NaruSasu – Possession.

Part One.

They were on a mission to the Grass Country, which was where Orochimaru's elite troops had last been sighted. Apparently there was some commotion going on with the Daimyo of Northern Grass Country. And, as per usual when it came to missions regarding Sasuke, it was Team 7 that was sent out. Naruto silently thanked Tsunade for this as he sped across the border with his team mates Sakura and Sai.

As with every time a mission involving Sasuke was mentioned, Naruto's blood had begun to boil. Over the past few days he had become more and more worked up. Which meant that the barrier restraining the Kyuubi's chakra was thinner than usual. Which in turn meant that, unfortunately for Sakura and Sai, Naruto was rushing recklessly through the forests at lightning speed.

By the time they had reached the Grass Country, Sakura was flushed from exhaustion and just about ready to throttle him.

'Naruto, I swear, the next time you try and wear us out like that before we even get to our destination, I am going to tie you down and drag you behind us in a potato sack!' She waved an angry fist at him, but he simply dismissed it. She stared at him a while longer, waiting for him to say something, because it was not like Naruto to ignore a threat, no matter how humorous in nature it was. Finally, he sighed and said;

'I know, I'm just... so worked up, that's all.'

'We need to stay here and rest,' Sakura announced after an even longer pause. 'I know you're team leader, Naruto, but if we run into any Sound Ninjas now, we'll be far too tired to defend ourselves.' She eyed his fiercely reddened irises, which were normally a bright crystally blue, and the whiskery scars on his cheeks which had become even more accentuated during the journey, and added, 'Even if you do have the Kyuubi.'

There was an automatic flinch that Naruto could not stop himself from making as he heard the name of his Bijuu uttered aloud. But he consented to Sakura's idea and the three of them stopped to rest. Sai was oddly silent over the whole issue, but then again, Sai was often rather odd. He seemed happy enough with everything, smiling sweetly whenever Naruto glanced his way, so Naruto just left it at that.

-

Lying down on the grass as night set in, Naruto realised just how tired he actually was. The adrenaline was not pumping so fiercely now that he had stopped moving, and he was able to think more clearly about what Sakura had said. She was right; he had been far too impulsive back there. Which was annoying, for these days he considered himself to be slightly more mature than he had been when Sasuke had left three years ago. In fact, the last time he had been this pumped up was when they had all gone to rescue Gaara...

That was another thing. Since Gaara's rescue, the problem of being a Jinchuuriki demon host had been weighing on Naruto's mind. To the extent that it had almost become a permanent feature of his consciousness. He found that, for all his energy and optimism, he was actually very thoughtful and solemn when he had time to himself.

He liked to kid himself that he was on better terms with Kyuubi since the Gaara incident, but the truth was, he did not know where he stood with the beast. It was rocky ground. Sometimes – and he hated this thought - it felt as though having a greater understanding of his role as a Jinchuuriki actually brought Kyuubi to the forefront all the more.

But he had a good reason to be worked up, another part of his mind countered. It was because of what Sasuke meant to him, because of how long it had been since he had fought him and watched him leave. Because he wanted to prove... that he could save Sasuke. Because Sasuke, the annoying bastard that he was, was important.

He wondered briefly how much Sasuke must have grown since he had left. Then he yawned, and realised that his body was leaving his brain behind in the race to get to sleep. Pushing the disconcerting and depressing thoughts of Sasuke out of his head, he settled to sleep.

-

Disjointed dreams plagued him that night. He was back down in the darkened corridors of his mind again. Doors above and behind him. Candlelight flickering to the right and to the left of him. A thin layer of water covering the floor. The open maw of a corridor in front of him.

The burning in his veins increased as he walked in the inch-deep water, down towards the central chamber.

When he got there, to his surprise the large iron-barred gate was laid open. Where was Kyuubi? A brief panic and everything seemed to spin, then he thought he felt a flicker of chakra that resembled one of Kyuubi's many tails. But it disappeared too fast for him to be sure.

Why was the gate unlocked? This had never happened before. Had he been thinking of anything that could have triggered this? He could not remember.

His attention was then drawn away to what looked like a silhouette of Sasuke far beyond the gate.

Sasuke!

That was who he had been looking for!

So he stepped through the gate. There was a horrifying growl from somewhere in all directions at once, and he felt his stomach turn. It was so severe that he had to fight from dropping to his knees and puking right there and then. He was surrounded by complete and total darkness. A voice sounded from somewhere in the upper right corner of his consciousness.

'Sasuke... Sasuke... Give me the feeling you get from this Sasuke, the source of your excitement and torment...'

What the?

'Give me the Uchiha.'

He felt a burst of red as power filled him to the brim. Then he suddenly found himself on solid ground. The blackness faded. He was on a plain, under a deep indigo moonlit sky, and the silhouette of Sasuke was maddeningly far up ahead. His heart burned with fierce energy, and, barely aware of the orange chakra that was unfurling around his body, he began to run fast across the plain. As he got closer, he could distinctly feel that other chakra, it was unmistakeably Sasuke's. He sensed it in an animalistic fashion, the way that a dog might identify a scent. Excitement and apprehension suffocated his senses and the demon inside him raged stronger. He leapt towards the silhouette, clearing the final distance in one shot, and fell right through into...

-

'What the?' Naruto's eyes snapped open. He was standing in the middle of a meadow, and his skin was tingling all over – he felt totally wired. He looked around wildly with ruby-red eyes and realised that he was more than a few miles away from where his team had made camp. And, judging by the moon, it was only about three in the morning. He shivered.

He tried to calm down, but when he felt that same chakra again, his heart jumped into his throat. It wasn't a dream... I really did sense Sasuke... Power flared up around him again as his excitement fed the beast inside him. The fiery tendrils swept past his skin, feeding off his emotion and in turn feeding him more energy. It made him feel good. High. Determined.

SasukeI'mgonnagetyouthistime,I'mgonnamakeyouseesense,I'mgonnasaveyou! Words tumbled over each other within the building crescendo in his mind. The chakra up ahead of him that was Sasuke's suddenly shifted in his direction. He had been sensed. His presence was now known to the other, now he would be coming. And he was going to find him, he was going to finally...

All thoughts of his team mates gone, and with the demon-fox's chakra reaching fever pitch inside him, Naruto rushed blindly and manically forwards. Only one thing was important now.

-end part one-