And I've risen back from the dead with a new chapter of Sealing Twilight. Sorry for the long wait, but it was necessary. My college has been throwing everything it can at me these days. Anyway, I could have posted this a little while ago, but forgot to in favor of updating Hybrid's game. Oh well, a few reader responses and a few questions after this chapter and then we'll be getting into the good stuff.

Dragzxx: Hm… territorial Tayuya? Who'd have thought? Yeah, imagine what she'd do if some other girl started to get really close to Naruto. I'm not 100% sure if a female can actually be castrated, but I'm sure she'd do her best.

Yojimbra: The fluff in this story is hit and miss because of the messed up nature of Naruto and Tayuya's feelings at the moment. But don't worry too much. It's coming. (pun not intended)-((…maybe…))

Mokkel-Sempai: Yeah because of what I have coming up in the story, Naruto needs to be more overpowered than usual, plus he won't have the opportunity to train in the sage arts or master the Kyuubi so he's lacking two of his trump cards.

Guest Whinner: Did Kurama seem like a good guy to you? No. He's not the good guy. He still hates Naruto, he just isn't blindly hostile. And he much prefers the usual knucklehead to the dark version of Naruto. He's stuck inside the blond either way, but he doesn't want to be trapped inside someone who has no problem what so everwith taking what he wants.

Anyway that's it for answering your questions! On to the story!

(Still don't own Naruto… god damn!)

Chapter 7

Ooo

Lord A watched the Hyuuga girl spluttering over where ever the hell he'd gone. She'd even went so far as to activate her Byakugan, but he was nowhere in sight.

He turned to Tsunade, "So he can use Sealess Hirashin. How is that even possible? I didn't see him do anything. He just disappeared."

The other Kage were trying to figure that out at the same time. Tsunade had gone past the point of trying to understand it. Naruto couldn't know sealing, he couldn't have possibly taught it to himself. He couldn't know Hirashin, even though it had been obvious that… somehow… he knew. And that required much more than a few simple sealing jutsu to accomplish. It required massive amounts of practice and he would need the details of the jutsu to begin with.

That didn't count the sudden massive increase in… almost all his abilities in such a short time. It seemed that Jiraiya had vastly underestimated the blond Jinchuriki. Over all… she was losing control of the situation. If she couldn't find some way to monitor Naruto she'd be in trouble. She decided that as soon as she was free of her duties for a moment, she would have a very long talk with her favorite troublemaker.

Otherwise the other Kage would try and take advantage. She had no doubt that Gaara wasn't on her side. The pale Jinchuriki would be on whatever side Naruto was on. Despite the fact that all they shared was their burden… and a single battle, they still had a powerful bond.

Mei was a wild card, but she figured that the Mizukage would do Naruto right. After all she had been good friends with Kushina and Minato. But at the same time she couldn't guarantee that Mei wouldn't try and sway Naruto in some way…

So that left Lord A and the Tsuchikage. She knew that Lord A cared little for any of the other villages, but showed a special dislike of Kiri and Suna. There was also the fact that the previous Raikage had kidnapped a number of individuals from Konoha over the years. This practice had only stopped due to A's own promotion. With that in mind she might not have to worry about Naruto being taken directly, but there was still a very good chance that A would try… something.

Tsunade glanced at the Raikage who seemed to be mulling something over. She thought she knew what it was. Minato took out a full third of Iwa's forces in under two seconds. What could Naruto do with sealless Hirashin? And at his age, what other abilities had he developed that might surpass even the Fourth Hokage's jutsu? Yes… A would try something. She just had to figure out what.

Then… there was Onoki. The Tsuchikage looked like he'd seen a ghost back at the tower, and now he looked like said ghost had reached out and bitch slapped him. The old man was starring at the place where Naruto had been with a kind of… morbid fascination. Tsunade didn't like the look.

A second later Onoki turned his head to look at her, "Tsunade…. I am not asking you to reveal village secrets… but why is it that ..that boy… not famous? It is as though no one knows who he is. You explained to me about his… situation, but with such skills, why isn't he in every bingo book in the Elemental nations. Knowing a sealless Hirashin would give him an S-rank simply by default!"

Onoki looked slightly panicked now. Tsunade decided that it would be best if she take advantage of the situation for now. She coughed, "You may find that many of our Shinobi have secrets. I don't keep as close a tab on them as you. Besides, Naruto IS Naruto."

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

Gaara's pale eyes met the old man's worried ones. He said bluntly, "Naruto is seen as one of the most unpredictable Shinobi in the Land of Fire. Predicting him or anticipating anything about him is futile."

The other Kage turned their attention back to the arena where the next match was starting. However their focus was not on the fight. It had been redirected to where a certain boy had magically appeared again, next to his two teammates. Onoki's eyes bugged out. Mei giggled at the old man's expression, her own gaze returning to Naruto.

"It seems as though we will be in for a very interesting show. My Chojuro is at slightly above Jonin level and if I'm not mistaken, so is that Kurotsuchi girl. It seems to me that there are three highly skilled Shinobi in this exam… I wonder how they will do against each other."

The other Kage nodded as they had to physically turn their attention to the match at hand. As they did they missed the look that Naruto shot them. It wasn't his usual look. It was careful, calculating, and… predatory.

Ooo

Ooo

"The next match is Metaiou Irabi of Kumo versus Kotegawa Yui of Taki!"

Naruto watched as one of the Kumo Shinobi jumped down into the arena as the girl from Taki moved down to the arena floor. Irabi was fairly tall with blond hair and pale skin. He had a thin face that reminded him a bit of Ebisu. His white flak jacket was in a slightly different style than most Kumo nin as it extended down past his waist in two tails. For some reason there was two long kunai dangled from theses flaps of leather.

Naruto turned his attention to Yui. She was a cute girl of about fifteen. She had long dark brown hair and eyes of an off gold color. Her garb was also odd. Instead of the usual Taki greens and blues, she wore a yellow shirt and a short white skirt. He wondered why a Genin was dressing like a civilian schoolgirl from the capital. Wasn't she…

He stopped thinking about it. After all he was the master of stealth who dressed in orange so he wasn't one to talk.

The battle started off and ended almost as soon as it began. The Kumo nin activated some kind of ability and the two kunai on the ends of the flats shot up without his direction to impale Yui.

He was probably rather surprised when Yui cut him in half with a long blade of rippling water. Blood splattered over the arena floor as he fell in two pieces. Yui's hand flicked out and the water scattered, splashing over the now still corpse.

Konohamaru shouted, "HOLY SHIT!?" He looked at the girl in slight fear, "She just took him down!" His eyes turned to Naruto. "Hey! Did you see that co….."

Konohamaru's question died in his throat as he saw Naruto's expression. It was feral, his canines showing as he grinned. A strange look glinted in his eyes as he watched the Taki girl accept the proctor's congratulations.

"Boss?" he asked hesitantly. Naruto's expression was a bit scary…unnerving even.

Naruto's head snapped to the side, his eyes flashing red for a second. "Huh? What was that Konohamaru?"

"Um… you had a weird look just now boss." He shifted to the side. "It was kinda creepy."

Naruto's eyebrows rose, "Really? I didn't realize. Don't worry I'm fine."

Konohamaru looked back to the match where the body was being removed. There was something… not right with Naruto. He couldn't put his finger on it, but the friendly aura seemed to be…. fake. Konohamaru forced himself to focus on the screen that determined the next match. Maybe if his name was called it would distract him from Naruto's unsettling behavior.

Ooo

Hanabi saw the next match's indicator, "Oh come on!?"

"Hyuuga Hanabi of Konoha versus Sarutobi Konohamaru of Konoha!"

She grimaced, "Damn it. The first person I fight one on one is the boy I practiced my new moves on? How am I supposed to save the best for last if he knows how I fight! And why do I have to hurt him of all people anyway?!"

Hanabi didn't like the idea of fighting Konohamaru in a serious match. He was her friend, as annoying as he could be sometimes and he was nice. This reminded her a bit of Neji's match with Naruto. The hyperactive knucklehead against the Hyuuga prodigy… "Version two…"

Grimacing she jumped down into the ring right as he did the same. The proctor explained the rules and stepped back. "You may begin!"

Konohamaru sighed, "You too huh?"

She rolled her eyes, "Let's just get this over with… unless you want to be nice and just surrender."

"Not a chance in hell!"

Hanabi sighed to match his, "Let's do this then, but I won't go easy on you."

He grinned, "Like you ever?"

"Ok.. so maybe I was speaking in the future tense. Anyway stay still so I can squash you!"

She dashed forward, bringing her hands into position and overloading her chakra points in an effort to blast his into numbness. At the same moment she activated her Byakugan. Konohamaru was already moving.

"Shadow Clone jutsu!"

Then there were five of him. They scattered, leaving Konohamaru directly in front of her. He grinned and brought his hands together again, "Earth Release: Stone Cage jutsu!" He slammed his hands into the ground, releasing his chakra.

Hanabi frowned and pumped more chakra into her hand seeking to at least brush against him as she was trapped. It wasn't as if it could hold her for more than a second. She had lightning affinity. Such a barrier wouldn't hold against her! "Nice try Konohamaru-kun!"

He leapt upwards; nearly head butting her, but neatly avoiding her strike. At the same time ground rose, bars of stone entrapping her instantly. She whirled, beginning the first stage of Rotation. Only to cry out. All four of his clones finished their jutsu. Four shouts echoed in her ears from each direction. Left and right, forward and back. "Fireball jutsu!"

"Shit!"

Hanabi used the tunneling jutsu just as the four huge balls of fire converged on her position, incinerating the area where she had been. "Thank kami I learned the jutsu for emergencies. He would have had me right there." She came up behind one of his clones, striking out without bothering to aim. The clone poofed into smoke.

She was surprised again as her reflexes barely saved her from several dozen kunai and shuriken. Konohamaru had thrown them the second he saw her appear, knowing that the clone would blind her for a split second. Her rotation deflected all of them and blew away the smoke.

Hanabi dodged to the side as Konohamaru sailed past her, hand extended to cut her. Her Byakugan registered a huge influx of energy right beside her a second later. "RASENGAN!" She gritted her teeth and bent backwards, the violent ball of energy going right over her, missing her abdomen by less than an inch.

She hissed in pain at the awkward position even as she lashed out and hit four chakra points in rapid succession. Konohamaru gasped and leapt away. "Damn! You got me after all of that… made me lose my concentration too!"

Konohamaru's mass of chakra had dissipated leaving him on the low end of the chakra spectrum. Now he only had enough chakra for a normal Chunin. And that might have been enough to take another opponent. But she was a Hyuuga and she refused to lose! "You're in range Konoharau-kun."

His eyes went wide, "Oh shit!" He jumped backwards even as she darted forward, "Hidden Art: Gentle fist, Sixty-four Palms!" Konohamaru managed to dodge the first two, but the next four landed. "Two palms! Four plams!"

She whirled as his other three clones started hurling shuriken at her. She did a half spin of Rotation and managed to duck the last blade as it said past her ear. A smile lit her face as she slammed her chakra out through her foot, sending her chakra points screaming open.

WHAM!

Konohamaru felt the impact of her foot in his chest as the chakra laced strike sent him reeling. He could already feel half of his chakra points in his torso closing. "This is bad. I need to recover before she deals with my clones." Taking a page out of Naruto's book he did something creative and completely stupid under the circumstances.

His hands worked like a blur as he wrapped a double loop of ninja wire around her foot. The force of her attack dragged her down with him. Hanabi cried out as a shuriken cut past her cheek, drawing blood. She fell.

Konohamaru channeled every scrap of chakra he had and channeled it into fire chakra. His eyes met Hanabi's as she sailed towards him preparing to Juken him in the center of his chest. He mouthed 'sorry' as he delivered a massive punch to the center of her chest. His strike burned as it hit, melting the ninja wire and setting her pants and jacket ablaze. It blackened the skin on his knuckles as it impacted her.

Hanabi choked on her breath as her momentum was reversed. Both of them landed painfully, Konohamaru out of chakra and Hanabi struggling to draw breath.

They stayed like that for a moment… until he found the strength to sit up… then stand unsteadily. He looked across to Hanabi who was spread eagled on the cold floor. He gasped out, "I think that's my win Hanabi-chan…" A grin spread his lips as he sat down… hard. He felt like Asuma had decided to use him for a punching bag. "I'm glad there's a gap between the preliminaries and the actual third test. Otherwise I'd be out of it before I could blink."

The proctor raised his hand, "The win goes to Sarutobi Konohamaru!"

He sighed as medical ninja came out onto the field. Most of them going to Hanabi, but one moving to him. He blinked. "Hey Sakura. Didn't know you were on duty here."

The pinket smirked, "Yeah well, had to get a look at how you newbies were doing. You did pretty good there. Now… let's get you on your feet."

He nodded and took her proffered hand. "Thanks Sakura…"

She pulled him to her feet and slipped an arm around him, supporting him. He glanced over at Hanabi who was already being taken out of the room. "Hey Sakura? Could I be in the same room with Hanabi?"

One pink eyebrow rose. "Sure…I guess. Anything else?" She asked as they headed out of the arena area.

"Yeah… I think something's wrong with big bro… He just didn't seem himself for a second there." Konohamaru felt Sakura tense.

"I know what you mean… but let's not talk about it here…."

He nodded as they left.

Ooo

Up on the balcony Naruto caught every word. His grin turned feral once more. He needed to keep an eye out on those two….

Ooo

Ooo

It was less than an hour before the preliminaries ended. Tsunade review the results. There were actually only six winners out of the fifteen. One of the Genin had been in no condition to fight and was sent away before he got more seriously injured. And then there had been a double KO. Therefore only six would be in the final test. The winners were thus…

Naruto of Konoha

Yui of Taki

Konohamaru of Konoha

Kurotsuchi of Iwa

Chojuro of Kiri

Tenten of Konoha

She smiled. So Naruto's entire team would be moving on to the final round? That was good, and it would be a boon to Konoha that three of the six finishers were from her own village. It would send a clear message to the other villages that the Leaf had retained its strength…

Although she thought, with Naruto's almost reckless display of power, she didn't think there was any chance of the other Kage making a move. You didn't just mess with someone who used sealless Hirashin. That was downright idiotic, if not completely suicidal. When someone did come after him it would be well planned and overwhelming.

"I just wish I knew how he acquired such skill. Jiraiya is gone at the moment, though he might return for the final stage of the Exams to see Naruto… He tends to want to spend more time with the boy now. So for now I'll have to wait to hear an explanation from that corner… Although, I suppose it would just be easier to send for Naruto."

Her old teammate was probably trying to make up for all the years he stayed away, avoiding anything to do with his awful memories of the past. She wouldn't blame him though. Or more accurately she couldn't. After all she'd done the exact same thing as him, except she had seven or eight years head start. "I should have come back many years ago… but at least I can start rectifying the situation now." Her thoughts were interrupted by a burst of extremely dense chakra.

Her head jerked up to find Naruto standing there. He didn't look happy.

Ooo

Naruto flashed into Tsunade's office. He saw her, minus Shizune, sitting at her desk. Her usual bottle of sake was suspiciously absent. He growled inwardly at that. "Useless information. Grrr…. Why can't I get a hold of myself?"

Tsunade looked up, "There you are brat. I was just about to send someone to look for you. Get over here. We have things to discuss." Her tone brooked no argument, but he ignored her. His eye twitched in annoyance.

"That bastard fox is helping him. Shit. I knew I should have just repressed him when I took control last. That idiot still has some control. And here I thought that idiot Iwa boy would be enough to take over for a while." He shook his head violently, attempting to dispel the voice which was getting much louder.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"No you useless retard. I'm in control now. Go back to sleep."

"LIKE HELL I WILL!"

Tsunade watched as Naruto closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Something was off about him. His body language was different. The way he was pinching the bridge of his nose… reminded her of her grandfather… and herself. But Naruto never did that. He usually relieved stress by shouting. And why was he stressed in the first place?

She saw his jaw clench as his body went rigid. Her eyes narrowed and she motioned to one of the ANBU hidden in the room. Instantly a cat faced ANBU was at her side. Tsunade said, "Inoichi, Now."

The ANBU nodded and vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Her attention returned to Naruto. She was getting an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that something wasn't quite right. She wondered if it had anything to do with what Sakura had been muttering about. And what with the prior incident… and the way his behavior had been so different… It seemed similar. He wasn't acting out right now, but he certainly wasn't his usual boisterous self.

She asked, "Hey brat, what's wrong with you?"

Naruto's eyes opened and he glared at her, "Not right now Tsunade."

She blinked. "Ok… something really is wrong here. He didn't call me granny or old woman… or anything. He didn't even call me Hokage! This is bizarre…" Tsunade frowned. Was this the possible alternate personality that Inoichi had spoken of? It was starting to seem like it. The Naruto she knew didn't act like this.

Ooo

Naruto closed off his mind to the outside and forced himself inward. He needed to deal with this and he needed to deal with it now. "Fuck, why can't he just let me do what I want?! That woman is already suspicious of me. Damn it! I can't act like my idiot self!"

Naruto dropped down in his mindscape, already moving to the great bars of the cage. Across from him lay the great demon. The great demon who was helping his other self to regain control. It pissed him off. Didn't the over grown fox understand who he was?! He was Naruto in every way that mattered, so why the hell was he interfering?!

"YOU! Why are you helping that idiot!?"

The beast glared back at him with no small amount of anger. "Truly you are a fool. As much as you and I share in perspective I cannot allow you to remain in control of the boy's mind when you show such disregard for me. I AM the greatest of the tailed beasts! Brought into this world by the Sage of the Six Paths! I REFUSE to be commanded by you!"

Naruto cursed loudly, his anger rising exponentially. "You will do what I tell you to Kurama! If I decide to take every shred of your chakra I WILL!"

The fox shifted, baring his teeth, as he rose to his feet. The nine tails swings ominously behind him. "Know your place. You may be superior to that other part of you, but you are STILL a WORHTLESS HUMAN! I am a Biju, and far beyond you understanding." Kurama grinned, "Besides, now that I have made the kit aware of your presence, you will be forced to fight both of us. You cannot fully take control of my power without letting him gain control. And you are unable to subjugate his consciousness while I have my power."

"SHIT SHIT SHITSHITSHIT! You…you will not force me back into my cage fox. I have waited far too long to see the light of day again. I have felt control three times now… Three times in almost ten years. I am the one who will win this time! He will go in the cage where he belongs! That sentimental weak minded fool deserves to be locked away for allowing us to suffer so long!"

Kurama chuckled, "True…"

Naruto exploded, "THEN WHY ARE YOU HELPING HIM!? I COULD RELEASE YOU POWER ON THIS DAMN VILLAGE! ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!"

"You are the fool. Naruto and you are but two sides of the same coin. Without both you are worthless… counterfeit. Your attempts to destroy him are only harming yourself… and therefore me. And… as I have already said, I cannot allow you to be in control when you so easily control my chakra."

"….."

"Do you think that your killing intent means anything to me human? I am practically made of it. Your hate may be potent indeed. Even more potent than mine, but I have much more than you. I have centuries of hate. You don't even have twenty years." Kurama laughed, "Yes… you are foolish. If you had only stayed below the surface… biding your time, you might have taken better advantage of your other half. However, from what I have observed, you are greedy. You had a taste of power and freedom with the redhead and became addicted to it instantly. You withdrew thinking that Naruto would soon give you another opening."

"But he didn't."

"No… Do you know why?" Kurama was taunting him now. The shadow of Naruto was replaying through his actions, trying to find where he had slipped up. When had he put himself on the path that led to this situation?

Naruto closed his eyes. He was damned if he did. And he was damned if he didn't. If he forced Kurama to bow to his will, then his other self would take control….and since the fox would then be subjugated, he likely wouldn't have another good chance to awaken… not for years. However if he moved to crush his other half then Kurama would likely take the opportunity to blind side him.

Either way he would be forced back into his cage.. but where had he gone wrong? Naruto looked up to the fox, the sly grin across the beast's muzzle was infuriating. Could the demon know something he did not? Some part of himself that caused him to fail? "I hate that mangy furball. I hate this village, and I hate that other part of me, but most of all I hate losing control!"

He grimaced as the ache behind his eyes intensified, turning into a splitting migraine. No.. he was looking too deep into this. There was something he had done or said which had taken him where he didn't wish to go. Something he had caused during his short time off the leash… had caused a chain reaction of events while his other half was awake… and somehow it led to this. Naruto was still annoyingly aware of the fact that he was standing in the middle of the Hokage's office looking like a pissed off statue. "And that won't fucking help either. She's already noticed my horrible acting so she will…"

His error took that moment to pop into his head. "Shit! That's what happened?!" It was careless… an action in response to his natural urges. And he'd given into it. No more than that. He'd pushed it out of proportion, just to see what would happen.

The kiss.

He'd taken momentary control during the argument with Tayuya. Quickly taking over the situation he'd cowed her into a corner. "I enjoyed being myself so much that I wasn't thinking about how my actions would affect me when I was no longer leading… Shit."

"Do you see your mistake now? You are a part of Naruto, but you, as much as you claim to be better, are only a small part of him. Thus you need quite bit of leeway to take over. And the only way you managed to do this was by using Naruto's conflicting emotions as a doorway. As long as he stays calm and doesn't completely lose control of himself, you have no chance of slipping through."

"Anger isn't enough. Hate isn't enough. Jealousy isn't enough. No single emotion will destabilize him enough for you to take control. Tayuya was perfect for you. Your other side is so very… conflicted about her. He likes her, but at the same time he hates her for her role in the Third Hokage's death… On a physical level he notices her and lusts after her… but at an emotional level he was furious at the time. All of that conflicting emotion was perfect for you."

Kurama settled down on his paws, his red eyes taking in the highly agitated boy before him, "You were reckless and kissed her, giving into your own lust for a moment…and in the process left your other half hanging."

The fox chuckled again, the deep sound echoing out thought the room. On claw pointed at him. "Naruto didn't know what happened. His mind tried to connect the dots but couldn't. In the end it all led to an argument between Naruto and Tayuya… and that in turn led to a break in their hostile relationship. Naruto has forgiven her for her role in aiding Orochimaru. He is no longer angry with her. In fact he's almost nervous around her because his instincts tell him to comfort her. His lust now works against you as well."

"You…." The Kyuubi snickered, "Screwed up. If I know anything from my previous hosts it is that humans are weak to love. As soon as that comes into the equation everything else falls into chaos. Your other half has already fallen for that girl and he doesn't even know it."

Naruto stared up at the demon as it expression became what he could only assume was a smirk. "The being who gave you the greatest leverage will… most likely… become his greatest source of calm and security. You might never get another opportunity to manifest yourself. And oh… how amusing it is for me to see you like this. I've spelled it out to you. And yet, you can't do a thing about it. How does it feel? To know that something you did almost as an afterthought was your downfall."

Naruto didn't answer. He was caught off guard by a massive pull. His mental image strained and he growled. "No…no…I won't give up so easy!"

With a shout he launched his other half's influence away. It was like trying to reverse gravity. "Fuck if he doesn't have a strong will… damn it, if only I had some way to destabilize him…" He grunted and willed himself back into the real world, where a very concerned Tsunade was.

It didn't work. Even as he focused to leave his mindscape both Kurama and his other self attacked in unison. The power behind Kurama's mental blast was enough to make him cringe, but the real damage wasn't done by the fox. Now that Naruto was perfectly aware of his existence, only something huge would put him off guard enough for him to take control… and with Kurama assisting the brat, there wasn't anything he could do. His power… was insufficient.

He found himself being pulled back into Naruto's subconscious where he was locked tight by an iron will…. The shadow found himself looking into angry blue eyes.

"So we meet at last you imposter."

Naruto looked over to where Kurama was sitting rather smugly, "Thanks for assist Kyuubi."

"Don't make it sound like we are friends mortal. I am beyond such concepts. I merely lent my aid to prevent that piece of trash from using my chakra. Don't expect such assistance again… not without some form of payment."

The blond nodded, "Yeah, I got it. But seriously, thanks for helping me deal with this jerk."

"That's a bit harsh don't you think. You should be thanking me and letting me out! Not sticking me back here! Don't you see what an idiot your being?!" Naruto looked down at the… "other" Naruto. His eyes were red and he looked a bit…feral. Like he'd taken his general features and made them harsher.

He growled, "Thanking you? For trapping me inside my own mind? If there's an idiot here, it's you. I've done just fine without you fucking up my life."

"Oh that's what you call this epic shit storm of an existence you have." He snorted derisively, "You walk around pretending that you're something you aren't. You act like you could ever be friends with someone. We both know that smile of yours is fake. All those heroic words are trash!"

Naruto turned to Kurama, "Would you mind keeping this ass hole pinned down? I'd like to get back to being in control of my own actions."

"Sure thing. Though… I hope you're not intending on telling that old hag about this."

"Why not?"

"Three reasons. First being that it's none of her God damned business. Second, this one won't be getting out again if I have anything to do with it. And third, I have no intention of letting some nosy mind reader snooping anywhere near me. Especially not one of the Yamanaka brats. If I find one of those idiots snooping around my cage I'll annihilate them."

Narut considered this for a moment. "I guess you're right about that, but how am I going to explain it to Granny? It's not like she's going to just forget that I spaced out for ten minutes."

"How should I know? She's your problem."

"Uh huh… and you're back to your typical useful self."

"Just leave."

He rolled his eyes and did just that.

Ooo

Naruto blinked rapidly as his vision swam into focus. He almost tripped over nothing as his balance returned. There was a reason he sat down before going into his subconscious. A mild headache remained as his other self raged in his new cage. He couldn't get out, but he could still make things unpleasant.

"Kyuubi, Could you shut him up?!"

"Already working on it."

He sighed and shook his head violently before meeting the very worried gaze of the Fifth Hokage. His grin reappeared on his face as he scratched the back of his head nervously, "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to space out like that."

Tsunade's blond eyebrows met in a V. Her expression was the very definition of suspicious. "So…what just happened Naruto? Is there something you would like to tell me about?"

"Uh….not really. I just had to talk with the Kyuubi right quick."

"THE KYUUBI?! Why didn't you tell me that it was fighting you?!" She stood swiftly, "Do I need to call Jiraiya back?! I knew that loosening the seal was idiotic!" She brought her fist down of the table with enough force to crack the hardwood as she shouted.

Naruto waved his hands frantically, "Wait, wait, wait! Kyuubi hasn't been fighting me at all! He's been helpful!"

Tsunade blinked, shocked by his words. "What? It's been helping you? How?"

"First of all, he doesn't like you calling him an 'it'. Second yeah. He's been giving me his chakra without a fight and he's stopped trying to trick me into freeing him."

"I…I don't believe it." Tsunade dropped back into her chair frowning.

"But it's true! He even helped me when I was sparring with B!"

She froze and Naruto realized he probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Tsunade's expression changed from serious to disbelieving, "You…fought against the Jinchuriki of the Eighttails… the one who also happens to be the Raikage's little brother….?"

Naruto chuckled nervously, "Uh…yeah… Honest! He was pretty cool! I mean, he talked kinda funny, but it was a friendly spar. You don't have to make a big deal out of it."

Tsunade grimaced, "You need to understand Naruto. Kumo and Konoha have rarely seen eye to eye. Their ways are not the same as ours. Whereas I won't stoop to do certain things…Kumo has very few moral lines they aren't willing to cross."

"I don't know what you're trying to…"

"If Tayuya was captured by Kumo… she'd already be pregnant by now. Kumo is rather notorious for kidnapping rich bloodlines from other villages. For instance your good friend Hinata was almost kidnapped when she was three. That was during supposed "peace talks" between our two villages." Tsunade crossed her arms. "Your own mother was kidnapped by them when she wasn't much younger than you."

Naruto's jaw set slightly, "But… they don't still do that….do they?"

Tsunade shook her head saying, "I don't know. The new Raikage seems to be a more… principled man than his father. But he still serves the village above anything else. You are one of the last Uzumaki along with Tayuya. I wouldn't put it past him to use their Jinchuriki to get close to you. I know you like to see the best in people, but I need you to know… Kumo is bad news and always has been."

Her frown returned with a vengeance, "Now… I believe we've gotten off topic. You need to tell me what is going on with you. Something is wrong. When I walked in on you and Tayuya I was under the impression that you were having some kind of mental break down. Inoichi thinks that you have a dormant personality. I need to know what know of this. And I'm not going to take any bullshit on it. I've already called Inoichi."

He stiffened, "I…Jeeze Granny, you know how to make things hard." Naruto looked her in the eyes, his grin disappearing. "Do I tell her or try and make something up? If she doesn't believe me then she'll get Ino's dad to look in my memories. Damn! I don't know what to do… I wish Kyuubi wasn't so stuffy about this."

Naruto remembered the last time he'd had a Yamanaka rooting around in his head…shortly before he'd joined the Ninja academy. Not Pleasant. "I don't want anyone going through my thoughts and memories again. Last time was bad enough. Sure as hell don't want them knowing about how…" He frowned. There were plenty of things he didn't want them to know about. Especially him going behind Jiraiya's back to learn Fuinjutsu and copying jutsu down from the village scroll… Then there were his feelings for Tayuya. He…really..liked her, but would they approve of that? He doubted that Tsunade would.

On top of that, there was all of his secret training. Tsunade wouldn't want him training with Wind release jutsu after finding out how dangerous it was. The Kyuubi did a great job of healing his left hand after damaging the chakra network with his first successful Rasenshuriken, but Tsunade would no doubt forbid him from perfecting the jutsu. "I hate keeping secrets from everyone, but it feels like I don't have any choice."

Naruto sighed and said, "I have an alternate personality. I didn't know until a little while ago. The more stressed I am, the easier it is for him to get out. Right now I have him pinned down in my subconscious so he can't break free."

Tsunade was silent for a moment, digesting this information. Then she asked, "How…?"

"Kyuubi. He's helping me."

She scowled, "Why is the demon helping you?"

Naruto dragged his fingers though his hair. His headache was going away, but he had a bad feeling in the back of his mind. A nagging sensation that he couldn't quite place. "My…I mean the other me, can somehow take Kyuubi's chakra easily. I can't get more than a little. So Kyuubi thinks I'm the lesser of two evils. He's still trapped, but at least he has more control over me while he holds his chakra."

"That's…not something I wanted to hear, but it's better than this alternate personality taking control… Tell me… what exactly does this other one act like. I saw a bit through Sakura's memories, but not enough to understand how he thinks."

"Sakura?"

"You don't know…" Tsunade grimaced. "Sakura went to check on you and Tayuya. I assume now that your other side was in control at the time. He scared the living shit out of her. Sakura came back in a state of shock and Inoichi delved into her memories. Right after that we double-timed it to your apartment…. That's when we walked in on you and Tayuya."

Naruto glanced away. That…wasn't me at the time. You know that right?"

"Yes Naruto. No need to be embarrassed. But I would like to know what he was thinking at the time."

"I don't know. Sorry, but I can't understand the way he thinks. All I can really say for sure is that he's almost the opposite of me. He's filled with hate and doesn't care about hurting people."

Tsunade grimaced, "Be honest Naruto. Can you keep him contained or do I need to get Inoichi to place a mental block on you?"

Naruto went still as the Kyuubi spoke, "Such a mental block would act as a limiter on your emotions I suspect. It would eventually break if you found yourself in a stressful situation… degrading your mental strength and giving your other self the perfect opportunity to take control… DO NOT let one of those fool mind readers put ANY block on you. It's playing right into his hands."

"Thanks for the info…."

"That's not a good idea. I'll keep control of him. If someone messes with my feelings or thoughts I can't say that I could hold him if they failed." Naruto shrugged, "As long as nothing really bad happens I won't have any problem. Not with the Kyuubi's help."

Tsunade shifted and said, "Be wary of the fox too. I don't think I nee…"

"You don't have to tell me that Granny. I think I know how he operates better than you seeing how he's inside me."

"Just remember what I said.." Her eyes narrowed, "And if you feel anything change come and tell me immediately. Understood?"

He nodded and gave a sloppy salute, "You got it Grandma!" Naruto ducked a book which flew past his head.

"And stop calling me that Twerp!" She muttered and stood again, coming around the table. Naruto eyed her nervously, wondering if this was an attempt to get in range so that she could clobber him. Instead Tsunade stopped in front of him. "Now! I do believe you owe me a few other explanations! FISRT!..."

She leaned down looking him in the eye as she demanded, "Where did you learn Hirashin?"

Naruto would sooner go peeping with Jiraiya than divulge that information so he only grinned, "Well….that's a secret."

"N.a.r.u.t.o….. You will tell me who taught it to you."

"HUH?! Taught?! I figured it out on my own thank you very much! The only hard part was getting my hands on one of the Fourth's kunai. Then I reverse engineered the seal. As for the rest…why should I tell you? It's not like you have enough chakra to use it. Did Pervy Sage explain how to use his peeping jutsu? Does Kakashi go around showing every guy he meets how to do Chidori? Are you offering to show every medical ninja in the village how to use the Mitopic regeneration thing?!"

She blinked.

"I didn't think so. Hirashin is my jutsu now, just like me and my Sexy jutsu."

Tsunade scoffed, "That's just an advanced henge"

"Wrong! Sexy jutsu is a full female transformation! It's everything. Why do you think Pervy sage tried give me half of the rights to Icha-Icha just to know how I did it?" Tsunade's expression was priceless.

"HALF?! He offered you half of the most popular book franchise in the Elemental nations…. For a single jutsu!?"

Naruto nodded smiling, but not because of her expression. He'd played his cards just right. Her attention, which had been on Hirashin was now squarely diverted. All he had to do now was change the subject gain and he'd be in the clear.

"Anyway Granny… You can beat up Pervy Sage for being stupid later. Could you do that blood test for me?"

Tsunade paused and then nodded, "I suppose. But I have a meeting with the Kazekage and Mizukage in an hour or so."

"Checkmate."

"Why don't you use that sealless Hirashin to get us to the Hospital."

Naruto blanked out. "Uh….what?"

Tsunade clipped him on the back of the head, "Don't play the fool with me. We saw you use it when you left the Tower earlier. You didn't use any handsigns or anything of the sort. You just vanished."

He looked up at her confused, "I don't know who you think I am. I don't have enough chakra to use sealless Hirashin at all. Maybe if I had all of the Kyuubi's chakra I might. I only disappeared because Tayuya actually activated the seal I put on her. Think of it like reverse Hirashin. She summoned me back on accident."

"So… you don't know sealless Hiashin?"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto said, "Yes. I can probably do sealless Hirashin. But I'd kill myself doing it four times. It takes too much chakra. There's a reason why it's so heavily involved with Fuinjutsu." He frowned, "Now stop trying to squeeze me for information or you'll wake up and ever single bottle of sake in your personal stash will be donated to the Inuzuka clan."

Tsunade paled. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh? I wouldn't huh? Care to bet on that Granny? You don't have a fancy necklace to wager this time." Naruto grinned, daring her to make the bet. She didn't of course. Only crossing her arms and giving him an annoyed glare.

She muttered, "You're getting too big for your pants brat. I warn you to watch your mouth. One of these days I'm going to smack it off.

Naruto laughed, "I'd like to see you try Granny. I might not be able to use Sealless Hirashin, but I'm still faster than you!"

"Don't tick me off brat. Now stop trying to dodge my questions. I have more to ask about. Next on the list being where you leaned Fuinjutsu." She saw the objection on his lips and stopped him. "I'm not forcing you to show me all the seals you've undoubtedly come up with. I know how Fuinjutsu works well enough as I'm probably in the top ten users of it in the world. What I want to know is who taught you."

He looked at her, his face shifting through a few emotions before settling on a very Nara-esk expression. "I was looking through that stuff from my mom and found scrolls on basic Fuinjutsu. I used my mass clone training method to get my calligraphy up to snuff. Then it was all uphill from there. I was mastering it before I knew it."

"Naruto….. The Uzumaki scrolls are still sealing inside the Forbidden scroll."

His eyes locked on to hers, the pupils thinning to slits for a brief moment. Then they were back to normal, making her doubt whether they'd changed at all. Naruto answered flatly, "Which I stole studied shortly after I got back to the village with Pervy Sage. I'd already progressed to level three sealing when you called me in to take deal with Tayuya-chan. Why do you think I was covered in burns that one time? I was working on high level explosive seals when I was interrupted by that ANBU messanger."

Tsunade's jaw dropped, then clenched tight in anger. "YOU BRAT! You stole the Forbidden scroll for a bit of light reading?! Do you have any idea how big a crime that is?! Do you!?"

"I've already stolen it before. Back when I was a Genin Mizuki from the academy tricked me into stealing it so I could graduate. I learned my Shadow Clone jutsu that night. I'm sure you can understand what that means right?"

She paused. It was true enough what he was implying. If it hadn't been for shadow clones he would have died on his first real mission. It should have been obvious before. Naruto never knew any jutsu before someone showed it to him, unless it was one of his home made jutsu. His sudden use of Shadow Clones coincided with the encounter with Mizuki almost perfectly. So… if Naruto stole the scroll when he wasn't even a Genin, doing it now would have been a piece of cake. And if what he said was true, and she had no reason to think he was lying now, then he basically had unrestricted access to the most powerful jutsu ever created in all of the Land of Fire.

"Naruto… tell me which Jutsu you mastered… The dangerous one that is."

His bored look became mischievous. "Well…. Let me put it this way Granny. I copied down almost every jutsu I liked for further use…. The ones I've mastered? Who knows what they could be."

"NARUTO…!?"

"Eh, don't worry so much. I'm not going to use any really danger jutsu ya know. Stuff like Edo Tensei is out of my interest. Bringing people back to life is… not something I want involved in. Other stuff like the clan forbidden techniques even I can't use." He didn't mention that with his use of Fuinjutsu that he could probably make use of almost any clan technique… at least to a certain extent. In fact he'd been wondering about delving into the Yamanaka clan jutsu later with Tayuya. He was sure that he could find some way to permanently lock his other self away with that.

Naruto sighed, "Now since we both know that you're not getting anything else out of me, why don't we go do that blood test. I want to see if I have some awesome Kekkei Genkei!"

She just Narrowed her eyes. "Fine…. But you will eventually tell me what I want to know. Understood?"

He rolled his eyes again, pulling out a small piece of paper. "Yeah yeah, I've heard it all before." Naruto smirked, "Try not to puke."

"Wha…?"

Naruto slapped the seal on her arm and then focused his mind on the Hirashin marker in his room. Tsunade shouted something indecipherable as space and time warped around them.

Ooo

Ooo

That's it for this chapter. I hope this cleared up a few things for everybody! The next chapter will be coming soon so be prepared!

Oh, but one question first. Should I leave Orochimaru out of things for now? Or do I get him involved with things in the next few chapters?

Just some food for thought! Now remember to review!