Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and this is just a fanfic based on another's hard work and ideas.
Kurama speaking
Someone's thoughts
Chapter 8
It had taken him 3 weeks to reach the forest the merchants were gossiping about. It was rather dense and dark Naruto had to admit. He didn't see the red eyes that were watching him. He only had a handful of kunai left in his weapons pouch, but he decided to venture forth.
"Here I go" Naruto said.
"Be careful boy, I sense something sinister in these woods" Kurama spoke in his mind.
Startled Naruto responded; "I haven't heard from you in a while, why speak up now."
"Because you always seem to get into trouble and when you do you put my life on the line since we are linked through this annoying seal."
"Well, I'm sorry for scaring you, but I've got nothing better to do."
"YOU DID NOT SCARE ME, HUMAN." Kurama screamed in his head. "Do not presume that I'm afraid, however, if you are stupid enough to go into a dangerous situation you are not ready for than the least I can do is warn you."
With that, Kurama sunk back into the recesses of Naruto's mind and Naruto began to walk.
Xxxxxxxxxx
It had been a few hours and nothing seemed to be 'sinister' about this forest Naruto now found himself in…..lost apparently because he had no idea which way he came and which way to go.
That's when it happened. He saw movement in the shadows of the dense forest. Naruto stopped and pulled a kunai in an attempt to protect himself.
Out of the shadows jumped 5 large Hyenas with gray hair, red eyes, and large paws about the size of Naruto's head. They jumped at him from different angles and Naruto proceeded to use the 5 D's. Dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge. (5 points to who can guess the movie this came from). Those red eyes and that evil 'laughing' sound the hyenas made were nerve wracking to Naruto.
He was pushed back and forth for several minutes when he finally had no choice but to start using the kunai. He cut the throat of one Hyena and then stabbed another in the head. That made it three to one odds. Naruto finally jumped away and as he darted behind a tree he put up a familiar hand sign and called out "Shadow Clones". He created 3 clones to jump away and the Hyenas appeared to argue with each other and then they split up to follow the clones.
Naruto waited for several minutes to ensure they were long gone before he came out of hiding. As he caught his breath he started to walk again. He then heard that awful Hyena laugh again, but this time there was a mild yelp and some soft growling coming from the same direction he was heading in. He carefully followed the sound.
He came up to a small clearing where he saw what appeared to be young lion about the size of a mid-size dog. Naruto read about these animals once in a book. This was when he was younger in the academy and before he was consistently kicked out of classes by the biased teachers and before Iruka-sensei.
He didn't know much about lions, but he knew what being ganged up on felt like. Also, based on the blood he could see on the lion's leg that the poor creature could not defend itself well. He decided at that moment that he was going to interfere. He once again created about 10 shadow clones and they all jumped in and created a perimeter around the lion. The original Naruto jumped in facing the lion with his hands up.
"I don't know if you can understand me, but I'm here to help. Please let me help you."
The lion surprisingly appeared to be assessing the situation. In a surprising move it nodded his head to Naruto and Naruto being surprised by the understanding, but the immediate situation called for him to keep his head. He created 10 more clones that transformed into the likeness of the lion and the 11 pairs took off in different directions. The real Naruto and lion that took off with the mass of clones and in the chaos found a hollowed out tree and ducked in there.
Once again, Naruto waited to make sure the coast was clear.
"Please sit still. I'm going to bandage your leg and then we'll get out of here".
The lion stared at Naruto and carefully watched as he worked on the leg. As Naruto started to pick up the lion and move in a direction the lion growled just a little. Naruto looked down at the lion and the lion appeared to be using his nose to point in a specific direction.
"Go that way?" Naruto asked.
The lion nodded again.
"You seem to understand my words really well. Are you trained to understand humans for some reason?" Naruto asked.
The lion simply ignored the question and kept pointing in different direction leading Naruto somewhere.
Naruto once again not having anything better to do decided to follow the lion's lead.
Xxxxxxxxx
After several hours of walking they started to make their way out of the dense forest. The area beyond was a large expanse of plains filled with various animals Naruto only read about. From the looks of things he saw a Giraffe, Zebras, and other animals he couldn't name. The lion, who remained silent and kept pointing with his nose, urged Naruto to keep going.
It had been many hours of walking and Naruto finally decided to stop.
"We are going to stop for the night." The lion just nodded.
"I'm going to clean your wound and put fresh bandages on your leg. I'm not sure if there is an infection so this may hurt a bit." Naruto proceeded to dress the wound properly and other than some tenderness the lion didn't notice any pain.
"There, all clean now. Let me make us some food and we'll get some rest." The lion nodded.
After a modest meal the lion and Naruto got some rest.
Xxxxxxxxxx
When morning came the duo continued their journey in silence. Naruto was fine with that since he wasn't much of a talker. At least not anymore.
After walking for most of the day the young lion looked up. This caught Naruto's attention. He looked up and in the distance was a mountain range. "Is that where we are going?" The lion nodded.
Hours later as the sun was setting they had finally reached the base of the mountains. What Naruto saw was a rather large compound built into the side of the mountain. As he was standing there several shadows started moving from within the compound. The main doorway opened and a rather large Lion about the size of a horse with a golden mane and white pearl like claws came walking out.
The lion spoke, "Shabo, why have you returned without a kill and on top of that bringing a human to these hallowed gates".
"Father, my apologies. I was wounded during my hunt and this human saved me. I will accept any punishment you deem fit." Shabo responded.
"It is my decision then that you are to head to the forest of the Hyenas and fight them to the death." The father spoke.
"Yes father, as you…"
"Just hold on a second, I just saved you from a pack of those things and now you are going back?" Naruto yells. "That is ridiculous. How could you send your son to die like that after surviving already?"
The large lion looked at the human for a moment regarding what he said. "Shabo, is it true that is where you went?"
"Yes father."
"You were only supposed to find a local predator and bring the corpse here as your test. Why did you try to take on the Hyenas?"
"I wanted to prove myself a capable heir to the lion clan just like you father. I thought that if I could bring a Hyena back with me that I would prove my worth to you and the clan" replied Shabo hanging his head down in shame.
The father looked at Shabo and then at the human, then back to Shabo. "Shabo, we will discuss this later due to present company, however, due to this human's actions I will forgive your mistake this time, but tread carefully. We do not reward stupidity and going into Hyena territory alone is utterly stupid." Shabo just nodded his head and slowly walked back into the compound.
"Please forgive my son for his stupidity and putting you in danger with the Hyena's. You may call me Sessho and I'm the one in charge here" said Sessho.
In a monotone voice Naruto replies, "It was no problem. I only did what I thought was right. You shouldn't be so hard on him."
"You may have saved his life, but do not try to tell me how to treat the lion's I'm in charge of here. However, you appear to be tired so for you service we will give you sanctuary as well as food and water for 2 days, but then you must be moving on. Is that clear?" shot back Sessho.
Naruto stared down the lion for a second for being so callous with the lion's life, but decided to take the offering, "I thank you for hospitality and I will try my best to not be burden on you while I'm here."
"Follow me and I will show you where you will be staying" replied Sessho.
In the shadows, there was one lion that thought they smelled something odd from the human and decided to keep an eye on him more out of curiosity than anything else.
As Sessho was leading Naruto to a room for his stay Naruto noticed the lay out and style of the compound. It appeared to be made for humans. Sessho showed Naruto a rather large dining hall with many Chabudai's for many different people to eat at. There was a large library with many scrolls which was very surprising to Naruto.
Naruto thought about asking who lived here, but decided against it. He had already made Sessho snap at him. Naruto figured less questions would be best at this time.
As they reached the room Naruto would be staying in, Sessho gave some final words, "I know it is getting late so why don't you rest, we'll bring you food for the evening and you are welcome to walk around only in the areas I showed you tomorrow. Is that understood?"
"Understood, and I thank you for the hospitality."
Xxxxxxxxxx
The next morning Naruto had breakfast just outside his door waiting on him. He ate and decided to roam the allowed areas. Having nothing better to do he decided to go look around the library. Who knows he might find a new jutsu. Little did he know that he had a lion tailing him. This would be the same lion that was curious about him last night.
The lion watched as Naruto roamed the library. He would look from scroll to scroll, but never found anything that was interesting to him. Half the day seemed to roam by and it was lunch time. He made his way to the dining hall and was served lunch. After lunch he decided to go back to the library. He had nothing better to do. All the while he was still followed by that lion.
It was getting close to evening and all Naruto had done was go from scroll to scroll. That is when he decided to skip some rows he went to the very back of the library. In the back he saw an odd looking door with and odd elongated handle. He reached for the door. Just as he was reaching for the door the lion watching him was about to jump out and stop him. With wide eyes the lion could not believe what was happening.
As Naruto grabbed the hand his finger was pricked. "Ouch, what the hell." The door had some intricate seals that spread across the door. Suddenly a hand print showed up on the door. Naruto stared for a minute when he realized the door wanted this hand. He put his hand up to the door, but nothing happened.
"Maybe I need to push chakra into the door." Naruto thought.
Naruto put his hand back up to the door and pushed chakra into the handprint on the door. The door clicked and opened. Naruto pushed the door open and inside was a fairly large room (not as big as the library) with scrolls along the walls and a chabudai style table in the center of the room.
Xxxxxxxxxx
As soon as the door clicked open the lion that was watching Naruto took off in search for Sessho.
"FATHER, FATHER" the lion yelled catching the attention of anyone in earshot.
Sessho looked up from his dinner called back, "Nilu by daughter, please calm down, what is going on?"
"Father, the human opened the back room of the library" spoke Nilu.
All lions in ear shot went wide eyed.
Sessho called out, "guards, come with me now." Sessho took off toward the library with the lioness Nilu following.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Naruto walked around the room inspecting the scrolls. There appeared to be family history/lineage scrolls, business/economic scrolls, family bylaws and code of conduct scrolls, and finally jutsu scrolls. Naruto reached up and grabbed the first scroll. As he was about to break the seal and look at it when the large lion named Sessho along with his daughter Nilu and 5 guards burst into the room.
"PUT THAT DOWN" yelled Sessho. The guards were baring their teeth and were is hunched down ready to pounce. Nilu just stood there with a calculating eye.
Having been surprised Naruto literally dropped the scroll on the ground and jumped back with this hands up at sholder height in an attempt to look non-threatening. "Woah, what did I do?"
"How did you get in this room human?" asked Sessho.
"I was just roaming around in the library and came across this door. When I reached for the handle my finger was pricked and then these funny seals spread across the door. I saw a handprint on the door and I pushed some chakra into it and the door opened. I am so sorry…"
"Silence." Spoke Sessho a little more calmly. He appeared to be appraising the boy for a moment.
Naruto took the moment to speak, "I will just go gather my things and…"
"I said silence boy" spoke Sessho with an air of authority this time. "Do me a favor, please step out of the room and close the door."
Naruto followed the order, but did so very slowly. He did not want to anger the large lion.
Sessho put his large paw up to the door and attempted to open it. He put all his weight into it, but the handle and the door would not budge. "Nilu, please attempt to open the door". Nilu did so and the door would not budge. "Boy, please open the door again." Naruto walked up to the door, put his hand on the handle and the door clicked and opened for him.
"This cannot be possible" Sessho looked on in astonishment.
Once again Naruto felt defeated. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble. I will gather my things now." As Naruto started to walk off Nilu jumped in front of him to stop him.
Nilu spoke up this time, "Young one, what is your name?" she asked.
Naruto looked at the ground and spoke softly. "Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki".
Sessho walked around to face him. "Boy, raise your head please." Naruto did as instructed and waited for the punishment for his actions.
Nilu saw the look in his eyes. "Young one, you have done nothing wrong. Also, you will not be going anywhere."
"Tell me, Naruto was it…" Naruto nodded. "Where do you come from?"
Hesitantly, Naruto spoke, "I c-come from a place called Konoha. I was banished from there and I decided to just get as far away as I could."
"Who were your parents, Naruto?" asked Nilu.
"I don't know, I was an orphan in the village" replied Naruto.
"Why were you banished?" asked Sessho.
Naruto really hesitated for a moment and decided to give them a short version of the day he was banished.
"That still doesn't make sense, is there more?" asked Sessho.
"I'm afraid to tell you." Stated Naruto.
"Young one, there is nothing to fear. This I promise you. There is nothing we cannot handle." Spoke Nilu in a mothering tone.
"I am….I am the container for the nine-tailed fox. The village council hated me and found some way to banish." Spoke Naruto looking back down at the ground in shame.
"Ah, so you are a Jinchuriki?" asked Sessho. Naruto just nodded his head.
Sessho looked at Nilu and nodded. "Nilu, please take care of young Naruto and see to it personally that he does not leave. Naruto, for the time being you will remain here under our care. We have many more questions that I don't think you can answer, but we will find our answers. Until then I want your word on your honor that you will not leave this compound. Do I have it?"
Naruto just nodded and followed Nilu out of the library.
Sessho turned to the guards. "There is a lot to confirm here, but I need you to send messages to the other leaders of the Panthera clan. Tell them to gather here in a week and that it is urgent. Say nothing else."
The guards took off to complete their task.