Summary: Fighting Sasuke, Naruto nearly dies. However, the Mangekyou Sharingan isn't the only thing that gets awakened.
I'm doing this story for the fun of it. I've read a lot of stories. This is an idea I got from reading those. You know the 'what if Naruto has a bloodline' stories. However, as I wrote I went off to the direction of 'what if he had no influence from the Kyuubi' direction. But, I got bored and went in the direction of 'what if the impossible happens, "Kyuubi's killed," and is replaced with a more powerful creature who even the "Lord of the Bijuus" fears.'
I don't know where I'm going in this story. Don't care about direction. Just writing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Naruto: Choosing 'To Be My Companion'
Chapter 4: The Gathering
In the tower, the Hokage is under a great deal of pressure. The village has learned of the boy's return. Hell, he didn't know that the boy was even missing. From one side, he is being advised to kill him. From another, he is being told to have him interrogated in order to see where he has been and what secrets he may have let out to our enemies.
He feels the headache worsen by the second. Then he has had enough. 'God damn it! I'm the Hokage for crying out loud. I don't need to put up with this shit!'
He let's his chakra loose and a massive killer intent invades each person's senses. The room is silenced at once. No one dares to utter a sound or make even the slightest movement.
He takes a deep breath and looks everyone in the eye before declaring, "The boy has committed no crime. He is a citizen, not a ninja, of this village. He can leave freely if he so chooses. There is no law against it."
Before he can be interrupted by protest, he continues, "However being that I, his legal guardian, had no knowledge of his disappearance, I agree that we must find out why he was gone and where he has been all this time. But, I will not have him questioned like a criminal. He is a child for crying out loud!"
He hears a cough coming from one of his advisors. He directs his attention to Koharu.
"Yes, Koharu?"
She questions, "Then, how will we find out where he has been for the last year, Sarutobi?"
'Now, how would she know that he has been missing for a whole year?'
He answers with a question to the head of the Yamanaka clan.
"Yamanaka Inoichi, right now the boy is in the hospital unconscious. Would you please have a member of your clan go through the boy's memories? He should be defenseless to your clan's technique in his current state. Because of the nature and importance of this request, you are given permission to inform him of the boy's role as the Kyuubi's container. You are allowed to tell only that one person and no one else. Afterwards, inform him of the special law concerning one Naruto Uzumaki."
The Yamanaka head gives it great thought and decides, "It is best that I do this. I don't want to risk anyone accidentally overhearing me when I request a person to do this. So it's best that I perform the task."
Inside, the Hokage is rejoicing, 'This saves me from a lot of paperwork.'
(The morning after the Kyuubi festival)
Meanwhile deep within the woods, a gathering is being held. A group of snakes, boars, wolfs, eagles, foxes, bears, and raccoons are assembled. These are the seven great clans of the wild that rule within the boundaries of the fire country.
The Lord of Boar, oldest and wisest of all present, demands, "Raku, why have you summoned us here." Then he turns to the Lord of Fox and asks, "And where is Brother Naruto?"
The Lord of Snake curls into a tight coil before relaxing itself into a more comfortable position adding, "Yes, for once I too am interested in knowing why you the lowest of all our clans dare to summon us. And by the way, where is the human? He failed to show up to our mourning lesson."
This caught the attention of all the animals at the gathering as they turned to the foxes, all except for the raccoons. The human never misses any of his lessons. To miss is the same as not to live. He has such a thirst to learn.
The Lord of Fox answers, "I don't know. He was with the Raccoons last I heard. They were going to take him to another one of their hunts into the village last night. He has yet to return so I thought he was still with them." She turns to the Raccoon Clan as they all do.
The Lord of Raccoon(Raku) finds himself under the eye of all in the forest. He gulps before announcing, "That is why I have called this gathering." He goes into silence. Everyone sharpens their attention on him. He begins to tremble already realizing the impact his news will bring.
He is shocked to see the Lord of Snake first to break his patience. Then again, when it comes to the human his patience is nonexistant. "Come on, damn it. Why are we here and where is the boy?"
Raku takes a deep breath before answering, "All that were attending the hunt but one were killed. The humans have taken our human brother. We don't know if he's still alive or not." He and his clan back away at the anger directed at them on all sides. He sees in their eyes anger, shock, and bewilderment.
The Lord of Boar is the first to recover. After he establishes a sense of order he asks, "What do you mean by this? What truly occurred?"
Raku summons is youngest son to the center of the gathering. He informs them, "This is my son, Saru. He is the survivor of the hunt."
The Lord of Boar turns to Saru, "Tell us everything about what happened. From the time you entered the village to the time you came back here. Tell us everything you saw and heard. Leave nothing out." Usually the Raccoon Clan is known to exaggerate their stories, but for this one time, Saru knew better than to do so. This was important not because of who he is in attendance to but because it involved the safety of Brother Naruto.
After he finishes recounting his story the forest is in uproar.
"How dare the humans do such a thing? We should do something to get our brother back?" demands the Lord of Wolf, supported by all of his and the Bear Clan.
"We should just kill all the damn humans that stand in our way," declares Lord of Boar, supported by his and the Fox Clan.
The Raccoon Clan supported the two.
However it was the Lord of Snake that makes them all see to reason. It hisses its tongue softly before being joined in by the rest of its clan. Soon the eerie sound crescendos loud enough to unsettle all that can hear. Everyone cease arguing on what to do and soon the only sound that is heard in all directions of the forest is the hiss from the Snake Clan. The sound will reach all the way to the humans so they will remember this night as "The Great Cry of the Night."
The Snake Clan stops their hissing.
The Lord of Snake turns to the gathering, "Nothing can be done for our human brother." Before any can protest he continues, "From what we have learned from the Raccoon's account, whatever we do to the humans they will do way worse to our brother. It looks as if they don't care what we do. They are only looking for a reason to hurt the boy."
Someone asks, "If they hate him so much, why did they bother taking him away? Why not leave him to die or throw him out like they did last time?"
The Lord of Snake blinks his eyes before answering with a 'how can you ask such a thing' look. "Humans are stupid, idiotic, complex creatures. There's no understanding them. They always do things that don't make sense."
Raku's son, Saru, questions, "But Brother Naruto is not like that, and he's a Human?"
The Lord of Snake responds with a 'You can't just have asked that' look. He answers, "He has the connection."
The Lord of Fox asks, "But we can't do nothing. We have to do something to help Naruto."
The Lord of Snake nods his head before turning to the Lord of Eagles.
"You are the Lord of Eagle, as well as the Lord of Sky. You rule over all creatures that travel above the land. Have all your subjects, sparrow, hawk, eagle, crow, and such, which travel above, around, or through the human village keep a look out for the boy. Before we decide to take any course of action, we must know if the boy is still alive and where he is being held. And as for the rest of us, we are to continue as if nothing has happened. We don't know how the humans would react if we start suddenly showing up in the village. Like I said before, humans are such strange creatures."
The others agree and the gathering comes to an end.
Sarutobi is guilty over being unaware of Naruto's disappearance.
- He wonders when did he leave. (Currently having an investigation done about that)
- He realizes the reason why the number of assassination attempts and death threats on the boy has drastically been cut down for the past months.
- He is angry that he was not informed that the boy was missing.
- He wonders what finally drove him away.
- He wonders where he has been.
- He wonders what he has been up to.
-Most of all, he wonders why he would return.
The village is outraged. For the past year they thought they had finally killed the demon, only to discover that he had survived.
- The villagers fear what he has been up to alone for a year.
- The shinobi fear what secrets he may have divulged to any enemies.
The animals are outraged at what the humans have done.
They want Naruto back, but are cautious about doing so.
To them they are cautious of antagonizing the human less they end up hurting the boy more than they already have done.
They believe Naruto is either dead or be tortured.
They have yet to witness anything other treatment done to the boy so they doubt he is being helped.