Naruto managed to calm Naruko down and got her into her fox form, curled up in his lap, with his hand idly scratching her ears. She was still glaring at Kiba, though.
Since Kiba was not cleared to know about the kyuubi, Naruto used the story he told most people; even on Mid-Childa, the general populace was better off untroubled by the details of his prisoner.
"A familiar is an animal spirit in a magical body," Naruto explained. "Naruko was a fox. Her body is made of my chakra. This form," he hefted her animal body slighty, "is not a henge. The smaller and less complex her form, the less a drain it is for me to maintain it. Creating a familiar is really hard. Part of it is a contract – as my familiar, Naruko is sworn to serve me."
"Serve you how?" Kurenai asked.
"Any way he needs," Naruko said. "Many familiars are little more than slaves."
To his credit, Naruto looked uncomfortable, even ashamed. "Naruko, you know I'd never…!"
"Naruto, on the other hand, treats me more like a friend and sometimes sister, hence the cover," Naruko added.
Naruto's embarrassed display did more to dispel Kurenai's and Kiba's worries about how Naruko was treated than any amount of denials would. "So, what can you do other than turn into a fox?" Kurenai asked.
"I can actually create new forms to shift into, but it's not easy. This is as small and weak as I can get, though, while the form you're familiar with is about as big and strong."
"That could be really useful for disguises," Kiba said. "Although you do smell the same. Hinata, can you see through this shapeshift?"
Hinata nodded. "Yes, somewhat. She's always Naruko, and that's really clear if you know how to read her chakra, but I think most ninja would be fooled because they've never seen a familiar before."
"Hmm. Still useful," Kurenai decided. "What about other than shapeshifting?"
"Well, the short version is I can cast most of the spells and jutsu Naruto can."
Kurenai blinked. "How does that work?"
"Well I have my own talents, but since my chakra is Naruto's chakra, it's pretty simple to figure out how he pulls off a jutsu. Same for him if I learn a technique first. Since I don't have a device, I can't respond quite as quickly, so I prefer to back Naruto up with binds and teleports rather than get in the thick of things."
Kurenai nodded slightly. "Okay then. Tomorrow you get your first mission. We'll meet under the Hokage monument at 8 AM."
The genin smiled broadly at that.
Naruto and Naruko hadn't yet built a routine for living together in Naruto's apartment, but they were sufficiently in tune with eachother that they were working mostly on autopilot anyway. A sack of groceries to put away, dinner to get started, other chores all done with a wordless coordination…
"Ahem.
…that was completely destroyed by Kurenai sitting at the small table with a cup of tea. "Kurenai-sensei?!" Naruto yelped.
"I'd like to hear the real story now," she said calmly.
Naruto blinked twice, his expression fell flat, and he nodded. "Okay."
A month after Gungnir had been declared fully operational, Naruto found himself studying with Yuuno Scrya. In part this was simple logic – young Uzumaki tested very high in transport and barrier magic, which Yuuno was extremely proficient in. In another part, it was economical. Yuuno's librarian duties were stalled by being undermanned, and his "jutsu" made Naruto the perfect workforce for scouring the aptly named Infinity Library.
No one realized Naruto kept the memories of his clones. Not even Naruto, until he realized one day that one wayward clone had found a book in a language he could read and took a break. A treatise on intelligent device construction wasn't interesting material, but Naruto was glad to have the knowledge tucked into his brain. After that, every time a clone spotted a book written in a language and jargon Naruto could comprehend, he made a note of it. It became a rather long list, one Naruto really had no intention of finishing, but a couple gems were worth sending a spare clone to read.
Which led him here. The room was cathedral-like in its high ceilings and open spaces. Crystal pillars supported the distant roof, arranged at the points of a Mid-Childan circle etched into the stone floor and filled with gold. It was one of dozens of identical spell-rooms scattered among the TSAB compound. They were something of an unofficial secret – a matter of public record buried deep in bureaucracy where only an invited mage or a glorified file clerk could find one. In his time at the Library, Naruto had learned of three. This one was the easiest to get to without flying – Naruto's control in the air was still shaky.
Naruto called Gungnir forth and planted him point down in the center of the circle. "Begin!"
[On it, boss!] Gungnir yelled back. Orange power flooded the room and the circle. Designed to aid in a multitude of rituals, it accepted the spell easily and twisted into the fuinjutsu of chakra-system magic. Even that familiar mandala was soon only a part of the most complex magic circle Naruto had ever seen.
[Believe it!] Gungnir called. That was the signal. Naruto shucked his shirt, placed one hand on his belly, and concentrated on the chakra within him.
Naruto found himself in a sewer, facing the cage of the kyuubi. "What?" the beast inside rumbled. "How are you here?"
Naruto felt magic crackling around him. The spell was the only thing allowing this conversation. Naruto didn't think about it much. He had a ritual to complete. "Displaced spirit in my charge, I name you kitsune!" he shouted at the kyuubi.
"What does that matter to me, whelp?"
"I set forth the contract. I the master to you the servant. Support, power, and life I offer. Obedience I demand."
"You will set me free of this place?" the evil beast asked.
"I set forth the contract," Naruto repeated.
The kyuubi laughed cruelly. He didn't know what was going on, but that strange chakra the boy had was no match for his full power. Once he was free he would merely kill the child. "Foolish boy, I accept your terms!"
The magic around Naruto swelled and shot forward to engulf the kyuubi.
Naruto shrugged to Kurenai. "Maybe if he hadn't tried to overpower my spell I would have gotten him all out of me. Or maybe just a bigger part. As it was, the spell settled on one of his tails and bored a hole in the rock wall of his cage. Then I woke up."
Kurenai was staring at Naruto. A specialty in genjutsu didn't quite translate into deciphering mental landscapes, but that didn't take much to puzzle out. The familiar spell bypassed the seal and created a new outlet for the kyuubi. "Then what happened?"
Naruto sat up and held his head. "Urgh. What hit me?"
"I think I did, sorta."
"Oh, don't do that again…" Naruto's eyes snapped open. "It worked! …why are you a girl?"
Naruko snorted at that memory. "A few TSAB flunkies found us only minutes later and the knucklehead told them what he did. They were pissed, but it's not like Naruto did anything wrong, just stupid, so they went about studying me. Wasn't fun. They're not sure why I'm a girl, or why I look so much like Naruto, but they mapped out the magic of my body pretty good. Most everything we told Kiba is true, but I draw chakra from the kyuubi, not Naruto. He acts more like a dam keeping the chakra from flooding me. I might not die if he does…but without that dam I'd never be me again."
Kurenai nodded slightly. "What about the kyuubi itself?"
"I've managed to get face to face with him in dreams," Naruto said. "But he's not a fun guy to talk to."
"I can't talk to the kyuubi at all," Naruko added. "The familiar spell creates a human-like mind for the animal spirit, and that's apparently what my sense of self is."
Kurenai stood slowly. "Well, that's quite the tale," she said. "Thank you for telling me. And now seriously, get some sleep. Mission tomorrow."
The next day saw team eight gathered under the enormous head of the Sandaime. Kurenai showed up exactly ten minutes after Naruto, the last of the team to arrive. "Your mission today is…"
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