It's the forth chapter y'all have been anxious to read! I know it's been a long time since my last update, but I've been preoccupied with trying to start my other stories and continuing my other story Unleashing the Beast. That and this might be my last update for another long wait since my computor tower died one me (Sono'va BITCH!!) I'm not going to get into any deep details, but I'll just leave an apology here and hope you aren't discouraged from continuing to read my fanfics. It might be a while before I can get my computer fixed. Sorry.

On with the fic!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Not Naruto, not Avatar: The Last Airbender, not their characters...and it freakin' SUCKS!!

Kyuubi speaking
Kyuubi thinking
Text
"Words"
Thoughts
"Jutsus/Techniques"
"Spirits speaking"
(Translations)

Two figures stood together in the tree-tops a great distance away from their former home, with a seemingly endless expanse of forest separating them from the borders of their village. Black smoke rose from the ruined buildings, rising into the heavens without guilt or care from where it originated. The cries of the captured villagers and the defiant yells of the warriors echoed throughout the valley like the sounds of the damned and condemned from the pits of hell. The streets were paved with blood and mangled, twisted corpses littered the ground.

When the enemy shinobi began the attack on their village, that was a battle.

But when that monster came rampaging through the village walls, the battle turned into a slaughter ground. The monster came through the walls before any of the village's patrolling shinobi sighted the beast, and by then it was already too late. Swinging its massive arms and tail in huge circles, its sent dozens to their deaths from the first attack alone, with the ease of swatting flies.

Of course, that was most likely an exaggeration on the dead shinobi's behalves.

Even now the monstrosity marched around the enormous village, taking in the resulting sight of its triumph. A huge, bulky body of sand-gold clay with swirls of blue veins curled around its body and pulsed unnaturally. Its long, club-like scaled tail swished like a giant snake, toppling buildings down like blocks of dust. Thick arms of some earth material, giant claws that scored the ground and left gaping trenches like scars in the Earth. Its head was stout by comparison with its bulbous body with a short snout of long pointed teeth and black-rimmed golden, star-shaped eyes. With every twitch of its body, sand would swirl and envelope the nearest victim, crushing them to bloody pulp.

What was even more terrifying about the creature was its crazed voice. Shrill like an old man's and yet giddy for death like an insane child. Even now it was shrieking madly about all the death it had savored during its rampage.

Even more disheartening was the fact that their Hokage died, killed by the hands of Orochimaru, the Snake Sennin. After Sarutobi was brought down, morale within the shinobi ranks crumbled like dust and were overwhelmed within only an hour. Few shinobi managed to escape from Orochimaru's Otonin (Sound Nin) and the monster that gleefully shouted its name "Shuukakuu" to the winds as if it wanted the heavens themselves to tremble at its name. Their village was lost, and there was no hope to reclaim it.

But there was still a chance to prevent it from ever happening. It was a small chance, a single gambit, but they were willing to take that risk to save their home from ever being destroyed. And that hope was contained within the item they had miraculously managed to pilfer from the Hokage's vault:

The Forbidden Scroll of Sealing.

The two remaining survivors of Konoha gave a final glance back to their ruined home before they both leaped toward the deeper, more secluded areas of the forest to initiate the spell that would aid them most. 'Fore within the Forbidden Scroll lay the single means to preventing the tide of the battle from every occurring: A time-travel spell.

It hadn't been anything near an easy feat of claiming the scroll. In fact, among the few Konoha shinobi that survived the final attacks had been planning for over three days strait with little rest to evade notice of the Otonin that scoured the village almost constantly, among them Matarashi Anko, Hatake Kakashi, Kotestu, Maito Gai, Shikamaru, and Genma, the Chuunin Exam Tournament referee, and all had already died in the effort to claim the scroll. The rest of the First Year Genins died during the initial attack. They couldn't let their sacrifice be in vain.

Like arrows borne aloft on the wind, the two surviving shinobi leaped through the thickness of the forest with such speed that the very Earth seemed to be pulled from under them as they drew deeper into the recesses of the foreboding forest. Moonlight bled through the thick canopy of the crowding trees, reflecting dull pale light of the foliage like glittering speckles of glass. A worn pathway snaked between the trees, like a trailing scar long since healed but ever-present, leading into a grove where the two shinobi would enact their ritual.

The larger of the two shinobi, a young man wearing a grey hooded sweater with black fleece cuffs and hood rim and black trousers glanced behind himself when his nose caught the scent of an approaching human. His sharp eyes narrowed and he growled, revealing pointed canine teeth.

He turned back to his companion. "We have to hurry Hinata! We're being trailed even as we speak and their coming up on us fast! Pick up the pace!!"

The young girl nearing womanhood glanced back to her companion with her pale eyes and nodded uncertainly, adjusting her grip on the scroll in her grasp beneath her arm. Her dark, short-trimmed hair and porcelain skin almost glowed in the moonlight. She too wore a hooded sweater and black trousers, only her sweater was engraved with a blue flame within a red circle on her shoulder: The sign of the Hyuuga clan. "I know, Kiba-kun" she said softly, "I know."

Minutes passed like hours for the two shinobi, anxiety eating away at their resolve as they knew the approaching enemies coming up on them wouldn't give them a chance for escape. If they were caught, their lives were forfeit, and their home would remain in ruins and their friends and family would never live again. Kiba and Hinata pushed their legs to move even faster.

A wide birthed grove greeted them when they entered the clearing where they would perform the ritual. Hinata landed first, followed by the Inuzuka boy and unfurled the scroll to its full length, nearly twenty paces long where row upon row of secret, powerful, and forbidden Jutsus were written into the paper-like fabric of the hemp material. Hinata paced along the scroll's length to find the exact spell to use while Kiba stayed on guard to warn for enemies.

Not that it would matter. They would be killed before they even managed to reach a safe distance. "Hurry Hinata! There only a kilometer away now. Did you find the spell?"

Hinata nodded, but her face seemed even more pale and grim than before when her eyes scanned through the ritual procedures and steps. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat and spoke to Kiba softly, "H-hai, I-I've found the spell, bu-but it-"

"Spit it out!" Kiba snapped, regretting what he said an instant later for speaking so harshly to his team mate.

Despite feeling hurt from her team mate's scold, Hinata answered. "It says we need the life blood of a willing person, enough to make a circle seal of...three feet in radius." Her voice lowered to a whisper when she said the last sentence. "We need three pints of fresh blood. We don't nearly have enough-"

Hinata's despairing words were cut short as Kiba stood next to the kneeling kunoichi and, without even the slightest hesitation, slit his wrist with his kunai. Blood poured like water through a stone crevice as Hinata watched in stunned horror as her team mate walked in a circle to surround Hinata, while squeezing more blood from his wrist to make the kanji signs for Sun, Moon, Stars, Heaven, and Earth in a pentagram formation encircled with several dozen different seals almost non-readable as the scroll depicted.

When he was finished, he fisted over a dozen tiny bead-like red pills from his pouch and swallowed them whole. Color instantly returned to his pale face, and his wounded wrist stopped bleeding before Hinata's open eyes. He must have ingested blood pills.

Kiba gave Hinata a hard look that demanded her attention, which it did. "Hurry with the seals Hinata. There isn't much time left."

Hinata nodded solemnly, tears threatening to burst from her eyes as she read the scroll again and again as her hands flashed through the three dozen hand seals with alarming speed until her hand movements were but distorted blurs. Chakra energy flared around her into the fresh blood seal she stoop atop, making the seal glow a bright blue. Seal after seal flashed through her eyes as her hands eventually were making hand seals with such speed, shape deferment was impossible to the average naked eye.

Kiba shifted from foot to foot in an anxious fidget as his nose detected the scent of the Otonin approaching closer. They were only seconds away now. If Hinata didn't finish the ritual soon, both their lives were forfeit.

Before he could even raise voice to urge Hinata to finish, the blue seal flashed into a blinding bright blue column of light that ascended into the sky like a rocket, twisting and swirling into the clouds like a thin twister, illuminating the sky with blue light until it completely disappeared from sight, taking Hinata with it. Kiba had a distinct suspicion the ruined village had seen it. He hoped they did. All the better for the bastard invaders to know they failed to stop them.

Kiba sighed with relief that his team mate had managed to finish the spell, and just in time when over a dozen light-brown robed Otonin leaped into the clearing, with black masks covering their whole heads and revealing only their eyes, and their robes were belted by thick purple ropes fastened behind their backs. They carried no visible weapons, but Kiba knew they wouldn't need any to kill him. He was exhausted, drained, and without even his animal partner Akamaru, who had died from the first attack from the Sound, his chances were slim.

He grinned despite the situation. If he was going to die, he was going down in a blaze of glory and would take these bastards with him. Before any of the Otonin could react, Kiba threw an explosive tag on the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing and reduced the scroll into ashes in a globe of fire, illuminating the clearing in garish light. Embers glowed with a bright orange light before they died, smothered by its own consummation.

The Otonin leader growled his displeasure and advanced threateningly toward the weak Inuzuka boy while flipping a kunai in his hand, a promise that death was coming to his door step. "That was very stupid of you, boy. You just reduced Orochimaru-sama's scroll to ash. Had you come along quietly and surrendered the scroll and yourself, our master might have been generous enough to spare your life."

Kiba cocked a sneer to the Jounin leader and tugged at his sweater collar. "The only generosity I'll ever see from that damned freak is when he goes into Hell. Come on ya damn bastards! Let's see who dies first!"

Sneering behind their head masks, eight of the assembled Otonin lept toward Kiba with their kunais ready, clearly thinking they had the advantage and would easily kill Kiba, who was a mear Genin. They thought wrong.

Just before the Otonin could sink their knives into Kiba's flesh, the last surviving Inuzuka ripped open his sweater by the collar, revealing, to the Otonin's horror, his leather armor stitched with dozens upon dozens of Explosive Notes. He gave them all a grin before he ignited one the paper slips with the last reserves of his chakra. His final words were but a ghost of a whisper, but each Otonin heard him clearly.

"Bombs away, suckers!"

KA-BOOOOM!!

The thunderous explosion blasted the area into ruin, sending trees flying from their usurped roots and handholds, shrapnel of wood pieces cutting through the air and embedding into the unsuspecting flesh of the nearby Otonins, having themselves blown back by the force of the explosion. Several of the Otonin closest to the blast radius died instantly, either burned by the flames or torn apart by the blast completely, and their ruined corpses flopped listlessly to the ground. Unsurprisingly, Kiba's kami-kaze explosion was seen all the way to the Hokage's Tower, where Orochimaru stood atop the room and looked to the sight of the mushroom-cloud of burning smoke.

Clad in the Hokage's robes stolen from the dead Sarutobi, Orochimaru's pale, serpentine complexion looked downright furious, his golden-yellow eyes drawn thin with vexation. He'd seen the pillar of blue light that came from the same spot that the explosion came from, and could safely assume his henchmen failed to intercept the scroll raiders and even failed to retrieve the scroll, as the explosion looked large enough to decimate a good section of Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf). All the same, he was a bit satisfied his henchmen died in the explosion. It saved him the trouble of killing them himself for failing to catch only two Genins.

It didn't matter too much, in the long run, Orochimaru conceded to himself. There were hundreds of scrolls, if not more within the tower that contained Ninjutsus for him to use at his leisure, Konoha was his to use for his followers to expand his soldiers, and the resources of the land itself...He had himself a fortress.

The Snake Sennin laughed raucously in the night air, amidst the shrill screams of Shuukaku. Nothing could stop him now.

Not even the Kyuubi-brat that disappeared before the Chuunin Exam Tournament.

The knives danced through the air in the Juggler's hands with masterful ease as his audience watched, cheered and offered their spare coins to the performer's upturned hat by his feet. The Juggler wore simple brown leather trousers and a large, white sash around his middle above his sleeveless, red top-robe. Perhaps no more than thirteen or so winters old, his face was was slightly round with a defined hardness to it, a green bandanna wrapped tightly around his scalp, covering his short brown hair.

The crowd surrounding the performer clapped eagerly as his demonstration of knife-skill was drawing to a close and began to twirl the blades faster and faster around himself, all the while spinning in a slow circle on his heel and effortlessly catching his sharp, double-edged daggers in intercept. When he finally came to a stop with a bow, his daggers held casually in both hands, the crowd of assembled villagers applauded excitedly and deposited their offerings into the Juggler's hat.

"Thank you, everyone," The Juggler said with a light voice but deep accent, "Your charity to this humble performer warms my heart, and for your generosity I will have another performance ready for you all tomorrow, a show even more splendid than that you've just witnessed. Until then, I bid you goodnight." Taking their pause as initiative, the Juggler pulled out a red ball from his pocket and smashed it to the hard-packed dirt ground at his feet and grey smoke exploded from the sphere, immersing the area in harmless smoke. The crowd cried in alarm, but the smoke didn't even irritate their senses.

When the smoke cleared, the Juggler was gone, along with his black head-cap of coins.

Above the crowd, perched on the high-corner top of the lodge building, the Juggler watched the gathered people break away, talking excitedly to one another as they went about his recent performance. The sun was beginning to set behind the surrounding tree-line of the encompassing forest around the Earth Kingdom village, and the sky exploded into a panoramic sight of bright color hues. The Juggler glanced down the length of the pavilion where several other street-side performers were glaring at his previous spot with undisguised jealously for his successful show. Tomorrow would bring him even more coin.

The Juggler slipped his bandanna off his forehead and blew out a breath, and his face began to shimmer and undulate like writhing snakes under silk sheets before his appearance fell away like a mask of evaporated water, revealing tanned skin, red eyes with black, feline slits, blond hair and deep whisker scars on his cheeks.

Seeing no one in the alley below, Naruto silently dropped the two-story height with cat-like grace onto the ground and pulled his hood over his head as he entered into the main pavilion of the village. Passers-by didn't acknowledge him the least and he them. The men and women chatted excitedly with one another about tonight's celebration, couples made their way to the village center hand in hand, and children laughed with unabashed abandon as they rushed passed in groups playing mock-battles of Earthbender verses Firebender and whatnot.

Naruto knew the reason for the festive atmosphere: Tonight was the Harvest Festival.

The Harvest Festival was a holiday celebrated throughout the Earth Kingdom, especially for the smaller villages and minor settlements scattered across the land's great expanse. As each season represented a separate nation; Spring for the extinct Air Nomads, Summer for the Fire Nation, Autumn for the Earth Kingdom, and Winter for the Water Tribes, every Fourth Autumn throughout recorded history was the most sacred because the most abundant and plentiful crops were harvested.

This night would recite the beginning of the harvest season as on the first night -only on the first night- the moon would glow full and high in the dark sky, glowing with a dull red luminescence that signaled the beginning of the harvest season.

For the occasion, all the men and women wore the clothes they toiled in on the fields: Dark tunics and trousers that were dirty and heavy and frayed with wear-and-tear that represented their contribution to the harvest; either by plowing fields, planting seeds, tending crops and watering soil, their clothes were stained with the sweat and blood they gave to the land to grow their crops, which appeased the spirits of the land for their toil and effort for the bounty of the crops.

Naruto didn't care about the celebration. He strode with blind steps to his lodge through the main pavilion, passing exuberant villagers as he went until he reached his destination, the White Castle. The inn was two stories tall, nearly fifty paces wide with walls of solid white mortar and curved-tiled roof corners. Over a dozen open windows spanned across the width of the building, each window leading into a separate room. Glowing lanterns were lit on both sides of the solid oak door. The open windows flanking the door were glowing bright orange from within, and the cacophony of voices and clinking dishes suggested many of the patrons were having their dinner early before the festival.

Naruto didn't pay any attention to the patrons as he slipped inside past the lobby bar and made his way upstairs to his room, even as most of the guests were either just leaving for the festivities or couples were staggering to their rooms to celebrate in more private, intimate fashions. The sounds of playful giggles and laughs followed Naruto all the way to his room before he shut the door. With his back against the door, he studied his room as he did before.

Hard wood composed the floor of the spartan room, where a single open window allowed the night scenery to spill into the room. Only a single large bed of cotton mattresses and thin sheets dominated the interior space of the bedroom in front of the dead hearth. A small kitchen remained unused in the far corner of the apartment and a latrine stall beside it.

Under the open window, a mountain of dark fur, muscle and leathery, bat-like wings slept peacefully. Tenrou's towering form had grown even larger since the month of Smellerbee's absence, but he proved amazingly flexible by fitting his body through the window since his skull wasn't too large, at least just yet. Throughout the time of Smellerbee's absence the loyal wolf tried desperately to cheer his master with only some success. Naruto was suddenly struck with how little he knew of Tenrou's intelligence or emotional understanding to want to keep with him and keep his spirits up. Perhaps he should do something in thanks for his companion's support.

Still the sound of laughter carried into his room through the cracks of his door and the open window and Naruto cursed his keen ears for their hyper-sensitivity. Memories flooded to him, all about Smellerbee; her soft, scratchy voice, her laugh, her messy hair, her lips, he couldn't forget her. The month past, when Smellerbee had left for Ba Sing Sei as agreed when they were attacked by the Yu Yan Archers, Naruto had felt a part of himself become numb, or perhaps simply buried under his loneliness. He could not say for sure.

The only time he wasn't plagued by Smellerbee's absence was when he donned his mask and did what he did best: Be a merciless mercenary, and let the instincts of the Hunter within his psyche drive his sword through his prey.

In the same time, perhaps as a result of merging part of himself with the demon fox or a manufacture of instincts honed from numerous conflicts with dangerous enemies, a new personality was born inside the young shinobi; A pure, primal consciousness almost animalistic, berzerk and unadulterated, capable of killing without mercy, pity, or favor.

The instinct consciousness Naruto had named "The Hunter", the side of him that transformed him into the perfect warrior with the skills and power only able to be matched by master veterans. When he became the Hunter, he was unstopable. The Hunter would only cease in its rampage until every creature and being that posed a threat near him was eliminated. Only through the songs of battle could the Hunter be summoned from within.

Seeing as night had finally fallen and most of the inn patrons had either left for the festival or stayed in their rooms, Naruto went to the Tenrou's discarded saddle and rummaged through the various pouches and cases strapped onto it. Most of the pouches contained food and water for he and the winged wolf, while only two held any of his clothes and ningu (Ninja weapons). He found what he was looking for quickly and pulled out a dark, blood-red hooded cloak with leather straps and iron buckles, lined with steel mesh within the tough, leathery fabric, and over a dozen knife sheaths were strewn into the cloak's inner-lining.

Inside the pouch, Naruto grasped his bloody-red jumpsuit, its color altered by the Kyuubi's energy during the attack by the Yu Yan Archers in the Earth Kingdom General's castle. The cloth material looked only slightly frayed, but the Kyuubi's chakra suffused through the fabric made the material as strong as mail armor while still maintaining its contouring flexibility. Carefully setting it to one side, Naruto peeked down into the near-empty pouch and found what he wanted:

His fox mask.

Lined with red streaks like mimicking whiskers near the nose-tip, the mask was mostly chalk white, with thin eye-slit openings and red curved streaks under the eye holes. Stitched to the mask was a massive wig of red animal hair like a lion's pelt, meant to cover the top of his head. The lower half of the mask was absent for Naruto to perform his Jutsus without hindrance. Made of animal bone soaked for an entire week in fish oil, the mask maker that made it for him was secretive by reputation and made masks for anyone with the right coin and hand-carved it himself. The task had taken the better part of the past month, and Naruto hadn't been called for any hirings since until just yesterday.

And finally there was his Kamujin (God-blade), leaning against his bed, unsheathed. The broad blade he'd used to slay over several of the Yu Yan Archer assassins the month before, it was by far much more than an old weapon the woman had described it to be. It was a double-edged broad blade of obsidian ore unlike any kind of metal Naruto had ever seen, as wide as his wrist and as thick as his finger; with curving, intricate designs in place of a hilt-guard and a boiled, leather-bound curved handle of animal bone and an oval-shaped C at the hilt pommel with deep ingraving curves around it. Since the time after the attack from the Yu Yan Archers, Naruto had taken to training with the broad-sword nearly every night, though he'd outright admit his progress was coming along at a snail's pace if anyone asked him, but at least he could hold it one handed with ease and wield it proficiently with his strength and agility.

After he donned his red jumsuit, cloak, and fox mask, Naruto licked his finger and thumb and smothered the candle flame, allowing the darkness to shroud the room and fastened his sheathed sword to his hip in a sword loop-belt. Tenrou didn't move, and Naruto knew his companion was aware he was leaving for his next assignment. The Kyuubi vessel briefly patted the winged wolf's back before bounding from his room and through the window out into the night.

"Run for your lives!", someone cried in despair, "The Red Fox will kill us all!"

The hysterical man's words fell on deaf ears as the carnage and destruction raged around him. Men in black and red armor scrambled back and forth across the encampment with weapons held in unsteady hands, komodo-rhino's rushed about in panic as flames engulfed tents and stables and thunderous explosions of fire high-lighted the area in an orange glow in the twilight. Firebenders and foot-soldiers alike rushed to the front where the combat was taking place, weapons in hand and rushing to their deaths.

Fox mask donned, his red jumpsuit dark in the absence of light, the Hunter watched the battle -no, he corrected himself, the slaughter- of the Fire Nation soldiers vainly rushing toward him with spears and swords aimed to kill. His strides were purposeful, confident, and when the first soldier came in range he flicked the sheath-latch holding his sword in its case, pulling his sword free and cutting the spear-blade from the shaft with his Kamujin and beheaded the soldier a heartbeat after, spraying blood from the open neck before the headless body fell to the soil. Scores more came after him, and the Hunter's instincts and enhanced strength and speed allowed him to move in and out and between every soldier and cut them down with his broad sword slashing furiously, making his blood-slicked blade whistle through the air even as his curved, sharp claws on his hands ripped out throats and eviscerated any close target's belly.

Fire-tipped arrows rained down on him from above, but the Kyuubi vessel danced through the projectiles with ease, still hacking and cutting down his surrounding enemies. Only three arrows managed to pierce his flesh and even then Kyuubi's chakra healed his wounds and pushed the arrows out. The Fire Nation soldiers were becoming desperate then, hurling their spears toward their rampant enemy only to be batted aside and broken by the his sword's interception. During every pause in their attacks the Hunter would fling his kunais and shurikens to his enemies, taking more of their numbers by his unsuspecting knives, only to draw them back by his chakra strings and use them again and again while more men fell to the unseen knives. As always, Naruto's clarity of mind returned just as the Hunter receaded into the depths of his psyche, satisfied there would be no more posing threats in the meantime.

A sword-wielding foot-soldier came toward him in red and black armor, hacking and slashing in a furious frenzy of deadly slashes while Naruto blocked each attack in a weaving dance of blades as sparks flew from their sword's contact, desperately holding onto his mental clarity as the Hunter struggled to reclaim control and kill the threat. After about a minute of struggling, the Hunter relented and backed down, giving control to the young shinobi.

Naruto knew if he stayed too long trying to kill one man, the rest might escape. With a deft slash and thrust that severed his opponent's sword-hand and pierced his chest, Naruto brought his hands together and began weaving hand signs while gathering his chakra for his next attack as the soldier fell dead with Kamujin still protruding through his chest and out his back. When the Firebenders began to ready for their inferno blasts, Naruto released his technique by bringing his cupped hand to his mouth, inhaled deeply, then blew.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan (Fire Style: Fire-dragon Flame Technique)!!" A stream of red and white-hot fire shot forth from his mouth like dragon's breath, engulfing two oncoming platoons of footsoldiers rushing to him with their spears. The flames incinerated their flesh from their bones, leaving charred corpses in the wake of the Kyuubi vessel. Just as abruptly they started to scream, they fell silent. Nearly twenty died in an eye-blink.

The onslaught continued for nearly an hour until the screams fell silent and the flames smothered themselves, leaving the entire encampment in ash and ruin. The ground was littered with fallen corpses and splashes of congealing blood with broken and discarded weapons. Every soldier and Firebender was slain and Naruto had made double certain that none escaped by allowing his Kage Bunshins (Shadow Clones) to finish them off in the encompassing forest surrounding the large encampment that held nearly 350 to 400 Fire Nation soldiers. Naruto's clothes were damp with sweat and early morning humidity as he trudged through the various tents in search of any valuables, but he found only a few bags of gold and silver coins and a few stolen gems. Marking the ground throughout the area were Komodo-rhino tracks going every which way and direction, but Naruto knew they wouldn't alert any nearby Fire Nation troops until a day or more at least.

Naruto spent another hour picking up every Fire Nation soldier's corpse and piling them into a massive mound of dead bodies like a small hill. His hands flashed through several hand seals, ending with a Tiger seal and blew out a stream of red and orange fire from his mouth, setting the pile of bodies ablaze with his Katon Jutsus and bathing the area in garish light. He allowed his eyes to absorb the sight of the bodies burning and murmured a prayer for their souls to find peace in the after-life. As of recently, killing had only distracted him from Smellerbee's absence, but he took no pleasure in taking lives. He did only as he was paid.

Having procured one of the documents from the largest tent that was undoubtedly the General's, for whose' name Naruto didn't know or care to, he now had viable proof of his kills to receive his full payment, and he didn't want to risk being found with a severed head in one of his leather bags since the smell of blood would undoubtedly attract unwanted attention from the more predatory forest denizens. The rolled scroll parchment was inscribed with orders by some higher Fire Nation Military official with a seal of authenticity for some raid to a nearby village. Unfortunately for them, they failed before their orders could be carried out.

Staying for only a heartbeat longer while gazing at the destruction he wrought to this camp, he leaped away into the forest just as the sun rose and spilled its pure light onto the bloodied sight.

"Job well done, my young friend! This document is authentic. Here is your pay, and have a nice day."

Taking the heavy bag of coins and fastening it to his sash belt, Naruto gave his newest employer (he didn't bother to remember his name) a short nod before he turned to the leather flap acting as the establishment's "door" and shoved it aside as he exited and into the avenue of the village he was staying in for the time being. He'd made extra certain to deposit his bloodied clothes and weapons and mask back at the lodge and used several layers of Genjutsu disguises over himself, appearing as a young man with short-cropped brown hair wearing tan leathers.

Morning light spilled onto every surface of the hardwood and rock roofs and walls o the buildings and walkways along the street. Even in the early morning people were emerging from their homes and went to do whatever work they set about to do. The Harvest Festival had, from Naruto's understanding of the denizen's expressions, been a success. Men and women alike were garbed once more in their labor breaches, tunics, and leather trousers, dresses, and robes. He passed a group of children Earthbenders using their elemental manipulation to kick a brown ball of hard leather back and forth while raising ramps and slides and small slopes of Earth to maneuver the ball into the opposing goal nets. Sauntering past without stop he heard the triumphant cries of sportsman-like victory a moment later.

The merriment around him made him feel like he was suffocating. It all seemed so wrong that these people could ignore the very real threats and dangers that lurked just outside their borders. Didn't they realize their enemies were just waiting outside their homes and ready to kill, enslave, imprison, and do only the god's knew what else they could to these Innocent people?

Naruto knew his rage was getting the better of him and tried to breathe deeply to calm himself, releasing his white-knuckle grip and bringing his flexed claws from his bleeding palms that quickly healed without rousing any attention from the passing pedestrians. Ever since he and Kyuubi had merged, allowing the blond shinobi to become a half-demon, his rage had gotten almost volatile and uncontrollable when only slightly disturbed. None of Kyuubi's sagacious words of wisdom could help Naruto tame a beast already free from its cage and nearly ten-year imprisonment.

He reached the White Castle inn within mere moments and went strait for the bar. The barkeeper behind the stall was gaunt and tall with loose trousers and tunic, an apron over his front, and a bandanna covering his brown-haired scalp. His sunken face was speckled with salt-and-pepper facial stubble. When Naruto sat himself down on one of the stools in front of the bartender, the gaunt man turned to him.

"What can I get for ya?" he asked in a deep voice and accent despite his thin stature.

"Firewhiskey please, and leave the bottle." Naruto dropped two gold coins onto the counter for emphasis and prepayment. The bartender hurriedly scoop up the gold coins and went to get his customer's beverage.

Naruto wasn't an alcohol addict, nor did he find the smell or taste very pleasant, but restlessness and his acute senses usually kept him awake at nights for hours and sometimes needed the occasional drink to put him into a dreamless sleep he liked. Firewhiskey was the strongest alcoholic drink between the Four Nations, originally brewed from the Fire Nation some two hundred years ago, and one bottle was strong enough to put down a rampaging komodo-rhino in under a ten count. Fortunately, Naruto's constitution was greater than a komodo-rhino's.

After the bartender gave him bottle of red alcohol and clay cup for drinking, Naruto wasted no time in emptying the first bottle within only several minutes and called for another, then a third. When on his third bottle, Naruto was please to find his senses dulling and his limbs relaxing. He heard a purr in his mind and knew the Kyuubi must like the drunk sensation too, despite the sharp burn of every gulp or swig of firewhiskey that left a soothing warmth in his belly. It must be almost dusk by now with so few patrons left in the bar.

"Ye ought ta nowt overindulge yerself, pal. Ye'll get yerself too plastered ta even ge'to yer room."

Nearly jumping from a start of surprise from the voice, Naruto turned to his left where the speaker sat. He was a man of slim but solid build with a sharp face and narrow eyes. He wore a loose black top-robe under an auburn-red vest of animal hide and trousers of pitch-blue, held up by a white sash belt. On his back was a black case the length of a man's leg and a green bandanna over his head. His sideburns peeking from his bandanna suggested his hair was a bloody red.

The man dropped his ale and turned in his stool to Naruto. "Where're me manners? I haven' given ye me name yet, 'ave I?" He held out his hand to shake. "Me name 's Serrin, friend. Sorry for th' unannounced intro, but I'm very lonely an' wan'ed to strike a conversation to pass th' time. So, who might ye be?"

Naruto took Serrin's hand and shook it, but his alcohol-induced mind was sharp enough to note the change in slur from the stranger's voice and of sneaking up beside him without his awares which made the Hunter within him wary. Was this man trying to feign drunkenness to make himself be presented as deceptively harmless while masking his killer intent?

Naruto shrugged the notion away, managing to ese the Hunter down with only a little effort. He just wanted to finish his drink, get to sleep in his room, then leave tomorrow to the next village. No sense in trying to look for enemies in every person he comes across, especially since he reasoned his drink was clouding his senses. It was only at that moment did he remember he forgot to get to his performing corner to present his knife show, but he didn't really care. He had more than enough coin to last him months in comfortable luxury, so why try to get more than he needed? He could wait for a time before taking up any more paid tasks.

When Naruto didn't give the stranger his name, Serrin returned his attention to his cup of ale, but seemed disinclined to continue drinking form it. "Ya seem a bit down in th' dumps, if ye'll excuse me choice o' words. Goin' anywhere this eve?"

Naruto shook his head, hopeful that Serrin would just lose interest and go away to leave him to his drink.

Serrin was oblivious to the young shinobi's discomfort and just smiled all the more while he rabbled on. "Why so silent, my friend? Surely ye enjoyed de Harvest Fest las' night, aye?"

Naruto shook his head, saying nothing.

"Damn pity" Serrin said with a sigh, "Ye missed quite a party. Meads of de finest brew, roasted meat dat melted in yer mouth, gorgeous women left an' right, no man left without pleasurable company...Ahh, whadda night." Serrin glanced sideways to the unresponsive young man. "Not the talkin' type, are ye?"

Again Naruto shook his head, keeping silent.

"Ah, well. Guess I should give ya yer time alone." Serrin dropped three silver coins onto the bar counter and sat up to walk to the doorway. "By da way, don' drink too much or ye get sick, boy. Hangover's a merciless wench."

Naruto just nodded as Serrin exited the Inn, hardly heeding Serrin's advice and gulped down another swig-

He paused. Clarity of mind returned to him in an instant.

He called him boy.

He saw through his disguise.

Slamming his earthenware cup onto the counter and nearly breaking it, Naruto made a fast break to the exit, ignorant of the other patrons' surprised and confused looks they sent him as he shoved himself outside, catching onto the doorframe.

No one was outside. Not even a stray or random pedestrian left or right, like sound and activity just disappeared. Serrin had not even been walking fast, barely a comfortable stride, so how did he disappeare so quickly? Where did he go?

A cold feeling of dread and unease churned inside his belly. Who was this Serrin person that could see through his Genjutsus? What was he after?

Naruto didn't know. Too many questions, too little clues. And not enough time.

He had to leave tonight.

Serrin watched the young man from above atop the very inn he had his drink. The lad hadn't even sensed him yet, but he would soon enough, Serrin knew. The boy's senses were sharp, his mind as finely honed as a blade. Even under the drunk stupor of firewhiskey he had discerned the implications of his departing words. Serrin had to addmit to himself that his disguise was powerful under the veil of illusions, nearly making him miss the subtle details only his trained eye could perceive. Only the most powerful illusions of the mind alone could fool Serrin's watchful sight.

It was, after all, what earned him his place in the Yu Yan Clan.

"How long will you watch our prey like a childish idiot, Serrin?"

Serrin looked over his shoulder to the two figures standing at his back, strait backed and squar shouldered.

The tallest one, taller than Serrin himself, was a bald and stonefaced male with black eye-lenses and a sleeveless tan robe fastened by a thick sash and red hemp rope around his waist, his strong, wiry arms flexed at his sides and making his muscles stand out. Instead of boots, sandals, or even clogs, steel-metal contraptions were buckled around his ankles and over the tops of his feet. Each foot-contraption had four ball-wheels on the bottom with tubes and sheathed wires bolted on its sides. Serrin couldn't see his weapon, but knew he had it stashed on his person.

The second one, the smallest of the trio, had wild auburn hair that fell over his eyes like a veil in clumping strands, covering the left side of his handsome, frowning face with brown eyes. He wore loose white trousers and top robe over a red shirt and auburn boots with curving gold designs on the toes, his wrists cuffed with iron bracers. A black sash was tied around his waist and belly under a sword belt where his tai-chi sword hung comfortably at his hip.

Serrin rose and turned to the two with a disarming smile. "Young, Giichi. What a pleasant surprise! How long did you two get here?"

Giichi, the taller bald one, pushed the rim of his lenses up his nose as he replied impatiently "Two hours we have waited for you to make contact with the Red Fox and now as night is fallling, you let him get away and warn him of your awareness of his identity." Despite the level of calm intelligence in his voice, his eyes turned stormy behind his black lenses. "We've lost the upperhand advantage because of your incompitence!"

"Calm yourself, elder brother" Serrin said soothingly, "I know what I've been doing and he's already suspicious of me, so don't bother thinking of trying to mend what's already done. He'll leave tonight to ventrue to the next village where we can handle him in the forest." Serrin's grin grew wider. "Not even his winged wolf could help in that crowded enclosure of trees. All we must do is wait for him in the forest and strike when he's unprepared. A simple task, nay?"

"What I don't understand" said the younger, auburn-haired Young, "is why we didn't attack him in his lodge where we could just kill him by burning and locking the room. Either he could roast or sufficate. Why go through the trouble of fighting him in open ground?"

"Where would the fun in that be? We haven't been out of the Keep in over a decade. Surely you want to have a little more sport with our quarry?"

"Our master" Giichi interjected curtly, "ordered us to see if we can have him join our clan first and foremost before we kill him if he refuses."

"Father's never been the type to have any kind of fun aside from raping, torturing and killing anyway. What happened to thrill of hunting one's prey, stalking it through the terrain and making the final kill worthwhile?"

Despite themselves, Young and Giichi looked considerate to Serrin's notion. It was true that their sire didn't allow them too many freedoms, especially venturing outside their keep, so perhaps haveing some time away would prove benificial before they were innevitably brought back behind their fortress walls. It was definetly better than endless weapon practice, tutoring, and combat training.

"Your proposition is acceptable" Giichi said with an incline of his bald head.

"I'm for your idea" Young added, "so long as we can eventually kill the Red Fox. I doubt he would consent to our master's offer in either event."

"True, true. Anyway, let's get to the forest quickly before he and his wolf take off to the skies. We'll show him the power of the Yu Yan Clan."

And without another pause, the trio of brothers disappeared into the darkness of the night, weaving their way to the outskirts of the village.

After making certain he couldn't find the elusive Serrin on any side of the plaza, Naruto returned inside and strided passed the bar and the curious glancing bar patrons and rushed up to his rented room and began packing everything into his pouches and saddle-bags. Tenrou awoke with a start as he heard his rider clambering to gather all his belongings together, raising his massive head and lifting his ears in confusion.

Naruto turned to his animal companion, dispersing the illusion masks from his face as he knew it was pointless after Serrin saw through them. No point in wearing a mask if someone knew your face. He hefted Tenrou's saddle and dropped it beside the massive wolf. "Get outside and make ready for departure, we're leaving in a thirty count and no more else our enemies will trap us."

The winged wolf growled in fury and flexed his muscled body at hearing this, understanding they were in great danger from an approaching foe.

"No. We're not going to fight now, there's something wrong. We can't afford to bring any combat into the village and I don't know how many enemies there are. We have to leave NOW!"

Taking his consent, Tenrou nodded with his intelligent teal eyes and shoved his head through the window opening and slowly began to push his body through, folding his wings to his back while his powerful hind legs and claws pushed him forward. In about ten seconds that seemed like a lifetime to the wary shinobi, Tenrou was out the window and waiting on the ground below. Naruto heaved Tenrou's saddle and threw it out the window and followed his companion's route out the opening, landing with a soft thump onto the soil. He looked left and right and through the darkness of the night and the tree thicket for any hostile movement, seeing none, then quickly fitted Tenrou's saddle onto the winged beast. Naruto scanned around themselves once more before pulling himself onto Tenrou's back, spuring the winged wolf into flight only a hearbeat after, climbing above the tree-tops in only one flap of Tenrou's massive leathery wings and soaring above the canopy of the forest below.

Naruto wasn't aware how long they were airborn, perhaps a minute or less, when he suddenly heard Kyuubi's voice shout suddenly in his mind, Kit! Move your ass away now! Enemy on your left! Get away now!

Startled, Naruto turned to left where he caught sight of movement and a dark, winged-form flighting to him-

A horrible screech blasted his eardrums with the force of a war hammer, like the sound of a thousand dying shreiks and screams that pierced through his head like an arrow with skull-scraping pain. He felt an air displacement slam into him and his companion, leaving them staggering and realing from the strange attack and the air blew past him as he and the winged wolf, both having suffered the dizzying sound, plummeted into the forest. They crashed through the boughs and thick branches and trunks that whipped and struck at their open bodies before Tenrou, having regained some control of his senses through the hard hits of the buffeting tree limbs, brought himself skidding to a stop on the leaf- and grass-blanketed earth with his feet, anchoring into the soil and dragging deep furrows in the ground as his momentum carried them for another twenty paces then slowed to sudden stop, throwing Naruto from Tenrou's back and slamming him onto the ground in a tumble.

For a moment, Naruto couldn't move. He tried to command his limbs to do what he wanted, but paralysis gripped him in an iron vice. He could only feel the pain of his deep bruises from the whacking tree limbs he and his steed had crashed through and the intake and exhale of his labored breathing. What happened? What was that horrible sound? Some animal? Where?

Several agonizing seconds crawled by when sensation returned to his limbs. A flaring jolt of pain lighted through his body like he was struck by a battering ram as he clambered to his feet, slowly so as to not aggrivate any serious damages. He had to bit his lip to keep from howling in agony, drawing blood from his lip by his fang's sharp point. Staggering, swaying on his unsteady feet, Naruto glanced back to Tenrou and saw the wolf more or less incapable of heaving his bulk onto steady legs, only heaving great breaths to recover from the unprepared blast. One of his wings were broken, the leathery membrane of his pinions torn like a worn cloak. He wasn't flying any time soon.

"Damn shame for your wolf. He's down and out, isn't he? Won't be much help to you now."

Naruto jumped in surprise and pivoted to the voice's source, barely managing to keep from screaming in pain from the movement. He and Tenrou had landed into a grove of a circle of thick-trunked evergreens and bushels between them, dense wild-vines constricting and coiling around the tree bases like thin green serpents.

Not fifteen paces ahead of him were three figures. He recognized Serrin immediately in the middle, but other two; the taller bald one with black circular glasses and the shorter one with wild auburn hair, he had never seen. The bald one had a hard and defined face and wore a pale-brown robe with a tight sash belt. The auburn haired one had warrior's clothes and a tai-chi sword resting at his hip. The trio's expressions might have differed, but Naruto could feel the waves of killer intent pulsing off their imposing figures like the heat waves resonating off boiling-hot metal, or heat-tempered steel.

Judging from their trained postures, his choice of metaphor was a little too accurate for his comfort.

Serrin stepped in front of his brothers, still wearing the same clothes as before but minus his bandanna, allowing his striking red hair to stand on end. His smile was a mix of amusement and false-good-nature. "Had a little tumble up in the sky? Really, I thought you had more sense than to go about all intoxicated and all and on firewhiskey too. Didn't your parents ever tell you to be wary of alcohol?"

The Kyuubi vessel would have laughed at Serrin's joke in absurdity and to the irony of it that he never had any parents, but with adrenelin steadily dulling his pain, heightening his senses, and strengthening his body, Naruto kept himself still, waiting for the time to strike. As the trio stepped toward him at once, the prone half-demon felt a different energy eminating from each of the assailants. One felt like the faint brush of a small breeze, another like the chill of ice, the last like the restrained heat from a blazing inferno.

Naruto narrowed his crimson eyes. Elemental benders? Who?

A lupine snarl snapped Naruto from his private questionings to peer behind his back. Tenrou was now steady on his feet and fell into a clear stance to stand his ground and fight despite his broken wing hanging limply at his side and touching the grass. His teal-green eyes were glowing with feral agression.

Giichi merely adjusted his glass-lenses and stepped forward as his brothers paused, halting in their steps. "Your beast is lame, yet it wants to fight still after the injuries it received? Either it's very determined, or very stupid."

"Now, now, elder brother," Serrin said with insulting soothness. "No need to mock a beast after it's been put down, is there?"

Tenrou's sharp hearing took every word passed between them and leeped forward with a deafening roar of rage, claws and fangs poised to kill, teal eyes hardened for death.

Naruto hadn't managed a breath of a warning before the winged wolf was slammed from his side by an equally large reptilian body in mid-flight, throwing the injured beast to the floor and skidding to a hard stop against the thick trunk of an old evergreen. The sound of impact was like a sheet of leather being struck by spiked club with a sickening boom-crack.

Startled, Naruto panned his head to the creature that tackled his companion. At first he mistook it for a wingless dragon, but on further inspection it was an enormous lizard/salamander hybrid creature with a mottled-scaled hide of a light blue underside and dark blue dorsal side. Each of its muscular six legs armed with curved, hand-length silver talons as thick as spear-shafts and a heavy, whiplike tail longer than its twenty-foot body by a third. Its head was arrow-shaped and traingular from every angle it turned its head around with barred fangs and teeth like dagger-blades arming a muscular jaw and neck. Glowing yellow eyes shined with violent fury and viciousness under its pronounced, supraocular brow-scales.

Serrin looked mildly disappointed at the abruptness of the wolf's defeat. "That's no fun. I wanted to see a struggle between them and see which one would win. Instead the damn throw-rug just topples over like a pile of twigs. What a weak creature-"

In his fury hearing Serrin's mocking words, Naruto struck. In an instant he translocated himself by driving Kyuubi's energy into his legs and jumped from his crouched position, bounded off a flanking tree base in a spin, and pulled his broadsword from its sheath and slashed downward in a quick, fluid motion from behind the distracted Serrin.

Instead of the sound of splitting bone and cutting flesh as Naruto expected, his blade clashed with Young's outstretched sword in an ear-splitting clang! and rebounded from the sword's recoil, shoving the young shinobi back aloft off the ground, falling into a crouch and skidding on his heels several paces back. His eyesight perceived Young's quick movement and brought his sword up just as the auburn-hair assailant slashed at him with a cross-cut that could have opened his throat.

With a snarl of rage Naruto shoved Young back with his greater strength and pressed the attack, hacking, slashing, and thrusting with his sword while alternating slashes, punches, and kicks when opertunity permitted him his chance, silently calling on the Hunter to fight. But Young seemed to be having no trouble in keeping the Kyuubi vessel at a distance while still managing to open minor, shallow cuts as he remained untouched. Naruto felt his limbs becoming heavy and his chest tightening with pain while his opponent seemed barely winded, as if he were just strolling through a park. Why wasn't the Hunter coming?

When a minute passed, Young made his first mistake; tripping on a thick tree root peeking from the ground and sending him falling backwards. Naruto capitalized on Young's vulnerablity and sent an upper-cut into his ribs-

Only for his hand to pass through empty space and the fly back from hard kick to his jaw. Young must have moved so swiftly he left a visual after-image of himself before delivering his most recent blow. He rolled back to his feet and turned just in time for Giichi to shoot from the cover of the trees with a boom! and threw a chained weapon at his head. When Naruto intercepted the flying weapon, he noted the circular blade-ring attached to a skull-pomeled handle like a shackle cuff. Giichi pulled back his ring-blade and threw several daggers Naruto barely batted aside while one of the shadowed knives buried into his thigh.

Affording no more risks and gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg, Naruto brought his forefingers together and conjured five Kage Bunshins and had them attack Giichi and Young while he set to get to Tenrou and hopefully escape before he became overrunned-

Agony flared through him. He looked down at his belly and saw the tip of a spear-point protruding just below his rib-cage. His steps faltered, shock driving his momentum stumbling sideways before Naruto glimpsed Serrin intercept in front of him and deliver a spinning heel kick to his head and face-first into a tree bough. He fell like a stringless puppet to the ground, bleeding, wounded, tired, defeated, with Serrin's spear still buried in his back.

Serrin looked down on Naruto's helpless form distainfully with a an expression of fury and disappointment like a hunt too easily achieved for one wanting excitement. He blew a hard sigh. "Too damn easy. Maybe next time we ever find another like you we'll just go one-on-one. You fell too quickly for my liking."

Naruto would have snarled in defiance to the bastard's insults, speaking about him like a damn game animal, only his consciousness was waning with every breath. He coughed up blood as he attempted to breathe, a clear sign of internal injury. Yards away behind Serrin was the damn blue dragon lizard bearing its weight down on Tenrou, pinning the wolf to the ground. Its breath curled and frosted in the air. It must be some breath weapon.

The Kyuubi vessel wanted to keep fighting, help his animal companion, slay his assailants, yet knew he could do nothing. A prickle in the back of his eyes told him his Kage Bunshins were dispersed, and now they were at the mercy of the assassins without any hope of escape.

Don't you DARE give up, Kit! Kyuubi said suddenly in Naruto's thoughts. You're not dead yet, so don't think of throwing in the towel so early. You still have a chance to fight and kill these bastards. You can still tap into my chakra -Our chakra!- and beat them in a single attack.

You haven't come this far just to let yourself get killed by these scum, godsdamnit! And I won't let you give up before at least trying. On your feet! Take out that spear in your back, throw it back to the Serrin-bastard and spear him through, then tear them all apart with your claws -that blue lizard included- and show them what you can do. Come on! ON YOUR DAMNED FEET!!

Gritting his teeth and willing himself to stay conscious, Naruto knew Kyuubi was right. He couldn't give up now. He was still alive, not dead, and he had to help Tenrou. Digging deep into himself and concentraiting with every last ounce of his will, he began to pull the Kyuubi's chakra from the seal and direct it to repair his wounds. Heat and strength flooded into him again, and he could sense the Kyuubi's demonic energy struggling to push the spear from his back to seal his wound. While it was repairing his flesh, Naruto strained in controling the flow so as to not alert the gathering assassin trio. He experimented how much feeling he had in his limbs by twitching his legs and arms, holding in a sigh of relief that he found his spine wasn't severed by the spear-blade. He gripped the spear shaft from behind awkwardly and slowly pulled the weapon from his flesh, stiffling every scream of pain by biting his tongue.

"Well, he's not going to live with that spear through his back." Young said with a snide, sarcastic tone to Serrin, "Excellent work, you damn idiot! Just as we were about to propose having him join our clan, you had to provoke him with that damn tongue of your's and nearly lost your head had I not stopped him. Don't you ever think before you open that mouth of yours, or are you really so stupid and impatient that you would risk father's rage at our failure and incompitence?!"

"What can I say?" Serrin replied with an amused tone and grin, shrugging, "I'm unpredictable. Make's it better to keep your oponent unaware of your intent and all. Besides, we can still just take him to the Keep and have our surgeons fix him up. I don't think I hit any vital organs."

"Thinking" Giichi said with a cold tone, "should be reserved to those who take in to consideration of the facts and of objectives. We were to give him the option of joining our clan with persuasion and kill him only if he refused! I agree with Young that you should either control that urge to say something stupid at every waking moment else I'll cut it from your throat. I'll not tolerate any liability among our party, not even of my flesh and blood, if only though that you're my half-brother."

"Your words will be taken to heart after I get scolded from dear father." Serrin said derrisively.

Suddenly the assassin's salamandragon, Coldfang, hissed like a smelted sword dipped in cold water at the prone form of their quarry. Serrin and his brothers turned to what distressed Coldfang and felt their bodies petrify from the sight before them.

Wisps and tendrils of burning red and orange chakra slowly poured out of Naruto's body like tongues of flame, spiraling above the steadily rising shinobi before twisting back into him. Naruto gritted his teeth until he tasted the coppery tang of blood from his gums, forcing his body upright to face his opponents. Every minute movement nearly made him scream in agony. He couldn't tell from which wounds the pain still burned, but shoved it aside. He would endure the pain, harness it to drive his strength. Pain was a human's best teacher, but just an excuse for failure at the same time. Success laid beyond pain.

Godsdamned right, Kyuubi said as Naruto finally got to his feet, squaring his shoulders and facing the assassin trio. Godsdamned right.

Naruto smiled at the demon's praise. It might be the first, but he felt certain it would be the last.

At least he'd take one of these bastards with him into the fires of hell that awaited him in death. Death smiles on all, why not just smile back?

Naruto knew the effects of fear-induced paralysis of Kyuubi's chakra would wear off soon, so he gathered all the demonic power from the seal he could bear and felt the energy bleed from his skin, his pores, coiling and thickening around the shape of his body, leaving him encased in a garish red barrier that would do as he willed. A tail of pure-red, shimmering chakra sprouted from the barrier formation near his lower-back, swishing back and forth as twin points grew and lengthened atop his head like fox ears. Power swelled within every blood vessel, every breath, every limb and muscle, he felt invincible.

"And now" Naruto said in a basseto voice like a growl and rasp , "You will pay for daring to attack me. But first, I'll pay back your damn lizard for harming my companion."

Quick as a snake, Naruto whipped his clawed arm and the red chakra surrounding it shot forth, extending and grasping the blue salamandragon within a vice-grip of clawed hands of raw energy. The beast struggled futily in his grip, hissing and roaring as Naruto lifted the beast from the ground like a stone and swung the animal like the spiked ball of a mace into the thicket of the forest's trees, smashing the giant reptile through six thick evergreens by the sheer force of his strength before tossing the unconscious and broken creature into the tree canopy.

Young was the first to regain control of his body, freed from the spell of paralysis and bounded forward toward the glowing half-demon while pulling his sword from his sheath once more and began a furious attack upon Naruto who managed to evade every sword-stroke by minor margine and slashed with his chakra claws at every opening in Young's defense.

Giichi recoverd next and his foot-contraptions whirred and the ball-wheels began spinning and digging into the soil before he shot forward like an arrow, whipping his shackle-cuff blade-snare out and holding the chain in one hand and the hilt in the other. Just as Naruto hoped he could come.

Thrusting a hard kick into Young's belly and throwing the auburn-haired assassin back from the blow, Naruto turned to Giichi just as he came in distance for the bald warrior to strike. Naruto couldn't bring forth the Hunter this time, so he to trust his instincts. He hefted Serrin's spear he pulled from his back and threw it to the oncoming Giichi, striking him in the hip with the spear-point. The assassin buckled from the injury.

Giichi taken care of, Naruto turned his crimson gaze to Serrin, still standing where he was left paralyzed. His expression was level, even, as though he could see everything in this situation and turn it to his advantage. Naruto prepared his chakra-claws, lengthening the talons of energy into razor-sharp points.

"Enough" Serrin said at last, stopping Naruto and Young from continuing, "You've proven yourself more than capable of fighting us, but even I can tell you're on your last reserves. We'll let you go for the time until we meet again so we can treat our wounds and you your's. Agreed?"

Young glared at Serrin with a mix of venom and disbelief, but Naruto consented before the youngest assassin could raise protest. He allowed the reluctent Young to pick up the wounded Giichi and help him limp away with his arm over Young's shoulder while still holding Serrin's spear. Storm clouds gathered overhead and thunder boomed in the distance, muffled by the density of the packed trees. Rain would be coming soon but Naruto didn't dare look away from Serrin's gaze and kept the field of Kyuubi's chakra around himself as the red-haired assassin made a slight bow and turned away to disappear into the darkness of the forest to follow his brothers.

Droplets of rain began to fall from the sky now. Sensing none of the assassin trio, Naruto allowed the red chakra around himself to recede back into the seal of his belly and nearly buckled under the strain of his own weight and pain from the numerous wounds suffered by the conflict. Willing his body to comand and bearing the pain, he went over to Tenrou and gently roused the injured wolf. His teal green eyes opened just as the downpour of the storm began to fall heavily onto the land, soaking Naruto's leathers and Tenrou's fur. He bade the animal to get on his feet to tend to his wounds.

After he finished with tending to the wolf's injuries, Naruto was nearly spent with exhaustion, and the weight of his waterlogged clothes were making him sway unsteadily in his saddle atop the healed Tenrou, though his wing would take another week at best to be fully healed. Minutes passed like hours to the duo as they trotted through the forest and began to feel the biting chill of the cold rain. Several times thunder boomed overhead directly above them yet they paid it little notice. Naruto and Tenrou needed to find shelter.

The forest ended to the wide ranch of a small Earth Kingdom home with several small stables of ostritch-horses tucked safely in their pens away from the rain. Tenrou went to the front door entrance without Naruto's directing and let his master down to knock on the door. Three knocks boomed and Naruto and Tenrou waited anxiously for an answer as water dripped off their soaked bodies.

Then the door swung open with a creek. Naruto started to ask if he and his companion could lodge for the night, but his words died in his throat when his eyes fell on the person in the doorway.

Dark violet hair with face framing bangs. Soft features befitting a princess. Pale skin and cherry blossom-pink lips.

Pale Lavender eyes.

"Hinata-chan?"

Unable to handle the stress anymore, Naruto's body crumpled in a heep at the feet of the doorway, his consciousness slipping into oblivion as he watched Hinata's face grow frantic above him and called for help from inside the house over her shoulder.

His last thought before closing his eyes was the relief he felt when his heart, numb for so long, felt a fleeting peace...