The contract bridge

Chapter 1- decisiveness

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'' You got ta move faster kid ! '' Jiraiya barked as he sidestepped Naruto 's clenched fist and delivered a vicious smacking to the boy 's skull. `` And do n't just shake off yourself into your attacks, anticipate your opponent 's moves and ALWAYS be prepared to react accordingly ! Have n't you learned anything over the by two years ? ``

aught I could n't have learned back home.

Naruto shook his caput, physically trying to dislodge the snarky thought as he tried to think up a way to defeat his wise man. He took too tenacious though, and Jiraiya capitalized brutally with a fist almost shearing through his abdomen in retaliation.

'' Never shed your guard ! ``

The blond gritted his tooth, biting back the pain as he grabbed on to the offending clenched fist with one bridge player and slammed Twin retaliatory blows to his mentor 's snarky mug.

It dissolved into mud beneath him.

His optic widened by a hair and he immediately replaced himself with a tree branch.

A moment later, the branch was skewered by a thousand muddy needles.

'Fuck it !'Naruto swore as he imediately began to cringe through the underbrush .'I need to get my headway in the game !'

No offense, man, but is there really a power point ? I mean, you 're here getting beat up by one man. A Sannin, granted, but just ONE man. Sasuke 's getting his ass in gear with the resources of an stallion Village. A minor one, admittedly, but they 've got their own Sannin and a genius to boot. Not to cite ol'Four-Eyed Kabuto with his insane skill and, if the Sound Four and the gonzo os guy are any indication, a entirely squad of jonin level shinobi. The Perv 's preparation you like you 're going up against a unity enemy while the guy who will be going up against a unmarried opposition 's getting prepped for an all out war.

'You're…'Naruto snapped out of his almost trance-like State Department with a fierce jerk. Realizing how close he had come to agreeing withthe spokesperson in his capitulum, the blonde clamped down on all view and focused on taking his wise man down with a vengeance…

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'' Come on boy ! '' Jiraiya whined, chasing after a briskly walk Naruto on his knee. `` I need the cash ! ``

'' To chase some hooker, no dubiety. '' Naruto scoffed as he marched away.

Jiraiya 's expression, though, had gone from pleading to disturbingly perverse. `` Oh~ kid you had to have seen her ! That was n't just some Richard Hooker, she was an absolute sister ! Tits as big as my forefront and an ass you could spring a coin off ! And her legs ! ``

THIS is what I 'm training with ? The depraved changeling of the Sannin ? So, Sasuke 's getting trained by the genius of the Sannin, a direct contender for the Big Hat alongside the yellow wink and the guy that ended the Old Man 's stellar life and we 're getting trained by the Perverted Sannin. Wonderful. No, fuck sarcasm ! Even Sakura had a better mess. At least her Sannin wo n't bug her for cash so she could go check out striptease artist and shit. I mean for the erotic love of- Orochimaru 's a have sex brainiac ! He 's on a similar horizontal surface to the fucking twenty-five percent Hokage ! He 's a verified blade master. He knows Sir Thomas More ninjutsu techniques than most shinobi ever get to even witness ! Sasuke, the angst ridden gay emo gets THAT guy and you 're stuck with the guy who 's swelled claim to fame is that he trained the quartern ? Is there anyway you could deliver come up with an even spoiled deal ? !

'' Shut the fuck up and leave me alone ! '' Naruto roared angrily.

Jiraiya, who had been caught mid-rant when his apprentice snapped, simply thought he might have pushed the limit and decided to head into the brothel on his own. The madam of the menage knew him well and, unlike his busty teammate, he had a report for maintaining minimal, if any, debts.

Had he bothered to dig deeper, he might have figured that something was off with his apprentice…

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'' So, Naruto, what 's the showtime thing you wan na do when we get back to Konoha ? '' Jiraiya asked. Himself and his apprentice were relaxing in a meadow a few miles away from the Land of Bears, taking the day off to relax and make relaxed. `` Me, I 'm gon na hit up Tsunade first ; see if she 's finally come around to my manly charms. ``

'' The solitary thing manly about you is your hair, Pervy Sage. '' Naruto shot back with a grin. `` And even that 's foresightful than near cleaning woman wear their tomentum. ``

'' Oi ! Do n't insult these lock you little brat ! ``

'' I 'll diss 'em when I want to old man ! '' The blonde barb back playfully.

For the next few bit, null came up until Jiraiya spoke again. `` I 'm still waiting for your answer kiddo. ``

To be honest, Naruto was n't quite trusted of what he wanted ; over the past few week, doubts and fears had set into his heart and, no topic how hard he tried to ignore them, they had burrowed in deep. He did, however, know what to say to his mentor. `` first base things first, I wan na see Sakura-chan again ! She must have got grown quite tons with Baa-chan training her ! I bet she 'll be really awed by how I 've grown too ! power even get her to go out with me. ``

Where he lay, a few tempo away, Jiraiya winced. `` mightiness not wan na get your Bob Hope on that kiddo. ``

See ? Even your wise man does n't trust you stand a chance with the pink haired board.

'' I mean, she 's always had her Leslie Townes Hope strung up on the Uchiha right wing ? '' Jiraiya continued, not noticing the infringe look on his protege 's grimace. `` I know a phone number of people might believe that that 's all a tike'pipe dream but… Look man, direct it from someone in similar shoes… You really should get your affectionateness off that railroad train. Even the whole 'save the Uchiha'train… I think you should be prepared for the kid not wanting to come back ; Orochimaru 's a skilled operator and if I know that illegitimate child anywhere close to what I think I know, then he 'll take in done his absolute best to turn the Uchiha against you. ``

Naruto had n't heard a word of Jiraiya 's, his mind clouded by dark cerebration, until Jiraiya had talked about Orochimaru corrupting Sasuke beyond redemption.

It was the last thrust ; the emotions he had bottled up, from his solitary academy eld right up to that moment, broke Forth like a dam…

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When Naruto opened his eyes, he expected to observe himself on a cot in one of Jiraiya 's many dugout, wrapped up in bandages and feeling the burn of his chakra helix as they healed. His sense of timing was all messed up but the last few moments before slipping into unconsciousness were still clean in his mind…

The rage… the pain…

He remembered everything…

Right up to the moment his control had slipped and the red haze of his biju 's chakra blurred everything out of sight…

Guilt was n't a strong sufficiency terminus for what he felt as he returned to consciousness.

All that fury turned into a bubbling pit of craze when he fully noticed his surroundings.

Red walls, huge pipes, a never ending flow of water…

He was within his own idea, at the bridge between himself and the seal.

'' Kyubi. '' His vocalization was comparable steel as he pushed to his metrical foot and began storming down the cathedral-like hallway. things were beginning to shit sense now ; he had never been one to be bothered by dark-skinned thoughts, his puerility having taught him that the only way to remain even slightly sane was to discount all dark thoughts, so the barrage of discouraging and disquieting questions he had been plagued by over the past couple of weeks just had to have been caused by the Nine-Tailed Fox. It would also explain why he had so readily been consumed by its major power ; his natural action had never truly been his own.

'' Blaming me for everything again ? ``

The thundering boom of the Kyubi snapped him out of his rage-filled fugue as he realized that he had arrived at the gates.

The electrical shock barely lasted two seconds before being drowned out by rage.

'' Blaming you ? ! What, I should be thanking you ? ! You have been pouring your hate-filled trumpery into my read/write head, filling my every waking thought with your horseshit and then taking advantage of me to try to get free ! ``

'' funny how you came to that stopping point. ``

Naruto stood back and crossed his weapons system over his chest. `` There 's a different close ? ``

The Fox resting on its haunches, cracked open a ruby eyelid. `` Are you worry ? Or was that just kvetch satire ? ``

'' Oh no, let 's hear your side of the write up. '' Naruto shot back. `` I mean, I would n't want to gauge you wrongly or anything. ``

'' well then… start off, you said I 'd been filling your head with my 'hate-filled rubbish', congratulations on rightly using the wish-wash by the way, you 're getting just a bit less stupid. ``

'' Is there a distributor point to all this ? ``

'' Do n't interrupt, that 's rude. Anyway, I 'd like to ask : which of those 'mental assaults'of mine was actually filled with hatred ? ``

The blond immediately opened his mouth to fire off a snarky response…

And found himself gaping instead as he simply could n't remember of a single instance.

The Kyubi flashed its tooth at him in a macabre grin. `` nada ? Well, let 's move on shall we ? channelise two : why exactly do you retrieve I 've been the one doing the head-filling ? ``

This metre, Naruto was ready and he immediately spouted a number of reasons related to him not having such fears ordinarily.

'' You done ? '' The Kyubi asked after his perfervid reaction. Upon receiving the blond 's nod, the biju proceeded to laugh its ass off, even thrashing about in hilarity-induced muscle spasm for good measure. `` Oh damn kid ! You are hilarious ! You really think I could simply take the air through your brain and suss out your deepest, grim fearfulness to manipulate you ? Abruptly, the biju 's lineament became fierce. `` flash you nitwit : this Navy SEAL prohibits even a single hair on my tail from slipping out ! I sure as hell ca n't go zipping through your brainpan. And do n't even get me started on that poor fish estimation that I 'd pass my time watching you do man matter ; I could n't care less about your puny world either way ! ``

'' Says the wight that 's recorded as a the great unwashed of hatred ! ``

'' By whose record book ? Humans ? The Saami people that see you as my spawn ? The same species that hate you indiscriminately even though they created the means to create more jinchuriki in the first place ? '' The biju 's scathing response was like a hammer strike to his already weakened belief, a fact that the biju saw and mercilessly pounced upon. `` I did n't commit those thoughts to you, boy, they were born of your own persuasion. '' This clock time, the biju 's voice was low and almost soothing. `` And I think you know why such thought process cloud your mind. ``

Naruto turned away from the cage and took a tone forward… before going still.

He did know ; for the foresightful time he had suspected as a good deal but he had consciously shoved it down and piled on loads of false optimism to bury it.

He was n't secure enough.

Whether he liked it or not, he just was n't strong enough on his own to attain his goals. He had been cheated in the Academy, yes, but he had been out for more than four years, a groovy portion of which had been spent with Jiraiya, and he could see no significant changes.

He wanted to be the Hokage, he wanted to earn the respect of the people… he wanted to fulfill his promise to Sakura and play Sasuke back.

And he just. Was n't. Strong. Enough.

Behind him, the biju watched as he struggled to make a decisiveness with a fulfil smirk. True to its word, it had not sent the opinion to the Danton True Young shinobi. That did n't mean it was totally sinless either ; a gradual recreation of its chakra into the boy 's yin chakra had been all that was required for his subdue intellection to resurface and weaken that firmness he was so proud of. Now, as the biju watched, reading into every refinement of his consistence language, it knew it had succeeded.

The time to reap the benefits was near ; the final tone was…

'' So why are you telling me now ? ``

The biju 's smirk turned wolf. The boy wanted to sleep together ; the interest was there.

'' In my clock time here, I have come to infer what power means to you humanity, '' it lied, `` and as such I am willing to bless a contract with you. ``

The homo scowled. `` A few hr ago, I 'd have ranted about you wanting my soul or seeking an escape valve but now… point. I want inside information. ``

The biju chuckled, the sound booming out in waves that rattled his teeth. Nevertheless, Naruto stood, glaring at the biju ; awaiting answers.

'' Perhaps your metre with the old man was n't a complete waste ; you certainly seem more well-informed. '' Abruptly, the bodily fluid disappeared from the biju 's indorsement and the creature rose up, resting on its hind ramification. `` You humanity see us as walking masses of chakra, an notion that never ceases to baffle me. After all, if we walked around wreaking mayhem everywhere then your history should have been significantly altered by our actions.

'' In my meter walking among your kind, I learned a peachy deal ; fighting styles, meditation techniques and forms of chakra handling that have long since been lost to the ravages of time. It is these I offer you ; the magnate to overlook the identical elements, to become an unstoppable military force on the battlefield… Everything I know, I freely give.

'' However, I understand how impatient your kind are, no dubiety as a termination of your short lifetime, and so I offer you something more : balance. ``

'' I do n't empathise. ``

'' I did not have a bun in the oven you to. You see, at its root, chakra is of two physique : Yin chakra and Yang chakra. You possess an overmuch of the latter yet very petty, comparatively speaking, of the former. It is this imbalance that has limited your progress in the illusory arts. I can fix this. ``

If nothing else had caught his care, the biju knew that this certainly would.

Once again, it was n't wrong.

'' How ? ``

'' I will, with your permission, channel a minute fraction of my chakra through you. Without going into specifics, it will forcibly jump go the creation of Yin chakra within your roll and, over a geological period of about five days, your chakra circulatory system will gradually attain an equilibrium state, generating an touch sum of Yin chakra as it does Yang chakra. ``

Naruto 's face went slack as he considered the sheer implication of that funny benefit. `` My chakra reserves… they'll… ''

'' Double ? '' The biju prompted. `` At the very to the lowest degree. ``

The offer seemed too good to be true ; learning antediluvian panache of scrap, gaining the ability to use genjutsu, an increased chakra capacity ? Naruto wanted to take it. Practically every mentality cell he had screamed at him to ump on the offer.

Then, his eyes narrowed. `` At what cost ? ``

An whirl that was so mouth-watering had to bear a cost.

The biju glared at him, seemingly sizing him up yet again, before speaking. `` An offer as this should bear a great issue of prerequisite, boy, but I will only ask of two affair from you ; the first and the gravid is trust. '' The biju leaned forward until its beak was a simple inches away, separated by the taproom that held it locked away. `` I will not tellyou what the second toll is until you have signed my declaration. ``

Naruto was torn.

On one handwriting, he would very probably be selling his soulfulness over to a demon because, regardless of what the biju would take in him trust, indoctrinated beliefs did n't die out over a bare chat.

On the other, a great deal grueling, hand, he would be granted the kind of index that he had always desired ; the kind of baron that would help him achieve his goals.

'I 'm going to be the Hokage someday, Iruka-sensei ! Believe it !'

'I 'll get Sasuke back for you, Sakura-chan ! That 's a promise of a lifetime !'

'I never go back on my words ! That 's my ninja way ! Believe it !'

A wise man once said :'A man is sunk by the words of his own mouth .'

'' What do I do ? ``

That man was right.

'' Step into the batting cage, boy, and hold out your arm to your side. ``

This was it.

It was one thing to agree to a thing but, when confronted with the outrageousness of their decisiveness, many wavered and well-nigh backed down.

They were not Uzumaki Naruto.

With a confident pace that betrayed none of his collar, the shinobi stepped out of his realm and into the fiend 's lair.

The biju reared upward, sucking in a deeply breathing spell, its heart never leaving his.

Do n't impress, it seemed to say, just before it lurched forward, the numb orange tree glow in the back of its pharynx the only word of advice Naruto had before being engulfed in flaming .