A/N – So, I give you chapter two. Again, this one is a little short, but for right now I'm just trying to get this started off so I can get into the really gritty stuff and get this thing on the road. Essentially, I'm trying to get enough up so I can go ahead and post this... Anyway, rest assured once I get a bit of a schedule worked out the chapters will get much longer and HOPEFULLY better. As it is, enjoy!
A Tale of Two Beasts – Harmony and Chaos: Book One
Chapter One:
The Beginning of the End; God Help Us
Several dozen centuries ago, in the land of the Makai, an infant born of the goddess Inari lay in sheets of burgundy silk, surrounded by beauty. Power swept through him, barely contained by his small form, the warped energy focusing on the area around his lower back, pushing and pulsing alongside his single tail, the tail granted to him by his birthright as a Kitsune. Blood splattered along the wall suddenly, and another tail swung free from its confines within the poor child. The flow of energy swept all the crimson liquid off his body before slowing, seeping deep into him and churning in the endless sea of chakra, reiki and youki that resided in all demons. He moved very little, perhaps a single flinch as the appendage burst from his skin, but he was silent, both eyes of dull amber swirling with endless wisdom in this infant form.
Inari stared down at her* child, a frown planted on her exquisite features. "I am uncertain of his fate, Kyuubi-chan. As Royalty he has been born into this form so similar to the humans**... I have no doubt many will seek to do him harm. And so very soon I must leave the Makai to you and my daughters... Take young Youko Kurama under your wing. Train him to become powerful, as is his right. He is the only son I shall ever have. The only one able to become a true King. It has been many, many years since I have last born a child as strong as he... And his potential is rivaled by only you, Kyuubi. I expect you to care for him as you would your own." Inari turned away from the infant, and began walking towards the massive golden arched doors that led to the Makai before continuing, "I shall take my place in Heaven alongside the others. You, as the last of the Nine Tailed must take my place. Keep my kingdom safe, Kyuubi-chan."
Kyuubi no Kitsune watched his surrogate mother pass through the walls, and felt her power drift into the clouds of the Makai, and far beyond, until it vanished completely. He smiled, and looked down upon the infant. "You and I, my young apprentice, are going to have lots... and lots... of fun."
-
Youko shifted in his sleep, the dream fading from his thoughts. Already his form had shifted into a more befitting manner. Long, silver hair had shortened to his mid back, switching the ever present ivory to a more casual, but still unorthodox red. Claws had dulled into nails, and amber orbs had shrunken and withered to a still striking, shimmering green hue. All five tails had been absorbed, and converted to youki. With blood of the Goddess Inari running through his veins, his tails not only added to his power and gave him abilities, they magnified his strength in ways no other demon could experience, not even his female siblings, as his being Male gifted him with larger stores of spiritual power and physical strength. His tails could still be re summoned and he could again regain his former power, but for now his subdued strength would be more than adequate.
The demon lord stared down at his pale, clawless hands, flexing each digit and wincing at the very slight loss of reaction time. He paused for a moment to examine his new nails, 'tsk'ing at the loss of much of their natural sharpness and the duller glaze, nearly totally absent of their usual reflective quality. But he only sighed and turned towards the exit, walking quit gracelessly with the sudden lack of his tails. Again he suddenly paused and turned towards the rock walls, summoning a small amount of reiki to his fingertips and running them along the rough surface, transforming it into a mirror of sorts. He stared back at the face in front of him, smiling slightly upon seeing his kitsune features, high cheekbones, relatively thin eyebrows and narrow eyes, along with a still flawless complexion and blemish free skin. He turned away, cutting the illusion off with a small gesture and continued his on his path towards the exit, unknowingly taking a guise eerily similar to the one he would one day take on a more permanent basis.
-
Several minutes later he found himself trekking along one of the wide dirt streets of this large village, Konohagakure. He had already came up with his plan, and now he was acting on it. Firstly, he would slither his way into the ranks of these ninja, and eventually would kill the vessel of his mentor, and/or free Kyuubi anyway he could. At first, Youko had thought of only stealing the elder's power... but as he was not of his own direct bloodline, simply feeding off his essence wouldn't directly end in his gaining all of the other demon's knowledge and youki. He would have to let Kyuubi finish teaching him... and really, even a cruel beast such as Youko Kurama doubted he could honestly betray him like that.
Youko shoved his thoughts away and directed his attention to the massive tower in the center of town. Common sense told him this was where their leader would be, and from the discussion amongst the obvious office employees around him, indeed this was where their Hokage resided. He walked inside, observing his surroundings and the multitude of hidden ninja stationed inside the very walls... and from what his senses told him, each and every one was trained on his position. Possibly one of their ninja magics***. Tricky bastards...
He walked calmly up to the large desk that sat in just to the side of the massive swirling staircase further in to the large lobby. Behind the woman staring up at him he could see the workings of many busy office employees, but he dismissed them and met the brunette's gaze evenly. "I would like a council with your Hokage, ma'am."
The woman's eyes remained somewhat wide, and he knew she was merely a civilian. The two bright orbs twinkled with innocence, and a bit of suspicion whirled in those dark brown eyes, "May I ask for what reason, and your name, title, and allegiance, sir?"
The demon kept his face schooled into a somewhat friendly, but serious expression. "My apologies. I am not a native to this land, madam, please forgive me for my improper manners. I am known as-" he paused for a moment, and in an instant realized to announce himself as 'Fox Demon Kurama'**** was sure to receive some definite hostility from these kind folks, and altered his speech in less than a second, without pause, "Kurama. I have no surname. I seek citizenship in Konohagakure, and to be a shinobi."
The woman nodded slightly, smiling a bit as her suspicion faded rather quickly, "That's good news. And please, I took no offense. Konohagakure is happy to welcome new blood, and the prospect of another fine shinobi is also a great treat. However, I'm afraid I just can't assign you a rank and such, you'll have to personally meet with the Hokage for such matters. Normally, if you were just wanting to join the country I could just hand you your papers and you could be on your way, but the whole military thing complicates it a bit. Just have a seat over there and I'll be right with you."
Kurama nodded politely and walked off, letting the secretary gather his papers and page the Hokage. He sat down with a heavy sigh and leaned back into the thickly cushioned, and quite comfortable arm chair, letting his head set on the wall just behind him. It wasn't long before the very same secretary wandered up to him and smiled, "The Hokage will see you now. Just follow me, if you will, please, sir." She turned around, and then faced him again, "Oh, and here are your immigration papers. I'd almost forgot. So sorry."
The walk was quite long, up at least seven flights of spiral stairs and another two much shorter flights and down a very long hall. But at last they faced the massive bolted doors that opened with very little effort from the lithe young woman. She bowed low, and he followed her example. "Here is the boy***** in question, Hokage-sama." the woman stayed in her position until the Hokage, with an aged voice dismissed her, and thanked the woman for bringing him. She rose, and again Youko followed the example she set, somewhat familiar with correct manners in the presence of superiors (he mentally snorted at this) and smiled back as the woman winked at him as she left, but didn't let himself to follow her well formed rear and the glimpse of smooth, toned flesh the slit in her skirt would of allowed him.
He smiled at the Hokage, and bowed shortly once more, before rising at the sound of the old man's thick voice, "So... you're the young man that desires to become a shinobi, eh?" Youko watched as the elderly ninja rose with ease and trained grace, standing with a strong posture. "Konohagakure is a relatively peaceful village, especially in comparison to many of its neighbors, but I find it hard to turn away any prospective soldier. I feel obliged to tell you as a ninja you will face many, many dangerous obstacles and will be forced to endure many hard ships. But it is your choice, and after I have deemed you suitable, it won't be long before you'll be in your very own squadron of Jounin led Genin... You are of course, familiar with the ranks..?"
At Youko's hesitant shake of the head he narrowed his eyes a bit, but responded anyway, "At the very lowest are the Academy Students, those who are civilian but are learning to become ninja. Next are the Genin, the lowest ranking and weakest of the ninja. Then are the Chuunin, or Journeyman Ninja. They are usually the squad leaders of Genin during war time, and take more dangerous missions than the Genin. Lastly are the Jounin, or Elite Ninja. These are the strongest of all ninja. There are other rankings, and titles, like Special Jounin, who are experts in one field, or hunter-nin, which are rather self explanatory, but hunt down bandits and the like... Of course there are also the ANBU, which are essentially the most elite of the elite. Those that handle assassinations and the most difficult of missions. They're also involved in the security of all of Konohagakure."
The shinobi's eyes returned to their normal friendly and composed, but weary look that Youko had noticed upon first glimpsing him. He still remained suspicious of the young boy... what kind of person knew nothing of the ninja world? Still, he continued, "As today has luckily been void of any pressing matters.. other than a minor incident I'm sure you've no doubt heard about (Youko smiled a bit at the reference to the blond child he'd seen earlier and the chase that had ensued shortly after he'd left) and I am free, I can see to it that you are immediately instated into the system this very day, and can see you in a squadron tomorrow. Firstly, I just want to let you know that the Genin examinations are coming up tomorrow, and that as you're already of the normal age most students graduate on, I think it would be best if you were placed on a team immediately, but if need be we can always delay that process to when you are better equipped. In any case, if you will, please follow me."
Youko did so, falling in step behind the Sandaime as the two walked out towards the massive balcony that had been specifically designed for life in a Ninja village. "Alright, firstly, do you have any known blood line techniques?"
Youko started for a moment, before answering calmly, "I have a natural affinity for plants, Hokage-sama. If I may, I could demonstrate..?" he watched the Hokage nod and saw the small charge of chakra that suddenly spread throughout the old man. He smiled and reached into his hair, drawing out a seed and flicking his hand, flooding it with a small pulse of youki and swatting his hand to the side, letting his Rose Whip fly into the air and then down onto the railing, ripping through the five inch thick hand rail like a hot knife through butter. He let the whip wither and sealed it back into a seed which he swiftly put back before grabbing the post out of the air where it was falling back and put it back into place. He shoved a small spark of his reiki in, binding the grains back together. Youko turned back to the Hokage, who was smiling slightly.
"Very impressive. I can already see you are apt at molding your chakra... let me just see if you can do the jutsu required for graduation and we can work you in. Can you perform any other jutsu...?"
Youko shook his head, "I am afraid not, Hokage-sama."
Sandaime nodded, before showing him the seals for Bushin no jutsu. "This is what is known as the Ram seal. Mold your chakra around your body and concentrate on this and the desired effect. Like this. Bush in no jutsu!" Instantly burst of smoke suddenly appeared, and as it faded, Youko saw an exact copy of the Hokage smiling at him. "To dismiss such a jutsu, concentrate on the effect and form the same seal. Kai!" The clone vanished. "Try it."
Youko grinned, and formed the seal without strain, "Bushin no jutsu." He smelled the distinct sulphuric tang in the air that had come from the smoke that had brought the Hokage's own clown out and watched as his clone stared back at him with his own shimmering green eyes.
Sandaime nodded, "Great job. I can already see you have definite potential in this field of work, Kurama-kun. Now, with the same seal, do the exact same, but concentrate on doing this. Henge no jutsu!" And in his place, as the same smoke faded stood a much younger man whom which Youko Kurama identified as a much younger Hokage. He repeated the name, and transformed into the same man that stood in front of him, smiling slightly at his success in a new area.
"Well... let's just say you pass. In all honesty, I sense great amounts of potential in you. I expect good things from you, Kurama. Don't let an old man down. Now, let's go back to my office. Fill out that paper work tonight and return it to the secretary sometime before four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Here is a map to your residence in the Shinto Shrine Apartment Complex about nine blocks south, near the Hokage Monument. Speak with the manager in the office and he will give you your key. It has the bare essentials, and you will have free rent until next month on the thirty-first. We'll send someone to get you on..." Sandaime glanced at the small planner he carried in his robes, seeing it was Friday, "on Monday. Sometime around seven in the morning, so be prepared. Dismissed."
Youko took the map and bowed before leaving. Behind him the Hokage narrowed his eyes and stared at the closing doors. For several moments he simply stood there, but in the end he sighed. "You're getting too old for this, Sarutobi..."
-
Naruto sulked from his position on the swings outside of the Ninja Academy, eyes downcast to hide the glistening tears that fell from his misty cerulean orbs. His face was scrunched in a very seldom seen expression of sorrow and a flaring, barely hidden anger that turned his whisker birth marks a dark red in slight contrast to his flushed cheeks. He sighed, listening to the sounds of joy surrounding him. In the back of his mind, dark, wicked thoughts ran rampant. Thoughts of murder, of death, of suicide. Still the utter black presence in the background pushed these thoughts to the forefront, smiling his devilish grin at the hate his host exhibited.
"You know he only does it to protect you, Naruto."
The blond turned to look at the young Chuunin next to him, startled out of his thoughts. He sighed and looked back at the ground. "It doesn't make any sense, Mizuki-sensei..."
The teacher smiled and sat down onto the swing next to his student, "It may seem a little strange, but this is his way of ensuring you stay safe.. He doesn't want you running off as a Genin unless you are one hundred percent prepared..."
Still Naruto kept his gaze lowered, and the tears still fell. Inside, Mizuki smirked at how pathetic the little vessel was. "Hm... Well, I shouldn't tell you this... but there is still a way to pass the exam. If you can prove yourself capable, I can give you your own hitae ate and promote you to Genin. Are you interested...?"
Mizuki glanced down at the boy, smile widening at the look of wonder on his flushed face, bright blue eyes shimmering in the dusk of the late afternoon sun. "Yes! Thank you so much, Mizuki-sensei! I swear I won't let you down!"
The Chuunin smirked, "I'm sure you won't, Naruto-kun. Now, here's what you need to do..."
-
Naruto sprinted through the forest, sweat pouring down his face in thick rivulets, grasping the scroll tightly, a wide smile plastered on his cherubic face. He slowed down when he saw the old cabin ahead, and skidded to a stop, tripping slightly as his foot caught in the little track he'd created. "Now... let's see..." He spread open the heavy scroll and pointed at the first technique listed. "You! Uh... Kage bushin, eh? Well, then! It's settled! You will make me Genin!"
He read through the seals, then practiced them for a few minutes until he could perform them without pause or stumbling. "Kage bushin no jutsu!" Nothing. He felt his chakra drain heavily though, and knew he'd pushed too much. For some reason, when he drew upon his chakra stores, it felt like there was a stone shoved into the entrance of an underwater cave so tightly that he could only pull as heavily as he could, and hope it was the right amount for the technique he was trying to used. He grimaced and tried again, this time concentrating with both eyes closed. "Kage bushin no jutsu."
Still nothing. He clenched his teeth tightly and tried again. It continued much this way for the next hour and a half.
-
Youko grimaced, as the brat ran through seal set after seal set after seal set, making very little progress, if any at all. With such a naturally analytical mind, he couldn't help but pick the child apart, piece by piece, pointing out his weaknesses and mentally countering them. His small stature was practically bursting with this "chakra" they spoke of. He narrowed his eyes, shifting his vision to the second plane and observing the way he used it, and was slightly surprised. 'So... chakra is the combination of physical energy and spirit energy. I suppose this is why less spiritually sensitive demons... and just about all humans seem to be unable to sense youki or reiki, but it seems all of them can sense and actually see this chakra, as it has a physical manifestation in all planes. Interesting.'
The demon lord watched him for a few minutes, still dissecting all the flaws he had, and found quite a large number. But still, the sheer amount of energy this child had astounded him. And then, as he was about to leave for his apartment complex, he paused in mid turn, sensing a new presence. He turned back and watched the recently conjured smoke clear and reveal an exact copy of the boy holding his mentor within. He quirked an eyebrow. "Impressive..."
From a decent distance away he sensed another coming with great speed for a mortal. His gaze caught the older boy dropping in, and sat down, smiling at the prospect of viewing such a spectacle as a shinobi battle.
-
"Naruto... " Iruka sighed, hands on his knees, breathing deeply. He looked back at the boy, flushed and sweating with exertion, covered in dirt and reeking of near chakra exhaustion. He glanced down at the scroll, and then glared at the child, displeased.
"Hah! Iruka-sensei! I found you!"
"No, I FOUND YOU, NARUTO!" Iruka shouted, baring down on the boy. But his eyes softened. "What are you doing out here, Naruto...? And why, exactly, are you in possession of the Forbidden Scroll?"
Naruto looked up at him, confusion evident on his face, "Mizuki-sensei told me about this place! And about the scroll... He told me how to graduate! And I did it! He said if I learned a technique out of this scroll I could graduate and... Iruka-sensei...?"
"Well done, Naruto." another voice proclaimed, and Genin-candidate and Chuunin turned to watch Mizuki jump from the trees, poised to strike, one hand on his kunai holster, another already in the instinctual half ram, ready to fire off seal after seal. "Congratulations. Just hand over the scroll and everything will be taken care of." On the outside, the young man looked calm, assertive. On the inside, he was actually quite nervous. He knew it, though he guess Iruka was clueless, but he was positive the slightly elder Chuunin could wipe the floor with him in outright combat. Hopefully, he had them both off guard enough to have a relevant advantage.
"No, Naruto! Mizuki is just using you to get the scroll. Run!" Iruka shot forward, but his reaction timing was slightly too slow. The younger Chuunin had already shot a great barrage of kunai and shuriken at him, literally pinning Iruka to the wall of the old cabin, a single kunai piercing all the way through his left thigh, another through his right shoulder, and several more had made dozens of cuts all over his limbs. One dared strike nearly an eighth of an inch off from his throat.
Mizuki hissed, "Shut it, Iruka. Naruto, don't listen to him. Sure, he acts like he's your friend, but I'm just trying to help you out. What you don't know, is that both of his parents were killed by the Kyuubi no Kitsune twelve years ago, Naruto. And you know why this has you involved...? And why everyone hates you...? It's because, Naruto-" Here Iruka cried out, "No!"-"It's because, Naruto: YOU ARE THE DEMON FOX KYUUBI NO KITSUNE! NOW... YOU DIE!"
Mizuki crouched, and grabbed the massive shuriken off his back, spinning around and launching it at the paralyzed child. "PERISH!" But Iruka was ready, and had ripped the kunai from his body and shot off, knocking Naruto to the ground and taking the immense shuriken into his back, the Chuunin flak jacket he wore preventing heavy damage, but still the tip lodged into him broke the skin and dug into his flesh an inch or two. "Naruto... don't believe him. And don't give him the scroll. Run!" Instantly, Naruto jumped away and sprinted off, his speed defying the screams of his weary body.
"You know he hates you now, Iruka. Hah... Anyway, I'm sorry, but I've gotta go collect what is due.
'Ciao." and Mizuki sped away. Iruka grit his teeth and grasped the Fuuma shuriken with his right hand, tearing it out and slinging it into the bark of a tree. He groaned and stood, bracing himself before launching off at his fastest pace.
-
Youko followed them from a distance, smiling grimly at the display these humans were putting on. Like a modern day drama, true to form. They really thought such a weak body could be Kyuubi? Pff. He would have butchered every single living thing within the city had he truly been the divine beast. Still the kitsune stealthily followed their path, mentally prepping himself to battle if he was discovered.
-
Naruto listened to the two Chuunin talk, holding the Forbidden Scroll tightly, tears pouring from his cheeks, his face flushed with shock and surprise, anger and sorrow. "Naruto..." he could hear them. Iruka was talking about him. He silenced his already quite sobbing and leaned back a bit farther, straining to hear the two more clearly-"not the demon fox." Instantly he got the gist of the conversation, joy welling up inside him at his sensei's proclamation. He then felt the righteous anger boiling over, filling him with strength. He sped around the corner and deflected the kunai that blazed towards Iruka, and smashed his heel into Mizuki's jaw, spinning back around and landed, slamming the end of the scroll onto the hard packed, grassy soil.
"If you touch Iruka-sensei again, I'll kill you!" he hissed, glaring with burning, bloodshot eyes of stormy blue.
The Chuunin laughed, wiping the blood away from his mouth and countered, "You? Please. I'll slay you in one blow!" Mizuki leaped at him, "Prepare yourse-Huh?"
"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"
Mizuki paused, staring in shock at the dozens and dozens of clones standing around him, and whimpered. They closed in.
-
"Well done, Naruto. Here. I've got something for you. Close your eyes..."
Naruto heard the rustling of cloth and narrowed his eyes slightly, confused. And then he felt it. "Open your eyes, Naruto." Iruka's hitae ate lay tied around his forehead.
"YES!"
A/N – Okay, so... the end was a little rushed, I admit... I couldn't find my manga, and I didn't remember the exact dialog, so I really just wanted to get it all finished off to where I could maybe start getting to the real story.
As you can no doubt already tell, I'm writing this as I think Youko would have been without the experience his being a bandit lord would bring. He's much more rash and cocky than he appears to be in Yu Yu Hakusho.
By the way, if you want I'll start writing his name as Kurama instead of Youko to avoid any possibly confusion as people will be calling him Kurama, and then I'll be saying Youko doing such actions and etc, etc.
Anyway, review my story, bitches. I don't really mind flames, and I strongly encourage constructive criticism, by the way. In any case, peace easy.
~Yrael
Vocabulary: (I'm leaving out the really obvious stuff, by the way, but expect a short vocab section in the A/N of every chapter.)
reiki – spirit energy
youki – demon energy
* - Inari is the Shinto deity of rice, which in ancient/Feudal Japan was pretty much the only major crop they had... I mean, it was... just about the only food in abundance, or really the only crop that grew with any success. Anyway, the point of this is that sometimes Inari is female, and sometimes Inari is male. I usually go along with the concept of Inari being a female, and as her messengers (children) are colored white, I call Youko Kurama her only son, as by legend supposedly Inari only had daughters.
** - Kitsune are born in a fox like form, but upon reaching the age of 100 years (in some folk tales it's 50, but I'm going to vary it up and say that some breeds of kitsune take this many years and so on and so forth) they can transform into a humanoid guise... I'm going to say that as a direct descendant of the fox goddess Inari, he is immediately born into this humanoid form. (.)
*** - Kurama isn't from there, and prior to now has never been to the Ningenkai, so during his first explorations and meeting with the Hokage he was gathering all of his information from previous hearsay of other demons and what he saw in person. He doesn't, at this moment in time, know about jutsu or any of that. Also, the Hokage being in italics wasn't italicized for it being a Japanese word, it was italicized because it was an unfamiliar term to him.
**** - Getting a little tired of these, eh? Heh. In the English version of the manga (could be the English dub, though. Don't cite me on which one) Youko Kurama is translated into Fox Demon Kurama.
***** - So I thought about it... and I think it would be a little odd if Team Seven had a grown man as a Genin with them, ya know? So, I thought about it a bit further, and since this is a few hundred years before he goes into the YYH deal, he's obviously much younger looking. As he's got five tails, the way I see it is that he's about 500 years old, and as such I roughly put him at age 15 in human years. Like, he ages normally until he's ten, and then he slows down to only one year for every following century, and after 1000 years he ages only one year every following millennium, before stopping around 10,000. So... yeah. But, note that because he's a demon and without the cold mannerisms of Youko's appearance and such he appears about thirteen or so.
STATS:
Words: 4286 (Story)
Words: 4996 (All)