ALLLLRIGHTY THEN, as some might have guessed by now, yes, this is a Kurama/Naruto shared focus story. An answer to a challenge I put down for myself when realizing that I have a horrible tendency to kill off or remove Kurama for the sake of making it easier for me to write without Mr grumpy bollocks to remember. So, instead, I've delved to make him his own character. Let's see how this goes shall we?
Read the disclaimer
To say Kurama was currently regretting the act of saving this boy was an understatement; The fox in flesh trying his very best to ignore the weight of the child that had been attempting to scramble into his arms; an act that he had been unable to stop due to the third actually assisting the brat! Ugh, as soon as he found out why this happened, he was going to be sure to put a stop to it. But as for now… well, A cornered fox is dangerous. A circled one is cautious.
Around him in the large circular room that made up the Konoha council chambers stood two sets of 3 alternating rows of chairs, each one except three being occupied. And the ones that occupied glared at him with such a deep resonant hatred that it made even him take a moment to consider his position. Trapped in a body that could bleed and die, none of his strength with him, the taste of a well cooked steak on his lips and only that to fuel his actions in a body he possessed no balance with.
Yep. If he tried something, these people would kill him flat. And in a body like this… who knows if he would reform again. The Banshee had been screaming at him, pink hair flying around with tears down her cheeks; other… he assumed civilians if Kushina's memories had anything to suggest, wanted to do the same but were satisfied seeing this woman blowing out his eardrums. The clan council stared at him with hatred and contempt… he hated feeling this small.
"Miss Haruno; can you please return to your seat so we may get things underway…". The woman looked ready to turn on the aged kage too, but the hand of an anbu on her shoulder helped guide her away. The look of thanks the fox gave him was definitely one the others took notice of. "We are gathered here today on the 23rd of October; The Council of the leaf, to discuss and discover the truth behind the Kyuubi's attack on our village… our Esteemed prisoner, One Kurama Otsutsuki has given a Yamanaka expert permission to delve into the mind of his new body and prove his claims to us. If they are true, then this meeting shall concern the acts we must take upon the perpetrators… if he is lying, then it is to judge his sentencing".
The hushed whispering as to the old man's words, questions of who these perpetrators could be or what they could even do to a tailed beast; went silent as the words of the man went around in Kurama's head. Him. Sentenced. Even though he spoke the truth? Is this what Ningen law was like? Guilty until proven innocent, even after he had done all he could to protect a child that he should have wanted dead?
"Inoichi if you would please begin the mindwalk?". He heard the steps behind him, but his eyes were focused on the dog faced mask that took the kit away from him, while he questioned why he referred to the child as such, and the sudden emptiness the child's absence had left in his arms. His attention was brought to the blonde that stepped around and in front of him, towering above the chair he was forced into by other masked agents, eyes full of that same hatred and yet… also a professional curiosity. These humans were getting more confusing by the second.
"Kurama-san… Do you consent to me entering your mind and viewing your memoires". He nodded, not seeing a reason to reply verbally. "Do you understand how this procedure works?". He… shook his head, going to speak before a hand was raised. How dare they 'shush' the nine tailed fox!? "I will entering your mind via my clan's jutsu. I will need you to remain focused on what you remember of the night of your attack on our village; and please do not attempt to fake your memories or else I will be forced to cancel the mindwalk and find you guilty..". all shinobi took out a knife or two at the growl Kurama let out..
"Damned human, just get it over with already! I don't need to lie to scum like you.". with the gesture of calm from the aged kage; any outrage at the words uttered was quelled; but not removed, the air much tenser now as the Yamanaka looked down at the… what could he even call them. Man. Fox. Beast? He just sighed and raised his hands, chakra coating them as he placed them on either side of Kurama's skull and focused. For them both, the fox and the man, the world started to go dark; like sleep was beginning to take over… leaving his mind to wonder... and to dream of that night…
And that was when the screams started.
"MIND TRANSFER JUTSU!"
~{TSTS}~
His cage was shaking… his cage was cracking… the bars that bound him to this damned ball of rock and fire were finally starting to bend around him, his eyes watching that source of chakra within the host disappear and stop draining on him too…
It was a small comfort really. A small one indeed.
It was less of a comfort and more of a relief…
The fact that idiot had gone as far as to knock up his host was by far the funniest thing the fox had ever known, taking great pleasure in the stress and pain his host felt from holding him back while ejecting her cursed spawn from betwixt her legs
Even as he looked beyond her and sensed the worry, the fear, the pain in the heart of her lover, he found joy, knowing that he would be experiencing the same hell she was tenfold through guilt for putting her through this.
Oh he felt his chakra, flowing into the seal to bend the spikes back, to mend the cage but no
No
NO!
He would be free!
He pushed, and pushed, and pushed, AND PUSHED! The woman no doubt doing the same to bring her child into the world while he did the same to try and bring himself into it once more; desperation blazing at his soul as he tried so hard to break this damn seal.
Some part of him started pleading. Begging. He wanted freedom.
To taste fresh mountain springwater!
To feel and smell the rotting plant life on the air in each hungry lungful!
To taste the freshest of fruit again, to consume the meat of the wilds!
He wanted to be free!
But he felt it before he knew it… that chakra was gone. Her spawn now crying so loudly outside, it hurt his ears so, as those cries mocked him with something he wanted so badly… the freedom to feel the cold chill of an autumn night once more.
How it hurt…
How it ached….
How it….. he sensed fear.
He sensed terror
He sensed Death…
He felt his host's horror as the child's chakra was taken outside of his reach, his senses, he felt the fear of the man outside as… a voice… the child…
The child was in danger.
Her child was in danger. The seal!
Selfish, he knew, but he PUSHED!
The seal was almost broken, almost shattered, the sound of an explosion from the outside breaking in as senses became one, sense- OH GOD THE PAIN!
Was this what motherhood was like!?
The fear! The Pain! The… sadness… scared… so scared…
He pushed against the seal but he felt it then. The cold chakra, the cold essence of that man. That man.
He felt the host be jostled. He felt the seal stretch and him with it. He felt the pain of suddenly coming to be, through not his own choice but the feeling of being pulled
It felt so wrong, so painful, so… so horrible.
The senses of his host smothered him in the sensations of pain, feeling his own soul getting ripped out of him as he felt his own chakra being pulled out of the host from both him and his host twofold
The spikes that bound him bending desperately to keep him, and even with the promise of freedom, this pain….this pain
PLEASE! DON'T LET THIS MAN TAKE HIM!
…
Hopes… were for fools. He was outside. His body burned with pain he never wanted to feel again; pain of having his body rebuilt as his soul screamed to try and escape it, chakra mass forming around a sensitive core like cold water to an enamel stripped tooth.
The two spoke… he recognized the man. Uchiha. That eye, mask or not, was clear as the moon above… He turned, wanting to crush the prison that held him as; well…as the saying goes. A cornered fox… He sought to remove one of the walls to his escape, to the wildlands, to the fresh air.
But he was there. The blonde man. Saving his woman.
He wanted to run. To leave. this village had caused him so much pain, so much agony; he wanted to see his siblings again and leave but….
Red…
He saw… red
His body was no longer his.
The man that stood on his muzzle looked into his eyes with that lone singular spinning orb; twisted to look like three scythes rather than three tomoe. Indra's "gift" was being used on…
Him….
Rage….
He felt rage. The leaf village had seen fit to imprison him for something he had not held control over for so long, these damned eyes looking at him spoke of it all, how unfair it was for him to be judged for Madara's crimes. These humans did not imprison a sword a murderer used, so why was he locked up for the acts of one traitor!?
He knew these thoughts should not have been his, and he questioned why he had been turned to look at the village… why was it getting closer again. Ah. That's right. The man was right.
He had to destroy everything for what this village did to him and his siblings.
And destroy he did.
Buildings were crushed underneath him as he walked. The village getting closer as he walked, small cottages the price of his path as the man leapt off ahead. So what. It meant he could go on his own couldn't he? Enjoying the cold air that… felt so nice… the burns of the prison inside kushina forgotten for now, he felt so…so…
He…could just sleep… right here…
RAGE KILL MURDER DESTROY!
He was in the village. So may screams, so many shouts of worry as these shinobi leapt around him, throwing the elements and instruments of steel and pain at him.
It meant nothing. He was the nine tails… where he walked, the world parted.
A swing of his tails sent the fools to their deaths, a swipe of his claw broke their doll houses and toy stores.
A roar from his lungs sent chaos abound.
This was what he wanted!.. wasn't it? He fought.
He killed.
He slaughtered.
He worked his destruction to the village that destroyed his family! He-
"Kurama…".
He stopped.
He could feel this damnable haze become nothing. He was tricked! He turned, taking it all in now, he was too far away from the forests and the mountains, too far away from the freedom he craved. And below him… a newborn babe, crying, blood still upon them from the umbilical cord. His skin ached with the chains, familiar chains, dug into him…
And that smell…
Sealing ink…
His eyes widened, fear chilling him. not again! Please! He just wants to be free!
Panic set in, his claw descending faster than his mind could catch up to it, skewering the two and nearly the third… he was so close! The death god watched, he felt its cold grip… its blade, splitting him in two.
"Kurama…"
He looked up… eyes locking with a pair his heart ached to see again.
"Kurama. You have forgotten yourself… Forgotten my teachings. As have the children of this world… I expected it from them, but from you? It breaks my heart to see what you have become, how much hate you hold inside of you".
The old man's words cut at him like ice…
The old man moved his hand, and Kurama felt the knife come down… and never had he felt so weak before, crumbling as strength was stolen from him. the death god glared, watching its quarry become two in a way not wanted. Locked away. He reached out, and then
The old man moved again. He felt the rush, and then the PAIN! The sun mark of his father against his head in a form much larger than he was used to as the wound closed up in the man's body… the death god screaming as his payment was taken from him.
"You are charged to protect the carrier of Asura's will and show him the way, for he is the one who shall lead you and your siblings to freedom… or to Death. Choose Kurama… My son… for everything now lies in your hands".
…
Father..
Why…
…why for them…
…why did he not come to help them when they were prisoners…
Slumber came for the fox, unaware of the body he now dwelled in. or the ones closing in, ready to capture him…
~{TSTS}~
The two gasped down air as the connection was broken; Iniochi watching in shock as he stumbled away and gazed down at the fox- the… The one he had seen. And the way the fox stared at the child that he had been carrying earlier on, not that he could blame him with what he had seen. He stepped back walking up to the kage to speak… voice not even registered by the fox as he stared at young naruto in shock.
Asura's will… his step brother to word it simply, lived on in this ningen…
The shock of that evening had silenced his memories but now they could not have been louder. Could have been more clear to him. before him laid his last link to his father, and he had tried to kill him! The shame and disgust Kurama felt was clear… perhaps too clear.
"Kurama-san". His scarlet eyes turned slowly to the Aged kage, the man standing from his place and walking down to the tailed beast with a look of contemplation. The steps were slow, seemingly taking minutes between as he got closer and closer still, until he was mere feet away from the man. "What… am to do with you. Your claims have proven true, But you still killed so many people… two of which, willingly".
The growls Kurama let out did not intimidate the man, as anbu moved to restrain him. "Would you not do the same!? You humans, you don't understand a thing that you have done to me and my kin! We just wanted peace! And you attack us because you refuse us, Use us as weapons because you fear our power! I was merely asleep when Madara placed that wretched hold over mad and you have damned me ever since! I saw my chance for freedom and took it, can any of you say you would not have done the same!?".
The words from the beast drew the attention of the other council members in the room, all whispers of what the 'truth' could be, being silenced as they heard the voice of the monster that had been harming them mere days before. But the hokage… He saw and he recognized it. The pain of betrayal. "…Fugaku Uchiha!". The man stood to attention, looking down towards his leader.
"By the memories of this man, and the report of the Yamanaka Mindwalker Technique; we now know that the attack was orchestrated by a Rogue Sharingan bearer". Gasps and shouts of 'traitors' or similar came from the surroundings, as the look of rage upon the man's face only grew. "HOW DARE YOU INSINUTATE ONE OF MY CLAN BETRAYED THIS VILLAGE! WE BLED AND DIED OUT ON THE BATTLEFIELD LIKE ANY OTHER!".
The third nodded, a quick application of Chakra pressure silencing the rowdy civilians. "I know Fugaku. Which is why I state a rogue Sharingan bearer. We know firsthand that stolen or recovered eyes can be used; which Is why I must ask you to account for every registered sharingan owner's position, and any KIA, MIA or AWOL clan members you know of tomorrow morning. As for the fox in the room…". He slowly turned his gaze to the…. Body, of Minato.
"…Everything mentioned in this room is to be labeled an S class secret, punishable by death. We know now that young Naruto possesses Kurama-san's power, while Minato's body has housed the soul. Kurama Otsutsuki is hereby charged with 4000 counts of… Manslaughter, under new circumstances; along with two counts of second degree murder. Due to what we now know, I must find you Guilty under the evidence…".
Kurama watched as the shouts for his heard rang out, and some even started clambering over their desks to get to him before anbu put them back in their places. But he saw the glint in the old man's eye.
"HOWEVER!"
The shout silenced the room.
"I, Lord HIruzen Sarutobi of the Third Fire Shadow, recognize that we too have wronged you in the past. No more than can I blame a sword for it's wielder's actions, can we blame you for what you were forced to do… which is why instead of Execution, I find that a more fitting judgement shall be placed upon you. What is known now between yourself, I and Inoichi is to be regarded as a Triple S rank secret, and with it I shall place you on a permanent S-class mission of the highest order. Do you agree?".
Kurama just watched in silence. What could he say. No? he would be executed before the words left his lips, or imprisoned and in this body… he sighed, lowering his head.
Only to shoot it back up with eyes wide at the next sentence.
"Then I Formally Announce Kurama Otsutsuki As a ward of Konoha! Until the day he perishes in combat or from age and sickness; He is to serve the village as the guardian to our lord fourth's final living link! He will report to mandatory training and monitoring under a Jounin of my choice and shall watch over our fourth's son, Lord Naruto Namikaze, until the day of his death. only If through great action he proves himself worthy of it, shall we then absolve him of his Crimes… So be it, as said by me, The Third lord of the leaf!".
The cries of outrage and mutterings of agreement filled the room, as Kurama watched on in…confused shock.
Did
Did he just become a shinobi…?