[The Fox and the Hare] Chapter 28 - Demon (Patreon)

Chapter 28 - Demon

"Someone cut his clothes… clean cloth and bandages…"

"...heart rate just spiked…. it asap…"

All he could hear were broken fragments of the chatter going around him.

"I'm cold."

When he said those words, he got the vague impression that the people around him started panicking.

His sense of touch was dulled, and he could not distinguish the things he saw with his eyes. Even his sense of hearing was muffled. It was as if he was underwater.

"...first his family and now him… USJ Nomus…"

"My family? What about my family?" Naruto asked and grabbed one of the people around him by their coat.

"... his grip is … him down someone…"

He couldn't make sense of what he was hearing. Fear crept into his heart, and his entire body started shaking.

⁂

"His grip is stronger than I thought! Hold him down, someone!" the doctor whose coat Naruto grabbed said startled.

But when the assistants on the side tried to make the fox boy settle down, he started struggling against them.

"This isn't good! The more he moves, the faster he's going to lose blood! Any more than this, and he'll lose his life!"

The doctor's coat was ripped to shreds as Naruto's nails suddenly grew into claws. His unfocused blue eyes became crimson red, and the growl that came from the back of his throat made everyone step back scared.

The white bandages wrapped around the stab wounds on his arms, legs, and stomach turned red with his blood as he forced himself to stand up. Having bled so much already, it was a miracle that he was still conscious, to speak nothing of the fact that he could stand.

The doctors and the assistants backed away in terror when a red liquid-like substance came from his back and slowly engulfed most of his body.

The handsome blond teen with golden fox ears was nowhere to be seen. The red substance had spread over the rest of his body and covered him fully, transforming him into something that looked like it had crawled out of the deepest pits of hell. A dark red, almost black cloak of energy covered him entirely, even his face and hair. His ears elongated, and, at his back, four large fox tails were now moving slowly. He looked like a demon.

As he turned his head to look at them, the medics and the assistants lost strength in their legs and collapsed on the floor bonelessly. They had never seen anything like that in their lives.

In the next moment, a loud noise was heard as the demon burst out of the hospital room through the window.

"...What was that?!" someone asked, his face as pale as chalk.

One of the assistants had wet himself out of fear, but nobody else cared to make fun of him for that. It hadn't been only the visual shock that left them petrified with fear. It was something that ran deeper than that—a terror on an instinctual level.

"I'm not getting paid enough for this shit," the doctor said and sat down on his ass, resting his back against a cabinet.

⁂

Most of the Pro Heroes that had come to the Uzumaki family's residence left the scene when they received the SOS signal from the Hero Network App on their phones and rushed towards UA High's freshmen training camp to rescue them.

But Pro Heroes Kamui and Mount Lady decided to stay behind and protect Uzumaki Kushina and her daughter until the police went through all the legal procedures and took them into their care.

Mount Lady was in the middle of making small talk with the adorable white-haired girl when the sound of a crash was heard and a small tremor shook the ambulance car where she and the girl were in. The low, beast-like growl that reached her ears made her come out of the car right away, only for her to momentarily freeze at the sight in front of her eyes.

"Freeze! Identify yourself!" the police officers at the scene shouted as they took out their weapons and aimed at him.

"Mount Lady, protect the mother and girl! I'll take care of him!" Kamui Woods said he whipped his right arm at the demonic being, instantly capturing it with his special move, Lacquered Chain Prison.

But Kamui cried out in pain as the wooden tendrils of his arm were instantly set ablaze at contact with the crimson-red skin of that being.

The roar that came out of its mouth next was like an explosion in their ears. Most of the policemen involuntarily huddled down on the ground and covered their ears with their palms in pain.

"Open fire!" someone shouted once the roar ended and the police officers started firing their handguns at the demon.

Half a minute later, they were stupefied to realize that the bullets that had hit him had all fallen on the ground half-melted, not having been able to pierce his skin.

"That's as far as you go!" Mount Lady shouted and activated her quirk, turning herself into a giant. With no regard for his fate, she stomped down on him with her foot, intent on squashing him like a bug.

However, one of the four tails at his back suddenly enlarged and met her strike head-on. The ground beneath his feet cracked, and his back hunched under her enormous weight, but even the giant Mount Lady's strength was not enough to crush him.

While using one of his tails to defend against her stomp, another fox tail elongated and swept Mount Lady's other leg, making her cry out in panic as she lost her balance and fell on her back. Fortunately, she still had the presence of mind to cancel her quirk before crashing on the ground, thus avoiding any property damage to the surrounding houses.

"He's way stronger than he looks! My special shoes and suit were burned off too!" Mount Lady said after Kamui Woods caught her in midair and put her down safely.

"But something is strange. He's not making a move to attack anyone; he's just standing in one place," Kamui said.

Now that he mentioned it, Mount Lady could see it too. He did not fight back against Kamui after freeing himself from his wooden snare, and, despite how the policemen fired their guns at him, he did not retaliate. He did not take advantage of her precarious position either after he swept her off her feet.

"Mrs Uzumaki, it's not safe! What are you doing?!" one of the policemen said and tried to stop her from getting out of the ambulance. But she did not listen to his words, and, breaking free from his grasp, Kushina held up the hem of her long dress as she rushed towards the demon.

Maybe it was her intuition as a mother, but from the moment she saw the vaguely fox-like appearance of the demonic being, Kushina had a strange feeling. After realising that he was not attacking anyone but that he was only standing in place and looking around, she became almost sure of it.

"Naruto? Is that you, Naruto?" she asked.

The way the demon tilted his head to the side at her words was almost cute - if one could ignore the fact that his touch alone was so corrosive that it could melt bullets or that he was strong enough to overpower a giant like Mount Lady.

When the demon started walking slowly towards her, the Adamantine Sealing Chains burst out from her back outside of her control and launched themselves at him. But, to everyone's surprise, the demon did not avoid the golden chains that ensnared him and continued walking towards her.

Kushina could have tightened the hold on her chains and immobilised him completely, but she decided against that. By the time she was face-to-face with him, most of the dark-red shroud covering Naruto's body had dissipated into a shower of lights, starting to reveal the true appearance hidden below.

"Mom, you were safe!" he said tiredly, but in a tone of relief, and let himself fall into her arms.

Kushina quickly hugged him tightly and sat down with him. Noticing him becoming slack in her arms, she realised that he must have lost consciousness.

"Can anyone bring me a blanket?" Kushina asked.

The red substance that had come out of his back and covered him from head to toe had been corrosive to the touch not only for other people but for his clothes too; he was completely naked, his four fox tails being the only thing protecting his modesty.

⁂

"The League of Villains that had attacked UA High at USJ strikes again."

"A five-year-old boy was killed mercilessly by the villains."

"UA High Professor Shota Aizawa is in critical condition at the hospital."

"Uzumaki Naruto and his family targeted by villains."

"Twenty thousand protesters in Tokyo demanding harsher punishment for villains."

Two days after the League of Villains' attack on the UA High freshmen's training camp, the general public's outrage at the actions of the villains had yet to calm down. The mass media would not stop talking about it either.

Now, thousands of protesters were flooding the streets of the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, chanting and carrying banners through which they demanded the government take action.

"What has the world come to?" Minato said with a sigh as he watched the news on TV.

"Makes me think of when I was a child, before All Might became the Number 1 hero," Kushina also said.

The two of them had not experienced such a turbulent time in many years. In the span of only three months, two Pro Heroes, two hero students, and an innocent child had been killed by the villains.

When the door of the living room opened and they turned to see who came in, it was their son, Naruto. He was still sickly pale due to having lost much blood two days ago but the deep stab wounds on his arms, legs, and stomach had been fully healed after his quirk's awakening.

"What are we going to do next?" he asked as he sat on a couch not far from their sofa. "Our home is in ruins, and the villains know our location too… and All For One is alive. He'll never stop hunting for us."

He was clenching his fists so hard that his nails were digging into his palms.

"It's not the end of the world for us," Minato said, trying to reassure him. "We knew there would be a day when we might get targeted by villains. That's something we've taken into consideration when we decided to support you in your choice to become a Pro Hero."

"Your dad is right, Naruto," Kushina also said. "Besides, now that they failed their first attempt, they won't attack us for a while. In the meantime, we can disappear off their radar."

Naruto bit his lower lip, but he didn't say anything. His frustration, his anger, and his anxiety were not to be released onto his parents. Throwing tantrums was the last thing he wanted to do at that moment.

"What about your job? And what about your social life? Your friends, your-"

Minato stood up from the sofa and walked to Naruto's couch.

"It wasn't your fault, Naruto," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up over it. And don't worry about my job. On the contrary, I think I will be very busy for a while."

Something in the tone with which Minato spoke those words made Naruto's head abruptly shoot up, and he looked at him secretly startled. Father and son looked each other in the eye without saying anything for a few very long seconds.

"The HSPC promised to get us new identities, but I'll still have to search for a new job, buy furniture for the new house we're going to be living in, buy a new car, and also find a place for you to rent and live alone."

His father's words about him needing to live alone made Naruto almost forget about the strange feeling he got from him a few moments earlier. But, deep down, he could not shake off the sensation that something was off.

"From what All Might told me, the school was already planning on opening a dorm and making it mandatory for all students to live on the campus, for security reasons. But they haven't taken a decision yet, so you'll have to live alone for some time. Of course we're not happy at being away from you but this is the only choice we have if you want to keep attending UA High. Our secret identities would not mean much when you're so easily recognisable with your tails. All Might said he would talk to an old acquaintance of his and-"

"I've had enough of All Might for now," Naruto spat, but then he quickly apologised. "I'm sorry. It's just- … he's the one who told us that All For One was dead! That's why we decided to reveal our chains to the public. If it weren't for that, we'd still be safe now! How can I trust him with anything about our safety anymore?"

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

Naruto and Kushina instantly went on their guard, and their Adamantine Sealing Chains came out from their lower backs.

"Mom, dad, please go to Eri, she's sleeping in the bedroom. I'll go check who's outside the door."

Currently, the Uzumaki family was living in a hotel under the police's 24/7 surveillance. Although they were supposed to be safe, Naruto and Kushina were too jumpy and didn't want to risk it.

"Hey, calm down, it's me, Mirko. You recognise my voice, don't you? Or did you already forget about me, you ungrateful runt?"

When she heard that voice coming from behind the door, Kushina let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding.

Although he recognised her voice, Naruto didn't retrieve his chains when he went to open the door.

Short, thick, fit, and curvy, with two long white rabbit ears and dark skin - that woman was unmistakably Mirko, the Rabbit Hero.

"Don't stare at me like that, it's kinda creepy," was the first thing she said when he opened the door and she saw him looking at her intently. "I heard those chains of yours are supposed to cancel quirks, aren't they? Come, do your thing, and make sure I am who I say I am," she said, letting him wrap his Adamantine Sealing Chains around her arm.

If it had been someone using a sort of transformation or illusionary quirk, the contact with the chains would have reverted them to their original appearance. As Mirko remained unchanged, Naruto finally relaxed and brought back his chains inside his body.

"It's good to see you, Mirko. Thank you for saving my life," Naruto said, bowing his head at her.

"Don't sweat it, haha! That's what heroes do," Mirko laughed and ruffled his hair, making sure to scratch him behind the fox ears.

During his one-week-long internship with her, he often got mad at her for petting him as if he were a dog, but, much to her disappointment, she didn't manage to rile him up now.

"Not that we dislike it, but what brings you here? We weren't informed by the police of any visitors," Minato said as he and Kushina came out of the bedroom and closed the door behind them to let Eri sleep in silence.

"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I just wanted to make sure that my cute pupil here was alright," Mirko answered while continuing to ruffle Naruto's hair.

"...You can stop now," Naruto said, annoyance starting to seep into his voice.

Not put off by his grouchy mood, Mirko was actually in high spirits after getting a reaction out of him.

"I happened to overhear what you were talking about. How about I take care of him until UA High's dorms open?" Mirko said and plopped herself down on the couch where Naruto had sat before, bouncing on it a few times on purpose to test its springs.

One look at her rabbit ears, and nobody felt the need to ask how she had heard them without being in the room at that time.

The Rabbit Hero's bubbly personality made a great contrast with Naruto's and his parents' moods.

'She almost died when we were being chased by AFO too. Does she have no sense of crisis or what? What's with her?' Naruto thought while observing her in silence.

"Naruto, what do you think about it?" Minato unexpectedly left the decision up to him.

"I don't know. If I'm going to live with her, I'll probably die… of hunger."

"Oy! I resent that!" Mirko hopped off the couch and poked him in the chest with her finger. "I'll have you know, I'm not a half-bad cook! No, I'm actually awesome!"

Naruto's unexpected little joke and Mirko's overreaction made Kushina burst into laughter. Minato too found himself chuckling a little at their exchange, and with that, the sombre mood from before lightened up a little.

"I didn't see you cook even once during the internship."

"Just because I didn't have the time for it, it doesn't mean I can't do it," Mirko said while crossing her arms at her chest and turning her head away with a "hmpf".

"Jokes aside, is that really okay?" Kushina asked, understanding the kind of risks and responsibility Mirko was assuming by offering to take Naruto in when All For One was out to get him.

"Unless a dozen heroes are protecting a place at all times, it won't matter where he stays, he'd be in great danger regardless if All For One decided to attack him again. That's why I think it's better to always be on the move. He would be safer with me than staying at All Might's old acquaintance," she explained.

"We wouldn't want to impose-" Minato tried to refuse politely, but Mirko waved it off.

"Nonsense, it wouldn't be any trouble for me. I happen to quite like your son," she said while putting an arm on Naruto's shoulder and leaning on him. "I've never had a sidekick before, but I'm looking forward to working together with him."

Minato and Kushina weren't exactly clueless in regard to the Rabbit Hero's fondness for their son. Leaving aside the incident at USJ, Mirko had extended an internship offer to a student for the first time in her career for Naruto's sake, and not only had she put everything down and run to help his family when they were attacked two days ago, but she was also one of the first to rush towards the training camp to rescue him.

And now that she was offering to take care of his necessities and protect him for an indefinite period of time, they would need to be blind not to realise that the Rabbit Hero had become quite attached to their son.

"Frankly, I'm a little worried about him," Mirko said, dropping her smile and adopting a serious look. "From the reports that I've heard and from what Mount Lady and Kamui Woods told me, his quirk was extremely powerful and dangerous after his latest awakening."

As they listened to her in silence, she continued:

"It's the first time in history that the world has seen a quirk evolve so many times. This is the third time already, and something tells me it won't be the last. It's become quite clear that his quirk isn't a mere Fox. That feral nature that comes out whenever adrenaline kicks in and the demonic transformation he got after obtaining the fourth tail make me think his quirk is way different. Far more powerful, far more dangerous."

Naruto was taken aback by how on-point Mirko's suspicions about his quirk were. He could not remember much from the time he took on the form of a demon, but, from his mother's description of his appearance, it became obvious to him too that his quirk wasn't a simple Fox Quirk. It looked almost identical to the Jinchuuriki transformation from his past life - the claws and the slit eyes up until the third tail, and the demon-like appearance of the Jinchuuriki cloak starting with the fourth tail. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"So I want to help him get full control of his new powers before the start of the new school term. A quirk as volatile and powerful as his could pose a grave danger to the people around him, so he needs to have a firm grasp on it. Besides, I told you, didn't I? I like your son quite a lot," Mirko added at the end, grinning when Naruto looked to the side in slight embarrassment.

"Aww, look at him getting shy, isn't he cute?" Mirko cooed, and, at that very moment, the sound of a phone snapping a photo was heard.

"Mom, are you serious right now?!" Naruto said in exasperation.

"Oh, lighten up, you," she said and giggled as she looked at the photo she had just taken.

"Let me see it too!" Mirko said and quickly went to Kushina's side and looked over her shoulder.

"Woah, okay, this is cute," Minato admitted too when he saw the photo. "You'll have to send this to me too. I'll set it as my wallpaper right away."

"Dad, not you too!"

Their ruckus alarmed the sleeping girl next door, and she opened the door of her bedroom to see what was going on.

"My god, she's so adorable!" Mirko said breathlessly and swept the still-not-fully-awake little girl in her arms, smothering her into her large chest.

"Naruto-nii-san, help!" the girl cried out, her voice muffled by her bosom.

⁂

Half an hour later, having left the hotel suite behind, Naruto and Mirko were walking down one of Musutafu City's boulevards and chatting.

"Seriously, what's with your family? You're all so ridiculously handsome and pretty!"

"When a handsome man and a beautiful woman love each other, they-" Naruto began.

"Don't be a smart aleck with me!" she rebuked him and punched him in the shoulder but he sniggered despite the pain.

Even though she was much older than him, Mirko and Naruto did not look out of place walking next to each other on the street. If one did not know their identity, the two of them could even be mistaken as close friends or even a couple. That is to say, her behaviour and especially her attire did not reflect her real age.

Wearing white superstar sneakers on her feet, a pair of denim shorts with fishnet stockings underneath, and a white sleeveless crop top showing off her toned midriff, Usagiyama Rumi was dressed up just like a teen. Her long white hair was styled into a messy bun, and the large yellow sunglasses on top of her head only served to complete the image of youth. It was her well-endowed chest, and her thick thighs, however, that betrayed the fact that it was unlikely for her to be as young as she appeared to be.

"You've been sneaking glances at me for a while," Rumi said, her red eyes looking at him with amusement from under her long eyelashes. "Shall I take it that you like my outfit?"

"Do you have eyes in the back of your head or what?" he shot back.

"As a matter of fact, I do. My quirk awakened two days ago too! Now, I can feel every single gaze of all the passers-by on me. And I've felt yours too." she said coyly.

"You're starting to make me regret not going to live with All Might's old friend!"

"I've been singing praises to you and your parents for half an hour now; would it be that hard for you to return the compliment for once?" Mirko said bummed out and kicked a small pebble on the ground.

"As if you didn't know it already. You're literally the most popular female hero in the country. Everyone likes you."

"But I don't care what everyone thinks now. Now, I want to hear what you think."

"...Are you going to tease me like this every day until school starts?"

Mirko giggled at the exasperation she could hear in his voice.

"Of course."

But after they walked in silence for a minute or two, Naruto unexpectedly said:

"I think you're amazing. You're strong and athletic. You're always happy and in a good mood. And you're the most beautiful woman I've-"

"Hey! What's with you all of a sudden?" Mirko almost shouted, her face getting redder by the second.

"Well, you said you wanted to hear what I think," Naruto said, smirking at the realisation that he had managed to turn the tables on her for once. "You're brave, you never back down no matter the odds, and you're a hell of a fighter. And you've already saved my life twice. You're my favourite hero!"

"My gosh, how are you not embarrassed saying all that?!" she burst out, all the while fanning her face with her hand.

"You wanted to hear my thoughts but now that I've opened up, you're throwing stones at me?" Naruto faked indignation, all the while secretly steaming with embarrassment on the inside too.

While he was not aware of it, Mirko actively teasing him and making him come out of his shell had been her goal all along. Understanding the mental pressure, the stress, and the guilt that he must have been feeling ever since his family got attacked by villains, Mirko did her best to relieve him of his burdens, if only for the moment.

Stopping in front of a restaurant with a store sign depicting a large, bitten slice of pizza, Mirko pointed at it and pulled him by the forearm as she said:

"How about we get some pizza? We'll discuss our plans over dinner."

⁂⁂⁂

AN: I have attached a pic of Naruto's demon form after his third awakening. It's just like the version 2 jinchuuriki form from his previous life.