NaruLand Mission: Fuu, Food

This is for a "mission" in the Naru-Land club. In particular, it's about how Fuu, the jinchuuriki for the 7-tailed horned beetle, discovers her favorite food. Consider everything I do with Fuu as non-canonical, because nothing's been shown on her yet.

I use curly braces {} in place of quotation marks when the Shichibi, Kaku, talks in Fuu's head. Full italicized sentences are Fuu's thoughts.


How Fuu Discovered Insectoid Delicacies

It was raining. It rarely rained in the village, but she hadn't been in the village in months. Curled up in a nook of branches, a young girl waited out the storm with a dull expression. Her growling stomach could be heard even over the patter of raindrops on thousands of leaves. It had been two weeks since her stockpiled food had run out, and she was pondering how she'd find her next meal.

Fuu, you messed up again. Why did you think you could live out here on your own? There's nothing out here but trees and shrubs. She'd tried various leaves when her food stores started to run low, but none in this forest were palatable. I never did think things all the way through. Idiot! What did I think was I going to do when I ran out of food? Go back? She rolled her eyes at the thought. The streams were no good for fishing, they're too shallow for bigger fish and the small ones don't go for bait.

A gravelly voice in her head interrupted, {Just go steal some food from the city, runt! What's the big deal?} The freak in her head was…well, bugging her again. It was only natural he'd be good at it, considering he was an insect himself. {They call you a monster, but refuse to feed you. Treating you like that, of course you'll have to take what you need to survive!} Her stomach growled again as if responding to Kaku's tempting. Shut up, you. You're the reason I'm out here in the first place!

Kaku was unfazed, {No, those damned humans in your village are the reason you're out here! I can't do a thing locked behind this seal, so why are they hostile to you?} A muttered "Hmph!" was her only reply.

{I'll tell you why, runt. Humans are selfish and destructive. They're always looking for something to fear, because that gives them a direction to point their destructive nature so they can build up their precious little communities on sunshine and rainbows! I've seen what happens when humans have nothing to fear – they'll destroy each other for any reason at all, sometimes no reason! Fear is an integral part of humans, because it allows them to channel their hatred at something.}

{Taki's villagers don't fear much. They're raised to believe it would be an honor to drink that special water of theirs so they can destroy all their enemies and die for their village. They don't fear invaders, losing loved ones, or even death. But for no particular reason at all, they fear me. Just because they wanted to, they destroyed my home and locked me up so they could pretend they'd vanquished some dangerous threat.}

You're awfully talkative today, Fuu interjected. {You're awfully introspective today,} Kaku replied.

Touché.

The beetle continued with his story, {But then Konohagakure brought peace to the world, at least for a  little while. Taki's shinobi grew restless in peacetime, and after hearing of other jinchuuriki, they thought it would be a perfect idea to turn me, the great monster, into a weapon for their nation. So I was sealed into you even as you developed in your mother's womb, not due for another–} The green-haired girl interrupted, "Be quiet, just shut up if you're going to talk about my parents again! I know what happened. I know what you did to them!"

{Your parents were scum, runt! Just like everyone else in Taki! Sooner or later they all would have turned on you!}

The reminders of sad memories enraged her, "Shut up! Just shut up!!" She punched the trunk beside her, sending a shock wave through the entire tree and leaving a massive crack where the blow landed. Various debris and insects fell from the shaken branches above, a few landing in the same nook Fuu had sheltered in. One in particular caught her eye – a large male horned beetle that had landed on its back, its legs slowly flailing, helpless. Red eyes brimming with hot tears, she reached down and picked it up.

{What are you…?}

She tore its legs and wings off and without a moment's hesitation bit into it with a loud crunch. Chewing it up and swallowing, she said with a slight smile, "How do you like that, you stupid old bug?"

{Oh my god, you ate Kubo-ojisan!} Kaku exclaimed in mock horror. Fuu burst out laughing along with Kaku, her bad mood forgotten. Suddenly she stopped and recoiled in disgust, "Ugh! Why the hell did I eat that?!" She spit several times before realizing something about the taste.

"That's…actually kind of tasty. Reminds me of popcorn…"

{Well, runt,} a pleased Kaku remarked, {looks like you just found something to whet your appetite!}

She giggled. You're always looking out for me. I'm sorry for getting so angry.

{Don't be. I admit I went too far…not everyone in Taki would have turned on you…}

She hung her head and touched the small red hairband she always wore.

Shin-san…

But for the crunching of the rest of the beetle, all was silent. Fuu stood up, "Ah! The rain's stopped! Kaku, you'd better show me how to find some good bugs! If that one was tasty raw, they must be delicious when cooked! Give 'em a little roast, add a little seasoning…"

{Don't waste time cooking when you're supposed to be training!}

"R-right…just as soon as I…rustle up some grub!" Leaping through the treetops, she snickered at the pun as Kaku groaned.

{Thought of that one all by yourself, did you?}


---< END >---