Promises Kept

Naruto followed Raven through the woods leading away from Konoha as the continued on their “field trip” as raven called it. Raven refused to tell Naruto where they were going and every time Naruto asked all he was told was that he would see when they got there. They had been traveling for the better part of the morning and as lunch time grew closer Naruto grew more irritated with his Niisan.

The last year and a half at the Academy had proven to be less and less exciting and even duller then Naruto ever imagined as he had quickly realized that he learned more about being a shinobi from his lessons with Raven then he ever did at the school. Naruto now wore his weighted training clothes all the time and was currently on his fifth set since the previous four had to be replaced after he outgrew them. The color and design of his outfit was identical to the ones Raven wore including his lack of a Konoha Hitai-ate. While Raven had chosen not to wear his since he was still officially retired from active duty Naruto still had three months until he graduated from the Academy and earned his.

They stopped for lunch and as they waited for their ramen to cook Raven looks at Naruto. “Have you decided what weapon or weapons you would like to use once you become a shinobi?” he asks the now almost twelve year old boy.

“I was thinking about a sword and a pair of those fighting knives you should me last month,” Naruto answers with his now trade mark fox grin.

“A sword huh,” Raven smirks at the boy’s excitement, “What kind of sword?” he asks.

“A katana,” Naruto asks as the ramen finally finishes cooking. “It’s the one I’m best with.”

“Alright,” Raven replies as he hands Naruto his first of three bowls while taking his own bowl before they both begin to eat.

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Two hours later they arrive at what appears to Naruto to be nothing but an old tree with a hole between two of its roots. His nose, do to Kyuubi’s influence and training, picks up the unmistakable scent of a kitsune female inside with what smell like several kits. “Why are we here?” he asks Raven.

“We’re here to meet with an old friend of mine,” Raven answers as he kneels in front of the hole. “Akiko-chan,” Raven calls softly into the den. Naruto watches in confusion as Raven quickly gets up and moves to kneel in front of the den a few feet from the entrance. His unspoken question is answered as a few seconds later a bright orange blur explodes out of the den and straight into Raven’s arms.

“Raven-kun,” a young woman no more then two or three years older then Naruto nearly squeals as she clings to the man squeezing him to death. The girl is wearing a simple orange yukata that’s back was almost completely covered by the long bright red hair that reached to the top of her five tails.

‘Wait five tails,’ Naruto thought to himself as he looked up at the top of the girls head and saw a pair of bright red fox ears sticking out from under her red hair. ‘That explains the kitsune scent,’ he thought only to hear Kyuubi giggle in his head.

Raven smiles at the “girl” as he gently scratches between her ears eliciting a gentle purr like growl from the five tails. “It’s been a long time Akiko-chan,” he tells her as she lets him go so they can both stand up. “This is my friend Naruto,” he says indicating the blond boy behind her, “Naruto this is Akiko-chan.”

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Akiko-chan,” Naruto says with a polite boy.

“He’s cute,” Akiko giggles, “Funny but cute. Too bad he’s a few centuries too young for me but who knows in a decade or two he might be old enough for one of my older kits to date.”

“One of… one of your… your older kits?” Naruto stutters. “How… how old… how old are you?”

“Only about four or five hundred years,” Akiko answers with a sweet smile.

Naruto’s eyes bug out of his head as his jaw hits the ground between his feet. “But…but… but you…you only… four or five…five hundred…five hundred years,” Naruto gasps as Kyuubi now laughs at him.

“Naruto,” Raven chuckles at the poor boy. “Akiko-chan is a Demon Kitsune,” he tells the blond before the poor preteen’s brain goes into overload, “Though she’s not as old or as powerful as Kyuubi-chan.”

“Yeah and Kyuubi-chan’s getting a real kick out of this,” Naruto grumbles as the Bijuu continues to laugh in her “cage”.

“You mean he’s the container?” Akiko asks Raven who nods his reply. “Forgive me kit I didn’t know that you were the one that contains the soul of Kyuubi-hime. Please how may I be of assistance to you Naruto-sama?”

“What just happened, Raven-niisan?” Naruto asks.

“As you know Kyuubi-chan is the Queen of the Bijuu,” Raven begins, “She is also the Queen of the Demon Kitsune Race. As her container you are now he Heir.”

“I’M HER WHAT?” Naruto demands as his jaw hits the ground.

‘My heir,’ Kyuubi answers him, ‘Since I am unable to fulfill my duties as Queen of the Kitsune while I’m locked up you, you must do them for me.’

Raven waits for Naruto’s conversation with Kyuubi to finish before he continues. “You’re her heir,” he tells the boy once he sees him paying attention again. “That means that as far as the Kitsune are concerned you are their new Prince.”

“Hai Naruto-sama,” Akiko confirms as she bows respectfully to him. “How may I be of service to you?”

“We are on our way to see Taro-san to ask him to make some equipment for Naruto,” he tells them both.

“Taro-san,” Akiko nearly gasps, “The Great Demon Blacksmith?”

“Hai,” Raven answers her before looking at Naruto. “He crafts weapons and armor from Demon parts and hides,” he tells the Jinchuuriki answering hiss question before the boy can even ask it. “We need some of your hair and two fangs for the equipment,” he tells Akiko as he offers her a kunai.

Akiko nods as she accepts the kunai in one hand while holding her long hair in the other. Pushing her own demonic chakra through the blade she cuts the fiery mane in one pass before handing it to Raven who puts it into a satchel he was carrying as the hair began to instantly grow back. A few seconds later she repeats the process before handing both the hair and the kunai to the shinobi.

Naruto can only look on in amazement as the Kitsune reaches into her own mouth and begins to pull out the two fangs his Niisan requested before handing them both to Raven who simply put them in his pocket. While the whole process took less then three minutes the fact that the severed parts grew back almost instantly still shocked him.

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They bid Akiko farewell and promised to visit her and her kits another time and invited the kitsune family to visit them in Konoha anytime they wished. Once back on the road Naruto finally turns to Raven as he begins to bombard the man with question. “How did you meet her and why haven’t I heard about being Kyuubi’s Heir before now?”

“I met Akiko-chan several years ago during my first solo mission,” Raven tells him. “Like Kyuubi-chan she was attacked and fought back only to be attacked by a team of Suna-nin. I was on my way back from completing my mission when I chanced upon the confrontation and quickly put an end to it. The men were arrested for attempting to rape her while the Suna shinobi apologized for the misunderstanding. After that I didn’t see her again until I left Konoha to train on my own. When I found her she had just had her last litter and her mate had been killed by hunters. She was enraged and it took me nearly three days to calm her down.”

“I don’t understand how her mate could have been killed by hunters if he was a demon,” Naruto says.

“Because he wasn’t,” Raven answers, “Akiko-chan is a demon but her mate was a normal fox. The thing you need to understand Naruto is that while Demons do exist they’re rare and often times when they mate their mates are mortal. If they have any children then their children are half demons. Two demons mating are extremely rare and demon children are even rarer these days, at least in our realm.”

“What do you mean our realm?” Naruto asks.

“A few hundred years ago most of the demons left our realm because they grew weary of being hunted by humans. The founded their own realms where they could live in peace while those that still wished to help their human friends left a means for the humans to summon them.”

“So the wolves you summon are really demons?” Naruto asks as he tries to process this new information.

“Hai,” Raven answers, “As are all creatures summoned once the summoner signs the contract.”

Naruto nods as he remembers Raven and Kyuubi telling him about the summoning contracts that shinobi used to summon “animals” to help them. “Okay so what about this whole Kitsune Prince deal I got sucked into?” he asks trying to get the conversation back on track.

“I remember how much of a shock it was for me when I found out I was the new Dragon Lord,” Raven chuckles. “I didn’t tell you sooner because until today it wasn’t relevant. Akiko-chan was the first Kitsune you’ve ever encountered outside your mindscape and so I didn’t see the point of telling you until you needed to know. But don’t worry you’re title is mostly honorary as demons tend to solve their own problems. The only time you’ll have to deal with their problems is if the conflict results in a possible threat of war.”

“What do you mean?” The blond boy asks.

“Well I’ll give you an example,” Raven says, “I remember one time Manda, the Boss of the snake summons, tried to eat one of Kubisaki’s, the Boss of the lizard summons, children during one of the Summon Realm’s Council meetings. Katsuyu, the Boss of the slug summons sent for me to resolve the matter as both Manda and Kabisaki are reptiles and fall under my authority. Let me tell you Realm travel is not one of my favorite things to do so I recommend avoiding it if at all possible.”

“I thought you were the Dragon Lord,” Naruto says, “How is it that you have authority over the other summons?”

“Dragon Lord is only one of my titles,” Raven tells him, “I’m also the Master of Reptiles as Hatibi was. Anyways as I was saying that was a pain in the ass and to make matters worst Gamabunta was also there wanting to turn Manda into his new belt. I swear the Toad Boss is as bad as that damn pervert Jiraiya. It took me over an hour to get Gamabunta and Kabisaki to back off and let me deal with Manda. That damn snake is worst then Orochimaru and I had to transform into my six tailed form to get that baka of a snake to finally recognize my authority and apologize before the meeting could continue. I swear if I ever see that damn snake again and he doesn’t do as he’s told I’ll skin his ass alive my damn self.”

Naruto couldn’t help but laugh at Raven’s story wishing he could have been there to see it himself. They continue to walk and chat for a few more hours before the come to what appears to be an old hut built right against the side of a mountain.

“Taro-san,” Raven calls as he knocks on the door of the hut. Even with his heightened senses Naruto still has to strain to hear what is going on inside the hut. A few moments later a thin old bald man opens the door wearing what appear to be a dragon skin gloves with matching apron. The apron has pockets sewn into the front with the handles of several tools poking out the top of the pockets. “Taro-san I bring you Naruto, the new Kitsune Prince, and request that forge his new equipment from the hair and fangs of the five-tailed Kitsune Akiko-chan so that he might better arm himself on the path of a True Konoha Shinobi,” Raven says with a bow of respect.

“So this runt’s the new Kitsune Prince?” Taro asks as he looks at Naruto. “I see you’ve had that Ryo kid make him a set of weighted clothes already. Good kid too bad he’s mortal,” the demon says, “He’d make a half way competent apprentice and a few more decades. I suppose his stuff’s good enough for the humans in his village.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Ryo-san like that you old geezer,” Naruto growls as he lunges for the old man only to find raven standing in his way glaring at him.

“He wasn’t insulting Ryo-kun,” Raven tells the boy, “if you had been paying attention you would have realized that Taro-san was complimenting his work.”

“Feisty little runt ain’t he?” Taro chuckles as he steps aside and lets them both in. As they enter Naruto notices the back wall of the hut is missing opening into a tunnel that his heighten sight shows him leads into a cave in the mountain. The hut itself is sparsely furnished with only a couch in front of a fire place an open kitchen with a small dinning table and two open doors, one to a small bedroom and the other for the bathroom.

Taro leads the two Jinchuuriki into the cave and towards his forge. As they make their way towards the forge Naruto’s eyes widen in amazement at the assortment of weapons and armors lining the cavern walls. They vary in size and shape from a small dagger to a massive scythe and the armors range from small studded leather to giant plate mail.

As the reach the forge Raven hands Taro the satchel containing Akiko’s hair and the fangs from his pocket. “Naruto wishes for a katana and a pair of fighting knives like the ones you made for my brother Asuma,” Raven tells the blacksmith. “He also wishes armor like the ones we are both currently wearing.”

“Alright,” Taro tells them, “It’ll take me a few days to make each item so come back in about a week and I’ll have them ready for you.” They thank the demon before heading back to Konoha so Naruto doesn’t miss anymore time from the Academy.

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On their way back Raven releases his chakra weights and carries Naruto on his back so they can make it back in time for dinner. “Raven-niisan,” Naruto begins as he notices something about Raven’s coat, “Whose hair did you use for your clothes?”

“My current outfit was made from Akiko’s oldest daughter, Minoka’s, hair since I prefer black,” Raven answers as they approach the gates of the village. Raven sets Naruto down as he reapplies the chakra weights before they continue on their way home waving to the guards as they pass. “I’ve got a set of armor made from Hatibi’s scales along with two swords and two knives forged from one of his fangs.”

“How can you have weapons and armor made from Hatibi if he’s sealed inside you?” Naruto asks as they enter Ichiraku Ramen for dinner.

“Only Hatibi’s soul and chakra are sealed inside me,” Raven tells him before ordering them both two bowls of pork ramen, “The same way that Kyuubi’s soul and chakra are sealed inside you. Their bodies are safely sealed in their dens until either they die or are released.”

“If Kyuubi-chan’s body is in her den then why did we ask Akiko-chan for her fang and hair instead of using Kyuubi-chan’s?” he asks, “Wouldn’t they be more powerful?”

“Hai, they would,” Raven answers, “Which is exactly why we aren’t using them. You aren’t yet ready to wield that kind of power. Once you can safely control at least five of Kyuubi-chan’s tails then we can use her hair and fangs but not before. I’m sorry to disappoint you Naruto but normal humans aren’t meant to posses that kind of power, not even a Jinchuuriki. Once you can use five tails safely then and only then will you be strong enough to withstand the power weapons of those caliber posses.”

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A/N: I need to give credit where credit is due for this chapter. The idea of a Realm for the Summons as well as the Summon Council came from Dragon Man 180's story "Naruto The Kitsune Hanyou" on FanFiction.net. I also borrowed the idea about Naruto being Kyuubi's heir from him as well although as you can tell I've added my own twists on everything. As much as I loved his story (enough to borrow some of his ideas) it was at times a little hard for me to find plausible in the current Naruto Universe.

The idea for using demon parts for weapons and armor as well as a demon blacksmith were admittedly take from Inyasha which is another of my favorite animes. The whole concept for having demons still around and even the chance of half demons came from several stories I've found on the net as well as Inyasha, though again with my own twist on things.

Looking back over what I've written so far even I have to admit that Naruto is beginning to appear abit too powerful and as such I'm working on ways to try and balance things out for the remainder of the story. While he is going to be the most powerful shinobi the world has ever known (eventually) I don't want to make him into an unstoppable powerhouse just yet. For this reason I'm relying on you guys to help me out and point out when it seems my restraint is slipping and Naruto begins to start being too powerful as the story progresses.

Thanks again for your support and as long as you all continue to read I'll continue to write.