Naruto stared down at the bloody kunai in his hands. When the two samurai had attacked Tsunami, he had reacted the fastest and most efficient way he could. He had killed them, watched their expressions with cold detachment as he slid his kunai over their necks. A quick glance told him that Inari and his mother were okay, if horrified. He crouched down and wiped the knife off on the first corpse's shirt, slipped it back into its holster, and told Inari and Tsunami to find somewhere safe. With a tired sigh, he made his way out of the small home and began running for the bridge.
If Gato had attacked here, he would have attacked the bridge as well. As he ran, he slipped a pair of kunai up his sleeves, wanting some kind of advantage if he was attacked unexpectedly. Unbeknownst to many, the Hokage hadn't given him the 'Kill Me' jumpsuit without good reason. It was made out of very durable material, created little noise when he moved, and had small catches sewn into it that could allow him to easily conceal weapons. The kunai didn't shift as he ran, indicating that he had placed them correctly.
When he finally arrived, he was relived to see that Sakura was fine, still guarding Tazuna. Kakashi and Zabuza were concealed in the fog, and he could see a large dome barely visible to the left. As he neared it, he quickly spotted Sasuke standing in the center of the structure, looking worse for the wear. He spotted the fake hunter-nin leaning out of a mirror, and let fly with a volley of knives. The masked man blocked the first few, but one caught his mask and knocked him out of the mirror. Not one to waste an opportunity, Naruto raced into the dome, landing a kick that sent the recovering shinobi back to the ground.
"Sasuke, are you alright?" Naruto watched the downed hunter, ready to foil any attempte to rise.
"Yeah, I'm ok. K.O. the bastard already, would you?" Sasuke growled as he ripped a senbon out of his arm. Naruto moved to follow Sasuke's sound advice, only to watch the hunter disappear with a pop, replaced by some carpenter's tool. He turned with a curse, but froze when he saw the hunter standing over Sasuke, bloodied senbon in hand.
"I'm sorry, but it appears that I won't be able to play around anymore. Know that your actions caused their deaths." He disappeared, and a feminine shriek pierced the air. Naruto ran back towards Sakura as the mirrors faded, only to see her fall to the Hunter's newly acquired kunai blade. He loosed another kunai volley, forcing the murdering shinobi away from Tazuna, who had a nasty gash to show for his encounter. Naruto fell to his knees at Sakura's side, trying desperately to rouse her from apparent death. When his attempts failed, he bellowed forth an anguished scream, and buried his face in he pink locks.
"Is this the first time you've lost comrades in battle?" The murderer's voice penetrated his sorrow, allowing anger to bleed through. "This is the life of a true shinobi. Stop crying and stand up. Attack me! Avenge your lost friends!" Naruto roared, forcing himself to his feet. Red chakra oozed from his seal, giving him strength and feeding his anger. He blurred out of the hunter's sight, reappearing with his fist planted in the murderer's gut. The man doubled over, setting himself up for the painful knee to the face that came immediately after. Naruto knocked him back with a chakra infused roundhouse kick. Naruto growled when the man stood slowly, but his breath hitched in surprise when the hunter laughed.
"Yes! This is brilliant! You are a true shinobi. I can only feel gratified that my actions could create a monster such as you. Kill me! Kill me and then set your sights on those who would dare to challenge you! Show the world the power I have loosed!" Naruto could only stare in shock as the delirious man fell into hysterics, cracked mask slipping from his face. Tears running down his face, the boy he had spent a peaceful morning gathering herbs with laughed so hard he fell to his knees.
Naruto set his features, walking forward and sliding a kunai from his holster. He stopped in front of Haku, feeling a twinge of pity, and decapitated him in one swift motion. Blood splashed out over his clothes, and he gagged slightly at the gory scene before him. He steeled himself and moved to check on Sakura.
He got down on his knees beside her, and a quick check to her pulse confirmed her death. A glance told him that Haku had slit her throat, just as he had done with the samurai.
It was strange, he thought, how he didn't feel anything. He had crushed on the girl for a good two years, and now that she was gone, nothing felt different. He rose to his feet and moved away, squinting through the mist. He wondered idly if Kakashi was dead as well.
The mist began to thin, and he could barely make out a figure standing over a body. He walked forward, figuring that whatever happened from here on out was not anything he could help. As he neared, he grinned in relief when he recognized the victor as his sensei. He became alarmed, however, when Kakashi collapsed. He ran over to the downed ninja, and was startled when the prone man spoke.
"Naruto, where is Sasuke? Is Sakura still with Tazuna?" Kakashi's voice was tired, barely above a whisper.
"Sasuke… is dead. Sakura died too. It was Haku." Naruto glared at the ground, finally feeling angry that he was too weak to save them.
"Haku? The Hunter-nin told you his name?" Kakashi seemed surprised, but was probably just trying to focus on something other than his students' deaths.
"Yes, he did. I killed him." Kakashi grunted, acknowledging the boy's response, and then seemed to fall asleep.
Naruto started to pick his teacher up, but froze when a voice echoed over the bridge.
"So the Demon Zabuza wasn't so great after all. Feh, I wasn't going to pay him anyway." Naruto turned slowly, deflating as he took in the size of the crowd of samurai.
"Still, at least he wore you out. It's laughable! The only thing standing between me and control of this country is a snot-nosed brat and a drunken bridge builder!"
Naruto fumbled with his kunai pouch, producing a kunai and taking a defensive stance.
"Tell you what, kid. If you leave now, and leave the bridge builder here, you can go peacefully. I won't even have my samurai pursue you. What do you say?" Naruto finally spotted the man speaking. Gato was a small man, strangely pathetic for someone with so much power. He wore a pinstripe suit, and supported himself with a short cane. One arm was in a cast. Naruto took all of this in, then sighed.
"As tempting as that offer is at this point, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse. Two good friends of mine died protecting this bridge, and I won't allow their efforts to have been in vain!" His voice started at a hoarse whisper, but grew louder as he spoke. "You can take your offer and shove it straight up your squat little ass! Go to Hell!" Gato seemed more amused than angry.
"You'll learn to regret those words, boy." He turned and began walking towards the back of the bridge, and gave orders as he walked. "I want the kid alive. You can do whatever with the other two."
Several samurai walked forward from the crowd, surrounding Naruto. A particularly ugly one with duel swords spoke first.
"C'mon kid. You'll come with us if you know what's good for you." As soon as the goon stopped talking, another yelled out.
"Aw, shut up, Kento! I haven't had a good fight in forever!" The loud one turned to Naruto. "I hope you're strong. I want to have a little fun before I'm stuck on guard duty again." The man rushed forward with a katana, and began a downward slice as soon as he was in range. The sword clattered to the ground, though, when Naruto moved around the blade and jammed a kunai into the samurai's chest.
"Dammit, Hanto! Fucking idiot!" The first swordsman charged forward, but stopped short when Naruto exploded into a cloud of smoke. There was mumbling from the samurai as they looked around, but everyone turned when a scream echoed from the back of the crowd. Naruto crouched over a corpse, pulling his kunai from it with a soft squelching noise. Wisening up, the group swarmed him all at once. Naruto was forced to parry blow after blow, being forced back toward the larger crowd of samurai farther down the bridge. He flipped backward so that he was a reasonable distance from both approaching sides, and placed his hands into his favorite seal. He omitted the usual battle cry, and several Bunshin appeared with soft pops.
The samurai rushed him and his clones from both sides, and the swarming attacks quickly overpowered the few Bunshin he had managed to produce. He fought as hard as he could for several minutes, defeating opponent after opponent, but stopped suddenly when a glob of blood erupted out of his mouth. His head drooped, and he dimly noticed the sword point poking out of his chest as everything went black
Naruto awoke, noticing the wetness of his clothing before anything else. He laid there for a while, assuming that he was dying in a puddle of his own blood. Only when a low growl echoed around him did he drag himself into a sitting position.
Despite the grandiosity of the scene before him, Naruto couldn't dredge up the awe that was supposed to accompany such moments. He stared blandly at the huge cage doors that rested in front of him, and the massive red eyes that resided behind them.
"Humph. It seems that my container is lacking his usual enthusiasm. Quite the improvement." The thing spoke, it's gravelly voice rumbling throughout the huge room. Naruto forced himself up, the realization dawning on him that the great beast was none other than the Kyuubi itself.
"Yeah, well, I've had a bad day." Naruto shrugged, slightly astounded with his own casualness. The beast seemed impressed, raising its head from it's previous position.
"So it seems. Your pathetic ninja academy has done nothing to prepare you for this world. The ineffectiveness of the system sickens me." At this, Naruto grinned.
"Why do you think I always skipped out on class?" The question elicited a small snort from the fox, and its mouth stretched wider in a grin.
"Amusing as this conversation is, you are currently bleeding yourself out on the bridge while Gato berates his subordinates for their stupidity. I can heal such a wound easily, so there is no need for worry, but I can't allow such an offense to my host to go unpunished. I will give you a fraction of my power now. I only wish that you use it to wipe that pathetic scum from this place. Are my conditions satisfactory?" Naruto grinned.
"I accept. It has been good talking with you, Kyuubi no Kitsune."
"And you, Uzumaki Naruto."
A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed that. This story is going to be pretty angsty, so if you don't like it, don't read it. Yes, I did kill off Sasuke and Sakura. No, I didn't do it just because I could. This little device will open up an bevy of options for me, and completely obliterates any chance of a linear plotline. The story is going to be completely original from here on out, so expect me to pull some crazy stuff out of the proverbial hat. The Kyuubi is going to be good in this story. My reasoning is that the Kyuubi is at least a several hundred year old being. A single human life would be a blink of an eye for him, so he wouldn't really mind imprisonment too much. If anything, my Kyuubi is out to have fun, so he'll toss little curve balls to Naruto throughout the story to keep things interesting for him. My Naruto is going to be more distant, because of the loss of his team. He feels a sort of detachment to everything, and cares less than he should. This is it for now. You can expect Naruto to meet his team within the next few chapters.