Inheritance

Thanks for the reviews everyone, glad you like it so far.

Hey KazamaMomma, long-time-no-hear! Sure, I'm willing to continue the fiction with you. Just send me your email address, I can't get back to Y to find it (bastards). Mine's fireidar@tpg.com.au. I have a few more ideas and am currently trying to complete three other fics, this one, Demons, Snow And Kunai and a fic I adopted from another site called Spectral Ninja, an crossover of Legacy Of Kain and Naruto.

As for my critic review by Dorkchic, any spelling mistakes seem to be the spell check when I submit a chapter. I reread the chapters so far, and never once mentioned Kakashi knowing Naruto through his mothers side, where'd you get that from? As for getting into the compound, even if Kakashi was under Minarto's tutelage, when he died, he risked the council ORDERING Kakashi to go insdie to get the files they want for them, so it's locked to everyone but Naruto and the Third. As for the photos, this is explained in this chapter.

 

That done and said, prepare for a more confident Hinata.

 

This chapter is so long because even though the start of this chapter is me, to use the terms of one of my favorite fan fiction writers, my muse is taking over". My muse and I are arguing and fighting of the way this story is going. Even though I had plans myself for how I would also develop Kyuubi, the idea of giving him the past of one of my favorite characters from another anime, my muse took that side thought and ran a mile with it.

Consequencely this is considered an cross over of sorts. So I DON'T OWN OR MAKE MONEY FROM EITHER NARUTO OR INUYASHA! CHARACTERS ARE NOT MINE AND CREDIT SHOULD GO WHERE IT"S DUE!!!!

That done, here's part one of chapter three!!!

(Started to bold Kyuubi's words, but my computer's playing up, sorry if it suddenly stops)

NHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNHNH



Naruto was warm, so warm he didn't want to move. The heat of it surrounded him in a way he had never felt before in his entire life, comforting, gentle, caring. "So, so warm "  he thought drowsily "this must be what it feels like to be loved, to be part of a family."  



"And what am I, chopped liver?" asked the growled voice in his mind not his own.



"Shut up, fox" he murmured sleepily to himself "you're killing my buzz."



The demon huffed "I'm just saying, even if you were not my vessel, you are the last of the Kitsune race, that makes us related, family even."



Naruto wasn't going to touch that with a ten-foot pole. No, he was just going to lay there and enjoy the feel of belonging and family, the warmth and comfort.



And somewhere in his mind he felt the demon foxes tails curl around him in further comfort.



Suspended in an cacoon of love, warmth and acceptance Naruto hovered on the brink of sleep once again.



Until he heard a crash and answering yell downstairs, Tsunade cussing Jiriaya out, calling him an clumsy bum. He snorted once when she called him an hopeless pervert and he protested, trying to sweet talk her.



And the warmth around him shifted slightly and his pillow giggled.



Giggled? Since when does a mattress and pillow giggle?



Slowly memory started to bleed back, the council's dismissal, the trek to the house, the metal roses, the inside, the fox and Kitsune. His mothers Kitsune and Hinata's sympathy.



Hinata bonding with the elder Kitsune.



He didn't remember everything that happened during the bonding, but he remembered holding her afterwards, seeing her father and the sudden irrational fear the man had come to either take Hinata away from him, or harm her.



Instead his words had shocked him and he had immediately felt an overwhelming joy and exhilaration from Hinata, then nothing.



Where had all that power Hinata had had come from? He was sure he had felt a breaking seal just before, but that didn't make sense. Was it HIS seal? Panic started, what if Kyuubi was free?!



"Well obviously not" snorted the demons voice in his head "or you wouldn't be hearing me like this. I'd be talking to you out loud. Besides, that was NOT my energy, not even demonic."



"Then what was it?" he questioned "it couldn't have been Hinata. She is delicate and gentle and..."



"Weak, you mean to say" the demon supplied "I told you from the moment you met her, she wasn't what she seemed. There was an incredible power sleeping within her. It seems now it wasn't sleeping but locked away from her. I told you she was your destined mate.



As the alpha female and the primary mate, her chakra must be stronger than the others, to keep them in line and maintain her dominance. It is almost equal yours. As humans if you choose them for love and dominate them yourself, you shouldn't need to maintain you or her dominance, but it would help you both."



"Stupid fox, why is everyone obsessed with my sex life?" he muttered, snuggling deeper into the oddly shaped mattress and pillow, about to draw back slightly and punch it into better shape when it squirmed under him and that giggle started again, this time from right next to his ear and this time he recognized it.



"Hina?" he murmured thickly, how many times in the time period he had known her had he actually hear her laugh? And such an easy, happy and clean sound such as that?



"Naruto-kun, are you really awake? Were you talking to Kyuubi?"



"Damned fox" Naruto murmured, nuzzling the warm pillow "he and Jiriaya are the biggest perverts ever."



Hinata giggled again and again his pillow and mattress moved.



He frowned slightly, again? How come every time she laughed, his mattress and pillow moved? Was she leaning on them next to him and he was feeling the vibrations?



If he still wasn't half asleep he probably would have already figured it out within the first few seconds, but he refused to not only wake but try and think straight right now, he was far too content.



"Naruto?" the lilting feminine voice asked, cautious and questioning. "Uh-huh?" he hummed softly to show he was still partly awake at least.



"Are we mates now?"



"Not fully no" he murmured sleepily "we are in thought, through our companions, but not physically. For that to happen we'd have to complete the act, by uniting our bodies and having some downright looonnnggg dirty sex." He suddenly blinked "SHUT UP FOX!!!"



He suddenly pushed himself up, like a half push up his front end off the bed as he yelled.



"Naruto?" the voice was amused and questioning at the same time.



And from under him.



Blinking blankly a few times he looked down. Hinata lay under him, his hands in the mattress on either side of her shoulders. His hips were pressed to hers but slightly lower, his legs together between her spread ones, so two interested parts of their anatomy were pressed together intimately.



And both were naked.



And an certain part of Naruto twitched in interest at its position.



A slow sultry smile grew on Hinata's face and she raised her legs to wrap them around his waist, conveniently pushing him closer there. "Humm, Naruto-kun, why don't we complete it then?" she asked with a purr.



"Not while there are others here. One could walk in and see us. I don't want anyone but me seeing you like that. You're my mate-to-be, not someone elses eye-candy."



Hinata blinked, surprised and touched at the same time.



Instead of acting like he normally would to such an situation in public-ie panic, blush and stutter while trying to pull away, Naruto reacted how he wanted too. He looked down at Hinata and asked with a genuine smirk "by the way, Hina, why are we both naked?"



The Hyuuga managed to look entirely innocent, sultry and 'foxy' at the same time "whatever do you mean, Naruto-kun? We're in bed, don't people usually go to bed naked?"



"You know what I mean" Naruto's smirk widened "I KNOW the others didn't put us in here this way."



Hinata didn't answer, just blinked innocently at him.



Naruto laughed "Vixen!" Before he stopped and blinked himself, something occurring to him. She WAS a vixen, not just as his mate and Kitsune, but all along she had been displaying fox behavior in her own way, while Naruto had been denying his own.



Growing up Hinata had been treated lowly by her father, so had grown up submissive, curbing her natural behavior because her Kitsune nature had demanded she do what she did to prove her submission.



When she had met Naruto she discovered another to submit to, only for different reasons. When she found she received the most attention from him by blushing and fainting, her nature demanded she do what was necessary to gain his attention.



There was also something....foxy about tricking Naruto's attention to her by such behavior that appeased her fox side by it.



He remembered seeing her at the waterfall when they were younger, the bueaty and agility of her dance. It was that moment he had truely fell in love with her. Yes, he had known it was her, but he had also known it couldn't be, she was Hyuuga, the heir to an powerful and influential clan, he was an orphan with no known clan name, she probably already had a mate lined up through her father.



Then it occurred to him HE had been denying his heritage.



Except for whenever his emotions overpowered both him and Kyuubi, causing the fox to go out of control through him, and the test-pranks, every time his instincts had told him to do something he had ignored or denied it, telling himself it wasn't him but the demon fox urging him to do it. But all along it was his Kitsune instincts and he realized he had been flat-out denying it and them.



"I told you it wasn't me" the fox spoke "I told you to listen to them more often. A lot of the things in your past you regret could have been avoided or changed if you had of."



"I know, Kyu. I'm sorry for all those times I accused you of doing things to me you weren't."



"Yes, well...." the demon huffed, uncomfortable with earning an apology "just as long as you remember that next time you're instinct insists something like that."



Naruto nodded solemnly.



"Well I feel I should apologize as well then. I wasn't exactly always nice to you. For a long time I blamed you for you're father's actions, I punished you for being trapped in you. I know it was never your fault, it was mine, but I couldn't accept it.



If I hadn't let that damned Uchiha trick me into his control, I never would have attacked the village. You and a lot of these humans would still have family.



Then on top of that I treated you worse then those stupid villagers and even worse then that even though you could get away from them when things were too bad, you couldn't do that with me. I used you to take my temper out on, so I'm sorry as well."



"Ok" Naruto suddenly frowned "what do you mean by some Uchiha tricking control from you?" Naruto felt a gentle hand touch his cheek and a murmured word of concern. "We'll talk about that later, kit, see to your mate, she's concerned about you."



Naruto blinked as he looked down at Hinata “what’s wrong, Hina?”



“You, you were frowning, what’s wrong? Was it something Kyubi said?”

“No” Naruto smiled at her gently “just realizing something disturbing about myself.”



“What?”

“I used the fox as an excuse to deny my true self.”



Not questioning like Naruto expected, Hinata just looked sad and stroked his cheek.



There was a sudden bang nearby and footsteps to their door. A soft knock came next with a cautious call of “Hina-neesan? Are you aware? Naruto?”



“We’re awake” both called at the same time.



“When you’re ready come downstairs. Shizune, Sakura, Lee and Tenten have made dinner and everyone’s ready and waiting for you both to join us.”



“We’ll be down in a minute” Naruto called before looking back to the young woman under him. Without speaking Naruto leaned down to slowly kiss her on the mouth, long and full. When he drew back she reluctantly unhooked her legs from his waist and he rose.



As he dressed he spoke out to her softly “tomorrow morning we’ll talk to your father. We are mates, he can’t keep us apart, but if he tries we can reveal my heritage and convince him that with my breeding and yours, he would have a more powerful form of the Hyuuga line.”



“I have a feeling we don’t need to convince dad” Hinata said with a smile as she struggled with her bra “the Hyuuga council, that’s another matter.”



“We’ll work that out later. Let’s just enjoy having a meal together as a group and see how much work they did while we slept. Knowing those lazy bums Jiriaya and Kakashi, very little or next to nothing.”



Hinata giggled again at the thought “yeah, they probably spent the entire time either ogling the girls or whining.” Sitting on the bed as he pulled his socks and shoes on, Naruto paused long enough to stroke Kushina’s muzzle and smile at her before resuming his work.



On the other side of the bed, Hinata mirrored him, Hizashi just joining her side, one of Hinata’s shoes in his jaws gently.



Once done they moved to each others side, Kitsune by their opposite sides.



Somehow Naruto and Hinata's hands found each others as they moved together to the door and out the hall towards the stairs.



Halfway down they met Neji, obviously waiting for them but not near the room to be piliote. Without a word the three together moved down to the next level.



And gaped.



The main bedroom level had still needed cleaning, but not here, even the walls were scrubbed clean. The same when they came down to the ground floor.



Obviously the main bedroom floor was left untouched in order to not risk waking them, every where they looked, vacuumed and steam cleaned carpets, drapes and rugs, scrubbed walls and even ceilings, washed furnisher and items, clean sheets, blankets and curtains, even patched damage and paint work.



On the ground floor the stereo was on but low enough not to interfere in the conversation in the next room. In the dining room everyone sat around the table, a huge spread of food set out with the crockery and cutlery left by his father.



Near the head was Tsunade, Jiriaya and Hiashi, talking about the new council potentials in low tones.



When they entered most talking ceased, eyes turning to them, the girls 'awwwing' when they saw the two locked hands.



Naruto squeezed her hand comfortingly.

Hinata smiled in return at him.



Her eyes went back to the table, or more accurately her father.



The older male Hyuuga looked at his daughter, but unlike what she was used to, his eyes were soft, kind and gentle, altogether loving.



With a small choked sob she released her mate to fling herself into her fathers arms. He held her close, soothing her until she could draw back and smile tearily at him "I haven't seen you look at me like that since I was little and no one else was around."



“I know and I’m sorry about the way I’ve been treating you, so sorry my daughter.”



“I understand father. You couldn’t show me any favor or the Hyuuga council would think you got soft on us.”



Naruto spoke as he moved to their side “that’s why I insist, while Hinata lives in this house, whenever you return to this place you are no longer the clan leader of the Hyuuga.”



“What do you mean?” the older male Hyuga’s eyes narrowed.



“I mean whenever you come here to “check on your daughters state, that I’m taking care of her” my one rule, the one thing I demand of you for entrance to my clan home is you leave the ‘clan leader’ at home and enter as a father. I will not accept the entrance of that man, only the other one. What you tell the others in the clan home is your business, but I won’t accept that demeaning man in MY HOME.”



A slow smile spread on the older Hyuuga male’s face “I think I can accept that.” It was suddenly gone for a second and he was serious “I accept the terms of your condition, Naruto-kun” he bowed deeply from his seat before the smile was back “now, the two of you sit here and enjoy the meal they’ve worked so hard on for us all” motioning at the two empty chairs at the head of the table.



The two smiled at each other and did so, soon food was being passed around and they noticed that instead of going for the ramen on the table, Naruto was pilling his plate high with vegetables and things like chicken and sliced ham.



"What gives" Kiba blinked at him "where's the ramen freak we all know and love? I thought you only like and eat ramen?"



"I eat other things when I get the chance" he answered "I just rarely get the chance."



"What do you mean?"



"Ayame and her father have always welcomed me, ever since I was little and able to pay for my own food. They even lowered their prices for me so I could afford to eat there more than once and still have money for other necessities. Would you rather eat somewhere you are always welcomed and treated like a valued customer, or where you are treated like they treat you like something they scraped off the bottom of their shoe?"



Tsunade slowly lowered her cutlery to her plate, Killer Intent radiating from her "WHO did this to my baka!"



Naruto sighed "too many, too late, auntie."



"Tell me" she glared at the teenager who just pursed his lips. The fifth Hokage was about to yell at the stubborn fox container when the older Hyuuga clan head spoke out.



"When we start the new council, we need to be able judge those who-in the food industry-are easily lead or prone to listen to rumor over law. If you don't tell us who mistreated you, we won't know who to look carefully at and who not to choose. The same as any other."



Naruto hesitated thoughtfully.



"Think about it Naruto-kun" Hinata spoke out "if these guys did this to you because of stories the old council spread, what's to keep them from doing the same to some innocent visitor or other villager?"



"They wouldn't...."

"THINK about it" Tsunade emphasized.



Naruto sighed heavily “I suppose you’re right. Before you leave I’ll give you a list of grocers, restaurants, clothing and ninja supply stores.”



“Good” the fifth Hokage nodded her satisfaction and the older male Hyuuga seemed satisfied too.



For a while the only sounds was eating, utensils and crockery, low talking and the occasional female giggle as the two kits made their rounds around and under the table, every now and then brushing up against one of the females legs as they went and received an titbit from them, although, at the start, Kiba spoke sternly to them, “no chicken, don’t give them chicken.”



“Why not?” Sakura asked.



“Because even if it’s cooked you never give a fox chicken. In the wild if they get a taste for chicken then that’s what they’ll eat.”



“And?” she asked.

"Think about it for a minute" Kiba sighed.  



Shino answered "if you feed it chicken, it'll HUNT chicken. Where's the most convenient source of chicken around here-or anywhere for that matter?"



"On a farm.....Oh" she faded off when she realized what they were saying.



They went back to eating and small talk when Temari spoke out in confusion "you know I have a question about something."



All eyes turned to her.



"If the Kyuubi attacked your village the night Naruto was born, where did the photo's of him BEFORE the seal come from?"



"The fox attacked BEFORE Naruto was born, by at least a couple of hours, and it took at least a couple of days before Minato sealed the fox away. He had to try and figure out what to do first, he didn't decide in minutes or even a couple of hours" Tsunade explained. "Kushina was at least a little more than eight months pregnant at the time. She died in child birth."



Sakura answered herself next "at the hospital when a baby is born they go through certain procedures. Weight, height, birthmarks are recorded along with finger and toe prints, blood samples and various photo's. These are kept in the Registry Of Births And Deaths, or ROBAD.



As Hokage, Naruto's father would have had access to those records, he receives records of every birth and death. As Hokage he could access those whenever he wishes."



"So" Temari said slowly "those photo's are from the registry?"



"Or his own personal copy of them, yes." Temari understood and nodded.



"He probably put them there so Naruto would have pictures of himself as a baby" Anko reasoned "In case whoever was supposed to adopt him didn't have any."



They agreed with this "after all, the Kyuubi attacking the village would have left many people homeless or barely able to afford such 'luxuries'."



"Umm" Naruto started nervously "what if I knew something about Kyuubi's attack you guys don't?"



All eyes snapped to the fox container "what are you talking about, brat?" the white haired sanin narrowed his eyes at the boy.



"Did any of you ever think to ask the fox himself why he attacked? I mean as far as you knew, someone in the village could have attacked him first, or even killed his mate or kits. He could have been attacking out of revenge or just trying to force out the perpetrator."



"You know, now that I think about it, it doesn't make a lot of sense" Tsunade said "I mean come on guys, why our village? Why so suddenly and out of nowhere?"



"Yeah!" Anko said excitedly "I mean if he was some evil creature who attacked just because we are a human village, why ours in particular? Why wasn't he attacking villages all the way TO our village? Why leave them and just go straight to us? What make us so special?"



"Exactly" Naruto nodded to her.



They looked back to Naruto "So what did the fox say about why he did it?"



"He said we'd talk about it later, but he did make one comment about it that got my attention though."



"Which was?"



"and I qoute...'If I hadn't let that damned Uchiha trick me into his control, I never would have attacked the village.'"



"An Uchiha? Why would Sasuke's clan want Kyuubi to attack the village and kill so many lives? I mean they helped found it. Besides, how would they control such a being?" Sakura asked.



Kakashi, Naruto, Tsunade, Jiriaya, Shizune and the older male Hyuuga all exchanged knowing looks. "Sharingan" the five said in union.



"But why?" Sakura nearly pleaded.



Hiashi sighed "with the old council disbanded I can tell you. Twenty years ago the Uchiha seeked to take control of the village. They felt that since they were one of the founding clans of the hidden leaf village them they should rule, that they should be in control."



The entire table gasped.



"The Forth refused and was in talks with them when the fox attacked."



Tsunade frowned "if what the fox and you say is true, it seems someone in the clan got sick of all the talking."



"Yes" Hiashi nodded "but who?"



"Does it matter?" Anko said "except for the two brats, none of the clan are left to punish anyway."



"Naruto?" they heard Hinata, call of concern and all eyes turned back to him to find the fox container's head lowered, eyes clenched in pain and rubbing his temples, muttering "alright, stop yelling and I'll tell them! I can't tell them anything with you yelling in my head!"



Instantly Tsunade was by Naruto's side, concerned, hands glowing green as she examined his head and temples "what is it, Naruto? There is a growing pressure in your head. What's that damned fox doing?!"



"Just having a slight temper-tantrum" Naruto tried to joke but then winced "alright already, ease up or I can't tell anyone anything!!" he yelled out loud.



Before anyone else could speak, there was a flash of chakra they all recognized and Naruto slowly raised his head, revealing thicker wisker-marks and red glowing cat-eyes, along with fanged incisors and clawed hands.



The only thing that was missing was the fox cloak and chakra tails.



Tsunade and the rest of the group all sucked in breath sharply, hands flying to hidden weapons, but the fox-possessed boy just snorted "I'm not here to fight, mortals, just talk. If I was here to hurt any of you, you'd be dead before you could move."



Cautiously Tsunade spoke "why are you here, fox? What is there for you to say that you couldn't through Naruto?"



"How about MY version of events leading up to that night in my own words?" The demon answered seriously "if I was a threat, then why isn't my kits mate on alert, or the only beings of true instinct here?" he motioned at the Hyuuga female, still cuddled up next to him, one arm wrapped around his and head only lifting from the shoulder long enough to eat and say "no matter what his form, he's still my Naruto-kun."



Then he motioned to both Kitsune, relaxed and still doing their rounds as well as Kiba with Akamaru slouched by his masters chair, head on paws and snoozing.



That was when they remembered that the dog and his master had only twitched at the foxes appearance.



"What?" Kiba asked, noticing their looks.



"Why didn't you react when Kyuubi came out?"



Kiba snorted "he wasn't gonna attack. He's a lot more powerful than that. If he was gonna do something threatening we would have tried to stop it" he motioned at Akamaru who opened one eye long enough to glance at them before going back to sleep.



"Besides, we could feel he was confused, grieved and upset, no anger or threat or hate was coming from him."



They accepted this and turned to the possessed Kitsune vessel "why are you here, demon?"



"I prefer the term Youki personally" the fox demon said dignitally "the way humans say demon is either full of hate or derogatorily. Besides, the only time I've ever heard it since being imprisoned in my kit has been with hate  and anger. I am a proud being of a fine heritage" he straightened in the seat and dusted the teens clothes with dignity. "I  AM an Youki Lord, you know."



"What's a youki?" Sakura asked curiously. How often did you get to converse with a Being of pure chakra?



"We were the first intelligent creatures to exsist on this plain" the being sniffed dignitally "we were once in the thousands and even millions. Some of us-the lower youki-were nothing more then animals, unable to think other than instinctively, but most were intelligent and could reason and choose.



Four great youki ruled each side of the elemental nations, north, south, east and west and each youki were associated with an animal spirit, the west-dog, north-wolves, south-rats and east-fox."



"Fox, you."



"My father, yes. But he was murdered while I was but a kit and I ended up running around, seeking revenge against the ones who did it." This sounded familiar, a certain pale skinned, black hair and eyed Uchiha.



"What I didn't mention was humans used to idolize us, worship us, until some bad elements go it into their heads that because of this humans were nothing more than cattle for our amusement and started abusing and slaughtering them. In retaliation the humans bred a group of highly trained humans, hunters to kill those persecuting them. Unfortunately  3/4 of those times were humans persecuting us. Just before my birth an human priestess and a group of powerful Youki fought. Trapped in a cave together and of equal power they fought eternally until something happened."



"What?"



"Somehow part of the youki soul and the priestessess separated from their eternal prison and merged into a powerful item of unimaginable power. Any evil being-especially youki-who held it, it strengthened the youki souls inside, corrupting the bearer and making them into creatures of uncontrollable strength. Any humans already tainted in any way by evil or any selfish emotions were further tainted and given unusual abilities.



That was why the stone was entrusted to a human priestess, only her purity could keep the power of the jewel under control and safe from youki seeking the stones power."



"What happened?" the group had stopped talking and were all hooked on the tale.



"The priestess made one grievous mistake, she fell in love."



"How is THAT a mistake?"



"It made her emotionally vulnerable, both to the negative taint of her emotions and to manipulation. The fact that her first young love was an hanyou didn't help any as well."



"Hanyou?" they questioned.



"Half human, half youki. In this case, his mother was a human princess, his father a dog youki. But not just any dog youki, the son of the great inu general, ruler of the Western Lands."



"He was royalty?" they gasped.



"Yes and no" was their answer which caused them to frown "what do you mean yes and no? Either he was..."



Tsunade and Jiriaya exchanged looks with Haishi "he was illegitimate, wasn't he."



"Yes, but it wasn't supposed be that way, his father would have legalised him and his claim, but he didn't get a chance, he died the night he was born."



"Tell us" Haishi said firmly.



"Long story as short as I can make it-the Inu Lord ruled the Western lands, but they were at war with another land, had been for years.



Into this war-torn land comes a young dog youki, a warrior who joins the dog lords army and quickly rises through the ranks to become, not only the lords general but his most trusted soldier.



When the general leads his forces to victory against the enemy and ends the war, the lord is so pleased he grants the general a large portion of his land as reward to rule however he wished under his rulership-like your Fire Lord does now."



They understood what he was saying.



"There was another condition though as well. You see the Inu Lord had no sons, only daughters...."



"Let me guess" Haishi spoke out " he was to marry a daughter and produce an heir for the Inu Lord. Without a son he had no family to leave the kingdom to when he died. It would be an added bonus that any son could inherit their fathers skills, both in the mind and the skills-once trained-in battle. He would have a child who could keep the kingdom from others and rule appropriately."



"Exactly. Even though the chosen bride and the general could barely stand each other, apparently she was a spoilt, childish, jealous little..baka....they managed to produce a son together, a pure bred Inu youki with all the deadly skill and grace of his father, but spoilt little jealousies of his mother.



Once she was fit enough to travel the mother went back to her father, leaving their offspring to its father."



"A NEWBORN!? She left a newly born baby to it's father and never even visited?!"



The possessed boy snorted at them "as far as she was concerned she had forefilled her obligations to him and her father. She just wanted to go back to her pampered life.



Being a soldier with no idea how to raise an newborn, let alone a baby, the general turned lord hired a wet-nurse and various people to care for the baby while he worked at keeping control of his new little kingdom from all those seeing an possible new land to invade and raid.



He saw his son, sure, but until he was old enough to learn to fight it was only occasionally.



Can you imagine being that son? How he would feel about those times growing up into a teen?"



"He would value those times above all, especially since the father was the only parent he knew and he would be being groomed to not only replace his father when he died, but his grandfather too."



The fox possessed fox vessel nodded. "A youki's life-span is centuries if nature takes its course, most live at least five thousand years, depending on their orintation and for at least two and a half centuries the son had his father to train him in fighting and stradegy.



One day he didn't come and the son was told his father had to go to one of the human villages to mediate problems between it and their rivals.



He understood this, knowing when he got older this would be his responsibility. However it would be sooner than he knew."



"What do you mean?" they asked.



"When the father returned he seemed distant, distracted. This continued on for some time, the dog youki disappearing from their home numerous times without notice or warning, only to return at odd hours and he smelt strange to the son."



"What was he doing?"



"Sick of his father's excuses for not turning up at their sessions, the son followed him one night."



"Where did he go?"



"The son followed him into a clearing just outside the human settlement on the edges of their land. There waited a cloaked figure, soon revealed to be a young human woman, her beauty had no compare and her looks would enchant even the hardest heart. Her heart, when you got through the stubborn pig-headedness, was one of the most loving purest souls you could ever meet." He sighed dreamily "I only met her once after she died, but she reminded me so much of my mother..." he suddenly blinked back to the present and snorted "HE may have been the spitting image of his father, but he definitely had his mother's soul."



"Who?"



"The second son of course" the youki snorted "The son watched his father and the human make-out and grew angry, why was his great father seducing an lowly human? He left them there and went back to the palace, waiting and wanting to confront his father about this, getting more and more pissed off the longer he was gone."



"What did he do when he arrived?"



"What else? They fought. The son found out the female was the princess of the human village his father had been to months ago. She had been rude and disrespectful where everyone else had been simmering and submissive, standing up to him no matter what those around her said. At first it had pissed him off, this was HIS land and one of his subjects were defying him, but then she had began to interest him. She was royalty who acted more like the warrior HE was then all those idiots he had encountered before, he had expected her to be more like the bitch.... his sons mother. But no, she knew what was right for her people and fought for it."



"I get it" Kiba said "by standing up to to someone so powerful and not backing down, she impressed the warrior in him, but at the same time, it proved to the dog in him she was the alpha female of her... pack. He would want to court and mate her. Instincts would tell him she would give him strong pups, even if she is human."



"Exactly" the fox nodded "the son realized this. Part of him accepted this, knowing it wasn't his fathers fault-or the girls.  However his father kept speaking, stating how he was in love with the girl and he was going to mate her fully, make her his Lady and bring her into the castle to be with him."



"Oh boy" Temari breathed "bet he REALLY didn't like that."



"No. All he could see was how he would be treated. None of the other youki would respect him, having a human for a mother-even a stepmother. Besides, she was way to young to be his mother-let alone his fathers mate. He himself was one hundred and fifty and his father was at least two thousand odd. SHE was only in her early twenties.



But the last straw was when his father told him the news, his chosen was pregnant, pregnant with HIS child, the sons half-brother. Ever since he had found out he had been dreaming of the two of them being together as true brothers, playing together, learning together, he had imagined teaching both together to fight and strategize.



The son asked if that was why he was neglecting his training and he had answered yes, he would wait a few years and pick it up again with them both."



"That wouldn't have gone over well" Tsunade said "the training sections were his only real time with his father. Just the two of them together and now he wanted to bring in someone else to their time together."



"Exactly. This was it, he couldn't listen to this anymore. After abusing his father he took an contingent of soldiers with him and left.



At first he went to his mother, hoping she would let him in with open arms and he could stay with her, but she refused to even see him. So he went to granddad."



"And?"



"He sent him away, telling him to return to his father and do whatever it took to get back into his good graces and under his training."



"Worried about his replacement" the dog boy snorted "he was a teenager. When do rebellious teen listen to anything but what they want to hear?"



"Too stubborn to return to his father and apologize the young lord instead traveled their lands with his soldiers, aiding villages, destroying threats to their land and people.



He became a legend in his own right among the people, a champion just like-maybe greater than-his father.



Many rumors came to him during that time, rumors about his home and father.



His father's chosen had become betrothed to an great samurai by her father but refused, stating she was in love and mated to the Lord of the West.



No matter what he said or did, she refused to say otherwise or change her mind, so they put her in an rundown old isolated area of the land, hoping that it would change her mind being deprived of all the luxuries."



"It didn't" they answered.



"It didn't" the fox agreed "for a start, she had never cared about that sort of stuff. Second it gave her an advantage."



"What do you mean?" they frowned.



"I mean except for a few attendants, there was no one else around, no one else to cop the dog lord visiting his mate. They didn't have to meet in the forrest anymore. They could meet in the 'comfort' of her own house."



They could understand the appeal of this. No more sneaking around, they could be together longer than a couple of hours at the most.



"The next thing he heard was her family had DEMANDED she marry the samurai lord, that he was headed there to take her away, but she refused again, telling them of her pregnancy.



As it was the child of the Inu ruler of their territory they couldn't do anything to harm the baby or mother without enciting the great dog general's wraith apon them, so they decided ln a course of action."



"What?" they asked.



"They locked her up in her area of the property and waited. You see the Samurai Lord was also in love with her as well and proclaimed he would still marry her, even pregnant to another's child. They would hope the man came to take her away before the Lord of the West realized what had happened."



"Stupid idea" the group snorted and the fox boy nodded "Indead. But they were desperate. Unfortunately around that time things started to go to shit."



"What do you mean?"



"First came the stories of an army invading the land, wiping out any they encountered. Villages, towns, no one was safe.



Afraid for his fathers safety, the son headed home. They may have fought, but the two still loved each other, they just didn't know HOW to show it to each other.



On the way he found an almost dead messager for his father who told him his grandfather's castle had been invaded and the great Inu Lord slain, along with everyone inside, except his mother who had been away at the time."



"That meant he was now the ruler" Sakura said "doesn't it."



"The son, yes. But he had no interest at that moment of taking his rightful place in his grandfather's shoes, just in saving his father, being right there by his side to face those who dared try and take what was theirs rightfully.



He reached the outskirts of their land to learn the army had been beaten back long enough for the leader of the enemy and the dog general to face off, which was what they currently were doing."



 "What happened?!" they gasped in horror and suspense.



"He moved to a clearing not far from the battle sight, close enough to be there in case his father needed him, but not interfere, he knew this was his fathers fight."



"What happened? Who won?"



"Neither, not really" the fox said "the Dog Lord was severely wounded, but in the last minute was able to seal the enemy leader to a mountain with one of his claws.



Barely able to stand let alone walk the Dog Lord made his way towards where his son waited when he met up with his retainer who informed him of the fact not only was the Samurai Lord about to reach the territory of the humans and take his mate away, but she had gone into early labor with no one to help her."



"Why not?" Tsunade banged her palms on the table "it's totally irresponsible...."



"If they couldn't break her will, they would disown her. Maybe giving birth alone and possibly loosing her 'bastard' would teach her." The fox said "unfortunately if the princess dies in childbirth, where is the learned lesson?"



"She didn't..." Sakura faded off as the fox nodded "She did. However the Dog Lord, no matter how badly injured, was on his way to his mate and had an way to save her."



"What?! How?!" they asked.



The fox sighed "I suppose it is time for this. I have put it off long enough" he turned and whispered something to Hinata who nodded and let him go.



Closing his eyes the fox possessed vessel concentrated on something before flashing through familiar hand signs "shadow clone jutsu!"



 A puff of smoke appeared beside him and before they could speak the smoke cleared.



A totally different figure stood there then the Naruto in front of them or even of the other Naruto's they had seen before.



He was tall and well-built, skin the color of Naruto's. The ears were high and pointed, canines sharp and pointed. Three whisker type marks bore on each cheek and the eyes glowed an fascinating green streaked with red.



He appeared only a young man barely older than Naruto but stood with the proud noble stance of not only an royal-born but a truly strong warrior of noble soul.



Long hair hung down his back, the deep blood-red of the foxes fur they all knew, but also the roots was Naruto's yellowblonde while the streaks were an interesting shade of orangered.



Almost like flame.



He wore an old-fashioned kimono, the obi the same green of his eyes but the kimono color actually fascinated them. It looked like white silk but they could tell it was stronger and tougher-like armor.



Around the end of the sleeves and base around his legs was an honey comb type pattern, four different colors visible. Blue, red, green and silver.



Armor plates were resting over both shoulders, over the chest and four swords rested on his hips, two either side and the two leather wrapped old looking ones on his left-almost identical.



Just above the obi rested a fur the same color as his hair, another fur over one shoulder and meeting a third over the opposite.



On his feet were dark boots with thin clothed trousers of the same strange strange material as the kimono tucked into them.



"Neat huh?" the demon grinned, turning circles for them to see everything "it's a combination of my human form and the son's. He often went into battle like this."



"What's that cloth made of?" Temari asked "it looks like silk, but way more durable and tougher."



"so you noticed, huh? It's spider youki silk. Way more durable and tough than most armor,  but lighter as well as self-repairing and self cleaning."



"What are the furs for? Why are you wearing them?"



The demonyouki grinned and the three furs shifted, moving off him and behind, spreading out behind him into a fan-type pattern.



As they watched the three trembled and suddenly split down the middle, producing nine long shapes behind him, each moving with a life of their own.



"Your tails?" They questioned.



The demonyouki nodded and the nine remerged into three again and moved back into place, the four one around his waist.



All eyes turned to see what Hinata's reaction to this was, only to be completely shocked.



The teen had swung her chair around to face the figure and was-for lack of a better term-drooling over him. In her eyes was a heck of a lot of lust, excitement, interest and even love.



Looking at Naruto they expected jealousy, only to find identical to his soon-to-be mate. Not just that, they were both gripping their chairs, as if barely restraining themselves from jumping the youki there and then.



'Huh?' they thought 'since when is Naruto bi?'



Their shock further increased when, seeing their looks, the youki blushed as red as his hair.



And the two continued to stare while the youki continued to blush.



Until Tsunade broke it by scoring a direct hit to Naruto's forehead with a chicken bone "pay attention, baka!"



"Grandma!!!" the teen shot back angrily.



Hinata giggled behind her hand and the youki smiled, both earning mock pouting looks from Naruto, his bottom lip trembling and blue eyes watering. "Hinata? My own mate...."



"Shut it, kid" Jiriaya said "there are more important things to discuss right now." He looked at the fox "like how you're here and now when the seal is still active and why."



"Because I'm not actually out, just using my chakra and mind to control a shadow clone, but you're right" the youki nodded, looking to the Hyuuga female and his host.



He reached into his belt, the left side, and withdrew one of the twin swords, scarbard and all.  As he spoke he lay the sheathed sword across both fingertips of both hands horizontally.



"In ALL youki society, no matter how primitive, when a youki finds a mate they give them a gift, the deeper the desire the more personal the gift. These swords were left to me by those youki I called my family before they died-however they died.



This sword belonged to the first son of the great dog general" he grimaced briefly "not that he ever appreciated her while he had her."



"Her?" Sakura questioned.



"Each sword is sentient and chooses their weilder" he answered "and only for the right reasons. They can reject you, if you try to use them for the wrong reasons, but stay faithful to yourself and them and they will help and protect your life for as long as you live."



He knelt in front of the seated female Hyuuga, holding the sword like an offering up to her "with this sword you will be able to save those you love." His head lowered almost in reverence, but they had the feeling of some sort of ceremony in his actions. "Will Hinata Hyuuga, mate of my host and therefore also my mate, accept The Sword Of The Heavens-formally owned by the man who trained and raised me-from me?"



Hinata gasped "I can't! It is all you have left of him!"



Naruto leaned forward and touched her shoulder to get her attention, deadly serious when he spoke "if you reject the sword as his gift, you reject him as a mate."



Hinata looked back at the demon in time to see him look up just enough to sneak a look at her, but in that second or two she saw just how vulnerable this was making the 'youki' feel.



Hinata slowly reached out and took hold of the sword with a "yes, Kyuubi of the youki, I accept your mating gift, The Sword Of The Heavens."



The youki's face broke out in a grin that belonged totally on the fox containers, not the fox himself. However Hinata frowned "but I don't know how the weild a sword, let alone use it."



"That's okay, I can teach you, plus SHE will help you." The fox demon smiled at her "the awakening of your true chakra will enhance you in certain ways and once you have completed the mating with your mate, you will reach the ultimate form and the sword will bond to you and teach you. I was taught by the first son and SHE was weilded by the first son, as well as his father. You see..." he grinned wider "both her, and her twin were created by the same being and was created from the same source-although her twin went through some changes when she was gained by her new owner."



"What do you mean?" they asked.



The demon grinned and stood, pulling Hinata with him and smiling at her "try it out."



With a confidence they weren't used to seeing on her, the female Hyuuga stepped back slightly to make enough room to slowly draw the sword from the scarbard, letting Naruto take it from her.



There was a sudden pulse of chakra from the sword   and they were shocked to feel how much it felt like Kiba's, except infinitely more powerful.



But wait, if both previous owners were dog 'youki' and Kiba's clan all had bonded to and were so much dog-like could that be the link, dog?



They noticed the youki's smirk in their direction, "so, you sense it, their connection?"



"Yes, but WHY?"



The youki just turned back to Hinata, smiling as the sword's chakra and Hinata's swirled around each other as Naruto and his fox's had.



Suddenly Kiba frowned and called out "treat it as a companion, Hinata, dominate, prove yourself worthy of handling her."



The female Hyuuga nodded and with her mouth in a firm line her chakra flared to incredible proportions, before changing into something purer, cleaner, that made them think of everything in Hinata they knew and valued, her innocence, her simple love, her fraility.



"I knew it!" the fox exclaimed, stepping forward to look her deep in the eyes, hand raising to touch her right cheek with his left hand as he said gently, emotionally "YOU, or rather your mothers line, come from HER, the woman who practically raised me, that I called mother." tears welled in his eyes "she was just like you, pure, so loving of those around her" a sad smile broke his face "even though her time was so short with us and she wasn't supposed to love us she did, when everyone else feared or hurt us, she healed us and brought us together as a family, people who would normally kill each other in normal society." He leaned forward to rub both his tear-wet cheeks on hers "I thank you for bringing her back to me, even for such a brief time." he smiled sadly  "She even healed the rift between the first son and his half brother, made them into a family as it should have been."



The youki's shoulders hitched and they were shocked and surprised to realize he was silently crying.



This human emotion from the 'demon' cemented it for them, for now on the youki would be just that to them, not a demon but an animalhuman creature, closer to nature then them but just another type of ninja.



A skilled warrior to be respected and treated as any other.



Also as human as them, to be treated as any other person in their small 'family' group.



And Naruto, the one with a heart big enough for every single person in existence, stepped forward to their side, torn by his 'tenant's' pain and sadness as well as his hurt joy. Reaching out he lay his right palm to Hinata's opposite cheek and smiled as if to tell her he was happy with her choice and actions, and while keeping his palm there he leaned down to rub his cheeks against the fox's, letting out a kind of purring noise of comfort.



It was answered by a slightly hitched sob.



Kakashi's one visible eye suddenly widened all the way "by the gods!"



All eyes went to the silver haired scarecrow "what is it?"



But the ninja's eyes were only for the grieving fox youki "that was how the Uchiha got you, wasn't it. He put you into an genjutsu that made you see us doing something to your family, slaughtering them or even..." his eye widened even more if possible "...no, not THAT" at a whisper.



The fox nodded against Hinata and pursing his lips Naruto turned to look at them and echoed the nod.



"No wonder no one could beat you, you weren't some demon come to slaughter and maim us for no reason, you were a child protecting and avenging the only family you knew and loved" Kakashi looked at them all "how many of us wouldn't do the same in that situation? How many of us wouldn't do what he had?" He looked at Naruto "how many of us wouldn't struggle so desperately and even uncontrollably for the only thing in the world we have that makes it all worth living?"



The group nodded, all looking at the 'youki' in a new light.



The light that said this was no longer a thing to be feared or hated, but a member of their 'family'. The same 'family' that Naruto had worked so hard to bring together growing up.



A family missing only one member.



Hinata rubbed her face against the two hands on her cheeks, something feline and canine at the same time in the movement and her cheeks seemed wet with tears also.



There was a sudden flare of chakra from the sword but it wasn't aggressive or overpowering, in fact the exact opposite. The feel of dog was still there, but also something else, like Tsunade, only earthier.



They realized, healing, the sword felt of healing like Tsunade's chakra healing.



Another pulse echoed the first, coming from lower left side of the fox's body.



The twin, they realized, The Sword Of The Heavens' twin was reacting to it's sister's power. Only this one felt more masculine and destructive than the other.



Both chakra's combined to almost overpowering, male and female, destruction and healing, the ultimate circle-they realized yin and yang.



The next thing they knew they had to look away as the power got so strong they were unable to bare it head on.



Yet at the same time the power reached out to touch them, they felt themselves healed. All the pain and horror of their lives, what they had done to survive, suddenly seemed easier, all those they had lost felt no less important, but the pain of their deaths diminished.



There was a sudden flash of it and the three were gone.



When it faded the three stood separately, Hinata with the sword sheathed hanging from her back, Naruto standing by her side and smiling as he gripped her hands.



However the fox was looking down at his hands in total shock as if he had never seen it before.



After turning them around and flexing a few times he looked up at them almost desperately "someone hit me."



"What?" they questioned, looking at him like he was insane. Didn't he know he'd disperse if they did?



The desperation increased in urgency "please, someone hit me!"



Naruto suddenly frowned "something is different, not exactly wrong, but different."



Before any of the group could speak, the blonde suddenly surged forward, hand lifting to strike the red-head in the shoulder.



The blow connected....



Nothing, no pop, no tell-tale poof of smoke of a clone dispersing. Nothing except the fox wincing in pain and rocking back his shoulder.



"Ow" he complained.



Naruto frowned as he lifted his shirt so all could see the fading seal there, fading not from sight, but existence.



"Ow" the fox said again, this time clutching his head, long hair swept aside from the forehead long enough for them to see the same seal appearing in the dead Centre, only in miniature.



"My god!" Hinata's eyes widened as she reached out to touch the figures arm, along the flesh until she could reach his hand, lacing their fingers together "you are real, flesh and blood and warm. You have your own body!"



"She's right" Naruto nodded "I can't feel or hear him in my head anymore."



"But how?" Tsunade asked in shock and horror "in order for the demo...Kyuubi to be realized from Naruto's body, he would die-like Gaara did. How could he be realised, with a body again and both Naruto and him be completely fine?"



"The Sword Of The Heavens is an healing sword" the youki explained as he lowered his arms from his head "she has the power to heal one thousand people with one blow of the swords power. Not just that, she can resurrect those recently dead-as in the last hour or so. Not to mention send souls to hell-right out of their bodies."



"So?" Kiba said and the youki sighed something that sounded like 'stupid humans' before going on "Naruto and Hinata are mates, AND mine as well, that makes us connected-although that wouldn't be complete until later." He blushed slightly then went on "anyway, the sword gave me a body using the shadow clone as the template and material as well as all our chakra. Every time Naruto got dangerously weaker it would heal him."



"That makes you my first male mate" Naruto grinned at the again blushing youki "you and Hinata are my first mates."



"This will be interesting" the elder male Hyuuga commented, shifting slightly aside as the fifth Hokage scored a direct hit to Jiriaya, who was drooling as he wrote furiously away, knocking the sage-nin unconscious.



Kiba blinked owlishly at the group "Naruto can have MALE mates as well a  female with the CRA? I thought the entire thing was only women so he can have kids to make a clan."



"You're right but there IS a loophole with that" Tsunade said "I checked, it said 'the last clan memberheir and recipient of the act may do whatever necessary to ensure an successful breeding.' In other words, if having male mates as well as female is what Naruto needs to make Hinata and any other females he chooses pregnant, he is free to have as many as he wants."



"Actually" the youki spoke out with a deepening blush "all youki are relatively neutral when it comes to that, pure breeds anyway."



"What do you mean by that?" they looked at him.



The blush increased and he lowered his head to hide it "I mean any pure-breed youki male can conceive and give birth, just as any female if it is wished. In some cases it is and was the only way to keep a bloodline pure and untainted. Youki don't pass on side-affects and flaws like humans."



"You mean" Tsunade breathed "that if you wanted to, you could conceive an half-youki child to Naruto?"



The lowered head nodded "and using youki chakra I could allow any human male to conceive."



"I could get pregnant and have a child!?" Naruto breathed in awe "like to you?"



The head nodded again "you could do that already. The moment you reached puberty some of my chakra mixed with yours and gave you that ability." His head suddenly snapped up and he began to protest almost desperately "I didn't do it to you on purpose! It was out of my control! When you reached maturity all those hormones, all those desires, I got so confused! I...."



Naruto smiled and moved forward, taking the youki's head in his hands and forcing him to look up at him "hey, it's not your fault. It confused the heak out of me too."



The youki looked startled "you..you're not mad at me? You don't think I did it on purpose just to make you a freak?"



"No, I blamed you for way too much stuff in those days. I told you, I forgive you for all that. I'm not doing that anymore. Besides, how many humans have you been trapped inside? How would YOU know what's natural and not natural when a human male goes through puberty?"



The youki smiled weakly back but before he-or anyone else could speak-there was a strange sound.



Naruto grinned widely at it, looking almost pleased with himself "you got that from me."



The youki grinned back "What makes you so sure you didn't get it from me?"



The once fox vessel laughed loudly "whatever. Come" he started leading the fox youki towards the table "come, you haven't actually eaten for at least eighteen years and we want to hear the rest of the first and second son's story."



"Wait" the youki planted his feet and when Naruto turned to face him he dropped to one knee, drawing the first swords twin, scarbard and all "will Naruto Uzumaki, mate of Hinata Hyuuga and Kyuubi, accept the twin of The Sword Of The Heavens,  The Sword Of The Earth, as his mating gift?"



"Yes" Naruto accepted the sword, scarbard and all, from the fox, who smiled and stood.



The moment the blonde slid the blade-rusty and worn-from the sheath, it transformed.



Instead there was an long curved and pristine blade, pulsing with power just ready to be used. Around the base of the hilt near the blade was four different types of fur, one reddish tan, one pure white, another a kind of whitesilver and the last an beautiful silver that looked like a cross between hair and fur.



At Naruto's curious look the youki reached out to finger the furs "the weilders of the blade. Each has left their power in the blade in some way or another. They leave fur behind to mark it." He stroked the white fur "the dog general and first bearer", the silver hairfur, eyes sad "the man who practically raised me for ten years, the second son-the hanyou."



Next the silverwhite one "the first son. His brother gave him the sword on his deathbed when he died of a human disease."



Last the redtan one "me. The tan is my fathers fur mixed with my own."



"Thanks, Kyuubi" Naruto leaned over to kiss him gently on the lips "I'll treasure it, just like you do and did."



The fox nodded "I'll have to show you how to do the signature attacks, there are four of them...."



"Later" Naruto touched his cheek "let's eat first."



Nodding the fox followed them back to the table, seating to Naruto's left, while Hinata retook his right.



Hesitantly but then more confidently the fox began to pile food on the plate Shizune handed him, among them, they were surprised to see ramen.



The fox grinned at their looks "you don't live inside someone for eighteen years without sharing some tastes or aspects."



"Oh really" Tsunade raised an eyebrow "and what aspect of you does Naruto share? Other than the male pregnancy thing I mean."



A wide grin spread across the Youki's face behind the chopstcks full of ramen, but he choose not to answer.



"Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, a little worried about it himself. The youki looked upset "you don't trust me?"



"Of course I do!" Naruto exclaimed then calmed "it's just that you said yourself you didn't know what was  going on when I hit puberty. If you don't tell us what abilities and aspects we share, we won't know what is normal or not."



"Ah, but how will you know what you share with me because of that fact, or your Kitsune blood. We are both foxes and foxes are tricksters, fast and crafty."



"He has a point" Shizune said "I mean anything you could have previously attributed to HIM could have easily been your Kitsune. They would be incredibly similar."



"True" the youki grinned "considering we are related."



"I remember you saying that earlier." Naruto frowned "but I was too sleepy to really listen. What was it...?" he looked thoughtful and the youki opened his mouth.



But before he could answer, Naruto had.



"Got it!" he exclaimed, turning to look at the fox youki "you are the last of the Kitsune race, that makes us related, family even."



The fox youki nodded.



"What did you mean by that?" he locked his intense eyes to the others green.



"What it means" the other breathed in deeply "is the nine tailed beasts are all that's left of the once powerful youki race, thanks to humans, and the races oriented around animals." he motioned at Naruto then Kiba "are what comes from outer breeding."



"What do you mean?" they looked at him intensely.



"I mean the Kitsune race started when I bred with a human."



They gasped at him and Sakura spoke "you mean Naruto is...."



The fox nodded "my grandson by a few hundred generations. His kitsune or rather our shared blood protected him from my chakra when his father trapped me inside, in fact it allowed him to absorb some." He looked at Naruto "do you remember me cracking up in your head the day you met Kiba-san?"



Naruto nodded "yeah. Your laughing so hard made me laugh. He tried to beat me up for that."



All eyes turned murderous fury to the dog boy who shrank guiltily in his seat.



"Well when you met him I could smell HIM in his blood. That and his entire personality made me realise the truth."



"What truth?" the Inukuza asked him.



"That you are HIM, HIS reincarnation as well as descendant."



"Who?" they asked curiously. Kiba was the reincarnation and descendant of someone from the Kyuubi's time? Who?



The fox grinned cheekily at them "who else do you think I mean?"



"The second son, you mean" Jiriaya spoke up "his family and he are distant descendants of the second son.  As well as he is the reincarnation of him."



"Hai" the youki nodded with a grin that soon faded somewhat "everything about him is identical in soul and personality and even though I'm glad he got a happy family the second time around, it hurts to see and feel that again. But I MUST  keep my word to him, so..."



He pulled the third blade he had from his belt and threw it to Kiba who caught it and frowned at the sheathed weapon "what is it?"



"A sword, obviously" the youki rolled his eyes briefly before going on calmly "it belonged to both your ancestors, made by me. It will help you access and use those abilities you would have and may inherited from them. They wanted me to give it to you."



"YOU made it?" they questioned and the fox nodded "how? Why?"



"After my training with the first son, not just in swordplay and fighting and using my youki energy and abilities, but how to rule wisely was over I returned to take my rightful place as the Lord Of The East. I challenged the upstart who had taken my fathers place and easily beat him. I then created my ideal land, one that didn't care what race you were, human, youki or hanyou. I wanted my father figure to be able to come to visit me whenever he wanted without being treated like the freak everyone else outside our little family did. I wanted him to feel safe at my home and land..." he shook his head sadly "Unfortunately there was too many prejudices in my home land-just like everywhere else, no matter what I said or did. So I gave my rulership to the first son, merging the West with the East, and left."



"Where did you go?" they asked.



"I traveled the entire planet several times, learning the ways of other lands and their customs, until I returned and found myself at the home of the youki who created the twin swords" he nodded at Hinata and Naruto.



"I suddenly wanted, more than anything, to make weapons and items like he did, the thought of making a weapon that could one day protect and help an hanyou like my father figures life like The Sword Of the Earth, or a sword that could heal like The Sword Of The Heavens was overwhelmingly appealing.



How many poor persecuted hanyou's out there would be on equal ground with a sword or weapon I made especially for them?"



They understood this, the desire to aid and protect, none more so than Naruto "what happened? Did he teach you?"



"The youki weapons master was the most valued and sort-after smith in the entire land. His weapons were always high quality and valuable, not to mention near-damned unbreakable, his youki enhanced weapons powerful.



Even though he had people lining up around the entire land for his merchandise, he was fickle and picky about who he made his items for."



He snorted before he went on "The old fart was ancient, so old he predated the Inu-Lords war by a couple of centuries at least, yet he was still as sharp as a tack. He lived in an cave above a lava lake so the toxic gases and heat kept humans away, and any youki brave enough to face that for his service had to contend with his senile old man act. Usually after a couple of hours of that, they gave up and went home. Those who would try and threaten him would find an agile and sturdy warrior, crafty in battle with one secret attack that usually sent them quickly on their way."



They could imagine it, for some reason this guy reminded them of The Third.



"What was his secret attack?" they asked curiously.



"He would inhale a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds, and when he breathed out it was as an long, thick gout of flame."



"Like Sasuke" Sakura breathed in in awe "could his clan had come from..."



"No" the youki seemed to take offense at this "DO NOT lump my sensai in with that lot" his face twisted breifly in hate before he was in control of it again "anyway, the smith previously had an apprentice who betrayed his ideals, he stopped his training and kicked him out when he found him selling weapons of power to anyone-for the right price. He was possessed by his own creation and killed as an result, but after that violation of his trust, you can imagine how willing he was to train another, even if he knew me."



They could understand this, especially the sensai's of the group.  Instead Sakura asked "how did you know each other?"



"Through my 'family'. He was an old friend of the dog general, was around the youki A LOT as the first son was growing up, created both swords for him, FROM him, and whenever The Sword Of Earth was damaged or even the once when it broke, he was there to fix or repair it." The youki suddenly grinned behind an vegetable "old coot always seemed to be there or at least nearby when we needed him. Some of the arguments he and the second son got over were hilarious, the way he would use the senile act on him..." he faded off with a rueful shake of his head and the smile.



"So?" they asked.



"How patient is Kiba-san" the youki asked "how patient would HE be with a guy he knew wasn't exactly as senile as he seems?"



There was muffled giggles and sniggers around the table, followed by the dog boy's offended call of "HEY!"



The youki went on "It took some time before he would even test me, let alone consider it" he shrugged "not that I was in a hurry or anything, though." He went on.



"I don't know exactly how long I was there, learning for that old fart, when word came to me that the second son, the man who raised me for those precious years, was sick, dying from a human illness and his mate was calling me back, he wouldn't last much longer and when he died, I would be needed to take their place as the ruler of both the East and West."



"But I thought..." Temari said but Anko's eyes widened and she grinned pervertedly "the brothers were mates, weren't they. Somehow they went from hating each other to in love with each other."



The fox nodded "nothing like a life-and-death situation to make you get rid of all that emotional crap and get down to the bare facts. They had been mated generations and, somehow, the second son had the ability to conceive like full youki men. Youki society doesn't see breeding with family as taboo, although even WE have some limits there. No parents or grandparents and child, no adult and child-they have to be at least old enough to have gone through puberty. Siblings are allowed as long as they are around the same age and consent, even WE have strict rules on non-con or rape."



"We see, they were only half brothers too, so that would make it easier."



"Yes, they were the last of their line, their father and grandfathers great legacy. So it was necessary. When the second son  conceived their first child, the first boasted to those who were speaking out about the great son's 'half breed mongrel mate' that only pure breeds could conceive, so the fact that his 'half breed' mate had, proves how strong his brother really was. Behind the scenes though he was becoming extremely protective and watching over him almost constantly, afraid that something could cause him to miscarry or loose the 'pup', or worse."



"I understand his worry" Tsunade spoke out "officially he wasn't supposed to be able to conceive, the fact he did..." she trailed off and said softly "so many things could go wrong."



The fox nodded seriously "he was extremely protective of his mate, making sure nothing stressed him our or endangered him. He wasn't allowed to do anything strenuous or too energy consuming" he burst out laughing "he was the type of person who needed to be doing something constantly, can you imagine being limited while pregnant-all those hormones running rampant-male OR female?"



The group cracked up.



The youki grinned along with them and Naruto was the first to recover and speak "so, what'd he have?"



"He needn't have worried, the baby was born safely and comfortably, a boy. They named it Kyuubi" his grin widened.



"They named him after you?" Sakura clarified to which the youki grin widened "nope, I later took HIS name, Kyuubi isn't my birth name."



"Then what IS?" they were incredibly curious to which was answered with his "that's for me to know and you to find out" grinned expression.



He went on "the two then proceeded to conceive and create many more children over their long lives together, essentially retoring their clan and kind with a vengeance."



"Which am I descended from?" Kiba asked curiously.



"No one is sure, but it is my suspicion is either the second son or fifth, they were more like their sire then their father, and went on to have big families themselves."



They understood this "when did he get sick? Did he die from it?"

The fox grew incredibly sad and serious, sighing in comfort when his two teenaged mates-to-be began to instinctively stroke and comfort him, sensing his deep pain.



"There was a human sickness going around the land, almost always fatal, but Youki were immune to. Normally the second son would also be immune, but it was all bad timing."



"What do you mean?" they asked.



"You see ALL half youki may be able to share their youki sires strengths and immunities, but they are half human too, consequently they have a certain period of time in a month or similar were they are extremely vulnerable. The second son, on the night of the new moon, would become completely human for the night." He looked up at them "after seeing his father AND mother I now know he was the image of both, his father as an hanyou, his mother when he was human. He had his mothers personality but fathers simple love and loyalty."



This sounded like Kiba.



"Here" the youki reached into an inner pocket of his kimono and threw something into the air, flashing through hand signs before exclaiming "memory illusion jitsu!"



As they watched, an image appeared in the air above the table, an almost solid head and shoulders that turned slow circles so everyone could see.



He was obviously a few years older then Naruto, early twenties, dark hair down past the shoulders and skin the same kind of tan as Naruto's as if he spent A LOT of time in the sun, but most enchanting were his eyes.



They were a deep violet, almost so dark they hovered on black.



Despite looking incredibly like Kiba without his clan markings the figure was devastatingly handsome, he had an fragile innocence about him that made them want to protect him, a deep sadness like someone who had had everyone and thing he cared about taken away from him, yet he also had a sense of strength and determination about him, like a true warrior.



They could totally see and understand why the dog general had fallen in love with his mother, if he was the image and soul of her. As well as his half brother. He was someone you wanted to protect and care for, as well nurture and at the same time challenge to find out who was stronger.



"What about his hanyou form? How different is it?"



As the image faded the fox fished something out of his inner pocket that he past to Hinata "here, my family, I mean the group of us as we were just before my mother-figure was taken from us." As Hinata took it from him curiously he said "that's ALL of us."



Hinata looked it over and smiled "you're the..."



"Yes" the fox smiled at her.



"And he's the one in red?" she asked as she passed it to Naruto.



"Yes" the youki answered again "those clothes are made from the fur of the fire rat. They were self-cleaning, self-repairing and even fire-proof as well as worked as armor to a certain extent. They even grew with him. His father left it to him on the night he was born and he always wore them, even as a child."



"Which was your mother-figure?" Naruto asked a  he passed the photo to Anko beside him.



"The woman with the bow and arrows" the fox answered.



"She looks like Hinata" Anko said as she passed it to Sakura. The fox only nodded.



"The guy in white and red with white hair, he's the first son, isn't he" Sakura said as she passed it to her boyfriend sweat-dropping when he proclaimed them a 'youthful spirited bunch!' before passing it to Temari.



"What's the second son doing?" Temari asked as she passed it to her first brother who went on "it looks like he's..."



"Yep" the fox grinned "because he grew up mostly in the wild with animals and because he doesn't have a true form like full youki, his canine characteristics are more...prevelent than others, sitting like a dog when he doesn't think about what he's doing, scratching like one, fangs and claws and ears...well just look at the differences he has to his brother."



They understood this and Gaara spoke out softly "his brother only has one arm."



"Yep" The fox youki laughed "during one of their little fights with each other early on before I joined them he used his true form to try and kill my father." He laughed "the great and powerful Lord Of The Western Lands couldn't even beat him in his true form. Hah! Father had to cut his arm off to protect my mother-figure."



"You've said that twice now" Tsunade said "true form?"



"Youki, at least HIGHER youki have three forms, higher, true and human."



"Which is which? I gather this is your human."



"Yep" the fox nodded before he grinned "the higher allows us to travel at subsonic speeds and makes us able to maneuver easier, but we can't do more than avoid, fighting back is an impossibility."



"Why?" they asked.



As they watched the foxes body shrunk in on itself and before they knew a ball of pure white light was zipping around them at the table, fast and agile.



Then it hovered over his seat and reversed and the fox was sitting there looking sheepish, the two Kitsune ninja’s either side of him drooling over him.



"So that means you true form is..." Kakashi started and the fox nodded to him "the one I attacked the village in. It's our more animal, primal form. Who our souls truly are behind the civility and manners some of us show."



"But here you only have one tail" Tsunade flashed the photo "and how the HELL did you get a photo centuries ago!"



The fox snorted "you think I was born with nine tails? No, they grew as I got older. Think of it as signs of maturity. As youki grow in age, power and strength we grow another tail at certain levels. I am the only living youki left who not only remembers the old ways and the time before human dominance, but I was trained by four of the greatest. Even if I wasn't, my experiences as an child-the dangers and so on, would be close enough for that."



“What experience?” they asked, Jiriaya adding “Who are these other guys?”



“To answer that I’d have to tell you the full story.”



“After you’ve told us what happened to the first and second son after the hanyou got sick.”



The fox nodded “It seemed that while human, the hanyou was infected. Even though he would usually be cleared the next day when his youki blood came back, this one was remarkably resilent and went dormant every time he was half blooded and when he was human it gained in strength. It seemed no matter who the first son tried, what healer he tried, no one could cure him, it was too late.”



“What happened?” they asked in suspense and horror.



“By the time I arrived he was already dead. He had given his sword to his brother to keep in his memory, but that wouldn’t work, the first son wouldn’t be around much longer either.”



“What do you mean?” they frowned.



“Youki have an...mating procedure used only for those truely in love and who love each other. Once done the two essentially become one soul in two bodies. When the second son died...”



“The first son was too empty. Without his mate and the other half of his soul he couldn’t function properly” Jiriaya finished “which is why he wanted you to return and rule in his stead.”



“Exactly” the fox nodded. “I don’t know how he actually died, he left the kingdoms and swords to me in an ceremony to proclaim me ruler until his eldest son was able then left the castle. I only know he was dead because his children started crying, proclaiming they couldn’t feel their father or sire anymore.”



They understood this and were saddened "what did you do?"



"The only thing I could. I ruled in his place and helped raise his children in 'their spirit'. Once the eldest was old and wise enough I left the kingdoms in his care and resumed my training."



They accepted this and Kakashi spoke out "tell us the rest of the earlier story. You were talking about how you all met."



"Ah, yes, what was I up too?"



"The father was severely wounded but on his way to save his mate from the approaching Samurai Lord."



"Arh yes. He soon reached the clearing where the first son waited and was filled with hope. If his son could forget their differences in opinion long enough to come help him, then there was hope yet. He could rescue his choosen and his sons would live together as true brothers, as they were meant to be. He had no illusions about his own chances, he knew he was dying and nothing would stop it, no healer would save him from his wounds now.



Seeing his great father in such a state, the son rushed forward towards him, telling him he would call a healer, to just relax and he would get help to carry him back to the castle.



But the great general knew he wouldn't make it, so instead he asked his son to help him, an human was trying to take his mate away from him, she would be in danger because she would refuse to go.



But the son refused, pissed off his father was gravely wounded and his only thought was for some human and her half-breed spawn, not his own or the first son's.



He yelled at his father, telling him he would do nothing for them and if he was determined to die for them, then go on, just make sure he left behind his swords, leave him his rightful legacy."



"Bastard!" Naruto growled, eyes glowing with the force of his fury and while they usually would contribute this to the fox, they now knew it wasn't, the youki was sitting right beside them.



"Yes, well..." The youki cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the force of his mates fury "the dog general looked at his son sadly and with pity and asked him gently "haven't you got someone to protect, my son?"



The son just scoffed at this and turned away from him. Sadly the general left him there, standing alone and proud.



Barely fifteen minutes later the first son felt a tearing in his heart and soul and he knew, without a doubt, his father was gone, dead."



"He was a fool, the first son." Tsunade said "together they would have beat the samurai and rescued them both."



The fox youki snorted "he was human. Even as young as he was, the first son would have easily beat him himself." He went on "but that would have meant showing some acceptance of their relationship.



So filled with anger, grief, guilt and fear, the son swore there and then he HATED humans, pure and simple. He may have to deal with them in his rulership of the Western Lands, but he would show them no favor or any appreciation.



As for the bitch and the mongrel responsible for his fathers death, if he ever saw them, he'd tell them he'd kill them on sight next time he sees them.



And that's just what he did when they turned up at the palace a few months later, telling then if he saw them ever again in the Western lands, he-or his subjects-would kill them where they stood."



Naruto's growling increased, furious.



The fox sighed "maybe I should stop here if it's upsetting you so much. It gets so much worse before it gets any better."



"NO!" Naruto exclaimed before visibly fighting with himself for control "I'm fine, go on."



After a long look at his mate the fox nodded reluctantly "what happened when they left the lands, my father never really talked about, but by what I've heard from different sources was this.



The night my father was born, the samurai left him and his dead mother to burn in the remains of her home, however the general arrived and used The Sword Of The Heavens to resurrect her. However the sword can only do this once for each person. The samurai attacked the general who had enough strength to wrap his mate and new son in the fire rat robes and send her out of the burning building.



However now his own protection against the flames were gone and he died fighting the samurai, buried under the collapsing home.



After her own family rejected her and the child, she went to the first son and, well, you all know how that turned out."



They did indeed.



"So she took him to another land, selling all her jewels and expensive clothes to buy her and her son a home there.



However, as with everywhere, the villagers were cruel to them, treating his loving mother like 'the whore of demon' and he was 'half-demon' or even 'only half a human'.



He was just a child, he had no idea what was wrong with him, why people were so cruel to him and his beautiful mother and when he asked her, she would just smile sadly at him, or hug him with tears in her eyes.



Some times at night he would hear her crying softly to herself and he knew it had to do with his father."



Naruto was grinding his teeth and they realized, with horror, it was just like Naruto's youth!



The fox must have realized this as well for he lay a hand over his mates "I swore I would never be that cruel to someone, yet I was. Just like them I blamed you for something not your fault and will spend the rest of my existence, and yours, making it up to you."



Naruto looked stunned out of his anger.



Kiba suddenly spoke, rising from his chair and approaching the blondes. "Yeah, me too. I'm sorry for ever treating you in any such way" and went on his hands and knees before him, forehead pressed to the floor. His white companion joined his side, whinning in submission and mimicking the position in only a dog way.



Before Naruto could speak, stunned, Sakura rose, tears filling her eyes as she moved to join the Inukuza "me too, Naruto, I was so cruel to you in the academy and when we first became a team" she choked back a sob and copied the Inukuza's position.



Pretty soon everyone else was copying them so the entire group was there, even Jiriaya, Tsunade and the Hyuuga clan leader.



"Guys" Naruto was stuck between shock, horror and confusion, unable to find the words to express himself, finally looking to Kyuubi and Hinata knelt in front of him "get up guys!"



No one moved.



Naruto knelt in front of his two mates, lifting their heads to look at them gently, speaking to the fox first "I never blamed you for what you said and did, you were mad and trapped."



"That does not excuse me" the fox said solemnly "I am the oldest most powerful youki left and I broke a promise to myself NEVER to become one of THOSE people, but I did. I betrayed my fathers memory for an easy target to take my fury out on, I'm sorry, my mate."



"You are also human, animal, and animal and human instinct is to lash out when hurt or mad. It's natural."



"I am also an intelligent being so it is no excuse, I should have known better."



Naruto sighed "if you say so, but I forgave you earlier, remember?"



The fox blinked "you forgive me?"



"Yes now get up!"



Slowly the fox rose and retook his seat, allowing his mate to turn to Hinata "Hinata, get up, you've never hurt me!"



"No" she said "but I used you. I used you in my mind as a way to get attention from father in my youth. I thought if he saw me being nice with someone everyone else hated and treated like crap, I would get some attention from him-even if it wasn't necessarily good. I didn't realize I had, at some time or rather, fallen in love with you."



"I know and understand, Hinata. You were a child and so starved for love from the authority figure of your life you'd do ANYTHING for some time with him. I knew long ago and forgave you."



Hinata retook her chair.



One by one each member of the 'family' group went through this process, apologizing for some mistreatment or neglect of him.



Jiriaya-too busy perving to train him when he could have used it-claiming he could have been a sage by now if he had only stuck with it and long brought the  Uchiha back.



Sakura-for all her yelling and physical abuse, her put-downs and general ignoring him.



Tsunade-for not being more like the loving granny he called her. He was way younger than her and they had gotten so close, but whenever it seemed to be developing even closer she immediately put protective walls up against him.



Kakashi-for favoring Sasuke so much during their rookie years and almost ignoring Naruto. He knew Naruto had poor chakra control due to the youki trapped inside him, he had so much potential for greatness because of that power, but he was too wrapped up in himself to even try and do something with it and him.



Shino-he could have used his bugs to find that beetle they were searching for during their rookie years that would have easily found Sasuke. But he was having too much enjoyment watching Naruto stumble around. Of course that was now moat since he now knew it had been all an act, his stupidity and clumsiness.



Temari and her brother-for going along with the invasion of their home when they knew better, for being so self-absorbed they couldn't see what was right and the suffering in their own family.



Gaara-for hurting those he cared for and the cruel things he said about himthem during the chunnin exams and the invasion. As someone who had suffered just the same as Naruto all his life, he should have known better.



Anko-for ever making him uncomfortable about himself or at any time she hurt him, thinking he was too stupid to realize it.



Iruka-for not always being there whenever he needed him, he was supposed to be his father-figure, just as the hanyou was Kyuubi's, but there was some times he had let him down.



The Hyuuga clan leader for not being more forceful in his attempt to adopt Naruto as a child. He could have sheltered him from most the abuse and pain he suffered growing up, nearly no one would risk insulting an Hyuuga.



Kiba-relatively the same as Sakura.



Neji-for being so buried in his 'woe is me, fate and everyone is against me' obsession to see there was people around him relatively worse off then him.



Lee-who cried manly tears-for not seeing Naruto for the true 'spirit of fire' he was when they first met.



Shizune-for not seeing Naruto as who he truely was inside when they first met.



Sai-for not fully trusting him with his secrets on their first mission together when he started to trust and beleive in him.



TenTen-same as Kiba and Sakura.



Choji-who had arrived some time when Naruto and Hinata were unconscious-for blatantly ignoring him when they were growing up. If he wasn't so insecure about his appearance and weight, he may have been more willing.



When it had gone through everyone of the group and they were reseated and eating as if nothing had happened the fox went on with his tale.



"When my father was around six human years old his mother became suddenly ill, very ill, and became bedridden. No one would held him or her, the healers of the village wouldn't risk the people's wraith and the nearest town healer was too far away."



Sakura gasped in horror "they just left her to die?!"



Solemnly the fox nodded "they didn't care. It ended up her own child had to try and care for her. He stole food and drink as well as medicines, even with being beaten for it. He even learnt to hunt small animals in the forest around them, but in the end he was just a child.



By the time a traveling healer had stopped in the village and was willing to look at her, it was too late."



He looked at them "there was an standing theory among our group that the princess had been starving herself as well as trying to die."



"Why?!" Naruto was half-mad, half-grieved "Why would she leave her child like that?!"



"Our theroy was when she first mated the Inu General, he had mated her in youki way-like the two sons. When he died in that building collapse..."



They understood, or at least the adults did "she was like the first son, empty without him."



The fox nodded "she only held on so long because of their son. However either she couldn't hold on any longer or she thought he was old enough to take care of himself."



"How did you reach this conclusion?" Tsunade asked "I mean you weren't there."



"Many things. Fathers' description among things."



She accepted this with a nod as the youki went on "As soon as she had died the village turned on the child. They beat him almost to death, stole everything of value from the home, including any jewels or trinkets she had managed to keep, and even her mates mating gift to her.



They then set the house alight and left the child there, unconscious, with his mothers body, to burn to death. The only reason he survived was due to two things."



"The robe he wears was one, wasn't it" Tsunade said "you said it was fire-proof."



The fox nodded again "that was one. The second was that same traveling healer. He had returned to check on the mother, found the home ablaze and with no thought for his own safety he had fought his way inside.



He found the child but not his mother. Recognizing that the child was in immediate danger he pulled him out, checked to make sure he was alive, and was about to go back in for the mother when the roof collapsed."



"Just like his father" Sakura murmured and the fox nodded.



"The healer left him there, assuming that the village would take care of him..." he snorted "yeah they took care of him alright, they beat him once again when he was awake then drove him from the village.



What followed was..." he hesitated, counting in his head before going on "...at least a little more than one hundred and ninety years of traveling, trying to find a place that accepted him, struggling to survive in the wild and against humans who hated him for his youki blood and youki who hated him for his human blood, never accepted by one or the other, always an outcast and either hated or feared."



This horrified them, each thinking of how THEY would have accepted him, when they probably wouldn't have, if not for Naruto's influence.



"Can you imagine it, being a child, stuck out in the wilds, forced to learn how to kill to defend yourself, kill or be killed because it's too painful around human or intelligent youki. They either outright attack or emotionally abuse you or worse-they can't be trusted with your heart.



Even those few encounters with his own half-brother were too painful. He called him 'a filthy half breed' and 'a stain on my honorable families name and line' and, his personal favorite 'your life belongs to me, half-breed. WHEN I deem it time I will end your worthless existence.'"



This just got worse. They could imagine such a life, having to be constantly hyperaware, least your brother-let alone anyone else-sneak up and kill you, or at least try.



As ninja's on a mission they had to do things like that, but that wasn't 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 364 days a year. As far as they were concerned they could never do it and stay sane.



So how could a child?



"How did he handle it?" they questioned.



"He learned to sleep and move through tall trees so as not to leave much of a trace of his presence to humans or grounded youki. He learned to spend most his time in there-especially thick sections so there was at least some guarantee he'd hear or see something.



And most importantly he trained his enhanced senses to the normal sounds of the forest, so any small thing off awoke him instantly, any rustle or small noise, any lack of bird noise, excreta.



Then one day he heard two youki talking about a fabled jewel, a jewel that could grant humans the power of the youki, a jewel that could make a youki as powerful as a god, a jewel that, according to legend, grant you your deepest desire."



Sakura's eyes widened "a family?"



"No. At this point he trusted no one, he had been betrayed and hurt too many times to believe in things like love, on top of that, count all that mental abuse. Oh sure there were a few people that had truly been kind and nice to him for no reason, but too far and in between. Under that sarcastic, rude and uncouth attitude was a child, a child that believed he was too ugly and tainted to ever have a family or love, who would want a 'filthy half-breed' like him?"



"No!" Sakura protested, looking at the photo again "he's handsome, beautiful even! Any woman worth being called a woman would want him! Those ears..."



The females and some of the males of the group readily agreed, even Naruto and Kiba, and Kyuubi nodded to them "I know, I think so too, but was ingrained into him over the years, a low self esteem.



He decided he wanted to become a full youki, he wanted the power to not only beat on anyone trying to hurt him but get revenge for his mother and on anyone who had even hurt him previously. If the jewel could grant wishes and such power, he was going to take it and use it, so he travel to the village where it was kept, attacking it to get to the stone, only to find it defended not only by the villagers but a beautiful woman, a priestess."



"Arh" Kakashi said "the one he fell in love with."



"Sort of. You see she defended the jewel and her holy...chakra was like acid to youki, so she could easily defeat him. I mean even with his experience and his fathers blood, he was still half human and she had been defending the jewel against full youki since she started guarding it."



This they understood.



"But he was determined to get it, so he settled in the forest outside the village, many times trying to get to it, but failing. He even started killing any other youki who came for the jewel, unknowingly defending the village so the humans decided the name the forest after him.



When he wasn't attacking and the village was safe the priestess would come into the forest looking for herbs and other healing plants and he would follow her around, watching her. She knew he was there and would let him.



One day she called out to him, inviting him to join her. He didn't of course, expecting some trick to get him and thinking she would attack him. But every day she would invite him to join her and soon his curiosity got too much for him.



It became routine for them, she would join him in the forest, forage around and he began to help her, knowing where the best plants and herbs were. By beginning to help her she began to slowly talk to him, telling him about her life and after her frequent prodding  so did he.



And by opening up to each other they began to feel for each other. SHE discovered he was really a child mentally, even if he looked about fourteen or fifteen. As half-youki he aged mentally and physically slower then normal humans, even though he was in his mid one hundred and nineties, he had the mentality of maybe an ten year old, despite his experience and the way he acted."



"Wait if he was mentally ten years old, that means she wasn't his first love but first crush" Tsunade said and the fox nodded "that's what we think. We think she realized she had an thing she could use here, a powerful young vulnerable hanyou she could use to not only protect the village and the jewel but act out on. In her fate she was not allowed to love or get married or such. Her life was to stay pure and protect the jewel. She wasn't allowed to fall in love, get married, have kids-all that. So by having a secret affair with him she could not only gain protection for the jewel and the village but the satisfaction of defying the rules and what she saw as fate." He scoffed at such a thought and glared at Neji before going on.



"But my father-figure wasn't the only man she was manipulating."



"You mean she had another man convinced she loved him?!" this kind of manipulation both angered and infuriated them.



"Sort of. You see just before my father-figure first attacked the village, she found an near-dead man on the riverbank on the outside of her home while washing clothes. He was burnt nearly ninety percent of his body and couldn't move, could barely speak.



She hid him in a cave, even roping her little sister into helping her care for him. Those herbs and healing plants for the village she was supposedly getting? For him. When she wasn't manipulating my father-figure into believing she loved him and getting him to protect the village, she was caring for the burnt man.



But by being all kind and sweet to what she saw as a poor unfortunate victim she started into motion a chain of events that doomed hundreds even thousands of people."



"How do you mean?"



"What she DIDN'T know about her poor patient was he had a past of a poor abused orphan that had turned to murder, thievery and hate. He had been set on fire by a village as revenge for his evil. Having a sweet and kindly beautiful young woman care for him, helpless to move and speak, he became obsessed with her, she was his entire world and when she began her trist with the hanyou..."



"He grew jealous, seeing his hold on her as threatened."



The flame haired fox nodded "and as time went on and she got into her role her little sister took over his care, rarely coming herself any more. With getting into her role, in a way, she was no longer acting."



"You mean she actually convinced herself she loved him?"



"Mostly I think. But part of her still knew and was masterminding it.



She eventually convinced him she loved him, telling him if they used the jewel to turn him human they could run away together, they could be a happy family and have kids and all that stuff."



"And he believed her?"



"She had persuaded him over the two or so years together, and in the end he was a child and like any child wanted love, kindness and a family. So he eventually agreed."



"Did they do it?"



"They didn't get a chance. The priestess came to see the burnt man, telling him how she was going to leave with the hanyou in two days. She thought since he was helpless she could tell him everything and he couldn't do anything about it.



But after she left his pure fury and hate attracted the attention of some lowely youki and they moved in for the kill and he saw an advantage."



"What do you mean?" they asked.



"Take my body" he told them "take my flesh and my body and become one with me, give me the power to avenge on  those I seek."



And they did, the lower youki ate his flesh, merging with his chakra to create a new body and soul, with the base soul of the human, an new type of hanyou.



His first act? The manipulation of both priestess and hanyou. He was able to change shape into the priestess and arrived at the clearing where the hanyou waited for her and attacked him, telling him he was a fool for believing her, she was just doing it for the fun of manipulating him and other cruel things. Then heshe left.



He then took the disguise of the hanyou and attacked the priestess, telling her she was a lowely human, how could she think he loved her? He was just using her for the jewel.



Then after seriously wounding her heshe left and sat back to watch his handy work.



The hanyou attacked the village after the jewel but the real priestess arrived to stop him, shooting him with an sacred arrow that pinned the hanyou to a tree and sent him into an enchanted sleep.



However the priestess was seriously wounded, she died. Her last wish was the villagers burnt her body, along with the jewel so it wouldn't endanger anyone else.



Fifty years later that younger sister was now the villages new healer when a strangely dressed young woman stumbled into the village, the spitting image of the priestess."



"A daughter perhaps?" the older male Hyuuga asked "if she lead on both the burnt man and hanyou, she could have had numerous other men outside the village."



But Tsunade correctly read the foxes expression "an reincarnation."



"Sort of both in a way, but that will be explained later. The villagers were suspicious of her at first, she wore a short green skirt to her knees and short white top, women in their time wore ankle-length kimonos and robes, and such a vivid green and white! How was such colors and cloth possibly made!? But the priestessess sister came and spoke to her, proclaiming her the reincarnation of her sister.



Apparently there was an old dried up well outside the village where the bodies and bones of dead demons were thrown. Somehow the chakra of all those dead youki, lower and animal, had seeped into the very ground and stones as they died and created a type of portal.



The girl was from the future, three hundred years if I remember correctly. It turned out what she held in her body allowed her to come, too and fro."



"What do you mean by that? What she held in her body?"



"Near the tree the hanyou was still pinned to she was attacked by an centipede youki, mad for the jewel. She slashed at the girl, just grazing her side.



Out of the wound tumbled the jewel, as powerful and pristine as the day it was supposedly destroyed along with the priestesses body."



"Somehow when she was reincarnated, the jewel came with her" Anko guessed.



"It survived as long as the source did, that priestess and the youki locked together and frozen into statues in that cave, their souls locked in eternal conflict."



"I think I get it" Naruto said "while their bodies survive, so does the jewel. Destroy the bodies and you free the souls. Then destroy the jewel you free their souls. While one part lives, the rest does."



"Exactly" the fox nodded "only a person of pure heart can truly hold the jewel and remain untainted. Whoever holds the jewel strengthens and empowers the corresponding soul inside."



"So" Tsunade said "if a youki holds it, it strengthens the youki inside and empowers them. If a human priestess of pure soul holds it..."



"Exactly" the fox nodded and said again.



"But the one who held it previously was tainted" Kakashi said "by the sounds of it, long before the second son turned up."



"Again yes" the red head youki said "now you know why priestesses must remain pure and virginal."



They understood, once they had sex, the woman supposedly would become open to all those 'unclean' thoughts and feelings. However those old-fashioned beliefs were more damaging then helpful, what kind of belief was if she didn't experience it, she wouldn't yearn for it? Seeing all those around her with something she could never have would only make the temptation worse.



Not that that excused her from what she did.



"The youki got hold of the jewel, becoming even more powerful. The villagers tried to stop her, but she began to slaughter them. So the girl from the future did the only thing she could do, she pulled the arrow from the hanyou's chest, allowing him to get free and destroy the youki himself.



However once done he attacked the girl, believing her to be the priestess, forcing the healer to use a spell she had being keeping for this, just in case.



The spell linked him to the girl, allowing her to essentially control him every time he acted out or threatened her or another. She had only to speak one word and he would be pulled to the ground submissively and held there as long as she wished." He smirked at Kiba, eyes on a sleeping Akamaru "can you guess what that word was."



Hinata giggled "sit boy."



"Yes" the youki laughed, before suddenly growing serious "I used to find it so funny in my childhood to watch him slam into the ground repeatedly. Now I know better. It was just a crutch, a blinder between them. If they just TALKED about it..." he sighed and went sad "things would have been better between them. Instead he wouldn't talk to her for fear of being punished again and she wouldn't for fear of being hurt."



He shook this off and continued "anyway, when another youki stole the jewel and was escaping, they went after it, accidentally shattering the jewel, sending hundreds of fragments around the entire country.



What followed was five years of trying to find the jewel fragments and restoring it to it's former state while humans and youki fought over found parts. Even shattered the jewel was powerful." he motioned at the photo "our family came from people we encountered during our search, people like us with personal vendetta's against that evil hanyou. In fact it was the monk that told the second son the truth about him and the priestesses so-called betrayal."



"How did he know?"



"His granfather was an monk who fought the hanyou many times. When he thinks he's winning he's prone to boasting."



They understood this and asked "how did you all meet?"



"They met the monk first. Like them he was seeking shards of the jewel, not for his own power, but he knew the more fragments he had the closer he would get to the evil hanyou, who was also seeking them. So logically..."



"Sooner or later the hanyou would come after HIM for his shards" Naruto said and the youki nodded "so the more he had, the more chance of encountering him. He had only a limited time left to live."



"What do you mean?" they asked.



He motioned at Jiriaya who still held the photo "the hand holding the staff, the right hand, what's different about it?"



Scrutinizing the picture closely the sanin spoke "it's wrapped in cloth and has beads wrapped around it."



He then passed it around for everyone to see and nod their agreement.



"That is where he is cursed, a family curse that would eventually kill him in the most violent way, just as it had his father and grandfather before him." He looked at them intently "he was only a child when he was witness to his fathers death and he knows sooner rather than later he will go the same way." He looked to Jiriaya "the cloth is blessed and the beads are sacred prayer beads, the only thing that keeps it contained. But it was only temporary, giving him maybe a couple of years if he's lucky."



"What sort of family curse?"



"What you would call these days a black hole in the center of his palm, growing larger and larger the older he got. After puberty it would only be a matter of time before it consumed him. The only cure for the curse was one thing and one thing only, the death of the 'youki' that cursed his line, and he had to do it before his time ran out."



"How did that happen? The curse I mean."



"Just after his manipulation of the two, realizing the jewel was now gone he left to seek out other power, absorbing other youki along the way-as many as he could. Evil youki, good youki, it didn't matter as long as they showed some sort of power or strength.



By his actions he caught the attention of an strong monk. They met in battle three times, each time the monk won, but the hanyou escaped before the monks holy powers could destroy him.



However the monk had one weakness, the same one his entire future line would share and the hanyou learned of it."



"What was it?" they asked, expecting it to be something like a vulnerability to fire chakra or such. Instead the red haired fox looked at Jiriaya and began to giggle again.



Tsunade sweat-dropped "he was a pervert, wasn't he."



"Yes" the fox laughed again "A raging pervert, in some ways worse than the sanin here."



"What do you mean?" they asked, thinking no one could be worse.



The fox youki grinned, motioning at the picture "where is his left hand?"



Scrutinizing the picture again, Naruto suddenly smiled widely, the cheeky shit-eating grin they hadn't seen since before the Uchiha left. He past it to Gaara and leaned over to whisper in Hinata's ear.



The Hyuuga girl raised her hand and giggled behind it.



This got their attention and the group closely scrutinized the picture, looking for the limb.



Tsunade sweat-dropped again, then got mad "that horny bastard!"



"Yes. Imagine a monk whose favorite line when meeting the beautiful women was 'will you do me the honor of having my baby?'"



Tsunade fumed, noticed the drool from the other sanin and promptly knocked him out again.



With the hokage stuck, too furious to speak and the male sanin out, the male Hyuuga elder spoke out "so the hanyou used this to his advantage, leading to a curse?"



The fox nodded "The next time they fought he waited until the time was right and changed his shape, becoming a sexy and most beautiful woman.



Of course the monk was stunned, one minute he was fighting an youki, about to land an ending blow and suddenly the most stunning girl he had even seen lay there, cowering before him.



He froze, not long,  but long enough to turn the tables on him. He pierced the monks palm with his own sutcher, cursing him as he fled.



"From this moment forward that hole in your hand will only grow until it consumes you and all those around you. The curse will all be passed on through every male of your line until no more exist. The only way to break this   curse on you will be my death."



And then he was gone."



"So the line was cursed with this...black hole in the center of his right palm, kind of an kekki genki. From the moment they're born they have to seal it with the sacred cloth and prayer beads. However sooner or later the hole would turn on them, consuming them and anyone around them."



Naruto asked this and when Kyuubi nodded the blonde went on "no wonder he was like he was, how lonely."



At everyone elses curious look he explained "he'd be alone, afraid if he made friends or even fell in love they would not leave him when the curse consumed him and end up being pulled in as well." He looked at the fox youki "I'll bet he was brave and went into battle, willing to do extremely dangerous things, especially when it came to protecting and helping people. I'll even bet that once you got to really know him he didn't seem such an raging pervert as he first seemed, only did so when there were others around you all."



The fox youki looked startled "how did you know?!"



"He went into battle like that because he knew and had come to accept he was going to die soon, so he thought only for the lives of others, mainly his friends. Wouldn't you rather die protecting your friends or innocent people then being slowly consumed by a part of your own body?"



They understood and nodded. He went on "as for the pervertedness, that was mostly a mask, he used it to hide a scared heart underneath, someone who despite accepting his death, had a part of him screaming for love, screaming for everything he could never have, like the priestess, but he also accepts it, not like she did."



They realized something when they saw the tortured look on his face. Like that monk he had accepted his life of his loneliness and existing outside everyone around him, accepted it but not necessarily wanted it. And just like that priestess GAARA had tried to fight against it, leading to his actions similar to the females.



Only Naruto had saved Gaara from the same fate and by the vaguely startled look on the other red heads face they realized he knew it too.



"The pervertedness was a mask, a mask for his pain and loneliness. I bet he didn't want to join you at first and any woman close to him he would try to maintain that mask, but a lot of the time couldn't."



The fox youki nodded again "the woman beside him, a demon slayer. The two had a constant on-again, off-again relationship. They would get close then one or the other would suddenly pull away. She was afraid he wanted her just to continue his line-he wanted another child somewhere to finish his mission-just in case he failed, and he seemed unsure of how to go about getting her to love him."



Naruto nodded "he never actually tried passed his pick-up lines. Did the man who raised him act the same?"



This time the fox nodded "the old monk raised him after his father was taken by his own curse."



"Then it was learned behavior. He was taught and learned by someone like his father, he probably grew up thinking that was acceptable behavior and even after learning differently it was second nature. He had no real knowledge of how to act socially and was unable to figure out how to get passed it to show how he really felt."



The fox frowned "whenever we reached a village on our travels or a house we could stay at, he was our spokesman. My mother-figure used to say he had a silver tongue, I never really knew what that meant."



"It meant he knew how talk his way out of dire situations usually" Naruto said "probably came from asking every woman he met to 'bare his child'."



"What I didn't get was why he could talk nearly anyone into sheltering us for a night, but couldn't talk to the woman he loved and wanted to mate."



"There is a difference between talking to someone socially and talking to them privately" the older Hyuuga said "it's closer and more personal, there is more weight on what you say and more of a chance of saying something wrong to stuff it up permanently."



The fox blinked at him "you ningen are so strange. Youki always say what they mean."



They frowned at him "ningen?"



The fox blinked again and suddenly seemed to come out of wherever he was. He grinned widely, sheepishly and started to rub the back of his neck, just as Naruto used to do "sorry, I didn't mean to insult you all. I think I was channeling the first son for a minute there."



"So ningen is some sort of insult?"



Not really" the youki said "it is, but isn't."



"What do you mean?" they asked.



"When humans started killing us off and calling us demons to justify their actions, we started calling them ningen."



"So it IS an insult."



The demon shook his head "not really. That's what you are, YOU are human, Ningen and WE are youki." He suddenly blushed, lowered his head and mumbled something under his breath.



"What?" they asked.



"Nothing" Kyuubi seemed embarrassed about something.



Naruto grinned sneakily, leaned over to whisper again to Hinata whose eyes widened and she laughed again.



"What?" they asked the blonde who opened his mouth to speak, only to hear a panicked "NO!" and the fox had launched himself at the blonde, trying to gag him.



Only while they struggled, the youki had forgotten one other in the room who knew.



As clearly and loudly in the room as she could make it, Hinata spoke. "He said" she started "that it was also the first sons pet name for his mate just after  they had first bonded as brothers. It was kind of mocking but kind at the same time."



"Hinata!" the fox was frozen at his spot on the floor over Naruto. He looked shocked and betrayed at the same time, eyes wide and bottom lip trembling in a mock about-to-cry expression so familiar they were shocked.



Another behavior he shared with his former host. What was going on? Why were so many behaviorisms and personality traits shared between them?



Was it inherited, Natuto from the youki, learned-the fox from being inside the boy so long or something else?



The fox had said the sword used one of Naruto's clones as a template for his new body, could that be why the fox seemed suddenly more....human?



Or was it all real, the fact he was never the evil, violent blood-thirsty creature everyone thought he was, just a child defending what he loved under an jitsu?



If he really was raised by a human mother and family for those important years the behaviorism he showed was learned behavior he could have passed to Naruto.



His temper and other things he could have learned from the half-youki. But despite the fact he had half demon blood, the hanyou was half human too.



"Did you say the girl next to him was a slayer, a slayer of YOUR kind?"



"Yes" the fox grinned "I told you-people who would in normal society kill each other-a family."



"How did she join?"



"Her entire village and family were slayers, raised that way, including her younger brother. They didn't question why they did so, to them it was good works..." he snorted "hunting down those foul demons for money."



"What happened to change her mind and get her among you as a family?"



The fox snorted again "only the slaughter of her entire village and family, by the evil hanyou."



"Revenge?" they questioned and Kyuubi nodded "It started that way. You see the hanyou saw these hunters as not only a threat to his power but a possible weapon he could manipulate into killing my father-figure. He had the most experienced hunters go on a hunt that turned out a trap, the only survivor the slayer herself, using her little brother as the very weapon to kill them.



Then while they were gone he sent the lowely demons under his control in to slaughter the village and every, man, woman and child there.



Then he nursed the badly wounded slayer back to some marginal level of health and told her that MY FATHER-FIGURE was the one who slaughtered her clan and after embedding an tainted shard of the jewel in her back in the wound, sent her out to kill him."



"What happened?"



"She learnt the truth and my mother took the jewel shard from her and purified it. You see..." he looked at them intently "not only could my mother see and sence the jewel shards, but purify and restore them. So after  learning the truth, she joined us for revenge and to free her brother from the hanyou's control."



"Whose THIS guy?" Kiba flashed the photo, pointing to a brown haired man grinning in back, wearing some kind of fur loin cloth, head band, leggings an armor plate over his chest, but little else. "He feels kinda..."



"Canine?" the fox grinned.



"Yeah, but not. And wild as well, even though it's only a photo I can sence it."



"I was wondering when you'd get that."



Tsunade took the photo and looked "he has ears like yours and the first son's" she looked up at him critically "another youki?"



Still grinning the youki nodded "not just ANY youki, royalty. The prince of the Northern lands and tribes."



"Wolf" they remembered him saying "how did he become one of you?"



"Same reason the slayer did."



"Revenge against the evil hanyou" they questioned and when the youki nodded they frowned "he slaughtered his family and village?" It was one thing for this guy to do it to an human village, but how strong was he to do it to an entire demon village?



"Sort of. You see the wolf tribes weren't very big in the first place, scattered around the land. However HIS was the strongest and more skilled."



"Ah" Kiba nodded "he'd proven his clan the biggest and strongest, so he was alpha wolf of the scattered others. They lived their own lives, but deferred to his command, like major issues."



"Exactly, and the evil hanyou was a major issue, spreading across all the lands and killing or absorbing any who defied him."



"He challenged him?" they asked, concerned.



"No, he and his best warriors went looking for a missing clan, only to run into them, dead and puppets under the hanyou's control. Using the puppets he slaughtered all but the lead wolf and two of his betas. You see the wolf bore two shards of the jewel, one in each leg which he used to increase his speed while running."



"And the hanyou wanted them" Naruto guessed and when the fox nodded the blonde frowned "he was corrupted by them?"



"No" the fox shook his head "it seemed that youki higher, especially royalty, could use the shards and not be controlled. The first son had one for a while, but didn't need it. Because the wolf prince's entire life and purpose revolved around his people and protecting and caring for them..."



"The evil of the youki spirits inside didn't affect him" they guessed  "nothing purer then caring for others above yourself."



The fox youki nodded.



"It must have killed him to see his people killed and puppets to that bastard" Naruto said "knowing he couldn't save or help them."



The fox nodded "what use is an alpha without an clan?" He looked them over intently "fortunately he had a few scattered others on his land, but they were shadows of his former. I think that's why he latched on to us so strongly, he always seemed to be nearby. Mind you, with my father being the alpha of our pack..."



They could guess the rest "They would fight each other often."



"Yes, at least until the first son came into our group and let it be known to the wolf my fathers life belonged to him and him alone and any indiscretion would be punished with lethal force." He shook his head "despite the fact that he was prince of the Northern lands and powerful himself, the wolf was smarter than many gave him credit for, he knew he was no match for the dog, so he may have continued teasing my father, but he only went so far."



"Of course he would" Anko snorted "the guy WAS trained from childhood to be a lethal weapon in battle, his experience would never compare." She looked curiously at the fox "if he hated his brother so much, how did he end up traveling with you?"



"Ah" the red head smiled "that has to do with one very special young human child" he looked to Naruto "your great great great-whatever grandmother." He nodded to the photo "the girl being chased by the toad youki in front of the first son. The toad youki is his vassel and charged with guiding and protecting her, at least he was when the first son wasn't around. She was his ward."



"He adopted a HUMAN CHILD!" they were shocked and aghast, not to mention a little surprised "how did he go from hating humans to adopting one?!"



"He was fighting my father, which by now was nearly a daily occurrence, when the stress caused father to finally find the signature attack of The Sword Of The Earth" he looked at Naruto "it essentially turns the enemies attack back on themselves."



"So the first son's own chakra attacked himself" they clarified and the fox nodded "and despite the fact he never appreciated her, The Sword Of The Heavens moved to save him, teleporting him a safe distance away, but only in time to miss the full force of the attack, he was still very badly wounded. If I didn't know any better, I would say she allowed him to be hurt as punishment for his actions anyway." He snorted "it wouldn't surprise me, considering who the swords were created from."



"What do you mean?"



"You haven't figured it out yet, who those swords were created from? I told you, youki created weapons are created from youki. Bones, teeth, claws, from our true forms."



"Actually no you didn't" they answered.



The fox looked thoughtful "I swear I did" he shrugged "Oh well. Who was the first weilder of the blades?"



"The general" their eyes widened "the swords were created from the general's own body?!"



"Yes" the fox grinned "his teeth in canine form to be exact."



This surprised and shocked them "why would he weild two swords created from his own body?"



Naruto however had an idea for that "if his chakra is getting low during battle, there's the swords. As seperate entities they have their own chakra, but their chakra would be compatible with his."



"Exactly" the fox nodded.



"You were trained by the smith who made them, would you be able to make such a weapon?" They were intrigued, what sort of advantage would they have over enemy with such a weapon? A sentient sword who would boost it's weilders chakra and reject anyone else who tried to use it?



The fox frowned and motioned at the sword Kiba held.



"You made that one?" they asked.



He nodded "at the behest of the Inu brothers. They wanted a sword for their heir, the one taking over after them. They liked the thought of part of them protecting their children and and descendants long after they were gone."



"Could you do it again, for others?"



The fox frowned "there are only a few youki left, but I suppose I could do it for humans."



"That could be your job in the village!" Naruto looked and sounded excited before glancing at Tenten "sorry. Not trying to take buiseness from you and your brother."



When she nodded her acceptance he looked back at the fox "you could make specialized weapons for leaf. That is if you want too."



"I'll think about it" he promised before looking to Tsunade "but if I was to do so, I would reserve the right to reject anyone I wished-no explanation or reason required."



"Agreed" the hokage nodded in instant agreement.



 They could tell by the elder Hyuuga's expression he'd be first in line.



"What happened once the sword teleported him away?"



"He ended up in the Forrest outside a small human village. His body was torn up by the part of the attack that caught him, he was near-helpless and unable to move while healing. If he was attacked he may have been able to defend himself, but not nearly as well as at full strength or as easily. In fact it would have just caused worse damage."



"What happened?"



"Suddenly the bushes started to move and out stumbled an human child, dirty, bruised and wearing torn clothes too small for her."



"What was wrong with her?"



"Nothing, just another one of the numerous orphan children scattered around the land. The village claimed they were taking care of her, but the fact of the matter was they barely tolerated her, seeing this poor innocent child as a nuisance and bane on their life. They beat her regularly if she wasn't quick enough to move away and 'didn't show the proper respect'. The poor girl hadn't spoke a word since witnessing her parents deaths , so they took her as mute and dumb, yet despite all she had suffered, she was a bright, innocent and caring light."



Everyone looked at Naruto who shrugged and grinned.



"I guess we know where Naruto got his personality from if she was your ancestor" Iruka said "she sounds like you."



"Kushina too" Anko said "from what I knew of her."



"Aaaannnyyway" the fox interrupted "the youki lord took one looked at the human daring to approach his presence and snarled loudly at her, spurring the child to 'turn tail' so to speak and run.



However not for long, she was soon back with freshly cooked fish, water and strips of cloth for his wounds. The lord looked at the food, sniffed in disgust and rumbled out "I don't eat human food". Yet not once did the youki lords attitude get to her, she continued to smile and remain with him for short periods over the few days it took him to fully heal, just being a silent smiling presence.



The day the youki lords vassel found him he was preparing to leave, however he had not seen the child all day and would not admit it, But he was worried. He had seen the child beaten just the day before. He actually dawdled there, fiddling with his clothes and armor waiting for her. But she never showed."



"Why not?"



"She had been getting food when the village was attacked, slaughtering every man, woman and child."



"What did it?"



"Wolves, normal. You see before joining us, the wolf prince used to allow his wolves to occasionally feast on human flesh. This small village was perfect."



"The child!" Sakura exclaimed in horror.



"Yes" the fox nodded "even her. She had seen them and ran for the lord, thinking to warn him or seek his help, she never said.



But they caught her just outside the village and killed her."



"NO!" Hinata cried in horror.



"The first son was about to leave when he smelt blood, freshly spilled FAMILIAR blood. At first he wasn't going to see, but his sense of honor got the best of him. If the child was hurt, beaten again, he would show the humans what it was like.



What he found was her dead and partially eaten.



What happened next has various opinions, by the major ones. Some say the sword compelled him. Others said as a so-called man of honor, the youki lord always repays his depts-whether real or imagined. OUR theory was he had grown to care for the child in only those few days and couldn't bare to let her die like that."



"He used The Sword Of The Heavens, didn't he" Jiriaya, having regained consciousness a few minutes ago, asked.



Kyuubi nodded "he used it to heal and resurrect her. Then without a word he turned and walked away, and the child followed like a little puppy after him.



The next time the child was seen she was freshly washed, hair brushed and done up neatly and in an expensive looking kimono. The toad youki vassel traveling with them once said she was so well taken care of because "my lord is NOT going to have some street urchin, dirty and smelly, traveling with us." Fact of the matter was, he cared for her. He would defend her honor, even from his own vassel" he sniggered "toad didn't know when to keep his mouth shut" he grew serious "in fact when the evil hanyou almost killed her in an effort to get to him, he began to hunt him down to destroy him for 'threatening what belongs to this one'." He sniggered again "of course his excuse was that the evil hanyou was a threat to the Western lands, so it was his responsibility as their ruler to destroy that threat" he huffed in disbelief "funny, when the same evil hanyou tried to absorb him, he wasn't such a threat, but bring one little human child into it...."



They understood "he'd already brought her back once, he wouldn't be able a second time. Add to that a dogs feirce desire to protect what's theirs and   any dogs instinct of pack he had towards her..." Naruto nodded "the three of them were pack, just like your father-figure with your group. To humans they were friends, even family, but to you, your father and he as youki-even half-you were pack."



The fox nodded "after a while he began to realize she was safer with us. He couldn't watch her and over her 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the toad was useless. He saw that we were all warriors in our way of various degrees and how even though I was a child in human and youki terms and weak, I was able to defend myself to an degree. Among us, not only would the child have additional protection but the companionship of someone maybe not her age but of similar mind."



They understood this reasoning. "And after working along side his brother like that, he began to develop feelings for him. Maybe it started as caring, became brotherly, then something more."



"And after the final battle he told his brother he was coming home with him, the girl, toad vassel and me. He had fox youki under his command that could teach me my heritage and how to use my youki-born abilities."



"Told?" they questioned, wanting to clarify he hadn't meant another word.



"TOLD" the youki nodded "just as he said it. He was a youki higher, ruler of all the Weastern lands. He was used to ordering and being obeyed. I think that's why he hated my father so much in the past."



Kiba nodded "not only was he possible competition for the kingdom as another son, but by being alpha he shows he has not only the strength but power to keep it."



The fox nodded "and when their father left The Sword Of The Earth to him, it was a further rub in his face. Like he was conspiring against him from the grave. The one weapon that would have allowed the first son to EASILY keep hold of and protect his kingdom, in the hands of a half-breed with no idea of its true power. And he gets the useless sword.



As it was, that very sword had a dual purpose."



"What do you mean?"



"First of course was protection, something for him to use for self-defense. Then it seemed my father had three forms himself. His hanyou form, human and youki" he made a motion and the image they saw before of the young man's head and shoulders appeared, only this time as the silver-white haired one from the photo.



As they watched the image changed.



Suddenly he had eyes flushed red like blood, the beautiful golden pupils a strange deep blue. His fanged teeth, so like Kibas only a little larger were twice the size and lethal-looking. They could see the arms in this one, clothed in red, the clawed fingers only a little longer then normal now literally claws, longer and sharper.



But what surprised them most was the two lavender slashes either side of his face, starting from about mid ear and across the cheek about halfway.



Altogether he looked dangerous, lethal, not the image they saw from the photo.



"You see, because father's youki blood was so powerful as he grew older it would grow stronger and overpower and destroy my fathers human side and consume it. Because of his abused past and the fact that blood wasn't so pure, his youki was like the evil hanyou. It was everything in my father akin to lower youki, violent, selfish, all his negative emotions rolled into one." He shuddered "I've seen it, you haven't seen pure evil, pure negativity until faced with that." He shuddered again "so when the general died he had the sword smith who created it adjust its purpose and use. While my father held it or just kept it forever with him, the sword would leash his youki blood, keep it controlled. However there were some incidents where he lost it in battle or couldn't get a hold of it..." he shuddered again before looking at them.



"After that, father decided he no longer wanted to be a full youki, he hated what it made him, the loss of control, the violence, and worse, no memory of his actions. And the first son stopped trying to get the sword off father when he discovered the truth. Doesn't mean they stopped fighting though."



"Why did the first son feel the need to order his brother to the Western lands with him? Surely he would have been glad to go."



"You have to understand, father was still in love with mother and when he lost her to the battle with the hanyou it damn-near broke him. Ordering him was the first son's only way of raising father's defiant nature long enough to get any sort of reaction from him."



They understood this and Tsunade frowned "what happened in this final battle? How did you lose her?"



"Even with our numbers and individual abilities, even with the not-but-there help by one of the hanyou's incarnations, we were being beaten."



"Incarnations?"



"Yes. We learnt earlier on because he was made of hundreds of combined youki, the hanyou could separate parts for a certain purpose. I remember about five. One in particular was different. All she wanted was her own life, her own family and life to live, but the hanyou forced her to do his bidding. He kept her heart hidden away and threatened to use it to destroy her if she defied or disobeyed. He could even use it to torture her with agony if he even suspected she was thinking of it." He looked at the Sand Siblings "she truly in the end was a wonderful woman, just came from a bad source and was forced to do some unspeakable things."



"What do you mean by unspeakable things?" they sounded concerned.



"While the hanyou hid himself away from the world amassing power and jewel shards through his puppets and incarnations, she was his enforcer. I think he hated how different she was from himself and his other parts and was trying to corrupt her by forcing her to do these things."



"Enforcer?" they questioned and Naruto answered with a frown of concern "he made her kill, didn't he."



"Hai, and more. She was the one who killed the wolf pack then use the bodies as puppets to attack the wolf prince and his men. He once told me a while after the final battle he came to realize she probably could have killed him and his two betas, but they survived. She was defying but not at the same time." He suddenly laughed "I think it funny the way they ended up together in the end. Although I suppose it makes sense in a way. Used to being dominated by her source she would only go for someone who could prove he not only could protect but care for her, and as an wolf, the prince proved he had the strength for that."



He suddenly burst out laughing.



"What?" they asked.



"The wolf prince was promised to the princess of another wolf clan since they were pups, kids even. Yet one of his bumbling betas ended up not only mating her, but proving to be an exceptional alpha."



He grew serious and shrugged "those two were useful in their ways, I suppose they learnt from their own alpha what not and what to do."



"Why did you look at US when you talk of her?" Temari frowned.



The fox rolled his eyes "take a wild guess. Just a stab in the dark there."



Gaara spoke out "she and that wolf are OUR ancestors."



"Exactly" the fox snorted, looking at the two eldest "glad to know where the brains are in this family."



Before the eldest could yell at the fox youki he looked at Temari "we used to call her 'the wind witch'. What is your element?"



"Wind" she whispered.



The fox nodded "you also have her choice of weapon. How many people do you know use such an unusual weapon?" Eyes wide in shock and horror, they could tell she believed him.



He wasn't finished. He looked at the eldest "why do you think you can control and use puppets as an ninja ability? On top of that you're an younger human male version of her, you look just like her. Well, when you're not made up."



Kankurou's eyes widened and he looked identical to his younger sister.



"And me?" Gaara's voice was soft but there was a note of such vulnerability to it it pulled their heartstrings. It was as if he was showing in just those two words how much alone he felt, like he didn't think he belonged anywhere and whatever the youki said would have an future important impact on how he acted from now on.



Instantly Temari and Kankurou moved like they wanted to comfort him, but he held up a hand to stop them, waiting for the youki's reply.



Four little words, four little words and it had such an affect on the red head Kage. Four words that broke down all those guards and allowed him to accept his  siblings comfort. Four words which held such meaning and allowed him to believe he finally belonged somewhere.



"You have her eyes."



In those words were so much. It wasn't just Gaara's eyes were the same shape and shade, no, it was he had her sense of regret and sadness about him. They both had done and been forced to do things in their past they truly regretted and shared that inner regret and pain of loss about them, loss of their innocence in doing something 'evil'.



But also had risen above that to make something truly good of their lives, Gaara-taking his role as Kage as a chance to help his people, make life just that little bit better for them, the woman-mating the Prince of the wolves and obviously having a family.



"Memory illusion jitsu!" the fox exclaimed again and an image came back to hover in 3D above the table.



Their breathes caught in awe.



A beautiful woman was there, wearing an brown kimono with an yellow sash. Usually those colors would be terrible together, but on the woman it was beautiful. She had her hands crossed in front of her tucked into the opposite sleeve.



She had brown hair tied behind her in a short pony tail, a lone feather sticking out of the tie. Her ears were high and pointed like Kyuubi's, as well, by what they had seen, the wolf and dog rulers.



However her form was small and delicate, almost elfin-like, making her look fragile and helpless.



Her eyes were the same sad regretful piercing green as Gaara and while Temari had inherited her beauty, she was indeed an slightly older feminine demon version of Kankurou without his 'war paint' as he insisted it was called.



As they watched and listened, there was a strange noise and the woman in the image turned, an smile and happy look lighting up the sadness and malencoly of her face as two little children ran into her waiting arms, followed by a tall, handsome male carrying two twin baby girls.



The six embraced and they recognized the wolf prince, his blue eyes reminding them of Temari's.



The scene touched their hearts, even the three sand siblings. For someone like HER to find happiness, meant it was possible for all of them, despite their own pasts.