Hey guys! I'm back with Chapter 3! I know! This came out faster than Chapter 2 did. Well I decided to post it for 2 reasons. One being that I had a flash of inspiration while writing my other story, Namikaze Naruto, Son of Madalore (Which you should totally go check out.), and decided to write it down while it was still fresh in my mind. The second reason its that I am turning 21 in two days! Yay me! What does this have to do with my stories? Well with it being one of those major life events, I have the entire week planned out. So I won't have much time to spend writing. So I'm posting this to help keep you guys satisfied for now.

So with that said, let's get the go on the show!... Wait that's not right.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Writing"

"Bijuu Talking"

'Bijuu Thinking'

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, because if I did, then I would abuse the hell out of characters I didn't like... Like I plan to later!

Naruto: The Jinchuuriki Mercenary

Chapter 3: Demonic Encounters

Naruto awoke in a place he'd never been before. It was dark and smelled foul and he was standing in a large pool of water.

'Where am I? I was on my way to Kakashi-nii's when… Oh.' The young blonde stopped his train of thought as the events of the night before came flooding back into his memory.

~Flashback no Jutsu~

"Ahhh. That was delicious! Thanks Teuchi-san! How much do I owe you?" Naruto exclaimed as he finished his fourth bowl of ramen. Ichiraku Teuchi smiled at the young jinchuuriki. It made him sad that the son of his favorite customers was treated so terribly.

Yes, Teuchi knew exactly who Naruto was the moment he stepped into Ichiraku's for the first time. He'd been serving his mother, Kushina, since the first day he opened his restaurant. He had watched her and Minato's relationship bloom and grow from behind his stove. Now it seemed their son had inherited Kushina's insatiable taste for his ramen.

"It's no charge Naruto-kun." Teuchi smiled as the young blonde's eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Yep. No charge." Teuchi's daughter, Ayame told the boy as she leaned in and gave the child a kiss on the cheek. "Happy Birthday Naruto-kun."

Naruto's face turned bright red as he felt the beautiful teen's lips on his cheek. She giggled as the boy sat there speech-less.

"Wow, I didn't think I'd do that to him."

Naruto's face changed immediately when he looked at the clock.

"Oh no! Its way later than I thought it was. I need to get to Kakashi-nii's fast. Bye Teuchi-san, Ayame-chan." With that the young blonde was off.

"Wait, Naruto-kun. I forgot to… give you your present." Ayame sighed as he was well out of hearing distance by then.

Naruto rushed through the back alleys of the village, trying desperately to get to his brother's home before someone spotted him. However, that was proving to be easier said than done as the directions his silver haired brother had given him were soaked in ramen broth, causing the ink to run.

'Maybe I should try eating slower next time. Ugh, where am I going?! I think I may have made a wrong turn.'

Naruto suddenly found himself out of the alley and into the open.

'Yep. Definitely took a wrong turn.' The young boy thought as he found himself under the contemptuous gaze of a dozen drunken villagers.

~Kai~

Naurto shuttered as he remembered what happened next. A flurry of punches and kicks and broken sake bottles assaulting his frail body as he begged for them to stop in a futile attempt to evoke their mercy. But none came.

'None will ever come as long as I stay here. Kaa-san, I promise I will leave. If Kakashi-nii won't train me, then I'll find someone who will!'

Naruto was brought from his thoughts as he heard a roar and a growl from deep in the tunnel.

"Well, I don't see any other place to go. I guess I should find out what's making that noise." The young blonde mused to himself. As he made his way through the tunnel toward the source of the noise, the growling grew louder and louder until he came to find what was exactly causing the noise.

Naruto stood before a cage as tall as the Hokage tower itself. Many bars as thick as the largest trees the young boy had ever seen separated the young boy and the cage's occupant whose large slitted red eyes were glaring daggers at its occupant.

"So you're the Kyuubi. That must mean I'm inside my own mind."

"A marvelous deduction human." The bijuu spat at its jailor, sarcasm oozing from every syllable. "So it would seem my spoiled brat of a warden has come to pay his lowly prisoner a visit. How thoughtful. So have you come to gloat about the wonderful life you lead to me?"

Naruto seemed confused.

"Why would you think my life would be wonderful?"

"The last thing that man you call the Yondaime said before I was sealed into your pathetic body was that you were to be treated like a hero. So come. Touch the bars and let me see the glamorous life of my host."

"Alright. You may not like what you see though." The beast scoffed as Naruto approached the cage and placed his hand on one of the tall posts. Once he did, memories came flooding through his mind from his earliest memories in the orphanage, to the glares and attacks from villager, meeting those he had come to call family, the letters from his parents, and finally the most recent attempt at his life.

When it was all over, the Kyuubi began to thrash around it's cage continually slamming itself into the bars.

"REALASE ME! THOSE BASTARDS! I'LL SLAUGHTER EVERY ONE OF THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS! I WILL DEVOUR EVERY ONE OF THEIR STILL-BEATING HEARTS AND SHIT OUT THEIR FOULD PUTRID SOULS! WHAT KIND OF A MONSTER WOULD DO THIS TO A CHILD! THIS VILLAGE WILL BE RAISE TO THE GROUND AND COSUMED IN FOXFIRE! I WILL-"

The bijuu continued rant and slam itself against its cage for another good five minutes before giving up its endeavors. Naruto's eyes widened at some the things the beast had said as it cursed up a storm big enough to cause even the most travelled sailor to feel uneasy. Finally the Kyuubi calm down, it's red eyes softened as it looked into the boy's cerulean ones.

"Kit… I'm sorry."

Naruto was shocked. The Kyuubi no Kitsune actually apologized to him.

"What for? You never hurt me? And the villagers never would have known about you if Hokage-sama hadn't let it slip. So you have nothing to be sorry for."

Kyuubi's eyes widened in shock. Was the boy truly that forgiving? It was astounding to the bijuu that this boy of only five could be so mature.

"Thank you. I give you my word as a bijuu, if you ever need my help in anything, I will give you my assistance."

Naruto stood there stunned. Then he thought of something.

"Can you train me to become stronger? Strong enough so that I can leave this village behind."

"Yes. I promise that I will help train you Kit. However I can't train you with your mindscape in its current form."

"So how do I change it?" the blonde asked, scratching his head.

"It's your mind Kit. Think it, and your mindscape will change."

Naruto thought hard and suddenly the sewer was replaced with a vast forest with tall trees and meadows scattered around. The bars began to glow as they formed a collar around the bijuu's neck with a golden dog-tag with the kanji for "Seal" engraved on it.

"Very nice, Kit. But you forgot that you will need a place to train."

Naruto thought hard as a large building appeared before the pair. Kyuubi shrunk down to the size of a grizzly bear as it followed Naruto into the building. The inside of it was very well planned out, complete with dojo, armory, target range, forge, and even a hot spring to relax after a hard days training.

"Great job. This looks like a perfect place to train you. How did you know to include all of these things?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I saw it in a show Kakashi-nii watches with me."

Recently Kakshi and Naruto had decided to hang out more while he was off duty and subsequently the pair became addicted to the new television series starring Chiba Shinichi, Kage no Gundan. The bijuu laughed heartily at the boy's innocence.

"Well I like it. But we shouldn't start your training until later. I sense the old man and your brother are waiting for you to wake up."

Naruto nodded before bowing to the kitsune before him. "Alright. Until next time, Kyuubi-sensei."

In the Real World

Naruto awoke in his hospital bed to the sight of Kakashi and the Hokage talking to each other in front of his bed. Kakashi was dressed in a regular Jounin uniform instead of his traditional ANBU uniform. In his hand was an orange book which he had nearly finished, given the blue bookmark.

"I don't see what that big deal is."

"The big deal, Kakashi, is that you are an ANBU. You aren't supposed to reveal your identity to people. It's part of the job."

"He was bound to find out eventually Hokage-sama. He has advanced senses like a nin-dog. He knows my scent. How awkward a conversation do you think we might have if we bump into each other on the street or when I become his Jounin sensei. It's better that he knows who I am now instead of later."

The Hokage was about to retort when both of their attentions were taken by a voice.

"If you two are going to keep fighting, then I'm going back to sleep."

Immediately the two were by the young boy's side. Kakashi spoke up first.

"Otouto, I'm so sorry. This was all my fault." Naruto sat up and gave his brother a hug.

"Don't worry, Kakashi-nii. It wasn't you fault. I got ramen broth on the directions you wrote down and got lost."

Hiruzen saw how much the pair truly cared for each other and was happy that the boy had found some semblance of family.

"Naruto-kun, is there anything you can remember about the people who attacked you? Can you recall any of their faces?"

"No. No I can't, Hokage-sama. I was too busy running for my life to get a good look at them." Naruto's voice seemed unnaturally cold for someone his age. A sharp pain filled the Kage's heart as the boy referred to him so formally and not in his usual, loving way. Hiruzen chuckled uncomfortably.

"Hokage-sama? What happened to Jiji?"

"You lied to me Hokage-sama" Naruto turned and looked at the elderly man. The young boy reminded the man of the time his father had been told that Kushina had been captured by enemy ninja.

"Jiji would have made sure I was well protected during the one day I was most likely to be attacked. Jiji would have told me the truth. And Jiji wouldn't let me have to be told who I was and why I was attacked by the very thing responsible for my life being so hard."

Sarutobi's eyes widened as began to water as the child he considered a grandson verbally tore him to pieces.

"Yes Hokage-sama, I met the Kyuubi. And I had to learn from the bijuu and not my own Jiji why the village hates me so much and why they treat me like dirt when you refused to give me a straight answer. It told me who my parents were when you yourself looked me in the eyes and told me that you didn't know. So, no, you aren't my Jiji. You lost that right."

The Hokage hung his head in shame. He couldn't say anything to that. Naruto was right. He didn't have any right. Anything he could say would merely be an excuse. And the boy didn't need any more excuses. So he said the only thing he could say before he left.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I'll tell the doctors you're ready to leave."

Soon after the doctors came in and unhooked the blonde from the machines and undid his bandages before Kakashi handed him a new change of clothes. Naruto got dressed before heading out with his brother.

"I know he deserved it, but did you have to go so hard on him Otouto?" Kakashi asked as he carried his brother toward his apartment.

"Probably not. But I was caught up in the moment. I did meet Kyuubi though. It wasn't too thrilled at how I've been treated."

The masked jounin raised a brow at that. "Really? I'd think that it'd be happy to see its jailor suffering."

"Actually it's quite the opposite. Apparently hurting children is a huge no-no for demons. It actually apologized and agreed to train me."

"Wow. So it seems that you'll have two senseis to help you grow strong." Naruto looked at his brother with excitement.

"Really Aniki? You're gonna help me?" Kakashi gave him an eye smile and nodded.

"What kind of big brother would I be if I didn't help out my Otouto reach his potential." Naruto hugged his brother tightly as he thanked him repeatedly.

'After yesterday, how could I live with myself I let you stay here?' Kakashi was brought from his thoughts when Naruto spoke up.

"Hey, Kakashi-nii. Isn't there a new episode of Kage no Gundan on tonight?"

"Oh fuck, you're right. Come on! We don't want to miss it!" Kakashi picked up speed as he headed toward his home to catch their favorite show.

Well there you have it folks! Now comes to a tough decision point in the story which is why I'm not going to make it! You are! Isn't that wonderful?

Now I can't decide whether I should write the beginning on Naruto's training with Kakashi and Kyuubi and then skip to the Genin Exam, write like 3-5 more chapters with mini time skips in between, or just skip to the Genin Exam.

So I'm going to set up a poll and let you decide. At the end of next week, I'll start on the next chapter based on how you guys vote.

Don't forget to leave a review below and tell me what you thought of the chapter as well as Follow and/or Favorite the story if you already haven't. Also you should check out my other story, Namikaze Naruto, Son of Madalore, I'm really excited about that one.

So until next chapter, I'll see you guys later.

*Walks away singing Happy Birthday and a series of Irish drinking songs to myself*