Kitsune Rising

Chapter 5: Half-demon!?

"GRRAAAHHHH!!" Naruto thrashed and writhed in agony on the surgical bed. Every muscle in his arms was tensed and veins bulged in his neck. It took several doctors plus Sakura, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kiba, and Naren to hold him down.

"What the heck is going on!?" cried Kiba as grabbed hold of Naruto's arm. "Just a moment ago he was unconscious!?" Naren held his other arm and gave Kiba a frightened look. Sakura held Naruto's head gently.

"I don't know!" yelled Tsunade, trying to hold down one of Naruto's legs. Jiraiya had the other, using his full weight to keep it down. "I hope it's not Kyuubi at any rate!"

"Calm down, Naruto! Bear with me!" she said loudly yet soothingly. "It'll be over soon. All the pain will stop I promise!" Naruto gritted his teeth, holding back another scream of agony.

"Aniki, it's ok! You're ok!" cried Naren.

"Hang in there Gaki!" barked Jiraiya. "Tsunade, can't you sedate him or something!?"

"I'm working on it!" yelled Tsunade. "It's not easy trying to put a needle in someone when you're trying to hold them down!"

"GAHH!" Naruto couldn't hold it in any longer. "E-ERO-SENNIN….T-THE….K-KYUUBI!" Sakura kissed Naruto's burning, sweaty forehead, trying to get him to calm down. "Shhh….Naruto-kun…its ok!" she cried. She looked down at his teeth and saw his canines lengthening, albeit slowly and his whisker marks deepening, becoming more feral. Surely he wasn't going into Kyuubi mode?! No, she would know it. Something else was going on, but it had to have something to do with Kyuubi.

"Sakura, come hold down his leg so I can sedate him!" yelled Tsunade fiercely. With another quick kiss to his forehead, Sakura hurried around the table and held his leg, using only just enough force so as not to break it. Tsunade filled a shot with anesthetic, hoping that it would work and relieve Naruto of this excruciating and mysterious pain. Naren pulled Naruto's arm down close to his side and moved so that Tsunade had a clear shot of his upper arm. Tsunade stuck the needle in as far as it would go and pushed the anesthetic into Naruto's bloodstream. After a few moments, Naruto's muscles began to relax, and eventually, he became calm. His breathing became slow and steady. Before he lost consciousness completely, he looked over at Naren and Sakura and gave them a small smile. Within seconds the anesthetic kicked in and everything went black.

Naren sighed with relief, glad that her brother was finally out of pain. She didn't care what had caused it at the moment. Tsunade gave her and Sakura a look and then looked to Jiraiya.

"Kiba, take Naren outside to wait," she said to the Inuzuka. Naren looked up at Tsunade, shocked.

"No! I won't leave him! That's not fair! Why does Sakura-nee get to stay!?" Naren argued, fighting against Jiraiya and Kiba, who were trying to pull her out of the room.

"Sakura is a certified medical nin! You are not! Do as I say!" barked Tsunade. Though it hurt her to separate Naren from her brother like this, it was necessary. Naren, Kiba, and Jiraiya would only get in the way. Now that Naruto was sedated, they weren't needed in the exam room. Naren fought with Kiba and Jiraiya the whole way out, but was unable to get free. With one last look at her unconscious brother, Naren walked out the door with Kiba. Jiraiya gave Tsunade a fleeting glance and followed.

"Now, let's figure out what's going on with you, Naruto."

………………………….

Naren sat in the hospital waiting room, wringing her hands in anticipation and worry. Jiraiya sat beside her, trying his best to give her comfort, but for all the good it did he might as well have been trying to comfort a brick wall. Kiba sat across from Naren, stealing glances up at her. He felt bad for her, and Naruto. He wondered what the heck was going on with the latter. He sighed. With any luck, they would find out soon enough, for Naren's sake.

Kiba watched the small, blonde girl fidget nervously. The thought of how such an intimidating and monstrously strong kunoichi could seem so small and helpless crossed his mind. He wasn't going to lie to himself. He was intimidated by Naren. After seeing her punch Sai through a building just for calling her short, he had been kinda scared to go near her, much less talk to her. He was afraid he might say something wrong and get the same results as Sai. I didn't help his confidence much to know that even Naruto wasn't safe from one of Naren's temper tantrums, however small it was. It also didn't help that if Naren knew what he was thinking right now, he might be in for one of those punches. He shuddered.

"Kiba-kun?" whispered Naren, knocking Kiba out of his reverie. "What do you think is wrong with Aniki?"

Kiba didn't answer at first being slightly taken aback by the question. "Um…I'm sure it's nothing Naren-chan," he said, forcing a smile. "He'll be up and about here soon. You know Naruto. He bounces back pretty quickly."

Naren shook her head. Jiraiya put a hand on her shoulder.

"He's gotta point, Naren," said the old sage. Naren looked up at Jiraiya and gave him a small smile. Then they heard a door opening.

"Naren!" It was Sakura. Naren stood up and met Sakura half way down the hall.

"Sakura-nee is he ok! Can I see him!" cried Naren, anxiously trying to get around Sakura. Sakura grabbed Naren's shoulders and held her back.

"He's fine, Naren!" said Sakura, chuckling. "He's still unconscious, though. The anesthetic hasn't taken its course yet. It's best we let him sleep, anyway."

"Why's that?" asked Naren. "I want to talk to him!"

Sakura sighed. "Naren, Naruto experienced some extremely painful and extremely weird transformations. He needs to rest."

Naren looked down, defeated. "Fine, but can we at least sit with him?"

"I don't see why not?" Naren maneuvered her way around Sakura and made her way into her brother's hospital room. Naruto was sleeping peacefully and breathing easily. Naren sat down on the edge of Naruto's bed. She noticed the once subtle whisker marks had become deeper and more feral, but other than that, nothing seemed different.

"I don't get it, Sakura-nee," said Naren. "I thought you said he went through weird transformations. The only thing different is his whisker scars."

Sakura sat down next to Naren. "That's not all. His canines have become elongated and lethal looking." She gently pulled up Naruto's upper lip to show Naren. It was indeed true. Naruto's canines were longer and more jagged and pointy. He would cause a lot of damage if he were to bite someone.

"Not only that," said Sakura, releasing his lip and moving up to his eyes. She lifted one of his eyelids to reveal that his pupils have become slitted. Fortunately, they were still the same deep, cerulean blue.

"Well ok," said Naren. "But I still don't understand how that could have caused him that much pain?"

"I don't think this transformation's over with Naren," said Sakura ominously. Naren looked up at Sakura, then back at Naruto. It was then she noticed the fur around his ears and the peculiar shape they were forming into, slowly but surely. She pointed this out to Sakura.

"That might be what is causing him pain, but I doubt it," said Sakura, shaking her head. "However, it does look like Naruto-kun is going to have some antagonizing from the villagers coming his way."

Naren sighed and looked down at her brother, wondering what could be causing him so much pain. It was then she noticed a small stain beginning to form on his t-shirt.

"Sakura-nee! Look!" said Naren, lifting his t-shirt. The once invisible seal was now completely visible and bleeding freely. It also had a distinctively different look to it. "That must have been what was hurting him! The seal was changing, using unbearable amounts of chakra to accomplish this change!" Sakura examined the seal. The once spiral center was now completely black and was the source of the bleeding. The triangular shapes became more angled, looking distinctively like claws. Sakura used chakra to stop the bleeding, but could do nothing for the odd shape the seal was in. Naren lowered his t-shirt, feeling a bit disturbed. All the girls could do at the moment though was watch and wait for Naruto to wake up.

……………

Naruto writhed in agony on the floor of the sewer-scape that was the Kyuubi's holding place. The fox watched silently as his container gritted his teeth in an attempt to hold back screams.

"What are you doing to me, you d*** fox?!" growled Naruto through his teeth. The fox simply laughed.

"I'M DOING NOTHING, BRAT!" said the fox, amused. "YOU'RE SIMPLY BECOMING A HANYOU."

Naruto glared up at the fox in anger and howled in agony when his seal pulsed and began to bleed freely. "What the h*** does this have to do with Kitsu, though!? Is he some sort of demon as well?!"

The fox just grinned. "I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU, BRAT! THAT KIT IS ONE OF MY DESCENDANTS! HE BEING NEAR YOU MAKES HIM NEAR ME, WHICH IN TURN CHANGES YOU!"

"That doesn't make any since!" barked Naruto, clutching his stomach.

"THEN LET ME DUMB IT DOWN FOR YOU!" growled the fox. "IN THAT KIT'S DNA IS A TOXIN THAT CAME FROM MY CHAKRA! AND SINCE I AM SEALED IN YOU, THAT TOXIN FOUND ITS WAY INTO YOU'RE BODY! SORT OF LIKE YOU CAUGHT A DISEASE FROM THAT KIT! THE THING IS THAT "DISEASE" HAS MADE YOU A HANYOU, A HALF-DEMON! MINE AND YOUR CHAKRAS ARE MERGING TOGETHER!

"So you're saying I'm now what the villagers accused me of being in the first place!? A monster!?" screamed Naruto in fury, trying his best not to believe what the Kyuubi said.

"HOW THOSE D*** VILLAGERS WILL TREAT YOU IS NO CONCERN OF MINE! AS LONG AS YOU DON'T DIE, I COULD CARE LESS WHAT NAMES THEY CALLED YOU, BRAT!" growled Kyuubi.

Naruto glared up at Kyuubi and winced as another burst of pain came from his seal. Now what was he going to do? The villagers hated him as it was, and if he were to walk around as a—he spat the word—hanyou, then what would the villagers say and/or do to him, much less anyone seen with him? What about Sakura-chan? Would she hate him now that he was the monster everyone called him? Or Naren? Would she distance herself from him in fear for her safety? These and other depressing thoughts ran through Naruto's head as the Kyuubi laughed quietly to himself at the boy's suffering.

"D*** it all!" cried Naruto as another flash of pain and bad memories reached him, and he writhed in pain on the ground, curled into a ball. And then it all stopped.

…………

"Sakura-nee, he's waking up!" His sister's voice was almost unbearably loud in Naruto's sensitive ears. He didn't open his eyes but he stirred a bit, loosening up his sore muscles. His teeth felt sore and the whisker scars on his face felt even more sensitive than normal. His finger's hurt as well, but he didn't understand any of these hurts.

"Naruto-kun, wake up," came Sakura's loud but sweet sounding voice. Naruto turned his face in the direction her voice came from but still didn't open his eyes. They hurt, he realized, and opening them might bring more pain.

"S-Sakura…..c-chan," he muttered, reaching out.

"I'm here Naruto-kun," said Sakura sweetly, taking his hand in her's. "Open your eyes for me, please Naruto-kun."

Naruto cracked open one eye and looked in to Sakura's vibrant green ones. Her whole face was brighter than normal and her pink hair was almost too bright to look at. He opened the other eye and made to look around at his sister. As soon as the fluorescent lights from the hospital room ceiling hit his eyes, he cried out and slammed both hands over them and gritted his teeth.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong!?" asked Sakura, anxious.

"Aniki, are you ok?" asked Naren in an equally anxious tone.

"T-the lights……hurt my eyes!" gasped Naruto, burying his head into the pillow so he couldn't see the painful lights.

"Naren, go turn the lights off would you?" asked Sakura. Naren obliged. Naruto turned so that his face was now facing Sakura and he found he could see every detail of her and Naren's faces as clearly as if the lights had never been turned off. Naruto turned over and sat up and began studying the areas of his body that hurt the worst: his face, his hands, his head, and an awkward place at the base of his spine.

"Sakura-chan, what happened to me!?" cried Naruto. His nails had elongated into sharp, lethal claws. He tapped his cheek with his finger and found that his whisker marks actually hurt to touch. He felt the top of his head and, to his increasing surprise, felt furry, pointed ears coming out of the top of his head, replacing his human ears.

With a scared look to Sakura and Naren, Naruto felt at the base of his back. He pulled the—his—long soft fluffy red tail out from under him. Throughout Konoha, a confused, fearful, and shocked filled scream could be heard for miles around. Sakura and Naren watched in horror as Naruto pulled at his tail and ears.

"What a day this has turned out to be," whispered Naren to Sakura. In reply, Naren got a slap to the back of her head and Sakura went to try to calm her boyfriend down.