The Unwanted Uzumaki

When Time Sneaks up on You

"I don't understand Kurama. I have already searched this room." Naruto growled out in confusion to the other individual living within him.

With each word that came rolling into his mind, Naruto threw his eyes around the room searching for the location of the laughter. "The spirits of this place don't always have a form that you would expect. Be careful of this." Kurama warned as Naruto started to head into the eastern part of the room.

When Naruto got about halfway towards his destination, the laugh that has begun to haunt Naruto broke out once more from behind him. Turning around with a speed that must have resembled the wild prey that Sanos was hunting, Naruto was readying to attack when he saw that nothing was behind him save for a clock the height of a medium sized cat.

Thinking that it was a trick of his mind since he was listening for any sound that could possibly sound like a laugh, Naruto turned back to finish exploring the way that he had intended to go. "Thank the Gods..." Naruto muttered under his breath when the realization of what he had just seen came stampeding in. "...wait that clock wasn't there before!" Naruto cried as he turned back to face the object that he was now sure to be the spirit that he was tracking.

The moment that the clock spirit realized that the game it was playing with Naruto was about to come to an end, appendages sprouted from it's wooden body. Before Naruto was able to attack the spirit, it vanished. "What the hell?" Naruto bellowed as he spun himself around the room to see where the spirit could have went. 

Doing so, allowed Naruto to spot the clock spirit running through the middle of the room though every three seconds the clock would vanish and then reappear. "What strange magic is this?" Naruto asked of Kurama. 

"Your guess would be good as mine." Kurama responded before going completely silent to give Naruto room to concentrate on the spirit he was after.

As the spirit continued to flicker across the floor of the room, childlike laughter continued to fill Naruto's ears. "This has to be the strangest spirit that lives within this place." Naruto concluded as he tried to shift through the knowledge that he had to see if one of his spells would help slow this spirit down.

While Naruto was doing this, the clock spirit called out a challenge to him. "Catch me if you can!" the spirit yelled out before breaking out into a fit of laughter that caused it's body to flicker across the floor randomly.

This was all that Naruto needed to vow that one way or the other he was going to capture this spirit. Wanting to better understand the movement of the spirit, Naruto examined it as closely as he could which allowed him to notice that the spirit didn't move itself anywhere that took it off the ground.

Seeing this, a kindling of an idea started to burn within Naruto's mind. Instinctively, Naruto started to to pull on his mana and since he has had much practice over the last six months; it no longer felt as if it would slide away from him.

When he had gather the required mana that the spell required, Naruto threw his hands to the ground. "Ice Make: Floor!" Naruto roared and as his mana came into the world a light blue circle appeared around his hands and from the middle of these circles came a flood of ice that crept across the flooring of the room. 

With each second that passed, the ice covered more and more of the floor and due to the clock spirit's need to flicker around without first looking where it was going; this caused it to slid across the ground. 

Knowing that he needed to use one more spell to ensure that this spirit was trapped, Naruto pushed more of his mana into the ice. "Elemental Release: Icy Grip!" Naruto called out. 

With the name of the spell as well as the mana pushed into the ice, something within the middle of the ice cloaked floor began to ripple. Just as the spirit got back to it's feet, the rippling ice began to slither its way upon the clock spirit. Within seconds the ripples stopped which perfectly bound the spirit in place.

Just like what happened with Sanos when Naruto had passed the test that he put him through, the clock spirit started to transform itself. What was revealed to Naruto was a boy who looked to be only eight years old. 

"You cheated!" the boy cried out as he crossed his arms over his chest. The pout that the boy had on his face only helped enforce that idea that this spirit truly thought of himself as a child. 

Before Naruto was able to disclaim this, he heard a noise from behind him. Turning, Naruto saw that Sanos had appeared. "There you are Naruto, I have been looking everywhere for you..." Sanos  informed Naruto when he came through the open door though when he caught sight of the clock spirit trapped in ice; Sanos changed the course of the conversation. "...ah. I see that you have met Asnos. His teleportation abilities would be quite handy for a Mage." Sanos explained. 

When Sanos entered the room, Asnos must not have liked not being the center of attention any longer since a mere second later he appeared in the door way of the room. Before Naruto was able to say anything, Asnos vanished once more. 

*

Naruto sat in the central room of the library. As usual Sanos sat across from him and as they were sitting there, Naruto was examining Asnos who had wandered out to where they were. Though the clock spirit had yet to bring out his contract for Naruto to sign, it seemed to the blond Mage that all it would take would be a few kind words for the spirit to do this. 

Though before Naruto would make his way over to the spirit that he hoped would be the second on in his arsenal, he turned towards Sanos. 

"Sanos. Is there anything that you can tell me about Asnos? He seems like he wants to form a contract with me but I am not sure how I can get his trust since he hasn't spoken to me since before you arrived." Naruto asked of the wolf spirit before giving him his explanation for why he was asking. 

The wolf spirit didn't answer right away which made Naruto think that maybe he wasn't going to though before Naruto could move a muscle, the voice of the other male was fluttering towards him. "When I first met Asnos, he hadn't yet chosen a human form though over time it became clear that he enjoyed the way that children always seemed to be happy and because of this he chose the form you see now. Though because of his childlike nature, many of his masters grew displeased with him and in hopes of correcting this; they would beat him..." Sanos explained and though he took a pause to catch his breath, Naruto knew that he wasn't done speaking yet. "...I remember that one Mage that both myself and Asnos served, beat him so bad that it damaged his human form and for a decade after, Asnos was unable to take the form while it healed itself." Sanos finished. 

The moment that Sanos finished explaining some of Asnos's past, Naruto was moving towards the clock spirit. When Naruto got close enough to the spirit, he bent down to speak to him. "Asnos..." Naruto started and though the spirit in question didn't respond to him; Naruto saw his ear twitch slightly which told him that Asnos was listening. "...I want you to know that what happened to you in the past is a horrible thing that no one should have to go through. Even if you don't choose me as your contract holder, whenever I have the time; I will play with you." Naruto explained to the younger looking male. 

Though this still didn't bring Asnos to speak to Naruto, a smile spread across his boyish face. With a wave of his hand Asnos brought out his contract which was a deep silver colored book. 

Giving Asnos a smile of his own, Naruto picked the book up and signed it and just like with Sanos's contract; the moment that Naruto finished placing his signature with the pages, the contract vanished. 

Authors notes: Here is my second attempt at bringing a new Celestial Spirit into this story. I hope that everyone likes how I portrayed my characters. Also the spell that Naruto used to bind Asnos, was an original one that I had come up with since there wasn't many ice spells that I actually liked. As always, please review and I will see you next time!