Here you go, a new chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.
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"So, they are gone," Kururmi said as she moved out from behind the cave and approached Naruto.
"Yeah," Naruto said in a low voice as he wiped his face
"You ok, Kit?" Kururmi said with a bit of concern.
"Yeah. Yeah. A bit better than fine, actually." Naruto said as he turned around and looked up at Kurumi with a small smile that held a hint of sadness.
"I got to spend at least a bit of time with them, even though they weren't really here. It was nice to talk to them, considering how things ended for them." Naruto said with a sigh in the end.
"Now, where were we? Ah yes. How do you feel, Kurumi?" Naruto asked
"Well, this feels so much better. Being unrestricted and able to go around is refreshing even though we are still in the seal." Kurumi said with a slightly relieved voice as she looked around at the surrounding forest.
"That's the eight trigram seal for you. Even though it's open, you are still contained within it, but with total freedom in my body." Naruto said with a small smile
"Now, for the summoning contract. I prepared a special seal." Naruto said as he prepared to form hand signs.
"Special?" Kurumi asked with her head slightly tilting, looking intrigued.
"You will like it, but I need to be able to put the seal on your chest or abdomen for optimal effect," Naruto said while scratching the back of his head.
Kurumi looked at him for a second before sitting down, extending her hand/paw and laying it face up near Naruto.
Naruto wordlessly stepped onto her open palm before she lifted her hand and placed it near the upper part of her abdomen.
Naruto's hands blurred through a long series of hand seals before placing his right palm onto Kurumi.
Immediately, a huge, long, and complicated series of Kanju script rushed from his open palm and onto Kurumi's body in a spiraling web fashion. The script covered a big part of Kurumi's front before pulsing for a moment, then disappearing as if it were never there.
"That looks way too complicated to be just a summoning contract," Kurumi said, looking at Naruto. She had seen summoning before; it didn't look nearly as complicated as what Naruto just did.
"Of course it isn't just a summoning contract. The seal also o..."
"What are you doing, Kit?" Kurumi interrupted Naruto, looking at him with a deadpan expression.
Naruto looked up at her with the most innocent expression he could muster, while his right hand was still on Kurumi, ruffling her deep orange-red fur.
"What? It's the first time that I was able to touch you. I have always wondered what your fur would feel like, and I am not disappointed at all. It's so soft with an amazing feel to it." Naruto said, while his hand still played with her fur.
"Can you be serious right now, brat?" Kurumi said, with slight irritation, as she pulled her hand away from her and flipped it, dropping Naruto to the ground.
"Ok, ok. No need for that. Rude," Naruto said with a huff. Not minding in the slightest that he had been dropped from over a hundred meters, landing on his feet and looking at Kurumi, who lay down with her head on her arms while her face looked directly at Naruto.
"As I was saying before, I was rudely interrupted..." Naruto began with a mock glare, while Kurumi let out an amused huff that made air rush out of her snout and pass Naruto.
"... it isn't just a summoning contract. It also offers you protection from the thing you are weak against. Occular-based genjutsu..." Naruto had a grin on his face while Kurumi's eyes widened.
"... not only that, but it also makes you connected to just me, making my chakra the only chakra that can call upon you. I don't want to give any chance to anything like that night to happen again," Naruto said with a grin that took a sad edge at the end.
"Although we should try the summoning now to see if it works or needs readjusting," Naruto finished.
"That is very thoughtful of you, Kit," Kurumi said with a small grin appearing on her face.
"I will be leaving now. I will try summoning you as soon as possible." Naruto said with a grin before fading from his mindscape, leaving Kurumi, who had an excited look on her face.
...
A moment later, in the Shikkotsu Forest:
Naruto opened his eyes and blinked once before standing up, slightly startling Katsuyu, who had been observing him.
"Naruto-kun? Are you ok? Did everything go well?" Katsuyu asked as she looked deeply at Naruto.
She knew that Naruto was letting the Kyuubi out of the seal. So she had expected something to happen, at least a burst of bijuu chakra, if not going out of control. Even though Naruto had told her that he and the Kyuubi were on very good terms. It's still the Kyuubi, whose reputation supersedes it.
"Yeah, everything went well, don't worry." Naruto said as he started to weave hand signs: Boar-dog-
"What are you..." Katsuyu asked with confusion
"Just watch," Naruto interrupted her with a grin. -Bird-Monkey-Ram.
Then he slammed his right palm on the ground, making a web of Kanji script originate and surround his hand.
Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)
A huge cloud of smoke appeared, and a wave of malevolent chakra emanated from within it.
"I feel it. It actually worked. I am really free." A deep voice came from within the smoke.
Katsuyu's face had a look of shock before it slowly turned to horror at what she was feeling from inside the smoke.
"Finally, after all these years, I can finally be able to walk freely." The deep voice came again as the smoke dissipated, revealing the Kyuubi in all its glory and its nine long tails, looking all satisfied and excited.
But something is definitely wrong.
"What the? Trees are never this tall." Kurumi's deep voice turns confused as she looks towards the surrounding forest.
"Wait a second." Kurumi turned around and looked at Naruto, only to find her line of sight barely reaching his knees.
She had a look of disbelief on her face as she started to look up, only to see Naruto looking down towards her with a blank face, but she could see that the side of his mouth was twitching uncontrollably, trying not to laugh.
Katsuyu's expression returned to one of shock and confusion. She knew this was the Kyuubi; its chakra nature never lies. But seeing the usually enormous bijuu, hundreds of meters long and dwarfing anything around it, looking no larger than a cat is a weird experience.
"Yo...you BRAT." Kurumi's voice roared while returning to her rich, feminine one filled with fury as she jumped up and latched onto Naruto's face, clawing and biting him.
"Ow. Ow ow. Kurumi, wait a second. Stop biting my face." Naruto yelped, slightly surprised by the sudden attack as he held Kurumi, trying to get her away from his face as she was leaving claw and bite marks all over his face and neck.
"You bastard, you made a joke out of me. Why am I so small?" Kurumi said furiously; she got even more furious when Naruto was able to hold her from beneath her arm and held her away from his face.
"Let go of me this instant, you...you," Kurumi said with fury as her hands and feet had her claws fully extended and lashing towards Naruto, trying to get a hold of him.
"Calm down, Kurumi. Let me explain." Naruto said while looking amused and serious at the same time. The claw and bite marks on his face were already about to disappear.
"You have one chance to tell me why I am this small. If it didn't satisfy me, I would claw your face off." Kurumi said with fury still in her voice, but she stopped reaching out at Naruto.
"First of all, you are this small." (Kurumi actually growled hearing that.) "Because I summoned you with a very, very minute amount of your chakra, even though that amount would be the dream for any jonin to have. I didn't know that you would appear so small because of that. " Naruto started.
"Second of all, this is my first time trying to summon you outside the seal. I had to start with something small and safe. I couldn't start by summoning you with a large amount of your chakra, let alone all of it, as that would be no different from just letting you out of my body, which you know how to end." Naruto continued, while Kurumi's anger started to fade away.
"Third, this is my first try summoning you, and it was successful. I have a long list of things I want to try since this was a success; one of them is summoning you with much larger amounts of chakra." Naruto finished with a small smile, while Kurumi let out an irritated huff as she finally calmed down.
"You should have explained things first before doing this. I didn't enjoy making a fool out of myself because of you." Kurumi said with irritation.
"It's more fun this way. And you don't believe how adorable you look and how soft you feel right now." Naruto said with a wide grin on his face as he pressed her back against his chest and hugged her while rubbing his chin on the top of her head.
Kurumi's expression turned murderous instantly, with a vein starting to throb in her head, before she opened her mouth wide and bit down on one of Naruto's arms holding her.
"OWW. Why, you damn fox!" Naruto shouted as he held her away from him again
"Don't call me adorable, you red-haired bastard. I am the great Kyuubi; I am never adorable."
"Have you seen yourself right now? Anyone will call you adorable."
"Nonsense. I am the inducer of terror at any size."
"Maybe I should put you in front of a mirror to see if you can say that with a straight face."
"Why, you little..." Kurumi said, trying to claw at Naruto again while Naruto started laughing.
Katsuyu watched the comical scene with fluctuating emotions. Seeing her young summoner being able to summon the bijuu sealed inside him and then having a sibling-like bickering between them wasn't something she thought she would see.
But she knew one thing for sure: she would have a long conversation with Naruto about him not telling her everything he was planning to do. Even though the Kyuubi is summoned in the size of a cat right now, Naruto has done that without telling her at all, which she is not very fond of, especially since this is her part of the forest.
...
In the late afternoon, near the academy entrance;
Naruto cracked his neck to the side as she reached the gate of the academy. He had just returned from the Shikkotsu Forest a few minutes ago, enough time for him to see and receive his little sisters as they walked out of the academy after their first day. The outside of the academy seemed to be almost packed with many people who seemed to be waiting.
After a long day of trying and experimenting with many different things and theories, Naruto was deeply satisfied with the success of Summoning Kurumi and what they had tried after that.
Though he didn't appreciate being scolded by Katsuyu before coming here, he did owe that, along with an apology, to her after what he pulled.
"Naruto-san." Naruto was taken out of his thoughts when he heard his name being called.
Looking at the direction the voice originated from, Naruto had a small smile at the two sets of white eyes that looked back at him.
"Hello, Hitomi-san. How are you doing?" Naruto said with a warm tone.
"I am fine, thanks for asking. Other than the expected small bursts of pain from time to time, everything is fine." Hitomi replied with a warm, elegant smile.
She was deeply thankful to the young man in front of her for saving her life. Not only did he save her and help her deliver her child, but he also had her under his care, visiting her regularly in the Hyuga compound until she was fine.
Naruto had cleared Hitomi to return to normal life but not active duty. The aftermath of her near-death while giving birth has left her with small and very manageable bursts of pain in her abdomen that came from time to time. The problem is that this pain escalates until it becomes unbearable if she does anything that exhausts her physically or if she doesn't take regular periods of good rest. Meaning that she couldn't return to being a kunoichi, as she risked having pain episodes while she was on missions, which is a no-go.
She didn't mind that at all; she wasn't planning to return to active duty anyway, as she has two daughters to raise, though she does feel a bit of sadness from time to time when she remembers Naruto's recommendation to not try to get pregnant again, which she understands.
"That's good to hear. And what about you, Hanabi? How are you?" Naruto said softly as he looked down towards the adorable 2-year-old who was looking up at him with wonder while holding the side of her mother's kimono.
"Good," Hanabi replied softly
"Sounds great. Are you being good, eating well, and being a good girl to your Kaa-san?" Naruto said with a warm, soft tone.
"Mmm," Hanabi mumbled as she nodded.
"Hanabi help Kaa-san get Nee-san," Hanabi said while looking up and seemingly proud of herself, making Hitomi smile warmly while Naruto chuckled.
"Well, aren't you sweet?" Naruto said with a warm chuckle.
The warm atmosphere was broken with the sound of many children talking, running, laughing, and giggling coming from the direction of the academy.
Looking at the academy door, it opened with many kids rushing out, who rushed towards their parents or siblings, looked for them, or simply left.
Naruto stood silently beside Hitomi as they looked through the waves of kids to spot who they were looking for.
Soon, a pair of white eyes and dark hair in a hime cut caught their eyes.
"Hinata," Hitomi called, making said girl turn towards her.
Hinata's eyes brightened as she spotted her mother before rushing towards her.
"Kaa-san, Hanabi," Hinata said with a smile on her face as she reached her mother before turning towards Naruto and smiling brightly.
"Hello, Naruto-ni-san."
"Hello, Hinata-chan." Naruto greeted her warmly. He got to know her well through the visits he had to the Hyuga compound to check on Hitomi.
"How was your day, Hinata?" Hitomi asked with a warm smile, making her daughter turn to her and talk about her day as they walked away from the academy.
Naruto, on the other hand, looked back to the academy entrance and spotted a very familiar dark-haired Uchiha kid, who was looking around.
Sasuke was looking around for any of his family members when he spotted Naruto, making him smile and run towards him.
"Hello, Naruto-ni-san. Did you see Kaa-san? She told me she would be here to pick me up," Sasuke said, still looking around while standing in front of Naruto.
Naruto, already sensing where she was, lowered himself to around Sasuke's height and side-hugged him while making sure they were looking in the same direction.
"She is there. You see her?" Naruto said while pointing in Mikoto's direction, who was almost unseen due to the number of people around her. No wonder Sasuke couldn't see her.
"I see her. Thank you, ni-san." Sasuke said, giving Naruto a bright smile before rushing to Mikoto.
Naruto had a smile as he watched Sasuke run towards Mikoto. His smile widened even more when he felt who had just started running towards him.
Turning toward the academy, Naruto saw Mito and Karin rushing towards him with bright smiles on their faces. He knelt and hugged them as they reached him.
"Ni-san," they both shouted excitedly as they hugged him.
"Hey girl, how was your day?" Naruto asked as he stood up after the hug was broken, taking the empty lunch boxes the girls had and sealing them away.
"It was great, though a bit boring," Karin said
"We are in the class with Ino-chan, Shika, Choji, Kiba, and Sasuke," Mito said excitedly.
"Is that so?" Naruto asked with a smile as he held the girls' hands and started walking away from the academy.
"We learned some new things today, but not much," Karin said
"Yeah, but Iruka-sensei seems nice," Mito said.
"Iruka?" Naruto asked with hidden surprise, assuming that this teacher was the same classmate he had when he was in the academy, or maybe he was someone else with a similar name.
"Yeah, he said he will be our homeroom teacher until we graduate," Karin replied
"He is very funny when he gets angry. Even though it's a bit scary." Mito said with a laugh.
"How so?" Naruto asked
"His head seems to grow like a balloon when he gets angry and shouts. It's funny to see, but it feels scary if he is looking at you." Karin explained
"I see. So what did you learn from him today?" Naruto asked, smiling warmly as the girls spoke.
The girls were so focused on talking that they didn't notice that Naruto was not taking them home but to the dango shop. The look on their face was pure delight when they reached the shop. Just an older brother spoiling his little sisters after their first day in the academy.
To be continued.
Guys and gals, show me those powerstones.
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I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
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(A/N: How did canon Naruto fail and be left behind three times and yet graduate with students his age? I don't understand. The only thing that comes to my mind is that Hiruzen was so out of the loop or so high out of his mind on something he smoked that he had Naruto attend the academy 2 to 3 years early. This also raises several questions that appear on my mind. Did no one see the 3- or 4-year-old among the first years, or are they just blind? Was it done deliberately to destroy the boy's mentality and self-esteem? That, along with how the teacher didn't teach him and Iruka came too late, along with no one noticing that Naruto couldn't use a basic clone due to him having more chakra than anyone and not being taught how to use it. The boy is Minato's and Kushina's son; with the right teachings, he would have been a genius, not a knucklehead as he was called. Konoha's governing body must be one of the stupidest decision-makers I have seen to be this blind or deliberately do this to their fourth Hokage's son.)
...
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