With the last words spoken aloud chasing themselves around his head, he fell to ground. There was an unbearable pain buried deep in his chest, deeper than it had ever managed to reach before. Of course, he knew what it was; what caused this feeling.

They were going to kill him.

They were going to kill Sasuke.

He had honestly never thought that they would resort to this. Oh sure, he knew that they hated Sasuke, but why would they kill him? Didn't they care anymore? Not even -

Of course she doesn't anymore, he thought bitterly to himself. She'sthe one planning to run him through with a kunai.

And how angry does that make you, huh, Naruto?

Instead of just ignoring Kyuubi like usual, he found himself actually accepting the words he whispered into his mind, along with the intense feeling of hatred that came with them. As the strong feeling engulfed him further, he curled up into himself, hand still clutching the fabric of his shirt. His side was damp and numb from the snow now, but he couldn't bring himself to care; the only things that were important right now were saving Sasuke and this goddamn fucking pain in my chest.

But he digresses; back to the orgin of this feeling. It's similar to what he used to feel when the children in the playground would leave with their parents, leaving him all alone. It was like that, but so much worse. It felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing his heart with an especaiily pointed senbon, each stab getting deeper and more painful; until his heart lay open in his chest, a bloody, mashed up mess.

Isn't it ironic that the one person who you thought shared your feelings on this matter, is the person that is going to completely betray you?

Shut up, please shut up. The hatred ensnared in the words caused an agonis=zing tugging feeling in his chest. Ah, there goes his metaphorical right atrium.

Hmph, you don't have to be so rude. I was going to offer to help you save him. See if I care now.

Wait, you'll help me? You?

Rude. And weren't you listening just now? Kami, what did I do to deserve being stuck here?

He could feel Kyuubi shift restlessly in his cage deep within his mind, and frowned. There was a desperate glint to his eyes and his hand let go of his shirt slightly. And then, in a seeming fit of madness, he began bargaining.

Please, Kyuubi. I'll do anything, I promise. I'll open the cage, I'll let you out every now and then, just... Please.

There were hot, fat tears rolling down his cheeks now, each infused wit a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra, causing the snow to melt where they hit.

Watch it! Kyuubi scolded him, his annoyance regarding the sitaution letting itself be fully know at that moment.

I'll help you, just stop leaking MY chakra out of your fucking eyes!

H-He's going to help me... I can still save Sasuke. I can do it. The determination that he was known for was now glittering in his eyes.

I'll destroy anything that tries to take what is MINE.

Without releasing it, his thoughts had grown animalistic. Not that he really noticed; he was slightly preoccupied with the images of his new-found enemies' bodies littering the ground around him that were filtering in from the cage.

An oddly twisted smile grew on his lips at the thought, his elongated canines poking out, drawing heavily concealed (but still recognisable to him) gasps from the others.

Huh, I forgot that they were still here. He thought it was kind of odd that he didn't try to seek comfort in the familiar chakra signatures behind him. That's when he realised with a tone of finality: those signatures repulsed him.

They belonged to his new-found enemies.

Placing his now-clawed hands in the ground, he pushed himself upright to face the others.

They were obviously apprehensive due to the appearance of his red eyes, animalistic mouth and darkened whiskers. The manic expression in his eyes probably didn't help, either.

"Naruto?" Kakashi hesitantly edged towards him with his hand outstretched.

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei; I have to leave now. If you could point me in the direction of Her, then that would be really helpful."

The added timbre to his tine sent a noticeable shiver through the small group, and they were clearly reluctant to talk to him.

They probably think you've lost control.

At that moment he felt a spike of a familiar chakra signature to his left. Bingo.

It was time to sa- Well, what could She really do to Sasuke? Let's be realistic here, probably not much. Naruto knew that Sasuke could hold his own against Her easily, but he didn't want to chance it. She may have thought up a plan; after all, she wasn't exactly stupid.

Well, that's debatable in this situation.

Naruto snorted, True.

So, anyway.

It was time to lend his help if needed to the most important person in his life.

And, if She perished in the cross fire, well. Not entirely his fault was it.