A Different Kind Of Journey 36 Arc 3: New Friend Part 1

I don't own Naruto. Kis.h.i.+moto Does.

Author's note: Hey there Readers!, Looks like we've finally entered Arc 3! I Hope you guys enjoy! I would also like to thank you guys for the Reviews. Favorites, and follows :) Thank you for also sharing your tips and thoughts for the story..

Thank you for Understanding :)

Expect Grammar and Spelling mistakes

P.S: I am just newbie so go easy on me

Arc 3:

Chapter 3 : A New Friend Part 1

(Earlier That Day)

"That good for nothing fox stole my fish again! Stop It!"

Yells and curses can be heard throughout a public wet market as chaos abruptly took over the usual business of the market's vendors and customers. Apart from the common noisy and chaotic atmosphere of the place, Stall owners found themselves staring at their products in shock as majority of them were scattered all over the ground because of a certain furry fox.

"Somebody catch that fox! It ransacked my stall!"

The yells didn't stop from there, some of the vendors had already banded together on catching a certain red-orange furry nine-tailed fox, which ran around the wet market for its life and also for the means to escape.

Kurama observed his current surroundings as He looked for a way out of this place. He was also carrying his fish, which he stole a little while ago, through his mouth. He really had to admit that this was the biggest fish that he had yet so far.

Meanwhile, the band of vendors continued to attract members and the group eventually grew into a small mob. Kurama who had expected this, finally thought of plan to finally get away from them. His plan was just simple, try to confused and elude the small mob of vendors chasing him.

The good thing about the plan is that He still has a little bit of chakra inside of him, which he immediately tapped in to create an exact shadow clone of himself that appeared in a puff of smoke beside him.

Meanwhile, the small mob of vendors were taken by surprised as they suddenly found themselves looking at two foxes in front of them. Some of the members of the mob were overtaken by confusion or some were just dumbfounded to a.s.sumed that the fox had an accomplice.

"They are two of them!" One of the members from the mob exclaimed.

Kurama could only smirked as his plan finally worked. He then instructed his clone to head to another direction and thus they split. On the other hand, the small mob of vendors split up to catch the other one while the main group stayed and focused on catching the main one.

After a few moments, The crimson fox finally found himself at the exit, and while still being chase by the mob, He then finally decided to go full speed as he finally escaped the mob of angry vendors that were chasing him.

"Idiots." Kurama gave a smirked as He dispelled the clone that he summoned just now.

It was now safe to say that Kurama could finally have his lunch. The only problem that He has right now is finding a place or spot to eat his fish in peace.

(LATER ON)

It was a very peaceful and sunny day throughout village of the hidden leaves. The shops were in their usual business as the customers continued to flocked them. Families and couples were also happily spending time together.

Kurama's crimson eyes observed the current crowd as He headed towards his destination, which was his home. Temporary home to be exact. Besides the occasional looks from curious children, He wondered on why the people here of this time wasn't taking noticed of him despite the fact that he was the Kyuubi No Youku himself and He was carrying a fish on his mouth.

It was a thing that Kurama couldn't even explain even to himself. He knew that the Kyuubi incident was still fresh in most of the villagers mind even though 15 years had already pa.s.sed since. He just didn't knew on whether He should be confused or amused but it was a good thing that He was invisible from the villagers' eyes.

Kurama really had to admit that He wasn't the one that intentionally attacked the village. In fact, it was that d.a.m.n Uchiha crooked that made him do it. Even though, He had a resentment towards humans before, He would never attacked a village for no reason. He wasn't that stupid.

After several distances of travelling, Kurama finally reached his destination. It was an alleyway that stretched long towards the other side. However, It wasn't the alleyway itself that he was exactly going to but it was a rooftop of a building which was situated in the very area. There was this set of mettalic stairs that was attached on the building and that led him to his exact destination, which was his safe place.

Kurama wasted no time as He jumped from his former position towards the metallic stairs. It didn't took him a long time as he finally reached the rooftop of the said building and once he got there,

He was greeted by the silent and peaceful windy atmosphere that he was expecting.

Kurama sat down at his usual preferred spot which was located near the end of rooftop, which was had an entire view of the long alleyway. He heard rumours that this alleyway was considered dangerous for pa.s.sers by and anyone that would go in here, will be attacked by angry animals.

"Oh you mean the stray dogs." Kurama thought. He knew the real truth about this place. Those animals that were attacking people here were just a group of stray dogs from every place in the village that eventually found itselves in this alleyway thus a community of them was formed.

Kurama shook his head. He really had no time to think about this right now. All He had on his mind was about the fish that He was going to eat to fill in his empty stomach. He wasn't going to let any thoughts prevent him from doing anything.

Not even Kami himself.

He knew that He was going to live the rest of his life like just one of the stray animals in the village. He was not the powerful Kyuubi No Youku anymore and since he was stripped from his power and was unexpectedly sent here had no choice but moved on.

However, as He was about to open his mouth to take a bite on the fish, Fate would intervene as He was suddenly interrupted by a certain group of winged feathery creatures that landed in front of the fox.

Kurama looked up to see a a group of fish-eating birds that arrived near his spot. He narrowed his eyes as he examined the group of birds that were directly staring at his breakfast and they seemed to be all hungry.

Kurama narrowed his eyes in annoyance." Hey fellas, If you wanna eat some fish, got get yourselves somewhere, this is not for you." He told the group of birds who were just there and continued to stare.

He then shook his head as he then proceeded back to take his first bite on the fish. Although, He was suddenly interrupted yet again.

"Meow!"

Kurama stopped himself from taking his first bite as he then looked up from his left to see a couple of cats that were also looking and watching him directly eat the fish. The two cats had a looked of hunger on their faces.

"Am I that Famous?" He commented. Everybody was just here to watch him.

Kurama sensed that He was really being targeted here, especially his fish. He really wanted to eat his breakfast right now and He was being prevented to do so. After a few moments, the group of birds and the two cats surprisingly left, leaving him alone again.

Kurama widened his eyes in surprised. He never expected this to happened but the good thing was that he can finally eat his breakfast in peace once again.

The silence had came back. It was only him, his breakfast, and the wind that was left. Kurama wasted no time as he opened his mouth wide to take his long awaited first bite.

As He was about to take this first bite, He was suddenly interrupted yet again. This time it was someone yelling for help. Kurama widened his eyes as He realized that it was some kid's voice that was yelling for help, and it was followed by the loud barking of dogs.

Kurama then decided to leave his breakfast for awhile to take a good look to see what was really going on. He then headed to the viewing spot of the rooftop to discover that there's a kid being chased by the group of angry dogs, living in the area.

Kurama raised an eyebrow, To him, the kid really looked familiar but He just can't seemed to figure it out yet. He then continued to observed for a few short while to see what was gonna happen next. He was already thinking of helping the kid if anything bad happens.

However there was suddenly another commotion happening from behind. Kurama then turned around only to see the group of birds and two cats having a tug of war. "You've got to be kidding me!" He yelled in shocked.

Apparently, His only breakfast was now being devoured by them. Kurama could only sighed and shook his head." Oh whatever!" He said to himself.

He then turned back to the main commotion to see that boy had tripped and was now on the ground while the group of angry dogs were nearing him. Realizing that his breakfast was gone, Kurama then decided to choose the other path and jumped down from the rooftop to help the boy.

Before that, He suddenly felt pain on his back. Kurama cringed." d.a.m.n, I must be getting old!" He commented. He had been experiencing back problems since he had arrived here and He doesn't know why.

By the time the pain faded away, Kurama then made his move and jumped from the rooftop. He safely landed on the ground betweem the boy and the group of angry dogs.

(PRESENT)

Konohamaru could only closed his eyed as he waited for whats to come to him. But suddenly another presence had unknowingly entered the scene.

The sounds of the barking turned into frightful noises. The boy then opened his eyes only to be greeted by a new presence in front of him.

Konohamaru widened his eyes to see some kind of furry animal in about the size of the dogs. It had nine long swiping tails. It has red-orange fur with black fur around its eyes that stretches to its ears, red irises with black slits for pupils and the upper-body structure of a human, complete with opposable thumbs on its clawed hands. Its overall appearance was leaner and softer while less-defined in shape with a rounder face, akin to a some kind of cub.

He then began to realized that animal itself was some kind of fox. But He wasn't on what kind of breed was it. Meanwhile, the dogs scrammed away from the scene. In fact, they were all instantly scared or even afraid of the fox.

Konohamaru then slowly moved and grabbed his bag, by the time he stood up, the fox had turned around to face him. The boy was shaking in fear. He really hoped that this fox won't bite him.

There was a brief silence between the boy and the fox. Konohamaru observed the cute animal as it appeared to be weary and exhausted from everything.

He was about to open his mouth to thank the fox when it suddenly spoke.

"Are you alright kid?" The fox spoke which really freaked the boy out.

Konohamaru was taken over by surprised." Yeah I'm fine and...Wait You can talk!?" He exclaimed. He was freaking out right now.

The fox, which appeared to have male raspy voice spoke." Of course I can talk, never heard or seen a talking fox before?" He sarcastically asked.

"No not really." The boy replied back as he then began to observed his surroundings and realized something.

His eyes widened in surprised. "Cool! is this where you really lived?" He asked.

The talking fox sighed." Well, not necessarily because I prefer moving from place to place." He explained as he proceeded to leave the area.

"Hey, where are you going?" Konohamaru asked.

"To somehwere where I can fill my empty stomach." The fox replied.

"You can come with me to my house, There's a lot of food there you can eat!" The boy replied back.

The fox's ears lit up and He stopped its tracks as He turned around to face the boy again with an eyebrow raised." Tell me, What's your name kid?" He asked.

"It's Konohamaru, what about yours?" The boy replied back.

There was a brief moment of silence yet again. The fox closed his eyes for a short while before opening it and giving the boy a smirked.

"You can call me Kurama."

(WITH JIRAIYA)

As the day continued on its way towards the afternoon. A certain long spiky white haired man with a purpose walked through the streets of the village. His dark brown eyes observed a small note that contained detailed address to the time travelling trio's home.

"Hmmm, Where is this Evergreen Street?"

Jiraiya scratched the back of his head as he attempted to figure out the location of this street. He had to admit that this street was very difficult to find. In truth, He really didn't knew every place in the village, except for common ones such as the Hokage building and the public hot spring that he would always go to for research purposes.

He already spent a couple of hours traversing every street that he knew just to find that apartment that the trio lived in.

Jiraiya scratched his head." Tsunade, Why would you provide me a location that is hard to find?" He asked. Tsunade did really played the jokes on him, She really had tricks up on her sleeved to put him in this kind of situation.

The question is if He should continue the search or just call it a day?

(MEMORIAL SITE)

"So this is the Memorial Site."

Boruto currently observed his surroundings as He strolled around the park that would be known as the "Konoha Memorial Park." It was place were all the people that were significant to a memory or an important event in history were rested here.

The place was quiet and indeed peaceful, there weren't much people around here at this hour but overall it was comfortable place for anyone who would want to take sometime alone.

Boruto could feel the loneliness and sadness in this place. As He looked at every grave, He began to wonder each of their stories. These people must've been courageous and loved the so much village that they were willing to sacrifice their lives so that their home would be safe.

Boruto gave a sorrowful face. Thoughts were now entering his mind yet again. He began to imagine on how the families of these deceased Heroes handled this. It must've been really difficult for them to lose their loved ones.

The blonde hated to say this but most of these Heroes met a tragic end. He really hated to see lives being ended so abruptly. These people should be living promising lives and they should be living happily with their families and loved ones. They really don't deserved this kind of ending.

Boruto then darted his eyes towards the his little sister and teammate who were currently with his Uncle/Princ.i.p.al Iruka, who was offering flowers to his parents on certain spot at the memorial.

Boruto gave a sad smile, He almost forgot that his dad's former teacher was also an orphan. He heard that the latter's parents gave their lives during the Nine-tails incident many years ago.

"Just like Grandpa and Grandma." Boruto muttered. He suddenly remembered his grandparents that he had never met before in his whole life. The old photos give him the idea of what they looked like but he had no knowledge of what kind of persons they were. Even his dad didn't have the chance to meet them, they died during the Nine-tails incident giving up their lives to protect their only son.

Boruto then wondered if his young dad already knew about his parents or maybe He wasn't just aware of it. He also wondered if his dad already knew about Kurama, who was all along sealed inside of him.

Speaking of Kurama, He recalled that the big fox himself was fighting the mysterious enemies that invaded the village back in the future and especially Kawaki, the person who was the one responsible for the destruction.

If his old man didn't adopted him in the first place then none of this would have happened. His old man just liked adopting kids that were either had a bad past or were just outsiders to begin with. He treated Kawaki is if He was his own son to begin with and He didn't knew that He would one day suffer the consequences from the hands of the boy he took care as a member of the family.

Getting back to Kurama, His past self was very much a different person compared to the more relax and funny of himself from the future. He recalled that his dad used to summon him to a miniature pet version of himself and then he would get cuddled by Himawari.

If He was really here with them, Himawari would be so much happier than ever.

(A NEW FRIEND)

Kurama never expected to be in this kind of situation. Apparently, they were supposed to be heading to the kid's home but instead they were at the local park and He currently found himself being cuddled by a lot of cute children.

"You've got to be kidding me." Kurama, with a deadpanned expression commented.

He finally recognized the kid that he met back at the alleyway. The name Konohamaru ringed a bell for him but his antics helped him realized that this kid was none other than Naruto's unofficial protege. Apparently, the kid suddenly had an empty stomach along the way and so they stopped by at the local park to eat some snacks and ice cream from a nearby food stall.

"Hey, watch the tails!" Kurama annoyingly said as couple of kids were playing with his nine tails.

After awhile, the kids were then called by their parents and Kurama was left there a little bit s.h.a.ggy and a bit ruined. He just wanted to cry because he can't handle the kids anymore because they were treating him like some stuff teddy bear.

At the same time, Konohamaru finally came back with the dangos and two large cups of ice cream and placed them on the park bench." Sorry about that, I just felt a little hungry, that's all." He grinned.

Kurama sighed." Don't worry, just keep eating and you'll get fat like that guy who always eat potato chips everyday." He commented as he was referring to a certain Chouji Akimichi.

Konohamaru chuckled." You're really good at making jokes, ya know that." He said.

"Yeah, whatever but tell me kid are you always this alone?" Kurama asked as he took a dango by his using his tails and ate it.

"Well, I'm not really that of a loner, I got some friends but when I'm in the house, Maybe I gotta say that I'm alone." Konohamaru explained as He ate his ice cream, which was vanilla flavour sprinkled with bits of chocolates.

Kurama widened his eyes in surprised." Where are your parents then?"

Konohamaru just gave a sad." I really don't know." He replied. He would go on to explained that his parents were elite s.h.i.+n.o.bi that belonged to the Anbu Division and they were always away with their missions. The boy was actually raised mostly by his Uncle and Grandfather.

Kurama could only sympathized with the boy. He really didn't want to spill out the beans to him and tell him that his parents were either both missing or never coming back. He just gave a sad smile.

"So what about you? What's your story?"

Kurama could only sighed, He never thought that He was gonna tell his story from the beginning and since that he was aware that he was in the past, He might changed a few things to make his story sensible to anyone.

"Well, I actually came from a family of foxes that lived in a temple somewhere in the forest, courtesy of mother nature." He explained as he was referring during time when he was still living at the temple that Hagomoro had sent him to.

"A temple? You mean like where those monks lived?" A surprised Konohamaru asked.

Kurama simply nodded."Yeah pretty much, It's actually somewhere in the land of fire." He added.

"Awesome! But How did you end up here?" Konohamaru asked. He wondered why He would choose leave his home.

Kurama sighed yet again. He wasn't that good of a storyteller himself but he still continued anyway. He would then explained that there were numerous attempts to invade and ransacked the temple, most the attempts were unsuccessful because of him. He was the guardian of this temple and many were afraid because of his reputation for creating disasters.

"Woah! You're really a guardian of that temple!? How cool is that!" Konhamaru exclaimed. He was amazed to think that this cute fox was considered a guardian of a place.

Kurama slightly smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, it's cool." He said. He would then continue his story on how he end up all the way here.

"Eventually, the temple got destroyed because of some guy named "Madara" and found myself surviving and escaping the destruction." He explained.

He would then insert his made up story of hitchiking into a cargo wagon that was coincidentally on its way to the village and from that then on he spent the rest of his life living in the village as one of the stray animals here.

"That's really sad ending for you." Konohamaru commented as he took a scoop of ice cream towards his mouth.

Kurama sighed." It's doesn't get anymore sadder than this." He thought.

In fact, the true story was that Kurama himself actually came from 20 years into the future. The future that he was living in was very different from the time right now. The world was more peaceful and there were barely wars happening which was a good thing for every village and country until all that changed when a kid named "Kawaki" arrived into their lives.

Kurama observed his surroundings once again. He darted his eyes to every thing that he can see. The memories were slowly returning as he freshly remembered the events, especially Naruto's untimely sacrifice.

(Flashback Memory)

Destruction was the word that Kurama could only used to describe the current state of the village. The place was just now a sh.e.l.l of its former self. Everything was now gone. It was only him and his friend, Naruto, who were still standing amongst the ruins of the village.

Kurama gave all that he has got as He battled the enemy forces that had invaded and attacked the village, He wasn't sure of their purpose here but He got the feeling that their actual target was Naruto and himself. They were currently fighting in seperate ways as the fox was busy handling the combined enemy forces of the village, including the Kara organization and others.

Kurama, who reverted back to miniature form darted his eyes towards Naruto, who was fighting Kawaki himself. The fox widened his eyes in surprised as He noticed that the blonde was apparently holding back.

"What the h.e.l.l is He doing?" Kurama wondered. The kid was considered an enemy, why wouldn't the blonde just give his full power to defeat him.

Kurama narrowed his eyes, He already knew what to do and that is head there and help his friend. He has thought of the possibility of bringing Naruto and the rest of the family away from here. He knew that at some point, They will eventually fall down.

He knew that he had still time. Hinata, Himawari, Sarada and the rest were at the safe zone protecting the surviving civilians. If He could only just s.n.a.t.c.hed Naruto quickly and get away from here.

As Kurama was about to the transform back into his original large form to help and save the blonde when He was suddenly prevented from doing so.

At that very same time, Naruto knew that He can't bring himself to kill Kawaki and He used the little time that He had to turned around directly towards Kurama, He then gave a smile and nod, telling him go on his own and take the rest of the family away from these village. He also had Kurama released from the seal so that he could roam freely and escape.

Kurama was shocked. He really wanted to save the blonde, but He had no choice but just to follow his instructions. There was a tear that fell from the fox's eyes and a few moments later, He saw Kawaki, who made the final move and stabbed the blonde right into the chest.

Naruto's strength slowly faded away as He knelt down on the ground, while Kawaki stood in front and just watched him with merciless eyes.

"NARUTO!"

Kurama was screaming from the inside his mind. He felt his anger boiling up from inside of him. He was about to go berserk and wrecked havoc when he suddenly remembered his current goal. Completely devastated inside, the fox could only calmed himself down. He needed to focus on his goal and not do anything stupid.

Before leaving the area, He felt a presence from a few distances away and He turned his eyes towards the source of that presence. Kurama widened his eyes as He saw a lone mysterious human figure that was just standing on top of a small hill of debris and rubble.

He couldn't described what the figure looked like because it was from a very far distance but He took note of the menacing amber eyes and cruel smile that the figure had as if it really wanted this to happened.

Kurama gritted his teeth. He began to wonder if that person was the one responsible for everything. He then noticed that He was running out of time and He immediately fled the scene, without looking or turning back.

He would forever regret his actions for not helping the kit.

(A NEW FRIEND)

Kurama recalled that fateful day. There were many questions that were still left unanswered. Such as what caused that huge explosion that immediately engulfed him while he was on his way to find the others, that sent him here? Who or what was that mysterious figure watching them from a distance? What that figure the one responsible for all of this? This was really a very confusing thing to begin with.

Kurama had been living in the past for weeks now. He remembered waking up in an random alleyway in a very much alive but different Konoha. He really wanted to find out on what was really going on.

"Hey are you okay?"

Kurama was brought to reality as his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by none other than Konohamaru himself, who was giving him a confused look.

"You've been staring at the air for awhile now." The boy explained.

Kurama blinked a couple of times before realizing that he was reliving the memories again. He shook his head and sighed." Oh, I was just dozing off, You don't have to worry about that." He explained.

"Oh, then I guess you're pretty much tired already, Don"t worry I got plenty of beds at the house to sleep in." Konohamaru grinned. He really wanted to give the fox a home to belong to.

Kurama sighed but smiled. He was starting to like the boy a bit despite the latter's reputation as a little knucklehead. It was safe to say that He was able to established a friens.h.i.+p with a person from the past.

As for Konohamaru, He wasn't expecting this thing to happen to him. But he was glad to have met Kurama, in this times of loneliness. He was also proud that he could helped and give the nine-tailed fox a home and He knew that He won't be lonely anymore.

Konohamaru didn't expect that in this day, He would be finally make a new friend.

(CHAPTER END)

AN: Thank you for reading the chapter:)