Chapter 8: New places.
'Naruto's thoughts to himself. No one can hear them.'
"Mental conversations."
"This is normal speech (and this is said in slightly quieter, but still perfectly hearable voice)."
There also will be a song in this chapter "Cult to Follow - Murder Melody." You will be informed when it starts :3
That night, when Machiko said they will set out to some other place for his new training in the morning, Naruto decided to have some ramen before leaving. He discovered the famous (to us) Ichiraku ramen stand a few months back.
(Flashback – streets of Konoha)
Naruto and Yugao were walking down a street after another day of training. Naruto was henged so his hair was full red and tied in a braid (A/N: think Mea Kurosaki from 'To-love-ru Darkness'). He also looked like a three year old should.
"No matter how much I see it, I still can't help to be impressed by how much punishment you can take. I mean you could barely stand by the end of the training and now you walk without the care in the world," Yugao said, walking next to our hero.
"Hm, my healing factor is the main reason why I have such a training regime in the first place. A normal person would need a couple of days of rest per week, but I get all the necessary rest in a few hours. Hooray to Kyuubi!" Naruto cheered, bringing his hands over his head.
"You probably shouldn't say such things out loud. Good thing streets here are nearly empty at this hour."
"Or what? People can't harm me. Even without you around I doubt many, if any, could escape my genjutsu," Naruto said with a grin™.
Seeing Yugao frown he continued.
"I'm not a nice person, nee-chan. I'm half demon for crying out loud. I couldn't care less how these people treat me or what they think of me," he finished and released his two tails.
"Ah, feels so much better to have them out," Naruto said swaying his tails from side to side.
"You seem pretty nice to me," she said absentmindedly. Naruto chuckled.
"You are nice to me, I'm nice to you. You throw stones at me, I rip your head off," he said cheerfully. Yugao shuddered.
"Someone who looks like a five year old should not be saying those words…" anbu sighted.
"This just makes it that much more creepy," our hero chuckled. "*sniff, sniff* something smells nice… Onwards, to food!" Naruto threw his hand upwards once again and turned right.
They came to a small ramen stand, which still had about an hour before closing, but no one was inside. They were greeted by Teuchi and a ten year old Ayame, already acting as a waitress. Teuchi immediately recognized Naruto, especially with his tails out, but took their order with his normal cheerful attitude. Yugao was somewhat surprised and Naruto – satisfied with his prediction coming true. Ayame was staring at Naruto (more like his tails) with a small blush on her face. He smiled and her blush deepened.
"Um, c-can I, ah, can I touch them?" Ayame was as red as a tomato now.
"Sure," our fuzzy hero ('Oi!') said and extended his tail across the counter. Ayame gently touched it, then started petting. Teuchi came back with two bowls of ramen and couldn't help but smile at the sight of his daughter drooling while rubbing her face against Naruto's tail, while said redhead and Yugao giggled.
"Here's you ramen!" Teuchi said and place the bowls in front of his customers.
"Thank you for the meal," they said and dug in.
"Ah, this is really good," Naruto said after the first bite. His ears came up and he started wigging his free tail.
Thus this beautiful friendship began.
(Flashback – end)
And so we find our hero finishing his fifth bowl. Naruto gained enough trust for Yugao to let him walk around the village by himself, which he often did at night and evenings between his training sessions.
"You come here nearly every day, but I'm still impressed by how much you can eat," said Ayame leaning on the counter.
"Nothing too surprising considering my doubled metabolism. By the time I finish my fifth, the first one is already done," Naruto said setting aside said fifth bowl. He enjoyed talking with the now eleven year old daughter of a ramen chef.
"Speaking of which… Could you…" she started to say, blushing slightly.
"Sure," Naruto said with a small smile and materialized a tail for Ayame. She immediately hugged it and started rubbing her face on it. Naruto quietly purred – it felt nice for him too. Well, I say purr, but it was more of a quieter and softer form of growl.
As Teuchi came to take away the bowls, he chuckled at the sight before him. Ayame was sitting next to Naruto, wrapped in his three tails. She was swaying left and right, and drooling happily as small plush foxes floated on the pink background behind her.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, it's already late, I must get going," Naruto said after a minute or so and retracted his tails.
"Come back soon," she pouted at first, but then smiled and waved at him.
"I will," he said and waved her goodbye.
'I can always just Hiraishin back for a quick bite,' thought Naruto.
After a few minutes of walking, he felt something he didn't like. There were four signatures nearby: one uncaring, one scared and two with a malicious intent.
'Scared one is a woman, others are men. Debt collectors…'
Naruto moved towards them. It wasn't the first time he's seen that kind of situation. A man couldn't pay his debt in time so his wife/girlfriend was taken to pay for his debts with her body. Usually the men cared at least a little, though. This was the first time in 'Naruto' world though.
'Poor girl. So many mistakes.'
Naruto shunshined right before the husband/boyfriend and ordered him to stay put. Naruto had some plans for him. Then he appeared right before the 'debt collectors'.
"Stop," they froze, "Let her go," they didn't even try to resist. He turned to the girl with a smile and told her, "Go home, don't worry about anything anymore." When she nodded and ran back home, he turned back to the bandits.
"On your knees," they dropped and he placed his hands on their heads.
'Now show me your memories' Naruto thought and immediately got two .vid files. After quickly scanning through their memories, he used 'Agni Schiwatas' on them, henged himself as a bandit and made the girl's husband follow him. Naruto got to their base and acting as the bandit he was henged as, got to the boss.
New location discovered: Yakuza HQ +100 exp.
"Why are you bringing this trash to me?" Said the boss, petting one of his giant dogs.
'Where did he get ninken (ninja dogs),' a brief thought crossed Naruto's mind.
"I got some better ideas for him then you, trash," said henged Naruto dismissively.
"WHAT!? YOU DARE?!" said the boss and flared… or tried to flare his KI. It was so insignificant Naruto could only feel it thanks to his sensory abilities. Naruto was yet to find any civilian above lvl 5.
"Hahaha, you call that KI?" Naruto laughed and released some of his own. Good thing its power was dependant on INT. If you release KI equal to opponents INT they will feel it, double it and they'll have trouble breathing, triple – they will be frozen in fear, quadruple – they lose consciousness and quintuple it and they'll die.
"Who are you?" the boss asked in fear. Naruto just released his henge (his hair stayed red).
"You… the demon brat. GET HIM," he shouted and his ninken rushed at Naruto.
"Sit," he simply said to the dogs and they stopped right in front of him.
'I'll return them to Inuzuka compound later.'
(A/N: 'Murder Melody' by Cult to Follow starts playing.)
"What are you waiting for?! ATTACK!" the boss shouted and a few bandits rushed at our hero. The room itself didn't have a very good lighting, but the space behind Naruto seemed to darken more and more. It darkened to the point, when the only visible thing on hanyou's face was his glowing silver eyes. Those silver eyes weren't like Machiko's. Her was brighter and lighter (as in weight), like a silver light. His eye was darker and heavier, like an actual metal (that's the same color his eyes had in his ghastly form). And then there was his grin. This wasn't his '™' grin. This was a full on 'bloodthirsty psycho' grin.
He disappeared and the first bandit's head exploded in the shower of blood. The rest were broken out of their shock as they heard something drop to the ground to the right of them and saw Naruto with his right hand outstretched, palm facing down. Right below it was the man's head down to the upper jaw. Their eyes shot up to the hanyou's face as they heard him chuckling.
"It's been way~ too long since I did that…" he said looking upwards and took a deep breath, savoring the feeling of his latest kill. "Let us continue." He locked eyes with the closest bandit, who did his hardest not to soil himself.
Naruto dashed.
The bandit's bowels betrayed him. He tried to defend himself, but could only scream in pain and terror as his arm was ripped out instead of his throat. Naruto turned around and backhanded him in the ribs, separating bandit's upper portion from the rest of his body. Others tried to charge at Naruto, but young hanyou was faster. He jumped over their attack; midflight grabbed a man's head by sticking his middle and ring fingers in the man's eyes. Upon landing Naruto ripped his hand forward and with a sickening crunch and another spray of blood, the top of the man's head came off. He then turned around and caught the leg, that was about to kick him and looked into his assaulter's eyes. The man would have been impressed by the little kid, stopping his attack, if he wasn't scared shitless at the moment. Naruto turned again and with an overhead swing, slammed the man into one of his comrades. They fell backwards one on top the other, making a perfect target for the hanyou. Said hanyou didn't waste any time as he jumped up and delivered a rock crushing axe kick to the man's rib cage. His foot came through both of them and created a small crater in the floor, which quickly filled with blood. He turned to the rest of the bandits.
They started running.
Naruto didn't let them.
He jumped forward and landed a flying kick to the back of a man's neck, sending him to the stone floor and sliding on top of him until stopping in front of everybody, half of the man's head shaved off. Another bandit in a fit of bravery or desperation attempted a punch. Naruto ducked under the attack and rammed his hand into the man's gut, grabbing his spine and ripping out a vertebrae. Naruto then launched said vertebrae right through another thug's head.
Living up to his name, our bloodthirsty hero went through them like a maelstrom. Crushing bones, ripping of limbs and throats. Heads, arms, legs, intestines and random bits of flesh and bone and brain matter were everywhere. Bandit boss had a pretty sizable room, yet it was completely covered in blood. Floor, walls, and ceiling – everything was red, slippery and dripping. The last woman was stumbling back in fear as Naruto slowly walked towards her. Then he suddenly disappeared, only to reappear behind her as his hand emerged from her chest with her heart in it. Naruto took out his hand and woman collapsed, obviously dead. Our hero looked at the bandit boss, who was hugging his knees and cowering in his makeshift throne. Hanyou slowly brought woman's heart above his head and opened his mouth. He squeezed the heart and drank all the blood it had.
He then smiled and licked his lips.
(A/N: song ends. Also,I don't know what's worse – this last few paragraphs being my favorite part of this chapter, or the fact that I was grinning like a five year old at the candy store while writing this.)
{"Ahh, there's nothing like a good bloodbath accompanied by good music to release some tension," Naruto sighted happily.
[You're quite welcome. Glad to see you still haven't lost your edge.]}
"I must thank you, I haven't had a good meal in a while," Naruto grinned™.
"Twenty seven people and one demon worked so hard to repaint the room for you, and you don't even open your eyes to appreciate it," he said with a mock pout. He started waking to the cowering man, licking the blood of his fingers.
Bandit boss' violent shivering only intensified as he heard Naruto's footsteps splashing closer and closer.
"Die in a fire, trash. 'Agni Schiwatas'," as the ash that was bandit boss flew away Naruto sat on his 'throne'. That 'Agni Schiwatas' also burned off all the blood of off Naruto, as well as his clothing, which he quickly remade with 'Banbutsu Souzou II'.
"Now I'm the boss," he said and put his arms on the armrests, his right ankle on the left knee.
Property obtained:
-Brothel x4
-Hostess club x2
-Gambling den x3
New quest: Remake Konoha's Underworld.
Main Objectives:
-Make a new system for debt collecting
-Increase the quality of brothels
-Increase happiness from hostess clubs
-Double the income from gambling dens
Bonus objectives:
-Create new attractions
-Increase security in the red light district
-Triple the income from gambling dens
Rewards:
-500 exp per main objective
-1000 exp per bonus objective.
{"Wow, the rewards…"
[For motivation,]
"Got it."}
He felt some people approaching, probably because the sounds of fighting-
[Fighting… riiiiiight…]
As I was saying…
…probably because the sounds of massacre died down.
[That's more like it.]
Naruto waited until they came in. They were your generic bandits. A few actually threw up. Our hero just chuckled, bringing everyone's attention to him. All the gore started to move towards Naruto, making more people lose their dinner. It floated up and was absorbed by the abyss black shadow behind our hero. Twenty seven silver slitted eyes appeared in it, before the shadow returned to normal.
Lvl 1 - 27/500 complete.
Naruto grinned™ at the pop up.
"I'm sure you already know who I am, but I'll introduce myself anyways. My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'll be running this bitch now."
As the first order of business he killed everyone, whose souls were too tainted, bringing his progress bar up to 58. There was one paradox, though. The second in command – Akashi, a man in his forties had purer soul than most civilians, not to mention these bandits. Also he was the only one in that room, that Naruto didn't kill.
"Tell me, Akashi, why are you even here? What happened? And how the hell are you second in command?" asked confused Naruto.
"My daughter married not a very good man and was 'collected'. So I came to the former boss and showed him my finance management abilities in order to save my daughter. He didn't release her and made me work for him anyway. So I decided to stay and in process save as much unfortunate souls as I could," Akashi informed him.
"Judging by his memories, you didn't do a very good job at it, hell I'm here because of that," Naruto said and added, "You had the right idea, though. Infiltrate and disable from within. Well, no need to worry now. While I'm the boss here well have different ways of collecting debts."
"Can I ask one question, Uzumaki-sama?" he asked.
"You already did, but go ahead, and call me Naruto," Naruto allowed.
"Why did you kill all those people, Naruto-sama?" he already had an idea, but wanted to confirm it. Akashi would never admit it, but he was actually glad that Naruto killed those people.
"I can sense people's emotions and state of their souls. I killed the most tainted ones."
"I knew three years ago Kyuubi came to punish us for our sins," he said with a small smile.
"*sigh* Do you seriously believe that I'm the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked with a sigh.
"To be honest I wasn't sure, but after seeing you today…Your eyes, your power, the way you hold yourself…" Akashi started.
"Yeah, I admit. That display wasn't very human. And by the way, any Chunin can show that lvl of power," Naruto waved dismissively.
"What are you going to do with the man you brought?" Akashi asked.
"That is the part of my reforms. I will create some underground cells, like in a prison and put that man there. At day he will work and all the money will come to us. At night he will sleep here. Breakfast and dinner he will have here as well. I can get some ration bars. They taste like cardboard, but that'll be enough to keep him alive," Naruto informed him about the new order of things.
"Are you sure he will bring all the money back?" Akashi glanced at the man, who was standing in a corner.
"I'm sure, humans can't resist my command. The same will be with all the others, who have an overdue debt."
"Are you sure you want them to think you are me?" asked Machiko.
"I can't really say that I'm human, can I?" Naruto send her a smile, "Besides, it's not like I can convince them otherwise without a mass hypnosis."
The next order of business was visiting the red light district. He went to every woman, who wasn't happy with her job and gave her enough money to buy an apartment and find a decent job. Where did he get the money? Besides the small fortune he got from his books, one time, when Yugao went to deposit some cash, he placed an invisible 'Hiraishin' seal on one of the notes. You can guess the rest.
The ones who were paying up their husband's debts, he sent home with a clone. The clone took their husband to the newly made cells (earth style FTW). He also noticed that there were only brothels and host clubs.
'Note to self: make some strip clubs. That will get us a ton of money and complete a bonus objective.'
When they got back to the HQ Naruto picked around fifty the least tainted man.
"I just got back from the trip to the red light district," Naruto started and seeing their smirks, deadpanned, "Seriously... *sigh* Anyway, I released the women that were paying for their husband's debts. Now husbands themselves will have to pay up."
A few nods came from the crowd. Naruto got the response that he wanted. He just confirmed that men here respected women.
"But that is not the only thing I'll be changing. I gathered you here for a different reason," Naruto continued and everybody turned serious. "I will make a set of rules for brothels, hostess clubs and new strip clubs I'm planning to set up."
A few cheers came from the crowd. The idea sounded promising to them. Weather that cheering was about rules or strip clubs remains a mystery.
"It will be your job to see those rules followed and throw out anybody who won't follow them."
"Umm, why did you choose me then? There are a lot stronger people here…" asked a thin man in his twenties.
"Have you ever seen a bulky shinobi?" Naruto asked and grinned™ as they eyes widened. "I will say this now. It will be painful. All of you have a fully formed but completely undeveloped chakra network. I will have to forcefully expand it and then I will teach you how to use chakra to enhance your physical strength. After that I will show you some kata to disable your opponents. You won't be able to perform any jutsu, however. Either way no civilian will stand a chance against you. Also I will give you each a medallion. If any shinobi start trouble just channel some chakra in it and I will deal with everything. If any of you don't wish to continue leave now, I won't hold it against you."
When nobody left, he smiled and said "If no one is leaving step up one by one and tell me your name."
When a person went to stand before Naruto he placed a seal on them, made a dog tag with their name and an invisible 'Hiraishin' seal. When everybody had a dog tag around their necks he said, "Tonight you won't have the best sleep in your lives, but tomorrow after breakfast I want to see you all here. Dismissed."
"It seems we'll have to postpone our training trip," Machiko said.
"It might not be so. I have something I want to test out."
"Oh, what is it?"
Naruto's experiments always turned out to produce most interesting results.
"First, a question. Your chakra is black, but your eyes are silver. Why is that?" Naruto asked something that was bugging him.
"Originally my chakra was red, but after I mastered Yin and Yang chakra it became black and my eyes turned silver, my hair also changed its color. I actually have two types of chakra. One is black and the other is silver, like my eyes. I just don't use it as often," Machiko informed him.
"Well, I know for a fact they are not just pure Yin or Yang chakra. What are they?"
"I'm not exactly sure myself, but I can tell how they are different. While the black one could be described as a samurai, the silver one is like a dancer. Black one is stronger, faster and more wild. Silver, however, is more calm, fluid and easier to control" kitsune provided some insight on her abilities.
"Do you think I could use your silver chakra as well?"
"You should be."
Naruto made his privacy seal and started meditating. Soon wisps of light silver chakra started to appear on his body.
Skill Unlocked: Kyuubi Cloak 0 Tails (silver) (Upon activation chakra is fully replenished, all jutsu are 50% more potent, +50% to INT, WIS, INS, SPD.)
'Hmm, INS even… it must be related to the silver wind then. Even the colors match…'
Then he created a shadow clone.
New jutsu created: Silver Shadow Clones (SSC) (By using Kyuubi's silver chakra you are now able to create special shadow clones. Min 1000 CP per clone in silver Kyuubi cloak, clone's CP regeneration is equal to yours, clone's CP is equal to the amount of CP used for its creation, all jutsu are 50% more potent, +50% to INT, WIS, INS, SPD, 100 HP.)
Unlike normal shadow clones this one (beside stats) had one difference – it had light silver eyes.
Naruto tried the same with black Kyuubi cloak.
New jutsu created: Black Shadow Clones (BSC) (By using Kyuubi's black chakra you are now able to create special shadow clones. Min 1000 CP per clone in black Kyuubi cloak +10 CP per minute, clone's HP regeneration is equal to yours, clone's HP is equal to the amount of CP used for its creation, +50% to all stats and ninjutsu dmg., 100 CP.)
This clone's eyes were so black, they looked pupilless.
"So black for a tank, silver for a mage. Black has enough chakra to make a weapon for himself and that's pretty much it, but his HP…"
"Did you get what you were hoping for?" asked Machiko.
"Yes, now I can leave a SCC and go on that trip you mentioned."
"I'll use a henge so my eyes look purple," said the clone.
"Good thinking. I'll leave this quest to you," the original said, dispelled the BSC and hiraishined home.
At home, when Yugao went to sleep, Naruto left a note 'Left for training. In case of emergency channel chakra.' And pinned it down with a 'Hiraishin' pick.
He also left a note at Tenzo's house, saying, that he won't be able to come tonight.
"So, where are we going?" Naruto asked, walking away from the apartment building.
"First, leave the village,"
"With Yugao's training and my fuinjutsu skills this won't be very hard." Naruto thought with a grin™.
"Especially if you use that new jutsu of yours."
"No, jutsu require the use of chakra. It will be detected. I'll do this anbu style. As long as I don't use more than 10 CP at the time the seal on my shirt will prevent any from being detected."
{[You sure, you want to leave before completing Shisui's quest?]
"I can complete some of the objectives on my own. Besides, if my hunch is right, this training trip will provide me with better training and a better teacher. I've already gone back to the library and read every scroll on tai and kenjutsu, so I can learn interceptor style on my own," Naruto explained his actions.
"Why did you read every scroll then?" asked Machiko.
"That library contains a thorough description as well as some kata for every fighting style known to Konoha. If I study them, I can predict how my enemy will fight. Plus I can take some moves from those styles and integrate them into the style of my own. It's a win - win."}
New quest: Get out of the village.
Main objectives:
-Leave the village without detection.
Bonus objectives:
-Save Hinata from Kumo shinobi.
Rewards:
-300 exp for main objective
-1000 exp, +4000 rep with Hyuuga Hinata for bonus objective
{"Now? It's December 27th. Her birthday is today?" Thought Naruto.
[Yep, you didn't know that.]
"No, not really. I've never paid much attention to it. The more you know…"}
Right after that brief exchange Naruto turned towards the Hyuuga compound.
"Who is this Hinata?" asked Machiko afterreading the quest objectives.
"You still haven't watched 'Naruto'?" Naruto asked in disbelieve.
"I'm going in the chronological order, ok?" kitsune pouted.
"Well, you really should watch it; you'll get some pretty useful (albeit general) insight on the future events. Anyway, Hinata is an heiress to the Hyuuga clan. Kumogakure is trying to get the Byakugan so they have kidnapped her. They will most likely lock her up and use her as a breading factory," Naruto informed his tenant.
"Kill that fuck," she said to him angrily.
"As much as I want to, I can't. The kidnappers are a part of a political envoy. If they are killed Konoha will be in trouble. This will raise unnecessary complications," Naruto said and saw what he was looking for, a Kumo shinobi with Hinata on his shoulder.
'There you are.'
Naruto pulled out one of his pre made throwing picks charged with lightning chakra. The pick struck the kidnapers leg and he fell on the ground face first, paralyzed.
'Thirty seconds,' Naruto thought, looking at an icon near shinobi's HP bar. He quickly jumped towards the collapsed shinobi and placed a chakra suppression seal on him. Sensing Hiashi nearing his position, he flashed the wide eyed Hinata a kind smile and said, "You have beautiful eyes," disappearing in a shunshin.
Naruto jumped at the tree and started climbing it.
"What was that with the last comment?"
"Well, if you've watched 'Naruto'-" hanyou chuckled as Machiko growled at his comment, "-you would know that Hinata was bullied as a child because of her eyes. This will serve as a confidence boost for her… hopefully."
He only got ten seconds but with his speed it was enough to reach the lowest branch of a giant tree near the wall. He waited a little for the seal to recharge, took a running start and jumped over the wall and towards the tree branch on the other side.
Quest completed: Get out of the village.
Rewards: 1300 exp, +4000 rep with Hyuuga Hinata.
"That's an awful lot of reputation for the first meeting," said Machiko. "You've never received that much rep for a single deed before."
"For one I usually never get rep as a quest reward. It's usually just gained by interacting with people. Second, human girls have a thing for being heroically saved by a man of their dreams and bla, bla, bla, white stallions, bla, bla, bla, romantic sunsets, and so on an so forth. Third, Hinata is very meek and timid girl. It's quite easy to make an impression on her," said Naruto knowingly. "Which you would know if you just watched 'Naruto' in the first place~"
"You're not going to stop until I watch it, are you?"
"Nope. Anyway, where are we going now?"
"Head North – East. We should reach a river soon."
After about three hours Naruto came to a river and crossed it.
"Continue like this. At your top speed you should reach it in a little under an hour."
"What is our end destination?" asked Naruto curiously.
"A forest. You should feel its special energy soon."
"Senjutsu?" asked Naruto, getting an idea.
"Oh please, do not compare us to those summoning animals. We were born to wield nature's energy, unlike those amateurs," Machiko huffed.
"Does this mean I will learn the perfected version of senjutsu while surrounded by foxgirls?" Naruto said hopefully.
"You know there are male kitsune, right?" Machiko deadpanned.
"But, foxgirls!"
"Should I be worried?" kitsune said slowly.
"Not for the next five years you shouldn't, hehehe," Naruto said, rubbing his hands together.
I'll just leave it at saying that even thousand year old beings need someone to knock their head back to a straight… -er position. And who better to do it than a woman.
After about half an hour and the first near death experience Naruto had in the past hundred years, he felt it. There was a special form of energy in this forest, the one he never felt before. It was coming from right in front of him. That's when he saw a… surface… It looked like a very thin soap bubble, but completely transparent. It was about four times his size and he could see another forest at the other side of it. He circled around the bubble, but all that he could see was a different forest. After a quick mutter of 'for the sake of plot progression', Naruto decided to go for it and stepped into it. A gust of 'different' air hit him; it was saturated with that energy. It felt as if he stepped into…
"Into another world? Yes. This forest is a portal to a different world, my home," Machiko said with a smile.
Naruto took a step back and his familiar world went back, a step forward and that special energy washed over him again.
New location discovered: kitsune forest +100 exp.
"Why is there no info about this place anywhere in the libraries?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Because humans can't see it. Only kitsune can… And apparently beings with really high INS as well. Actually the portal was much clearer now. Previously I could only see a slight distortion in the air, but this time I could actually see the other side."
"Well, I do have twice as much INS as you do…" Naruto said as he slowly walked further in, taking in the unfamiliar energy. Suddenly he felt the first living thing after coming here. The air was quite humid, but Naruto couldn't sense anything living until he came within 100m range. The signature itself wasn't human or animal.
"It feels somewhat like you. Is that one of the kitsune?" asked Naruto focusing on the signature.
"It is, but it's pretty weak…" Machiko trailed off.
Naruto went closer and found a sleeping fox pup, curled up under a bush. There were two interesting things that caught his eye. The fox was show white and it had five tails.
"Five tails, the girl is strong," Machiko said with pride.
"How do you know it's a girl?" Naruto asked curiously.
"By her signature, similar to how you can feel it through chakra, I feel them through that special energy you noticed."
"What is it?" Naruto asked a question that was bugging him.
"Spirit energy. She is a spirit, like I was before Hagoromo came, not an animal nor a human. She does have chakra, but most of our power comes from spirit energy. Actually, now that I think about it, she shouldn't have chakra. Kitsune are pure spiritual beings, they don't wield chakra. Well, aside from me, but I'm a 'special' case," Machiko said, curious about the little kitsune in front of them.
"I see… so that's why I can't see her stats," Naruto slowly said.
Naruto could see the stats of others thanks to his chakra sensing abilities, but since this kitsune had half chakra, half spirit energy system, he couldn't get a read on her.
"If she becomes your familiar I imagine you will. You two will share a connection, similar to ours. Besides if you learn how to read spiritual signatures you'll get the same results as from reading chakra. Oh, she's waking up, quickly materialize your tails,' Machiko said and Naruto complied.
White kitsune slowly opened her eyes and Naruto saw that they where silver like Machiko's. Naruto could sense her surprise and fear but she didn't run. The reason became evident as Machiko gasped, "Why didn't I notice sooner. She's very weak; give her some blood, quick."
Naruto bit his thumb, slightly opened fox's mouth and dropped a few drops of blood in it. She drank them and suddenly lunged at his thumb and started sucking blood out of it. She purred as she drained nearly half of his LF.
"Her signature is so much stronger now, it's like she was dying," said Naruto slowly. "Why is she here all alone and dying from starvation to boot?"
"I don't know but it might have something to do with that a part of her being is out of my chakra."
"So that's why she feels so familiar…" Naruto trailed off and as he finished a message appeared.
You have acquired a familiar:
Lvl 1 kitsune.
Do you wish to name your familiar?
{"Did you know about this?" Naruto asked his tenant.
"I… forgot. I just wanted to save her. Sorry," Machiko apologized.
"No need to apologize. I wouldn't have left her to die anyway."
"Well, getting a familiar was one of the reasons why I wanted you to come here…Actually, how would this work. She should have a name already…" mused Machiko.
[I'm pretty sure I know what he'll name her, but if that's not the case, then I'll just rewrite the reality. Simple.] a shrug could be heard in his voice.
Naruto was used to such comments already and Machiko decided to stay quiet after blinking a few times at the last statement.}
'Yuuki.'
{[Ha, knew it!]
"Can it."}
Familiar named.
Name: Yuuki
Lvl: 1
Age: 7
HP: 250
CP: 500
SP: 200
SE (Spirit Energy): 200
LF: 1050
VIT: 25
STR: 25
DEX: 20
INT: 50
WIS: 10
INS: 130
SPD: 26
Perks:
High Spirit: physical attacks are 50% less effective, ability to communicate with lesser sprits.
CC (Close Combat) Kitsune: +15 VIT per lvl, +15 STR per lvl, +15 DEX per lvl, +15 SPD per lvl, +50% to learning speed for all CC skills, +100 SE per lvl (initial SE value – 100).
Kyuubi's chakra: +50 LF per lvl, +5 VIT per lvl, +5 STR per lvl, +50 INT per lvl, enhanced healing – in combat – +5 HP/sec, out of combat – +50 HP/sec, total immunity to all genjutsu below A – rank.
"Wow, what's this?" said little kitsune looking at a message window. "It says I'm a familiar to Uzumaki Naruto. I'm a familiar?"
"Yes, Yuuki. You are now my familiar," Naruto informed her. "And this," He said pointing at the window in front of her, "is a bonus you get for being my familiar."
Then she suddenly turned into a very pale little girl with snow white hair that reached her mid tight and five tails of the same color. She jumped and hugged his neck tightly. Naruto hugged her as well and patted her head. She had the same silver slitted eyes.
"Hehehe, everybody's gonna be so jealous that I became a familiar," young kitsune laughed happily. "Wait, I thought I could be a familiar only to a human. And your blood tastes reeealy gooood~" asked finally calmed down kitsune.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I was born human?" Naruto asked with a smile.
"But your eyes and the tails…" said confused kitsune.
"It would be better if you told her," said Machiko.
"I have Kyuubi sealed inside of me. This all is thanks to her chakra," Naruto said and channeled some chakra to his stomach to make the seal visible.
"You have Kyuubi–sama sealed in you?" she asked looking closely at the seal.
{"Kyuubi-sama?" Naruto was curious about that honorific.
"As you might have already known, considering your… fondness for kitsune, our power is represented by the number of our tails, nine being the highest. All nine tailed kitsune are addressed as Kyuubi-sama, unless stated otherwise." Machiko provided her host with a little bit of insight on kitsune customs.}
Naruto released some of Kyuubi's chakra.
"I do, can you feel it?" he asked and Yuuki nodded.
"Ask her to lead you to their village, she must have a home there," asked Machiko.
"Where do you live, Yuuki?" Naruto asked bringing the girls attention back up.
"I… I ran away from home," the girl said looking at the ground.
"Really? Why?" Naruto asked curiously.
"The other kitsune don't like me. Only jiji likes me and I didn't want to cause him any more trouble," said the girl in shame. "But now that I'm a familiar, they'll have to accept me!"
"Why others don't like you?" asked Naruto curiously. This was starting to look awful lot like his situation.
"Jiji says it's because I'm different. I've failed every test at the academy and only I have white hair and silver eyes. I really hate them," she said angrily.
"Well, I love your hair, it looks really beautiful and your eyes are just like Kyuubi's," Naruto said with a smile and patted her head. Her hair really did look beautiful, with the moon's light shining through the trees it made her hair glow almost as bright as her eyes.
"There is nothing bad in being different. Being different makes you stand out, it makes you more special than anyone else. Embrace it and take pride in it." Naruto decided to give the girl a little pep talk.
"The worst insults come from accurate descriptions of what you are. Accept every part of your being, with all it's flaws and shortcomings and wear it like armor, that way no one can use it to hurt you."
She looked thoughtful closed her eyes and nodded. Then she… grew?
"Did she just…" Naruto was pretty confused.
"Yes, she just grew. I think she's around ten years old now," Machiko said like it's nothing special.
"How exactly?" asked still confused Naruto.
"You see… kitsune are immortal and they age differently. We look as old as we feel. We can be born a hundred years ago but feel like thirty and we will look thirty. Others can be born ten years ago but feel and look like fifty," Machiko shared some surprising information.
"I take it there's no such thing as pedophilia then."
"There is, it's just not determined by age but by look. When a kitsune reaches that age they can't look younger anymore. Especially after the wedding ceremony," came another bit of useful information from Machiko.
"Following a hunch, which are usually correct, I'll ask this now. What does a wedding ceremony for kitsune consists of?"
"Just one deed – sex. And a kiss is equivalent to a proposal," she said with a smile.
"So we are basically married," Naruto half asked half stated.
"Hmm, I'm… not sure, actually. The ceremony can only be considered valid if performed by two kitsune. You see… we are quite, um… free spirited when it comes to humans. I'm not sure if our case would be valid or not…" she started growing quieter towards the end. Then she asked hesitantly, "Do you want it to be?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure… on one hand I would have to make up for 45 years worth of wedding gifts. On the other you are currently one of the two beings in existence that I love and would be more than happily to take as my wife. So, my answer is yes," our hero finished with a smile.
Machiko was practically jumping out of pure happiness. She herself had no idea, that Naruto's words would feel so good.
"Then it's settled; we are officially married!" she said with a cheer.
"You weren't so sure before… Not that I care, but will others accept it?"
"Bitch please, I'm The Kyuubi, my word is law… to kitsune at least," queen of all kitsune said puffing out her already impressive chest. Naruto chuckled inwardly so only Machiko could hear.
"Well, now I have to come up with 45 different presents… This is gonna be a bitch." Hanyou said with a smile.
"You've already given me the best present ever – your love." She sighted happily.
"Aww, from one point of view that sounded really fluffy and romantic, but from the other it makes me look like one of those cheep ass boyfriends, who enjoy taking romantic walks under the moon when all the stores are closed," Naruto started off chuckling, but deadpanned at the non-italic part. Machiko laughed happily.
"Well, I was trying to provide you with an easy way out, but it seems like you'll be getting me all those presents now~," kitsune said in a singsong voice.
'I've never been so glad that creativity is one of my strongest points…'
As Naruto talked with Machiko, Yuuki led him to her village. They came to a small wooden Japanese style house.
"This is where I live with my jiji," said Yuuki as they came close to their house.
Her grandpa as if heard her and rushed out of the house. He eminently ran to Yuuki and hugged her.
"Wow, I don't think I can come up with any more stereotypical looking Japanese old man than him." Naruto thought, making his tenant giggle.
The man looked around seventy. He was bald and had a long white beard; also he was a little hunched and carried a wooden walking stick.
"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if when he straitens he'll have killer abs and his stick turns into a flaming sword," Machiko said jokingly.
"If I learned something in my travels it's to never underestimate Japanese old men. They ether will teach you something that will help you kick ass hundred times over or they will kick your ass hundred times over," said completely serious Naruto.
"Seeing how fast he moved just now, I might just agree with you."
"Guess what grandpa," said smiling Yuuki, "I'm a familiar now."
"What? Who?" he said startled, and only then noticed Naruto standing there. "I take it, it was you young man?" he said turning to Naruto.
"You are correct. One correction, though. I'm not very young, I'm probably older than you," said Naruto with a smile.
The old kitsune narrowed his eyes, studying Naruto. This… man… yes, man, he couldn't really call him a boy and not just because he couldn't feel any lies from our hero, but because his gut told him so. You can't just simply live in a shinobi world for three centuries and not learn how to trust your instincts. This man in front of him looked way stronger than someone of his appearance should look. The aura around him was calm and laid – back, yet sharp, analytical and brimming with confidence at the same time. Elderly kitsune felt that despite dealing with shinobi for the most of his life, he wouldn't be able to get a drop on the one standing in front of him.
"Just to make sure. You have a body of an eight year old, correct?" the old man asked.
"Yes, my mind is over a thousand years old, however. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, by the way," Naruto said and extended his hand.
"Ryuujin," the old man said and shook his hand. The handshake was strong and firm. Then he added with a nostalgic tone to his voice, "It's been almost twenty years since I last saw an Uzumaki."
"What makes Uzumaki so special?" Naruto was curious.
"We've always been Uzumaki exclusive summoning clan," Ryuujin informed our hero. "It's funny you don't know that being here and all. The way to this forest is known only to us and an Uzumaki clan head."
"I was led here by the Kyuubi," Naruto said pointing at his seal.
Ryuujin's eyes widened for a moment and then he said, "So that's why you are like this."
"Yes, she made me a hanyou," Naruto added with a smile.
"Kyuubi–same lets you use her chakra freely?" he said wide eyed, "That explains why she hasn't broken this seal already. I don't imagine your chains could hold Kyuubi-sama since you're only a half blood."
"To be honest my father had no idea Kyuubi was a lvl 5 seal master," Naruto said with a shrug. "And how did you know I'm a half blood?"
"I didn't live for three hundred years for nothing. I know you have someone else's blood in you," Ryuujin smiled. "You mentioned your father earlier. Was he the one who sealed Kyuubi-sama?"
"Yes my father sealed Kyuubi in me. He was the yondaime Hokage as well," and before Ryuujin could ask why Naruto was an Uzumaki, Naruto added, "My mother was Uzumaki Kushina second Kyuubi's jinchuuriki."
"A sacrifice? Is that what they call you?" Ryuujin said with a frown.
"Considering how other humans treat us, we are a sacrifice. My human life was sacrificed so I could contain her. Well worth it in my opinion," Naruto said with a smile. "Besides, not all people are dumb enough to think I'm the Kyuubi."
"Let me talk to him," asked Machiko and Naruto complied.
"Long time no see, Ryuujin," said a silver eyed Naruto in a slightly more feminine voice.
"Kyuubi–sama…" Ryuujin was wide eyed yet again. "It's truly a pleasure to talk with you again," he said with a bow, collecting himself. "Would you like to come in for some tea?"
Ryuujin and Naruto were sitting on the porch while talking. Yuuki ran around jumping and shouting 'I'm a familiar!, I'm a familiar!'.
"I'll accept your invitation," Machiko said and walked in. Soon they were sitting behind a classical Japanese table near the aforementioned porch.
"It's nice to see a familiar face after all these years," she said with a smile.
They talked for a while. From their conversation Naruto got that they weren't particularly close, but knew each other fairly well. Also Ryuujin was one of the very few, who knew what Machiko looked like and was still alive. Apparently the attack on Uzumaki dwindled their numbers quite a bit.
After a brief catch up she said, "Could I ask something of you?"
"Anything Kyuubi–sama," Ryuujin said with a bow.
"Train this man, teach him all you know," she said and turned to Yuuki. "Him and his new familiar," Machiko smiled and petted the wide eyed girl, who came to listen a few minutes ago.
"It will be done Kyuubi–sama," he said with another bow.
"Thank you, Ryuujin," Machiko said with a smile and surrendered control.
"So, what will you be teaching me?" asked Naruto.
"Taijutsu and kenjutsu. And I'll be working on controlling spirit energy with Yuuki, Kami knows she needs it," said Ryuujin. Yuuki looked down.
"I'll admit that Yuuki has low control, but that shouldn't be your main concern. It would be better if you teach her the same as me," Naruto advised him.
"Why do you think that?" he asked curiously. Naruto couldn't possibly know that…
"She's a close combat type. Surely you of all people should have known that."
"I do, but how do you know that?" he asked in disbelieve.
"Well, you see, here's the thing…" Naruto pulled up his GUI and made it visible.
"This GUI takes in the information I sense and turns it into numerical value. I can see stats of every human, because all of them posses chakra, which I'm very good at sensing. When Yuuki became my familiar a special bond was created. I now can feel her presence anywhere as well as her physical and emotional condition." Our hero then pulled up Yuuki's status screen.
"I have Kyuubi–sama's chakra?" asked wide eyed Yuuki.
"Three years ago, on the day of your birth, your mother didn't have enough energy to give birth to you and some of Kyuubi–sama's chakra came to aid," Ryuujin revealed the history of Yuuki's birth.
{"Ok, another lesson time. For some reason, I get a feeling that kitsune are born differently from humans," Naruto more stated than asked.
"We are. A new kitsune is born when a husband and wife combine parts of their spirit energies. During marriage spirit energies of both kitsune change slightly to better accommodate each other. However, their compatibility is not perfect. Thus some complications may arise. Such thing happened to Yuuki. In my brief moment of freedom, I sensed that she won't have enough spirit energy to survive and sent some of my chakra over."
"First, how did you sense it from so far away and second, how did you sent your chakra over such a distance?"
"I always had fairly good sensory abilities and after becoming Kyuubi they were enhanced as well. Now I can sense any kitsune alive no matter where they are. As for chakra, I originally sent both: silver and black chakras, but the black one was less stable and dispersed about half way through. I've already told you that silver one is much easier to control, but it did take me quite a bit of concentration, though. And still only quarter of it got to Yuuki. Good thing that was enough. Me concentrating so hard on the task was also the reason why that Uchiha was able to put me under that genjutsu of his. If you ever come across him, could you rip his throat out, please?"
"Sure thing," Naruto replied with a chuckle.}
"But… how?" asked Yuuki amazed. "I thought Kyuubi–sama was sealed at the time."
"Three years ago, on the day of my birth, Kyuubi was ripped out of my mother. That day Kyuubi spend some time outside before being sealed in me," Informed her Naruto.
"And this brings me to another point. Is this why Yuuki treated that way?" Naruto asked.
"Thirteen years ago there was Uzushiogakure no sato, a home to the Uzumaki clan. This clan was well known for its red hair, unparalleled mastery in fuinjutsu and kenjutsu on par if not better than Kiri's seven swordsmen. They were also the richest of shinobi clans. They completed their missions with utmost efficiency and quality. Little did others know that Uzumaki themselves almost never left their village. All their outside missions were performed by us, or more precisely, by the ones who specialized in close combat," Ryuujin started his story.
"So Uzumaki became known as swordsman because of their familiars," Naruto came to an obvious conclusion.
"Precisely. But a few Uzumaki asked their familiars to train them in kenjutsu or taijutsu. Your mother was one of them. My son trained her," Ryuujin smiled at a fond memory.
"And she became Konoha's anbu captain," Naruto continued.
"Back to my story," Ryuujin started after his flashback ended. "There is another type of kitsune, who almost never left their summoner's side once summoned. The support type. While CC type had little to no use for spirit energy and had little of it, supports had a great amount and near perfect control. They are masters of genjutsu and iryojutsu. They refuse to learn ninjutsu or any form of physical combat."
"I take it the majority of CC kitsune died thirteen years ago."
"Correct, in fact I'm the only one who survived. My summoner forcefully dispelled me," He said with a sad smile.
"I still don't get why everybody hates Yuuki so much. CC kitsune were always a part of your village and from what she told me, they don't hate you. Is she treated that way only because she can use chakra in addition to spirit energy?" Naruto said rubbing his chin.
Ryuujin fondly looked at Yuuki now in her fox form, chasing a butterfly, "As you already know Yuuki's spirit energy is fused with Kyuubi-sama's chakra, thus it's very hard to distinguish one from another. She has a lot of that concoction but she is better suited for close combat, and many know that. Her behavior is quite an evidence by itself. As far as everybody else is concerned, she has an amount of 'spirit energy' comparable to the most talented of support class children, but next to no control. Some, who knew Kyuubi-sama, suspect that Yuuki might have some of Kyuubi-sama's chakra, evident by her unique eyes and hair color. This is probably what makes them fear her."
"Fear her? I would be more than thrilled in their place," Naruto said in disbelieve.
"They fear her potential. CC kitsune never used spirit energy, yet were easily comparable to A – rank shinobi in skill. Even some anbu were cautious about letting them in taijutsu range. If CC kitsune starts using spirit energy… they could become too powerful. Besides if a kitsune has a lot of spirit energy, but not enough control, it could lead to some… unfortunate results." As Ryuujin finished his explanation Naruto understood that something 'unfortunate' did happen but decided not to dig too deep.
"I think your spirit energy control exercises are not very effective because Yuuki has a lot more chakra than spirit energy. I know a lot of chakra control exercise, that should help her and I could teach her ninjutsu. I know quite a few ninjutsu for every element and now working on combining elements into different styles. I even made my own style," Naruto said with a grin™.
"Your own style?" said Ryuujin in disbelieve. "Show me."
"So far I have made only two jutsu for it. It's called Plasma style," Naruto then took the cup he was drinking tea from and said, "'Agni Schiwatas'," the ash quickly disappeared into the wind.
"Impressive, but the cup…" Ryuujin said with a frown.
"Don't worry," our hero said and his left palm started glowing with a dark blue flame while his right had a golden, almost white flame. The flames connected and a circuit like outline of the cup was formed. A second later new identical cup was standing on the table.
"You know Kyuubi-sama's jutsu!" exclaimed the old man… kitsune. Ryuujin couldn't help but wonder: just how much favor did Naruto gain with the Kyuubi.
"Can you also heal like her?" he then asked.
"Yes, but I can't really show it to you. I have nothing to heal," Naruto said looking around as if someone with the need for healing would suddenly appear. He was only half righ.
"Heal me," he said and opened his haori. As Naruto expected he was very muscular and covered in scars.
Naruto placed a hand on his chest, then moved it right below his throat and used his 'Yang Healing'.
"Ahh, you truly mastered it," Ryuujin said with a relieved sigh. His voice now was clearer and less raspy. "Our best medics couldn't fix it."
"You have some damn good medics if you not just survived but could talk after being stabbed through the throat."
"My summoner did the most important job. If she didn't dispel me, the sword would have pierced my artery. Not even you could have saved me then," he said with a sad smile. "Wait a moment." Ryuujin left the table and after a minute returned with a wooden box, about the size of a smartphone. He opened it and inside he could see five small rings and two bigger ones. They all were made out of some silvery metal, but it wasn't silver.
"Those artifacts are passed down in the Uzumaki clan. There is a legend that one day a man will come who will earn the right to wear all of them," Ryuujin said looking over them.
{"So he held onto those…" Machiko said slowly.
"You know more about them?"
"Of course, I helped Hagoromo make them, after all. But I'm not gonna spoil any surprises~"}
'Figures…'
"And how can one earn the right to wear them?" Naruto asked curiously.
"For this," he took out a small ring with a kanji for shinobi, "you must master a hundred ninjutsu or create a style of your own," He then handed the ring to Naruto.
"How do I wear it?" Naruto asked turning the ring in his fingers. It didn't have any hinges or anything else indicating that it could be opened.
"Just put it anywhere near your skin and it will do the rest."
Naruto created a shadow clone. It took the ring and placed it near the top of the original's ear. The ring opened up and one side had a thin needle. The clone moved the ring over the ear and two sides connected. When the newly formed earring was in place a message popped up.
Ninjutsu earring acquired: Now you are able to cast any ninjutsu without hand seals.
"Well, now I don't need to cast every ninjutsu I know a few dozen times to use them without hand seals," Naruto thought.
"This makes leveling up ninjutsu useless," Machiko added.
"I take it you know what it does," asked Ryuujin.
"Yes, it allows me to cast any ninjutsu without hand seals," Naruto stated and kitsune nodded in confirmation.
"You've earned this as well," He said and handed him a bigger ring with eight plus signs circling it. Naruto took it and put it on his left ring finger. It shrank to fit him.
Iryojutsu ring acquired: Now you are able to perfectly sense any damage within anyone that comes into your perfect sensory range, iryojutsu are 50% more effective.
"Now I can diagnose anyone who comes within a kilometer of myself," said Naruto with a smile.
"That's a big range," said Ryuujin surprised.
"I'm a very strong sensor," Naruto just said with a smile. Ryuujin was satisfied with his answer and moved on.
"Did Kyuubi–sama teach you fuinjutsu as well?" He asked and Naruto just pulled up his seal archive. To which Ryuujin, just as wordlessly, handed him another big ring. This one Naruto put on his right ring finger.
Fuinjutsu ring acquired: Now you are able to completely seal anyone's chakra (even Bijuu's) on touch. Duration – 1 CP/min. 0 CP=1 min, 10000 CP=forever.
"Wow, I can literally seal anyone's chakra forever," Naruto said with a laugh. "What are the requirements for the other rings?"
"For tai and kenjutsu rings you'll have to defeat me without using chakra. For genjutsu ring you must create an unbreakable genjutsu or cast a genjutsu on our village leader without him realizing it. And for the last one you must master our seireijutsu (spirit techniques)," Ryuujin said pointing at each of the rings.
"Is seireijutsu your version of senjutsu?" Naruto asked with anticipation.
"It is, and I just so happen to be a master of it. However, I will only teach it to you after you complete my ken and taijutsu training. Is that clear," The old kitsune entered his sensei mode.
"Perfectly. Well, no reason to wait, when will we be starting on our training?" Naruto asked.
"It's the middle of the night, if you haven't noticed…" Ryuujin deadpanned.
"Oh, right. Well, I don't sleep, so it kinda escapes my attention sometimes. We'll start in the morning then?"
"At sunrise," Yuuki's grandpa confirmed.
"I'll just walk around and explore for the rest of the night then."
Ryuujin simply nodded and went to sleep with Yuuki.
Later that night Naruto was lying down on the roof of Ryuujin and Yuuki's house, but his mind was in his mindscape.
Machiko and Naruto were in the shade of a tree near the edge of the ravine overlooking a giant lake with a waterfall. Naruto was leaning on the tree trunk with tke kitsune curled up on his lap, her head resting right under his chin.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you… How were you born, or perhaps 'come into existence' would be a better term." Naruto asked his tenant this time around.
Machiko yawned and stretched, wrapping her hands around his head and bringing herself higher to nuzzle into his neck.
"*sigh* I guess 'came into existence' would be a better term. At first I was born as any other kitsune. I had flaming red eyes and hair, like most of my clan. I was the best in my group and grew the fastest as well. The one day Õtsutsuki Hagoromo came to our world and chose me as his familiar." Machiko started her story.
"Wait, Ryuujin said that kitsune clan had an exclusive summoning contract with Uzumaki, or that came later?"
"The reason why Hagoromo first came here was because our clan was exclusive to Uzumaki. I'm guessing your amine didn't tell you who sage's father was," Machiko grimed evilly.
"You're not telling me that Uzumaki clan existed before the Rikudõ Sennin."
"Yep, Uzumaki was actually a dynasty back then. They ruled over the empire, that covered the majority of the continent and continued to expand until Kaguya decided to intervene. But we are getting off track."
'I'll definitely be visiting clan's library in the morning.'
"As I was saying he took ma as his familiar. I am more of an support/long range attack type, so we didn't train like the others did. Instead we talked. We talked about life force, chakra and spiritual energy, about how it worked… We could have made a library out of all the notes we took. But, unfortunately, our 'research' came to an end as Jũbi attacked."
"Hagoromo managed to seal it into himself. Jũbi gave him great power, but, like with all humans, his life wasn't infinite. He did live for almost three hundred years, though. Before his death he gathered eight, fairly normal creatures and me. He split Jũbi's chakra and fused us with it. It wasn't sealing, he literally combined our existence with chakra. He gave me the most because I could handle it, unlike the rest and he trusted me like himself. Our physical bodies couldn't handle the strain and so he created new bodies for us and even gave us names, signifying our birth, or in my case – rebirth. Unfortunately he decided to go with my fox form, instead of the human one. After some time the rest of the bijũ gained intelligence. For some reason they all turned out to be female. We all created human bodies for ourselves, but they were far cry from actual bodies out of flesh and blood. It's been almost two thousand years since I had one," Machiko sighted.
"That's probably why I jumped at the chance to have a physical bogy again so easily," She giggled.
"Hm, now that I think about it, if you just offer my sisters an actual body, they will eagerly give up all of their chakra."
"Yeah, I was actually kinda hoping for that," Naruto chuckled as well.
"The one thing I don't understand though, is why all of them chose a female form? Them gaining intellect from ridiculously high amounts of chakra isn't so farfetched. But their gender…"
"I have as much of an idea as you do," Machiko shrugged.
"Actually I just thought of something a bit more important." A realization hit the hanyou.
"Shinju is a God, right," Naruto started and after getting a nod from his tenant, continued. "Jũbi is the combination of Kaguya and Shinju…"
"Actually, Hagoromo told us, that Shinju separated some of its power to form the Jũbi, so it could take back the chakra fruit, that was stolen from him. Jũbi did just that, but somehow it backfired. Jũbi's will was taken over by Kaguya and thus she gained even more power. The two brother faugh her and sealed the Jũbi into the moon. And you know the rest."
"Hmm, I might have stumbled upon an explanation as to why all the biju are female," Naruto held a dramatic pause. "All of you have a part of Kaguya's soul. It's just a theory-"
[A 'Naruto' theory!]
"Oh, fuck you…" Naruto sighted. "*sigh* anyway, I'll just have to test it out when we meet your sisters, since you always had a developed personality of your own."
'Chiko-chan's story brings some interesting points to my attention, however… She said Jũbi was just a part of the Shinju. This fact begs the question… Where's the rest of Shinju's chakra?'
Omake: Halloween special. Why root isn't following Naruto.
That evening, October 31st, when the sun had already set, our four year old hero was walking around the edge of the village by himself. It was an abandoned district, that was nearly destroyed during the 'Kyuubi attack'. It's been a few days since he was allowed to move around without an escort. Naruto rather liked exploring new territories; it got him the layout of the village as well.
Then he noticed two signature following him. They were definitely anbu level, but different somehow. They seemed to have heavily suppressed emotions.
'Danzo's root, huh… About the time he made his move.'
Then Naruto remembered what date it was. And his grin™ widened.
'Let's show them the spirit of the Halloween," our hero thought evilly and entered a relatively stable house. The root anbu followed not a minute after.
Immediately they felt like something wasn't right. The house was old and abandoned, with a thick layer of dust on the floor, yet there were no footprints. The anbu looked around to see if there were footprints anywhere else, but couldn't find anything, indicating human presence.
He turned to his partner.
There was no one there. His partner was gone, yet neither of them made a single step. Danzo warned them that Naruto was quite proficient in genjutsu and is not to be underestimated. That is why two of them were sent, instead of just one. Root operative immediately tried to release the genjutsu, but nothing changed. He was all alone. Anbu decided to retreat and report to Danzo, but when he turned to the door, he only found a hallway. He turned around and saw that he stood at an intersection of four different hallways. Root ninja tried to dispel the genjutsu again, but this attempt made the same success as the last one.
He did the only thing he could and walked forward in hopes of finding the exit.
As the anbu went further and further in, he got more and more unsettled. He knew that the house he was in probably stood here since the foundation of the village, but there's no way it would look this old. Also the house proved to be way bigger on the inside. The root anbu already understood, that this couldn't all be a genjutsu, he and his partner were ones of the top genjutsu specialists in the entirety of root, after all.
And then there were paintings. There were dozens, maybe even hundreds of them. Each one some variation of The Scream.
He didn't know how long it's been. Ten minutes? Thirty? An hour? A day? A decade? All sense of time was lost, only the endless labyrinth of hallways remained… and the paintings. Somewhere along the line the world around him began ever so slowly change. Bit by bit it adopted the style of the paintings. Lines became more prominent and elongated, colors shifted to more of a pastel tone. He noticed it only when the world around him became the same as all the other paintings: abstract, made out of lines, without clear detail. That is when the anbu realized, that he wasn't in the hallway anymore. Instead he was in a giant room. All of its walls were covered in those paintings, placed so close, that the wallpaper couldn't be seen. The room had no ceiling, so the walls stretched out into the black eternity. When the root operative looked at this wall from a distance, it looked like a giant version of that accursed painting. One wall, however, was different. It had only one giant painting, but the painting was different as well. The face on that painting wasn't screaming and when he moved closer, the man on the painting seemed to move as well. He walked closer and closer, until the two men were at an arm's reach. Then, with the fear he hadn't ever felt in his entire life he touched his own face.
The men in the painting mirrored hi action. In fact the painted man seemed to mirror anbu's every action. This confirmed poor anbu's worst fear, he put his hands on either side of his face and he screamed.
The wall wasn't a painting…
It was a mirror.
The second root anbu wasn't fearing any better. He, after figuring out, that something other than genjutsu was happening in this house, was walking down a similar hallway. This one, however, had more spiderwebs than dust. The paintings were scarcer and looked normal. Actually most of them were quite high quality portraits or landscapes.
As the anbu moved further in, he started to swipe away the spiderwebs, which covered not just the corners and walls, but his path as well. The hallway was like a labyrinth, often the unfortunate anbu had to chose which hallway he went for, but he was starting to wander, if his choice even mattered. The paths he chose have never led him to a dead end, only to another fork. Root operative had an idea to look closer at the paintings. Maybe they had a clue as to how to get out of this maze. Unfortunately, he couldn't find anything, that would bring him closer to escaping. He, however, did notice that all the paintings had a recurring detail. All of them had a spider of some sort. Weather it was a small one dangling from the ceiling in the background, or an outright giant one sitting in front of the fireplace like a dog. The painting went up higher and higher and when Danzo's drone was looking directly upwards, despite all his training, he could feel shivers running down his spine. The ceiling was so thickly covered in spiderweb, that he could only see an occasional spider running across another layer of cobweb, beneath it. Despite the only feeling he felt in years, root anbu continued to move forward, occasionally glancing upwards. The cobweb blocking his path became thicker and harder to tear through. He walked on and on, his slowly growing anxiety preventing him from noticing how the thick layer of spiderweb started to creep down to the walls and occasionally the floor.
He only stopped his higher than normal pace as he heard the first sound in hours… days? Years? Only then he noticed, that he was no longer in the hallway; all around him was a tunnel made completely out of cobweb. It even felt bouncy under his feet, and occasional sound of cobweb tearing could be heard with his every step. Then there was that sound again, as if someone decided to dump a box full of wooden cubes on the floor. Not so emotionless anbu went towards the sound. As he made his first step, the same sound came from behind him. He moved back. Then the sound appeared to his left, he moved left. This game continued for what felt like an eternity. Panting heavily, he ran towards it, tearing though cobwebs. The sound was almost constantly in front of him.
Then it stopped.
Root genjutsu specialist crouched down, exhausted. He wiped his sweaty forehead and only then noticed. His hands were bleeding. In fact he was bleeding all over. His armor was shredded, as well as his mask. All over him were small cuts, made by something very thin. He looked closer at his arm and could see a drop of blood follow a thin, silvery spiderweb embedded into one of his cuts.
The drop of blood fell on the white floor and immediately spread into a rather sizable red stain. The blood started to slowly eat away at the cobweb. Root anbu could feel his fear level rising as the sight below the layer of cobweb was revealed to him.
It was an never ending sea of spiders. They started to crawl out and went straight for the anbu.
He ran.
They followed closely behind. As the anbu ran, he swatted away more spiderwebs blocking his path, cutting himself more in the process. His blood melted away at the cobweb all around him and more spiders joined the chase. Danzo's drone ran so fast, he started to run into corners. When he did, more spiderweb stuck to him, slowing him down and more spiders joined the pursuers. He was constantly looking back as the tidal wave of spiders grew closer and closer. After another look over the shoulder, he cut the corner too quickly, making him run into the wall of cobwebs, breaking it. More spiders flooded from it.
He had nowhere to run.
Spiders started to cower his bloodied form. His screams died down as the spiders covered his head and crawled down his nose and throat.
On the morning of the next day the two, oh so unfortunate, root anbu operatives were found near one of the entrances to Danzo's underground base. They were alive, but in a state, that even Danzo decided to grant them mercy and killed them with a quick wind jutsu. The first man clawed out his eyes and scratched almost all of the skin from his face. He cut out his lips and teeth, evident by a bloody kunai and pieces of skin and flesh near him. He was breathing in through his nose and breathing out from the mouth. Further examination concluded that the man tried to scream, but his vocal cords were snapped because of high strain.
The second wreck of a man didn't fear any better. He was found slicing himself with a kunai. All slices were in a spiderweb pattern. Every part of his body was covered in bloody soiderwebs. Some places even in multiple layers. Even his eyes were sliced. When the other root operatives arrived, the man was in process of carving the inside of his mouth.
Fũ Yamanaka deduced that his two self maiming comrades suffered some severe mental damage. Most likely from genjutsu.
Danzo had no idea as to how two of his best genjutsu specialists could end up like this. He did understand, however, that this display was a warning. Naruto knew who he was and where he lived. The jinchuuriki demanded his respect, and Danzo had no trouble providing him with it, considering Naruto's skill, brutality and efficiency of his actions. Danzo doubted the redhead even lifted a finger. The possibilities of having someone like that on his side scared and fascinated the old war hawk to no end. If only he played his cards right…
Naxt time: Meeting the kitsune clan.
Name: Uzumaki Naruto
Lvl: 8 (exp – 1400/1500)
Age: 8 years (physical), 1058 years (mental), 4 years (spend in 'Naruto' world)
HP: 2850
CP: 8700
SP: 2196
LF: 2505
VIT: 285
STR: 216
DEX: 111
INT: 870
WIS: 870
INS: 1012
SPD: 141
Perks:
Gamers' contract: you remember all your incarnations, perfect memory, RPGescue GUI in all worlds, granted mental time freeze,
Great one: INS cannot be lower than 1000, WIS cannot be lower than INT, change In form successful 100% of the time, +100% to effectiveness in all sensory abilities, granted ability to consume/enslave souls of lower life forms, ability to reach perfect control of all natures, all physical drawbacks are canceled,
Ashura's chakra: +10 VIT every lvl, +50% to team's morale, +50% to team's exp gain.
Uzumaki – dominant: +100 LF every lvl, +5 VIT every lvl, +5 STR every lvl, +5 INT every lvl, ability to reach absolute mastery in fuinjustu (max lvl 5), chains, +50% to effectiveness in all sensory abilities, red hair,
Namikaze – recessive: +5 SPD every lvl, +1 STR every lvl, +1 DEX every lvl,
Uchiha – recessive: +2 SPD every lvl, +1 STR every lvl, +1 DEX every lvl, Sharingan,
Preteen: LF is stable,
Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Yoko: +100 LF every lvl, +15 VIT every lvl, +15 STR every lvl, +100 INT every lvl, enhanced healing – in combat - 10 HP/s, out of combat – 100 HP/s, total immunity to all genjutsu below A – rank, ability to sense emotion,
Hanyou: got at lvl 3 - +5 VIT per lvl, +5 STR per lvl, +5 DEX per lvl, +5 SPD per lvl, enhanced healing – in combat - 40 HP/s, out of combat – 400 HP/s, 9 tails (they represent how much of Kyuubi's chakra is under your control), sense of smell x1000, night vision, enhanced sight – up to x10, enhanced hearing – up to x10, chance of successful transformation 10% (bonuses – chance of successful transformation 100%).