Kitsune

By: Tya Katrine Bell

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the Characters that are written of therein, my only concession to any ownership is my oc and the story plot that I am putting out there for others to read for their own enjoyment and amusement.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

"Rasengan!" Was heard yelled in a young mans voice all across the cliffs. A blond with blue eyes and 3 whisker marks on each check stood facing off against a dark haired man in a black cloak with red trim and red clouds. The dark haired ninja was blown back by the blonds attack and landed several feet away. A pink haired girl with green eyes was nearby, attempting to heal a large white haired man who was bleeding badly from a wound in his side.

"Sakura-chan, how is Ero-Sennin doing?" the blond called to the girl, never taking his eyes off the ninja that he had sent flying a moment ago with his strongest attack.

"Jiraiya-sama should be fine; I've got most of the bleeding stopped." Sakura replied looking over at her teammate and friend. "Are you okay, Naruto?"

"I'm fine Sakura-chan, but I'm about out of ideas on how to stop Itachi, you got any ideals Ero-sensei?"

"How many times I gotta tell you to stop calling me that Gaki! I'm working on it; he can't have much fight left after getting hit with the Rasengan. I'll go check in just a moment, just gotta catch my breath." The famous toad summoner and pervert said as Sakura finished healing the wound that he had received from the shaving blade known as Samehada.

"And how is Kakashi-sensei doing?" Naruto asked still watching the unmoving figure of Itachi.

"Looks like he's still out." Sakura said turning to look toward the forest where they had first been attacked. A grey haired ninja in a mask lay near another man wearing a black and red cloak with red clouds. This ninja had a blue tint to his hair and skin and strongly resembled a shark. His blade, Samehada lay in the shade of the trees, softly glowing from the chakra it had absorbed from the white haired Jiraiya and the grey haired Kakashi.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Naruto asked glancing toward his pink haired teammate and his occasional sensei.

"I think so; he just got hit over the head with Samehada while it was still wrapped, so he might have a minor concussion along with the chakra drain from the blade." Sakura replied still looking at her first sensei and not seeing the downed Uchiha twitch.

Naruto didn't see the twitch either, but was still wary of approaching the nuke-nin turned Akatsuki member and circled closer to the cliff edge as he checked to see if the Uchiha's eyes were open. Not seeing even a hint of red he tossed a kunai to make sure, but when there was no reaction Naruto turned his attention to the others.

"Naruto, watch out!" Sakura screamed as Itachi surged to his feet and launched himself at the blond demon holder.

Naruto startled and took an involuntary step back, but his foot met nothing but air. He wind-milled his arms trying to catch his balance. He had just managed to do so when Itachi placed a seal on his chest. He froze immediately, unable to move because of the immobilizing seal, and then being unable to move he was also unable to keep his balance. He heard Sakura scream as he went over the edge, he knew he had no way to catch himself, but before he lost sight of everyone he saw something no other living person could claim. Uchiha Itachi totally dumbfounded. 'He must be blind not to see how close I was to the edge of that cliff.' Naruto thought as he fell. As he fell he heard Sakura calling his name and struggling against Jiraiya, then he hit the trees. He bounced off several tree limbs, breaking bones as he went, but the worst pain was when his spine shattered when his back hit the forest floor. He immediately blacked out.

When Naruto came to lying in a dark place surrounded in water, he prepared himself for a tongue-lashing, but he never received one.

"Kit, don't move. I've managed to disable the seal but if you move, you'll die instantly." Kyuubi said as he worked feverishly to save his vessel.

"Will I be able to walk again?" Naruto asked already dreading the answer.

"I'm not sure Kit, I'm doing all I can to heal you but with all this damage I'm just not sure I can do this as things are now."

"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"No time now, Kit. Someone is approaching your body, I've gotta send you back out there to see what's going on, but remember, DON'T MOVE!"

Naruto came to again still lying on the forest floor, he didn't move but he could feel Kyuubi's chakra surrounding him. A moment later he heard several sets of approaching footsteps. Using all his willpower he stayed perfectly still even though it made him nervous not being able to see what was happening. Soon he found himself looking up at several kitsunes in all shapes and sizes. The largest, an unusual silver color stepped closer and sniffed at the chakra surrounding the blonds' body, then began to speak.

"Who are you, that chakra makes you smell like Kyuubi-sama." He asked in perfect ningen language.

Naruto said nothing, afraid that he would be attacked for containing the Kitsune Lord.

'Kit, you're gonna have to say something.'

'But what do I say?' Naruto asked frantically.

'Tell them that you're my ototo, that I've adopted you into my family' Kyuubi replied

'NANI, but you hate me!' Naruto replied incredulously.

'I don't hate you Kit, it's ningen in general that I can't stand' Kyuubi replied.

'Why is that, what did ningens do to you?' Naruto asked his curiosity peaked.

'It's a long story, but you'll find out soon, I promise'

'How do I know that you're not just trying to take over my body?' Naruto asked, suddenly suspicious again.

'It can't happen anymore Kit, you control too much of my chakra for me to take you over. Even if I managed to do so, it would only be temporary.'

'Okay, so what does it take for me to be adopted into your family?'

'It's mostly already done, you smell like a kitsune and you have my chakra, as well as your own so you're stronger than me. Not much else to do other than put it in the clan records and okay it with the head of the kitsune clan.'

'And who would that be?'

Before Kyuubi could answer Naruto heard another set of approaching footsteps. "Hello Aniki, its good to see you've finally calmed down. Is this our new ototo?" Naruto opened eyes he didn't know he had closed to see something that totally shocked him.

"You're Kyuubi's imoto?!"

Sakura struggled against Jiraiya's hold as Naruto fell. "Let me go Jiraiya-sama, I have to save him."

"You won't do the gaki any good jumping off a cliff trying to save him. He's already fallen too far for you to save him and you're the only one any good with healing. We need to wake Kakashi first then we'll go down below the cliff and find Naruto. You getting hurt trying to save him will just make him feel worse."

"You're right Jiraiya-sama, I'm sorry I reacted so badly. Let's go check up on Kakashi-sensei." Sakura replied, giving up on struggling against the stronger shinobi.

"It's all right, Sakura. I understand completely. I'm worried about the gaki too but let's check on Kakashi first." Jiraiya said as he walked toward the unconscious Copy Ninja.

A few minutes later after the application of a healing jutsu from Sakura and a small infusion of chakra from Jiraiya, Kakashi sat up and looked around. "Where's Naruto? Where did Itachi and Kisame go?"

"Itachi accidentally pushed Naruto off the cliff, then he grabbed Kisame and transported away. We need to go find Naruto; do you feel up to it?" Jiraiya asked rising from the crouch he had been in while helping Kakashi.

"I'm fine, let's go get Naruto. He might be hurt and we need to tell Tsunade-sama what happened. At least this happened after the mission was over." Kakashi said as he pushed himself to his feet as well.

Jiraiya didn't reply, just headed for the cliff edge looking for an easy way down to where Naruto had fallen. He found one that was relatively easy and a few minutes later the three ninja were looking up at the cliff that they had been fighting on before.

"Let's spread out and look for him." Sakura suggested and the two older shinobi nodded and rushed through the forest looking for their blond student. A scream from Sakura brought both to her side within moments, but what they saw when they got there caused Kakashi to fall to his knees and made Jiraiya pale. The ground and trees were spattered with blood; there were several broken tree limbs on the ground around the remains of an orange jumpsuit that was usually worn by a loud blond demon vessel. The jumpsuit was torn to shreds and covered with more blood, but there was no sign of a body, just a set of drag marks that led deeper into the woods.

"We need to follow those marks, there's a possibility that he's still alive, and even if he isn't he deserves a proper burial." Jiraiya said, looking into the shadows of the deeper woods.

Kakashi stood with a nod and Sakura looked at the white haired sennin with firm resolve that said she was ready to help her friend. Jiraiya saw the expressions of the other two and lead the way into the woods below the cliff.

No more than twenty feet into the woods the three ninja were stopped by a small pack of wolves, most were normal sized but three were the size of small horses and the largest stood taller than Jiraiya.

"What are you doing in these woods ningen? These woods are not safe for ningens, especially ninjas from Konoha. These woods are where the nature spirits live and no ningens are allowed here without permission from one of the clan heads. Leave now before I allow my children to attack you."

"Please Wolf-sama; my friend is in here somewhere. We just want to find him and then we'll leave. We mean no disrespect to anyone but these marks lead in here from where he fell off the cliff above. We think he was dragged in here by someone." Sakura said with tears in her eyes.

"You're looking for the blond that fell from the cliff? His spine shattered when he landed, we heard it and then the kitsunes went out and spoke to him, I didn't see what happened next but if he was moved he's probably dead now." The largest wolf explained, showing a small measure of mercy to the young woman, "You should leave now, before any of the kitsunes come along, most of them have a large grudge against Konoha." With that the wolves turned and loped into the woods.

Sakura broke down sobbing while Kakashi just stood there staring blankly ahead. Jiraiya watched the wolves grimly and was the first to see one of the smaller wolves returning carrying something in its mouth. It walked up to the Sennin, and then dropped what it was carrying at his feet.

"The kitsunes send you this and order you to leave immediately or they will attack you." the wolf said, having a little difficultly forming the ningen words, when he was sure that he had been understood he turned and went back into the woods once again.

Jiraiya picked up the cloth that the wolf had dropped and realized that it was a hitai-ate with the Konoha leaf symbol on it. The metal was covered in scratches and the cloth band was soaked with blood. Jiraiya's mouth thinned into a straight line and he looked into the shadows of the forest in front of him, when he saw a pair of red slitted eyes staring back at him he turned to his other traveling companions. "Come on, we need to get back to Konoha and tell Tsunade-hime what happened so we can hold a memorial service for Naruto. Come on before we get attacked by the kitsunes."

"Are you sure that wasn't to harsh Aniki? They looked heartbroken." a shadowy figure asked from beside the red slitted eyes that Jiraiya had seen.

"Kit isn't ready to deal with everything yet. His body needs at least a year to adapt. I'm sorry for what happened to him but I had no choice in the matter, he would have died otherwise, and after everything he's gone through because of me I couldn't allow him to die for that same reason. Besides if we didn't lead his village to believe that he was dead they would've sent hunter-nin after him. The taller shadow with the red eyes replied.

"I know how he's been treated, but what about the Hokage. She's going to blame herself for this, what if she leaves again?" the smaller shadow asked.

"She won't, the only reason she came back was to help kit. She'll stay and take care of his friends because she knows that that is what he would want."

"What about his promises to his friends? He's going to want to keep them, that's his nindo. You know that. He'll never forgive us or himself if he doesn't keep his promises."

"I know that imoto, and I won't stop him from keeping his promises. His friends will just have to wait for a little while." the larger shadow with the red eyes said turning to the smaller shadow beside him.

"Aniki, they're ninja. You know just as well as I do that it's possible that they won't live to see him unless we do something."

"Alright, imoto. We'll figure something out, but it's going to take a little time for kit to adjust anyway, and nothing is going to change that."

"Well, about that, I have an idea how we can take care of that hebi-teme and save ototo's friend but…"

"Excuse me, Kyuubi-sama. Naruto-sama is awake and asking for you." the silver fox from before said as he approached the two shadowed figures.

"I'm not Kyuubi anymore; I gave up most of my chakra saving kit. Just call me by my given name from now on." the former Kyuubi said as he and the other shadow turned to follow the silver fox back to their home.

"Yes, of course Kaji-sama. Will you and Kori-sama be changing Naruto-sama's name as well?"

"That's an excellent suggestion Komuin, Aniki what is Naruto's main affinity?"

"Heheh, wind."

"So we continue the tradition even when we don't mean to. So, Kaze it is. The ningens are going to find it a little strange that most of the kitsunes has a name that starts with a K, don't you think."

"Does that mean that I should start calling you Kori instead of your chosen name?"

"Well it would be a little difficult to explain to them how a human and a kitsune clan head have the same name, don't you think?"

"Good point Kori-chan and what about kit's appearance?"

"I was thinking we could give him your human appearance and you could stay in your kitsune form, the only things that could give it away are his fingerprints and his subconscious mannerisms."

"No problem on the fingerprints, the Yondaime's attack that that Ero-sennin taught him messed up those and there's nothing anyone can do about those mannerisms. So what did you have in mind to bring kit back to life?"

"Well I was thinking…"

Jiraiya, Kakashi and Sakura went straight to Tsunade's office when they returned to Konoha to report on what had happened with the Akatsuki members and Naruto. Unfortunately Tsunade didn't take the news very well and broke down crying when she learned of Naruto's death. She immediately threw everyone out and refused to speak to anyone for several days. Things didn't go well with Naruto's friends either, Hinata fainted and was barely caught by Shino, while Akamaru gave a mournful howl and Kiba tried to comfort his partner. When the Council learned of Naruto's fate they forbade Tsunade from holding a memorial service for him that is for all of two seconds then Tsunade promptly broke several of their jaws, which caused the rest of the Council to change their minds and allow the service. Quite a few people showed up, more than anyone expected and no one caused trouble until the very end when some disgruntled civilians tried to deface the stone that Tsunade had had erected.