Naruto Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kurama in Narutoland ❯ Chapter Seventeen ( Chapter 17 )

Kurama in Narutoland

Chapter Seventeen:

Kurama sighed. This was not his idea of fun. At the moment, he was washing his clothes. Why, you ask? Because they just had to `accidentally' come across a swamp on the way to the border, and he had unfortunately `tripped' and fallen in. Lucky him, his bag that had held all of his stuff (clothes, his pass for Stone, first aid kit, etc.) had been waterproof. Thank kami-sama.

So, as you gather, this was not the best day of Kurama's life. They had decided to set up camp after the `incident', so Kurama could get ready for the next day. It took him a whole hour to properly wash the swamp's muck out of his uniform. At the moment, he was wearing one of his green Chinese fighting outfits, for good camouflage.

"Are you done now, Kurama?" Lee asked from his place at the fire when Kurama arrived back at camp.

"Yes," Kurama said, gracefully sitting down next to Lee. Trying to start a conversation, Kurama said, "Where do you put your weights, Lee-kun?"

Lee pointed to the spots on his body where the weights were, and said, "I'm hoping to get them heavier soon!" Lee gave the thumbs up sign.

Coff.

That was Neji, by the way.

Kurama and Lee stared at the white-eyed boy, who had covered up a chuckle with a cough. Kurama, however, could tell what Neji had done, and smiled softly to himself. Then a thought struck him. "Where is Gai-sensei?" he asked, looking around for the green beast.

"He went fishing," Neji monotonously answered. However, by Lee's surprised look, this had been unexpected.

Kurama raised an eyebrow, and to the shock/horror of Lee, he retorted, "Care to give any specific details? I seriously doubt he's fishing."

Neji merely shrugged, and stood from the campfire. The sun was setting, and Neji wanted to get some training in before he went to bed. He promptly vanished, running through the forest to find a good place to practice Kaiten.

"Well, I shall follow Neji's example and train. When Gai-sensei comes back, tell him where we are, okay? I'm not sure about Neji, but I'll be back before its time to go to sleep." With that said, Kurama waved and disappeared as well.

Jumping through the forest, Kurama tested his agility and control. To his utter annoyance, the weights were throwing his whole balance off, and he had to really concentrate to make his movements perfect. Setting up a small `course' he continued to dash through the forest, throwing kunai and shuriken with deadly precision at the center of the targets. The targets were small thumbnail-sized carved circles, and the point was to get the tip of the kunai or shuriken in the middle. It was very hard, and Kurama missed the circle a few times throughout the course, the weight throwing him off and preventing him from working at his best.

Not giving up and ditching the weights, Kurama continued to redo the course over and over until he had performed perfectly. Light was nonexistent at that point, although Kurama's eyes easily saw in the darkness. He made his way back to camp with ease after destroying his course and hiding all of the evidence of him being there.

When he got back to camp, a rather angry `Green Beast of Konoha' greeted him.

"Kurama! Where have you been?! It's been dark for hours, and we thought you had gotten lost! The only thing that kept me from searching for you was Lee's words that you would be back before it was time to sleep!" Gai exclaimed, rather upset with Kurama's irresponsible behaviour.

Kurama blinked, before lowering his head and politely bowing. "Forgive me for my ignorance, Gai-sensei," he said calmly, and then straightened to look into Gai's eyes with incredibly calm and mature green emeralds.

This respect shocked Gai, and he promptly gaped at Kurama, as did Lee.

"Using your manners again, Kurama?" Neji asked, a smirk firmly planted on his face.

Kurama grinned at Neji, and plopped down to sit beside him. "At least I HAVE manners," he said playfully, poking Neji to the shock of Gai and Lee.

"I have manners!" Neji argued with mock-incredulity.

"Sure you do, sure you do. And Kakashi isn't the one of the biggest perverts in Konoha," Kurama said, laughing at his own joke. Soon everyone joined in. Gai because he knew of Kakashi's `obsession', Lee because he was a very cheerful person by nature, and Neji because Kurama's laughter was contagious. Well… Neji only got to a chuckle, actually. Gai and Lee, however, were lighting up the whole forest with their laughter.

Kurama sweatdropped when he noticed this.

Soon it was time for bed, and they all went to sleep in their tents. Neji and Kurama shared one, while Gai and Lee shared.

The next morning they had a quick breakfast and began to take down camp. After packing away their tents, they began to hide the evidence that they were there. Gai gave a few quick lessons on ways to hide certain things, and Kurama barely paid attention, because he probably knew more than Gai.

Once their sensei was done with his lecture, they finished up the clearing, and Lee and Neji stared at it in surprise. It looked like nothing was there to show they had been there…

Kurama, on the other hand, spotted something that could give everything away, and carefully and gracefully made his way across the small clearing to snag a long black hair. Probably Neij's. He lightly made his way back to his team, who were staring at him peculiarly. Handing Neji his hair, he turned to Gai sensei. "Are we ready to go?" he asked calmly.

Gai blinked, before nodding his head and leading them into the forest. (Please do not blame me if Gai is slightly OOC, because I haven't really seen him that much in the manga yet). "Are you able to run today, Kurama?" Gai asked, looking back at his calm student.

Kurama blinked, and looked from the surrounding forest to Gai. "Yes, I am able to run. I always am. Yesterday I was just a little… Let's just say I was `out of it'."

Gai nodded, before he started running at top speed. His surprised team began running, jumping from branch to branch to catch up with him.

Kurama smiled to himself. This run was relaxing, although they were going very fast. The weights would begin to take their toll on him later in the day, if they went at this pace.

Trees flew by for hours without pause. Neji was beginning to tire slightly, but Lee and Kurama were still going, though they were beginning to feel the weights.

"Time for lunch!" Gai exclaimed enthusiastically, giving the thumbs up at his team. They had to screech to a stop so they wouldn't crash into him. Only one was successful, and the other two ended up sliding past Gai.

Kurama stood right in front of guy, smiling slightly at his teammates' annoyance.

"It seems we're going to have to work on our stops," Gai said thoughtfully.

Neji didn't say anything, and Lee merely plopped himself down on the forest floor with a small and barely audible sigh.

Kurama smiled at Lee, and said with amusement in his voice, "300 must be taking its toll on you, Lee-kun."

Lee only smiled a bedazzling smile at him.

Sweatdrop.

"Time to eat!" Gai exclaimed, striking a pose.

Sweatdrop.

Gai dished out the food, and they ate in silence.

That is…

Until Gai spoke.

"Why don't we all get to know one another?" he asked with a twinkling smile.

His team stared at him.

"Lee, you start, tell them a bit about yourself."

Lee grinned, and started ranting on about his life and such. Kurama listened, but Neji just tuned him out. When he was done, he asked Kurama about himself.

Kurama considered what he should tell Lee. Kakashi knew that he knew nothing about his past, and it would be best to keep it that way… "Well, I don't really know anything about my childhood. My guardian, Hatake Kakashi, found me out in the forest when I was eleven or so. I had no memories of where I came from, and I still don't know today. Anyway, he took me to the Hokage, and the Hokage dumped me on him," Kurama smiled slightly as he said this, "because Kakashi was the one who found me. And so, I began living with Kakashi. I was told about ninja, and wanted to become one. Kakashi taught me everything I needed to know, and I went to the academy. That's about all I really know." He smiled apologetically at his team, and began staring at the sky.

Gai and Lee blinked. He knew NOTHING of his past?!

Kurama should have known better at that point, but he was unsuspecting as he stared at the sky…

"YOU POOR THING! NOT KNOWING YOUR PARENTS OR YOUR PAST!!" Gai exclaimed, tears streaming down his cheeks as he struck a pose.

Lee was equally emotional, and had tears streaming down his face in rivers.

Neji stared at his strange sensei with a raised eyebrow, and Kurama looked on in horror.

"WE SHALL BE YOUR NEW FAMILY!!" Gai shouted, hugging Kurama tightly.

Kurama gave Neji a pleading look, but the Hyuuga only smirked at him. This elicited a glare from Kurama as he endured the horror.

Lee pitched in, "YES GAI-SENSEI! WE SHALL BE KURAMA'S NEW FAMILY!!"

Kurama was just about to lose it, when he sensed something in the forest… He went ramrod stiff, causing Gai to look at him. "What's wrong?" Gai asked, no longer yelling.

Kurama smiled, faking his cheerfulness. "Nothing is wrong, Gai-sensei, but could please let me go?"

Gai blinked, and let Kurama go.

Kurama immediately said that he would be right back and had to relieve himself. Gai nodded his head and sat back down on the ground, finishing up his lunch.

Kurama eyed the surrounding trees, and spread out all of his fine-tuned senses. He smelt blood on the air, and felt the aura of something deadly out in the forest, yet he couldn't pinpoint it. Jumping up into a tree, Kurama pushed down the shudder of terror that was threatening to shoot up his spine. He wasn't scared in the slightest, but his body was responding strangely, as if sensing the predator near. `It must be my human body,' Kurama thought with slight irritation, `Whatever is out there causes terror in humans, but because I'm a demon, it doesn't affect my mentality, although it affects my body…'

A twig snapped a little ways away, and Kurama smelt the blood becoming stronger. Using a bit of chakra, he asked the plants what the creature was. They were unable to respond, so scared at the feeling of this predator. Kurama nudged on of them to tell him what the creature was, sending reassurance to the plant. It slowly responded, sending him a mental picture of the monster. It was hideous, and looked like a blob of shadow, drinking the blood of its victim, a deer, up.

The monster disgusted Kurama, and he guessed it was half a kilometer away. Rushing back to his team and sensei, he discovered that they had finally begun to sense the evil. Each had different reactions. Neji was cold and trying to hide his fear, Lee was terrified, looking around at his surroundings, and even Gai looked a little uncomfortable. Relief spread on their faces when he appeared. Each made the impression that they were about to speak, when Kurama brought his index finger to his lips, motioning for silence. He wore an extremely serious expression, and walked forward without a sound.

Kurama grabbed his pack and motioned for the others to follow his example. Even Gai did as he was told for his attitude demanded that they do as he said. Once they were all ready to go, Kurama walked up to Gai and leaned up to his ear.

"A monster travels these woods," Kurama whispered almost silently. "It is at the moment less than half a kilometer away. We need to make haste as quickly and quietly as possible."

Gai nodded his head, and motioned for the team to follow him. They made their way in the direction Kurama motioned for them to go in, going off course to the right slightly, going in the opposite direction of the monster.

Progress was slow, but they eventually made it a safe distance away. But as they relaxed, Kurama suddenly tensed, his eyes wide. It seemed that that monster had a sense of smell. It was coming in their direction at incredible speed. Eyes wide, he yelled, "RUN!"

The startled group dashed through the forest, and Kurama created a perfect copy of himself to continue on with them. He, however, stayed behind to kill the monster, for he was the only one that wouldn't freeze in terror at the sight of it.

It came silently at him, moving across the ground incredibly fast. It launched itself at Kurama, but he was prepared. Reaching into his hair, he pulled out a rose and transformed it into his `rose whip'.

Slicing at the monster, he split it into eleven pieces, and watched as the globs of its body plopped onto the ground. To his horror, the pieces merely glued themselves back together. How the hell was he supposed to kill this thing?!

It shot at him again, but he jumped out of the way. It missed him by inches, and Kurama was becoming serious about this. It wouldn't be killed easily. Using his sharp eyes, he searched for something that might be a weakness. To his surprise, the thing landed on the ground again and turned blood red eyes to look at him. The look caused his body to freeze up, though his mind felt none of the terror, and he fought against his body to get it to respond.

It refused.

Kurama's eyes widened when the thing come at him again, prepared to kill him. It landed on him, and burned his skin. It spread over his body, encompassing him completely until he was completely covered with the burning substance. Then suddenly, the burning stopped, and Kurama wondered what was going to happen next. To his surprise, the monster didn't give away waves of terror any more, and it seemed to actually… like him? WHAT THE HELL?!

Oxygen supply almost completely gone, Kurama collapsed, and the creature pulled itself off of him. To his surprise, the thing had turned white, and was rubbing against him in affection. What had caused the thing to suddenly change? Them Kurama sensed something… His youki was completely drained?! Turning his startled eyes to the `monster', he discovered that it had sucked his youki supply dry… and because of this, it took a liking to him… strange…

-Master.-

Kurama blinked in surprise. Was that the `monster' speaking just then?

-Master.- It said again, rubbing affectionately up against Kurama.

Not knowing what to do, Kurama spoke softly, "I'm your master?"

-Yes. You are Master. What would Master like me look like?-

"I get to chose your physical form?" he asked, confused.

-Yes.-

"Can you change into something else after I choose?" he asked curiously.

-Yes. Me do anything Master wants. Anything.-

"Can you become a small silver fox?" he asked, a small smile on his face.

-What is fox?-

Kurama smiled, and sent a mental image of a tiny fox the size of a kitten that had just grown enough fur to be recognized as a cat.

It quickly changed into the tiny white fox, and climbed on to Kurama's chest. It was indeed small, and Kurama smiled at it softly. What was really strange, however, was that its eyes were a soft green, reflecting the colour of Kurama's chakra.

-Does Master like?-

"Yes, I like," Kurama said with a small chuckle. Trying to sit up, he hissed in pain. His skin was red with the beginnings of burns. His clothes and hair, however, remained strangely untouched.

-Is Master hurt?-

"Yes," Kurama winced out, cradling the small fox to his chest as he sat up.

-Me heal Master.-

Kurama blinked at this, and watched as the small fox licked his burns. They healed within seconds, to Kurama's shock, and he watched as the little fox licked ever square inch of his visible skins, where the burns were.

-Master all better!- The little fox said happily.

Kurama smiled beautifully at the silver fox, "Thank you. Now, what should I name you?" The fox merely stared at him as he thought up a fitting name. "Are you a boy or girl?" he wondered absently. Picking up the fox, he discovered that it was a boy (hits perverts over heads). "Hm… what should I name you… I know, I'll name you Shinrin, which means `forest'. It is a fitting name, what do you think?"

The fox nodded enthusiastically, and licked Kurama on the cheek.

Smiling, Kurama stood from the ground, placing Shinrin on his right shoulder. "We're going to go meet up with my team now, they have probably discovered by now that I left them with a Bushin."

-Yes Master.-

"You don't need to call me `Master', you know. You can call me Kurama…"

-Yes Master.-

Kurama sighed, and started running through the forest to catch up with his team. Shinrin hid in his hair, at the nape of his neck. He was small enough to fit their comfortably and not form a bulge in his hair.

When he got to the clearing that his team had stopped at, he was surprised to find that his Bushin was still there… His surprise disappeared when he heard his team's voices.

"Where is the real Kurama?!" Gai asked.

The bushin only glared, keeping its mouth shut.

Kurama smiled. It seemed that they had kept the bushin there to interrogate. "I am right here," he said, coming out of the forest with a grin on his face.

Gai looked slightly surprised, but quickly hid it, and asked, "Where were you?!"

Kurama blinked innocently. "Me? I was doing this and that…" he said mysteriously, and looked at his bushin. It disappeared, leaving a pile of leaves.

Gai stood from the ground, looking incredibly serious. "I am responsible for all those in my care, do NOT run off again without my permission, is that understood?"

Kurama blinked in surprise, "Yes."

-He mean to Master.- Shinrin said, growling softly.

/Quiet, Shinrin. Everything is alright./

Shinrin froze, shocked that his master had communicated to him mind-to-mind.

"I would like you all to meet a new friend of mine," Kurama said as his team stood. They watched him expectantly, with confused looks.

/Shinrin, you can come out now. Give them a little show./ Kurama thought with amusement.

-Yes Master.- Shinrin said cheerfully, climbing onto his shoulder and jumping from there onto Neji's head. He stared down into the surprised white eyes.

-Master, this boy's eyes white!-

/Byakugan. It is a bloodline ability, enabling him with eyesight completely encompassing him./

-Oh. Me like white-eyed boy.-

/So do I, Shinrin…/

Next, Shinrin jumped onto Lee.

"Meet Shinrin, my new pet," Kurama said with a bright smile.

Lee stared at the white fox on his left shoulder. It stared back.

…

"We should get going," Gai said seriously, "We are behind schedule as it is. We'll have to travel at a faster speed to make up for lost time."

Everyone nodded, and Shinrin jumped back onto Kurama, hiding in his hair again.

-Master's hair smell nice.- Shinrin said, snuggling into the nape of Kurama's neck.

Kurama merely smiled, and began running after his team as they hurried through the forest.

They camped again that night in another small clearing, and Gai informed them that they would arrive at the border in a two-hour run from where they were. After that, they would meet a squad of ANBU a little ways into the land of stone, who would then take them to the Hidden Village of Stone.

The night continued without event, and the next morning they passed into Stone country. The change of land didn't occur until an hour into the land, and stone started showing up everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. White stone hills, forests of stone, very few trees, some more stone, a few little villages here and there, some more stone…

Gai motioned for everyone to stop, and stood waiting expectantly at the top of a hill. To their surprise, four ANBU slid out from behind rocks here and there. Gai, however, wasn't surprised in the least, and nodded to who appeared to be the leader of the squad.

"You are the team from Konoha?" the leader, a woman, asked.

Gai nodded his head, serious for once. "Yes, we are."

"Names?"

"My name is Gai, my students are Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, and Minamino Kurama," Gai said, motioning to his students individually as he said their names.

The ANBU nodded her head, and motioned for them to follow her. They did so, walking leisurely through the forests of stone. After a while of walking, she started running, and Gai followed along with his team.

Kurama found it a little difficult to get a good grip on the smooth stones, and found that Neji and Lee were having similar difficulties. They traded looks, then sped up to keep up with their sensei. The other three ANBU disappeared again, one on each side and one in the back.

When they arrived at the Hidden Village of Stone, they were shocked to see that the gate and walls were made of perfectly carved white stone, the symbol of Stone on the giant gate. They were lead to see the Tsuchikage by the ANBU, and the Tsuchikage they met surprised them…

"Welcome to the Village of Stone…"

Someone PLEASE tell me if Tsuchikage is right! Is that the right one? I can't remember! PLEASE LET ME KNOW!! T-T