Chapter two.
Kyuubi and Naruto's nighttime sessions went on over the passing weeks, the time between decreasing as the blonde memorized the path between dreamscape and reality. Within a matter of weeks, the boy's mental strength had reached the level where he could enter the dreamscape and leave it of his own volition.
Naruto, after being shunned and rejected his entire life was finally happy to have someone to confide in, and eagerly awaited these meetings with the ancient Kitsune, often leaving with a smile on his face.
Kyuubi, in return, asked Naruto to describe what he witnessed in town that day, from the smallest details, like the gossip of fishwives and the like, to rumours and tales of bravery from the shinobi populace, which the kitsune found laughable.
However, one thing that interested the fox above all else was the treatment of his vessel, andKyuubi would have Naruto recount everything that he endured from the villagers every day to the youko.
Every punch, every blow, every word that the thugs hurled at him, was added to a mental notch in the duo's minds, until they knew that the only way to prevent this obvious wrongdoing becoming a routine occurrence, was for them to start striking back.
As a result, Naruto learned two things; how to avoid being hurt, and to look out for number one: himself, two of the most basic lessons covered in the demon realm.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first thing Kyuubi taught the boy was how to detect his would be assailants, via their murderous intent, a mid-levle technique for mid-level demons, but for human's, quite the feat of skill. To compound it, the Demon had to send regulkar bursts of youki through the boy's chakra passages, gradually forcing them to change shape, until they could support the changes which were due to unfold.
It wasn't untill a week later that Naruto noticed his ears were beging to become slightly lenthened at the tip, and that the whisker marks on his face were becoming thicker and darker, more like tattoos than birth-scars. He compensated for this by wrapping bandages around his cheeks and growing out his hair slightly to cover the tips of his ears.
There was nothing the boy could do about hsi poupils though. Many a villager would recoil in shock at the sight of the youth's new slit-pupiled appearance. Thankfully, his eye color hadn't changed at all.
Despite the setbacks brought on by his enhanced senses, hearing being the hardest to adapt to, the boy took to the training like a duck to water, showing a knack for sensing his opponents that would put most demons to shame. Add to this the aforementioned enhancement of the boy's natural senses through use of Kyuubi's freely given chakra, and the result was several frustrated villagers, their would be punching bag having vanished in the crowd.
The second part of the first lesson was to avoid areas where he could be blamed for any misdeeds, thus Kyuubi taught him one of the basic techniques for all kitsune: hiding in plain sight.
People found it hard to blame the boy for cursing them when he'd never even spoken to them, let alone looked in their general direction. This applied to all manner of things, from stubbing their toes to the spouse's leaving them. So basically, according to Kyuubi, if an old woman tripped at the end of the street, Naruto was to make sure he was at the other end of it, and facing the opposite direction.
The villagers actually tried that particular trick several times, until the annoyed old woman had enough pretending to fall and merely chased the boy down the street with her cane. Naruto had managed to give the hag the slip by diving into a bush, where a small family of Foxes managed to make some room for him in their borough.
The boy needed a two-hour shower to get the smell of musk out of his clothes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The second lesson involved a little bit of effort however, since, by demon standards, the boy was as weak as a newborn kit.
For several weeks, Kyuubi placed Naruto on a strict regimen; The boy would run around the perimeter of the village at least twice a day, followed by various chakra and physical regiments, such as climbing trees, both the normal and shinobi way, and weight lifting, using junk from the scrap yard.
Naruto's new friends, the fox family, made excellent sentries during his workouts, and during his brief breaks, he could be spotted playing with the cubs or helping to catch a rabbit with the parents.
Once, the boy had managed to swipe some udon from an unsuspecting worker, the fox's went crazy for it, especially the Inari sushi, though the cubs were a little sick the next morning.
As a result, the Boy would reward them for their efforts by purchasing Udon and various other treats for them once a week, being carefull to avoid anything artificial, not wanting to poison the cubs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One thing that irked Kyuubi above all else, was the boy's lack of any material possessions, he even lacked any proper clothes.
True, he received a weekly allowance, no doubt from the old man the ningen referred to as the 'Hokage', but most of it was spent on the ridiculously jacked up prices the villagers charged him for the most outdated things, be they food, clothes, not to mention the rent he had to pay for this shit hole of an apartment. The kitsune had to restrain himself from howling at the indignity of his charge being forced to wear clothing so flourescant it would be suicide to even THINk of veturing outside, but actually had to reside in an apartment that, for all means and purposes, was little better off than a shack; the place didn't even have a constant supple of clear, heated water!
As such, it was time to teach the boy the first thing a youko kit learns besides its parents' scent: the fine art of stealing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The regimen for this was much harder, requiring weeksupon weeks of arduos training, both in the real world and their shared dreamscape. During the day, Naruto would practice infiltration and pilfering skills, breaking into abandoned structures and looting whatever he could find without being caught, while at night he'd be graded for his efforts, and then lectured on his skills, or lack thereof.
Initially, Naruto's skills were abysmal at best, and Kyuubi made a point to express his doubt that Naruto could sneak a cookie out of a jar without being spotted. Ironically, Naruto took it upon himself to do just that to prove his guardian wrong, and he was almost caught in the attempt. Kyuubi went to great lengths to remind the boy that were it not for the arrival of a rather portly man and his son, who caught the shopkeepers full attention, the blonde would have lost a hand, the sandaime's laws be hanged.
After this though, the boy progressed at an amazing pace, until it was quite common for shopkeepers to notice that their stock counts seemed a little lower than they first thought, or that some random citizen would find his wallet was a lot lighter than when he'd last checked. Naruto seemed quite the adept pickpocket, often walking off with the entire contents of several peoples wallets, their valuables, and in one case, several pairs of panties, which were later run up the flagpole outside the Hokage tower.
Fortunately, everyone blamed a strange, white haired man who'd been in the vicinity, so no-one caught on to the true culprits identity.
However, pilfering from the villagers was one thing, but if the boy hoped to manage in a village of shinobi, he'd need to be able to pull of his heists without being detected by the ninja population, and at the moment, the boy was nowhere near ready to do so without losing his arms, let alone a hand.
Fortunately for our hero, the Kyuubi was more than willing to up the ante.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Kit, tonight, I'm going to teach you a very valuable trick, it's one of the basics to demons like myself, but to humans it's considered quite the feat."
Naruto nodded, sitting cross-legged in front of the cage, the water having long since vanished. Another chjange is that instead of resembling a crumbling sewer, the cage had taken on the definite appearance of a temple or palace, drapes and lanterns hanging from the walls and ceilings.Kyuubi had reassured the brat that it was because his mind was developing, and that his dreamscape was changing as a result, and Naruto, ever
"The most valuable aspect a thief can have is not a sharp mind nor sharp reflexes, though both are valuable, don't mistake me." the demon assured the blonde, "No, what a thief values most of all, is stealth."
The Demon snorted, his snout wrinkling in distaste.
"Unfortunately, most shinobi can sense a person moving from over a mile away, and demons are much better than that."
He raised a claw up, as one would a finger, "Therefore, one of the best ways to avoid being detected, is to suppress your aura."
Naruto cocked his head, "That's the spiritual part of chakra, isn't it?"
Kyuubi grinned, his lessons we're rubbing off on the boy.
"Very good, and yes, to suppress your aura, one of the best methods is to meditate, preferably under a waterfall, though sitting in a river can help too, especially for a novice like yourself. Remember kit, chakra is the result of mixing your physical energy, or ki, with your aura, or spirit.
He sighed softly, causing the boy's hair to ruffle.
"However, while it is true that my presence in your body has no doubt boosted your stamina, and thus your physical tolerance levels, your aura is still that of a normal child, and it is this that causes your chakra to be in such disarray. Therefore, it is important that we refine your aura so that your chakra will be in a more…manageable state."
Naruto winced, one did not spend time communing with ones inner demon without picking up on a few things. Thus whenever the Kitsune paused, Naruto knew it was because the Demon was about to add something rather unpleasant to his training regiment.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maito Gai, resident Taijutsu specialist, self-proclaimed beautiful blue beast and resident head-case of the Konoha jounin, was known for his, bizarre, training methods. It was not uncommon to see the man walking around the village on his hands, or attempting to lift boulders with his feet, all in the name of his flames of youth.
However, even he had never had the nerve to sit in a river, stripped to his undergarments, in the early hours of the morning, in mid spring.
More the fool him, it was actually quite invigorating.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto would spend his mornings meditating in the river, trying to increase his aura through the use of the cold, constant flow of the rivers current, whilst at the same time trying to keep certain lower extremities from turning into rather inappropriately shaped popsicles.
Several times he made as if to get out of the water, only to be admonished by his tenant for his lack of resistance.
"There is no progress without exertion, training is normally unpleasant at first, but the harder you train, the greater the rewards."
At that moment, Naruto woiuld have accepoted thermal underwear as a reward even if it came with a bulls-eye over the lower extremities.
For a whole month, this regime continued: early morning meditation in the river, followed by chakra control exercises and rigourous physical training. It was quite common for Naruto to be so drained that when he awoke the next morning, his muscles were stiff, and more often than not he woke up to be coevered by a furry blanket, as the Foxes kept him warm after passing out in the midst of training.
Finally, two months after the training began, the time came for a little test.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hatake Kakashi, the infamous copy-nin, master of lame excuses, and definite pervert, was strolling through Konoha, with one of his infamous little orange books of soft-core smut, when he abruptly sneezed.
'Hmm? Someone must be talking about me…probably Gai.'
Sighing the jounin looked back at his precious book, eager to return to the tale about the ninja who infiltrated the daimyo's harem, only to freeze in horror.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The scream echoed around Konoha, causing many to wince, wondering what poor victim had the 'pleasure' of being the guest of Morino Ibiki today.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandaime Sarutobi tucked his pipe under his robes as he entered the hospital, wondering what the devil had happened.
The doctors said Kakashi, who was reputed to be the epitome of calm, had suffered a fainting spell. Normally the hokage would brush this off as the result of reading in the heat, but the medic-nins said that the poor jounin had a look of absolute horror on his face…what was visible beneath the mask anyway.
"How is he doctor?" the elder Nin asked, looking over Kakashi's still twitching form.
The doctor, looking up from his notes, smiled and said, "He'll be fine, just a case of shock; he'll be up and about in a few days."
Sarutobi sighed in relief and looked over the grey haired jounin, whose face still looked decidedly pale.
"What do you think brought this on?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow as the doctor, unsuccessfully, tried to suppress a chuckle, before holding up a book.
"We're not entirely sure, but we found this being clutched in his hands, in a vice grip."
Sarutobi's brow furrowed as he took the book from the doctor, as he looked over the cover, his eyes bugged out at the title:
'Yami Choco: uncut version.'
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto was giggling with excitement. Not only had he swiped the book right from under the jounin's nose, he'd pulled off a prank that even Kyuubi found amusing in the process.
Looking down at the book, the four year old raised an eyebrow at the title.
"Icha-Icha Paradise…wonder what it's about?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kyuubi didn't say anything to the boy; compared to the stuff demons could write, this was a bedtime story, plus it would make the second thing a youko learned: the fine art of seduction, a bit easier to explain when the boy reached his teens.
As such, he let the little orange book corrupt his charges mind ever so slightly, already preparing to answer all the boy's intircate little questions concerning Human erotica.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later that day, after a rather embarrasing lecture from the Kyuubi Naruto received a knock on the door.
Putting his book down cautiously, so as not to lose his page, the boy approached the door like it was an animal.
The rent wasn't due anytime soon, and he never received visitors.
Looking through the keyhole revealed a postal shinobi, holding a letter.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" he asked, when the boy nodded, he handed the letter to him.
"Have a nice day sir!" the Nin said, already moving off to the next delivery.
Naruto shut the door, locked it, and then moved back to his chair, opening the letter.
He ran his eyes over it a few times, but as a result of all the big woirds, he had a hard time understanding what the letter meant. as such, he resolved to ask Kyuubi during their night-time session.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"That is an acceptance letter, apparently you've been accepted at the Shinobi academy next year." Kyuubi explained after reading over the letter.
'Not that any four year old could understand this jargon,' the fox hissed mentally, 'none without any parents or guardians that is.'
Out loud he nodded his head, smirking in a way only foxes could accomplish, something that inspired fear and desire at the same time.
"This is a mixed blessing. True, you could further develop your skills if you became a ninja…but then you would be under the direct scrutiny of the ningens' council…and I doubt they'd give you an easy run."
Naruto nodded his head, though he didn't understand half the things that were being said.
The demonic kitsune sat in thought for a minute, his massive tails waving at his side almost lazily.
"Perhaps it will work out, if you don't go, it may raise some suspicion…and some shinobi skills would come in handy if you plan to leave this vermin infested dung heap of a village."
He frowned, "Though you'll need to train your mind a bit. Shinobi are sharp, for humans, you can't let your guard down around them."
Naruto looked up at the youko in resolve, an unusual expression to see on a child's face, and nodded.
"What do you want me to do, Tou-san?"
Kyuubi froze at this, looking over at the boy in wonder.
"What did you call me, boy?"
Naruto looked up at the fox, worried he'd insulted him without meaning to.
"Tou-san…can I call you that?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kyuubi stared down at the small, blonde figure he'd been guiding and realized that, regardless of blood, regardless of species, this child was as much his as the litter he and Kyoko hoped to rear. His oath to his late mate non-withstanding, the Kitsune felt his own resolve solidifying.
Reverently, he lowered his head until his muzzle was within reach of the boy's small hands and nodded, eyes warm.
"Yes kit…you can."
Naruto's eyes widened and he ran forwards, hands grabbing at the fur on the fox's muzzle and sobbing.
"Tou-san! Tou-san!" he cried, rubbing his face into the fur, as the red, gentle, chakra, enveloped him, carrying him into one of the Kyuubi's childhood memories, when the great beast was no more than a kit himself, nestled between his mothers paws, his father standing near, watching over them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the next couple of weeks, several things began disappearing from the village.
The shinobi library reported a number of stolen textbooks, each ranging from the most basic of techniques, to theoretical studies and strategies. The librarian, a Mrs. Haruno received a strict reprimanding for the loss of said books, and was even threatened with the loss of her job. This later came to pass when she apparently 'lost' several important scrolls that the Hokage himself had entrusted to the library, containing his training methods from when he'd instructed a genin team.
Maito Gai would later complain that the store run by Mr. Haruno had purposely lost his custom training weights and made a tremendous spectacle of himself, until an ANBU squadron carted him off. Later that day, Hatake Kakashi would also have to be escorted from the store whilst sedated, when it appeared that Mr. Haruno had forgotten to order his precious 'Icha-Icha Violence' novel, and instead had subscribed Kakashi to a years worth of 'Yami Choco; uncut version.'
However, the biggest mishap happened when ANBU captain, Uchiha Itachi, stormed out of Haruno's store, or the remains of it anyway, when he discovered his specially ordered pocky had been 'lost'. The Haruno's received a lot of skepticism, and even a warning from the Hokage to pull their act together, as he wouldn't be able to control anymore outbursts, especially from Itachi, who seemed to be in an extremely bad mood, for some reason.
One Morino Ibiki later found that one of his trench coats was missing, as well as one of his old notebooks on the human psyche, the book would turn up later on that day in the man's own pocket, along with a slightly lighter wallet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Months passed, the seasons changed, and at the start of the academic year, Umino Iruka, chunin instructor at the academy, was looking forward to the start of another year of fun and education.
He really needed better medication.
"I hear the demon brat is joining us this year." A teacher muttered to his colleagues, "Any bets on who's got him?"
Mizuki chuckled and pulled a bill out of his wallet, "fifty on Raijuta. " pointing to a massive chunin with a short temper.
"I raise ya twenty, on Moro." The man replied, pointing to one of the strictest instructors in the school, with a penchant for being mildly schizophrenic.
At that moment, the hokage entered, holding out the student rosters.
Iruka looked over the list, his eyes stopping on a name somewhere in the middle.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Iruka made a mental note to visit the pharmacist later, he definitely needed to get that medication.
Soooo...'cha think?
For those wondering what Yami Choco is, ask away, though anyone with a basic grasp of japanese and magazine titles could probably figure it out.
R&R!