A word of thanks to all those who read, or are still reading my first fic, Naruto Gaiden.
Be warned, this is an entirely unrelated fic, thouygh Naruto will develop a different attitude as per the norm.
I hope that this fic appeals to your literary tastebuds as my first work did, which will still be updated have no fear.
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Cry of the youko
Chapter one.
Konohagakure, the hidden leaf village; One of the greatest shinobi villages, which have the honor of being lead by a kage.
In this case, the Sandaime Hokage, otherwise known as 'Professor' Sarutobi, is the current hokage, a man of great age and wisdom, who has carried the leaf through hell and high water, with nary a thought for himself.
However, there are times, such as today for instance, that he'd rather be retired.
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'That makes twelve attempts on the child's life in as many hours.'
Sarutobi sighed as the ANBU escorted a ranting villager off for interrogation.
'For the love of all that's holy,' the elder muttered, 'he's only a child.'
He looked over at the infant, the scar from the man's dagger already healing, thanks to the child's...tenant.
"Naruto…I never wished for this to happen…never."
He sighed, "I can only hope, that the villagers will come to see you as the yondaime did, as a hero."
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Four years later…
"Monster!"
Naruto winced as the blows kept coming, stones, refuse, whatever they could find, the villagers always threw at him whenever he came into view.
"Go back to hell where you belong, monster!" a woman yelled, chucking a particularly jagged rock at the boy, moving to guide her children away. The rock hit the blonde on the chin, resulting in him stumbling back, the bruise quickly beginning to heal.
All the boy had wanted was to go to the park and play with some kids his own age, but whenever he tried, their parents drove him off.
Naruto didn't know what hurt more, when they yelled at him and threw things at him, or when they pointedly ignored him, even if he tried to talk to them.
No…it was definitely the ones that ignored him…as if he wasn't even there…as if he was no more than a speck of dirt at their feet.
"Go away you demon!" someone yelled, hurling another can at the boy; this time, Naruto complied, turning around as if to make off, when a gentle, yet firm hand, rested on his head.
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"I saw all that." Sarutobi muttered, causing the villagers to squirm in apprehension.
The hokage didn't sound pleased, never a good sign.
"And I heard every word as well."
With a snap of his fingers, several ANBU appeared behind the ringleaders of the mob, swords at their throats.
"I'm sure Morino Ibiki would love to hear your explanations for this." the Hokage muttered, eyes cold.
As the men and women cried out in protest, Sarutobi turned to the boy, smiling gently.
"Naruto, are you alright?"
The blonde didn't answer, aside from turning on his heel and walking away, a sad sight in his torn clothes.
Sarutobi watched the boy leave with a sad look in his eyes. Then he sighed, before motioning for the ANBU to take their captives away.
'I really wonder what I see ion these people...really I do.'
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Naruto walked back to his apartment, avoiding the more crowded areas of the city like his life depended on it, which more often than not it DID.
Not that it mattered, they alweays managed to find him in the end.
"Well, look who it is." A voice snickered, causing Naruto to stiffen, "the demon, come for its daily punishment."
Naruto tried to run, but as usual a pair of rough hands grabbed him by the arms, hoisting him off his feet as a fist collided with his stomach.
"Can't have you running away, now can we?"
Naruto blackd out as the blows began to fall, falling into blissful darkness.
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The blonde jinchuuriki stumbled into his apartment, limping as a result of a half healed broken leg.
The more serious wounds already healed, but his body still covered in bruises, and he was trailing the aforementioned broken leg. Taking off his ruined clothes, the young boy placed some bandages on his cuts and climbed into bed, wincing as he felt his leg bones crack back into place.
Exhausted from both beatings and the day in general, the boy retresaated to his dreams,the one place where they could never reach him, his sole sanctuary.
Unfortunately for Naruto, it would not be his dreams that welcomed him tonight.
As the boy fell into a fitful slumber, instead of his usual dreams of better days, or his nightmares of the beatings, he found himself apparently hovering in thin air, looking oiver a burning village.
There was the sound of metal on metal, the scent of burning leaves, and a roar that shattered the air.
'Where am I?'
Abruptly, the scenery changed, from a burning battlefield to what appeared to be a massive room. Concrete walls and leaking pipes filled the room, the boy was actually up to his ankles in water that barely reflected his frightened image. What scared the child the most however, was the gate.
It stood, thousands of feet high, taller even than the hokage monument, and wider than the village gates by at least four times. There was no sign of any keyhole, though halfway between the gates there was a single talisman with the kanji for 'seal' placed over it.
"Who dares to trespass upon my dreams?"
Naruto jumped at the voice, and actually fell over as a pair of blood red eyes ten times bigger than those of the carved stone faces on the monument, gazed down on him, surrounded by a red haze.
"So…my jailer has decided to visit his prisoner." There was a snort of derision, "To what do I owe the…pleasure, of this meeting, ningen?"Naruto could only stutter in terror at the eyes, it didn't help when the creature growled.
"Why do you not answer, are you deaf as well as stupid?"
When this received no reply other than a terrified stutter the growl deepened.
"You try my patience child! Answer my question, lest I lose my temper!"
Naruto yelped and covered his head, whimpering in fear. The Kyuubi was about to roar another demand when the boy's mutterings reached his sensitive ears.
"Don't hurt me...don't hurt me…please don't hurt me…I didn't do it…"
Curiosity spiked, the youko's ears twitched, and he gazed down at his container.
The boy looked underfed, scrawny, and if the clothes he was wearing were any indication, he was little better off than a beggar.
The youko snorted in disgust, to think that he, the mightiest of all youko, the legendary nine-tailed fox, would be imprisoned in such a vessel, the gods must be laughing at him.
"Boy…"the ancient fox called out, tone calm, "come closer."
When Naruto looked up the eyes were still frowning, but they were no longer trying to nail him to the wall.
"You have my word that I will not harm you…for now."
Reassured, somewhat, by this, Naruto approached the cage, looking up at the eyes in wonder. This close, he could almost make out the image of the youko's massive forelegs, it's powerful neck, and the redness of its fur, though still enveloped in shadow.
"Your name boy, do you have one?" the youko asked, lowering its head to look at the boy.
Naruto nodded, "Naruto…Uzumaki Naruto."
Kyuubi's snout wrinkled in disgust.
'What kind of parent would name their child after a fishcake?' the mighty demon wondered, saying as much to the boy.
When the child's shoulders sagged the demon realized his mistake.
"I don't have any parents." Naruto muttered, looking at the ground, "They said monsters like me don't deserve any."
Kyuubi's fur bristled at this, his instincts setting him into a mild fury.
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In Makai, where demons reign supreme, children are a rarity, since the dangers of that world make child rearing nigh impossible.
As such, most demons, youko's in particular, are very protective of their young, even going so far as to protect the young of others, for a suitable price of course.
The fact of the matter being, it was considered disgusting, even to demons, to attack a child deliberately. Using them as hostages or shields was one thing, but demons that purposefully targeted children were considered to be less than scum.
Of course accidental deaths caused by collateral damge were tolerated to an extent...but in general, the amount of demons of Kyuubi's caliber, especially among the Youko clan, that would consciously harm a child was almost non-existent.
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'And they call me a monster…how ironic.'
Shaking himself out of his musings, the youko gazed at the child and caught his attention.
"Boy, place your hands against the bars of the cage."
When the boy hesitated, the fox sighed, exhasperated.
"I merely wish to know more."
Naruto swallowed and did as he was told; the Kyuubi tentatively touched the tip of one claw to the bars of the cage and concentrated on the boy.
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Abruptly, every moment of Naruto's short, painful life, flashed in front of the demon's eyes like a cinema screen on fast forward, from the cradle assassinations which the child only faintly recalled, right up to the most recent beating he suffered prior to returning home.
He heard the name calling through his own ears.
He felt every blow like they were bludegoning himto death.
How more often than not he cried himself to sleep…alone.
The Kyuubi felt the boys pain, physical and emotional, as they poured into his mind, and the fox wasn't too pleased with what he saw.
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The youko pulled his claw back as if scorched, growling in anger, causing Naruto to stumble back, eyes wide.
"Hypocritical simians! And they dare to refer to me as a monster?!"
Kyuubi's rage seemed to fill the room, his aura actually lighting the shadows and revealing more of his majestic form, all nine tails lashing like serpents in his fury.
"Who are they to call me a monster, when they would treat a mere child like he were a leper, or a piece of excrement!"
A sniffle drew the beast's attention to his vessel, the sight of the child's tears causing him to frown.
"What ails you, boy?"
"It was…so sad…" Naruto sniffed, tears streaming down his face, "Kyoko-san…the cubs…"
Kyuubi froze, as if his entire being was turned to ice by those few words.
"What did you see…boy?"
Naruto shivered, wiping his face, still sobbing lightly.
"You were, coming home…and the bad men…with the cloud coats…"
The boy shivered, holding his thin knees up to his chin.
"Kyoko-san…she was…she was…"
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Kyuubi stared at the boy in wonderment.
The Demon had not expected the link to have worked both ways, the boy's mental strength must be stronger than he'd expected a child's to be.
The beast's fur ruffled, showing his anxiety. Had he not pulled back at that precise moment, how much more of his past would the child have been privy to?
There were some things that the human mind could not handle; the more sordid memories of a demon were one of them.
"We're the same."
Kyuubi looked at the boy, curious.
"What did you say?" he asked, though his hearing was quite astute, he simply wondered what the boy could possibly mean.
Naruto, tears still staining his face, looked up into the fox's eyes for the first time, without a hint of fear, and said:
"You and I…we both hurt."
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Kyuubi looked down at the boy in wonder, and something inside him realized that the little child was right.
Humans had hurt both of them.
The boy? From the very moment of his birth they had tormented him.
Kyuubi? They murdered his beloved mate, and banished him to this disgraceful imprisonment.
'Inari's whiskers.' The beast whispered, en-awed at the child's startling insight.
"Why are you crying?" the boy asked looking up at the fox, and to the Youko's shock, he discovered he was.
He the mighty lord of all the Bijuu, was shedding actual tears, tears he had not allowed to fall since his mate had been murdered in their den.
"I'm sorry…are you hurt?"
Shaking it's mighty head, the vulpine demon eyed the child reverently.
"No…kit…I am fine."
The ancient fox lowered his head so that his snout touched the bars.
"I am the one…who owes YOU an apology…where it not for me, you would never have been harmed as you have."
The boy looked up to the fox in wonder, before standing up and placing a hand through the bars, touching the fur of the fox's snout, then, to the shock of the fox, crying again.
"What ails you boy?" he asked, and was surprised by the answer.
"You're the first person, to say they were sorry…"
The boy broke down again, sobbing into the beast's fur.
Kyuubi sighed, wishing he could comfort the boy, but knowing it was pointless, as he could no more cross the barrier than the child could tear it down with his bare hands.
"Can you come out?" the boy asked, placing a hand on the bar, as if wondering how to open it, the fox sighed.
"I am sealed behind these gates for all time, you are my jailer, and I, your prisoner."
At the four year olds look of confusion the fox sighed again, like an exasperated uncle.
"You see that paper on the door? It's a seal, so long as it's there, I cannot come out."
Naruto nodded in understanding before yawning.
"'m sleepy…" he muttered, leaning against the bars heavilly.
Kyuubi's snout twitched in concern and the giant vulpine shifted, focusing his chakra out to envelop the boy.
"Return to your bed, little one…you need your rest."
Naruto yawned as the chakra gently enveloped him, carrying him back to his body.
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That night, Naruto dreamed he was a fox, running through a field chasing after his mothers tail.
It was one of the best dreams he ever had, and it wouldn't be the last.
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Deep within the confines of his prison, Kyuubi gazed into the water just outside his prison, where for a brief moment the image of another fox stood alongside his own reflection.
"Kyoko-Koi…I know how much you longed for a family…"
The shadowy image of the vixen gave off a silent bark as if laughing, and turned on it's heels, tails twitching mockingly.
"I assure you…this is one cub I WON'T fail."
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Next Time: Kyuubi's living up to his word, can Naruto survive being raised as the adoptive 'Kit' of one of the most powerful Youko in existence?
And so the compulsory first chapter comes to a close.
Did it meet up to your expectations viewers? Send a Review to let me know!