2
A Rocky Start
In a world that lay somewhere between consciousness and total oblivion, Naruto was dreaming.
Out of the swirling water, a series of bars rose: It was a gate made of some kind of indistinguishable metal that glowed brightly even in the darkness. The bars were so wide and widely spaced that Naruto sometimes wondered if he could squeeze through them if he set his mind to it. A thin, fragile piece of paper lay between the two gates. The word 'Seal' was scrawled in black ink.
Sometimes it boggled his mind that such a meager scrap of paper was all that was needed to keep what was in the cage contained.
In the dimness of the metal chamber, it was barely visible. A massive shadow moved. It was where the darkness was thickest, and the water was blackest. There was only one thing that Naruto could make out well, and it always sent a shiver down his spine: a set of eyes as big as he was, glowing in the dark with a fiery red hue like hellfire. Fangs glistened ominously as they parted.
It was the most powerful of the biju, the Nine-Tailed Fox. Its gaping jaws flashing a bloodthirsty grin, the demon stalked through the darkness. With his ankles submerged in the water, Naruto glared at the beast with barely concealed disdain. It wasn't the first time he had faced the fox, and no matter how much he wished otherwise, he knew it wouldn't be the last either.
HEH HEH HEH… WHAT'S THE MATTER, BOY? YOU LOOK RATHER GLOOMY.
"What'd you want now?" Naruto snarled, "Seeing your face irritates me, Nine-Tails."
The fox never spoke. Its tongue never formed words, even though it moved its mouth.
It had control of the realm within Naruto's seal: all it had to do was think, and its host would understand it perfectly.
It knew each one of Naruto's thoughts, and had seen everything that he had experienced. Its words spilled upon him like acid: Naruto could feel the scorn the monster held towards his.
The fox laughed in a low, husky voice. He narrowed his eyes and taunted the boy.
Naruto instinctively covered his right cheek with his hand, noticing cold sweat trickling down. His cut burned incessantly. His eyelids began to feel heavy and so did his legs, as though they were going to buckle down against his will at any moment.
A loud thundering sound came from the fox. It could have been a dry, cold chuckle.
THAT FRIEND OF YOURS HAS A REMARKABLE TALENT WHEN IT COMES TO POISONS. It narrowed his eyes, amused at seeing his host suffering, REGARDLESS OF WHICH CELLS I RESTORE, IT CONTINUES TO DAMAGE THEM. AT THIS RATE, WE'D BOTH MEET OUR DOOM IN THE MATTER OF DAYS. BUT PERHAPS, THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE, IF YOU WERE TO REMOVE THIS SEAL… MAYBE YOU COULD SPARE YOURSELF OF SUCH A UNSIGHTLY FATE.
Naruto, however, was not going to fall for that. Having gone through many shouting matches with the Nine-Tailed Fox had taught him that any of the monster's offers would always end up with him losing his body.
"What's your game?!" Naruto snapped. "Why do you wanna take over my body so much?!"
The monster cackled a deep, low cackle: a harsh, rumbling sound rattling down the iron plating lining the walls of the seal's astral projection.
OHHH, NARUTO… I JUST WANT TO HELP MY HOST, its ghoulish grin flashed an evil glint as it broadened into what the monster must've considered its best 'public relations' smile.
Naruto didn't buy it, even for a second. That visage was straight out of a nightmare.
I HAVE SEEN YOUR STRUGGLES ALL THESE YEARS WHILE CONTAINED THROUGH THIS ACCURSED SEAL. IT WOULD BE A WASTE TO SEE YOU END SO UNCEREMONIOUSLY. NOW REMOVE THE SEAL.
"Shut up! I ain't a gullible kid anymore! If I break the seal, all you do is kill everyone you see!" Naruto hissed.
WHY SHOULD YOU CONCERN YOURSELF? It asked, YOU ARE NO LONGER IN YOUR HOME ANYWAY. THAT STRANGE GIRL RIPPED YOU OUT OF YOUR GOAL. THOSE BRATS MOCKED YOU LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS—NOTHING CHANGED—SUCH IS THE NATURE OF HUMANKIND. YOU OUGHT TO SHOW THEM ALL!
"How many times are gonna go through this? I won't give you my body!" Naruto screamed. "I don't care where the hell I am! It might not be Konoha, and I might not like that shorty, but I sure as hell won't be letting you kill innocents as you please!"
WHY ARE YOU SO STUBBORN?! The beast bellowed, irritated, shaking the iron walls again. YOU WILL DIE NICE AND SLOW, LEST YOU FIGHT IT OFF USING MY CHAKRA TO DEFEND YOURSELF, YOU MORONIC CHILD! IN A FEW DAYS, YOU WILL HAVE BECOME PATHETICALLY VULNERABLE TO THE POINT THAT ANY IDIOT WIELDING A KUNAI COULD FINISH YOU OFF IF YOU ARE TOO CARELESS.
The boy froze as the beast's raspy voice thundered through the darkness. Scorching steam, like that from a furnace, billowed from his nose as he huffed in anger. ARE YOU REALLY WILLING TO TAKE SUCH A RISK?
Naruto stared down at the beast, his eyes sharp and determined despite the dark circles under them, after a few seconds of silence.
"I'm willing to take that gamble rather than letting you roam free after what happened last time!" he exclaimed. "You are not leaving that cell."
The gargantuan claw jammed between the bars of the cage nearly sent Naruto reeling backward. However, he stood his ground.
FOOLISH BOY! It snapped. YOUR STUBBORNNESS IS OUR DOWNFALL!
"Why do you even care?" Naruto asked. "If I die, you'll just reappear somewhere else in the world."
YOU LITTLE IDIOT! THAT WRETCH MADARA STILL ROAMS THE EARTH. SHOULD I BE RESURRECTED, I WILL ONCE AGAIN BE A PRISONER OF THAT ABOMINABLE SHARINGAN OF HIS!
The boy hung his head for a moment, trying to think of a way out of this whole ordeal.
QUIT FOOLING AROUND! The fox thrashed against the bars of its jail, its patience running short. YOU SHOULD HAVE REALIZED BY NOW THAT WITHOUT ME, YOU ARE A WORTHLESS MAGGOT. YOU WILL NOT LAST WITHOUT MY POWER!
Naruto turned his back to the monster. "I'll survive, just see. And if there's a fight, I'll just power my way through, the way I've always done."
HOW? THE TOXINS ARE DISRUPTING MY CHAKRA'S HEALING ABILITIES. TO THE OTHERS, YOU'RE NOTHING—THEY CALLED YOU A PEASANT! THAT GIRL LOATHES YOU! THE ONLY THING YOU CAN TRUST—ALL YOU CAN RELY ON THE LONGER YOU STAY IN THIS ACCURSED LAND—IS ME, NOW!
As disgusted as he was, he had to concede: the fox was probably right, and he couldn't completely trust anyone in that land. The whole affair was far direr than he had imagined.
Louise had summoned him there, and the two of them were supposedly bound by that seal. But there was no guarantee that she would regard him as an equal. To add insult to injury, she didn't even address him by his proper name, instead calling him 'familiar' and 'peasant' in irate shouts.
Naruto was silent for a few seconds. He looked up as he tightened his fists.
"Thanks, but I'd rather play it safe and not trust you," Naruto said, even though he knew deep down that wasn't an actual answer.
IF YOU THINK YOU CAN THEN DO AS YOU PLEASE! The fox roared, and its hatred seemed infinite. Naruto did his best to ignored as he began to walk away.
HEED ME NOW, BOY: SOON ENOUGH, YOU WILL NEED MY POWER. AND I WILL NOT BE SO LENIENT THE NEXT TIME WE SEE EACH OTHER. GOING EASY ON EVERYONE WILL ONLY END UP GETTING YOU KILLED!
THE NEXT TIME YOU NEED MY CHAKRA, AND YOU WILL NEED IT, IT WILL COME WITH A PRICE!
Gradually, the prison began to dissolve: the water dried up and the walls thinned. The massive eyes of the Nine-Tailed Fox—still burning into him as he drifted back into the darkness—eventually died away in a spectral haze.
REMEMBER, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A PRICE.
"When hasn't there been?" Naruto muttered. The world went white.
When Naruto woke up, it was anything but a pleasant one.
His stomach was sour, and his legs felt heavy from the poison.
He was no longer outside. There was no grass around him. Beneath him, the floorboard felt remarkably smooth, something that made it rather comfortable to lay upon. As he sat up, he scanned his surroundings and determined that he was in a sort of bedroom.
Naruto went through everything that had happened in a flash and came to a ludicrous conclusion through a haze of denial, Man, what a weird nightmare. Summoned to another country by this snobby brat who kept calling me peasant and familiar, and who cares.
"Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei!" he called out. "Let's go back home!"
"Well, I'd be damned, you finally woke up."
Naruto stiffened and as he looked to the direction behind him, he instantly went blank. Standing there with her cross across her chest, was the girl from his nightmare.
"Huh? You!" Naruto remarked sourly.
As she walked past him, the petite girl lowered her arms and flashed a grumpy look at Naruto.
"I thought about it for long enough to get an ulcer, but, I've given up and decided that it's better than nothing: you're my familiar now," she said. "Consider yourself grateful."
The room seemed to be twice as big as most of the apartments in Konohagakure and was about twelve tatamis in size, which was quite large for a simple dormitory.
He had the eerie feeling that he was really far away from everything he knew, looking at the yellow plaster walls, which were decorated with intricately carved woodwork on the lower level. Luxurious furniture decorated the wall in front of him: the quality of the finely carved wood was finer than what he was used to seeing in Konoha, more polished and less rough.
To his left, next to the canopied bed—which seemed quite large and comfortable, to an almost tantalizing level—was a window with purple curtains revealing a velvety dark sky. How long had he slept?
Next to the wardrobe, there was a chest of drawers, followed by a dressing table. A small lamp, laid atop a small round table to his right, illuminated the room.
He felt a slight crunch as he leaned against the ground, then trailed his fingers through the dry, rough blades beneath his hands. As he looked down, Naruto found that he was sitting on a pile of hay.
Without hesitation, Naruto stood up and pointed at the girl. "Hey, brat! I have no idea where you took me to, but send me back, right now!"
She slammed her wardrobe shut with a thud after taking off her cloak. Listlessly, she turned around and regarded Naruto with a glare.
"What are you babbling about now? Did that punch scramble that grape-sized peasant brain of yours or something?"
Naruto pouted and headed for the door.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Louise muttered.
"I'm outta here," Naruto said tersely.
"Absolutely not." Naruto glared at her. "I spent days getting ready for the summoning and now, when I finally decide to keep you as a familiar, you suddenly decide to just leave like nothing? You are not going anywhere. I'm not getting expelled just because of your unruly ways."
At that Naruto scoffed. "Oh… so the shorty thinks she can stop me."
The girl drew what Naruto assumed was her wand, should the whole magic stuff be true, and waved it at him as if it were a sword.
"I will if necessary," she declared.
Naruto stood his ground for a few seconds before breaking into a self-assured grin.
"You can try, but you ought to know," he reached into one of his pockets inconspicuously. "I don't just quit without trying first!"
Louise was about to cast a spell, but she was blindsided when Naruto grasped a red ball made of wrapped paper.
"What are you—"
"I can pull tricks of my own y'know, little mage-chan," Naruto said. "Like this: now you see me, and now you don't!"
Then, he tossed the ball forcefully onto the floor.
BOOM! An explosion of light filled the room with a thick layer of smoke.
Louise screamed, shielding her face from the blast with her hands and coughing from the pungent gunpowder smell permeating the walls. When the smoke cleared, she was able to half-open her watery eyes and was unpleasantly surprised to discover that her familiar was missing and that the door was swinging open.
"Why do these things always happen to me?!" she whinned out.
I put that smoke bomb in my pocket just in case, he thought, that was a good call, at least.
Naruto leaned against the wall with one hand clutching his stomach under his baggy jacket, thanking his uncanny good luck yet again.
The candlelit passageway, its yellow limestone walls decorated with wood carvings, was relatively peaceful and deserted, much to his relief. So when he took a moment to collect his thoughts, he could do so in peace, just with his thoughts and away from Louise's scoldings—
The knots of pain tightened in his stomach, like needles piercing his innards.
Well, so much for peace and quietness.
"Dammit…" he hissed, a grimace twisting across his face, even as he chuckled, impressed. "No wonder Sakura-chan was expecting to kill Sasuke with this…"
As his stomach continued to churn excruciatingly, he plodded onward, hellbent on finding his way out. Rounding a corner, a pair of voices suddenly sprang from ahead, coming from somewhere in that direction.
Naruto groaned. Damn it, he was busted. In the pathetic shape he was in, he wouldn't be able to sneak away without drawing attention. There goes his chance at a lucky escape.
There were two people talking in the middle of the hallway: a boy and a girl.
The first had blond, curly hair; his uniform was a little different from the rest, almost too outlandish, with purple pants and white shoes.
The girl had long brown hair sporting blunt locks that, in a way, resembled those of Hinata. Her clothes were very similar to those worn by Louise, albeit with a brown cape.
"I'm very good at making soufflés," the girl said, her cheeks tinged slightly pink.
"I would love to try one," the boy replied pompously, as he held a rose between his fingers.
"Really?"
"Of course, Katie, I wouldn't lie to you and those beautiful eyes."
"Lord Guiche!" the girl cooed, swooned by the compliment.
"Don't know what'll make me puke first, the poison or them," Naruto whispered, frowning in disgust.
Shuffling his feet along as he propped one of his arms along the wall, Naruto did his best to ignore the couple and their cheesy antics and concentrate on his own business. He wouldn't bother them, and he hoped they wouldn't bother him in return, Gotta get to the nearest shinobi village. Once there I'll try to get in contact with Konoha.
That ought to be pretty close. There will always be shinobi villages. Even in a land as weird as this.
He didn't want to believe any of Louise's claims.
But, if all that stuff about a place called Tristain is true, why was she acting like shinobi didn't exist? He wondered. Maybe she just had a stupidly sheltered life. She sure acts like a spoiled brat. Most of the guys here act like that from the looks of it.
While looking ahead, Naruto shook his head, Whatever the case, I gotta get outta here. So long as they don't notice I'm right he—
"Isn't that the peasant Louise summoned?" Guiche asked.
Oh, great, Naruto stopped in his tracks, and after some awkward silence, he just dropped his head.
"In today's ritual, right? It caused quite the stir amongst the first years as well," Katie said, looking at Naruto's whiskers, as he turned his head around to look at them, pouting.
"I think Zero knocked him out cold," Guiche snorted derisively. "The poor thing had to carry him. Since I couldn't bear to see a lady doing such a laborious job, I stepped in and helped her carry the peasant."
"You're such a gentleman, Lord Guiche!"
"Yeah… sure, whatever," Naruto grumbled, moving forward.
"Just wait a minute."
Naruto stopped, his feet scraping against the ground. He turned and glared at the boy through weary eyes.
"What ya want?" he spat.
Guiche frowned. "A peasant putting a noble to trouble, and not a word of thanks?"
Naruto just shot him a look. He had decided he didn't like this guy and his conceited attitude. They all seemed to be from noble families and shared the same spoiled attitude as others he had met on various missions as bodyguards.
"Thanks, I guess," he said before he turned back and hummed. "Annoying jackass."
Suddenly, he was shaken into motion. Footsteps came running down the stairs.
Dammit, wasted too much time with him! Naruto looked at his legs. Don't fail me now.
Naruto picked up the pace and rushed down one of the corridors, sighing in frustration but refusing to slow down.
"He sure does fit Zero," Guiche commented.
And then, somewhat unexpectedly, Louise stepped in front of Katie and him with her cloak on again, as she paused to catch her breath. Her face was twisted with mixture of anger and exhaustion. There were traces of sweat on it.
"Oh! Louise, your familiar just passed by," the boy told him.
"Catch… him…" Louise hissed between gasps, glaring at him.
"What?"
"He ran away…"
"The familiar whom you sealed a contract with?" He struck a flamboyant pose. "Nothing less from your familiar, Louise. Logic doesn't—"
"Stop wasting time, dang it, he's running away!" she snapped at him.
Naruto pressed on, ignoring the agonized creaking of his legs with each step. Reaching the bottom floor, he paused briefly to catch his breath.
As he looked up, he immediately spotted the redhead from earlier sitting with a guy by a tall, ornate water fountain. Then straight ahead, just as he'd figured, was the exit through the large, polished metal door. His face lighted up with joy.
"All right!" he rasped.
Naruto sprinted down the hall, making a beeline for the exit, passing the couple in his wake.
"I'm outta here!"
The older student, blinked, looking at Naruto. "Isn't that the one that Louise the Zero…"
"Yeah," Kirche nodded. "The peasant familiar."
"There he is!" Louise came down the stairs with a shout. "Over there!"
"Hey, what are you all doing?" Kirche asked to Guiche.
"Oh, you have to listen to this…"
"You can all yap as much you want later when we get him!" Louise barked as she stomped past him.
Naruto rushed out into the courtyard again, grass rustling under his feet. Stars danced in the velvety firmament. Alright, I'll take a break once I'm well out of this nuthouse and then…
Without warning, he was completely paralyzed, teetering on the brink of losing his footing. Everything began to blur, the world unraveling beneath his feet. And then, the darkness threatened to consume it all completely.
Nevertheless, he snapped out of his funk, shaking his head defiantly as he struggled for breath and grasped at his chest.
No, no, no, not now…! The poison was doing a serious number on him. There was no time to waste—he had to get away from there now.
He picked up the pace again, undeterred. Even though his legs were a burning mass of liquid fire, he was not going to let them stop him.
He stopped once more, not because he was about to collapse, despite still exerting himself to the limit, but simply because he had ceased to make even the tiniest bit of progress.
Without so much as a moment's notice, Naruto was suddenly lifted high into the night sky. He was there, rocking back and forth like a small fly caught in a child's cage.
"W-WHAT KINDA JUTSU IS THIS?!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, his stomach feeling like it was in a whirlwind.
"You should give yourself, peasant!" Naruto sent Guiche a look that could kill. The young man was waving a rose around as if he were in control of the way he was levitating. "This is the second time I levitate you this day!"
"Hey! Put me down, you pompous bastard, before I cave your face in!" Naruto snapped.
"That's not a way to address to a noble, peasant," he replied smugly, "Perhaps some punishment is at hand."
The rose swung from side to side with growing force, and Naruto matched its movement.
Is this for real?! he thought in a frenzy. Actual friggin' magic?!
Kirche strode up, laughing her head off at Louise, who looked at her with pure vitriol. "A familiar who runs away from his master?!" she cackled. "Now that's something you don't see every day! It's hilarious!"
At last, Naruto was able to look up at the sky in all of its brilliance, and felt a pit of dread in his stomach.
Oh, damn… was all he could think as he saw not one, but two moons, each a different color—the smaller one pink, while the larger one blue—far up in the sky.
And with that, the world suddenly went dark again.
"Oh!" Guiche blinked. "Guess I overdid it, he passed out."
"You really did!" Louise snapped.
One of Naruto's earliest impressions of Louise de la Vallière is that, she held grudges.
That much became clear as he regained consciousness and, in between the twists and turns, felt his throat constricted by what felt like a ring-like object around it. As his vision cleared, he noticed that there was a black leather collar around his neck—the kind they put on dogs to make sure they stay in place.
It would not budge, no matter how hard he tried to wriggle it off. A clanking sound brought his attention to the bed, where he saw chains tied to one of the legs.
It must be magic, that was Naruto's immediate impression, a fact that Louise confirmed right away.
"Struggle all you want, it's useless," she approached him, and despite her small size, from the way he lay on the ground and atop the stack of hay, she almost looked like she towered over him. "I got it from my older sister. It's a Confinement Collar. They use it a lot in prisons. Only I have the key, and the chain gets stronger when you try to break it."
She turned around and made her way over to her closet. "I thought about getting rid of it, but it looks like keeping it was a good idea."
Naruto sat up, picked up a fistful of chains and pulled. The joints seemed harder to him. It was hard to say, though, given his weakened state.
"Yeah," Naruto flashed a surly glare at the petite mage. "Good idea."
Who the hell has something like this around in the first place?
Louise returned his stare, her expression was stern. "Listen, I really wanted to avoid any drastic measures, but you forced my hand with all the fuss you made down there. My bedroom will smell like lousy fireworks forever because of you!"
The peasant's childish pout as he looked away made the veins in her temples throb. Her family servants had never kept anything from her, but this boy did nothing but condescend to her as if she were an obnoxious brat—it made her temper flare.
The constant ridicule from her classmates, made worse when word of the failed summoning spread like wildfire to the others, was not enough.
To make matters worse, the way he disobeyed her made her more angry than she had ever been before!
"Listen to me, you peasant!" she stood before him, pointing her finger right at his face though the blonde boy did not budge, "I have summoned you here. The runes on your hand mean that you are my familiar spirit, which means that you obey me and only me. Get it?"
Naruto frowned and Louise bent down, snarling into his face, "I am your mistress and you're my servant!"
Naruto glared defiantly at her, straight into her eyes.
"I ain't obeying you," he snarled.
There was a moment of silence and stillness from both of them, as Louise's lamp flickered idly in the background.
The girl narrowed her eyes, looking at him closely. "What's wrong with you?"
A vein throbbed in Naruto's forehead, "Got a problem with—"
"No," she shook her head, "What is actually wrong with you?"
The peasant looked at her at a loss.
"You're incredibly pale," she commented. "Are you okay? You said something about poison earlier."
Naruto looked at the girl with a puzzled expression on his face.
She seemed strangely concerned? Considering the disparaging remarks she had just spat at him, it seemed so damn paradoxical.
The ninja decided to tell her nothing. Because he was the Child of Prophecy, he could endure many things like this and much more. He could endure anything as long as he endured the pain.
Nagato had taught him such a lesson: ninjas endure, and that's how they prevail.
"Don't worry about me…" Naruto whispered. "I'm fine, I'm just… tired…" he quietly blinked his eyes as he leaned his head against the wall, "So, so tired… it's been a long day, you know?"
Louise straightened up, raising an eyebrow. "Alright then," she walked back to her closer, as she took off her cloak again, "Just don't try anything too reckless again."
"Hey," Naruto whispered.
"I won't allow you to address to me so casually," she corrected him. "My name is Louise—Louise de la Vallière."
Naruto huffed irritably, even if she had spoken the words a bit too cutely. Don't push it…
"Louise."
"What?"
"Can you tell me more about this world?"
Louise turned around, at a loss. "What are you talking about?"
"I'd…" Naruto trailed off, wondering how could he even begin to explain the whole mess he was in, "I'd like you to tell me more about this whole mage and noble thing; I'm not really too familiar with all that stuff…"
For a moment the girl was suspicious, but in the end she shrugged her shoulders.
"I suppose it is only natural that you don't really know a lot, since you're a lowly peasant," she said, not noticing the spasm crossing one of Naruto's eyes at the remark. "Okay, I'll tell you what you need to know."
She sat at her circular table and turned her gaze to Naruto.
"So, where do we begin?"
AN: The first draft of this chapter included way too much yapping that I didn't think people would like, so I had to rework it from the ground up, which is why I took longer to upload than I had originally planned. Ideally, I'd like to update on a more or less weekly basis, hence why the chapters are rather short, think of it like the average lenght of a manga chapter.
