A/n: I'm baaaaack! Yes dear viewers I have returned. Sorry for the delay in updates life, school, writer's block, and plot bunnies got in my way. As always I give thanks to my beta Kirallie for putting up with me and tardiness as well as thanks to DragonMan180 for using Zenith in his story (even though he is still a minor character).
Spoiler notes (if you don't want to have the manga ruined for you skip this part)
Okay I have done some reading up regarding the latest chapter of the manga and while I can believe that there was a coup being planned by the Uchiha clan, I do not believe that Sarutobi would order the clan's destruction. The death of the perpetrators maybe, but the death of the entire clan is more a ROOT or Village council move then a Hokage move. Sarutobi was more then likely out maneuvered in that instance by the council and ROOT as such will be the case for my story. With that said on with the show.
End Spoiler
Ch. 6: The Price of Heroism, the Demon Within
The blast of the after shock had obliterated the barrier jutsu set up around the hostages but had held long enough to ensure that those inside it only suffered a few minor cuts and scrapes. The dust and smoke that had been kicked up though was enough to obscure even Kakashi vision.
The group's tension began to ease as the dust and debris cleared revealing the battlefield. There they could see two silhouettes. One was breathing hard; the other was laid out spread eagle and, once the smoke cleared enough to see the hole it his chest, very dead. When smoke finally dissipated enough for them to see who was who, they could see that the dead body was Kenta. And there in his transformed state hunched over and breathing hard was Zenith, his hair obscuring his face.
"Alright Anki, I knew you'd beat that jerk!" yelled Naruto as he rushed forward to embrace Zenith only to be blocked by Tela.
"Stay back cub, something is wrong. Zenith-sama, are you alright?" asked the familiar watching her master with caution.
With what looked like labored effort Zen began to turn towards them, his head hung and breathing ragged. Then with a sound those present thought was an ominous sign, the pendent at Zen's neck clattered to the ground. "Run" was all he could say before there was enveloped in a cocoon of green chakra again only now it was a bright venomous green color.
"DROP!" was the only thing said before the group was enveloped by a chakra shock wave that kicked up clouds of dirt and formed several new rock formations. Kakashi had only just ducked down again when some force grabbed him and pinned him to a rock. He heard several more thumps and when the dust finally cleared there slumped against the rock were Shar'rei and Tela drifting in pained semi-consciousness, Naruto bound by invisible bonds, and Kurga being held by the neck same as Kakashi by what could only be a demonic caricature of Zen in his transformed state.
Where once a 6' man with tiger like features once stood, there was now an eight and half foot thing that looked like some demonic perversion of the warrior that had been there. His body was solid muscle, which were so large that they actually destroyed Zen's tunic and his pants now were like a tight pair of shorts. His mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth with a pair of long canines glinting like ivory knives, his hair was long and wild but what got him most were the glowing venom green eyes.
"What have I caught in my web said the spider to the fly?"asked the creature in a demonic distortion of Zen's voice. "A copy cat and a mix breed ku ku ku how delightful."
"Who are you?" Kakashi struggled to ask gasping for air through his crushed windpipe.
"Oh you know exactly who I am Hatake Kakashi, I am that gnawing little fear that rests in the back of your head, that dark portion of your personality, I am the darkness inside all men. I am the Lord of the Four Winds, Master of the Southern Plains, and Destroyer of Civilizations. I am the TORA no KAZE (Wind Tiger) reborn!" said the demon coldly.
Kakashi's eyes went wide with shock. "How…"
"How is it possible? Well that is one of the universes little ironies. See everything in the cosmos seeks to create a balance. Were there is one thing you must have its opposite. I am Zenith-kun's opposite, that nasty little piece of himself that he keeps contained and forever locked away. The part of him that fully embraces the power of the Wind Tiger" it said smugly tossing Kurga to the side seeing that he wasn't going to wake anytime soon.
"But what about being the Tora no Kaze reborn, if you are Zen's opposite aren't you a Watch-Were also?" asked Kakashi trying to keep the thing focused on him.
"You know nothing and understand even less. The Watch-weres are pale imitations of us. Each Watch-Were born or turned contains a small fragment of the original and as that Watch-were grows, experiences, and matures so does that fragment becoming it's own entity but still a piece of the original Wind Tiger and far stronger then the weak jailors that contain us by those thrice damn pendants blessed by Lunanara and her flea bitten husband and blind brother, we are bound to their subconscious. Without them we would have control of these bodies at the first hint of high emotion. But as long as that pendent remained on Zenith-kun's person I was forced to watch as he used my power to help others and for self sacrifice" it said with a disgusted shiver. "If Zenith-kun hadn't killed him I would have rewarded Kenta for freeing me ku ku ku."
"Well you're free now, so why attack us. Let me take my people back to our village and we will just let…" started Kakashi only to be stopped by the demon crushing his neck further.
"Why would I do that when destroying you all would be so much more fun ku ku ku" it said with a growling laugh. Then it took a sniff and looking over at Naruto and smiled evilly. "You know, I just got an even better idea then killing you" then with a hand wave it formed bands of air to hold Kakashi to the rock and kicking dirt into Shar'rei and Tela's faces for good measure. Then with a motion he levitated Naruto into the air still kicking and thrashing against his bonds.
"Let me go you baka asshole and give Zenith-nii-san back!" yelled Konoha's hyperactive prankster.
"Ku ku ku, how charming. So feisty, you have a lot of spunk" the demon then took a sniff of Naruto. "And a lot of chakra, just what were Zenith-kun and the copycat hiding from me about a seal. Just wha…"it was saying to itself as it circled Naruto and stopped as it passed in front of him and sniffed again near his stomach.
Growling the demon tore away the lower portion of Naruto's shirt leaving scratches that the demon watched with fascination as they healed quickly. With a light touch it placed a hand over Naruto's stomach and forced some chakra into him. The boy yelped in pain as the foreign chakra invaded his body. In a moment the normally invisible seal flashed into existence. "The Four Symbols Seal powerful in itself but coupled with the Eight Trigram Sealing Style, the only reason to combine two such powerful seals would…be…" the demon's smile then grew as it all began to fit in place. "Oh how poetic, a student suffers the fate of one of their masters. So who are you dear Naruto-kun?"
"What are you talking about Tora-teme" yelled Naruto attempting to kick his captor.
"You have spunk kid so you aren't Sanbi; he was too slow to ever develop spunk. And you are not Hachibi as I would smell that snake's stench a mile off and given Zenith-kun's memories you are not Shukaku. So again who are you, Nibi? No she would never tolerate a male form. Gobi maybe, she always had a certain rebellious streak" the demon then took a final good whiff and smirked evilly. "No, I know that smell anywhere. There is no doubt it's you, Kyuubi no Kitsune!"
"What are you talking about you freak, the Yondaime killed the fox almost seven years ago you Tora-teme!" yelled Naruto.
"Really, tell me is the anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat ALSO the day of your birth?" Naruto gave his captor a contemptuous look and didn't give it the honor of an answer. "From your lack of retort I was right, strange that a child with whisker like birthmarks so similar to Kyuubi's, not to mention such a high chakra capacity just happened to be born the exact day it was 'killed'" the demon said in cold mockery.
"Leave the kid alone bastard, if you want to torture someone; try someone who can fight back" called Kakashi trying to get the demon to return its attention to himself.
"Why Kakashi where is the FUN in that" the demon chuckled. "Besides I thought you of all people would want the gaki to learn what your dear sensei, your village's beloved Fourth Hokage, did to him?"
"Did to me? What are talking about, the Old Man said that a bunch of refuges were killed among them my parents when the Kyuubi attacked. The Yondaime SAVED me just before he killed the Kyuubi!" yelled Naruto.
"So naïve, so trusting of ones elders; your dear Old Man told you a fairy tale that your young mind could accept instead of telling you the truth…"
"STOP!" yelled Kakashi. "You can't tell him, he's not ready. And if you do every Leaf Nin will have their sights on you for breaking the Village's highest law, myself included" threatened Kakashi.
"Oh, how terrifying; an insignificant village full of insignificant men threatening my life, I'm so scared. For one so learned Kakashi, you understand NOTHING. Your laws mean nothing; your rules, nothing; your reverence for your dear Yondaime, nothing. I am as far beyond you and your laws as you are beyond an ant and the laws of nature. Threatening me is pointless. I knew exactly what happened the moment I touched his seal" said the demon chiding Kakashi. It then turned to refocus on Naruto with a smirk.
The boys face was a mixture of defiance and longing. He wanted his Zenith-nii-san back, but he also wanted the answers the demon was offering. Why, why it was that everyone in the village seemed to hate him and why only the Old Man Hokage and Old Man Ichiraku and Ayame seemed to care for him.
"I can give you the answers you seek Naruto" spoke the demon, his voice like honey coated venom.
"You…you can?" he asked almost hopefully.
"NO, NARUTO DON'T LIST…" cried out Kakashi only to have the demon silence him.
"Quiet Copycat, I'll deal with you in a moment" the demon said angrily before answering his captive. "Yes I can. You see Naruto; the Yondaime didn't kill the Kyuubi. He couldn't, beings like me, the other Lord Beasts, and the Biju have a certain amount of immortality in that only another one like us can truly kill us in the normal sense. For a mortal to even try to he would have to have the help of something far stronger than us. Which is exactly what the Yondaime had, calling on the Shinigami he took the fox's soul and sealed it into a vessel. Now with the amount of chakra the fox had, any normal vessel would be useless. The only thing that could hold the chakra would be a human vessel and not just any but a new born child with a still developing chakra network that could adapt easily to the new chakra flow. So at only a few hours old, the Yondaime sealed Kyuubi inside of you and condemned you to a dark and lonely life."
In that moment Naruto's entire life shattered, he didn't want to believe it, he wanted to lash out and call the teme a liar, but some part of him knew the bastard was telling the truth; the Kyuubi was inside him. That one piece of information explained it all, the looks parents gave him, the names his attackers called him, and in that instant everything became so clear. "Why, why did he do it?" cried Naruto as tears began to stream down his face.
"He did it to save you Naruto-kun" said a voice. At once both he and the demon turned to see both Shar'rei and Tela slowly coming to their feet. "He did it to save you and the village for that is the duty of both a Hokage and… a Father" spoke Shar'rei.
"Remember the story of how the Watch-Weres came to be, how the master's used their own children to save their people. It is the same thing with you cub. The Yondaime had no other choice, how could he ask another clan to sacrifice a child of theirs if he could not do so with his own" continued Tela.
"Lies Naruto, the Yondaime found you on the battle field and used you. They couldn't know if the precious Fourth Hokage was your father, they were never there!" retorted the demon.
"But… I… Was…" said Kakashi struggling against the demon's gag. "I watched with joy as Arashi-sensei celebrated the news that he was to be a father… I was there in grief at the passing of your mother Kushina… and I mourned when your father gave everything to save his village and make his son a hero… So tell me Naruto, what did your father's sacrifice purchase?"
"Lies all of it Naruto, don't listen to them, they don't care about you. I can give you anything you want, power, knowledge, glory. Once you are strong enough you and I can cut a swath through this land and take what we desire, we can set armies at each other like shogi pieces, then take the spoils for ourselves, and wash our hands in the blood of our enemies Naruto. All you have to do it say it" said the demon charmingly.
"Anything I want?" asked Naruto. For a moment Kakashi's one eye gave a look of horror and sadness. "What I want…" said Naruto softly causing the demon to lean closer to hear him; "Is to have ZENITH-NII-SAN BACK TORA-TEME!" he yelled as his body flashed with Kyuubi's chakra briefly giving him enough strength to head butt the demon.
That little distraction was enough to break the demon's focus and free Kakashi of his bonds as well as to release the suppression technique on Shar'rei and Tela. "Now Tela, while it's distracted!" yelled Shar'rei as the Tiger familiar began to focus her chakra.
"Hai!" as the second fallowed suit, once the power had reached its peak, and giving Kakashi the cue to get out of the way, the pair cried out "Lunanara Majutsu: Naka no Senshi! (Lunanara Secret Technique: Inner Warrior)" In that instant the Tigresses where consumed in cocoons of green chakra.
Pure fear and unadulterated anger flooded the demon's face. "No… Not again, you will not stop me again!" it roared and from its mouth released a blast of venom green chakra that seemed to strike the cocoons with the force of a hurricane that the demon could only look on with glee at.
"It's hard to believe this asshole shares the same body as Zenith-sama, eh Shar'rei" said a soft spoken flirtatious female voice from the cloud of rock and dirt.
"What do you expect Tela, he's only a pale copy of the body's real owner" spoke another albeit rougher female voice.
The demon's face filled with raged and snarled as the dust cleared revealing the sources of the two voices.
Kakashi could only look in disbelief as what was once two tigers were now a two full grown human women. Both stood at a little over 5'0. The one with the rougher sounding voice had long black hair tied into a pony tail and dressed in a short battle black kimono with white stockings that reached up to her thigh over which she wore a pair of thigh high boots similar in style to the ones Zenith wore and at her hip was a full sized Katana. The second soft spoken one had short red hair that reach just below the shoulder and a white Chinese shirt that showed off her mid section along with a pair of baggy pants and Chinese style shoes. On her hands she wore fingerless metal plated gloves and across her chest was a leather whip tied in such a way that a slight tug from the handle resting at her hip would release the weapon.
"Let Naruto-kun go and surrender" called the soft spoken one.
"Never, but if you want the brat back, then CATCH!" responded the demon with a gesture that hurled Naruto over the pair and into the sky.
Kakashi acted quickly using the disruption in the demon's concentration to dispel his bonds and performing a Body Flicker caught Naruto. "I'll secure Naruto, you two deal with him!" he yelled to Shar'rei and Tela taking Naruto over to where the former hostages were still blissfully asleep. He quickly set Naruto down and was about to return to the fray when Naruto asked him something.
"Is it true what you said?"
Kakashi sighed, he had expected this one day. But he had no idea what to say, he had so much he wanted to tell him. "Like I said Naruto, your father gave his life for the village so that you might be seen as a hero. As his student I will see his wish fulfilled and you survive to an old age. Now stay back" he said and once again raised his Hitai-ate revealing his Sharringan Eye. "This might get a little rough" as he returned to the fray.
Naruto could only watch as the man who had no doubt saved his soul left to return to the battlefield. The little boy was so confused and angry. He wanted nothing more then to go out and join in beating the demon tiger to a pulp and get his nii-san back. But how could he do anything, he wasn't a ninja; he hadn't even gone to the academy yet. Angrily he kicked the dirt causing a pebble to ping against something that caught Naruto's eye. Brushing away the dirt he found half buried in ground, no doubt due to the blast from Zenith's last attack was the claw shaped pendent Zenith wore. Immediately he remembered what the Tora-teme said, "But those thrice damn pendants blessed by Lunanara and her flea bitten husband and blind brother, we are bound to their subconscious. Without them we would have control of these bodies at the first hint of high emotion." In that instant Naruto flashed a foxy grin that one day would become his trademark. Konoha's future Number One Most Hyper-Active Knuckleheaded Ninja had a plan.
0o0o0o0o
"Demonic Jutsu: Sakebimasu no Tora (Roar of the Tiger)" cried the Tora no Kaze as he let loose another chakra scream at his attackers. The two familiars quickly dodged avoiding the attack.
"If that's all you have then let's see how you like this Chanbar Jutsu: Odori no Tora (Sword Brandishing Art: Dance of the Tiger)" she cried out at she unsheathed her katana laying out a sequence of complex strikes forming an almost octagonal pattern and finished it with a chakra empowered strike along the demons abdominal muscle leaving a great gash in it's side.
The Tora no Kaze growled angrily at the wound. But no sooner did he go to clutch it that he felt a whip coil around his wrist. "My, my does this look familiar" taunted Shar'rei as she kept her whip taunt to hold the demon.
"It does, and you should know by now that you never do the same trick TWICE!" it cried as it twisted it's wrist to grab hold of the whip and yank Shar'rei over and catch her with a clothesline to the gut. He looked over the dazed familiar mockingly before spinning quickly catching Kakashi's wrist, a charged Chidori in hand, millimeters from his chest. He then with his free hand he shook his finger at him like a parent would to a misbehaving child before hurling into Tela. The Tora no Kaze then looked down at the wound Tela had given him and smirked seeing that it had already healed leaving only bloodstained matted fur.
"I weep for your village Kakashi if this is the best they have to offer me. For your impertinence I will let you live just long enough for you to see your village burn and your precious Yondaime's legacy fall" said the beast mockingly.
"THE ONLY ONE FALLING IS YOU TORA-TEME!" cried a voice from behind them. The Lord Beast only had moment before he felt the small weight land on his back and small arms wrap around his neck. The demon roared and flung the child from him like a sack of flour landing hard near Kakashi and Tela.
"You stupid meat sack. I offered you EVERYTHING! I could have given you the world and yet you side with those who cursed you to save their own skins."
"You really don't get it do you? If I sided with you, I'd only prove those who hate me right. And besides why would side with a weakling whose weakness is a piece of jewelry" Naruto retorted.
The Tora no Kaze paused for a moment at that statement then looked down at his chest and saw shining brightly Zenith's pendent. It only had an instant to look horrified when the glowing crystal began to cackle. The demon roared in agony as some unseen force brought it to its knees. "No, I won't go back! Not again!" it cried only to be answered by Zenith reasserting his control.
"Yes you are bastard and this time…" the demon roared as his body shrunk and the fur receded.
"DON'T…" clawed hands became fingers and fangs receded back into the mouth.
"COME…" glowing green eyes became golden and tiger like before turning to a normal blue-grey.
"BACK!" and with that a shockwave of the venom green chakra shot out of him as the demon's roar became a human cry. When the wave dispersed it revealed a fully human Zenith on his knees out of breath. Zenith could only look at Naruto and smile before succumbing to blissful unconsciousness.
A/n 2: As always Reviews, flames, outright hate mail is all welcome and lets me know that you like (or hate) what I'm doing. Keep'em coming, and until next time true believers.