Epilogue: A Demon's Word

Hokage's POV: 3rdPerson's

(Several Weeks Later)

It was a warm night, with a nice small breeze to accompany it. Lord Hokage was gazing out at thevillage, enjoying the few moments, that he had free from all the paper work that came with being Hokage of an entire village. He looked to his left, the village was had a wonderful night life. His shinobi, those who were back from long missions, were out enjoying the night and the town, even the boy in the fox mask that cover his upper face, and a bushy tail,was having fun chasing after a little silver fox. Looking to his right and putting his pipe in his mouth, readyto observe the rest of the village, before whipping his head back to the left. His old eyessearching for the odd boy in the fox maskthat had ran across his vision, so close to his tower. But he could not find him. Sighing, he decided that it was just his imagination, There were no foxes near the village since the attack of the ninetailed fox and not many cared to even where a fox mask since the attack. Maybe he was just tired. He was getting up in age and staying up late at nights were bound to take their toll on his mind. He decided it would be best to turn in early.

As Lord Third went back to his office, he missed the young boy in the mask, with black fox ears on his head, and a bushy black tail with a blue tip wagging behind him. Hesat crouched on the railing of the Hokage Tower just off to the side. Yellow eyes glowing brightly from behind the mask. And a small kitsune that seemed to admit her own glow sat comfortably on the boys shoulder. The boy petted the silvery little kitsune and watched the old Hokage enter the Tower, going back to his office, with a mischievous smile on his lips.

Kakashi's POV:

It was a beautiful day in the village today, a good day for a stroll, contemplating the road of life. I hadn't long left the mission room, giving Iruka a wonderfully hard time with a sloppy written mission report. Today I had went the extra mile and left blood and food stains on the report. He had turn a very deep shade of purple, when I goaded him about his temper. It was so much fun ruffling the chunin's feathers. I would have stayed longer, but I had to go see my old team. I had team seven running errands for the day. They had been whining about wanting more A-Rank missions like the last one, but I had a better idea. They were not ready for another mission, like the one with Zabuza, I was going to enroll them in the chunin exams. It would be a great way to let them learn just how much they still needed to learn, before they were ready for A-rank missions. It would also be a way for me to gauge how they were taking my training exercises. I couldn't wait to see how far they would go.

Walking the trail that would take me to the memorial stone, I reached into my vest pocket and pulled out the pendant with a kitsune on it. The pendant was black metal, and our historians could not give me an actual name for the metal that it was made of, nor tell me what the kanji on the back meant. I could not recall where I had acquired the pendant, just that I found it in my vest pocket one day. The historians had wanted to keep to study it. I don't know why, but I had refused.

I ran my thumb over the kitsune symbol and studied it, as I made my way to the stone. I really wanted to know where I had gotten this pendant. It looked so old, like it should be a relic, but it was in good condition. For some reason, when I looked at it, I felt like I was forgetting something, or I was forgetting someone, but that was ridiculous I only had three brats to look after and I only had few I called friends. I sighed and scratched the back of my head.

I stopped just before the memorial stone came into view. Something was different. Not one to second guess my gut, I masked myself. Pulling my chakra in enough to be recognize as anchunin level shinobi. I continued on to the memorial stone. I paused when I was close enough to see a boy around the same age as the genin in team seven, with black hair and blue tips dressed on genin shinobi armor, but he wore no village headband, kneeling in front of the memorial stone. He was placing incense around the memorial stone and chanting a prayer in a language I was not familiar with. I stood back and let him finish.

"Hello." I greeted.

The boy stood up slowly from his spot in front of the memorial stone and slowly turned to me. "Greeting shinobi-san" He said, giving me a friendly smile. He had bright yellow colored eyes.

"I don't recognize you." I said, coming closer. I didn't sense anything off his chakra. In fact, for some reason I thought that his chakra was kind of weak, that it should be stronger, maybe. And his smile was genuine. Why was I worried about his chakra and smile.

"Yeah, Just passing through with my cousin Mun and aunt Koi. She's a traveling medicine peddler. She can heal almost anything." He said. "Oh, and my names Daku."

That explains why I don't recognize him. Peddlers stay only a few days before they move on to the next village. "I see, and that is why you weargenin size shinobi armor?" I questioned.

He looked down at himself. "Is that what this is? I bought all this, because it looked cool, and there were other kids wearing similar clothing." He chuckled.

"It shinobi armor, made for genin. You might want to change into civilian clothes, before someone mistake's you for one of our villagers genin. Some of our genin are quite competitive." I warned.

His smile disappeared slightly, but return in full after a moment. " I guess your right, shinobi-san." He said.

"Kakashi." I corrected. I felt that he was telling the truth, and he was only just a kid. "Hatake Kakashi."

"OH! I have heard of you!" He cheered. "The MIGHTY COPY NINJA! I heard, you know over a million jutsus." He said, excitedly, over exaggerating the number of jutsus that I know.

"Uh, a thousand., actually." I corrected.

"Oh. Well, amillion sounds better. Hey, cool pendant!" He said, moving his face closer to my hand that held the jewelry, his yellow eyesgoing wide with wonder. "Haven't seen a relic like this outside of a monk convent."

"You've seen this before?" I asked, hoping that he would be able to tell me something about it. Maybe it would get me closer as to where I acquired it.

"Only at the Convent, of the Worshipers of Inari-sama. I have only seen one similar to this one in pictures. Their rare and far in between."He said. "Aunt Koi, is a whiz with stories and objects of legends. Its a hobby of hers." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head in a way that was similar to Naruto. "I guess I actually learned something after all."

"Big Brother!" His and my head snapped at the call of a little girls voice. A little girl with green eyes and silvery hair that could almost be mistakened as white,came running into view. "Daku! Mother said, its time to go!" She called.

I couldn't help but imagine her with silvery blue fox ears and tails.

"Coming." He said to her. Seeing her message delivered she ran back toward the village. "It was nice to finally meet you Kakashi-sensei." He said, before running after the little girl.

It wasn't until after he was out of view that it dawn on me that the little girl had called him brother. He had said they were cousins. I don't know why, but I quickly turned to follow him. I stood at the edge of the village looking for the boy, or even the little girl. They couldn't have moved that fast they were only children, and the boys chakra level didn't seem to be any where near strong enough to cast a jutsu. But then, something in my gut was telling me that he wasn't all he seemed and I needed to find him. I clenched the pendant tight with in my hand, as I finally caught sight of him.

He was laughing with the little girl, and a woman, who was slender, with golden blonde hair, and with beauty that would make the old Toad Sage drool. The boy was holding up a fox mask that had black and blue markings up to his face, it looked like it was designed to cover only the upper half of the face. That was odd, not many mask were made here like that. The woman smile fondly at him, ruffling his hair, before gesturing for the two children to follow her. I could have sworn I seen Daku, look my way with a knowing grin on his face. That was the only reason why I chased after them.

It was when they exited the gate, did I lose them again. I even went as far as to walk a mile outside the village, but I still couldn't find know sign of the boy, the little girl, and the woman. I even summoned my hounds. They couldn't even pick up a scent. It was all so surreal. I could not get the feeling that they were still close by. Sighing, I headed back for the village, putting the pendant safely back into my vest pocket.

3rd's POV:

Had Kakashi looked to his right, he would have spotted a golden fur kitsune and two kits, one black, and the other silvery-blue, watching him from the cover of leaves and bushes. The black kitsune, looking to the golden kitsune, before running off after the shinobi. He followed the silver haired shinobi, back tot he village. Slipping in withoutbeing detected. He followed Kakashi the whole day. When Kakashi, went the playground and sit on one of the benches and started reading his orange book. The black kitsune climbed up the tree nearest to the bench, settling with sitting on the branch that was just out of sight of the shinobi. His blue tip tail wagging slightly, content with having Kakashi within his sight. For two hours Kakashi did not move. So, when he was stretching his muscle that have gone stiff. He instantly got startled when a shuriken landed in the bark just behind him. Turning his yellow eye to the weapon, he let his paw slip, bouncing off the top of Kakashi's head and into his lap.

"So….You were the one in the tree there." Kakashi hummed, picking the odd black fox, with blue marking up by the scruff.

The black kitsune put its ears back and struggled slightly, but froze when it saw Kakashi lifting up his headband, revealing the sharigan eye. They didn't break eye contact for a good minute, before Kakashi's body and the kitsune's relaxed.

"A normal fox." Kakashi mumbled, placing the black fox on his lap. The creature did not immediately run off, instead it made itself comfortable. "You are an odd one." Kakashi chuckled, scratching the fox gently behind the ears and was pleased that it moved its head into his touch. "We don't get many foxes around here." He added, just needing someone to talk to.

The black fox relaxed further on his lap, deciding to stay in his company a little longer. The playground was empty again, the sun was slowly going down, so not many people were around. Kakashi study the black fox. He knew foxes were rare and few around the village since the ninetails attack, he took this as a sign that nature was healing. The sky had finally turned to night when Kakashi started to make his way home.

"Go home now." He told the fox, when he saw it was still following him. The creature only started at him with yellow eyes, before trotting up beside him, waiting for him to continue walking. Kakashi sighed. "I can't keep you. I have dogs." He said, shoving the fox with his foot, trying to encourage it to go the opposite direction.

The fox was relentless and in the end, Kakashi ended up leading the fox, to his home. The creature walked into the building after Kakashi, who let the door close on its own. "You are an odd little creature." Kakashi said, looking at the fox with the sharigan one more time, just to be sure he wasn't looking at a transformation jutsu. He wasn't.

"Okay, just for the night." He said, when the fox, ran into his room and curled up on his bed. Kakashi opened his window to let the night breeze in and sat down on the bed beside the fox. "People around here don't trust foxes, you know." The fox blinked at him. "Don't you have a home to go back to?" the fox blinked again.

Kakashi huffed. "I'm talking to a fox." He told himself, reaching into his vest pocket bringing out the pendant again. "this thing is making me crazy." He said, showing it to the fox. "Its like I am forgetting something. I don't even remember where I got this from, but no matter how many time I try to get rid of it….I can't….I feel attached." He petted the fox between the ears.

The black fox leaned into his touch again. Its eyes never leaving the pendant that hung from Kakashi's fingers. It got up and started pawing at it. Kakashi pulled it out of reach slightly. Moving it up and down in the air, watching the fox play with the dangling pendant. Almost like cat. As he watched the fox play with the pendant, Kakashi started thinking.

"If your determined to stick around here, your going to need to wear something so that the people around here know your a friendly." He said, slipping the chain link of the pendant over the foxes head, adjusting it to fit around its neck. "There. It looks good on you." Kakashi said, petting the fox.

It puffed its chest out slightly with pride.

"That boy said it was the symbol of Inari-sama, a fox goddess. Maybe I was holding onto it for you."Kakashi joked, getting up so he could make himself and his unexpected guest some dinner. Although he wasn't sure if should feed the animal. It was wild after all. Well, it can't be too wild if it had willingly followed him home. He would take the gamble.

"Okay, little guy. Dinner is serv-" He looked around the room. The black fox was gone. "Guess he went back home." He mumbled.

Daku's POV:

I felt bad about leaving Kakashi like that, it was rude, but I needed to have my pendant back. Kakashi had held onto it long enough. I haven't been around, so it was normal that it was affecting him. It would try to force him to remember me, to reverse the fixed memories Kannon wiped. I couldn't just take it however, Kakashi had needed to give it back to me. He would feel a lot better now that the pendant was back with me. It would be like Mun and I never entered their lives. I ran back to the forest outside the village. Koi and Mun were waiting for me.

"Did you get it?" Koi asked.

I nodded my head. "I will go to the sōhei on my own now." I said, giving them a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure my kit?" Koi asked.

"Yes, I have a promise to keep. They will not hurt me." I reassured her.

"Okay. Be safe." She said, bonking our heads together in a playful manner.

The trip to the convent didn't take to long before now that I could use my chakra without limits. I even shifted into my two legged form, so that Elder Akira would not immediately cast an exorcism on me for being a demon. I hadn't forgot that Kannon would have most likely wiped his memories too. He was in the garden of the convent, it looked to me like he was stargazing.

"Elder Akira." I greeted, approaching him where he could clearly see me.

He narrowed his eyes, his gave landing on the mark of the Mother on my forehead. "A child of the Mother." He stated, though his stance did not relax.

"Yes." I confirmed, already he was casting a spell, to ensure I was telling the truth.

"We do not usually get demons who willingly show themselves." He said, pointing out my odd behavior.

"I'm not like most demons. Besides, I have a promise to keep. A demons word is their bond, after all." I said, hoping that even though he held no memories of meeting me, something would at least sound familiar. I slipped my birth pendant off my neck and held it out for him. "I was once told your convent was the safest place to keep this for me. I was told you would keep it safe and on display as a relic of the Mother and the times when demons once shared this plain with you mortals." I gave him a mischievous grin.

He didn't reach for my pendant. I could sense the other sōhei in the area waiting to see what Elder Akira wanted to do. They weren't sure if they wanted to attack me. Elder Akira was still contemplating my offer, and so he should. A demon's birth pendant in the hands of humans were almost never heard of. I would be at their beck and call if they so desired. It was why I had never told Kakashi the importance of my pendant, why I had given it to him.

"You do understand what you are giving us?" He asked, holding his hand out to receive the pendant.

"Yes." I answered, placing the pendant in his hands. "And, I trust, that you will treat and respect my pendant, like any other artifact of the Mother. I place my trust in your hands, sōhei. I will not return to the mortal plain unless you see the need to call upon me." I said, backing away from him. "May Mother Inari-sama smile upon you and this place." I blessed, bowing slightly, as I disappeared into the darkness.

I returned to Koi and Mun's side on the Other Plain, it was time for me and Mun to prepare for our roll that Inari-sama was going to hand to us one day. I would watch and maybe even visit the mortal plain every now and again, just to check up on the friends I had acquired during my time there. Only I would never again walk up to them as I have today.

Koi was taking us to the Divine Realm today, Inari-sama had things she wished to discuss. "Ready my Treasure?" I asked Mun. Although, I knew she was ready. It was my first time to enter the place only the Divine were allowed to enter.

"Yup. We are both ready!" She cheered, grabbing my hand and pulling me pass the doors.

Well, time to start my new life.

!THE END!

A/N: I can't tell you how excited I was when I first started writing this story, and I was almost sad that the story was coming to the end. But it can't go on forever. I truly hope you all have enjoyed reading it as I have writing it. If you liked this story, give some of my other works a read.

I will be writing another Naruto Fanfic in the future so be on the look out for it.

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