1,821A Foxes Tale
Chapter 2
AN: Hey folks what it do. i just wanted to take this time to thank everyone who reviewed. Now that I've done that though let's get on with this shall we.
Start Now:
It was a bright day in the Hidden Leaf Village. All around people could be seen going about their business whether they were civilian or shinobi. In the past few weeks a sense of peacefulness had descended upon the village. Though no one would admit it everyone knew this was due to the mysterious absence of the prankster prince, Uzumaki Naruto.
In the last two weeks not a single word had been heard from the legendary prankster nor had anyone seen him. Even the Sandaime Hokage was clueless as to the boys whereabouts as searching with his crystal ball had proved fruitless. Of course if he had known of exactly where the boy had gone he would not have been surprised with his crystal balls uselessness.
At the moment the boy could be found sitting in a meditative pose within the cave that hid away his home. In the two weeks he had been there he had changed greatly, though the most obvious of his changes were of course the physical. He had grown taller and his once short blonde hair had grown and was now a bright red to match his mothers. The grin that had once seemed to be permanently attached to his face was also gone, while the whisker like markings on his face had faded and become nearly invisible. As he opened his eyes it revealed his once deep blue eyes had been replaced golden orbs and if one looked his pupils could be seen slowly shifting from slits to rounded before his eyes returned to the deep blue he stood to his feet and stretched.
The greatest change as far as he was concerned however would be the sense of peacefulness that had overcome him. Suddenly he didn't feel the need to yell and be stupid just to get the attention of people that had hated him since before he could walk. Most importantly he no longer wanted or felt the need to wear the mask he had unknowingly crafted for himself as a chibi. His mask had been his greatest prank and success as no one not even the Hokage had been able to see it. For he had taken the stereotype that people placed on blondes and enhanced it to the maximum if only to keep himself safe. Now however he no longer cared if no one saw him as the oblivious blonde idiot he had portrayed himself to be.
Instead he felt the need to be his true self and now without those seals to hold him back he would be just that. He would no longer be anyone's punching bag, nor would he allow anyone to look down or talk down to him and if they didn't like it…well he had ideas on how to settle that. Smirking at the thought the boy slid a gentle caress down the hilt of the sword he carried at his side. Seeing he had everything settled he launched himself forward and out of the cave. As he passed through the waterfall and emerged on the outside he didn't even slow as he hit the water on the lake. Instead he continued running across the water as if it was the very ground before launching himself into the trees.
Umino Iruka sighed as he finally got the two banshee's known as Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura to shut up and sit down. As he did he thanked the Kami above that this was the last time he had to deal with the two of them. At the same time he prayed that their jounin sensei's had all the patience of a monk to deal with either of the two rabid fangirls. As he looked around he frowned upon finding his favorite student absent. He had been one of the first to notice the boy's absence from the village when he learned the boy had actually missed a meal at Ichiraku's.
Before he could think more on the matter however the door was opened. Iruka like everyone else turned at the sound and was surprised at the sight that greeted him. In the doorway stood a boy that stood at about five feet in height. He wore a pair of dark white pants along with a long sleeved shirt of the same color and a pair of black flat footed shoes. Over that he wore a green Chinese style over shirt with a golden swirl designed over his heart. A Hidden Leaf hitae-tae could be seen secured around his waist with a dark white cloth. Finally a sheathed sword could be seen secured to the left side of his waist tucked into the cloth of his hitae-tae.
All in all he looked like a younger Yondaime with red hair. In fact it was only upon noticing the thin whisker like markings on his face that he realized who this was.
"Glad you could join us Naruto." Said Iruka with a small smirk.
'THAT'S NARUTO.' Thought nearly all of the gathered gennin in shock.
"Sorry I've been busy, but I'll tell you about it later." Stated the red head.
At the sound of his voice several of the females began blushing heavily, several more swooned and one even fainted with a smile. Chuckling at the reaction Iruka merely motioned the boy to take a seat. As soon as the boy sat down, coincidently next to the recovering Hinata, Iruka pulled the attention back to himself by speaking up.
"Congratulations to all of you who have managed to make it this far. However the road ahead of you will only get harder. You are now gennin, the lowest of the low and as such adults. I am proud of you all for making it this far and wish you luck on the journey ahead of you. If you remember nothing else remember this, you now represent our village, the oldest and strongest of all the shinobi villages take pride in that."
As Iruka finished his speech several cheers sounded throughout the room. After they died down however Iruka was quick to speak up once more.
"Now then as tradition goes you have been divided into teams of three along with a jounin instructor. Team 1…"
From here Naruto tuned the man out listening only for the announcement of his own team.
"Team 7: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your jounin instructor is Hatake Kakashi."
"I figured as much.' Said Kushina catching her son's attention.
'How so?'
'Team 7 has been Konoha's signature squad since the villages founding. For instance the original team under the Nidaime Hokage consisted of Sarutobi Hizuren, the Sandaime, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu. Sandaime then trained the next team 7 consisting of Senju Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru who later became known as the Sannin.
From there Jiraiya took over and trained your father, Hyuga Hizashi, and Inuzuka Tsume. Then your father took over and trained Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito and Inuzuka Rin.' Explained the sealed woman much to her sons surprised.
"Iruka-sensei I don't get it didn't Naruto fail?" asked Sakura causing the red head to roll his eyes.
"No Sakura, Naruto didn't fail. His failing was staged so that we could catch a traitor. If you must know Naruto actually scored the highest on the graduation exam."
As he said this Iruka smirked at the astonished looks on the students faces. This of course was technically true as the exam had been all practical and they'd just needed to perform the three basic jutsu's. In fact if it wasn't for the Bunshin no jutsu he'd have passed then. However since Naruto managed to learn the jounin level Kage Bunshin he'd given him extra credit. The best part no one could say it wasn't fair as he'd done the same for Shino performing his Muchi Bunshin.
"Team 8: Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Your jounin instructor is Yuhi Kurenei." Said Iruka breaking Naruto from his thoughts.
'That sucks being teamed with Hinata and Kiba would have been way better than being with the teme and fangirl.' Thought the Naruto with a frown.
"Team 10: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. Your jounin instructor is Sarutobi Asuma."
'Interesting a reformation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.' Thought Naruto with a raised eyebrow.
In his two week absence his appearance hadn't been the only thing to change as he'd grown just as much mentally. With the usage of the Kage Bunshin no jutsu he'd been able to learn everything that the academy had neglected to teach him over the years. He'd also been educated on the things he hadn't been able to learn due to growing up as an unwanted orphan. Unfortunately this included being given 'the talk' the results of which left him unable to even look at his own mother without blushing. This had proved to be something that gave the woman a serious case of the giggles.
"Now then we will have a one hour recess. After this you will return here as your jounin instructors come pick you up dismissed."
With that there was chaos as the group of pre-teens began chatting excitedly and left the room.
Four hours later found the members of team seven as the only people within the room. Everyone else had been picked up within the first ten minutes. Sakura had spent the first hour pestering Sasuke while said Uchiha ignored her very existence. Since then it had been quite as the girl had begun glancing between Sasuke and the red head that was Naruto. Sasuke however had spent the entire time brooding and ignoring Sakura's existence while trying to discover how someone much less Naruto could score higher than him on the graduation exam. Naruto however had spent the time going over the things he'd been doing the last two weeks.
Flashback no Jutsu:
"Alright kit it's time to get to work. For starters I need you to make a cut along your arm, don't worry it will heal quickly. Then I'm going to give you some of my chakra and I want you to focus all of it into making these seals." Said Kushina snapping the boy out of his shocked stupor.
Before he could make a sound the needed seals popped into his head and he quickly found himself following his mother's directions creating a long cut down his forearm. Suddenly a surge of power shot through him and his hands flew threw seals at a rate they had never gone before. Upon completion of the last seal he could only watch in fascination as the blood on his forearm began to pool at his feet before bubbling and after nearly thirty seconds taking on the form of Kushina.
"You're out!"Exclaimed the blonde in surprise.
"Not really. This is merely another of the clone jutsu's. This is what I lovingly call a blood clone. It is a combination of both the earth and water clones. You see a body is made up of a combination of elements primarily earth and water. Since blood has water within it I'm able to combine the blood with the earth to create a true clone.
Now this clone is different from all others in that it is not easily dispelled. In fact the only way to take down a blood clone is to actually land a killing blow otherwise it will just keep coming. Now unlike other clones you can choose how much strong it is by how much chakra you put into it, so it can be anywhere from 10% of your true power and up. On top of this it has its own mind and a true body so anything learned by it both mental and physical transfers back to the user. As such I was able to transfer my consciousness into the clone leaving the part of me sealed within you in a sort of comatose state. " Said Kushina getting causing the boy to go into a state of awe.
"Now then I'm going to release the seal I placed on you so I want you to sit in a meditative position."
Hearing this Naruto slowly sat himself down, still in awe of his mother's jutsu explanation, before folding his legs like he'd seen others do before. Seeing this Kushina began speeding through a long chain of seals and after nearly three minutes finally stopped. As she did her chakra and Naruto's flared before a multitude of seals appeared on the boy's body before fading as cracks began to appear all over the boy even within his eyes and hair.
"Kai."
The sharp command from Kushina had an immediate affect as the cracks began to pulse rapidly as blue and red chakra began to surround the boy. Then with a final pulse and the sound of shattering glass the two chakras combined forming purple chakra and exploding outwards from the boy nearly throwing Kushina back. When the smoke cleared the sight that greeted her was enough to put a fierce blush on the woman's face.
Flash:
"Alright kit I need you to create as many clones as you can"
A second later Kushina whistled seeing five hundred Naruto's standing behind the original.
"Okay here's the deal I want two hundred in the library. One hundred of you will be reading up on everything I have placed on the first table while the second half will read what on the second table. Two hundred of you will be working on chakra control. Seventy-five of you will be working to gain control over your senses. 25 will work on sight, 25 on hearing, and 25 on smelling. The last twenty-five will serve as replacements should any of you dispel you will also create new clones if necessary. Once each of you finishes your assigned task you will dispel yourselves, the only ten at a time at most."
With that said the woman created four shadow clones herself surprising her now red headed son when there was no cloud of smoke. With the clones created she sent each of them off to their assigned task. Before her son could say a word however Kushina bit into her thumb causing it to bleed and began running through even more seals before slamming her hands to the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Totosai" exclaimed the woman before another puff of smoke covered the land.
When the smoke cleared however what the boy saw was the last thing he expected. Sitting before them was an old man he was covered in black stripped green robes. His head was nearly bald though what he had left was pulled into a tail on the back of his head leaving his pointed ears to be seen clearly. He had a short beard that reminded the former blonde of the Sandaime and a long mustache as well. Finally he held a mallet with a large handle.
"Kushina-sama is that you?" questioned the man while rapidly blinking.
"Yes old friend."
"Aren't you a sight for these old eyes." Said the man quickly standing and pulling the woman in for a hug.
"Naruto this is an old friend of mine Totosai. To-kun I'm sure you remember my son." Said Kushina causing the older man to go wide eyed in surprise.
"That's Kurama, he's gotten huge!" exclaimed Totosai.
"Kurama?" questioned the boy turning to his mother.
"It's your middle name. Your father and I didn't name you. Instead you were named by your godparents. The name Naruto was given to you by your godfather Jiraiya, who you know your father trained under. Kurama was given to you by my best friend and your godmother Yoruichi." Said Kushina getting a nod from the boy.
"So I take it the time is now." Said Totosai immediately causing Kushina to turn serious eyes on him.
"Hai."
"Kurama come here for a moment." Said the man motioning the boy forward.
Once the boy came forward the man pulled a scroll from the sleeve of his robe. Biting his thumb he quickly slid the bloodied digit across the parchment causing a small puff of smoke to appear. When it cleared the man held a katana in his hands the sheath pure black and the hilt white.
"Listen boy for these are the most important words you will ever hear in your life." Said Totosai catching the boy's immediate attention.
"This sword is one of my greatest works and I put my heart and soul into creating it for you. In fact there are only two other swords that can be mentioned in the same breath as this one and those were the ones that were the precursor for this. One of your mother's fangs from her true form was needed to create this and that's just the beginning. You're a special case and this blade reflects that.
Unlike any other sword I know of even demonic ones this blade is truly sentient. She is one of a kind as she even has her own spirit." Explained Totosai causing both Kushina and Naruto to gasp in awe.
"However that is not all. You are a hanyo and your mother a Daiyoukai. This blade is all that is keeping your demonic blood from running rampant and you from killing all those you are meant to protect. Such is the curse of all hanyo's born of Daiyoukai whether they be Kitsune, or Inu or any other race that exist." Said the man sadly.
"Tell me what is her name?"Asked Naruto as he held the weapon in his hands.
"That I cannot tell you. You will only hear her name when you are ready. However I do know a few things." Said the man catching both mother and son's attention.
"She has three forms. The first is the sealed form which you see now. The second is the Shikai or Initial Release. The third is the Bankai or the Final Release, both of which will allow several abilities that I am unfortunately not at liberty to tell you. All I'm allowed to say is this sword was made to match your power. The only thing is she's not quite finished yet." Said Totosai.
Kushina couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that one. She had commissioned that blade when Naruto was still a new born and it wasn't even finished yet. Seriously the man was the greatest weapon forger alive so how was it he hadn't finished a sword he'd had for twelve years. Totosai upon seeing the look on her face simply removed the blade from its sheath. Upon doing so it revealed that the entire length of the blade was covered in seals.
"To finish this all you must do is run your blood along both sides of the blade. After that you will just need give it some chakra as well. This will prevent anyone else from using your sword or even touching it unless they have your permission to do so."
Taking the blade the former blonde lowered himself into a meditative pose before piercing his thumb on one of his canine and rubbing the blood along both sides of the blade. Almost immediately after he did this his chakra flared as he began focusing it into the blade. As he did both Kushina and Totosai could only gasp as the boy's chakra went from normal blue, to purple, to red and finally black.
It was the black energy that astounded them though. Both knew that every race had their own chakra color for instance humans had blue, demons had red, and hanyo's had purple. Black however wasn't a color of the chakra spectrum, instead it was a pure spiritual power called reiatsu held only by the Shinigami. Before either could comment on this though the boy slumped into unconsciousness.
Flash:
When he awoke he found himself surprised by what he saw. He was surrounded within a veil of cold darkness yet all around him he could see it shifting becoming something more. Finally after the longest two minutes of his life the shifting finished and he found himself looking upon a breath taking sight. He was within a forest clearing yet the only type of life surrounding him were the many Sakura trees that he could see.
Aside from that the sun shone down upon him casting its light and warm rays upon him. In front of him several Sakura blossoms that had been floating began to swirl around each other slowly taking on a humanoid shape. Once they had collected their coloring began to shift to that of a light skin tone until they finished and Naruto found himself looking at yet another breath taking sight.
Before him stood a beautiful young woman that stood at about 5'5" with long wavy pink hair pulled into a ponytail that stopped at her mid back and green eyes to match his own. Like him she wore a pair of white pants and a long sleeved white shirt along with black flatfooted shoes. Over her shirt she wore a red sleeveless over shirt with a green obi tied around her waist to match the green ribbon tying her hair into its ponytail. (AN: Picture young Genkai from Yu Yu Hakusho.)
"Whoa."
Naruto hadn't even realized the whispered word had left his lips, yet the light blush upon the woman's angelic face said she did.
"Thank you, you don't look to bad yourself Naruto-kun." Said the girl her voice light yet holding a tone that made the boy blush.
"How do you…" started the boy only to be cut off as she disappeared only for her to reappear behind him with her arms wrapped around him and her head resting on his left shoulder.
"I know everything about you, your hopes, dreams, fears, all of it so it makes sense for me to know your name as well." Said the woman softly.
"I know you more intimately than you know yourself, for I am a part of you. More specifically a part of your very soul."
As the woman said this Naruto was silent both from the words and from the fact that he could feel a certain part of her anatomy pressed against his back.
"Mind out of the gutter Naruto-kun, now is not the time for you to indulge in your dirty thoughts." Said the woman causing the boy's eyes to widen before he blushed at being caught.
"Now as I said I am a part of your soul and have always been, which is where your attraction to a certain pink haired emerald eyed girl comes from." Said the woman immediately grabbing the boy's full attention.
"Now then I am a gift given to you by Shinigami-sama on the night of his summon by your father. Because he knew the type of life you would have he gifted me to you as your companion, I merely had to wait until you had a proper medium to which I could place myself, in this case that would be your new sword. Even the idea for its making was given to Totosai from Shinigami-sama. All that was needed was for the reiatsu you contained to be placed into the sword and in doing so my spirit." Explained the woman.
"Reiatsu?" questioned the boy quietly.
"The energy of the dead. When the Shiki Fuujin was placed on you some of Shinigami-sama's reiatsu was absorbed into you and it changed you. Now that your true self has been released you will notice a difference about the world that you live in.
One of these differences is that you will be able to see the spirits of the dead. With that power however comes the ability to allow them to pass on to the next life instead of forcing them to wait for one of the agents to collect their souls. In short you've become like a living Shinigami." Said the woman shocking the boy.
"I'd love to speak with you more but I merely called you here to inform you of my presence. However know that this place isn't your mindscape even though they resemble each other. This is the soulscape a place where our souls can meet and not just our minds. Though I said I am your companion you are also mine as no one aside from you, not even your mother can get here."
As she said this she turned and placed a light kiss to his lips before a blinding light hit him.
Flash:
As he returned to the waking world he was greeted to the forms of his mother and Totosai and after getting his mother to stop fussing over him informed them of what had just happened.
Flashback no jutsu- Kai:
He was shaken from his thoughts as he noticed as the sounds of footsteps reached his ears. Sitting up he looked over just in time to see the door slide open. As the door slid open it revealed the form of a man wearing the uniform of a Konoha jounin. Other than that he wore a mask over the lower half of his face and had his hitae-tae slanted to cover one of his eyes. Finally he had silver hair that stuck up at an odd angle.
"My first impression of you guys is…you're boring." Said the man causing the gennin to face plant.
"Anyway meet me on the roof in five minutes." With that said he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Without a word to his teammates Naruto was up and moving out the door with both Sasuke and Sakura moving to catch up. By the time they arrived on the roof Kakashi could be seen leaning on the railing with a small orange book in hand. Motioning for them to sit before him the man snapped the book shut before pocketing it.
"Okay how about introductions. Name's likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, all that good stuff." Said the man lazily.
"Ano can you go first so we know how its done." asked Sakura.
"And she's supposed to be the smart one.' Thought all three males before letting out simultaneous sighs.
"Very well. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have a few likes, the things I dislike…well I have a few hobbies." Finished the man inwardly laughing at the reaction he received from the three.
"Alright your turn pinky." Said the man pointing to Sakura.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like (looks at Sasuke and blushes). My dream for the future (blushes, looks at Sasuke and squeals)."
"Damn fangirl.' thought the males and Kushina with sighs.
"And your dislikes?" Asked Kakashi though he didn't really care.
"INO-PIG!" screamed the girl causing everyone else to wince.
"Your next duck-butt." Said Kakashi upon regaining his hearing and pointing at Sasuke.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have no likes and many dislikes. I don't have a dream but an ambition which is to revive my clan and to kill a certain man." Said the king of brood.
'Just like I thought an avenger.' Thought Kakashi.
"Alright whiskers you're up.'
"My names Uzumaki Naruto. I have a few likes and a lot of dislikes including the idiot villagers. I only want two things in life the first to make my mother proud. The second to not kill but utterly destroy a certain Uchiha who not only ruined my life but killed my father." Finished the boy making the group go wide eyed before Sasuke turned on him.
"No it's not your brother." Said the red head seeing Sasuke's look.
"Okay." Said Kakashi aiming to put things back on track.
"You guys can meet me tomorrow morning at 0600 at training ground 7 for you gennin exam." said Kakashi only for the three to blink before turning to him.
"Kakashi-sensei we already took the gennin exam." said Sakura.
The reaction to this was Kakashi laughing. Seeing this Sasuke narrowed his eyes while Naruto merely sighed. Finally Kakashi regained enough of himself to speak.
"Sorry to tell you this but that wasn't the real gennin exam. That was merely a test used to separate those with the potential to become a gennin from those who aren't ready. The true exam however is given by the various jounin senseis, and has a 66.6% chance of failure." Explained the man causing Sakura to pale.
"Anyway I'll see you guys tomorrow. Ja ne." said Kakashi before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Seeing the man gone Naruto stood to his feet and left without a word to prepare for the next day. As he did he couldn't help but wonder what it had in store for him.
AN: That's it for this chapter. Originally it was longer but i took some things out for the next chapter and just cut some things out altogether. I don't know when the next chapter will be because i have other fics i need to update but I'll try to have it done in the next few weeks. Anyway thanks for reading, please review, and like always flames aren't welcome but constructive criticsm is fine with me. Till next time LATER.