It was then that he felt it. The most inopportune time, a time where this feeling should have been nonexistent, but here it was. Hunger. That insatiable hunger that couldn't be cured, only tapered. He grabbed his stomach in pain and that was all that was needed for the ninja in the mirrors to take his plan into action. He launched a barrage of needles at the blond haired youth. Naruto only caught a glimpse of the needles before he closed his eyes in fear of death. When a moment passed and he felt nothing, his eyes opened, believing he was dead. He only then realized that the one teammate, the one who constantly belittled him, and stole the object of his affection, had taken the hit for him. When his fellow ninja said his final goodbye, Naruto grew enraged. Enraged enough to call upon a power from within, strong enough to forget about the hunger... for the moment.
"...Haku?" asked Naruto, in fear that it truly was who Naruto believed it to be. Haku only gravely nodded, looking resigned in his fate.
"Please. Kill me. I am no longer a useful tool to Zabuza." He coughed out blood, and a few drops landed on Naruto's face. Apparently, the shot Naruto had given to Haku's chest had been more extensive then he originally thought. Naruto froze in sight of the blood. It smelled delicious. That deep, rich, red color of it. Suddenly the hunger was back. He pulled his hand up and wiped the blood onto his fingers. He stared at it for a moment before liking it off his fingers. His eyes flashed red before slowly stalking towards Haku, his aura growing more oppressive every step. Haku was now having trouble breathing. Haku heard chirping and through sheer force of will and determination found that his master was in trouble and stepped into an ice mirror to help him. Naruto snapped out of his blood induced trance, and ran over to Kakashi, eyes silently tearing at what he almost became.
"Well, it seems as though you have failed me Zabuza. Then again, I always knew you were just a baby demon." said a voice from beyond the mist. Zabuza discreetly dropped the technique to gain view on the person who dared to insult the Demon of the mist. It was Gato. "It too bad your friend had to die Zabuza, I would have liked to repay him back for my arm a hundred fold." Zabuza's eyes lit up with a fire attributed to righteous fury.
"Kid, give me your kunai." said Zabuza to Naruto. Naruto looked towards Kakashi for approval, and the older man gave a slight nod of the head. Naruto tossed up the kunai and Zabuza caught it with his mouth. Before the Demon of the Mist ran off to his and Gato's impending doom, he muttered a few words that only Naruto heard. "Thank you... for being the only other one who would weep for Haku." Naruto teared harder because he felt guilty that he hadn't even realized Haku was dead until now. Disgusted with himself, Naruto looked towards that ground to hide his face from Kakashi, who only thought that Naruto was only hiding his tears.
Naruto, though, did not have much time to regret as Zabuza's bloodshed caused Naruto's senses to go into overdrive. Not only did Zabuza cut down Gato, he had cut a swath of death throughout his ranks, causing the smell of blood to run rampant across the bridge. Naruto immediately stopped crying as his eyes flashed red again, but due to his head being down, Kakashi never caught it.
"You just killed our meal ticket!"
"Lets rampage the village and take what we need from there!"
"YEAH!" The were about to start running when they were hit with a strong fear. A fear so strong Kakashi made the conclusion that Kyuubi was being released. He had little to no chakra and absolutely no strength left, so how was he going to counter the beast? He looked to Naruto, to see if he could find an opening, only to realize that there was none of Kyuubi's chakra leaking out, and Naruto seemed to be deathly silent. None at all like he imagined it would be. His eyes... his eyes were what Kakashi was terrified of. It wasn't the malicious red of the Kyuubi, but a purer, and more regal red that somehow screamed comfort in death. Meaning : Naruto would take comfort in your death. The eyes itself made you want to commit suicide rather than face the monster that owned them. Before Naruto could do anything though, an arrow hit the ground and a new voice was heard.
"If you want to take the village, your going to have to get by us!" yelled Inari from the other side of the bridge, breaking Naruto of his trance, and freeing all those who were locked in his gaze. The bandits immediately fled, and the villagers cheered. It was over.
During the rest of the trip in wave, there were no more incidents that Naruto could recall, and once he was in Konoha again, he would have Ramen to fill the void created by his insatiable hunger. The sweet, salty and warm broth seemed to be the only solution to help his hunger, but would it be enough this time?
DEVIDER
Whilst in Konoha, Naruto was able to contain the hunger with the wonderful solution named Ramen. Fortunately for him, the hunger was never as powerful as it was on the bridge. For this, Naruto thanked the Ramen-gods daily. It wasn't until the second exam of the chuunin exam did the hunger strike ferociously once again. He had been talking to his teammates when the crazy snake examiner, as he had so eloquently put it, had thrown a kunai at his cheek, hugged him from behind and licked the blood off his cheek. From his vantage point, he could not only hear her heartbeat, but feel it. Of course, the examiner mistook his stiffness as being scared. Little did she know, her sensei, who was currently disguised, had just saved her life once more by providing a distraction and moving her away from Naruto.
The next time the hunger hit, marked the first time Naruto was taken over by the feeling. During the actual second exam, a sannin by the name of Orochimaru had attacked. He easily succeeded in pushing back, and beating down both Sasuke and Naruto. This was even after Naruto had found his special power in rage, aka Kyuuubi. Naruto looked up from his position on the forest floor to ascertain his teammates condition, thinking Orochimaru had gotten his jollies and left. What he saw was not what he would have expected from even the weirdest of tales. Orochimaru had just elongated his neck and his head was going straight for Sasuke. Despite his teammates impending doom, Naruto could only think of one thing. Orochimaru's now exposed neck. His hunger had just come back with more ferocity than ever before. It had become so ravenous that he could literally see the scene in slow motion. Something deep in his soul told him that all he needed to feel full was to just bite down. Naruto was now salivating at the thought. He was so focused on the neck, he could have sworn he saw the intricate veins, and arteries that resided in the neck.
He couldn't hold back anymore. He rushed forward with a speed that he didn't know he had. Unfortunately it wasn't fast enough as Orochimaru had gotten wind of the movement and allowed his body to kick Naruto back into a tree with enough force to break the tree and cause it to collapse. Thankfully it landed on the side adjacent to Naruto, much to Orochimaru's displeasure. Not bothering with the details, he continued his task. He bit Sasuke in the neck and tainted his very soul with the wretched abomination known as the cursed seal. Seeing his work to be done, Orochimaru left a few parting words to the last remaining conscious member, which is exactly how he meant it to be. Who else would ensure that Sasuke would be well taken care of?
Naruto could only watch as Orochimaru ran off before succumbing to the darkness, not to wake up until after the fiasco with the sound nins.
Devider
Having made up camp to rest, team 7 debated what to do about their missing scroll situation. Luckily for them, Kabuto happened to be walking by. Deciding that a mutual truce was needed, the group of four stalked out into the woods looking for the last scroll. After an hours trek through the forest, Naruto grew fed up.
"Jeez! It feels like were walking in circles!" he exclaimed, the others shushing him, lest he give away their position. Kabuto thought hard about his statement. Had they been walking around in circles? He threw a kunai into a tree discreetly and continued to walk with the group. After 10 minutes, he realized that they were fast encroaching upon his thrown kunai.
"Stop." he said. They looked at the senior genin in confusion. "I threw that kunai there when Naruto so eloquently said that we were walking in a circle. It appears that our blond friend was correct. We are currently ensnared in a genjutsu that alters your perception and balance slightly, causing you to move slightly to the side. It's such a subtle genjutsu in such a dense, and unrefined environment that even a jounin would be hard pressed to find it." Immediately the three thought the worst. Who else in the forest could cast a genjutsu that could quite possibly fool a jounin? Orochimaru. Before they could voice their opinion however, Kabuto began to talk again. "Who is causing this illusion. Show yourself!" Their only reply was laughter and the sight of more then a hundred clones appear around them, causing mild panic. Naruto, seeing this as his chance to shine, smiled. He fashioned his hands into a cross shaped seal and created just as many shadow clones.
"Get them!" he yelled as the clones went to attack the other clones. Everyone saw this as a cue, one that snapped them out of their reverie and brought them into action. They attacked the clones with fervor but quickly realized that they were no ordinary clones. The clones couldn't be hit, but they could attack. Starting to see his clones pop out of existence one by one, he started to panic a little. It was more then enough to spark the fight or flight reaction inside of him that cause his hunger to return. Immediately he could hear the heartbeat of every living thing around him, and it made him ravenous. As he tried to calm himself down, he realized that there were three heartbeats that sounded oddly distorted. It was as if... "They're underground!" Kabuto, in the heat of the moment forgot that he was supposed to be acting the role of genin, and launched an underground missile designed for those who lurked under the surface of the earth. Thankfully for him, no one noticed.
"Shit!" one of the enemy ninja yelled. Naruto, in his state of increased hunger, pinpointed the sound of the now exposed heartbeat and lunged without any thought. He regained his senses in mid-air and shifted his weight so that he was able to make it just a punch to the face instead of what it should have really been. A bite to the neck. Knocking out their leader and enraging the other two into fighting hand to hand, team 7 plus Kabuto were able to easily remove the threat., thus granting them the missing scroll and entrance to the tower where the last of the trials awaited them.
A/N:Well, this is the prologue. I threw the second and first chap together since they were both pieces of the prologue and someone suggested that I should do this. Ja ne.