Thanks for the reviews! They are the only things keeping me going. You guy's support is much appreciated. That said this is of course for you guys! Uh I have decided that during and after the 3 year training period that it would be officially AU. I will pay little attention to the manga after this point. I won't totally ignore it but I won't use it all either.
Dulcinea/Hotaru: Puppy boot camp?! That was the best you could come up with?!
Spiderlilly: Yes you ungrateful welp! I could have had you stumble around the room a bit more…hehehe. And stop interrupting me when I am explaining things to my lovely fans! Or I will make you the clumsiest fox to ever exist…hehehe. (Evil chuckle)
Dulcinea/Hotaru: …sweatdrop…you wouldn't dare! I still have headaches from all the falls you made me do and its just humiliating not being able to walk right…I ain't a stunt character you know!
Spiderlilly: Artistic License! I can do what ever I want to you. Smirk…Now go back to Hana, I don't need you hanging around just yet.
Dulcinea/Hotaru: Evil vile woman! I will get you for this!
Spiderlilly: Uh huh…(hole appears under Hotaru and she disappears)
Hotaru reappears, "Spiderlilly doesn't have a thing to her name, only me! Muhahaha…you can't get rid of me!" Hotaru sinks back into the ground.
Author sweatdrops and mutters about listening to Beethoven and staying up to wee hours.
"Hotaru thought"
Kyubi words
Hyuga Main Household: same morning
Hyuga Hiashi was having a very quiet morning. He was contemplating the changes in his children and nephew do to the interference of the "Number One Loud Ninja," a person he now thought fondly of, who was also now officially "Hokage in Training."
All those years ago when that Cloud nin had tried to kidnap his daughter, which also resulted in the death of his brother, Neji had changed. He was no longer the quiet boy resigned to his fate. He fiercely protected his cousins to the point of insanity.
Hiashi thought for sure that the boy was approaching fanaticism. He was an empty shell devoid of emotion. That "Loud Mouth Ninja" was able to change his focus entirely. By beating a great deal of sense into the boy and into himself at the chunnin exams so long ago, Neji was able to fully realize that he could still protect those precious to him and fulfill his own dreams, he could afford to let himself live. Haishi also realized that his nephew needed to know the truth of what happened so long ago. Their relationship had greatly changed since then. They were no longer Branch family and Main family. They were finally the same family, even if they were still distant to each other.
That Loud Mouth had even managed to change Hinata. She was no longer the shy weak girl she once was. Though the traditional fighting style was not suited to her, she quickly over came her limitations to create a fighting style that fit her body, mind and soul. The council was furious over that but Hiashi put his proverbial "foot down." His daughter was finally showing a backbone, he wasn't going to change that for the world.
He then heard a sound that abruptly brought him out of his musings. It confused him greatly. Hanabi was still asleep, Neji and Hinata were training and the rest of the household stayed away from the inner compartments until after the morning meal. Therefore there should be no other sounds intruding into his peacefully quiet morning.
Fully annoyed and curious now, he stood up from his reclined position and quietly left the room. He walked down the hall with all the skill of a ninja that ruled a great clan. Power and grace surrounded his movements. The sounds quickly brought him to his nephew's compartments. What he saw surprised him greatly. He couldn't believe it, there was a fox nosing open the door and very carefully started walking down the hall.
It was so off of the norm that all he could do was follow it, head cocked slightly to the side as he studied it. It was very meticulous in its steps, as if it didn't know quite how to walk yet. Concentrating on them solely it was very oblivious to any danger that could sweep down upon it. It was obviously very young. What confused him more was why it was there in the first place. Animals were not allowed in the compound unless they were heading to the kitchens.
After Naruto-sama had returned from his training, many strange creatures had started to appear in and around the village, but the wards that had been put on the compound for expressly this reason should have stopped it. Unless. Unless it was purposely brought in, then it would have been able to pass through the barriers. Hmmm this required more thought.
He watched the little thing work its way down the hall to the door at the very end. Then pushing it open, it stumbled into the sunlight and fell off the wooden platform. He followed it out, still watching. It set itself down and proceeded to watch his daughter and nephew refine his daughter's new fighting style.
Deciding that he deserved some answers, he quickly picked up the fox kit, looked at his nephew and said, "Neji-san, what is this?" By its actions alone he knew it was no ordinary fox.
Neji just about died after he heard that question and the resulting conversation. This was NOT what he had had in mind and he couldn't believe that that excuse was actually all he could come up with. He had planned to give it to Naruto-sama or Kiba-san or anybody really. What he had not planned on was keeping the strange thing. He did mean strange. The little thing always focused in on speech…not other strange sounds…human speech. It also had an uncanny sense of survival for a creature that young. It confused him to no end. Now though, he was stuck with it.
In response to his cousin's question he said, "I found it coming back from my last mission. More appropriately, Lee-san found it, but it would have been cruel to leave it with him so I took it. I hadn't planned on keeping it, but now I have too."
Not really hearing his cousin he brought the little annoyance to his face and said, "First lesson, stamina, or in this case, learning how to walk. We may need to take a trip to see Kiba-san." He just knew that it could understand him and the proof was evident on the creature's face. Utter horror and fear was covering the fox like a blanket.
Taking advantage of the frozen creature he quickly worked to put a leash and collar on it so that he would have better control over its actions. The yellow color really clashed with the fox's fur but it was all he could find at the time the night before. A few scratches and bites later he had the collar and leash on his quarry, he had to trick it on but whatever worked was fine with him. He quickly set out to the Inuzuka compound.
After hearing Inuzuka Hana's announcement that the little fox, Hotaru, was a kitsune, everything clicked into place. Her attitude, her actions toward him, never leaving his side if she could help it, her very appearance all were explained in that conversation.
"I see, so you say she has intelligence?" I asked the vet. Thoughts were tumbling around my mind with no rhyme or reason. I was still thunderstruck with the implications. These creatures were very picky about their masters, especially with Kyubi so near. For this kitsune to want to be with him could only mean that Kyubi had been impressed with him. Also, meaning that Naruto-sama trusted him. It made no sense. What had he done for this attention to be applied to him? He would need to talk to Naruto-sama to have his questions answered.
Realizing that the Inuzuka had asked me for a final verdict I quickly decided to see where this would go. "Do it. Train her. How long will you need?"
Listening half heartedly I wondered if this was really the right decision, I could still dispose of it, declare it unworthy and forget about it. However, the thought of doing so, especially after what he had vowed all those years ago to himself, was repulsive. He couldn't do it. No future was set in stone or predestined.
The timetable given was surprising but it would do. After all I would still need to train her myself for her intended purpose. It is logical that it would be a short training period. "Acceptable." Realizing she had asked about the kitsune's name, I turned back and thought for a moment. I had given her a name, might as well use it as I was now stuck with her. "Hotaru." With that I left to track down a certain demon vessel, I had many questions, hopefully he could and would answer them.
Hokage Office: Later that day
Naruto sneezed. He was almost done for the day and couldn't wait to get out of there. The need to stretch his muscles was almost palatable. But before he could do so, a very familiar sight appeared in his office. Normally this type of behavior was considered hazardous to Hokages and certain seals controlled entry to the building, but he had removed most of the seals except for the one that identified the visitor, for they dulled his senses. As such, he knew it was Neji that was visiting him as soon as the young man appeared. However, he frowned slightly Neji never did this unless it was urgent. Urgent for a ninja rarely bared good news.
"Neji-kun!" He greeted his friend enthusiastically. "What brings you here? You are supposed to be on vacation."
"I have a very young kitsune rather attached to me and I would like to know why." Was what he very stoically said to the Kyubi vessel.
"Hmm, that is a question," was all Naruto said out loud. This was not what he had expected. He quickly internalized his thoughts.
"Hey fuzz face! Did you hear that?" he thought quietly to the presence in the back of his mind.
"Of course I did. I hear anything you do idiot. Give me control; I need to talk to him. I hadn't expected this to come up so soon. Cursed immortal entities with no sense of timing!"
"What the heck are you talking about?" Naruto was thinking hard about Kyubi's answer, he could feel the annoyance role off of him like thick fog.
"The conversation we had several days ago idiot, the one that just about split our head open when our mind was invaded."
"Ohh, that one. I thought that it wasn't supposed to appear for another week at least." He replied to his inner friend.
"As did I. Now hurry up, I don't get to do this often."
Several minutes had passed and Neji was staring to get apprehensive. Naruto had a very internal look on his face and had been silent for a while. A sigh then was released and a very feral looking Naruto was studying him. His eyes were mere slits; teeth longer then any human should have with veritable claws slowly tapped the desk in front of him. Neji knew that Kyubi was going to be speaking to him personally.
"Sigh, she wasn't supposed to be here for several weeks. In fact we did not expect her until after the chunnin exams." Naruto turned Kyubi looked rather annoyed. "She is a ward per se of Konoha. Now listen to this carefully, I don't want to have to explain it again. As all the kitsune on this continent pay homage to me, I pay homage to a greater being, one that is very rarely in this world. She has asked me to watch over this kit until She deems necessary. However, as they are out of this time, She didn't tell us when exactly the kitsune would appear. As such I was unable to prevent her bonding to you. I also have limited control of her as I have never met her or her ancestors before. I need to meet with her as soon as possible. Bring her here when she is done learning how to move correctly." This last bit was laced with humor.
Neji was stunned into silence by the knowledge just given to him and the fact that he had essentially sent Hotaru to a training camp. Naruto had an inward look again, but his smiling eyes reappeared. Kyubi had retreated.
"So," Naruto said, "that's the way of it. We were probably told about it the minute she appeared here." He sounded rather nervous. He hated not being able to control unknown forces that could threaten his people.
"I understand Naruto-sama. Is there anything that I can do to relieve myself of this kitsune if I so wish?" Not that he would, but it was nice to know his options.
"I'm afraid not." Naruto replied shaking his head, "Kyubi says that by now, whether you are near her or not, the bond is nigh unbreakable unless one of you dies. If you had left her as soon as you had met her, then the bond would have been breakable. Now though, there is not a chance."
Neji contemplated that for a few seconds. "Very well then. May I have permission to take this on as an official mission?"
Naruto stared at him and then laughed. "Of course, S-ranked pay I do believe, for an indefinite time. This, of course meaning, that unless absolutely necessary, not a word of this must be said. Being what she is and all, many foreign ninjas may develop an interest in her as she is not bonded with Kyubi yet. Another Kyubi in the hands of someone evil is the last thing we need." He shuddered. "You could always find an advantage in an unfavorable situation Neji-kun." He finished chuckling.
Neji saluted Naruto, extracted a promise for completed paper work and then disappeared. He had many things to think about. The least of which was what he was going to do with his new assignment.
Naruto sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Well this was unexpected," he said to no one in particular. "I think he will do well in this. He needs something completely unrelated to family to care for."
"Amazing, you have picked up some of my intelligence after all." Kyubi chuckled, "He had better do well, for his sake and mine. I just got back into Her good graces, I don't need to fall out of them again. Once was enough, thank you."
"What? Something the great Kyubi is afraid of?" Naruto jokingly jibed his inner friend.
"You have no idea my friend. What do you think I used to be? I wasn't born a kitsune you know."
With that interesting statement, the nine-tails retreated back to his slumber while Naruto pondered his words and the impending paper work. He groaned; he had been so close to leaving too! No wonder Tsunade ditched work all the time now that she had him in training. The paper work never ended!
"Gah!" Hotaru went flying after she had accidentally sprung a trap. Her whole purpose was stalking and marking the several dogs that were hiding around the Inuzuka training course, of course that didn't mean that they would make it easy. Oh noooo they had to put traps, explosives, wires and who knew what else over every square inch of ground available.
"Stupid training! Stupid dogs! Stupid Inuzuka! Stupid suicidal hyper mutts! When I get back to master, he will get a piece of my mind! How dare he leave me with this evil woman!" Several thoughts along these lines continued to motivate Hotaru as she picked herself up and started in a new direction. She may have been hurt by that trap, but she knew where one of them was now. She chuckled to herself; her tormentor would feel the bite of her fangs. Even if she was small, there were several places in mammal anatomy that didn't require a lot of pressure, only a little prick. She would finally get payback. If she could survive that is.
Yeah, chapter 4 is done. It's a little later then what I had planned but here it is. I didn't realize that I had not mentioned the conversation between Kyubi and the Female Entity until after I had written this chapter. If it reads too confusingly tell me and I will fix the first chapter. Um yeah, writing Haishi and Neji is hard. They don't reveal much and I have to guess a lot but I think it works. Character feed back would be nice.