Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Weapons of Old and New ❯ Ten ( Chapter 10 )

 

Weapons of Old and New

Or, Not Another Super Naruto Story

(Really. It's Not.)

By Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Oh, yeah. I SO own Naruto. That's why I have to bust my ass working at minimum wage to pay for college. Psh. Sure.

Author's Note: I decided to not go with the songfic, as I really couldn't think up any imagery for a story that is still revealing itself to me. So, I think I'll do it at the end. Oh, and this isn't going to be a Naruto version of “Casino Royale”, but merely have many of the same elements as that story and movie.

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The cavern seemed darker than Naruto last recalled. The torches that burned on the walls of this space, this prison, were muted and barely crackling. The shadows were longer, and the black void beyond the bars before him seemed almost solid… Until familiar red eyes and a hideous set of gleaming teeth appeared over him. The vaguely defined face leered from behind the barrier.

 

“BRAT.”

 

The blond ninja smirked, ever so slightly. The piece of paper that represented the seal, holding the bars of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's prison together, fluttered at the Kyuubi's `greeting'.

 

“Kyuubi-chan,” Naruto returned in a sweet voice. The fox demon growled.

 

“IT HAS BEEN SOME TIME SINCE YOU HAVE ASKED FOR `RENT', BRAT.”

 

“Yeah, it has.”

 

“SO THEN YOU WISH FOR MORE OF MY POWER NOW?” The Kyuubi sneered. Naruto shook his head.

 

“Nah. You know I'm sleeping right now. Actually, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.” The Kyuubi snarled.

 

“THIS IS A WASTE OF MY TIME.”

 

“No, it's my time. My time that you're wasting,” Naruto retorted. The Kyuubi actually blinked… Then roared.

 

“IMPUDENT WHELP! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN HOW IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY POWER THAT SAVED US!” Naruto smirked.

 

“Yeah, and that's kind of what's been bugging me. See, every time I drew on your power, I got a little more.” The fox stared in something akin to disbelief.

 

“OF COURSE YOU DID YOU MORON! YOU NEEDED MORE!”

 

“No, no, that's not the whole story. Ya see, all of Old Man's lessons in chakra control and sensing really paid off. Especially when it comes to feeling my own chakra coils… And telling them apart from ones you put in place.” The Kyuubi roared again.

 

“CEASE THIS ANNOYING PRATTLE, INSECT!”

 

“Oh what, you're angry now that I figured it out, stupid fox?” Naruto laughed mirthlessly. He pointed at the side of his head. “You've been putting in more and more chakra paths into my brain. Every time I've called on your power. And the amount that stays floating around in my system afterwards has been increasing as well.” Naruto glared at the Kyuubi.

 

“I'm here to tell you that your plan is now kaput. I'm cutting you completely off from the outside world.”

 

The Kyuubi laughed.

 

“FOOL. IF YOU DO THAT, THEN YOU WILL NO LONGER HAVE ACCESS TO THE GIFTS MY PRESENCE BRINGS. YOU NEED ME, BRAT.”

 

“No. I'm just going to cut the chakra paths from you to my brain.”

 

“THEN HOW WILL YOU WIELD MY POWER, BRAT?”

 

“Like any other chakra, stupid fox!” Naruto shouted. “And I'm not even going to use it much anymore, because I am not about to let you get into my head and take me over for whatever the hell you had planned! You're my prisoner, I'm the jailor! Time for some solitary confinement!” The Kyuubi, instead of roaring in rage as Naruto had expected, instead chuckled.

 

“FOOL. WITH MY POWER, AND MY KNOWLEDGE, I COULD HAVE MADE YOU THE MOST POWERFUL SHINOBI IN EXISTENCE. I STILL MIGHT.” Naruto blinked, and crossed his arms skeptically.

 

“What would I want to learn from you, bastard?”

 

“HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO CREATE PORTALS AND TRAVEL INSTANTLY FROM PLACE TO PLACE? OR CREATE FLAMES HOTTER THAN EVEN THE UCHIHA'S AMATERASU? AND MORE. MUCH MORE. I HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, BRAT. MY SENSES AND MIND EXTEND FAR BEYOND YOUR FEEBLE COM-“

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm the Lord Youkai, the Nine-Tailed Fox, men weep and women scream at your name, blah, blah, blah,” Naruto whined. “And gee, let me guess what the price would be… My soul, your freedom?” The Kyuubi smirked.

 

“I AM YOUR TENANT. I BELIEVE THAT MY `RENT' BRINGS WITH IT SOME BENEFITS.”

 

“Fuck you,” Naruto snorted.

 

“YOU'RE NOT MY TYPE,” the Kyuubi boomed. Naruto smirked.

 

“Aw, is the lowly whelp rubbing off on the mighty Kyuubi? Developing an affinity for me, foxy-chan?” The Kyuubi growled.

 

“You know what… I've got a better offer.”

 

“WHAT, WHELP? WHAT COULD AN INSIGNIFICANT FOOL LIKE YOU OFFER ME, THE NINETAILS? STRONGEST OF THE YOUKAI, MIGHTIEST-”

 

“If you don't stop wasting your breath, you're not going to hear it now are you?” Naruto asked mockingly. The Kyuubi snarled, but otherwise stayed silent.

 

“Okay… If, and I do stress the if, you give me your chakra, and some - emphasis on some - of your knowledge when I want, then I promise to one day break the seal, and let you out. On that day, we will fight. If you win, well, you get to go back to terrorizing humanity and eating chickens and whatever else your little demonic heart could want.”

 

The Kyuubi snarled.

 

“AND IF, BY SOME IMPOSSIBLE CHANCE YOU WIN?” Naruto smirked.

 

“Then you must become servant, summon, and otherwise bitch for me, my descendents, and the people of Konoha. In other words, you'll be protecting the very thing you tried to wipe out for the rest of eternity.” The Kyuubi laughed uproariously.

 

“YOU ARE BRAVE, WHELP, I'LL GIVE YOU THAT.”

 

“That's not an answer.”

 

“I WILL THINK ON YOUR OFFER, BRAT. YOU WILL HAVE MY ANSWER WITHIN A DAY.” Naruto frowned, closing his eyes in a very vulpine way.

 

“How do I know you won't just stall for the rest of eternity?” The Kyuubi snarled, it's claws lashing out through the bars, but Naruto easily dodged.

 

“IF THERE IS ONE THING YOU SHOULD NEVER QUESTION ABOUT A YOUKAI, WHELP, IT IS THEIR WORD,” the fox demon boomed. Naruto nodded, and turned… But not before shooting the Kyuubi a cheeky smile and wink. The Kyuubi growled, until it was sure Naruto was gone from the mindscape of the seal… Before roaring as loudly as it could, its prison shaking in its rage.

 

`BASTARD! INSECT! SCUM! WHELP! SON OF A DOG! AARRRRRGGGGH!!!'

 

So close… So close! One more call of it's power and the Kyuubi would have finally been able to directly influence it's jailor! Instead, it had been outwitted by a human thousands of years it's junior!

 

The Kyuubi did not know whether to laugh, continue to roar, or sob in despair.

 

`DAMN YOU YONDAIME! DAMN YOU TO THE DARKEST HOTTEST PITS OF HELLFIRE!' The Fourth Hokage had designed the seal well. How well was not apparent even to the Kyuubi until a few years ago. It had bound the Kyuubi to the whelp's soul, but not let it influence it. Instead, the soul of the whelp had begun to seep into it's own! The Ninetailed Fox had begun feeling loneliness, love, fear, joy, sorrow, mercy- Its mind forever corrupted by human weaknesses! Not only that, but the fox was aware of the steadily changing nature of its chakra.

 

It had begun to resemble mortal chakra, instead of pure demonic chakra. In a few decades, maybe even sooner than that, if he went along with the whelp's bargain it was uncomfortably likely that the Kyuubi would be vulnerable to the one thing that had previously prevented it's destruction at the hands of the Fourth Hokage.

 

Immortality. The Kyuubi was not designed to die, or in all honesty fatigue or deteriorate; therefore the Fourth had had to seal it away. But with the human corruption even now binding the demon to its container, the fox knew that it would be vulnerable should it ever be released.

 

Not unless it was given sufficient time, centuries possibly, to correct the damage. And the whelp would not allow the fox that time. Behind the Kyuubi's terrifying and intimidating visage, a desperate mind worked, attempting to find a path out of it's current conundrum.

 

It could refuse the whelp's deal… And die anyway when the brat expired as humans are wont to do. The Kyuubi felt that it might be able to extend it's container's lifespan by a significant amount (given that the Fox was able to enhance his body in many ways), but as the fox's chakra was corrupted into mortality that would never serve as a permanent solution. So long as the Kyuubi was bound to the whelp it was vulnerable to Shinigami's grim scythe.

 

It could accept the whelp's deal, and still possibly best him in the future. However, at the rate of growth the brat was experiencing currently it became less and less likely that the Kyuubi could successfully defeat him. In a few decades the brat would be far more powerful than the Fourth Hokage, who had sealed the fox in the first place, while the Kyuubi would continue to (from it's perspective) weaken.

 

Disrupting the brat's growth or hindering it in any way would not help either: He had to follow in his damnable parent's footsteps, he had to become a ninja and be exposed to danger that threatened the Kyuubi as well.

 

Trying to corrupt his container into obeying him had been the Kyuubi's best hope, and that had failed miserably. The brat may have been loud, may have been idiotic in many ways, but possessed a cunning much like his father's. The training he had received from the frog hermit and the retired assassin combined had improved him mentally as well as physically.

 

`NO! I AM THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE! I HAVE NOT BEEN FOILED BY A MERE APE! I WILL FIND A WAY!' The demon vowed, ignoring the fact that this determination was very similar to that of it's container. The Kyuubi rethought it's options, all it's influence…

 

The fox demon cursed the influence of it's host. How could it have missed it? With a sadistic smirk the fox worked out it's plan… As it's host's perverted sensei might say, the cards were in the Kyuubi's favor now…

 

In the real world, lying in his bed, Naruto Uzumaki didn't suspect a thing, his thoughts before drifting off to sleep again on his new mission and the team meeting tomorrow…

 

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Hinata awoke, blinking tiredly. She took stock of her surroundings.

 

Her room in the Hyuuga mansion was relatively Spartan and modest, but clean and comfortable. It was her own quiet, private place. A refuge from the pressures of her father and the clan in general. At times resentment bubbled up in her heart over the continuing power games and struggles going on around her. She knew how politics worked, knew that her father had concern for her wellbeing behind the stern expression and constant pressure… But that didn't stop her from wishing the Hyuugas were no different from any other family in Konoha.

 

She rose from her bed, brushing off imaginary lint and dust, and exited. Curiously she looked about, before activating her Byakugan.

 

What happened? I remember Naruto-kun… She blushed heavily at the thought … Kakashi-sensei… Oh please, please don't let it be true! Please don't let Naruto-kun have…!

 

She saw various guards and servants everywhere, but the thought of asking any of them about what happened was embarrassing. Asking her father was simply out of the question. Fortunately, she picked up the familiar chakra signature of Neji, and after deactivating her bloodline set out to find him.

 

He was sitting in the garden by himself. Hinata checked her watch and found that it was nearly dinner time. She frowned as she looked her cousin over. Strange… Shouldn't he be training at this hour?

Hinata stealthily approached him, frowning even more as with every step the expected greeting failed to materialize. Concern arose in her as she closed on her cousin, sitting on a stone bench, his head bent down and shoulders hunched.

 

Is he allright? Is he in turmoil over something? What happened?

 

“N-Neji-nii-san?” Hinata risked. Neji stiffened, and turned his head. Hinata blinked. Was he… Blushing?

 

“H-Hinata-sama,” he returned, coughing slightly. Hinata grew even more concerned, and finally stepped in front of her cousin.

 

“Neji-nii-san, w-what-?” Hinata froze. Neji blinked, then quickly shoved a suspicious-looking orange covered book into his robes.

 

“W-What was that,” Hinata asked. Neji shook his head rapidly.

 

“Hinata-sama, it is none of your concern and-WAIT!” Neji shouted as Hinata activated her Byakugan. The bright red tone her entire face took led Neji to sit back down in defeat.

 

“N-N-N-Neji-nii-san?!” Hinata stuttered. Badly. Neji sighed, and closed his eyes. He then opened them, and casually withdrew the copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

 

“I'm sorry, Hinata-sama… But I was… Doing research on… Naruto.” Hinata blinked, then examined the cover of the book more closely. She gasped, and had it in her hands before Neji knew she had moved.

 

“I-I-Icha I-I-I-cha Tr-Travels, b-by Uzuma-maki N-N-Naruto?!” She fairly shrieked. Neji groaned, as his own activated Byakugan revealed numerous guards in the area turning towards the source of the outburst. He flared his chakra in a standard signal that made them turn back to their posts… But Neji could see a few of them snickering. He narrowed his eyes, before returning his gaze to a hyperventilating Hinata.

 

“Hinata-sama… It appears Naruto has been…” He raised an eyebrow. “… Busy.”

 

“… I-I see…” Hinata whispered, examining the book before her. Neji coughed.

 

“It… Is apparently based on-“

 

“I see,” Hinata responded quietly, almost coldly. Neji blinked in disbelief. She'd almost sounded like Hiashi-sama…

 

“However… It appears that he has not been wed to anyone. Nor is he… Attached. In fact, the encounters seem…” Comically implausible, he thought. “Accidental.” Neji shrugged, a small bit of resentment and envy sprouting in his chest that for once had nothing to do with Naruto's abilities as a ninja.

 

As implausible as they seem, they are also exactly like how such encounters would occur with Naruto involved, Neji mused. So it's probable… Damnit. How is Hinata-sama going to take this?

 

“N-Neji-nii-san,” Hinata said quietly, breaking into her cousin's brooding. “M-May I b-b-borrow this?” Neji blinked. Hinata was blushing almost as hard as she had a few moments ago.

 

“…”

 

“Y-You see, um, I w-would like to, uh, ah… Um…” Hinata stopped, blinking awkwardly. Neji blinked awkwardly as well, before getting up, adjusting his robes, and turning away.

 

“Certainly, Hinata-sama,” he replied, coughing. He then headed away, really wishing that the mental images that came to mind from the book and Hinata-sama's request would just go away…

 

Hinata opened the first page, glanced over it… And sat down, hard, on the bench.

 

“The lonely traveling ninja, Uzumaki Naruto, is like the Adonis-Handsome, strong, and sculpted. But also, his heart is so large it cannot contain just one woman. So he continues, seeking the one woman whose heart is large enough to fill his own… And who isn't so large as to not be able to accommodate his-“ Hinata stopped reading at that point, blushing so hard she was surprised her skin hadn't become darker by now.

 

“I-If… If th-this is true, then…” Hinata firmed her resolve, clenching a fist and holding it up. “Th-then I won't give up!” Taking a deep breath, she began to read again.

 

Thirty minutes later, Neji returned to the garden, to find Hinata so she could get some dinner. He facefaulted at the fact that she was completely engrossed in the smutty book, bright red but her gaze still sweeping the pages.

 

Dear Kami, I am going to kill that bastard for even writing that stupid thing… It was bad enough when he'd caught Tenten reading it, and then cheerfully noting she was looking forward to seeing Naruto again. She then gave it to him after one of the most difficult training sessions he'd ever experienced (Tenten sighing and fluttering her eyes at Naruto of all people making it hard for him to focus, his brain hurting so badly), and said it could teach him a thing or two!

 

He'd shoved the book back in her hands and stalked off, ignoring her giggling… Before he henged himself and bought a copy of the book. Just so he could know what Tenten was talking about, he told himself. Just so he could know what trouble Naruto was getting into now…

 

And now I'm completely traumatized. Oh yeah, Uzumaki's getting 128 palms for this…

 

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To my loyal reviewers: Thank you for continuing to read and comment on the story! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but the New Year brings with it new challenges and so forth.

Now, before anyone asks: I'm not going to make Sakura or Hinata or any of the female characters for that matter villainesses unless they already are. Like I said, this is not Naruto's version of “Casino Royale”, it just takes some story elements from it. As for who I'm pairing Naruto with, or anyone else for that matter, that is up in the air and is not going to be too relevant to the story as far as I know. That might change, as this story is coming to me at a rather irregular rate. I'm partial to Naruharems, so that is a better possibility than others, but as I said it's not set in stone just yet. So, keep reading and reviewing, and feel free to offer suggestions if you wish.

 

Next Time: Team Seven reunites, as Naruto's “prowess” spreads across the village. Danzo makes his move, Sasuke is more than mentioned, and Akatsuki's woes increase…