AN: Still alive! You may be wondering why I'm writing a new fic instead of starting up an old, well, see, I have this condition called MYREASONSAREMYOWN and then there's this thing called LIFE that's getting in my way. Anyway, let's just get on with it, shall we?

Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Inuyasha. There, that should please the Trade Marked Police...the bastards...

Shippo's Tousan

I

The date is the early sixteenth century, and the setting is the large nation of Japan. To be specific, it's a small tavern just outside of a small village in the north. A clawed hand balled into a fist and smacked hard against a man's cheek. The man went spiraling through the air before landing in a heap on the wooden floor. Eyes looked up from their various drinks and conversations to lock on the owner of the fist.

The man with his fist outstretched was tall, just a bit taller than six feet, and had a lean build. He wore black slacks with an orange sash around his waist and a dark steel chest plate covered his torso, but revealed his lower abdominals. On the back of the chest plate was a red spiral, and surrounding that was the Kanji for 'Orange Flash'. Both his biceps had black strips of cloth tied around them, both strips of cloth having metal plates with slashes through the symbol carved in them. One was a spiraling leaf; the other was the Kanji for Shinobi. The man's hair was a sun-kissed yellow, easily spotted in a crowd, and his cheeks had three horizontal birthmarks on them, almost like they were whiskers.

The man lowered his fist and went back to his drink, a small cup of sake that was held in a strong, clawed hand. He lifted the cup to his lips and took a sip of the liquid, placing it back down and gesturing for the bartender to refill it. A friend of the one that was knocked out stood and went to the man's side, flanked by two large men with swords at their hips.

"You know, that guy was my friend," the one who approached started with a small smirk, "And I happen to be the son of this land's lord, so if you want to keep drinking, you're gonna get on your knees and beg me for forgiveness. Otherwise, my two friends here will have to cut off your fingers!"

The blonde took no notice of the man's words and took another drink, irritating the apparent nobleman, "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"No," the blonde replied calmly as he lowered his cup, "You're shouting at me like you are my better."

"I am your better, commoner!" the man snarled, reaching for the sword at his own hip. The blonde sighed and then he moved. The cup in his hand was turned around and he slammed it onto the table, chipping it, before he spun around and slammed the now sharp edge of the cup into the man's eye, making him cry out in pain. The blonde pushed the man down before grabbing the wrists of the two that had already drawn their swords and swung at him. His hands twisted, their swords fell, and the two bodyguards let out howls of pain as the audible sound of broken bones filled the tavern.

The blonde's hands moved faster than a normal man's eyes could follow, and he had slammed his fists into the bodyguards' guts, downing them with the blows. The lord's son clutched at his eye, now surrounded by a deep circular cut, and shouted, "Y-You have a death wish? I'-I'm the lord's son!"

"I. Don't. Care," were the words the blonde gave back before he chopped the man in the neck. He shook his head and looked around at the ones staring, before looking at the bartender and dropping some coins on the counter, "Sorry about the damages."

He left the tavern with his hands at his side, a calm breeze following after him as a golden tail dropped from underneath the orange sash. The tavern burst alive with conversation once again, all about the demon that was fool enough to scar a lord's son.

The blonde's head tilted back as he walked down the dirt road, taking in the surrounding energies as his eyes closed. He thought momentarily of his old master and the amphibians that had once taught him, before his thoughts went to his old world...the world that fell nearly four thousand years ago.

Shinobi villages had ceased to prosper when 'Madara' fell, and the call for shinobi was ended forty years later. The villages were evacuated before the final battle took place, and the blonde had found himself fighting for the world in general rather than his home. He lost friends, his pseudo family, and even his lover, Kurotsuchi.

The pink-eyed girl from Iwagakure no Sato had stolen his heart while they were on a mission to sabotage the Uchiha's army, but she had shown him nothing save for hostility whenever he approached her in effort to make conversation that had nothing to do with the mission. That is, she did until her resurrected 'niisan' tried to kill her. Deidara...the Mad Bomber had instigated a fight with her, and would have killed her if he hadn't arrived in time.

Having already freed his 'brothers' and 'sisters' from their forced enslavement, the blonde was in control of his tenant's power. He went straight to the cloaked form, assaulting the S-classed bomber with vicious strikes and attacks. It was when he gave the undead man's wish to go out with a bang did he receive his first compliment and thanks from his new crush. They continued to go on missions afterward before they finally went at it like dogs in heat, or rather, foxes.

She had died though, in the war against the two Uchiha. It was his archrival that had done her in, and if that wasn't cliché enough, the blonde killed his rival brutally before holding the dying girl in his arms. He swore to end the war, for her memory, and sliced the headbands that once rested around their heads, his Leaf and her Shinobi.

Enough of those thoughts, Naruto...he thought to himself with a heavy sigh, I wish I could just die already. Immortality sucks.

He was bored mostly, that small spat back at the tavern was the most exciting thing that had happened to the wandering immortal in almost fifty years. Hell, the last exciting thing he did was help a priestess pin a canine-like half-demon to a tree, admittedly secretly and from a distance. Although, he never did find out what happened to the Shikon jewel...

"H-Help...!"

Naruto stopped in his tracks, his head swiveling in search of the faint male voice calling for assistance. Hidden under his thick golden locks, two pointed humanoid ears twitched as they focused on the area around him.

"Help...!"

South! Naruto noted as his head turned towards the direction the faint cry. The blonde held two clawed fingers up and vanished in a flash of yellow, a muffled boom following after his disappearance. He reappeared outside a small hut and took a small whiff of the air, scowling at the scent.

"Blood..." He growled, clenching his fists, "Kitsune blood."

"Kyuubi-sama..." a voice whispered. Naruto frowned at the title most of his kind called him before looking around, spotting a fading golden Kitsune with one tail lying outside of the hut. Silently, the blonde ninja-turned-demon approached and knelt before the spirit, resting an arm over his knee.

"You called for me?" Naruto asked, not too surprised that the spirit of a kitsune called for him, as they had done so in the past. The fox looked up and nodded weakly.

"Please...Save...Shippo...Save...My...Son..." pleaded the fading figure. Naruto frowned and lifted his hand to rest it over the spirit's head, closing his eyes as he concentrated. A young human-like child with fox legs and a tail appeared in his mind, wearing a fur vest over a turquoise shirt with white leaves decorating it. The child, Shippo, had tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared up at two shadowed figures, both with illuminated evil grins on their faces.

Naruto's eyes snapped open, flashing red momentarily before he looked at the fox and nodded. Relieved, the spirit faded completely and Naruto stood. Turning on his heel, the blonde crossed his arms and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and inhaling the air to get a scent.

Like he did moments ago, Naruto's eyes snapped open and flashed red for the briefest of seconds before he vanished with a flash of yellow and a muffled boom.

Papa...a young redheaded child with the lower body of a fox thought sadly as he stared at the pelt around the yellow, lizard-like thunder demon's waist. His eyes filled with tears and he clenched his fists. If only he was stronger...

"Little brat, do you miss your father that much?" the Thunder Brother Manten asked haughtily, "I can reunite you if you want, Hell, I'll reunite you regardless of what you want! I could use a matching cap for my new belt!"

"Leave him alone!" cried a dark haired girl wearing strange clothes. Kagome was her name if Shippo remembered correctly. Her short green skirt and strange long sleeved shirt did little to help her back up her claim to be a Miko. Then again, for a fox demon, Shippo was strange looking too.

"Silence you bitch!" Manten barked, backhanding the teen that was bound to the wall, "I'll be with you shortly, but I would like to have my matching hat first."

Shippo whimpered and took a step back from the large demon. Why did that half-breed have to pick the other brother to fight? He wasn't as scary as this guy!

"Don't move, or you'll get blood on my pelt," Manten warned with a chuckle. The sword in his right hand was raised above his head and Shippo's eyes clenched shut as he whimpered.

Papa...Someone...HELP!

"Now, now..." a new voice chided, making the three occupants of the small mountain hut look to their left at the window. A young blonde haired man was lounging on the windowsill and had a finger extended as he shook it from side to side in a disapproving manner. His face had three marks on either cheek and the most mischievous glint Shippo had ever seen reflected in his blue eyes, eerily similar to his father's. The young man examined the three before continuing as he spoke to the Thunder Brother, "If you were any sort of respectable demon, you wouldn't dare strike a youngling. Especially if that youngling had family that were stronger than you."

"Wha-How dare you! Do you know who I am?" Manten asked, lowering his sword and glaring at the newcomer, "I am Manten of the Thunder Brothers!"

The young blonde whistled as he turned in his seat, now fully facing the younger brother, "Look, I'm shivering in fright!"

"You dare mock me?" the infuriated demon asked, brandishing his weapon, "I'll-I'll kill you!"

The blonde smirked, "I'd like to see you do that..."

A sudden squelching sound was heard, making Shippo and Kagome look at Manten, gasping when they saw a second blonde standing behind the lizard man with an arm shoved through his back. The second blonde grinned and pushed the clawed limb further, getting gasps from the Thunder demon as he finished the first's sentence, "With a giant hole in your stomach."

"W-Wha...How? This...Impossible..." Manten gasped as he dropped his sword and reached for the hand shoved through his stomach. Before he could wrap his hands around the wrist of the offending limb, the blonde retracted his arm and pulled the pelt from his waist, tossing the golden fur to the blonde seated at the window. Shippo gasped when he saw the second blonde newcomer turn and reveal a golden foxtail before he went up in smoke.

The original sighed and examined the pelt in his hands. There was no blood from his attack, but there was also crude stitching that ruined the pelt. A pyre funeral should do for the kitsune's pelt. He then took notice of the chained girl and the young fox staring at him with wide eyes.

"Can I help you?" Naruto asked, his right brow arching slightly. The girl glared at him, and it was then he noticed her predicament.

"Wow...Having fun, hanging around?" the blonde asked with a smile, only to receive a frustrated yell as a response. Naruto chuckled and rolled the pelt up before sealing it away into his sash. He looked at the wide-eyed kittling still staring at him and hopped off the sill, before walking over to the child. Kneeling down, he placed a hand on the kit's head and smiled.

"You acted rather brave at first, but you lack proper training in the kitsune arts. We should fix that," Naruto suggested, getting an even more amusing look from the young demon as his eyes widened and his jaw popped open. He stood and went to the girl, slicing her binds and steadying her when she stood.

"Who are you?" Kagome asked him immediately, dashing to the younger demon and standing defensively in front of him once she had grabbed the bow and quiver of arrows that rested on the table. Naruto's head tilted to the side and he smiled before dropping some of his disguise, which meant allowing eight more golden tails to fan out behind him, the darkening of his whiskers, the slitting of his now red pupils, and the lengthening of his fangs and claws.

Shippo dropped to his knees in awe and quickly bowed, recognizing the blonde for what he was before the light dimmed down and the blonde had reverted to his 'default' appearance. The blonde went to the young fox's side and stood him up.

"Do not kneel, Kit," Naruto grunted in annoyance, "I'm no more a god than I am a man."

"I...What was that about?" Kagome asked with a frown. Once again, before there could be a reply, the door was thrown open and a white haired young half-demon (if the silver hair and ears were anything to go by) wearing a red outfit sailed in, a large blade in his hands. Following the young hanyou was a calm young man with slitted pupils and his dark hair braided down his back.

"Manten, I'm done playing let's...Wha...Manten?" He asked with wide eyes, taking notice of the deceased demon lying near the human girl and two kitsune. He ignored them and raced to the demon's side, dropping to his knees and slowly reached out.

"Man...Manten..." The man, obviously related to the lizard-like demon in some way, put a hand on the deceased demon's body. Naruto frowned before steeling himself and stepping in front of the downed Hanyou, human and kittling. The Thunder Brother, Hiten, saw this and his eyes narrowed in rage.

"You...You bastard..." he growled, "You killed him! You killed my brother!"

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "To be fair, he started it when he killed the Kit's father. Had he not done this, I wouldn't have been summoned by his father's spirit."

"I'll-I'll kill you!" Hiten snarled before plunging his hand into his brother's chest and ripping out the heart. Grotesquely, he devoured the organ, getting a gag from the human girl and Shippo while Naruto and the half-blood merely watched in shock. Lightning coursed over his body and Hiten's snarl turned into a smirk.

"I will avenge my brother," the human-like thunder demon said with a fanged grin, "By using his powers to kill you!"

Naruto blinked before giving the man a feral grin, "Really now? Well then, bring it on!"

Hiten spun his spear around before aiming it at the four, "DIE! Lightning Bolt Attack!"

A large blast of electricity was shot at them and Naruto cursed. Sure, he could deflect the blow, but doing so would be hazardous to the kit and the other two. So, the blonde kitsune held his hand in front of him and said, "Defend me, Shield of Shukaku!"

The kanji for Sand shined brightly on his outstretched hand and a large amount of sand appeared before forming into a rather large tanuki. Its arms went out to its sides and the lightning was absorbed easily. Hiten scowled and aimed his spear, the Raigekijin, at the tanuki.

"Impressive, but futile! Thunder Blast!" he cried out as a larger blast of electricity shot out, destroying the manifested tanuki and destroying a good portion of the room, causing the four shielded behind it to fall outside towards the mountainside.

"Kagome!" the hanyou cried out, reaching for her but missing her hand by millimeters. The young man grabbed him from behind and they flew upwards. Acting quickly the blonde kitsune grabbed the girl's bound wrist with one hand, while the other hand grabbed Shippo by his shirt's collar. He pulled the human onto his back while cradling the Kit before he pushed off the falling debris, shattering it as he did so. Naruto landed on a nearby plateau, wincing from the human girl's, Kagome, shrill scream of fright. Without a shred of concern for her being, Naruto dropped Kagome on the grass-covered ground.

He glanced down at the child in his arms and asked, "You alright, Kit?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Good," Naruto replied before looking at the remains of the Thunder Brothers' home, where lightning strikes and booms were heard from the fight between the remaining thunder demon and the dog-eared hanyou. The blonde set the kit down and knelt at his side.

"Shippo, I need you to listen to me," Naruto said softly amongst the booms of the fight above them, "Stay with the human. I'm going to go have a chat with that little upstart."

"W-what?" The young fox demon asked in reply. To say he didn't have faith in the legendary Kyuubi's ability against the Thunder Brother would be a blasphemous lie. No, he knew that the Kyuubi could beat the demon.

He just didn't want to be left alone again.

Naruto put his hand on the younger Kitsune's head and smiled. Not one of his prankster smiles, or one of the fake ones he did to hide his feelings. No, this was the smile that Kurotsuchi said she had fallen for. The smile that she said made other women swoon.

It was his smile.

"I'll be right back," Naruto said with a ruffle of the burnt orange hair, "Faster than you can say Kuchiyose no Jutsu, alright?"

"Ku-chi-no wha?" Shippo replied unsurely. Naruto chuckled.

"Exactly. Be right back." And with that, he vanished in a flash of light.

AN: There's Chap 1. You know the drill.

Oh, and the pairing BTW is not set in stone. Hell, I'm not even sure there will be a pairing.

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