Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 8

The interrogator opened his eyes in a different world, in a dream, in Naruto's dream. He stood in a cube, pale blue, soft and transparent, dressed as he was back in reality, keeping things nice and simple for now. After all, untrained thought was incredibly dangerous when it affected your surroundings. Outside the box was the untamed void of Naruto's dreams, dancing images, events, places and people that seemed to swim amongst each other, locking together, then separating, constantly shifting. A single mass moved amongst them, a catalyst drifting along. The events would form around this thing, coming together and interacting with each other as best they could, creating scenarios, displaying memories, before disbanding as the catalyst moved on. The eyes of the interrogator trailed after this, watching the constant shift of dream matter revolving around this thing, his prisoner, like a black hole that sucked in everything around it. Safe in his sanctuary, it had always fascinated him to watch this process. However, he far more enjoyed manipulating it then he did simply watching it.

Lifting his arms, he spread them out in a large sweeping motion, brushing aside the collage of dream matter, leaving only the catalyst of his prisoner floating in front of him, a shimmering space in the void that seemed lost, floating around, with no anchor.

The interrogator laughed aloud in delight. He loved this, the complete control, the utter power he had, in this place, for a period if time, he was a god. He was in ecstasy, for a moment, he forgot that he was even trying to get information out of the kid, so caught up was he in the feeling. The cube wavered around him, and he instantly drew his focus into line. He had nearly lost control; doing so could have meant a reversal of roles between him and his captor!

All business, he reached out with his mind, creating a similar cube to the one that he was in around his captive, trapping it in place. Holding that in place, he reached out to the dream matter. Incredible losses in trial and error had proven that trying to create an entire dream from scratch, using outside memories and data, and controlling the actual dream was too dangerous, and intensely complicated and difficult. Instead, the genjutsu-user would simply select what he wanted to affect, in the simplest terms: the emotions. Then, using the experiences of the victim as material, the interrogator would steer the dreams in a certain direction, and let the dream take its course.

Keeping this process in mind, the interrogator reached out for the first emotion, with his body silently shaking in anticipation, and closed his eyes.


Naruto opened his eyes on the main street of Konoha. The sun was high, yet the streets remained devoid of life, the air still and silent. He turned slowly in a circle, the scuff of his shoe against the ground and the rustle of his shirt seeming impossibly loud and intrusive.

A frown started forming across his forehead as he tried to think, tried to remember how he got there, but to no avail. He couldn't even remember the last thing he had done.

Turning his body around in another slow circle, he reached out with all his senses, senses that he had been honing his entire life, and came up with nothing. Not a whisper of a sound or trace of a scent. He closed his eyes, focusing hard-

'Huh?' Naruto muttered. He tried again, closing his eyes slowly and firmly, but again! He could still see the streets, utterly devoid of life. He opened and closed his eyes rapidly, but his view was not hindered at all.

'What the hell…' he whispered, the noise carrying off between the shop fronts. He brought his hands together, and prepared to draw on his chakra to dispel any possible gengestu. But the pulling sensation never came, he just stood there with his hands clasped together. His hands…he looked down at them, squeezing them together, but nothing! He pinched himself-hard-on the cheek, but still nothing!

'A dream?' he thought aloud.

'Despair.' A voice echoed nearby.

The voice seemed to trigger something. All of a sudden, the wind picked up, bringing with it the scents and the sounds that were previously missing. The constant, unnoticed pain of old aches and wounds rushed back through his body. Naruto frowned. He had just been thinking about something, something very important, but…what? He could feel it, just at the edge of his consciousness, and…what had he been thinking about?

A noise behind him caused him to turn around. Standing at the main gate, the distance stretching the road between them, stood a figure in white and purple, holding a sword high in the air. Naruto's eyes widened, he recognised that figure, and the familiar rush of emotions that he felt when he saw his old teammate. Anger, resentment, pain, joy. Holding joy close to his heart he ran forward to greet him, the distance disappearing in instants.

'Sasuke,' Naruto began to call out, but was interrupted by flashes of green rushing past him towards the figure. Sasuke danced out of the way, sword flashing faster than his attackers, face devoid of emotion as the two Konoha shinobi slid across the ground in their own blood.

Naruto blanched, unable to believe what he'd just done. The bodies had only just stopped their slide across the ground when the trees framing the gate erupted into movement, and dozens of shinobi burst forth, sailing over the walls and slipping in through the wide open gate. Naruto couldn't move his eyes were glued to that of his friend's. They were yellow, with slits for pupils, flat and as cold and cruel as a snake. No, worse, these eyes seemed to enjoy causing pain and suffering.

Dimly Naruto was aware that there was a battle taking place all around him, that people were dying, but that gaze had sucked him in so completely. His entire world seemed to stop, the blood retreated deep within him; his heart seemed to stop beating in his chest and instead seemed to start pounding away in his skull. All his strength left him, and he felt something inside of him break, and the pieces fall away into the darkness. He had failed. His friend was gone, worse than dead, his body being used by a monster, a mere puppet, desecrated.

His eyes began to blur as tears worked their way to the surface, tears that he had denied himself for all these years. He would have been happy to die right then and there.

'Sa-Sauke…Sasuke!' he shouted. Suddenly he was running, barrelling into what was left of his friend, bringing them both to the ground like they were fighting in the playground. 'Sasuke, can you hear me!? Answer me, Sasuke!' he yelled at him, fists clenching handfuls of the white cloth.

The being below him stared at him impassively, unimpressed by this show of emotion. Then he spoke, horribly, in a voice that wasn't his, 'Sasuke's gone, he chose the path of power.' A tongue, long and sinewy, crept out of "Sasuke's" mouth, slowly running across his lips. 'He's mine now!'

'NOOOO!' Naruto screamed in denial, his fist bearing down on the smirking face below him – only to thud painfully onto the pavement below him. Shocked, Naruto could only stare at the spot where he had last seen his friend, his fist now grasping nothing but air.

'…Naruto…'

Naruto looked up from his confusion, seeing Gaara standing, framed by the entrance gate.

'…Naruto, why weren't you there? You've left me alone… you're just like everyone else…' he murmered, dropping to his knees, his dead eyes boring into Naruto's. 'You were my friend, my only friend…so why?'

'No, I am!' Naruto yelled out, crawling forward, grabbing his friend's shoulders, looking him straight in the eye. 'I would never, will never, abandon you! Do you understand! I never go back on my word! Gaara!'

Gaara said nothing, only stared back with dry eyes, but filled with such hurt and betrayal, and sadness that Naruto had difficulty looking at them. 'But you already have…' he whispered. 'I can't take this life anymore… I'm a demon, a monster, nobody will ever love m-'

'NO!' Naruto shouted over the top of him, 'you're not a demon, we're not demons, we're people! Human, we feel, we think, we love-'

'You're wrong,' Gaara continued on, 'I came to realise this, we can never change. I can't fight what's inside me anymore,' Gaara stopped for a moment, feeling blood begin to trickle down from the scar-tattoo on his forehead. 'There's no hope for us Naruto.' Gaara's eye flickered gold for a second. 'This is what we were destined to become,' Gaara's voice stopped as his face started bulging, turning into the soft colour of sand, distorting his features. 'This is what we've been all along.'

'Stop! You're wrong – we're whoever the hell we want to be! Fight it! It's not who you are!' Naruto shouted, shaking his friend, only to notice his hands. Dark red, covered in fur with black claws and the end of his fingers.

He stood up quickly and turned around, to see tails flowing along behind him, slicing angrily through the air. It was then he noticed the people behind him, watching him. His friends, his teammates, his teachers, all his precious people. All of them backing away from him with looks of fear and anger, of hurt and horror painted across their faces. He stumbled back a step, not believing what was happening, looking wildly around, looking for something, anyone that could help him, know that he was still Naruto. He felt someone step towards him, and spun around, hope in his chest that they could help him, wake him up, surely this had to be a bad dream!

It was Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi, each with weapons drawn, looking at him with hard, merciless eyes filled with hate and killing intent. In the background, he could see Iruka holding the crying form of Sakura.

Naruto took another step back, falling to his knees, grabbing the tails, desperately trying to pull them off, focusing, trying to remember, to become who he was again. His short, panicked breaths stopped as he drew in a large amount of air, getting ready to scream out in despair –


The Kyuubi rustled in his slumber, his rest disturbed by the commotion being created in the mind of his host. He opened one eye slowly, not curious, why should he be curious about anything.

The host was panicked, completely out of control. And there was something else…another man inside the mindscape, probably the one causing his host to become so agitated. Annoyed at the interference, the Kyuubi once again settled down, when a familiar chakra caused its ears to prick up. It paused for a moment, ears twitching, trying to place it, when suddenly it knew. Its head snapped up, towards the new man, eyes piercing, senses completely focused on the figure. A low growl rumbled up from its throat, strangely pleased, as the Kyuubi started warping the space, bringing the man and the prison closer together, its eyes never leaving its target.


The interrogator was enjoying himself immensely, the blonde had almost completely broken, he loved seeing how long he could keep his victims on the edge without tipping them over. He'd just decided to start up again, when the cube he was in disappeared and he found himself standing in what he could guess was some sort of sewer. Alarm rose up through him, this had never happened before, what was this? And what was that noise? There…and again…and again…it almost sounded like something was breathing…

He turned around, to see a massive gate, spanning the entire height of wherever-the-hell-he-was. Curiosity took the edge of his alarm as he looked at this, the breathing was coming inside. He could feel something else inside too, something familiar, either way, he didn't like this, and tried dispelling the genjutsu, releasing himself to the world of the awake. However, it wouldn't work, which was ridiculous, he had done everything perfectly, of course!

You will leave when I say you can, slave!

The voice froze the interrogator to his very core; it was as though the voice had hold of his soul. A face slid out of the darkness before him, two great yellow eyes staring into his, sharp fangs shining in the dark and cruel claws poking through the bars.

I recognise your body, slave! I gave you and yours a mission to fulfil.

The interrogator dropped to his knees, terror shaking in his features as he wet himself in fear.

Why do you not answer! You remember your mission! I demand to know how it goes!

The interrogator could do nothing, a primitive, ancient part of his brain was screaming to run, to flee and hide. He didn't even register that the demon was talking to him. But he couldn't, his body was completely frozen, he knew without a doubt that he was going to die.


Bestia burst into the room, cursing loudly when he saw the scene before him. Even more, the fool had used Somni-genjutsu, this was the worst possible scenario! Even standing in the doorway, he could see the urine stains and the trembling hand that was still placed upon the prisoner's brow. The entire circle was still in formation, but all seemed confused and alarmed.

'Fools! Stop supplying chakra, get him out of there right now,' he screamed as he ran forward.

'We already have sir!' One of them cried out, 'we've stopped supplying the chakra, but he won't wake up, something else must be supplying the energy!'

Bestia swore loudly again, he couldn't stop shaking; it was all going so wrong! He ran forward through the circle, looking the interrogator in the eye, being careful not to touch him and interrupt his focus. The eyes were tightly closed, twitching rapidly, far too fast, with thick beads of sweat dripping over his eyebrows. He looked at the blonde, his face seemed, in context calm, but it wasn't his face that he was interested in. Dropping quickly to his knees, he began slowly lifting up Naruto's shirt with the tips of his fingers, as if he was touching something diseased, and looked at his stomach.

He saw the seal there, dark black against the skin, throbbing with the amount of chakra going through it. He dropped the shirt quickly in alarm when something red and bubbly began to issue forth. He quickly retreated a few steps, watching in horror as the demon fox's cloak began to envelope the body before him.

'SEAL HIM!' he screamed out at the circle around him. 'It's the Kyuubi, he's inside! Seal the body, maximum retention! Gather the sacrifices now!'

The room exploded into panicked activity, messengers rushed off, onlookers fled, and the circle began to desperately begin a new series of hand seals, every pair of eyes wide in fear, every jaw and limb shaking, sweat on every face.


Why do you not answer me… the Kyuubi growled to the human.

The interrogator finally realised what it was the demon was asking, and began to drag himself away, never taking his eyes off the caged monster. All of a sudden, he stopped as he felt something hot grab his ankle, and begin dragging him back towards the cage. He scrabbled helplessly, but there was nothing to grab but water, and his nails broke off on the stone beneath the water. Finally, he looked down at what was holding him, a red, angrily bubbling chakra, which appeared from out of the cage. Terrified, he watched as part of it broke off, and then rushed forward, enveloping his head.

He screamed out in agony, he felt as though his brain had been split open, and that somebody was tearing it apart. To his horror he realised that this was true, the red chakra pulsed as images of his life flashed by, memories, sensations, knowledge; everything was being looked at then thrown to the side. Oh gods, he realised, he's looking for…

The tearing stopped as the Kyuubi found what it was looking for. A memory, a sliver of knowledge hidden deep inside the scum's brain, behind the annoying genjutsus and chakra traps.

In the memory was a room, filled with the shiny, glowing objects and string that the humans were so fond of. In the centre of the room, what seemed like a giant container; and inside, a scraggly spot of red fur. A tiny fox, thin, weak, sick, trapped in a series of wires and cables that ran from the computers to the injections placed all over he body. Every now and then, the little bundle would shudder, as if in pain, its small tails twitching, trapped in its forced slumber.

In the background, scientists harvested the creature's chakra, marvelling at its potential, using it to augment their own abilities, making them stronger, despite the side effects.


Naruto "awoke" to find himself in his landscape once more, panting and sweating over…something, he couldn't remember. His attempts to remember were shattered though, when he heard the Kyuubi talking. There's someone else in here? He thought. Setting off towards the cage, he turned a corner to come across an unexpected sight. The man that was interrogating him was laying on the ground, thrashing about, his head covered in a coat of red chakra. Suddenly, the chakra left, and the man collapsed forward onto the ground, breathing hard and fast.

A moment passed of complete stillness and of silence so complete that it actually hurt the ears, before both Naruto and the man on the ground cried out as a swell of ferocious killing intent flooded forth from the cage, temporarily blotting out all other senses in its intensity. The Kyuubi opened its jaw and roared, not in words but in raw emotion, channelling fury, rage, denial, and wrath into a single sound that caused both humans to cover their ears and hunch over in an effort to escape. The roar still echoed off the walls and vibrated the water long after the demon closed its mouth, its demon eyes flashing crimson as it looked at the puny creature before him. The bars of the cage shook as the Kyuubi furiously threw itself against them, as the beast opened its mouth in rage once more, this time, words could be heard amongst the roars.

'MY YOUNGLING! MY KIT! MY CHILD!'


AN: Yeah, been a while since i updated, other stuff has come before this. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter, let me know what you think about it, especially the dream part. I swear hat i hadn't gotten into some hash brownies while i was writing it.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who's been reading my stories and supporting me through reviews, alerts, communities, etc. Hold your hands up, cuz i just sent you a cyber-5! Lol, have fun!