455Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto are owned by Masashi Kishimoto, and Highschool DxD is owned by Ichiei Ishibumi. Please support the official release.
Chapter 12: A Target
"...You got jacked!"
That was the first comment Matatabi voiced as soon as she met her brother Son Goku. She found him just when they had entered the city of Kyoto. It was a wonderful surprise that the first soul of the supernatural Matatabi met would be her own brother. The years had done really well on the monkey Yokai, now sporting the body of a juggernaut yet carrying the grace of a seasoned fighter.
As expected, Son Goku beamed with pride at Matatabi's rather loud comment about his stature. He even added to this by lifting up his right arm and flexing the bicep muscles that bulged to a size that could squeeze a man's head off.
"Please praise my might more," Son Goku said, continuing to flex his muscles. "The ladies sure like it."
His comment was not untrue. Even now, off to the side, there was a group of human women that were looking at Son Goku's body with hungry eyes. They were in awe at the powerful temple he proudly showed off, and some giggled with red cheeks as many fantasies filled their heads. For Matatabi, her wide-eyed stare turned to a blank look now seeing Son Goku's immense pride as she remembered.
"You ruined it," Matatabi deadpanned.
Son Goku harumphed. "Suppose not everyone can handle my awesomeness."
"Your ego is putrid," Matatabi shot back, fanning at the air.
"Oof, you wound me," Son Goku said in mock hurt. "But hey. You don't too bad yourself."
"You could say that," Matatabi agreed, fully knowing of her body's new sexual appeal. "There's also a little surprise I wanted to spring on Kurama when I get the chance."
"I shudder in fear of what it might be," Son Goku jested in fake horror.
He received a slap to the shoulder from Matatabi. It was strong enough for the Yokai to feel the sting, but not enough to be truly taken at offense.
"So, how do you suppose we find our big brother?" Asked Son Goku.
"That's easy," Matatabi said, pointing to the royal palace in the distance. "He's bound to be there for his special lady."
It was lucky timing when the pair arrived in Kyoto. As soon as they stepped into the plane where Yokai presided, they felt the lingering chakra of their elder brother in the air. They half-expected to still be in India, so it was more of a welcome surprise to discover he had come back here.
"Hmm, true," Son Goku said with a knowing grin. "C'mon. Let's see if we can get the jump on him."
Side by side, the two siblings walked through the streets of Yokai city. What made this part of Kyoto unique was the coexistence of both humans and Yokai, even if the former did not realize it. Only a small majority of humans realized who they lived in, and those included the clans under the Shinto Gods or the rare Yokai-human married couples.
They paused when they picked up the chakra signature of the youngest of their siblings. Homing in on it, they came to a back alley where an interesting scene greeted them. It was a gathering of vagrants and delinquents of the city, like ronin or street brawlers, surrounding a single spot. Despite the big crowd, there was a gap big enough for Son Goku and Matatabi to see the source of the commotion.
"C'mon, are you even trying?"
This sarcastic inquiry came from the very small form of Shukaku. Without his iconic tail and raccoon ears, he looked like a clone of Gaara with only sandy-brown hair and golden eyes. That sinister smile was what really made him recognizable to his siblings. He was sat at a small table in an arm-wrestling contest. His opponent in question was a beast of a man with monstrously bulging muscles bigger than Shukaku's head and a physique that towered over men even while he was sat down. One of his hands, big enough to grab Shukaku himself in a single grip, was locked with Shukaku's own - and failed to make the former biju's arm budge. Thick veins bulged on the limb as muscles strained to push down the smaller Yokai's hand.
For the man, he was in the struggle of his life. For Shukaku, he was having an average Tuesday in the town. Son Goku and Matatabi could see the lack of care he had in the arm wrestle in the way he was casually checking the nails on his free hand.
"'Kay, I'm bored now," Shukaku announced blandly.
With the ease of shredding wet paper, Shukaku slammed down his opponent's arm to the other side. Not only was the table they used reduced to useless splinters, but the loud crack of bone signaled how shattered the large man's wrists were. As the human cried in agony at his ruined appendage, the tanuki casually walked out of the alleyway arms in his pockets till he noticed his two siblings.
Gold eyes widened in surprise at the sight of a burly monkey and a beautiful nekoshou till a large grin spread his face. "Yo, Son Goku, Matatabi. How's it hanging? It's been way too fucking long?"
"Yeah, it has," Son Goku said, "But, uh, what was that back there?"
"Just some street thugs thinking their tough shit," Shukaku said with a wave of his hand. "But enough about me, what about you? I mean, have you seen yourself in the mirror, bro?"
Evidently, complimenting Son Goku's masculinity was a way to preen him. His concern over the earlier scene was completely forgotten as he soaked in the praise. He puffed his chest up to show his sculpted body, added by a few flexes of his pecs.
"And you," Shukaku said, turning to face Matatabi, "Damn, look at what ten years can do to a gal."
Matatabi smiled sweetly. "Why yes. In fact-"
"You got boobs!" Shukaku exclaimed as if he has witnessed a miracle. "Big boobs that I could bury my face in! Not like those back-breaking badonkers that golden vixen is sporting, but those are some serious honkers themselves!"
That smile on Matatabi's face turned frosty and an ugly tickmark bulged on her temple. She seized Shukaku by the collar of his tunic and shook him the ferocity of a woman who seemed particularly scorned.
"Is that seriously what you say to your sister after ten yours, you overgrown rodent!?" Growled Matatabi after thoroughly shaking his head.
"...I mean, it's the truth," Shukaku slurred.
Matatabi sighed and let go of the tanuki, allowing gravity to plummet his limp body on the ground till he got his bearings.
"And then there's me!" Exclaimed Shukaku, pointing fingers at himself in a dramatic fashion. "Look at me. Cursed to be a damned shrimp! I'm as small as my last jinchurriki when he still had Mommy issues!"
"I don't think you have the right to complain when you can body someone five times your size," Son Goku commented.
"Semantics!" Shukaku said. "Point is, it ain't fair that I got the literal short end of the stick while you guys get to be like that. And don't get me started on Kurama. I've seen how the ladies turn the heads his way. Fucking pretty boy."
Matatabi and Son Goku couldn't help but sweatdrop at Shukaku's rant over the one sibling he focused his rivalry on. They took it in stride as they continued their walk through the streets of Kyoto. First, they walked through the roads of the human city, where the mortals and secret Yokai-human couples were turning in for the night. When they reached the entrance, space folded as the trio was taken to the realm existing on a plane of reality slightly above the mortal world. There, the city of Yokai was bustling with activity as shops lined the streets and lanterns burned brightly held up by ropes connected to buildings.
Without the mortal world's eyes on them, the reincarnated bijuu let out their Yokai traits. From Son Goku's tailbone emerged a monkey tail covered in fur the same color as his hair, and monkey ears grew from the top of his head. Matatabi stretched her voluptuous body as she let out one of her nine tails and her pair of cat ears. Then there was Shukaku who was now sporting a long sand-colored raccoon tail as long as he was tall and an extra pair of ears resembling that of said animal on top of his head.
"So how do we find the missing part of our quartet?" Matatabi chimed.
"Oh that's easy," Shukaku answered. "By now, he should be done with his date with Yasaka. They will be at the palace or at least on their way there."
"Kurama, on a date?" Son Goku snickered. "Oh, now I've heard everything. Kurama only knows how to brood and grumble."
"Hmm," Matatabi hummed in thought. "Who knows? Perhaps nii-san got lucky and they're spending some extra spicy time for the night."
Son Goku and Shukaku looked at their sister in bewilderment. Matatabi's dirty, if off-handed, comment got the reaction she wanted when their faces cringed as their mind drew up images of that. Shukaku at the moment widened his eyes and looked at the towering palace in the distance.
"Fuck, for all we know Kurama's drowning himself in Japan's biggest bosom instead of hanging out with us!" Shukaku exclaimed.
Son Goku facepalmed. "Is that really what you focus on here?"
"C'mon, if we hurry-YEOW!"
His cry of pain was caused by Matatabi sharply yanking Shukaku's tail. Looking back at his sister, he was slightly cowed by the close-eyed stiff grin she was aiming down. Not to mention the bulging vein on top of her temple. Shukaku gulped, knowing when to cut his losses seeing that kind of expression.
"Yeah, I'll stop that now," Shukaku said meekly.
"If you two are done, let's get to finding Kurama in this maze of celebratory," Son Goku said. "Speaking of, doesn't it seem to be more festive than usual."
"Oi, don't look at me," Shukaku replied when he was the center of questioning looks. "All I know is about some high-end people and a wedding. That's all I can say; I can't stop snobby bozos and the sticks up their asses."
"A wedding, huh?" Matatabi commented. "That's sort of what brought (forced) me here from my home. It's a good time for a vacation because of an upcoming wedding. They never did say whose wedding it is, but it would have to be someone very high up on the social ladder to get everyone this excited."
"Maybe one of the gods of this land?" Son Goku wondered.
"No, it's very improbable for deities these days to wed each other," Matatabi informed. "If they get into any relationships, they don't like to broadcast it. Anyhow, it's the reason why I'm here now. What about you, Son Goku?"
The successor to the Monkey King raised a brow. "Pardon?"
"What brings you here from Asia?" Matatabi repeated. "Shukaku doesn't need to answer since he lives here, and we're going to ask Kurama when we get to him. So why are you back here, Son Goku?"
The carefree smile on the Yokai dimmed to a flat line, and he resisted letting it become a frown. In his mind, Wukong's premonition repeated in his head of the great dark calamity that shall befall Japan soon. It was a vision where the pivotal characters were himself and his siblings that would determine this side of the world's fate. An internal debate went on in his head if he should divulge what he knew.
But before he could speak, he was interrupted by Shukaku.
"Hey, there he is!" Exclaimed Shukaku, pointing a finger ahead of them. "There's Kurama, right there! C'mon, let's go... and... oh, holy fuck..."
Worry grew in Matatabi and Son Goku at the haunting tone coming from Shukaku. Following their brother's gaze, they found a section of the street across from them that was untouched by the crowd. More accurately, the Yokai of the festival could not stand the air that permeated with a negative aura that chased them away. A familiar red haze of chakra polluted the air from the spiritual illness of dark emotions that emanated from the one being that stood in the open space.
There stood Kurama, his face shadowed by his red hair, walking through the streets with heavy footsteps. Crimson eyes glowed from the shadows of his face with turbulent emotions, none of them good. None interfered in his path and wisely stayed away in order to avoid the corrosive chakra surrounding him.
Shukaku was knocked out of his stupor by Matatabi's roughly grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. His eyes were inches away from Matatabi's heterochromatic green and yellow.
"Explain this," Matatabi demanded.
"I have no idea!" Shukaku exclaimed with a hiss. "He was fine earlier today. I don't know what could... oh..."
"'Oh?'" Matatabi repeated. "Oh, what?"
"You know that date I mentioned?" Shukaku said, getting a nod from Matatabi and Son Goku. "By looking at him, I don't think that date ended so well."
"...Huh?" Matatabi responded eloquently. "But, how would make Kurama into that? Isn't this a little overr-"
"I'mma stop you right there," Shukaku said with a serious tone. "When you think of love and Kurama, they don't fit each other in the same sentence. When you exclude us and Pops, there has only been one person that he opened up to after hating the human race for so long. Then comes Yasaka, who's become the closest thing to his heart. What I'm saying is Yasaka is the first thing Kurama has been absolutely smitten with - and he looks like he got dumped. That would be soul-crushing right there."
"Shit," groaned Son Goku. "It's unbelievable but damn. I haven't seen Kurama this worked up since Dad died."
"So what do we do?" Matatabi said.
"Let me give you the best advice ever," Shukaku, making careful steps back. "We give the guy some space. He's in a rough place right now."
"...How'd you get so introspective anyway?" Matatabi wondered, following her brother's lead.
"There are a lot of talents none of you know I have," Shukaku said. "One of them is being a people person. I'm awesome that way."
As they made their distance away from Kurama and deeper into the festival, Son Goku was troubled by his thoughts. Wukong's premonition spoke of rising darkness and him and his siblings being the pivotal players. But nothing about it didn't say that one of them was that calamity. And knowing what a Kurama going back to his darker tendencies...
Perhaps he was overthinking it, but Son Goku didn't want to think of Kurama being the cause of a dark calamity to threaten the world.
(With Kurama; Guest Wing of Yasaka's Palace)
It was hard to smile.
What memories used to make his heart lighten instead made Kurama's frown deepen. He did not know the haze of chakra he produced loosened from his control. His legs moved almost on autopilot to where he roomed in the palace. The entire way Kurama was afraid of seeing Yasaka again. He didn't want to see the tears on her face or imagine whatever hateful words would come his way due to how he messed up. More importantly, Kurama was afraid because now he wasn't sure what he would do if he saw Yasaka again. The only thing he did know was that it wouldn't be any good.
He couldn't bear to hurt her. But apparently, his presence seems to do so as well.
"Stop chasing me."
Why else would Yasaka say that?
It's why in his room right now he was packing his clothes into his satchel. By morning, he will leave Kyoto and go wherever the wind takes him. Suppose in that way he would be fulfilling Yasaka's first wish.
"Just forget about me."
Unfortunately, he couldn't do that. Kurama can never forget her, much like how he could never forget his father and Naruto. She had gone that close to his heart, perhaps even more so. But now he will never really know just how far that went. If his absence made her life better, then... it will be done.
Even when he wanted to turn a new leaf, Kurama would always be the monster that would spread misery. The Kyuubi. The strongest Bijuu. The Fox Demon.
"It's better this way," muttered Kurama, tightening the lace on his back to close it.
His senses, dulled by his turbulent emotions, could not help but detect the sheer divinity that was coming his way. Unlike looking at a mortal, sensing a god was much more intense. One didn't feel their life force, but the force of nature that was bearing down on him. He knew this signature well from the sheer heat assailing his senses and the golden brightness in his mind's eye.
His answer was proven correct when his door was blasted into cinders allowing in Shinto goddess of the sun, Amaterasu, into his room. And she looked... well, happy was obviously off the counter. Hate was also looking a little weak there too. Adding to whatever wrath Amaterasu beheld with her glowing eyes and gnashing teeth were also the flames of literal solar energy that licked off her form. From head to toe, they burned around her body with the radiance of gold with highlights of black flames that Kurama knew from his previous world.
He had a good guess why Amaterasu barged in here. She was Yasaka's mother in everything but blood. She most likely wanted vengeance for Yasaka crying back home because of him. He may as well take it...
"Why are you leaving!?" Amaterasu exclaimed.
Surprise shook through his mind, giving Kurama some clarity from his hazed mind. No, he couldn't have heard that right. Why is she mad about him leaving? Shouldn't she want him to leave after what he did?
"Yes," Kurama answered without even turning his head toward the deity. "Yasaka made it clear of that. So I'll be leaving tomorrow."
Instead of lashing out, Amaterasu threw her hands up onto her head. She gripped at her ebony tresses, tempted to pull at them, and started pacing around the room further confusing Kurama.
"Yasaka, you adorable idiot, he's your ticket out of this mess," Amaterasu murmured before speaking to Kurama with more composure. "Kurama, please, you can't leave."
Now Kurama was getting irritated. "Excuse me? What makes you think that I am going to stay?"
"Dammit," cursed Amaterasu. "This is all a huge misunderstanding. Please, you have to stay. You have to-"
"I have to what!?" Kurama interrupted, red chakra shimmering around his body. "Stay in a city where am not wanted anymore!? No thanks, I'm done. You can say that I'll be living up to Yasaka's wishes since my presence here seems to upset her."
"You're wrong!" Amaterasu exclaimed. "Yasaka doesn't want you to leave. If the world were fair, she would want you to be at her side for all of eternity."
Kurama did not respond, instead staying silent. His eyes were downcast to his packed bag ready to head off on the road. The cloth strained under his fingers clenching till the knuckles turned white.
"Dammit, Yasaka you had your chance to tell him!" Amaterasu hissed before taking in a breath to steady herself. "Kurama, Yasaka loves you. Loves you more than anything in the world."
That was when Kurama's world simply stopped. Not only did he feel the hands of time seemingly freeze around him, but Kurama also believed that the world just stopped making sense. His solemn eyes were wide with unspoken emotion.
"You're lying," Kurama said lowly.
Even in the tone of his voice wasn't convinced by the words that left his own lips. And the goddess called on his bluff.
"You know I am telling the truth," Amaterasu exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger. "I've raised her since she was a babe. I know how she thinks, so I know there hasn't been a day where she never thought of you since the day you left. In every step she took in her life, Yasaka pined to have you at her side. She never stopped loving you, and it only grew through the years. Kurama, you're the most important person in her life."
"Then why?" Kurama said, his voice softer than he wanted it to be. "Why did she... push me away? Why is she crying?"
"Stop chasing me."
"Just forget about me."
"Because she feels she has no choice in the matter," Amaterasu answered and the oppressive aura of her power lessened. "Not because of this damned scheme."
"What are you not telling me?" Kurama pressed.
Amaterasu sighed. "Yasaka is trapped in a forced marriage."
"Forced!?" Kurama snarled with a dangerous edge. "Explain. Now!"
The crimson chakra around Kurama's body now started to whip out as wild as the growing rage boiling within Kurama's veins. Amaterasu felt the raw rage carried within the mystical energy like a haze that wanted to make her ill. If she were a lesser being, Amaterasu would have felt her emotions fluctuate to a darker, more vicious nature from the chakra she breathed in that was trying to infect her.
"Yes, forced!" Amaterasu said. "No matter how much they can butter up as an 'arranged marriage blessed by the kami', the fact of the matter is Yasaka has no choice in the matter. She's miserable because of this farce."
"And Yasaka get out of it herself?" Kurama accused. "What kind of stakes would strong-arm her like this?"
"Because the consequences if she doesn't go through with will threaten her people, both Yokai and mortal," Amaterasu informed. "It's a whole complicated mess of political bullshit. But to dumb it down, she's marrying one of the Himejima clan, one of the clans of Japan that make up our core supernatural forces and more importantly a powerful clan of mystic users not under my jurisdiction. Not marrying them means their abandonment in defending the people from outside forces, and I can only do so much on my own."
"Then why don't you get her out of this and strong-arm these clans to not abandon their posts?" Kurama growled in frustration at these shitty excuses coming his way. "You're a goddess for crying out loud. Strong-arming people into your service is part of your shtick."
"And here comes the crux of the matter," Amaterasu said with a hiss. "The matchmaker for this farce is caused by none other than my brother, Susanoo. He not only has the loyalty of the Himejima and other mystic clans but is also in charge of most of our military. He made it very clear to Yasaka that if she tried to back out or I tried to do so, he would take all of Japan's military power with him and wouldn't lose a wink of sleep if we were invaded and razed by another faction. He wouldn't care; he never does. It's a sort of threat I would call a bluff centuries ago, but I wouldn't risk it because of the current situation."
"The Cold War you have with the Underworld," Kurama surmised. "You show any amount of weakness, and those nobles will act on it. How did it come to be this way anyway?"
Here it was Amaterasu that cringed. She turned her head away more hesitant to say than anything else before.
"It was over a decade ago when you were just a boy," Amaterasu explained. "I was in a meeting with Serafall, trying to establish some good ties with the Underworld after having Japan isolated from the rest of the supernatural world. I thought - I hoped, that maybe it was the start of something great. A new age of cooperation. But then I felt the lives of two I considered my children suddenly snuffed out followed by an explosion of chakra I never imagined to exist. It was there I found the home belonging to those I raised since children turned to ruins caused by a rogue peerage and the only survivor being their only boy who I only held when he was a babe. Who I named Kurama."
Kurama wasn't expecting that. What happened to his birth parents in this world was a tragedy. He felt genuine anguish from the memories of his reincarnation. Yet he had no idea how the death of his parents played such a part in this Cold War. It was certainly a surprise to know that Amaterasu gave this life his original name. It almost looked too fishy to be a coincidence.
"Can you understand the rage I felt?" Amaterasu continued, her voice shaking. "The anguish that plagued my heart? They had the audacity to kill Tora and Sara and make you an orphan. They dared to spill blood on my domain when we were in the middle of diplomacy. I was done thinking straight. I was done with the murdering. So I banished the devils. I barred them away from ever taking a single footstep on Japan's soil. I practically spat in their faces and the nobles of the Underworld in their pride did not take it lightly. And now it all comes to this."
"So... it's all my fault then?" Kurama said. "If I didn't-"
"NO!" Amaterasu cried, her solar flames filling the whole room before they diminished. "No. You were never at fault on that day, despite the consequences that followed. How could it? You were just a child whose family was violently ripped away from him. If there is one at fault, it's me, Kurama. It was I who spurned the devils to threaten us this way. And it was my rivalry with my brother that he used this to create this so-called 'marriage' to take away my daughter just to spite me. It's because he'd lower himself to target those close to me just to get at me. And-"
Amaterasu stopped when she was met with the full force of chakra that had finally rumbled to the surface with Kurama just managing to keep it in this room. The wood groaned and cracked under the pressure of the other-worldly power brought on by the sheer vengeful rage that burned beneath Kurama's skin. His form was almost shrouded in crimson chakra, his eyes spun in their pinwheel pattern of the Eternal Mangekyou, his lips curled to reveal gritting sharp fangs, and his whisker marks thickened.
In his mind, it all made sense. All the despair and deep sadness he felt from Yasaka. The reason why she was so miserable. The reason she was crying when she should be laughing and smiling. He foolishly thought he was the cause of it that despair.
But now it finally made sense. All he needed was a target on the source of it all.
Susanoo.
If there was ever a name that he hated more than Uchiha, that would be it right there.
"Tell me, Amaterasu," Kurama growled, his right holding on the hilt of Muramasa, "who do I turn into a bloody smear?!"
Amaterasu didn't answer, too caught up in the power open to her. She could hardly believe it. How could any Yokai possess so much chakra and be so dense at that!? When she first felt Kurama's power firsthand, she knew it was larger than any Yokai like staring at the great ocean to the east. It was massive, but ultimately something Kurama had little finesse in control in. But now the past could hardly compare to the apex standing in front of her. Not only had that reservoir of power grown since then, but it was also under a tight lid of Kurama's will. Even the chakra she felt shimmering off Kurama's body was simply a flex to what he truly held.
'So much chakra,' Amaterasu thought in shock. 'I almost feel like I'm drowning. I never thought to see such a powerful life force. Not even from Tamamo or Inari. He...His life essence could fuel a whole world. He... He can do it! He can definitely defeat him!'
"There is only flaw to undoing Susanoo's plan and ending this farce without putting Japan in danger," Amaterasu informed with a hardened look. "In his world, Yasaka's marriage can be broken without consequence if any challenger can defeat him in combat. Not only freeing Yasaka from his clutches, but also gaining the allegiance of the military, the clans under his control, and-"
"Good!" Kurama interrupted.
"Eh?" Amaterasu stuttered at the abrupt interruption. "But there is still-"
"Don't know, don't care!" Kurama exclaimed. "If beating this bastard means Yasaka can truly smile, enough said. My only question is when is this 'wedding.'"
"Tomorrow morning," Amaterasu answered. "But I think there's-"
The goddess suddenly found herself pushed out of the room and into the hall. Before she could enter back in, Kurama made a single handsign and a wall of wood grew to replace the door. Amaterasu was tempted to blast the wall but stayed her hand.
"No, I think I'll leave that tidbit as a surprise," Amaterasu said, disappearing in a flash of light.
In his room, Kurama sat on the ground in a meditative position. Muramasa was rested on his lap and he took controlled breaths. Soon, he attained his calm and his chakra was put on tight lid. He looked down to his blade and unsheathed an inch of the steel.
Kurama smirked. "Looks like you'll get your taste of a god's blood."
Muramasa practically shivered in his lap.
Perhaps a little short. But after this will be back into the action with the Bijuu reunited. Can I also get suggestions for a firstborn son between Kurama and Yasaka?
Up next is Chapter 13.
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