Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear.

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Naruto grunted as his opponent's kunai grazed his ribs. Jumping back, Naruto held a hand to the wound, glaring at the robed person. This person was wearing a black mask, the features looking canine-ish.

He brought his hands together, and did a few hand signs as several kunai and shuriken flew in his direction. The shuriken were faster than the kunai, and several impaled his body before he disappeared, leaving a log in his spot.

Naruto had fled to a tree top, wanting a moment to rest. He could see his opponent staring at the log. Naruto shut one eye, as he pressed his hand more against his ribs. It was deeper than he thought and he definitely was close to passing out. Several larger wounds covered his body.

"Little Fox, run not play, hiding from their enemies' way.

Little Fox, come and see, that you should try to flee.

Little Fox, do not cry, because today you are about to die…"

This moment reminded Naruto of an old poem he used to know. He couldn't help but compare it to his situation at the moment. He wasn't fighting, he was hiding. He could see his enemy was strong, so he was running. Though, the last line was yet to happen. Naruto was NOT going to cry, or die, today.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto struggled to stand. If he was going to get away alive, he had better attack this damn guy and then run. He couldn't last much longer. Physically, Naruto was close to passing out, due to heavy blood loss. Mentally, Naruto couldn't focus enough to target straight, and his Chakra resources were running low.

Naruto held up a single kunai, scrunched his eyes up to focus, and threw the kunai straight for his opponent, then jumped away from the spot. Naruto watched as in a split second, the kunai tore through his opponent's cloak, leaving a gash. Although, Naruto knew his opponent had seen the kunai coming. Why did he allow himself to get hurt?

His opponent had no damages, if you didn't count the new gash Naruto had made. The opponent turned, his masked face turning and focused on the branch Naruto was currently hiding on.

'Crap' Naruto thought, as he let himself fall to the forest floor. He landed on his feet, and they protested loudly and gave way, so he fell flat on the ground. Naruto let out a pained groan, as the healing wounds re-opened, allowing fresh blood to spill.

"Is this it? Are you really going to let yourself die?" Naruto heard Kyuubi growl.

'I don't have much choice. You're not exactly helping, you know.' Naruto thought, managing to drag himself to a sitting position. His wounds seared, and he couldn't help but let out a painful whine. His opponent had taken no less than 5 steps towards Naruto before stopping again.

"Well, if you really want my help…" Kyuubi muttered. Naruto felt a deep power awaken inside him, as the Kyuubi gave Naruto some of his Chakra. Naruto threw his head back and hissed, as Kyuubi's chakra flooded through him, sealing up his wounds and healing them. He stood, his body no longer protesting, and glared up at his opponent.

Strangely, his opponent didn't look surprised at Narutos sudden healing. His opponent only drew a long scroll from beneath his cloak and unrolled it. Before he could do much more, Naruto launched himself forward, the kyuubi's chakra wrapping around his fist to make his blow more powerful. His opponent jumped out the way, and landed behind Naruto.

Naruto spun around, only to be knocked in the face by the opponents' foot. Naruto sailed back a few feet, before landing on all fours. The kyuubi's chakra was slowly fading, apparently it was only for healing, rather than to help fight.

'Damn you, Kyuubi' Naruto huffed as he ran towards the clock covered enemy.

"Already happened." Kyuubi muttered as Naruto sent his fist flying for his opponents face. His opponent brought his arm up, caught the fist, and then kicked hard into Narutos stomach. His opponent brushed his fingers over the cut on his arm, and dragged the blood covered fingers over the scroll.

'Oh crap, that's why.' Naruto glared and jumped back, and his opponent brought the seal up and began to make symbols. Wordlessly, he did an unrecognized Jutsu and a puff of black smoke wafted around him. Suddenly, a huge tentacle like thing burst up from the ground. It was a deep onyx colour, with streaks of navy blue over the back. It flung around wildly, before pulling back into the earth.

Naruto was shocked. But what the hell was that supposed to do? Naruto felt his body relax as the tension, which was gained from the exploding tentacle, was released. Of course, this tension was rebuilt as the earth rumbled and cracked beneath him. Naruto was thrown in the air as a giant scaled head flew from the earth, revealing a deep red mouth, with 3 very large fangs protruding from the top jaw.

Naruto let out a yelp of shock, as the jaws snapped closed and opened again, just as Naruto was falling. Spreading his arms and legs, Naruto caught the sides of the un-seen beast's mouth, before he fell into its mouth. The mouth snapped shut again, and Narutos hands and feet came together, as the beasts lips met. Naruto found himself staring into the eyes of a giant snake.

The beast flung around, sending Naruto flying. Naruto managed to upright himself in time before the beast struck the group next to him. Naruto jumped, eyes watching both the beast and his opponent. His opponent was now standing on a tree branch, looking bored. Naruto growled, before dodging another strike from the snake.

Drawing out several shuriken, Naruto jumped and threw the pointed stars at the snake. As the shuriken made contact, they bounced off. 'That's some freaking strong skin' Naruto thought as he watched the stars drop of the ground. The beast let out an angry hiss, and Naruto noticed that one of his shuriken had imbedded into the snake's eye. The giant snake brought its body out from the earth, and Naruto had to guess it to me half a kilometre long.

Naruto jumped and landed on the thrashing snakes head, indefinitely pushing a kunai into the snakes other eye. With the snake blind, Naruto jumped to the ground, about 20 metres from the cloaked enemy. Naruto stood sideways to both the snake and his opponent, keeping his eye on both.

"What a dobe…" Naruto heard his opponent say, for the first time. Naruto turned his head swiftly to where his opponent was. What had he just said? And the voice…

And in that one second of distraction, the snake struck Naruto, one of its fangs impaling Naruto through the middle of his chest, while the lower half of his body was inside the Hebi's mouth. Naruto opened his mouth to scream, but only managed to choke on blood. Naruto looked up, his strength slipping away. Naruto saw his enemy remove his mask, as Kyuubi screamed.

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Written by Urufu-chan

(Ochibi and Urufu)