Naruto 1. A Night of Death and Birth

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I often wish I did so I could stop Kishimoto from being an idiot and writing complete nonsense.**

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**Prologue**

**A Night of Death and Birth**

Inhaling deeply, Kurama took her first true breath of air in just over a century. Reaching out with her senses, both physical and spiritual, she took stock of her surroundings in an instant; nothing nearby was powerful enough to qualify as a threat. Good, as it would have been rather irritating to have to beat up any foolish daiyoukai stupid enough to think her current weakened state gave them the slightest chance of victory. Had that loud moron Shukaku been present for some reason, the kitsune would have most likely obliterated the pest on the spot, an act that, while quite satisfying in the short term, would only lead to headaches further down the road.

She didn't much care for the idea of adding a barren desert to her territory. Not enough toys to play with.

Speaking of toys, there seemed to be three of them very close by, one being the female she had been sealed in until moments ago. She was in poor condition, the cause of her state easy enough to guess, but for some reason her emotions were focused entirely away from her self.

The yellow-haired male... Oh, now wasn't that interesting? The skill and ability to consciously manipulate the fabric of space-time was rare indeed, even among demons. Impressive, for a ningen. No matter, as tearing a hole to follow the pair was something she could do at her leisure.

Not that they had gone far. Kurama snorted in amusement, the surrounding trees swaying violently in the gale-force winds.. For a being of her power and age, picking out the pair's chakra in the nearby human settlement took less effort than stealing a gold ring off a noble's finger. As far as escape attempts went, it was more than pathetic; even at a light run, she could reach them in under thirty seconds. She considered simply destroying them right now for the insult, but opted to instead bask for a short time in the waves of raw terror her mere presence caused in the village's ningens.

It seemed the lesser youkai that normally inhabited the area had long since fled, along with the creatures of the forest, no doubt sensing the spiritual echo of her release days in advance. Fools. Had they remained and paid homage to their Lord, she would have possibly considered sparing them. Well, at the very least, they would have the honor of being her entertainment in the near future, when she hunted them down one by one. For now, though...

"**Why are you still here, ningen?"** she addressed the one remaining, already having decided to kill him for bringing the kitsune to speak to such a lowly creature directly, but willing to first hear his reasons for having remained.

"Kurama-sama," the man addressed her reverently, looking up to reveal a red pinwheel eye through the hole in his mask. Ah, so he was of _that_ clan; now his continued presence made sense. "In the name of the Uchiha, I ask a boon of you in return for releasing you from your prison."

The daiyoukai thought about simply smashing the pathetic lump of flesh to paste on the spot. After all, the last time she had listened to such a request, namely, to crush the man's enemies for him, said enemies had been prepared for her appearance well in advance and sealed her away before she had time to do more than strike one tail against the earth. If that Madara wasn't already dead, she would _enjoy _destroying him slowly and painfully, and if he was, well, it merely gave Kurama an excuse to summon and fight the Shinigami for possession of the mortal's soul.

Regardless, she could simply listen to and deny the request, then kill the fool. **"Speak,"** she ordered.

The human was prompt to reply, at least. "Great Lord, if you would use your vast might to wipe out the village of Konoha, that favor is all I would beg of you."

"**You are in luck, ningen, as I already had plans to destroy those weaklings who dared to chain me. However..."** Here she paused, taking joy in the feeling of the masked human's brief sense of relief turning to nervousness, then abject fear as she let loose the tiniest sliver of her annoyance.

"**However,"** Kurama continued, **"I will not forgive your insolence in sending a mere shadow to make such a request of me. Burn."** With a mere thought, the chakra construct was engulfed in purple foxfire intense enough to scorch the very soul. It was but the work of a moment for the ethereal flame to follow the ravaged fragment of the man's essence back to its source, where he doubtlessly believed himself safe over a hundred kilometers away.

The great kitsune raised an eyebrow in surprise when the man reacted fast enough to preserve his life, shifting his physical body to a personal dimension before it could be burned to ash. Perhaps this would be a more fitting punishment after all, placing him in agony for the remainder of his existence as the burns slowly ate away at his body, mind, and soul.

That dealt with, she turned her attention once more towards the ninja village, where she could already sense a number of weak chakra sources heading in her direction, all emitting a mixture of resolve, fear, and hope. She licked his lips in anticipation of the moment when their resolve would break, that hope giving way to the most savory despair and horror when they realized their pitiful strength meant nothing to her. With such thoughts occupying her mind, the fox began a slow, purposeful walk towards the oncoming shinobi, releasing a sliver of power with each step and delighting in the widespread destruction she so effortlessly caused.

It took close to ten minutes before she came upon the first of the shinobi. She stopped, allowing them to attack as much as they liked, drawing amusement from their horrified expressions when the nonstop barrage of so-called high ranked elemental jutsus had absolutely no effect on her. Eventually, their efforts resulted in a light stinging sensation on her left ear, when a group of thirty worked together to create and fling a chakra-laden mass of molten rock half her size.

To reward their actions, Kurama reached out, faster than the simple humans could react, and carefully picked them up by pinching the backs of their clothes between two claws. By the time they adjusted to their new situation, she already had them high in the air above her gaping mouth, having decided to grant them the honor of becoming a part of her being.

Of course, they certainly saw it differently, but she had never been one to give a care for the opinions of those weaker than herself, which was every being in existence, unless a God happened to manifest on this plane for some reason. So, releasing them one at a time to drag out every last drop of terror from the situation, she immersed herself in the feeling of them melting in her mouth as they came in contact with her intense chakra. Oh, they tried to save themselves, as did their little friends, but her power permeated the air far too heavily for anything they attempted to have an effect.

Finishing her snack, she was just in time to spot a group of new arrivals. All eighteen of them had a similar feel to their chakra, as well as sharing the physical traits of being noticeably larger than the rest of their fellow ningens. An unusual manipulation of their chakra had each of them increasing in size a hundredfold, the largest tall enough to be on eye level with her.

It seemed they intended to attempt to subdue her through sheer physical force. Ha! The kitsune let slip a small amused chuckle as half the enlarged shinobi came at her from the front and sides, while the remaining half targeted one of her swaying tails each. In terms of simple mass, they would surely have been capable of success, but she had only to let free a small trickle of chakra throughout her body, reinforcing her will to be unaffected by the assault. The ones that went for her tails found themselves swept up into the air, the nine symbols of her power entirely unaffected in their gentle swaying by the added weight. Those that focused on her main body learned that they would have had an easier time trying to shift a dozen mountains, the fox having not the slightest reaction to the force of their impacts.

Tiring of these particular toys, Kurama decided to rid herself of them in the most humiliating manner possible. Mimicking the chakra manipulation she had sensed from them moments ago, she quickly found her physical body and strength enlarged thousands of times over, to the point where her head would have been far past the clouds, had they not long since scattered under the force of her presence, and a single paw had grown large enough to cover the whole of the village before her. It was certainly an interesting technique, one she wold enjoy experimenting with later to see just how far its limits extended. Following her increase in size, the intensity of the fear she felt from the humans below rose sharply, with similar sensations beginning to waft in from other directions, as even distant human settlements were no doubt trembling at the sight of her giant form. Regardless, were she to remain this way, her fun would end far too soon; fortunately, she had had the sense to focus her expansion around the front of her body, or it might have already ended. Returning her attention to the ground far below, the force of her sudden growth had torn to shreds the bodies of all but one of the humans from this last attack.

The sole survivor, another female, looked on in blatant confusion; unsurprising, as from her viewpoint, it would seem as if a gigantic solid steel-gray wall had appeared out of thin air. Kurama waited for a moment, allowing the horrified realization of the truth to settle in her current prey's mind. Then, she shifted her claw ever so slightly. Oddly enough, the woman's final despair-filled thoughts the instant before she was reduced to a smear of blood were not towards her own death, but... a child? Yes, she was a new mother, one who cared more for her infant son than herself. Well, they would find themselves reunited soon enough.

Returning to her original size, the daiyoukai found herself alone near the front edge of the crater formed by her enlarged paw. Unwilling to wait any longer, she moved straight to the center of the largest collection of chakra sources nearby, shattering the defensive barriers the shinobi had erected as if they weren't even there; the shockwave created by her passage left a swath of devastation more than a kilometer wide and close to ten long. Almost as soon as the waiting humans were able to register that she had moved, she was right in their midst, a number of them crushed beneath her paws before they even knew what happened.

It was but a moment before they again began to bombard her with wholly ineffective attacks, becoming more and more desperate with each passing second, as their every action and plan proved entirely ineffective. But... this wasn't the kind of desperation she so loved, the fear-filled scramble in a futile attempt to save one's own life that all living creatures instinctively engage in when threatened by a greater power. No, there was a cohesive sensation of _purpose_ amongst the gathered ningens. One that made a male throw himself bodily towards her, ignoring the way her chakra burned him to ashes as he did so, just to deliver a load of explosives to her leg that felt like little more than a warm breeze. One that made a female with half her body crushed by a fallen tree stand once more and throw a barrage of metal weaponry that failed to even cut a single strand of fur, all while glaring defiantly up into her blood-red eyes.

This strange phenomenon was a mystery to her, before she remembered that ningens such as these often acted like a mother protecting her kits, throwing away all sense and logic if it gave even the slightest chance to save the lives of her helpless young. In this case, the "young" would be those of the village deemed unable to fight: the children, elderly, and any who lacked the proper skills or mindset. They seemed to be working under the mistaken impression that their presence in some way impeded her from harming that which they wished above all else to keep safe.

Well, in that case she would simply have to correct that impression. She smirked, and those wonderful emotions of fear increased exponentially, as though the shinobi could sense her intent, before flicking a single tail. With that simple gesture, a sphere of densely compressed air cut through the night sky, passing just over the largest collection of chakra sources tucked deep into the mountain behind the village, the mere force of its passing stripping away thousands of tons of rock, leaving the supposedly safe weaklings entirely exposed.

The meaning behind her actions was not lost on those trying to oppose her, who all simply stood in stunned despair and watched her first true attack of this so-called battle continued to soar up and away, before she allowed it to detonate in the far distance, expanding in an instant to a size large enough to consume their pathetic village twice over. They continued to stare as the sound hit them, a deafening boom loud enough to make their bones tremble. And they did nothing when the shockwave reached them, blasting them off their feet and into the mass of ruined and broken trees the daiyoukai had left in her wake.

It was beautiful.

The utter hopelessness that swept through the humans, moments ago so full of resolve and determination, that absolute knowledge that anything and everything they might do served no purpose when placed against her all-encompassing strength, _this_ was what she lived for, the purest proof of her power and existence over all others.

Now, to finish... Hmm? The two from before, the female she had been sealed in, and the male with such strong feelings for her, the ones she had believed to have run away, had returned, bringing with them a newborn, _their_ newborn. Finding herself entirely confused by the pair's actions, she made no effort to dodge the chains formed of raw chakra that wrapped around her body, even though she could tell at a glance that they were made specially to restrain her, and strong enough that breaking them would actually require a small amount of effort on her part. Interesting; was the red-haired woman's power truly that strong, to be able to hamper, however slightly the greatest daiyoukai in existence? Or was it perhaps a side effect of containing her very essence for over twenty years, that the ability was more effective against her?

Even more interesting to Kurama was the newborn, and she tuned out the couple, who appeared to be having some form of argument, to focus all her attention on their son. To entities with strong spiritual senses, a new life shone brighter than the most brilliant of stars, their soul still blank and fresh, with infinite possibilities laid out before them. But even amongst the countless newborns, both human and youkai, she had seen over the millennia, this one seemed to stand out for some reason she could not quite grasp. Looking even deeper, she brought to bear her least used but perhaps most useful ability upon the infant, one she would normally never even contemplate using in this situation, that of future-sight.

In an instant, her mind was overwhelmed with potential futures, conflicting, crossing, stretching on and on. With every second that passed, a billion new futures were born as a hundred trillion died away, a never-ending stream of possibilities giving way to reality, only to create more possibilities.

Part of her wanted to withdraw immediately, as the constant massive influx of information was something not even her mind could handle for long, but a greater part of her demanded to _know_ just what was so special about this human, this single life so weak she could easily snuff it out without even realizing she had done so.

Then, she _saw_, not a complete picture, but bits and pieces, mashed together. She saw that this human, this... Uzumaki Naruto, would be something unlike any other. Assuming he survived this night and lived through the early years of his life, he would begin to rise at an incomprehensible rate, unstoppable, dragging in all around him as he continued to grow, greater and greater.

She held the sole knowledge of an existence with the potential to rewrite creation, and the power to do with it whatever she wished. The thought both terrified and excited her beyond anything she had ever imagined. And more than that, in all possible futures, he and she were inextricably connected, though the nature of the connection varied in each one.

Even as she watched, futures began to die, faster and faster, until, in a single instant, all but two possible "branches" vanished. Kurama gasped in shock at the sudden loss, instinctively withdrawing her future-sight after managing to catch only the slightest glimpse of the two remaining futures. But that was enough.

Her focus returning to the physical plane in a sudden snap, she immediately realized that the woman, Kushina, her name was Kushina, had won the argument. This must have been the event that sealed off all the other possibilities.

No, it was not that alone. Even her own observation had played its part, as the actions she was even now preparing herself to take were ones she would never have considered mere seconds ago.

With a small burst of chakra, the kitsune Lord shattered the chains surrounding her body, instantly drawing the attention of the two parents and all the shinobi who had started to return, believing her subdued.

"**Hokage of Konohagakure,"** she addressed the man who had learned how to bend space-time to his will through simple dedication and ingenuity, Minato, All the humans froze. **"I know what it is you plan for me. I accept your challenge, and shall face you with the whole of my power. In respect of the resolve held by yourself and your mate, and in gratitude for the entertainment provided me by your people this night, I swear that, win or lose, I shall trouble your home and people no more. When you are ready, follow me, bring your mate, the child, and the elder who holds the favor of the apes. He shall be the one to live through this battle and bear witness, no matter the outcome. Do not make me wait long."** Saying the only thing her pride in her power and position would allow, she stretched out her right paw, a movement that made the gathered ningens flinch, and tore a hole in front of her in the fabric of reality. Then she walked through, taking care to leave a trail of chakra Minato would have no problems following.

After an instant/eternity in nothingness, she reappeared deep in a mountainous area, devoid of all life for as far as her senses could reach. Far up in the sky, the full moon shone down brilliantly, bathing the surroundings in enough light that even an ordinary human would have no trouble seeing. The daiyoukai strode forward a distance, then turned around to face the still-healing tear she had come through, waiting. She had no doubt they would arrive soon, as they understood the consequences of making her wait too long would be her immediate return and the complete obliteration of Konoha.

Indeed, less than half a minute passed before four presences unfolded themselves from space-time directly in front of her in a flash of yellow light, with a subtle grace she had never bothered to master. Minato, Kushina, Naruto, and the ape-child.

With no desire to waste time, the anticipation for what was to come already building rapidly within her, she spoke after giving them only the briefest of moments to orient themselves. **"My name is Kurama. I grace you with this honor merely because, should this night prove to be my end, I will see my name continue on through that which remains of my essence,"** she commanded, staring straight at the eldest of the humans as she did so and placing in him a subtle compulsion to ensure it would come to pass.

The fox adjusted her focus to the family that would never get to spend even one full day together in the same plane of existence. **"Now, prepare yourselves, and we shall see which is stronger: the full extent of all my power, or that of the whole of both your lives, combined with all your love for each other and for your son."**

The elder ningen did not seem to fully understand the situation; that was fine, as a mere recorder of events had no need to understand their deeper meaning. The two parents radiated a solemn determination, already comprehending that they had only one path to take that would grant their son a chance at life. And little Naruto laid in his mother's arms, filled with the content and open acceptance of all around him, that which was only found in those still new to life.

Minato and Kushina simply looked at each other, then at their son, imprinting the image of that which they held dearest onto their very souls. Then they focused their chakra and, with the skill possessed only by those who have reached the pinnacle of their craft, and a synchronization possible only for those who trust and understand each other on the deepest levels of their beings, burned into their own skin the seals that would guide their purpose.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Saying these words, the man reached out with a finger and seared one final seal into his child's flesh, directly over his chakra core. The infant wailed with all the strength his small lungs and voice would allow at his first true experience of pain, and his parents instinctively acted to comfort him.

Kurama found her patience waning at this scene and reminded them of her presence with a low growl. As they looked upon her once more, their spirits solidified into that impenetrable wall which had so enticed her when she had gazed into Naruto's future. Most beings would think her insane, to wait and allow them to prepare, with full knowledge that it could mean her end, when she could destroy them any time she wished with as little effort as it took to breathe, but she had never been one to give a care for the opinions of those weaker than herself.

She _wanted_ this. Had wanted it for the longest time, not even realizing her own desire until she had seen the possibility of it happening. Perhaps even beyond wishing to possess Naruto and his incredible potential, she wanted something that would test her on all levels of her existence. Were she to fail, it would be her end, but she had lived a very long time now, becoming so powerful that she saw even the Gods as a mere challenge to be overcome.

"Sayonara, Naruto. We love you," Kushina called out to her son, her eyes not straying in the slightest from their focus on the great kitsune. Then, she and her mate spoke in unison: "**Shimon: kai"**

The time for musing was over. The power of an entire human life, focused into a single action, was not something even she could just brush aside. The power of two such lives, sharing a bond incomprehensibly deep to a solitary being like herself, was a threat.

For the first time in living memory, Kurama unleashed her full power.

The world trembled beneath her might.

In a flash, the mountainous region was transformed into a great molten crater, stretching out across the surface of the earth for hundreds of kilometers. Anything not instantly obliterated quickly melted under the incomparable intensity of her chakra. Even the stone upon which she had stood no longer existed, leaving her to fall more than twenty times her own height, landing gracefully on rock that had likely been hidden from the world since long before even she was born.

Amidst this storm of destruction, the only things unaffected were those two ningens who had transcended their limits and the two under their protection.

But a wild release of chakra like this, satisfying as it might be as a display of strength, would be all but useless against the attack upon the very core of her being that was about to occur. She reigned in her power, focusing all of it on reinforcing her own existence.

In that same instant, her two opponents began. Their physical bodies had already dissipated into masses of blue-white chakra, their purpose decided by the will Kushina and Minato had poured into the earlier seals, their existences held on this plane and strengthened by the forces of pure emotion that were the only remnants of the former humans.

The chakra that had been Kushina was wrapped protectively around her son, before it extended forth countless tendrils, so many that with vision alone they seemed a solid mass, each one more fine than a hair, yet millions of times stronger than the chains the woman had produced not ten minutes ago. They wrapped around Kurama's body before she had time to blink, and she could instantly tell that breaking free would be nigh-impossible: severing a single strand would require that she concentrate the whole of her power upon it, repeating the process for each individual one in order to release herself.

Only, she had no time for such actions, a truth reinforced when the chakra that had been Minato came at her from within the countless microscopic chains, leaving but a single trail back to his son. It rushed her as a perfect sphere the size of her chest, a whirling, swirling mass of chaotic order and ordered chaos. It struck.

Pain.

Kurama let loose a roar of fury as agony on a level she had never before experienced spread through her being. Her tails, left free of the chains, whipped about wildly, leaving great fissures where they struck the earth, deep enough to reach straight down into the magma beneath the world's crust, and creating fierce winds as they swept through the night air, with enough strength to send mountains scattering like leaves were there any left in their path.

The orb of chakra unrelentingly drilled its way deep into her body, targeting her very soul. She tried to fight it, bringing all of her unmatched power to bear against the attack, but, with the chains binding her as they were, even the entirety of her chakra could do nothing more than slow its progress.

Then, once it was wrapped tightly around her soul, the sphere, in perfect unison with the chains, began to _pull_.

The feeling of moments ago could not even begin to compare to the sensations that now encompassed her entire being. This... pain. Yes, that was the word. Pain. Suffering. Agony. That which she had inflicted upon countless others was now reflected back on her billions of times over. It was a pain that would instantly shatter any lesser creature.

And Kurama _knew_, that _THIS_ was what she lived for. Surviving this would be the ultimate proof of her power and existence, in a way nothing else could hope to compare to. Even were she to one day slay all the Gods, taking their powers and positions as her own, it would mean nothing against what was happening this night.

Now, with a strength of will and a sense of focus she had never before been able to achieve, she dug her paws and tails deep into the rock, resisting the pull with everything she had. Because once she touched the infant Naruto, floating in his parents' chakra, it would mean her end.

But despite her efforts, she continued to be dragged inexorably towards the tiny life, with a force that could shift the entire continent. This was a battle of endurance and power, for just as she could not hope to match the strength of the emotions holding together the two masses of energy that had once been humans, they could not come close to comparing to the sheer amount of chakra she had built up over countless millennia of life. Could she resist the pull, delaying the inevitable with raw strength long enough for them to run out of energy? Or would her power prove insufficient, unable to hold her back long enough to outlast the pair?

The minutes that followed seemed to last an eternity, as she ever-so-slowly moved closer to the child that would invariably be her doom. Until, at last...

The fur of her chest touched Naruto.

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Sarutobi Hiruzen found himself unable to do anything but watch in awe as the giant monster that was the Kyuubi no Kitsune turned into a mass of chakra and, still wrapped in the blue-white that had previously been Minato and Kushina, seemed to be sucked into the tiny speck he knew to be Naruto.

Then, the speck began to fall.

While still unsure of just what he had witnessed (Minato's explanation had been understandably rushed, and full of terms beyond his understanding of fuuinjutsu), the old former, now again, Hokage moved to catch the falling infant, taking care to stay as far as possible from the flowing streams of lava.

Upon doing so, he immediately used a low-rank fuuton jutsu to ward off the worst of the heat, then looked down at the small newborn, still wrapped in the faintest blue of his parents' chakra... and the even smaller baby fox clinging to him, wrapped in the same blue.

Hiruzen shifted his gaze again to the surroundings, the mass destruction that spread out in all directions far beyond his sight. From what he had seen of the scenery on their arrival, together with the positions of the stars shining above, he could place himself somewhere in western Lightning country, an area that was fortunately entirely uninhabited.

The history books described the Kyuubi no Kitsune as akin to a natural disaster. That, he decided, was the greatest underestimation he had ever heard.

"Kurama, huh?" the aged leader mumbled, looking down upon the tiny fox. One who deceives. Well, he would certainly be doing quite a bit of that in the days to come.

For now, though, he needed to get moving before Kumo shinobi came to investigate. With his precious cargo to care for, it would be at least a week before he reached home.

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Author's comments: Hello, and welcome to the start of a new story.

First of all, for my old readers, assuming I still have any, I apologize that it's been close to two years since I've updated my story, "Chosen Vessel." When I had the urge to pick up writing again, I decided it would be better to focus on something else instead and work on getting into a semi-consistent schedule for updates, rather than picking up where I stopped, posting a chapter or two, then leaving you all hanging when I get stuck again.

Okay, enough of that, as the point of these comments is to talk about _this_ story. There are a number of stories where Naruto has a friend or sibling growing up alongside him, but I can't remember ever reading one where that friend is actually Kurama. So, I decided to write one myself.

A few notes about this fic. Obviously, this is something of an AU, set in a world based more firmly on Japanese mythology, rather than just taking little bits here and there to suit Kishimoto's preferences while ignoring key aspects. Next, I'm planning on making this story slower-paced than what I've written in the past, leaving out the traditional large timeskips and instead following along with Naruto and Kurama as they go through their lives. Finally, anyone who has read my other stories will know that they have a tendency to turn into super-Naruto fics, regardless of my intentions to avoid that particular cliché; hopefully I'll be more successful this time, and if not, I promise that the Kurama seen here in the prologue is the absolute limit in terms of power.

One more thing: as said above, one of my goals in writing this is to become more consistent in my update speed. I hope to reach the point where I can post a new chapter once every week or two, and I promise to never go more than a month without posting _something_, even if it's incomplete, unedited, and bad.

Finally, if anyone knows of a decent fanart I could use as a story image, please let me know. I'm looking for a picture of Naruto and a red-orange-furred fox, preferably both young, and with only one tail on the fox.

Thank you to everyone who read this story, and a double thanks to those who took the time to read my comments as well. I hope you enjoy.

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beta readers: ABitterPill, Orion


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N (15/5/2013): Another month gone by with nothing to show for it. =( At this point, I'm probably going to change my approach entirely, skipping past Naruto and Kurama's early years and picking up when they start at the ninja academy.**

**I apologize to anyone who reads this for how long it's taking me to get this story going.**

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**A/N (15/4/2013): Keeping to my promise of an update once a month, here's an unfinished, unbetaed, potential beginning for the first chapter. Considering that this is all I've managed in a whole 31 days, I'll probably end up completely scrapping this bit and starting over from a different perspective.**

**Please don't review this, as it will eventually be replaced with an actual chapter.**

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**Chapter 1**

**A Rough Start**

In his earliest memories, it was just the two of them. When they were together, it was good. When they weren't, it was bad. Time passed slowly, and others entered their world. The old man. The lady who fed them. The silent watchers who hid themselves away.

But no matter who came and went, she was always there. Even when they were separated and couldn't feel each other's warmth, when they were sad not knowing where the other had gone, they could still sense each other's presence. Her soft fur against his cheek would help him fall asleep, and her rough tongue against his nose made him giggle.

Eventually, the pair started trying to copy the sounds (words) the others made, since the others responded to the sounds. The others couldn't sense those around them the way the two of them could. He had a lot more success than she did, at least in the way the others could hear. Watching the others, they learned their names and the differences between them. He was Naruto, a human. She was Kurama, a fox.

The others around them were all humans like him, and that made the pair curious. Where were the other foxes? He tried asking the old man one time, but the old man gave off a feeling Kurama didn't like, and the answer he gave was weird. He didn't ask about the foxes again. But there were lots of other things he asked the old man, because the old man knew lots and lots of stuff, and he normally gave off good feelings when answering.

He had to ask for Kurama, too, because the others couldn't understand her like he could. He asked about the people who came and went and about the ones who were always there, and the old man told them about "adults" and "ninja." He asked about the food the lady gave them and why she was sad all the time, and the old man told them about "milk" and "death." he asked about the smooth see-through wall and what was on the other side, and the old man told them about "windows," "village," and "outside."

Kurama was the first one to realize the connection between the words the humans made with their voices and the symbols they would draw on things all the time.


End file.
