Warnings: male slash, yaoi, lemons, some violence, cursing, minor character bashing (Kagome)... Okay, more than just minor Kagome bashing ^^

Author's note: Sorry for the long wait. Life as a law-student is pretty intense at the moment. I don't have much time to write at the moment.

Disclaimer: don't own anything T.T

"Talking"

"Demon talking"

'Thinking'

'Inner demon'

Dreams/flashbacks

Chapter 14: Monster-in-law

"Of course… If you are so confident, how about we put it to test?"

"Put what to test?"

"Why the superiority of dog demons over fox demons, of course!" Naruto explained cheerfully.

"I don't have to prove myself to the likes of you!" Sesshomaru's mother sniffed disdainfully, looking at Naruto with a look that he was overly familiar with.

'I know that look. That's the same look the villagers used to have, as if I was something disgusting, something that was beneath their notice.' The blonde thought. It was a look he had seen often in the early years of his life, on the faces of Konoha's civilians. And suddenly he understood how Sesshomaru could hate the woman that had given birth to him. He hated how that look on her face made him feel. He felt like he was a child again, an unwanted orphan in a village that hated his very existence, like he was unworthy of Sesshomaru.

But a quick glance at Sesshomaru and those horrible thoughts and feelings disappeared just as fast as they had appeared, because the demon lord wasn't even looking at his mother. No, those intense golden eyes were gazing straight at him and there was nothing in those eyes that said he was unworthy. In fact, the demon lord was gazing at him as if he was the only person in the room. It seemed that his future mate approved very much the approach he had taken on dealing with his mother, if the pride shining in his eyes was anything to go by. But pride wasn't the only thing Naruto saw in those eyes. Those heated golden eyes were half-leaded and looked at the blonde kitsune like Sesshomaru wanted to devour him. And not in a bad way either.

"You're right, of course!" He replied trying to suppress a shiver of pure want. His skin tingled with the awareness of Sesshomaru's scorching gaze on him.

'Kami, how am I supposed to concentrate when he looks at me like that?'The kitsune thought desperately. Though he continued addressing his mate's mother, trying his best to go on nonchalantly, "But how about we fight it out? We would fight without any outside interference, just the two of us. No permanent damage and no killing blows, but everything else is fair game."

"And what use would that be to me, little boy?" Lady Kimiko drawled.

"Would you let me finish, woman," the kitsune snapped, irritated that he had to deal with the woman when there were much better things he could be doing.

'Her son, for example.' Naruto's inner demon supplied helpfully, while the blonde did his best to keep his blood from flowing south at that thought. And that was no easy feat. With his first mating season fast approaching his hormones were all over the place.

"Now, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted. Should I win our little fight you will leave the palace as soon as possible and you will never try to interfere with Sesshomaru's life again." He continued, trying very hard to suppress the resurfacing images of the little tryst he has had with Sesshomaru just a few short hours ago.

"And when I win?"

"Why, then I will leave and never contact Sesshomaru again. Our mating ceremony will have to be canceled in that case." The kitsune finished brightly.

As none of his friends made a move to stop him Naruto turned to look at them, curious to see their reaction to his proposal. Though, he stopped himself from looking at Sesshomaru, this time around. He could still feel that burning gaze on his body and really didn't want to embarrass himself by jumping his future mate in front his horrible mother.

'Though, the look on her face would certainly be hilarious.' Naruto's inner demon commented.

But the blonde didn't pay it any mind since watching his friend's reaction and more importantly that of Itomaru, was more interesting by far. The only one who actually looked worried by the current development seemed to be Kouga, whose face was sporting a frown. Not that the kitsune could really blame him, as he was the only one in the group that hadn't seen Naruto in a fight. But, all in all, his friends looked pretty calm and accepting. Itomaru, in turn, looked anything but. The old dog demon looked rather unhappy and his forehead was glistering with sweat. It seemed the man was more than just a bit afraid that Sesshomaru's mother would accept Naruto's proposal. Though, like Kouga, Itomaru had never seen Naruto in an actual fight he must remember how Naruto had arrived in Edo and the condition he had been in, meaning he at least knew that the blonde could take a lot of hits and had a very high pain tolerance.

'Good. That bastard deserves to be afraid.' The kitsune thought sadistically, watching the council man squirm as Sesshomaru's mother considered Naruto's offer.

"Well?" The blonde asked impatiently after several minutes without a reply from the lady. Though it was quite satisfying to watch Itomaru sweat he would prefer to get the whole thing done and over with. The sooner the woman disappeared the better.

For another short moment Lady Kimiko remained silent. From the pensive frown she was wearing, the demoness was trying to weight her chances. It was obvious that the deal Naruto had presented her with was rather tempting.

"I accept!" She finally answered.

"Oh, wonderful." Naruto replied, clapping his hands with played enthusiasm just to annoy his soon-to be opponent.

"Don't be so happy! You will soon regret your choice, fox boy!" Kimiko snapped, visibly annoyed by the blonde's excitement.

"That's my line, lady!" Naruto replied smiling coldly at his soon-to-be opponent, his playfulness gone.

"You're seriously deluded if you think that you have a chance to win against me! I've already been an experienced fighter before you were even born!" The woman boasted haughtily.

"Well, that changes things! Are you sure you're up to it? So much excitement can't be good for someone your age, old lady!" The blond smirked.

"Who are you calling old, you mongrel?!" Sesshomaru's mother snarled furiously, flexing her perfectly manicured fingers.

"I thought it was pretty obvious! Now, do you need a moment to prepare? Change into something more practical? Get your walking stick? I would like to get this over with. Apparently there are many things that need to be organized before a mating ceremony." The blonde asked mockingly, not really caring that Sesshomaru's mother looked like she was about to strangle him.

It was actually kind of disappointing. Naruto had expected a bit more from the woman who called herself Sesshomaru's mother. She was so easily provoked and was so fast to underestimate him. Even the fact that none of his friends, not even her own son, had tried to stop him from making that deal, didn't clue her in that there was more to him than just a pretty face.

"I won't need to change into anything else. My clothes won't hinder me from defeating you. And I will hardly break a sweat." Kimiko replied, preparing to attack her son's mate for his insolence.

Shrugging, Naruto in turn took a loose, defensive pose in return. Oh, he would enjoy the fight immensely. Not that he expected much of a challenge. The woman had never fought a shinobi after all. He would make the fight short, brutal and as humiliating as possible on Kimiko. It was the least he could do.

Kimiko looked just about ready to charge when Rei Inu interfered.

"If you think that you will be fighting in here, you are sorely mistaken. You will not be destroying the palace this close to mating season, while we are expecting lords and ladies from all over Edo." The old man told them sternly, crossing his arms over his chest and trying to glare them into submission.

"Man, grandfather, why did you have to stop them? Things were just getting interesting." Inuyasha moaned from the sidelines.

"Be silent, Inuyasha! They won't be fighting in here! And that's it. Especially not when we have perfectly functioning training grounds right outside." The old man snapped back at his youngest grandchild.

"Keh."

"Well, let's go then. The lady isn't getting any younger." Naruto chirped.

At that Kimiko growled, turned around with an angry huff and stormed out of the room, her hair and kimono billowing around her.

Snickering at her reaction Naruto and his friends followed her at a more sedate pace, while Sesshomaru and Rei Inu herded Itomaru out of the room. Just in case the old dog tried to make a run for it.

Within minutes they had reached the training grounds the palace guards used to keep in shape. From time to time Sesshomaru himself would train there.

The training area was quite big and had a lot of open space, perfect for spars between demons. It was quite close to the main gates and was partly enclosed by the large stonewall that surrounded the whole palace. Next to the stonewall there was a shooting range for bows, some training posts and a small cabin that was used to store the blunted weapons that were used in sparring.

As they neared the sparring fields Inuyasha let himself fall back to walk next to his older brother. Naruto watched him go, following him out of the corner of his eye. After throwing a glare at Itomaru, the hanyou addressed Sesshomaru: "I think it's safe to say that soon even the dumbest council man will know that you have returned and that something's going on. A spar between your mother and Naruto will hardly go unnoticed. You know that the servants here love nothing more than gossip. This gives them the perfect opportunity to flee."

"And I will see every attempt to leave the castle as an admittance of guilt." the demon lord answered stonily.

"Keh. Have it your way. But don't say that I didn't warn you." Inuyasha grumbled, but Sesshomaru ignored him completely.

'That typical for Sesshomaru.' Naruto thought as he returned his attention to the matter at hand.

There were a few people there training, some guards and some soldiers. As Naruto, Kimiko and their entourage approached the man stopped their training.

"The training session is over. Leave the sparing area at once. Chop, chop." Kimiko snapped at the demons, who were quick to follow the order of the temperamental lady.

It seemed like Sesshomaru's mother had managed to leave a lasting impression on the staff of the palace going by the speed the seasoned soldiers fled the sparring field.

"Wow, you have such a great way with people." Naruto taunted as he walked onto the field and positioned himself in a loose defensive stance. His friends, Rei Inu and a nervous Itomaru joined the guards on the sidelines. Sesshomaru, on the other hand, seemed to have different things on his mind. He approached one of the guard men that had been using the training field to spar. They seemed to exchange words and the man left in a hurry. He spoke to the other guards briefly and left the trainings fields. Some of the other men approached Itomaru and the blonde was sure, they had been told to keep an eye on the old dog.

Naruto would bet anything that Sesshomaru had ordered him to set up some kind of surveillance on the rest of the council men. The kitsune had known that his future mate wasn't going to leave anything to chance.

"Do you ever stop your annoying chatter?" Kimiko snapped as she followed the kitsune onto the training ground.

"Sure, I do. But seeing how much you obviously love the sound of my beautiful voice I wouldn't dare deprive you of it." The blonde replied sweetly.

"Lucky me." The demoness snarled in reply, "Enough chitchat!"

And then she attacked. With a speed that was quite impressive a poisoned whip, just like the one her son had inherited, charged right at him. But Naruto was prepared; he wasn't the son of the Yellow Flash for nothing, after all.

With a broad grin that could only be described as positively bloodthirsty the blonde dodged the attack with an artistic back flip.

"That was such a predictable move, it was pathetic." He taunted, flipping his long hair over his shoulder, "You know, with that poisoned whip you fight like a much slower, much older and far more incompetent copy of Sesshomaru."

"How dare you! If anything my son is a copy of me. And I'm anything but incompetent."

"You tell yourself that. But I think it was like Kami saw what kind of person he had created when he looked at you and thought: "Well, damn. I better try again.". And then Sesshomaru was born."

With a scream of rage Kimiko charged once more, but this time she didn't attack with the whip alone. No, somehow the woman pulled a beautiful wakizashi out of the folds of her kimono and the blonde really didn't want to imagine where she had hidden it.

As Naruto avoided another whiplash, the demoness used his distraction to cross the distance between them to attack him with her short sword. Her haughty expression told him, that she thought that she got him this time. Fortunately, after years of shinobi training, such a move never surprised him anymore. In the blink of an eye he had drawn a kunai and had blocked Kimiko's sword. The clang of metal on metal sounded through the whole training area.

With another back flip the kitsune brought some distance between himself and his opponent.

"I take it back. It's an insult to Sesshomaru to compare him to you. I've seen humans who fought a whole lot better than you." Naruto snorted.

The next minutes continued much the same way. The blonde continued evading Kimiko's attacks with ease, taunting the woman to all the while until she was pretty much swinging her sword and her whip at him in blind rage. It was all very disappointing. Naruto had hoped for a bit more fight from Sesshomaru's mother. But now he was growing bored pretty fast. And he was not the only one.

"Stand still, you little beast!" The lady screamed, after the blonde had evaded yet another attack.

"Yeah… . I don't think I will." The blonde kitsune replied, yawning in boredom, "After all the talking you did, I had hoped you would pose a challenge. But I'm growing bored fast."

"Be silent! I'll show you a challenge." The woman snarled, her eyes turning red. Slowly her face morphed to look more dog-like as her youki swirled around her and her hair and her clothes fluttered in the wind it produced.

"Pah. As if you turning into a giant dog will make your fighting skill less pathetic." Naruto sighed. After fighting several demons and jinchuuriki in full demon from in the elemental nations he was hardly scared of Kimiko. All those people had been much stronger in humanoid form and he still beat them in their demon form. Maybe it was time to end Kimiko's sad attempt of a fight.

After he had decided to finally end the fight, it only took him a few seconds. Before she could truly achieve her full demon form or even make so much as a few steps into Naruto's direction, Kimiko found herself down on the floor, on her stomach, with a shiny black kunai digging into the soft flesh of her throat. The demoness was so surprised by his move that it shocked her out of her transformation.

"I guess this means you won't be staying for our mating ceremony, my dear mother-in-law. You will be missed I'm sure." He whispered into her ear sarcastically. Kimiko tried to buck him off, but that only caused the kunai to dig deeper into her pale throat until it pierced skin and blood began to flow out of a thin cut.

"Don't be a sore loser, lady. Don't think for a second that I would hesitate to slit your throat should you decide to go back on your word. Bear your defeat with grace, if you're capable of that. Now I will let you up and then you will get your things and walk out of here. And if you try something after I let you go I'll show you that this, this little trick here, is just a tiny part of what I'm able to do to you. Do we understand each other?" Naruto explained coldly, pulling Kaori's head back by her hair.

Sesshomaru's mother grunted in pain for a second and then her body went limp with a defeated growl.

"You win." She snarled furiously, but didn't try to buck him off again.

Slowly Naruto let her up from the floor and his kunai disappeared out of sight. It took only a few seconds until Inuyasha and the others went wild cheering for him and started o make their way over to him.

While Kimiko was trying to get herself in order after the fight, Inuyasha, Sesshomaru and the others surrounded the blonde to congratulate him on his win.

"I didn't know you had it in you, fox-boy." Kouga cheered clapping Naruto back in congratulation.

"Yeah, yeah. But that bitch was hardly a challenge for our little princess. He gave me run for my money when we first met. I hadn't had such a challenge in a long time. I bet even Sesshomaru would have trouble to catch the little bastard." Inuyasha smirked.

"You fought with him?" Kouga asked, turning to look at his mate in surprise.

"Sure." The hanyou shrugged.

All the while the others cheered and congratulated Naruto, Sesshomaru had been silent thought he was standing right beside him. So the blonde kitsune thanked his friends and turned to his mate.

The intense looks Sesshomaru had been throwing his way before were nothing compared to the way the inuyoukai was watching him now, his eyes were pretty much glowing. Then Sesshomaru's knuckles brushed across his cheek and his hand gripped Naruto's hair and suddenly Sesshomaru's lips were on his. The demon lord used the surprised gasp that escaped him to deepen the kiss until Naruto's heart was pounding like crazy and became a trembling mess. It was probably not the most intense kiss the two of them had shared but it was enough to leave the young fox wanting for more. And then it was over, as suddenly as it had begun, much to the blonde's disappointment.

The cat calls of his friends reminded the kitsune that they had an audience. With an embarrassed blush the kitsune took a step back from the demon lord. He hadn't even noticed that his hands had been clinging to the front of Sesshomaru's robe. Contrary to his little mate the daiyoukai wasn't embarrassed at all after that little display, instead a smug smirk was gracing his handsome face for once. Somehow Naruto knew that the only reason he was still clothed and not on his back being devoured by his future mate, were the other people present.

Finally the demon lord turned to look at his mother, smug smirk still in place.

"I hope you will be able to find your way out on your own, mother." He addressed her coldly.

"I have to collect my belongings first." Kimiko replied defiantly, brushing some dust off her rumpled kimono.

"Oh no, you won't." Rei Inu interrupted, "You will not set another foot inside those rooms. I'm sure we will be able to find a few servants for that task. You will be waiting here."

"That is ridiculous." She snapped in reply.

"No, it is not. Don't think I have forgotten that you have taken several of our family heirlooms with you the last time you left."

And with that the old inuyoukai called for two servant girls that were assigned to collect the lady's belongings. Since Kimiko hadn't arrived much earlier, she had not had much time to unpack, it didn't take long for them to return with her baggage. Carefully the girls placed the bags and in front of Kimiko, bowed low before her and hurried off.

With a huff Kimiko picked up her bags with the help of her moko-moko. With a last glare at Naruto she turned to Sesshomaru once again.

But before she could begin to say something Sesshomaru spoke: "If you're waiting for someone to stop you from leaving you'll be sorely disappointed."

"Yeah, don't let the door hit you on your way out." Inuyasha chirped, when Kimiko stormed off and left the Western Palace for the last time.

For a few moments Naruto just enjoyed the moment. He had wiped the floor with Sesshomaru's mother, Itomaru was pretty much in custody and he was just a few weeks away from being officially mated. His life had certainly changed since he left the Elemental Nations. A few months ago he would have happily slit his own throat before mating Sasuke. Or anyone else for that matter.

Soon the joy of his victory subsided and the group remembered the problems they have yet to solve. Namely Itomaru and his merry band of supporters. Too bad they didn't remember about the old council man sooner, because when they finally turned around neither Itomaru nor the men assigned to watch him were anywhere in sight.

"Please, please, don't tell me that the old geezer escaped while we weren't watching." Inuyasha whined, ruffling his long hair in frustration.

"What happened to the men I assigned to watch him?" Sesshomaru demanded angrily.

Just when Naruto thought that everything was going according to plan for once, everything went to hell. Again.

"Those men better be dead. Should we find them alive and well, they will regret the day they were born." The blonde kitsune grumbled furiously.

"We have no other choice. We will send out more man to look for Itomaru and the two men we assigned to watch him. They can't have gotten very far yet." Rei Inu suggested.

"Why can't we just hunt him down in person? I could use the exercise." Inuyasha proposed, eagerly cracking his knuckles.

"I do believe you had more than enough exercise lately, Inuyasha." His grandfather replied with a pointed look at Kouga.

Ignoring his younger grandsons embarrassed stuttering he continued, "Catching Itomaru is important. But we have more than enough matters to deal with. We have to prepare for the coming mating season. Announce Sesshomaru's and Naruto's impending nuptials, sent out invites and arrange a beautiful and tasteful ceremony. In a matter of a few short weeks. And as if that isn't enough we have to weed out possible traitors in our council."

"…Sooo, what are we going to do next?" Naruto asked awkwardly, breaking the silence that followed Rei Inu's impressive rant.

"First we have to find out if the other councilmen where involved in this mess."

Not far from the Western Palace Itomaru let out a tiny breath of relief. He still couldn't believe it. He was able to escape from the palace right under the nose of the great Lord Sesshomaru.

After the blond nuisance had proposed his deal to the lady Kimiko, he had known that he had once again lost control of the situation. He just couldn't understand why the foolish woman would even agree to such a proposal. She had walked right a the trap.

While he knew next to nothing about the young fox demon, he still remembered the way he had arrived in Edo. Wounded, covered in his own blood, but still fighting. There was more to him that met the eye.

In the end Itomaru had been unwilling to bet his life on the fighting prowess of Lady Kimiko. When they had made their way to the training fields he had made sure not to draw attention to himself, hoping for an opportunity to slip away from the group.

After they had reached the ground without such an opportunity and Sesshomaru had assigned two young guards to watch him, he had nearly lost hope for a moment. But he had always had trouble giving up.

In the end the two guards had been a blessing in disguise.

Both had been fairly young and inexperienced. The lord Sesshomaru of old, before he became such a love struck fool, would have never assigned boys, who were still wet behind their ears, to watch an enemy.

It had been too easy to trick those two green boys. He had just pretended that he needed to relieve himself and the two young fools had allowed him to lead them away from the group around Rei Inu and lord Sesshomaru's younger brother.

After he was sure that he was alone with the guards he was able to dispose of them before either f them had even so much as a chance to scream. He was sure his advanced age and his act of a pampered old noble had worked in his favor. Neither of the young fools had expected him to be threat, just as they hadn't expected the wakizashi he had skillfully hidden in his lavish robes to slit their throats.

He may have hoped that his position in the council and his place at the court of the Western Lands could be salvaged with the help of Lady Kimiko, once he was fairly sure the mercenary he had sent after the blonde kitsune had failed in his task, but he had never been the kind of demon that puts all his eggs in a single basket. He had prepared as best as he could in case his plan failed and he had to flee from the palace.

He had hid several weapons under his robes, beside the wakizashi that had ended the life's of his guard dogs. And he had spent the last few days carefully preparing his escape by hiding several packages with money and other important essentials just outside the palace walls. But the most important instrument for his successful flight was a small, insignificant looking vial containing the best scent blocker potion money could buy.

That little vial and his little known skill of suppressing or rather hiding his youki until it couldn't be sensed by anyone that didn't have direct contact with his bare skin, made it possible for him to leave the palace undetected. Without his scent and with no youki to trace not even lord Sesshomaru himself would be able to follow him.

It was too bad that he had been forced to flee and leave everything behind, his mate, his children, and his comfortable life. It irked him that he had to leave behind his comfortable home, after he had spent so much time and effort on making a name for himself. He hadn't always been as well positioned in life as he had been until his recent misstep. He had been the youngest son of his father, a poor and insignificant, western noble man, with a serious gambling problem. By the time Itomaru had reached adulthood his family was deeply indebted to several shady people.

He had always known that he wouldn't inherit anything when his useless father finally bit the dust. The only good thing he had inherited from the useless drunk were his stellar looks which he had used to seduce the only daughter of a rich noble man. One that had been a member of lord Inu no Taisho's council. It had been too easy to lure the insecure and plain looking woman into his bed and talk her into mating with him, since she was so enamored with his looks and loving persona he had created for her. She had been his way into high society and the key to his seat on the council. He was sure his father-in-law would protect his wife and their family from the backlash his slight miscalculation would cause. For an old man he still had a lot of connections.

But he was a little concerned for Kaori. In contrast to his wife, who lived at a comfortable county estate a safe distance from the Western Palace, his daughter was right in front of Sesshomaru's nose. Though he was sure that the demon lord wouldn't kill her, at least, as he was not in the habit of killing defenseless woman. He had never been so glad that his daughter had never shown any interest in learning to defend herself. She would live, though she would have to leave the palace and court life behind her and that would be hard on her. He had spoiled her too much. But there was nothing he could do about that now, sometime she would have had to learn to stand on her own two feet.

Right now Itomaru had to think about his own safety. He was sure that soon word would get out about his betrayal of his lord and a bounty would be placed on his head. He doubted that Lord Sesshomaru would hunt him down personally, not with the mess he had been left with. And especially not this close to mating season and with a mating ceremony to prepare.

Still Itomaru's best chance to survive was probably to disguise himself and hide among the ningen. No matter how distasteful he thought it was.

Groaning in frustration Sasuke ruffled his raven hair and put down the thick scroll he was reading for a moment to take a small break from reading.

The scrolls the Uchiha had found in that hidden compartment in the walls of the Namikaze basement turned out to be just what he needed. Especially the private journal of Kyuubi no Kitsune was a well of information. So much information. So much useless information.

It seemed as if the old fox had started writing journals as soon as he could hold a brush. So the last Uchiha was forced to read through several hundred years of entries to find any useful information. In the beginning he had thought that he could just skip the journal completely and just work through the scrolls that solely contained information on seals and jutsu's the demon had worked on in his long life. Then he discovered Kyuubi no Kitsune's annoying habit. The scrolls on seals and jutsu's contained enough information to help him get a basic understanding of the jutsu. But all the important information, the thought process of their maker and the theoretical knowledge he needed to alter the seals in a specific way, was hidden among the endless drivel that was the personal journal of Kyuubi no Kitsune.

So he had spent some very frustrating weeks reading through the early years of Naruto's grandfather. He could have gone his whole life without knowing about the insignificant woes of a young demon prince. Poor over privileged little prince who had never experienced hardship, forced to mate to someone he didn't know. The whole thing was sickening. Kami, he hated that damned journal.

But in the end, his troubles were worth it. The journal confirmed his suspicion that the seal was activated through a combination of youki and the blood of Kyuubi's descendants. For a few days he had contemplated if his Uchiha blood would be of any help to get Kyuubi's seal to work for him. There had always been rumors among the shinobi that Kyuubi had been involved in the making of the famous Sharingan. He had thought to visit the old Uchiha compound to research his family history. In the end it had been Kyuubi's journal that made him discard the idea.

In the journal he had found a detailed account of the creation of his families' doujutsu. The Kyuubi had altered one of his ancestors with the help of his youki and a tiny portion of his blood. Kyuubi had been very curios of the effects his blood and youki would have on the human and had conducted several tests on said ancestor. One of those tests was designed to see if his ancestor was able to get Kyuubi's seals and jutsu's to work. The first Uchiha had took to Kyuubi's fire jutsu's like a duck to water, but had never managed to activate a single bloodline seal with his own blood. Kyuubi had theorized that the blood was simply too deluded for the purpose.

Now, after he had finally worked through most of the journal he had a new idea. If he wasn't able to activate this old seal maybe he should try to recreate it without the components that bound it to the blood and youki of Kyuubi and his descendants.

He would probably need some weeks, if not months, to work out how to crack and change that seal to fit his needs, but at the moment he just didn't see another way.

He hadn't spent so much time and effort on chasing his little fox, just to give up now. After having chased Naruto for the last century, a few weeks or maybe months paled in comparison.

Thank you for reading! And for being so patient with me! Still no beta, so all mistakes are my own.

Please review.

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