Chapter 10: The history of Uzumaki.
A/N: Had way more trouble with this chapter than I thought I would, but now 'tis done. Expect some epicenes and blood in the next one :3 (should be out before Christmas)
On a side note. Fallout 4. Dog – best follower. Period. On YouTube - /watch?v=_rWbLV23f0
Bloodborne: old hunters – fucking awesome.
Previously on Naruto – A Gamer's Soul.
Ryuujin knocked and a rather upbeat female voice said to come in. Naruto swallowed heavily.
'That voice… No. Fucking. Way.'
Behind the rather fancy table sat emerald eyed, silver haired beauty with her hands resting on her hands.
"Oh, yes fucking way. Naruto-san~," she said in an upbeat voice, clearly ecstatic to see him.
"Nyaruko…"
"… I'm not entering another crowbar fencing tournament," Naruto said emotionlessly as soon as he saw his fellow Eldritch being.
Nyaruko's face met her desk with a loud thump.
"Oh, come on, we won so much from the last one…" Nyaruko pouted as she looked up from her desk.
"No." Naruto was adamant, sitting in a chair in front of the desk.
"But you must channel your inner Gordon Freeman!" She said, pumping her fist up.
"I will… As soon as 'Half Life 3' comes out," our hero said with crossed arms.
"Time is convoluted…" she answered mysteriously.
"And that's precisely why it's never happening."
"Ouch."
[Ouch.]
"Ouch."
Ouch.
"And don't you dare and try to convince me by quoting 'Dark Souls'," Naruto added pointing at Nyaruko.
Then both of them burst out laughing.
"Hehehe, how long has it been…" the female Great One said, still giggling.
"97 years…" Naruto answered, wiping away his tears from laughing. "Well, for you. 165 for me."
Then both of them stood up and moved to embrace each other.
"It's nice to finally see you again, Naruto. You're much stronger than the last time I saw you."
"And you're just as beautiful as ever, Nyaruko," our hero's voice was muffed by his face resting right in-between Nyaruko's breasts, aided by the fact that her silk black and white yukata revealed a fair bit of cleavage as well.
"Having a good time there, Naru-kun?" Machiko asked, somewhat amused. Kitsune didn't feel any jealousy. She could tell that both Great Ones had a close relationship, however, it wasn't as strong as the one she had with Naruto. She felt that Naruto had another bond of the same level with another woman – multiple in fact - , but again there was no jealousy. Machiko knew his feelings were strong and true. Being an empath really makes your life easier. Who would have thunk (this sentence contains a fair bit of sarcasm, in case you didn't get it).
"Quite," was his short answer.
"My, my. You are not getting jealous of little old me, are you, Kyuubi-sama," Nyaruko said in a teasing voice.
"Pft, as if," Machiko said, faking a haughty attitude. "Wait, you can hear me?"
"Insight is much more useful than you think, Machiko-san," she said with a smile. The fact that kitsune have never said her name in the presence of the female Great One just added to her surprise.
'Does that mean Naru-kun could always read my thoughts?' Machiko mused to herself.
"Not always. I just got a hang of it about a week ago. And still, I'm not nearly as good as Nyaruko," Naruto answered to his tenant's mental musings.
"Don't downgrade yourself, Naruto. It takes centuries for newborn Great Ones to even start feeling any kind of thought process from other beings. How long did it take you?"
"A bit over fifty."
"Wow… You learn so fast, it's kinda frightening…" Nyaruko lowered her voice.
"I'm not called Deimos for nothing you know," Naruto grinned™ (A/N: Ancient Greek: Δεῖμος, pronounced [dêːmos], meaning "dread", is the Greek god of terror). "Besides, you know you have nothing to fear from me."
"I know…" she sighted with a smile. "And your face is still in my chest…"
"An accurate observation… your point?" he asked without changing position.
Now Nyaruko and Machiko started laughing.
"Why is Ryuujin just standing there, staring into space," Machiko finally decided to pay attention to the lowest class being in the room, after a few minutes of simple chatting.
Naruto turned to the kitsune in question. Ryuujin was staring right in front of him, with the eyes of a dead fish.
"I'm pretty sure he's brain dead," hanyou snapped his fingers in front Ryuujin's face and received no reaction.
"Yeah, conversations between Great Ones might be too much for lower beings," Nyaruko giggled.
"Oi, Ryuujin, snap out of it!" Naruto waved his hand in front of Ryuujin's face.
"Naruto, you really shouldn't do that," Nyaruko said in a serious tone. That got Naruto's attention.
"What do you mean?"
"You already know how you can make any lower being do literally anything you want, right?" she asked and after receiving a nod continued. "The thing is, it's a passive ability," Naruto's eyes widened, already realizing his mistake, "you just control its strength. You have noticed that people are much more compliant to listen to you and just do things you would prefer them doing, right?"
"Fuck, I should have noticed it sooner!" he slapped his forehead.
"You were too preoccupied with powering up again, weren't you?" Nyaruko said with a knowing smile. "The point is, you can cause some serious damage to someone's mind if you force it to surface."
"Yeah, I get it," Naruto said with some irritation bleeding into his voice. He really hated making mistakes. Especially the ones so simple. Too many lives were lost because of smallest of them. Too big of a cost for such a simple lesson of observation and deduction.
Meanwhile Ryuujin got his shit together.
"You two know each other already? How, if I may ask?" he asked as if nothing happened.
"Apparently he got that from our conversation, but everything else is blank…" Nyaruko thought, knowing that her fellow Great One could hear her.
"Hmm, no images and no sounds. He just remembers that we did something signifying that we are close," Naruto said after taking a peek at Ryuujin's mind as well.
"Yes, we met in other worlds." Naruto was the one to speak.
"So Nyaruko-san is like you?" old kitsune asked in an unsure voice.
"Yes and no," she answered this time. "We are the same class as beings, but, unlike him, I can travel between worlds as I please."
"I'm afraid to ask what kind of beings you are…" Ryuujin rubbed his temples.
"Feel free to take a seat," Naruto said with a grin™. Ryuujin gladly followed his advice.
"We are Eldritch beings," Nyaruko said.
"I'm glad I sat down…" Ryuujin said with a deep sigh. "This world is going to hell, isn't it?"
"Well, not this one, but Elemental nations…How many of us are there?" Naruto asked.
"You never stick around nexus, do you?" Nyaruko more stated than asked.
"Hey, I wouldn't be where I am, if I wasted time," he grinned™.
"Sure, mister '№1 across the board'," she said, rolling her eyes. "To answer your question, later 2 Eldritch and 1 Angelic will be joining you."
"Yep, straaaaight to hell," Naruto came to a quick conclusion.
Ryuujin wept.
Naruto laughed maniacally. This was going to be a biIIIIt more entertaining than originally thought.
Meanwhile in Konoha.
"Are you sure it was him, who left the message?" Hiruzen asked Yugao as he read through the message again.
"No offence, hokage-sama, but how many people you know can write with the consistency of a typewriter?" Yugao answered with a small smile.
"Fair point," he said, putting down the paper. "Any ideas about where he went? I have a hard time imagining where he can receive better training." Actually he had a pretty good idea. That is why he sent for Danzo as soon as he read the message for the first time.
"None, hokage-sama. I myself cannot think of a better teacher that an anbu captain," anbu answered, shaking her head.
"Hmm, go to the barrier room and find out if he left the village." Sarutobi knew Naruto could have circumvented the barrier with his sealing mastery, but, in his mind, it didn't hurt to check anyway.
"Hai!" Yugao shunshined out.
That is when Tenzo decided to show up as per earlier summons.
"You summoned me, hokage-sama?" he said, bowing.
"Yes, Tenzo. Sorry to wake you, but I have a question for you. Did you have your training session with Naruto last night?"
"No, hokage-sama. He left a note for me saying that he will skip out on last night's training. I thought he would have informed you of this. Did something happen?"
"He left this note for Yugao," Hiruzen said, passing anbu the note. "What did he write to you?"
Tenzo received the note and took another one from his pouch. It read 'I won't be able to train tonight, but our schedule stays the same. Also try using different plants. You may find the results quite intriguing.'
'That doesn't help in the slightest. With his 'Hiraishin' he could be anywhere.' Then he eyed the throwing pick. 'At least he left this… I swear, I'm putting too much trust in him.'
Tenzo returned the note.
"You are dismissed. Continue your training with Naruto as you were," he sighed. But then smiled, "I would follow his advice if I were you. Naruto-kun is a very sharp kid." Anbu simply nodded and shunshined out.
'What is going on in your head, Naruto-kun…'
He could already imagine the headache he'd have to endure thanks to the council. Hokage highly doubted that Danzo had better shinobi than Shisui. And Naruto have proved time and time again, in both shogi and action that he is not an easy one to fool.
As to why he suspected Danzo… Well, as the man who lived through three wars and ruled for decades as a kage, Hiruzen understood the concept of the 'necessary evil' and - while not directly involved - knew about the existence of root. He didn't support their methods, but was aware of the majority of root's operations.
"Having troubles, Hiruzen?" Danzo's voice could be heard from the doorway.
"You tell me," the man addressed simply passed him the notes. And watched with some satisfaction as Danzo's eye widened and his grip on the papers tightened. "Have you sent your men after him?"
"I have," he said, calming himself down. "And as a result lost two of my best genjutsu specialists."
"How did that happen?" Hiruzen asked, genuinely interested, already knowing that Danzo didn't have anything to do with it.
"He put them under a genjutsu. When Fuu tried to find out more, I almost lost him as well."
"Care to go into more detail," hokage leaned forward, intertwining fingers, hiding the lower half of his face.
"Naruto drove them insane with fear. They were at a point of self harm, unable of coherent thought. When Fuu tried to scan their memories, he jumped back screaming less than a second later," old war hawk said, returning the papers. "I have high suspicion that his genjutsu affects primordial instincts."
"Is that even possible!?" Sarutobi's eyes widened in disbelieve.
"I don't know. Yet that is the only way he could have gone through my training. And to affect Fuu to such a degree in such a short time…" Danzo let his words hang in the air.
"I see…"
"Do you think Kyuubi is responsible for this?"
"That is the only viable option I have at the time. She did teach him a lot of things. And they have spent quite a while together as well."
"You are giving him too much freedom, Hiruzen," Danzo shook his head, disapprovingly.
"I know. He'll have some explaining to do when he returns."
As soon as Hiruzen finished his line, Yugao returned.
"Barrier team says that they didn't notice any disturbance in the area around Konoha last night," anbu reported.
"So he didn't leave or he did so without using chakra, while perfectly concealing his presence."
"He is very adept at stealth, but even while suppressing his chakra Naruto-kun does leave enough residual evidence for the barrier to pick up. However, now they cannot find his signature anywhere."
"That means that he is either out of the village, or in a place that is completely cut off from the outside," Danzo mused.
"*sigh* The only thing we can do now is wait," hokage reclined beck and dismissed his visitors.
Back with Naruto:
Naruto and Ryuujin were walking behind Nyaruko as she led them through the school to the library nearby. They went by multiple classrooms, some empty, some with students in them. That is when he felt Yuuki's presence behind one of the wooden doors and decided to see what she was doing. He stuck his face into the door and started melting into it.
"Wha… How?" Ryuujin was dumbfounded.
"Wood style?" guessed Nyaruko.
Naruto just pointed a finger gun at her, indicating that the female Great One was right.
In the classroom a bunch of kitsune, relatively the same age, had a piece of paper each. On each piece of paper was a square with a five by five grid. There was a sequence written on a whiteboard that students tried to replicate by lighting up the appropriate squares. Some did it without a problem, others struggled a bit. But none like Yuuki. She sat in the back near a window and didn't have a single square lit, despite her intense focus.
"Each small square would only accept an appropriate amount of energy," Nyaruko explained. "Too little and nothing will happen, too much and squares around it will start to light up."
And then Yuuki's patience started to run thin. She channeled a bit too much energy into the paper and all the squares lit up.
Teacher sighted and thought to herself:
'Not again… is it brighter than before?'
The paper blew up with the force of a hand grenade and a muffled, albeit still loud 'bang' to accommodate it.
However there was no damage.
Blond kitsune peeked from behind her hands and saw a white glowing orb lined with seals. The sealing array snaked into one point and formed a kanji for an 'explosion'. The orb started to shrink until it was the size of a golf ball and floated towards the door, where Naruto caught it.
"Well, that was a bit dangerous," he said putting the ball into his pocked dimension. Yuuki just hung her head in shame.
"And you are…" the teacher asked.
"Ah, yes. My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he said with a small bow.
"Uzumaki?" she asked in disbelieve.
"I'm a half – blood," Naruto said, running his hand through his hair. "I take this is a recurring situation?" that sounded more of a statement than a question.
"*sigh* It is. Although, usually it's not quite as powerful as this time."
"I'm sorry," Yuuki muttered from her spot.
"Don't be," Naruto moved and patted her on the head. "I told you, those exercise don't fit you very well," he said with a kind smile.
His familiar looked up and then Naruto noticed something.
"Hmm, that's new," he was looking at a black magatama under Yuuki's right eye. It was located just to the left of her eyes right corner.
{"It feels like it's made out of my chakra and life force…" our hero mused to himself.
"That's because it is," explained Machiko. "Every familiar gains one, or a few. But for it to appear so soon… Must have something to do with my chakra."
"Most likely," Naruto smirked. "Let me guess, it gave her a power up as well."
"It did. Her chakra based attack do 50% more damage now. You can't see it?"
"Guess I'm still not as good as you are at sensing this world…"}
"Do you have any more of these papers?" Naruto turned to the teacher.
"Yes, here you go." She handed him a new sheet.
Naruto brought up a holographic representation of the seal that was the exercise, wowing the children around him, and changed a few symbols. Then collapsed everything back and handed the paper to Yuuki.
"Here, try this."
This time young kitsune actually managed to do the full sequence, albeit slowly and with mistakes. However, everything was controlled and no explosions happened.
"Did you see what I did?" Naruto turned to the teacher once more.
"Yes," was her simple answer. She was not going to tell the entire class that Naruto made it so the paper could accept chakra as well. She still had no idea about who this person in front of her was, but with all her experience in the war, she could tell – the one in front of her was dangerous. In fact, he was so dangerous that children's instincts kicked in, making them silent and nearly unmoving. As if they were in front of a predator…
"Well, as fun as it was, now I must depart," he saluted to the teacher, patted Yuuki on the head and sunk into the wooden floor.
"Well, looks like you got yourself a new friend…" said a raven haired kitsune sitting next to Yuuki, her only friend in class. She tried to sound cheerful, but the slight shaking of her voice portrayed the fleeting feeling of fear.
"Yeah…" Yuuki answered, absentmindedly touching the space under her eye, feeling the same warmth she always felt at Naruto's touch.
"Hmm, so this is your library…" Naruto mused as he observed the room.
It was a fairly big room, 20x20 meters. There was a round table in the middle of the room. It was surrounded by bookshelves in a square pattern, leaving out the corners to allow passage. The next row of bookshelves had closed corners, but the middle of each side of the square was cut out. This pattern repeated until the bookshelves were against the walls, where only the portion with the single door was cut out.
"Yes, this library contains our history and the history of the Uzumaki clan up to its last destruction," Nyaruko said as she led him to the center, where the table with four cozy chairs was located. "I'll leave you to your research."
Thus she left and Naruto created fifty shadow clones that immediately began to quickly scan through the books. Thanks to his perfect photographic memory our hero could easily quote any line from any book he had ever laid his eyes on. He didn't even have to read it – a quick glance was enough.
While Naruto waited for his clones to finish their task, he started meditating, putting all of his vectors of attention to one task – analyzing spirit energy.
We all can do multiple things at once. Eat breakfast, read a paper, listen to the morning forecast and more. Each task has one vector of attention. A person can feel the taste of food, receive visual information from the paper and acoustic one from the TV.
People who are not used to it usually just split their vector. This results in receiving only bits and pieces from all the information sources. They would forget how many sandwiches they have left, would have to re-read a line in the paper or block out the TV. It's actually really hard to create multiple vectors of attention. It's like solving two (or more) math problems at once, each requiring its own vector. Humans very rarely get more than three and that's only after years of practice.
Naruto…
Naruto had over two hundred. Yeah…
His minds processing ability could rival a quantum computer. (A/N: In case you are not familiar with quantum computers check this out: 'Quantum Computers Explained – Limits of Human Technology' by 'In a Nutshell – Kurzgesagt' on YouTube).
Already from his brief time with Yuuki, he could now tell how many hundreds of INT points each kitsune had. He gained access to their HP and SE bars as well.
After about three hours all the books have been scanned through. Not all of them were historical records. Some were weapon and fighting manuals, theory and development of fuinjutsu, use of chains (may or may not be kinky) and even a couple of cooking books.
'Well, well. Seemed like Kushina's ninjato has more to it than meets the eye…I'll have to play around with it a bit later.' Naruto thought as he skimmed through the weapons manual.
'But it's history time now.'
Our hero selected all the history books, collected all the information and sorted in a chronological order. Surprisingly enough there were no contradicting stories. This is what he ended up with.
The first records date to when Uzumaki learned how to mine and forge iron. It was a memoire:
My name is Uzumaki Doryuu, first leader of the Uzumaki clan. Before we had no need for a leader, since we were just another small settlement, however, a change occurred and we are in need of order, thus I was selected to lead our people.
That happened 130 years ago. Now I'm an old man at his death door, writing this for our future generations so we would never forget our mission, the purpose of our gift – our prided hair, gemstone eyes and most importantly – our chains.
Long ago Uzumaki were just as everybody else. A small family of 15, consisting of two generations. They didn't bare that name yet.
The Shinju – the God Tree, it always awoke the primordial feeling of fear in both human and animal, jet soon to be Uzumaki made home under its giant roots. They did not feel fear, but rather security. And they were rewarded.
A something to distinguish them from others – red hair.
A something to establish a hierarchy – gemstone eyes. The darker the color, the higher they stand.
A something to protect – Adamantine sealing chains.
The small tribe of fifteen took a name of Uzumaki as homage to the spiraling tree (A/N: I'm making Shinju look like the 'Yggrasil' from 'SAO') and became the first line of defense for the God Tree. That time became known as The First Year.
This is a story my grandfather told me, when I was but a child. Now it's year 500. At the time I did not understand what the Shinju needed our protection for. Now I wish that I have never found out…
For five hundred years we lived our life, learning and discovering. Through our chains sealing arts were created. Through them we became the strongest clan in, if I dare to say, the world. Many clans joined us, yet all the offsprings had our three trademarks. We learned how to build; we learned how to forge and expanded our little village into a city of stone and iron. Fifteen turned into fifteen thousand. However, our Age of Progression seemed to be at its end…
Shinju is a God, yet even Gods have enemies.
Otherworldly creatures of great power attacked the tree, killing everyone on their path. They were not human or animal, they were monsters. Our people have newer expected that. We were afraid and unprepared. Yet we won.
All Uzumaki knew how to use the chains and were versed into sealing arts. We all fought, for that is our purpose. 4673 died that day, yet the rest of us lived on and learned from that mistake. Thus I was selected to lead our still great clan. This happened when I was fifty, at the prime of my age.
Over the decades Uzumaki adjusted to the constant defensive war. Through multiple raids and recon missions the ancient people discovered that monsters come from dimensional rifts in space. Usually all the rifts were either in the cliffside or deep underground. Using their chains Uzumaki could close them, but more often than not the sealing process was too taxing on the human body.
Despite the never ending war Uzumaki clan grew and expanded. They also have realized their biggest flaw – they were too reliant on their chains. While truly formidable in both attack and defense, they took too much concentration and rendered the user nearly immobile. Plus their range wasn't that great either. Thus ballistae were made.
The bows and crossbows were already known to the rest of the world, but they proved to be ineffective against the demons. Small ones were too fast and bigger ones' armor was way too tough. The ballistae ranged from the Roman 'Scorpio' to giant steam-powered monstrosities that were big and powerful enough to shoot pine tree sized bolts for over a kilometer.
The bigger contraptions, however, quickly proved to be inefficient. They simply required way too much effort for one shot that may or may not hit the target. Although, the idea of using steam gained some followers and thus steam powered cannons were created. Instead of wood they shot something Uzumaki had plenty of – iron. After some experimentation it was proven that wooden spheres filled with small iron projectiles (usually just some metal scrap) were perfect for dealing with smaller and midsized creatures.
Uzumaki developed two castes – warriors and researchers. Warriors are pretty self-explanatory. They manned the walls, conducted expeditions, worked in the hospitals and maintained the weapons. Researchers worked in workshops, developing new types of weaponry and further studying the abilities of their chains.
The biggest breakthrough came when Uzumaki discovered that chakra chains have elements. No longer had their steam powered machines used mineral fuel. Through their chains the power of electricity was discovered. Uzumaki's genius compared only to their insanity. Like detaching a bundle of lightning chains from their bodies and using them as a power source. Granted a basketball sized bundle was just as powerful as an average atomic reactor. Albeit, not as stable. Good thing any experiments were not allowed inside city walls.
Creation of gunpowder was quite miniscule in comparison. It only gave them more efficient canons and later – explosive railgun rounds. Electricity, however, led to the light bulbs, radio and video transmitters and aforementioned railguns.
Yet, despite all their efforts the demons adopted. Higher speed, thicker armor, resistance to elements. Lives still were lost, albeit at a much lower pace, and demon raids never stopped. It all changed when some unexpected allies arrived.
It was the beginning of the year 880 from the creation of the first settlement. Uzumaki had a longer than usual break from the attacks. They usually lasted for about two three weeks. This time almost two months passed without a single demon sighting. Not even portals were discovered.
Legion Legate (A/N: commander of a Roman army), Uzumaki Akihiro, was… unnerved. You can't really call a veteran of fifty years of battlefield worried, can you? Any normal person would say that it was quiet, to quiet… But the Legate knew better – there was power in the air. Something immense was heading their way. And he was not wrong.
At the horizon, at the edge of the barren wasteland that stretched for hundreds of kilometers around the Great City, a wall of mist started to advance on them. It didn't make any sense. A fifteen hour long rain stopped only two hours ago and the sky still hung low with grey clouds. The conditions weren't right for the mist to appear.
"Something very hot is coming this way," Akihiro said to himself. "Prepare extra water rounds!" he ordered and designated soldiers moved without question. Uzumaki were geniuses in every field and that went double for the art of war.
Mist rolled over the city and the temperature raised by a couple degrees, yet the cause of it all was still nowhere in sight. All the soldiers were at attention, some making last minute preparations, but all of them felt that incredibly menacing energy in the air. It was unlike anything they ever felt before. Akihiro had water nature and he felt multiple signatures through the mist. Each of them consisted of energy he had never felt before, but he could tell that they would be their greatest enemy yet. If they are hostile that is…
The temperature grew more and more. The mist cleared. After about half an hour it reached the record mark.
And a flame appeared over the horizon. The air all around it seemed to shimmer with heat. Legate brought his binoculars up to his eyes and almost dropped them. He saw a red and orange burning fox with nine tails, swaying with its every step. But the number of tails wasn't what surprised him. Oh, no, he's seen much, much weirder creatures. This one seemed… elegant, actually. What surprised and frightened Akihiro was the size of the creature. He couldn't tell exactly what height the massive fox was, but he was pretty sure it was the size of the wall he was standing on. The wall that so far was at least twice as big as the tallest of demons they have fought.
However, the shier size of the nine-tailed fox was only one of its prominent features. While all the other demons they have fought always ran at them as fast as they could, this one seemed to walk. Foxes pace was slow and – Akihiro could have sworn – regal. The usual shaking of the ground accompanying a wave of demons wasn't present either.
Only after ten more minutes Legate saw that the nine-tailed fox had three slightly smaller eight-tailed ones following it. First one was bright yellow, second – black and third – dark orange. There was no sense of malice, anger or haltered coming from them, yet the soldiers were shaking. Being close to such an incredible amount of power affected them on an instinctual level.
'Why is it affecting us? We live in a presence of a God! The Shinju has more power than they do,' Legate thought to himself. "Is it because their power is different?'
It was another hour before Akihiro could look at the approaching ginormous foxes without his binoculars. His first assumption about their height was incorrect, as he now saw that eight tailed ones were only a couple of meters smaller than the wall, while the Kyuubi (A/N: not Machiko, she was born way after that) was a full head taller.
They came into the striking range a while ago, but Akihiro did not give the order to fire. It might be the enemy strategy; however something in the Uzumaki's gut was telling him to wait.
His patience was rewarded not an hour later as the four foxes stopped in front of the wall and sat down. Smaller foxes were eye level with the people on the wall, while the red one had to look down as the wall went up only to its upper chest.
As if sensing their discomfort at the heat, Kyuubi's flames receded, yet the temperature around it was still enough to make the air ripple. The soldiers didn't show anything, of course; they were trained better than that.
Fox's eyes scanned the people on the wall and then locked with the Legate's. Despite the slits, there was nothing animalistic about those carmine orbs. Then the fox spoke:
"Are you the inhabitants of this world?" Kyuubi said in a loud, powerful, yet slightly feminine voice.
"We are. And who are you and why did you come here?" Akihiro answered and asked in return, trying to sound confidant.
"My name is Michiyo-
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Does it really say 'Michiyo'?!" Machiko asked, really excited for some reason.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does. You know her?" Naruto was slightly confused by his wife's sudden freakout.
"You… could say that… She was my mother."
"Hmm, knowledge born from wisdom… Seems a bit backwards to me," Naruto interpreted their names. (A/N: Machiko means 'knowledgeable child, and Michiyo – 'era of beauty and wisdom'.)
"*giggle* She sure lived up to her name, though. It is said that my mother brought great change to kitsune. I can't wait to see how it all started."
"You are a Kyuubi yourself and you don't know this already?" our hero had a bit of a hard time believing that. Then again, it was Machiko we are talking about.
"Oi! Rude!"
"Well, he's right, you know. You are a bit of a scatter brain," Naruto snickered.
"Uh, I know…" Machiko hung her head in defeat. Wait, why are you breaking the fourth wall now?
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Reasons?"
Ooooukaayyyy. Moving on.
"I was never really interested in history," Machiko continued as if previous eight lines did not happen. "I've never even paid it much attention in class either. I was always more interested in chakra," kitsune said in a slightly bashful voice.
"Even if she was your mother?" Naruto asked in a somewhat detached voice.
"Why does it sound like you know that parents supposed to mean something significant, but don't know what it is yourself?"
"Again, a very accurate observation," both of them snickered at the memory. "As to answer your question – because I don't. I've never had a parent figure in my life. Even in the first world I was just an orphan." Naruto doesn't have any recordings of his first life, so Machiko doesn't know anything about it. In fact, it was the first time he mentioned his life in that world.
"Oh…" she regretted asking that.
"I can tell you my life story later, if you're interested, but now I'd rather dive into Uzumaki history once more."
"Ok," Machiko decided to answer Naruto's question. "As far as I can remember I've never took interest I my mother's work. I just wanted to know how the world's energies do what they do. Thanks to that I was at the top of the class," kitsune said with pride.
"Except for history," our hero grinned evilly.
"Don't remind me," she said with a groan.
But let us get back to the Uzumaki.
"My name is Michiyo, the current leader of the kitsune clan," Kyuubi introduced herself. "As to why we are here; I wish to speak to your clan head." She correctly assumed that since every human she's seen so far had red hair, that they all belonged to a single clan.
"I am the Legate of Uzumaki army, Uzumaki Akihiro," Legate introduced himself. "As for your request, I'll call him to meet you. I'm sure he would be excited to meet you," Akihiro said, reaching for his radio. He decided to take his chances and deal with the current situation peacefully, rather than attacking and causing massive destruction on par with one of Uzumaki reactors blowing up.
"I don't imagine our talk will be short. Can we come in?"
"Take no offence, but our city is not suited to accommodate someone of your size," Uzumaki tried to sound as respectful as possible.
"Oh, do not worry," Michiyo said with a grin.
What happened in the next few seconds left every spectator slack–jawed. Michiyo started to glow bright red. Everyone had to shield their eyes from brightness. The light shrunk to a sphere about human size and floated to the space in front of Akihiro. Slowly it died down and as people on the wall started removing their hands, they fell backwards with a massive nosebleed. The cause of said nosebleed was no other than Michiyo, looking a lot like Machiko. Same dusky skin and stature (which was quite high – about the height of an average man); her face looked slightly sharper and she had scarlet hair with orange tips, that went down to her waist. Nine fluffy tails and two fox ears shared same color scheme.
The cause of the mass pass out was her clothes, however. Or rather the lack there of. Her three eight tailed followers doing the same didn't help the case either.
"R-Right. Please wait here, I'll send for some clothes," Akihiro reached for his radio once again.
"No need," kitsune said and the red light surrounded her and her companions once again. As it receded, Legate saw that the four females were wearing intricate designed silk kimono. All kitsune had an impassive face, but their slitted eyes shone brightly with amusement. Akihiro could have sworn that they put on this little show for the sole purpose of amusement.
"Well then, please follow me," Uzumaki said, and led them to the nearest tower. As they took an elevator down, Akihiro contacted the Uzumaki head and reported the situation to him. As predicted, he was quite ecstatic to meet the kitsune. They took and underground rail cart on magnetic tracks, arriving just ten minutes later.
The Uzumaki clan head lived and worked in the 200 meter high glass tower in the middle of the city. They took a high speed elevator to the top. Its outside wall was transparent so people in it (or kitsune) could overlook the city as they ascend.
Michiyo was in awe. None of the human settlements she has seen before could even begin to compare to this one. The size of it and the level of technology they presented impressed kitsune to no end. She was not the only one, as her eight tailed companions were staring at the city as well. The blond one even pressed her hands and forehead to the window and was grinning broadly, showing off her fangs. Which Akihiro found cute and scary at the same time. The quartet's power still gave him an uneasy feeling, albeit it was lover in their human form.
"It's an impressive city you have built here," Kyuubi acknowledged her feelings out loud. "How long did it take you to build it?"
"It was eight hundred and eighty years since the first Uzumaki set the foundation in a form of a simple settlement," Legate answered with a bit of pride in his voice.
"That fast?" Michiyo was even more impressed now.
'It must have something to do with this power I'm feeling in everyone in this city. It's the same as the God tree.' Which was located just behind the tower.
"You are guardians of the Shinju, correct?" kitsune asked.
"We are," he said looking at her with a question in his eyes.
"I see why you progressed so quickly then…" she mused quietly.
"You have a long road ahead of you," black hared kitsune spoke for the first time.
"What do you mean?" Akihiro asked turning to her.
"We were guardians of a God too once," the blond kitsune decided to speak up as well. "Your fight is only beginning," she said with a spark in her eyes.
"Mieko, stop scaring him," Michiyo put a hand on blonde's shoulder. "It's not as bad as it sounds," she said smiling at the Legate.
Akihiro wanted to ask more, but the doors of the elevator opened and they were greeted by a secretary.
"Welcome, Uzumaki Daichi is waiting for you," she said and led them to clan head's office.
The aforementioned office was spacious with a large window giving a panoramic view of the city. The tables were arranged in a 'T' shape, with the clan head sitting at the top. His desk held a monitor, cup of coffee and a few pens. The Uzumaki clan head himself greeted his guests by standing up.
"Ah, a pleasure to meet you, Michiyo-dono. Welcome to the Uzumaki city," he smiled at the kitsune.
"The pleasure is mine, Daichi-dono," she answered taking a seat, her followers following soon after.
"You are dismissed, Akihiro," Daichi said, sitting down.
"Hai!" he answered with a bow and left.
What happened behind those doors is absent from all records. Neither Uzumaki nor kitsune wrote it down. But the results spoke for themselves.
Humans and foxes became allies and formed a blood contract, Daichi and Michiyo being the first ones to do so. They did not form a bond of a master and a familiar; instead they stood as equals. While both of them possessed quite a considerable amount of power, neither were particularly fond of fighting. They both were mages at heart – seeking knowledge. Because for any self-respecting mage knowledge is the greatest treasure.
Together they dwelled into the secrets of the power their respective Gods gifted them with deeper than anyone have ever done before. As expected, both powers were based on chakra, however, they functioned differently. While Uzumaki's power was purely internal, kitsune's utilized both internal and external sources of energy. Although neither races could utilize the gained knowledge to its fullest – kitsune just having bare minimum of chakra to act as a medium between the world of spirits and the physical world, and humans not being… insightful enough to form a proper connection with the spirit world – they both benefited greatly from the gained knowledge.
Kitsune created most healing techniques and could call upon elements without the help of spirits; granted it wasn't as powerful. Uzumaki – with the help of Michiyo – created their own version of kitsune's ability – seireijutsu. They were able to call upon memories of the dead and utilize their knowledge in both battlefield and research centers. The individuals with most INS could even summon spirits of the dead.
'Hmm, that should not be possible… I guess I'll find out more about it when I start to learn seireijutsu myself.'
Kitsune's power – just as Uzumaki's – was more suited for ranged combat, but like all rules, this one had a few exceptions as well. Some kitsune were quite skilled with swords, while Uzumaki preferred to wrap their chains around their bodies and engage in good old-fashioned fisticuffs. They both shared fighting styles and slowly they merged. Combining highly evasive moves of FoxCapoeira with lightning-fast, earth-shattering punches of Uzumaki resulted in creation of the deadliest and most efficient 1 vs. many fighting style Naruto has ever seen.
CC kitsune benefited from the deal quite a bit as well. Uzumaki researchers took it upon themselves to compensate for the sword-wielding kitsune's inability to use elements. Thus trick weapons were born (A/N: anyone who played or watched 'Bloodborne' will know where I'm going with this). Each weapon now had multiple forms. One moment a regular looking longsword – perfect for dealing with small to midsized demons - , the other – through intricate use of seals – it's a giant hammer, perfect for armored enemies. One moment a sturdy rapier for armored enemies, the next thing you know, it's taking out hordes of small creatures in a form of a whip.
For those, who favored the more 'classic' approach, elemental weapons were made. They slowly drew elemental chakra from the atmosphere (there was plenty thanks to Shinju) and – upon a small injection of chakra – they transformed from regular looking greatswords, maces and halberds to conduits for mass destruction.
The greatest change came when allies decided to look deeper into kitsune's strange love for human blood. Originally it was thought that they simply absorbed chakra from the blood. However, upon recreating the process through the use of seals… The outcome was relatively the same, but the results were… a bit underwhelming.
The reason why presented itself at the year 931, fifty years after the alliance was formed. Mieko gained her ninth tail. This was a special occasion indeed, what made it even more so was the fact that she got it in less than half the time it should have taken her.
"Maybe it's because of the life force," Mieko shrugged when asked. She might not have been the brightest light bulb in the house, but her instincts – especially the ones connected to battle – were quite sharp (basically like every dumb shonen protagonist).
Her theory was proven to be correct. Kitsune who had more human interaction progressed faster, with most gaining different little marks on their faces.
Kitsune were primarily spiritual beings with a strong connection to the physical realm. Their connection to Uzumaki made it only stronger. Their bodies no longer changed as frequently or as fast anymore (they sometimes leapt by decades, which was not so easy to get used to).
The next great discovery, connected to this change, - like all great things – occurred by accident. During one of the expeditions, the party was ambushed. Nearly everyone died. As the situation grew more and more dire by the second, one kitsune with a strong desire to help his partner transformed into a weapon. Together they took out the rest of the demons and safely returned to the city.
"Hm, so you guys can do 'Weapon of the Soul' as well…" Naruto mused.
"Of course. Where do you think animals got the idea from?" Machiko answered with a cocky grin.
"Do you know what you are?"
"Yep, I'm a shakujo. While in my weapon form, I can absorb all chakra in an area where my chime is heard. Somewhere up to a kilometer, I think…"
"That's… quite a deceptive range," Naruto rubbed his chin.
"Despite our power, deception was always one of our strongest suits."
"Wait, so in every picture of Hagoromo with a shakujo, it's you he's holding?"
"Yep," she answers with no small amount of pride.
"How strong is your chakra absorption?"
"How do you think Hagoromo managed to seal the Jũbi?" her grin growing wider, now mirrored by Naruto's own.
Since kitsune's ability to transform into weapons was discovered, the fighting against demons became pretty much a cakewalk. The combined powers of two beings proved to be a biiiit too much for the assailants.
Next sixty years were spent in relative peace; expanding both territorially and influentially. The other cities fought with each other, as always. Uzumaki easily conquered them. Some gave up before the fighting even started. Those sixty years became known as 'The Uzumaki' dynasty.
A few decided to make the first move themselves, offering an alliance. One of those offerings was a young woman with beautiful white hair – Õtsutsuki Kaguya. She married the next leader of the Uzumaki clan – Hideki, who became the father to Hagoromo and Hamura.
With the twins still in her womb, Kaguya committed the greatest treason anyone ever could – she stole the Shinju's fruit and ate it, gaining horns, Byakugan and a third eye. The records didn't state the reason; however, Naruto had his suspicions.
Primary one being Kaguya's unhappiness in the marriage. Under normal circumstances that reason wouldn't fly, but seeing as she was pregnant… You can guess the rest.
The second (and more plausible one) was that Kaguya was sent with a mission by her jealous and frightened leaders to destroy Uzumaki from within.
Regardless of the reason, the Rabbit Goddess with her newfound power destroyed the great city, killing 90% of the Uzumaki population. People hailed her as the savior. Savior from the 'Uzumaki tyranny'. Because, of course, everyone who tries to take control over them is automatically a 'tyrant' and 'oppressor'; completely disregarding the fact that they themselves were doing exactly the same thing to each other.
However, not everything went as the people planned. By the year 1050 Hagoromo and Hamura were both grown men with families of their own. The Rabbit Goddess lived by herself, her sanity slowly slipping away. O human can make such a leap in power and stay the same. Naruto imagined Kaguya gained at least five times the insight she had previously. Probably more than that. Anyone who knows the story of 'Bloodborne' will understand that by forcefully increasing your INS you will only bring madness upon yourself. For only when a being is ready to see what lies beyond, he receives a point of insight.
Kaguya, now known as a Demon, moved to reshape the world to her liking. Coincidentally that was the time when Shinju decided to spawn his own mass of destruction. Through the power of who the fuck cares Kaguya merged with the Jũbi, substituting it's will wither own. Now it was up to the remnants of the Uzumaki and two OP Õtsutsuki to stop it. Which they did.
After the incident Shinju was nowhere to be seen. In its place now stood a barren wasteland now known as the Wind country. However, that wasn't the only change. The air was much more chakra saturated than before. Like radiation chakra changed every living being in the world. Humans gained the ability to use it, some even getting elemental bloodlines. Of course they weren't nearly as powerful as the two remaining Õtsutsuki or Uzumaki, but they still could cause some damage without proper training.
Few remaining Uzumaki went onto hiding. Through the next 1700 or so years they popped up a few times here and there, quickly gaining power and enemies, who promptly (in a span of decades) 'took them out'. The world grew too powerful for the Uzumaki to take on alone, not with their numbers. However, world dominance was never on their priority list. They only cared about protecting Shinju… which was now gone…
They tried to figure out where it went without meeting any success. They even tried to measure the amount of chakra saturating the air and earth, but what they've ended up with was nowhere near enough to be their God Tree. The mystery of 'Where's Shinju' remains to this day…
"Well, that was a thing… " Naruto said to himself, walking back to principal's office, his hands behind his head. "Now I definitely know there is a secret behind Kusari (A/N: Kushina's ninjato's name)."
"That is what you picked up from it?" Machiko was wearing her WTF expression.
"It's just the earliest thing I can test out," he shrugged. "Everything else is inaccessible right now or simply irrelevant."
"Sometimes I forget that you're actually smart."
"Ouch," our hero grabbed his shirt at the heart. "Critical hit, straight in the ego!"
"What's the matter, Naruto?" Nyaruko asks, walking up to her office from Naruto's opposite side. "Did Machiko-san landed a hit on your ego?"
"Haha, you know me too well," he answered as they both went into the principal's office.
"So, how was your research?"
"Fairly well," hanyou said sitting down. "Got more than I expected actually. Now I just need to test out a few things…"
"Glad to hear it," she says, sitting down on his lap. "Need anything else from me?"
"Actually I was thinking of training Yuuki myself," Naruto wrapped his hands around Nyaruko's waist. Looking up with a thoughtful expression.
"Poor, poor girl," she says with a sigh.
"She can handle it," he chuckles a bit.
"Oh, I don't doubt it," female Great One smiled in turn. "Anyway, it's not like she needs my permission to stop attending. She does it all the time."
"Hmm," Naruto just hummed thoughtfully.
"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" she whispers in a sultry voice.
"Not for the next four years," he answered with a sweatdrop.
The next day.
Naruto made a hundred clones and sent them to recreate and test out jutsu in the mountains. Meanwhile Ryuujin presented him with a training plan.
"I devised it according to your accelerated healing." Then Ryuujin proceeded to explain what they will be doing. The training consisted of about equal parts of conditioning and kata, with a bit of sparring at the end of the day. Each training session lasting for at least ten hours.
New teacher received: While training with Ryuujin your physical stat training speed will be increased by 100%, you will learn kenjutsu and taijutsu 100% faster. You can train your physical stats up to +15 p.p.l. Upon mastering ken- and taijutsu you will receive training in seireijutsu.
"Before we start for today I want to try something out," Naruto said walking to the training field. "Don't worry, I'll make it quick."
Naruto set up a perimeter of seals, half as big as the training area. Six holographic screens appeared before him – two rows of three – each having a different set of seals. Quickly cycling through them by using his mind he set up various parts of a sealing array all at the same time. He was done just under two minutes. A blue cube flared to life and remained as a fait bluish outline. A little screen floated to Naruto and attached itself to his wrist, forming a line all around it, connecting at a symbol that resembled a power button. Our hero stepped into the cube and a small dial popped up from the symbol, pointing at '1'. He then turned the dial to '2'. At the first glance nothing seemed to happen, but as soon as hanyou moved, he did so at half the usual speed.
"Did you just slowed down time in that area?" Ryuujin asked in disbelieve.
"No, I just made a gravity resistance field," he said happily, knowing that he completed one bonus objective already.
2 G gravity resistance field – all physical stat gain speed and SP consumption are increased by 50%, you can train your physical stats up to +10 p.p.l. Does not stack with other bonuses.
'Seems like I'll have to train under at least 5 G to make it worth my while…' Naruto did some quick calculations in his mind. 'Meh, I can handle it.'
"I'll use it for conditioning," he explained to Ryuujin.
"I'm not an expert on those things, but wouldn't it be bad for your health?" old kitsune was a bit skeptical.
"If it was a simple increase in gravity, then yes. But!" Naruto raised his finger. "This field acts a bit differently. It registers an action and then uses gravity to push against said action as if I was in an area with increased gravity."
"Interesting. Well, it will definitely speed things up…" kitsune mused.
"Oh, oh, can I use it too?" Yuuki jumped (literally) into the conversation.
"You won't be able to," Naruto brought young kitsune's hopes down. "Right now the bonuses you gain from training under your grandpa overpower the ones you will receive from this field. To make it worth it, I'll have to train under five times of the normal resistance," he shrugged. "Your body simply can't handle it yet," hanyou said, making emphasis on 'yet'.
"Does this mean I will someday?" she asked hopefully.
"Of course, but you'll need at least two hundred points in strength and vitality each before we do that."
"Wow, I have a long way to go," the girl rubbed the back of her head.
"Not really, especially with me training you as well," he reassured her with a grin™, and turned to Ryuujin, leaving a gaping Yuuki behind him. "No offence, Ryuujin, but I can teach her much more than you can."
"None taken. I realize that there is quite a big difference in experience between us."
"YOU'LL BE TRAINING ME TOO," Yuuki finally exploded (not literally, that would be bad).
"That I will. Check your 'Teachers' window. It should be third to the right from the 'stats'."
"Teacher: Uzumaki Naruto: While training Naruto your stat gain will be increased by 200%, you will learn ken- , tai- , gen- , nin- and iryojutsu 100% faster. You can train your stats up to +20 p.p.l. Upon reaching certain stat thresholds you will receive new skills," Yuuki read from the text box in front of her. "Wow, you are so much more awesome than jiji!" she exclaimed after reading his one as well.
"Aha," Ryuujin tried to laugh it off with a sweatdrop.
"I still love you too," young kitsune tried to fix her… unflattering comment by quickly hugging her grandpa.
"I know, I know," he said with a smile, patting her back.
The next year didn't prove to be very eventful. Aside from the little 'talk' he had with the council, but that's the story for another time.
Naruto gained two levels by doing minor quests for the villagers and Yuuki gained four.
They stats looked like that now:
Name: Uzumaki Naruto
Lvl: 10 (exp – 900/2000)
Age: 10 years (physical), 1062 years (mental), 5 years (spend in 'Naruto' world)
HP: 2850
CP: 8700
SP: 2196
LF: 2505
VIT: 395
STR: 310
DEX: 175
INT: 1090
WIS: 1090
INS: 1015
SPD: 184
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%).
Name: Yuuki
Lvl: 5
Age: 10
HP: 2050
CP: 4000
SP: 2050
SE: 600
LF: 1250
VIT: 205
STR: 205
DEX: 200
INT: 400
WIS: 110
INS: 133
SPD: 80
Perks:
High Spirit: physical attacks are 50% less effective, ability to communicate with lesser sprits.
CC Kitsune: +15 VIT per lvl, +15 STR per lvl, +15 DEX per lvl, +15 SPD per lvl, +50% to learning speed to all CC (Close Combat) 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.
This was also the time when a new quest suddenly popped up.
New quest: a part of you.
Main objectives:
-Absorb all Machiko's chakra from Sora
Bonus objectives:
-Do it without killing Sora
-Reveal yourself to the head monk
Rewards:
-400 exp per main objective
-700 exp per bonus objective, +5000 rep with all monks, information.
"Wow, that is the first time ever I'm asked to tell someone who I am in a quest… and that rep…"
"Do you think it's worth it?" Machiko didn't sound so sure.
"I don't see why it wouldn't be. I'll gain max rep with monks for that, so it can't be anything bad. Besides, I can never pass up info, especially if it's a quest reward."
"Yuuki! How are you feeling about going on a trip tomorrow?" Naruto called his familiar. They've already had dinner and she went to rest not even a minute ago.
"Are you going out to the Elemental Nations?" she asked excitedly, right before entering Naruto room with a shunshin.
"Yes, I have a new quest there and I think it's about time I showed you that skill I promised to teach you," Hanyou said, grinning™.
"Awesome, what's it called?" she said, jumping up and down.
"It originates from a very cruel and merciless world and its name is the art of Quickening."
Omake: of kitsune and their lack of jealousy.
The night when Naruto first met Yuuki.
He was lying on the roof of Ryuujin's house and decided to ask something that picked his interest earlier.
"You said kitsune are 'quite free spirited when it comes to humans'. Does it mean what I think it means?"
"It does," she says with a small laugh. "We like to mess with them in and outside of the bedroom."
"Are the concepts of jealousy or possessiveness is nonexistent for you guys?" Naruto asked with a wry smile.
"They do exist. They just don't apply to humans." Machiko stopped there, but decided to continue her explanation. "As you know, kitsune are spiritual beings. We all realize that there is a noticeable distinction between physical and emotional desire."
"So what you are telling me is that as long as I don't develop feelings for another, you won't get jealous no matter with how many women I sleep with?" Naruto asked, not believing that someone would share his outlook on life.
"Exactly," his wife confirmed with a smile.
"Why did you accentuate humans, though?"
"I guess it has something to do with their mentality and short life span. We probably just subconsciously know that they won't live for nearly as much as we would and as a result distance ourselves emotionally. But that's just my guess, though," Machiko shrugged.
"What if I'm already in love with someone else?"
"I remember that little remark about me being one of the two you love, and I'm actually ok with that," she said, shrugging for a second time. "I know that you love me with all your heart and the fact that there is another woman in your life will not change your feelings in the slightest," kitsune finished with a kind smile.
Naruto let out a happy and a relieved sigh, "*sigh* did I mention how much I love empathy," he chuckled a little. "Thank you, Chiko-chan, this means a lot to me," he said quietly.
Machiko could feel that there is a much deeper meaning to those words.
Next time: A trip.