Naruto the Scarecrow

Chapter 3

Kurama felt his consciousness awaken and was greeted once again by the pain caused by that accursed brand. After living for centuries he knew that humanity were far greater monsters than he would ever be but actually branding a six year old boy; Kurama never really thought something like that would happen before his eyes. 'If Naruto suffers another brand I don't think his mind would survive. I can't let that happen,' Kurama was shocked with himself for that thought. He suddenly realised it was true but not just because of the deal he and Naruto had made. Having watched Naruto's life through his eyes, Kurama knew exactly how much the village hated Naruto. The boy, bless his soul, not understanding why but determined to never give up in spite of it had earned a small portion of Kurama's respect. Knowing that his natural healing had started the second the brand had left Naruto's skin, Kurama figured that the biggest threat to Naruto was his own mindset.

'I have to teach him nature transformation now. I can't worry about over stimulating his brain or setting lofty goals if he loses a fight. With enough skill he might even be able to shield his back from that brand.' Kurama thought heavily.

"Naruto," Kurama began, looking down at the small boy still curled up on top of his left paw. "You have to wake up. There are things I need to teach you and we don't know how much time we have before your next fight."

Naruto stirred, stretching out his body with a wide yawn. His eye's where still shadowed in pain but nowhere near as bad as before. Naruto was in deep thought, 'When I got branded, it was the worst thing I had ever felt. When I got to my mindscape though, the Fox also looked like he was in pain. Does that mean we are more connected than he said? I guess it would explain why he wants to make me stronger but why didn't he tell me? Lack of trust I suppose, I still don't fully trust him but if we are going to be working together we should at least be friendlier.'

Finding out that he quite liked the idea of having a friend, Naruto looked at the Fox and asked, "Hey Nine Tails, I know you're gonna tell me to shut up but just hear me out okay? I think I can sort of understand you now. You had your freedom taken away and got locked up just like me. We are both thought of as monsters but that's not the case. If we are going to work together we should treat each other a little bit nicer. I guess what I'm really trying to say is, do you want to be my friend?"

There was silence throughout the mindscape. Naruto was still looking the Fox in the eye, hoping he had said the right thing. Kurama blinked and then gave a snort.

Kurama was amused. A human wanted to be his friend? Still, he had not detected any kind of lie or misdirection when Naruto made his offer. 'I highly doubt he meant best buddies. He is probably still suspicious of me, just as I am of him but he has a point. We are stuck together and I can't really keep calling him brat. I guess I'll give him my name but not the rest, he will have to earn the truth first.' Making up his mind, Kurama gave his response.

"Sure kid, my name's Kurama. Now that all the touchy feely stuff is out of the way, let's start this training huh? Most kids wouldn't be able to do this but I have faith in you."

Great!" In spite of the fact that he had just been branded, Naruto was smiling. "You're the first friend I've ever had. I know that I'm weak but I will become strong enough to protect my friends and that's a promise, believe it!"

Kurama could feel the emotion of the moment but chose to ignore it. Almost as if in after –thought Naruto said, with a slight smirk. "Oh and can you let my brand scar? I want to keep it as proof of my promise."

Kurama nodded before telling Naruto what he had wanted to say when he woke him up. "Now we need to move onto the next step of your training. The next stage you have to learn is how to mould my chakra into one of the five different nature transformations. This is quite hard but the results will be worth it. Basically, if someone with an affinity for the fire transformation used a fire jutsu it would be stronger and cost less chakra that someone without the fire affinity. I don't know your own nature affinity or how to discover it but that's not important yet. All you need to know is that I possess a Fire affinity and that I have already mastered it. I just have to train you so that you can use my chakra and nature at the same time. This might sound like a big shortcut but it will still be hard work. You and I both know that you have to master it and soon, otherwise-" Kurama trailed off knowing that Naruto knew to what he was referring to.