Chapter 11 - 11: The Nine Tailed Beasts

The man from the train turned out to be the new DADA professor. A man named Remus Lupin. He didn't look too impressive and was not very well off given the state of his clothes.

As the barmy old coot announced the presence of dementors in search of one Sirius Black, needless to say Edmund had been left speechless by the amount of stupidity the minister could show. Dementors given free reign around a school full of children, Fudge's intelligence must have take a long term leave for him to even think of this. He could have appointed aurors to do the job but no, common sense was quite a rarity among wizards and witches.

As dementors were being mentioned, Edmund looked towards a certain raven haired, green eyed witch he had known for the past two years. The expression on her face told him she had experienced the foul things. Edmund narrowed his eyes in anger and frustration. Another year filled with danger for the poor girl. It seemed as if fate itself had something against her. He tried to recall all the time he had seen her laugh or even genuinely smile. He couldn't. The girl had suffered a lot in her short life and it seemed that she had yet to suffer a lot more. Even though he had his own fair share of suffering at the hands of his father, he was well fed, had proper clothes to wear and most of all, had known the love of a mother.

Shaking his head, he resumed eating. As much as he wanted to help her, he was powerless. Being a minor he had very little privileges. Shaking his head again he focused on his friends as they shared how they spent their summer, after he was bombarded with questions about his wellbeing.

The feast ended with a warning against dementors and the old man's usual nonsense. Edmund knew that there was a possibility he'll be facing one again. He needed to learn more about them and if there were any spells other than incendio that worked against them. Perhaps he could ask the new DADA professor but then again, if he was competent enough.

(ROTS)

Edmund always wondered what his worst fear was. He had watched all kinds of things in Naruto's memories and there was nothing out there that could actually make scare him. But now that he looked at the boggart in front of him, or rather, himself, he realized his actual fear.

It was the first DADA class and the professor was teaching the students how to deal with boggarts. Edmund's boggart took the form of the boy himself. The only difference being the eyes, red with slits instead of blue with normal pupils. The boggart had long fangs and claws and was surrounded by a red sinister aura in the form of nine translucent tails. The air was thick with killing intent. Everyone was finding it hard to breath and were looking at the boggart with absolute fear. The professor himself was shocked and his legs were trembling from the sudden appearance of such massive killing intent.

Edmund tilted his head and smirked at the growling boggart, "So that's my fear huh?" 'Becoming a bloodthirsty killer. Giving in to my demons and letting my sanity fade away. I need to reign myself in. Killing Aldrich really felt good. If I give in to the bloodl.u.s.t I am developing then there'll be no difference between them and me.'

With a wave of his wand and a chant the boggart was transformed into a ferret running after it's own tail. A collective gulp and sigh was heard in the room as some hesitantly laughed.

"Al-Alright, Um, I guess we'll continue next time. Class dismissed."

The students quickly rushed out of the classroom, leaving a clearly agitated professor and a smirking Edmund behind.

"Uhm, can I help you with something, Mr. Vulpis?"

The man was clearly uncomfortable and the grin on Edmund's face was making it worse.

"Actually, professor," Edmund started. "I wanted to know if there are any spells that could work against dementors other than incendio or fire based spells."

"Oh, um, well, there is one but it's a highly advanced spell and only few can perform it."

"Really? Does this highly advanced spell that only few can perform has a name?"

"Uh, it's called the patronus charm. The incantation is Expecto Patronum. Basically you focus on a happy memory and say the incantation. If the memory is strong enough and you put enough magic in it, the cham takes the form of an animal that represents you or the person you regard the most."

Edmund was impressed. "Very nice professor, it's good to finally see a competent DADA teacher in this school. Thanks for telling me about it. I'll be on my way now. Good day professor."

Remus just stood there and watched as the young student walked out of his classroom. He breathed a sigh of relief and slumped into a chair. The boy's boggart was really scary. His inner wolf was urging him to run away from the boggart as it scanned the room and bared it's teeth. The feeling of fear that coursed through his spine was so primal as it looked into his eyes. Remus shuddered as he tried to forget that feeling. Oh well, he now had to prepare for his next class.

(ROTS)

Christmas holidays had begun and Edmund was on a journey to the hidden island near Japan what once used to be known as the Elemental Nations. The planning to go on this journey began when Edmund was exposed to dementors during a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. During that time, he had once again heard that very realistic gruff animalistic voice that was most definitely in Japanese language.

Edmund was somewhat overwhelmed when he reached to a conclusion after he searched through his memories. The voice quite possibly belonged to none other than Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune himself. He knew that the chakra beasts were very much alive, as they were entirely made of potent chakra. What he couldn't understand was why the bijuu were trying to contact him. Perhaps because he was among the few who could use chakra? All he could do was make a guess.

Standing in front of the nine tailed beasts, Edmund had the first hand experience of what true power was like. From controlling the very elements of nature to causing tsunamis and reducing mountains with a swish of a tail, the bijuu were the epitome of power. He found it difficult to breathe in their presence.

The Ichibi glanced at him and spoke in an unexpectedly high pitched voice, "So this is Naruto's descendant huh? The resemblance is uncanny."

"That it is Shukaku," the kyuubi began. Looking at Edmund, he continued, "It was really tough getting through to you kid. Now that you are in front of me, I can feel my chakra signature in you. You've had a very tough and interesting life, little Uzumaki."

Edmund was quite surprised, "Yo-You can read my mind??"

Kyuubi smirked and replied, "We all can. Since we shared our chakra with Naruto to help him win the Shinobi War against Madara, he always carried some of our chakra with him and he passed it on to his kids. Why do you think that every other Uzumaki that became a wizard ever had one of the nine transformations? What do you wizards call it? Ah! Animagus forms. It's a shame that Naruto's descendants lost most of their chakra and were killed off by their own sub family."

Edmund was stupefied. No one among his ancestors had ever recorded this in any of the scrolls. They had the ability to transform into one of the bijuu. But since their chakra was pitifully low in amount, they could only transform into the miniature forms of the bijuu and couldn't use any ability that they might have had access to.

"S-So, you've trying to talk to me. May I know why?"

"We'll be training you and help you in harmonizing your chakra and magic." Gobi replied.

"That so called dark lord of yours," Sanbi continued, "Though not much in front of us poses a great threat as we are susceptible to mind control. The Uchiha could do it with their sharingan, it is possible that this Voldemort could do it with his magic."

"Kid, your father's family joined him in that war of you wizards and perhaps have told the mad man about your family history. We don't want to risk our freedom granted to us by Naruto. I don't want to be controlled by a vile man and be used however he pleases," snarled kyuubi as he violently swished his tails.

Edmund's mind was going overdrive thinking of the possible terror Voldemort could cause if the bijuu fell under his control. The tailed beasts had stayed hidden for centuries but he was able to find them by following the maps and his memories. What if the Vulpis family had something that could guide them to the bijuu and Voldemort was made aware of them? He shuddered thinking what the bijuu could do if they were let lose. They couldn't be killed and there were no ninjas left who could deal with them. Only some wizards and witches who weren't even close to being the monsters who lived in elemental nations centuries ago. The muggles couldn't possibly do anything to the chakra beasts. If Voldemort got hold of them, humanity could be at a risk of total enslavement under a mad man.

Taking a few deep breaths, Edmund looked up at the nine bijuu and spoke, "I can understand the danger Voldemort poses and will do anything to eliminate the monster for good. I have been training as much as I can but I know it's not nearly enough. Please, train me."

Kyuubi nodded, "Good that you understand. You already know quite a lot of ninjutsu. We'll help you increase your chakra reserves. Since you already know shadow clone jutsu, training will be a lot easier. We don't have much time since you have to return to your magic school. Let's get started right away."