Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I am willing to buy it… as long as it is anything under four grand.
Crimson Legacy
Chapter 2: Different path
(A day before the graduation)
"Goddamn it, I'm not changing my clothes!" Naruto exclaimed as Kitsune and Shizune dragged him by the collar.
"You can't go on missions in that," Shizune grinned, finally getting the opportunity to get rid of his 'precious' clothes.
"And you look like an idiot," Kitsune remarked, eyeing his bright orange and blue outfit.
"As if yours is any better! Red kimono my ass," Naruto angrily shouted, but no matter how loud he screamed, the three of them finally arrived at their destination.
The shop wasn't big by any means, nor was it expensive, but it was where Shizune bought her and Tsunade's clothes.
'They think they can get rid of my clothes that easily?' he thought to himself before entering the store. "If the clothes won't contain any orange, I'm not wearing them," he declared.
"So, will you go on your missions naked? Because I'm not buying you orange, and that's final," Shizune stated firmly.
"Yes. After all, before clothes existed, everyone walked naked," the blond said with a laugh.
Shizune grinned, "So you won't be embarrassed walking around naked in front of your girlfriend?" Kitsune blushed at these words, while Naruto remained confused.
"As if I cared if anyone saw me naked! You know that I'll not give up and follow through," Naruto said, stopping and not moving a muscle.
"There's no point in arguing with you, is there? Fine, you can keep SOME orange, but we'll be the ones to choose the clothes for you," Shizune gave in.
XxX
(Two hours later)
For what it's worth, it took them far too long to choose Naruto's clothes. Whenever Shizune and Kitsune showed him something, he shot back with "Not cool," or "Not enough orange."
However, what they came up with looked at least more ninja-like, or so the girls thought. Naruto now wore bright orange pants with some bandages around the top of his left leg. This time, he wore a black uniform jacket with a zipper that had some orange around it.
Despite Naruto's cascade of grumbling, he quite enjoyed the new clothes. "So, tomorrow is the big day, eh? And right after that, you'll be assigned to your new teams," Shizune couldn't hold back a smile, remembering her own graduation.
"I'm more than prepared," Naruto exclaimed. He had practiced more than enough with his chakra control training to fail such an easy jutsu.
"I'm a bit worried about the day… but more because I'm not sure what kind of team I'll be assigned to," Kitsune admitted, and Naruto glanced at her hat, which covered her fox ears.
However, Shizune wasn't worried in the slightest. The Third Hokage had already informed her of which team they'll be assigned to.
XxX
As Naruto suspected, they both aced the final exams without any trouble. The day of worries quickly passed, and the next day came almost instantly.
Upon entering, Naruto couldn't help but feel the class had significantly shrunk. It made the blond feel rather sad, thinking about how many had failed the exam.
As every student who passed sat down, a few long minutes later, Iruka arrived, excited to announce which teams the kids were assigned to.
"It feels like this day passed in an instant, doesn't it?" Iruka admitted, noticing the tense silence in the crowd of newly made genins.
"There's no reason to delay it any longer; you're all about to take the next big step in your life. Good luck!" He stated, before taking the papers and announcing the teams.
"…"
"Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka."
"Team 8: Shino Aburame, Ino Yamananka, Sakura Haruno."
"…"
"Team 12: Naruto Uzumaki, Kitsune Senju, Shikamaru Nara."
After a few more teams were announced, each person went to their separate locations that were told to them by Iruka.
XxX
Kitsune couldn't help but smile as the three of them walked to the Zeroth Training Ground. She was really happy to have Naruto on her team.
"Guess we'll be stuck with one another for a long time," Shikamaru said, looking at the blond boy who was walking a few feet ahead of him.
"If we pass, that is," Kitsune slightly grimaced at the thought.
The whisker-marked boy just scoffed, "As if we could fail. It'll be a piece of cake!"
"I hope so. I don't know what my mother will do if I fail," Shikamaru mumbled under his breath.
"That's why we're not failing anytime soon!" Naruto exclaimed as they reached the training ground. From what they've heard, the training ground was a wildlife preserve for rare and unusual animals, though you had to go further than the place they came.
Naruto couldn't help but gulp at the number of signs on the wired mesh fence. 'Is it really the place?' he thought.
Upon opening the massive door, they realized that this could hardly be called a training ground; it was more like a natural preservation spot. It had a small field filled with trees and various plants.
"Soooo…" Kitsune said as she spun around in her red kimono.
"Shouldn't he be here waiting for us?" Naruto finished her sentence.
Shikamaru, noticing that it might take a while, decided to sit down on the grass, and the rest followed suit a couple of minutes later.
XxX
(Hokage's office)
"Hiruzen, are you sure this was the right decision?" The blond woman wearing her iconic green haori questioned the old man who was looking through his magical ball, which showed various locations around the village in real-time.
"Without a doubt. Maybe Kakashi Hatake could've filled the spot, but with a jinchuriki and something that we still haven't figured out what it truly is, the wood release might be the best way to avoid any disasters that might come from such team," the Hokage reasoned with Tsunade.
Yamato, at that moment, was standing with a posture that couldn't be described as simply "straight." He was slightly conflicted as he had never even thought of taking up his own squad, but he wasn't going to defy the Hokage.
"You can go, Yamato. They're at the Zeroth Training Ground, as you wished," the Third instructed.
Yamato quickly bowed, and without wasting a second, he vanished in a puff of smoke. Despite his compliance with the Third's orders, he couldn't help but grimace at the thought of taking care of children.
XxX
"Are we sure this is the spot?" Naruto asked his new teammates for the fiftieth time.
"YES!" Kitsune said before flicking him with her middle finger to his head. Shikamaru was already deeply asleep, already feeling tired from his new team.
"I have better things to do, y'know?" the blond grumbled, crossing his arms.
"Like what?" the tall man who seemingly appeared out of nowhere asked.
Naruto's eyes became comically large as he turned around to find his new sensei, who looked rather plain in his eyes. The man had short brown hair and black eyes, and he wore the standard Anbu green vest with a dark blue sleeveless jumper underneath. On his head, he wore a metal forehead protector that resembled that of the Second Hokage's.
To their surprise, the man introduced himself first, "I'll be your sensei until you become chunin, or die. I already have a mission ready to test your—" The man couldn't finish his words as a question arose in his new students' heads.
"Shouldn't there be a test first?" all three asked in unison.
Yamato pondered with his hand holding his chin before saying, "I guess we can do that if you want."
The Team 12 genins just glanced at each other, wondering whether they just messed up. It seemed that he had already decided that they were worthy to be his students.
Yamato smiled just a teeny bit, remembering what Kakashi had said about his test. However, he didn't have the same bells that Kakashi intended to use, so the brown-haired man had to improvise.
Looking at the training grounds, he couldn't help but feel grateful for choosing it. Further along the path, there were wildlife animals that could provide something of a challenge for the genin.
"Follow me," Yamato instructed, before slowly increasing the pace of the running, to see how well his students held up. The redheaded girl and the blond seemed to be running at an appropriate pace, while the boy with a ponytail seemed completely out of shape.
Luckily for Shikamaru, the place wasn't that far away; in a matter of a few minutes, they reached their destination.
However, whether it was lucky or unlucky depended on who you asked, as the infamous Ostrich of the Zeroth Training Ground wasn't around. 'Plan B then,' Yamato thought to himself.
"Moku Bunshin no Jutsu (Wood Clone Technique)!" Yamato quickly shouted, and in a puff of smoke, a wooden replica of himself appeared.
"If you manage to defeat it, you'll have passed the test," Yamato said, with boredom in his voice, almost as if it didn't matter to him.
The blond punched his fist into his right hand, before glancing to check if his teammates were ready. Then he tried to rush into the fight, but Kitsune stopped him by grabbing his right arm.
"You can't just rush in. Are you stupid?" the redhead girl asked angrily as she took him by his black sleeve to Shikamaru.
Shikamaru boredly nodded, before starting to discuss the possible strategy, "It seems... that he possesses Wood Release. I didn't think one even existed anymore."
"Me neither, and my mother is the daughter of the First Hokage," she said, worriedly glancing at the man who was now sitting on the ground.
"I hardly care. It's just a clone, right? It can't be that hard," Naruto said, but he couldn't help but think this clone was far superior to that of an academy level.
"I don't think you understand, Naruto. Wood Release is one of the rarest and most powerful there is," Kitsune said, with worry increasing each second at the idea of losing to a clone.
Shikamaru couldn't help but grumble. "We should exchange some information about ourselves," he said, since strategies can't be made without knowing what you've got in hand.
After some brief exchanges about their skill sets, Shikamaru came up with a plan. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was the best that he could think of.
While the wooden clone stood waiting, Naruto started rushing forward while spinning the "Rasengan" in his hand. At the sight, Yamato couldn't help but gape wide open his mouth. Nobody told him that the kid could already perform this sort of jutsu.
"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, but before the ball could find its target, a big wooden wall appeared right in front of the clone, clashing into it instead.
Right behind the wooden clone, Kitsune tried attacking headfirst with her black blade; however, the clone moved out of the way to the right and delivered a roundhouse kick to her groin.
Unluckily for Team 12, the shadow didn't manage to reach its targets as the clone noticed it right before they made contact. The clone just jumped backward and got ready in a position to attack Naruto.
Team 12 definitely underestimated just how powerful a Mokuton clone can be, especially that of an Anbu member. The clone quickly rushed to Naruto, delivering two punches to his head and stomach, pushing the blond twenty meters back.
The clone didn't hesitate and quickly rushed after Kitsune, who still layed on the ground. Noticing that the Shadow Possession was coming right towards him, the clone quickly built a wooden wall right beside Kitsune.
The clone just took Kitsune by the collar and threw her towards the real Yamato, who happily said, "Eliminated."
Naruto, noticing that all was going to hell, decided to use his last resort. As the clone got closer, Naruto shouted, "Oiroke no Jutsu (Harem no Jutsu)!" and a curvaceous blond woman appeared out of the smoke.
'Goddamn it, Naruto,' the real Yamato thought to himself, knowing from the information that the Hokage had given him that the jinchuriki had some... peculiar jutsu at his disposal.
It didn't work well, but it surely made the hit weaker as the clone couldn't help but facepalm himself mentally.
After a few spins on the ground, Naruto found his footing yet again. Team 12 still hadn't properly even hit the clone.
This time, the blond made it back to the Nara prodigy. The clone didn't seem to be that interested in taking them down, as it slowly walked towards them, giving them time to strategize.
"Well, that worked awfully," Naruto admitted before continuing, "Have any ideas?"
"Not really," Shikamaru admitted, looking at how slowly the clone walked.
Naruto sighed, "Guess you'll be seeing the demon in me today."
The black-haired boy couldn't understand what exactly he was talking about since both Naruto and Kitsune hadn't mentioned that when they talked about their skillset.
"Back away, Shikamaru. It's not going to be pretty," the blond slightly smirked. He really did hate using it, but there was hardly any choice now.
Soon after, a red shroud of chakra started to appear around Naruto, and it seemed that his nails increased in length, while the whiskers on his face became deeper and deeper. Even his hair started to look feral.
"What the—" before Shikamaru could finish his words, Naruto rushed forward with speed far beyond a genin. A hit finally connected, but to everyone's surprise, it didn't explode once it made contact.
"Shouldn't the clone... disappear?" Kitsune asked, now standing up but still looking rather rough after the kick to her groin.
"Surprised Tsunade hasn't told you anything about your grandfather," Yamato said, now slightly worried. He had yet to ever subdue a jinchuriki, yet he knew that the day would come sooner or later.
The one-tailed form was more than sufficient to now tank each hit that was delivered by the clone. Naruto was hardly hitting Yamato, as the clone was still a bit too fast, but it seemed that the red cloak made him far more aggressive and resilient after each fall.
As Yamato's clone once again punched Naruto in the stomach, this time, the clone managed to almost instantaneously bounce back slightly to the right and deliver a sufficient enough punch to Yamato's right abdominal area. This time, the punch went right through wood, and it instantly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
However, anyone who knew Yamato would know that the clone could've easily avoided the hit and defeated Naruto with his wood release without much troubles. The kyubi didn't seem as strong as it was supposed to be in such a state since it was only half of it and wood might be the best counter to any jinchūriki.
A wide grin came to the kid, while the red cloak disappeared bit by bit. "Guess we passed!" he exclaimed while breathing heavily and fell down to his knees.
Kitsune rushed forward, despite what Naruto thought would be a pissed reaction from the girl since she got eliminated so quickly. The girl jumped at Naruto and hugged him. "We did it! We're finally officially a team," she giggled as she tightly took hold of the blond.
Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh, both at the fact that nothing serious came after Naruto showed what he had in his stomach and the fact that his mother isn't going to kill him when he gets back.
"Not that bad, but it certainly could've been better," Yamato said as he came closer, slightly grimacing. "In any case, we'll have a mission in two days. The meeting place is the Konoha entrance at 7:00 a.m."
"Prepare and sleep well. Good luck!" Yamato said aloud and in a matter of a second, the tall man disappeared.
"…"
"That's it?" the redheaded girl exclaimed loudly.
As the Team 12 members walked home, they couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. 'Surely, there's more that a new teacher should do on the first day,' each thought.
"So, Shikamaru, how're you going to celebrate this day?" Naruto tried breaking the awkward silence as each was deep in their thoughts.
Shikamaru glanced boredly and said plainly, "Nothing."
"Seems boring. How about we go to the ramen shop—" Before he could finish his word, Kitsune put her hands on their shoulders.
"I already had made plans for when I'll get my new team. You don't have a choice, Naruto. Shizune is coming too," she said, noticing the look Naruto was giving him, knowing how awful the food that Tsunade makes is.
"You too, Shikamaru. There's something that... you should know about us," she said with a slightly embarrassed and saddened expression.
"It's already clear to me," he said, looking at Naruto. "He's the Kyūbi container," he finished plainly.
Both Naruto and Kitsune shared a look before she said, "There's a bit more to that than you'd think."
Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh, knowing that he's not going to get his well-deserved rest. 'At least I didn't get hit by Yamato in the test.'
XxX
"So, what do you think, Tenzo?" The Hokage said while smoking his long pipe. The Third seemed rather happy with the teams that he managed to assemble this time.
"I'll do my best," was all that came from the rather stoic man.
A sigh came from the Third before he asked, "Are you sure you want to take such a mission? Seems a bit rough for their first one. Usually genins do their first missions inside the village."
"We'll manage. If anything dangerous comes up, I'll take them back in an instant," Yamato exclaimed. He really wasn't a fan of D-ranked missions, so he hoped to move up a step at an instant.
"I know that they seem rather tough for genins. But they're still just fresh out of the academy," the Hokage tried reasoning, unsure himself whether he truly believes in what he says. After all, the boy was the son of maybe the biggest prodigy Konoha has ever seen.
"Don't worry, Hokage. I'll not fail you," Yamato bowed lowly and closed his eyes, waiting for the Hokage's final words.
Hiruzen let out a puff of smoke before reaffirming, "Fine. But if anything goes wrong, you'll be fully accountable for every mistake," he said in a rough voice.
"Thank you," he once again bowed, even lower than before, and went through the door.
'I shouldn't be doing your job, Minato.' He thought sadly to himself before returning to do his paperwork.
XxX
Shikamaru, upon entering, could already feel that he's going to hate this. Very much.
One of the legendary Sannin was already drunk as a kite and still continued drinking her sake. The food on the table looked like it was made by someone who hadn't cooked anything in their life. The rice was burnt, and everything else seemed to be severely undercooked.
"I can already see why you didn't want to come here," Shikamaru whispered to Naruto so that the drunk legendary Sannin, who was in the process of hugging her daughter tightly, wouldn't hear.
"Did you have to get drunk so quickly?" Kitsune grimaced, before managing to slip out of her strong arms.
Shizune also drank some sake, but she seemed just as sober as she always does. "Congratulations!" She said, before finishing the drink with the food, as it's the only way she could ever eat Tsunade's dishes.
Despite having a lot on his mind and questions about the Kyūbi, Shikamaru avoided them right now. He was never a talkative kind of guy, but he wasn't shy either. Surely, there will be a better place and time to ask him a couple of questions.
In the midst of his thoughts about his new jinchūriki teammate, Shikamaru's gaze met Kitsune's. 'Why does she, out of all of people here, look so… sad at such a time,' he thought to himself.
The redheaded girl let out a big sigh before coming near the table and looking directly at Shikamaru. "I think there's some things that I should tell you since, y'know, we're teammates and all from now on," she said, before slowly removing her hat.
Shikamaru gaped just a bit at the sight. Two fox-like ears with red fur appeared to be on the girl's head. Surely, it had to be some sort of a joke.
The girl just awkwardly smiled while brushing her hair to the right side of her head out of nervousness. She had never shown them to anyone besides close family.
"Did… did you hide it all throughout the academy?" he couldn't help but ask.
Kitsune continued to smile awkwardly before nodding. "But it seems that hiding it won't be on my top-to-do list anymore. I'll start… not wearing my hat," she said quietly while looking down.
Seeing the sad smile the girl had whenever she talked about having the fox ears, Naruto decided to do something. He quickly made his way around the table and came behind Kitsune, squatting down and going through her legs before picking her up and putting her on his own neck when he stood up.
"W-what are you doing, you idiot," she said blushing, but not really doing anything to stop him, feeling somewhat comforted by Naruto's attempts at making her happier.
"Tomorrow we'll go around the city, showing the world just how beautiful your ears are!" he said happily, smiling and looking up at Shizune's red crimson eyes, and her face which seemed to get redder and redder.
Kitsune slightly got her real self back and started lightly punching his head, saying, "Let me go, Naruto! It's embarrassing."
Seeing that she felt better, he let her down but said, "We're still going tomorrow with your ears open to the world. I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."
"Fine, just stop doing... these kinds of things," she said, still blushing and not daring to look him in the face.
Shikamaru just scratched his head and thought accidentally out loud, "It seems that it's going to be a very bothersome year."
XxX
(Next day)
As promised, Naruto did take her to the city, with no hat in sight. Kitsune's eyes kept darting everywhere, as she could feel the stares at her head.
"Why did you even want me to go out looking like this…" the girl in the red kimono mumbled.
"Celebration, of course," Naruto said, while pointing to a tall building a few blocks away.
Kitsune just gave him a look, at which Naruto grinned, "We can't go to missions unprepared, can we?"
While Kitsune could feel eyes wandering around her head, Naruto's confident walking, not looking or caring how others perceived them, made her slightly less ashamed of herself.
Finally, they made their way to what seemed to be some old equipment shop. The entire building was made from wood, which looked like it had been past its prime for years.
"As a gift, I can buy you one thing for free," Naruto kept smiling as he looked around the store.
Kitsune's eyes wandered around the various swords, which were far inferior to her own, but still worth checking out for a proper swordsman, or at least that's what she assumed.
She already had an abundance of Kunai, so the only thing she thought she could use was some Explosive Tags.
When she took one, a girl with Chinese-styled black hair buns on her head gave her a look and came closer, at which Kitsune gulped, thinking that her "ears" had tipped her off.
"Wouldn't recommend buying explosive tags here, if I had to be honest," she suggested after the girl picked some metal swords from the counter.
"Why?" Kitsune said surprised.
The girl then came closer and whispered in Kitsune's ear, "Explosive tags here suck. Last time I bought them here, they didn't even explode once I poured my chakra in them. For explosive tags, there is a better shop right across this one."
Kitsune was a bit taken aback, but she reconciled herself and said, "Thanks. I'm Kitsune, by the way."
"Ten Ten. Nice to meet you," the girl smiled and finally gave a look at her ears.
She smiled awkwardly and said, "May I ask, what is that on your head?"
Kitsune wasn't too sure how to respond, as it seemed obvious to her what it was. However, Naruto came in and saved the day for her, "It's fox-ears, Ten Ten," he said, not realizing how dumb that sounded.
"Ok," was all that came from Ten Ten upon seeing Naruto, whom she recognized since he's a known 'prankster' in Konoha.
She then quickly picked up the equipment she was searching for and bid them farewell, "See ya. Good luck on your first mission, you two!"
"How did she know that it's our first mission?" Kitsune said, giving Naruto a confused look.
He scratched his head and responded, "Don't worry too much. I think she's the student of Might Guy. I doubt she cares too much about your ears."
Kitsune grumbled, remembering the time she saw Might Guy competing with Kakashi. One over charismatic and hyperactive person in her life was more than enough.
XxX
Shizune smiled upon looking at Naruto eating his sandwiches, which he quickly finished and went to his room to pick up the Kunai he bought from the shop.
"Good luck, Naruto," Shizune said.
Naruto responded, "Thanks. Don't worry too much; I will probably come back in one piece."
The black-haired woman sighed, "I remember when it was my first mission. Everything went completely wrong from the get-go; our captain got himself injured by one of the 7 swordsmen of the mist—" when she opened her eyes in the midst of her monologue, she noticed that the boy was already gone.
Naruto was quickly passing through the streets, as he was already a bit late and getting to Konoha's gates would take a good minute or two.
Upon seeing the other Team 12 members, Naruto waved excitedly. But Kitsune seemed rather angry at him even before the mission started.
"How can you be late to your first mission? And you didn't remember saying that we would both walk here together?" The girl with long red hair grumbled.
Before Naruto could find excuses for himself, Yamato said, "I see you're all ready. I'll explain the details on the way."
Naruto sighed and looked at the Large Konoha gates. It was the first time he would actually get to see anything outside of it and see it with his own eyes.
The newly formed team left the gates of Konoha for their first C-ranked mission without wasting any more time. The expectations of each kid were different, but they all thought they would get some massive fights or something similar. But what they will actually get will be just a typical Shinobi mission.
Yamato's name is a bit confusing, as the third shouldn't know it. Nevertheless, the code name "Yamato" still could've been created by Hiruzen, but we haven't seen that in canon (That could explain the weird scene in canon when Hiruzen refers to Yamato as "Yamato," despite the fact that he wasn't called like that when Yamato was alive). Plus, I prefer "Yamato" over his other code names.
At one point, I thought of actually making their test fighting an Ostrich, but it just sounds so stupid that I can't lol. That filler episode was wild.
Unlike in canon, half of Kurama IS half. In canon, half of the Kyubi was stronger than any other bijuu... because reasons. Two-tailed Naruto is basically equal to one-tailed in canon, if you wonder how I'm gonna work with that.
Anyways, Dendras out.
