The Goddess of Hunter

She found herself in a forest, but unlike the one she was in before. Here, the twilight seemed unending as the grass laid still as if dead. The tall trees lacked the liveliness that she felt when she used to dance through Konoha's forests whilst the canopy only let in a slimmer of sunshine.

"What the…" She murmured.

The whole place seemed dead, almost haunting, could animals even survive in such a dreadful place?

"I see that you have finally decided to grace me with your presence, Kit." A voice echoed through the forest. She was instantly on guard and reached for the bow that was usually strung on her back, but to her surprise all she felt was empty space. Her hunting knife was also missing, leaving her defenseless.

"Don't be so alarmed, we are within your mindscape, we are only here to talk." The voice called again, this time clearer. She could make it out as female, but was far too deep for a human.

"Show yourself, then we talk." She said, attempting to stay calm. She knew what a mindscape was as Kushina had once said something about where the Kyuubi's chakra would manifest itself. If this was the case, then it meant that there was only one answer as to who the mysterious entity was.

"By the look on your face, you seem to have figured it out." The owner of the voice then stepped out.

A woman walked out from the woods to her side. A miko outfit covered her body whilst her emerald green hair flowed down to her waist with her slitted turquoise eyes staring right into her own. Her most peculiar features included the two animal ears that sprouted from her head and the nine tails that calmly swayed behind her. She also noted the cuffs that held the woman's hands together.

Seeing the blank look on her face, the woman decided to talk first.

"Yes, I am what you know as the Kyuubi, though the old man gave me the name 'Kurama' when he created us, though he just used to call me Kura-chan, do feel free to do so, kits need someone to look up to," She said with a chuckle, her eyes unwavering.

After a few moments of staring at the emerald haired woman with wide eyes, she regained her senses.

"Quite the mindscape you have, don't you think? A forest does define you very well, though your experiences in life seem to have dulled its colour."

"Why are you so familiar, shouldn't you be trying to break out of this seal, and is the Kyuubi really female?" She asked with caution. Who knows what the tailed beast would do if angered.

"Curious one aren't you? Though I don't blame you, not everyone gets to meet with my soul." She seemed distant for a moment before recovering herself.

"First of all, I don't technically have a gender, we tailed beasts are simply mass constructs of chakra created by the Rikudou Sennin using the Banbutsu Sozo no Jutsu." She explained, pausing to allow the young girl to take in what was just said.

"However, life cannot be created without a soul, therefore we nine tailed beasts were formed with the soul of a long dead human within us. This form is simply what my soul reflects, who the soul once was.

"And also, I'm not attempting to break out because for one it would be meaningless due to the power of the seal, and for two I wouldn't want to harm the only family I have. Though I should also mention that though I do desire freedom, I don't have the power to do anything once I do get out, my chakra is still sealed within your siblings and escaping would simply give me a free pass to the shinigami." She sighed, shuddering at the last thought.

"Eh?" Naruko's mind went blank for a moment, trying to comprehend what the Kyuubi had just called her. "Family?"

As if remembering something, the woman's eyes widened for a moment before smiling lightly. She pointed at the small lake a few steps away, telling her to go see for herself.

Seeing that no harm could be done, she listened and walked towards the riverbed. The water was still whilst no sign of life could be seen within, but the reflection was still clear. She gasped.

She saw herself, but different. Emerald green hair covered her front face whilst familiar turquoise eyes holding a beastly glint stared back at her. As she looked at her reflection, she also registered the slight weight on her head, and with it also noticed that her remaining bright Namikaze yellow hair now flowed down to her waist much like the Kyuubi.

What was even more noticeable were the two fox ears and nine swishing tails

"W-what happened to me." She slowly managed to get out as she played with her emerald locks to confirm if they were real.

"A Soulmerge, the act of combining two existing souls. Though technically a taboo and forgotten, since it requires the stealing of a soul, our case is one of a kind and an exception since no sacrifice is required." She explained with no visible change in expression.

"So our souls are currently merged?" She asked, uncertain to how she should be feeling to know that she shared a soul with the Kyuubi.

"No, we're only halfway there. There's still the essence of our original souls remaining, meaning that there are currently three souls housed inside you, the leftover of our two original souls and the third which is the combination of the two."

"So how do we complete it?" She asked again without much thought, not sure if she even wanted to, though her instincts told her that there would be consequences if the state of her body was left as such.

"The changes to your body occurred due to the partial merge since you contain my essence within your soul. If we don't complete the merge, very simply put you will gain a very, very bad and uncontrollable split personality issue." She continued without giving the panicking child a chance to voice her opinion.

"Which is why we need you to complete the merge soon, though I warn you that something similar to this will occur. There will be more noticeable changes afterwards and your body structure should also change to that of a chakra structure like mine, though you should still function like a human." The tone she used wasn't exactly reassuring, but it did carry the hint that she had no other choice.

"I'll tell you now, but since the moment you completed the partial merge during that fight with the boar, you became one of my own, you are currently closer to me than your parents since I single handedly make up half your structure, which is why to me, you are precious, perhaps even more so than my fellow siblings."

Naruko could tell that the Kyuubi was genuinely honest with the statement, though understandable. She (it was easier to refer to as a she than an it) had lived for eons without anything she could relate to, with the closest connections she possessed being the other tailed beasts even though they were wholly different. If such a being were to suddenly gain something that righteously called a family, then it would naturally cling to it.

Also not mentioning the protected nature of Kitsune towards its children.

Wait—

Children?

"T-then—" She began before gulping.

"Hmm?"

"Am I technically your child?"

Silence permeated through the forest as the Kyuubi's eyes widened. She stared at her with mouths agape and startled eyes. It was only broken after a hard minute.

"Yes… If you put it like that, then I guess I am… A parent, huh?" The Kyuubi pondered as she repeated the word 'parent' several times to herself as if she were foreign to the concept itself.

"Very interesting… family we may be now, but don't bother addressing me as a parent, the Soul merge means that I am also technically half of you, so we are more of siblings than anything really."

Siblings? Naruko thought as she looked up towards the sky. She hadn't really interacted with Yoshina and Menma since she had started living in the forest, so she never really knew what it was like to have siblings. But she was lonely, and the thought of having someone accompanying her throughout her life no matter where she was elated her. A small smile graced her lips as she looked back down towards the confused Kyuubi who was still trying to comprehend the type of relationship the two now shared.

"Anyways, let's get onto more of the practical things. The merge affects everything that you were in immediate contact with, so you may find that your clothes, knife, bow and quiver have been 'slightly' modified as they are now part of who you are." 

"A part of me?" she questioned, interrupting the Kyuubi mid sentence, completely forgetting exactly who she was talking to. She realised the mistake a moment later.

"S-sorry for the interruption—won't happen again, believe it!" She shouted, tripping over her own words. As she heard the sound of laughter, she lifted her head in confusion. A laughing Kyuubi met her sight.

"Hehe… the way you talk so similar to Kushina." If the Kyuubi was expecting a negative reaction from Naruko, then she was sorely mistaken as the young girl simply nodded in acceptance.

"Anyway, as I was saying, anything that was directly on you at the time including your hunting gear and clothes, bow, quiver and knife are now directly a part of your soul. They can only be worn or wielded by you and you alone. If they are destroyed, they will simply rebuild themselves and are all special in their own rights.

"The effects usually depend on the strength of the souls involved, and a few thousand years ago when Soul Merges were still in practice, two regular civilian souls could result in turning a chipped blade into a fine masterpiece. 

"You and I, however, are anything but regular civilians. With the soul of an Uzumaki and mine, a tailed beast, you can expect something quite phenomenal, you've already seen the capabilities of that bow of yours."

She nodded. Indeed, a small tug on the bowstring resulted in destruction equal to B-rank techniques, who knew what it could do once she could utilize it fully.

"I warn you, as you are now you won't be able to even pull that bow properly, but it should still be a major boost from what you were previously using. I have no idea what your other gear are capable of, that's for you to find out. Don't be alarmed if your clothes have changed, they now reflect your soul, though I guess I should congratulate you as you finally have something other than those makeshift clothes those humans made for you."

"Hey! Mikoto made those clothes, you know!" Naruko blurted out, not even bothering to be respectful.

"Hahaha, very interesting Kit you are, or perhaps sister now? Meh, Kit is easier. Anyways, it's time you wake up or the food from yesterday might go bad, don't want the Uchiha woman's cooking to go to waste, do you now?" She teased.

Right, Mikoto gave me some food last night, completely forgot. She thought in embarrassment. With that, her consciousness started to fade as she disappeared from the mindscape, leaving the Kyuubi to herself.

"Why did that memory trigger an awakening?" She asked whilst looking towards a certain tree, where a figure could be seen sitting on a branch far high up.

"I don't know, she told me that the memory apparently made her proud of me, so I thought that her soul would recognise the event even though it is technically from the future." The figure, clearly female, said. Though not much could be made out of the figure due to the shadow overlapping her, the Kyuubi could make out two animal ears, a large black longbow strapped to the figure's back and a… cat tail?

"The future, you say?" The Kyuubi asked in bewilderment. All the tailed beast knew was that the figure had appeared in Naruko's mindscape during the boar attack and forcibly inserted one of her memories into Naruko's mind. She did not by any means expect this to be a visitor from the future.

"Indeed, though I can't tell you too much since that would be beyond what the laws of existence forbid me. All I will say is that a certain annoying and troll of a powerful being decided to send me to this certain universe temporarily since apparently Mo—I mean, Naruko wouldn't be able to complete an awakening by herself in this universe." The figure muttered something about an annoying dead apostle making fun of her afterward.

The Kyuubi raised an eyebrow at how simple the figure made dimensional travel seem. If she remembered correctly, Kaguya was the only one capable of such a feat, this 'troll' person must be a very powerful being.

"I see, then I won't ask, though I see that your presence is disappearing, I'm guessing this has something to do with this 'troll' you are talking about?"

"Ah, yes, the wretched male said that I wouldn't be able to remain long after interfering with another dimension's events… So I guess I'll be going now."

Just then, a flicker of light entered through the leaf canopy and onto the figure's face, revealing it. The Kyuubi gasped as she stared at the briefly revealed face with wide eyes. Emerald bangs with the majority of the hair being a bright flaxen shade. In fact, her appearance could be said to be similar to Naruko's current appearance—too similar for comfort.

"Well it certainly was a good experience seeing how she used to look, but this is goodbye, do look after her, auntie!" The teen cried as she was swiftly swallowed by a wormhole, much like a Kamui.

The Kyuubi blinked.

and again.

and again.

and again.

and finally, she regained a small portion of her thought processes, enough to think.

"AUNTIE?! WHAT IN TH—oh…" Then realisation hit her. A small chuckle then rapidly evolved into uncontrollable laughter.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, very interesting indeed!"

Though the events would be unknown to Naruko for a long, long time.