Friendly Ninetails
NOTE: So, as I'm sure you all know ,the site is having problems for weeks now, and no one is getting email notification. I was hoping to wait until that was fixed to update, but it's the end of the month and no word. So I'm just going to post now, and hope everything gets straightened out soon.
Naruto growled as he watched into the darkness of the night. Doujutsu aside, a human wouldn't be able to see anything with the new moon in the sky. But he was a Bijuu, he could see in the dark just fine.
That still didn't change the fact he couldn't see what he was fighting!
With a roar, he slashed out and felt something just brushing passed his claws. But looking at his hand, he found no evidence of that, to his frustration.
"Naruto!" Kakashi called as he and Guy ran up his back.
"I heard you coming, Sensei," Naruto acknowledge with a head tilt. "You both saw that, right?"
"Yes. It looked like a shroud of darkness, plucked from the night itself," Guy answered direly.
"Naruto, what the hell are you fighting? How did you even know it was here?" Kakashi asked, looking around with his Sharingan uncovered.
"I'll explain the how later. As for what..." Naruto trailed off.
Kakashi heard the worry in Naruto's voice and grew very, very alarmed as he scanned the area for movement. "Talk to me, Naruto."
"You can't see it either?" Naruto asked instead.
"Barely. It's under a Genjutsu, but even without that, it's camouflaged against the night sky," Kakashi answered.
"Whatever it is, it's trying to get away," Naruto explained with a growl, looking back and forth in its general direction. "I managed to drag it away from that village, but it keeps trying to slip out of the fight. But I can smell and hear you, you rattling freak!"
"Did you get a look at it before the sun went down?" Guy asked with a frown.
"..." Naruto was unnervingly quiet. "Hold on or get off."
They both braced themselves as Naruto suddenly leapt to the side, seemingly at nothing. He made no impact, but Kakashi spied where massive footprints kicked up the ground as something dodged away.
"Naruto! There, on your left!" Kakashi yelled out.
Without hesitation, he leaped forth in an attempt to grab and bite it. His claws found no purchase, but his fangs did.
His jaw snapped shut and he pulled, ripping it away with ease. Too much ease, in fact. But there was no blood, no screech of pain. Just a tearing noise and the rush in the air as something large moved away from him.
He grasped his prize and pulled it from his mouth, only to blink at what he found.
"What is that?" Guy asked with a frown.
It wasn't fur or scales or anything. It was just...blackness, like an enormous cloak of dark fabric. Only, he knew what his nose and eyes were telling him. This wasn't cloth.
It was chakra.
"...Shit," Naruto muttered as it started to dissolve in his hand.
"It's using chakra as a Genjutsu, and to cloak itself at the same time?" Kakashi realized with a frown. "And the size of that. It must be at least the size of Gamabunta."
"Bit bigger, actually," Naruto answered grimly, ears flickering at attention.
"Come on, Naruto. We can't help if you don't talk to us," Kakashi encouraged.
"Kakashi-sensei? I'm going to admit, I'm kind of panicking here," Naruto admitted freely.
That...did not bode well. "Is it another Bijuu? I've never heard of one that could hide like this," Guy remarked.
"If it's what I think it is? It's worse than a Bijuu," Naruto admitted.
"...Naruto, what the hell could be worse than a Bijuu?" Kakashi asked with a scowl.
"A zombie Bijuu."
Both ninjas froze and weren't sure how to take that.
"A zombie...Bijuu?" Guy repeated. "That sounds-"
Something large and covered in shadows barreled into Naruto, who screamed in pain as something bit into his back.
"Naruto!" Kakashi screamed as he turned around and saw the shadowy monster.
One of Naruto's tails wrapped around the enemy, but it held tight with fangs and claws, and too many of each!
"Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!" Kakashi yelled as he launched a large fireball at the hidden foe.
It made an impact, and the flames began to eat away at the shroud, the fire revealing it to them both.
"By the Sages," Guy muttered as they looked onto a horrific sight.
It was a skull. It was large, misshapen, and bare of all flesh. Vaguely canine, and through the hole of its shroud, they could see more of it: smaller heads, clawed skeletal digits of all sizes, and even just pure bones and ribs stabbing into Naruto's side, where blood was oozing out and immediately dissolving into golden chakra.
And in the sockets of its large, main head was a baleful white light that served as an eye.
"We have to get it off Naruto, now! It's eating his chakra!" Kakashi called out.
"It's what?! Oh, fuck that!" Naruto growled as two more of his tails joined in to pull off the creature.
Seeing Naruto struggling, Guy leaped forth and delivered a powerful kick to the skull. It gave no reaction to his attack, but the bones did crack.
His victory was short-lived, however, as the crack instantly healed, almost as if it had never been there at all.
"Let's try this again," Kakashi said as he performed the hand signs. "Fireball Jutsu!"
The attack went forth once more, but this time directly into the eye of the creature.
The sounds of a thousand rattling bones rang in the air, as if to imitate a scream.
"Fuck off you fucking leach!" Naruto yelled in frustration as he reached over, grasped it by the jaw, and ripped it out of his side. His anger dulled the pain as his tails kept it firmly in his grip. The long tails wrapped tighter and tighter around the shrouded monster, struggling more and more to get out as the blackness covered it once more until...
It was gone.
"How the hell?!" Naruto roared as his tails suddenly were empty. "It's...gone?"
'Did it slip out, somehow?" Guy asked in confusion, scanning the area for any sign of another attack.
"No, Naruto's right. It vanished. It's gone," Kakashi said with a frown. "Was it a summon?"
"I...doubt it," Naruto said with a wince.
"Naruto, are you alright?" Kakashi asked in concern, glancing back at the injured side of the fox.
"Yeah, yeah, just cover your eye," Naruto suggested. Kakashi barely did so in time before Naruto flared his chakra, his wounds gone in an instant. "There, good as new."
"Okay, so...Zombie Bijuu?" Kakashi repeated.
Naruto grumbled. "Look, I get it, but please understand that I'm dead serious and I am freaking out a bit here!"
Kakashi studied Naruto and realized he was being genuine. Something about this had unnerved him, and somehow it was more than just the fact a giant skeleton monster had bitten him. "We understand, Naruto, just talk to us. What happened?"
"Later. We need to go check on that village and Shizune. She's great, but if that thing showed up, nothing short of Katsuyu is going to help her," Naruto reasoned.
"He's right," Guy agreed. "Naruto, do you believe you would know if that creature attacked again?"
"I couldn't miss that rattling noise if I tried," Naruto answered, looking off to the east briefly.
"Good. The reinforcements might run into it," Kakashi said grimly as Naruto began heading back to the village that had been attacked.
Naruto could see and hear the people, now out of hiding and trying to help find the wounded. It was more morbid than fortunate, how few wounded there were. Most had died.
That said, they all started to panic a bit when Naruto made his approach. "Don't worry, the other thing is gone for now," Naruto called out casually.
To his relief, that worked to some extent.
"That thing can talk?"
"Don't worry, he attacked...whatever that monster was."
"I heard the Leaf Ninjas had a new Kyuubi as an ally, but I didn't really believe it."
"Are we sure we can trust this?"
"Should we feed him the dead as thanks?"
"No, thank you, I'm not eating the corpses," Naruto deadpanned. "Sensais? Can you go down and clear some things up before Shizune gets overwhelmed?"
Both Jonin jumped off the giant fox's back, heading down to the village speedily.
They appeared in the middle of the street, near Shizune who was attending to a half dozen injured patients lying on the ground, a crowd of villagers around them.
"Kakashi, Guy. Did you and Naruto deal with...whatever caused this?" Shizune asked, keeping her hands over a man's chest, healing chakra coating them.
"We don't think so. It vanished after Naruto got a hold of it," Kakashi answered. "Do you need anything?"
"No. Most of these injuries are simple in nature. In fact, they were all hurt by the houses being destroyed. Whatever the creature is, no one has survived an encounter with it," Shizune explained with a frown. "When you say vanished...?"
"Naruto can't sense it right now, and he noticed it from the beach," Kakashi elaborated. "Either it's gone for now, or it can hide itself completely when not on the attack."
That didn't bode well, they all knew. "They need plenty of rest and to take it easy, but they're stable," Shizune mused as her chakra faded away.
"Hey, Shizune? You mind following my tail?" Naruto asked suddenly, his long limb reaching out into the village and pointing towards a specific building.
"Huh? Um, sure, Naruto," Shizune accepted as she looked at Kakashi in confusion.
"It's probably important. We'll talk to the villagers," Kakashi assured, nodding towards the tail overhead.
Shizune nodded and took off in a run. People looked up at the golden tail in awe and wonder, with a respectful amount of fear. It was obvious that if Naruto wanted, he could crush the village with just that one tail.
Shizune frowned as she reached the tip of Naruto's tail and heard the cries of a baby echoing through the night. She found the house and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she opened the door.
"Hello? Is anyone home? Is everyone alright?" Shizune called in.
"Second floor," Naruto called out before sniffing. "You might want to hurry."
Following his advice, Shizune headed up, following the cries of the baby until she reached a door. Opening it without another thought, she found a blue nursery room, and the crying baby standing in a crib while sobbing soundly for all that would hear.
Shizune only looked briefly at the infant, seeing they were physically alright, before rushing to the body on the floor.
A young woman, the mother presumably, collapsed and unconscious. Shizune checked her over and grimaced. "Dammit, she's had a heart attack," Shizune realized, deducing it mused have been caused by the fear and stress of the monster attack.
Naruto took a deep breath as he tried not to linger on that…or on the smell of blood in the air.
What had even happened? The creature had been looming over the village and had destroyed a few houses, but Naruto hadn't made out how it was killing exactly. He just heard the screams, the rattling, and the flesh tearing, and-
Yeah, he wasn't going to dwell on that either.
He wondered how things were going back in Konoha.
Meanwhile
Sakura paced back and forth, biting her thumb while atop the Hokage Monument.
The village was on high alert. No new missions were to be assigned, patrols had been doubled, and everyone was waiting to hear any news on what was going on.
"Forehead, you're going to wear a trail there," Ino commented while leaning on a tree. "They'll think Naruto was scratching on the monument."
Sakura stopped to give her a flat glare.
"Just trying to lighten the mood," Ino said, holding her hands up in surrender. "It's not like we can do much."
Sakura sighed, hating that she was right. As Genin, their only job was to remain on alert for new orders, if the situation became worse. Never mind no one knew what the situation even was.
"I'm just...worried?" Sakura said before sighing in defeat. "Who am I kidding, I'm getting scared here."
"You're not the only one," Ino assured. "Hate him or not, no one thinks it's a good day when our friendly neighborhood nine-tails is panicking."
"Yes, thank you!" Sakura said, groaning with relief now that it was said. "Naruto's a knucklehead. He's a lot more careful, but he's still the same idiot we know and love."
"We, right," Ino said with a smirk.
Sakura pointedly ignored her. "But he doesn't get scared easily, and that was before he was a Bijuu! What the hell could have freaked him out now?"
"You think I know?" Ino asked skeptically.
"No, but I don't either! And..." Sakura looked back to the village. "I don't think anyone does. And that's the problem."
"Hmm?" Ino tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"Whatever happened, happen in the north, judging by Naruto's path. He knew something was going on before we even got word of it," Sakura mused.
"And that's a bad thing?" Ino asked in confusion.
"No. Yes. Kind of," Sakura groaned. "It's not bad that he noticed, it's bad that there was something big enough happening that we weren't aware of."
Ino crossed her arms against the cool night air. "He...sounded afraid," Ino recalled with a troubled look. "And he ran straight towards it anyway."
Sakura smiled fondly. "That is Naruto. He froze up once, and then never again."
Ino chuckled. "Right, that crazy bridge mission you mentioned."
"We managed to get through that because we were a team," Sakura recalled with a distant look. "But now...I think it's a bit hard for a Bijuu to have anything like teammates."
Ino brought Sakura into a one-arm hug.
Meanwhile
"A zombie Bijuu," Shizune repeated slowly.
The trio of ninjas had moved to the top of Naruto's head and said Bijuu had traveled away from the village under the guise of moving away to investigate where the beast had been last seen.
"It was certainly big enough to be a Bijuu, and it was some manner of skeleton," Guy admitted with a troubled frown.
"It has Bijuu chakra."
Everyone started at Naruto's comment.
"Bijuu-? Naruto, are you sure? As in absolutely positive?" Kakashi asked in alarm.
"I couldn't sense the chakra at all," Guy said in agreement.
Naruto briefly flashbacked to his meeting with Saiken before answering. "Trust me, it's Bijuu chakra. I don't know if it's because I am one or something else, but I can tell," Naruto said, a rumble in his throat as he stared out into the darkness of the night. "That's why I was heading up here to begin with. I thought it was one of the others. But the closer I got, the more I knew something didn't feel right."
"An Undead Bijuu," Shizune said, sweat on her brow. "But if that is really the case, then this thing is-"
"The old Kyuubi, or some phantom of it," Kakashi said, tilting his head as he heard a strange noise. He moved over to the edge of Naruto's head, peering down to the ground below.
"What is it?" Shizune asked cautiously.
"Naruto's clawing at the ground," Kakashi answered, putting a hand on Naruto's ears. "Naruto, listen, you need to calm down."
"I'll calm down when I know everyone isn't going to turn into zombies!" Naruto retorted loudly.
Shizune and Guy winced at the outburst, but Kakashi kept his cool. "You're scared."
"Of course I am! I can't punch out a plague! That's Tsunade and Shizune's thing!" Naruto pointed out groaning, carefully rubbing his snout. "I'm sorry. Just...mildly worried about a zombie apocalypse now."
"Besides this skeleton beast, we haven't run into any zombies so far," Guy pointed out helpfully. "It might be just a single entity."
"Maybe, but I don't like how all the bodies disappeared. That thing didn't smell like it had eaten anyth-" Naruto stopped suddenly.
'Naruto?" Shizune called out, only for Naruto to suddenly turn. "What is it?!"
"It's back," Naruto answered, barring his fangs.
"Where? How close?" Guy asked as he tensed his muscles and prepared for a fight.
"Not close enough to want a rematch," Naruto answered, ears twitching. "It's going for another village. Kakashi-Sensei, Guy-Sensei! I need one of you to stay here! Pervy Sage is about five minutes away and we can't afford to wait!"
Guy nodded firmly. "I'll be able to catch up faster, I'll-"
Kakashi cut him off, placing a hand on his shoulder. "No, your Taijutsu was more effective against the bone than my attack. You go, I'll get Lord Jiraiya caught up."
Guy looked briefly surprised before nodding in understanding. "Be at ease, my rival! The Handsome Green Beast will look after your enormous and youthful student!"
Kakashi sighed as he body-flickered off Naruto's back, landing in the trees.
If he was any lesser ninja, he might have lost his balance as Naruto took off, the gust of wind and dust harsh against the trees.
He watched as Naruto sped off into the night. It was interesting, to see Naruto so worried and worked up. He wondered what part of this disturbed Naruto the most. The idea of zombies? The giant skeleton monster? Or just the possibility that this thing might be the old Kyuubi?"
He heard and felt a rumbling in the ground. Not Naruto's, this was different.
Knowing it had to be the Sannin, he sent up a kunai with a paper flashbang tag attached, hoping to get his attention.
"Now I just need to explain "zombie Bijuu" to Jiraiya."
Meanwhile
"You're sure he's not getting any closer?" Shiroyasha asked sternly.
"Positive, Gensui-sama," a grass ninja answered. "Whatever the new Kyuubi is doing, it's still in Fire Country."
"Thank you, dismissed," Shiroyasha said, waiting until he left to let out a sigh. The situation was complicated, to say the least. Placing a Jinchuriki on the border, that was one thing. It was a security measure no one would notice until someone tried to invade.
But an entire Bijuu, rushing to the edge of the country? That was alarming and it was very, very noticeable. If it was invading someplace, anyplace, Konoha wasn't being subtle about it. And that was the problem. This was too blunt, too alarming. And to stop short of the border?
Perhaps it was a power flex. Showing how fast their loyal Bijuu could cross the country, showing just how fast it could be at their doorsteps if they choose to antagonize Konoha and Fire Country.
But why now? Were they already that confident in the new Kyuubi's ability to use that vast power? Or had someone, somewhere done something very stupid that required a show of force?
Something still didn't sit right with her about all this. So, she turned to the only other person in the room. "So, what do you make of this, Karin?"
The redhead swallowed thickly from her seat in the Grass General's office. "I don't know, Gensui-Sama," Karin said with a cold sweat on her forehead.
"Then tell me what you do know," Shiroyasha said patiently.
Karin nodded absently. "It's strange. He ran up here at such... terrifying speeds. But then he stopped, and he's been flaring his chakra ever since. It's like he's fighting something, but anything like that, I should be able to sense, especially while it's fighting at least."
"In theory," Shiroyasha mused absently. "You're leaving something out, aren't you?"
Karin paused. "Scared."
"Karin, I know this new Bijuu was in your head-" Shiroyasha started, only for Karin to stand up abruptly.
"No, Ma'am, I mean he is scared!" Karin said in a harsh whisper.
Shiroyasha stared for a long moment. "The new Kyuubi, strongest of the Nine, is scared?"
Karin nodded slowly. "I thought it was another Bijuu, because what else could it be? But I don't sense anything. All I can feel is him. And he is as worried as he is angry, like...like he doesn't know what he's fighting either."
"That is...troubling, to say the least," Shiroyasha said slowly. "We need to keep an eye out for whatever is-"
Karin gasped, her entire body shaking as her eyes suddenly appeared to be unfocused and a thousand miles away.
"...Karin?" Shiroyasha asked warily.
"He's looking at me. Gensui-sama, he's looking right at me," Karin said in horror. "He...he can tell I'm sensing him. And-oh, no, please no."
Karin's terrified pleas got Shiroyasha from her seat, coming up to place her hands on Karin's shoulder. "What? Karin, talk to me, what is going on?"
Karin shook her head as she grabbed her head. "He's in my head. He's everywhere. He's mad, so mad, and he thinks it's us. Whatever it is, he thinks we did it."
"Karin! Shut him out! Stop trying to sense him!" Shiroyasha ordered.
"I can't. I can't. I can't," Karin whispered in desperate terror. "I swear, it's not us. Whatever it is, it's not us. He thinks we did something. He's angry, And He Is Looking Right At Us."
Shiroyasha increased her grip on the sensor. "Karin, can he hear me?"
Karin inhaled sharply and slowly made eye contact with her. "Yes. Yes, he can hear you. He's..." Karin swallowed thickly. "He's listening."
The smaller woman felt the hairs on her neck stand up, feeling the attention of a bijuu being focused through Karin. To use a sensor as an unwilling conduit of sorts...was this the full power of a bijuu, a living force of nature?
"Kyuubi," Shiroyasha said firmly. "Whatever this is. it wasn't us. The Grass Village has nothing to do with whatever you're fighting. This. Is. Not. Us."
For a moment, the Grass General swore she could feel the Kyuubi glaring into her soul through Karin's eyes. Then, the redhead blinked and sagged, almost collapsing into Shiroyasha's arms.
"Karin? You okay?" she asked in concern.
"Yes. No," Karin said with a sigh. "I don't... understand. How is he doing that? Or am I doing it? Why me? I already need to let people bite me to heal, why this too?!"
Shiroyasha just sighed and let her presence comfort her, knowing she had no words to do so.
Meanwhile
The monster loomed over another village, another pen of prey to seek out.
It never got a proper chance.
With a roar, Naruto came barreling onto it, latching onto it with fang and claw.
It did not scream. It did not flinch. It did not bleed.
It only rattled its bones.
End of Chapter
So, yeah, you're getting a look at what Naruto is fighting. This isn't something from canon, not really at least.
Also, to clarify the cloaking abilitiy- the monster has a gentsu-type ability to hide, but its chakra is naturally "colored" the same color as the night sky. Even if yo usee through the genutsu, noticing it would still be hard.
And we get another reminder that to the other villages and especially to Arin, Naruto has become something almost Eldritch. Whichi s funny for if they ever meet him in person, but also fitting that bijuu would come off like that. It kind of helps sees the different perspect it can have on Naruto if he is someone's ally(Konoha, Fire Country) or potential enemy(anyone that's going tto thraten his allies and friends)
Early viewing of chapters 19-20 avaliable on my pat-reon:
p a treon . com (slash) akumakami64