Mind over Matter
by Lord Dragon Claw
Disclaimer: "Naruto" is the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto. "Trigun", the anime in particular, is the intellectual property of Yasuhiro Nightow.
Prologue
When the Kyubi, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, was human, he was much like his demon self: he loved to kill people in mass quantities. Normally, he was calm, polite, and subtle when he murdered people. However, today he was having a bad day. Everything seemed to go wrong and he hadn't killed a single human in a decade. But the day seemed to get better. Just over the next rise was an entire village of humans.
Normally, he would have used his usual style for killing people. But the thing about demons is their emotional range and intensity. They have less of an emotional range than humans, but their emotions were so much more intense by far. Today, the Kyubi was pissed. Such an understatement has never been uttered in the entire history of time. But yes, he was pissed. So rather than using his usual subtle approach, he used the brute force method. For a fifty-foot tall demon, that wasn't too hard to do.
Unfortunately for the fox, this village had a countermeasure against such monstrosities. The Yondaime Hokage sealed the Nine-Tailed demon into the form of his only son who was born just that morning. Unfortunately for Konoha, that would later prove to be the worst decision any of their Hokages could ever make.
Though the demon was sealed - mind, body, chakra, and soul - into the blonde infant, the demon had an ace up his... well, sleeve. Even when he was a human, his mind had a tendency to wander into others' minds. He had 8,000 years to practice this skill. Since he was sealed within a baby, he had the ability to wander into the boy's mind. He couldn't leave the boy and influence other people, but he could influence the infant. In turn, the infant could influence other people. The fox decided to watch the boy for a year to take stock of the situation, and find any observable usefulness.
He observed how most members of the village shunned or hated the child. He could feel how the child was unloved and not properly cared for. If it weren't for the demon fox's chakra, the child would have died on his first birthday.
He decided to make contact with the boy at the first opportune moment, when he was most vulnerable. That opportunity appeared two years later...
End Prologue.
Chapter One: Hatred.
The day the Kyubi got his chance was the day an assassination attempt finally managed to get close enough to Naruto to actually be a problem.
It is easy to watch a baby, but difficult to watch a toddler. Especially since the toddler was curious and had wandered off by himself.
Mizuki saw it as the best opportunity to finally kill the demon. He rushed at the child.
"Die, you monster!" yelled the Chuunin, scaring the poor boy.
However, before Mizuki had the chance to even touch the boy, an ANBU was suddenly there, and blocked his strike. Before the Chuunin could react, a kunai had been shoved into his kidney. The pain was so great that Mizuki didn't have the chance to cry out before he fell over. He was dead from a second kunai shoved into his heart.
Naruto was crying. The ANBU tried to calm the boy, but to no avail. He was able to lift the boy and carry him back to his caretakers, who were in trouble for loosing track of the boy. When the boy finally stopped crying, he noticed that the boy was muttering to himself, but it was too soft for the ANBU to hear.
He dropped the boy off and left to make a personal report to the Sandaime Hokage.
As the ANBU tried to calm the blonde, another entity began to work on the child.
It's okay, child. It's okay. The nice ANBU was able to stop the bad man. He'll never bother you again.
Sniff. "Who are you?" Hic.
Quietly. I'm the reason why the bad man attacked you. More bad people will attack you if they think you're talking to me.
"Okay," responded the boy almost silently.
Remember how the grown-ups talk about the demon fox who attacked the village?
"You're a demon?"
Yes and no. I am what grown-ups think is a demon, but I am actually a savior. I came here to kill the bad people. But the Yondaime Hokage thought that I was going to kill everybody, so he put me inside you. He asked that the village treat you like a hero, and here they are treating you like trash.
"Should I let you out?"
No no no. Doing that would kill us both. I'll teach you how to make them pay. Together, we'll become bringers of justice! You will become a savior, just like me!
"What if I'm caught talking to you?"
Then don't talk to me. You can think the words at me and I'll be able to hear you. Please try.
Like this?
Yes! I knew you could do it! Good job! Soon, you'll learn all my tricks! And you'll have some of your own that you can make. With my help, you can become a better savior than me!
Naruto smiled at this. Not only did he now have a friend, but he was going to become a savior!
The Kyubi smiled at Naruto's malleability. He would manipulate the boy to become like him. Someday soon, the boy would see all humanity as trash. Then the plague could finally be eradicated.
Two years later, Naruto was kicked out of the orphanage. Knowing he would need protection and shelter, Naruto decided to try and guilt-trip the Hokage into granting him a place to stay.
Any advice you crazy fox?
Certainly. Play up the fact that nobody likes you and you have no place to go.
About protection: you think I can get that ANBU to protect me?
It's a possibility. You may have to play it by ear. Anyway, the first order of business would be getting inside.
Yeah. Think you can halt my regeneration?
Yes. What do you have planned?
You'll see.
Naruto hid in an alley and went behind a pile of trash. He then grabbed a lead pipe and beat himself with it. He then put the pipe into the trash and covered it with more trash.
Naruto limped right up to the Hokage Tower, using a stick as a walking aid.
"What happened to you?" asked one of the ANBU guards, a female.
"I just got thrown out of the orphanage. May I see the Hokage?"
"Certainly," replied the ANBU before picking him up. "I'm taking him to the Hokage. No goofing off."
"Of course not."
Ingenious.
Yeah. I figured I could use her maternal instincts to get an audience with the Sandaime.
"Hokage-sama!" exclaimed the ANBU as she brought Naruto into the Hokage's office. The old man looked up and dropped his quill at the sight of the blonde, all bloody and swollen.
"What happened!"
"They threw me out of the orphanage," said the boy.
"And they beat you?" asked the Hokage.
Instead of answering, Naruto curled up even tighter in the ANBU's arms, hiding his face in his hands.
"Hokage-sama! Let me get revenge on the administrators of that orphanage!"
Genuinely surprised, Naruto looked up at the woman in awe.
The Hokage saw this, and realized how much people hated Naruto and how impressionable the boy was.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. The Council will likely declare you a nukenin and demand that both you and Naruto be executed. However, I can give you a special S-class mission."
Naruto could feel the woman sigh in resignation.
"I would like you to raise Naruto as if he were your own son. Teach him the ninja arts, history, whatever you can. But this is a secret mission, which you must tell no one of."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Since your face hasn't been seen in over a decade, I suggest you change your name."
"I'll also change my face, sir. I have a jutsu that allows me to do that."
"Good. I'll write up the paperwork and forms."
The Kyubi was annoyed. He was working towards making Naruto see no value in humanity, but now the boy saw good in one person. He wasn't sure, but he felt that this might put a damper on his plans.
Or perhaps not. It seemed that Naruto still hated most people. Interesting. Most interesting.
It seemed that Naruto had a difference of opinion with the fox. Though the Kyubi saw all humans as trash, the blonde saw all humans as trash except for a few gems. The boy didn't see himself as one of the gems, however. The fox felt that he may have to tweak his plans a bit, but for the most part, this boy would do his killing for him.
The ANBU was a red-haired woman of the age of twenty-three, and was very attractive. However, she changed her face so that it looked more like Naruto's face (even the whisker marks) and she changed her hair color so that it was the same golden-blonde that the boy's hair was. It was then that Miss Kuro Asuka became Miss Uzumaki Megumi, Naruto's "aunt".
The official report stated that Megumi was finally informed of her sister's death, and came to look after her sister's only son. The two Uzumakis were given an apartment near the Academy, where Naruto would be enrolled at the beginning of the next Academy Year.
Kuro Asuka was "sent" on a special S-class mission to gather vital information. It would be a twelve-year mission.
Asuka's disappearance and Megumi's appearance were almost completely seamless, with none but the most astute of minds figuring out what actually happened. Unfortunately, among such minds was the twelve-year-old Yakushi Kabuto.
Kabuto reported this to his master. His master thought it was an interesting bit of information, but told Kabuto to proceed as planned.
Megumi taught Naruto what she knew of silent killing. Being able to kill when your senses are restricted is a very useful skill for a ninja, so she taught Naruto how to hunt without his eyes. Then, how to hunt without his eyes or his ears. Next was without eyes or nose. Finally, she taught him how to hunt without the use of his eyes, ears, or nose.
Naruto showed natural talent in this area, but like the child he was, he still wasn't very good at it. Megumi had him train and practice so that he would be adept at these skills by the time he was a genin. Hopefully, he could master the art of silent killing by the time he was a chuunin.
The Kyubi also encouraged the learning of these skills for it would help rid his container of his innocence.
Additionally, Megumi was a fire expert. Truthfully, she didn't have the level of power exhibited by the Uchiha clan, but she had more control than the prodigy known as Itachi. She had invented a special smokescreen jutsu using her fire affinity just for fighting against opponents who had a doujutsu and to allow a higher success rate for silent kills. She had named said attack as Katon: Kage Enmaku no jutsu (Fire Release: Shadow Smokescreen no jutsu). She perfected the jutsu in secret, and only the day before Naruto came to the Hokage Tower.
Since the Kyubi didn't know if his peculiar talents could be imitated, he encouraged Naruto to learn the jutsu.
Naruto's chakra control was terrible, so Megumi devised several different training exercises to improve his control. By the time the blonde boy was seven years old, he had mastered water walking and tree climbing. Leaf floating was a bit trickier for him, as it required chakra in smaller amounts than Naruto was used to using.
With the help of both the Kyubi and his "aunt", Naruto improved his social skills and learned how to be political-minded. Naruto learned tact, etiquette, and patience.
Additionally, Megumi borrowed scrolls and books from the library whenever she could, so that Naruto could read them. The boy was an avid reader, spending several hours of each day dedicated to studying various subjects.
Then, Naruto decided to study demonology. However, he couldn't trust Megumi to teach him as he knew that she was afraid he might willingly become the puppet of the Kyubi.
So he went to the Kyubi for answers.
The fox began by telling the tale of a vessel that traveled the stars, storing humans and beings called plants. The vessel crashed on a barren world, almost devoid of water. Some of the plants died. About half the humans were dead. The remaining humans were brought out of hibernation. The humans sinfully began using the plants to improve their lives, leeching energy away from the plants and destroying the planet. However, two plants remained alive. These two plants fought each other constantly. There was a savior and a devil. The savior trying to kill the sinful humans and the devil trying to keep them alive. Then, the savior found a powerful but pitiful human who had been used as a pleasure slave, and decided to have the human become his servant.
So, what happened next, Kyubi?
... I have a name.
I beg your pardon, but isn't your name "Kyubi"?
Please. That is just a title. My name is Legato. Legato Bluesummers.
End Chapter One.
Next chapter: Tragedy for our blonde hero... wait, he's not exactly a "hero", is he?
Author's Notes
BWAHAHAHAHAAA! Who saw that coming? Yes, the Kyubi is what Legato turned into after he was sent to Hell.
Yes, Mizuki is dead.
Yes, Lord Shadner gave me another plot bunny.
I didn't want Naruto to be raised by an ANBU, but my muse insisted. So I was going to have him be raised by a male ANBU when the question of how Naruto was going to enter the Hokage's office came up. Things kind of snowballed from there, but it did allow me to shape Naruto's personality the way I wanted it to be in the first place.
Moral of the story: do whatever the Hell your muse tells you to do.
EDIT: Naruko is such a stupid name, so I replaced it with Megumi.
SO, this has been abandoned by me, due to the fact that I don't have time to work on it. Nor do I have the inclination. Someone else can pick it up though. They should PM me if they want to.