Friendly Ninetails
"I'm going to guess that it doesn't lay golden eggs?" Tsunade asked rhetorically.
Shizune sweat-dropped at that. "We...don't believe so, no," she answered, glancing throw the one-way mirror into an interrogation room, which had been transformed into an impromptu research room, with a goose sitting on the table, eating at some grass that had been provided for it.
"So, four hours ago, this thing came out of Naruto's nose, two or three times this side, and golden all over. It was also hard for anyone to physically hold onto if their name wasn't Might Guy or Tsunade Senju," Tsunade mused with a raised eyebrow. "And you said it...?"
"Breathed fire-like chakra when agitated," Shizune confirmed. "Two hours ago, it suddenly started to turn back into a normal goose. Well, mostly normal."
"Mostly?" Tsunade questioned idly.
"Well, this one seems to be in peak condition. By which I mean impossibly healthy and fit for being raised in the wild. And a bit more chakra than a non-sapient animal probably should have," Shizune explained in confusion. "And so far, it appears to be stable and fine. Which implies..."
Tsunade sighed as the implications ran through her mind. "Naruto can share his chakra. I heard of something like this from my Grandfather, about some brothers that got eaten by the..., well, the former Kyuubi, and got some Bijuu-chakra after being spat back out."
They both ignored the surprised grunt that echoed faintly from the distance, fully aware of who was listening to this conversation.
"This seems like a more temporary version of that," Tsunade mused. "On one hand, this is useful if Naruto can learn to share chakra with others. On the other...this happened to a goose. An everyday goose that flew up his nose."
Shizune looked a bit uneasy at that as well. "Yes, that crossed my mind as well. I hope Naruto keeps an eye on any... potential sea monsters he might make."
"Obviously!" they heard Naruto answer from the mountain, confusing many with who and what he was talking about.
"There's just one problem," Tsunade said with a troubled scowl, cupping her chin. "Naruto was on that mountain for a week, but we haven't found any mutated animals."
"Maybe they just all avoid him?" Shizune pointed out. "I mean, he is still a giant fox as far as the animals are concerned."
"Maybe," Tsunade said, unconvinced. "He's also had people crawling all over him, and nothing happened."
"That...is true," Shizune realized in confusion. "Wait, the goose was..."
"Up the nose, yes. And the brothers I mentioned were swallowed," Tsunade agreed, having already reached this conclusion. "So that...transformation only happens if something stays...inside Naruto for a prolonged time."
"...Well, fuck that then."
Everyone watched in bewilderment as their resident Bijuu suddenly sat to be laying down while halfway facing away from the village.
Kakashi found a large enough tree near Naruto's head, tilting his head at him. "There a reason you're-"
"Look, I want to see if I can learn to ignore a village staring at my back, okay?" Naruto grumbled out a lie.
Kakashi, sensing Naruto's embarrassment, decided to not press the matter. "Okay. So, how long are you staying again?"
"Eh. Probably heading back sometime tomorrow, next day at most," Naruto shrugged, holding his head up with one furred hand. "Think Sakura will be back by then?"
"Maybe. It wasn't that hard of a mission, or far away," Kakashi answered.
"I'm guessing that since I can't hear him giggling, Jiraiya is actually out working," Naruto mused.
"Believe it or not, he is a busy man even without his wonderful books," 'Kakashi mused with a giggle of his own.
Naruto rolled his eyes at that. "You're lucky you make the "always reading smut" thing somehow look cool."
"Thank you, I've been working on it for years," Kakashi returned sarcastically. "Any progress with water-walking?"
"No, not a bit. But I learned to swim a bit," Naruto explained. "Were there any other Kyuubi-powers I should try practicing?"
"Just the one you shouldn't try any time soon," Kakashi, glancing up from his novel. "Most just call it a Bijuu-Bomb."
"..." Judging by the wide eyes, Kakashi had his utmost attention.
"The Fourth based the Rasengan off it, somewhat. It's a condensed ball of the Bijuu's chakra which can destroy a massive area," Kakashi explained factually. "If you try it, you're bound to either end up blowing up your face or the entire landscape around you. Maybe both."
Naruto stared for a moment before looking back out at the horizon. "Yeah, I'll avoid that for a while."
"Sounds like a good plan," Kakashi complimented.
"I know. Shocking, isn't it?" Naruto asked in jest, sharing a chuckle with Kakashi. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, out of curiosity, is there a reason your ninja dogs aren't giant?"
"They're...a different kind of animal than most summon beasts," Kakashi started carefully. "They're actually descended from Inuzuka dogs that became more and more intelligent before splitting off. Some legends say their ancestors were Inuzuka clan members that got stuck in the form of dogs."
"Something I can bizarrely relate to," Naruto murmured in thought. "Why don't the Inuzuka have the contract then?"
"They had a...falling out with the Inuzuka Clan. Or their fellow ninja dogs. I'm not sure which," Kakashi answered thoughtfully.
Naruto blinked and shook his head. "Ninja Dog Civil War. Not a thought I'd ever think I'd have, but here we are," he said in bewilderment, his ears twitching. "Sakura's on her way."
Kakashi smiled knowingly. "Oh? And how far away can you sense her?"
"Good question," Naruto said without answering.
Meanwhile
Jiraiya furrowed his brow. Naruto was back in the village. He didn't need chakra sensing to tell that the massive spring of chakra had moved further north.
That wasn't a problem in itself, but he definitely didn't like the idea of all the spies that would be snooping around.
Which was why he was here.
At the Valley of the End.
He looked around at a number of corpses, all ninjas from Hidden Stone. No doubt here to look into anything that might have been left over by Naruto's...transformation.
Killing them would have been justified, if dubiously. Killing another village's ninjas was an easy way to provoke war, but so was snooping in on the village's secrets. And even if they didn't understand how Naruto became a Bijuu either, that was still a village secret. Normally, he'd have already removed all traces of their bodies.
The trouble was, he hadn't killed them. They had already been dealt with on arrival.
He hummed as he overlooked this place, overseen by the visages of Madara and Hashirama. The destruction from Naruto's battle with Sasuke was obvious, but not as much as the signs of Naruto becoming the Kyuubi: giant claw marks, a large chunk of the upper lip of the stone walls taken out by a tail strike, and a massive impression of Naruto's hand in the walls of the canyon.
But more than physical, was the chakra. This place was rich with the feel of Naruto's golden chakra. It was similar to what the Kyuubi's had been: heavy, all-encompassing, and almost beyond imagining. But the malice, the evil within was gone. It felt almost...warm and pleasant.
He smiled despite himself. Leave it to Naruto to manage something impossible like that.
His smile lessened and became fixed as he felt the presence, walking on the water behind him. "Well, this place seems to be popular for Jinchuriki."
He turned and saw her, a young woman with dark-tanned skin and green hair. His eyes fell quickly on the headband on her arm. "Waterfall, right. That makes you Seven."
"My name is Fu, Jiraiya of the Sannin," she greeted warily.
He nodded slowly. "I take it you killed all of these ninjas?" he asked knowingly.
"That was less me and more...her," Fu explained causally, and meaningfully.
Jiraiya frowned. "You hardly look like someone that just lost control of her Bijuu. I take it you let her?"
"She didn't want anyone...desecrating this place," Fu said with a sad look about her. "She wanted to be sure and to...pay her respects."
"Oh. I see," Jiraiya acknowledged, respectful but awkward. "Do you mind if I confirm something?"
Fu raised an eyebrow but said nothing to stop him.
"Your Bijuu? She doesn't know...how this happened, does she?" he asked curiously.
Fu sighed. "She wanted me to ask you the same thing."
A strained silence came over them.
"She sees this as his grave," Fu explained, looking down at the water. "She's so sad."
Jiraiya took a breath. "I have no interest in stepping on a woman's fresh wounds, let alone a Bijuu's. I'm only here to confirm two things: that the...First Kyuubi won't revive here, and that this place is...safe, for lack of a better term."
"She agrees," Fu said solemnly. "She...doesn't hate him, you know."
"Hmm? Him, who?" Jiraiya asked curiously.
"The Second Kyuubi."
He blinked at that admission. "That is... comforting, but I'm surprised. Why? I thought if she cared at all, she'd blame him for the Kyuubi's death," Jiraiya said skeptically.
Fu took a breath, closing her eyes...and opening them to reveal sold gold, insect-like eyes. "My brother was proud and arrogant, Human," the Nanabi spoke with Fu's mouth. "He would have never allowed his power to go to another without his consent."
Jiraiya eyed her, ever more wary now that he was speaking directly to the Bijuu. One just two tails before the Kyuubi. "So, you're seeing this as his intent?"
"He hated you humans. He hated you with all the hatred you gave him, and then a hundred times more," Nanabi said with a strained look. Jiraiya thought she might actually be crying inside. "If this had been forced on him, there would be no Kyuubi. He would have dragged his own power to the grave with his death, out of spite and pride if nothing else."
Jiraiya had no trouble believing that.
"Do your work, see what you must. Then please, leave," she requested forcefully.
He watched as the gold bled from Fu's eyes, who stumbled only slightly before righting herself. He slowly and deliberately nodded to her. "I doubt your village knows you're here. So I'll leave this out of the official report, out of respect for your grieving friend."
Fu said nothing but she felt the Nanabi's wings flutter inside her in gratitude.
Meanwhile
"Hellllo, Naruto!"
It was hard not to smile, watching Sakura call to the Bijuu as they entered the gate, waving both arms enthusiastically.
Team Kurenai gave him more subdued, but still friendly waves when the golden mountain looked over his shoulder and grinned at them.
"Why's he facing away though?" Kiba asked with morbid curiosity.
"He doesn't look embarrassed enough for it to be arousal," Shino commented bluntly.
All nine tails stiffened and Naruto raised a hand, flipping the bird rather violently.
"Do I want to know what you said?" Sakura asked, looking back at them with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't look at me, it was Shino this time," Kiba said, holding his hands in surrender.
"Way to show Team Loyalty, Kiba," Shino said evenly.
Kurenai made a small noise of amusement. "Come on, we still need to report that we had a mission success."
Sakura nodded, falling in line with Hinata, who was looking at Naruto's enormous backside with a touch of determination.
They quickly went about turning in their mission with the receptionist, as Tsuande and Shizune were currently busy. Which made most of them wonder if something had happened while they were gone. Still, Sakura didn't let that slow her down and headed up to the mountain and Naruto's looming form.
With a friend.
"Naruto, you big lug, what are you doing?" Sakura called up, not used to having him sitting up like this, or facing away from the village for that matter.
Naruto glanced at her and did a brief double take at her companion. "Hey Hinata," he greeted curiously, who smiled nervously and waved. He found her willingness to be here strange but not unwelcome. "And I think I'm a bit more than a "lug" now, Sakura."
"Yes, yes, you're a massive golden lug of fur whose shed hair could probably pay for Konoha's yearly budget," Sakura said with a wave.
"Okay, first off, I don't shed. Probably. I think it just exaporates into chakra," Naruto countered.
"You mean evaporate?" Sakura corrected with a raised eyebrow while Hinata giggled.
"Secondly, even if I did, what would I spend the money on?" Naruto pointed out dryly.
"Umm...Another beach?" Hinata offered cautiously. She ducked her head as both parties looked at her.
"That...actually isn't a bad idea," Naruto said, gazing skyward in contemplation.
"Naruto, no, you can't buy all of Fire Country's beaches," Sakura scolded. "The economy would crash without the ports."
"Would it really, if my fur was worth that much?" Naruto pointed out curiously. "And I would only try and buy the southern half of them."
"I...feel like we should drop this topic before I give you more ideas," Sakura said with a sweat-drop.
"Sakura. It's me. I'm bored with very little to do. Of course you shouldn't give me ideas!" Naruto pointed out. as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Right, so, why are you facing away from the village anyway?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Well, at first it was so I could try to ignore that orgy that ended a while ago," Naruto answered, looking over his shoulders. "Not naming names, but congrats on the happy occasion!"
Sakura and Hinata blushed crimson. "That...has to get weird after a while, knowing everyone's business," Sakura said with a head shake.
"Eh. I hear some of Hinata's family have a similar problem sometimes," Naruto mused with a shrug.
Hinata eeped as Sakura looked at her curiously. "What is he talking about?" Sakura asked curiously.
"And her clan wants to know how I know," Naruto grumbled, looking over to the Hyuuga Compound. "Shut it, you farts! You were all comparing it to me, I couldn't not pick up on it."
Hinata looked very sheepish at Sakura's curious look. "See, umm, when we start learning to use the Byakyugan? We, that is, our eyes sometimes get...stuck."
"Stuck?" Sakura repeated with a raised eyebrow.
Hinata nodded in embarrassment. "We can't turn it off. Usually, we just...run out of chakra, but sometimes...it gets stuck on the lower...levels."
"Your eyes have levels? Like the Sharingan?" Sakura asked in surprise.
"Ha! No, no, not like that," Naruto said with a chuckle.
"We, err, can control how much our sight...penetrates," Hinata answered vaguely. "But sometimes, for a bit, it gets stuck on a...lesser point than seeing the chakra network."
Sakura nodded in contemplation. "Ah...Ahhhh! Ah. You get stuck seeing everyone naked," Sakrua summarized bluntly.
Hinata buried her face in her hands.
"As funny as that sounds, that has to be insanely awkward," Naruto said in sympathy.
"To avoid risking Naruto giving more hints to the public about one of your family shames," Sakura said deliberately, choosing her words carefully. "How do you...deal with waiting for that to end?"
"Huh? Oh," Hinta looked up, her blush fading largely. "W-well, we mainly just try to focus on something interesting and not...anyone else."
"About what I do. I focus in on some sound or people I either want to listen to, or I don't think will give a damn if I heard it," Naruto said, more to himself than them. "Doesn't work that great though."
"How come?" Sakura asked curiously.
Naruto just shrugged. "Anyway, you both want to come up top and see the view?"
"Yes, please!" Hinata answered instantly, blushing when she realized what she did.
Naruto blinked, not sure what he found more interesting. Hianta's sudden enthusiasm or Sakura's encouraging grin. "We'll take a ride for two please my good-kitsune," Sakrua requested in jest.
"Oh, certainly, Madam," Naruto barked out with a grin as he reached out his hand, laying his clawed and furred hand down with the palm up. The pair of kunoichi climbed up and sat down, holding onto the strands of hair tightly. "Okay, keep your limbs in the paw and, for all future rides of the Elevator Claw, please avoid sitting underneath my claws. I can avoid stabbing people, but I can't help if you bounce into them and stab yourself."
Both watched the very sharp ends of Naruto's fingers carefully as the paw started to rise, but Naruto didn't even curl his fingers. "Huh. Guess that was a general warning for everyone that could hear," Sakura mused, finding it interesting that Naruto thought ahead like that.
Naruto lifted his claw at a steady pace but tried not to keep it too slow as he brought them up to his head. "You are now at the best view in the village, thank you for traveling Claw Naruto."
"Stop," Sakura said, snickering to herself as they both jumped off the side and onto his head properly. "We could have just climbed up here though, you know?"
"Sakura," Naruto said flatly. "I'm a mountain."
"Right," Sakura said, shaking her head as she and Hianta steadied themselves, looking out and...
"Beautiful," Hinata said softly as they looked out over the distant horizon.
They could see for dozens of miles, all the way up here. The winds rustling through the sea of trees, waves of grain flowing about. The sun sometimes gleamed off them with a beautiful shine. They could see mountains that looked so tiny in the distance, and specks in the flow of green that might be villages or towns beyond Konoha's range. They looked all around, and Sakura sound see off to the west where the blue sky turned dark and grey from a far-off storm that had not blown their way, she could even see the faintest flashes of lightning. But they were so far away, she still couldn't hear it no matter how long she listened.
She blinked as she saw Naruto's ears flick slightly. She looked back to the storm and saw another flash. She knew sound traveled just under thirteen miles a minute and she looked back, guessing the distance as at least two dozen miles, so...
Naruto's ear flicked again.
Sakura gapped but kept the revelation to herself, shaking her head in amazement at Naruto and what a bijuu was capable of.
"Umm, Naruto?' Hinata asked in concern as she looked straight up. "I hate to ask, but how often do birds...poop on you?" she asked, seeing a flock of them overhead.
Naruto snorted, finding the way Hinata said "poop" to be adorable despite it all. "Don't worry, they know better. Watch."
"Watch whhaaaat?!" Sakura said in surprise as she found her clothes blowing upwards, almost as if they were weightless.
"Narutowhatishappening?!" Hinata asked as she held her jacket down.
"Relax, just flaring some chakra," Naruto answered nonchalantly.
"Idiot! Warn us, please!" Sakura requested demandingly.
"Eh? Why? I was leaking out more chakra than that when I brought everyone home," Naruto said in confusion. "Just, you know, not all of it was going "up.""
"And you don't think that could have sent us falling off?" Sakura asked with a groan, suddenly very aware of how high up they were.
"I mean, I don't think so? But I'm pretty sure one of the ANBU would catch you if I didn't," Naruto answered.
"ANBU?" both girls said in surprise.
"Yeah, six of them," Naruto answered as he kept his gaze out on the horizon before frowning. "Sorry, eight."
Sakura blinked as she came down to Naruto's brow. "You're not...just enjoying the view, are you?"
Naruto didn't respond.
Hinata and Sakura shared curious looks before Hinata made a hand sign. "Byakyugan."
Hinata winced and strained her eyes. Looking at Naruto with these eyes was like looking at the sun. She strained her eyes, trying not to focus on him, peering out into the distance, but found that it was too much while being on Naruto like this. She deactivated her eyes, groaning as she cupped her head.
"You okay?" Sakura asked in concern.
"Careful, you wouldn't want to go blind."
Both girls looked up in alarm to see Kakashi standing behind them.
"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura greeted in shock.
"When did you get here?" Hinata asked in surprise.
"Oh, just helping some people lost on the road of life," Kakashi greeted as he rubbed the back of his head.
Sakura was about to speak when she caught sight of it, and so did Hinata.
The faint bit of blood on the shoulder of Kakashi's vest.
By the looks of things, it wasn't his blood.
Sakura glanced back out and realized that Naruto had been watching more than the horizon.
"Did we...interfere with something?" Hinata asked.
"No, no, Naruto was just keeping an eye out for some of the prisoners that escaped without being obvious about them," Kakashi explained, eye smiling at Naruto.
Naruto's eye smiled back.
"Escaped?" Sakura repeated in bewilderment.
"Oh, you didn't know? There was a jailbreak while you were gone. Naruto actually showed up in time to help catch a few, and he helped us find some more hiding out there," Kakashi explained.
"Honestly, if you two had arrived a few minutes later, I might have gone and stretched my legs," Naruto stated idly.
"Stretch his legs...?" Hinata asked in confusion.
"He means he would have gotten up and caught them for us. We asked him not to say anything directly about what we were doing," Kakashi explained with a chuckle. "Sorry to scare you both like that."
"Less scared and more...confused," Sakura admitted with wide eyes.
"W-wait, so, all this time Naruto was talking with us, he was secretly helping the ANBU track down criminals hiding in the forest?" Hinata asked with wide eyes.
"That is a nice summary, yes," Kakashi agreed.
"That is...amazing, Naruto!" Hinata said, looking at him, practically with stars in her eyes.
"I...it is?" Naruto repeated in surprise. Hinata nodded rapidly in praise. "That, well, I suppose..."
Unable to move or do anything to play it cool, he was forced to meet Hinata's look of admiration head-on.
Sakura's mouth formed an circle of surprise, slowly grinning as she watched Naruto's ears droop back shyly, turning sheepish.
"By every kami, this is adorable," Sakura whispered, giggling to herself. "Go on, Hianta! Praise him more!"
"What? But, umm, that is..." Hinata looked between Sakura's face, egging her on, and Naruto's, who looked shocked yet pleased. "Your eyes are beautiful!"
"...!" Naruto make a sound that was almost like choking as Hinata sat there with eyes wide, blushing crimson, and her body rigid in shock at what she had said.
But Sakura kept her gaze on Naruto and saw something incredible.
Proof that Bijuu could blush. Or a fox bijuu at least.
It wasn't in the cheeks but in the drooping ears.
Oh, it was hard to see at first, what with the fur inside being black, but Sakrua could perceive a small, redden glow in them.
Sakura couldn't stop grinning if she tried.
End of Chapter
Yes, the Golden Goose is kind of a chakra-cloak thing. And Fu showed up, with her own bijuu paying respects at Kurama's grave...lets be honest, he'd be happy there are humans killed on his gravesite.
And yeah, having Bijuu-level senses and height alone is a very busted assest, even if he's not actively fighting.
But Hinat is finally getting some time with Naruto, and Sakura motivated her into a weird role reversal. Naruto isn't use to being priased, and can't really try to glance away to keep his cool, with Hinata on his snout.
All of this leading to the reveal that he New Kyuubi's greatest weakness is being praised, lol.
Hope this gave you all a laugh!
Early viewing of chapters 14-15 avaliable on my pat-reon:
p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64