In this chapter you'll be getting a small look in on what happened when Naruto almost died. I don't like Naruto seeming so helpless and angsty. I know he's been hurt by the villagers all his life, so he wouldn't have a huge reaction if they went even farther in trying to kill him. Then the added Sakura and Sasuke woud hurt him a lot more. But I added something else that I know would affect Naruto, because he is an emotional guy, he just turns that into will power. Really, the last part I added on top of Sasuke and Sakura betraying him is what is going to haunt him more then the others. And it gives me a further reason to make Sasuke and Sakura look like assholes. Btw in the beginning the Akuma Mercs left in Suna (Naruto, Hibiki, Tsubasa, Yugito, and Haruka) are now on their way to Konoha.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto...shouldn't people know this yet?

"Are we there yet?"

Naruto sighed, "Tsubasa, your bored, aren't you?"

"Yep!"

"And how old are we turning this year?" Hibiki remarked dryly passing Tsubasa onto the next tree.

"I bet he's drunk." Yugito teased and followed after her friend.

"Oi, I don't drink! That party was an exception!"

"You shouldn't be yelling while we are in war. The enemy will find us." Haruka sent back a glance at him.

"Haruka's right, we need to stay quiet, we'll be reaching Konoha within a few hours." Naruto ordered, he sped up, taking his place in lead.

Naruto stared at clearing his team had decided to take a quick brake at. He realized that the clearing is a beautiful place, but no matter how beautiful, it won't stop the beat of his heart from racing as memories trespassed through his mind, memories he had done everything he could to forget in the last four years. Hate filled eyes, victorious smirks, much more than hurting insults, blood stained grass, with the awful stench to accompany it. His desperate calls of 'why', and the worst one of all for him, the horrified face of a young child who had been at the wrong place at the wrong time as a huge crowd of insane, hating fools, who were afraid of being caught were lead by two shinobi in cornering her to a tree. No matter how much he tried, no matter how much he demanded Kyuubi to give him power to help the girl, Naruto would be unable to block the child's anguished and petrified screams that pierced the air, and his heart. The smell of a different blood mixed with the sent of his and invaded his nostrils. At this point Naruto stopped trying to hold them back and tears poured through his eyes, he was so fucking helpless! This action of course, brought back the attention of the attackers to their original prey.

Naruto's legs started to shake as more images flashed before his eyes. His eyes widened and his breath became ragged, he clutched his heart, desperate to make the pain go away. He let out a cry when it didn't . The lifeless, scared, and hollow eyes of the girl he had caught a glimpse of wouldn't leave; it was like being attacked by his own Kekkei Genkai. His chakra spiked uncontrollably and he panicked, he was suffocating from all the old emotions and memories that had been locked away for so long.

"Naruto? Naruto! NARUTO!"

Naruto gasped as the images were suddenly ripped away from his vision and were replaced by the highly concerned faces of his teammates, even Haruka, who nearly never showed emotion. Yugito spoke first.

"Naruto, what the hell happened, are you okay? Did the seal I put on you break?"

Trying to appear fine, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and let out a shaky laugh, "I'm fine, really, I was just spacing out." He tried, and failed, to give them his signature smile.

Haruka stepped up and put a hand on his cheek, "You're crying."

Sure enough, Naruto noticed how the corners of his eyes were still a bit blurry, and Haruka's hand made his cheek feel wetter.

"And you're paler than I've ever seen you." Tsubasa added.

Hibiki stayed silent, studying his leader. It was obvious to everyone that what had just happened wasn't "nothing." Not only was Naruto's reaction scary, but it had been bad enough to actually worry them. In all the years the Akuma Mercenaries had been together Naruto had time and time again proven to be the strongest, physically and emotionally. Even when it seemed like he was sad, his eyes always glinted the small determination that surrounded him at all hours. This time though, there was no determination. Only pure, unwavering fear and sadness. With the sweat that covered his forehead, the tears still trickling from his eyes, and the cry they had heard erupt from him, it was like he had been stuck in a nightmare he was unable to escape. Hibiki knew that it couldn't have been a genjutsu, they all would have sensed it, and Naruto never got caught in a genjutsu, he had enough chakra to dispel it immediately. Whatever it was, it was obvious Naruto didn't want them to know about it.

Haruka stepped back again as Yugito and Tsubasa continued to question Naruto about the incident. Her one black eye locked with Hibiki's lavender ones, a silent message passed through them. The two nodded to each other, both closed their eyes and slowly drifted away from the reality around them.

Haruka opened her eyes, everything was about 30 times bigger now. She looked up and saw her body, her body's eyes were closed and continued to stand. But if one looked closely enough, her chest wasn't moving. She wasn't breathing. Turning her head she saw the faint ghostly figure of her body. Round and skinny, with a large fluffy tail at the end. Her small ears twitched as the sound of the wind went offbeat for a moment, signaling a disturbance. Looking up into a tree not too far away, she saw the large misty outline of a vampire bat. They nodded at each other again and started to run around the clearing. Hibiki searching by sky and Haruka by ground. Naruto hadn't acted strange before they ended up here. Meaning that something, even the smallest clue, could be found here. Haruka lowered her head farther into the grass, and saw it. Flicking her tail twice to the right, then four to the left, she signaled Hibiki to return to his body.

Haruka closed her beady black eyes and allowed herself to disappear from reality again.

Naruto mentally gave a sigh of relief. He had finally managed to convince Tsubasa and Yugito that he was, for the most part, okay. He knew that they didn't believe him, but had stopped trying to pry it out of him. They were now talking about something completely different. While on the outside he was actively contributing to the topic, inside he was still trying to regain his breath from the incident, he hated feeling so helpless. He felt a powerful source surround the mental box that kept the dark memories that were trying to break out. Naruto smiled gratefully in a tunneled direction that lead to a very familer cage and fox.

He knew that it wasn't Kyuubi's choice to attack Konoha. A few years before his birth and Kyuubi's last attack on Konoha, Kyuubi had been preparing a nice cozy den for his mate and soon to be kits. But a man by the name of Uchiha Madara had come ad demanded Kyuubi's power. Having common sense, Kyuubi had refused, but Madara had used the sharingon to it's full extent, killing his mate and kits. In vengeful rage Kyuubi had unknowingly given Madara power over him. Kyuubi wasn't thinking. He was seeing red and the only thing before him was a city. And every year Kyuubi had remembered his family and the only town he had seen after the murder, and replayed revenge again and again, until finally, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime, sealed him inside Naruto.

Over time, Naruto had replaced the part of Kyuubi's heart where his own kit would have been. Without Kyuubi, Naruto would have died in so many different moments.

Funny how most of those moments included villagers and Konoha headbands than they did missions and enemy shinobi.

Naruto left his mental state and paid attention to the conversation his autopilot had been a part of. Over their heads Naruto noticed Haruka and Hibiki talked quietly together. They looked right at him for a split second then back at each other. His gut twisted nervously, They know something. He didn't want anyone to know about what had happened, especially the Akuma Mercs. They were all a family and would hurt anyone who had hurt someone within that. He knew how they and himself had acted when Haruka had shared a very deep secret about her suffering. He didn't even want to think about what they would do if they found out, it would be even worse if they heard about the child, teasing and insulting of people would turn into assignations attempts.

Naruto's eyes drooped, realizing how tired he was. Naruto excused himself from Yugito and Tsubasa and jumped onto a nearby tree. Getting as comfortable as possible Naruto let the darkness of sleep overtake him.