A/N: Whoo, my first fanfic on this account! If you didn't figure it out, this is Li Michal, but I figure this account will be dedicated to this one series of fanfictions. If you didn't figure it out from the title and summary of the story, this is a His Dark Materials/Naruto crossover! Omygawsh! The way this fanfic works is I take the Naruto episodes and basically write them out, adding what would happen if the Naruto characters had daemons! Nifty, right? Yes. So, don't report me for plagiarism, because this is totally original! I checked!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or His Dark Materials.

Soul Wounds Trilogy
Book One
The Boy with Two Daemons

Chapter One
Enter: Uzumaki Naruto and his Daemon Ehetia!

Twelve years ago, a nine-tailed fox spirit attacked the village of Konoha. Its great tails thrashed and cut through the air like kunai, crushing everything in its path. Animals, trees, even mountains fell to its strength, and the Leaf ninja fought bravely to defend their homes. Many died—their daemons exploded into Dust which the nine-tailed fox promptly devoured like a treat, and others had their daemons cut from them by the fox's mighty tails. Some of those with their daemons cut recovered, but the large majority of them did not, and died within a few days.

There was one shinobi however, the Fourth Hokage: Namikaze Minato. His daemon was a fantastic golden eagle, cut from him at an early age by the Third Hokage so that she would be able to fly far from her human. And she did this then, flying into the fox's mouth and thus binding the fox to a small child, the Fourth Hokage's son. She burst into Dust inside the fox's mouth where it was usually absorbed by the tails, and this sealed it into the boy.

That boy's name was Uzumaki Naruto.

---

It was the greatest of offenses. The Hokage Faces were painted in ridiculous colors: green, blue, orange, white, red. The graffiti vandalized the figures of the greatest ninja ever to live in Konoha, and the boy who had done it swung his paint bucket proudly as he ran from those who would try to stop him. His daemon, a pretty female raccoon at the moment, bounded along beside him, dodging the paint whenever it sloshed from over the bucket rim.

"Can't catch me!" the boy shouted.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" his pursuers called. Their dog daemons (So unimaginative, Naruto thought) were barking their grievances after him, and his little raccoon daemon, named Ehetia, tucked her tail in and leaped up onto her human's shoulder, digging her little claws in to hang on as he ran.

---

"I hope you're not saying it's Naruto again," Sarutobi growled, looking up from his painting. His swan daemon, Gijega, trumpeted at the intruder, one of the ninja who had been chasing Naruto. He was panting heavily, his dog daemon beside him

"It is Naruto again!" the ninja said. "He put graffiti all over the Hokage!"

Sarutobi sighed. Twelve years, he thought, and Gijega shared his mind.

---

Ehetia changed into a moth, allowing Naruto to trick his pursuers and hide behind a camouflaged cloth near a fence. After those chasing him passed, he dropped the cloth and laughed. Ehetia wrapped herself as a pine martin around his neck.

"Naruto! Ehetia! What in the names of the Hokage do you think you're doing?"

Naruto squealed slightly and whirled around to face his sensei, Iruka. Ehetia, now a mouse, crawled inside Naruto's black t-shirt and hid from the piercing eyes of Iruka's crow daemon Yideyu. Yideyu cawed roughly.

"Yideyu's right, Naruto," Iruka said. "And in case you were wondering, she said you're supposed to be in class. Now get moving!"

---

It appeared as though Naruto denied the "offer" to go back to class, for now he lay in the center of the floor, tied with rope and with Ehetia sulking angrily as a martin close by. She pulled her paws over her whiskers and glared at Iruka and Yideyu reproachfully.

"I'm at the end of my rope, Naruto," Iruka was saying, while Yideyu strutted along the desk, plucking at her feathers intermittently. "You've got Yideyu and I running ragged. You've failed all of your exams, and tomorrow you have another chance! Why don't you take things seriously for once?"

All of the students had been gathered to watch, for it was in the middle of class, and Naruto was being made an example of. The children and their daemons giggled quietly as their sensei reprimanded the class clown.

Naruto looked away with a huff.

Yideyu cawed again.

"Fine!" Iruka snapped. "Because of you, the class will review the transformation jutsu again! Remember that your daemons must transform as well!"

The class groaned audibly. "Why do we always have to pay for your screw-ups, Naruto?" one girl named Ino asked. Her daemon, currently in the form of a caracal, hissed.

"Like I care," Naruto growled as Iruka untied him and he got in line.

The first to go was Haruno Sakura and her daemon Igesu. She transformed without a hitch, and Iruka checked her off.

"Did you see that, Sasuke?" she asked the boy behind her, blushing. "I did it!"

He didn't answer her, however, and stepped up himself. His daemon quietly changed with him, and Iruka marked him off as well.

Naruto was behind Sasuke, and he walked forward boldly with Ehetia by his side. "All right, Ehetia," he said, "let's do this!"

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Iruka threw himself back against the desk, almost tipping it over, and Yideyu squawked and ruffled her feathers in an extremely agitated way. She flew once around the classroom before clawing at Naruto's head, and he promptly changed back after swatting her away.

"Ha! Sensei, I got you with my sexy jutsu!" Naruto hollered, howling with laughter. Even his daemon had become a remarkably seductive shape, a lean Abyssinian that growled appropriately.

Iruka blushed furiously for a few seconds, then seemed to regain his bearings. He towered over Naruto and roared, "Cut the stupid tricks! This is your last warning!"

---

A hawk sounded from somewhere above. Ehetia turned herself into a golden eagle and began to fly up to greet it, but Yideyu cawed angrily and she returned to Naruto's side as a monkey to help him scrub the Hokage faces.

"This sucks," Naruto muttered, and Ehetia nodded eagerly her agreement.

"You're not going home until you've cleaned off every single drop of paint," Iruka warned.

Naruto looked up at him. "Who cares?" he shouted. "It's not like I have anyone waiting at home for me!."

"Maybe you should cut the boy some slack," Yideyu muttered softly into Iruka's ear, giving it a soft and loving nip. "He wants to be great, you know."

"I know," Iruka whispered back. "But he has to have punishment. You know that as well as I."

"All too well," the crow said, and then settled quietly on his shoulder.

"Hey, Naruto!" Iruka called down to his student. Naruto looked up.

"What do you want now, sensei?" he asked angrily.

"I was just thinking we could go out for ramen after you finish up," Iruka explained. "The good stuff at Ichiraku's." He looked down. Naruto was gazing up at him eagerly.

"Now that's what I call motivation!" he hollered. "Ehetia and I'll have this cleaned up in no time!"

Her monkey paws and his hands moved more quickly along the stone, and before Iruka knew it, Naruto was done.

---

It was evening, and the streets were dim. The lights came from the numerous shops and stands still set up, and one such stand was that of Ichiraku Ramen. It was warm and clean just inside the cloth that served as a small awning. Ehetia was watching Naruto practically inhale his ramen with her mouse paws on the rim of the bowl, and Yideyu was resting quietly with her head pulled down into her breast. The warm yellow light gave her feathers a reddish glow to offset her blue-black feathers and turned Ehetia a warm milky gold. Naruto had taken off his goggles, and Ehetia was standing in them.

Such an odd color for a daemon, thought Iruka, looking down at her. Then, taking a glance at Naruto's hair, I suppose he must get it from his father.

But there was a more important matter at hand, one that Iruka would get to the bottom of if it was the last thing he did.

"Naruto," he said.

"Mm-hm?" Naruto asked through a mouthful of noodles, slurping them up from in between his chopsticks.

"Why would you do that to the Hokage faces?" Iruka asked. "You do know who the Hokage are, don't you?"

"'Course I do," Naruto said, finishing off his bowl with a flourish. "Everybody does. They were the greatest shinobi of their time, right? The best of the best? And their daemons were the most beautiful and most powerful, too, like Gijega. And the Fourth Hokage with his golden eagle—they were the ones who saved the village from the nine-tailed fox. They were the most amazing."

"Then why did you..." Iruka began, but Naruto cut him off.

"Because I'm going to be greater than all of them. We are—me and Ehetia. Me. Naruto. The next Hokage. Can you imagine it? Then everyone will have to stop disrespecting me and start looking up to me! By the way," he continued meekly. "I kind of wanted to ask a favor, sensei."

"Let me guess, you want another bowl?" Iruka asked, drumming his fingers along the counter.

"No," Naruto said, "I wanna try on your headband. Please? Pretty please? It'll only be for a second!"

Yideyu rose up and squawked her quiet laughter, while Iruka reached up and flicked his metal and cloth headband. "What, this?" he asked, and Naruto nodded eagerly. Ehetia was now balancing on the rim of the bowl, about to fall in. "No way. You can only wear the Leaf headband when you finally graduate from the Academy and become a ninja. You've gotta pass the test tomorrow." He looked down at Naruto softly, who looked increasingly indignant. Ehetia, who had fallen into the bowl at Iruka's words, pulled herself out and crawled up onto Naruto's shoulder.

"That's not fair!" Naruto shouted.

Iruka laughed, and Naruto's face turned red. "Is that why you took off your goggles?" he asked.

"I want another bowl!" the boy demanded. Iruka laughed again.

---

"We will now start the final exam," Iruka announced. It was the next morning. The class was prepared: their daemons were all changed into creatures suited for whatever might come their way. Yideyu herself was perched on Iruka's shoulder, her feathers freshly preened. "When your name is called," Iruka continued, "proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on the clone jutsu."

Naruto felt panic rise within him. Ehetia felt it too. Oh no! he thought. That's my worst jutsu! Cloning Ehetia too is so hard! We're never gonna pass!

---

The headbands were stacked in rows and columns along the desk in the testing room. Mizuki-sensei with his lemur daemon sat at one end of the table, Iruka and Yideyu at the other end. Naruto came into the room, Ehetia as a golden eagle perched proudly on his shoulder, and he stood facing the two instructors.

Pulling his hands together in a sign, Naruto concentrated on his chakra, being careful to send just as much to Ehetia as well. The chakra and Dust began to swirl around him as he thought Clone jutsu! and released his chakra.

There was a small explosion, and two pitiful clones appeared beside him: one of himself, and one of Ehetia, not even in her eagle form, but in her raccoon form.

Naruto looked up to the instruction table. Iruka looked extremely upset, while Mizuki seemed more apathetic, holding his lemur daemon to his chest.

"You fail!" Iruka shouted, and Yideyu cawed her approval.

"Iruka-sensei," Mizuki said after a few quiet minutes in which Naruto looked like he was on the verge of tears. Ehetia had crawled into his jumpsuit as a mouse, and was cuddled up tightly against his chest. "He's off, but his moves weren't bad and he did hang in there and replicate. This is his third try, so we both know he really wants to graduate. Shouldn't we pass him?"

"Mizuki-sensei," Iruka said. He noticed Yideyu eyeing Mizuki's lemur warily. Its orange eyes were staring almost hungrily at Naruto. "The other students created at least three effective replications. But Naruto only managed to create one complete one, and look at it. Its pitiful. We can't let him graduate like that."

---

The schoolyard was full of children and their daemons, headbands fresh on their heads, their chatter wild and excited.

"He called me in first!"

"He said I passed with flying colors!"

"I almost didn't pass because I was one daemon short, but I did it!"

Naruto sat alone in the shade on the swing. Ehetia was clinging to the rope as a pine martin, her tail wrapped around the taut cord.

"It's not fair, Ehetia," Naruto whispered. "We've done it so many times!"

She licked his forehead. "Don't worry about it," she said. "We'll get it."

The children's parents were gathering now to pick their children up, and this added insult to Naruto's injury.

"Maybe it's because they have someone to take care of them," he spat, and Ehetia licked him again.

"Hey, don't say that. We have each other," she said. "We'll always have each other."

"There. Do you see him?" someone said in the crowd. Naruto didn't hear her. Her sparrow daemon was perched on her shoulder, a tiny pouf of feathers. Her friend, a bland girl with a white rabbit for a daemon, was clutching hers to her chest and was looking at Naruto with hatred. He was too busy talking with his own daemon to notice.

"I hear he's the only one that didn't pass," the second girl whispered.

"Well, it serves him right," the first said.

"Yeah," said the second girl. "Just imagine what would happen if he became a ninja."

Naruto was putting his goggles back on. Ehetia hopped onto his shoulder and wrapped her tail comfortingly around his neck.

"I mean," the second girl continued, "he's the boy who..."

"Hush!" said the first girl. "We're not allowed to talk about that."

Suddenly there was a noise beside him. Ehetia had been so involved trying to cheer her human up that she hadn't even noticed the presence of Mizuki-sensei, his lemur daemon hanging on his arm like a baby. He was smiling brightly down at Naruto, and the lemur had that hungry look in her eye once more.

Watching the happenings were Sarutobi and Iruka. Gijega and Yideyu sat with their feet tucked under them, listening to their humans talk.

"Iruka," Sarutobi said, "there's something we need to talk about."

---

The sun was just beginning its long descent toward the horizon, its edge just kissing the western hills, as Mizuki and Naruto sat together on the balcony of a small building.

"Iruka-sensei's tough," Mizuki was saying, "but he's not against you."

"Then why?" Naruto asked. "Why only me? All of the other students passed, but I'm the only one..."

They sat on the very edge of the balcony, Ehetia as a small squirrel sitting atop Naruto's head, Mizuki's lemur daemon curled up next to her human.

"He wants you to be strong," Mizuki said. "He wants you to be strong with all his heart, and that won't happen if he goes easy on you."

And then Mizuki said something Naruto hadn't expected. Ehetia perked up at the words, but the lemur seemed oddly calm.

"He's like you, you know? No parents, no family, no one to come home to."

"But," Naruto said, floundering for the words, "this time I really wanted to graduate."

"Silly," Ehetia said in his ear, "do you think that makes it okay?"

But Mizuki laughed—either at Ehetia or at Naruto's words the boy only found out a few moments later. "Then I guess I have to tell you," Mizuki said, a fox-like grin plastered on his face. "It's a secret," he continued, "but I'm gonna let you in on it."

The lemur was grinning too, Ehetia noticed, and she plucked Naruto's ear with her paw. "I wonder what's so funny," she whispered.

"A secret, Ehetia!" Naruto said excitedly back, pulling her off his head and holding her to his chest. She'd turned into a raccoon by now, and was just as eager as he was to hear this almighty secret.

---

The moon hung still and clear over Iruka as he lay back in bed, gazing at it through the window behind him. Clouds feathered the night and hid the stars, but the moon was bright and true, and swathed him in an ocean of blue light. Yideyu was perched on the headboard, asleep.

"Iruka," Sarutobi had said.

"What is it, Hokage-sama?" Iruka had replied, and for a moment his daemon had looked up to meet his gaze from where she sat with Gijega.

"I know how you feel," the Hokage said. "You grew up just like Naruto, without knowing the love of a mother and father, the warmth of a family."

And suddenly the image of the nine-tailed fox destroying his world came crashing back to Iruka. Yideyu sat up abruptly, startled by the image her human was having, and remembering too. She remembered as he did the way the fox broke the bones of his parents' daemons, of how it cut them away and tossed them aside like rags. He had wanted to be there, wanted to protect them, but someone pulled him away, and he never saw them again. No—he did. He saw them in the coffins and that was when his daemon settled into her crow form. They remembered together the great demon eyes of the fox, how it was more terrible than anything anyone had ever known.

Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep again, with the fox as his company in that dark, dark world.

"Iruka-sensei, wake up!"

That was the voice of Mizuki-sensei. There was no doubt.

Iruka rolled off his bed and Yideyu flew to his shoulder as he opened the door to find Mizuki, fully dressed, standing tensely before him. His daemon clung to his shoulder, frantically bobbing her head up and down and chattering incessantly in his ear.

"What is it? What's happened?" Iruka asked.

"You need to come to Hokage-sama's right away," Mizuki said. He sounded like he had been running for quite some time. "It's Naruto," he continued before Iruka had the chance to ask any questions. "He stole the sacred scroll."

Yideyu gave out a loud caw that kept in time with Iruka's own shout of despair. "You mean the Scroll of Sealing?" he gasped. "No!"

---

The thick canopy of the forest shielded the ground from the rays of the moonlight, making it difficult to see, or, in Naruto's case, to read. He had the scroll propped in front of him, Ehetia reading over his shoulder as a bush baby and saying what it said out loud so he could understand it.

"The first one says 'Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu,'" Ehetia read dutifully.

"No!" Naruto moaned. "That's my worst technique!"

"That's what it says," Ehetia squeaked. "Get crackin', Naruto."

---

At least ten ninja were standing outside the village gate, their daemons sending up a ruckus with their snarls, the humans themselves making quite a noise.

"Hokage!" one said, his ferret daemon baring her teeth. "Naruto's gone too far this time! This isn't just a prank!"

"That's right!" another agreed. "The scroll contains secrets that were sealed by the First Hokage—secrets known only to our village! If they fall into the wrong hands they could destroy our entire way of life!"

Naruto! Iruka thought frantically as he and Mizuki came running up. What have you done?

"All right," Sarutobi conceded. Gijega raised her head and neck so that it arched emphatically. "Bring Naruto here at once."

"Sir!" the shinobi shouted, and they leaped away without a trace to leave behind except for the wind.

---

Iruka leaped along the roofs of buildings, Yideyu flying close beside him. He stopped for a moment, breathing heavily, looking around frantically. Where would he go? he thought as the crow landed on his arm.

—

Down the city streets Mizuki ran, his lemur hanging on his shoulder and grinning from ear to ear as her human was.

"This is excellent," Mizuki said to her. "Now that I told everyone what Naruto did, I can eliminate him and take the scroll for myself."

"Yes," his daemon said, "and together we will become the most powerful ninja Konoha has ever procured!" She giggled excitedly.

"They'll be glad he's gone," Mizuki growled, propelling himself forward with another thrusting stride.

---

Naruto panted heavily. Ehetia was lying on her side as a rabbit, her little chest heaving and her little heart beating rapidly. The scroll was strapped to his back, and they were both feeling extremely proud of themselves.

Suddenly, a shadow crossed over Naruto's lap, and he looked up to see Iruka scowling at him angrily.

"It's all over," Iruka snarled, Yideyu looking extremely agitated on his shoulder. He let out a wicked little laugh, and his daemon let out a caw when his shoulder shook.

But Naruto laughed too, and this took Iruka by surprise. Ehetia hopped up and landed as a finch on Naruto's head. She chirruped happily.

"Caught me already?" Naruto asked with a grin. "Not bad, sensei. I only had time to learn one technique."

"He's been out here practicing," Yideyu cawed softly into Iruka's ear so that Naruto wouldn't be able to understand her. "You can tell how hard he's been working—see the sweat?"

"Listen, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said excitedly, his arms spread wide. "I'm gonna show you this amazing jutsu and you're gonna let me graduate and then everything'll be okay! That's the way it works, right?" Iruka noticed Ehetia hop from claw to claw on Naruto's head, just as genuinely excited as he was. "Anyone who learns a jutsu from this scroll passes!"

"What?" Iruka asked, shocked. "Who gave you that idea?" Something's wrong. Yideyu looked around wildly, but Iruka could tell that in the darkness, even her bright eyes would pick up very little.

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it!" Naruto continued. He didn't seem to notice Yideyu's behavior, which was good. If he panicked, Iruka would have a difficult time subduing him. "He told me where to find the scroll and..." Ehetia pecked at Naruto's head and then looked at Iruka fearfully, turning into a pine martin with her teeth bared defensively.

"Mizuki?" Yideyu cawed, and of course Naruto couldn't understand her. Daemons can only be understood by their humans unless they choose to be understood by others. "Why?"

But her question was cut short as she cawed shrilly and flew off of Iruka's shoulder—Iruka turned around to see that she had narrowly avoided a kunai, and now more were headed straight for him.

Without thinking, he pushed Naruto out of the way. The boy landed on his back several feet away, and then he felt the cold metal piercing his skin, and he felt Yideyu give a cry of pain and fall from her flight to the ground at his feet as the force of the blow pushed him up against a shed wall.

"So," Mizuki said from somewhere in the trees. "I see you've found our little hideaway." His lemur gave a bark of laughter.

"So that's how it is?" Iruka asked. He reached out in vain for his own daemon, but she was too far away for him to reach while pinned against the wall. "I should have known!" He reached again. "Yideyu!"

But suddenly, Mizuki's lemur leapt down from the tree and grabbed hold of the crow daemon just as she was righting herself. She grabbed hold of Yideyu's wing and neck and twisted both so that Iruka gave off a strangled gasp of pain and felt his shoulder pop.

"Naruto!" Mizuki called. "Give me the scroll! Now!"

Ehetia and Naruto were both frozen in shock, Ehetia once again a rabbit, but trembling this time. "W-What?" Naruto asked, stunned. "What's going on here?" He looked from sensei to sensei, then at the daemons wrestling among the leaf litter. Mizuki's lemur was winning, and sat upon Yideyu forcefully.

Pulling a kunai from his leg, Iruka slid down against the wall a few inches before gasping, "Naruto! Don't let Mizuki have the scroll!" Those damn lemur paws! They caught Yideyu by the throat and held her twisting form high off the ground, choking Iruka to silence for a moment. "It contains forbidden jutsu that could put this village in grave danger," he continued, his voice harsh. "Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself, for his own power!"

Both Naruto and his daemon seemed to snap out of their stupor. Ehetia became a hissing wildcat and glared at Mizuki with hatred, Naruto doing the same.

"Naruto," Mizuki said softly, keeping the boy's attention trained on himself so that he wouldn't look toward the now silent daemons. "Iruka's just trying to scare you because he doesn't want you to have the scroll."

And now Naruto looked at Iruka, and Ehetia stopped spitting and gazed at him too, her light tawny fur making her seem a ghost in the moonlight.

"Stop lying, Mizuki!" Iruka snapped. The lemur had not yet let Yideyu go. "Naruto, you can't let him have the scroll!"

Mizuki laughed, and the lemur twisted harder. Iruka groaned and sagged against the wall. "I'll tell you who's really lying, Iruka," he hissed, and Iruka looked up at him in shock and pain.

"No, Mizuki!" he gasped.

But Mizuki had no attention for him. He turned to Naruto again and said, "They've been lying to you your whole life, Naruto, since the decree twelve years ago."

"What decree?" Naruto asked, and Ehetia crowded closer to him, rubbing up against his legs.

"Everyone knows except you," Mizuki said, venom in his tone. "Iruka's hiding it from you even now—he'd do anything to shut me up! Unfortunately, with his daemon held down, he really can't do anything." He laughed again, but Naruto seemed too enthralled to care.

"Don't tell him, Mizuki!" Iruka shouted. "It's forbidden!"

"The decree is that no one can tell you the nine-tailed fox is inside you!" Mizuki snarled, and his daemon let out a raucous laugh.

Naruto gasped. Ehetia puffed herself up and snarled in warning.

"The spirit that destroyed our village and killed Iruka's parents has taken over your body," Mizuki continued mercilessly. All the while his daemon kept twisting, and Iruka felt that something might break soon. "You are the nine-tailed fox!"

"Stop it!" Iruka begged, a kunai ripping his shirt as he pulled free from the wall. Yideyu cawed angrily and thrashed against the lemur, who managed to hold her fast despite her pecking.

"They've all been sneaking around, hiding things from you your whole life," Mizuki continued heedlessly. "Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you?"

Naruto was gazing blankly ahead, shocked. Ehetia wasn't moving. "Like dirt!" Mizuki said. "Like they hated you for just being alive!"

Iruka saw tears pricking the corners of Naruto's eyes. Ehetia was mewling loudly. "No!" Naruto ground out, pushing his eyebrows together in concentration and pain. He closed his eyes, repeated the word, and began to throw chakra and Dust around himself and Ehetia.

Naruto! Iruka thought, agonized. How could he watch this? He couldn't, but he had no choice. Yideyu was still flapping madly against the lemur daemon despite her throbbing wing which Iruka could feel as well.

"That's why you will never be accepted in this village!" Mizuki snarled. "Even your beloved sensei hates your guts!"

Iruka tried to move, then clutched at the wound that had felled Yideyu in the first place at his thigh. The blood stained his white cloth red, and he gritted his teeth against the pain.

"Iruka," Gijega had said, and Iruka had been shocked that she was speaking to him and not through Sarutobi, "Naruto never had a mother or father to care for him. He's shut out of everything and doesn't know why. Most people won't even look at him. How would you feel if everywhere you went, people turned their backs on you? Afraid of you, like you had no daemon at all?" And the way she said that instilled in Iruka a true fear, for a person without a daemon was like a person without a head. "That's why he gets in trouble," the swan had continued, "so people will notice him. It may not show, but he's always thinking about the family he doesn't have. He's hurting inside."

Mizuki's voice broke through Iruka's reverie. "Die, Naruto!" he screamed, twirling a huge shuriken on his hand. Then it was thrown, and Naruto was trying to crawl away to safety with Ehetia bounding ahead of him as a rabbit again, terrified for both their lives.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted. "Get down!"

And then there was pain shooting along his back, and Iruka could tell Yideyu felt it too because she gave a scream of terror inside his mind. He held himself over Naruto and Ehetia, supporting himself with his hands and knees. He gritted his teeth against the breathtaking pain.

"Why?" Naruto whispered, and Iruka could hear the fear in his voice.

"Because we're the same," Iruka choked. "When I lost my parents, no one seemed to care. They didn't have time for me and my daemon, who'd settled as a crow when I saw my parents in their coffins. They forgot we were there, like we were shadows. My grades dropped, I became the class clown, and even though Yideyu settled, no one seemed to see that as a sign of maturity. They all thought I'd grown up too fast. But I just wanted them to see me, to see us, to know our names. Iruka and Yideyu... My school wasn't good enough to get their attention, so we did crazy things together, and then we had to pay for it.

"It was hard," Iruka continued, tears streaming from his eyes. "I know that's how you feel, Naruto. You feel lonely and it hurts inside. It hurts your daemon too, I can tell, just like it hurt mine. I could have been there for you more." Naruto was looking up at him, frightened still. "I let you down," Iruka said. "I'm sorry. No one should have to suffer that much. No one should be alone like that, even if they always have their daemon as company. It's not enough."

Mizuki was laughing, and his lemur twisted Yideyu hard enough to make Iruka cry out. "Don't make me laugh!" Mizuki shouted, watching Iruka shudder. "Iruka always hated you, Naruto! He was orphaned because the nine-tailed fox killed his parents. And that beast is now inside you!"

Naruto looked away. Ehetia curled up against his chest.

"He'd say anything to get the scroll from you," Mizuki continued.

And then Naruto was dashing away with Ehetia as a swift fox right alongside him.

"Naruto!" Iruka called, reaching out a hand.

"You know," Mizuki said, finally leaping down from his tree, "once he makes up his mind, nothing can change it. He's going to use the scroll to take revenge on the village. You saw that look in his eye, didn't you?" Mizuki straightened, and his daemon fled Yideyu to leap up onto his arm. Iruka looked, and it pained him to see her lying there so badly wounded.

"Those are the eyes of a beast. He and that Ehetia of his. Did you see how she was a fox? She's going to settle like that, I can tell."

Pulling the shuriken from his back, Iruka took a moment to take a deep breath and allow the pain to subside. Then he growled, "No. Naruto isn't like that!" Standing, he swung his arm in a wide, clumsy arch, throwing the shuriken for Mizuki's head. Mizuki sidestepped and easily dodged the attack.

"You're a joke," he said. "Look at you. My daemon dislocated Yideyu's wing, which means your arm should be feeling it too. As soon as I eliminate Naruto and get the scroll, I'll be back for you. And I'll make sure to dislocate your daemon's other wing personally." Without another word, Mizuki and his daemon leaped off.

The threat was real. Mizuki wouldn't make something like that idly. To touch another's daemon was to break the most horrible taboo known to mankind. Even babies knew of the taboo. A sudden instinct to protect Yideyu crept over Iruka, and he crawled toward her, cradling her in his arms.

"Can you hold yourself upright?" he asked her softly.

"Can you?" she asked in return, and after righting her, Iruka placed her carefully on his shoulder.

"All right," he said, "let's go."

---

Sarutobi sat in front of a violet crystal ball, Gijega opposite him and staring just as focused into its clear depths.

"This is not good, Gijega," Sarutobi said quietly. "Mizuki has a big mouth."

"He made Naruto feel so bad," Gijega trumpeted, "worse than he's ever felt, it could unleash the power inside of him. If Naruto keeps tampering with the scroll, the seal that locks the fox spirit inside of him will be broken, and the beast could come out." She trailed off and looked down at her wing, seeming troubled.

Sarutobi, of course, felt her distress and asked, "What is it?"

"I fear," Gijega said, looking up at him, "that if the seal were to be fully destroyed, Ehetia could be killed by the fox spirit, but Naruto would not. A boy without a daemon... that would be awful."

"If that happens," Sarutobi said, placing his hands on the crystal in front of him, "then I fear for us all. The fox would become Naruto's daemon, and would take control of him."

---

A false Iruka bounded along amid the trees, his false Yideyu clinging to his chest with her talons and her wings. There he is, the false Iruka thought, seeing Naruto ahead of him. He was bounding along on all fours through the branches, with Ehetia as a vibrant red fox at his side, the scroll still slung to his back. He looked like he was running for his life.

"Naruto!" the false Iruka shouted, drawing closer to the boy. "Everything Mizuki said was a lie! Give me the scroll! Hurry! He's coming after you to take it away!"

And then suddenly, Naruto stopped on a branch and propelled himself upward, kicking the false Iruka out of the trees. Ehetia grabbed the false Yideyu in her fox mouth and bit down hard on her wing before throwing her to the ground alongside her human.

The false Iruka landed on the ground with a thud, skidding to a halt, his arm on fire from Ehetia's attack on his daemon.

Naruto stood to face him, panting.

"It can't be," the false Iruka said, pulling himself upright with his arm dragging a little bit.

Naruto pulled the scroll from his back and fell against the tree behind him. Ehetia limped into his lap.

"How did you know?" the false Iruka asked in a growl. "How did you know that it was me and not Iruka?" And the false Iruka changed and became Mizuki, and the false Yideyu changed and became the lemur. Her shoulder was bleeding quite badly from where Ehetia had snatched her from the air.

Naruto let out a mocking laugh, then he burst into smoke as Mizuki had, and became the true Iruka. Ehetia became Yideyu, her beak bright from the lemur's blood. Her wing was still sore—Iruka could feel it pounding from the effort of keeping up with him, but he would have to tend to it later. The scroll became a large log as Iruka said, "Because I'm Iruka."

Mizuki stood, the look on his face grim. His daemon was hissing angrily. "You're a fool," he said. "Why are you protecting that freak? He's the one that wiped out your family."

"I don't care what you say," Iruka panted. "You're not getting your hands on that scroll."

"As if you could stop me," Mizuki said mockingly. "Don't you get it? Naruto is just like me."

"How's that?" Iruka asked.

"He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance. That's how beasts are. Even his daemon became a fox, you saw, a beast. They'll pour all their rage into the scroll and destroy everything."

"You're right," Iruka said after a short pause. Yideyu pressed herself into his chest and glared hard at Mizuki. "That is how beasts are." Iruka noticed his body was shaking from fatigue, but he continued, "But that's not how Naruto is. He's nothing like that. Naruto and Ehetia are one of a kind. They work hard, they put their whole heart into everything they do. Sure they mess up sometimes, and everybody jumps on them, but their suffering only makes them stronger. That's what separates them from the nine-tails. So you're wrong. They're Uzumaki Naruto and Ehetia of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!"

Mizuki stared at Iruka's trembling body, and at Yideyu, who was trembling as well. She cawed weakly as he pulled a second giant shuriken from his back.

"Huh," Mizuki said while his own daemon hissed, "you really believe that drivel? Iruka, I was gonna save you for later, but I changed my mind."

Iruka tensed, but found it difficult. He stared at Mizuki with a lax expression. So this is where it ends? he thought as Mizuki shouted "You're finished!" and charged forward.

But then Mizuki cried out in pain, and Iruka looked up. Naruto was standing just a little ways away, watching as Mizuki skidded to a halt from his kick. Ehetia, still in her bright red fox form, was standing in front of Iruka guardedly, her entire body blocking him. The shuriken that had been thrown spun harmlessly into the forest.

"Not bad, for a little punk," Mizuki said sourly, standing up.

Naruto placed his hand on the scroll by his side. "If you ever lay a hand on my sensei," he growled, "I'll kill you!" Ehetia barked her agreement.

"Such big words," Mizuki taunted. "I can completely destroy you with a single move!"

Naruto let his hands fall into the form of a seal. "Take your best shot, fool," he urged. "I'll give it back to you a thousandfold!"

"Let's see you try!" Mizuki shouted. "Show me what you can do, nine-tailed fox!"

"Shadow-clone jutsu!"

Before Iruka's eyes, there were suddenly a thousand Narutos and a thousand Ehetias. All the foxes were snarling and spitting, and all the Narutos were sitting quietly, their fists raised.

"Those aren't just illusions," Yideyu whispered proudly, "they're solid clones! He's mastered an extremely advanced jutsu!"

Mizuki and his daemon whirled around, unsure of what to do with all the new shouts that bombarded their ears. Mizuki finally tripped and fell, staring at all the clones with wide eyes.

"If you're not coming," said one Naruto, and his Ehetia raised her hackles threateningly, "then we're gonna come after you."

Mizuki screamed into the air, and then the Narutos were on him with their foxes right behind.

---

The injured, unconscious Mizuki lay at Naruto's feet. Morning was coming, throwing light into the forest, and Ehetia was sitting on Mizuki's lemur, cleaning her paw. Naruto laughed nervously and said, "Sorry—I got a little carried away. You okay, sensei?"

"Yeah," Iruka said softly.

Yideyu plucked at his sleeve. "My wing," she muttered, and Iruka grabbed hold of the one she held out for him and ever-so-gently slipped it back into its socket. He gritted his teeth, as he felt it too, then sighed at the relieving pop. "He's amazing," the crow continued while Iruka was working on her wing. "He wants to surpass all the Hokage, and he might."

Iruka sighed and leaned back against the tree, rubbing his own sore shoulder. "Naruto," he said. "C'mere a minute. I've got something I want to give you."

---

Back at the gate, the other ninja who had gone searching for Naruto were gathered in a reconnaissance crowd, their daemons snarling amongst themselves while the men spoke.

"You're telling me no one can find Naruto?"

"Not a clue."

"This is bad news—we've gotta smoke 'im out or something!"

Suddenly, Gijega's trumpet called the men to order. "There's no longer any need to worry," Sarutobi said from behind her. "The scroll's safe. Naruto will be back soon."

---

"Sensei, when can we open our eyes?" Naruto asked. Ehetia sat on his shoulder, a mouse, but her paws were obediently covering her eyes after Iruka's strange order to keep them shut.

"Now," Iruka said. He was standing now, and Yideyu sat on his own shoulder, her wing wrapped in some loose cloth that Iruka had in his pack to ensure it wouldn't pop out again.

Naruto's eyes opened eagerly, and Ehetia removed her paws and looked to see what was different about her human sensei. He was holding her human's goggles, and didn't have a headband.

"That means...!" she squeaked excitedly, but Iruka interrupted her.

"Congratulations," he said. "You graduate! And to celebrate, I've got a surprise. We're going out for ramen tonight, my treat!"

There was a long pause. Naruto and Ehetia were oddly silent, and Iruka looked down at them to make sure nothing was wrong. Naruto's lips were moving, but no sound was coming forth, and if there had been no quiet birdsong in the background, Iruka might have thought he'd gone deaf.

Then suddenly, Naruto leapt upon him, and, losing her balance, Ehetia became a sparrow and flew into Yideyu, cuddling underneath her good wing.

Iruka was pushed to the ground, laughing, with Naruto hugging him so tightly he could barely breathe, but they were both laughing, they were all laughing, even though Yideyu's wing started hurting again and the wound in Iruka's thigh began to bleed. They were laughing.