Special thanks: Thank you Kray-kun, for giving me the idea, and betaing for me. Now, let's get this show moving!

Shattered Demon I: Oni Seppan

Chapter 1: Split

Naruto gasped as he ran down the alleyway. His head was pounding as he struggled to remain conscious. He hadn't needed to run this much since he was five. He remembered running from a drunken mob, trying to get to the Hokage tower. Unlike this time, he'd passed out in one of the alleyway's, and somehow remained hidden until the next day.

Naruto suddenly tripped, and fell over. He quickly struggled to get up, and then froze. He could distinctly make out the feet of someone standing in front of him. His eyes began to trace the person up until it met with the eyes of Uchiha Itachi, his pursuer. Naruto felt a chill run up his spine. His Sharingan seemed to hold more malice in it than any other Sharingan that he'd ever seen.

Naruto slowly picked himself up, praying that some Kami might save him. But then, he already knew that Kami hated his guts, so why did he even bother?

Itachi glanced down at Naruto. He'd just finished killing his clan, and was now acting on his second order, straight from Madra himself. It was one he felt no one should have a problem doing right now. Capture the Kyuubi.

Naruto slowly backed away from Itachi, hoping that he would leave him alone. For a moment, Itachi just stood there, watching him back away. Finally, feeling he might just have a shot at freedom, Naruto turned around to run away.

Only to find that Itachi had moved in front of him again. Naruto nearly smacked into him. Glancing up at him, he could feel the killing intent that rolled off of Itachi. In Itachi's mind, he knew that even with his level of Genjutsu, if he used Tsukuyomi, his job would be a lot quicker. He slowly moved forward, picking Naruto up as he moved along, and slammed him into the nearest wall. As he brought him to eye level, he activated his Mangekyou. In the still of the night, his whisper seemed to echo. "Tsukuyomi."

The world changed. Everything had gone black, and red. And instead of being held onto the wall by Itachi's hand, he was held on by chains. Naruto watched as Itachi multiplied before his eyes, going from one, to a thousand.

"You are in the world of Tsukuyomi, the Moon Reader. You will now spend seventy-two hour as I stab you once per second." Itachi said monotonously, as he took the first blade and stabbed him.

Naruto withered in agony. He'd been stabbed before, but for some reason, this seemed to be on a whole different level of pain. It was like instead of just stabbing him, he was twisting the sword around, damaging him more and more.

"Seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-nine seconds to go." Itachi said, monotonously. He took his blade and stabbed Naruto in his left eye. Naruto's scream reverberated around the realm. "You will not need it, where you're going. Now, seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, fifty-eight seconds to go."

This went on for another fifty hours in Tsukuyomi, until Naruto finally noticed something off in the distance.

There were two figures, both tied to some kind of cross. One of them was too far away to be seen, so he could be certain who it might be. But the other figure was one he knew only from textbooks. The face, filled with malice, was that of the Kyuubi's. Naruto was certain that it had been killed, but now he was beginning to have doubts.

"Wh…what is… the Kyuubi doing…here?" Naruto asked slowly, trying not to show just the amount of pain he was going through.

Itachi glanced over towards the Kyuubi. As his eyes narrowed, he sent another one of his, copies, to get rid of it. To Naruto, he simple smirked. "He is no one of concern. At least, he won't be in a moment."

Naruto's eyes widened as he watched the copy push the sword into the Kyuubi's head, and quickly bring it down. What happened next would forever scar them.

As the Kyuubi split in half, the two sides seemed to take different approaches to what to do next. The left side broke into pieces and flew towards Naruto, while the right side formed itself into a red skeleton. Itachi's eyes widened, as the skeleton began to hack away at the 'Itachi's'. "Time to go."

Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at the fractured pieces. Even as the Itachi's left, the world didn't change, and the two parts still continued to move. Naruto felt a cold shiver run up his spine. Unlike fear, and actual cold, this shiver was from need. He couldn't explain it, but he needed to move, to reach out to the Kyuubi. Slowly, even as he was restrained, he reached out. Finally, after a moment of struggling, he touched a small piece of the Kyuubi that had floated close to his hand.

Naruto's eyes widened, as the small piece squirmed into him. He could only watch, fascinated, as the piece moved to the nearest wound. Once it had reached the wound, it began to almost become comfortable with him. After another moment it stopped moving.

Naruto felt a small warmth coming within him, filling him up. He would've pondered more on it, if something else hadn't caught his eye. The rest of the fractured pieces were flying towards him.

All Naruto could do was let out a small gasp, as the pieces quickly consumed him. But instead of destroying him, or anything like that, they began to copy what the first had done, and settle into his wounds. After several minutes, all of the wounds that Itachi had given Naruto were healed, except for his eye.

Naruto glanced up, straight into the floating eye of the Kyuubi. Unlike the red of the Sharingan, it was much more feral, and destructive. Naruto could only stare at it, feeling a small trace of fear travel through him. But the need to be whole drowned it out, as he opened his eye and let it in. The moment it had done so, something tore into his mind, and he blacked out.

x X x

Itachi gasped as he forced himself to abandon the Genjutsu early. He'd only used it one other time that night, but it was still taxing.

Naruto slumped down, real blood slashed all over where Itachi knew he'd stabbed him in Tsukuyomi. While he was curious as to why he'd sustained real damage, he quickly took a step back. Naruto's body was shaking, and convulsing violently. Finally, as it began to stop, he opened his left eye.

Itachi's eyes widened. His eye was completely gone, just like he'd done in Tsukuyomi. Madra had told him that it was a Genjutsu, that it couldn't possibly hurt someone, and that it was all mental pain. But for some reason, Naruto had not only sustained damage, but had lost his eye as well.

Itachi was quickly brought out of his thoughts as his Sharingan noticed something exiting his eye. He watched closely as small amounts of demon chakra leaked out. His eyes widened, as the chakra exploded outwards. After another couple of seconds, it began to die down and take shape.

The Skeleton Kyuubi had finally found its way out, and it had no intention of staying inside of Naruto for long. After another couple of seconds, it was fully formed, rearing its head back, letting loose a primal screech. Itachi stood still, feeling the chakra pulsating off of it. It was far to much to be anything normal, which could only mean that, somehow, the Kyuubi had escaped.

He was brought out of his thoughts, as a hand touched his shoulder. "We're leaving. If we continue on, we'll be killed."

Itachi nodded, and quickly began to follow Madra away from Konoha.

The skeletal Kyuubi took in its first breath of fresh air in eight years. It was good to be free. With a sadistic grin, it jumped away, headed towards the gates…and freedom.

x X x

Today, was not going to be a good day for Sarutobi. First, he had to sit through meetings all day, then he had paperwork up to his armpits to take care of. And when he was finally done, he had to go to another meeting. It was his particular meeting that he'd been dreading. Because it all revolved around one subject: Naruto.

Sarutobi resisted the urge to slam his head against the table as the council bickered about what they should do with the boy. He'd already told them what was to be done, and that he wouldn't change his mind. But that didn't stop them from trying to bicker about it, and try to over rule it. After another couple of minutes, Sarutobi finally broke.

"Silence!" He yelled out. Everyone in the room quickly gave him their full attention. After a moment, he slowly let out a sigh. "I don't see why we have to have this discussion again. I've already gone over this multiple times, and that's final."

Danzo quickly stood up. "But, Hokage-sama. Even though we've been recovering, we still need a way to maintain out place at the top of the power chain. Naruto would definitely be able to take us there in a second. I'd even be willing to let him train with ROOT - "

"No, I've already decided. He will be treated as a normal child." Sarutobi said holding his hand up so that no one would try to oppose his ruling. After a brief pause, he glanced up. "And didn't I tell you to disband ROOT? What's going on behind my back, Danzo?"

Danzo sighed. "What I was about to say, was that he could train with ROOT members that I'd once trained. Back when I still had my arm, and was at my most powerful."

Sarutobi inwardly sighed. No matter how much Danzo wished to hide it, he was still going on with ROOT. But then, he didn't want to waste the time, or the effort, in searching for a ghost.

Suddenly, off in the distance, all of the council members felt a large chakra blast wash over them. The feeling of dread that filled them could only let the chakra belong to one creature; the Kyuubi.

A moment later, an ear piercing screech pierced the night. The Inuzuka's dogs began to whimper, and place their paws over their ears. It was a horrible, gut twisting sound.

"Everyone, meeting adjourned." Sarutobi said, rushing through the door. The moment he was outside, he quickly began to run towards the source of the screech, in hopes that nothing had happened to Naruto. He felt others following him, but mentally brushed them off. Most were just worried, while others were curious as to what was going on.

After several moments, they were a mile away from the Uchiha compound. As Sarutobi jumped from one building to another, he finally saw what he was looking for.

"Naruto!" he cried as he turned back and dropped down to him. The boy looked relatively unharmed, but everything around him was a disaster area. Most of the ground near him was burnt, and there was a path where the fire left towards the edge of the city. He glanced down at Naruto again.

The boy looked like he'd been crushed. There was blood all over his jumpsuit, and when he took it off, there was obvious signs of someone taking a bladed weapon to him, and cutting him. It disgusted him to no end. Sarutobi knew he'd be scared for life by this. He also noticed that there was a small scar on his left eye. What was really strange, was that none of the skin around it was harmed, just the eyelid.

Sarutobi quickly lifted his eyelid, and he found that the eye he was staring at was that of the Kyuubi. But there was no menace behind it, and there was the obvious love that Naruto would always have within it. He quickly did the same to the other eye, and found that, unlike the other, it was still the sky blue that he knew. He gave a small sigh of relief. The Kyuubi wasn't taking over, so they could relax once again.

But there was something else wrong with him. For a moment, he couldn't figure it out, until he gripped his arm.

"His pulse is weakening!" He called out, slowly picking Naruto up. Some of the other shinobi around him glanced away. Sarutobi grimaced, and quickly began to make his way to the hospital.

Naruto, please be all right.