Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Zaion Indulias: This is not the actual second chapter. It is merely a draft of part of it, given to my patient and loyal readers a treat as I continue work on this and many other projects. This segment is subject to change in the final version, but I felt you all might like to see where I am headed with the next chapter.
Bones of the Devil, Ice of an Angel
A Story by Zaion Indulias
Chapter 2: The Devil Within
The mists slowly faded away from the bridge, revealing the carnage that had been wrought there. Shino and Sakura stood off to one side, Shino keeping a wary guard while Sakura was helping Anko patch herself up. Standing near them was Hatake Kakashi, who was busy patching up the wounds the idiot Uchiha had receiving by rushing into things, ignored by his other two students who kept staring down the bridge. Haku knelt nearby cradling Zabuza's head in her lap/ The fact that his body dissappeared at the hips didn't seem to be bothering the faintly crying girl.
On the Nami no Kuni side of the bridge an army of villagers had stopped in shock, appalled at the devastation before them. On the other end, Hone Kitsune stood silently, gazing down at the sea of blood and guts that surrunded him.
He looked down at his right hand, the hand he had just used to destroy Gatou, still trembling slightly. Around him rose inumerable large spikes of bone, each one coated in red, each one with a bandit or nukenin impaled upon it. He glanced back at his fellow Konoha shinobi, gazing at them with the exposed right half of his face encased in ice-covered red bone, the left half still covered by his mask, the mask of Hone Kitsune, the Bone Devil Fox, and was rewarded with seeing actual fear in the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke.
Yes. Naruto thought to himself. That's right, see the price of true power, the pain and suffering. No lnger can you pretend that it is not garnered by destroying others.
"Wait, Anko-sensei, where's Naruto?" Sakura's voice broke the silence.
Anko blinked and looked around, finally realizing that 'Naruto' had disappeared during the fight.
"Dammit, he must have gotten knocked into the water the idiot." She turned her head to where Hone Kitsune was slowly approaching, his black and red clothes and pitch black hair soaked red with blood, the right side of his face obscured in blood-red ice and bone which had grown forth to protect his face when Zabuza had cracked his mask in half. "Hone Kitsune, go search for Naruto and bring him back here."
"No." The blood-soaked figure said as he stopped, his deep growling vocie echoing harshly in the silence. "No, there is no need, Anko-sensei. I feel it best that they learn and come to terms with these lessons now."
Sakura and the rest, with the exception of the Jounin and the arrogant idiot child Uchiha, looked fearful as they misunderstood Hone Kitsune's words.
"Understand, all of you!" He continued harshly, raising his voice. "The world is not safe and idyllic. What you have just witnessed and experienced is by far the least of the atrocities that exist in this world. This is not the last time you will lose a teammate, but neither is it the first. Remember this feeling in your hearts, this pain. You are ninja, and you must learn to be able to fight even while feeling this pain."
Pain is weakness leaving the body. Emotion is a weakness if not controlled. Only through logic can control be attained.
Hone Kitsune paused and raised one hand to grasp his mask.
"What I am about to reveal to you is an S-rank secret. To talk about it, even amongst those who know, without either myself or the Hokage present is treason, and I will personally kill you for it. Only myself and the Hokage are allowed to reveal this secret to anybody."
Hone Kitsune removed his mask, causing all but the two jounin to gasp as the blood-coated mask and blood soaked black hair of Hone Kitsune gave way to the cold blue eyes and bright blond red-streaked hair of Uzuki Naruto.
"I am Uzuki Naruto, born Uzumaki Naruto on October 10th, the night the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. When I was five I was kidnapped and sold to a certain man to experiment upon. He altered my genes, grafting genetic talents into me in hopes of creating the perfect host. I was forced to train, beaten and assaulted until I could barely move. When I was seven something inside of me woke up, and using the power it gave me I destroyed the facility where I was being kept. A passing ANBU squad rescued me and brought me back to Konoha. It wasn't until nearly four and a half years later that I learned what that power had been, that cursed power."
Naruto paused and glanced at Kakashi, a single tear dripping from his eye.
"One of them adopted me as a brother, and they all trained me, encouraging the growth of my abilities. When I was eleven and a half I discovered the source of the power within me, and the result of that on top of my traumatic child hood caused a split in my personality. If you remember, I was absent for several weeks last spring. This was why. In order to help me they had to stabilize the separate aspects, harmonizing them with one another. This affected my emotional control, making it far harder for me to constrain my emotions as they were needed to power the harmony of my two aspects."
Naruto again paused, taking a deep breath.
"I am Uzuki Naruto. I am also Hone Kitsune. Six months before passing my genin exam I was instated as an ANBU, my true identity known only to a select few. And thus Hone Kitsune was born."
Naruto turned his mask to face him and stared down at it with narrowed eyes.
And here on this bridge, this place of pain and suffering, was born Hone Akuma Kitsune. The Bone Devil Fox.
"It is who I am, something I must wrestle with every day. Today you saw why I wear this mask, what I fight against everyday of my life. None of you could possibly imagine the pain and suffering that has created me, and I hope you never understand."
There was a flare of chakra and Naruto's mask vanished into a seal on his right forearm. Without looking back the blood-coated blond stalked past his shocked comrades to where Haku was kneeling.
"Haku, it's time."
The dark-haired girl set Zabuza's head gently on the ground and stood, her chocolate brown eyes meeting Naruto's cold blue ones. They stood like that for several long seconds before she stepped forward and embraced Naruto, her tears soaking his shoulder.
"Ne, Mitarashi-sensei." Naruto said looking over his shoulder. "I'll leave the clean-up to you. Hokage-sama's orders were for Hone Kitsune to return for debriefing as soon as the situation was under control."
At Anko's silent nod Naruto and Haku vanished in a swirl of snow, leaving behind the shocked and stunned villagers, his worried comrades, and one very angry and very jealous Uchiha.
Two Days Later, Hokage's Office...
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the legendary "Professor" of shinobi was just about to sit down to a nice cup of tea when the doors to his office were unceremoniously pushed open. He was about to complain when he caught sight of the face of the person who had just entered, or rather the seriousness of his eyes, as his face was currently obscured by a mask, part painted ceramic and part blood-red bone and ice.
"Hone Akuma Kitsune, reporting for debriefing Hokage-sama." Naruto began, taking a seat before the Hokage's desk with his partner mirroring him.
The woman who had joined the Hokage's special operative in the office was wearing a blue and white kimono with shinobi acoutrements. But what Sarutobi most noticed about her was her mask. It had obviously started life as a smooth ceramic ovoid, like most oinin, with slanted eyes and red markings, but it had undergone an eerie transformation. The spot where a village affiliation would be had been replaced a red grinning fox face. The eyes had painted red marks making them look more like the eyes of a fox, and there were now three black whiskers on the left cheek of the mask. Finally, and most eerie, was the creepy blue ice that coated the mask and flared off around it, forming a pair of ears and four spikes along the jaw just like Hone Kitsune's mask.
"Hokage-sama, may I introduce Kori Kitsune, my new partner." Naruto said as he leant forward, clasping his hands together. "We have much to talk about. Why don't I start at the beginning..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and the legendary "Professor" of shinobi, sat back in his chair and began to smoke his pipe as Hone Kitsune began to explain the events leading to the current situation.