Tale of the Nine-Tailed Ninja

The Other Demon Child

We get to see Gaara in this chapter!

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As one might imagine, a four-year-old on a mission tends to get distracted. Sure, I went to several hidden villages within a matter of four years, but I always seemed to take the long way around. I met many rogue ninja who were willing to teach me in that time. I learned a lot and I killed a lot too. I didn’t like being used though and there were many rogues that ended up dying by my hand. Everyone underestimates the child.

By the time I reached the last hidden village that was either going to make me a ninja of honor or a rogue, I had earned a new name: The Demon Child. Technically, since nine-tailed foxes were considered demons for whatever reason, I was a demon child. I didn’t mind the name and most rogues, even though they spoke of The Demon Child, didn’t actually believe in her. My last three teachers didn’t know that I was her until the day they misused me. I had an unwavering set of morals and people always seemed to test it. Fools, I scoffed inwardly at the memory.

Finally, I climbed out of the canyon and looked down upon the Village Hidden in the Sand. A gust of wind blew about and I held up an arm to block the sand. My eight-year-old self, skinny but stronger than many opponents (my teachers all paid special attention to my hand-to-hand combat and chakra control), felt content as I looked down about the village. Whether these people accepted me or not was of little matter. I had made it to the ultimate crossroad of my life. No matter the outcome, my life wouldn’t be the same.

I scurried down the cliff and into the village. Many villagers paid no attention to me as I hurried through the crowd. I saw a lot of ninja walking about, all seeming extremely powerful. I didn’t care. I had grown more confident in my abilities. I could beat just about any ninja. I had even created a jutsu all my own. The only thing I hadn’t mastered enough to be considered a good nine-tailed ninja was my ability to change forms. No matter how hard I tried, I had only shifted twice in the past seven years of my life, one into nine-tailed fox form, the other back to a human. The actual time I spent in my animal form was maybe a minute. It was miserable.

I shook such thoughts from my head and snuck around, peeking into various windows. I came upon a butcher shop and nearly fell to my knees. The blood! I smell so much blood! “Get yourself together, Nari,” I growled. In seven years, I had never tasted raw meat, never tasted blood. It was killing my beastly half. The only thing I could do to appease its insatiable hunger was to eat the bone marrow of the animals I did kill. I couldn’t eat raw meat safely in human form, no matter the urges.

I quickly ran from the butcher shop, needing to get away from the blood. I leapt up to a rooftop and caught the edge with my fingertips. I heaved myself up despite the murmurs that had started below me. I didn’t care if the villagers saw me. To them I was some rude, strange kid. Why would their opinions matter any? Of course, they weren’t actually talking. Most refrained from even glancing at me. It was a gift of the nine-tailed ninja, the ability to read minds. More like a curse. I already found it annoying and it was only supposed to grow stronger with age. One day, I’d have people screaming at me with their thoughts. I was supposed to learn how to block them out but I didn’t know where to begin. I tried meditating but nothing worked. I always heard everyone’s thoughts and they were louder when they were thinking about me.

“Hey, girl!” I stopped mid-run as I went to jump to the next roof. My ears perked up at being called to. I didn’t have to scan the area for the source of the voice. My hearing was better than that, another supposed gift. Really, hearing wasn’t all that bad but the lack of control over my senses was awful. I was supposed to be able to dim them at will, according to the scroll, but I couldn’t figure out how. It was so frustrating!