Chapter 6: The Beast Master and his Beast
The next day after school, Naruto had another lesson with Kitsune. When they got there they found things were as usual, Kanji was still drinking like a fish and Sasuke was still sulking in the corner, ticked that Kitsune and Naruto were still having their lessons at Kitsune's house. Kitsune sat down on the floor mat, all business.
"So, is it safe for me to presume that you already know of your inner demon?"
"You mean the Nine Tailed Fox? Yeah, I know about him."
"Good, one less thing for me to explain for you. I'm going to give you this quick and simple. You are what my people call a Beast Master, my father was one, and I am what my people call a Beast, and my mother was one."
"I'm not even going to comment about that last part. But how did we get from Ninjutsu for Dummies to my inner demon? And what's all this about Beast Masters and Beasts? And who are your people?" asked Naruto, who was, as usual, dumbfounded. Kitsune sighed.
"Really, I would have thought you would have figured it out by now. Firstly, I'm not from this village, I'm on a mission and part of that mission is to keep you and some other ninja on the right path and alive. And I believe I may best accomplish that by telling you what you don't need to know. So here's the deal, I'm a kitsune, you are a jingeriki, a tailed beast. While my people can only have one tail your kind can have as many as nine and in one case ten."
"So what your name is a pun? What do the Beasts do?" Naruto asked curious.
"A Beast, like me, gives power to a Beast Master, like you." Suddenly Kitsune held her hand up at eye level and a light blue fireball burst into existence.
"What the…? What is that?" Naruto asked scooting back away from Kitsune. Kitsune smiled.
"Foxfire." She said simply. Kitsune grabbed Naruto's hand and her foxfire was suddenly highlighted with orange.
"Wow. Who did that happen?"
"Your inner foxfire mixed with mine. Now you try." Naruto did and suddenly foxfire appeared in his hand as well. Naruto's foxfire looked a lot like Kitsune's except his was mostly orange with highlights of blue. Kitsune smiled at him.
"Now you're getting it. The more Beasts you come into contact with the more colors your fire will have. Think of it like a journal of every Beast you ever met." Naruto smiled.
"That's pretty cool."
"Yeah," Kitsune said "I know. Not so boring after all is it? Now back to basic ninjutsu." Naruto let out a groan.
"Kitsune." He said. The fox girl just smiled.
"Bye Naruto. See you tomorrow." Kitsune said waving at her student.
"Is he finally gone?" Sasuke asked, arrogant as usual.
"Yep." Kitsune said as she sat down and carefully sipped from a glass of sake.
"So why are you still teaching Naruto when he knows all he needs to ace the tomorrow's test?"
"I finish what I start." Kitsune said simply.
"You are one weird girl, making friends with a goof ball like that." Sasuke said turning to sulk at the wall again.