Ch. 3

The fox's red eyes snapped open as he heard his container walking through the water towards him. His slitted pupils locked onto the girl as she drew closer.

It had been two years since she had finally met him and a lot had change since then. Naruko was now six and she had grown a few inches taller. Her blond hair had been cut short, sitting about and inch or two above her shoulders now. Her bright blue eyes seemed just a tad shade lighter and her skin was just a little tanner. 

She was wearing a black t-shirt that had an burnt orange uzumaki swirl on the back. She had on a burnt orange skirt that stopped about mid thigh and a pair of black leggings under said skirt that ended a her ankles. Her dark blue ninja sandal were the only thing she hadn't changed.

The past two years had been.. weird for the fox's container. He had watched as the girl seemed to change right before his very own eyes. When they first met she was loud and annoying, always popping up inside the seal to talk to him about her day, telling him about everything that had happened, wether it be about her training or about what flavor of ramen she decided to get for lunch.

At first he had been extremely annoyed with the girl and assumed that this was some sort of ploy to make him let his guard down so she could take his power for herself, but after a few month of this happening, with no sign of her giving up, he realized that Naruko was just happy to finally have someone to talk to. Even if that someone was a giant nine tailed fox that sucked at communicating.

He had tried numerous times after that to get the small human to leave him alone. He called her names, threatened to kill her along with the rest of the village and every single time, without fail, she would just smile up at him and continue talking.

Then he tried to ignore her. Pretending to be asleep whenever she would come to visit, but that didn't help at all. The young blond would just sit in front of his cage and then she would quietly talk to him, telling him about the world outside, explaining to him how the sun felt on her skin or how the wind felt blowing through her hair.

There was no malicious intent nor any mockery in her tone and despite everything, the fox would quietly listen to her speak as he daydreamed about the things she described.

Then she started to change.

She was quieter then before. While she still had that happy go-luck child deep inside her, she often kept it inside. Her tone changed, from loud and annoying to soft spoken and nice. Her face, once full of joy and home to a bright fox like grin, was now settled into a small content smile. But her eyes, they were different too.

The blue orbs used to hold something akin to child-like wonder were now full of gratitude and understanding and whenever she looked at him with those eyes, he couldn't help but to feel understood by her.

The change had started shortly after they met. She had stopped pranking the villagers and ninja alike, she stopped running around like a chicken with its head cut off and she stopped begging those around her for attention.

Because of this her ninja training had reached new heights. Her physical abilities were of the charts now. She could run faster then sound could move, punch hard enough to crack the earth below her and her chakra control had been trained to new levels thanks to the tree walking and water walking exercises.

She obviously didn't have someone training her so how could she improve so much? Well it was simple.. the ninja library wouldn't notice a few low level scrolls missing from their inventory...

"Good morning fox." The kyubi snapped out of his thoughts as Naruko spoke, looking up at him with a small smile on her face.

"Brat." He greeted gruffly.

"The academy starts today so I'll be busy until three this afternoon, so I wanted to come speak with you before I left." She told him with a nod.

The fox closed his eyes and listened to the young girl.

"Last night I had this dream where-"

***

It was around seven in the morning and Sakura was sitting at her desk, looking down at one of the many books she had on her desk. Right now she was reading up on the villages history, mainly the history of the second hokage.

Next to her sat ino. Despite their new rivalry over the local heart throb sasuke, they still hung around each other, even if most of their conversations nowadays was just them insulting one another.

"Jeez forehead, seeing you read so much gives me a headache." The platinum blond spoke up as she watched the pinkette read.

Sakura snorted." It's not my fault a dumb blond like you is scared of words, pig." Was her response as she flipped a page in her book.

Ino rolled her eyes before she looked away from Sakura and watched as more and more students entered the classroom. She saw a few familiar faces, such as shikamaru, choji, kiba and a few other clan heirs she had met. She ignored the rest of the kids coming in as they looked incredibly bland, the only other student that caught her eye was a blond girl with whisker marks on her face. She felt like she had seen the girl somewhere before but she couldn't quite place her face.

Almost as if she was reading inos mind, narukos eyes turned towards her as she walked by, before she looked away and continued on to her desk, which was at the back of the class, right next to the window. 

"Alright class-" a mans voice spoke out and the students looked towards the classroom door as a mans walked in. He had tanned skin, brown hair that was tied up above his head and a long scar that ran over the bridge of his nose. He wore the standard chunin get up that consisted of a navy blue long sleeve shirt, navy blue pants, dark blue ninja sandals and a green chunin vest. In his arms were a stack of papers, books and folders." My names iruka, but you guys can call me iruka-sensei from now on, okay?" He introduced himself with a small smile on his face.

"Good morning iruka-sensei!" The class chorused.

Iruka sat his workload down on his wooden desk before he turned towards the class and let his eyes wonder over the children. His smile faltered briefly when his eyes landed on Naruko, who was staring at him with a small smile on her face. Her blue eyes seemed to stare into his soul and it sent a small chill down the chunins spine.

He cleared his throat before, once again, smiling at his class." Now, I'd like to be the first one to welcome you all into the leaf villages ninja academy." The class clapped as cheered happily before iruka got them to calm down." I'd like to take a moment to tell you all what you'll be learning here over the next six years, okay?" He asked and the kids nodded their heads.

"So while you're all here, it's my job to teach you all about being a ninja. You'll learn how to throw kunai and shuriken. Some of you kids here come from a well established ninja clan and you already have been taught or are currently being taught your family taijutsu styles." Some of the kids nodded their heads at that." But most of you here are from civilian families, so here you'll be taught the basic academy style." He told them with a small nod.

"But cool ninja stuff isn't the only thing you'll be learning here." He warned." It's my job to teach you all about math, science, history and geography." He chuckled as he heard a few moans and groans but he ignored it and continued." I will do my very best to make you all competent genin in the future but I need you all to work very hard for me too, okay everyone?" He asked them.

"Yes iruka-sensei!" The children replied.

Iruka nodded his head happily." Now, for today we'll be going over a few things. We'll be going over introductions before I give you all an outline of what we'll be working on this year." He turned around towards his desk and picked up a single sheet of paper before turning back to his class." Now, first thing first, role call." He told them.

***

It was recess/lunch now and Naruko was sitting by her lonesome under a large tree that was in the middle of the academy yard. Her back was leaned back against the bark of the tree behind her while she used a pair of chopsticks to eat from her little homemade lunch box.

She grabbed a piece of beef from her box and happily munched on it while silently watching the other kids around her.

Some of the children were sitting around with their friends and happily chatting while some were running around playing with one another. Only a few kids were still eating.

So far her first day at the academy had gone okay. She had seen iruka-sensei throwing odd glances at her throughout the morning but she couldn't gauge wether he hated her for the kyubi or not. She shrugged lightly.

'Only time will tell I guess.' She thought to herself. As she finished off her lunch. She laid her chopsticks inside of her plastic lunch box before putting the lid on it. She grabbed the box, stood up and headed for the trash can that sat outside of the school doors.

After throwing the dirty box away she spun around and headed back towards her tree, only to come to a stop as she heard someone yell.

"Give me my book back ami!"

Narukos blue eyes focused on the speaker. It was a girl with short pink hair and emerald eyes. Naruko thought she looked familiar but she couldn't quite remember. If she remembered correctly from this mornings introduction, her name was Sakura.

The girl was surrounded by three other girls. One, ami, had long pink hair tied up into a pony tail. The second girl had shoulder length brown hair along with a pink hair clip, holding her bangs out of her eyes. And the last girl was another brunette, her hair was a little darker then the other girls and it was long, hanging freely down past her shoulders.

Naruko watched as the three girls teased Sakura, waving the book back and forth in the girls face as she tried to snatch it back but wasn't fast enough.

"Nee, Sakura-Baka, who the heck reads during recess?" Ami sneered.

Sakura held her hands close to her chest as she glared at her bullies." I'm trying to get ahead in class ami! Now give me my book back-"

"Hey!" A new voice spoke up and Naruko watched as ino ran forward and pushed one of the brunettes away from Sakura before glaring at ami." She said give her book back!" Ino demanded.

"Oh look who it is~" ami grinned at ino." Papa mind walkers stupid blond daughter! Who let you out of your pen, pig?" Ino growled and clenched her fists.

"Why you-"

"I think this belongs to you." Everyone jumped at the new, unexpected voice and looked over at the speaker. Naruko stood there holding sakuras book out towards her with a calm look on her face.

Ami blinked, looking down to her hand only to see that the book she was holding wasn't there anymore. She looked up at the newcomer and frowned.

"Oi!" She yelled out." Who do you think you are? Taking that from me!" Ami demanded.

Naruko let Sakura take her book back before she looked to ami and her friends." I don't like bullies, so leave Sakura-San alone." She told the group.

"Wait! I know you!" One of the brunettes called out, pointing at Naruko." My mom told me that a girl with whisker marks on her face was gonna be in the academy this year and that I needed to stay away from her cause she was a dangerous monster!"

Ami and the rest of the students blinked at that before they looked at Naruko who just stood there with a small content smile on her face.

"Hey you're right Nikki, she does look like a monster." Ami said, rubbing her chin in thought." I mean, what kind of freak has whiskers?" She laughed out as she pointed at narukos face.

Mutters and mumbles spread out around the yard as kids whispered to one another.

"Freak"

"Monster"

"Dangerous-"

"She looks like an animal."

"She probably eats people too."

Naruko looked around her at all the kids and noticed iruka standing just outside of the school doors, looking at her, seeing how she would react and ready to keep the other kids safe if she decided to attack them.

Instead, Naruko just smiled at everyone." You're right, I'm the kyubi." Her grin seemed to grow a bit wider, especially when she saw iruka eyes widen in utter surprise." And since I'm such a big bad monster.." she looked back at ami who looked rather pale." Do you think it's a good idea to disrespect me?" She wondered aloud as she showed off her canine like teeth.

The effect was immediate.

Kids began to back away from the still smiling blond while Sakura and ino just blinked at the blond in surprise.

"Whoa! She really is a monster."

"Look at her teeth!"

"Did you see how her eyes narrowed like that?"

"She looks freaky.."

Naruko calmed down before she looked back to Sakura and ino with a content look on her face. With a small nod towards the pinkette, Naruko spun around and walked back towards her tree before she sat down once more and looked up towards the sky.

**

"Are you sure that's what she said, iruka-kun?"

"Yes hokage-Sama, I heard it with my own ears." The teachers replied with a small frown on his face.

After lunch he had called his class back in and continued his lesions for the day, keeping a close eye on Naruko who had spent the rest of the day paying rapt attention to his lessons or lazily looking out of the window next to her. Once school had ended and his classroom was empty, he quickly went to the hokage and told him about what had happened during lunch.

The third rubbed his chin as he looked up at his chunin." Is it possible that she knows about.. you know?" Iruka asked.

Hiruzen sighed softly." Truth be told, I do not know." He answered." Naruko hasn't visited me in a long while." He told the scarred ninja." And whenever I go to visit her she's never home. The only way I can really check up on her is with my crystal ball and I only ever see her training." The third stated calmly.

Iruka rubbed his chin in thought." Well.. she did step in when ami and her friends were picking on Sakura. So is it possible that she only said that to get the other kids to leave the girl alone?" He wondered out loud.

"It's possible." Hiruzen nodded." But we must proceed with care, iruka-Kun. From what I can tell, Naruko isn't the same four year old girl I remember. You said she seemed more mature and calm yes?" He asked.

Iruka nodded his head." Yes, lord hokage. She seemed almost.. content. It was odd. I was expecting to get pranked by her or have to deal with her excitable outbursts, like you warned me of, but she hasn't done anything of the sorts."

Hiruzen sighed softly before nodding to the man across from him." Keep an eye on her but don't do anything to set her off." Hiruzen spoke." If she has indeed met the kyubi then it's unclear of what type of damage she could really do if she were to get angry." He explained." From a young age her physical abilities have staggered even me and that was two years ago. With her constantly training like she has been, her abilities are completely unknown right now." The aged leader said calmly.

"I understand, but sir. Are you sure it's safe to have her in school with the other kids?" Iruka asked." If what you say about her physical skills is true, she could seriously injure another student during sparring matches." He informed the elder man.

"If that does happen then come to me Iruka, for now do as I said, okay?" The third replied and Iruka nodded in understanding.

"As you say, lord hokage." Iruka bowed his head before vanishing from the office.

Hiruzen brought his pipe up to his mouth before lighting its contents. He inhaled the smoke as he sat back in his chair. His aged eyes wondered over to the portrait of minato, the fourth hokage and he let out a sigh.

"Why did it have to be her minato?" He asked no one in particular.

***

Sticking to the wall, right under the third hokages office windows, was Naruko. She sat on the back of her ankles, her feet stuck to the wall behind her as she looked out over the village before her with a small frown on her face.

"Indeed lord fourth.. why?" Naruko asked softly.

As she stared out over the village her blue eyes flashed a bloody red..