Hello hello!

Just a quick note before I post this, if you want me to start writing again, I am considering a patron – Let me know if this is a good idea or not, if you could.

Best,

Me 😉

Fox Style,

A Foxie Boy in a Dragon's World

Chapter One

A droplet here

A wave there.

The infinite deep blue, its paradoxical lengths, and pressure, intertwine all that look. But for one young boy, it was peaceful.

Lingered on the edge of his home's main water sauce, blue eyes lingered as his mind raced with thoughts of confusion andangst, his usual self-delusional confident smirk replacing with a thin frown.

"Hey brat,"

He was startled by a gruff voice echoing loudly in his ears. A sharp ringing sound in his ears caused the teen to spin on the spot.

"My bad," With a huff, the tall male, hair as white as snow, lumped down next to the child, his eyes seeking into the blue mysterious ocean, he too seeking answers. "I heard what happened with Sakura and the fox…." The Sennin started, carefully approaching the current touchy subject. "And Orochimaru and the Seal…." Jiriya's normally childish and playful nature was replaced with a deep frown on his face, as he turned from the blue sea and looked into his student's blue eyes. "Don't worry, people won't treat you any different, I promise."

"Don't lie to me, Ero-sensei." A tired sigh left the normally reactive teen's lips, shakily nudging himself away.

"I'm no-"

"Stop it!" Before Jiraya could finish his sentence, Naruto launched himself to his feet, angrily growling as he kicked the water, disturbing its natural stillness. "Look at me!" Shoving a thumb into his chest, the blonde's eyes welled with tears as the water stilled, making a perfect mirror "Look at me….." Shortly speaking, the blonde gestured to himself in the water, instead of his normal reflection fox's face and a body covered in a full coat of red fur met his gaze.

"Naruto," Resting a hand on student's furry shoulder, Jiraya looked seriously at the blonde, stunning the younger ninja. "No matter what, I will be there for you, we will fix this."

"But I'm a freak!" Rage, uncontrolled, and beyond anything he'd every felt, coursed through Naruto as he lashed out, crushing the stone he was just standing on with a single stomp, large teeth grit together in a monstrous snarl. "How am I going to be Hokage now, ya know?!" The teen screamed; nine long tails flared behind him as he gestured to himself.

"Naruto!" Almost as he had been struck, the anthropomorphic fox flinched back, the anger he felt ripped from him. "Your name is Naruto Uzumaki! You got that?!" Standing to his feet, towering over the blonde furredteen, Jiraya sternly controlled the teen. "You're my student, a child of the leaf, and one hard-headed, disrespectful, annoying brat!" Strong arms forced the now crying fox into a tight hug, hiding the teen from his own. "But what's most important, is that no amount of fur will change that."

Sniffling, the boy turned fox broke free from his sensei, his mentor, and glanced back at his "home", the place where he'd been born excluded, where he'd begged and pleaded to get noticed…. The place he held back a bijū for. His home, Konohagakure no Sato.

"Thanks…." Regaining his composure, the fox teen smirked in a playful manner, his maw stretching wide. "Ero-sennin." Spinning on his heels, the teen smacked the older ninja with his tails, smothering him whilst he rushed away, a heavy laugh escaping his lips.

"Brat!" Rushing after the retreating form of Naruto, the old Sennin smirked, a sense of happiness warming his heart. How long had it last been since he felt this way? Months? Years? Decades? The brat sure put him on his toes, maybe he was more than ready to start training he'd planned for a later date. "Come on, you brat, get over here so I can train your disrespectful backside in the art of being an awesome powerful sage like myself!"

However, instead of a yell of happiness he had expect, a yelp of surprise was his reply, followed by pain, echoed out in the training field.

"Hey, get off me!"

The happiness Jiraiya felt sunk to the pit of his stomach as he sped towards Training ground 19, a frown on his face as he tried to pin-point the struggled shouts of his apprentice.

Launching into a clearing in the training ground, utilizing speed he hadn't used in years, kicking up dirt as he slide on the wet floor.

With focus retained form years of being an active ninja, Jiraiya easily comprised himself and located the issue. A man, dressed in a black cloak with red clouds, Akatsuki! washolding Naruto up by his throat, an orange mask on their face with a single socket, a red glow escaping it. "Naruto!" Throwing a kunai at the man, the toad sage gathered chakra into his lungs, before letting it out with a cry.

"Katon – Fire Dragon Blast!" A stream of fire, shaped to be that of a dragon, roared its way to the man, its maw going straight for his stomach.

Only, much to the shock of the two-leaf ninja, the air around the kyuubified teen and the Akatsuki began to warp, space-time rippling like a wave, something Jiraiya knew was not a good thing.

"The Kyuubi is mine."

A mini-second later, which felt like an hour to the sage, was all that he needed to react; reaching for, and throwing down, a scroll, Jiraya ran through several different hand signs as fast as possible, his mind racing as he controlled his chakra to its finest point. "Fūinjutsu style – Time subjugation!" Finishing in a bird hand sign, Jiraiya slammed his hand onto the scroll. A massive wave of white silk, so fast it caught the masked man off guard, launching from the scroll, quickly binding its target.

Thick white silk wrapped around Naruto, so much so he looked a mummy, "Lock!" Thin black kanji spread around the white wrapping, glowing as the warping jutsu the man was using suddenly became even more distorted, becoming larger and more unstable.

"Fool." Yanking at the blonde, the masked man glared a red-hot hatred towards the Fūinjutsu master, throwing a single half Ram hand sign. "Katon – fire arrow." A thin, bright red, blade of fire shot at Jiraiya, barely giving the man enough time to dodge.

"Activate!" Bringing down a hand, the sage barely managed to slap the seal and apply chakra before leaping away, the white wrapping glowing as a result.

However, what the man had expected to happen didn't, instead of dragging the blonde towards him, a blinding flash of white filled the training area, obscuring both party's vision, alerting anyone within 4 miles.

When the light finally died down, both the cloaked and sage men could only gap when the object of their demand failed to turn up, the ground he was previously on being burnt up and very much on fire.

"Damn it!" Slapping down hard, the old sage brought his strongest technique out, a pair of elder toads appearing on his shoulder. "Ma, Pa, this guy took Naruto, I need a hand!"

"Right, Jiraiya-boy!" Nature chakra, collected by the two toads, instantly transferred into their ward, funnelling power beyond what could be considered healthy, his physical features adopting that of a toad.

"You've made a big mistake, you Akatsuki bastard. I'm going teach you what happens when you mess with my grandkid!"

XxxxX

In some unknown land, several miles high in a cloudless sky, was a screaming anthropomorphic fox, his slanted blue eyes frantically moving to find a place to land, as his limbs, and nine tails, flapping around in panic.

However, instead of seeing lush green forests, one he could maybe recover on, an ocean stretching beyond even the horizon was his new rapidly encroaching home.

"Damn it, Pervy-sage!"

Spinning around, spreading out his limbs wide, the teen tried to slow his decent, hoping to give him time, even a second or two to think.

"Crap, crap, crap!"

However, unfortunately for the blonde, his decent didn't slow, and instead his body plummeted into the deep blue, a massive explosion of water erupted into the sky before slapping back down, dragging the blonde-furred ninja deep down into black depths.

"It hurts"

With blurred vision and a body aching with pain, Naruto could barely comprehend which way was up as he frantically splashed around.

"It burns?"

Pushing through the agony of crashing into brick solid water, feeling the bones in his left leg crack from taking the brute force of the fall, Naruto tried to look around, only to see a rapidly moving black shadow moving in his direction.

With fear in his heart, Naruto swam for his life, hoping and praying that someone would aid him, his vision dulling as the last reaming air in his lungs escaped. "D-damn it!"

Darkness, the deep abyss, welcomed the fox as he sunk down, dragging him away from his future in exchange for its calming embrace.

"!"

Before he could fully succumb to its blissful slumber, a figure of pure black broke through the wave, descending downwards to the slowly drowning fox.

With grace of a pro diver, the figure got a solid hold of the falling teen and start dragging at his soaked through clothing, pushing against the angry ocean that just lost its prize, easily batting away waves.

Gasp

Breaking past the cold board of water to air, the figure, a black cat wearing a cloak, gasped for air as they started shouting out in an unknown language, gently kicking her legs out as a massive wooden sailing boat, with many other humanoid animals on board, blocked her view.

A wooden barrel, big enough to hold several weeks' worth of food, thumped down onto the water with a heavy splash, its bare side quickly covered by Naruto's limp form as the cat called up, slapping the barrel several times.

"Up!"

Swimming over to a ladder on the side of the boat and scaling it with surprising ease for how soaked she was, the female cat slung herself onto the deck of the boat, sharp narrows eyes, framed by a frown of thought, looked down at the slow raising barrel.

"Faster!"

A cheer of "Oorah!" sounded on the boat as the crewmen started pushing themselves, dragging up the barrel and fox in less than 5 seconds, as the cat raced towards into the boat, slamming the door open. In a frantic run, consisting of her picking up a medical pouch and a corked bottle, the racing feline rushed back towards the fox, nimbly weaving through a crowd of difference other animal races- ranging from dogs, cats, and even a leopard.

"Move it, Snicks." Pushing past her last obstacle, a large black and white spotted dog, the cat knelled down beside the fox and pressed her left ear against his exposed wet chest, her narrowed yellow eyes closing in concentration as she sought out any sound of life.

"Cap, he's not breathing."

Snapping her head to the side, the black cat looked up towards a snow leopard wearing captain's outfit, consisting of a black overcoat, black trousers, and a cap, standing at the door leading into the captain's quarter.

Narrowing her one un-covered green eye, "Cap" walked up to the down at the downed fox and, without warning, lodged her fist in the teen's diaphragm.

"!"

A chocked cough escaped from Naruto's lips and the poor teen curled into a ball, a half-gallon worth of water coming with it. Blinking rapid, the teen groaned as his fuzzy vision snatched away any context he tried to gather, uncontrollable coughing making it just that much worse.

"W-why?" Forcing all his effort into regaining his breath, Naruto fought back a wince as he slowly regained control of his vision, weird colours and shapes of the people around him. "What the crap!" Jumping back in fear, his pain all but forgotten, the fox gapped at the people, animal, things, circled around him, each baring different animal features.

"Nǐ méi shì bā mùbiāo?"Much to the confusion of Naruto, the captain suddenly pipped up, speaking in a language that he wasn't at all familiar with- to his knowledge, there wasn't many languages in the element nations, but from his limited knowledge, none of them sounded like what the women had just said.

"Eh, sorry, but where am I?"

Now it was the other side's turn to one another in confusion, the female feline, who hadn't left the fox's side, frowned in confusion at the syllables she was hearing, it was familiar in some ways, but completely perplexing in others. Thinking quick, the cat clicked her fingers in front of the fox, making him snap his eyes towards her, before she pointed to herself. "Xiù" Using the same finger, the now identified Xiù pointed towards the teen.

"Naruto," Sputtering slightly, Naruto glanced around him, shock coursing through his body as he noticed that everyone was…. Like him. Sure, he didn't see any foxes, but he surprisingly felt less fearful than he expected. "Where am I?" Seeing the confusion on the face on the crew make him frown in thought. Unsure on how to communicate, the young blonde sighed heavily, it was going to be very hard to get any kind of information on where he was, let alone how to get back home.

All this frustration and fear of the unknown triggered someone deep within the blonde, something he didn't even know he had…. A large gurgle coming from his gut quickly alerted the fox, and everyone around him, of how hungry he was, much to his blushing embarrassment.

"Ha, the newbie is hungry, is he?" The white cat laughed out loud as she squatted low, getting a better look at the soaked fox. "Snicks, go grab some grub for the new guy, I think we've found a new crewmate to replace dear old Crow." Snapping to full hight, the captain reached out to the downed fox, a large toothy grin on her face as she pointed to herself. "Captain."

"Cap-ten?" Testing the name, Naruto smirked himself as he grasped the hand, grateful that he had found an ally in his arrival.

"Captain!"

A collective cheer roared the boat as the poor fox was swarmed by a massive crowd, overwhelming the poor teen.

_-xxXX_XXXXX_XXXXX_XXxx-_

Adjusting to life on Sea was not something Naruto would ever consider he would, or could, do. Hell for the better part of his childhood he barely even considered anything outside of being Hokage and proving himself to the people of his home.

Ex-home? Naruto wasn't sure if he should consider Konohagakure his home these days. Sure, when he first fell from the sky, he'd was very keen on returning home, he'd spent hours upon hours using any knowledge he had of chakra and Jutsu to find some way home… but all attempts ended in hopeless failure, mostly due to the fact that he barely knew anything outside of the shadow clone Jutsu, the rasengan, and the basic academy three.

At some point, the determined ninja who swore to never give up, to never give in… gave in.

It was shortly before his 18th birthday, 2 years after his arrival here. He had tried once last time too get home, using a self-created space-time technique in hopes of achieve his dreams of returning.

However, as many people can attest to, messing around with space and time was never a good idea.

The result of the "technique" was a surge of power so strong that it had blown up the blonde, messing up his chakra coils, and the mountain he was standing on, leaving him in a crater so deep you could easily fit 10 of the hokage monuments inside, and still have space left over.

That day he had met his inner demon for the first time. He originally thought it was the kyuubi but after some conversations, some bloodier than others, revealed the shocking truth that the "demon" was all of his buried down dark feelings made manifest. The talk they had was…. Well, it was several hours long, but infinitely insightful.

By the end of the day, the two had made an accord, with Naruto's accepting that he couldn't return home, and in turn, his "dark side" binding to him, fixing his fractured mental state. Though there was he could about his burnt out chakra coil, something that still affects him to this day. It was as if his chakra was always being used, so when he tried channel it, it was like trying to funnel air from a tornado with a fan.

As a result, he could barely control how much he had these days, or he risked over doing things. A simple application of chakra to his feet might allow him to stand on water…. Or it might cause said water to implode with the force of a bijuu dama.

That was a year ago, and since then, the blonde had spent his new life with the crew, travelling on a boat on the high seas, spending his off time training things he could do without chakra. His weakest techniques was his now most replied upon ones, his taijutsu easily a match for Gai… well, Gai before he opened anything beyond the 3rd gate.

He was fast, but not that fast without the assistance of chakra.

In absence of speed, the blonde had trained his strength and form. First, he perfected what he had learned from Jiraya, and mimicked the moves he'd memorised from watching Gai's and Kakashi's bouts. In the mornings and nights, he'd created a unique fighting style named "the leaping fox". Using a mix of the Toad style with brutal take downs and counter attacks, having his 9 tails for counterbalancing and additional limbs, Naruto could easily bind several people at once, or block from any angle, whilst having his hands free for brutal strikes.

It was effective, but yet to be perfected.

Whereas in the days, the blonde trained his strength where he could. Be it swimming against the powerful currents of a whirlpool, crushing stone with his bare hands, or climbing mountains with boulders strapped to his back.

Comparing his strength to back before he left, Naruto would argue that he was both weaker and stronger than ever before.

Without the control of his chakra, most of his techniques he'd perfected in his younger years were gone- no more spamming clones, or taking down his enemies with a well-timed resengan. It was sad, but at the same time, he'd progressed massively in other areas: he could easily beat any of his past enemies he'd bested in the past, only with his taijutsu instead of clone spamming, he'd calmed down a lot since working on the ship, so he was more socially accepted than ever, and finally….

His height…

The blonde smirked at the thought alone, with a healthy diet of fish, meat, and vegetables mixed with his physical conditionally had changed his "average" height of 166cm to a towering 193cm, and because of the lack of chakra to help him, his physic was A tier, even without flexing he had clearly defined abbs and lats.

But, for all his self-improvement, the blonde would trade it all away from what he gained with the crew.

Family

The blonde found a home within the crew, and it had felt more of a home than any he had in the past, he felt like he could be himself without judgment.

"Oi, Tails."

Of course, that wasn't to say there wasn't any issues abord. Looking down from his position in the crow's nest, Naruto took in the sight of the captain of the ship, standing at the steering wheel of the ship with a large overconfident smirk on her face, her sharp green eye, the one not hidden behind a black eye path, not even looking in his direction.

To Naruto, the relationship the two had was… complex. On one hand, the captain took him in, fed him, taught him the wonders of their language, and gave him a job as the crew's new barrelman…

"Come on, Tails, don't make me come up there!"

On the other hand, Captain, who's name he'd found out to be Fang, was a hard ass captain that busted his balls daily: be it training; doing random jobs on the deck; running across the ocean for her amusement; or a limitless number of different and strange things. She was brutal with her expectations… you either met them, or you left the crew.

Dear or alive.

"Coming, slave driver." Lunching himself over the wooden barrier of the crow's nest, Naruto planted his feet on the rough wood of the mainmast before sliding halfway down. At said half-way point, the blonde flexed his legs before leaping off, easily propelling him across the boat and directly next to the captain. "Sup, cap-ARG!?" Before he could finish talking, Fang lashed out and smacked his lower jaw with the butt of her sword, hitting him hard enough force it upwards, causing him to bite his tongue. "Whugy?"

"Slaver driver," Captain repeated with a sarcastic tone, in his native language, much the instant embarrassment of the old teen. "Panther has been teaching me your language, specificallythe insults." She stated calmly, a glint in her eyes as she took out a compass, humming in thought as she kept the wheel steady. "We're fifteen minuets away from the drop-off point, go get the goods sorted and bring them up."

Sighing, Naruto grunted, he would normally snap back with a witty reply but with his tongue healing, he didn't want to risk looking like an idiot. Walking to the front of the barrier from the top deck to the lower deck, the fox gave a two-finger salute before vaulting over it, bracing his legs as he feel a good twenty feet down.

"Watch out!"

Landing and balling up into a frontal roll, Naruto cursed out as he spun mid roll, barely dodging a dog, Strips, carrying a box. "My bad," Getting to his feet, he waved back at the cursing Strips as he took the steps down, heading for the boat's hull.

The trip was short, leading the fox into a large hollow room with several chests inside. If Naruto could remember correctly, it was a deliver to valley hidden somewhere deep inside a mountain range

"Valley of prosper?" Naruto hummed out in thought, the named escaped him, but that didn't sound right. Maybe it was something like Valley of virtue or something similar, the blonde didn't care to much, all that matter is that they got paid fairly, and the job was done well. Walking up to the bulk of items, the blonde moved his tails to pick up several barrel as he grabbed the largest box with his free hands. "Items coming up!" Shouting up, Naruto moved up the stairs, thanking several of his crew mates that moved out of his way.

"15 minutes, was it?" Naruto snarky replied at the captain as he eyes all the barrels and boxes he had put on main deck, his additional limbs making the trip that much easier. "Maybe you're going senile in your old ageee-damn it!" Taunting the boss about her age was still a big no-no, Naruto thought in pain, grasping his bloody foot. A foot that just been stabbed by the same blade that had made him bite his tongue earlier.

"Let's not keep the employer waiting, my dear underlings." Fang remarked, the same damn cocky smirk on her face, though it seemed to have a slight strain to it. "Or do I have to teach you all some manners." Bringing up her blade, Captain watched her dear crew members scram for the loot, some even tripping over themselves in their rush.

"You know, he's never going to stop," A voice sounded out next to the captain side, a shorter black cat with sharp yellow eyes stepping into the light. "No matter how many times you stab him." Xiù, better known as Panther, remarked, her keen eyes watching said fox pick up several boxes whilst also helping some of the fallen members of the crew.

"He'll come around, Panther." Fang sarcastically retorted as she cleaned her blade, eyeballing the docks and individuals that had gathered around her boat. "Make sure he doesn't get in trouble, we don't need another Gongmen city incident," She continued as she sheathed her blade, handing a sheet of inventory to the cat. "The wolf blood still hasn't come out of my coat." She blankly finished as she walked away, heading straight for the merchants who had made their way to the docks.

"Right," Sighing to herself, Panther sunk into the shadows of the boat, and began her missions of keeping a certain yellow fox from getting himself into trouble.

_-xxXX_XXXXX_XXXXX_XXxx-_

Having followed the directions given to him, Naruto had made short work of finding the warehouse and unloading the 20-crate order, each tail carrying two boxes, whilst each hand one. The looks he got was a mix of wonder and shock, but no limit to the amount of awe he received once said individuals got over their initial reactions. The additional attention he got was well worth it though, as it made the trip soooo much shorter than what his poor crew mates were going through right now.

"And please sign here, Mr Cao." Hocking the gold pouch to his side, Naruto handed the invoice to the large fat rabbit in front of him, his mood light as he heard ink brush onto paper, it would seem that he was free today. "Thank you again, if you're ever looking for quality shipping in the future, remember Lioness Shipping." Bowing lightly to the man, Naruto turned and left, ready to find some much needed food.

Taking a stroll out into the open street, the blonde fox closed his eyes and allowed for his nose guide him. An influx of smells assaulted him at once, some delightful and sweet, some musky and dreadful. Filtering through them like a man searching for a needle in a haystack, Naruto's eyes shot open when a familiar yet distant smell filled his nose…

Did he just…

Was that….

"RAMEN!" Bursting out in a speed not mere mortal could see, Naruto's instinct shot wild as the young adult sprinted across the valley in record time, a mere blur to the people he sped by, before he stopped abruptly, appearing directly under an arched entrances, eliciting a scream from a young rabbit who he had appear in front of. "Eh, sorry about that." Bowing his head politely, Naruto glanced around the dinner he had just arrived at. "Quant," Stepping past several small stalls, the blonde lowered his head as he arrived at the counter, taking note of a duck chopping some green onion off to the side. "Excuse me, can I have one… of everything?"

The duck, who wasn't paying attention, turned around to the counter… his head looking up, and up, and up… until, after a full 5 seconds of ascending vision, came eye to eye with a fox, his mouth gapping wide. "S-sorry?"

"One of everything, please." Dropped 12 coins on the counter, the sound snapping the duck out of his stupor.

"C-coming right up!" Spinning around, the duck grabbed several bowls, as well as calling upstairs, not that Naruto was paying enough attention for him to care.

Watching with keen eyes, the fox watched the duck work hard, masterfully preparing his several dishes without pause, even as a large, overweight panda came stumbling down the stairs. Their conversation was brisk, but the duck seemed overjoyed by something he had said.

"The noodle dream!" The chef remarked with a massive smile, reaching below the counter and grasping a hat that had fake noodles on top of it. "My son, having the noodle dream!" Getting back to making the large batch of noodles, the duck smirked happily, a new energy guiding his cuts. "Order up!"

Much to Naruto delight, 4 dishes appeared in front of him, three filled with noodles having different broths, and a bool filled with dumpling. "Thank you." Picking up the first bowl, he took a big sniff drawing the scent deep.

"Do you need help with your other bowls," The Panda called out, only to gap widely when three tails, belonging to the blonde, reached out and delicately picked them up. "So coooool…" Wide eyes followed the fox as he strolled to entrance, briefly stopping as two ducks rushed into the shop, rolling a poster on the wall.

A poster that the Panda read.

A poster that made said Panda react loudly.

"Master Oogway is choosing the dragon warrior today!" Screaming out in shock, Po rushed through the small dinner, almost running directly into Naruto. "Everyone!" His volume only seemed to increase in volume, much to Naruto's disbelief and pain, as he started rushing around. "Get to the Jade palace, one of the five is gonna get the dragon scroll."

Much to Naruto's horror, a wave, a literal tsunami,of people swept through the valley, shockingly picking him up as the rushed to a large open temple ground. "Hey, wait," Glancing back, the fox cried in surprise as the dishes he had was left behind…. His precious ramen, just out of reach. "My Rammmmmeeeennnnn!"

The cries of ramen was drowned out by cheers a monstrous crowd of several thousands of people filtering into the small presenting ground, making a square crowd around a platform, with 7 unique individuals standing apart from the crowd.

Naruto, however, found little interest of what was happening in front of him… no, the Fox was staring dumbfounded at his paws, his mouth gapping wide in disbelief. "My ramen," Tears of pure undeniable pain dripped down his checks. Said pain coursed from the tear through the poor fox.

If there one was thing in this world, or in any world for that matter, that Naruto would always love… it was ramen.

And it was taken away from him.

He was half tempted to go on a rampage, punishing those that has done something so despicable as stealing his favourite meal from right under him.

But the goddess of noodles was forever forgiving.

These people would live, if only because he could smell the sweet scent of noodles…

And they were getting closer, no more than 500 feet away… it lingered there like a flashlight to his senses.

That was until a literal flash blinded him.

A stray something hit him, and in a colour explosion, temporarily took away his vision. "Damn it to all hell!" Stumbling, the blonde tried to use his others senses to manoeuvre around, only to find that the thing that hit him had also defended him. In his panic, his tails flared in an attempt to keep his balance, trying to latch onto anything to keep himself steady.

"Of all that is ramen and AUGH!?" As his vision slowly became clear, the young adult found himself centre stage, his head tilted up, and his body spread wide…

Until, from his blindside, something HEAVY smashed into him, flattering him and indenting him into the ground. "UHUWEMMWEHU!" Screaming into the ground, the fox finally let out his anger. Pushing into the ground, with enough force to shake the arena, the blonde forced him, and the new added weight on his back, out of the ground, growling as he done so. "What in the living hell hit me!" Spinning around, the blonde went to strike, only to stop when a stick of all things intercepted it. "Hey, what gives!?"

"How very strange?" A turtle, old and wrinkly, looked down at the unlikely duo, a fox with nine tails and a panda sitting on him was not what thought he'd ever see within his age, but nature guided him to this position in time, and he happily accepted its gifts…

Even if the fox looked angry.

Actually, the fox looked downright murderous, and it was by his intervention alone that stopped said man from putting the panda into a sleep he probably wouldn't wake up from.

Nature…. Maybe this wasn't an act of nature, and he'd made a terrible terrible mistake.

Or not

He cared not, he was too old for this.

"The universe has spoken; the dragon warriors have been chosen!"

_-xxXX_XXXXX_XXXXX_XXxx-_

Panther seethed in anger from within the crowd…. Was the world trying to test her patience? It was one thing that she was holding Naruto's paid for ramen in one hand, it was completely different issue that the blonde had somehow gotten himself named the dragon warrior!

She didn't even know there was supposed to be two, or there could be two.

It wasn't in her pay to deal with this.

Okay, maybe it was, she did get that little bit of money at the end of the month labelled "caretaker duties for one foxie boy" but that was completely unrelated!

Sighing, Xiù moved through the thinning crowd, making her way to the two giant door that separated her and her duty, today was going to be more eventful than she'd hoped.

But then again, "kidnapping" a dragon warrior wasn't even remotely close to the strangest thing she'd done.

Not by a long shot.

Before she managed to actually get into the room that Naruto had been taken to, a tall female tiger, that she instantly recognised as Tigress, blocked her path, stopping her from entering into the halls as the doors sealed themselves with a heavy thud.

"Only permitted people are allowed entrance." Tigress started, her tone emotionally dead, but had a hint of force to them. "And you look like no dragon warrior to me." The tone was quick to become deadly, a mix of anger and frustration lased across her tongue like poison.

Panther, not exactly expecting the angry directed at her, frowned at the aggressive Kung fu master. "I may not be a dragon warrior, true." She almost hissed back as she took a step forwards, her 5-foot 2 statue barely putting her at maw level with Tigress. "But my ward is, and we've got places to be."

Before she could make it past the taller female, an arm shot out in front of her, stopping her advance. "The panda?" Tigress hissed out, her eyes locking with the bowl of noodles.

"No," Locking eyes with the now seemingly aggressive master, Panther refused to back down, she was going to get her ward without, or with, violence. "Naruto, belong to the crew of Lioness Shipping, no amount of forced upon titles will change that."

Growling, Tigress stepped in closer, putting so little distant between the two that they were almost chest to chest. "The fox has a given a title that anyone could only wish for, his duty," She continued, bringing up her fingers up and down in a quote like fashion. "Is to the people of China."

A tense of anger clouded the two like a mist, driving away anyone that wanted to talk to them… that is, until a Monkey came swooping in, a large smile on his face. "Hey Tigress, we're going to train, come on!" Tugging at the female's arm, the playful master separated the two female felines, ignorant to how close they were to blows. "Ah, sorry miss, but the area is closing down, we'll be open later to the public, so make sure to visit again!" Dragging at the taller master, Monkey waved at what he thought was a civilian.

Panther watched the two leave, yellow slitted eyes tracing each breath and step they made, leaving her alone in the square. "I'd better get him before he does something stupid." Unclenching her tight hands, Xiù went towards the closed doors, briefly stopping to admire the intricate detail woven into the wood.

"…..home?" Hearing Naruto's voice beyond them, Panther frowned, the blonde rarely spoke about his home, even to her, so much so, she'd thought he didn't know the word. Evidently, she was wrong, and the fox was discussing it. The temptation to hear about such a place had her laying her head against the doors, a small part of her wondering if she was breaking some kind of unspoken rule… not that she paid it any heed.

On the other side of the door, Naruto stood beside Po and opposite to the red-panda and old turtle, his fury snatched away as by the sentence he'd just heard. "R-repeat that?"

"Hmmmm," Master Oogway arched a shaky brow, not all that surprised that the fox had asked him to repeat himself. "I see in the future, a cloud of white and black will lead you to a village hidden amongst leaves." He continued, smiling gently at the shocked teen. "But for that to come to pass, you must fulfil your duties as the dragon warrior."

Shell shocked by the statement alone, Naruto stood there dumb founded. This turtle knew to much, way too much for him to feel any kind of comfort, but his statements… they pulled at his soul. A once warn out candle sparked to life, the possibility of returning to the place he called home warmed his chest.

Did he want to go back? He wasn't sure. He had a new family now, he had friends and a captain, a home he felt safe… but his missed his old friends and family deeply, so deep that it hurt just thinking about them. All the people he never got to say goodbye too, all the promises he never got to keep.

All the precious people he'd left behind.

"How?"

The question left his lips before he even became aware of his own thoughts, his eyes lit with the flames of determination locked with the turtle.

"I don't know."

With his maw hanging low in shock, Naruto stared at the old master in disbelief, d-did the old coot just prank him? "What do you mean you don't know?!" Annoyance, as he couldn't say he was angry that someone had actually pranked him, was peak in his system, his eyes narrowed to slits as he took a step towards the turtle.

"It is as I said," Oogway remark, holding the shoulder of his dear friend that had stepped in front of him to protect him from the approaching fox. "My vision is not clear, but I've told you all I can see." Turning his body around, showing his shell to the fox, Oogway smile increased as he pointed upwards, gesturing towards a dragon monument. "As Master Shifu has told you, only the dragon warrior may bring peace, but one must master their own peace before they can ascend."

Growling, Naruto glare turned from annoyance to anger, on one hand, he was now aware of a way home… on another, it required the fat panda standing next to him. "And you're certain I can't return any other way." Seeing the turtle shook his head in the negative, the blonde lost all anger at the turtle, his eyes lowering in disappointment.

Shifu, who had stay silent for the most part, frowned as he examined the tense fox; on one hand, he was at least physically fit compared to his fellow dragon warrior, but his aggressive nature was not exactly what he'd expected. Then again, his temperament was just as bad as Tigresses when she was close to anger. "Listen here, child." Shifu came off strong, he knew, but discipline was needed when someone was acting the way the fox was. "Don't you dare question the wisdom of…." Using his flute as a makeshift pointer, the master shoved the young adult in the chest, only for it, and him, to be shoved back by several tails… tails that in size almost dwarfed him.

"Don't tell me what to do!" His growl, which had only just be a rumble, started to shake the chambers, a unusual amount of anger flaring as his normal blue eyes become blood red. "And don't presume that I have to do anything for you."

"Calm, young fox." Oogway remarked with a small smile, a warm comforting aura filled the room as a counter to the arguing two. "Whilst it's a difficult decision for you, it's a decision that needs to made soon." The wise master said, relieved that the blonde fox seemed to have calmed down by his words. "A sense a great danger that will require your help in the near future."

"Danger?" Po, who had spent the majority of time of the conversation rushing around the hall of Warriors with kid-like joy, abruptly stopped, his eyes wide in fear. "Like, dangerous danger?"

Turning to the Panda standing besides a nearby pillar, the two warriors gave him a flat look, did he really not expect to face danger in his role as the Dragon warrior? The elder turtle behind them let out a chuckle in myth, almost like he knew Po would react the way he did.

"Don't worry Dragon warrior, true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid." Oogway advised as he swayed away from the trio, leaving them with a simple wave.

"So, errr…." Po started, his eyes shifting from Naruto to Shifu nervously, unsure on how to exactly follow up from the wise turtle. "How exactly does one become a dragon warrior?" Po started, getting nod from his fellow Dragon Warrior. "Like, do I get to pick a weapon or armour or something?"

Shifu didn't answer straight away, his mind distracted by the horrors of his thoughts. How exactly did a disrespectful fox and a fat panda possibly be chosen over his personally trained students…. All those years, and for what? Hearing a nervous chuckle, the master blinked in surprise, before Po's question hit his mind. "How….?" Narrowing his eyes, the red-panda glared at Po, his emotional state being less than…. stable. "Look at you!" The statement went unsaid by the red panda, his composure almost breaking into a vicious tirade. "One must master the highest level of kung-fu before one can truly become a dragon warrior, to obtain the dragon scroll." Pivoting around, he pointed towards a dragon that was mounted on the ceiling of the room, a pond directly below it.

"The highest level of Kung-fu?" Naruto frowned in confusion as he looked towards the scroll, he was pretty sure with enough force he could leap up and grab it, but then again, he was never one to take that "free" type of power, it always came with problems. "How long does it take to gain that kind of mastery?"

He had to thank Sasuke for teaching him that.

Shifu internally scoffed at the question, how long? "Years, Decades even." The master was sharp in his reply, glancing from the scroll towards the fox, ignoring the frown he received in turn. "But that depends on the learner, we won't know until we test you two." Shifu continued, motioning for the back door that Oogway had left through minutes before. "Come."

Po, happy to learn, quickly followed after the master, giddy to be close to the master of the furious five.

Naruto, on the other hand, glanced towards the large double door entrance, his nose picking up a very familiar scent. "It's safe, Xiù."

The soft creak of a door opening and closing echoed in the hall as a living shadow moved into the giant hall, sharp yellow eyes locking onto Naruto's form in a instance, and marched right up to him. "Naruto, the meeting time is due in an hour, we should get going."

"How much did you hear?" The young adult retorted, ignoring the suggestion on purpose, as he looked down upon the much shorter crew mate. Her silence was the only answer he needed. "Tell the crew…" Sighing heavily, Naruto looked away from his fellow crew mate guilt coursing through him. "Tell them that something came up."

No words were exchanged as Naruto turned to leave, only to stop when a hand enclosed around his wrist. "Naruto," Xiù started, her tone quiet but sharp, stopped the fox in his tracks and turn around shakily in fear. "If you think I'm going to leave you alone to cause chaos, then you're out of your mind." The grip tightened to a scary pressure before being released. "I'm telling captain that we're taking a 4 week vacation, I'll be back here in two hours, do NOT do anything stupid whilst I'm gone."

Naruto gapped in shock as the cat retreated away, her form flickering towards the door, her eyes locking with his with a glare before she disappeared, a soft click echoing in the halls.

"What is it with scary women, and them being present in my life."

Sighing heavily, Naruto turned to the open back door and left in a light jog, he doubted the duo would be that far away.

Turns out, the two had managed to get to the training centre at a rapid pace, the only thing showing Naruto the direction being the panda's large prints that had cemented themselves into the rough ground.

"Wow the furious five!"

Hearing a shout of excitement, the fox couldn't help but smirk in humour, the panda's joy was hard not to smile at, it was so damn infatuating. Walking into a large building, he couldn't help but admire the training room, it's beautiful wooden design, with an open top that allow fresh air to breath in, and the collection of different training tools.

"Ah Fox, good of you to join us." Shifu, who was originally pushing for the Po to hit the "training" blowup doll, turned towards the surprised fox, taking delight in his expressions of awe and fascination. "Panda here is having a tough time showing us what a dragon warrior can truly do, what don't you give us a demonstration?"

Po smirked in joy as he waved for the blonde to ahead, he was happy not to embarrass himself in front of his personal heroes. "Go for it buddy, I just ate, so my kung fu skills aren't top notch right now." He continued in a jokily way, winking at his fellow warrior, his smile bleeding pleading for the fox to take the spotlight off of him.

"Eh, sure…" Naruto remarked as he looked towards the training part of the hall, eyes slowly tracking the training equipment before turning towards the master. "So am I just go in and hit the targets, or do I get a training partner?"

Shifu, internally insulted that the fox believed that one of the five was even close to his low level of skill to be a sparing partner, sighed externally before he gestured for one of the five to step forwards, he's going to make sure he learned his lesson. "One of the five will accompany you."

Looking at their none moving master, Monkey and Viper shared a look of questioning before Monkey nodded, his feet already moving to stand before the "dragon warrior". Once in-front of him, Monkey was quick to analysis his sparing partner, the first being the height disparity between the two.

He was 92 cm, average for a monkey of his age, but the fox…. He was easily twice the size of him. He was extremely tall of any kind of fox, with the average being 110cm, and if he had to guess, he was roughly 2 metres tall, making him very imposing. Moving his eyes down, Monkey took note of the 9 tails swishing behind the blonde, his mind racing, what if the fox could fight will all of them? How strong were they? What kind of force would they generate.

His mind came to a conclusion that made him smile in anticipation.

This Fox dragon warrior was unique, and that meant a unique fighting style.

"When you're ready, Fox." Monkey set himself on the other side of the 1000s arm dummy field, his hands tautly gesturing for his opponent to come and get him.

Stepping towards the first part of the training facility, Naruto snorted at the welcome, his blue eyes narrowing. "My name…" In a speeds unfairly fast, especially considering by his size, he launched himself across the field, easily clearing it within seconds, before coming face to face with a incredibly shocked Monkey, his fist already brought back in a mighty hook. "Is Naruto!"

"Waoaw!" Squeaking in shock, Monkey barely had to time to dodge the enclosed hand raising towards his face, his back bending at an unusual angle. "H-hold on!" A sweeping kick came for the Kung Fu master's legs a fraction of second later, forcing him to hop back on his tail and lunge back.

"No holding back!"

The retreat that Monkey was using was proved fruitless as Naruto came barrelling forwards, strike after vicious strike lashed out towards the dodging Monkey, slowly wearing down his stamina. The strikes only became more aggressive as Naruto pumped his speed up little by little, his strikes, which consisted of several kicks and punches, started to generate small gusts of wind, his form mimicking that of a leaf that flowed like air.

Monkey, having not prepared for such an aggressive assault, slowly started to centre himself, his dodges against the ferocious Fox became faster, and his footwork corrected itself to match the level of speed in which Naruto fought.

"Got you!"

That was until he found himself suddenly caught of guard when the fox fainted to the left before his left foot snapped out at a speed twice as fast as his previous one, which he hadn't expected, and smacked him dead centre to his diaphragm, launching him across the room, and into duelling bowl.

Monkey was familiar with pain, hell he traded blows with Tigress on the daily, but this… this was something else. His core felt like molten fire, his lungs refused to expand, and his vision was extremely blurry. At this point, he wasn't even half conscious as to what was happening around him, but he could see something in front of him, a guardian angle of orange blocked him from another strike.

Naruto, on the other hand, frowned from where he stood, he may have been used a tad more strength that he meant to, but he was barely fighting a 70 percent of his top speed. "And you are?" A figure, having landed in front of his downed opponent, frowned at his direction as they took a stance, one so ridged that Naruto almost couldn't tell them from a statue.

"Tigress, Kung fu master of the Tiger style, and one of the furious five." No amount of pride or arrogance came from the sharp reply, the female stood her group as Monkey slowly recovered. "And you are Naruto, member of the Lioness Shipping, and a dragon warrior."

Naruto blinked in surprise as the informed master, his mind wondering as to how exactly that tidbit of information was acquired. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, and all that, but…" Muscles tightened to the point of bulging as blue eyes narrowed in a show of domination. "Will you test me aswell, Master of Tiger style."

The only warning Naruto got was a slight narrowing of eyes.

End of chapter 1