Chapter 5 Kumarai

(I will be changing badgerbear to Kumarai)

Before Riku had awoken, It had been 2 days since the battle and they had long returned to the Kumarai's habitat.

The large Kumarai that saved Riku was named Nariko. He was one of the two children of the Kumarai leader, luckily for Riku had it been any other Kumarai that appeared. Most likely he would've died, the reason he was even saved in the first place was Kokuenryū's chakra spike that subconsciously gained the attention of Nariko, who noticed the unique colour of Riku's hair and mistaking him for one of their kin.

However the Leader did inform Nariko that the child was infact human. Either way, Nariko felt sympathy for the child because of his poor condition, and so Nariko kept Riku safe within his compound.

…

…

Riku woke up some time later, his memory hazy and his body stiff. He sat up and looked at his surroundings which were somewhat surprising, it looked like he was in a burrow? Maybe underground? Definitely not, he could see a bit of sunlight. The bed he was on was so soft he nearly fell back asleep, he turned his head and saw a large fluffy black and white pillow, as he fell back onto it, his one arm wrapping around the fluffy pillow as he rubbed his face in it.

Then two beady black spheres stared directly at him, before a shiny black nose appeared.

Riku then realised that the fluffy pillow was infact not a pillow, rather it was a.. badger? A big badger? Either way it was pretty cute and it seemed like he wasn't intruding, Riku stood up and inspected his surroundings, he took note of his missing arm, however it was clearly slowly regenerating, he reckoned it would grow fully back in a week or two, which came as a surprise as he had suspected his reptilian regeneration was for minor wounds, however his arms state clearly disproved his theory, he was also relieved as most of his swordsmanship required two hands and he was probably not going to get any hashirama cells to replace his arm anytime soon.

Question was, however, where was he? He hadn't a clue, Riku then politely tapped the badger looking creature with a polite smile as the creature snorted at him "You're awake eh? You are quite warm when you're slumbering." The creature said tiredly, the creature was naturally Nariko, his large size and scar across the bridge of his nose, just like the one Iruka Umino got during the kyuubi rampage.

"Uhm where am I?" Riku said, a bit groggily and confused as his last memory before blacking out was a flurry of various elemental jutsu being flung at him.

"Not even a thank you? Oh well, you're in the Kumarai territory, you know what those are? Right?" Nariko replied with a seemingly soft smile on his face, Riku couldn't tell but he sensed no malice, as for Kokuenryū..

*what a beautiful creature.. that fur! It's exquisite!*

Yeah as expected he was a fan of all things black and white that didn't correlate with Riku, "my hair is black and white too you know.." Riku thought

*yeah your HAIR, That is not fur, and it is especially not scales, maybe if you are adorned with luscious black and white scales then I'd consider you presentable.* Kokuenryū replied as if it was obvious.

"Ah.. no, I lost my memories 4 days ago so I haven't got a clue what a Kumarai is.. But please feel free to enlighten me." Riku replied, a hint of fear in his voice as he didn't know whether or not this would upset the beast.

"Hmm is that so? Oh well you probably wouldn't have known anyways.. We are sheltered from the outside of the rest of the world, the only reason I was able to leave this area was because I am the patriarch's son, Nariko."

Nariko replied softly to Riku's surprise, "Why did you save me?" Riku asked what he and Kokuenryū both were thinking.

"I noticed a chakra signature spiking that was not a humans, after inspection the one emitting the chakra looked like one of our kin with their fur removed, so we saved you because we thought you were a Kumarai. Luckily for you if it was any other Kumarai they would've killed you too." Nariko replied with a yawn as he sat upright.

"Child, what were you doing that deep in the forest all alone? And why was that group of ninja attacking you?" Nariko asked patiently awaiting Riku's answer.

…

"Well.. I was trying to reach Konoha from Sunagakure, I found a village and they pointed me in the direction of Konoha, and on the way there I ended up here where I was attacked by that group for no reason at all but I did manage to kill 11 of them I think, then I was attacked by a flurry of jutsu all at once and blacked out." Riku racked his brain while he tried to tell Nariko everything that happened.

"I see.. well that does add up." Nariko replied thoughtfully.. Now Nariko was stuck between sending Riku back or taking him in, realistically he should send the child back, but it would be dangerous for such a defenseless child to be thrown back into the wilderness like that all alone.. "should I make a summoning contract?" Nariko thought, Riku clearly had enough chakra to withstand a couple summons before being drained, however Riku wouldn't know how to do that.. so Nariko had made up his mind, he would teach Riku some chakra control and maybe he could learn a few jutsu used by the Kumarai by observing the young ones training, I can clearly sense something unusual about this child..

…

…

After an hour of chatting and getting to know eachother Nariko took Riku to explore the area, Riku had a couple of strange looks and cursory glances but no malice, they were probably intimidated by the massive creature that he was accompanied by who was also the son of the strongest Kumarai, Raiden.

Raiden was a very old Kumarai, his fur black, white and grey, a large scar ran the right side of his face, covering his eye and snout, he was around 5 meters tall and the aura he gave off was immense to say the least, even Kokuenryū was slightly shaken, the reason he wasn't shaken in front of Shukaku was because he was prepared, but Raiden.. he wasn't anywhere near as strong, but he definitely was powerful for a regular creature and so Kokuenryū had a bit of respect for the beast.

As Nariko took Riku to Raidens quarters, Kokuenryū informed Riku of another presence besides Nariko and Raiden.

Riku entered the quarters and saw the massive Kumarai, next to him was another Kumarai, smaller than Nariko and Raiden was a seemingly young Kumarai that was trying to not fall asleep standing up.

Riku didn't know what to do, did he kneel? Did he speak? What was he supposed to do?

*hmph, you better not kneel.* Kokuenryū said commandingly, not wanting to be in such an embarrassing state.

"The child has awoken, father." Nariko spoke softly to his father, "I see.." Raiden sized Riku up before his face softened "It seems you're in better condition? I must say you heal pretty quickly… Is that some sort of kekkei genkai?" Raiden asked in a grandfatherly tone.

"What's that?" Riku asked despite already knowing what a kekkei genkai was.

"Oh? Well I suppose you are just a child.. kekkei genkai are DNA abnormalities that grant their carriers special and unique abilities. A kekkei genkai's name defines both the anomaly and the technique that results from said anomaly. Most kekkei genkai are passed down between generations of a clan."

Raiden began, "there are three variations of kekkei genkai, first there are dojutsu, Dōjutsu are special abilities that are present in the eyes that have special perceptive abilities, such as X-ray vision or sharp attention to detail. While some dōjutsu, like the Byakugan from the hyūga clan of Konoha, are present from birth, others, like the Sharingan from the now deceased Uchiha clan, won't activate until certain conditions have been met. Usually a dōjutsu that always appears in a certain family, like the Hyūga clan's Byakugan and the Uchiha clan's Sharingan, eventually becomes referred to as a part of the clan.."

Before Raiden could continue Riku thought "wow, he's really telling me so much information.. well you might wanna listen Kokuenryū cause this is some serious stuff."

Raiden continued "We then have advanced nature transformations, which involve combining two basic of the 5 chakra natures together in a combination to make a completely new nature, such as water and wind mixed to make ice, or fire and earth mixed to make lava. Though it is common for natures to be combined using more than one, the combining of natures in fact requires a kekkei genkai. The Yuki clan is more commonly affected with ice-related natures, though others may occur within individuals of clans with no known relation; an example of this being lava use is observed with natives of Iwagakure, Kirigakure and Kumogakure.

Certain dokei genkai give the users unparalleled methods of utilizing their own bodies, this is the most interesting one and the one I have least information on." Raiden finished.

Nariko interjected "father, he is just a child. He probably didn't understand a thing you just said…" however Riku had already known everything he was just told, and Kokuenryū was intrigued.

"I was thinking maybe you had some sort of unknown dōjutsu due to the strange colour and shape of your irises." Raiden said as if he was teaching a promising student, Riku then replied with "it could be that.. maybe that's why I can regenerate like this?" Riku went along with that idea as he didn't really want to flaunt about having a dragon sealed inside of him until he could protect himself properly.

"Is that all, Nariko?" Raiden said, a bit dissapointed that this meeting was just to announce the awakening of the child.

"I wish to teach the child how to use chakra, and hopefully have him create a summoning contract for his safe journey to Konoha." Nariko said with hope in his beady black eyes.

Riku was shocked, as was Kokuenryū along with both Raiden and the smaller Kumarai.

"I was thinking of having the child to accompany Karah on her training to at least have him capable of defending himself." Nariko said sternly, like a brick wall unwilling to stand down.

"The training would be too difficult for a child like him, Kekkei genkai or not. He is also missing one of his arms and in bad condition. Despite all of this he couldn't defeat those who attacked him." Raiden replied to Nariko, not necessarily declining but combating Nariko's request.

"Pardon my intrusion, but I actually defeated 11 of my attackers before being hit by a barrage of jutsu I had no way of defending as they were all ninja and there was even a Jōnin among them." Riku interjected with a flustered and overwhelmed expresssion.

This news surprised both Raiden and the small Kumarai now known as Karah as Nariko had a smile on his face.

"Well I will say that is impressive for a child that is incapable of effectively using chakra, but he is still in bad shape and will only be harming himself." Raiden said with a bit of disappointment, however "But I will allow the summoning contract. The child can accompany Karah to her training but will be learning basic chakra manipulation and summoning jutsu instead of learning our basic jutsu and unique white spark enhancement jutsu like Karah." Raiden continued with a light smile on his face.

Riku was still in the dark as to why he was being treated so kindly and "to think the first jutsu I would learn is summoning jutsu… well I suppose that would help a lot for getting to Konoha, maybe I could even get a ride there. And unique white spark jutsu? That sounds way too cool, I have to learn that at some point." Riku thought.

*I would agree. You're too fragile as of now, having such a strong beast to aid you in combat would be adequate.* Kokuenryū chimed in.

After Riku and Nariko left, Karah asked her father, Raiden "Why help that human? Did we owe a debt?"

"Hmm, think of it as an investment. I could sense something within that child, something on par with a tailed beast but much more tame, much more… aware?" Raiden replied thoughtfully before letting out a hearty laugh.

"When was the last time we had a summoning contract? Ah this brings back memories!"

_______

Kumarai are a fusion between badgers and bears. They have badger like fur,resilience and durability while having the strength, size and intimidation of a bear. Kumarai are well versed in lightning chakra nature and even have their own unique white lightning they call white sparks. Kumarai specialise in their own jutsu that consist of claw slashes and biting.

Name : Nariko

Gender : Male

Race : Kumarai

Age : 43

Appearance : A large badger looking creature standing at 2.5 metres with the body and face of a bear. He has black and white fur and a scar tracing the bridge of his nose.

Personality : he is very understanding and loves to fight, he is the best fighter amongst the Kumarai other than his father. He is like a big brother in the way he acts towards Riku.

Name : Raiden

Gender : Male

Race : Kumarai

Age : 96

Appearance : a very large Kumarai of 5 metres in height, he had a scar down the right side of his face and his black and white fur had traces of grey from age.

Personality : he is very hearty and boisterous but gets very scary when needed. He never backs down from a challange and loves to teach the young. He is like a grandfather in the way he acts towards Riku

Name : Karah

Gender : Female

Race : Kumarai

Age : 14

Appearance: Karah is a small Kumarai standing only at 1.7 meters in height which was only a bit taller than Riku, she has shiny black and white fur opposed to her brother and fathers rough fur.

Personality : she is slightly bratty at first but she eventually comes around. She loves to talk and play but isn't a fan of fighting. She is like a little sister to Riku.