Title : Uzumaki Chronicles: The Swirling Tides
Author : AkashXD
Rating : Mature
Story Statistics and Character details : uzumakipedia . weebly . com [Remove Spaces]
Summary/Main differences from Canon :
A small but important change - the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan does not allow its user to summon or control the greatest of all bijū, Kyūbi no Yōko. This means Madara can't control the Kyūbi with his eyes and can't summon it either.
Consequences?
Madara didn't have the ability to summon the Kyūbi no Yōko in his fight against the First Hokage, so Hashirama's wife Mito Uzumaki never needed to interfere between them to seal the Kyūbi. Hence she didn't become the first Kyūbi jinchūriki.
As a result of this, she never had to pass down her burden of being a demon container to Kushina, meaning that Kushina was not the second container of Kyūbi no Yōko. Why was even there in Konoha will explained in the first few chapters.
At the age of eighteen Kushina gave birth to two healthy twin babies, a boy named Naruto and a girl named Kasumi. While she was temporarily weakened by the ordeal, she didn't die.
For the reasons explained within chapter one, Kyūbi still ended up attacking Konoha, and Namikaze Minato sealed its yōki in Kasumi and soul in Naruto using Shiki Fūjin.
With all the love and care a mother can bestow upon her children, Kushina has taught both of them all that true Uzumaki need to know.
"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing. Family comes above all, be it village, nation, or world… And a true Uzumaki will do anything for their family."
What will these teachings of Kushina, and Kasumi's love for her brother change?
Author's Notes : (To be read only if you want to know more details about the story before moving on. Contains potential spoilers!)
¤ Naruto might seem overpowered, but don't forget that power is relative . With how powerful some of his enemies are going to be, he'll need any advantage he can get.
¤ There are going to be at least four major antagonists including most of the hidden villages allied with Konoha and Uchiha Madara plus his lackeys etc.
¤ He may not to be 'overpowered', but Naruto won't be getting his ass kicked by just anyone either. The battles will be reasonable and so will be the outcomes. Everything that happens will be based on realistic speculations. I won't make him lose initially to a weaker opponent just to make the battles more 'exciting'.
¤ Don't skip anything like the Minato-Sarutobi conversation. This is majorly different from the usual 'Oh I'm so sorry I have to make my son hated and abused, but I will do it anyway!', 'Don't do this Minato-kun! Fine, don't worry I will take care of him… not!' and all that. It's what really happened between those evil bastards.
Warnings:
This story contains some incestuous content, although the main reason due to which incest is frowned upon does not exist in this fictional universe. For bloodline clans at least, which is about 4.4% higher than normal probability of congenital disorder in offspring. This is done so that the smaller bloodline clans have next some chance of survival without too much dilution or mixing.
Additionally, as long as long as it is not non-consensual, incest is legal in Japan (I assume Naruto is from there, given his name and mother-tongue).
This is fiction, the characters are not real. Don't take it too seriously. And don't try anything shown here at home!(Not that you can, but still, don't bother trying.)
If there are things that are not explained in this chapter, they will be explained in the future chapters. You just need to be patient.
This work of fiction will contain mature content (violence, sexual content, mature language etc.). If you're uncomfortable with such, you've been warned. I don't find gore appealing, so it will be minimal if any.
Exceptionally mature scenes will be marked with extra warnings for those that prefer skipping such.
Any kind of criticism and suggestions are welcome. You have the right to express your opinion.
Disclaimer : No fluffy animals were harmed in the creation of this story. [And I don't own Naruto]
Chapter 1: Legacy
Hokage Office | Konohagakure no Sato
The atmosphere in the room was somber as the Fourth Hokage of Konoha stood facing his predecessor, Hiruzen Sarutobi, also known as the Third Hokage. From the look on the old man's face, he didn't seem all too happy.
"So let me get this straight Minato… you want to seal Kyūbi's yōki in your female child and its soul in the male while you sacrifice your life to summon the Shinigami in order to accomplish this task? Have you gone completely nuts?"
Sarutobi's voice was filled with thinly veiled disbelief. Not only was his successor robbing the village of its most powerful ninja, he was also making their future weapon weaker by sealing it into a girl. It was a well-known fact to the shinobi that females were more inclined to become medical ninja due to their lower than normal chakra reserves.
Yes, the village's weapon, that's what the jinchūriki were no matter how much some might want to deny it. Minato could easily take the Kyūbi with him into the Shinigami's stomach, but that would rob Konoha of a weapon potentially more powerful than Minato himself, which was, of course, unacceptable.
For those like Jiraiya who didn't want to believe that their beloved Minato would ever do such a thing, the excuse of the Kyūbi being too powerful for the Death God's stomach to hold indefinitely was always there. After all, a newborn child is a better jail than a god, isn't it? Some might disagree, but of course, a God can't be made the loyal servant of the village like a child could.
Minato nodded in defeat, making Sarutobi sag in his chair. There was no other way he could deal with the current situation without getting even worse results. "Hai, Sandaime-sama. Knowing the life of demon containers, I can't in my right mind give the soul to the girl while I have a choice. If I do that it's more than likely she will be raped regularly once she grows up, or even before then. We both know that most Uzumaki women are notoriously beautiful, so she will certainly attract too much attention for her own good…"
He sighed tiredly before continuing. "…This is why I'm going for the current set up. I know the village will need to take their anger out on someone, and I can't say that I don't understand… So I'll let them have the boy as their scapegoat. Sure there will be contempt and more than likely some violence, but I know you will handle the situation properly Sandaime-sama." A small smile formed on his face as he looked upon the older Hokage, praying he would understand.
However, the aged Hokage just shook his head in disappointment. While he was proud to see that his successor was willing to sacrifice two innocent newborns to a life of hatred and scorn, he was disappointed that Minato would still be unable to see the truth clearly.
A Hokage's duty was to think of the village above anything else, and thus he shouldn't hesitate with the matter of his daughter. What value did one person hold compared to the village he was leading?
It wouldn't really have mattered except for the fact that Sarutobi would have preferred the boy to have the power and the girl the soul. Males were, in general, stronger, so the boy would have made a good weapon or guardian for the village, while the girl would have been the ideal scapegoat.
Noting Sarutobi's disappointed look, the blond Hokage lowered his head in shame. He wished he had the strength to go through the sealing like the Sandaime wanted. But while he could bear his children being abused, the guilt of his little girl being raped would have been too much. Especially because he knew that he would be the one responsible for it.
But the children or the sealing procedure weren't the most bothersome topic being discussed. The main problem was, in fact, the cost of the sealing. Two infants didn't really matter, they had those available. Kushina had oh-so-graciously delivered them on the same day as the demon attacked. Losing Minato Namikaze on the other hand was going to be a huge blow to Konoha's strength.
Minato knew what Sarutobi was thinking, and couldn't help but agree. It pained him to leave the village that he had sworn to protect weaker due to his absence, but there was no other way. "This is the only sealing method I know of that can seal something as powerful as the Kyūbi, and there is no one else skilled enough to be able to do this right now but me. I'm sorry I have to leave the responsibility of being the leader to you once more."
Sarutobi made to an attempt to interrupt him by reminding him of his 'lover'. Uzumaki Kushina was a seal mistress after all, maybe even better than Minato. They can sacrifice her for the sake of the village instead! This way his successor could live and lead the village to prosperity once more!
Minato waved a hand in dismissal before Sarutobi had even begun. "We both know Kushina- chan can, but the question is, will she seal a demon inside her own children? And having recently given birth I don't think she is in the best state of mind. Jiraiya-sensei and the others are barely holding her down ever since she heard about my plans… I doubt that would have been possible if she wasn't so weakened by her delivery though."
Minato narrowed his eyes then, Kushina was an extremely strong kunoichi, capable of fighting him on equal grounds and having a chance to win. A simple childbirth shouldn't have weakened her that much!
Perhaps it could have been attributed to the mental trauma. Her horrified expression on hearing what was going to happen to her children was almost priceless, which made him wonder why he didn't do something like this as a prank earlier. However, it had weakened even his resolve when she had sobbed and begged on her knees for mercy on her children. To see someone so beautiful and strong reduced to such a pitiful state… it was sad, really. But his resolve to do anything for his village prevented him from being too sympathetic to her.
Sarutobi stroked his beard, going through similar thoughts in his head. Though he had to chuckle at the way Minato referred to the Uzumaki girl as… endearing. When Kushina had been new to Konoha she was rather, hostile , for the lack of a better word, to every male that went near her. But the Uzumaki bloodline wasn't something that they could just let die out because some pretty girl was waiting for an Uzumaki boy to come and sweep her off her feet, never mind that they were all dead .
So they arranged for a fake kidnapping when she was ten year old and in the ninja academy with Minato. The Konoha ANBU squad had disguised themselves as Kumo jōnin and had done a rather decent job too, playing their respective parts perfectly. When Minato had rescued her, she immediately felt like she owed her life to him. As such, any demand he made from her, politely of course, was always met with a nod and a smile. Until now, that is.
It had been a great sacrifice for the village on Minato's part to marry the red haired girl. Not that she was undesirable. In fact, it was well known that she was hailed as the prettiest girl to have graced Konoha with her presence after Uzumaki Mito. But he never did have any interest in girls that way. Still, he was the best candidate Sarutobi had for her, given that he was, and is, obsessively loyal to the village and talented in the shinobi arts.
After a while, Sandaime once again broke the brief silence. "Hashirama-sensei's wife was from Kushina's clan as well, and, though I was only eight at the time, I remember her being extremely weakened for a few days after having her child. Makes me wonder if these are somehow related events…"
Minato nodded in agreement since that did seem suspicious. "She always did have an amazing regeneration rate and incredible reserves, but we don't know much about her bloodline at all. However this is not the time to discuss such things…"
A frown formed on the both the Hokages' faces as they thought about the redhead. Kushina and her clan had always been extremely secretive… If it weren't for the fact that Minato had saved her from the kidnapping during their academy days, she would never have bedded him later on. Though, ever since then, she considered him the best chance she had at finding love. Not to mention saving ones' life forms a trust that cannot be easily broken.
After a few moments of contemplative silence, Minato continued in a thoughtful tone. "While the village might be weakened with me gone, I have full confidence in my people. They will not fall, Konoha will never fall! Besides, I'm sure Kushina will train both of the twins to be powerful, and you will be able to make them completely loyal to the village."
The Namikaze grinned as he said that, being one of the very few people who had seen the real face of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Admittedly, he didn't hate Kushina, and he himself was kind of looking forward to seeing his children grow and become powerful servants of Konoha. Once again the village came first. If he had to give up Kushina's or her kids' life for it, he will, without hesitation . It doesn't matter if they agree to it or not.
Sandaime sighed in disappointment. It was somewhat of a lose-lose situation. On one hand Konoha gets destroyed by the Kyūbi, and on the other hand his successor meets an untimely demise.
It could all have been prevented if that cursed redhead hadn't started feeling all motherly. He mentally swore revenge on Kushina for caring more about her children than the village. If she hadn't, Minato wouldn't have needed to die!
He had no problem with the demon being sealed in children, it was the other villages did it too. The power of human sacrifice increased their war potential greatly, creation of jinchūriki was simply too good a deal to pass up on when it could be taken. He also knew that the children's status as jinchūriki had to be kept a secret or they would be scorned by everyone.
But what if he didn't keep that a secret?The children would be much more emotionally fragile and easier to manipulate in that case. He could easily make them want to prove themselves to the villagers andensure their complete loyalty to the leaf.
What matters more to a village leader - happiness of two innocent children, or the village? The answer was obvious. Sarutobi mentally contemplated the pros and cons of getting rid of Kushina Uzumaki as well. If she was there with the babies while growing up, they would be harder to manipulate.
He chuckled. As if that was ever going to happen! He could manipulate Kushina herself and she would never know. Besides, though she deserved to be punished, losing such a powerful ninja while the village recovers from Kyūbi's attack would be counterproductive.
He would let her live, for now anyway. If she survived the poison he had his ANBU slip into her medicine of course. Kami knows that damned bloodline of hers will probably give her high resistance to poison, as it worked along those lines from what he could recall.
He knew that he had neither the skill nor the strength to pull off what Minato was going to do, if he had been a skilled seal master, or if he had time to study the Shiki Fūjin , The Dead Demon Consuming Seal, he would have taken Minato's place. He only wanted what was best for the village, even if it cost his own life - or an infant's (or a thousand, not like it mattered). For a Hokage, the village came first.
Five Years later | The Hidden Leaf Village
On the streets of Konoha, a little red headed girl and a boy with spiky blond hair could be seen walking towards the Uzumaki compound at a relaxed pace. Both of them appeared to be five years old at most. As they moved from place to place, people stopped doing what they were busy with to stare, or glare.
Both of them showed signs of becoming highly alluring given a few years. The girl had long flowing red hair that reached her mid-back, and an angelic face with ocean blue eyes. Her skin was fair, and she was wearing a sky blue dress that reached the middle of her thighs.
The boy next to her was of the same age. He had spiky blond hair, an angular face, and ocean blue eyes. His skin was lightly tanned and his expression seemed to indicate he was thinking about something. He wore black shinobi pants and a dark blue shirt.
The contrasting red spirals on the back of their dresses marked them as two of the few survivors of the once-feared Uzumaki clan from the Land of Whirling Tides.
While most people would find both of them very cute, the citizens of Konoha would rather find them both dead. But these people, while not the kindest souls around, refrained from causing the children physical harm. Maybe it was because they feared the mother of those kids, Uzumaki Kushina also known as the 'Whirlpool's Red Death', or maybe they were just too lazy to actually do anything… no one knew for sure.
It could be something as simple as them not wanting their own kids to see any violence on the open streets, or maybe they just weren't in the mood. But despite that, almost everywhere those two went, they were whispered about and glared at. People would mutter curses when they thought the kids were not listening, spit on the path the twins walked on, and do anything they could to show how much they completely and utterly despised the duo.
However the girl seemed to be completely indifferent. In fact she was more worried about her precious brother. 'What's wrong with Onii-chan? We never hide anything from each other…'
She pouted as she looked at her brother again, but he seemed too lost in thought to even notice her looking. 'Something's not right, but why won't he tell me? No matter what I do, he just won't say anything!'
The situation was frustrating for her. Having always been the more cheerful of the two, she felt it was her responsibility to keep her brother happy. Naruto was the voice of logic, a person she trusted completely and knew she could depend on. Whenever she couldn't think of a way out, Naruto was there. They were mostly happy despite the obvious enmity from the villagers.
Their mother was mostly away on missions so that they can have as much money as possible saved for any future crisis. Not to mention they always bought their food, clothes and almost everything else from outside Konoha. From within the village the risk of poisoning was too high, not to mention everything was overpriced for them. Kushina could use her skills as a ninja to buy their supplies from within, but why feed people who hate your guts?
While they were pretty rich by normal standards, Kushina had spent most of her collected wealth to nurture them to the best of her ability for the first three years of their lives. She then had to start taking up missions again, despite her reluctance to leave Naruto and Kasumi alone.
They knew that the village leader, Sarutobi Hiruzen, would pick the welfare of the village over the three of them anytime. Not the best kind of guy when the aforementioned village is the cause of most of your troubles.
One would wonder how children so small could think so poorly of a seemingly kind old man. Especially if you consider the fact that even their mother had been fooled by the man for three years before a particular event opened her eyes.
Kasumi shuddered as she looked at her brother's shoulder, almost tearing up. She could never stop blaming herself for what happened when they were just three years old. If it wasn't for her brave big brother, she would have been dead…
She shook her head to clear it of the depressing thoughts. Her brother didn't like to see her crying, and it would be a cold day in hell before she did something to willingly make him sad! Back to the topic at hand, her mother had also noticed the odd behavior from Naruto as well, and inquired about it. But he just brushed it off saying it was nothing. Whatever the problem might be, she couldn't help but be worried for him.
All of the villagers were afraid of her because she contained Kyūbi's power. They thought she was going to blow up any second, similar to an exploding tag that had already been set off. They kept away from her as much as possible.
That was okay with her. What wasn't okay was that it was just the opposite in the case of her brother. He contained Kyūbi's soul, so they treated him like Kyūbi reincarnated. Scowls, muttered insults, harsh glares… The expressions on their faces were twisted as if the single most disgusting being to ever live was standing in front of them. In short, his treatment was much worse than hers.
She did not like it, not at all.
In fact, she was sure that if she wasn't there with him to scare off the villagers, they might even try to physically hurt him. That was one of the reasons she preferred to never leave his side, aside from the fact that she enjoyed his company. But it had never had that much of an impact on him. So why did he stop talking to everyone now? She decided to ask him again.
"Onii-chan, are you sure you are okay? You have been awfully silent today… Is something bothering you? You know you can tell me, right?"
Her normally cheerful voice was filled with worry. She always called him 'Onii-chan', or big brother, as that was what she saw him as, despite both of them being twins. He was seven minutes older than her, and he was more mature than she was.
Naruto inwardly cringed at his sister's pained voice. Normally he would never hide anything from her, but this… he needed to figure it out by himself. Steeling his resolve, he answered her firmly. "I'm fine Kasumi-chan. Thank you for asking, but you don't need to worry. I just have a lot on my mind." He gave her a reassuring smile as he said that, easing some of her worries.
Kasumi didn't pay it much thought as she immediately asked her bother out of habit, "Like what do you have in mind Onii-chan?"
She never had given much thought what was and was not appropriate to ask others, at least in her brother's case. She just assumed that she could help with her brother's problem. She tilted her head towards him, expecting an answer to help him in his problem. Unfortunately for her, Naruto seemed to be firm in his decision to not tell her.
Naruto just shook his head as he looked at her. "It's not something I can tell you right now. Maybe later I will, but not now."
He didn't want to do this to her, but he really didn't need to drag her into this yet. She was a good sister, but not quite mature enough to handle the kind of situation forced upon him. Even if he did tell her, all it would result in was a worried sister and, if Kasumi told Kaa-chan about it, a pissed off mother. A very pissed off mother. He shuddered, muttering something about 'crazy mothers' and 'poor little Naruto'.
Hearing that he didn't want to tell her his problem almost broke Kasumi's heart. So he was keeping something from her. 'Onii-chan doesn't trust me? But he did say that I will be the first to hear about it, so it doesn't matter that much, I guess.' She forgot all about it as she felt her brother ruffling her hair. He was the only one aside from Kaa-chan that she ever allowed to touch her.
Naruto sighed in relief as he saw her drop the topic. He smiled at her as he ruffled her hair with his left hand, earning a giggle from his sister.
"Stop messing with my hair Onii-chan!" Even as she huffed and pouted, they both knew she didn't mean it.
Meanwhile the people on the streets were in a mass panic, thinking the demon was acquiring his powers back… What else could the demon be doing, touching the thing that contained its powers?
The twins never noticed the hysterical shouting and the villagers running around like headless chickens. In some rare cases, people were even considering seppuku or some other form of suicide to escape what they assumed would be Kyūbi's revenge.
It had been seven days since that talk with Kasumi, and, even though it was a tough choice, Naruto had finally reached a decision.
He still remembered how it all started…
Flashback
Naruto was having a fine day, really, this was one lucky day for him. His mother had finally taken a day off from her missions to spend it with him and his sister, and to say they were happy about it would be an understatement. All three of them had loads of fun the whole day. 'Though Kaa-chan cheated while playing hide-and-seek…'
His mother had given him this awesome kunai set too! They weren't sharp enough to inflict serious injury on opponents or himself, but they were good enough for practice and defending himself if needed.
There were also some 'panic seals', as their mother liked to call them, placed on some of the kunai, which would alert Kushina if Naruto was ever in danger. Although, Naruto did need to be in contact with the kunai for that to happen.
Kasumi was given a beautiful blue dress that had automatic repair and cleaning seals, it was also highly strengthened with multiple hidden seals. Normal attacks with kunai and shuriken wouldn't put a scratch on it. They both knew that their mother had worked hard on their gifts, and they were extremely grateful to her.
Naruto was a bit sad he couldn't buy anything for his sister, as no one would sell him or his sister anything. He knew he would be kicked out of most shops, and they would close before Kasumi could even set a foot inside. So they simply didn't bother to go shopping.
Kushina couldn't take them outside Konoha with her, as the Sandaime had made it very clear that the Jinchūriki were not allowed to leave his hidden village. His reasoning was that they would be in too much danger outside Konoha, and he couldn't properly protect them. But Kushina knew the real reason… if she could get outside Konoha with Naruto and Kasumi, she would probably never return.
Just as Naruto was about to close his eyes and drift off into a peaceful dream, he was startled by a sudden voice that seemingly echoed inside his head.
'Oi! Happy fifth Birthday from me too!'
Naruto took a sharp breath in as the feminine voice from his head seemed to chuckle at his shock. He shook his head to clear it, he could have sworn he had just heard a girl speak in his head. Perhaps he had had too much fun today, and was more tired than he thought. 'I don't have voices in my head, I don't have voices in my head… I'm just tired, need some sleep. Yeah, that's it…'
The voice turned from cheerful to amused. 'Yes you do! And not just any voice, but the voice of the greatest demoness ever !'
Naruto continued chanting as if it was his last link to life. He was sure he could drown the other voice out if he kept chanting. Not that the other voice was even there! 'No! I don't have voices in my head! I don't have voices in my head…'
That was when a sudden realization struck him, but he refused to believe it… 'Greatest demoness? It couldn't be…'
His heartbeat quickened in fear. Kaa-chan had told him and his sister all about their unique 'condition' when they were but three years old, and showered them with enough love to not let it bother them. But he hadn't expected this… Kaa-chan never said about the Kyūbi talking to him! The worst he thought his condition could bring was the isolation his family was experiencing, and perhaps some occasional attacks from haters…
"Who are you?" he fearfully questioned, hoping his assumption was wrong.
The voice seemed to snicker, and he could feel it rolling its eyes. He shuddered. 'Speak in your mind, little human. Or people will know you are talking to me.' The voice sing-songed mirthfully.
Naruto couldn't help but shudder at the thought of the Kyūbi speaking like that. It was unfathomable!
The voice scoffed. 'How many other souls do you have sealed in you? Of course it is me, you pathetic human!'
That ticked him off a bit. He had a good sense of self-worth thanks to his mother and sister's love, so he did not like being called pathetic.
'Fine! What do you want?' Naruto surprised himself by his rather harsh demand, but didn't ponder much on it. Kaa-chan had told him that the Kyūbi was powerless inside him so he knew he was safe. He was a bit surprised that Kyūbi's voice was so… girly, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. After all, no one said that Kyūbi was a male.
He felt her smirk, once again shuddering at the weird sensation. How was it that he could feel her facial expressions?
'Straight to the point, eh? I want you to know that you need to be strong in order to defend yourself and those two females you seem to cherish. And I can help you achieve that…' She offered, almost seductively.
Naruto could practically feel how much the demoness wanted him to accept her offer. If he made the wrong decision… who knows what might happen?
He carefully chose his words before answering. 'Whatever made you think I want your help? And why would you want to help me?' He couldn't deny that he wanted to get stronger to protect his Kaa-chan and Kasumi, and defend himself as well. But he won't accept an offer of power that will later come back to bite him in the rear.
Kyūbi cursed inwardly. She could already feel a massive headache coming from all kinds of explanations she will need to give. She had just used that seductive voice so that the kid would be more inclined to accept her help. Damn, that plan backfired!
Three Hours Later in Naruto's Mind-Scape
Naruto was inside a sewer, sitting in front of what could only be described as a giant cage with golden gates. The word 'weird' only just began to describe the situation.
On the opposite side of him and inside the cage was a woman of unearthly beauty. Fiery red hair framed her angelic face, three whiskers sprung from each cheek, and she had slightly tanned skin. The redhead wore a silver blouse and a translucent red cloth that covered her right arm and formed into a mini-skirt, which didn't really conceal very much.
Once again this was not what Naruto had expected. Even though his mother had taught him to not assume anything and to not judge others before you know them, he still thought demons were supposed to look… uglier.
'Pretty…'
If not for her dangerously shining red foxy eyes and lack of wings, Naruto would have thought of her as some kind of angel. Those eyes were looking at him like he was some inconsequential bug, but, unlike the villagers' eyes, there was no hatred in them.
He wouldn't assume anything yet. It was far too early to conclude much from what his… prisoner, had told him.
After convincing Naruto that she could not get out of the seal, and was willing to help him get strong to protect her own existence, they both had reached upon a somewhat mutual agreement.
Naruto looked skeptically at her as he started speaking.
"So… since you cannot give me tons of chakra for healing or protection, you are going to train me from now on so you don't die?"
He was still a bit suspicious. After all, it's not every day that a demon in your head wants to make a deal with you.
"Yes! Genius! Pure-fucking-genius! It took you only three hours to get that one line right. At this rate, we will be done in… Let's see, a few centuries? Yeah, I believe that will be enough for a suitable conversation with you." Kyūbi's voice was tired and sarcastic. "Seriously, is it your personal mission to irritate me, or are you just that retarded?"
Naruto glared at her for the insult. What did she expect? He wasn't going to make deals without being sure of anything. So the time and extra precautions he took were justified, at least according to him.
"It's not my fault that I didn't expect to hear from a stupid chick in my head! And do I need to mention that you are the root of all of my family's sufferings?"
Kyūbi glared back at the little boy "Don't call me a chick you midget! I am a vixen! A smoking hot and drop-dead-gorgeous vixen!" she sighed as she tried to calm herself.
'What was I expecting anyway? He won't just trust me and forget everything else. I will need to work my way in here…'
She pursed her lips as she thought about the best way to convince the human. After going through all the possibilities, she resumed the conversation.
"Look, it's not that I like being quiet for five years in this… sewer. If I had started out any sooner, you probably would've told others about it, not to mention you were not ready."
Naruto huffed. He didn't really hate the demon queen. He didn't even know her yet.
His Kaa-chan had always told him that he should never peg someone as a friend or an enemy without knowing them properly. That meant that just because Kyūbi attacked Konoha does not mean she deserves his hate, neither does being a citizen of Konoha give anyone the right to his love.
Being a demon meant nothing to Naruto. To him, 'demon' was a fancy word villagers like to give to anything they hate. Kaa-chan told him that somehow the villagers think by calling anyone a demon their hatred become justified, and they won't feel guilty after doing anything to a 'demon'.
Naruto didn't properly understand the whole 'demon' concept, but he knew that they were powerful, feared and hated by people. So was his mother. She was powerful and feared as an outstanding ninja, and hated for housing the demons.
"Whatever…"
That of course made Kyūbi furious. How dare a puny little human take her offer as though he deserved it and not even thank her! He should be licking her feet in gratitude! Sure her reasons for the offer were selfish, but still!
"Be grateful you…! I , the mighty Kyūbi no Kitsune, Queen of Demons is making you , an insolent, retarded, ungrateful–"
"–I think I get the idea–"
"–human midget , my legacy! Show some respect!"
Naruto's nostrils flared in anger. 'Did she have to insult my height? I will get you back for this, Foxy-chan! Just you wait… Kukuku…'
"It would have been more dramatic if you had a booming demonic voice and were a hundred stories tall."
Kyūbi huffed indignantly "I was! Before I was sealed in here anyway… And my voice will come back if I get my hand on some… okay, a lot of yōki again."
Naruto rolled his eyes at the demon queen. "Yeah, yeah, good luck with that. I don't have it, don't know how to use it and you are sealed in me and can't do anything."
Kyūbi seemed to be in deep thought for a while before she responded. "Well right now your body wouldn't have been able to handle it anyway. Hell, you can't even handle nature energy right now. You only have that pathetic excuse of chakra that you humans usually prefer…"
Naruto's eyebrow rose at the vixen's statement. Humans may not be as powerful as her when she was not sealed, but still, they weren't that pathetic, were they?
Ignoring his questioning gaze, she continued speaking, "It wouldn't be easy, and you have a long way to go to get there. If you can even get there at all. For now, I should let you know the basic rules for me being your sensei."
He nodded, apparently satisfied with her explanation. "Fine, unless it is something extreme, I'll give it a shot. I may be young but even I can see that with all the villagers hating my family there is no way they would defend us from our enemies."
'If I sense any harmful intentions towards my family, demon queen or not she is so going to regret it…'
"You are assuming that villagers won't be helping them?" Kyūbi reminded him with a smirk.
"That too…" Naruto sighed, looking down.
Kyūbi smirked as she knew she was going to get what she wanted. "Okay little midget…"
Naruto twitched. "I'm a kid. I'm supposed to be short!"
"Whatever. Here are a few things you must remember. First of all, never question my instructions. I'll explain whatever needs explaining. Secondly, I already told you I can't get out of here, and I give my word as a demon queen, which I cannot be break, that if such a possibility presents itself – I will let you know first."
The blond nodded. That was a good reassurance and put his mind at ease.
"Know that I am doing this only so that we don't have any complications in trusting each other. I don't expect you to do it immediately – but I am a millennia old demon queen with endless wisdom. So it will be a good idea to take my advice from time to time," she finished with a smile. Naruto wasn't sure if it was meant to be predatory or attractive.
The blond stared long and hard into Kyūbi's eyes for any signs of deception, he found none. It helped that she looked like a goddess and it was sort of instinctual to trust her. He concluded Kyūbi was sort of right.
"Okay, I understand. I will try my best not to judge you based on what others say."
Kyūbi grinned. Finally her efforts for the past few hours pay off! "Now that that's out of the way, I think we should discuss your future. I've gone through some of your memories, being in your mind and all. I can let you know right now that it won't be anything like your current expectations. Those villagers won't suddenly start liking you or your family, and that 'dumb prankster' act you plan on pulling will only make them want to get rid of you more as it will make you more of an annoyance."
"As for your sister, I think her current situation is the best. As long as the villagers are afraid of doing anything to her, she will be relatively safe. You, on the other hand need some serious work if you want to be even half as strong as her later on". She cringed at the thought of having a weak container. She hated weakness.
"I was looking through your heritage and DNA, and I found out that Uzumaki males have the bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths, creator of the Ninja world, dominant in their blood. Though only a few ever managed to activate it. I was a bit skeptical at first, as I have already sensed another person activating it a few years ago, and it is such a rare occurrence that it only happens once every few hundred years."
Naruto was not so sure. He knew that the female Uzumaki had a bloodline, but from what his Kaa-chan told him, Uzumaki males can't have it as it only appears in girls for some unknown reason.
"What is it called, and what does it do?" he asked with some apprehension in his voice.
His tenant smirked. "It's called the Rinnegan, and it is an extremely powerful bloodline. It enables the user to manipulate all five basic elements as well as gravity, along with some special techniques that the Sage created and embedded in the bloodline so that his descendants can use it to 'shape a better world'. But you don't need to worry about that yet. The first thing you need to do is activate it, which is unlikely to happen."
Naruto nodded, that did seem to explain it. If something happens rarely, it's harder to find out about it. So maybe Kaa-chan didn't know? Or maybe she didn't want to get his hopes too high so that it doesn't hurt if he can't activate it?
"So you are saying that if I try hard enough, I can activate this Rinnegan of mine, and then you will help me learn how to use it?"
She shook her head in negative. "I will only be guiding you a little with it and training you to better use it, but you will have to learn it mostly by yourself. I don't have it myself so there is only so much I can do before you're on your own. However, that's not why you are here though. You are here because I will be training you for a year to be able to activate my masterpiece – the Yogengan! (Eye of the prophecy)"
Now he was confused, again. Sure he understood he will have to work hard to earn his strength, but some things still didn't make sense to him. "What is this Yogengan you just mentioned? I've never heard of it from Kaa-chan." Naruto asked in confusion.
She grinned as she wagged her finger in front of the little boy. "Of course you didn't, I just made that name up. It is the combination of three kekkai genkai… the Rinnegan, the Sharingan and one more. But before I explain that, let me tell you the history of my greatest creation to date… the Sharingan."
Naruto's eyebrows rose at that. The only Sharingan he had ever heard about was the Uchiha clan's dōjutsu, and he was very certain he was not an Uchiha. Moreover, he never thought the Kyūbi might actually be related to the Uchiha.
Noticing his confused look, Kyūbi continued. "I created it a few hundred years ago so that I may be able to utilize my fire affinity better and cast my more powerful genjutsu with ease. But I couldn't in my right mind start experimenting with my own sight."
After a short pause, she continued. "So, I decided to make a prototype and give it to a human, an Uchiha woman to be precise, and observe its capabilities and flaws. My plan was to take care of any defects by observing the humans before I used it on myself. The reason I chose the Uchiha woman was, if you didn't know this already, because Uchiha are the Rikudō Sennin's descendants. Even though they didn't inherit much from their ancestor like the Uzumaki, their chakra was much more closely related to mine and the Sennin''s energy. Plus they were more readily available to me than the Uzumaki or Senju."
She seemed lost in thought for a few moments before she once again decided to continue. "It was fine for a while. The Uchiha woman was able to cast better genjutsu, and her affinity for fire was greatly amplified. I found out later that the Sharingan was capable of being inherited by her children, whose descendants became famous for using the Sharingan in battle. No one even questioned how they suddenly sprouted a dōjutsu, everyone assumed that's what they inherited from the Sage. But I didn't really care."
She smirked. "I was particularly impressed though when the chakra viewing capacity of the Sharingan and improved memory it granted enabled them to copy the techniques just by viewing them! That wasn't something I originally intended, but unexpected results were always highly probable in experiments. However, one of the Uchihas changed everything…"
She sighed and looked away for a moment, before continuing again. This time in a more subdued tone. Even though she didn't like being reminded of this, it was required to make the boy understand everything properly.
"Uchiha Madara and his brother Uchiha Izuna were able to attain the Mangekyō Sharingan, a stage which I did not intend to be unlocked in the prototype I gave to the Uchiha. But I let them have it, curious of its effects. Of course, just because I did not intend it to happen did not mean I was unprepared for it.
I had made a seal inside the Sharingan. In case someone activated Mangekyō, the seal started blinding the user with every use. Rendering it useless in the long run, but giving me enough data to complete assessing its capabilities and effects. But that damn Madara!"
She spat out the man's name like it was poison before regaining her composure. "He found a way around my seal… I will admit I'm no genius in Fūinjutsu, but still it was impossible to detect a seal inside someone's eye as far as I knew, so I thought my plans were perfect… Madara took his brother's eyes and implanted them in his eye sockets. His brother's seal was useless on him, and he gained the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Now, that I was not prepared for. I mean, not only do both the siblings Madara and Izuna attain Mangekyō, but Madara found a way around the blinding seal which prevented his eyes from getting weaker with time. The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan strengthened his eyes to a level where he was able to obtain some of my powers, including eternal youth.
I could not just let someone use my powers like that, so I decided to end my observation and… eliminate the failed experiment."
Even though Naruto was extremely smart for his age, he still didn't understand some of the things the vixen was telling him but he got the basic idea. Madara was already on Naruto's 'worst scum' list, right above Minato Namikaze himself. These were the guys who would kill their brothers, sisters, sons, and lovers for their goals. Madara's goal was to obtain more power, and Minato's goal was the protection and strengthening of the village.
Oh, he knew who Minato was of course! Quite frankly, he was disgusted that the blood of that man ran through his veins. He refused to call the man who condemned the life of him and his family his father.
A sigh escaped his lips. "So is that why you attacked Konoha?"
She frowned, which Naruto thought was because she was yet again reminded of the supposedly bad incident. He sympathized with her. She, too, was suffering, just like him.
"No, I sent a telepathic message to Madara to come find me. Once he arrived, I told him his history and proceeded to take what was rightfully mine. Once I was done taking the left eye - thus getting a sample of the bloodline back - he cast a powerful genjutsu on me to save his right Sharingan. I was able to break out of it, of course, but he had already escaped by then.
I was pissed off. So to relieve some frustration, I went on a rampage. I eventually ended up in Konoha. Again, I was not expecting a mere human to be able to summon a God, and it just had to be the Shinigami! He already hates me." She pouted. "And then I ended up here. In your dirty little mind."
"I don't have a dirty mind!"
"… It's a sewer ."
The blond grumbled but decided to not retort. After all, it wouldn't hurt to be at least at semi-friendly terms with the voice in your head, unless you had a fetish for headaches. "So you attacked Konoha because you were pissed off… That was why thousands of humans died by your hands? Er… I mean paws… or tails… something."
Kyūbi gazed at him in a calculating manner. She didn't understand what was so wrong with killing all those idiots, not like they wouldn't have died in a while anyway.
Humans were like that. One moment they were there, and then you blink and they are all wrinkly and on the verge of death. For someone immortal and ancient like her, their lives held too little value.
She gave a nonchalant shrug to the kid. "The only reason I told you all this is because the Sharingan is now complete, but I can't just give it to you like that. So I will give you a test."
Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. "I already potentially have the Rinnegan, so why do I–"
"–I will combine them both to make something better." Kyūbi interrupted Naruto.
Naruto's eyes widened. "I-Is that even possible?"
Kyūbi had to smirk at the way he seemed so excited. "I think I can do it, although, since Rinnegan is genetically superior to Sharingan, even if I'm not entirely happy to admit it, first you need to activate your Rinnegan, and that will be your first test – to be able to do that.
If I give you the Sharingan before that, Rinnegan will just remove any weaker dōjutsu and take over. While Sharingan won't be able to do the same with Rinnegan, thus I will be able to force a merger, which will hurt like a bitch by the way."
Naruto gulped.
Kyūbi grinned as she smelled fear from her container. 'Just you wait till your training begins…'
"I'm not sure, but I think I found some traces of the Elemental Star in your genes."
"But I'm not wearing jeans. And please don't check my pockets without permission again."
The redhead resisted the urge to smack herself.
'Okay so maybe I shouldn't assume that he knows everything I'm talking about.'
"I meant your blood, do you understand?"
Naruto didn't, but nodded anyway. He will later have to ask Kaa-chan what his jeans had to do with his blood. He decided to ask her something that could make him sound less confused than he actually was. He didn't want to appear dumb.
"The Elemental Star?"
Kyūbi grinned widely. She was somewhat glad that he didn't ask her any stupid, annoying questions that she would hate to answer, but instead something she expected to have to tell him.
"Yeah, it's a little something which I don't know much about except the bearer is usually someone who decides the fate of the world in some way. It's not too powerful, but it symbolizes that you will be someone who will be mentioned in legends for centuries to come. That's all I could dig out."
Naruto's eyes were wide in awe as he heard he would become so famous and powerful. His family would never be looked down then! And they would all live happily ever after!
He resisted the urge to jump up and down in joy. 'Kaa-chan will never need to work so hard for us then. I will be able to give both her and Kasumi-chan anything they need!'
Seeing his awed look, the redhead scowled. The little boy truly did not understand what being powerful brings you… she knew. Only loneliness and pain exist for the powerful and mighty. Power requires sacrifice, and not small ones. Before you even realize, you have sacrificed everything you once held dear for the power you wanted only to protect them.
She had observed humanity for far too long to not be able to judge them. She just hoped this boy proves her wrong. "Listen here boy, and listen well. When other humans get to know of your potential, you will become a big target with too many foes to handle. What I mean to tell you is that I hope you don't get it because if you do, a lot of people will be after your life. The power it will grant you probably won't be able to compete with the problems it will create."
Seeing comprehension dawn on him, she continued. "Moreover, you can't stay in this village if it activates early. You need to be sure you can defend yourself properly if it becomes public knowledge. You understand that right?"
He pouted cutely, causing Kyūbi to giggle in amusement. 'Well, as long as I don't have to face the Shinigami again…' she shuddered.
"It's that bad? I mean, I can understand people won't be too happy with me having some extremely rare bloodline that is said to be only in children of the prophecy, whatever that is? But just because I can be powerful shouldn't mean everyone will want to kill me…"
Kyūbi's melodic laughter filled his mindscape. Naruto thought that it resembled his mother and sister's – beautiful. "People will want you to be on their side brat, and if you are not then will want you dead . Either way, if you are not strong enough you are going to die. Not only that, they won't hesitate to use your Mother or Sister to get to you. So you will need to keep your strength secret as long as possible. And when it comes out, it must be so terrifying that no one would dare think of opposing you."
His eyes hardened at the mention of his Mother and Sister. He wouldn't do anything to put them in danger. Naruto nodded absentmindedly, and decided to not make a decision immediately. He still didn't understand a few things, so he would first get everything confirmed and then think about it.
Only after that would he decide what to do.
Looking at the supposedly demonic entity, he couldn't help but shiver. The resemblance she held to Kushina and Kasumi was freaking scary… Flaming crimson hair, melodic voice and beauty that made any other girl look like a dirty piglet in comparison. He thanked heavens for Kyūbi's whiskers, tails, slightly pointy ears and red slitted eyes, or he would have had trouble not to think of her as family.
One part of him wondered if she had taken this appearance specifically to make him let his guard down. But he put that aside for now. "This is a lot to take in, do you mind if I think about it alone for a few days? I will tell you if I want to train with you or not by then."
"Sure, I will be waiting… Even if I don't have much power left, I still have millennias' worth of knowledge. You will never find a better sensei than me."
Naruto exited his mindscape with a dazed nod.
Kyūbi leaned back as she relaxed a bit. To be honest the possibility of being dragged into Shinigami's stomach when her vessel died terrified her. She wasn't about to let Naruto die – ever. Or at least until she found a way out.
End Flashback
Naruto had taken a long time to think about the consequences of each decision and finally concluded that he needed the strength to be able protect not only himself, but more importantly his sister and mother that he so cherished.
That is not to say he thought they were weak or anything. He knew that his Kaa-chan was one of the strongest kunoichi alive. And his little sister Kasumi had the potential to one day become more than Kage level on her own, especially with Kyūbi's chakra. But despite that, he knew there may be stronger opponents out there who were capable of overpowering them.
In the back of his mind, he was unnerved by how easily he was accepting a deal with a demon queen. But he quickly squashed that thought. So what if she was a demon? To the villagers he was a demon too! It meant nothing. Nothing .
With that, he had made his choice. 'Kyūbi-chan?'
'So, what did you decide Naruto?'
Naruto hesitated only a moment before he strengthened his resolve. 'I'm… ready.'
He felt Kyūbi nod in acceptance. For some reason, he felt a sense of pride at gaining her acceptance.
'Excellent. I will be training you for twelve months so that you can activate your Rinnegan, it won't be easy, but if you do as I say, I believe my vessel should be more than capable for doing it.'
Naruto grinned despite himself, feeling oddly happy from her praise and confidence in him.
The few villagers who noticed him grinning felt a sense of terror claw at their very being. Surely something bad was going to happen if the demon child was grinning.
Streets of Konoha | A year later
It was almost eleven at night on October tenth, and the villagers of Konoha were happily celebrating the Kyūbi festival like they did every year. Festivity was in the air as drunken laughter and dancing figures could be seen throughout the village.
A small figure, presumably that of a five-six year old child could be seen gliding through the rooftops with ease. His training with the demoness had done Naruto's physical strength, flexibility and balance much good. Although he had yet to learn any kind of jutsu - whether it be nin or tai, he was quite content with his progress in a year.
Not only had Naruto come to trust Kyūbi in the past year, the demoness herself seemed to have taken an unusual interest in the blond child. From the Uzumaki boy's point of view, she had been just like his mother – kind and loving most of the time, strict when needed. While he didn't blindly trust her like he would for his mother and sister, he did hold her words in high regard.
Most of the training Kyūbi provided him with this past year focused not only on increasing his chakra reserves and control, but also to strengthen his body to the point where it would be able to handle the massive boost that Rinnegan might provide. Today he would see if his preparations would pay off as he had hoped. He didn't want to disappoint his mentor.
Regardless of all that, he wanted to get this situation dealt with as soon as possible. All of it seemed to make him uneasy. The risk was high, and his chances were questionable despite all of Kyūbi's assurances.
His attire didn't particularly appeal to him either. He was running through the streets wearing an orange jumpsuit that just screamed 'Kill Me!'. Not that he had anything against the color orange – he liked it very much as a matter of fact – but that jumpsuit was just plain hideous.
Kyūbi had told him that he needs to be placed in a life-and-death situation to be able to activate the Rinnegan. Fortunately, or unfortunately for him, in this village it was a constant life-and-death struggle for Naruto whenever he wasn't accompanied by his mother or sister.
Naruto felt a smile form on his face as he recalled all the hard work he had done this past year. He had been sneaking away from his twin sister and training to improve his physical and spiritual strength as well as control. As a result, not only his physical capabilities, but his chakra capacity and control have also improved greatly.
When he had started, his chakra control wasn't something to take pride in, no thanks to his naturally large reserves caused by his Uzumaki heritage. But he had worked harder than any child his age should and eventually overcame his problems. That didn't mean being an Uzumaki was a disadvantage to his training, in fact it was quite the opposite. The godlike stamina helped him greatly when it came to the physical aspects of the training.
Kasumi's hurt look whenever he came back a bit battered and bruised from his training always made him wince. He had the distinct impression that she thought the villagers were physically abusing him, if the disdainful looks she gave them was anything to go by. He had to chuckle when some of them cringed. After all, you don't expect to see that much hatred and disgust in such a young girl's eyes.
He felt bad for letting her cry alone because she thought that he was shielding her from harm and getting hurt because of her, but he just couldn't find the courage to tell them all about Kyū-chan and his bloodline. Despite all that, he promised himself to tell her almost everything once he activated his bloodline. His little sister didn't deserve to suffer like that just because he was a bit afraid.
He found out from Kyūbi that, today, he would either awaken the Rinnegan or die. That was why he didn't tell Kasumi about his training. She would never let him go risk his life willingly. He had given it his all, now it was time to see if it was enough.
That was the reason for all those preparations. There was only one chance, and if it didn't happen today, it would never happen.
He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. In fact, he was so close to pissing his pants right now that Kyūbi was considering delaying the test for another year.
'Naruto! Get a hold of yourself for Kami's sake! You are ready, trust me. I wouldn't let you do this if you weren't. You know I don't like the idea of dying either!'
That calmed him down a bit. After all, she did have multiple millennia worth of experience, and she didn't want him to die. Or rather, she didn't want to die. But then again, one person popped all those ideas like a water balloon is popped by a needle. Madara did fuck up her plans plenty of times. That name made her blood boil. Not that she had any, it was all yōki and her soul, but that was beside the point.
He was planning on naming his kid Madara, if he had one. That will teach her for all that torture she calls training.
'All the more better if Kyū-chan was his mother…'
He chuckled evilly at the thought, Kyū-chan changing little Madara's diapers. Kukuku…
Unknown to him, Kyūbi had heard it all. Being in his mind had its perks. His training just got twice as intensive as before.
Naruto shivered as a chill ran down his spine. 'Why do I feel like I just signed my own doom?'
Thiry minutes later
Naruto was pissed. No, scratch that, he was furious!
When he had left the compound, he expected a giant mob ready and waiting for him to help activate his bloodline. But what does he get?
He had been jumping around in an orange jumpsuit in between a crowd of drunken villagers, and the idiots didn't even notice him in their drunken haze!
What was wrong with them? Can't they see there was a defenseless six year old scapegoat amidst them to take their anger and hatred out on? What were they thinking dancing around like morons.
He gritted his teeth in anger as he realized this might just be much harder than he had thought. But Naruto Uzumaki was not unprepared, far from it. Reaching into his thigh pocket, Naruto took out a scroll he had prepared just in case something like this happened.
He wasn't skilled enough to create storage scrolls yet, so he had 'borrowed' one from Kaa-chan. A small application of chakra and out came a number of banners and costumes.
Grinning, Naruto put the devil horns made out of thermocol on his head, which he had hand crafted himself. He then wrapped a belt around his waist that conveniently had nine orange tails attached, glittered for extra measure.
To top it all off, he held up a huge banner supported by two long sticks. The slogan 'The demon brat is here, let's finish what the Yondaime-baka started!' along with the picture of a childishly drawn nine tailed fox wiggling her ass was displayed proudly in bright red color.
As he looked around him, he noticed everyone had stopped celebrating and was looking at him perplexed. A particularly stupid villager who seemed more intoxicated than the others felt it appropriate to read the poster out aloud.
"The demon brat is here, let's finish what the Yondaime-baka started! Wiggle wiggle…"
Apparently, he didn't feel the need to not call his beloved Yondaime an idiot.
A roar of anger met his statement, causing Naruto to roll his eyes. 'Finally they do the only thing they are good at…'
"Yeah, let's kill the demon brat! He is alone!"
The villagers couldn't have been more ecstatic! For the first time in six years, the demon brat was alone! It took them a while to believe their luck, but now they knew it was real, their wishes had been granted! There was no demon slut nearby to help him, there was no risk. The brat was weak, they could kill him!
And they will – painfully . Oh yes, the demon had caused them so much pain, they couldn't just let it die easily. They would torture him till he begged to die, and then they would torture him some more.
Maybe if Naruto hadn't been kept under tight security of his mother for most of his life, the villagers might not have been this violent on getting an opportunity to beat him. Mystery did nothing to quell their fears and suspicions.
Maybe if Kasumi was with him, they might have been afraid of doing anything due to the possibility of destabilizing her and causing a (possibly) village-ending explosion or (maybe) making her go berserk.
But right now, they had nothing to fear and no one to stop them. As it was, they were surprised to get their hands on him and more than a little happy to get a chance to extract some sweet revenge.
The chase continued pointlessly for a bit longer with more and more people joining in. But all of them were civilians. The shinobi skillfully ignored the mob if they stumbled upon it. They really didn't care what happens to the brat, they might even be a little happy. It's not like they were under orders to protect him.
Those few who might have actually cared weren't really going around checking random crowds of running people on a festival. Things like this were expected.
Naruto was eventually chased outside of the village gates, into the forest a few miles away from Konoha.
By now he was getting worried, but knew he had to do this. He had prepared for a whole year. After going through countless chakra control exercises, improving and strengthening his body, training in secret, mind-scape training… he wasn't going to back out now.
'I can do this! I have to do this!'
Naruto realized, with determination blazing in his eyes, that the villagers had surrounded him. It was now or never. Either he would get what he wanted, or he would die a very painful death.
They were coming closer, with weapons of various size and shape, and some with just their bare fists. Naruto's heart started working overtime as adrenaline started flooding his system. His chakra flared wildly and his eyes were wide - capturing every single movement around him and calculating the threat.
As they charged - his brain started working overtime as the blond tried to cope up with the possibility of imminent death that he was currently unable to avoid.
Naruto tried to dodge as much as he could, but they were too many and he didn't have a Byakugan to cover all his blind spots. Thankfully, he was prepared for the attack and had brought some of the kunai his mother had given him, so he was parrying various blows and keeping the mob at a distance.
He left the ones with panic seals at the compound. He didn't want his Kaa-chan getting tied up in this… It would all be pointless if he was saved without activating his bloodline.
Unfortunately, he was still a six year old despite all his training. His small body couldn't keep up with the assault for too long, and before he knew it, he was taking hits.
It started with nothing serious, just glancing blows, and then a hard object hit him in the back, making him stumble forwards. Then came knife from the right, and a hammer from the left simultaneously, but he was able to block them both at the same time..
He watched in slow motion as another villager used a butcher's knife in an attempt to cleave his torso in half.
'Is this it? I am sorry Kaa-chan, Kasumi-chan, for causing you the pain of losing me if I don't survive this. Please forgive me.'
In his mind-scape, the demoness couldn't help but shake her head in amusement. She was afraid that it may not work, but this opportunity had to be taken. Regardless, the child's behavior was still amusing. 'He should be worried about his survival, not what others would feel if he died. Mortals are just so stupid sometimes…'
Suddenly there was a rush of information in Naruto's brain, and a sharp stinging feeling in his eyes. Acting on instinct, not even realizing what he was doing, he channeled all of his chakra into his eyes and chanted the words that spelled only doom to those who were unfortunate enough to be nearby.
"SHINRA TENSEI!"
Chapter End