Pre-chapter A\N: Sorry for the delay. Would have posted this on Tuesday, the day I finished writing it, but I got into a bit of a depressive state and didn't want to do much of anything until yesterday, when it snapped. Kind of hard to want to do anything when you get three hours of sleep every night and feel like Rocky's punching bag every waking moment.
Anyways, fresh from the sort of snowy white North (it just snowed) I give you the latest chapter of Kyūbi's Kit!
Chapter 8: Evened Odds
Disclaimer: Owning the rights to Naruto...a pipe dream for all fanfiction writers, myself included.
Hiruzen discarded his Hokage robes as his former student did so as well.
"Perfect," Orochimaru hissed when he saw Hiruzen's armor, "a warrior deserves to die in his battle armor. Makes for a great looking corpse."
A pair of ninja were outside the barrier, discussing how to break through it. The only way they could see their Hokage escaping was to take out one of the four barrier making ninja, but they threw up a barrier to protect them from the fight.
Neither of them noticed Shiratama until she stopped before the barrier, staring at it. After a short while, chakra wrapped around her and she passed through the barrier as if it wasn't there.
Shiratama arrived as a massive swarm of shuriken flew at a pale skinned man. She watched as a coffin rose to block the projectiles, then got joined by a second. When the third came up, she moved next to Hiruzen as he drove as many shuriken into it as possible to make it fail. He succeeded and only two coffins opened to reveal their contents.
"Senju Hashirama-sama and Senju Tobirama-sama," Shiratama greeted as she bowed slightly, "it has been a long time."
The two men looked at those who stood before them. "Is that you, monkey? You've aged..." Tobimaru said.
"Shiratama, you've grown into a fine woman. Who's your summoner now?" Hashirama asked.
"I have no summoner anymore. The Sanban Kyūbi, Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruko-sama is my mistress," Shiratama stated.
Orochimaru's eyes widened. 'Sanban Kyūbi? Uzumaki-Namikaze?' he thought as he began to shake slightly, 'I put my mark on her, so I can take her over at a later date.' He nearly slobbered at the thought, a bijū's immortal body and all that chakra. And if her last name said anything, that detestable man who stole what he had once thought was his rightful place had something to do with her. To possess the Hiraishin... Orochimaru was close to having a seizure at the thought.
Tobirama looked over at the serpentine man who was dreaming of all the power he could wield. "So that boy summoned us with my mistake? Quite an accomplishment," he looked back to Hiruzen and Shiratama, "guess that means we are enemies. Oh well, I always wanted to fight you two once. Death almost took that from me." Hashirama nodded, indicating that he too wished for a match with the two.
"Enough with the old age home babble," Orochimaru hissed as he held a kunai with a tag to each revived man's head, "just destroy the old man."
"Ages pass and the land is reshaped by the elements, but war never changes," Hashirama mused as his will started to fade.
"Using the dead as your weapons, you won't die anywhere near a peaceful death," Hiruzen stated.
Orochimaru just smiled as he shoved the kunai into the revived Hokages' heads, then focused some chakra into the weapons. "Let's make you two a bit more presentable before we being," the snake muttered as the men were restored, "now my tools are ready to kill." He smirked at Hiruzen's glare. "Enjoy fighting and killing your masters, all so you will know how I will feel in a few moments!"
Hiruzen and Tama moved forward.
"Katon: Karyū Endan!" Hiruzen shouted as he spat up a fireball at his former sensei.
Tobirama went through the seals. "Suiton: Suijinheki!" he muttered as he released water from his mouth, creating a wall around himself, his brother and Orochimaru.
"My turn," Tama stated as she swung her ring blade down in the ground before her. She let her yōki flow around her body, forming white flames around her. The flames gathered into a couple balls of flame. "Kitsunebi!" she roared, seemingly using her two tails to push the flames at the men. The flames gathered together, forming into a pouncing fox.
Tobirama calmly used a water dragon bullet to crush her fire attack as well as attempt to hit his opponents. Hiruzen countered by creating an earth wall. "We need a pla-" Hiruzen started.
"Mokuton Hijutsu..." Hashirama stated, chilling both the kitsune and the current Hokage, "Jukai Kōtan."
The area was suddenly turned into a small forest. Hiruzen attempted to dodge the growing trees, but he was caught anyways. Tama managed to evade the growing trees and came down, slashing the tree growing around Hiruzen, her unusual weapon burning with white fire, killing the trees.
"Ah, the infamous flames of Shiratama, Konoha's guardian kitsune," Orochimaru muttered to himself, "the only flames said to be able to completely burn away the powerful mokuton. The flames that are said to accompany Shinigami himself."
"Shut up you coward!" the fox shouted, "Hiruzen! Call on Enma!"
Hiruzen summoned the monkey king, who glared at Orochimaru. "I told you years ago: kill him!" Enma shouted.
"That is what we are doing now," Hiruzen stated, "I need a weapon..."
Enma grinned. "Alright. Henge: Kongōnyoi!" He became a long, thick pole arm.
Orochimaru opened his mouth and a snake came out, opening its own mouth so the handle of a sword could slide out. Orochimaru took the weapon and dragged it out, letting the snake slide back down his throat afterward.
"Even like this, that sword is going to leave a few marks," Enma warned.
"Stay back," Hiruzen said to the kitsune that had been born with Konoha, then jumped forward at the two founders of said village with the aid of the Kongōnyoi. He brandished the weapon, forcing the two men to evade. With them off guard, he pointed his staff forward and it shot straight at Orochimaru, who blocked it with ease. Just as Orochimaru thought the attack stopped, Enma's head came out of the staff, fangs ready to rip his face off. His attack was halted when the Senju brothers kicked Hiruzen back.
"A reckless charge without a single kage bunshin? Even Naruko-chan is smarter than that," Orochimaru hissed. Ever since learning of the girl's secrets, his interest in her had only spiked higher and higher. "So what's wrong with 'the professor,' the man said to know every jutsu in Konoha? You're disappointing me..."
BANG! BANG!
The explosive tags that Hiruzen had set onto the Senju brothers' legs went off, obliterating their legs. The damage quickly reversed itself.
"Hiruzen, the Edo Tensei revives the body and constantly repairs it unless the souls are released or sealed. You know this," Tama chastised, "a tag on their head or torso would have been more effective..."
"You're right, I need to seal them," Hiruzen muttered. He got up and started to focus his chakra.
"Old age is such a pain, isn't it?" Orochimaru asked. He couldn't help himself and started to laugh at his sensei.
"What's so funny?" Hiruzen asked.
"Kami no Shinobi is nothing more than a title. He who holds it will still wither and die," Orochimaru stated as he grabbed his face, then tore it off to reveal a younger, female face.
"A decoy?" Tama growled as she readied her blade, "where's Orochimaru?"
"Kukuku. I'll admit I was quite shocked myself the first time, but it is I, Orochimaru," the woman stated.
Hiruzen stared at his former student. "So you've gone and done it, a kinjutsu to make yourself immortal. That greed is why you were never chosen to be Hokage."
"There isn't a drop of human blood in me, but I'm more human than he is," Tama muttered as she gripped her weapon tightly.
"The Fushi Tensei is a kinjutsu that has allowed me to continue on in this world without facing the effects of old age. It does require me to find a new body to use every once in a while," Orochimaru explained, "the reason I altered my face was so you could recognize me." He/she stared at the man for a while, then smirked. "Aging. Seeing you as a relic of a gone age, I now know why I need to be immortal. I'll kill you here and obtain a perfect, beautiful new body. Konoha, whether willingly or not, has always been the most fun for me and my experiments."
"So Sasuke is your next body," Hiruzen stated. Orochimaru's chuckle told him that he was right. "Stealing bodies to continue your twisted existence, how many bodies have you gone through so far?"
"Hmm. I think this is my second body, or maybe my third. It doesn't matter, after Sasuke is more to my liking, he will be my new body," Orochimaru hissed. The sannin replaced his face, showing the one everyone was familiar with. "Now sensei, time to die and regret everything you have ever done." Hashirama performed another, much larger mokuton to fill the entire barrier with trees.
Hiruzen guarded himself by having Enma turn into a cage while Tama glared at the growing trees. "I don't like destroying nature..." she muttered as the trees closed in on her.
"Shinobi no Kami and Konoha's guardian, both felled due to carelessness. Such a disappointment," Orochimaru hissed, "had you thrown away any mercy, you may have been able to kill me long ago."
"Before these flames, life cannot thrive."
White fires ripped through the trees, incinerating them in moments. Orochimaru dodged out of the way with his puppets. The flame hit the barrier, cracking it with the shear force and ferocity of the fire.
Orochimaru frowned. "That Shi Furea is starting to annoy me."
Tama walked through the flames, which parted to give her passage. "Get used to it. I catch you in them, I'll let them eat you whole."
"Tama! It is my duty to end this!" Hiruzen shouted.
The fox looked back at him. "No, this is my duty. Konoha's continued existence was once my purpose. By letting this man live, from who I felt a destiny of evil, I failed," she explained, "and I'm not letting you kill yourself to end this."
Hiruzen's eyes widened. "You...knew?"
"Of course I knew. I can feel him already, a sign that you wish to use that jutsu," Tama said, then had her fires form a twisted cage around Hiruzen and Enma, shielding them from harm, "but as you are now, it is impossible to call on him."
"Oh, so you wish to add yourself to my collection of Konoha's founders?" Orochimaru asked.
"I didn't found Konoha, I was born alongside it," Tama corrected, "and I seem to notice a critical piece missing from your collection. What's the matter, find it hard to control that clan?"
Orochimaru hissed. It was true, Uchiha were very hard to control no matter what he tried. And summoning that man would be the same as committing suicide. "It doesn't matter, the former Hokage will destroy you," Orochimaru hissed.
"You chose the wrong men," Tama stated as fire surged off her ring blade, "water, earth and wood all vanish before fire..."
New growth tried to seize the kitsune, but a swing of her blazing weapon reduced the trees to ash. A water dragon rushed at her, but she threw her ring blade through it, cutting it in two and reducing it to steam.
"Heh. Got you!" Orochimaru shouted as he appeared behind her, Kusanagi aimed at her neck. The woman survived the stab by turning into a flaming kitsune and Orochimaru got first hand experience with the Shinigami's flames when her burning weapon tore through his waist, cutting him in two. In spite of the damage, he used snakes to pull himself back together and retreated, knowing that her weapon acted like a boomerang. "Why go so far for those who shun your master?"
Tama caught her ring blade. "So what if they shun her? They will come to know later and accept her as Konoha's protector. The reason I protect them is because anyone born within this forest is my younger sibling. Little brothers and sisters, a massive family that I, as a guardian born for duty, should never have. In spite of everything you have done, you are counted amongst my kin. It pains me greatly to kill a brother, no matter how twisted and evil he is."
"And it gives me great pleasure to kill you, onee-san," Orochimaru hissed as his tongue rolled out of his mouth.
"You want power? How about I show you the greatest power I have? I'll burn it straight into your soul," Tama growled.
"Kukukuku. Show me!"
Tama started to revolve her ring blade like it was a child's toy, even throwing it up into the air a few times while she spun like a dancer beneath it. She flung it high up, the blade forming a perfect ring above her. "Now you'll die," she said as the ring dropped, a pillar forming to hide her from Orochimaru's eyes.
Orochimaru stared at the flaming pillar. "So you intend to bore me to death?"
"No," Tama growled as the flames vanished, revealing her arms and ankles wrapped in flames, her kimono sleeves ruined from the fire. Her two tails swayed slightly in the air, "I'll just rip you apart."
"How so?" Orochimaru asked.
Tama reached up and took a hold of her eye patch, smoke rising off her hand as she touched the metal. The flames seemed to...retreat, almost as if fearful of the patch. "With this."
Enma changed back into ape form. "I'm so happy we're in here and not out there."
Orochimaru was about ask what he meant when Tama pulled the eye patch off. After a moment, she lifted her gaze to Orochimaru, her left eye still shut tight.
"Is that it?" Orochimaru asked with a raised eye brow, "from the feel of that eye patch and the fact that it burnt you, I thought your yōki would increase."
"If you value your life, run now," Tama stated. When Orochimaru didn't move, she sighed and opened her eye, "Kyō no me..."
Orochimaru stared at her eye. The 'Berserker Eye?' What the hell? Her iris was blood red and the pupil was slit shaped, but nothing else changed about her. "You bo-"
Tama rushed forward, sweeping her flaming hand at Orochimaru's neck. He dodged and had to move away as she swept at him again. "You two, get her!" he ordered.
The Senju brothers used their jutsu and Tama tore through them with reckless abandon, driving her hands through Hashirama's chest and tearing him in two. She seized the kunai and destroyed it, freeing the man from Orochimaru's jutsu. Even as his body was reduced to ash and the corpse of Zaku of the Oto genin team, Tama kept brutalizing what was left.
"Madness," Orochimaru muttered. It seems there was a Kekkai Genkai he could do without.
Tobirama started going through the seals for the most powerful suiton of them all, but Tama mindlessly roared and jabbed her hand forward, extending a flame sword from her hand and into the Shodai Hokage's head. She ripped the blade free and then slammed it into the ground before her, filling a third of the barrier with fire and debris.
Orochimaru came out unscathed thanks to his body shedding, but he couldn't do it again. He quickly took aim and extended Kusanagi to strike the girl's heart. Instead of hitting his target, Tama grabbed the approaching blade and it went through her stomach. "Dammit!" the sannin grunted. Tama growled and held the blade still, making it so any increases or decreases in the blade's length would not help Orochimaru at all. "What are you doing now?" Orochimaru demanded.
"Sh-Sh-Sh..." the woman tried, but it seemed speech was difficult in her current state, "Shi-Shi-Shi..."
"Heh. Mindless beast. A relic like you should vanish into history," Orochimaru chuckled.
"Shi...Shikei..." the Nibi Kitsune growled as her gaze locked onto Orochimaru's chest.
At first, he wondered what was going on, but a terrible burning sensation struck where she was staring. "DAMMIT!" he roared as he forcibly dragged his sword back and gripped his chest. As soon as he did, a strange feeling spread through his chest. 'This feeling? Poison? No, disease! How?'
"Enjoy what little life you now have left," Enma said from the cage of fire he and Hiruzen were in.
Orochimaru snapped his gaze to the king of monkeys. "What do you mean old monkey?"
"Shikei, the only jutsu that Shiratama knows. It is, as its name implies, a death sentence to any it is placed on," Hiruzen sagely stated, "with that seal on you, not even the hounds of Hell could give you as good a chase as she can. It will rob you of more and more life until it finally kills you, or she kills you. Either way, you're dead."
Orochimaru felt the sickening pain spread a bit. "Just wait and see, this won't kill me! I'm immortal! Next time you see me, I'll have the ultimate body, an Uchiha's body!"
The four shinobi who had erected the barrier dropped it and they and their master fled the village, leaving the remaining Oto-nin and Suna-nin to fend for themselves.
The cage of fire fell apart and Enma turned back into his staff form. "It pains me greatly to knock you out," Hiruzen said to the deranged, wounded kitsune, "I'll try to finish this before you bleed or injure yourself too much."
Tama roared as she leapt at the Hokage, flame sword ready to extinguish his life.
[A while back, Arena]
Two kunoichi and pug quickly found Shikamaru lying on the ground, a crack in the wall he was near. "Dammit, he just had to get knocked out early," Naruko grumbled.
Crunch.
"OUCH!" Shikamaru howled after Pakkun bit his ankle. To the shock of Naruko and Sakura, the dog started to pull at the much larger boy, actually dragging him a foot before he was yanked off and held up by the normally lazy genin.
"Shikamaru! Pretending to be knocked out to avoid a fight, that's low!" Sakura shouted.
"I don't care! I'm not going on a mission," Shikamaru protested, keeping everything away from the suspended pug's mouth.
Pakkun sighed. "I hate pulling out my trump card... Listen, if you take this mission," the pug stated in a way that spoke of great reward, "I'll let you touch my paw." With that, the dog raised its right foreleg to reveal the still pink pad of his paw.
"Why...would I want to touch that?" Shikamaru deadpanned as his eye brow twitched in annoyance.
[Ten minutes later]
"Not even Kami Herself can resist my paw," Pakkun called from the front of the procession of ninja traveling through the trees.
'I didn't give a damn about your paw,' Shikamaru mentally grumbled, 'I just didn't want Ino, Sakura and my mom on my ass later for ditching this mission. Probably Naruko too. Troublesome women...'
Pakkun moved faster than before. "Hurry it up!" he shouted, "we got...eight, no, nine people on our tails."
"Already? Damn!" Shikamaru cursed.
"I don't think they know exactly where we are, but they're coming fast and are most likely wary of ambush," Pakkun said.
"Chunin then. They catch us and we're dead," Shikamaru stated.
"Let's give them that ambush they're looking for then!" Naruko shouted.
"While it is true that an ambush would give us a significant advantage, we'd have to eliminate them quickly or they'd regroup and destroy us," Shikamaru said.
"Don't bother," Pakkun muttered, "they're Orochimaru's subordinates, meaning that they know these forests almost as well as you do."
"The mutt's right" Shikamaru groaned, "these guys are probably expert chasers and they've been shown special maps that only shinobi of Konoha would have access to. Even with Pakkun's nose, we couldn't set up a good enough ambush to take them all out. Besides, our squad is all screwed up."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
Shikamaru sighed. "We're a dog, an idiotic redhead, a generic kunoichi and an expert of running away from troublesome things, me." He thought for a few moments. "After thinking things through, I only got one working plan."
"What plan?" Sakura asked.
"A decoy. One of us will stay behind and delay the enemy with a false ambush," Shikamaru stated, "with them delayed, the other two will be able to escape without being traced. The bad part of this plan is that the decoy will most likely die." He let that sink in before continuing. "Pakkun is needed for the chase, so who'll be the decoy? Any takers?"
"I-" Naruko began.
Shikamaru sighed. "Guess it'll be me," he said in monotone.
"What?" Naruko gasped.
Sakura was stunned. "Why?"
"Think about it. The decoy needs to be silent and strong enough to slow them down long enough for the others to escape. Naruko couldn't ambush a blind, deaf and retarded dog. Sakura's too weak to beat Ino in a head on fight," Shikamaru explained as the pinkette fumed, "besides, my family jutsu were originally made for delaying the enemy. I'm also the fastest at running away, so I might just make it out of this." He stopped hopping along the trees and faced back towards their home and the Oto team. "I'll catch up later, so get going!"
"You better!" Naruko shouted, then her and Sakura took off after Pakkun.
Shikamaru sighed after they were gone. "Women and their expectations. Troublesome." He then went in a slightly different direction to lure the Oto-nin into a trap.
[With Gaara and Sasuke, fifteen minutes later]
Having tried to force a third chidori, Sasuke was finished. While his opponent was injured, it seemed nothing would stop this constantly evolving monster. Even now the insane genin jumped at him, sand claw ready to tear boy and tree apart.
"Not happening!" Naruko shouted as she kicked Gaara in his messed up face. He fell off the branch and crash landed on his shoulder.
Sakura arrived to find Sasuke being attacked by his curse seal again.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruko shouted, getting the girl's attention, "who...what the hell is that?" The kitsune was pointing at Gaara, who had transformed into an almost unrecognizable form.
"It's that Gaara kid," Pakkun stated. He then looked over at Sakura. "Don't let my looks deceive you, I'm no fighter."
"You look weak!" Sakura shouted.
"You..." Gaara growled as he glared at Naruko, "you're that woman who hurt me... I'll kill you! I'll kill you and I'll never get never die!"
Naruko remembered how crazy this guy was. "Sakura-chan! Get Sasuke and run!"
Gaara had already shot passed her and slammed Sakura into a tree, pinning her down with his sand arm. Naruko took Sasuke and moved him away in spite of wanting to help Sakura.
"What's wrong? Weren't you going to run in fear?" Gaara asked, "why do they matter?"
"They're my friends. If you hurt them," Naruko growled, some of her darker chakra filtering into her system, "I'll make you regret it forever."
"AHH!" Sakura screamed as the sand tightened.
"Funny, I don't regret anything," Gaara said with a twisted smirk.
"That's it!" Naruko shouted as she jumped at the ninja, only to be bashed away by his sand tail.
"What the? Where's that strength that you used before? That spear that pierced my arm, that sword that cut my sands, was it all a fluke?" Gaara asked.
'I don't know what happened that time,' Naruko thought. She had no choice but to try and summon. A fox wouldn't be good since Tama was fighting and Kanko had no combat abilities. She'd have to summon Gamabunta. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Naruko shouted as she summoned the great, the powerful-
"Sup bro, er sis?" an almost normal sized toad in a jacket asked, "where's the candy? I ain't doing anything without my candy."
Naruko's eye brow twitched in annoyance. "You toads are so lame."
Gaara had enough of everything and made himself known. "Friends... Such a stupid reason to fight. The only reason to fight is for yourself. Let me show you." With that, Gaara's entire face, his arm and a lot of his body were covered in sand. He broke his claw in two, leaving Sakura held up on the tree by sand. "Beat me or that sand will keep squeezing and squeezing until she explodes in a bloody mess!"
Gaara unleashed a volley of sand shuriken, forcing Naruko to grab the tiny toad and run. In spite of trying to escape, she was still caught in the attack and thrown into a tree.
"Damn, you're weak," the toad grumbled.
"Can it," Naruko growled.
"What the hell is he?" the toad asked while looking at Gaara.
Naruko lifted her gaze to see that only Gaara's feet and ankles remained, the rest was his demon.
"Scared? That's what happens when you chose to fight for others. If you fought for only yourself, you'd be able to fight me on even ground," Gaara growled, "come, give in to the rage from when you fought the Hyūga and me, use that power to try and destroy me! Rage is the key to that wonderful strength!"
Naruko went to use kage bunshin, but found herself swallowed up in a sand storm. With her blinded and off balance, Gaara pelted her repeatedly with sand shuriken, trying his best to kill her. Despite saying he'd play with her, trying to make her abandon her friends just to fight him, he was dealing some serious damage to her.
After a couple painful hits, Naruko got up. "Why is it that I don't want to lose to you?" she asked. She straightened herself out and summoned a few shadow clones. "New jutsu, my special talent!" she shouted as she and the clones jumped forward, "this one is taijutsu."
Gaara smashed his hand into the clones, not realizing that it was a feint until the girl was thrown at him by a few clones. When he employed his other claw to cut her down, she produced another clone to get behind him.
"You'll never be the same after this!" Naruko shouted as she took aim with a kunai, "Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi!"
Thunk.
Nobody was amused that Naruko had just, for lack of a better term, shoved a kunai into Gaara's sand covered ass.
"Ehhhh~" she whined, "it didn't work?"
WHAM!
Naruko flew away and would have slammed into a tree if Sasuke hadn't thrown himself between the girl and the tree.
Fiss!
"Hehe. It did work," the girl chuckled, "bang!"
Gaara found himself consumed in an explosion, point of ignition: his own ass. The kunai had been rigged with an exploding tag and it just so happened the Naruko had set it off in the one spot of his mini-Shukaku form was weak, right under the tail. Even now, more than half the sand armor was falling apart.
"After all that boasting, one lucky hit?" Sasuke muttered to the girl, "try training some time."
"I DO train," Naruko pouted.
Sasuke smirked. "This isn't Wave, I can't spend all my time saving you Dobette."
Naruko refused to look at the boy. "Shut up. I was saving you!"
"Listen Naruko," Sasuke said in a serious tone, "you free Sakura and run from here. I'll hold him off long enough for you two to get to safety." He got to his feet. "I won't let what's important to me vanish again while I sit around doing nothing."
Naruko stood up, images flowing through her head. "At first, I thought he was strong because he was always alone, but now I know better. He's weak, pathetically weak. Because the only thing he fights for is himself, he will never be strong." She remembered how Haku had said that protecting someone gave you strength, and here were Sasuke and Sakura. Naruko was protecting them, so that meant...
"I'll...never lose to you!" Naruko growled, her eyes glowing and chakra swirling around her body.
'W-what the hell?' Sasuke thought as the force of Naruko's chakra physically pushed him away from her, 'was she always this strong? Is this really the same girl who couldn't use bunshin no jutsu?'
"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruko shouted as hundreds of Naruko clones filled the area. She was wondering what the 'Tajū' part meant though. It just kind of came to her lips without her knowing.
If Gaara's sand jaw wasn't already falling off, it would have started to do so. Temari was suddenly interested in finding out exactly how hard Gaara hit her and if she had any brain damage from said blow. Pakkun was just stunned that someone could produce more than thirty clones and survive. Sasuke didn't know a person could make so many clones. The toad was impressed.
"Everyone in your family tree, past and present, is going to feel this," Naruko announced, "everyone, get him!"
Gaara had never had any real friends in life. His contact with girls was extremely limited, pretty much just his sister. He suddenly found several hundred redheads jumping at him. They opened up with a pelting of kunai, probably pay back for all the sand he chucked at her, then several kicked him up and off the branch he was on while they chanted the girl's last name. After that, he found himself struck from every possible angle by fist and foot, receiving far more damage than he ever though possible. Just when he thought it was over, four girls uppercut him and his now mishappen sand armored body into the air. To truly finish him off, six Naruko came down with spinning kicks, throwing him into the ground with enough force for him to take damage through his armor.
"That was just my new Uzumaki Naruko Nisen Rendan, I'm not through with you yet!" Naruko shouted as they all jumped down.
"NO!" Gaara roared, destroying the clones and much of the area as he formed a full sized Shukaku body.
Naruko found herself, once again, wrapped in Gaara's sand. She knew she was tapped out, her body's chakra strained to its limits. She had no choice but to force her tails again. Even one would help if it brought out Gamabunta, her only hope of fighting the demon.
"Sabaku Kyū!" the sand demon body shouted. He was shocked that he needed to use this form to kill her. He could understand it if she was using that strange power from before, but the way she was now? She shouldn't be worth it.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
The desert coffin was torn apart as a toad the size of Shukaku forced it open. Standing on its head was Naruko, flaming chakra coming from her right wrist. "Even if I'm almost dead, I'll protect her!" the girl shouted.
"Again?" the boss toad questioned, "how the hell can such a small gaki call me out? Wasn't last time a fluke?" He then noticed the rather large raccoon dog before him.
"Boss! Help me beat him down?" the Empress of the Kitsune asked from atop the toad's head. Wait, didn't she have a higher standing than him, no pun intended.
"Not. Happening," the boss toad stated.
"What! Why!" Naruko shouted.
The toad sighed. "Shukaku, that thing in front of us, is a bijū. While he may be the weakest and most pitiful of them all, he is still one. Add to it that he's nothing more than a walking, murderous sand dune that can endlessly reform himself, that makes it a little difficult for me." He then looked at Naruko. "You haven't sat down to drink with me either, so the whole boss thing ain't official yet."
"I'm not of age!" the girl wailed.
It was then that he felt the chakra flowing out of her wrist. 'The hell? Kurama? Isn't he completely dead? Oh yeah, his daughter Tsurenai took over. Wait, does this girl have the Kyūbi in her? It feels too pure to be a jinchūriki's power. What the hell is going on?'
The tiny toad jumped atop Naruko's head. "Hey pops. Ya gotta help her, she did save me."
"P-pops?" Naruko asked, wondering how the heck the titan she stood on fathered the tiny thing on her head.
"Gamakichi? Why are you here?" Gamabunta asked.
"I wanted some candy after I was summoned, but that overgrown sand drift was tryin' to kill me," Gamakichi stated as he pointed his webbed hand at Gaara.
"Really?" Gamabunta asked as he drew his tantō, "kid. From now on you're my underling and I'll show you what my family's all about."
"You really his kid?" Naruko asked Gamakichi. The toad nodded.
"Hang onto something up there," Gamabunta commanded as he held his tower sized tantō at the ready. The boss toad opened up with a hard slash to the sand construct, only to be thrown away after his sword bounced off and the sand beast smacked him away. He had managed to cleave an arm off, but that didn't really matter when your opponent was a walking desert with attitude. He knew that if he didn't get rid of Shukaku soon, the forest would never look the same again.
"Boss!" Naruko shouted while pointing to his fallen weapon, "that's close to where Sakura-chan is!"
"Sakura-chan?" the giant toad asked.
"This!" Gamakichi offered while holding his hand up in a well known hand sign.
Naruko blushed. "If we don't beat him, Sakura-chan will die!"
Gamabunta wanted nothing more than to laugh at the blushing girl. He had nothing against women being with each other, just that they couldn't have kids. Oh well, to each their own.
Gaara rose out of Shukaku's head. "This is fun!" the boy shouted, "but it ends here!"
"What's up with those eyes?" Gamakichi asked.
"Shukaku's host is unable to sleep because the demon will torture them with nightmares until he finally consumes them. Not only do they fear sleep, the lack of it makes them all psychotic like Shukaku himself. Of course Shukaku's powers are weak while the host is awake," Gamabunta explained, "but if they were to fall asleep like this, Shukaku would fully awaken."
It was like Gaara heard because he used a jutsu to force himself to sleep. The eyes of the sand body seemed to come to life almost instantly. "That brat fell asleep! I'm free!" it gleefully roared, then looked at them dead on, "and there's already something to kill!" The thing's stomach bloated to an insane size.
"Hang on! We're jumping!" Gamabunta announced, just before jumping over a vicious sand storm from the bijū. The toad then pelted the Ichibi's attack with water balls the size of a school.
"Boss! To the left!" Naruko shouted, right before the sand slammed into the toad.
"Dead! Dead! I finally killed him!" Shukaku roared.
Gamabunta proved this wrong by coming out of the blast zone, but he was far from unscathed. "Can't take much more," the toad groaned.
"What do we do then?" Naruko asked.
"Simple; beat the crap out of that kid on his head. Smacking him around a bit should force Shukaku back," Gamabunta said.
"Um, how do we do that?" Naruko asked, "he just kicked yo-"
"We get close and you get the brat," Gamabunta cut in, "since I'm a toad, and you're a ninja, I figure you can change us with a bunshin, something that has claws and fangs so I can hold him down. Or mold him into a sand castle or something."
"I'll kill you for good!" Shukaku shouted. The toad that leapt at him suddenly transformed into a nine tailed, dark red furred kitsune that looked far too familiar. "Ku-Kurama? Were you there the whole time?" the now terrified sand demon asked as it grappled its better. Even if he hated the bastard, he feared the fox's power.
The fox was replaced with the toad from before. "Now!" Gamabunta shouted, making Naruko jump off his head and land on Shukaku's.
"What? Get off my head bitch!" Shukaku shouted as the sand on its head rippled, tripping Naruko.
THUD!
"Huh?" Shukaku gasped as half of the world vanished. A moment after that impact, it felt the connection between its 'body' and soul snap. He realized what she had done, just not how... Wait, that chakra!
Tripping Naruko had been a mistake. Her right hand, with that weird chakra coming from her wrist, landed flat on Shukaku's head and blew more than a third of it away, it also separated Gaara's body from the incarnation of his bijū. With Gaara free falling, Shukaku was forcibly, although temporarily, sealed back in Gaara due to losing contact with the sand body. She noticed the chakra from her wrist was gone.
Before the insane beast could reform a tendril of sand to reconnect with the body, Naruko drove a straight, but weak kick into Gaara's jaw, forcing him to wake up. They landed on the shoulder of the sand beast and Gaara started to wrap her up in sand, but Gamabunta blocked most of it with his tongue. While it protected her from the sand coming from outside, it didn't stop the sand crawling up her legs.
Just as Naruko thought it couldn't get worse, her ears picked up the sound of groaning wood and she remembered Gaara's words. Her time was limited and she needed to beat Gaara to save Sakura. She felt it burning within her, the need to defeat the boy before her.
"You will die and I will live to kill again," Gaara stated.
"Get...OFF!" Naruko roared, her voice enhanced with some of her remaining chakra. The sand and the great toad's tongue were blown away from her. She tore forward, the sand grabbing at her barely slowed her down. It wasn't until she was within arm's reach that the sand finally slowed her and tied her arms down. "I. Will. Save. HER!" Naruko roared and smashed her head into Gaara's nose, breaking it.
The effects were instant. Gaara's sand beast broke apart and Gamabunta disappeared, both having no chakra left. The redheads fell into the trees, Gamabunta's tantō in between them.
"You...hit me...again?" Gaara panted, "I'll kill you"
Naruko shakily got to her feet. "This next blow will be the last one I have in me."
The two jumped at each other and Gaara's lack of taijutsu training was shown when Naruko's punch plowed straight into his forehead. The two crashed into the ground, Naruko landing on her face while Gaara landed on his back.
"You...won't kill me!" Gaara shouted, "I'll never let you kill me!" It was an empty boast, he couldn't even gather sand with his hands right now.
Naruko dragged herself up, finding that she could only crawl on her hands and knees. It was slow going and painful, but she was going to make sure he released Sakura. Naruko didn't know why, but she could feel loneliness rolling off the boy, much like Neji, but far stronger. Whatever he had gone through, it carved out whatever hope he may have had once. He didn't know that there were worse fates than containing a demon, what if you were one? She knew of his pain, pain he thought was his alone. It was time someone took some of the burden away.
Gaara panicked as Naruko drew nearer. "Back away! I swear I'll-!"
Naruko had gotten close enough that they could touch each others hands if they reached out. She had a look he had only ever felt: a look of deep, soul wrenching pain and loneliness. "You've never had a friend... Never had anyone who knew. Being alone in a village of hundreds, I know it too."
"You..." Gaara breathed. How could anyone understand? But her eyes spoke of the same pain, but how?
"Those who are important to me, you threatened them, tried to kill them." Naruko lifted her face, her slitted eyes, the eyes of the Kyūbi, glared at the boy before her. "Raise a single grain of sand against them again and I'll destroy you and Shukaku!"
Naruko's cool moment fell apart when her hand slipped and she dropped onto her face again. For Gaara, she hadn't lost a single bit of her imposing, almost messianic appearance. She wasn't divine, but she knew of his pain and seemed to have escaped it. But if she knew of his pain, then why? "Why save them? Why not destroy them? Why go so far for people who hate you?"
Naruko lifted her head so she could lock a single eye on him, her bangs falling into her eyes. "A few of them, they stopped me from becoming like you. They saw me as a person and not a thing. They showed me something I never thought I'd have," Naruko explained.
Gaara knew what she meant. He had heard the word so often from his uncle and he now knew what that man had tried to say while spitting out the hateful words of the Kazekage. Love, that emotion that he never felt before, it gave strength.
"Damn," Naruko groaned as he arms and legs refused to move.
Sasuke stepped near the fallen girl. "Stop struggling Naruko. Sakura's fine now, there's no need to force yourself up. That guy's also wiped out, so just rest for now."
"Thank...Kami," Naruko muttered, smiling for two reasons. Sakura was safe and a demon was thanking a goddess. Irony. She passed out.
Sasuke glared at the two who had just appeared, Temari and Kankuro. Both looked about as ready to fight as half drowned rats, but they would fight to the death.
"Stand down, we lost," Gaara commanded.
"Oookay," Kankuro muttered as he carefully lifted his brother onto his shoulder. Temari helped out and the three were gone, headed towards Suna.
After a few minutes, Gaara decided to speak. "Temari, Kankuro. Sorry for everything."
The two were so shocked that they both blurted out. "Don't worry about it."
[A few days later]
The Hokage shakily walked up to the podium. Damn, and he thought Orochimaru was bad, Shiratama had beat the life out of him. He looked out over his precious family, seeing some in a similarly battered state, especially an abnormally quiet blond near the front.
Hiruzen cleared his throat. "I have called you all out here for two reasons. The first is to say that you all did well in repelling the invasion."
Murmurs went through the crowd. Guy shouted that he got three more than Kakashi due to his Youthfullness. Many just shook their heads, thinking the men would later compare how had more hair left or other stupid things when they were old and retired.
Hiruzen's smile turned somewhat grim. "This battle taught me a harsh lesson of life. That lesson is that it is time for me to step down as Hokage." He waited for the crowd to quiet down so he could continue. "Like all previous Hokage, I do have a replacement in mind. Unlike the council, who wanted Jiraiya of the Sannin to take the title of Godaime Hokage, I have decided that Senju Tsunade, also of the Sannin, would be a better fit."
The crowd burst into cheers. Tsunade had been the favorite of the village for a long time. For the last time, Hiruzen stepped down from the podium. He had one last mission to give out and he knew who to give it to. This guy was like a perverted bloodhound who was rigged to find Tsunade. He smiled, knowing the man's answer already.
Now, where was the best place in Konoha one could peak into the hot springs without being seen?
A/N~
Bet people are wondering about Naruko's new form and powers. Those will be explained next chapter by Shiratama. Not all news is good news.
I've noticed that I've received at least one review by way of e-mail. Let me say this now: I hardly ever check my e-mail. Leaving a normal review is better since I constantly check those and I can respond to them. Also, I had somewhere near 6 solid pages of mail from last time I checked a few months ago, mostly favorite notices. By now I shudder at the thought of the number. Imagine the really good writers on this site. Probably dozens of pages each week...
If you've checked my profile, you'd notice it got a massive extension. You might also notice that the 'next fic' section has been updated. The team 10 centric story is a new one where I can pretty much write anything I want because Team 10's story in Part I is never explained. I threw in an OC because I can and I wanted to bring a sadly neglected character into the light a bit (Yūgao) as well as add a character type not found in Naruto. Don't worry, it's a guy that Ino falls for in that fic.
Jutsu Index-
Shi Furea [Death Flare] - Tama's unique flames. It is unknown how or why, but the Shinigami entrusted some of his fire to her at a young age. Various phrases are used to direct the fire. These flames are the only thing that can keep mokuton jutsu at bay.
Kyō no me [Berserker Eye] – The left eye dōjutsu of Tama. A terrible Kekkai Genkai that forces the user into a killing rage that boosts their power and the lethality of their techniques by shutting off their self-preservation instincts. With this eyes active, the user becomes a nearly unstoppable vehicle of destruction. The draw back is that the user has no control over themselves, has no regard for their own well being and they will keep fighting until everything, the user included, is dead.
Shikei [Death Sentence] – The Kyō no me's one and only (known) jutsu. It places a mark upon the target that the Kyō no me can see no matter where or how far away they are. In addition to being a tracking beacon, the mark also slowly weakens the user to make it so they can't flee anymore, making it easier for the chaser to catch and kill them. Normally it is placed on the head or torso, pieces of the body one can't cut off. As its name suggests, the victim will eventually die from the mark.
There is said to be another jutsu for the Kyō no me, but it has never been used, or nobody who has seen it lived long enough to tell of it.
Responses-
Wirdo: This fic is now being released when I finish a chapter, so it could go fast or slow depending on various factors. Main factor is my ability (curse) to come up with new story ideas. I'm like Jiraiya in the fact that I write down what I come up with. I'm actually thinking of getting a digital voice recorder to make it far easier on me.
god of all: I'm planing on going with this fic until I die or finish it, let's hope for the latter. I've got a few more fics I'd like to post before I wind up underground.
HeartChild: Here it is.
SuperNeos2: Glad you liked it. Surprised you didn't say anything about the Naruko VS Gaara match, I put a lot of work into it.
gaara king of the sand: Think of the basis of genjutsu: high chakra control. Naruko has too much chakra to accurately create and maintain an illusion. Also, have you ever seen Kurama use an illusion? The Kyūbi is more of a combat beast rather than an all-rounder, much like Naruto. These traits reflect in Naruko, who is the new Kyūbi.
By the way, are you reading the right manga? Most of the really bad stuff Sasuke did had nothing to do with the curse seal. If it was all the curse seal, then he would have returned to Konoha after Itachi sealed Orochimaru and the curse seal away in his Susanoo's sword, or at least turned his back on Tobi. Instead, he attacked Kumo to capture Kirābī and the Eight-Tails, then went on a killing spree at the Five Kage Summit, greatly wounding one Kage and killing another. He also ditched his entire team to make things easier on him, almost killing Karin when he probably could have saved her and defeated Danzō. Add to it that he tried to kill Sakura, then his former sensei and then Naruto soon after that. I'm pretty sure that the curse seal was suppressing his evil rather than bringing it out since he was quite tame when he had it.
Sasuke's blood is what made him how evil he is now. He was born bad, the seal just sped up his fall to darkness. Tobi even said that Sasuke had inherited the 'Uchiha's curse of hatred.'. Nothing more than anger from people who thought they deserved more than they got. Greedy, childish bastards. The only good Uchiha were Itachi, Obito and Shisui.
ladygoddess8: How would you react to a perverted redheaded lesbian and a white haired super pervert trying to drag you somewhere? Tama won't be going with them due to injuries that she suffered while fighting Orochimaru. Even kitsune of her caliber need downtime.
Firestar001: That's actually how I write my stories. Memo to self: set up my second flat screen monitor so I don't need to keep switching back and forth from ACDSee and LibreOffice.
I think I saw that fic listed a few times, but I ignored it. Don't know why, probably looking for something else at the time. Tama was created as a roughly ANBU level fighter, though she has no jutsu. Her techniques are based off Kurama's attacks and an anime I remembering seeing once, but can't remember for the life of me.
DarkLordK: Death by perverted nose bleed brought on by lesbians, one of Jiraiya's preferred methods of death. (others are in bed with Tsunade, in bed with two or more lesbians or in bed with Tsunade and lesbians who Tsunade is making out with)
Stop reading my mind! Ino will pounce on Naruko later, I just need to decide when. I want a nice big impact on the kitsune...
Sky Zephyrus: Actually, it was to the arm. Naruko pretty much hit the same place Sasuke hit in canon, but her spear completely pierced through the boy and his shield. No mention of her flame sword? Eh, it played a small role this time anyway.
Ino wasn't getting horny from watching Naruko, it was closer to going into a full blown heat for the girl. Had the fight kept going on, the crowd probably would have looked at her funny when her activities reached their 'peak.' Ino wanted nothing more than Naruko going up there and making her scream again and again.
MizoreShirayukiFan: Ah, the cutest girl from Rozario + Vampire. (would have made a hell of a harem if Tsukune wasn't such a spineless wuss) Anyway, thanks for checking and finding this fic. Hope it keeps you coming back for more.
darknessbounty: Naruko's physical strength is lower than canon Naruto's only because of she is a girl. This isn't sexist, I just decided to lower her power and raise her speed and flexibility. I tend to take one stat down and raise a few others to compensate and keep things even. And no, Naruko will not use Kubikirihōchō since it's far too heavy for her. The fate of the blade will be revealed in Part II.
bloodaddict13: I honestly think that Naruto has unisex properties due to practicing with his Oiroke no jutsu. And yeah, parts of her would change, such as her starting to think of herself as cute and such, but her baser aspects, such as romantic interests and sexual preference, wouldn't change at all.
By the way, a gender flip is when a boy suddenly becomes a girl and vice versa. Gender reversal is the same thing. In this fic, Naruto was still born. Naruko, the surviving kit of Kyūbi, was raised as Naruto. That is why her personality is so similar to his.
KTlovesmoney: ...Huh? How does a mostly canon chapter receive a 101 while a deviation chapter gets a 95? Guess that shows the gap between me and Kishimoto... Anyway, glad you like this fic.
ddcj1990: Those abilities will be explained later. As you can see, she tapped into them again, but at a much lower level.
Sauce Boss: Glad you like it.
DarkKiller9: I'll explain that in Part II, but she isn't going to use it. Remember that Zabuza told her to use it for whatever she wanted. Besides, her flame sword and Kitsune Yari are far more powerful since their made of pure, almost solidified chakra.
WitcheKit: How is this story short? I've planned it to go all the way to an end I will put together myself. Don't know what it'll be, but it won't be canon.
And thanks for praising Sasuke's 'genius.'
Sasuke: Hn.
Oh don't be like that. Dobette is your greatest contribution to my fic along with... And Witchie called it cute too. How'd you like that, Sasuke-chan?
Sasuke-chan: Hn... Hey! Why did my name plate change? Sasuke-chan! And why did you suddenly stop like that?
No reason. (I'm shocked he didn't notice the maid uniform. I'll teleport him to Sasufan HQ before he does)
Sasuke-chan: Wait, what am I wea- (teleported away)
I'm going to hear about that later...