"Inner Demon" started out as a one-shot fic, meant to be a humorous take of what the fierce second personality showed in the anime and manga could be. However, as I continued, I started to wonder how this Sakura would be like in this new scenario, and what Naruto would be doing without Kyuubi inside him.
Because I started working on Inner Demon back on 13 March, 2004, long before many details were revealed in the official series, I had to fill in the gaps with my own creations. Names, origins, parents, skills, everything that were not covered by the manga back then, ended up being changed or invented. In other words, none of these names exist in my story: Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina, Daibutsu, Deidara, Hidan, Kakuzu, Konan, Kyūsuke, Monjin, Nagato, Uchiha Obito, Sasori, Yahiko, Zetsu, and more.
Kishimoto Masashi has never provide the actual period of time his story is set in, perhaps never will, but as time goes on, as chapters and characters piled up, I have resorted to use my own timeline as I plot the story and events. As such… the bulk of the story happen in an unofficial year of 1990.
Prologue: The Yondaime
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"Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin eh? Kid, I have always known that you are crazy, but this… Do you understand the consequences of you using this forbidden jutsu to summon the Shinigami?"
The Yondaime Hokage, the fourth Kage of Konohagakure, maintained an unusual silence between himself and Gama Bunta, his old friend, mentor, and companion. Under normal circumstances, the young man could be seen rebuking back at the Boss Toad word for word, but today, he kept his peace, choosing instead to spend remaining strength for the task ahead. His white and red Hokage coat fluttered in the strong wind caused by the brutish attacks from the fierce demon, each swing of the demon caused trees to be uprooted from the bloodied soil and Jounins to be blown away, thrown around like old worn toys. With their numbers diminishing and their defences waning, there was no time considering a second option.
"I'm talking to you, boy! Answer me! Is this the only way-"
"Boss," he shouted back, not that there was a need to, the old toad could hear him perfectly when the young man was standing on the ancient summon's head with chakra reinforcing his footing. But yelling in the heat of the battle was how his life had always been, full of enthusiasm and energy, one would almost feel the life and vigour in his words. The young Hokage had his fair share of ups and downs, joys and desperations, but even as he knew his life was coming to an end, he had no regrets. Gama Bunta already knew that the Fourth would not accept any other suggestions at this point of time.
"I very well know what will happen, Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin that I will be using will seal the demon's soul and my soul… But I believe I can modify it to seal the demon's soul into a young container instead. The child that I need to seal the demon into will face a harsh challenge in his life, but there's-"
"Boy! I'm talking about you! You are going to die! Wa- Wait a second! You are going to seal the demon within a child?! Have you lost your mind already?!"
"For the container to survive the sealing, it must be a child, someone young enough to not have a solid foundation of chakra. I will need to have both the chakra of the child and the demon to co-exist, or else it will be futile to even try-"
"Who do you have in mind...?"
There was no time for answer, the demon had finally taken notice of the two of them, the massive chakra from the giant toad was not hard to miss, but what caught her attention was the one's belonging to the young man. Charging in, the demon chose to ignore the pitiful attacks by other Jounins and their summoned creatures, and instead preparing to pounce right onto Gama Bunta.
"Here she comes!"
As Gama Bunta had just arrived upon the battlefield, he had no time to fully flesh out his strategy, for now, all he could do was to keep his summoner safe until his preparation for the forbidden jutsu was completed. Gama Bunta drew his katana out, while at the same time, prepared to jump as well. The timing had to be precise, to leap off just when the demon was about to reach them.
"Let's do it, Gama Bunta!"
The young Hokage crouched down to create a lower centre of gravity, he focused both hands into forming a series of complex jutsu hand formation. Halfway through, Gama Bunta sprang without warning, causing him to almost slip off the surface, worse still, his preparation was interrupted.
He quickly resumed the jutsu hand formation while at the same time continued to struggle to get a stable foothold. To escape from the attack of the demon, Gama Bunta jumped to an impressive height, but the demon did not let down on her attack, and pushed herself up into the sky the moment she landed at where the toad was.
"Incoming!" Gama Bunta shouted.
It would be hard to dodge an aerial assault, but the same could be applying to the demon as well. He knew that for the jutsu to work, he would need to bring the Fourth close, a lot closer than they were now, now was the chance for the Hokage. Directly below them was the demon, still heading upwards as the two of them, drawn by gravity, began to fall. The Fourth leapt off from the back of Gama Bunta, and quickly finalised the last few procedure of the jutsu with double effort while keeping his legs close together to accelerate the fall.
Seeing the little man falling towards herself, the demon waved her gigantic claws at him. Even with the jutsu underway, the Fourth dodged the attacks by releasing gentle flow of chakra from his body. Just when the two of them were at their closest, Gama Bunta threw his katana at her, followed by a small stream of fire. The flames did no harm to the demon, but that was not the purpose of the attack. As the demon shielded her eyes from the blinding flame, the Fourth landed hard onto her left shoulder, rolling a bit, almost nearly falling off the edge.
Still keeping the hand formations in order, he yelled out the attack, using his voice to summon the Shinigami, "Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin!" Uncovering her eyes, the demon turned her head to her left, staring down on the human on her shoulder.
Though still overwhelmed by animalistic rage, with all sense of rational thoughts long banished, a sudden fear of death overcame her. Invisible to everyone but to the two of them, the Shinigami materialised behind the Hokage, dagger in his fanged mouth, hands fanned out by his side with razor sharp claws on both his hands. The Fourth reached out with his palms, and placed them onto both sides of the demon's nose.
"Am I going to die?"
Still in mid-air, the demon thought to shove the little man away from her shoulder, but found herself unable to move. Now unable to even turn her head away from her fear, she was forced to come face-to-face with both the only man who dared to come this close to her, and the death that would soon overcome the two of them.
Already falling past the lighter demon, Gama Bunta looked upwards to see the falling demon with the Hokage still on her shoulder. Seeing that the demon appeared to be petrified, the older toad concluded grimly that the jutsu was already working its way into the demon's body.
It was not long after the demon's body finally reached the peak of her jump, that her still frozen body began to spin and fell back down to the earth. The Fourth remained on her shoulder, but was not longer relying on his chakra, like the demon, he was caught in the same trance that prevented him from moving, or even separating from the falling mass. All he could do now was to follow through the jutsu, taking a step at a time, stepping away from the demon, parting his hands away from the demon's flesh, drawing her soul from the body. An uneasy calmness sweep through their bodies, releasing them from all fears and worries.
Back on the ground, Gama Bunta landed as gracefully as a gigantic toad possibly could, while still keeping his eyes on the falling demon. Unlike Gama Bunta, she would no longer be able to land properly but would instead crash like a mountain. The impact from the demon could very well cause a tremor that would wipe out half of the village.
Jounins nearby were given the order to flee from the scene by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had just arrived, with something in his arms. Should the Fourth failed to complete the jutsu, he would need to be there to take over the duty to finish off the sealing.
Back in the sky, though falling and spinning at an astonishing speed, the Fourth was still standing firm, standing now several feet away from when he first started out. Struggling to take a step at a time backwards, he continued to drag the soul out with the help of the Shinigami behind him, who had his hand in him, grabbing hold of his soul. He opened his eyes, he gave a one last look at the demon before him, the souls had almost come out fully from their bodies, and the demon was still staring at him. Something in him told him that he did the right thing, he wanted to tell the demon to behave in her new life, but no longer speak. With his will weakening, he spent his last thought on an apology to the baby he damned.
The moment the soul of the demon detached from her body completely, the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure fell off the shoulder of the demon just as the Shinigami behind him started to de-materialise. The soul of the demon was now compressed to the size of small sphere, held firmly by the hands of the Fourth, before losing his own soul, he managed to curved himself up into a tight ball, keeping the soul sphere close to his chest, protecting it.
Gama Bunta eyed the sky as the demon's body crumpled at the lost of her essence, the demonic flesh evaporating into nothingness. With his size, Gama Bunta did not have any difficulty catching the Hokage with his soft tongue, lifeless and motionless but with something shiny closely embraced to his chest. The huge toad, master of his kind, felt so helpless, remaining silent while waiting for the arrival of Sarutobi Hiruzen, with the sleeping baby in his arms.
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Once appeared a powerful humanoid demon, one swing of her arm could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. To fight the demon, the people assembled the shinobi, one brave shinobi was able to seal up the demon at the cost of his life. The shinobi was called the Fourth Hokage. The Fourth sealed the demon into the belly button of the only newly born infant on that day, a pink haired girl of the Haruno clan. Thus begun the adventure of Haruno Sakura of becoming a shinobi, with the secret of the 'Inner Sakura' sealed within her known only to the adults of Konohagakure.
Though the people of Konohagakure were aware of the sacrifice their Hokage made, they could not agree with his decision. Neither did they know why he fought alone without his companions, or the growing menace outside their safe village.