(I don't own anything, but the plot. Thanks for reading, following, reviewing, and the favorites! I had to break up chapters 5 and 6, since it was too long.)

Summary: Naruto becomes stronger than he has ever thought possible, only because of the one choice he made when he was young: merging with the Kyuubi. One catch is one can't live without the other. One has to endure treacherous training, while the other one has to be allowed to leave its "home." You choose what pairings. (1st one is the main; I will involve the others. OR. What ever the majority is, I will do.)

Chapter 6

*Naruto POV*

. . .

I kept yelling for him to respond, using his name at least once more before he talked.

Kyuubi growled within me. 'Shut up, you'll expose us.' "That's the point." I responded.

'Shut up runt.' He growled again.

Will you actually concentrate on what I'm asking you?

'The answer will and always will be, no-'

But-

'No.'

How about a proposal? You pick a task, and if I accomplish it, I can do what I want.

There was no response. If I didn't know, I'd think he was ignoring me, but he was just contemplating. He was never the one to turn down one of my proposals, prime example of the original proposal still in effect. 'Turn around, do you know who they are?'

I turned and nodded. Sand Siblings, blonde one Temari, brunette Kankuro, the other one.. Gaara, Gai, Gaa, something that starts with a 'G.' Why?

'Good. The middle one,' (the sibling whose name started with a G), 'is your opponent. You must defeat that one without blowing our secret.' He emphasized it like I was stupid or something like that.

I nodded while I sculpted my face into Naruto's determined expression. Then, I can do what I want?

'Within boundaries, yes.'

That's as good as I was going to get. I jumped over the trash that I hid behind and rushed after the trio. I had to defeat him, and I could at least get rid of these clothes. That was my first decision if I accomplished it. He didn't seem all that special, but looks could be deceiving, clearly look at all of Team 7. We looked like mediocre kids, nothing special, but there was an Uchiha clan member (basically the last), a really strong Haruno, and an extreme upbeat blond boy.

I yelled from where I cut them off. "Hey you with the face! I..." I paused, finger left suspended in the air. I got a good look at the middle child. The he, which I suspected it was a him, was actually a female. It was a good thing I didn't call her a boy straight out. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up mistaking her for a boy; she even had long hair. I continued. "I challenge you!"

The blonde girl, Temari, glared in my direction. "Hey kid, you..." She stopped in what she was going to say when the redhead girl put up a hand. It immediately silenced her into walking past me, shaking her head.

The brunette, the only boy, (Kankuro), paused next to me and whispered. "Walk away while you still can." He continued to stand next to his blond sister, far away in case things got crazy.

I flashed my all time Naruto grin, resulting in a blank stare from the redhead. "Yeah." I chuckled lightly. "I challenged you, so you have to accept it." I ordered. I wasn't sure how to go through with this. If only Kyuubi warned me that she was a girl. It's not like I liked her; it's just that I was surprised. I couldn't like anyone anyway. My mind just made me think it was a guy, maybe the way she stood?

I don't know, but she stared at me. "No," was her cold reply as she made a move to leave.

There was that no again. I blocked her path, hearing a gasp from behind to where her siblings stood. I tried a different approach. "You scared girl? That must be the reason. Ah, so I win by default?" I picked up a few things to get people to respond to me, and she seemed to have a short fuse. She glared at me. It was a good thing I was used to Uchiha's glare, but his glares didn't measure up to hers. Hers were better, more fierce and deadly.

I took this opportunity to attack with a shift kick toward her shin. It was slower than usual, but it was to make sure she'd hit back. Instead of hitting back, sand formed right before my foot hit. I couldn't hide the smirk from my face. This was going to be fun. I took a step back and ran toward her. Sand protected her again as I jumped over her to land in a crouch on her other side.

You could tell she was a vessel for a Tailed-Beast just looking at her. I knew she hadn't merged with hers, so she wasn't at her full potential, but she had a great defense. My offense was better than my defense as well as using some weapons. That made me think of Ten Ten. She was very skilled in using Ninja Tools and whatnot. I made a mental note to mention to Kyuubi that I needed work on defense and weapon handling.

It was unnecessary since he already knew. I wondered which beast she hosted. Just before I came up with a name, Kyuubi hinted to me. 'One-Tail.' It was Shukaku then. It would be funny if instead of it being Shukaku, it was Isobu (a beast "attached" to water). It would be hilarious to have Isobu in the Sand, or vice versa with Shukaku in the water. I dodged as sand soared at me. I ran at her again, punching the wall of sand that erupted from the sand gourd on her back.

Sand crept up my arm. I knew Kyuubi told me not to blow the secret, so I created a Rasengan in my other hand and hit it with the sand. It allowed my hand to venture out, and I ran around the wall and leaped into the air. I pretended to go to hit her, resulting in her sand to appear. I sensed that would happen, what I didn't sense was that when I went to attack again that sand had spread over my feet.

Actually it was starting to, but I backed up to make sure it didn't get me. I knew it wouldn't end well. Out of nowhere, her hand came at my face, close enough for me to snap my head back to avoid the hit, still receiving a slap of sand across my cheek. I did a back flip when it sent me into the air. I rubbed my cheek. She's better than she looks.

That would understand why he picked her as my opponent. I had to focus. I rushed at her again, running until her sand rushed to protect- no grab a hold of me- I dove for the ground and basically disappeared as I reappeared behind her, back to back. With a soft jab to the back of her neck, I deemed that I had won. I beamed and turned to face her, only to get hit with sand directly in my chest.

I soared through the air until I came to rest on my feet. Shukaku was good. At that, Kyuubi growled. He didn't seem partial to that comment. I let a smirk slide to my face as she approached, a murderous look to her eyes. I extended my hand. "Great fight," and I meant it. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" I was back to being the goofy blond as I jutted a finger at my chest.

My other hand, still held out to her, stayed there as she stared at it. She gave me a quick scowl, and she went to her siblings, saying something that got them nearly sprinting for the Hokage's Tower. I crossed my arms, similar to the fashion she displayed even with me fighting her. I tilted my head and closed my eyes. I won, Kyuubi, don't go back on your promise.

I was aware that he wanted to argue that it wasn't a real fight, but then I'd tell him that I could blow the secret, so clearly it was real enough. 'Fine, you can convert to your usual outfit.' He grumbled. I jumped up. Finally! I ran home, changing out of the hideous clothes in favor for my blue-gray suit with a dark gray flak vest, blue-gray sandals that had a black piece of elastic material wound around each one, and some- matching the gray of the vest- arm guards.

(AN: The look resembled Kakashi's Anbu outfit, except you couldn't see Naruto's shoulders and the color of the gray vest/jacket, whatever you want to call it, was a shade or two darker and the suit was less baggy than Kakashi's.)

I couldn't understand why I liked the look, but it felt as if I were part of something better. Better than just being an annoying good-for-nothing pretender. I let out a sigh. I wished Kyuubi would say something, but when I needed him most, he never showed up (like today in that restaurant or before I went in). That would have been great if he did, but no, he didn't.

He ignored me, just like he was doing now. I trudged to get ramen. It always seemed to pick me up, at least a bit. I ordered and picked at it. I took a slow bite, but I found it not appetizing. It was tasteless at the moment. My brain barely registered someone sitting on the stood nearby. I swear if it's Uchiha again! I almost growled, but stopped myself. It was that redhead.

She didn't even look at me. Perhaps, she didn't notice or just ignored me. I huffed, resting my chin on my palm with my elbow on the counter, and turned my head to the right so I could ignore her too. I went to eat my ramen to find it missing. My eyes darted to where the bowl had just been. I searched and found that she had it. My eyes narrowed as she took a bite out of MY ramen.

I growled low, only for her to hear. "Give it back."

She didn't respond, only her pale green eyes slid over to me, eyebrow raised. Well, would have been raised if you could see it. I didn't know when it was that I stood, but I looked down on her, growling as I gripped the side of the bowl.

"That's called stealing." I hissed, starting to pull it away.

Her hand held the bowl in place. "Others call it sharing."

My body shook as I watched the bowl break between our fingers. I swung out my arm, grabbing the stool that I used to be sitting on. I honestly thought I was going to hit her. I smashed the stool off the counter, grabbed the bowl and threw it to the ground. All the while I yelled, "Wanna know what? Screw it, fricken screw it! SCREW it." I stomped away before anyone reacted and immediately ran to my house.

I found my sword and tied my headband around my waist and created a knot to hold the sword. After I accomplished that, I stormed out of the apartment. I left the village. I had to do something. I couldn't sit there. I reached a part of the forest, growling and cursing all the words I could remember, most were actually from Uchiha. I punched a nearby tree with all my might.

As soon as the connection struck home, the tree didn't stand a change. It exploded on contact, and the rest of it crumbled to the ground. I hissed through my teeth, fingers clutching my hair. I was so-so-so tremendously enraged. She could not do that. Don't get me wrong, it was a plus side I didn't injure her, but I was close, too close.

I stomped my way through the forest. She had no right to touch that. Oh she thinks she's so scary?! She can scare people, whooaa. I growled, a very animal sounding noise. Well, so could I! I could murder the whole village- I could make everyone fear me!

Something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and stopped my rampage. I went over to it without a second thought. It was shiny and big. Behind me I heard a child whimper. I turned and saw the child. The kid was attached to a tree nearby the weird object. I cut her loose and just then did I realize that I shouldn't have. She smirked evilly at me, raising something above her head and breaking it on the ground.

It revealed black smoke that struck my eyes, and I stumbled, catching myself on something. I realized too late that it was the object. Then, I felt myself fly through the air, ears ringing. I gasped.

I couldn't breathe, or see.