Chapter 30
It was a rainy day. That is to say, there was a torrential downpour. Large puddles formed in the streets, causing those passing through to slosh through the water. A blonde named Naruto was one of these people. Only right now, no one would know he was blonde, as his hair appeared to be brown.
He currently was on low level infiltration mission, attempting to discern the state of a country called Wave. He liked not what he found, for what he found was quite disheartening. The town was in tatters, stalls abandoned, and the people who could not manage shelter were so haggard that it was impressive they functioned.
There were no children playing in the streets. There were children on the side of the street however, clutching tight to themselves or their parents with them. Few had the luxury shelter.
Within his mind, Naruto heard a voice call to him, "So this is the state that humanities greed brings them to. You can attempt to become great, and may achieve as such, however, in your wake, often will people fall under your foot, and become the dirt under it."
Naruto knew not why the nine tails was able to communicate with him at this point. Test had been run, checks rechecked, and no change or damage to the seal containing the fox was found. It had been the conclusion that the nine tails had always been to do as such, but never previously bothered.
The biggest comfort for those aware of the fact was the nine-tails voice only seemed to be that, a voice, just as one would listen to another in conversation. It's only influence was that of annoying pest that followed one around everywhere. It seemed that the fox could not hear Naruto's thoughts, but could observe all that did.
Naruto did as he had been ordered, and ignored the beast. The beast responded to Naruto's inaction with how rude he was.
Throughout Naruto's observations, he heard the woes of the people, he heard how they had little hope, he heard who the source of the problems was. A man named Gato.
That's a familiar name. That mission Fox and I had, we encountered him. Wave doesn't have much trade with Fire. Still, this will be a base for him, as was stated in his plans. The information department will be interested in this.
Naruto listened in on a group of men discussing the current situation in Wave, but that there was a hope. That a man named Tazuna was building a bridge with some others. A bridge so that sea imports would no longer be a necessity.
A bridge? It would be at the very least eight miles longs. Do these people really think that that is possible? Such a feat would require a huge level of engineering prowess. Wave isn't exactly famous for engineering. The water goes as deep as ninety feet, how do they expect to make it?
Naruto took note of the rumor, but thought little of it. After continuing his investigation, and continuing to hear of the bridge from various groups of me, he decided to take care of the matter himself. He had managed to get a rough estimate of where the bridge was being built, and went from there.
What he found astounded him. He found a bridge in construction, that already spanned at least two miles in length.
I can't see any major weak points! I would have to use a large amount of explosives to take down such a construction! The best possible weak point is a leg, and those themselves are extremely thick, made of stone, and there are many of them. Where did they get so much stone? Perhaps Wave's rock beds?
After some observation, Naruto observed places on the bridge that were scarred. Scarred from explosives. Yet they barely affected the integrity of the structure.
The information department definitely needs to know of this development. The engineering department will want to hear about it too.
Naruto pulled out a small scroll, from which he summoned a small camera. After taking several pictures, he continued his mission.
So who is this Tazuna?
Naruto after his investigation in Wave, found that Tazuna has studied engineering from Snow country, assisted on the Tiger Canal, the Sand Monument, and had been a lead engineer for the Tenchi Bridge. All high to legendary level feats of engineering.
He also had led various other smaller projects. He was noted for his ability to use resources from the surrounding area with amazing efficiency.
Naruto looked down from the Shadow Monument, observing the Leaf Village. Its denizens walked the streets going about their business. Or perhaps something more useless.
Regardless, life went on in the village.
Naruto let out a small breath before taking his walk home. At least that was the most likely destination he had in mind.
Are we going to help Wave? They need help. They so direly need it. The people are starving. The people are suffering. Children go without food. And at the top, a fat man sits in the charge of all. Wouldn't helping them help the Leaf?
Regardless, life went on.
"Your thoughts annoy me," Naruto heard the nine-tails comment with an annoyed tone.
Naruto froze in alarm at the words. He immediately took off at full speed to his room, and when he arrived, entered his mindscape.
In alarm, Naruto asked, "You can read my thoughts as well."
The nine-tails yawned before replying, "Not at all. I cannot actually know what you think. What I can tell is that whatever you think fills you with negative emotion, and it is annoying."
Naruto's eyes showed some relief, before being confused and asked, "The tailed beast can sense emotion?"
The fox replied, "No, I can sense negative emotion. All the beast have some unique trait about them. Mine is the ability to sense the negativity of creation."
It was hypothesized that the beast did have unique powers. However, we thought the nine-tails was regeneration, as no other jinchuriki was known to have a healing factor on such a high level.
When Naruto voiced his thoughts, the fox scoffed, "Ha, my unique trait being healing. No, the healing factor you receive from my presence is due to how intimate I am with healing itself. It was not my gift, but rather it was from the long time I spent learning the art. I know it so well, my chakra itself has an affinity for healing."
Naruto looked conflicted before asking, "Then why was your chakra poisonous to those around the village?"
"That is due to just how potent my chakra is. Especially in a wild state. If under my control, or in small amounts, my chakra heals. It is true that the tailed beasts chakra will heal their containers somewhat faster, but only them. I however, am special. My healing knowledge exceeds theirs so greatly, it is not worth comparing."
"Why did you learn healing," Naruto asked?
"It is because I once was a much better person so to say, than I am now. You humans with your hatred corrupted me. Once upon a time, I was a sage trying to make this cursed world better. I on some level succeeded. I created two nations that were at peace with themselves. They were destroyed as a result. Human greed knows no bounds."
Naruto was quite shocked at what he had just been told. After a few moments, he asked, "Are you evil?"
"It matters not what I say I am, it is was I am called the most that associates who I am, even if that association be incorrect," the fox replied.
The duo stayed silent for a few minutes. After that, Naruto asked another question, "What is your name?"
The fox looked shocked at the question, before replying, "For what reason? Does is it truly matter?"
Naruto quietly responded, "It might not matter much, but I know what it feels like. To be called something you actually aren't. Maybe you have accepted and ignored the negativity of your own heart for so long, that you have forgotten what it means to live happily."
I'm an ANBU again in three weeks. The time outside...was definitely worth it.
Naruto is to be found by himself in a grassy field. Or, at least half of it was grassy once upon a time. It lost its grassiness when Naruto combined a fire and wind technique. The resulting destruction lead to half of the once grassy field to be a scorched wasteland, with some molten earth still visible. Naruto looked proud of his work.
"Mass destruction seems to suit you doesn't it," Kurama asked?
Naruto seemed conflicted how to feel in response to the comment, so said nothing.
A few minutes later, Crow appeared, shoving the clone Naruto into the magma, dispelling it. "Naruto, what did I say about extremely destructive techniques."
"Crow, what if it wasn't the clone that you pushed in," Naruto asked, ignoring Crow's question?
"You would have survived," Crow responded.
"I feel so loved," the Nine tails commented, though only heard by Naruto.
"Crow, being in your presence makes me feel much safer," Naruto commented sarcastically.
"I'm glad you feel that way," Crow responded, most likely smiling under his mask.
The duo sat in silence for a few moments, before Crow told Naruto to be nice to the training grounds and left before Naruto could respond. Naruto scoffed after him, but then turned back to the field. "Maybe I did overdo it."
He then shrugged before leaving the training ground.
Naruto arrived at ANBU headquarters, and upon arriving, threw a kuni at Crow. Crow caught the kuni between his fingers. "Naruto, that's not nice. What if I hadn't caught that?"
Naruto scoffed before replying, "You would have lived." The nine tails commented on Naruto's appreciation of copying others greatness. Naruto continued walking and entered his room. He sat on his bed before he let out a sigh.
This morning has been hard long, and now there is nothing to do. I've trained intensely for four hours. I need a hobby. There was that time...gardening. I'm not sure I want to do that anymore.
"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering, and that is the path to darkness," the nine tails helpfully threw in.
"What if I'm already in darkness," Naruto asked, and from one perspective, to the open air.
The nine-tails responded, "You have not fallen that far."
"How would you know," Naruto asked quietly, "How do you know if someone is in the darkness?"
"It is simple, the darkness that is in you is not great enough. Though present, as it is in all things that can reason on some level, such as you, it fails to be on a level that would control you."
"What is darkness anyways," Naruto quietly pondered. "Is it evilness, how bad something is, does it deal with morals?"
The voice of the nine-tails responded, "Should you ever have the honor of thinking on my level, you may just realize how insignificant your thinking is right now."
Naruto scoffed at the insult, before quietly responding, "I wouldn't want to be on your level. It would seem a bit to warm for me." A small smile showed itself upon Naruto's face.
"Your intellect may one day be able to rival that of my brothers," The fox said, "He is an idiot,"
Naruto entered his mind-scape, and walked up to the cage, and peered into it. He observed the foxes massive form. He sat down and continued his previous action. After several minutes, the nine-tails asked, "Are you in enthralled by my beautiful and awesome form, or are you simply frozen in fear?"
"What is it like being a demon?"
The nine-tails eyebrows rose at the question, which that in of itself was questionable, due to the differing anatomy. The fox then replied, "The feeling differs in that one will feel much more powerful. However," The nine-tails said, "It is more satisfying being a human." The humans eyebrows rose in surprise. "It is much easier to taste ones food," the nine-tails finished.
Naruto's eyes were still scrunched up in confusion at the fox's answer. The confusion occurred from the fact that the nine-tails had actually answered, and the answer made it seem that the nine-tails once knew what it meant to be human.
"What are you," Naruto asked, confused?
The nine-tails looked Naruto in the eyes and responded in his deep but calm voice, "Do you ask such a question in order to answer another question, or are you genuinely confused on what I am. Do you want the answer that I hold for myself, or the answer that others give me? What is the knowledge that you seek?"
Naruto sat, pondering himself why he desired such a question answered. He after a few minutes finally answered, "I don't know. I don't know what to think. Gramps tells me your evil. Yet when I described how you act to Crow, him not knowing it was coming from you, said you were probably a sage. You have indicated almost nothing to show that your evil. Yet I am told that is you trying to manipulate me. I just don't know what to think."
The nine-tails scoffed at the answer before replying, "Think what you want. Do not let others control your thoughts. Doing so is slavery. It is fine to have your actions controlled, but as long as your thoughts are what you want them to be, you will still be free."
Naruto nodded at the answer, before leaving his mindscape. He arrived back in the bed he had been sitting on. It had then occurred to Naruto that the nine-tails had never answered his question.
Naruto observed the village below. He most likely pondered why the sky was blue, despite looking down.
Is the fox really a demon. I can't picture it. No demon would think as he does, even if it was only to manipulate me. But he's not. He's not a manipulator. He is a person. He doesn't deserve the stigma he's given. He is someone that was broken by the world surrounding, just like me. And he needs someone to bring him out of the darkness. The only one that can do that is me, because I'm the only one who is willing to give him a chance.
Naruto smiled to himself, underneath his mask. He had made his decision. He had made it out of the darkness, he had a lantern, a guide, in the man that was Kenshi Kagemori. Now, Naruto decided, he would be a lantern for someone who would never have someone otherwise. He would be the lantern for the fox, whatever his name may be.
And there is chapter 30. Thank-you InARealPickle for your reviews. It will be difficult to make the change you speak of, but it is seriously being considered. Normally I wouldn't respond to reviews in the AN, but your PM was disabled. I would have otherwise ignored acknowledging you, but your words words extremely helpful.
For everybody else, if you have questions or complaints and you want me to acknowledge them, enable the PM feature. Only the most helpful of reviews will be responded to in an AN. It takes up space.
I will be working at making longer chapters, but updates will take slightly longer. Updates will not come every 2-3 days. Also, their may soon be a major change to the format of the chapters, which would entail consolidating them to longer chapters. Thank-you to all who read this story. Make sure to review!