AN: Okay, here's chapter two. Now, a few things I think I should say: First off, chapter length. I'm going to aim for around five to six thousand words a chapter, but sometimes I might write more than that. I'll try and update fairly frequently as well, especially now that I have plenty of ideas for where to take this story. Secondly, content. A lot of the 'early years' before Naruto becomes a genin will likely be drawn from or inspired by Natsume Yuujinchou, and even when Naruto does graduate, don't expect things to follow canon, as I already have some ideas about when, how, and who he graduates with and what he does afterwards. Third, there's actually a forum I have going if you want to talk about this fic. You can either follow the link on my profile page or use this: topic/139203/149040634/1/General-Spirit-s-Balance-Discussion
Beta'd by: The trolling SnarkLord
Chapter 2 – Initial Aftermath
After school that day, Naruto quickly returned to the shrine. Tsuyukami had said he often saw Naruto there, so that means he must have been there pretty often as well. Besides, that day at school had only driven home just how alone he was, and just how desperate he was for… a friend.
Parents warned their children away from him, but even without that he was still known as the 'creepy, crazy kid' that saw things that didn't exist. Both of those things together only served to rob Naruto of any friends he might have had, and on top of that, children were cruel.
It's a sad truth of reality that children don't usually understand what their actions and words mean to others, that they can hurt others when they're not being hurt themselves. Feeding this by specifically telling a child to avoid another, especially when you don't say why, can result in that child becoming very isolated from their peers.
Naruto accepted that he wasn't liked very much, and he had no friends, but that didn't mean he liked it. No, he absolutely hated it, he hated it when the other children made a game of 'run away from the monster', with Naruto being the 'monster'. It might have been a game to them, but it was a sad reality to him.
Now though, things might change, at least a little. These 'youkai' were grown ups, they were even more grown ups than the old people, they were that old! They didn't look at him with wariness or revulsion either, and they didn't move away from him too.
When he got to the shrine, his smile faded a little, neither Hinoe or Tsuyukami were. Had he really met them that morning, or had it been his imagination? Maybe it had been a joke to them, getting his hopes up and then laughing behind his back when he thought he might finally have a friend.
"Yo, Naruto, nice to see you here again."
Naruto's neck almost snapped with how quickly he looked up.
Sitting in the tree and lazing around was Tsuyukami, his masked face pointed his way as he waved at the young boy. Naruto's expression instantly shifted from depressed into a beaming smile. He hadn't imagined them! They weren't playing a trick on him!
"Hey, Tsuyukami, how are you?" Naruto called out, scrambling to climb up the tree with the yokai.
"Careful, Naruto, you don't want to fall from up here." Tsuyukami chided the child. "As for me, I'm wonderful. The weather is warm, the sun is bright, and Hana has left me some peaches as well. Here, have one for yourself." Tsuyukami tossed a peach to Naruto, who caught it easily. He looked at the peach, sniffed it, and then bit into it.
"It's good!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Aye, they always are." Tsuyukami agreed. "Hana has been bringing me peaches for years now, seeing her grow older is how I've been keeping track of time for decades now. Such a sweet girl she is, and she tells me about everything that goes on in the village as well."
"She sounds nice." Naruto said.
"Maybe you'll meet her one day, though she usually turns up here on the weekend." Tsuyukami. "I'm sure she'd be happy to meet you too."
"Maybe." Naruto murmured. "Most people don't really like me very much."
Tsuyukami sighed. "I am not too surprised by that. Those that can see us often lead unhappy lives, torn between two worlds. Remember, young Naruto, what you have is both a blessing and a curse. However, you can choose how you handle it. I've known those who've ignored us, and driven themselves to insanity. I've known others who've embraced us, and ended up eaten. The most successful are the ones who try and keep both worlds separate, but they face hardships of their own."
"So life is hard?" Naruto asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"For humans? Always." Tsuyukami answered. "There are things that make it worth the effort though, love, friends, joy, and so much more. We youkai envy humans for the enthusiasm and determination they show for the slightest things, while they envy us for our long lifespans that we do nothing with."
"What do you mean, you don't do anything?" Naruto wondered.
"Well, that's simple." Tsuyukami replied. "In their lifetime, a human will grow up, learning all kinds of skills, and then they will work hard to earn their own money. A blacksmith will forge many things, a carpenter will craft many more, and a teacher will instruct the next generation. They are always doing something, always driving themselves further. We youkai, however, laze about all day long. We don't need money, nor do we really need anything else, not even sleep. All youkai do are drink and make merry."
"Isn't having fun a good thing though?" Naruto persisted.
"In moderation, yes." Tsuyukami told him. "However, when all you know is how to have fun, it starts to lose all meaning. It becomes something you do because that is all you know, and all you care about… and it seems my words have gone right over your head, deary me. Then again, maybe we could have this conversation when you're older, eh, and see if it doesn't make some more sense?"
"Umm, o-kay?" Naruto hesitantly agreed, before looking around. "Um, Tsuyukami, where is Hinoe, is she not here too?"
"Not right now, she's not." Tsuyukami responded. "This is where I stay, and while she's always welcome to visit me, she lives elsewhere. Besides, she's off doing something right now, maybe she'll tell you about it when next she sees you, eh? Now, is there anything else you'd like to ask me?"
"Well, there's a few things actually." Naruto said, before he started to bombard the youkai with questions about anything and everything he could think of.
Tsuyukami cheerfully answered everything he could, quite happy to speak with this young man.
xxxxx
Hinoe was, in fact, actually speaking with Riou, the 'lord' of the forest amongst youkai. She was telling him about Naruto, and to say the least, Riou was curious. He'd always had a soft spot for humans, and to hear of a child with the sight within his 'domain' was both good and bad at the same time.
It was good because it was something that would draw youkai to the area, giving him command of numerous lesser youkai, not that he much cared for ruling over others. In fact, he let the youkai in his area do as they pleased, though he did ask that they refrain from needlessly killing humans.
Naruto being around was also bad, because when news spread, it would draw less pleasant youkai to the area as well, those that would want his power for themselves, and those that would want to consume him to become more powerful. Those youkai would challenge Riou, and he did not want his underlings to suffer because of that.
He resolved to meet with this human himself, and see just what sort of child this 'Naruto' was.
"And you say Benio was the first of mine he met?" Riou asked Hinoe, who nodded.
"Yes, she actually scared him all the way back to his orphanage." She confirmed. "However, he's also met myself and Tsuyukami, and he seems like quite the resilient brat. Given that the other children, and from what little I saw the adults too, avoid him like the plague, I'd have expected him to be far more depressing than he was."
"Children are often the toughest and most hardy of types." Riou mused. "They're at the age where they can become anything they wish to be, and will tend to bounce back up from anything that knocks them down. They're enthusiastic and energetic to an extreme degree."
"That doesn't explain the sheer level of power he possesses." Hinoe murmured. "It can't have been inherited, we'd have known if there was someone with that much spiritual power around. Besides that, he can see, and I thought that, if any of them had still existed, they would be off in the far east, not here."
"No, it doesn't explain that." Riou agreed. "Then again, how did humans originally come to possess the sight? We don't know the answer to that question either. Perhaps it ebbs and flows, and it is only now beginning to occur again. Maybe young Naruto was simply born in unique circumstances. It could be that the child is the result of some experiment or other, and being able to see us is merely a side effect of whatever was done to him."
"Experiments? Do you really believe the humans to be doing something like that?" Hinoe wondered, that was far from what she'd expect the human loving optimist to suggest.
A dark look crossed Riou's face. "I often wander the woods, and I have come upon several hidden laboratories in recent years. Inside, I have found many human corpses, in various stages of decay, and with various disfigurements as well. Just what the goal was, I could not say, and as I do not read the human language, I could not gain anything from the scattered notes in there either."
Hinoe frowned. "If there are experiments which would allow them to see us, that's rather concerning. Would you show me where these 'laboratories are? I can read the human language, so I might be able to find something useful, or at least informative, in there."
"Of course." Riou agreed. "Seeing us is the first step to sealing us away like they did the biju, and as much as I like humans, I have no desire to be forced to be a weapon for them, and even I know there are humans that would do just that to us."
Both youkai were silent for a moment, thinking about what depravities humans committed against each other.
Riou sighed. "Let's dispense with such a heavy topic. Whether or not this Naruto gained his sight naturally or not, he has it now, and it would be far better to deal with him while young, and while he knows nothing of Fuinjutsu. If he grew up terrified of youkai and learned how to seal them, things would quickly turn unpleasant for us."
"Deal with him?" Hinoe asked. "In what way? It almost sounds as if you wish to kill him."
"I don't." Riou corrected her. "However, while he is a child, he is easily influenced, and from what you've said, he doesn't have a very positive opinion of youkai, his interactions with you and Tsuyukami aside. If we can get him to look favourably on us now, he is unlikely to go on some sort of crusade against us when he's older, and has both the knowledge and power to destroy us."
Riou then smiled. "Besides, I'm always happy to make a new friend."
Hinoe scoffed. "You always are, you soft-hearted fool." She said, though there was no heat in her voice.
"How shall I be introduced to young Naruto then?" Riou asked.
"He goes past Tsuyukami's shrine every day on the way to and from school." Hinoe told him. "It might be best to introduce you tomorrow afternoon, and tell him that there's someone who'd like to meet him when he goes past on the morning."
"Then I will follow your advice." Riou agreed. "Now, do you wish to see those distasteful laboratories today?"
Hinoe sighed. "I might as well, it'll get it out of the way sooner this way."
"Then follow me then, the closest one I've found is rather deep in the forest and quite far from the trodden paths." Riou said as he began to lead Hinoe off between the trees.
xxxxx
"So, Naruto, you've asked me plenty, I think it's my turn." Tsuyukami said when Naruto had finally ran out of questions for him. "How about you tell me what you do at school all day long? Youkai don't have them, and I've never actually gone near one before."
"Umm, well, at school we learn basic stuff." Naruto replied. "We learn to read and write, we learn maths, and we learn about history as well." He frowned. "It's strange though, I thought history was about really old things, but we don't learn anything more than the last hundred years or so. Why is that?"
Tsuyukami laughed. "At a guess? I'd say it's because humans don't live very long. It's very rare for one of you to reach a hundred, so there's no one left who can tell you about before. Well, there's also the fact that humans fight and kill each other a lot, I imagine that your history is pretty bloody."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, we haven't learned about it yet, but the teacher did say we would be doing the three great shinobi wars, and that before the founding of the villages, people lived in clans that always fought with each other as well. He didn't say why though, do people just like to fight a lot?"
"I don't know." Tsuyukami replied. "Youkai fight quite a bit, but that's one on one to prove who's the stronger. We don't really fight 'wars', or even 'battles' much, we're too laid back for that. Living as long as we do, we tend to be relatively… 'mellow' I believe the word is. Though do be careful, Naruto, there are youkai who are actively malicious as well, and if they find out about you, and they will one day, they will come after you. Your sight is a sign of great spiritual power, and there are those who would want that power for themselves."
"Okay." Naruto said, slightly disheartened by Tsuyukami's warning, though he did perk up when the youkai ruffled his hair.
"Cheer up, Naruto, your sight is also a good thing." He said. "Without it, would we be talking like this? No, you'd walk past this shrine and never see me, and I would never speak to you. Always remember, for every bad thing that happens, something good can come from it, even if it is just learning what not to do in a certain situation. 'Every cloud has a silver lining' I believe the humans say."
"Thanks, Tsuyukami." Naruto smiled at the youkai, who chuckled good naturedly at the blonde boy.
The two of them remained sitting in that tree for several hours, a novel experience for the usually physically active Naruto, but one he found himself enjoying quite a bit. Well, what he was enjoying was more likely the pleasant company of Tsuyukami, and the comfortable silence between the two of them.
Tsuyukami, for his part, kept one eye on Naruto, observing him, but his attention was also elsewhere. Looking towards the village proper, he saw the civilian population of Konoha milling around, some ninja mixed in as well. He also saw other ninja running across the rooftops, and in some cases up walls and into windows.
Tsuyukami had never paid much attention to humans outside of the ones who visited his shrine, but he did now. He wondered just how easy or difficult the things he saw ninja do were, and if Naruto would learn something like that in the future.
Of course, Naruto might not choose to become a ninja and remain a civilian, but Tsuyukami doubted he would do that. He didn't think Naruto felt very comfortable amongst the civilians, what with being the 'creepy, crazy kid', and there were ninja who were far more odd than the blonde was.
Tsuyukami recalled Hinoe complaining about some green-clad human with shiny hair that woke up very early every morning, and had often awoken her too when she'd had a rather bad hangover from drinking too much the night before. Gen and Sui had some strange stories as well, and they'd seen a lot from their statues that stood at the entrance to one of the training grounds.
Still, that was in the future, and while years meant very little to youkai, it was a very long time for a human, especially a young one, and Naruto could very well change his mind about whether or not to become a ninja a thousand times over before the time came to choose whether he wanted to take that path or not.
"It's getting late." Naruto eventually said. "I've gotta get back to the orphanage for supper and bedtime." He jumped out of the tree before turning back to Tsuyukami. "Will you be here tomorrow as well?" He asked.
"I should be." Tsuyukami replied. "I'm here most days, though I do wander off occasionally too. Still, I've got nowhere else to be, so yes, you'll see me here tomorrow."
"Bye then." Naruto said, waving as he walked away from the shrine.
"Farewell, young Naruto." Tsuyukami raised a hand and waved as well. "See you another time."
xxxxx
When Naruto got back to the orphanage, he was just in time to put his school bag under his bed, wash himself, and then get seated for supper. After that, he went to his room and pulled his bag out again. He had homework to do, though it was nothing complicated, just a handwriting exercise and some basic addition and subtraction.
What Naruto didn't notice was a white butterfly watching him from above the door frame.
Said butterfly silently flapped down to the ground, where it shifted into the form of a smirking Benio. Making sure to keep quiet, she sneaked up behind Naruto, who was focusing on his homework, and leaned over him, before whispering into his ear.
"Hello again, little morsel."
Naruto almost leapt out of his skin as he fell off his bed and crashed to the floor, his eyes wide and his heart beating a thousand beats a minute. His eyes then locked onto the mischievous expression of the woman who wore a butterfly ornament covering half of her face.
Benio frowned as she saw Naruto calm down upon catching sight of her. Now why would he do that? She'd expected him to flee at the sight of her, or maybe throw something, giving his reaction the other day, but no, seeing her had paradoxically calmed him down for some reason.
"What, not even going to try and run away?" She asked. "Not going to make this even a little fun for me?"
"Tsuyukami said you had too much respect to lord Riou to eat a human in his territory." Naruto told her.
Benio blinked in surprise. "That washed up weakling's been saying what about me now?" She questioned.
"He said that you were quite mischievous and cynical, but you really look up to lord Riou, and wouldn't do something to displease him." Naruto replied. "What does cynical mean?"
"It means I know just how selfish people really are." She responded. "Wait, that's not important, when did you talk to Tsuyukami?" Benio demanded to know.
"I met him and Hinoe this morning, and I spent most of the afternoon with him." Naruto replied.
"And you didn't run away screaming like a little girl?" Benio raised her one visible eyebrow. "Those two are on a whole different level to the weak trash that hides amongst humans, and Hinoe herself is pretty damn powerful all by herself."
"They didn't seem that bad to me." Naruto said. "They were quite nice."
"And you said nature was pretty before too." Benio scoffed. "That 'prettiness' hides a lot of viciousness, brat. Do you want me to tell you exactly how a spider traps its prey in its web, how they wrap them up, and then keep them around until their hungry? Do you want me to explain how spiders eat? How they dissolve their prey in their digestive juices and then suck them out?"
"I was calling you pretty." Naruto mumbled, his head hung low, and thus missed Benio's reaction to his words.
She actually jerked backwards in surprise, before she covered her mouth with one hand and held her side while she silently laughed at his words. A human calling her pretty? Yeah, that was a new one on her. Physical appearance didn't mean much to a youkai, and so she'd never even thought about whether she was attractive or not. Hell, 'she' wasn't exactly right either, youkai were mostly genderless anyway, regardless of how they appeared!
She regained control of herself after a few moments of silent laughter, but mirth still remained in her glimmer of her visible eye, and in the tilt of her lips. She regarded Naruto for a moment, before reaching out and messing up his hair. She had to hold back a laugh as he almost jerked out of her grasp.
'Not used to physical contact then.' Benio thought to herself. 'Not surprising really, an orphan with the sight, called crazy, and with even other kids keeping their distance isn't exactly going to grow up normal.'
"Stop doing that." Naruto frowned, not liking how Benio was messing with his hair.
Benio did it once more, before placing the palm of her hand on his forehead and pushing him backwards. She smirked at him as he righted himself and picked his homework up. She eyed him carefully and made note of what difference even one day could make to a human.
He seemed far less scared, but then again, she had been actively trying to get a reaction out of him last time. He seemed calmer as well, and happier too. Hmm, given just how cheerful Tsuyukami was most of them time, maybe the kid had found a friend in the masked youkai, or at least someone he could talk to.
"So, brat, what are you doing?" Benio asked.
"My homework, and my name's Naruto, not 'brat'." He muttered.
"You're human and you'll die in a few decades. Until you do something to impress me, you're going to be 'brat' for the time being." Benio retorted.
"What would impress you?" Naruto asked.
"Aww, does the little brat like me?" Benio faked a blush. "I'm sorry, brat, but you're too young for me, and I'm pretty sure that you're too young to be thinking of things like that."
"What are you going on about?" Naruto grumbled, only understanding that Benio was mocking him somehow.
"You'll understand in a few years." Benio waved him off. "Until then, however, I can say soo many things that will go right over your head."
"Do you have to?" Naruto huffed.
"Of course." Benio said, like it was the most logical thing ever. "Now that threatening to eat you is no longer an option, I'm forced to use other methods to frustrate and annoy you."
"Why do you have to annoy me at all?" Naruto complained.
"Because I find it quite entertaining, why else?" Benio shrugged. "It's not like I've got anything else to do with my time, is it now?"
Naruto slumped. "Does that mean you're going to be following me everywhere?"
"Well, I wasn't going to. I was going to just find and annoy you several times a day." Benio admitted. "Now though, I think I will. It'll give me a front row seat to any blackmail material I might get my hands on, ne?"
"I just doomed myself, didn't I?" Naruto whined.
"Yes, brat, you did." Benio smirked.
xxxxx
The next morning, when Naruto sat down at the table for breakfast, everyone else in the orphanage had to take a second look, to make sure they were really seeing what they thought they were. Sitting on top of Naruto's blonde hair was a large, white butterfly, about twice the size of an adults palm.
Naruto tried waving the butterfly off, looking rather grumpy as he did so, but as soon as he stopped flailing around, it settled on his hair once again. That wasn't normal butterfly behaviour, and no one recognised it as a local breed of butterfly either. It was too large to be anything outside of the Forest of Death, and it didn't look lethal enough to survive there either.
"Um, Naruto… where did that butterfly come from?" One of the matrons asked the blonde child.
"It flew into my room last night and won't leave me alone." Naruto replied.
"O-kay then." The matron hesitantly said, mentally chalking this up to one more odd thing about the kyuubi jinchuuriki.
Naruto didn't say anything else as he ate breakfast, got his school stuff together and collected a packed lunch, but he felt all of the eyes focused on him, and he could hear the whispers as well. He didn't let it get to him though, at least now he knew what it was he was seeing, youkai, and not all of them were mean to him, even if Benio was proving her mischief by frustrating him right then.
After he'd gotten his morning ablutions out of the way, Naruto picked up his bag, slipped on a pair of black sandals, and headed straight out the door. While there were kids in Naruto's year, and even his class, in the orphanage, he always headed off earlier than anyone else did. After all, none of them wanted to be seen anywhere near him if they could help it.
As usual, Naruto's path took him past Tsuyukami's shrine, and he hurried along quicker than normal, hoping to see him, and possibly anyone else that might be there as well. Tsuyukami was the only youkai Naruto knew the location of, though Benio could likely point him in the right direction. Then again she would probably not do so or point him towards some other trickster youkai like herself.
As it turned out, Tsuyukami was there, like he usually was, and once again so was Hinoe. The blue-haired youkai did raise an eyebrow when she saw Benio nestled on Naruto's hair like she was, and her lips twitched upwards in a small smirk. Naruto felt Benio freeze still for a moment, and wondered why she had done that, not realising the glint in Hinoe's eyes meant she was already thinking up ways to use what Benio was doing as her own blackmail material.
"Good morning, Tsuyukami, Hinoe!" Naruto cheerfully greeted the two, and the two youkai couldn't help but feel the joy the blonde boy practically radiated at them. Both of them bid him a good morning as well, before Hinoe chose to address the unexpected addition to the morning.
"Good morning, Benio, as well." She smirked. "My, my, it seems your attitude has changed rather quickly. From scaring him witless to being so comfortable with him, I didn't realise your tastes ran so young. Ah, what would the others say when I tell them of this I wonder."
Benio turned back into her regular form, her cheeks tinted pink as she huffed at Hinoe. "It's nothing like that, you're imagining things. Since Tsuyukami told him that I wouldn't actually eat him, I had to find some other way to torment him, and annoying the brat is a good way to spend my time."
"Sure, keep saying that, maybe someone will be gullible enough to believe it." Hinoe retorted.
"Why, you-"
"Now, now, let's just all calm down." Tsuyukami interrupted Benio before she could get going. "Naruto will have to go to school soon, and we have a bit of news for him."
"You do?" Naruto asked.
"Another youkai wants to meet the brat?" Benio asked Tsuyukami, though she still glared at Hinoe.
"Yes, and one you are rather familiar with at that, Benio." Hinoe told her. "Lord Riou is interested in meeting Naruto himself, and will be waiting here with us after school is over with today."
"Lord Riou?" Naruto murmured, before turning to Benio. "Isn't he the one you respect a lot?"
Benio looked askance at Naruto. "Lord Riou is the local forest lord. He's one of the strongest youkai around, and his territory covers a large chunk of the woods around this village. He's a very important person with many underlings, and he is beloved by us all."
Tsuyukami nodded. "His territory and Lord Rokka's completely encircles your village." He said. "However, Rokka doesn't have as many underlings as lord Riou, and he is far less active as well. Both of them are rather friendly though, so you don't need to worry about either of them, and lord Riou in particular is known for being quite fond of humans."
"So he's a good guy then?" Naruto asked.
Hinoe smiled. "Yes, Naruto, lord Riou is a 'good guy', as you say, and you'll be meeting him this afternoon."
"Awesome!" Naruto cheered. "Wait, how will I know it's him?"
"He'll be with us, for one." Hinoe told him. "Benio could easily identify him too, and he is quite distinctive. He looks like a human with large white wings and has blue eyes and hair. He tends to wear white as well. I don't think you could mistake him for anyone else, so don't worry yourself over it."
"Now, shouldn't you be getting off to school?" Tsuyukami asked. "You don't want to be late, do you?"
"Bye then, see you later." Naruto called out, waving at the two of them as Benio transformed back into a butterfly and made herself comfortable on his hair.
That day at school, Naruto could hardly manage to keep himself still. He usually had trouble doing so, being as hyperactive as he was, but today he was even worse, because he would be meeting with a youkai lord, an actual lord with actual underlings, and someone who was quite powerful if the way Benio reacted to his name was any indication.
Still, he kept himself under control as much as he could. He didn't want one of the teachers holding him back after school because of him not being able to keep still, they already criticised him every opportunity they could get. They never sabotaged him or anything, and if another kid did something wrong, they were punished for it, but they dug through all of Naruto's work, looking for the tiniest mistake to call him out on.
Truth be told, he'd actually learnt more by them doing that than if they'd simply ignored him like most people do. That was something to rub in their faces when he was older and successful!
For now though, he was simply counting down the time until he met with Riou.