LEDGEND OF THE HEAVENLY KITSUNE – The Lifestream Volume

Book 1: A Problem with Shin-Ra

Chapter 1 - A Startling Revelation

(Setting is in the first series after the Rescue Sasuke mission. Naruto successfully brings back Sasuke, but in taters.)

To say that Naruto at that moment was sad would be the understatement of the year. He had felt lots of sadness in his relatively short life but this was on a whole new level. His mind was still replaying the events from the last 5 hours.

-Flashback-

As Naruto approached the village gates he saw Sakura, some villagers and a few shinobi at the gates. He was carrying Sasuke on his back and smiling of course, why wouldn't he be? Naruto finished his mission and he brought back the traitor. He was walking faster and was waiting for Sakura to cheer on him but what happened next was what Naruto was afraid of happening.

"What have you done to Sasuke-kun?" yelled none other than Sakura-chan. "You almost killed Sasuke-kun you monster! I can't believe you!"

"Ano, Sakura-chan…I kept my promise." Naruto tried to say but she just punched him in the face and grabbed that traitor in her arms looking with a worried face at him and throwing daggers at Naruto.

"Promise? This is how you keep your promises?" she yelled and then Naruto saw the villagers approaching.

"Look what he has done to the Uchiha boy!"

"He looks dead. That demon killed the last survivor!" yelled a man who began throwing rocks at Naruto. At his action, everyone started throwing things at him. Then, it happened. Sakura got up and started beating Naruto.

"You monster! Demon! Look at what you did." she yelled kicking him, at the same time ignoring his injuries including the Chidori wound that Kyuubi was barely able to heal.

"But…Sakura-chan…" Naruto tried to talk to her with tears in his eyes.

"Don't you call me Sakura-chan you monster!" she yelled again and continued hitting the blond.

Naruto somehow managed to get away from there. Using as much stealth as he could in his condition, he was able to slip passed the villagers and arrive at Ichiraku's; the only safe haven in public. Most of his wounds had been repaired by this time as he staggered through the flaps at the entrance. Ayame was at the front, cleaning the bench. Hearing someone she turned to greet the customer, only to see Naruto with dried blood on his face and more blood soaked into his clothes.

"Naruto!" she exclaimed. "What happened?" Naruto just shook his head, not wanting to talk about it. Ayame seemed to understand. She turned and called for her dad. Moments later he came rushing out of the back with some bandages.

The next few hours were a blur for him. He remembered being tended by Ayame and Teuchi carrying to the back of the store where there was a small bed. Then blackness.

When he got up a few hours later it was raining heavily outside. Looking around he saw that Teuchi had gone back to work and Ayame was busy serving customers. Getting up silently, he found out that he wasn't sore anymore. Unwinding the slightly bloodied bandages, he saw that his main wound from the Chidori was gone, only leaving a slight pink mark. Stretching quickly, Naruto picked up his ruined jacket and snuck out the back door, but not before he found a piece of paper and a pen and wrote his thanks.

Now outside, he henged into a villager and made his way to his house to clean up. After a quick shower and some instant ramen, he got dressed in clean clothes. Since his jacket had too much blood in it, he slid on one of his old shirts. A bit tight, but better than nothing, he walked out of his apartment door. Again he henged into a villager and, in the rain, started walking to a place he went, when he needed time to think. Eventually he reached the Hokage monument and settled himself on the 4th's head.

-End Flashback-

He was just wondering whether he should get away from the village because it seemed hopeless to change the minds of idiots set in their ways when he felt a tug inside him. He stopped and looked around him to see who had tugged him but seeing no-one he thought his mind was playing tricks on him. Then he felt the tug again; harder this time. The feeling was familiar to him but he couldn't remember where it had happened. Then the tug happened again and Naruto felt his conscious slipping away from him as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was in his own yellow sewage corridor. Then the realization washed over him. 'I wonder what the fur ball wants.' he thought. 'Well I might as well go and see him. Unless he just wants to yell and whine; like a big baby. Or maybe he'll just taunt me, saying how I'm so weak, or something like that,' he thought dejectedly.

He walked the path he had walked so many times before; twisting and turning through the maze before finally he was standing before the huge sealed gate. The tall bars that made the giant gate seemed to be made of plain iron. In the middle, where the thicker sides of the two massive gates met, there was no key hole, rather, it merely had a elongated piece of paper stuck to it, with the kanji for 'seal' scribed on the paper.

The first thing he noticed was the difference in the atmosphere. There was no overwhelming evil presence. Naruto didn't even feel threatened and that made him cautious. The next thing he noticed was that there was no huge fox behind the bars. Just blackness.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Naruto called out but was greeted with silence. "Anybody care?" he added, hoping to get a rise out of the fox. A presence melted out of the darkness and started walking toward the gate. At first he could only see the outline of a person. Then it came into the light and the sight left him so surprised that he jumped back and landed hard on his but.

A stunningly gorgeous woman walked up to the bars; her nine red tails with black tips waved behind her. Her face was perfect in every way that held no flaws. Her body was no less perfect as she reached the gate. The whites of her eyes pristine and clear of any blemish, while irises as green as fine polished emeralds encased silted pupils. The eyes looked down at Naruto without hatred or anger. Naruto was shocked in every sense of the word. His eyes were bulging out of their sockets. His body was paralyzed. He had even stopped breathing.

The two stared at each other for a minute or an hour until the woman broke the silence.

"We need to talk. I need to tell you some things."