A New Fox
By Tea Ghost Disclaimer, I don't own Naruto, obviously. I have also not read every Naruto fanfiction, nor do I know every Fannon Jutsu ever made, so I apologise for any toes accidentally stepped on. Obviously if someone made a Fannon Jutsu I mistakenly used, know that doing so was not intended, nor do I lay claim to it.
Chapter 5: Return
"_" talking
"_'_'_" Quoting or quotationing mid dialogue
'_' thinking
"Blank" 'Blank' Tailed beast (Not Kushina) talking/thinking
Naruto and Gaara packed up their small amounts of supplies and clothing. Once all their sealing scrolls of stuff were placed into their backpacks, Naruto and Gaara got to placing Kurama's old scrolls into a duffle bag.
Over the week they'd been in the fox realm, Naruto, Gaara, Kushina, and Karura all learned a fair bit. Naruto learned to work with his fox summons. Gaara learned how to work with his mother in battle and to protect those around him, as well as how to be more human. Kushina and Karura learned more about their tailed beast powers, but this only translated to minimal practical use. Karura did however make the most improvement in learning how to be a ninja, and to control her powers. Kushina even acknowledged Karura as an equal tailed beast.
As the last of what Naruto and Gaara brought with them and planned to take got packed up, Mimiki and Moriko approached.
"Hope you weren't planning on leaving before saying goodbye, you two." Moriko spoke, having come to care for Naruto and Gaara over the past week.
"Come on aunty, we wouldn't leave you like that, not after how much you've helped us." Naruto responded with a laugh.
"Your generous hospitality was truly appreciated, it would be unbecoming of such niceties to leave without a word." Gaara said with a small bow.
Moriko giggled, "Yes, it would." She said, "Naruto, as our summoner and as the container of my mate's successor, I want to assign Mimiki as your personal guard. The Nine Tails is an important figure for us, as are all the Tailed Beasts to their respective animal summon clans. Since Kushina is weakened compared to Kurama, I would feel more comfortable if Mimiki was with you."
"What do ya say, partner?" Mimiki asked.
Naruto smiled brightly, "You'd have to try and get me to say no to spending more time with a friend like you." He said with a thumbs up.
Mimiki smiled and jumped onto Naruto's shoulder, draping herself around Naruto's neck, gently purring and wagging her tail.
Moriko giggled at her youngest kit's actions, "Well now, I believe it's time for you both to leave I'm afraid."
Naruto and Gaara both nodded as Moriko ordered a small fox to body flicker into the Leaf Village. An instant later, Naruto, Gaara and Mimiki were reverse summoned into the Hokage's office, receiving shocked and surprised looks from Jiraiya, Hiruzen, and two women Naruto didn't recognize.
A few moments earlier in the Hokage's office
Hiruzen sat in his chair, looking at two of his students, Jiraiya and Tsunade, and Tsunade's student Shizune.
"It is good to see you Tsunade, you have no idea how happy I am at this reunion. If only Orochimaru didn't turn out as he did." Hiruzen spoke bittersweetly.
"Yeah, amen to that, Sensei." Jiraiya quietly said.
"Yes, so you want me to be your successor?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes, my age is catching up with me. I can no longer be Hokage, so I beg you Tsunade, please take up my mantle." Hiruzen nearly begged.
Tsunade, having had a brief tussle with both her fellow Sannin who both tried to convince her to join their causes, decided to follow the Leaf Village again. She could never live with herself if she had done the things Orochimaru did. Especially after he killed two innocent people in front of her and brought her brother, Nawaki, and her former lover, Dan, back to life as some sort of undead monsters.
"Sure thing Sensei, I'll do it. If only because Orochimaru won't stop hunting me if I leave and I'd rather deal with this than that monster who defiled the memories of those once most important to me." Tsunade spoke after a tense moment of silence.
In the next moment there was a pop of smoke and a small fox sat on the Hokage's desk. In a second larger poof of smoke Naruto, Mimiki and Gaara stood in front of the desk and the small fox disappeared in a third pop of smoke. Their presence shocked all in the room.
"Naruto, Gaara, it's good to see you two." Hiruzen laughed out.
"Hey Gramps, how's it been? Who's the lady?" Naruto asked.
Hiruzen chuckled a little, "I've been good, though I will be stepping down as Hokage. The Lady is my former student, Tsunade Senju, my successor and the fifth Hokage."
Naruto turned to look at the larger and older blond, "So you were Pervy sage's Teammate, one of the three Sannin? Well, Granny Tsunade, Welcome back to the Leaf!" He cried proudly.
Tsunade, not appreciating that age comment, looked at Naruto angrily, "Who are you calling 'Granny' you Brat?! I'll show you old if you want to take this outside!?"
"Naruto, she may be old but she'll still kick both our asses in a fight." Kushina informed her son, "Not to mention, as a Senju, she's kinda our cousin."
Naruto, feeling Tsunade's rage and with his mother's words ringing through his head, wisely backed down, "Sorry cousin Tsuna."
"Please forgive him, Lady Senju." Gaara chipped in.
"You two are Uzumaki, aren't you?" Tsunade asked as she noticed Gaara and Naruto's vibrant red hair and the cousin comment.
"No, I'm Gaara Sabaku." Gaara replied.
Naruto nodded, "Yep, Naruto Uzumaki, Son of Kushina Uzumaki, the Second Nine Tailed Fox! And this here is our guard from the fox summons, my partner Mimiki." He said proudly.
Tsunade and Shizune looked incredibly confused and turned to her former sensei, "What?"
Hiruzen just laughed at their confusion before explaining Kushina, Naruto, Gaara, and Karura's states, as well as Naruto's summoning contract. Around an hour later Tsunade, now being caught up, simply turned toward the door.
"I'll be back, I'm going to empty the nearest bar of their Sake storage." Tsunade mumbled as she left.
"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune cried as she followed her master.
"Before I forget, you two are among the three to earn a promotion during the chunin exams, here's your vests. Hiruzen informed the pair as he pulled some vests from a storage scroll, "Now it's really late, Naruto, Gaara, why don't you two go home?" Hiruzen suggested.
"Thanks Old Man!" Naruto whooped excitedly as he and Gaara took their vests.
"Thank you, and an excellent Suggestion Lord Hokage, goodnight." Gaara accepted as he and Naruto left the office.
As the two Jinchuriki walked down to Naruto's apartment building, Naruto spoke up, "Hey Gaara, you go on ahead to the apartment, I'm going to get some Ramen at Ichiraku's."
Gaara nodded and continued on as Naruto veered off and into the stand.
Taking the seat next to the wall and placing his backpack against the wall, Naruto made his usual order, "Hey Ayame, ten bowls of Miso Ramen please, and some meat chunks for Mimiki here."
"Sure thing little bro, it's nice to meet your cute little friend. Oooh I just want to pet her." Ayame responded as she got to work.
Teuchi came in from the back of the stand, "Hey Naruto, good to see you. Where have you been?"
Naruto nervously laughed and scratched the back of his head, "Well...ya see, I was kinda out of the village on a training trip. Mom and I kinda had to work on getting more efficient at using our power. Ya see, Mom has difficulty using her new Tailed Beast abilities since she wasn't always a Tailed Beast. Since Gaara's mom has the same problem plus not being a ninja, we all left to the fox summoning realm and trained. Also Moriko, the leader of the Fox summons, assigned Mimiki here to be mine and mom's guard."
Teuchi chuckled a little, "And, how is Kushina? She used to be our best customer before you after all."
Naruto smiled at the Ichiraku family, "Mom's doing great. She still has trouble with her chakra, and will for some time, but she and I have gotten along great. I'm happy to have her in my life now."
Ayame smiled at her surrogate little brother as she placed his ramen bowls in front of him, "I'm happy for you, Naruto. It's good to know Kushina's alright. I don't remember much of her, but I do remember she was super nice."
Naruto started eating before pausing for a moment, "Yeah, she is. Kinda scary sometimes y'know." He said while scratching the back of his head.
"Mom's are like that, Naruto." Ayame slightly lectured with a chuckle.
"I can vouch for that too." Mimiki told her partner.
Naruto and the Ichiraku family hung out for some time before the shop closed for the night. Grabbing his backpack and walking down to his home, Naruto quietly thought about some of the more recent times with his mother.
Flashback
Naruto sat across from his mother in the mindscape. Kushina and Naruto agreed on daily time together to talk and get to know each other.
"So Son, what did you want to talk about today?" Kushina asked with a smile.
Naruto got a little nervous, "Well, I wanted to talk to you about what you said to Gaara, about how you have access to most of my memories."
Kushina still smiled and spoke, "You want some more privacy right? Where do you want the line?"
"Well, I was just hoping you could give me a heads up on what you wanted to know, y'know?" Naruto answered.
"Sure Naruto, but I do want to know about your life." Kushina said.
"Can I know more about your life too?" Naruto asked.
Kushina brought her son in for a hug, "Of course Naruto."
Flashback timeskip
Kushina easily kicked her son in the stomach as he charged her. They were practising Taijutsu and not to Kushina's shock, Naruto had little skill in Taijutsu. It was part of the reason Kushina instructed Naruto to use primarily Ninjutsu and Sealing Jutsu against his opponents thus far. Now though, it was time to get her son up to snuff in that area.
As her son impacted face first into the ground in the mindscape, Kushina felt she should call it a day, "Hey Naruto, I think that's enough for now. Don't want you hitting your head or face too hard, there's two of us in here now, not to mention I want grandkids one day." She said with a slight laugh, "But in real seriousness, you have improved greatly since we started."
The foxes decided to help in teaching Naruto in some Taijutsu as well as getting Kushina more in touch with her fox side by learning a fox Taijutsu style.
Naruto got up and said, "Sure mom. On a side note, can you please hold a punch or two? I haven't even gotten close to grazing you."
Kushina chuckled slightly, and decided to spare her son a little mercy, "Sure son, but we are going to be training longer, and I'll also be playing somewhere just above your level that day so you keep improving but it's still a little more fair."
Naruto smiled and gave his mom a thumbs up, "O.K.! you have a deal!" He exclaimed happily.
Second Flashback timeskip
Naruto lay in bed thinking about his longtime childhood crush, Sakura. He knew his mom disliked her because of how she and Ino treat him, but a part of him didn't want to let go of the idea he'd built up of Sakura. His first encounters with her did leave an impression where she was genuinely nice for a while, well until her parents taught her to be mean to him and Sasuke entered her mind as a "love interest". In Naruto's early mind, he just wanted a friend back, as he grew, he thought that if he could get his friend back, he could get anyone to accept him, and in those attempts to regain a friend, his young heart developed a crush.
Now though, the village was less hostile toward him and he had more people than ever to accept him, including his mother who he always dreamed to meet, only to wake up and be disappointed.
"Damn right you have me Naruto! And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon son!" Kushina screamed in his mind, nearly causing Naruto to leap out of the sleeping bag.
'MOM! What the hell! You nearly scared me half to death!' Naruto shouted back in his head.
Kushina's string of giggling that escalated into full out laughter told him that her surprise ambush was very much intentional.
After she recomposed herself, Kushina spoke again, "Sorry Naruto, but I kinda had to scare you like that, it's been a while since I pranked anyone. About Sakura though, I know you still like her, but is she really who you want to spend the rest of your life with? Maybe try going out with that shy Hyuga, Hinata? Or Temari, or maybe that girl Tenten?"
"Hinata has alway been kinda weird though, and she's alway so sick or something, constantly red, her forehead feeling warm, and she faints all the time. Temari, in the brief time I've known her, is more like a proxy sister through Gaara. As for Tenten, I mean, she seems alright but I don't really know her, y'know?"
End flashbacks (Back in the present time)
Naruto was unaware his thoughts would soon be broken as a shadow on a nearby rooftop stalked him. He passed by an alleyway and the next thing he and Mimiki knew they were in said alleyway, trapped between a wall and a figure he could not recognise immediately.
"~Hellllooooo~ ~Na~ru~to~" The figure said, its voice distinctly female.
"Uh, h-hello?" Naruto spoke nervously. The figure looked up and Naruto could recognise it as Tenten, 'Speak of the devil, and the devil shall come...I guess' He thought, "Down Mimiki, She's a friend." Naruto told his partner, who was starting to growl at Tenten.
"So that was a cool trick you used against Neji in the exams." Tenten said as she drew in a little closer, "I know you saw how I fight, with all those weapons and all that. When you did your little weapon Jutsu, I was rather fascinated. It was almost more Kunai and Shuriken you threw than what I carry, a rather impressive feat. Sssooo, I was hoping you could maybe teach it to me." she talked as she drew even more uncomfortably close and started to gently caress Naruto's face with her fingers, "You see, I have a slight condition, well to actually two, belonephilia, or the love of sharp things, and to a far lesser degree piquerism, or the love of stabbing things. So I kinda need to know how to have more sharp things, and do more stabbing, ok?" To punctuate her point as she finished talking she grabbed Naruto's collar and somehow drew even closer.
"O-o-o-ok-k-k-kay." Naruto squeaked while nodding his head vigorously.
"Good, I'll see you at training ground nine at roughly five-o'clock sharp." Tenten said with a scary smile before she released Naruto and walked out of the alley.
Naruto grabbed near his heart and took several gasps of air. As he hyperventilated his legs gave out and he crashed down onto his butt, 'I think I'll try dating a civilian girl.' He thought for a moment.
"I like her, she really does have all the markers of being a true Kunoichi." Kushina commented.
'Not the time, Mom!' Naruto yelled into his mind.
"Man that lady is scary, I thought for sure she was gonna skin us." Mimiki said.
"Not the time, Mimiki!" Naruto yelled at his partner.
All he received were giggles from the two in response.
The Next morning
Naruto slowly crept out of bed and meandered through his still dark apartment, not really looking forward to his "Training" session with Tenten. His experience last night left him slightly unnerved and a little scared of the girl.
After starting breakfast Naruto quickly gathered his clothing and gear before returning to his food. Once he finished his short meal of actually nutritious food his mom made him buy, Naruto slowly took a shower, had a shadow clone touch up his red hair dye, brushed his teeth, and got dressed and ready for the day.
"Well, here goes nothing." Naruto said quietly to himself as he opened his door and left his residence.
"You'll be fine Naru-chan. If the big scwawy Tenten is mean, mommy will protect you." Kushina teased her son.
'Real funny Mom, real funny.' Naruto grumbled in his head.
"Don't worry Naru-chan, she may have been scary last night, but I'm sure she's a perfectly nice and reasonable young lady. Just be polite, ask her to respect your boundaries, and give her a few lessons on how to do the Kunai and Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsus. After that I'm sure you can make her into a less scary friend." Kushina told her son.
With his mood now ever more optimistic, Naruto walked on with renewed confidence, 'You know what Mom? You're right! I'll teach her those Jutsu, ask her to be less terrifying, and make her my friend!' He internally shouted.
"Mimiki!" Naruto shouted toward his bedroom where his fox summon was sleeping on his bed, "I gotta go. You have the house for a while. I'm going out to train with Tenten and then I'm going to train with my team."
He only received Mimiki's loud purring as a response.
Almost eight minutes early to his five-o'clock meeting at training ground nine, Naruto did not have to wait long for Tenten to arrive.
"Naruto! Hey Naruto!" Tenten yelled as she approached Naruto's back. Turning around at his name, Naruto saw Tenten running up to him before she stopped, "Hey Naruto, um...before we get to do any training, I kinda want to apologise for last night. You see, well...I already told you of my conditions, and well...I was trying to find you after the exams, and then I was told you were out of the village, and I was getting a little desperate to find you so I could ask and...long story short, I'm sorry for scaring you." Tenten rambled out.
Naruto gently placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, truly not expecting her to be quite so apologetic so quickly, "It's alright Tenten, I get excited when I want to learn new Jutsu too, please just try to be less scary next time."
"O-ok." Tenten replied.
"Alright, shall we begin?" Naruto asked. At Tenten's nod, he began explaining the Jutsu, "So the principle behind the Jutsu is similar to regular clone Jutsu. However instead of like regular clones, Shadow Clones are solid chakra constructs that disappear after taking a hit or two. To do the Shuriken or Kunai Shadow clone Jutsu, first you need a Kunai or Shuriken, then you need to pump a lot of chakra into it, the amount will determine the number of clones you make. After you throw your Kunai or Shuriken, you need to do the hand signs, Ox-Dog-Dragon-Rat-Dog-Boar-Snake-Tiger, do that and it should work. It will take some practice, especially when picturing the Kunai or Shuriken you want to clone." He explained.
"Wow, that was a surprisingly in-depth explanation." Tenten said after a moment.
"Thank my mother, that was word for word how she taught me the Jutsu." Naruto explained.
"Thanks for the credit Naru-chan." Kushina said to her son.
'No problem Mom, but as said, it really is thanks to you that I know what I know.' Naruto responded internally.
Soon Naruto had Tenten practise the Jutsu and on her first attempt, she failed to do the hand signs before the Kunai hit its target. She did this several more times before she got the timing right. After she zeroed her timing, she tried again, then the issue was she accidently made clones of herself and not Kunai on instinct. On her next attempt she got Kunai, but they were incorporeal like regular clones. Finally got Kunai that were real, but blunt.
"Wow, good job, for the first day. It took my shadow clones the equivalent of nearly a full week to get to blunted versions of my Kunai and Shuriken." Naruto said, "I'd help you more, but I've got team training in a little while, my Sensei may be known for being late, but not that late. See ya Tenten."
As Naruto started walking away Tenten called back, "Bye Naruto!"
Naruto waved over his shoulder as he exited the training ground. He ran towards his team's training ground. Arriving in five minutes Naruto found the grounds empty, sitting around for around half an hour and no one arrived. Getting confused, Naruto figured the Hokage might know about why his team was not showing up.
Calmly walking through the village, Naruto made small talk with his mother as they made their way to the Hokage tower. He passed a secretary, as he walked up the stairs to the office.
"Hey, Old Man, Granny Tsunade, whichever one of you it is." Naruto hollered as he opened the door.
Tsunade sat behind the Hokage desk with Shizune and Hiruzen standing over her shoulders, "What do you need, Brat?"
"I was waiting for my team but nobody showed up, I figured you guys might know where they were?" Naruto explained.
"Oh? Right, no one told you, did they? A day after you left, two missing nin infiltrated the village and Kakashi and Sasuke were both injured." Tsunade informed him.
"What?!" Naruto shouted, "Are they ok?!"
"They're fine. Kakashi is already awake while Sasuke is projected to take another day or so. Before you go though, there is something you should know, Naruto." Hiruzen answered seriously.
Naruto looked slightly confused, "What is it, Gramps?"
Tsunade sighed heavily, "Naruto, those two missing nin came here for a reason. They were looking for something."
"What does that have to do with me, Granny Tsunade?" Naruto impatiently asked.
"They were looking for you, Naruto. Those two missing nin were S ranked criminals Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. Jiraiya discovered a while ago that they were part of an organisation that calls itself the Akatsuki. They are after the nine Tailed Beasts for an unknown reason. They are identifiable by their black cloaks decorated with red clouds. If you or Gaara see ANYone wearing something like this, run. Abandon everything, Everyone and return to the village." Tsunade explained, leaving no room for discussion.
"Uh...yeah, s-sure Granny Tsunade." Naruto stuttered, "I-I'm going to go see Sensei and Sasuke now, I'll tell Gaara about this when I get the chance, it should be sometime later tonight."
Tsunade and Hiruzen nodded as Naruto left the room and gently shut the door.
"Think we scared him a little too much?" Tsunade asked.
"You haven't known Naruto that long, tomorrow he'll feel ready to take on the whole Akatsuki at once, and besides, trying to get Naruto to leave his friends behind is an impossible task. If anything we would need to scare him more, he's a lot like his mother that way, and now that he has her in his life..." Hiruzen responded.
Tsunade smiled, "It's been so long since Kushina's been around that I've nearly forgotten how crazy she is. Not to mention that now that she is literally the Nine Tailed Fox... I shudder at the destruction she could cause." She said with a shiver.
Hiruzen chuckled slightly, "On the bright side, most of that power is tied up in protecting Naruto."
With Naruto, at the hospital
Naruto walked down a hallway, headed to Kakashi's room. As he walked however, his mind was distracted by what Tsunade and Hiruzen had told him.
'Hey, Mom, do you think we should be worried about these Akatsuki guys coming around? I mean, a whole bunch of S rank missing nin hunting us, and what would happen if they got you? Hell, why would they want you?' Naruto asked.
"Well Son, I think we should be a little cautious about them, but we're gonna train real hard, so we'll be so strong that they won't be able to lay a finger on us! Not to mention we have all my power as backup! As to what would happen if they 'got me' well...simply, you'd die. One rarely survives having a Tailed Beast removed from them. I only lived because of sheer determination, and my Uzumaki genes, and even then It's very likely I would have died anyway without top notch medical care administered very soon. I'd doubt you'll survive, which is why we're gonna get so powerful that the Akatsuki won't be nearly strong enough to take us down, y'know!" Kushina explained.
'Hey! I'm not dying until I become Hokage, even if you're taken out of me! I'd survive no matter what! And you still didn't tell me what they'd want with you anyway?' Naruto responded.
Kushina mentally pinched Naruto's cheek, "Oh, my little baby boy! Of course you're not gonna die until you become Hokage!" She cooed with a squeal.
Feeling the pain of Kushina's pinch, Naruto groaned and rubbed his face, "Ow, Mom! Can you please not do that?!" Naruto called outloud.
Kushina giggled at her Son, "Sure Naruto, I won't do it anymore...in public. After all, you wouldn't want your mother to think her affections are unwanted, would you?" She teased.
As Naruto heard her words, Naruto internally began to panic, 'No! Wait Mom, please! I love your affections! Please don't think I don't, please! Please keep loving me!" Naruto cried out in his mind.
Kushina was slightly taken aback, and pulled her son into the mindscape and wrapped him in a hug and in her tails, "Naruto, Mommy was just teasing. It's alright, please calm down."
Naruto just cried into his mother's chest as he hugged her back. The two soon dropped to the ground in the mindscape, as Naruto continued to soak up his mother's comfort.
Eventually Naruto had calmed down enough for Kushina to begin asking a few questions, "It's alright Naruto. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. Now, can you please tell me what's wrong?"
Naruto wiped his eyes on his sleeve and answered, "I-I n-never had you around when I was younger. I-I don't want you to ever think I don't want you or your affection. I don't like to or want to admit this, but, I never thought I'd ever get the kind of love or support I get from you. I always held hope, but went to bed knowing that hope was just a mask. I've been abandoned by more than a few people who I thought cared for me, and I was always told it was my fault, please don't stop loving me." He begged.
Kushina felt two things, immense rage at those who hurt her son, and depthless sadness at how fragile and scared he truly was inside.
Kushina hugged her son closer and said, "Naruto, I could never truly stop loving and caring about you. EVER. I would never EVER abandon you. On another note, you will no longer need your mask. Your hope has come through and I'm here now."
Kushina held her son for a few more moments in the mindscape before he'd calmed down enough to be sent out of the mindscape.
Back in the real world, Naruto felt a nurse lightly tugging at him.
"Are you alright sir?" She asked him.
Shaking the fog out of his head, Naruto replied, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. I'm on my way to see my teammate and Sensei."
The nurse nodded and continued on her way, as Naruto started again towards his sensei's and Sasuke's rooms. Since it was in closer proximity, Naruto chose to go to Kakashi's room first.