Naruto's Kit

Chapter 20

Akane was sitting outside on the porch just waiting for her parents to show up. Apparently she had a lot more patience than Naruto did at her age. But she was still bored so she worked on spinning water inside a balloon to pass the time. Sassha and Mino were outside with her basking in the sun while Shiba tried being helpful to Tsunami.

A brief breeze flew by, and Akane caught the scent of several new foxes. Sassha caught it to and sat up, then sniffed again. Mino ignored it and kept sleeping. Sassha seemed to be interested in these scents so she went off into the trees, in the direction away from where Naruto and Hinata had gone off in. Akane arched her eyebrows, wondering what was up with the white fox demon. Curiosity got the better of her, so she followed but kept some distance between them.

When she came to a stop behind a thick tree, she saw Sassha in front of three people who smelled just like foxes. One was a man who looked like he was going to be nearing retirement age soon, one was a woman with auburn hair dressed like a polite hostess with a sword, and the other looked like a teenage boy with no real significant features other than his hair would probably look better on a girl. All of a sudden, all three of them turned into foxes, a tan one with six tails, an auburn one with four, and a black one with three. The tan one had armor on his forearms and the auburn one had a katana strapped to her midsection. The black one was unarmed.

"So, tell us where Kyuubi-sama is." The tan fox told Sassha.

"She is close by. If she can hear us, which I'm sure she can, then she should come out now." Sassha answered.

Akane tensed, not understanding the situation. It looked like her friend's partner knew these foxes so she wasn't afraid they were any threat. However, there was something about this whole situation that made her feel uneased. Like she was about to enter dangerous territory.

Sassha turned her head to look in Akane's direction. "Please come out now. These people want to speak with you."

Akane timidly took a step forward into the open, acting very young Hinata-ish. "Hi, I'm Akane Uzumaki. What do you want?"

The tan fox didn't look impressed. "This is Kyuubi-sama?"

Now Akane looked more certain of herself. "Don't call me that! I'm nothing like that beast!"

The three new foxes, and even Sassha, looked surprised by this outburst. The auburn one spoke up first. "We meant no disrespect, kit. It's just that if you are the nine-tailed demon fox, then there's nothing else we can call you."

"You can call be by my name, Akane. What's yours so I don't call you something wrong?" Akane replied with steel in her eyes.

"I am Keisei. These are Jushiro and Gen." The vixen answered, indicating herself, the tan fox and then the black one. "We work for the Council of Eight, and we're hear to confirm that Kyuubi-sama walks the earth again."

"No, it doesn't." Akane told them, making them confused. "Your precious 'Kyuubi-sama' is dead. I'm someone completely different. Remember that."

Jushiro, the tan fox, looked over Akane carefully. "Hmm... it seems phoenixification has indeed occurred."

"What's that? Something about a bird?" Akane asked.

"No, Kyuubi-sama, it is-"

"I said my name is Akane! Call me Kyuubi again and I'll rip your tails off!" The Uzumaki girl growled.