Promises Kept

A/N: Sorry for the semi-late update. Things have been slightly hectic around here and this is the first chance I’ve had to update in the last couple of days. I wish to once again thank my reviewers for their continues support and I wish to especially thank my six voters who have let me know in which direction this story will be going.

The results now stand at:

6 votes for Teme Sasuke
5 votes for the teams to remain the same
1 vote for the teams to be changed up
6 votes for Haku to live
4 votes for Haku to remain Male
2 votes for Hake to be a Female

As of this point the Sasuke and Team polls are closed as my next update will include the results of your votes. The Haku polls will remain open until after the next update for those of you who still haven’t voted .

Unfortunately I’ve got to work over night tonight and followed by two doubles Saturday and Sunday so I won’t be able to update this story again until either early Monday morning or after I get home from work Monday night. But on the bright side I’ve got a computer at work I can use and since things tend to be rather slow during the overnights I’ll have plenty of time to work on the next few chapters as well as write several new Song Fics I’ve been planning for Konoha Radio.

If you haven’t checked it out please do it’s a collection of one shot Song Fics I’ve been writing centered around a late night radio program. I take requests and dedications so if you have a story idea for a song you like then let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

Now on with this Story…

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When Raven enters the training field where he left Naruto in the care of his summons he finds the boy sleeping on the grass using Hoga as a pillow while Shunta laid on the boys chest acting like a blanket. Koga walks over to Raven and nods to the shinobi. “Welcome back Raven-sama.” the wolf greets the man.

“I’ll take things from here,” Raven tells the wolf. “You and the others may leave and thanks for watching over him.” The summoned creature bows to the man before letting out a howl before disappearing in a puff of smoke. A series of faint popping sounds can be heard throughout the forest surrounding the clearing as all but the two wolves laying with the young boy return to their on realm to await their Master’s next summoning.

Raven walks over to the trio before kneeling down beside them. Shunta looks up at him with a friendly smile before licking the man’s hand as it reaches out to the young wolf cub. Raven chuckles at the cub’s playfulness before scratching behind its ears while looking over at the much larger wolf acting as a pillow for its young charge. “How long as he been asleep?” Raven asks Hoga.

“About five minutes now,” the wolf growls softly. “He has another three minutes before it is time for him wake up for his meal.”

Raven nods before scratching Hoga between the ears. “I’ll take things from here,” he tells the animal. “You two go home and I’ll call again if I need anything.” Shunta yips before poofing away while Hoga waits silently until Raven picks the small boy up before making his own exit. Raven carries the exhausted boy back to the house. “We’ll continue your education after you’ve had your nap,” he tells the still sleeping child as he tucks the boy into bed.

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Naruto opens his eyes and is startled by what he finds. The last thing he remembers was lying down against Hoga when they stopped running to take a break before heading into the house for lunch. Now he wakes up to find himself in what appears to be some sort of underground bunker with leaky pipes dripping from the ceiling creating large puddles on the floor.

Following the long corridor in hopes of finding a way out Naruto gasps, his body ceasing to move as his eyes widen in shock and awe of the massive cage door before him. A giant pair of slitted red eyes gazes down upon the young boy from behind the darkness within the cage before being joined by an enormous set of sharp fangs that seem to almost be smiling at the now terrified child. “I’ve been expecting you Kit,” the massive mouth gently tells the boy. Atleast as gently as the roaring echo of the bunker will allow the giant creature behind the cage door.

“Are…are you…are you the Kyuubi…Kyuubi No…Kyuubi No Kitsune?” Naruto stutters as he finds himself unable to either move or look away from the Bijuu as it finally steps out of the shadows of its prison and allows Naruto to see the Demon Fox in all its Demonic Glory and Truest form.

“Hai,” Kyuubi answers as its voice once again roars through the room. Flames surround the Bijuu seemingly consuming the great beast before receding to reveal a beautiful young woman in her early to mid twenties with red fox ears and nine fluffy red tails all with white tips. In her human form the Kyuubi No Kitsune has a mane of long crimson red hair down to the small of her back that almost shimmers even in the sickly yellow light of the bunker. The more traditional styled Chinese dress she is wearing is trimmed in gold with matching slits up each side reaching to mid thigh with the image of a flaming fox in place of the usual dragon the most girls her apparent age would wear.

“I wish to apologize for the pain my imprisonment has caused you Naruto-kun,” Kyuubi tells the boy in her now much softer voice. “I never intended to harm anyone,” she says, “I was looking for a friend of mine when I was attacked by a band of hunters that wanted to skin me for my fur.”

“You were attacked?” Naruto asks unable to believe that a group of simple hunters would attack a being as large and as powerful as the Queen of the Bijuu.

“Hai,” Kyuubi answers. “Just as I can assume a human form I can also assume the form of a normal fox,” she tells him. “It was in this form that I was attacked. While I was finishing off the last of the hunters that had attacked me that a team of Konoha shinobi discovered the fight and mistook my acting in self defense as an unprovoked attack. One of them raced back to the village to call for help while the others began to attack me just like the hunters had.”

“So it was all a misunderstanding then?” a new voice asks from the doorway of the room. Both Naruto and Kyuubi look to see Raven leaning against the wall beside the door beside the head and neck of a red dragon.

“Hatibi?” Kyuubi asks the dragon how only nods its reply. “I had heard that you had been sealed in a kit from Kusa. What are you doing here?”

“Hai I was sealed in a hatchling from Kusa,” Hatibi replies. “But his village mistreated him much the same way as your hatchling was mistreated by Konoha. His parents kicked him out of their home when he was only five allowing the assassins an opportunity to finally kill him. If it hadn’t been for the Sandaime Hokage of this village finding him and raising him as one of his own then we would have both died.”

“Just as you and your kit have done for mine,” Kyuubi says. “I have seen the way that this village has treated my Kit and know what it is that you wish to do to him,” she tells Raven. “I thank you for taking him in and raising him as your own and I will assist you and him in anyway I can.”

“Thank you,“ Raven says as he bows to Kyuubi. “Your help will make the whole process that much easier.” Raven walks over to Naruto as Hatibi leaves the room to return to his won cage within Raven’s mind leaving the three of them along to discuss things without him. “It’s time you woke up Naruto,” he tells the boy. “Lunch is ready and we still need to work on your reading and writing.” He looks over to Kyuubi and offers her a soft smile. “Will you be willing to work with him on this part of his education while he’s sleeping?” he asks the Bijuu.

“Hai,” Kyuubi answers. “I think I can also work on heightening his senses and help him with controlling them.”

“That will be a major help, thank you.” Raven says as he looks around the bunker. “I think I’ll also teach him how to change his mindscape so that it’ll be more comfortable in here,“ he adds before bidding them both goodbye before returning to his own body by Naruto’s bed.

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Naruto opens his eyes and finds Raven standing over his bed smiling at him. “I’m hungry,” he says with a fox like grin, “Let’s eat.”

As they finish their lunch Raven looks at Naruto and smiles. “I’ve been thinking,” he tells the boy. “How about after your physical training we continue you other lessons in your mindscape so Kyuubi can join us?”

“Serious?” Naruto asks with a huge smile. Raven can only nod before the four year old leaps over the table and tackles him with a massive bear hug that thankful his weighted clothes prevent from breaking any of his ribs. “You’re the best Raven-niisan.”

Raven chuckles as he ruffles the boy’s hair. “Now about changing your mindscape,” he says before explaining how the boy’s mindscape is linked largely to his emotions and that he can change this by simply picturing a scene or location in his head and holding on to that image as he enters the mindscape to speak with Kyuubi.

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Over the next few years they continued this routine of training Naruto’s body in the morning and then entering his mindscape after lunch to continue his other lessons with Kyuubi and occasionally Hatibi. Ryo had finished Naruto’s weighted training gear after the boy’s first week of training and Raven would increase the weight in five-pound increments each week while Kyuubi handled Naruto’s chakra weights and healed his body during his rest periods. This regiment would result in Naruto possessing the physical strength and speed as well as chakra capacity of a Chunnin by the time he was ready to enter the Academy.

Naruto had amazed his three teachers by learning to read and write at nearly a Genin level after only three weeks of lessons and soon got the hang of not only shinobi seals but also the demon seals that both Hatibi and Kyuubi had insisted that he learn. Raven also taught Naruto not only the history of Fire Country but also all the other countries that made up the rest of the shinobi nations while Kyuubi and Hatibi taught him of the different types of Demons and Bijuu in the world and how to tell the difference between demons and normal animals and humans.

Once Naruto’s available chakra capacity reached atleast the Genin level Raven began to teach him a few of the basic Jutsus he would need to know including the Substitution Jutsu and the Clone Jutsu as well as how to identify and cancel the effects of Genjutsu.

Kyuubi’s influence in the boy’s upbringing became apparent to Raven when was called to the Hokage’s office to listen reports about some prank that Naruto had pulled on some of the villagers. At first Raven was upset until he heard the names of those that had been pranked and learned that the “victim(s)” had been those that had beaten and tried to kill Naruto. He just chuckled and told the Hokage they got better then they deserved before leaving. After that he would send a Shadow clone to receive the latest in an ever growing number of incident reports before giving Naruto pointers ideas on how to improve his pranks.

Naruto’s etiquette and cultural lessons also progressed smoothly until he was able to carry on a polite civilized conversation with any of the Heads of the Clans that had supported his adoption though he still required some work on dealing with those that had opposed the process. All in all by the time Naruto was finally admitted into the Academy he had grown in leaps and bounds and well on his way to fulfilling his dream of becoming the greatest Hokage ever.

Now all he had to do was Graduate the Academy and become a Genin.

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A/N: I’ve read several stories (hell I even wrote one) where Kyuubi attacked Konoha for revenge for one reason or another but never one were Kyuubi was attacked. I thought it was an interesting idea that added a nice little twist so I decided to go with it. As for HOW Raven and Hatibi could enter Naruto’s mindscape and interact with Naruto and Kyuubi the answer is he learned it from Inoichi Yamanaka before he left. I’ll explain the details in a later chapter as they are a big part of the storyline.

Also if you are all wondering why I didn’t mention Raven teaching Naruto how to use weapons or how to fight in the summary of his training before the Academy the answer is Raven had no intentions of teaching Naruto anything combat oriented until Naruto was ready both physically and mentally to handle such training. But now that he’s entering the Academy that’s all going to change as will several other things but I’m not going to spoil surprise by telling you what they are.

The next update will be either early Monday morning or late Monday night but either way expect at least three to four new chapters for this story as well as several new chapters for Konoha Radio. Until then please remember to R&R and if you haven’t voted in the Haku Polls there’s still time to get your votes in.

Later
~Raven~