Author's Note: So, after the reception for the Wild Fox, I decided to think about what path I'd have Naruto go down, it was simple when I started, a berserker juggernaut who begins to understand how to throw Tsunade-level punches at an early age and rolls with it, relying on brute strength, maybe a weapon thrown in but that was the grand scale of it. After a couple of months of recollection collecting my thoughts, and reading, and decided to screw it; let's give the Samurai some love, and without further ado, I present…
The Tailed Ronin
Daiki swore in contempt, Konohagakure was a shining beacon of what ninja culture could be, hiding the ill-born secrets of chakra beneath the populace and seemingly the pinnacle of what a nation of chakra users could be. "If only they cared for Inari-sama's messengers," he sighed as he gingerly picked up yet another fox corpse, he understood that they were attacked by the Kyūbi but to actively hunt the messengers of a Kami. With a forlorn sigh, he placed the corpse on the cart, along with the others before he hefted a tarp over the bodies. He had lived here for three years and every year he was forced to do the same at the beginning and end of every October. At first, he tried to stop it and warned the people against making transgressions against the Kami, but true action was prohibited, he was sent to protect the temple of Inari, not war against the people of Konoha. As he guided his cart toward the temple, he came across a curious sight, three boys bullying a young girl, a Hyūga if his eyes served him correctly, pulling his cart to a stop he prepared himself to protect the girl and chase away the children, but he was beaten to the punch.
A young blonde runs into the fray, raising a fist and knocking down one of the boys before he raises his hands and shouts and raises his hand in extreme concentration. As he nears he sees a puff of smoke rise up and a pale doppelganger appears by the blonde, as the children prepare to attack the young hero, he acted.
"Now, what do you children think you were about to do here?" he asks, holding the hand of a boy mid-swing, " I understand that children in hidden villages must grow up faster than most, but I cannot condone this kind of behavior, run along now, your mothers must be worried," he said with false platitudes as he aimed a pointed glare at each of the children with the exclusion of the blonde and princess.
As the three children scurry away he shifts his gaze back to the two children, "Are you hurt? Do you need me to wait until your parents come to retrieve you?", he asks them, seeing a grimace on the blonde's face he withholds an internal curse, he looked to be about the right age to have lost everything the day he was born. "I apologize, where are my manners, my name is Kabe Daiki," he says with a bow before he looks towards the two young ones expectantly.
The blonde jumps up with glee," My name is Uzumaki Naruto Daiki-san!" he says with a face full of cheer before he shifts his gaze towards the young girl.
Before she can introduce herself, a Hyūga walks into the clearing and moves towards the young girl," I apologize Hinata-sa…," his eyes widen in anger as he sees the bruise on her cheek, too small for anything but a child to be at fault before he shifts his gaze towards you then Naruto. "Did you attack her?" he asks but before the boy can respond he walks towards him, glowering over him, until Daiki moves in front of Naruto, shifting the young blonde behind him in a defensive position.
"I will not claim to understand the customs of the Hyūga clan or even Konoha, but perhaps you should ask the young lady, Hinata-san, was it?" he asks, shifting his gaze from the angered man to the girl," Who had attacked her."
"You are correct…," the man pauses for a few seconds before he shakes his head, "No matter, Hinata-sama, who attacked you," he asks the young girl who looked anywhere but at him.
"A…Ano Kō-san, it…it wasn't Naruto-sun or Daiki-san," she says quietly, Daiki's ears straining to catch the words, but this Kō-san accepted her words, tensely nodding to Naruto and Daiki before he gathers Hinata and leaves without a word.
"Well, he didn't have to be so mean about it," Naruto grumbles before he looks up at you in wonder, "HEY DAIKI-SAN HOW DID YOU DO THAT THING WITH THE HAND AND THE WOOSH AND THE GRAB?", asks the blonde as he animatedly waves his hands, attempting to replicate your earlier feat.
"Well, I'd be happy to tell you over a meal Naruto-san," Daiki responds with a small smile," after all, does the young Hero not deserve a reward for his efforts in protecting the princess?", he asks with a laugh after seeing the confusion in Naruto's face over the proposal.
"THAT WOULD BE GREAT DAIKI-SAN, I KNOW A PLACE THE RAMEN KAMI HAVE BLESSED!," Naruto exclaimed with an excited glimmer.
"Ah, I apologize Naruto-san, I left my funds at the temple, but if you would permit me to leave my cart there, we can go to this, Kami-blessed, restaurant of yours," Daiki says with a boisterous laugh.
"Uhhhhh, I think, we can do that," Naruto says with a short pause, most of the words going over his head but willing to follow his new best friend if he was going to eat Ramen at the end of this.
Smiling Daiki guides Naruto over to his cart and helps him onto the old thing before he softly ordered his mare to go. After a few moments of sitting idly, looking around, behind, and everywhere his azure eyes could, Naruto could hold his tongue no longer. "Daiki-san, what's in the back? It smells horrible," he says with a laugh as he tries to break the silence.
Daiki shifted uncomfortably before he answered the boy," Those…are the messengers of Inari-Sama, foxes, for some reason the people of Konoha seek fit to attack these innocent little messengers for the crimes of the Kyūbi all those years ago." He says, a hint of a scowl beginning to form on his face before he shakes his head as he notices Naruto's discomfort. "I apologize, not quite the topic for a young boy but it's my duty as Guardian," he says with a forced grin, hopefully, that wo-.
"Who is Inari?", Naruto asks, his earlier discomfort gone as his brain processes the rest of the sentence after Daiki revealed what was under the tarp in the cart.
Daiki stares at him confused, his bushy eyebrows quirked up in surprise before he decides to educate the young boy," Inari-sama is the Kami of Farming, Industry, foxes, and much more, she ensures that the good will succeed while the wrong will suffer."
Naruto nods in faux understanding," Oh, what's a Guardian?", he asks, attempting to move past the weirdness that there was more than one Kami, he knew about his Ramen Kami Ichiraku-sama who Teuchi-Ojisan obviously named his stand after, but there were more?
Daiki, noticing the steps of his temple coming into view, almost cursed before he turned to the young blonde, "Ah sorry Naruto-san, we've arrived, give me a few minutes, and then I can explain it to you on the way to your restaurant," he offered before he guides his mare into the stable before he jumps off, and offers Naruto a hand. "I'll be right back, if you want you can go upstairs and talk to some of the monks but don't go anywhere okay? Wouldn't want to go against my word now would I?", Daiki says with a laugh before he glides up the stairs.
With a huff Naruto sits down, and looks around, the temple looked old, and cared for, but older than even those weird buildings with all those fan symbols on them. It looked boring but Daiki-San lived here so it had to be some kind of secret ninja training grounds, how else would he be so fast? Yeah, that was it, Daiki-san was a ninja! Giddy at his discovery, Naruto can barely contain himself, and once he sees Daiki, he can't hold back his excitement. "Daiki-san!," he screams as he runs towards him," You're a Ninja right?" he says, waiting to see the shock on his new friend.
Daiki takes a moment to collect his thoughts before he laughs and shakes his head, "I think I can see why you would think so but no Naruto-san, I am not a Shinobi, but you will find out when I explain what a Guardian is." He promised, ignoring the confused little blonde's expression at the correction of the words, he motioned for him to join his side. "And apologies but my brothers at the temple will care for the foxes, and hopefully prevent them from rising up in revenge," he added to shake off Naruto's bored expression.
Naruto's gait turned rushed as he almost ran to keep alongside Daiki before he stared at him with childlike innocence before he spoke with chattering teeth, "Dai-…Daiki-san…y..you have to be kidding rig…right? St…stuff like that…it doesn't happen…right?" Naruto begged more than asked in hope, his little blue eyes praying that Daiki was just joking. Laughter greeted his ears and looking at the man Naruto felt his ears grow red in embarrassment before he joined his laughter to his. "Ye…yeah, I knew you were kidding!", he exclaimed.
"I don't doubt that but…who knows in a world like this hmmmmm?", he asked rhetorically before he sighed and shook his head, "but enough about vengeful spirits, you wanted to learn what I do, right?" he added, steering away from the conversation so the young blonde wouldn't have nightmares that night.
"Yeah!", Naruto exclaimed, banishing the thought of Ghosts into the dark corners of his mind, right next to thoughts of Ramen storage and math," What is that? Is it some kinda…Sin…sinooobi?", he asked, testing the word and staring at Daiki in curiosity.
"Shinobi, Naruto-San, its pronounced Shinobi, but no, I am not a kind of Shinobi," he corrects," A Guardian is a Samurai who pledged himself to serve the Kami," he tells the young blonde.
"What's a Sam…SaMU…Samuri?" Naruto asked, confused by all the words he said but focusing on the one that sounded the most interesting.
"You…you are an interesting child, a Samurai Naruto-san, is a warrior sworn to follow the code of Bushido, we hail from clans usually, but if a great warrior is recognized for his Honor and skill a clan may adopt him," he explains, looking at the range of confusion and interest before it all fades away to happiness as the two of you arrive. Daiki presumed so, due to the pattering of feet before Naruto ran into a stall and began ordering a meal from the elderly man who worked there.
"…and I want a Miso Ramen Teuchi-Ojisan!", Naruto exclaimed before he remembered his new friend," Oh, and a…", he pauses before he stares at Daiki with confusion, "Hey Daiki-San, what do you want again, I think I forgot," he added with an awkward chuckle.
"Tonkotsu Ramen would serve me fine, Teuchi-san was it?" he added with a friendly smile before he sat down next to the hyperactive blonde. After a few minutes of eating, he glances at the blonde and quirks an eyebrow once he notices that the blonde is on his second bowl. Once he finishes his first he puts the bowl down with a satisfying thunk before he turns towards the blonde," Before we part ways, do you have any questions Naruto-San?"
Naruto scrunched up his face before he nodded, "Can you teach me to be a Samur…a Guardian?"
"Hmmmmmm, I won't say yes now," he said, wincing as he saw the blonde's face fall," but you did display Courage for charging boys bigger than you, and I won't allow that sense of Righteousness to be so easily turned away, those are two core components of Bushido after all!", he exclaimed with a grin as he saw Naruto's face begin to shine. "Come to my temple tomorrow, and we'll test the mettle of such an interesting little man."
Three Days Later
Naruto huffed in exertion, sweat pouring off him in droves as he tightly clutched the wooden instrument, huffing as he tried to follow Daiki-San's movements before he leans back with a sigh. "I don't get how writing stupid Kanji will let me be cool like you Daiki-san," he huffed as he stared at his terrible writing with a mix of shame and anger.
"If you cannot write, cannot steady your hand for something as simple as Kanji, then why would I teach you how to write with a blade?", the Guardian retorted as he wrote down what he recalled of his training before he looked up at the blonde with amusement, "Besides, if that's what you call writing then your Sensei will line up in the droves to thank me", he added, attempting to lighten the mood but instead seeing Naruto's strangely sad face, a rare expression with the blonde in his experience.
"The teachers at the academy don't really like me," Naruto grumbled, "They usually ignored me whenever I asked questions about stuff like this."
Daiki quirked his eyebrow in interest before he sat up with a huff, "That won't do, follow me, if your education suffered, then it's no wonder you failed to beat the two boys, come," Daiki says with a shake of his head, moving to a small chest in the corner of the room and removing two wooden katana that he had carved, later he would hunt down a carver or a smith so they could serve as true tools but they would do for now. He leads Naruto towards an outcropping, the monks used it to meditate but it was as good a place as any to begin teaching Naruto Kendo.
"Do what I do," he commanded the blonde as he raised the blade and held the blade upright," No tighter, not too tight, a strike would jar your little bones, lower, good, now swing," he commanded as he swung the blade and laughed as everything he had corrected returned when Naruto swung his tool. "We'll be here for a long while, I can tell," he told the annoyed blonde with a grin before he raised the blade upright and began to correct the blonde with a grin. He hadn't expected to take a student at Konoha, let alone one training to be a Shinobi, but something in his gut told him that he would take to Bushido well.
Not so Far away…
In the darkness an orb of malice sparked crimson gazed at the bars in the sewer with bored curiosity," Interesting", a deep voice rumbled before the eye closed, and the monstrosity returned to its slumber.
Author's Note: Well, I hope this was a nice little first chapter that laid down the groundwork for what I wanted to build off with this fic.