tried to tell her.
Minato nodded. "It seems the most logical explanation."
Now Jiraiya spoke up. "It would also be one more reason why he up and left. Before today, when was the last time Natsuki was in his bed?"
Kushina frowned through her tears. "A few weeks ago. A month?"
Minato shook his head. "No, the seals I placed around the house also look whose in what room. Natsuki was in Naruto's room little over a week ago."
Jiraiya nodded his head. "I thought so. A surge is only supposed to happen roughly every two months. It looks like Kyuubi is getting impatient because there is no progress, and shortening the intervals, probably while increasing the amount of youki. Naruto was probably able to recover from the surge in two months, but with the way it is now, there is no way he can last when he is injected twice a month. I'm no expert, you'd have to ask Tsunade, but my guess would be that his body is starting to break down. So if Naruto realized this, and somehow learned that you kept the true state of his arm a secret from him... well, we have a motive."
Minato sighed. "In any case, we should get her to Tsunade, just in case we're wrong."
Jiraiya looked at his arm. "And how do you suggest we do that?"
Kushina rolled her eyes, grabbed a blanket and threw it over Natsuki's twitching body, before wrapping her up in it. "Like this Jiraiya, how else?"
The older man raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I'm single and have never been a father, so how should I know how to take care of a child?"
"Men." The mother mumbled as she headed to see her good friend Tsunade, who would probably not be amused to hear that they still hadn't told Naruto about his arm, and that said boy was now missing, looking at his room most likely because he ran away. The two men followed her like obedient puppies.
As they headed to Tsunade, knowing that they would soon get a scolding like little children, Minato felt like the weight of the world had been dropped on him. How could he have not noticed what was going on? Kushina had told him that Natsuki was one of the reasons Naruto had no friends, disturbing as it was. He and Kushina exchanged glances, and knew that they had made the same decision. After Natsuki was back up, there would be some changes. For both their children.
-0-
Natsuki groaned. The pain was less, but she still felt it. Why was this happening to her? And where was she? This wasn't her room.
The room was dimly lit. It looked almost like a throne-room, but something was wrong. She couldn't say what, but everything was wrong, like in a caricature. The proportions were all wrong, the entire setting looked fake and twisted. What furthered the headache was the fact that the room's angles were all wrong. There were no right angles, the entire place had a cartoonish edge to it, only that you got the feeling that this was all wrong.
The wall to Natsuki's right, the one behind the throne, was almost completely covered by a horrible painting, depicting what only on third glance could be identified as a winner's podium, simply due to the fact that it looked more like a square tower. The middle-spot, which signified the winner with a big 1, was shooting high into the sky, looking to be at least a mile high. On it was a horribly-proportioned figure with a head that was much too big for its body, showing off an evil grin that in turn seemed to big for even the huge head. What unnerved Natsuki was that there was a minimal resemblance to her in that ugly figure.
The reason why it took so long to distinguish the podium was that the spot for the second was probably only thirty feet tall, occupied by a few figures the size of fleas, too small to be identified. The third spot was practically invisible, nothing more than a small spot.
The only thing that didn't look like it was designed to mock nature was the wall to Natsuki's left. It consisted of bars the size of trees, way too far apart to imprison anything smaller than an elephant. She carefully approached, peering into the darkness... To jump back with a cry when a red eye larger than she was snapped open!
"So, my jailor finally lowers herself to greet me." A voice growled, loud as thunder.
"W-W-Who are you?" Natsuki demanded.
"Do you really have to ask? I already suspected which sibling inherited the brains of the family, and I guess I was right." The voice muttered.
Natsuki looked at the eye. It had moved, and a second eye was visible. "Kyuubi." She gasped. Up to this point, she had heard of the demon trapped in her guts, but if she was honest, she had never really believed it. It was something she could brag with, something that brought her friendship and admiration. Now, face-to-face with the being whose existence she had never really acknowledged, it was suddenly not so great.
The demon grinned, presenting rows of razor-sharp teeth. "Correct. What was your first clue?"
Natsuki's brow ticked. She hated being belittled- "Stupid fox, do you know who you're talking to? I'm..."
"SILENCE!" The fox roared, sending Natsuki back with a shriek of fear. "Petulant child, an arrogant brat is what you are! Such a boring thing, never achieving anything, only stealing glory. You are weak, equal only to maggots and vermin!"
Natsuki puffed her chest out. "I took care of an assassin from Iwa all by myself! The man was an ANBU, and I..."
"Ran away in fright after realizing your own helplessness. You did nothing." Kyuubi interrupted.
Natsuki frowned. "Okay, so I used your genjutsu-abilities, so? You're sealed in me, so that counts!"
"My genjutsu-abilities?" The fox seemed honestly amused. "Whatever gave you the idea that I had any genjutsu-abilities?"
Natsuki looked offended by the idea that she might not have an ability that she bragged with. "B-B-But... You're a kitsune!"
Kyuubi rolled its eyes. "I have the appearance of a kitsune. I am youki, and genjutsu is an art designed by humans, therefore fueled mainly by human-chakra. I do not have any genjutsu-capabilities, nor do I have a need for them. Why couldn't I get sealed into the intelligent sibling?"
Natsuki pouted, but answered "Because Naru-nii is a boy and sealing something of one gender into something of a different gender is not good."
A barking laugh answered her. "I am a mass of highly intelligent youki, do you really believe I have a gender?"
Natsuki stared. "But Nibi has a gender! Tou-san said that when they sealed it into a man, it was a catastrophe!"
"The Two-tailed One?" Kyuubi asked. "It has taken intelligence from its hosts, and gained the personality of a female, of a mother. I do recall that event, one of my seekers was present. The problem was not that it was a man, but that he, believing it his right, attempted to rape a woman. One of the traits the Two-tailed One absorbed was the hatred of rapists, as such, being sealed into one was unacceptable."
Natsuki shook her head. She didn't care about history, but she wanted her genjutsu-powers! "You're lying! Of course it was me who took out the ANBU, who else could it have been?"
The great fox looked at her, the expression similar to someone that found a mildly interesting beetle on their path. "Who else? Your brother. The one who made a habit out of putting you in a genjutsu so you wouldn't bother him. The same one that is gone, meaning that now you can no longer use him as a lightning-rod for the Surge. Annoying insect."
Natsuki stared at the fox. "I'm not an insect! And if you're not a girl, how come everyone says you are? Huh? Answer that!"
Kyuubi growled, and Natsuki fell on her but again. "The reason is simple. All nine of us know how to shift into other shapes that we know. The one who claimed I was female..."
A red whirlwind broke out in the cage, and when it vanished, the fox was gone. Instead there was a woman in the cage. She looked to be in her early twenties, the long red hair that flowed from her head like red water reaching down to her her shapely butt. Her figure was like an hourglass, her thin waist and long slender legs contrasting with the DD-cup breasts that perked up from her chest. Her features were noble and beautiful. She was wearing a short red kimono with foxes on it. "...simply saw me in this form."
Natsuki gaped, slack-jawed. Not even her mother looked that good!
Kyuubi grinned. "Ah, jealous? I'll admit, this form does have a beauty rarely seen in the world." She frowned, even that looking cute, and fox-ears popped from her head, while nine slender tails grew from her back, just above her firm buttocks. "I just feel naked without them. But you are right to adore this form, the woman who once had these features was a great beauty."
Natsuki stared. "You mean you're just copying the appearance of someone you once knew? Who was she?"
Kyuubi smiled, a smile that would enchant all humans to falling to her feet, but Natsuki felt a shudder. There was something evil in that smile. "She was a sacrifice. There was a village that believed me a god, so they captured a woman that happened to be traveling through the village, killing her husband and son, and tied her to a cliff, so that I would take her and leave the village alone. At the time, I was looking for a human disguise, so I graciously accepted. The woman was brave, she stared me in the eye and cried out 'If you truly are a god, then I give my life to you! I just have one request! Avenge me! Avenge my husband and my child! Do not let these beasts go unpunished! Kill them, so that they reap what they've sown!' Her anger and grief were so potent, you can't even imagine. So I swallowed her, using my youki to carefully study her. Her hair, her skin, her blood, her flesh, her muscles, her organs, her brain, her bones. I took her apart piece by piece, gaining her form, and more intelligence. Afterwords I fulfilled her request and massacred every being in that village."
Natsuki shuddered. This woman was evil. But she was curious. "So, do you have a male form too?" She was sure the fox didn't, after all, with a body like that, who would want another one, and using that as evidence that she was female after all. She was Natsuki Namikaze-Uzumaki, she was never wrong!
But Kyuubi shattered that belief. "Of course." When the wind settled this time, Natsuki couldn't help but drool. In front of her sat a man, maybe seventeen years old. He was muscular, but not bulky, his chiseled body being lean. He was wearing loose-fitting pants and a open jacket with wide sleeves. Only the open jacket. His muscled chest was in full view. His hair was black and long, the back-part of it woven into a number of braids that reached down to his shoulder-blades. The ears and tales were pitch-black. His features were even, not even the smallest flaw to be found, and he had a kind of rugged good look that would make girls faint in groups when he passed. He frowned. "It appears that in this form, I won't be able to get a word out of you." Natsuki blinked, and the beautiful woman was back. "In case you were wondering, that boy was a hero that threw himself down my throat to save his village. Seeing that he gave me another form, I spared the place."
Natsuki wiped her drool away, and looked around. "Anyways fox, were did you bring me?"
The woman snorted. "This is your mind, or at least a representation of your mind."
Natsuki jumped up in anger. "LIAR! There's no way my mind is such a twisted place!"
Now Kyuubi's smile turned feral. "Of course it is. It's twisted because you are twisted. That picture over there shows your priorities. You care about yourself, and practically only about yourself. Everyone else is so low in your list of priorities that if it was height, you couldn't even make them out anymore. In case you're wondering, those dots on the second step are your parents, your godfather and those you call your friends. On the third step are those that worship you. You see, even with those you 'care' about, it has to revolve around you. You are selfish. You would let your parents die if saving them would put you at risk. The thrones speaks of your arrogance, and the lack of a scepter symbolizes that you do not have power. You are a boring creature."
Natsuki stared at the woman, too shocked to deny. "I-I can't be that bad!" She called out.
"But you are." Kyuubi answered. "Do you want proof?"
Natsuki nodded her head. She was a good person, so there was nothing to fear.
"You do have some good in you." Kyuubi admitted, before she grinned. "It's right here with me." Even as she spoke, a small figure wearing a blanket like a hood stepped out of the darkness and snuggled to the woman's side. It barely reached above her knee.
"What's that?" Natsuki asked.
Kyuubi patted the figure's head, from the looks and size of it, it was a child no older than four. "We Nine occasionally meet, and exchange information. On that occasion I heard from the Six-tailed One that normally, the host of one of us, who knows, maybe all humans do, develops a Dark Self. While I, never being sealed before, can't say if it is true, you don't have a Dark Self."
Natsuki pointed her finger. "See! I told you I was a good girl!"
Kyuubi gave her an almost pitying look. "The reason you haven't formed a Dark Self is the simple fact that you are living it."
Natsuki blinked. "What?"
"A Dark Self is born out of repressed emotions, from what should your Dark Self form? You are giving into every evil temptation, you vent all your anger on others. Had I not intervened, there would be no light left in you." Kyuubi stated.
Natsuki stared at the fox. She wanted to call it a liar, she really did, but looking back at her life, which in this twisted chamber seemed like looking at a movie, she didn't find one time where she had not let her frustration out on someone or something. That Kyuubi was still smiling showed her that she too could see the images that, as Natsuki now noticed, the small cloaked figure was projecting. Finally, her throat oddly dry, Natsuki asked "What do you mean, you intervened?"
Kyuubi smiled. "Before I get to that, I'll explain why you are in so much pain. You see, to get you used to my youki, I have been sending it through you ever since the day I let myself be sealed into you. You however, in some pathetic attempt to ease the pain that would have faded anyways, channeled it all into your twin. I didn't know it was possible before, as the boy does not have a jinchuuriki's healing, meaning that your actions were very bad for his health, but because you did so, I could not even give you a one-tailed cloak without it peeling the skin off your flesh, which also means that you can't use any of my abilities, not that you would appreciate them. Really, why couldn't I be sealed into your brother?"
Natsuki blinked. She didn't understand what the fox was talking about, but the words 'my abilities' rang in her. "So I'm getting powers? What is it? Can I shoot lasers out of my eyes? Can I fly? Can I turn the Hokage-monument upside down?"
Kyuubi snorted. "And this is the reason I wanted to be sealed into your brother. You won't be able to appreciate my abilities. No, my powers are nothing flashy, if you wanted that, you should have let the Two-tailed One or the Four-tailed One sealed into you. My powers are directly related to why I traveled to Konoha in the first place."
Natsuki stared. Nobody knew why the Kyuubi had shown up. If it told her, then she would be the only one! "Why did you come?"
Kyuubi's answer would shock the world. "Why else, because you called me."
Natsuki's jaw dropped. "WHAT? STOP LYING, NOBODY CALLED YOU!"
Kyuubi laughed. "Of course you did. You even say it in your legends, 'The Nine-tailed Fox appears where malice festers'. That is true. You see, my power does not reign over lava, steam, the desert, or the dead. No, my power involves the mind. Emotions. It's as simple as that. I can feel emotions of others, I can manipulate them, I can even harvest them and bind them into my power. That is the reason why I never bothered with genjutsu. I don't need it! I can drive humans into deepest despair, wildest passion or murderous rage with but a snap of my fingers, what do I need illusions for? And emotions are a powerful force by itself. They can linger in a place centuries after the humans that brought them forth have turned to dust. The moving feeling at looking at a great work of art, the fluttering in your stomach when you see a romantic spot, the shivers running down your back when you enter a house with bloody history, all this is caused by lingering emotions. I can harvest them, and use them to give myself these traits. Admiration, love, sheer terror, I can cause them all with my sheer presence. Unlike the Others, I have never had the need for a host to gain intelligence, I drained it from the ones that gave me my shapes, and used those shapes to enter your world and learn. And not long ago, I felt a pull towards a certain city, or village, as you call it."
"Why Konoha?" A new voice asked. Natsuki was startled by its feeble sound, realizing only after a second that the cloaked figure had spoken. The voice sounded like it belonged to a girl.
Kyuubi patted her head, the demon's eyes taking on a dreamy expression. "Simple. Because in the entire world, there was not a place so rotten as Konoha. Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Lust, Pride, Wrath, Greed, the seven cardinal sins were practically spilling out of your village, together with all forms of lesser evil, such as misery, abandonment and cruelty. It was simply too tempting a maelstrom to resist. Corruption in amounts that have not been seen for centuries. Then your father came, and summoned the Shinigami of all beings. I knew he planned to seal me away, and I let him. Had I truly wanted to escape, I could have just separated from the youki that the god of death had in his grasp. But as a being living off emotions, I was curious. What emotions do humans feel? What are those finer emotions that don't last long? Those fluttering feelings that vanish so quickly? Imagine my disappointment when I learned that I had been sealed into an arrogant brat with the emotional depth of a rock!"
Natsuki was insulted, but the figure interrupted her. "It's true. You are a shallow, empty being."
That was too much. "Who do you think you are to say something like that to me?"
Kyuubi laughed. "You really haven't figured it out? Let me enlighten you. You started with the same potential that all humans have, a potential for both good and evil. However, you grew arrogant and addicted to feeble feelings of power. You embraced these darker parts of your being, and slowly crushed all good that was in you. But in doing so, you became worthless for me. You had nothing left to offer that I don't already know. Perhaps I would have made you a mere battery, but most likely I would have simply overloaded your body with my youki and killed you. Some of it would have escaped, and I would have reformed from that, like all of us do when a host dies. However, I was able to gather those dying embers of goodness, of selflessness, of true companionship, of honesty, and what was crushed first, of your love for your sibling. All those little emotions crumbling under the weight of your insufferable personality I gathered, I gave it form, I nurtured it back to health. You see, just because you have not formed a Dark Self does not mean that your soul is not divided into a Light-part and a Dark-part. The only difference is, the positions are reversed."
Now the other figure spoke, slowly removing the blanket it was wrapped in. "You who stands on the other side of the cage, do you not understand?" The blanket fell to the floor, revealing... a younger Natsuki. "You are the Dark Self of the one who calls herself Natsuki, as I am the Light."
This new Natsuki looked identical to the one outside the cage, only smaller and less cared for. Her hair was messy, and you could see tear-stains down the entire length of her face. She looked slightly underfed, but there was a fire in her eyes.
It had taken much of Kyuubi's admittedly limited reserves of positive emotions to nurse the little lump of goodness back to health, but it had worked. The reason for it's appearance was now not weakness, but reaction to the girl's behavior.
Still, Kyuubi had hope that once they merged, this girl would be able to show her something interesting, which was the only reason Natsuki was still breathing.
While the older Natsuki started to crawl backwards until her back hit the throne, somehow instinctively deathly afraid of the small child in front of her, the younger one walked through the bars until she was right in front of her darker part. Then the young figure kneeled down. "Call it a gamble, but I think we've been separated for too long. Things have changed, you've become a complication. Kyuubi told me that our parents have learned of you channeling the youki you were supposed to take. Do you understand that you were killing our brother? And I think they also found out that it's your fault he doesn't have any friends. How long do you think they'll need to find out that you and everyone was just blaming brother for your own actions?"
Natsuki paled. This was bad, this was really bad. "Go away!" She called out.
Her younger self shook her head. "No. you've been in command too long. It's time we become one." She hugged the old Natsuki, and the girl screamed as they merged in a hiss. The entire mindscape flickered, before normalizing, although now everything had a wet shimmer to it.
Kyuubi laughed. "Well, it will take a few months for the merge to completely finish, so it should be done by the time you grow used to the surges. And make no mistake, I will personally ensure that you won't flee into unconsciousness again. The next time I see you, the merge will be complete, and if you then still cannot interest me..."
With that, Natsuki, the Natsukis?, were thrown out of the mind, and into true unconsciousness.
Chapter 7 is done. Finally!
I know I made you all wait, and some are still waiting for other stories, but things are a little crazy right now. Two story-ideas wouldn't leave me alone, and now that I wrote them down, two more are acting up. It's like fighting a hydra of stories! Either way, I made the chapter extra-long, partially since I'm hoping that with this, I'll breach the 1000-review-barrier. I'm so exited, I've always wanted to write a 1000+ story, but honestly, I never expected that I actually would. Sniff.
Well, I made Naruto leave. I'll admit that he got his genjutsu back under control pretty quickly, but he had the whole day, and had been on a level where he could cast it without handsigns, simply because he had used it so often. And the reason I didn't have him write an angry letter blaming the parents and unveiling all of Natsuki's wrongs was that it just seemed... petty. I wanted to show that it was a determined and thought-through decision of Naruto, and writing a letter like that just seemed childish. It would have made the entire running away look like the temper-tantrum of an upset child, and I didn't want that. But leaving without a message also takes away meaning, as nobody would even get the idea that Naruto just ran off. So I chose the picture as a medium. It was simple, it was obvious, and it told his parents 'You have been underestimating my abilities' without actually bragging.
I also wanted the reason for Naruto's escape be less obvious than what is normal with fics like this, namely in Harry Potter, where the neglect is criminal, and there is physical abuse and practical slavery. I wanted to show that the parents were maybe a little arrogant and ignorant, but still well-meaning, and that a not unimportant factor with him leaving is simple bad luck. When he drew the picture and his mother happened to stumble on Natsuki when she was finishing it, Naruto not knowing that both of his parents are absent for a few days and think that they didn't notice him, or that he didn't even realize that with the healing of his arm, the Kyuubi's youki was gone, which would drive the entire village into a paranoid frenzy, meaning that his parents simply didn't have the time to look after their children, and since they were still under Mekura when they made their arrangements, they didn't even notice that they hadn't planned for Naruto. There were mistakes on the parents' part, many mistakes, but there was also a larger number of misunderstandings that finally caused Naruto to cut all ties with his birth-family.
As for the part in Natsuki's head, well her mind obviously couldn't be a sewer, so I decided to make it a twisted homage to her arrogance and personality. I brought the split personality in because that was one thing in canon I liked, Naruto having a separate personality for his negative emotions. But then I realized that that wasn't possible with Natsuki, as the girl was living her evil part. So I decided that the split part should be her good side. Then I asked myself how anything good could have survived Natsuki's mindset, and decided on Kyuubi. But now I needed a motive for Kyuubi to do so.
I was also wondering what abilities the Kyuubi might have. As the strongest of all nine, it couldn't simply be the raw power it's shown in the manga, and I didn't really like the whole 'Lord of Fire'-idea that was spread with the false bijuu-legend and adopted by the anime-makers to make the eight-tailed form more interesting. So I took a step back, and looked at the legends and other things from canon. It was said that the Kyuubi appeared where malice festered. Also, when Naruto used Kyuubi's chakra, he could suddenly sense hatred and other negative emotions. I asked myself what such things could mean to the Kyuubi, as it obviously didn't have to worry about assassins or spies, so why should it be able to detect something that has no meaning to it? So I decided to give the Kyuubi power over emotions, a less flashy art and therefore useless for Natsuki, but with great potential. You can block sand, you can block steam, you can even block lava, but how do you block hatred, lust or grief? Of course, feeding off emotions means that one has to be closer to what creates these emotions, aka humans. So Kyuubi needed a human-form, or at least something that doesn't attract as much attention as a giant fox. But how would a mass of youki learn the details of a human form? Obviously by studying humans, which was the reason for the stories on the shapes.
And yes, I decided that bijuu have no real gender. I stated that they were masses of intelligent youki, which means that they are essentially energy with a mind, and energy has no gender. It may have certain properties that allow it to be attuned to certain tasks, but a gender? No.
And when I had the Kyuubi's abilities, I had a motive: Curiosity. Kyuubi wanted to learn of emotions that are perhaps not strong enough to linger in the air, and for that it needed a somewhat balanced human. As an arrogant prat without a sliver of goodness, Natsuki could produce nothing that Kyuubi hasn't seen before.
Oh, and one thing I didn't specify. The arm can give Naruto a temporary doujutsu, but it will only do so when it wants to point out something to Naruto, for example using the Byakugan and making a person with a kekkei-genkai it wants glow. As for the Sharingan's ability, I do have something different than usual planned for that.
In the next chapter, which may not be quite as long as this one, we will all see where Naruto's first stop will be. He will also learn that there may be more to his arm than he initially thought. From that point on, the fic will also turn Naruto-centric, meaning that we're going to hear very little from Konoha until it somehow barges back into Naruto's life.
Oh, and to clear off all misunderstandings, the traveling-companion won't show up right away, the soonest moment I can accept is two years into Naruto's freedom. Before that point, he will not crave human-contact, but be happy to finally be rid of the annoyances.
I think that's all, now for the questions.
Q: Does Naruto have regeneration, or is that only the Arm's ability?
A: Both regeneration and the Kurama-DNA were bound with Naruto by the chakra that his sister pumped in him, not by the one that was building itself a host, so Naruto has those two, but no others, and he doesn't really know it yet.
Q: Will Naruto's arm 'spread'?
A: No, the youki and the kekkei-genkai will be focused on the arm, and the bloodlines will be only in the arm.
Q: Does Natsuki channeling the youki to Naruto have any ill effects for her?
A: Well, she gets the pain in a stage where she really understands it, and because the Kyuubi was annoyed and used more than normal, it hurts more. Also, in terms of how much she can take, she is behind Naruto, let alone the other bijuu. By the time she makes genin, she may be able to use the one-tailed cloak, but any more and her skin peels.
Q: Will Naruto join village X?
A: No! Naruto will probably visit other villages in perfect disguise, maybe eventually learn how to make himself unnoticed by an entire town and learn things from that town he may not have learned otherwise, but he will not join any village. As for Akatsuki, good luck finding someone that looks different every time he does something.
Q: If bijuu are essentially invincible, why is the Hachibi's horn still broken?
A: While that is not in my story, I will answer. While a bijuu is free, it can absorb the natural energies around it, instantly recovering any damage that may be done to it. However, if they're sealed into a human, the youki's connection with natural energy is cut off, and it has to rely on the excess of the host's chakra it can redirect to itself for recovery, meaning that the reason Hachibi's horn his broken is mainly because he used the little energy he can drain from Killerbee to heal the tentacles first. And they don't disappear because there is a limit to how much youki a jinchuuriki can take from the host. No bijuu, not even the insane Shushaku, would give away so much that they're risking their own existence. They always keep a certain amount in reserve, and that can't be taken from them. Just like canon-Naruto could not take everything, Kyuubi even having enough to spare for one more attack, although it was interrupted.
Q: Will the Uchiha-massacre still happen?
A: Yes, and it will still be done by Itachi, who will become a missing-nin. Beyond that... we'll see.
Q: Is the arm a kekkei-genkai?
A: No, and it will not be inherited by Naruto's children, should there be any.
Well, I think the AN is long enough, so for the sake of my 1000+ dream
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