A Force of Nature

By: EDelta88

Rated T for character death and safety

[Insert Disclaimer Here]

Background and Beginning Notes:

Okay, before any of you jump on me for creating yet another FemNaru story, hear me out as I actually have a legitimate reason for going FemNaru with this one. This ficlet was born from a discussion about creating the "Ultimate Mokuton" version of Naruto. Naturally (pun intended) this got me thinking about different mythologies and representations of trees and the forest. I also happened to be reading a few books on the Olympian Mythologies at the time and came across the concept of a Dryad (a female spirit that resides in trees)… after that my mind refused to let it go and the plot bunnies ran away with me.

End result the thought of "How would I make Naruto into a Dryad/Tree Spirit?" evolved into this. Where a special tree that housed some of the Shodai's power mixed with the Uzumaki chakra, Kyuubi, and some mix of intents lead to Naruto (or Kaiki, as I call her in this ficlet) being absorbed into said tree and becoming a scantily clad tree spirit with a healthy mind for mischief and an overdeveloped protective streak.

Prologue

In the middle of the Uchiha district, there is a grove, a small stand of trees, all alone, in the middle of a crossroads, and at the center of this grove there is a tree much larger than the rest.

But it is no mere tree.

Hashirama's Tree was a symbol to the Uchiha clan, a gift from the Shodai Hokage, an offering of peace. The day Konoha had been established, and the Uchiha had come to this place to build their homes, Senju Hashirama had come to Madara, his rival and the leader of the Uchiha, and given him a seedling.

"May the great tree that is Konoha grow alongside you and your clansmen," Hashirama told Madara when he asked what the little plant was for. And so, Madara planted the seedling, a mark of a friendship between the two leaders, a doomed friendship. But despite Madara's defection and tensions within the village, Konoha grew and the Uchiha with it.

For nearly a hundred years, the tree grew unopposed, the grove sprouting up around it as it watched over the Uchiha clan as it and Konoha grew to new heights.

But tragedy struck one cold October night when the Kyuubi suddenly appeared. There was no warning, no sense of impending doom or violent rampage, it simply appeared at the village walls, terrible and enraged.

Though the Yondaime was able to defeat the great demon, Konoha's defenders had been powerless against it, their sense of helplessness a wound far deeper and more enduring than any the powerful village had experienced since its conception.

For the first time in living memory, Konoha had been afraid, truly afraid.

Fear turned to anger.

Anger turned to hate.

And that hate needed direction.

A great deal of this hate was directed at a child revealed to be the living prison of the great demon that had brought Konoha to its knees and a glaring reminder of the beast itself.

Others, however, turned their wrath to the Uchiha. There were rumors that the sharingan, an Uchiha's birthright, could suppress the powers of the Tailed Beasts, even control the Kyuubi, and as these rumors about the Uchiha spread, so did the village's distrust for the once honored clan.

And Hashirama's Tree began to wilt...

Chapter 1: Darkest of Nights

It was a dark night for Konoha, dark in ways that most could scarcely imagine.

But, even as late as it was, a ninja village never truly sleeps. Even long into the night, when all is quiet and everything is consumed by shadow there are those who persist. Guards patrolling the walls and streets, agents coming in to report in the dead of night, the Hokage assigning missions, there is always someone...

Tonight was no different.

On a dark street in the sleeping Uchiha district there was one such someone, a tiny figure moving almost silently from shadow to shadow. A small child, perhaps no older than five or six.

For a brief moment, the moon's light slipped between the clouds, just barely illuminating the child so that a passerby might get a better look. She was small, gaunt even, with shocking blue eyes that continuously scanned her surroundings through her blond bangs.

Suddenly tripping over a stone, the little girl stumbled into the light of one of the street lamps revealing the full extent of her sorry state to the empty street. She was barefoot, a network of cuts and bruises covering her skin beneath her shredded clothing as a steady trickle of glittering crimson seeped between the fingers that clutched her side.

Exhausted and dizzy from blood loss, she was unable to catch her balance and her legs gave out beneath her, her free hand reaching out to steady herself as she collapsed to her knees.

Uzumaki Kaiki was dying.

She did not know why she was hated, kept unaware of the Kyuubi's presence in her body in a vain attempt to give her some semblance of a childhood, but it was not to be. Even with the Yondaime's dying wish for her to be seen as a hero, the village's hatred ran too deep. Most were content to coldly ignore her, a fate, in many ways far worse than others, but there were some in the village that took their hate further.

She had learned at an early age who to avoid these indeviduals and how to hide from them, but there were many times, times when she could not hide and her little body was not strong enough to escape, that she would be caught. Sometimes, the men in the animal masks or the ones with the red eyes would come for her, taking her tormentors away and tending her wounds. Other times, someone would stop them, yelling at the people hurting her and making them go away. Most times, they would stop after awhile, then she would be left to her misery. Eventually, she would pick herself up, crawl to a wall and get to her feet so that she could go to the nice old man that lived in the tower. She liked the old man, he'd hold her while they waited for the lady that would make her hurts stop. Later he'd feed her and tell her how brave she was and let her sleep on the comfy couch in his office.

Kaiki was no stranger to her current condition, being so close to death was disturbingly common for her. It seemed that no matter what anyone did to her, death was always just out of her reach. Either her attackers wouldn't finish the job for one reason or another or someone would come for her, sometimes even the old man would come, he could always find her.

But this time... this time was different. She was hopelessly lost, she'd run too fast and hadn't paid enough attention to where she was going when the red light had come and she'd run from the bad men. She'd gotten away, but one of the bad men had thrown a knife at her when she'd turned down one of the alleys and the bleeding wouldn't stop.

Even as she stubbornly crawled along the ground, still holding the wound that wouldn't close, she knew this time was different.

Even as she pulled herself into the trees and away from the light, she knew hiding was useless, that it wouldn't save her this time.

Even as her fingers dug into the grass and her arm trembled, she could somehow feel that the old man wouldn't find her.

Even as she collapsed among the roots of the tree that was bigger than the others, she could feel her time running out.

She was going to die.

But she wasn't sad, she didn't cry. Even if she had had the energy to spare, she never cried. It had ceased to comfort her long before she even knew her own name. What good did it do her to cry? If there was no point then why bother?

Strangely, she wasn't afraid. Many would have called her a fool, others would have called her brave, but really? What did she have to fear? Life held nothing for her, perhaps she would miss the old man but anything would be better than this.

As her eyelids became heavy and began to drift shut, Kaiki couldn't help but smile. Somehow she knew, she knew, that she was going somewhere where no one could hurt her ever again.

It was a dark night for Konoha, dark in ways that most could scarcely imagine, but in the middle of the Uchiha district, for just a second, there was a bright glow hidden deep in a grove of trees.

The next morning, Kaiki's body was gone, her trail disappearing in the middle of the grove.

And Hashirama's Tree began to grow...

Chapter 2: Genocide

"Kill them all."

The words rang loud and terrible in Itachi's mind. The final verdict handed down from the Hokage and the elders to be carried out as soon as he was capable.

He had three months to exterminate the Uchiha by any means available.

Genocide, down to the last child.

His clan's death sentence.

It was the only time Itachi had ever seen the Sandaime cry.

For three years he had sued for peace, attempting to reason with his family while he bought time with the elders, hoping he could find some way to ease his clan's misgivings and avoid disaster.

Hope...

How could he hope now? What was there to hope for? What could he accomplish in three months that he hadn't managed in three years?

He felt so lost in his morbid thoughts that he hadn't even noticed where his feet had taken him.

Now? Now, he was here, at Hashirama's tree, in the dead of night staring at it as if it held all the answers. He'd been so hopeful when the great tree had started to bloom again. He'd grown up hearing stories from his grandfather about how Hashirama's Tree had been planted, how it had stood with the Uchiha since the beginning of the village and how it seemed to be connected to their clan and to the village, growing and blooming with flowers when they prospered and wilting in times of sorrow, its leaves and petals falling to the ground as if it wept for them. His grandfather had told him that the tree did not bloom because times were hard, that it was sad for them. So when the tree had bloomed again, he'd thought it was a sign that there may yet be hope for the Uchiha, that things were getting better.

But now...

"I hoped it would never come to this," Itachi whispered to the tree. "There was a chance in the beginning. Father and the others were just discontent, talking about how they could just take over the village and all their problems would go away. Just meaningless talk over sake to get their minds off their troubles. Just a way to cope..." he rambled, as if trying to reason out where things had gone so wrong.

The grove was silent.

"If things had improved just a little..." he whispered, his voice trailing off. If the village had been even a tiniest bit more open with his family, if people had just been a little more trusting, Itachi had no doubt that none of this would have ever happened. That it all could have been avoided...

But things hadn't improved, the village and its people had remained distrustful, and the Uchiha had taken the idea more seriously, treating coup as a last resort just in case things went too far. For the longest time, that was how it had remained, a vague plan to preserve the clan should the worst come to pass.

"It wasn't even a coup in the beginning," Itachi continued, remembering the conversations he'd overheard as he started to pace infront of the tree. It had been less of a rebellion and more of an exodus. "Just a staged battle meant to distract everyone while we fled the village. We weren't even going to do anything until..."

It was so vivid in his memories. By the time Itachi had joined ANBU, the Uchiha were treating the village's distrust as a challenge. They'd begun training harder, members of the Military Police had started working longer, everyone was doing more missions, all in an effort to clear their name. Hell, it was one of the reasons Itachi had pushed himself so much farther, why he had joined ANBU. They had done anything and everything to prove popular opinion wrong.

"We were so close," Itachi lamented, remembering how the civilians and the majority of the ninja had begun to view them with respect again, perhaps even more so than before. "So close. It almost worked, but then...Kaiki-chan-" Itachi's voice broke, so lost in his grief that he didn't even notice how the tree groaned without wind to bend it. "When Kaiki-chan disappeared everything went wrong!" he cried, pulling at his hair. "We couldn't find her and because her trail vanished here-they thought-we didn't-we wouldn't-"

When all traces of the missing Jinchuuriki had ended in the Uchiha district, all their hard work had been undone. While it had earned them favor with a great many within the village, the high command and many of the ranking ninja had taken it as a sign of foul play and become even more distrustful. All their hard work, their accomplishments, all the good will that they had worked so hard to gain, evaporated overnight and any hope he'd had of finding a peaceful solution along with it.

"How dare they accuse us of killing her!" Itachi growled, his hysterics burning up in his rage as he echoed the sentiments of most of his clansmen. When people began to say that they had killed Kaiki, that the Uchiha had been responsible for her death, the clan had been incensed. They had been some of Kaiki's strongest supporters! They were not blind! They knew who her parents were! His mother had been Uzumaki Kushina's best friend! His father a trusted confidant of Namikaze Minato!How dare the people who spat on the sacrifices of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina accuse the Uchiha of betraying the will of the Fourth Hokage! How dare the village accuse them of harming a child that they had bled and died to protect!

The leaves of the tree rustled, as though stirred by Itachi's words, but Itachi was too lost within himself to notice.

"There was no going back after that," Itachi whispered as he continued to pace around the clearing like an angry cat. "It's not about the survival of the clan anymore. They'd accused us of murdering a little girl, the legacy of one of our dearest friends. For what? At trail of blood? Anyone with some gauze and a chemical to mask her scent could have taken her! Nevermind that the trail started well outside the boundaries of compound!"

Suddenly Itachi stopped his pacing, taking long, deep, breaths as he tried to regain control of himself. "Look at me, I'm spilling my guts to a tree!" Itachi laughed, hysterical once more. It was just so ridiculous! What the hell was he thinking! It was a tree!

Then he pause for a moment, staring hard at the tree that he had been speaking to.

Hashirama's Tree...

Itachi had never been religious by any stretch of the imagination but...

"Shodai-sama...anyone, if you're listening, please help me save my family," Itachi whispered, silent tears of despair sliding down his cheeks. "They aren't evil, they're just afraid. They're scared, angry... they feel like they've been backed into a corner."

If there was any time to pray, it was now.

"P-please. Sasuke...s-so many of them, they're just children," he sobbed, clutching the roots as he fell to his knees. "So many of them will pay for crimes they never committed. They're scared, they're angry, they just-we just-" he rambled, hopping that someone would hear him. "Please," he pleaded, screwing his eyes shut against the tears that were flowing freely down his cheeks. "If I don't follow my orders to kill them, someone else will, I just... I need a miracle," he whispered.

With his eyes closed in silent prayer, and alone as he was, no one ever noticed the dull glow that briefly covered the tree before him, a faint, sea green, mist that rose off its bark like smoke as the grove around him pulsed with energy.

Chapter 3: Miracle for Itachi

[a month later]

[Things haven't improved]

[Itachi makes his move to acquire mangekyo; he and Shisui have been fighting for only moments when...]

Suddenly sensing danger, the two best friends leaped apart just in time to avoid a massive root that came crashing down between them.

"What the hell?" Shisui wondered, keeping an eye on Itachi's position as he started the signs for Gokakyu no jutsu. When and how had Itachi learned to control mokuton techniques? For that matter, when had Itachi cast-

Whap!

"What the-" Shisui cried as something smacked him in the back of the head, interrupting his jutsu. 'Shit!' Shisui thought, briefly wondering why Itachi hadn't killed him with that shot as he restarted his seals.

Whap!

Again he got smacked in the back of the head. 'What the hell is Itachi-' but his entire train of thought derailed as he realized that Itachi wasn't fighting anymore. In fact, his best friend wasn't even looking at him. Instead, Itachi was frozen as he stared past him at the center of the clearing with a look of complete astonishment.

Then it clicked.

"That wasn't you!" Shisui realized.

Itachi shook his head dumbly; never taking his eyes off whatever it was that had caught his attention.

'What the hell is he...' Shisui wondered, glancing over his shoulder, making sure to keep Itachi in his peripheral vision, only for his inner monologue to trail off as he eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Holy shit..." he whispered.

Hashirama's Tree was shaking agitatedly from side to side as though caught in a violent wind... but there was no such wind to move it.

Taking a step away from the tree, Shisui's fingers instinctively sought out his kunai pouch.

Whap!

"Ow!" Shisui cried as one of the trees branches whipped out and struck his fingers.

"She's telling you not to fight idiot," a voice drawled from the base of the tree.

Glancing down, the two Uchiha's found a fox sitting on one of the larger roots as it stared back at them.

"Did you just... talk?" Shisui asked cautiously.

"No, it was the other talking fox sitting next to the suspiciously moving tree," it drawled sarcastically, rolling its eyes as its tails twitch agitatedly.

'Wait, tails?' Shisui wondered.

"You said... she?" Itachi asked hopefully, speaking for the first time.

"Yes, she, the feminine form of the pronoun indicating that the subject of the statement is of the female persuasion, oh vaunted genius," the fox deadpanned while shaking its head. "Sweet Amaterasu, I thought you blasted Uchiha were supposed to be intelligent."

'What the fuck?' Shisui wondered, briefly distracted from the strange little fox by his friend's behavior. What the hell was going on today!? First his best friend had gone crazy and tried to kill him. Then the freaking tree starts smacking him around. Next thing he knows there's a talking fox with...one...two...six...nine tails... oh lovely, thatwas going to be a fun explanation! And now his previously crazy best friend sounded like a five year old that found out he might be going to a candy store for a shopping spree after Christmas had come early. Oh! And how could he forget to mention that the fox with nine tails was saying the abusive tree was a girl!?

Then again if the tree was a girl that would make a lot of sense given his experience with the fairer sex given the predisposition to hitting him...

"What the hell is going on!?" Shisui screamed, flailing his arms hysterically as the sheer absurdity of his predicament hit him like an overfed Akamichi with an axe to grind.

"..."

"..."

"...I don't believe it, there's someone louder than the super brat," the fox muttered as though it couldn't believe what it was saying, its face a picture of what could only be the foxy equivalent of flabbergasted.

Both Uchiha would later swear that they heard a girl giggling somewhere in the clearing.

A short while later...

Knock knock...

"Enter," the old Hokage called, slightly surprised to see Itachi walk through his door at this hour.

"Hokage-sama," Itachi saluted.

"Itachi-kun," he acknowledged. "What can I do for you tonight lad?"

For a moment, Itachi said nothing. "Mission aborted, sir," he answered once he had gathered himself.

For a long moment the aged Hokage said nothing. He simple sat behind his desk, a pen hanging forgotten in his hand as he observed his subordinate for several long moments. "Would you care to repeat that?" the eldest Sarutobi prompted, setting his pen and papers aside as he gave Itachi his full and undivided attention.

"Mission aborted, sir," Itachi repeated, this time with more conviction.

"Explain," the Sandaime ordered.

"Due to… unforeseen circumstances, the Uchiha clan has ceased all talks of hostile action against Konoha. They are still unhappy with the treatment they have received but the coupe has been averted," Itachi explained somehow managing to keep his composure despite his overwhelming joy.

"What unforeseen circumstances?" the aged Hokage demanded.

"We have found Uzumaki Kaiki," Itachi replied.

Silence reigned…

Suddenly, in an act of agility that reminded Itachi why this old man was the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen crossed the room in the blink of an eye to stand in front of Itachi. "Show me. Now," he ordered, his tone brooking no argument

Chapter x: Wrath of the Great Tree

[Excerpt from the Sand/Sound Invasion]

"What the hell is going on!" cried one of the chunnin as a massive three snake appeared to the east of the village.

"We're under attack you idiot!" yelled a jounin as hundreds of ninja swept out of the woods.

"MOVE!"

CRRRAAAASH!

"Retreat into the village! Evacuate the civilians and attack them where you can!" bellowed the jounin commander as slashed a sand ninja's throat.

All along the walls, the scene was the same. A flood of enemies pouring over the walls, pressing their advantage in order to push Konoha's defenders further into the city, neither noticing the third party sweeping in from behind the invader's lines.

"...I don't believe it," whispered an old jounin, staring into the distance.

"What is it? What do you..." wondered another chunnin as he followed his superior's gaze.

"It's the Ichibi," the veteran whispered in despair. As if Orochimaru's summon wasn't enough, now they had a biju to deal with.

"Look out!" one of the chunnin called a little too late as a Sound ninja knocked the veteran to the ground, raising a kunai to end his life.

Then something amazing happened.

"Die!" the Sound ninja cried, swinging his blade downward.

Thunk.

A thick branch had sprouted from a nearby tree blocking the ninja's sword. "Wha-urk!" whatever words of surprise he had never left the Oto nin's lips as another branch came forth and wrapped itself around his throat.

Rumble...

"What the-?" the chunnin on the ground cried as branches twisted, snapping his opponent's neck.

Rumble!

"Where the fuck is going on?!" cried one of the more experienced defenders as the ground beneath their feet shuddered ominously.

RUMBLE!

Then, with a shriek of other worldly rage, the forests of Konoha exploded.

Up and down the street roots burst from the ground like spears, branches elongated wrapping around those who had come too close as entire trees swung like battering rams sweeping the invaders in into the air.

Beyond the walls the forest had become a chaos of panic and terror for those invaders that had not yet passed the tree line. It was as if the entire forest came alive around them, furious and terrible. The trees hunted them. The ground betrayed them. The shadows consumed them. There was no escape. There was no mercy.

And most terrifying of all?

Hashirama's Tree had grown to titanic size towering over the village in seconds as its roots tore themselves from the ground to ensnare the heads of Orochimaru's summon, binding it, pulling it closer until, with a mighty jerk, the summon disappeared into the ground buried alive and unable to cancel its summons.

For a brief moment, the Ichibi paused in its approach, staring as though confused as it watched the massive tree crush the giant summon.

Then a demonic, earth shattering, roar filled the air, resonating echoing for miles and chilling the bones of all who heard it as the Kyuubi no Yoko appeared, bathed in white flames as it stood defiantly between Konoha and the Ichibi no Shukaku.

For a moment the world stood still as the people of Konoha tried to fathom what was taking place around them.

"Heaven deliver us..." Temari whispered, staring in despair at the two demons towering over the forest as she hung, restrained against the trunk of a tree.

End Notes

Happy New Year everybody! Technically I was planning to post this for X-mas but I got ambushed by a family reunion so... yeah.

Anyway, Force of Nature. I foresaw most of the story revolving around romance and emotional drama seeing as I made Kaiki overpowered as hell even without her Nine Tailed Guard Fox. Way I see it she could be paired with Itachi or Sasuke but most likely Kurama... or if you want to be weird and boring, Shikamaru. But, beyond that, I got nothing... which is why I never did anything with it.

Lots of love,

Delta ;P