Naruto Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kurama in Narutoland ❯ Chapter TwentyThree ( Chapter 23 )

Kurama in Narutoland

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Prepare to feel pain like no other, Orochimaru," Kurama said, reaching into his hair. He pulled out a death tree seed and shoved all of his evil chakra into it. It appeared instantly, acid dripping from its mouth onto the metal ground, melting huge holes in it. "I suggest you do not move, Leaf and Stone shinobi. Otherwise the death tree will attack you," Kurama emotionlessly warned before he set the plant against Orochimaru, who was panicking. Jumping out of the way, he tried to get away from the huge plant.

Watching Orochimaru attempt to dodge the attacks, Kurama was smiling evilly the whole time. It reminded him of Karasu and his battle.

The death tree snagged Orochimaru, and a scream was heard before he was buried beneath the many `heads' of the plant. Kurama smirked evilly, but suddenly clutched his chest. Why did it hurt? What was wrong with him? Opening his senses, he discovered that the death tree was slowly eating away at his chakra source. `Damnit! Since I'm not using youki, it'll eat away all my chakra and kill me!' Kurama instantly made the tree ungrow and become a seed again. It left a badly burned Orochimaru on the ground. Kurama's vision began to swim. The evil chakra hadn't been enough to sustain the death tree, and that only proved its weakness. His own chakra would have lasted many times longer just because of the fact that it was untainted. Growling softly, he fell to his knees, holding his chest. `Neji…' was the last thought on his mind before he fell into peaceful oblivion.

Orochimaru sat up with a glare at the unconscious Kurama. `He could have killed me,' he thought to himself. Moving quickly, he disappeared, leaving the underground hideout with Kabuto immediately. `I will have you as my servant another time, Kurama. There is nothing you can do to resist the evil of the curse seal,' Orochimaru thought, laughing evilly under his breath.

"Kurama?" Gai asked, walking towards the unconscious redhead. Flipping him over, he was met with a beautifully peaceful expression on the once insane boy's face. Looking over, Gai eyed Neji. Seeing his chest rise, he let out a sigh of relief. "Kurama is fine, just depleted of chakra. We must get Neji to the hospital as soon as possible!"

Two ANBU picked Neji up and held him gently between the two of them. They left the hideout quickly, heading in the direction of the Hidden Stone.

---Time Elapses---

Kurama heard voices talking around him. Bits like `…he went crazy…' `…lost his mind…' `…-chimaru escaped wounded…'

Opening his eyes slowly, he was met wih the (ugly) face of his sensei.

"Are you feeling okay, Kurama?" Gai asked, worried about his student.

Kurama blinked slowly, tryng to think clearly. Where was he? All he could remember was Orochimaru… Neji… Sword… Blood. Shooting up in bed, eyes wide, Kurama gasped out through intense pain, "What about Neji?!! WHAT HAPPENED TO NEJI?!!"

Gai smiled softly and said, "He is recovering. He should be awake within a few more days."

Kurama relaxed and fell back onto the bed clutching at the curse seal on his left shoulder. It really, really hurt. Damn Orochimaru… the bastard.

"Does it hurt?" Gai asked, becoming serious.

Kurama smiled weakly. "Hurts like a bitch," he choked out, clutching it harder. It was beginning to spread again.

Gai's eyes widened when he saw the markings extending outwards like before. "Shit! Kurama, fight it back with your will! If you don't it'll control you again!"

Eyes widening, Kurama focused his will on the curse to beat it back to its marking. To his surprise, its power over him collapsed under his will easily and retreated instantly. Staring at it, he wondered how it could be so easy.

"You must have a very strong will, Kurama," Gai said with a fond smile, giving Kurama the thumbs up.

Smiling softly, Kurama nodded his head. His will had been honed throughout the many hundreds of years he had lived, as well as his mind. That's why he hadn't fallen prey to Orochimaru's hypnotic words.

The days passed uneventfully. Lee stopped by to visit both Kurama and Neji every day to wish them well and say positive words (even if Neji was unconscious for it all).

The Hyuuga prodigy woke five days after Kurama, his body completely healed by the professional medic-nin at the hospital. Kurama was allowed to visit along with Lee and Gai, but had to be careful in case his curse started acting up again.

Kurama jumped on Neji as soon as they entered the room, surprising the Hyuuga out of his wits. "Kurama?" he asked softly.

The redhead whispered in his ear sorrowfully, "I'm so sorry, Neji…" A tear escaped his eye and landed on Neji's neck.

"It's okay, Kurama," Neji said, hugging Kurama back and breathing in the smell of his hair. A silver fox popped out and licked Neji on the nose. "Ah, hello there, Shinrin," Neji said, smiling slightly at the fox.

Shinrin made a squeak noise in response and jumped onto Neji's lap.

Kurama pulled back and sat on a chair by Neji's bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked after calming down.

"Fine," Neji said shortly, absently petting Shinrin on the head.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" Kurama asked.

Neji shook his head and looked at the other occupants of the room. "Lee, Gai," he said, nodding his head in greeting.

"You fit to walk?" Gai asked.

Neji looked down at himself and shook his head. "My body is still too weak from the healing," he grudgingly admitted.

Gai nodded his head and said with energy, "Well you heal up as soon as possible, Neji! Come along Lee, we're going to train some more." The two of them left the room.

Kurama stood up and locked the door silently. He turned around and grinned at Neji, who was smirking. "Are you too weary from healing for this?" he asked slyly, walking to the end of Neji's bed with graceful movements.

"I never said that," Neji began with a smirk, "I said I couldn't stand."

Kurama smirked and crawled onto the bed. Straddling Neji, Kurama leaned down for a kiss. "I'm sorry," he whispered before their lips touched and silenced any response Neji had to it by molding their lips together. When the sweet, tender, lovingly gentle kiss was finished, Neji was blown away by the powerful emotions behind it. Kurama followed up the kiss with another gentle one on Neji's pulse. The redhead licked a wet trail up to Neji's left ear and sucked on an earlobe.

A knock on the door stopped them in their tracks, and Kurama sighed.

"Ever notice that we're always interrupted?" Neji asked with an irritated look.

"Of course," Kurama said calmly and smoothly, standing from the bed to open the door.

The nurse walked in and gave Kurama a short lecture. "Doors in hospitals are not supposed to be locked by civilians. It's a safety precaution," she said gently with a smile before walking towards Neji to examine his vitals. "You are doing well, child. You should be able to get up and move around within a few days. The doctor will come by later to give you a full examination and decide if it is okay to let you go," the nurse said, leaving with a smile.

Kurama watched her go and sighed when the door closed. "I should get going, really. My doctor will be by to check on me soon-"

=Mr. Minamino, will you please return you your room, the doctor is waiting for you.=

Kurama grinned sheepishly at the announcement. "I'll be by later, Neji. Get better soon," Kurama said, leaving the room with a happy and worriless smile.

Once arriving at his room, Kurama sat on the bed and waited as the doctor examined his vitals and body. After done with that, the doctor took one final look at the curse seal. Sighing, the man started, "I'm sorry to say that there's nothing I, or any other doctor, can do for that marking. It is best that you take it to Tsuchikage-sama and see if she knows anything about it. A library would also be a good place to look. I release you from my care. You may go now." The doctor left the room to go to his next patient.

Sighing, Kurama stood from his hospital bed. `Time to get out of here,' he thought to himself.

The first place he stopped by was Tsuchikage, but he was told that she was in an important meeting and could not be disturbed. Calmly accepting what the ANBU guard told him, Kurama left immediately for the library.

"Excuse me, sir, are you looking for any book in particular?" a young roguish boy asked with a grin.

Kurama smiled at the child and nodded his head. "I'm looking for books or scrolls on `seals'," he explained.

The boy led him deep into the library and showed him a section of shelving with many books and scrolls. "You'll find scrolls and books on seals here. Have a nice day," the boy said dutifully before running off to help another person.

Watching the boy leave, Kurama smiled softly. Children were always so innocent. Looking back to the shelf, he searched for a random title that caught his attention… A book with no title on it at all piqued his interest, and he jumped up to snag it off the shelf, it was so high up. Landing on the floor silently, he opened the book and flipped through the pages. It was amazing, all the seals that were listed. Accidentally skipping a page, he flipped back and gasped. In the middle of the page was a drawing of the curse seal. The caption read:

`An interesting seal with no real name. Its creator is unknown as is much about the peculiar marking. Some call it the `curse seal' for lack of a better term.

It is said that the marking contains negative energy and poisons the marked person's chakra within hours of the marking. Eventually, the marking will try to take over their mind, unless controlled with an iron will.

There are three levels to the curse seal. The first is when intricate markings spread across the marked person's skin and give them an incredible boost of chakra. This boost of negative energy can take its toll on a person over time, causing them to become heartless or cold.

The second level of the curse is when the marked person becomes half-monster. There is very little information on how level two is attained or sustained.

The third level there is no solid information about. It is said in rumors that this is when a person becomes a demon with no heôrt ôr compassion.

The only way the curse seal can be removed from the marked person is if they die, or the one who placed the marking upon them dies. It is rumored that if the marked person has a powerful enough will and chakra, they can over power it, causing a back-lash of energy to the one who placed it on them, possibly killing him or her.'

Kurama mulled over the information the book provided. `Three levels? I couldn't over power it when I first got the damn thing, and if I can't train my chakra because I have to access to it, what can I do?'

Unbeknownst to Kurama, because he wasn't using his chakra or youki at all, it was able to grow at twice the rate, therefore increasing his overall capacity of it.

Feeling a pulse at his forehead, Kurama rubbed the spot. To his shock, he felt his chakra and youki there, sealed away. `How'd that happen? How is all of it sealed away in my forehead?' Although Kurama was confused at this new development, he decided to learn some new jutsus or techniques. He had nothing better to do, anyway.

Kurama stayed in the library far past closing time, hiding from the librarian as she looked around to make sure no one was left inside. Once the lights were turned out, Kurama formed a small light of chakra to float over his shoulder and give him light. It took very little chakra if performed properly.

Kurama studied the books late into the night, taking in everything he read without having to look over it twice. He learned a lot about chakra, chakra control, and chakra manipulation in the time he studied at the library that night. There were many ways explained in some books that helped a person with chakra control and chakra manipulation, and Kurama decided that he wanted to work on chakra manipulation. Holding out his hand, he summoned a ball of chakra to float above his hand. The book said to keep that ball of chakra there without wasting any of it for long periods of time.

To both Kurama's shock and annoyance, he was unable to properly sustain the ball of chakra for more than a minute. It was THAT difficult to prevent any chakra from leaving it and keeping it in the same form at the same time.

The red-haired 12-year-old boy worked on that for hours on end, the time he could hold it there increasing dramatically as he worked at it. It truly was an ingenius way to increase one's control of chakra. After being able to hold it for an hour, he went onto the next step. It said to make the ball change shape constantly without losing any chakra for an hour.

Kurama had gotten the hang of chakra control by then, and was able to concentrate long enough to keep the ball changing into intricate shapes and forms. About a half and hour into it, he had a dancer twirling across his palm with a fiery passion. Tired from the long night and endless hours of concentration, Kurama snuck out of the library, planning on returning after getting a few hours sleep.

Gai had different plans, however.

"Since the kidnapping, you're going to be training harder every single day for longer. Lee has already started the training," Gai explained to Kurama when he woke up the next morning, "and now its time that you started, since you were released from the hospital yesterday."

Kurama calmly nodded his head and allowed himself to be dragged outside by an enthusiastic Gai. "First, we're going to have you wearing weights," he said with a smile.

Kurama froze. `What the hell do I tell him if he finds out I'm wearing weights that weigh around 1000 pounds?! That's far heavier than Lee's 300 pound ones!' "Yes, Gai-sensei," he said meekly, and put the weights Gai handed him around his ankles and wrists, making sure to not show his weight shin guards and arm guards. "How heavy are these?" he asked, lifting a leg.

"20 pounds. Once you get used to them, you will add another 20," Gai said, giving Kurama the thumbs up.

"Yes, Gai-sensei," Kurama said wearily.

"Now, for the rest of the training: 50 pushups on your finger tips, 20 using each arm, 200 regular pushups, 300 situps, 100 legups, and 50 situps hanging upside from a tree. You have to touch your toes during the last one. Next you will punch a tree 100 hundred times as hard as you can. After that, I want 200 laps around the Hidden Stone in one hour at most. After that you'll walk for a bit to cool down, and then you get to eat lunch. After eating lunch, I train you in taijutsu. After doing that for 3 hours straight, we will go to a nearby lake and practice forms of chakra control. Lee will not be taking part from here on, and will be doing his own training. After chakra control, we will be going to the library to study for the rest of the evening. I do not know a sufficient amount of ninjutsu or genjutsu to teach you in that area, unfortunately, so you may have to go to a different teacher to learn that area. After the library closes, you are free. We will not be doing missions until our team is at top shape again. You ready?"

Kurama was currently staring at his sensei with an incredulous look on his face. "You're serious?" he asked fruitlessly, already knowing the answer.

"Of course!" Gai said, giving the thumbs up with a twinkle tooth.

Gulping nervously, Kurama waited in horror for Lee to arrive so they could start the training. `This is insane,' he thought to himself, gulping again. `Even HIEI wouldn't be crazy enough to do this kind of training…'

"I'm here!" Lee shouted happily when he arrived at their new training site in the woods.

"Good, now we can get started," Gai said with a grin.

"First: 50 pushups on your finger tips!"

Lee finished 5 before Kurama. However, the redhead consoled his ego by telling himself that he weighed far more than Lee did with all the extra weights.

"20 with your right arm!"

They did so, Lee still finishing before Kurama.

"20 with your left!"

They continued the training far into the morning. By the time they finished all the pushups situps, etc, it was time to punch trees.

Kurama successfully bloodied his knuckles, as did Lee. To the surprise of both Lee and Gai, Kurama had a larger dent in his tree.

Afterwards, tired as hell, they started their 200 laps around the Hidden Stone in one hour. Lee finished before Kurama and got to eat first, but Kurama was still happy that he made it within the hour. After all, the 1020 some odd weights were KILLING him. He cooled down by walking around town before grabbing take out at a restaurant. He didn't want the people in there to stare at his sweaty body any longer than possible. After paying for his lunch, he took it to the hospital to tell Neji of the horrors that was training.

"He made you do all that? Seriously?" Neji asked, rather incredulous.

Kurama gave Neji a half-lidded look. "Take a good look at me, smart ass, does it look like I've been relaxing all day?"

Neji smirked at Kurama and took his hands into his own. "Rather bloodied up. You should get the nurse to heal them."

Kurama only shrugged and shared his food with Neji. Once he was done, he bid his lover farewell and went back to train in Taijutsu with Gai in a clearing in the forest.

After 3 grueling hours of that, they went to the lake half a kilometer away to practice chakra control. Lee went off to do more laps or something.

"Chakra control. Absolutely crucial to become a good shinobi, unless you are strong in other areas, like taijutsu. Focus your chakra to your feet and try to walk on the water," Gai explained.

Kurama tried it, and was able to immediately, to Gai's shock. Smiling, he decided to have a little fun. Using his newfound chakra control skills (that he had developed the previous night) Kurama performed a few aerobatic stunts. It was fun, and a challenge, to continuously refocus his chakra in the middle of a twist.

Gai was sufficiently shocked at the end of the show, and decided that no further practice of chakra control would do Kurama any good. "I'll leave you on your own to learn jutsu. There should be an archive at the library. Have fun!" Gai called, disappearing with a poof.

Kurama stopped his movements on the water and looked around at the lake. The water was so peaceful and undisturbed… Focusing his chakra, he started to form his Water Whirlwind no Jutsu. Using incredible focus, he managed to get three of them up and going before he lost concentration and they collapsed, causing the water to ripple, and Kurama to stumble across its ripples. Getting an idea, he grinned. Performing the jutsu again, he formed one water cyclone and focused on using as little chakra as possible to keep it going. To his surprise, it was rather easy, and soon he had more than five going.

That was when his curse seal decided he'd had enough fun. Pain lanced through his whole body, causing his jutsu to fall apart, and Kurama to clutch at his seal. The seal spread across his body like a disease, and Kurama had trouble forcing it back while trying to keep himself afloat at the same time. Taking a deep breath, he released the chakra on his feet and instantly plummeted with incredible speed to the bottom of the incredibly deep lake. The 1020 pounds was dragging him down at an incredible pace, and Kurama panicked, causing the curse seal to get farther out of his control…

Still in Vancouver. I fly home in two days! Yay! Can't wait! Updates coming daily now, ne? You all are really happy about that, I bet [wink].

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS WHAT SO EVER (like Sagi-chan had) ASK AWAY IN A REVIEW. Hope you like my story, ja!