The Contract

Chapter 1- Decision

‹‹‡››

'' You got ta move faster kid ! '' Jiraiya barked as he sidestepped Naruto 's clenched fist and delivered a condemnable smack to the boy 's skull. `` And do n't just fox yourself into your attacks, promise your opposition 's moves and ALWAYS be prepared to react accordingly ! Have n't you learned anything over the past two days ? ``

cipher I could n't have learned back home.

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

'' Never drop your guard ! ``

The blond gritted his teeth, biting back the pain as he grabbed on to the offending fist with one hand and slammed twin retaliatory shock to his mentor 's snarky mug.

It dissolved into mud beneath him.

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

A instant later, the offshoot was skewered by a thousand muddy needles.

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

No offense, man, but is there really a gunpoint ? 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 total hamlet. A small one, admittedly, but they 've got their own Sannin and a brilliance to boot. Not to advert ol'Four-Eyed Kabuto with his insane skills and, if the Sound quadruplet and the bizarre bone guy are any indication, a whole squad of jonin level shinobi. The Perv 's training you like you 're going up against a individual foeman while the guy who will be going up against a unity enemy 's getting prepped for an all out war.

'You're…'Naruto snapped out of his almost trance-like land with a wild jerk. Realizing how close he had come to agreeing withthe voice in his promontory, the blond clamped down on all intellection and focused on taking his mentor down with a vengeance…

‹‹‡››

'' ejaculate on boy ! '' Jiraiya whined, chasing after a briskly walking Naruto on his genu. `` I need the cash ! ``

'' To dog some hooker, no incertitude. '' 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 floozy, she was an sheer BABE ! tit as big as my mind and an ass you could bounce a coin off ! And her legs ! ``

THIS is what I 'm training with ? The misuse cretin of the Sannin ? So, Sasuke 's getting trained by the sensation of the Sannin, a conduct rival for the Big Hat alongside the yellow Flash and the guy that ended the Old Man 's stellar sprightliness and we 're getting trained by the Perverted Sannin. Wonderful. No, fuck sarcasm ! Even Sakura had a dependable deal. At to the lowest degree her Sannin wo n't bug her for cash so she could go check out out ecdysiast and dogshit. I mean for the dearest of- Orochimaru 's a fucking genius ! He 's on a similar point to the fucking fourth Hokage ! He 's a control sword master. He knows more than ninjitsu technique than to the highest degree shinobi ever get to even see ! Sasuke, the angst ridden gay emo gets THAT guy and you 're stuck with the guy who 's cock-a-hoop title to fame is that he trained the Fourth ? Is there anyway you could have come up with an even worse stack ? !

'' 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 terminal point and decided to head into the house of ill repute on his own. The madam of the house knew him well and, unlike his busty teammate, he had a reputation for maintaining minimal, if any, debts.

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

‹‹‡››

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

'' The exclusively thing manly about you is your hair, Pervy Sage. '' Naruto shot back with a grin. `` And even that 's longer than most women wear their hair. ``

'' Oi ! Do n't diss these curl you little brat ! ``

'' I 'll affront 'em when I want to old man ! '' The blond shot back playfully.

For the succeeding few moments, nothing came up until Jiraiya spoke again. `` I 'm still waiting for your solution kiddo. ``

To be honest, Naruto was n't quite certain of what he wanted ; over the past few hebdomad, doubts and fearfulness had set into his heart and, no matter how hard he tried to ignore them, they had burrowed in deep. He did, however, know what to say to his wise man. `` First matter first, I wan na see Sakura-chan again ! She must have grown quite lots with Baa-chan training her ! I bet she 'll be really awed by how I 've grown too ! mightiness even get her to go out with me. ``

Where he lay, a few paces away, Jiraiya winced. `` Might not wan na get your hope on that kiddo. ``

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

'' I mean, she 's always had her hopes strung up on the Uchiha right ? '' Jiraiya continued, not noticing the conflicted look on his protege 's fount. `` I know a number of hoi polloi might consider that that 's all a Kid'dreaming but… smell man, take it from soul in exchangeable shoes… You really should get your pith 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 bastard anywhere close to what I think I know, then he 'll birth done his absolute best to turn over the Uchiha against you. ``

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

It was the concluding thrust ; the emotions he had bottled up, from his lonely honorary society years right up to that instant, broke forth like a dam…

‹‹‡››

When Naruto opened his heart, he expected to find himself on a cot in one of Jiraiya 's many bunkers, wrapped up in bandage and feeling the burn of his chakra whorl as they healed. His horse sense of timing was all messed up but the final few moments before slipping into unconsciousness were still fresh in his mind…

The rage… the pain…

He remembered everything…

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

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

All that furor turned into a bubbling pit of furore when he fully noticed his surroundings.

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

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

'' Kyubi. '' His voice was ilk steel as he pushed to his pes and began storming down the cathedral-like hall. thing were beginning to take a leak sensory faculty now ; he had never been one to be bothered by moody thoughts, his childhood having taught him that the only way to continue even slightly sane was to ignore all iniquity thoughts, so the barrage of discouraging and disquieting questions he had been plagued by over the past couple of hebdomad just had to have been caused by the Nine-Tailed Fox. It would also explain why he had so readily been consumed by its king ; his actions had never truly been his own.

'' Blaming me for everything again ? ``

The thundering boom of the Kyubi snapped him out of his rage-filled psychogenic 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 rubbish into my top dog, filling my every waking thought with your bullshit and then taking advantage of me to try to get disengage ! ``

'' Funny how you came to that closing. ``

Naruto stood back and crossed his sleeve over his chest. `` There 's a different conclusion ? ``

The Fox resting on its haunches, cracked open a crimson lid. `` Are you interest ? Or was that just plain satire ? ``

'' Oh no, let 's try your side of the story. '' Naruto shot back. `` I mean, I would n't need to judge you wrongly or anything. ``

'' wellspring then… first-class honours degree off, you said I 'd been filling your head with my 'hate-filled tripe', praise on rightly using the rubbish by the way, you 're getting just a bit less stupid. ``

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

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

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

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

The Kyubi flashed its teeth at him in a macabre grin. `` Nothing ? Well, let 's movement on shall we ? Point two : why exactly do you recall I 've been the one doing the head-filling ? ``

This time, Naruto was ready and he immediately spouted a numeral of cause related to him not having such concern ordinarily.

'' You done ? '' The Kyubi asked after his torrid response. Upon receiving the blonde 's nod, the biju proceeded to laugh its ass off, even thrashing about in hilarity-induced spasms for skillful amount. `` Oh damn kid ! You are hilarious ! You really think I could simply walk through your idea and suss out your deepest, darkest fright to manipulate you ? Abruptly, the biju 's lineament became tearing. `` news bulletin you nitwit : this SEAL prohibits even a ace hair on my hind end from slipping out ! I sure as hell ca n't go zipping through your braincase. And do n't even get me started on that stupid idea that I 'd drop my time watching you do human things ; I could n't like less about your puny existence either way ! ``

'' Says the wight that 's recorded as a mass of hate ! ``

'' By whose platter ? Humans ? The Saami the great unwashed that see you as my spawn ? The same species that hate you indiscriminately even though they created the way to make Sir Thomas More jinchuriki in the get-go place ? '' The biju 's vituperative response was like a hammer hit to his already weakened belief, a fact that the biju saw and mercilessly pounced upon. `` I did n't send those thoughts to you, boy, they were born of your own thoughts. '' This time, the biju 's voice was low and almost soothing. `` And I think you know why such thoughts cloud your mind. ``

Naruto turned away from the coop and took a measure forward… before going still.

He did jazz ; for the foresightful fourth dimension he had suspected as much but he had consciously shoved it down and piled on ton of false optimism to forget it.

He was n't strong 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 Thomas More than four yr, a great portion of which had been spent with Jiraiya, and he could see no significant changes.

He wanted to be the Hokage, he wanted to realize the respectfulness of the people… he wanted to fulfill his promise to Sakura and bring Sasuke back.

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

tush him, the biju watched as he struggled to make a decision with a satisfied smirk. True to its word, it had not sent the thought process to the young shinobi. That did n't mean it was totally free either ; a gradual recreation of its chakra into the boy 's yin chakra had been all that was required for his repressed thought to resurface and damp that resolve he was so lofty of. Now, as the biju watched, reading into every nuance of his body language, it knew it had succeeded.

The clock time to reap the benefits was near ; the final measure was…

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

The biju 's smirk turned savage. The boy wanted to know ; the interest was there.

'' In my metre here, I have come to understand what power means to you humans, '' it lied, `` and as such I am willing to sign a contract with you. ``

The homo scowled. `` A few hours ago, I 'd have ranted about you wanting my soul or seeking an escapism but now… Details. I want details. ``

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

'' Perhaps your time with the old man was n't a make out dissipation ; you certainly seem more intelligent. '' Abruptly, the humor disappeared from the biju 's countenance and the creature rose up, resting on its hind wooden leg. `` You humans see us as walking sight of chakra, an opinion that never ceases to frustrate me. After all, if we walked around wreaking havoc everywhere then your history should have been significantly altered by our actions.

'' In my time walking among your kind, I learned a dandy batch ; fighting styles, meditation technique and forms of chakra manipulation that have long since been lost to the ravages of time. It is these I offer you ; the power to command the very factor, to become an unstoppable force on the battlefield… Everything I know, I freely give.

'' However, I understand how raring your kind are, no dubiousness as a resultant of your short lifespan, and so I offer you something more : counterbalance. ``

'' I do n't understand. ``

'' I did not bear you to. You see, at its tooth root, chakra is of two forms : Yin chakra and Yang chakra. You possess an excess of the latter yet very little, comparatively speaking, of the previous. It is this dissymmetry that has limited your progress in the illusory arts. I can fix this. ``

If cypher else had caught his attention, the biju knew that this certainly would.

Once again, it was n't wrong.

'' How ? ``

'' I will, with your license, impart a second fraction of my chakra through you. Without going into specifics, it will forcibly stick out start the macrocosm of Yin chakra within your roll and, over a full stop of about five mean solar day, your chakra circulatory system will gradually attain an equilibrium body politic, generating an equalise amount of Yin chakra as it does Yang chakra. ``

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

'' Double ? '' The biju prompted. `` At the very least. ``

The offer seemed too good to be genuine ; learning ancient styles of combat, gaining the power to use genjutsu, an increased chakra capacity ? Naruto wanted to ingest it. Practically every nous cadre he had screamed at him to ump on the offer.

Then, his eye narrowed. `` At what monetary value ? ``

An go that was so mouth-watering had to take over a cost.

The biju glared at him, seemingly sizing him up yet again, before oral presentation. `` An offer as this should contain a great number of requirements, boy, but I will only ask of two things from you ; the first base and the groovy is corporate trust. '' The biju leaned forward until its snout was a bare inches away, separated by the legal community that held it locked away. `` I will not tellyou what the second cost is until you have signed my contract. ``

Naruto was torn.

On one hired man, he would very likely be selling his soul over to a demon because, regardless of what the biju would deliver him consider, indoctrinated beliefs did n't die out over a mere chat.

On the former, a lot heavier, hand, he would be granted the kind of power that he had always desired ; the kind of power 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 hope of a life !'

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

A wise man once said :'A man is undone by the Book of his own mouth .'

'' What do I do ? ``

That man was right.

'' stride into the cage, boy, and harbor out your arm to your English. ``

This was it.

It was one thing to accord to a thing but, when confronted with the enormity of their decision, many wavered and well-nigh backed down.

They were not Uzumaki Naruto.

With a convinced stride that betrayed none of his apprehension, the shinobi stepped out of his kingdom and into the demon 's lair.

The biju reared upward, sucking in a deep intimation, its eyes never leaving his.

Do n't affect, it seemed to say, just before it lurched forward, the dull orange glow in the rear of its throat the but admonition Naruto had before being engulfed in flaming .