Wow, 23 e-mails in just one day, all about reviews, alerts and this stuff. I was pretty shocked, my other FFs would be lucky to get this much attention (this is no surreptitious advertising XD ) Anyway, thanks for the reviews. I've a few ways how I'll let the story develop. Just wait and see, I might put up some polls if I'm not sure.

Well, that's it from my side, enjoy the next chapter^^

And please review, they are like water in the desert for authors, seriously.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did it wouldn't be so easy for Sasuke.

"Demon Speech"

'Demon Thought'

"Speech"

'Thought'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 2: The Sleeping Beast Awakens

Once again Naruto was floating in the middle of the twilight world that was created by his mind. At this place he felt at… peace. There was no pain, no things that distracted him. The real world was painful. Naruto had once felt what happened if the drugs weren't suppressing the pain of his body. It had been like going through all stations of hell over and over again. Luckily the Sandaime had noticed this and helped him; Naruto probably wouldn't have been able to handle the pain much longer.

Of course Naruto had thought about suicide. But he couldn't really move and that reduced the possibilities quite much. He could stop the painkillers, but the pain was far worse than death and the Hokage always knew when there was something wrong in Naruto's room. So Naruto had decided he would simply wait for his natural death to come and if he could use this strange power he had to ease the lives of people, why not? He knew what it was like to feel helpless; he didn't want anyone else to suffer it.

The power to read the stars… a dreamseer… There were many names for his gift, but no one really knew where it came from. Only Naruto knew, but he didn't tell them. It wasn't like they had asked either. 'To read the stars' wasn't the right expression. It was more like 'to read the earth'. Naruto was one with the planet in his dreams, a reaction to his intense contact with chakra, the force of all living things. It allowed Naruto to 'dive' into the memories of the planet itself. Well, memory wasn't the right word; it was rather the consciousness of the world. The planet knew of every being, and what would happen to him. Naruto could read those destinies and thus create prophecies. While he had been younger it had been occasionally, but now he could control it to a certain degree.

The reason why he could only see certain events and only small parts of it was because of the sheer size of the worlds' consciousness. It was easy to feel destinies that had a huge impact on everybody's lives, like the liberation of Wave Country or the upcoming invasion of Sound. Only one thing troubled Naruto. While he completely understood the connection between his body's condition and his gift, he didn't know what had been the trigger for this. Why was his body burned this badly by chakra? Naruto could use chakra since the Hokage had explained it to him, although his body would decay even faster if he tried to use it. His body wouldn't be able to handle much more of it.

This thought started something in Naruto. Since he didn't have anything else to do, he started to deepen the thought. His body was burned by chakra. This meant he had been releasing a huge amount of it from his body. Since had this burns since he could think, which was quite early, he must have released it as a mere baby. But no child this young could use chakra, only if it was forced out of him or another source had produced the chakra, a source that hadn't been himself. Suddenly Naruto remembered another memory of the planet, the memory of the biju, who had once roamed the land. There was a very strong memory of the one that was called the king of all demons, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi no Yoko. He had suddenly disappeared 12 years ago in the fight with the Forth Hokage.

In the World of Never-Ending Twilight Naruto's eyes shot wide open. How could he have been so blind? It was so simple. The Kyuubi's presence had left the planet; it must have been sealed away. And since almost nothing was strong enough to hold the strongest biju, why not defeat it by sealing it into a human child. Naruto's spiritual body began trembling when he once again checked his chakra-burns, while the world around him started to collapse. Yes, it was there, the faint presence of demonic chakra. Why didn't he notice before? He was the container of the Demon Fox, and nothing else. Was that why he was kept down here? To ensure that the fox was kept locked away?

In his emotional struggle Naruto didn't notice what was happening around him. The twilight was collapsing even faster than before, but this time it wasn't replaced by a deep crimson.

Naruto clutched his head in agony. What was he? A weapon, not only locking away the greatest beast that ever wandered the lands but also told the future to the very village that had condemned his life? Was he nothing but a human sacrifice? And why was it him? Why had the Fourth Hokage, a shinobi that was just as merciful as the Sandaime sealed the demon inside him?

Naruto's thoughts stopped. What had happened? This wasn't the World of Never-Ending Twilight he had created. It looked rather like a… sewer? What was this malicious presence he felt? Naruto looked around. The walls around him were badly damaged, but alongside them were pipes that were completely fine. The thing that caught his attention was the gigantic cage in front of him. In the middle of the bars was a small piece of paper which had written the kanji for 'Seal' on it.

The evil presence was now even stronger than before. Naruto was afraid. For the first time in his life he felt true fear. Even when he had almost died of pain once it hadn't been this bad. Back then the pain had been too intense to feel anything. He had almost welcomed the thought of escaping the world that time. But this was nothing compared to the terror that gripped his soul, telling him that he was only alive because the one that created this pure hatred didn't think he was worth his time.

And then it hit him. This was the one that has scarred his body and condemned him to a life in the dungeon beneath the Hokage Tower. The only being that would be able to produce such killer intent without even thinking of it, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. But how was this possible? Naruto had never felt a place like this in his mind.

Naruto was interrupted in his thoughts when he heard a deep growl coming from the cage. Then a deep voice could be heard from behind the bars. It sounded old, yet strong and incredible evil.

"WHO DARES TO AWAKEN ME?"

The voice was incredibly intense, it was like Naruto was right in front of this entity.

"A HUMAN? HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE IF SMELLED THIS SCNET? COME CLOSER KIT. LET ME SEE THE ONE I'M IMPRISONED IN."

Carefully Naruto approached the prison inside of his mind. But when he was about to reach the bars, a gigantic claw suddenly hit the bars. Naruto stumbled backwards. This thing was imprisoned inside him? The seal had to be incredible strong to keep this thing at bay.

"AAAAARGHH!!! CURSE YOU FOURTH!!! IF THIS SEAL WASN'T HERE I'D RIP EVERYONE OF YOUR PATHETIC VILLAGE APART!!!"

The pure force of the Kyuubi's roar sent Naruto flying backwards against the wall. This was truly the King of all biju. Yet Naruto gathered all the courage he could muster and started to speak with the nine-tailed fox.

"So you're the great Demon Fox that attacked Konoha 12 years ago… And the one that destroyed my body after getting sealed inside it."

Although Naruto couldn't see much in the darkness behind the prison bars he caught the glimpse of the Kyuubi's terrifying grin.

"THAT'S RIGHT, PATHETIC HUMAN. I'M SURPRISED YOU CAN EVEN TALK BACK TO ME. BUT DON'T BLAME YOUR CONDITION ON ME, THE STUPID SEAL INTERFERRED WITH ME WHEN I TRIED TO TAKE OVER YOUR BODY. IT MESSED UP MY YOUKI FLOW AND OVERLOADED YOUR BODY, I'M SURPRISED WE SURVIVED THIS. OF COURSE, IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR ME YOU WOULD HAVE DIED THAT NIGHT. BE GRATEFUL I PULLED YOU WITH ME WHEN I KEPT MYSELF ALIVE."

Naruto couldn't believe what he had just heard. A feeling he hardly felt swelled up inside him: anger.

"You expect me to thank you for making my life a hell?! Are you insane?! If it wasn't for you I could have lived a normal life, I would have been able to walk under the sun! But because of you my body wouldn't even be able to handle the stress when I'm moved too much!"

Sadly Naruto remembered his 6th birthday, the Hokage wanted to take him outside in a wheelchair. But just when they were about to leave the building, Naruto's heart had almost collapsed because of the excitement. As a result he nearly died and the doctor told him that if he suffered a cardiac attack again he would probably not survive it. Later on the Hokage had tried to show him the outside world with a genjutsu, but for some reason they hadn't worked on Naruto. While Naruto was shaking with anger, the Demon Fox spoke anew.

"LISTEN UP, KIT. I KNOW IT WAS MY FAULT THAT YOUR BODY WAS DAMAGED LIKE THIS, HELL; IF I HADN'T TRIED TO TAKE IT OVER FROM THE START WE MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LIVE A RELATIVELY NORMAL LIFE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BORING THIS IS FOR ME?! I WAS LUCKY TO FALL ASLEEP FROM EXHAUSTION AFTER SAVING YOUR BODY, I DON'T WANT TO IMAGINE LIVING IN THIS ROOM FOR 12 YEARS AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! IF THIS GOES ON I'LL BE BORED TO DEATH!!!"

Then both of them fell silent, both of them thinking about their current situation. Naruto was wondering what he should think about the Kyuubi. On the one hand he seemed at least like an entity you could talk with, but he also knew that he should never trust him. Kyuubi was thinking almost the same things. The boy would probably never trust him, and he would never suggest doing so. He WAS a demon after all. So the two of them would have to make the best out of their rather bad situation. Of course the Kyuubi could have tried to force his control over the body again, but the Demon Fox was far from stupid. Ever since he had fought against the Fourth Hokage the Nine-Tailed had felt an emotion he hadn't felt before: mortal fear. Since he had been bound to this child's life he wasn't further away from death than a shinobi on a suicide mission. The Kyuubi was proud, but he wouldn't allow his pride to get the better of him. He would ensure this boys' survival, even if it was the last thing he would do. But not because of mercy, it was in his own interest only. Him, the strongest biju that ever existed would never sink so low to serve a human or befriend him.

"OKAY PATHETIC HUMAN, LISTEN UP! I WON'T TRY ANYTHING THAT COULD HARM YOU AGAIN. AFTER ALL, I DON'T WANT TO DIE JUST YET. CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY, LITTLE ONE, FOR THIS TIME I WON'T MAKE ANY TROUBLE. I'LL EVEN GIVE YOU A LITTLE PRESENT TO EASE YOUR SUFFERING, BUT IN RETURN YOU MUST PROMISE TO MAKE IT A BIT MORE ENTERTAINING FOR ME IN HERE, OR ELSE I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT REAL PAIN IS LIKE. AND NOW, GET OUT!!!"

Before Naruto could answer anything he felt how the Demon Fox emitted a massive chakra wave, luckily it couldn't pass the bars but the shockwave was still enough to throw Naruto out of the sewer. Only a moment later Naruto found himself wide awake in his bed. His eyes blinked several times. Well… this had been quite… interesting. The Kyuubi had admitted that it had been his fault and he even had given Naruto a present, although Naruto had no idea what it was. Well, he would eventually find out, it was not like he had much to do instead of philosophising and thinking. Naruto realized how tired he was, apparently the meeting with the Kyuubi had been more taxing than he had first realized. Slowly his eyes started closing again, but for the first time in a while it was true sleep. How long had it been since had really slept?

'No, no thinking now… It's time to… rest…' Naruto reminded himself. It was… refreshing. Naruto could feel how his mind started to slow down, all the troubles started to fade away. Yes, now was not the time to dream. And so Naruto slowly drifted away into the first dreamless sleep he had had in a long time.

Inside the sewer however the malicious grin of the Kyuubi no Yoko could be seen.

"SLEEP FOR NOW, LITTLE ONE. YOU'LL HAVE TO BE WELL RESTED FOR WHAT AWAITS YOU."

A small stream of crimson chakra started to flow from the cage. In the depths of the seal Kyuubi's dark laughter could be heard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That was chapter 2, I hope you liked it^^ I know cliffhangers suck but I had to put a stop somewhere. In the next chapter the Kyuubi's gift will be revealed and some of the other characters will make an appearance. Till next time XD

Oh and P.S: Please review