First of all, thank you readers for catching a scathing error in the last chapter. My documents must have auto corrected for some reason... anyway, thanks!
Second, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Last one was a bit of a filler and I hope you don't think of it like that as I do, though I think of this chapter as a bit of filler too... Anyway I was stuck on this chapter for it describes what kind of situation that changed from the original story, Trembling Flames, but as you tell in this chapter, I have decided on an approach.
Also, Cross My Heart and Hope To Die, We'll Meet Again if I Survive actually can fit what just happened in the One Piece manga chapter into it slightly if people vote on it. I can make it work a bit, after all, we didn't get much depth into the main character ;3
Also, I think the story may end in ten chapters, that's my goal to reach. If it goes past that, I'll be surprised!
I do not own One Piece or Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, please support the official releases of these titles.
"Dad? Why are you sticking this fuzzball with me?" He could recall saying, his gaze landing on a fox that was as big as one of the Inuzuka's hounds, the orange colored fox's height reaching just about his waist. His father looked tired as the fox was muttering under its breath. His little sister was on the only chair in the room, her nose deep in a book that was way too high of a reading level for her age.
"He needs to stop lying on his butt all day because he complains about his limbs being sore. Make sure Kurama gets enough exercise to satisfy himself for awhile. You've met the fox before when we were fighting the ogres before, y'know? The giant thing Sasuke and I turned into?"
The fox stretched itself, its crimson gaze landing onto him, "Yeah I remember, that thing was fucking awesome! Can I do something like that, Dad?"
Naruto let out a laugh, "If you get fuzzbutt to like you, I wouldn't care. Just only in emergencies, y'know?"
"You're all assholes." Boruto squeaked loudly, letting his body fling itself onto Himawari. The girl let out a shriek in surprise, her eyes narrowing at her big brother.
"Boruto-nii! I was reading!" She protested, "Come on, get off!"
"Y-Yeah!" He spluttered, pulling himself off his little sister, "I-I was just testing you to see if you were paying attention! G-Guess you weren't!" His whiskered cheeks gained a red tint at that once his father broke into a laugh and the nine tailed fox looked smug.
Himawari as oblivious as she was gave a smile, "Okay Boruto-nii! I'll pay better attention next time!"
Naruto had a grin on his face, "Yeah, both of you might wanna listen up. Kurama doesn't like to repeat anything so I'll say it for him. His name is Kurama, not Kyuubi or demon. He's our friend, an asset to the village for his "all-mighty glory". He's a arrogant fox that doesn't like being teased for all the nonsense he spouts," Naruto cackled at the fox's dead eyed stare at him, "Anyway, treat him nice, don't pull on his tails, don't think he's dumber than you, don't insult him if you aren't his friend, don't pick on his friends. Treat the baka-kitsune how you wanna be treated, y'know?"
"You're a jackass."
"I know, but you're one too." Naruto cackled, picking up the hound sized fox and nuzzled his face into the fox's own snout. Kurama snarled but did nothing as Boruto and Himawari laughed at the most powerful tailed beast known to the new generation was downgraded as a large dog.
"Ahh! He's biting again!" Sanji fixed the smoke in between his lips as his gaze met a baby fox trying to bite the shit out of Usopp. The fox had bandages along its paws as for swimming for so long, at least that's what Chopper diagnosed. The orange furred chakra being was relaxing on the infirmary bed but whenever someone tried to touch him (mainly Usopp and Luffy) he'd try to rip their fingers off with his sharp canines. Zoro was sleeping in the corner of the room, or at least it looked like the marimo was trying.
"He's always biting though," Chopper answered wearily, his hooves trying to finish wrapping up the last of the paws that were bleeding.
The fox let out a raging yip towards Usopp, "Don't touch my fur if you value your fingers, idiot!"
Usopp immediately took his fingers back from prodding the orange fur, "G-Got it."
Luffy let out a whine, looking forlorn at Kurama that returned the look with an unimpressed one, "Aww... come on little fox... your fur is so cool. I've never seen pure orange fur before."
Sanji gave one look at the fox before smiling, "Do you think it likes belly rubs?" Luffy brightened at that as the fox whipped his head at him with a dangerous look in his eyes. The orange haired beast sneered at Luffy who tried to flip it over as it dug its claws into the sheets as he yipped at Sanji.
"You damn brat, I'll kill you for even suggesting that! I need to get back to my job!"
"Yeah yeah, shut up damn fox." Sanji waved his hand in front of his face. Even if he held concern for what his father and the fox were doing, he still needed to keep up his act with "Sanji"... for whatever reason, he felt complete while continuing to act like someone that he wasn't.
Luffy started to prod the fox's back and for that the animal chakra being started to try to rip off his fingers again. The chef sat himself next to Luffy as the fox was focused on destroy the rubber man's fingers. Luffy was smart enough to let his fingers stretch into completely different directions when Kurama almost got his fingers. Sanji outstretched his own hand, scratching at a spot that would always serve to enjoy Himawari and him and piss of the fox. The spot made the fox let out a yawn as he tried to stretch himself to get away from the scratching fingers.
"D-Damn it... stop... when I get big I'm gonna rip your head off...!" Kurama snarled, his body stretching out to lean into the touch, "I'll rip your throat out! Get those fingers away from me you piece of shit!"
"Sanji I think he means it!" Chopper shouted while waving his hooves in the air.
"Kurama is harmless, he's all talk and no bite." Sanji replied nonchalantly, "Isn't that right, baka-kitsune?"
"Who do you think you are calling me a idiot fox, jackass?!"
"I know I'm a jackass, but your one too orange furball!" Crimson eyes clashed against dark blue and the other occupants could only stare helplessly as sparks seemed to ignite between the two.
"Furball?! Your chakra tells a different story! You should know who I am, simple human!"
"I may be that but can you really understand who I am, ugh, who am I kidding? I'm talking with a dumb fox."
Kurama's eyes glowered at him as he stretched out his jaw, "DUMB FOX?! I am the magnificent Nine-Tailed Fox, Kurama! Just one of my tail's has the power to crush mountains and create tsunamis! I can create a bomb that can destroy a whole country! A single shockwave created by me can destroy a village! My knowledge of the world pales in comparison to humans that live to be over 100!"
"...but you're small." Luffy chimed in.
"Yeah, very small." Usopp agreed.
"Like me!" Chopper added, waving a hoof in Brain Point.
Kurama snapped his head at them, "SO!? I used to be the size of a colossal mountain! I was bigger than this ship of yours!"
"Really?!" With the starry eyes Luffy was giving Kurama, it was only a matter of time until-, "Join my crew, orange fox!"
"It's Kurama and I have better things to do rather than spend my days searching for adventure or causing chaos," Kurama sniffed, putting a bandaged paw in Luffy's face. The paw stretched the face sideways, making the fox grimace (however that he could, it still was hard to piece emotions on an animal like him), "Your powers remind me of a white haired child who could stretch his skin."
"A former devil fruit eater of the Gomu Gomu no Mi?!" Chopper cried out in shock, "Really!?"
"I don't know what "devil fruits" are but if they give off pieces of chakra than are different than what you're emitting like in yourself and rubber brain here then sure. It's like your chakra systems are continuously being used without tiring out... replenishing the chakra you were born with by something different," Kurama looked a bit thoughtful before glancing at Sanji, "Are you perhaps a Namikaze or an Uzumaki? You remind me of my idiotic jinchuuriki."
Usopp waved his hands, "Wait wait wait, what is "chakra" and a "jinchuuriki"?"
"Chakra is what every living being needs to survive. It's their spiritual energy mixing with their physical energy or "stamina" to become one. People can choose to keep this at a minimum to survive since every living being needs chakra in order to survive or train the amount of chakra you are born with and wield it to fight by training your physical energy and spiritual energy," Kurama waved a tail at them, "Each person has a unique chakra signature, it's what the soul causes. The soul is what the person is, even if they may seem different their soul tells who they really are. I, myself, am made out of chakra entirely. I was created as a being to hold back this power and share it with those I can trust. Jinchuuriki were made in the past to hold our power and keep it locked away as a weapon, they were "human sacrifices" to keep the "demons" at bay. Parents and their children also have a distinguishable chakra connection for if they combine their chakra together, it begins to resonate to show that they're family, no matter how they are." The fox snorted, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to what I do best."
"What's that?" Luffy had chimed in and at that moment their navigator happened to walk in with a flier in hand.
"Hello there fox~!" Nami coyly chimed, sitting herself next to the guest of the ship, "Could you tell me what is with your bag of fliers?" She brandished the paper she held and for that Sanji's eyes narrowed at it.
"Come one, come all! Join the annual hunt for the Silver Bell on Haruku Island!
First to find the bell receives 600,000,000 million beli!"
The flier even had little flowers decorating the corners of the page but it dawned on the chef on why Nami waltzed her away into the room. A thought also came to him, why was the fox and his dad working on that little project anyway?
Kurama yawned at the orange haired navigator, "That's my job, woman. I'm a messenger for the annual games hosted on Haruku island for over ten years now. It's a peaceful job, well, until a damned marine got too greedy and tried to make me tell him all about the hiding places. Been drifting for days until a storm capsized me and those idiots happened to fish me out." The long orange tail made a wave to Usopp, Luffy and Chopper and two of the three looked forlorn at being called idiots, Luffy on the other hand acted like that didn't even happen.
"I think we should go there, huh, Luffy~?"
"Mmnh... is there anything else good there too?" Their captain had chirped and for that Sanji was thankful. He needed to know what the hell his father was doing for all these years... he wanted to know if his father was okay.
The nine-tailed fox gave a cheeky smile, "The island is more of a resort for all the tired travelers before they decide to continue on their journey. It was originally created for tired ninjas who got lost traveling to their destination on the sea-" Sanji knew at that moment Luffy would want to go even before the rubber man could speak, "-but we've upgraded since then to accommodate all weary travelers. The prices are cheap, the hotels are suited for all ages and there's a buffet made every night as the activity switches up each day. By the end of the week the Silver Bell hunt will begin."
"Ninjas?! Buffets?! Awesome!" Luffy cheered, clapping his hands with a silly grin that he usually wore. "Set sail to Haruku island!"
"Aye aye!" The crew currently in the room chirped as Kurama began talking to Nami about directions.
The chef decided that his time being around the fox was done... even if he wanted to yell at the asshole and beg to know how his father was, he knew that he'd meet up with him soon enough. The orange furred chakra beast may seem a bit... off... but Sanji had more important things to do rather than continue to investigate, "I'll go finish up lunch." He offered and once again his captain cheered happily at that, chattering excitedly about meat.