A/N: Wow... this ins one long chapter . ;; Anyways, tried to explain as much as I could but ran into a bit of lack of idea's on clarification of things. Hopefully I will be able to give some more clarifications in the next chapter. Either way, hope you like the chapter and as always read and review (.)
The Heavens Curse
Chapter 7: Memories
Kiba was not having the best of days as he straddled a chair with his arms resting on the back, his head resting on his arms as his eyes gazed at his still unconscious companion. Akamaru had been unconscious ever since the exams and what Naruto had done, and Kiba still had so many questions he still had. At the forefront of which were a bunch of whys.
Why hadn't his family informed of the tenant that resided in Akamaru? Why hadn't his family told him the second he had woken up? How was it that Naruto, the supposed dead last of his graduating class, was able to even do this?
With a deep sigh he shook his head trying to discard his thoughts for the time be as he realigned his sight with Akamaru. This was truly the first time he had actually sat to take in all the changes of his pet and friend.
His changes were definitely odd to him to the say the least. Akamaru had grown a little from the changes, that much was the more subtle of changes. But everything else baffled him. The once white fur had taken on a dark purplish hue over most of the dogs body. Akamaru's head however, had lost the floppy ears he once had and had been replaced with more wolfish ones on top of his head, not to mention his entire head structure seemed to have change to look like more of a wolf as well. The mane surrounding his head had puffed out a bit and turned a dark gray, also with a bit of a purple hue to it, and the tail as well had puffed out like the mane and had the same coloration. And even Akamaru's eyes had changed, him only knowing this when he had tried to stir his sleeping pet. The eyes were now a bright amber color.
Kiba couldn't help but sigh again as he looked at his pet one last time before standing up and grabbing his jacket. He had to meet with his team after all soon and he didn't want to be late. As he walked out of his house, he could not help but scowl as he passed the living room, where his mother and sister were sitting and talking.
He had yet to confront them on what had happened to Akamaru, not really trusting his own actions in the matter so he decided to keep quiet until he could make sure his temper wouldn't get the best of him.
He was out the door and almost the Inuzuka gates when he heard a gruff voice call his name from behind. He stopped and turned slightly to see Kuromaru, his late fathers dog starring at him intently.
"What do you want Kuromaru?" Kiba demanded, clearly annoyed at being stopped and not really wanting to talk.
"You've been told about whats wrong with the pup haven't you? As well as why it is that the majority of this village detests the blond boy?" the fierce looking dog demanded back.
"And why should you care. You've never shown an interest in either of them before," Kiba said fiercely, his anger already on the rise.
"Just don't make the same stupid mistake this village made," Kuromaru said with a fierce glare before turning around and walking back towards the kennels where most of the Inuzuka ninken where kept.
Kiba only blinked in surprise at the dogs words before turning and leaving the estate. He decided he would try and figure the old dogs words out later when he would try to figure everything else out. Sighing he started to rub his temples, he had a feeling today was going to be giving him the mother of all headaches.
And mentally wanted to slap himself for even thinking that for a not a few moments later did he see two ANBU, each carrying unconscious people, one he distinctly recognized as Naruto, and Hinata trailing after them.
"What the hell?" Kiba thought as he chased after his teammate, suddenly very concerned about why Naruto was being carried by ANBU and why Hinata was following them.
It was only a few minutes later that they arrived at the hospital and the ANBU, Kiba suddenly realizing that both ANBU had their masks off, demanded that two stretchers be brought in immediately as well as two doctors to look after the two unconscious people.
One was brought out quickly for the woman in the female ANBU's arms and she was wheeled off quickly, but a nurse that was bringing another took one look at the unconscious Naruto before sneering and saying, "That thing is fine. That demon doesn't need any help."
The woman gasped in shock though as she was suddenly staring at the end of a very large sword, held by a very pissed off ANBU standing in front of her.
"You will take care of this boy with same care as you took that woman or I will make you experience the reason I am called a Demon as well," the male ANBU said, his voice seemingly dropping the temperature of the room. The woman only gulped in fear of her own life before she took Naruto from the ANBU's arms and wheeled him off on the stretcher after the unconscious woman.
"Hey Hinata, what's going on?" Kiba asked as he walked up behind the Hyuuga Heiress. The poor girl 'eeped' in shock as she twirled around and held a hand to her chest as she tried to get her heart to stop beating so fast.
When she saw it was only Kiba though, her heart beat manage to subside a little as she took a few deep breaths.
"I don't know exactly. All I know is that these two ANBU were bringing Naruto and that woman to the hospital when the guards outside my clans complex stopped them and tried to kill Naruto. I..." and it was hear she shook slightly from revulsion at having to go against her nature and threaten the guards with pain, and possible death, "I managed to get them to leave without any harm becoming anyone. After that, I helped the ANBU bring Naruto here."
Kiba, for all his glory as a scion of the Inuzuka Clan, could not help but have his mouth hang open. Hinata had said every word of what had happened without stuttering, not to mention she had also been looking at the doors that Naruto had just been wheeled through as well the entire time. Again Kiba shook his head in an attempt to get his thoughts in order as his eyes shifted back to the ANBU.
Curiousty got the better of him as he asked, "Aren't you ANBU supposed to wear your masks at all times?"
The man turned to look directly into Kiba's eyes and chuckled darkly as he watched the boy flinch away from the intensity of his stare.
"For ANBU yes, but I'm not exactly your run of the mill black ops kid. Anyways, I have to go report to the Hokage that Naruto is back in the village and safe, at least for the time be. Haku," the male said, and the female ANBU coming up to him from her position near the doors that the two patients had been wheeled through.
"Yes Zabuza-sama?" the woman asked, and Kiba, the second he took one look at her figure turned away with a deep blush on his face. The woman whom he hadn't taken a whole lot of time to look at was quite frankly, and in the simplest words Kiba could think of, was hot as hell.
Haku saw Kiba's reaction and only smiled softly at the rather amusing seen.
"You stay here with these two and make sure nothing happens to the brat. Those other two should already be back by now as well considering they left without anyone noticing so they should be fine," the male ANBU, now identified to Hinata and Kiba as Zabuza, said before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Haku only sighed softly before starting to walk back towards the doors she had been standing at and motioning for the two to follow her. Hinata followed without question while Kiba was rooted to the spot trying to get his mind up with everything that had just happened within the span of a few minutes.
With a resigned sigh he followed after the two girls, not entirely sure as to why he was following them and not trying to bring Hinata with him to their practice grounds.
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In the Hokage's office, Sarutobi let out a small sigh as he looked at the stack of papers that were on on his desk. He had the nagging feeling that no matter how hard he worked or how fast he managed to go through the paperwork, the stack was somehow growing. Curious, he pulled out a tape measure from his desk and started to measure the height of the stack of papers.
That was how Zabuza found the Hokage, mumbling to himself as he measured the papers on his desk.
It was only after the Hokage mumbled something about the stack being a half an inch taller than yesterday that Zabuza coughed to get the old man's attention.
He could only sweat drop as the Hokage spun around quickly, hiding the measuring tape behind his back and smiled warmly at the ex- hidden mist ninja.
"Aw, Zabuza-san, what do you have to report?" the Hokage asked with his usual smile as he managed to hide the measuring tape within on of the sleeves of his robs so that he could walk back around to his chair and take a seat.
Zabuza only coughed slightly before looking directly at the hokage.
"We found the brat and he's safely back in the village," Zabuza stated. He cut his speech of there and continued to stare at the still smiling Sarutobi.
"And? How did he come back to to be in the village?" the Hokage asked. He remembered on more than one occasion when Naruto was younger that he would stay out in the woods just outside Konoha for hours at a time, and a few times even a few days, before he felt it was safe to come back to his apartment. Back then the Hokage had no idea as to why Naruto would want to sleep outside and away from his own little sanctuary, but after hearing the report from Kakashi about Naruto's abode, not to mention he himself going over to see exactly what was done, he had a very good idea as to why.
"I had to bring him back," Zabuza started and then informed the Hokage of everything from the point of his meeting up with Naruto to the strange chamber they had found the statues in, to Naruto seeing the woman and suddenly passing out.
Throughout the report though, Sarutobi's eyes kept getting wider and wider as the color in his old face kept going whiter and whiter. Mentally he was kicking his own ass for he was only just now remembering that such a chamber existed. And Zabuza saw this reaction quite clearly as well, even with him leaving out the fact that Naruto had gathered a few things in the chamber that had yet to be seen, as well as the two scrolls, three sticks, and the very odd sword he had picked up as well. He even left out the fact that Kyuubi had seemingly manifested himself in what had to have been his corporeal human form and had even spoken with Zabuza about a few things.
He didn't know why he held these things back but he felt that it might be best if he didn't mention them and let Naruto explain. That and the fact he was willing to bet that Naruto had wanted to explain everything to the Hokage himself in the first place.
When Zabuza was done stating his report, the final part being where he left Hinata, Kiba, and Haku to watch over Naruto and the woman until things could be sorted out, Sarutobi had pretty much lost all color in his face.
"Sweet Kami-sama... what have I done in forgetting about the very chamber where the Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto," the hokage whispered softly, Zabuza having to strain his ears to even hear the old man as he slouch back against his chair.
Sarutobi suddenly felt very, very old as a few memories came back to him. They were mostly of Arashi as he gave his last words, standing over a stone slab that help a newly born Naruto on it, performing a long series of seals with tears streaming down his face as he kept asking for what ever god there was out there to watch over Naruto.
"Hokage-sama?" Zabuza called out quietly seeing how distressed the old man now seemed.
Sarutobi could only take a deep breath and let a long sigh as rubbed this bridge of his nose with on hand.
It was silent for a few more minutes before the Hokage stood slowly and put his hat back on his head before walking towards Zabuza.
"We should go see the boy and the woman and make sure they are safe and comfortable," Sarutobi said softly as he passed and kept walking out of his office, Zabuza following behind him with a concerned expression showing in his eyes as he fixed his ANBU mask back on.
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"Kit..."
"Ugh... who the hell is that..."
"Kit... Kit can... me"
"The hell... who's calling me..."
"Kit... need to... up..."
"What... Kyuubi..."
"Naruto..."
"Ugh... okay who the hell is calling me?" Naruto growled out as he opened his eyes, only to be greeted with an endless blackness.
"What the hell? Where am I? This isn't my mind scape, and why the hell can't I hear Kyuubi clearly?" Naruto thought as he looked around.
"... demon..." a flicker of a voice whispered behind him.
Naruto spun on his heels quickly to confront who had called him a demon, but no one was there.
"Grrr... Show your self you ass hole," Naruto screamed out in anger and frustration. His only response was the echo of his own words.
"Kit... wake... need..."
"What... Kyuubi? Kyuubi is that you?" Naruto called out, his head starting to feel light as an unknown pressure started to build within it. It made him woozy and sick all the same time.
"DEMON!" a dark deep voice suddenly growled out from seemingly all around him.
The word itself had no effect on Naruto, but whoever was speaking the word, their voice sent Naruto crashing to the ground in the fetal position, his head suddenly splitting in pain as he grasped it, trying to make it go away.
"What the hell is happening to me?" Naruto thought, trying to think of anything that had caused him this sudden oddity. But the pain in his head only intensified as he tried to think.
"NARUTO!!" Naruto heard the Kyuubi's voice call out in crystal clarity, but also laced with fear as the voice also seemed to change in pitches and deepness several hundreds of times in the span of a few seconds.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Naruto screamed as his body and head were suddenly racked with more pain as the Kyuubi called his name.
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Zabuza and Sarutobi were just outside of the room that held Naruto and the woman when the suddenly felt a large chakra spike come from inside the room. Instinct alone saved them from being crushed by the sudden explosive force of chakra that ripped the door from its hinges and slammed it into the opposing wall with unbridled fury.
Zabuza and Sarutobi were withing the room in an instant. What they saw confused the two of them greatly.
Hinata, Kiba, and Haku were unconscious around Naruto's bed, the woman whom was in a bed adjacent to Naruto's still unconscious for unknown reasons, now a pained look to her face and the oddest thing was what was now hovering over a thrashing Naruto's bed.
There were ten scrolls, each seemingly burning a different color as the twirled and hover around Naruto's bed. The two men also took notice of the shredded bag on the floor next to the bed. It didn't look like some one had shredded it trying to get in, but rather out. And laying next to it were the three sticks and a few other scrolls.
But even with all of this, the two found themselves unable to move anymore after having stepping in only a few feet.
"What's going on, I can't move my body," Zabuza panicked, never before not being able to move anything, not even his own eyes.
It was then that the three hooded figures from the preliminaries appeared, at least to Zabuza and the Hoakge, out of thin air near the window of the room. All three managed to take only two steps before becoming frozen in much the same way they were.
"What are they doing here? Do they wish Naruto harm?" Sarutobi was thinking as he watched the three try and fight against what ever force was now holding them back. It was a wonder to him that his ANBU forces hadn't even shown up yet to see what was going on.
After what seemed like an eternity though he finally was able to move his head through sheer force of will to the right slightly to see Naruto. What he saw shocked him to the core.
Naruto was changing, or at least flashes of changes kept flickering in and out around him his body twitched this way and that, his hands clutching his head as he thrashed. What was once his normal clothes of almost an ANBU were changing entirely.
His shirt became a blood red tucked into a pair of similar black pants that he had on now. Only the ones that were flickering seemed to be torn near the hem as were what looked to be a pair of worn out old black boots. Then their was the dark forest green sleeveless trench coat that was there as well, the bottom looking as worn out as a flag flapping in the wind for hundreds of years. And to top everything off, the form that kept flickering seemed to be about a foot and half taller than the Naruto he was seeing now.
But even as he starred he caught movement out of the corned of his eye as the three sticks floated into the air as well, before zooming over to the cloaked figures and them grasping them tightly. It was only then that another memory came back to the old man and his eyes opened in shock at realization as to who these three people where.
But he still could not do or say anything, he could no longer move even, and the latter part bugged him the most seeing as how the three, after taking possession of the sticks, suddenly became free to move as they pleased.
The tallest of them, the one with the black and emerald phoenix embroidered into the back of his cloak walked quickly up to Naruto. He pointed the stick at Naruto for only a moment before a whispered word escaped the concealed confines of the persons hood.
Sarutobi couldn't be sure for certain but he could have sworn the words he had heard were, "Leglimense."
And not a second after the words escaped the mans mouth, did a white light suddenly erupt from the stick and dive at Naruto. Sarutobi could only watch in horror as the light rushed towards the still thrashing blond, but he was not prepared, nor was anyone he would reason later, for what happened next.
The light struck what looked like a flick of dark blue chakra and everything had seemed to stop for only a moment. Time seemed to slow down for everyone, even a small fly as its wings, normally abuzz with life, were slowed to be barely enough to keep it aloft.
For the second that white light hit that whisps of chakra, what could only be described as a backlash of power erupted out of a Naruto in a thunderous scream that escaped his lips. Sarutobi, Zabuza, and the three figures were thrown violently back into the walls of the room, each of them falling unconscious immediately from the sheer force of chakra that had erupted out of Naruto.
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Every person in Konoha stopped in their tracks as the sound of someone scream entered their ears. No one had any idea as to who was screaming or why, but from the sound and sheer volume, they could tell someone was in great pain. Needless to say, no one was ready for the shock wave of chakra that swept throughout the entire village in an angry flash, forcing everyone into unconsciousness somehow under its sheer power alone.
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Just outside the walls of Konoha, a certain white haired man stood atop a branch of a tree gazing from a distant at his long departed home when he heard the scream reach his ears as if the person was right next to him.
"What the hell is that?" he muttered to himself as he jumped down from the tree.
He only sensed the chakra shock wave a moment before his feet touched the ground, and even then, he was still unprepared for the force of it as it sent him carrening headfirst into the very tree he had just departed, knocking him out cold.
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Farther away from Konoha, out in the woods somewhere in Fire Country a certain blond haired woman and her companions snapped their heads in the direction an echoing scream had come from that reached their ears clearly.
"Where do you suppose that came from?" the companion of the blond woman asked quietly.
"...Konoha..." the blond woman whispered out, not entirely sure how she knew the answer, but not having time to react either as a force of chakra the likes of which she had never felt before slammed into and through her and her companion, clonking their heads together painfully, and like many other that day, they too fell into unconsciousness.
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"Alright let's begin," Kakashi stated as he slid into a stance similar to Rock Lee's his Sharingan exposed, and Sasuke standing before him in much the same manner, his Sharingan also active and blazing.
The two shinobi had readied themselves to attack when the echoing sound of someone screaming came splitting through he valley they were in.
"What the hell.." was all Sasuke managed to get out before he and Kakashi were caught entirely off guard and blown from their feet painfully fast from an explosive force of chakra and slammed into the rock wall that they had been near at the time. Both fell back to the earth after onle a few seconds, but the blow left them winded and they both could feel the faitness of unconsciousness creeping up on them.
"What... what the hell was that..." Sasuke managed to gasp out before he and Kakashi fell face first into the dirt.
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"...demon..."
"...monster..."
"Get away from my child you filthy beast!"
"What the hell?" Zabuza screamed as his eye snapped open looking around to take in his surroundings. Every where he looked he saw blackness, pure undiluted blackness that threatened to consume everything.
"Where am I?" he called out to no one in particular.
"You are within the boy's mind," a hauntingly whispered voice echoed throughout the room.
"What the... who are you?" Zabuza demanded as he reached for his sword, only to panic when he felt it wasn't there.
He turned this way and that trying to find the source of the voice, when a brief light appeared in the darkness. His body reacted instantly as it sprung into a sprint towards that light. He came upon it unbelievably fast and it seemed to be a doorway, even as he ran through it.
His sight was blurred for a moment as the room he entered erupted in whiteness, blinding him briefly as he blinked a few times to get his his bearings back.
When he did though, he saw a throng of people standing with him on what looked to be a cliff over looking a large lake. Most of them were doing the same as him, trying to regain their eyesight and bearings, and a few he could recall from sight. Kakashi was there, along side Sasuke. The pink haired girl was there as well though Haku was near the girl, with her mask back on as well and, though shaky, was doing as best she could to make sure the very confused and disoriented gennin was okay.
Gaara was there as well, the Lee kid being helped to his feet by the Suna Jinchuuriki, with a blond girl and a a boy with kabuki face paint on near the two as well.
The others though that he had been told from the Hokage had seemed to have been brought here as their teams. The older green clad Jounin, which made Zabuza's eye twitch at just looking at him, was kneeling beside a shaky brown haired girl and raven haired boy with milky white eyes. A Hyuuga by his guess. Then there was a slim blond girl and rotund boy being helped to their feet by a bearded smoker in a Jounin uniform and a rather lithe looking black haired boy. The other two people, a woman with red eyes and boy with a high collared jacket and dark rounded sunglasses were checking over the two that he had left with Haku at the hospital. The Hokage was there as well, giving a helping hand to the Jounin as they tried to consul the gennin and as everyone tried to regain their bearings.
A groan from just a bit aways from that group brought the most surprising people into Zabuza's sight. One was a busty blond that had a black haired woman beside her, helping her up, another was an old man in outlandish clothes with a large head of white hair, a pair of shinobi in cloaks with Red Clouds on them and the ones that caught his eye the most as well as made him the most cautious.
The three cloaked shinobi from the room with their hoods down. The woman he had already seen with her hood down, but the other two were the most shocking to finally be able to see their faces. The male known as Katsuhito, the one with the dragon upon his cloak, had platinum blond hair and silvery colored eyes. His entire demeanor was that of someone who had been raised in a high class family, though he truly looked as if he didn't care about that.
The other man, had raven black unruly hair that hung loosely at his shoulders. But the piercing emerald colored eyes and the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead had his attention the most. His expression was grim as he and his two companions seemed to talk in whispers for a moment with the two red cloud cloaked men.
"Any idea as to where we are Hokage-sama?" Zabuza asked as came up to the old man as he helped a wobbly Kakashi to his feet. He adjust his mask slightly as Kakashi had heard the question and stared at the ex-nukenin in confusion.
The Hokage looked around at the are for a moment before sighing.
"We are at a place called the Valley of the End. Though how we all got here so suddenly after that large chakra surge, as well as with I am sure that happened I am afraid to say I have no idea," Sarutobi answered as he walked over to the cliff.
"But isn't this place near the edge of the Fire Country's border?" the red eyed woman asked as she managed to rouse the unconscious Hinata who sprang up suddenly and snapped her head this way and that.
"Kurenai-sensei... where are we? And where's Naruto-kun?" the young girl asked, her voice extremely frantic.
The red eyed woman, Kurenai, looked at Hinata oddly for a moment before relaying to her where they where and that she had no idea where the blond haired gennin could be. But at the name of where they were, Hinata's face paled significantly. She stood up quickly, though slightly regretted it as she felt a wave of euphoria wash over her. She shook the feeling off though as she moved quickly to the ledge of the cliff.
Everyone was had seen the girl's reaction and all were more than curious as to what had her so fearful all of a sudden, as well as to what had caused her to go towards the cliff. The Hokage rested a hand on her surprisingly tense shoulder as he gazed down at the now shaking girl.
"Is there something wrong Hinata?" Sarutobi asked, his gut feeling that the answer was not going to be something he liked.
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered out as tears started to form in her eyes.
Sarutobi was about to ask what she meant when an explosion of water out in the lake dew his attention, as well as everyone else's to the lake as the water came pouring back down.
The strained their eyes to see for a moment before another torrent of chakra ripped through the air and washed over them. It was no where near as powerful as the one they had felt earlier that had knocked them out. But the feel of the power was still the same, powerful and deadly.
But their thoughts were interrupted as a red glow started to cover the area. The older shinobi knew exactly what this chakra was that they were feeling now, as well as the red glow that was happening. The gennin, aside from Hinata, were looking panicked at the massive wave of power that was emitting.
"What the hell are you?" a voice screamed out from down near the lake. It was scratchy, as if coming through a radio but Sasuke suddenly felt his blood go cold. It was his voice...
"I'm your friend Sasuke!" another voice yelled, clearly Naruto's voice, though the more youthful sounding one than he had been sounding recently. Sasuke couldn't help but feel his guts start to squirm at the comment. Something was off here for he, and probably everyone else for that matter, could hear the utter desperation in Naruto's voice as well as a great deal of anger.
But even as everyone had suddenly started to strain their eyes to see who exactly was talking down on the lake their entire surrounding suddenly changed and they were all now standing on the lake looking at the feet of the two statues that were on either side of the water fall.
On the right they saw Naruto as his twelve year old self, his orange jumper suit shredded and torn in places. But on top of that, the red glow that was surrounding the area was being emitted from the chakra that was surrounding him. Everyone was clearly shocked as the chakra around him had formed two long ears and one tail that had sprouted out behind him.
To the left though they became even more shocked. It was Sasuke, though from the changes on his body, he seemed even more demonic and vile than the chakra that was leaking out of Naruto. The two hand like wings sprouting out of his back, the long ashes hair, the bronze colored skin, and the black eyes with a fully developed Sharingan blazing in them.
The two boys said nothing to each other as an attack was charged in each of their hands. On Sasuke, and at this Kakashi's eyes widened greatly, the Chidori formed, though black and twisted, just like the boy looked. With Naruto, a spinning ball of red chakra formed, the swirling sound of air erupting from it as the screeching sound a a thousands birds came to be with the chidori.
Both boy suddenly jumped at each other from their positions and their attacks connected with each other, the end result being a chakra overload as a chakra shield seemed to form around them. The group could still see what was going on though and noticed that Naruto adjust the trajectory of his attack, even as it looked like he was going to win, and gouged a slash through the forehead protector on Sasuke's head, as Sasuke's chidori slammed into and through Naruto's chest, just barely above his heart.
The air suddenly grew very tense at the scene before them, Sasuke being affected the most as he started to feel the food he had eaten a while ago start to bubble up from his stomach at the sight of him, twisted and demonic looking, with his own hand through the chest of someone he considered his best friend.
But even as the horrible scene unfolded with the two slamming into the bank of where Naruto had originally stood, the scenery and surrounding changed again.
This time it looked to be a bridge somewhere and an older looking Naruto was walking beside a flustered looking old man with white hair and a scroll hanging on his back.
"Ano... how long before we can head back?" the older Naruto asked, his voice still scratchy but a little deeper than last time. A collective sigh escaped everyone's lips at that, them all believing that Naruto had died from that last scene.
"Considering your last run in with that Uchiha, we'll be lucky if we can manage to even get back to Konoha again. You managed to put of the body transfer once brat, but both of those bastards are still out there. And we have still have other problems to deal with as well," the white haired man said, his voice sounding as tired as he looked but also sounding fed up with something.
Naruto looked incredulously at the man as he pointed a finger at the man and screamed, "And whose fault is that. If you hadn't been of drinking and peeking at women and actually trained me more than just giving me a scroll and leaving me to figure it out on my own I could have taken that snake-teme and Sasuke down without having to really on the fur balls powers."
It was hear that Naruto reached up and adjust a necklace that had a metal plate attached to it with what looked like a seal on it.
"And how long do I have to wear this damn seal anyways, I can live just fine without it you know," Naruto complained as he adjust the necklace again.
"That living as you called it is also the cause of why where are leaving Konoha as well gaki. Without it you wouldn't be able to stand said fur balls chakra and would loose yourself much like you did at the bridge. You already cost one shinobi his life cause or your carelessness Naruto, how many more are you willing to risk in your own foolishness," the man snapped angrily at Naruto.
Naruto had a look of pure shock and horror on his face as he gazed at the now greatly whitening old man.
"You... your just like the rest of them..." Naruto said as he face contorted into a deadly scowl and glare.
The white haired man tried to open his mouth but could not find any words to rectify what he had just said and done. And it was in this silence that Naruto reached up and ripped the necklace from his neck, as well as another one that only a few seemed to recognize, from his neck.
"Everyone wants me gone so bad fine. I'll go bring Sasuke back on my own with yours or anybody else's help," Naruto screamed as he threw the two necklaces hard at the now gaping and very white colored old man before disappearing with a yellow trail of after images following after him.
"Dear Kami-sama... what have I done..." the old man whispered to himself as he knelt down and pick up the two necklaces from the dirt.
It was hear the scene changed again to Naruto, the red chakra back around him, beating the hell out of a patch of trees. One after another a tree fell under powerful strikes.
"Stupid Ero-sennin... Stupid village... Stupid fox..." Naruto muttered as he kept bashing tree after tree for nearly a minute before falling to his knees and punching the ground. This also had the unfortunate side effect of ripping skin from his hands and starting to make a crater from the sheer force of his blows, but the wounds he received healed just as fast as they were inflicted.
"Oh Naruto-kun..." a deep malicious voice suddenly said from around them and the only person to even notice the voice stiffened greatly. Zabuza looked panicked as he looked around the scenery to try and find the source of the voice, but the scenery suddenly went black again.
It was only a few moments before a glow filled the groups sight again. This time the glow coming from two torches places on either side of a dragon statues with its mouth open. At the base of the statue though was Naruto, bloodied, beaten, and unconscious, and he was laying on a large intricate seal that now one in the group had ever seen before.
Though the only one who didn't seem to reak curiosity at the seal was the young Hyuuga Heiress as her gaze was locked on the seemingly dead form of Naruto. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that they could clearly see his chest rise and fall, now matter how shallow it may be, they figured he'd be dead.
But even as they starred, a dark green glow started to come form the dragons open mouth before splitting into nine glowing tentacles, each with a head similar to the dragon from which they came. One by one the slammed into Naruto, making him cry out in pain as the seal below him glowed the same color. Naruto's cries of pain only got louder as the chanting around them seemed to pick up a fevered pitch and the dragon light tentacles started to pull out something from Naruto. But the farthest they ever got was about five inches away from Naruto, with what looked like a red paw now sticking out of his chest.
The chanting stopped then as the tentacles couldn't move anymore and somewhere in the blackness, a voice sighed.
"This is the fifth time we have tried this and we can't get the fox out any farther than that," the voice was deep and crackly, but otherwise unrecognizable by anyone.
"Maybe we should adjust our plans so that the boy becomes what we had planned and we control him to do our bidding," a voice a great deal knew VERY well, and that made Sasuke's blood run hot with anger.
"A splendid idea as usual, Uchiha Itachi," another voice rang out from around them somewhere.
But even at that the scene changed again. This time it looked as if they were looking through the eyes of someone. And whoever eyes they were looking through, made them sick. This person was attacking what looked to be a lesser village within the shinobi realm and he was leaving no one alive. Clawed hands pierced people through their stomach before ripping them open, leaving them shortly after to bleed to death wit their organs spilling onto the ground. Skulls were crushed under mighty blows of fist and feet, bones broken with a simple kick, and body crushed as they were thrown against walls or the ground so hard that you could clearly hear the spine and rib cage break as if they were glass.
"No... stop... please stop it!" a child's voice rang out from somewhere behind the group, startling them enough to remove their gaze from the horrid scene to stare gawking at what had to be a five year old Naruto curled into a little ball with his head buried into his knees.
"Please make it stop... make it leave those people alone..." the little Naruto cried out as the sounds of flesh and muscle being ripped seemed to echo throughout the silent air.
Hinata was the only one who seemed to act as she started to move towards the child like Naruto to try and comfort him.
She got no more than two feet from him before his entire body sprung up and seemed to age twenty years in a flash as he screamed, "NO STAY AWAY FROM ME! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The hurt and sadness in his eyes was visible to everyone even as the body vanished from their sight and the sounds and scene of the ruthless massacre stopped.
The area around them flickered in and out then, much like broken television would, before coming into focus again with another new scene. This one though chilled the group to their core.
Eight bodies in red cloud dotted cloaks dotted a bloodied clearing within a tree line. Kunai and shuriken were embedded in a few, one seemed to have been simply reduced to the red mush, and a few looked to have been ripped limb from limb.
"..Na..ru..to..." the strained and gargled voice of Uchiha Itachi called out from near the forests edge, everyone turning to see what was going on, just like the rest of the scenes. What they saw was Itachi, dressed in the same red cloud cloak as the bodies, with a large hole in and through his chest.
However he was being held up by what looked like a panicked, though again older looking Naruto.
"You're going to be fine Itachi. Hold on, I can use some of my chakra and heal that wound," Naruto stated very quickly as on of his hands took on a dark green glow.
"No..(cough)... don't waste your chakra... that bastard... he's too strong..." Itachi started to say but had to stop for a moment as he coughed up some blood as the light in his normal obsidian eyes was fading.
"Damnit Itachi, you'll be fine... let me he heal you and we can take that bastard on together," Naruto said, his voice cracking and getting more panicky by the second.
"No... you must face him alone I'm afraid... I can only leave you with this though... to help you beat him..." Itachi said weakly and before Naruto could say anything, he had made three unrecognizable seals.
His Sharingan had activated then, the Magenkyo already in place as he touched his temples with his now black glowing hands before touching the sides of Naruto's temples. The black glow suddenly consumed Naruto's head as if it were fire and out of reflex he jumped back, dropping a now surely dead Itachi to the ground as he tried to shake the black flames from his head.
And it seemed to work as the flames started to disperse, or rather started to get sucked towards Naruto's eyes. As the last of the flames died Naruto blinked his now burning eyes several times to get his sight back.
When he could finally open his eyes, the group gasped at what they saw. Naruto's eyes had changed entirely. The main part of the pupil had changed into what looked like a three pointed black shuriken. One point was pointing straight up, the other two down with one more to the left and the other more to the right. At the top point there was another three pointed shuriken like mark, though this one was curved and looked more like three rain drops had been merged together while swirling. This was obviously the same shape of the Magenkyo Sharingan. To the bottom right of that was a simple spiral, like the ones seen on the vest of every shinobi of Chuunin or above. Only the Hokage, Kakashi, the busty blond woman, and the white haired old man seemed to know what that symbol was for as their faces paled considerably.
The last mark however had everyone suddenly looking at a very sad and panicked looking Hinata. She had her hand to her chest clasping the pendant there with her hand as tight as she could as more and more questions seemed to enter her mind, only to be answered by a flow of memories that were assaulting her own mind scape.
The symbol was a tear drop swirl that resembled closely the symbol on all Konoha shinobi's headbands. However, this one looked more like a water drop and there was only one other place this mark could be found, and that was with Hyuuga Hinata, as it was her own personal crest as the Hyuuga Clan Heir.
But even at that the scene suddenly blacked out and the group found themselves falling. A few of the female gennin screeched at the sudden loss of a floor as they fell with the others and all of them grunted in pain as they landed on what was cold hard stone.
"Thank kami-sama... I finally got you fools out of there," A deep and dark voice suddenly echoed around them, making all of their heads snap up at the voice. This one was dark and held untold power within it, but it also didn't have that scratchy sound like the ones from the people in those things they had seen.
What everyone's gaze came to rest upon though was a set of massive steal gates, each side a glow with just as massive of torches, and a simple looking paper seal attached in the middle of the gates holding it closed.
"What is this place?" Chouji's voice cracked out as he managed to tear his gaze away from the massive gates and look at the room all of these people where in.
The entire chamber was massive streching a large distance from wall to wall, and the ceiling being easily several hundred feet high, though it was made entirely of pipes from what the Akimichi could see.
"This place is truly not of any concern to many of you, as after this, only a few of you will ever see a place like this again," the voice echoed again, although this time everyone was sure it was coming from the cage.
The entire group tensed as the ground started to shake slightly as what ever was in the cage seemed to start to walk towards the gates, and towards them. But even as it did, they could all hear the distinct sounds of what sounded like grinding flesh as something seemed to change and the sounds of of a great weight walking changed into the clip clop sound of boots on stone.
So it was with great apprehension that the group, though not fully knowing everyone there, minus the Hokage, readied themselves for a fight to fight with one another.
"I am not here to fight any of you. Just to explain where you are and how you probably got here," the deep voice said again, though this time not echoing and for certain coming from within the gates.
It was then that a figured stepped into the light and both Haku and Zabuza's eyes widened as the realized who it was that had been speaking.
It was the human form of the Kyuubi, even as he gently stepped through the massive space between the bars of the gate, though grimacing slightly as a currently of electricity seemed to arc over his body for a moment as he passed, before letting him continue to walk forward.
"Who are you and where are we?" the bust blond demanded, her voice dripping with annoyance and anger.
"Silence woman! I will not be talked to in such a way when I am merely trying to help!" the human form of the Kyuubi snapped back harshly as a wave of killing intent so potent washed over everyone, bringing them easily to their knees and backsides in but a moment as they all starred at the red haired man before them with now frightened looks.
The electrical current washed over him again though at that as well, cutting the pressure made off quickly as he grimaced in pain. It was only a moment though for he soon had his glare leveled with the busty blond again.
"I don't care how powerful you all may think you may be, but where you are right now... this is my domain," the Kyuubi stated fiercly before getting nervous nods from the adults and out right frightened ones form all of the gennin except Hinata.
"Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted," the Kyuubi stopped for a moment to level and intense glare at the busty bond, making her flinch away from the entity before her, "is that I am here to give you people, or at least some of you, an understanding of what you just saw."
It was here Kyuubi stopped for a moment to judge over the reactions of the people that were somehow in front of him. The rookie nine, well most of them, were starring at him in fear and wonder, but also rapt attention as they were undoubtedly curious as to what they had seen.
The few that weren't were people that he already knew. The young Hyuuga Heiress Hinata, whose face was pale and her eyes filled with unshed tears. She was grasping the necklace that rested against her bosom as her breaths came in deep shallow breaths.
The Uchiha brat, as the Kyuubi called him, was also starring at him with a pale face and shaking slightly from what he had seen. Nothing in his head was probably adding up at the moment and Kyuubi had a strong feeling that the boys sanity had just taken a rather large hit.
Then there were the people who weren't looking at him at all amongst the gennin. The Sand Siblings were the first he had seen, Temari and Kankuro starring at now slumped over Gaara against the back wall. Kyuubi had an idea as to what was going on with him though it was obvious that the Suna Jinchuuriki had not said a word to his siblings about him being able to sleep and they still believed that Shukaku would take over his host and devour the poor boys soul. Inwardly, Kyuubi smirked at the obvious foolishness of the situation the two were in.
But with those said siblings was green clad gennin he had seen in Gaara's sand back in the Chamber of the Spirits. On his left side was what had to be the older cousin of Hinata, from what he remembered anyway. But on the boys right was someone that had Kyuubi smiling somewhat evilly in his own head at.
"So that's what the girl looks like..." the Kyuubi though amusdely before he started to speak again. But he didn't even get a syllable out before the the area around them flickered again then all found themselves falling once more, again coming into contact with cold hard stone.
Even the Kyuubi was caught off guard by the sudden change and grunted in annoyance as he stood back to his feet. The others, again standing tending to each other as they all tried to stand, or help those that couldn't stand on their own, also stood. The Hokage, however, was more than curious about why Kyuubi was in a human form, and thousands upon thousands time more afraid of what was going on.
But even as he looked around, his face paled again. They were standing in a room he had not been in since the the Kyuubi attack, and it was the very same room where Naruto and his small group of people had been earlier. Except now, it looked like a hurricane had passed through the room with the statues toppled over or out of place, and more than a few of them were broken.
But besides being in this place, what had him paled the most was what he saw in the center of the room where the stone slab that he knew should be there though wasn't.
There was Naruto, but not the Naruto he knew, and his gut told him he never wished to know. This Naruto was easily in his mid twenties, maybe early thirties and had what could only be described as an insane look in his eye. He was a little over six and half feet tall and his unruly bright blond hair was held in a low ponytail on his head that went to about his mid back. His pants were what looked to be a pair of dark black loose but still form fitting, cargo pants that had the ankles wrapped and tucked into black boots. His shirt was a blood red t-shirt and over which he wore a dark forest green trench coat that had the sleeves cut off and the bottom was ripped and frayed in places. The final piece of what Naruto was wearing though were three swords. Two looked like normal katanas, both attached to his left hip. The other one though, was strapped to his back, and it was this one the Sarutobi recognized was the one that Zabuza had described to him.
"This... is not good..." the Kyuubi muttered from his place besides the Hokage, drawing a strange look from the old man.
"What do you mean?" Sarutobi asked as he continued to gaze at the evil looking Naruto.
"These are the kits memories... some of these people are not ready to see such things..." the Kyuubi whispered again as he looked over his shoulder again, mainly at the gennin. His mind was made up in an instant as he summoned an enormous amount of chakra. The sudden gathering of it drew everyone's attention away from the memory before a red flash enveloped them.
It vanished just as quickly, but the group of people had be drastically reduced. The only ones left were a now panting Kyuubi on one knee, the Hokage, Zabuza, Kakashi, Sasuke, Hinata, a now awake but wobbly Gaara, the two red clouded cloaked shinobi, the three other cloaked shinobi from Kamigakure, and Haku.
Once Kyuubi had regained his breath, he could only frown. He had wanted more people to have been ejected from Naruto's mindscape, for that was where they were, but it looked like with his still recovering reserves he was not able to eject everyone he had wanted.
But even at after the sudden flash, the ones that were still left became entranced by the memory Naruto once more as he he seemed to be talking. They all saw his lips moving but there was no sound. The only thing they could get across though was that he must have been saying something foul, especially since he had a sinister looking sneer on his face.
But that sneer quickly turned into a frown of annoyance as he started to look around him and move his hand to the sword on his back. It was stopped about halfway though from something that no one could see. This obviously infuriated Naruto, as his eyes had gone from their normal to the slitted blood red ones. Red chakra started to seep out of his body then as well in an attempt to break what ever it was that was holding him back.
But as that happened, nine other sources of chakra flashed before everyone's eyes, blinding them again temporarily as Kyuubi's had. Even the Kyuubi had been blinded by the bursts, but he knew where they had come from, though he was not about to tell anyone had done such a thing.
However, when he had regained his blurred vision back, his own face paled, and he found himself wanting to beat the hell out of his own body for not having enough reserves to expel a few more people from Naruto's mind when he had done so. The reason for being so was that the group was now in an open plain.
It was a fairly simple area, if the fact that there were massive holes that dotted the land scape and the fact that there were two large chakra sources in what could only be described as a Life or Death battle.
The group, not truly of their own accord, suddenly found themselves about hundred feet from where said signatures where, and again, most had their eyes open in horror.
It was a fight between Sasuke and Naruto again, but their bodies had changed from when the scene they had last seen between the two boys. They were both older, and their clothes had not changed much it looked like from the last battle they saw. This fact confused the group a bit after having just seen Naruto in a completely different outfit not ten seconds before. But that was where the similarities ended.
Naruto once again had the blood red chakra armor surrounding him, though there a few slivers over other colors that emitted every now and then. But instead of the one tail he had last time, he now sprout nine out behind him. His eyes also had changed completely. Instead of just the pupil turning a blood red, the entire eye had gone blood red and where the pupil would normally be, was now a slitted dark turquoise one. He clearly had fangs as well as they could see from his gritting teeth and his nails had grown to be about three inch claws. His once normally bright golden hair had changed become streaked with red.
Sasuke was also covered in a chakra armor this time, though his was a mixture of a dark purple and black, his body looked the same as the last time, with the two large hand like wings sticking out of his back, but and added appendage was now a tail with a spiked ball on the end. He two though also had a set of claws and fangs, though his fangs were definitely smaller, and his claws being just barely long enough to even consider them as such. His Sharingan still had only the three marks in them as they spun wildly while he glared at Naruto.
But also from the look of the two boys, as well as from the devastated field they were in, they had been fighting for a while and where reaching their limits once again. Again, both boys charged up the familiar swirling ball of chakra and the hand covered in lightning before charging at each other once more.
Yet even as they charged, they, as well as the small group of people, minus Kyuubi, were unprepared for what they saw next. In a swirl of leaves an older looking Sakura appeared between the two, facing Sasuke with her arms outstretched as her voice screamed, "STOP THIS!"
Naruto's face chaged to one of absolute horror as he instantly released the chakra in his hand so that he wouldn't kill his friend and teammate, but he could not stop his moment as easily. Sasuke on the other hand, his look of fury also replaced by one of horror, was not so lucky. He too could not stop his momentum but his attack was one that could not be dispelled as easily as the one Naruto had been using. So it was with a great horror that his hand slammed into and through Sakura's chest piercing just to the side of the heart, though if it were Naruto it would have been exactly where his heart would have been.
The ear piercing scream that erupted from Sakura made everyone flinch in pain before her body went limp, only to be caught by a sliding Naruto on his knees with Sasuke's hand being pulled out of her body at an odd angle.
The girl was still alive though as she coughed up blood almost the second her momentum was stopped by Naruto.
"Please... stop this... you two...cough... you two shoudln't be fighting..." Sakura's voice echoed over the now eerily silent field.
"Damnit Sakura, hold on, I can fix you, just stay with us," a now very panicked Naruto said as his hands blurred through a series of handseals so fast, now one, not even the Kyuubi was able to see what they were before his hands started to glow a deep green. Gingerly he placed the hand over the hole in his friends chest as he started to pour copious amounts of chakra into the healing jutsu he was using. Sasuke, was frozen to the spot as he starred at his bloody hand, Naruto and Sakura just beyond his now shaking vision.
"Sasuke..." the now even quieter voice of Sakura said, snapping the still horror struck Uchiha out of his thoughts to look down to the pink haired girl. His face was horror stricken and Sakura could easily see that in his eyes.
"...I love... you... Sasuke... but please... stop fighting..." were the last words that left Sakura's mouth as she tried to reach out to the Uchiha. And it was her outstretched arm went limp that everything that had just happened withing the last minute registered into Sasuke's head.
And it was with that information that he slumped down to his knees and took the now dead girls hand in his. Naruto, who had his eyes closed as he still poured more and more chakra into the girl body, didn't even realize what that girl he was trying to save had died in his arms. It was only the sound of Sasuke falling to his knees that made his eyes open, his eyes now suddenly back to their normal blue.
But the sight of Sakura, now truly dead, her lifeless sea green eyes still open but looking at Sasuke, that the implications of what had happened caught up to him as well.
"Sakura... no Sakura, you can't die... I haven't fulfilled my promise yet damn it... you can't die on me yet..." Naruto choked out as sobs wracked his body.
The sound of someone throwing up though made most of the group suddenly jump away as they turned to the source of the noise. The real Sasuke was on his hands and knees, vomit splattered slightly on his face and on the ground in front of him. His skin color had gone deathly pale and his body had broken out in a cold sweat as it shook. And most could understand why the young Uchiha was in such a condition.
Hinata, though just as pale and on the verge of throwing up herself, was the first to go to Sasuke's aid. She knelt beside him and placed a comforting hand on his back, his body tensing for a moment before relaxing at her touch. But at the same time, everyone's attention was drawn back to where the memory Sasuke and Naruto where.
The reason for their attention being grabbed, a smooth, silky, but at the same time a bit raspy voice was laughing. And accompanied with said laugh was a man dressed in a cream kimono, a large purple belt wrapped around his waist and tied in a big bow behind him. His face was an unearthly white and his golden slitted eyes stood out fiercely against his pale features and clothing. The appearance of this man made the five cloaked shinobi tense greatly, and both the Hokage and Zabuza could only wonder why as they had felt the tension, though the Hokage now started to have an idea of what was going on.
The dream Naruto's attention had been drawn to this man as well, and to say the sudden spike in chakra as well as the amount of killing intent that exploded out of the young Jinchuuriki was overwhelming would be an understatement.
"Orochimaru, you snake bastard," Naruto growled out. The name made most of the group flinch but the snake like man within the dream could only smirk at the blond.
But even as they had flinched, Naruto had moved to attack the snake sannin, leaving a still thunderstruck Sasuke on his knees starring at the corpse of a girl, no woman, who had loved him, and had given her life to stop the fighting between him and Naruto.
He was entirely oblivious to the arrival of Orochimaru as all his mind could even think about was the pain that was seeping into his blackened heart at the death of Sakura. Nor did his mind register that Naruto had attacked said sake sannin until the body of Naruto was slammed into the ground right next to Sakura, the Kusanagi piercing his right shoulder and pinning him to the ground.
"Such a waste and such a shame. If it wasn't for your pathetic body already being so crowded with souls I would prefer to take your body at this time instead of Sasuke-kun's. But... seeing as how he has now awakened what he sought..." Orochimaru voice said, leaving the last part hanging as a eerie grin crept onto his face.
Sasuke, hearing his words, turned to look at the man with something to a mixture of horror, shock, and knowing in his eyes. And the group could see what the evil sannin was talking about now as well, the Magenkyo Sharingan had formed in Sasuke's eyes.
"You sick twisted bastard... you planned all this... I'll kill you for this..." Naruto screamed out as the red chakra armor and tails came back in full effect, but he could not hope to react in time as he saw what happened next.
Orochimaru's body had suddenly crumpled to the ground but as it had, what could only be described as a snake like entity had emerged from said body and flown at Sasuke with unnatural speed, slamming into the unsuspecting Uchiha and forcing his body harshly onto his back, where he started to scream in pain.
But it was at this that the scene changed again, and by now, what was left of the group did not feel like they could take anymore of these visions and scenes.
But once the scenery of the forest had vanished, the found themselves in an unnatural blackness. But the darkness quickly was illuminated by something appearing before them. They shielded their eyes or closed them them from the intense burst of light that happened before opening them only after the intensity had ebbed away to a decent level.
What they saw made everyone's face pale, even Kyuubi's and Hinata's.
The Shinigami, the death god, was now hovering before them, its knife removed from its mouth, and the Naruto they had seen from that strange chamber was standing before it, his shirt and coat gone, his pants torn in various places, and his boots just barely holding themselves together. This of course allowed those present a very good and very clear view of the tattooed seal on his back as well as the names on his arms.
"WHY HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME MORTAL CHILD?" a voice that thousands of times deeper and darker than Kyuubi's echoed out from all around them.
"I need your help," Naruto responded, his voice tired raspy and with none of the energy he normally displayed.
"WHY IS IT THAT YOU NEED MY HELP?" the voice boomed again.
Naruto's body stiffened at the question but soon slouched as his head and shoulders dropped, "I must let my families souls find peace."
"YOU PLAY A DANGEROUS GAME CHILD. AND YOU KNOW THE PRICE A MORTAL MUST PAY FOR EVEN SUMMONING ME," the Shinigami stated again.
"I... I have nothing left to live for. Everything I have ever loved has been ripped away from me. This is my only chance to pay my family back for the sins that I have committed," Naruto said, his voice quiet and full of sadness. It was quiet for a few moments after that, the Shinigami looking at Naruto both hungrily but also thoughtfully before it put its dagger back in its mouth and started to vanish
"SO BE IT," were the last words any of the group heard as their worlds suddenly went dark and they all, including Kyuubi, felt the darkness of unconsciousness take them once again.
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As the suns rays of first light peaked over the Hokage monument of Konoha, signaling the start of a new day withing the illustrious city, nearly all of its inhabitants were being roused by the soft warm glow the sun. But even though they were waking, they were all very confused. They found themselves in odd places among the village and could not help but wonder what had happened to them as their heads started to ache with pounding head aches. Everyone, civilian and shinobi alike were only slightly curious as to how they had managed to be in such places as they were when they were woken up, but at the same time, just shrugged it off as a lapse in memory or some such thing before just tossing that small inconsequential piece of information out of their minds.
There were a few being stirred though that did know how they had ended up where they were. The Hokage was one of the first people to retain consciousness, and stood up from where he was laying face first on a cold ceramic floor. His legs were shaky though as he stood and images upon images flashed before his brain, his mind working just as quickly to sort through them and take in their importance and meanings.
Said images also made him quite dizzy as he continued to stand and he soon found him self sitting in a chair in the room, his head between his knees as he waited for the wave of euphoria that had assaulted him to pass.
Zabuza was next within the room and was in much the same condition as the Hokage once he had managed to stand. But his body took a simpler route as he just slumped his back against the wall and fell to his rump as his hands held both sides of his head. He let our a groan as a head ache started to assault him as the images passed trough his minds eyes.
Both men recovered quickly after the images stopped a few minutes later though, and took note that the scrolls that had been floating around Naruto had fallen to the floor, as well as that Naruto had stopped thrashing but most of his clothes were gone as well, leaving him just enough cloth from his pants to keep his modesty as he actually snored while being sound asleep.
They also took note that Haku, Hinata, and Kiba were just starting to rouse as well and though they still felt incredibly weak, moved to go help the three as they awoke. They were in no better condition than when the two men had woken up and were soon seated against the same wall that Zabuza had been sitting against just minutes ago.
It was once they were sitting against the wall that the Hoakge and Zabuza looked to where the three cloaked shinobi were and noticed that they were still knocked out as well, the stick that they had somehow summoned to them still grasped firmly in their hands. A growl from Zabuza emitted from Zabuza's throat as he he stared at the three unconscious shinobi and he moved to go wake them up forcefully.
He was stopped however by a hand on his shoulder from the Hokage.
"Wait Zabuza-san. I know who these three are now, and I have a good idea as to who those two that are with them are as well," Sarutobi said, his voice unnaturally dry he found.
"Old man, you saw what these brats did as well as I did. And what ever it was caused what ever we saw to happen. They must be detained," Zabuza growled out. In truth, he rather wanted to split these three in half with his sword. The headache he had right now was more than enough reason for his old ways to want to come back and slaughter the three, but at the same time the visions he had seen only made him want to do that even more. Those memories... were not something he had wished to have seen, even if it was someone else's and he had no clue to as how he had seen them in the first place.
Sarutobi sighed a little before saying, "That may be true, but believe me, these three mean Konoha no harm. We will wait till they have awakened before talking with them privately. Also, I think after this incident, there will be much explaining that needs to be done those who witnessed those events."
At the last sentence, Sarutobi was looking directly at the sleeping Naruto. His heart ached at his mind pieced together what the boy must have gone through before he had come back to this reality.
"Oh Naruto-kun...," the Hokage thought sadly before instructing Zabuza to at least take the three cloaked shinobi back to his office. He also ordered the ex-mist nin to stay in his office with the three and to wait there until he came back. His response was only a growl but Zabuza quickly did as he was told. With a few hand seals, two water clones had formed from the moisture in the air and had grabbed a hold of the two males while the real Zabuza lifted the female before all three vanished from the room with their cargo in a puff of smoke.
It was at the puff of smoke that Hinata seemed to come fully back into her senses as she soon stood and walked over to Naruto's bedside with wobbly legs.
"Hinata-san, you should still rest your body. Whatever happened to all of is has left all of us probably quite drained," Sarutobi stated when he had turned to face to young girl.
Hinata didn't even answer him before she climbed into the bed next to Naruto shakily and laid down beside him. It was here that she rested her head on his chest, wrapped her arm around his stomach, and intertwined her legs with his before she started to cry softly.
Sarutobi was completely and utterly dumbstruck by the young Hyuuga's very bold moves, not to mention she hadn't even responded to him. But his shock soon wore off as a grim look came upon his face as he realized something. Hinata had changed slightly as well, that much was easily ascertained from her reaction when she had woken up, but there was something more to her now that he had not noticed before. It was something akin to how Naruto had suddenly changed.
But even as his mind tried to piece together that large puzzle that was surrounding Naruto and now Hinata, his thoughts were interrupted yet again by a moan from behind him.
With a start he realized he had completely forgotten about the woman that Zabuza said he had found and turned quickly to look at the now moaning in a slight pain woman. As his eyes grew wider and wider as he starred at the woman, more memories flashing though his head, his body froze once more. His face only seemed to pale more though, even as the woman slowly started to wake up as well, her eyes fluttering as they tried to open, though closing instantly they did and eliciting another groan from the woman.
And that was how Haku and Kiba saw the Hokage once the pain in the head's had dissipated to a tolerable point as he breathed out one word.
"Motoko..."
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"NO!" Naruto screamed as his body shot bolt upright from where he was laying. He was breathing heavily as if he had just ran a mile and a cold sweat covered his body.
But as he caught his breath and looked around, he could only groan out in annoyance. He was in his mind scape again just outside the Kyuubi's cage.
"Ah, damn it. What the hell am I doing here Kyuubi?" Naruto groaned out as he stood up on shaky feet.
There was no response.
That had Naruto snap his head in the direction og the cage before he stumbled as quickly as he could.
"Kyuubi?" he called out. Again no response.
"KYUUBI?" he called out louder this time, his normally calm nature being replaced by panic.
"I'm here kit... keep it down would ya?"the voice of the Kyuubi called out from behind him, making him turn around quickly.
What he saw was the Kyuubi in his human form, on one knee and using the katana, still sheathed, that had been at his waist for support. The old fox demon looked like he had been through the ringer a few times and Naruto rushed quickly to his side before lifting one of his arms over his shoulders and helping the demon stand.
"You okay Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, not entirely sure why he asked the question as he could clearly see the Kyuubi's state. The glare he got was all he really needed to know seeing as he had answered his own question in his head as he helped the Kyuubi limp back to the cage.
Once there, Naruto removed the Kyuubi's arm from his shoulders but still helped the Kyuubi as much as he could as the demon stepped back into the sealed cage, his body almost instantly transforming back into his monstrous fox form.
With a contented sigh the Kyuubi turned and plopped down on his stomach as he laid his head on his massive paws and stared out the gate at Naruto.
"What happened to you?" Naruto asked, his eyes and voice showing his concern for the large fox demon.
Kyuubi could only stare at Naruto in stunned silence before asking, "You don't remember anything kit?"
Naruto's brow furrowed with confusion as he answered, "Remember what exactly?"
"Your memories," Kyuubi responded, and was amazed that, even though realization dawned on Naruto, he didn't suddenly have a mental break down like he had when he had gazed upon the unconscious body of his own mother.
"So... So it wasn't a dream then... Oji-san... Kakashi-sensei... everyone that was important to me... they all saw those memories..." Naruto said with a shaky breath.
The Kyuubi was silent for a moment as he tried to sort his own thoughts out. Yes, Naruto was right in that everyone he had cared about had seen memories that Naruto had forced into his subconsciousness. That alone was something that was baffling the demon to the point of extreme annoyance. The entire event shouldn't have happened at all, but somehow it had, and even more confusing still was that it only happened to a select amount of people and not, at least if his calculations were right considering where everyone that had been there were probably at at this current point in time, what should have been at least over several hundred thousand people there to view the boy memories.
"So it would seem," was all the Kyuubi could really say for even he, the eons old demon, could not figure out exactly what and how what happened happened, and who had caused it to happen.
Now was when Naruto's body seemed to give way as he fell to his rear and sighed as he slumped his shoulders and head forward.
Seeing his vessels mood quickly taking a downward spiral, he flicked out a tail from his cage that slammed into Naruto head with enough force to send the boy crashing to his back.
With a grunt of pain and a growl Naruto was quickly back on his feet glaring daggers at the Kyuubi.
"And what the hell was that for!?" Naruto screamed.
"To get you out of your rut. Remember the reason we even went to that blasted chamber in the first place. You would have had to explain to the old man exactly how you had gotten those artifacts that you picked up and not only that you would have had to explain to them how you got those items as well. That and I spent too long dealing with you and your damned depressed emotions," the Kyuubi snarled back, the cage in front of his shaking slightly just from the sound of his deep voice.
Naruto really could not come back at the demon for his blunt words so instead he just snorted in annoyance as he turned around and crossed his arms in anger.
This only served to make the demon start shaking in true genuine laughter. Naruto truly never ceased to amaze him, nor did he cease to amuse him either.
But even as the walls of the great chamber shook, Naruto himself was caught by the infectious laughter and was soon holding his sides from laughing so hard. He didn't have a true reason for why he was laughing, he just laughed, and after several minutes had passed and he had stopped, panting slightly as he caught his breath, he couldn't help but smile and feel a bit better.
"Thanks again... Kyuubi," Naruto stated once his breath had returned.
The great fox demon could only do what could be resembled as a smile, though the sight of his teeth baring in such a way would make most men probably piss themselves.
"Don't mention it kit. Now... I do believe it is time for you to rejoin the land of being awake," the demon stated and with another flick of its tails through the bars, Naruto felt his mind being forced back into his frontal consciousness as well as his body almost instantly waking up.
As Naruto started to feel his body waking up, he couldn't stop the smile that was creeping across his face. His body still felt more relaxed than it had ever felt because of the laughter he had, not to mention the warm presence that was currently attached to him.
"Wait a second... I don't remember blankets only covering you in particular parts," Naruto suddenly thought, his smile vanishing instantly as he opened his eyes.
What he saw though brought back the smile to his face. Hinata was the one attached to him, and she was curretnly sleeping soundly, though she had him wrapped within in her arms and legs like a cocoon. But Naruto smile took a slightly sad tinge as he noticed that there were streaks along her delicate face, signs that she had been crying earlier and had probably cried herself to sleep.
Naruto cringed with grim realization as to why she had probably been crying in the first place. And it was with said thought that he moved so that his body was on its side facing her. She seemed to notice this in her sleep though as her grip on him tightened while she buried her face into his chest as she scooted closer.
Naruto chuckled mentally at the adorable sight and wrapped an arm around her to hold her close as well. An immense sense of relief coursed through his body the second he held her closer.
"How could I have been so stupid to not notice her before," Naruto berated himself before he started to drift off back to sleep again.
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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE"S BEEN HERE THE ENITRE NIGHT? AND WITH THAT... THAT..."
"The hell is that..." Naruto thought groggily as he started to wake up once again.
He didn't want to be waking up at the moment for he felt more content and relaxed than he ever had in his entire life. Looking quickly outside he realized that it was still night time which made him groans slightly at being awoken. But whoever was yelling on the other side of the door had woken him up, and Hinata as well as he watched her eyes slowly flutter open.
"Hey there you," Naruto greeted with a cheesy grin as Hinata's eyes came to look into his.
He watched as a smile formed on her face before she buried her face into his chest again as she held him tighter. But at the same time she started to cry again, soft sobs wracking her body a she gripped him tightly.
"Hey... shhh... its alright... I'm here..." Naruto whispered as he returned the embrace and stroked her hair softly.
"B-But... B-But..." Hinata started to stutter, only to have both her's and Naruto's thought blasted from their minds as the door to the room they were in suddenly get blown off its hinges and go flying across the room to slam into the adjacent wall.
The door being blow of its hinges had Naruto moving even before the door finished flying across the room. In a blur of movement he was between where the door was and Hinata, him now standing with a just as tense Hinata laying in the bed, her eyes starring at Naruto wondering just exactly how he had moved so fast from being embraced by her to being standing on the other side of the bed, ready to fight whoever came through the door if they tried to attack them.
But when the first person walked through the door, her entire demeanor changed in a heartbeat as her anger soared. The reason for this change...
... Hyuuga Hiashi had just walked through the door, and he was by no means calm like he normally was. In fact, both Naruto and Hinata could easily feel his anger radiating off him as he stormed in the door, a very flustered looking Hokage, who looked as if he had not slept at all the previous night, as well as Zabuza and Haku, in much the same condition as the Hokage came in as well.
And the fact that he saw Hinata laying in a bed with Naruto standing defensively before her didn't help quench the clan heads anger. Instead it had the opposite effect, and his expression could similarly be described as adding gas to a fire. His Byakugan came alive in an instant, a small sheen of blue chakra fluttered around him in a haze, and a most terrifying scowl adorned his usually stoic face.
"Hiashi, I will remind you that this is a hospital and such actions are not treated well here," Sarutobi stated harshly to the infuriated Hyuuga.
The warning seemed to only enrage the Hyuuga even further as the veins on the side of his face thickened and his scowl increased even more. Plus it wasn't helping that Naruto was unaffected by his scowl where most men trembled. Even with the incredibly subtle large amount of killing intent wasn't making the child shake.
That fact alone made him want to strike Naruto down wear he stood even more. But even as he glared at the blond haired gennin, the tenseness of the room was shattered as a female doctor came into the room her face a bit pink from obviously running here.
She took one look at the door laying on the ground, then at the two people trying to glare holes into each other.
"Who did this?" her voice screeched, interrupting the glares coming from the two as they looked to her. The blond suddenly went from glaring to confused as he looked at her questioningly but the Hyuuga still had his glare firmly set, leveling his glare on her as if she had made the situation worse.
But his face suddenly went back to normal as the nurses own killing intent suddenly filled the room. If there was one thing that the Hyuuga had learned, it was to never make a medical ninja angry. They seemed to gather an unnatural amount of strength when ever one of their patients were being threatened or when their pride of their profession was on the line.
"I apologize for the disturbance I have caused," Hiashi said as he bowed low. He truly was sorry, even if he was still angry that Hinata had been with Naruto here the entire night.
The doctor nodded once at the Hyuuga, deciding to deal with him later as she turned to the somewhat now smug looking Naruto.
"And you should get back into bed Naruto-kun. Your chakra reserves were depleted when you were brought in here yesterday," the female doctor said scolding though still warm to the blond.
His face instantly went from warm to outright shocked. No one, and he truly meant, NO ONE, had ever been nice to him in the hospital especially the doctors. They all only barely tolerated his presence when there and the only reason they even helped him half the time was because the Hokage had to remind them that he was gennin of the leaf and that refusing to heal him would be considered high treason.
But even still, they all normally glared at Naruto with an utmost passions, hoping that their glares would send him to the pits of hell where he stood. But here was this woman, smiling warmly at him with a warm look in her eye, even if it was still serious about him getting back into bed.
Her eyes took on a dangerous tone for a moment as she spoke her next words though, "I mean it young man, get back into that bed."
Naruto, suddenly remembering the legendary strength of Tsunade as well as the strength Sakura had before she died, both renowned medic-nins, and he was a blur as he was quickly back in the bed. After all, he really didn't want to be hit by someone who possibly had the potential to send him flying all the way to Suna with a single punch. He had almost completely forgot that Hinata was still on the bed in his blur of movement as he pulled the covers over him, and as a such, her tilted position of her upper body being raised was made unbalanced, making her fall onto Naruto as he had laid back down in the bed.
The other occupants of the room smiled warmly at the rather cute scene, all except Hiashi. His anger skyrocketed at the scene and if it hadn't been for the doctor's and the Hokage's pressence in the room he probably would have struck out at Naruto by now. So it was with great mental restraint that he kept his face neutral for the time be while he cleared his throat, effectvely bringing the attention of the room back to him.
"Hinata, you will come back with me to the house so that we may discuss your recent... actions," Hiashi said in a firm tone, one that left no room for argument. Or so he thought.
Hinata, who had managed to lift herself off Naruto's chest and looked at the man she loved with a slight blush on her face, had her face contort into a scowl as she heard her fathers words, before sitting up properly on the bed so that her legs were hanging over the edge and she was facing Hiashi. Naruto however was between wanting to laugh his ass off and wrapping his arms around Hinata. Scowling was something that was not becoming of the Hyuuga Heiress and for Naruto he could only think that it made her look absolutely adorable.
However what she said next made everyone's jaws fall open in shock.
"No father I will not go back to the Hyuuga's house. I will not go back to a place where my own pressence is barely tolerated. And i most definitely wont go back to a place where the man I love is treated as if he is a piece of trash," Hinata seethed, her voice still at a reasonable level, though her Byakugan had activated. It was fairly obvious it had though to everyone as the young girl had a massive chakra spike that caught everyone in the room off guard.
Hiashi recovered from his shock quickly though as anger washed over him like water washes over a beach in a strom. His Byakugan blazed into life as he barely contained his from yelling.
"You insolent child. I am your father and your clan head and you will do as I say."
The air in the room seemed to drop a few degrees at this point as Hinata's own Byakugan glare took on a murderous edge.
"I will not do a damn thing you say, Hiashi. I will not follow the orders of a man who has forced his own daughters apart. I will not listen to a man who puts his own clan before his own family. And I most certainly, will never, follow the orders of a man who has requested on more than once occasion to have the son of his best friend killed for the simple fact that he is nothing but a vessel," Hinata said through clenched teeth, her voice holding a dangerous edge.
The other occupants of the room starred at her in shock once more, their stunned looks obvious on their faces. Naruto was the one that was shocked most of all though.
"How the hell does she know that?" he screamed in his head, but at the same time he realized something he hadn't noticed before.
Besides the facts that Hinata was not stuttering throughout this entire ordeal, and the fact she was seeing entirely out spoken, something he did not remember Hinata having ever done until she was much older, was that her voice had changed. It was much more mature sounding then her normal soft spoken girlish voice. But even as he realized this, he saw the glint of the chain of the necklace he had given her and his eyes opened even farther in shock.
"Could she have met with heralready? But... then why hasn't... wait a second... Gaara has changed a bit as well... could they have... oh shit..." Naruto though as he came to a startling revelation. If he was right, then what had happened to him had happened, at least in part, had happened to the other Jinchuuriki. And that fact him wondering exactly how many people were going to be visiting Konoha between now and the finals
But while he came to said revelation, he almost missed the fact that Hiashi's Byakugan seemed to get thicker as his anger skyrocketed even further as the implications of Hinata's words sunk into his head. And it was in this enraged state that he moved to stroke Hinata.
If it had not been for Naruto barely catching the twitch of movement of the older man's body before he struck, Hinata might have been hit with kami knows what from the older Hyuuga.
So it came as a great surprise to Hiashi when his fist had become painfully intercepted by something and with a few blinks of his eyes, he realized that Naruto had moved back out of bed with such speed, even his Byakugan hadn't picked it up, and had blocked his strike towards his daughter. He tried to pull his hand away from said blond but realized with suddenly growing dread that he could not get his hand free.
Naruto had Hiashi's fist held tightly in his own and was slowly crushing the mans had with his own barely controled rage. He could even start to feel the bones in the older mans hands start to strain under the pressure and if it didn't let up soon they were likely to shatter from his insanely strong grip.
"I've had about enough of your crap Hiashi-teme," Naruto growled out dangerously as his eyes changed, making everyone in the room who could see them, that being everyone but the now shocked Hinata behind.
The reason for such was the shape that his eyes took. It was not the slitted blood red ones that he had when he had fought Haku in wave country, though the eye was still red.
Instead of the black slitted pupil though, the pupil change entirely. The main part of it changed into that of a three point shuriken, one point pointing straight up, the other two off and down to the sides.
But it was the things at the ends of these points that made the occupants, especially Hiashi, who was currently starring eye to eye with these newly changed eyes of Naruto's, that made them apprehensive and a bit fearful.
The top most part was something that was easily recognizable, at least to Sarutobi and the Hyuuga head. It was the symbol of the formed Magenkyo Sharingan, the ultimate form of the mirror wheel eye. The bottom right one made Hiashi's face pale a bit more though as he realized what it was. It was the exact same symbol that appeared in Hinata's eyes when she activated her Byakugan.
But above all other, Hiashi paled the most at the sight of the last symbol. It was a simple nine lined spiral, the same one used on the backs of the vest of the shinobi of the leaf Chuunin and up. This symbol itself though, was something Hiashi knew that there only three people in the entire world knew about, one being himself, the other two not having been seen in Konoha for 12 years now.
"The Tempest Eye..." Hiashi barely managed to breath out as his entire demeanor switched from one of anger to absolute horror. There had only been one person he had seen have such and eye, and what he could do with said eye were things that had made him who he had become. But even with the knowledge of what each of the three symbols were in Naruto's eyes, it still didn't explain why he had them.
Naruto, seeing that Hiashi was now completely and utterly stunned to the point where he could no longer move his body properly, just released the mans hands from his grip, it falling softly to his side, though now a bit black and blue from the bursted vessels Naruto's grip had caused.
Naruto just turned his head from the man then as he walked back around the bed slowly and stood before the window to the room and placed his hands on the window sill.
"But... how...?" where the only two words Hiashi's mind could register enough for his mouth to speak.
Zabuza and Haku were utterly confused at this point, neither of them, even with the memories Haku had of Naruto from her tennant, had ever seen said eyes on the blond before. Not to mention the name, The Tempest Eye, had changed his and Hiashi's moods to do a one eighty. The doctor was just simply befudled by the implications that Hiashi had just stated, and Sarutobi... Sarutobi had a grimace on his face as he watched Naruto walk over to the window sill.
Hinata seemed to be the only one capable of movement or thought at the moment as she removed herself from the bed and padded softly over to Naruto. She came upon his right side and laid her left hand on right shoulder as she leaned a bit forward to see his face. His eyes were closed but the look on his face was most definitely as solemn one, even as he flinched at her soft touch, but soon relaxed.
It was silent in the room for nearly a minute with Hinata standing beside Naruto her hand rubbing small circles on his shoulders as she kept starring at his closed eyes, trying to be reassuring to him as he sorted out his thoughts.
"As you can tell, Hiashi, I am his son," Naruto's voice said suddenly, interrupting the silence and growing tension.
"But at the same time, the Naruto you see before you," he continued as he turned towards Hinata, his eyes back to their intense cerulean blue, and smiled at her slightly for a moment before turning to look at the still thunderstruck Hiashi, "Is not the same Naruto that you, or anyone else in this village knew."
That comment sent Hiashi's mind realing as he tried to process the still overloaded information running through his brain.
"Then who are you?" the doctor asked, her curiosity now peaked just as much as Hiashi's.
Naruto looked to the Hokage, who was smiling albeit somewhat grimly and also nodded at the blond at his unspoken question.
"My birth name is not Uzumaki Naruto. It is Kazama Naruto, and I am not from this world," Naruto stated sadly as more memories flashed through his brain.
So caught up was he with his emotions that he barely registered Hinata's presence next to him as she took his hand and squeezed it softly in a reassuring way.
Hiashi's face stayed the same dumbfounded way while the doctor's eyes bugged out of their sockets.
"You're Arashi's son!" the doctor nearly screeched before suddenly fainting on the spot. Zabuza, being the closest to her, caught her body before it could hit the floor, and just looked at the woman in his arms with an odd expression.
"Who the hell is this woman anyways old man?" Zabuza asked, finally asking the question that had been tickling the back of Naruto's mind.
"Her name is Kuroshi Kanami. She one of only two doctors here who willing will take care of Naruto without having to be reminded that they it is would be high treason if they do not. Oddly enough, she was the person doctor for Arashi as well when Tsunade left," Sarutobi said, his voice saddened and barely a whisper at the end.
Hiashi however wheeled on the Hokage, his fury back in full though no longer any of it towards the blond.
"Why in the hell was I never told about this!" Hiashi demanded from Sarutobi. The simple though fierce question had both Naruto and Hinata looking at Hiashi in complete and utter confussion.
"This is not the time or the place for such words to be spoken Hiashi," Sarutobi said, his voice serious and truly leaving no room for the argument as he glared at Hiashi. He was the Hokage after all and the list of people whom he let slide, for the most part anyways, on treating him utter disrespect, were very few.
Hiashi's mouth clamped shut at that point before he turned back to back to Naruto. Again the blonds eyes were closed as his head was leaning forward, his bangs only just barely shadowing his face form normal sight.
But even as Naruto tried to calm his shaking nerves, and his body was shaking he realized as Hinata squeezed his hand again reassuringly, he could feel the presence of the Kyuubi start to rise within him. It wasn't the same as when he usually drew upon the demons chakra in battle, the terrifying and overwhelming power that made him feel almost invincible, felt calm and relaxed for once, and seemed to just flow out of Naruto naturally.
So it was with great shock to all, including Naruto, when a red mist seeped out of his body and towards the once occupied bed. It's original size was large at first, the mist blanketing over the bed and several feet away onto the floor, but it quickly started to condense as compact as it all swirled together in a small ball on the bed.
When the mist had completely shrouded the now compact ball though, it exploded slightly in a cloud of red smoke. The smoke cleared quickly from the spot the ball had been at and what was there was the small fox form of the Kyuubi, his nine tails, though small, swaying behind him as he glared at the Hyuuga Clan head.
Most in the room were slightly stunned to see the fox outside of Naruto, Naruto being so because he didn't remember Kyuubi being able to do that without one of his shadows clones. Hiashi though was down right frightened as he starred at the, though incredibly smaller since the last time he saw him, nine tailed fox. Hinata was probably the only one in the entire room that was struck in shock or fear, and if it wasn't for that atmosphere, she probably would have squealed and rushed to cuddle the Kyuubi.
After all, it was the size of a baby fox and the glare it was giving could only be described as unbearably cute. Not to mention the nine tails swaying behind it made it look even cuter and the fact that it looked incredibly soft as well.
But soon her shock soon entered her as the Kyuubi's mouth opened slightly at the side and a deep voice echoed out in the room.
"You and I have some things to discuss, Hyuuga," Kyuubi said, his voice clearly annoyed at something, though Naruto and Haku had a thought pop into the back of their heads as to why.
The Hyuuga paled even greater at the Kyuubi's words. But his sudden fear was rightly placed, at least in his own mind, for he was being addressed by the greatest of the tailed demons. Add that to the fact that he was pissed about something, AND the fact that the Kyuubi was supposed to be sealed within Naruto, though was now standing in a small for in front of him, had him on the verge of a mental breakdown from all of the things that had happened that day so far.
The Kyuubi, not waiting for a response, hoped off the bed and landed gracefully on the ground, though Naruto noted the slight cringe of the foxes face as he landed as well as that the Kyuubi was slightly smaller than when they had gone into the chamber of the spirits.
"Follow me Hyuuga," the voice echoed out again as the fox walked quickly towards the door before stopping and looking back at Naruto, "And kit..."
Naruto locked eyes with the demon as to show the fox had his attnetion.
"... You need to tell them about what they saw," the Kyuubi stated before glancing up at Hiashi one last time, as if daring the Hyuuga to not follow him.
Hiashi didn't want to follow the Kyuubi, nor did he wish to discuss anything with it. But the problem was his body seemed to move on its own accord as his thoughts battled for dominance against his rising confusion. Quickly, both Hiashi and the Kyuubi had left the room. Sarutobi though, in hindsight as he watched the two leave asked Haku to go with them to make sure the Kyuubi didn't suddenly start a mass panic as people saw them, as well as to lead them to a safe place within the hospital where the two could chat.
But once the door had closed leaving only Sarutobi, Hinata, Zabuza, and Naruto in the room, Naruto's steel will seemed to melt in a heartbeat as his body went limp and he crashed to his hands and knees in a heap. Tears started to come as his body was shaking violently.
"Naruto-kun," Hinata gasped out in shock as she quickly was on the ground beside the blond, a hand on his back and another on one of his shaking arms.
But those were the only words spoken for what seemed like an enternity as the blond reeled in his emotions with great effort, though he had to admit in hind sight he might not have been able to while still awake if it hadn't been for Hinata.
"Are you alright Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi asked quietly as he watched the blond stand back up with Hinata's help. The blond didn't answer right off the bat as he was helped back towards the bed where he sat down.
"As much as I can be, Oji-san," Naruto said, his voice tired and for the first time since his soul had come back, not covered with his attempt to make his voice sound younger. His voice was deep and rugged, but at the same time it held a softness that was so much like Sarutobi's when he was trying to comfort someone.
IF the old man was shocked though by Naruto's change in voice though, he didn't show it all. He was becoming slightly immune to the shocks the blond Ninja kept throwing at him though some of them were still surprising enough to get him every now and then. He was the number one most surprising shinobi in Konoha, probably in all the nations, after all.
"What did he mean by tell us about what we saw Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi asked gently, noting that the blond flinched at the question before taking a deep break and letting it out shakily.
"What you guys saw, those bits and pieces of scenes... those were all my memories. Everything you saw, every little detail... they are all mine..." Naruto managed to get out his voice restrained and only just above a whisper. Hinata who was sitting next to him gave his hand, shoulder a squeeze.
"Then... everything was... that was all you?" Zabuza asked, the events of the brutal massacre scene suddenly coming to the forefront of his mind. He had earned his reputation as the demon of the bloody mist for his slaughter of an entire graduating gennin class but even what he saw had happened had made him feel uneasy and nauseas.
Naruto only nodded as his body started to shake slightly as his mind was replaying the horrible memories again.
"What exactly happened to us?" Sarutobi asked, realizing that the entire time in those memories the hokage had never been shown but the only person he had seen in his memories was one of his students. Though he had noted that he had seen the presence of two of his students with Naruto's mind as well, but they both seemed to have been in their own world the entire time while they were viewing the memories like the rest of them.
This question though made Naruto pale significantly.
"I... I k-killed everyone... everyone who was still alive... and I... I burnt most of the shinobi countries to the ground," Naruto said his body ow shaking violently as his eye were closed fiercly, memories flashing before his minds eye.
Phantom screams for help, shouts of demon, yells for aid... all these noises were playing back with the memories in excruciating detail, making his heart ache badly.
So wrapped up was he in his memories though he jumped when he felt a pair of arms encircle him. They were strong and firm but at the same time gentle and caring. It took his mind nearly a minute to process that it was the Hokage who was suddenly hugging him, Hinata just barely off to the side, though her hand had laced with his and was squeezing it reassuringly.
"But you are here now Naruto," Sarutobi said as he pulled back slightly from the hug so that his hands were on Naruto's shoulders and he was squatting slightly to look at the shocked teary sapphire blue eyes of the blond, "And from what I can gather you are trying to make this path a better one for all of us. You are trying to set right all the wrongs that occurred from whence you came and at the same time shouldering another heavy burden upon yourself."
The words calmed Naruto down greatly and the blond felt a genuine smile start to creep across his face as a few more tears streaked his face. These tears were ones of joy though as his smile grew to be from ear to ear.
"Thanks Oji-san," Naruto said with his big foxy grin.
It was silent for a moment before the Hokage spoke again with a large grin, "Your father would be proud of you Naruto, just as I am."
Naruto's smile somehow got even bigger at the genuine praise, a warm feeling suddenly coming back into the previously somber room.
But even as it came back a thought suddenly dawned on Naruto as his face turned to one of shock.
"Oh kami-sama," Naruto gasped out as the color started to pale from his face again.
Sarutobi was a bit confused at Naruto's actions, as were the still concerned though silent Hinata. Zabuza though was looking at the blond and if his mask had been down they would have seen a smirk.
"She's safe brat. We brought her back with you once you passed out," the former mist nin said and a look of relief passed over Naruto as a look of realization passed of Sarutobi.
"Oji-san..." Naruto started to ask if he could go see the woman that was supposedly his mother, but was cut off as a hand was placed back on his shoulder.
"She's asleep Naruto. She woke for a short time but is unconscious once again. It seems that her body is incredibly weak still from your birth but she is good hands here. But your body is weak as well still and you need to rest, even with the healing powers that you have."
Naruto starred at the Hokage for a moment before sighing sadly and slumped against the bed in resignation, thought he had crossed his arms across his chest and was pouting as well.
Sarutobi smiled warmly at the rather childish though amusing scene of the blond. He then took a look outside and noted that it was probably a bit passed one in the morning now from the position of the full moon.
"Well it is getting late Naruto, you should probably get back into bed and rest," he said softly as a small smile crept across the blonds face.
Naruto nodded once before turning quickly to look outside as well to take note of the time. But at the sight of the fool moon, realization struck him and he spun back to the Hokage.
"Oji-san, where is Hayate-san right now?" Naruto asked a bit frantically.
Sarutobi blinked a few times being caught of guard by the again sudden change of emotion of the blond.
"He is scouting the village as his job at this time of night," he said and noticed the blonds face loosing color again which brough his next question, "Naruto, what happens to Hayate-san."
"He's killed before he can make it back to you to report something. I remember it being something that a female purple haired ANBU told me once when she was trying to teach me," Naruto said, his mind slipping on the name of the ANBU, "She was really upset that he had been killed."
Sarutobi nodded as he stood back up to his fool height and turned to walk towards the door. "Zabuza, place Kanami-chan with the other nurses. Then come to my office."
The mist nin, though a bit confused at the moment nodded before vanishing a plume of smoke. It was then Sarutobi looked back at the still sad looking Naruto as it was obvious a few memories had resurfaced in the short amount of time.
"Rest well you two. I will see you both tomorrow," Sarutobi saidbefore he too vanished, though his was in a swirl of leaves that appeared out of nowhere and vanished just the same.
Naruto blinked twice at the spot the two older ninja had been before the Hokage's words entered his head. Try as he might, he couldn't help but feel his face flush a little at what the Hokage had said. But even as he realized it, her turned to Hinata, who was already looking at him with a sad look in her eyes. But it wasn't one of sympathy. It was one of understand and of their own hurt.
It was then that what the girl had said early played back in his mind as well as the sequence of thoughts his mind had taken as well.
"So she's talked to you already?" Naruto asked, his voice resigned once more.
It was silent as Hinata moved off the bed to stand in front of the blond the same way Sarutobi had not just a few minutes prior. The smaller girl took Naruto's hands in hers as she let out a shaky breath she didn't know she had been holding as she starring into his now dull and saddened eyes.
"Yes, she did Naruto-kun but..." she said but stopped as he turned his gaze away from hers and looked at the floor, a tear leaking out of the eye she could no longer see.
"Then you know of everything that's happened as well?" Naruto asked, his voice now just barely audible.
Hinata sighed at his tense and sad voice before she removed on of her hands from her grasp on his and reached up to his face. Gently she lifted and turned his face to look at her, her heart aching as she saw his saddened expression and the tears now slowly leaking out of his eyes.
"Yes, but she also brought with her a piece of my former soul as well. I have all the memories of the Hinata you once knew as well as the ones from now. It's all confusing to me as I am sure it to you, but know this Naruto," she said firmly but softly as she removed her other hand from Naruto's and brought it to his face as well as she wiped away a few stray tears.
Naruto eyes were open wide with a sad look as she had stopped talking. He suddenly had a feeling of dread rush over him as his mind blurred with thoughts, none of the pleasant. But what she said and did next halted all mental functions the blond had.
With her two soft hands she had brought his face to hers and place her lips upon his in a soft but passionate kiss. Naruto's eyes widened greatly at Hinata's actions but he found himself enjoying the sensation. It was soft a delicate, much like how Hinata was, but at the same time it conveyed just how much the white eyed girl before him cared for him.
The the kiss only lasted for a few moments, Naruto had a feeling he would remember it until the end of his days and on into the next life.
But as Hinata pulled back from the kiss, her face slightly flushed with realization of what she had done, she said, "I told you once before Naruto-kun, and I will say it again. I love you, no matter who or what you are. You are not the demon that is sealed within in you, you are not the monster created to be a weapon. You are just Naruto-kun, the same loud blond who never gives up on anything and would give his life for those precious to him."
Naruto's eyes were wide as was his mouth a the Hyuuga Heiress' words. But even as the shock he had felt started to register in his brain, he felt a sensation of warmth he had not felt before. He didn't know what this new feeling was at all, but he sure as hell liked it and didn't want it to go away.
And it was said thoughts that he pulled Hinata into another hug while at the same time crashing his lips against hers again as he gave her another passionate kiss.
Just outside the door, Haku smiled at the cute seen of the couple as they kissed as did the kit form of the Kyuubi that was on her shoulder.
"It's about damn time," the Kyuubi said softly from his perch as he gazed at the two love birds.
"So the great lord of all demons has a soft side does he?" Haku giggled as she moved away from the doorway to stand guard over the door as well as to give the two some privacy.
The Kyuubi groweled slightly as it flicked its tail at Haku's face from his perch which only served to make the girl giggle more at the Kyuubi's actions.
But the grin the Kyuubi had, even if he did growl in a annoyance, was unmistakeable.
"Maybe finally he can start to come to terms with everything hes done now,"Kyuubi thought to himself as he thought back to the two.
