Disclaimer: All Naruto characters belong to Kishimoto-san
Warning: Yaoi, OOC and unbeta-read
Main Pairing: Sasuke x Naruto
Author's Notes: I am so sorry for failing to update this story and when I did update, it was to start from the beginning again. However, I did a major revision and hopefully, the quality of this fic had improved. Please enjoy. Oh! By the way, I'll try to update this story as fast as I can as long as my work won't derail me. Once again, please enjoy.
Drip.. Drip... Drip...
In the darkness that knew no bounds, knew no time, a pair of glowing red eyes were trained on the seal that steadily sizzled into nothing. He watched because between helping his pathetic container and talking with him, trying to convince him to take off the seal by himself, he had nothing else to do. He watched with anticipation knowing that the gradual erosion was a promise of his emancipation.
Foolish humans. Over-confident humans.Infallible humans. The seal wasn't eternal. No sealing technique would last forever even if the exchange was the life of the technique user. They should have known that. He should have known that.
The demon laughed. Their ignorance was his fortune. Freedom was near and he would be resurrected and his container's body would be his very own... his new body and there won't be any limitations, just thousands of possibilities. That thought tickled him into laughing once more.
Erode quickly.
Prologue: Struggle for Control
Supposedly by this time of the night, silence reigned in Konoha and was only broken by the howls of the dogs and the cries of the infants, but not tonight. Tonight, Naruto's friends and few acquaintances were throwing him a party for having his ANBU application approved. Inwardly, Naruto thought that they were using his approval as an excuse to have a party from seven in the evening until god knows when without being criticized by anyone. Honestly, he didn't mind as long as his friends who he considered as his family were happy. It was fun to see them get together to relax and get wasted.
The great Kyuubi mentally kissed the last shred of the seal before it disappeared to nothingness. Fangs bared, he grinned when the gates of his cage swung open in a loud swoosh. Freedom at last.
Involuntary, he purred at the rush of exhilaration when he took his first step from his cage. Step after step until his whole body was finally out.
Naruto's chuckle was cut short when another pain shot through his system. At first it was just pain concentrated on his seal then days later, he felt prickly heat running through him making him feel uncomfortable. He had been dealing sharp pains and other feelings for the past two months now and he still had no idea what was going on. Kyuubi wasn't acting strange. His relationship with the fox demon hadn't changed. As much as he wanted to consult this matter to any of his female close friends, especially Tsunade, he was worried that they would blow this matter out of proportion and that would mean him being ordered to take endless day offs. He didn't want that.
Another pain shot through him, followed by an uncomfortable sparks of fire. His gut told him that something was happening that night and he had to get out fast. He hurriedly excused himself from Shino, who was looking at him worriedly, and walked towards the door. He was midway to it when another heat burst inside him and he blacked out for few seconds. When he regained consciousness, he felt that same heat flowing through his veins, burning his insides and his gaze bled red. Panic rose in him. Red! He was seeing everything in red and in slow movements too.
He looked at the ground and frowned seeing that it was being flooded with water again. Obviously, his soon-to-be ex-landlord was getting under emotional stress once more. In fact, that and those whimpers he was hearing must be of his container's. Poor poor thing, but he was there to save him from misery. Now, operation 'take-over' would commence.
It did not take long before red chakra flowed from Kyuubi's form and changed into a bubbly red liquid as it touched the ground, rivaling that murky water for dominance.
Everybody jumped in surprise when all the glasses in the room shattered to pieces then gaped as they saw red aura slowly rising out from the still form of Naruto. They identified the chakra but were lost on how this came to be. In fact, all of them were frozen to the spot, their minds blank.
The aura was thickening and so was its intensity. The blonde swallowed back his shouts of pain as he tried to contain all the power that was flowing out from him. He needed to get out now and fast because the floor on which he stood was slowly crumbling under him and god knows what other damage he would cause, especially to others. As he slowly moved outside, his feet dug into the cement, leaving footprints.
The rush of cold wind broke everybody from their stupor and the confused at the same time worried Godaime barked her order, "Follow him." She had an idea where this was heading and somehow that scared her because the uncertainties were too many.
It wasn't difficult for anybody to find Naruto with the unintentional destruction he left on his trail. They found him in the training ground. He was kneeling, trembling and clutching his body while one hand dug into the ground, as if using it as his anchor.
"Naruto," Sakura yelled, ready to dive through that chakra, if it meant bringing comfort to her friend but Chouji held her back.
"It's dangerous, Sakura," he said. The kunoichi would have struggled more if not for Tsunade who tossed her a glare.
Tsunade didn't know what was going on but she seemed to have a pretty guess. Her instincts told her there would be damages and as much as possible, they should deal with it properly.
"I don't think I can contain Kyuubi's chakra this time," Yamato, who had been silently assessing the flowing chakra, told her.
"I don't think you can," she replied. For few seconds, she studied Naruto's state. Her sharp eyes took everything, sending information to her brain and letting it processed.
"Tsunade," Jiraiya, who stood beside her, said. He took a glance of her just as she turned to look at everybody.
"Listen, everyone," came Tsunade's steady voice. "I don't know what's going on but it seemed Naruto is losing control on Kyuubi's chakra. Kyuubi's chakra is always erratic from what I heard so let us try to contain it." She paused to let her words sunk into them. The party mood was gone now, totally replaced with anxiety and fear. "Group yourselves in four and form a barrier." She then turned to look at Gaara, "I could have asked you to surround him with your sand but I won't be able to observe him so as a last resort, create a wall around this training ground. Make sure it won't get broken in any way. It will protect the village in case all barriers are broken."
Gaara nodded before returning his gaze back at his suffering friend. His senses tingled. He could smell Kyuubi and almost felt Kyuubi. What was going on?
Tsunade, being a Sannin, formed the innermost barrier all alone. Jiraiya followed Tsunade and formed the second barrier. Kakashi, Iruka, Udon and Izumo the third. Genma, Ebisu, Moegi and Raido the fourth. Shizune, Konohamaru, Kotetsu and Choiji the fifth. Temari, Ino, Shikamaru and Kurenai the sixth. Ibiki, Tenten, Lee and Sakura the seventh. Anko, Hinata, Kankuro and Shino did the eight. Asuma, Gai, Kiba and Neji the eighth.
All of them were tensed not knowing what would happen and when. The first power surge came few seconds and the trees rustled responding to the power. They could see Naruto's silhouette as he was now engulfed with the crimson aura. Two successive power backlashes came with the second power surge and it destroyed four barriers bringing the creators to their knees, gasping for breath and weak to restore the barriers immediately.
His container started screaming. He grinned. Ah- the joys of bringing pain to someone. Very intoxicating.
"Asshole!" a voice shaking with anger, spat. He slowly turned his head to the right and regarded his furious landlord who for almost six years had demanded a very expensive rental payment from him. "You tore the seal!"
"No, boy," he answered in a condescending voice. "I would have done it a long time ago if I could. This is bound to happen. And if you aren't such a simpleton, you should have known it when you were able to access more of my chakra."
"You bastard!" Naruto spat and lunged forward.
Kyuubi swung his three tails and Naruto immediately leaped backward to where the fox demon's four other tails were waiting for him. Blue eyes widened when those tails wrapped around his wrists and ankles, keeping him suspended in the air. When he struggled, those tails pulled his arms and legs apart to their limit, making him scream. Despite it, he still glared at his ungrateful tenant.
"You're helpless," Kyuubi told him. "The Uchiha brat can't save you now."
"I don't need that bastard."
Kyuubi heartily nodded his head in agreement. "Of course you don't," he replied in a voice that was akin to cooing, if demons could coo. "Nobody will need you because you. will. be. NO. MORE!" With that said, his harmful chakra flowed from his tails that bound Naruto.
Naruto screamed in pain. It hurt. It burned. It burned too much that he thought that this burning pain he felt right now was probably like being thrown into a lake of lava. Few of his organs were tightening. He was suffocating. He was going to die. He was letting himself die. Would he allow that? Could he?
Usuratonkachi.
At that mocking tone, he fought and struggled but what could a mere human do against a great demon? Nothing. And Kyuubi made sure that the blonde understood such hard fact well by discharging more chakra. Looking at those angry blue eyes- the only part that wasn't covered by his chakra yet, the fox demon said, "To show my thanks to you, I will torture those who had discriminated you before killing them." A hateful glare was the last thing he saw before the boy was completely cocooned by his chakra. He felt Naruto struggle until the boy's last shred of consciousness. Poor silly boy. With Naruto gone, the water lost its strength and it evaporated due to the heat of Kyuubi's chakra. The water vapor that hung over the place lent a gloomy atmosphere to the whole place as if it was mourning for Naruto's disappearance, but it was not something Kyuubi could not endure.
Naruto was gone and Kyuubi laughed victoriously. This battle had been won so easily yet it was so meaningful to him because it meant his freedom and Konoha's inevitable obliteration. It was time to fix this battered body that had become his.
A malicious look graced his face as awareness of the outside world started sinking into his senses. He saw light and trees. He felt the gentleness of the wind and the hardness of the soil. He heard shouts. He smelled fear, anxiety and worry lading the combined chakra. Ah such sweet sensations. Then in a split second, those were taken away from him when he was plunged back to that darkness... to that place.
Drip... Drip... Drip...
That dripping sound again...
He gasped when a streak of pain ripped through him. His gaze search for that wretched cage which had melted a while ago, thinking that it was there again, but it wasn't. There was just his chakra and that vapor.
Funny, that vapor was getting thicker.
Kyuubi growled when his surrounding was distorted then went back to normal in a split of second. It had happened over and over again in less than thirty seconds causing pain to throb in his head. There it was again. That distortion.
It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't his surrounding that was being stretched but his sight.
He scowled when a scent wafted to his nose. Naruto's chakra's scent, but there was something strange about it. There was something different about it. It was Naruto's chakra, yet at the same time, wasn't. The composition was slightly different. It wasn't friendly nor was it hostile.
Kyuubi made a noise of irritation and displeasure. Before he could figure out what made the composition different, a wave of pain rendered him to crumble to the ground in a heap. Then that strange chakra rose up and like a whip, lashed forward and wrapped around him. However, that wasn't the end of it. That chakra started crawling on his skin and seeping inside, causing him unspeakable pain. He howled. He was being eaten; being destroyed; being conquered. And the more he tried to rid of it with his chakra, the faster it crawled along his skin. He was disintegrating.
Naruto was screaming, writhing in pain after the second power surge. He could hear not only his anguish but also of Kyuubi's. Both of them cursing the Fourth and blaming each other for what they were going through. He felt like his insides were being twisted and his whole nervous system being scorched. Blood and saliva were dripping from his mouth as he clutched his chest that felt like exploding. This whole thing brought a new meaning to pain. He yelled a curse as he felt another shot of power bursting through him.
Naruto's loud curse came as a warning to the others. Four rapid backlashes destroyed the remaining barriers inflicting pain on those who maintained it. The ground shuddered beneath their feet and the air crackled.
The blonde gasped for air, wondering how much long he could bear this 'torture'.
The strange chakra continued working on, breaking him down into subatomic level and that subatomic particles that look like glittering dust moved to the mist hovering above the place for screening. Only those particles that were compatible to Naruto went past and those that weren't were released as power backlash - power backlashes that were more powerful than those previous ones.
Kyuubi roared. He was more than in pain. Death was better than this. That blonde who sealed him must have known about this boy's two different chakra; about the curse that was flowing through his veins. He screamed and thrashed around, hoping to escape, but he knew there was none. Hopelessness was a word he didn't know until now.
Screams.
Ear-splitting screams were the sound that Naruto slowly became aware of. And the clearer and louder it got, he became more conscious of a heat that seemed to burn him. He fought back that awareness, wanting nothing else but the serenity and silence that cocooned him. But obviously, he had no say to that matter because he was rudely and suddenly pulled out from that place and it hit him awhile later that, it was him who was screaming and that the burning heat was within him. His insides were burning and being twisted ten times stronger than few moments ago. His throat was dry. Hell! His whole body was dry as fire licked him thoroughly. Every part of his body was in pain but he couldn't stop screaming. Screaming was the only outlet he found to express his sufferings.
As if that wasn't enough, there were images floating his mind, images he hadn't seen or known in his lifetime. There were voices too. Voices that whispered a lot of things. In their speed, they were overlapping each other until they were merging into one big buzzing sound that accompanied the whirling big blotch the images in his head had become. It was an excruciating madness.
Stop.
Stop this!
Naruto pleaded and begged. He asked for an escape but what he received was more pain... more confusion.
Frustrated and unable to bear that scalding heat, he tore his shirt open and clawed his skin, in his attempt to put out the fire that was within him. Red line markings appeared on his skin where his nails, which had grown sharp and long few seconds ago mercilessly dug.
Stop.
Clutching his chest and clenching his eyes shut, he leaned forward. He wanted to vomit that acrid heavy thing that was lodged within him less he would explode but what came out was just his saliva. He made a lot of gagging sounds until what came out from his mouth was blood, but it wasn't enough. It was still there. Everything that shouldn't be there was still there.
A streak of pain with intensity beyond words shot through his whole body and Naruto arched his back and screamed to the heavens. Unbeknownst to him, he released the strongest power backlash.
In a second, his body was as taut as a bow then the next,it was limp and falling to the ground. Naruto reached out a hand to the sky which was growing distant as he fell. He didn't feel the pain when his body hit the battered ground because he was too engrossed with his hand. Looking at his nails with skin patches and dried blood in their edges, a thought that he had merged with Kyuubi came to him. As shocking as that thought was, he had no reaction. He just lay there, gasping and waiting for that moment when pain and heat would engulf him again.
The burst of heavy pressure and the rumbling of the ground warned everyone who were forming chakra barrier that another power backlash had been released and this time, the strongest so far.
They released their chakra at its maximum limit, hoping that their combined force would contain the power backlash. Their skin tingled and they were pushed back when the heavy red chakra collided against their barrier. Then in a split of second, it pulled back to the heart of it all before exploding, sending the group flying backwards.
The impact caused rips on few people's clothes, cuts on some people's skin and numbed others like Sakura. And if it weren't for a bruised Shikamura who pulled her back with his shadow technique, the pink-haired kunoichi would have been flattened by a boulder free falling from the sky.
"Naruto?" Tsunade asked in a loud voice so she'd be heard from the sounds of debris hitting the ground. A lot of them stared at the thick cloud of soil which had been lifted from the power backlashes and from the explosion. All of them wondered if Naruto had made it.
Kiba looked at Akamaru hopefully. Akamaru had been trained to look for a scent even in a situation with zero visibility but his dog, after sticking his nose in the air, let out a whimper. Kiba looked at Chouji and shook his head. "He can't find him. The cloud of soil is too thick."
"From the way it looks like, it will take a maximum of a week for these to settle. We can't wait that long. Hell, we can't wait," Kankuro said.
"We're pretty out of chakra to use a technique to get rid of them," Ino said. No sooner did she say, the soil particles started moving to one direction, like iron particles attracted to magnets. They looked at the direction where the attraction came from and saw an exhausted Gaara controlling them like the way he controlled his sands. In his exhausted state, he was having a hard time but the clouds were thinning out. Unfortunately, Gaara couldn't take it anymore and collapsed. Kankuro immediately ran to check his brother's condition.
Wanting to finish what her brother had started out, Temari spread her fan and with all her remaining chakra summoned a technique to blow the rest of the clouds of dust away.
And those who were capable of moving, ran to the huge crater and stopped when their gaze landed on a being lying prone on the center of the crater.
"Naruto?" Jiraiya yelled from above.
The being didn't answer but he moved and staggered to his feet. That was enough for Tsunade and Iruka to skid downward and approached the blonde who was no longer blond.
"Naruto?" Iruka asked in a doubtful voice. He had every right to be doubtful because the man standing didn't look like the Naruto he knew and watched over throughout the years. The man in front of him was tall- inhumanely tall, had tails, had golden red hair reaching past his hips and his whisker-like scars were more pronounced. And when this being opened his mouth to speak, Iruka saw his fangs and they looked very sharp.
Naruto tried to get rid of the white blotches at the edges of his sight when Iruka and Tsunade came to him. With one glance, he became engrossed with the lines old age made on Tsunade's face. They looked more pronounced than those times he had seen her in her real physical appearance. With mirth, he uttered, "Old hag." Then, he collapsed.
Sakura, who was still sitting on the same place where Shikamaru pulled her to safety awhile ago, continued staring at the crater. She was waiting for her master and Iruka to emerge with Naruto. She became even more worried when Kakashi, Jiraiya, Izumo and Raidoh disappeared into the crater. She didn't know what she expect but she certainly didn't expect to see the mentioned four to be carrying a man who didn't look like Naruto but one look at Iruka's and Tsunade's worried faces affirmed what her heart was screaming. That unconscious man was Naruto and he could be dead.
Sakura could have chosen to cry but she had learned that crying won't help her from her helpless state. Staring at her right arm, she ordered it to move. Move! Move, dammit! because Naruto...
I don't want to lose him. Not him. Never him.
With those desperate and sincere words, her fingers twitched. And from there, it wasn't difficult to let her hand move to her pouch, search for and bring a small test tube against her mouth so she could drink the yellow-greenish content.
Sakura slightly grimaced as that sweet liquid burned its way down to her throat. Seconds later, she felt her strength humming through her muscles then roaring and she could move again. It was good she always had that liquid and it was good she downed the whole contents rather than took a sip which was the normal dosage but this was Kyuubi's chakra's doing so extreme was normal. Sakura let out a snort as she jumped to her feet and bolted forward, surprising Ino and Hinata.
"Tell me what needs to be done," Sakura said the moment she caught up with her mentor.
"Examinations, but for now let us get him to my lab."
-SasuNaru is love-
"I brought you the medical history files of Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Kushina," Shizune said as she placed the thick file folder on Tsunade's table filled with medical books since four days ago. She silently sighed when Tsunade remained quiet. Obviously, her superior was still in her contemplating mood. Shizune wondered what had Tsunade found out about Naruto's DNA that sent her barking orders for Sakura to get more DNA sample and for her to retrieve few medical books from the library as well as bring Naruto's parents' medical records. Then after spending more hours in her laboratory, Tsunade finally stepped out to sit behind her hokage desk, reading and contemplating. This was the first time Shizune saw her doing all the tasks rather than designating them to her and Sakura.
Tsunade let out a sigh and tossed back the medical records Shizune had brought awhile ago. She still couldn't find answers. She whirled her chair around to look at the busy streets of Konoha.
She couldn't believe that all along Naruto had two sets of cells. He was a chimera and all her testings showed that she hadn't been mistaken. In addition, one set was mutated which she believed to be a result of his 'merging' with Kyuubi. She frowned when the same boggling questions came to her mind again. What had caused this merging? What had made the seal disappear? What were Naruto's traits now?
She couldn't come up with theories as to why that seal disappeared. She had checked the scroll of the forbidden ninjutsu but found nothing about its time limit being mentioned. However, after all the thinking she did while teetering between being sober and drunk, she thought that there was a possibility that the seal had its limit. And that made her come up with an assumption as to why the merging came but that was all, an assumption.
Taking into account that Kyuubi's chakra was harmful even in a small amount, a large amount would be fatal to Naruto. With the seal gone, there was no holding back for Kyuubi to release his chakra to the maximum. With that long exposure, Naruto's dominant cell set was damaged. With the damage set, few of his organs must had been malfunctioning placing him in a life-threatening situation. Out of self-preservation on Kyuubi's part, he released a big amount to fix Naruto's body and that amount together with the boy's will not to lose had awakened the dormant cell set. And it reacted strongly to Kyuubi's in a way that it decomposed Kyuubi and fixed the damage parts of DNA set, causing the dominant set to be mutated.
Tsunade bumped her head against her chair, trying to stop the dull headache from becoming a full blown one. Was her assumption plausible? She glanced at all the books and records lying on her desk, irritated that none of them could answer her questions.
She sighed and stared at the ceiling. With this merging, what would happen to Naruto who was not only a chimera but also a hanyou? How would Naruto react? How would he live his life now? When would Naruto wake up so she could run some physical tests and see how far had his capabilities changed?
-SasuNaru is love-
Naruto made a displeased growl at the back of his throat, disliking the noise that rocked his cradle made of warm silence. He buried his head under the pillow but the noise persisted. So annoying.
Leave me alone.
The more awake he was, the clearer he heard it and it wasn't one sound alone. There were the sounds of footsteps; of snoring; of dripping water; and of which he always associated to heartbeats.
Unable to stand it anymore, he bolted to a sitting position and immediately wished that he didn't. The smell of medicine and alcohol assaulted his nostrils making him sneeze; making his stomach flip.
He sat up straight when he heard that distinctive sound of a window being opened. Even before he turned towards his left, he knew it was Jiraiya, judging by the scent that wafted to his nose.
"So you're awake," he heard his perverted mentor shout.
He frowned. "Where am I?" he yelled back.
Jiraiya's left eyebrow twitched. "In Tsunade's examination room next to her office."
Naruto looked around. Well, the place did look like Tsunade's lab if he would really think about it, but was it this dirty and were the cracks on the walls and ceilings this many? Hmm... He shrugged his shoulders. Now that he knew where he was, he should deal the next thing that irritated him- the pervert shouting at him. "Don't yell!"
Jiraiya looked baffled. "You're the one who's yelling," he stated. Naruto stared at him, as if such statement was very difficult for him to understand and perhaps at that very moment, it was.
The older shinobi sighed in exasperation, checking his urge to hit his disciple in the head. "Give me your arm."
"I told you, stop yel-"
"Your arm!" Jiraiya, this time, shouted. Naruto's loud voice was making his head throbbed.
Scowling, the younger shinobi thrust his left arm and then gaped at the arm brace Jiraiya placed around his arm.
"What the-" He stopped shouting when he realized that there were few sounds he could hear now and all of them weren't as loud as they were. In addition, those few cracks on the wall weren't as obvious as he saw them. "Something strange is happening."
Jiraiya snorted. "You think so?"
Naruto looked at him, eyes slightly dazed. He looked like he was slowly remembering something which he thought to be a dream. Jiraiya was right when he heard the young man mumble, "Kyuubi." He looked sentimental when he placed a hand on his abdomen. He didn't understand the whole process or the reason. All he knew was that Kyuubi had merged with him and with that, what was he now?
"Jiraiya-sensei," he started, surprising the older man with that serious voice as well as the absence of rude name calling. He continued looking at his hand and when he continued, his voice slightly faltered. "What am I now?"
"Good question," Tsunade said from the door. She looked at Naruto, surprised that he looked like the way he used to until she noticed the arm band on the boy. A power limiter, eh? She quirked an eyebrow to her former teammate who nodded.
"How do you feel?" she asked.
"I have no idea," Naruto replied. "For the whole part, confused." With the same serious voice he used awhile ago, he asked, "What now, baachan?"
Tsunade opened her mouth, closed it then opened it again. "I don't know, but I"ll tell you everything I learned since then, but first, I want to run physical examinations on you."
Naruto looked despondent for awhile before he nodded. "Let's do it now."
That was how Sakura and Shizune were called into a lab and when they saw Naruto in his new form without him wearing his power limiter, they blushed. Naruto now stood about seven feet tall; his physique emanates feline grace and strength; his face more angular and refined; he had fangs, gleaming with sharpness, protrude from his mouth; his ears were longer and pointed; his eyes were cat-like and golden and the scar marks on his cheeks were no longer there. His hair which used to be golden blond had turned to a golden wine-red and had reached past his hips. Lastly, he had nine tails of different lengths and color ranging from silver, white and gold. Naruto wasn't beautiful nor was he handsome. He was alluring and that was what made concentration on their work a little bit hard.
-SasuNaru is love-
After few hours, Tsunade looked at the expectant faces of Jiraiya, Sakura, Shizune, Iruka and Naruto before she took a deep breath to explain. "Naruto, have you ever heard about chimera?"
There was a flicker of confusion on the blonde's face before he shrugged, "A monstrous creature whose body parts came from multiple animals." However, in his answer, there was a silent question, Is that what I am?
"Genetically speaking, you're wrong. In the field of genetics, chimera refers to someone who has two or more populations of genetically distinct cells."
"Tsunade-sama," Iruka started, taking advantage of the silence that followed her explanation, "is that what Naruto is?"
"Is this caused by the merging?" Sakura asked while keeping eyes on her eerily quiet friend. "Because Naruto's records said nothing about him being genetically engineered or him being a recipient of organ transplantation or transfusion."
"And I can guarantee that he was conceived by Minato and Kushina in a natural way without any science help," Jiraiya stated.
The three became quiet again when a vein on the hokage's left temple started twitching. "No, Naruto is a chimera from the very start. Being orphaned and isolated, there had been no chances of his DNA being checked. I am certain that this certain characteristic is inherited from either Minato or Kushina or was caused by mutation during development."
Sakura's heart seemed to break when she noticed how Naruto clenched his fists. She couldn't see his eyes now because he had bowed his head and shadows painted his face. "Then if, I mean, he is a chimera, that means he have two sets of chakra, no?"
"The chakra you felt from him is a combination of what chakra his sets of cells provide through his organs."
"What's this got to do with the merging?" Naruto asked quietly, eyes still focused on a particular part of the floor. Hearing how quiet and calm his voice was, the others grimaced.
"Exposure to Kyuubi's chakra destroys your cells. I'm sure everybody here understands that. Now, what I'm about to say is just a theory I came up after tests and research. Long exposure to that demon's chakra in full amount caused damage to Naruto's dominant set of cells. His organs composed of that set of cells malfunctioned. Kyuubi, like always when Naruto received injuries, healed them, but his chakra awakened the dormant cell set."
Hearing that, Naruto's jaw clenched. He remembered the pain, the suffocation, the sudden exhaustion of his body, the tightness of his chest and then the feeling that he was floating. He remembered the finality of him dying. Perhaps, that was what Tsunade meant. Perhaps, that time when he felt himself light and detached from his body... from that place, he was actually dying, but if that was the case, why was he still alive?
"From my tests, his other set of cells reacted strongly to Kyuubi - a foreign and threatening entity. Basing from this, without that dominance and with that dying set of cells, the other set worked full-time. This set, from what I had seen, was capable of breaking down Kyuubi so I assumed that a chakra from this set might had swallowed the fox demon, broke him down to replace the damaged DNA resulting to a mutated cell set and flushed out the rest that were not needed by Naruto's body. I have no idea if this is part of a chakra's behavior or a special case."
"But from what I heard, Kyuubi was a spirit," Sakura said, obviously confused.
"A spirit who could have a corporeal form whenever he pleased using his chakra." The blond kunoichi raised her hands to massage her temples, "And like I said. This is just my theory."
Was that the reason then? Was that why he became aware of the world again? Returned to his living hell which was nothing but pain and screams? He didn't completely believed the theory but it was the only explanation he knew; the only explanation that was given to him. He was a chimera with one mutated cell set. What was he now? A chimera and a mutant? Or simply put, a monster? Naruto quickly swallowed the lump of tears from his throat.
"And now... what am I? A chimera? A mutant? A monster?" he asked while raising his head to look at them with eyes glinting with something akin to mad panic; to judge their expression; to observe their reaction towards him.
"Naruto!" Iruka chided.
"You're a hanyou," Shizune supplied for him and regretted her action when those enchanting eyes focused their attention solely on her.
"A hanyou," Naruto seemed to purr in a dangerous tone, "what is that?"
"An offspring between a human and a demon or someone who has a demon blood. Your blood is tainted now and your physical examination shows that you have certain characteristics that are associated to a hanyou," Tsunade answered.
"A hanyou," Naruto repeated and this time, he seemed to be tasting the word; testing how it felt rolling off from his tongue. "A hanyou and a chimera." Not one of them. Never one of them. Always an outcast. He instinctively tensed when Tsunade moved closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know thinking straight right now is very difficult for you but I want you to listen and do what I must ask you. You have to train with Jiraiya as soon as possible. With all these changes, everything will be awkward until you'll get used to everything that happened to you. Your movements, your chakra control-"
"I understand," Naruto said.
Tsunade nodded and looked at others. "Sakura, return Naruto's medical file to our record section, Shizune take Naruto out from the active list and Jiraiya, I want to talk to you privately."
Few seconds later, there was just Naruto and Iruka in the examination room, and the latter was giving the younger male worried glances. For the first time since he had known Naruto, Iruka had a hard time trying to start a conversation with the usually boisterous boy. Talking about matters cheerfully would make him insensitive; if he'd talk about serious stuffs, he might plunged Naruto deeper to depression; and if he would start giving him assurances, the other might not need it. What was he going to do? He was at his wit's end.
"Sensei?" he heard Naruto mutter in a whisper.
Surprised, he answered, "Eh?" Then beneath the soft glow of the dying sun, he saw something glistened at it fell from Naruto's face and he knew that the younger male was crying.
"When will my being cursed stop? Why am I always an outcast?" Naruto asked in a strained voice. Being a container, his life had never been easy especially when in the eyes of many, he was the demon and now, that accusation was true. He was a demon. A half-demon, the sadistic part of him blithely corrected. He was an outcast from both humans and demons. He would never belong to any group.
Outcast. Alone.
"Naruto," Iruka replied softly, "I don't know what happens now and I only have a guess about the changes that will occur around you, but there's one thing I'm sure of: None of your friends will abandon you." His chest tightened when those golden eyes looked at him with bleak hope. In front of him was a very powerful being, probably the most powerful shinobi and yet, despite all strengths, he was also the weakest, if anyone knew where and how to attack him. To others, this new Naruto was probably what they could call as a god but to those who completely knew him, he was nothing but a mere human who suffered too much. He squeezed Naruto's shoulders as a sign of assurance.
I'll always stand by you.
A day later, when Naruto left the hospital for his training with Jiraiya, all of his peers were waiting for him. He received smiles from the girls and pats on the back from the guys. They were wishing him luck. Seeing them with no hatred or disgust in their eyes although they knew what he was, made his heart ached with relief. Having them close, Naruto was, for the first time, glad he had survived the ordeal of the merging.
TBC
My head almost exploded trying to come up with this idea and it still sounded so... Anyway, comments are appreciated.