First C-Rank Mission (6) – Part 20

Once at the end of the stairs, Sasuke took Naru’s hand and they walked through the door and into the room where the others were all seated at the table, eating food.

By now it was the evening of the next day. Sasuke had slept for a whole day and Naru had not once left his side.

The people that were leisurely eating, stopped to look at the two standing in the doorframe.

One was a young dark-haired man, who wore a black shirt, with the Uchiha symbol on its back, and long black pants.

To some, he might look ominous, but the girl beside him clearly loved this particular style.

She wore something similar. Her legs were covered by unblemished black tights. She wore tight black shorts and a black crop top together with those tigths, which left her flat stomach on full display. Seeing her body, no one in their right mind would guess that she was 12 years old.

However, there was something even more special about the girl.

Her eyes shined like two golden gems with a vertical slit as their pupil. Her hair was blonde and reached down to her waist, not having grown at all since the day they got to know her. Her cheeks held three whisker birthmarks each, making her face appear especially cute. The most curious thing about her were, however, her huge fox ears and her tails that were both golden (blonde) in color, yet black at their tips.

She had folded her nine tails to look like one huge tail. It made her body look small in comparison. The tails started just above her shorts. The root of the tails, which were connected to her body, were slim and they got thicker at the ends.

Everyone watched the small movements of her tail (big tail) and the small twitches of her ears in wonder. It made her look especially cute in their opinion.

She was entirely different now than on the battlefield and Kakashi could not find a single point of comparison to the Kyuubi that was supposed to be sealed inside of her. No, he felt that she was something else. Something stronger.

The Kyuubi had ancient hatred inside of him on that fateful day, she had none of that. Only a suffocating killing intent and an aura of superiority that had threatened to make even him faint.

“Sit down~.” Tsunami said, diffusing the awkward atmosphere that had continued building up.

“Hn.” Sasuke said, grasping Naru’s hand and pulling her along to sit on two empty chairs that were clearly prepared for them, should they come downstairs to eat.

Sasuke sat down and looked at the girl beside him in curiosity, wondering how she would sit down with those tails on her lower back.

However, nothing awkward or funny happened. Clearly, she knew how to properly sit down with her tails. She had chosen to lay her huge tail on her lap and started gently stroking its fur.

The others continued eating, however no one really dared to say a word. It was a suffocating silence.

Naru did not once touch the food, instead focusing solely on the grooming of her tails.

Touching her own tails and feeling their fluffiness, gave her strength and calmed her nerves.

At some point, she was finally ready and decided to speak up: “So, what do you want to know?”

Instantly Naruto and Sakura asked about her tails and whether they could touch them.

“Sure~, come closer.” Naru said, unfolding two of her tails and letting the teens play with them.

Naruto sighed in content: “Your fur is so soft sis~. Can I do this too? Don’t we both have a part of the fox inside of us?”

Naru shook her head: “We are different, Nii-chan. Kurama-nii?”

“Indeed, the kit and his sister are different.” Kurama said, with Naruto’s mouth, that is.

Instantly, Kakashi’s eyes widened: “You … you are the actual Kyuubi?!”

He remembered that low and deep voice that the fox had had when it killed his teacher on that fateful day … but, something was different, he could feel it.

“Yes, I am what people call the Kyuubi. The nine-tailed fox Bijuu.” Kurama explained patiently, thereafter waiting for other questions.

“Then … tell me please. Why did you attack Konoha all those years ago?” Kakashi asked.

“My sister and I planned to free ourselves and flee on that day, but alas, that damned Uchiha used his controlling jutsu on me again … and I was forced to kill many innocent people. Though now, the ones that survived are not that innocent anymore, they have hurt Naru and Naruto too much. And the people that sealed me are not innocent either. I will not forgive them for what they did, but I will not seek revenge either. That’s not in my true nature. What led me to create all those bloodbaths every single time, was the ancient hatred from which I was created. Sigh … if it weren’t for my sister, the one that was sealed in Naruko at birth, then I would still be a mindless beast controlled by hatred. I still would not be the one that my father created me to be. Thank you, again, sister.” Kurama said, through Naruto’s mouth, as he looked at Naru.

The people present widened their eyes and looked at Naru, who still calmly stroking her tails.

“Mhm, don’t worry about it Kurama-nii-chan. I’m just sorry that we couldn’t stay free after escaping Kushina’s seal.” Naru sighed while closing her eyes.

(A/N: I know by now that Kushina’s seal was actually unlike Naruto’s, but … since I already described it to be like Naruto’s seal … I’m just gonna keep it like this. This is an AU story anyway, so it’s okay.)

A single tear flowed down her cheek, which was quickly wiped away by Sasuke, who was looking at her with a slightly sad gaze.

He was ashamed for what his apparent Clan member had done to them. He would not allow it to happen again … not to her. He would protect her from now on! Never would anyone dare try to seal her, no matter how strong they were!

“Sigh … sister, it is fine. We talked about this earlier already. Naruto and I will get along well.” Kurama said, letting Naruto take control again.

“Uhm … Naruko. If you are Kurama’s sister then you must be a bijuu too, right and … then how come you are in control of your body and Kurama is not? Shouldn’t there be the actual sister of Naruto controlling that body?” Tazuna asked, slightly drunk already and not minding his fear of the fox girl anymore.

Tazuna had addressed the thing that weighed on everyone’s mind, but they dared not ask.

“This body’s original owner, Naruto’s actual sister, would never have survived the day of her birth. When I was sealed inside of her body, her body was already close to death. She would never have lived, if not for my chakra. Then again, the one that sealed Kurama in Naruto, used a jutsu in exchange for his own life to take half of Kurama’s chakra away, that’s why his seal is still rather strong. He couldn’t take half of me away though, and as such, I am much stronger than the current Kurama. The seal inside of this body was weak and my chakra continuously eroded it. It took three years for me to finally be able to control this human body, by then, the already fading consciousness of the girl, that might have already almost fully disappeared at the moment of her birth, was already gone. So, there would, in conclusion, never have been a sister for Naruto.“ Naru said, with a voice almost devoid of emotion.

She had wanted to wait with explaining this for a while longer. She knew, that this was going to bring huge change into their Team. Things would never be the same again.

Naruto might even … reject her and think that she was not his real sister. And she would understand … she would understand. It would hurt … but she would get over it … someday, or so she hoped at least.

She also knew that Sasuke … might leave her because of this.

Naru stopped stroking her tails. Slowly, she raised her head and looked at the group in front of her.

Sasuke was smiling at her, being proud of her. He had felt how uncomfortable she was while saying this. He would make sure to spoil his little fox later~.

Naruto grinned at her and stood up. He walked up to her and opened his arms while saying: “Don’t worry, I understand. Besides, I already told you many times, didn’t I?”

Naru dived into his arms and wrapped him up in her tails, squeezing him tight, but not too tight.

As they were surrounded in fluff, Naruto continued his earlier sentence while whispering: “I’m glad that you are my sister and I’ll always be with you, as long as you wish for that. I’m sure the rest have come to like you too … we only know you as Naruko, there is no need to worry about what could have been. And … I’m so happy that you were there for me all these years. And, remember, it was you that was there for me and not anyone else. So, again, as long as you want me around you, I’ll be there. And I’m sure Kurama and I will get along well too. He has already promised to teach me some things later on, so that we could, both, better protect you from harm.”

Naru felt tears fall down her face. She was relieved. So … relieved.

Kakashi and Sakura also smiled at her kindly, making even more tears flow down her face.

Her loved ones accepted her for who she truly was. And … she did not need to hide what she was anymore.

There were still some things that they needed to know, especially the fact of her being a Bijuu and how she came to exist on this world, but that could wait for later. She honestly just wanted to spend some time cuddling with the two most precious people she had in her life … Naruto and Sasuke.

Once Kurama was free, she would cuddle him too, of course~.

Once they released each other from their hug, Naruto went back to his seat and they continued eating, soon finishing their meal.

Team 7 decided to leave the next day, with Zabuza and Haku in tow of course.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke had said that they wanted to be friends with Haku and in extension Zabuza. They still held some fear towards Zabuza, but after the last fight, they had grown considerably closer by living together under one roof.

On the way towards Konoha, Team 7 had many sparring fights with Haku, which strengthened their fighting skills a little bit.

At some point, however, Zabuza and Haku had to leave the Team, as they were missing-nin and had to always look out for people coming in to kill them.

They vowed to, at some point, meet again. At least when Zabuza and Haku had found a safe place to be at.

 

…

 

[A few kilometers away from Konoha]

“Naruko, can you hide your ears and tails? We won’t say anything about this in any report, but that won’t help as long as you can’t hide them anyway.” Kakashi said.

Naru nodded and changed her form with chakra.

She now looked like she had when she left. Her human ears were back, and her tails and fox ears vanished. The only difference to her normal appearance was that she had let her hair fall loosely down her back. She had actually really liked doing that after she opened up to her Team and staying in her Kitsune form. Also, across the mission she had finally made walking without making sounds a habit. So, if she wanted to show her happiness by letting the bells on her ankles ring, she would need to consciously move to make them ring. Which was exactly what she was doing right now~.

The pleasant sound of bells was heard on the rest of the way towards Konoha.

This continuous influence that her tailed beast aura had on her body, had converted the last bit of human cells she had into tailed beast chakra. This happened a little earlier than she expected. This caused her to be unable to revert to her human form by just withdrawing her tailed beast aura back into the seal. The seal had now fully broken apart after all.

Her base form was now the Kitsune-form. The human form that she had taken now, required her to change her form with chakra.

She now had the following forms available to choose from:

• Kitsune
• Pet-sized Kyuubi
• Big~ Kyuubi
• Human

Her base form, however, was not her Bijuu form, that looked like a big golden Fox, anymore.

After having merged with the human body she was sealed in and the seal having completely broken during their travel, her chakra had fully taken on this human form, however, with certain fox features. Her original form had been a fox after all, so this was a given, right?

Team 7 soon entered Konoha’s gates and went to report to the Hokage … about their C-Rank Mission that had gone completely above that rank. They said that Zabuza and Haku had suffered severe injuries and fled after killing their contractor that betrayed them. They hoped that that would give those two some more time to escape to a safe place.

 

…

 

A/N: So … lots of things happened in this chapter. Let me know what you think of it?