Chapter 12: Partners and Foes.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
The next day, Naruto awoke with a headache. He couldn't sleep last night, and when he finally slept, he was woken by a snake roaming near his window. After killing the snake, he fell back to sleep, only to wake up an hour later. This time, he couldn't sleep anymore, the sun had risen.
Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, as he was filling his mug with milk, the handle broke off and the glass mug fell to the floor. He was dumbfounded, looking back and forth between the broken mug on the floor and the mug handle on his hand.
Sighing, Naruto cleaned the mess and after eating breakfast, Naruto felt his stomach churn. Not because he had a stomach ache, but because his intuition was warning him.
Something was wrong.
'Fox, can you help me on this one?'
Left with no other choice, Naruto called his partner. Naruto and the nine tails had become friends over the last six years, but the fox wouldn't tell him his name. According to the nine tails, he would only tell him his name after Naruto becomes stronger.
For now, Naruto called the nine tails simply the "fox."
'How exactly do you want me to help?'
The nine tails replied, his lazy tone indicating that he just woke up.
'I have a bad feeling. As if someone wants to kill me, but I don't sense anyone. Not even negative emotions around me. That's the most suspicious part, there are no negative emotions around me. I think the civilians are either under genjutsu or they collectively went crazy.'
Scoffing at his own idea, Naruto answered the fox's question, 'Take over my body when I'm in danger. I'm certain that the enemy is a jonin, and I can't fight a jonin right now. Not with my combat experience.'
Naruto would fight the enemy himself and not call the fox if not for him not being able to sense the enemy. This told him that the enemy is an elite, and he could lose his life if he made a slight error.
'Are you sure? If I take over your body, the seal will open up,' the fox voiced his concerns.
'I'm sure. I can lock it again afterward. Thinking about it, I should've created a seal on top of your current seal so that your chakra won't leak into mine,' Naruto mused.
He couldn't remove the nine tails' seal before his chakra system matures as that would mean losing his kekkei genkai and the effectiveness of his blood.
'That's your problem. Anyway, just lift the lock on the seal and I'll take over your body when you're in a life-or-death situation. Don't resist it.'
'Okay, thank you, fox.'
'Don't sweat it.'
After his talk with the nine tails, Naruto bought a scroll, a brush, and a bottle of ink. Even if he wasn't the one going to fight the enemy, if he could retrieve the enemy's body, he would. Seeing the civilian's amiable behavior toward him, Naruto confirmed his suspicion and after creating a simple storage scroll to store dead bodies, Naruto went deep into a remote forest near the forest of death.
It's the perfect place to ambush him without alerting konoha's ninja, so it was perfect for baiting out the hidden enemy.
'The hokage is busy most of the time, so I don't need to worry about his spying technique. Likewise, even if he's not busy, I don't think he'll spy on me. After all, he wouldn't know where I am if not for his ANBU.'
After being spied on by the third hokage on several occasions, Naruto invented a seal that prevented Hiruzen from tracking him down. If Hiruzen found him despite that, tough luck, but otherwise, he was hidden.
The moment he stepped into the forest, Naruto felt like the world had been put into a freezer. He started sweating bullets and he got goosebumps all over. If before, he was doubting his suspicions, he was sure now. Someone was targeting him.
'Naruto, I sense negative emotions ahead of you and behind you. Relax your body and clear your mind so I can take over in an instant, otherwise, it will be dangerous.'
'Alright. I'll leave it to you, fox.'
Naruto walked deeper and deeper into the forest, no longer nervous. Not because he was confident in fighting off the hidden enemies, but because he literally emptied his mind. His steps were wobbly and unstable, sometimes it looked like he would trip. His body swayed left and right, bumping to the trees, but he kept walking without a sense of direction.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a shadow appeared in front of him and tackled him. Then, his arms were tied behind his back, a piece of cloth blocked his mouth, and a black bag was put on top of his head. This happened in an instant.
"Target captured, let's—"
Before the ninja could finish his words, he felt a chill run down his spine. Looking back at Naruto, he saw that the black bag covering Naruto's head was burning, and Naruto's eyes had turned blood red, staring at him.
"Fall back! It's the nine tails' chakra, it's no use! Retreat!"
"You think I'd let you? This is a rare moment for me to breathe fresh air. You two, entertain me for a while, okay?"
Naruto's voice deepened, his whiskers became more pronounced and his hair became feral. His fangs grew thicker and longer, almost like he had turned into some sort of demon.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
In the distance, two black shadows were quickly running away, but before the two ninjas could flee further, Naruto flashed in front of them. They were now right next to the village walls, but too bad, Naruto, with the fox controlling his body, caught up to them.
Naruto's body was as strong as an average jonin, maybe higher. His chakra was at the level of elite jonin. The only thing he was missing was battle experience. He lacked combat experience because no one would spar with him, forcing him to train on his own.
"Tailed Beast Wave!"
After flashing in front of the two ninjas, who the fox recognized as jonin level, Naruto swung his hands and added chakra into the air, creating a wind blade infused with the nine tails' chakra.
"It's too fast! Quick, defend! Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
Two earth walls sprouted from the ground and blocked the wind blade, but it was cut in half and the wind blade struck the two ninjas. Unfortunately, the wind blade lost most of its power and only knocked the two ninjas away.
"We can't escape, fight to the death!"
"Understood!"
Under the tacit agreement of the two jonin, they charged at Naruto while weaving hand seals.
"Fire Style: Fire Vortex Technique!"
The first jonin weaved hand seals and spewed out a spiraling vortex of flames.
"Wind Style: Great Wind Breakthrough!"
The second jonin spat out a massive gust of wind that made the fire jutsu stronger.
"Hmph, what's the use of fire if it's slower than a snail?'
Then, Naruto vanished in a blur and appeared behind the two jonin. He quickly slashed their bodies into pieces but in the next second, their bodies turned into logs that had been shredded.
They used the substitution technique.
Without pausing for a second, Naruto vanished and reappeared next to the two jonins who were fleeing toward the village walls.
"Crap! Fire Style: Walls of Flame Technique!"
Before Naruto would pounce on the jonin who used the fire jutsu, he was engulfed in a thick pillar of flames. The flames were made from chakra, so Naruto had to retreat or he would be severely injured.
Naruto positioned himself between the village walls and the two jonins, preventing them from fleeing. After being engulfed in flames, his skin turned red and some areas of his body were burnt, but they were quickly healing.
"Your fire style annoys me, I'll show you real flames! Tailed Beast Style: Tailed Beast Flames!"
Without the need to weave hand seals, Naruto spat a massive ball of flame that devoured the jonin's upper body. After the flames subsided, the jonin was dead.
"One down, only one more to go."
"You bastard! Wind Style: Wind Barrier! Wind Style: Wind Blades! Wind Style: Wind Bullets!"
Perhaps it was because of rage, but the second jonin who used wind style used one jutsu after the other. As a jonin, he had a large chakra reserve, but he was bound to run out of chakra sooner than later after unleashing several jutsus at once.
The jonin used ten more wind-style jutsu, but none of them struck Naruto. Wind style was fast, second only to lightning style, but Naruto was faster.
After a couple more wind-style jutsu, the jonin was panting on the ground.
"Damn it! Wind Style: Wind—"
"I've had enough! ROAR!"
Naruto roared and charged toward the jonin, ignoring the wind barrier protecting the jonin.
As he crossed the wind barrier, his clothes were shredded and his body was cut hundreds of times. After bypassing the wind barrier, he kicked the jonin in the head.
The jonin's head exploded into bits of pieces, killing him in one shot.
Naruto's wounds began to heal, but because the nine tails' chakra didn't merge with Naruto's chakra, the healing process was significantly slower.
"Tsk, stubborn brat. Why do you want to separate your chakra from mine? It's too troublesome. I suggest you find a way to gain fast regeneration to help you in the future. It's one of my abilities, but too bad our chakra can't mix because you insist on locking the seal."
Inside his mind, the nine tails heard Naruto snort.
'I don't want our chakra to mix our chakra because my Uzumaki blood would become useless and my kekkei genkai would become dormant. Don't forget that most Uzumaki sealing techniques require Uzumaki blood and the chakra chains.'
"Your mother was able to keep using them…"
Naruto paused, bewildered by the stubborn fox.
'Her seal and mine are different. Her seal was purely meant to contain you, my seal merges your chakra and mine. I'm pretty sure there's a difference between the two.'
Naruto rolled his eyes and chuckled.
'Don't worry, I'll be safe out there after I gain more combat experience. Along the way, I'll find a method to gain regeneration like yours.'
Hearing this, the nine-tails scoffed.
"Brat, who told you I'm worried about you? Whatever, I'm going back to the seal."
'Did you forget that I can hear your thoughts?' Naruto paused before crossing his arms, 'Oi, silly fox, why won't you tell me your name already? I keep calling you fox, it feels weird.'
"But I'm a fox, why can't you call me 'fox'…"
Naruto rolled his eyes.