Yo!

I'm sorry I took so long updating this story but life is getting jealous and wants all of my attention...

One thing I wanna bring up before I say anything else:

Do not review or message me saying that I'm a sell out and that its a shame that I haven't updated in a while... Do not tell me how disappointed you are of me because of the delay in my updates... I swear I don't not update just to mess with you, my readers... I have more important matters to tend to and I'm not in the mood to deal with that...

Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter...

Chapter 8: First C-rank Mission...


A roar echoed through Konoha as its citizens stopped their daily activity to search for the location of the roar. A spine-tingling chill raced up and down their spine as an even louder roar followed its predecessor. Black clouds roamed over the cerulean skies while a strong breeze swept over Konoha.

A blood curdling scream sent everyone into panic as Naruto used one of his tails to rip a man's head off his shoulders and threw it at a teenager six years older than him. More panicked screams rang through the village as Naruto's rampage continued.

He jumped over a woman when she tried to run away and after landing in front of her, his right claw was engulfed by green flames and he shoved it through the woman's chest. He eyed the heart before smiling sinisterly and crushing it in his hands. The woman, who had fallen when Naruto removed his hands from her chest, was lifted by two of Naruto's tails and ripped in half and tossed to passing villagers.

Chunin and jonin surrounded Naruto and he looked around only to smile viciously. He raised his arms up in the air, engulfed by red flames, and then slammed it on the ground. The fire around his arms extended out and a tidal wave of fire towered over the chunin and jonin. The shinobi reacted too slowly for the flames swallowed them whole and reduced them to ashes. Licked by the demonic fire, nearby buildings burst to flames and spreadthe fire to their neighboring buildings.

It wasn't long before ANBU appeared to suppress the homicidal fox. However, Naruto's nose had long told him of the ANBUs' movements so he was prepared. He waited patiently for the ANBU to try to capture him and when they were over him, that's when Naruto struck. Igniting his tails with blue flames, Naruto spun around quickly with his tails extended. A small tornado of blue fires appeared and swallowed Naruto and the ANBU whole. When the tornado stopped, all that remained was Naruto and the ashes that danced with the wind.

Naruto's red eyes scanned the area as his bloodlust remained unquenched. Nothing that moved caught his eyes so he followed his nose as it lead him to the more populated area of the village. He was halted by a small figure walking out of the shadows. A girl with indigo hair had her arms and legs spread out, hoping to stop Naruto.

Naruto stared into the girl's lavender eyes with slight recognition before a bestial and primal shine appeared in his red eyes. He charged at the girl and she closed her eyes with tears falling down her eyes before Naruto was blasted back.

He righted himself before he hit the sidewalk and looked up to see a man in a fighting stance; he figured it was the girl's father. His cold silver eyes did nothing to sway Naruto's bloodlust. In fact, it helped increase his bloodlust. This man challenged him, challenged his authority to do what pleased him.

Running to his new prey, Naruto jumped and brought down a claw with enough force to crack the ground under the man when he blocked it. The man staggered back, giving Naruto enough time to headbutt the man in his chest. The man went soaring through the air and stopped by his own skill and experience. He panted as he tried to fill his lungs with air that Naruto had stolen from him with the headbutt.

Ignoring the girl, Naruto jumped over her and headed straight for the man who fell into his fighting stance and ducked under Naruto's claw swipe. Under him, the man started to poke Naruto's body relentlessly as Naruto felt his power start to fade. Not wanting to let himself be poked by the man, Naruto enveloped his body with blue flames; stopping the man and making him jump away as he scouted his wounds.

The man's fingertips were scorched and sizzled from the flames and an indescribable pain ran down his nerves. His world blacked out when Naruto grabbed the man's head with his blue flamed hands and used brute force to squeeze it like a glass ball under an elephant's foot. The man's blood splashed over Naruto's golden ears and tails, causing an enjoyable chill to pass over his body. The blue flames then engulfed the man's corpse and reduced it to ashes.

Naruto turned and faced the girl who was shaken by the brutality of the scene and more tears streamed down her cheeks. Naruto smirked, his fangs dripping with his drool as his eyes focused on the girl.

His body surrounded itself with blue-white flames, making the girl's already widened eyes to become wider. Naruto took a step forward; the girl took a step back.

"Th-Th-This isn't y-you, N-N-Naruto-k-kun... p-please... s-s-stop." The girl pleaded before losing her voice. Naruto took two steps forward; she took one step back.

Using the strength given to him by a chakra beast, Naruto slammed his right hand down on the pavement, causing it to shake and make the girl lose her balance. She fell and looked up in fear as Naruto was over her in the blink of an eye. Naruto ignited two of his tails with pure white flames and erected them over the girl's heart. She closed her eyes as Naruto reared it back and let it rush towards her.

It stopped inches away from her heart and when she looked up, she saw that Naruto was crying with his blue eyes filled with sadness.

"Not Fox... Not Fox." Was all Naruto said before the tails entered the girl and splattered her blood everywhere.

*.*.*.*

Naruto awoke with a yell and looked around. He was outside the Hyūga compound, under the tree planted next to the pond inhabited by Koi fish. Cold sweat traveled down his face as his heart raced. He panted into the cold, December night air as his breath became visible.

His blue eyes stared at the moon with fear and sadness. The dreams were becoming more frequent and more detailed than they used to be.

Three months ago, when he and his team passed Yamato's test, that's when the nightmares became worse. It used to come to him once a week at most. In the second month, they came in pairs every three days. Now, in this month, he only got one good night's sleep. However, the nightmares weren't always about him killing but sometimes, he wished they were.

He had one dream last week of a group of men surrounding him and killing him. They wore black cloaks and red clouds. That was the only identifiable thing about them. They did so many things to him that Naruto didn't even sleep that night.

Naruto splashed water to his face as he calmed his heart. His body shook from a chill but not from the cold night's air. He turned and saw Hiashi staring at him. He had just passed the door's threshold and was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest. Naruto sighed and walked over to him, stopping just inches away from Hiashi's feet.

"You're out pretty late." He stated as Naruto looked away and nodded his head. He had no clue why he would always wake up near the pond every night or why he would always find an animal's corpse in his hand but he wished he did.

"Was that you who screamed?" Hiashi asked and Naruto nodded again, still refusing to look into Hiashi's eyes. "What's wrong?" He asked and Naruto shook his head.

"Stupid dream." Naruto answered and Hiashi slowly nodded his head.

"Come back inside, you and Hinata have to go train in the morning." Naruto nodded his head and stepped into the compound. "Naruto," Naruto stopped and waited for Hiashi to speak again. "You can talk to me about anything." Naruto turned his head to look at Hiashi for a second before nodding his head and walking back to his room.

Hiashi watched him turn the corner and when he was out of sight, Hiashi sighed.

"He's sure an odd one." Hiashi walked into the compound, closed the door behind him and headed for bed.

[*.*.*.*]

Naruto and Gaara sparred lightly together, working through each other's defenses and attacks, as Hinata and Yamato sat on the cabin's porch and watched. They were outside, where the sun shined brightly and the only blemishes in the sky were those made by Naruto's fire. Team 7 was taking a break from a morning full of training and missions but instead of relaxing, Naruto and Gaara decided to spar.

As Gaara's sand rose from the ground to capture Naruto's left leg, Naruto jumped and landed in top of the pile of sand. Gaara made his sand let Naruto sink into it, securing Naruto in place. Once in place, sand started to circle around Naruto until it was covering his entire body from view.

Naruto clawed at the sand but it started to harden to the point that only superficial scratches were made. Naruto grunted as his vision blurred; his lack of sleep was starting to catch up to him. He barely noticed the sand coffin slowly shrinking. The feeling of claustrophobia filled Naruto as his tails were beginning to scrunch up against the sand walls. He was beginning to fade in and out of consciousness until the image of his recent nightmare entered his mind's eye.

The splatter of blood was all he heard as he tears ran down his cheek. His hands dripping with the blood of the innocent… the blood of his caretaker and the girl from his dreams...

Naruto's eyes snapped open and a growl echoed through his throat and out his open mouth as his eyes turned a dark crimson color and his whiskers thickened.

"Fox no do it!" He shouted in a desperate attempt to clear his conscious.

Outside the sand coffin, Yamato and Hinata watched warily as the coffin started to vibarate violently. Bursting from the sand that was set ablaze, Naruto ran up to Gaara and thrust a tense claw forward. Gaara's sand reacted as it sprung up and caught Naruto's left claw before it was able to touch Gaara. With another growl and swiping his tail over the sand, Naruto freed his captured claw and jumped back before charging again.

"Calm down." Gaara said non-chillingly as he noticed Naruto's erratic breathing and twitchy movements. His eyes seemed wild and blank, blood lust and insane. Gaara's eyes narrowed as he saw that Naruto's demon side was reigning control. With a growl, Naruto's left claw summoned a fireball and Naruto threw it at Gaara.

Gaara's eyes widened as he jumped and rolled out of the fireball's way and stood up the fireball swirled in the air before rising up twenty-five feet in the air before reaching its peak. Yamato and Hinata noticed the fireball about to land thirty feet to the left of them and Hinata tapped Yamato's left arm. He looked down and saw Hinata still looking at the fireball.

"Can you set up a wall o-or something?" She then pointed to the fireball. "Facing that way?" Yamato raised an eyebrow before obliging and setting up a wall of wood. A second after he set up the wall, the fireball hit the grounded and exploded. The explosion rocked the ground and fire flooded the training ground. Yamato's eyes were wide while Hinata look relieved.

Sand rose behind Gaara as the fire traveled to the side and over it. Gaara continued to stare at Naruto as he stood in the middle of the fire as if it was nothing. Gaara took in his surroundings and saw the fire Naruto let loose was beginning to burn the trees and grass to ashes. He saw Yamato make some hand signs but before he could do anything. Naruto stood up and sucked in all the fire surrounding them. Drawn to him like moths to light, the fire jumped off the living things and into Naruto's mouth. Naruto let out his breath through his nose and fire accompanied the air.

With the fire now gone, Gaara was able to concentrate more on his loose-cannon comrade as he took in a deep breath with his arms and hands positioned in front of his chest, parallel to the ground. Letting the breath go, Gaara seemed to push an invisible force down with his hands until they stopped around his waist. With this motion, sand began to spin around Naruto, keeping him in his place. it rose off the ground and was spinning in speeds untraceable by a normal human eye.

In a single motion, Gaara's left hand extended out and his palm faced Naruto while his right hand moved in front of his mouth with his index and middle fingers upright. He closed his left hand and the sand surrounding Naruto rose and condensed into a cage around him. Naruto looked around with angry eyes before roaring loudly.

Turning his eyes to the coming teammate and sensei, Gaara shook his head, halting them.

"I can handle this." Hinata and Yamato blinked as Gaara spread out his legs, clapped his hands together and took in a deeper breath. Summoning his chakra, Gaara sent a message to his sand. The sand surrounding Naruto tightened until no hole was seen. All that was seen was a cocoon made of sand floating two feet above the ground. Gaara then moved his arms out straight, his palm in Naruto's direction and his fingers curled.

The other members of team 7 could hear struggling, roaring and scratching from the inside as Gaara began to struggle to keep the cocoon up. It wasn't long before Naruto burst through the cocoon, making Gaara drop to his knees, breathing hard. Yamato was about to do something when he noticed Gaara's hands were still out and his fingers still curled. He looked up and saw Naruto squirming around the floor, like something invisible was attacking his neck. And then he saw it, a band of sand around his neck.

"Calm... down..." Gaara repeated as he tried to catch his second wind and walked toward Naruto. "This isn't you." Gaara said calmly as Naruto was denied of oxygen. His movements became less and less wild and were slowly coming to a stop.

Finally, Naruto's eyes changed to their normal blue eyes and his lids were half way down. Seeing this, Gaara released the sand around Naruto's neck and he kneeled down beside him.

"Get control over yourself." Gaara started as Naruto started to greedily breathe in the air around him. "Next time, I won't stop here." Gaara warned as he stood up when he heard Hinata running toward them. She dropped to her knees and cradled Naruto's head.

"Are you ok?" She asked and Gaara walked off.

"'Thanks for calming him down Gaara.' 'No, its ok, I've been itching to do that since I first met him.'" Gaara played out as he walked into team 7's cabin and went for a snack, a cookie maybe. Yamato watched Gaara's monologue in odd interest before turning his attention to Naruto and Hinata.

Hinata was brushing her fingers through Naruto's hair as she watched his breathing slowly return to normal. She hummed a tune that calmed Naruto's nerves and he could feel sleep try to take him. He sat up as quickly as he could and looked down at his hands and feet. He didn't want sleep to find him and he was determined to stay awake.

"Naruto-kun?" Naruto looked back, his eyes connecting to his master and best friend. Her lavender eyes, filled with compassion and worry scared Naruto because they were the same eyes as the girl in his nightmares. He shrugged it off and smiled at her with a forced laugh.

"Fox ok; just tired." Naruto said and looked at Yamato. "Team 7 still do more missions?" Naruto asked, trying to hide his fatigue. Yamato stared at Naruto warily, calculating his current capacity.

"I'm not sure..." Naruto shook his head viciously, to the point that it looked like he could shake his head off his shoulders.

"Fox is fine, just a little tired. Fox promise it not happen again." Naruto promised and Yamato shook his head.

"If it happens again-" Naruto smiled

"Not happen again." He emphasized. Yamato nodded his head and went to go find Gaara.

[*.*.*.*]

Naruto followed behind Hinata and Gaara as they headed for the academy where the Hokage and Iruka were assigning missions. Yamato walked behind them, watching Naruto intently. He noticed Naruto had been acting strange lately. He never has as much patience as he used to and his responses have been one to two worded sometimes. Even Hinata had trouble getting through to him.

Yamato wondered if it was a demon thing but decided to do nothing about it until he had no choice. He really needed to contact Jiraiya so he could help solve the problem Naruto seemed to be having.

Stepping into the hallway and through a door, Team 7 appeared before the Hokage and Iruka.

"Ah, if it isn't team 7, welcome." The Hokage greeted. Hinata, Yamato and Gaara bowed, Naruto did nothing as he waited for the introductions to be over with. The Hokage wondered why Naruto didn't greet him but pushed it to the side, categorizing it as unimportant at the moment.

"Here for a mission? Well, you're choices are babysitting, cutting grass for a couple of clients, walking the Inuzuku's pups,-" Before Iruka could continue, Naruto let out a growl.

"Fox tired of lame missions. Fox want big mission, action mission." Naruto growled out and the Hokage and Iruka blinked. His team was shocked by the sudden outburst from their moody teammate.

"Naruto!" Yamato scolded but Naruto only glared at his jonin sensei.

"Fox want action." Naruto repeated and Hinata put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and turned his head to face her with a frown on his face and his brow scrunched. She saw that his eyes were fading from blue to red. Naruto's eyes widened slightly when he saw sadness in her. His eyes flickered back to blue and he looked down, ashamed. His teammates stared at him with confusion before the Hokage caught their attention with a cough into his balled up hand.

"So it's action you want, Naruto?" The Hokage asked and Naruto nodded his head. The old man smiled and took out a mission scroll from under the desk. Iruka looked at the Hokage as if he had lost his head.

"You're not actually going to give them a C-rank mission, are you sir?" Iruka asked and the Third Hokage just smiled.

"Calm down, Iruka. It's only a body-guard mission." The Hokage insisted and Iruka nodded his head hesitantly before the two turned to team 7. "It's a simple mission of escorting a Takigakure shinobi back to his home." The Hokage informed and Naruto's eyes gleamed with mischief. "He'll be waiting at the gates while you prepare yourselves. Pack accordingly."

"Fox finally get action mission?" Naruto asked and the Third Hokage nodded his head. Naruto smirked and crossed his arms over his chest as he sat on his butt. "Finally." Gaara rolled his eyes and Yamato shook his head. Hinata stared at Naruto worriedly.

'Why are you acting this way?' She wondered as Yamato grabbed the mission scroll and team 7 left to go do their mission. The Third Hokage watched him leave and wondered the same thing.

*.*.*

At the gate, Naruto and Hinata waited for their teammates while Naruto's head rested on Hinata's lap as she played with his ears and sat on the bench. His tails swayed behind him and his ears twitched under Hinata's hands. Hinata wanted to ask him if anything was wrong but she didn't want Naruto to feel pressured; she wanted him to come to her. She sighed softly as she wished she could read his mind.

Naruto opened one eye to look up at her before closing it and yawning. He got off her lap and stretched as he let out another yawn, this one longer than before. He ignored Shibuki, who stood to the side and flinched when he saw Naruto move from the corner of his eye. Naruto disliked the guy; the main reason was because the guy was, in every sense of the word, a coward. Naruto would be ok with it if it was a sensible fear but this guy jumped at everything that made a sound or moved, god forbid it do both at the same time while in his presence.

"Panda here." Naruto said before Hinata saw Gaara walking towards them. "Sensei coming too." Naruto added and a few seconds later, Yamato appeared from nowhere and stood behind Naruto.

"I see everyone's here." Yamato said after Gaara arrived, standing next to Naruto. They looked at each other before looking in the opposite direction. "Let's go, we're burning daylight." Yamato said as he started to walk out of the village with Shibuki following close behind. Naruto smirked as he followed after Yamato with Hinata next to him and Gaara behind him. They walked down the trail without a sound, having nothing to say. Naruto was too excited by the mission, Hinata was too engrossed in her thoughts, and Gaara, Shibuki and Yamato weren't naturally social.

On the way to Takigakure, Naruto remained by Hinata's side, making sure he was never too far away form her. He feared he'd fall asleep again or worse and if that happened, he had no doubt in his mind that Hinata would stop him before he got too far.

*.*.*

"We're almost there." Yamato told his team, causing each of them to show some kind of relief, all except for Naruto. He had been kind of hoping for some bandit to try and attack Shibuki. Still, he found it refreshing to be out in the wild; out where he felt more at home.

"Finally, I can't wait to be home." Shibuki commented and Yamato looked at him.

"I heard from the Hokage that you are the son of Takigakure's leaders." Yamato said and Shibuki nodded.

"I am but since father passed, that leaves me with the task of running Takigakure." Shibuki informed and Yamato looked away.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Shibuki shrugged it off.

"It was bound to happen." He stated darkly. The conversation died after that and it wasn't long before they reached a waterfall. There, near the edge were two children. They looked up and smiled when they saw Shibuki.

"You're back!" They cheered and ran to hug the village leader's son. Naruto saw that one was a boy with short brown hair and green eyes while the other was a girl with long black hair, black eyes and a red ribbon tied to her hair. The boy looked up at Shibuki and smiled widely.

"Wanna help us clean up the water?" The boy asked and Shibuki hesitated before turning to team 7.

"Do you guys want a seperate, new mission?" Gaara, Naruto and Hinata sweat dropped while Yamato actually considered it.

"Sure, just send the extra pay later." Shibuki nodded and turned to the children from Takigakure.

"These nice people from Konoha are going to help you clean this place. In fact, why don't you two supervise their work?" Shibuki suggested and their eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

"That'd be awesome!" They cheered simultaneously.

"What a rip off." Naruto said before looking at Yamato, giving him a look that asked if this was for real. Yamato nodded his head.

"Well, this place isn't going to clean itself up." Shibuki joked, making the children laugh. Above them, a hawk soared and let out a message to all that were in its range. Yamato looked up and his eyes narrowed.

"It seems I'm needed somewhere else. However, I don't think it would be wise to leave you three unattended." Yamato said hesitantly. Shibuki waved his head submissively,

"It's ok, Yamato-san, I'll have someone escort them back. For now, I'll keep watch over them." Yamato looked at Shibuki before shaking his head.

"I think it'd be better if I stay here." He then looked at Naruto but Naruto ignored his look.

"Let start already." Naruto said solemnly as he, Hinata and Gaara began to clean up the waterfall. It didn't take long for them to finish and when they did, Naruto smiled.

"Fox hungry! Want nom-nom on ramen!" Naruto shouted and Hinata and Yamato smirked.

"No offense but I have no intentions of revealing Takigakure's entrance to outsiders. Please leave." Team 7 stared at Shibuki after his statement. Shibuki just stared back, with a look that showed what he said was with serious intent. Yamato held his hands up in defense after a moment of silence.

"That's fine with us. We'll be on our way now." He said. "Come on guys, both of our missions are complete." Naruto groaned as he jumped out of the water and shook off all the excess water from his fur and hair. Hinata kicked off the excess water from her feet and Gaara just walked, having used his sand to pick up the trash instead of getting wet. He would rather have wet sand than wet sand armor. Team 7 began to head for home but before they could go far, a woman came out, panting hard.

"Mommy!" The little girl shouted in worry and the woman fell to her hands and knees. The child ran to his mother and was accompanied by Hinata and Yamato. Gaara and Naruto slowly came up to the woman at their own pace.

"Are you ok, miss?" Yamato asked and the woman opened her eyes and the first person she saw was Shibuki.

"Shibuki-sama! The village is under attack." The woman said with urgency. Shibuki, the children and team 7 were shocked to hear this and the woman lost consciousness before any questions could be asked. The woman's child called to her multiple times before she started to cry.

"She's ok, young one." Hinata reassured the little girl.

"What we do, sensei?" Naruto asked and Yamato looked at Shibuki who was shaking.

"…" Yamato watched as Shibuki stood and looked around in distress. "We should leave." Yamato decided and Gaara and Naruto gazed at him with disappointed surprise.

"What?" Shibuki asked angrily.

"Our mission was to escort you back to Takigakure and then we were given the extra task of cleaning up the waterfall; a C and D-rank mission. This new mission would qualify as an A-rank mission; something my team is not ready for." Yamato explained and Shibuki glared at him.

"So you expect me to go in alone?" Shibuki asked in anger.

"A second ago, you were forcing us to leave." Gaara retorted and Shibuki shifted his glare.

"A second ago my village wasn't under attack!"

"As far as you knew." Gaara added and Shibuki clenched his teeth. Naruto moved in between Gaara and Shibuki and met Shibuki's glare with a solemn look.

"You alpha; alpha fight to defend territory, help or no help. Fight alpha!" Naruto said seriously and the emotion contained in his cerulean eyes shook Shibuki to his core.

Suddenly, Naruto shifted his attention to the waterfall and narrowed his eyes. His ears pricked up and his tail began to sway in a slow beat. Everyone conscious shifted their attention to the waterfall, wondering what Naruto was looking at.

Unexpectedly, about fifty kunai and shuriken burst out of the waterfall and headed for team 7, Shibuki and the children and their mother. Naruto immediately ran towards the shuriken and kunai and let out a primal roar and disrupted the flying weapons. A few were able to get passed Naruto but Gaara and Yamato summoned sand and wood respectively to defend against the oncoming assault.

"They here." Naruto said before ten silhouettes jumped out of the waterfall and proved to be ten men. Nine of them wore the same clothing; grey shirt and pants with a mask covering their faces and a blank forehead protector. The tenth man seemed to be the leader as he smirked viciously at team 7 and Shibuki.

"I'll take a guess and say you're the invaders attacking Takigakure." Yamato said and the leader smirked.

"How do you know I'm not part of Takigakure's patrol squad?" The leader asked and Yamato glared.

"Call it a hunch." He replied and Shibuki pointed an accusing finger at them.

"You can't fool me. You're not a Taki shinobi." The man snickered before laughing out loud.

"Ah shoot and I tried to hard to pull it off." The leader shrugged his shoulders and then pointed back at Shibuki. "Retrieve the pest." Shibuki flinched and shook in fear as he watched the ten men run towards him. Naruto appeared in the men's way, his body language telling everyone he wasn't moving without a fight. He had his legs spread out and his claw-like hands were positioned to strike.

"Don't get involved Naruto!" Yamato ordered but Naruto didn't move. "Naruto!" Yamato shouted with authority. Naruto looked back for a second before looking back at the men but that was all that was needed for the men to throw shuriken at Naruto. Two hit his left shoulder, another hit his right leg and two more struck his stomach. His body bent back before he leaned forward, his head bent forward and his arms limp at his side.

"Naruto!" Yamato and Hinata shouted in worry but Gaara only remained silent. Two men past Naruto without batting an eye but before they could get far, two golden tails stretched out and wrapped around the two men's neck. The tails lifted the men off their feet, up into the air and harshly shoved the men into the ground. Their heads and neck were buried deep into the ground. Naruto raised his head and his red eyes stared into the eyes of the remaining men, shocking them into paralysis.

Yamato connected eyes with Gaara, pointed at the men with his head and nodded his head. Gaara nodded his head in reply and they made hand signs. Before the men were able to snap out of their paralysis, sand and wood rose from the ground and skewered the men. Only the leader was able to jump away before being impaled and run back into the waterfall.

"Come back, prey!" Naruto shouted and ran towards the leader. He dodged the sand and wood that tried to capture him and was able to make it to the edge of the waterfall before sand wrapped around his left leg. Naruto growled and swiped the sand with his tail, freeing his leg. He made one hand sign and twenty Narutos appeared. Yamato and Gaara watched in surprise as the Narutos ran in different directions.

"He'll probably head for the waterfall." Yamato told Gaara as they both used their respective elements to try to catch the Narutos. They struggled as they caught each Naruto one by one and after no other Naruto was seen, the mischeivous group was brought in front of Yamato. He counted them and seemingly unsatisfied with the result, he counted thme again.

"There are only nineteen; where's the twentieth one?" Fate, as unpredictable as it was, answered the wood-user in the form of a blur running on top of the water and through the waterfall. "Dammit, Naruto!" Yamato cursed.

"He's getting us involved." Gaara said and Yamato nodded his head.

"Naruto-kun was never one to overlook a wrong deed if he could do something about it. It's just like the time Neji-nii-san sparred with an older member of the Main branch." Hinata said and Yamato, Gaara and Shibuki looked at her. The children had moved the mother out from under the sun and into the protecting shade of the trees.

"What happened?" Yamato

"My father told me it was a test suggested by some elders to see how well trained some of the Side Branch members were and if they were capable of protecting the Main Branch. Then... then things became more complicated."

Neji and Hyoko Hyuga seemed to be equally matched as they both parried and dodged the other's attacks and so forth. Hyoko, a Main Branch member, was about three years older than the ten year old Neji. Naruto, along with Hinata, her father and the other Hyuga elders watched from the sidelines, observing their movements.

The elder who personally 'trained' Hinata stepped forward and stopped the fight. Taking steps away from each other, Hyoko and Neji waited for the elder to give further instructions.

"That was decent for the warm up," Hinata's eyes widened.

'That was a warm up?' She thought.

"However, now we will begin with the actual spar." He looked at Hyoko with a look in his eye and Hyoko nodded obediently. He stepped back to the sidelines and motioned them to begin.

Hinata blinked as she saw Neji head for Hyoko. They both began the dance known to everyone in the room as the Gentle Fist.

"Prepare yourself, i won't be holding back." Hyoko informed Neji but Neji remained unresponsive. Hyoko wasted no time taunting him as he went straight for his chakra points. In a Hyuga spar, it was forbidden to attack chakra points with chakra.

"Eight Trigrams: Thirty-two Palms!" Hyoko shouted as he tried to make contact with Neji. Even with the limitation, every blow Hyoko was able to land on Neji still hurt. Naturally quicker than Neji, Hyoko was able to land the last hit on Neji's chest, sending him back.

On the sidelines, Naruto flexed his arms and claws as he watched his prey get pummeled by the annoying Hyuga.

Normally, Neji was Naruto's prey, his adversary for his unacceptable behavior towards his master and friend. His instincts always told him to fend off the Hyuga whenever he was too close to Hinata but he was untouchable, but Naruto waited patiently for the moment he made a wrong move, to slip up. And when he did, Naruto would be over him like a snake on a mouse. In this circumstance though, Nej was not his main concern. The older Hyuga was his enemy at the moment.

Naruto had seen the teen eye his master lecherously on multiple occasions. On one occasion, he had even gone so far as to drive Hinata into a corner, trying to convince her to do something. Naruto honestly had no clue what he was trying to do or what he was saying but the way Hinata stood and the aura of fear coming from her, Naruto knew he had to step in. He had managed to drive away the pest but he never knew when to quit.

"Thrity-two palms!" Hyoko finished as he sent a palm to Neji's chest. He was blasted back by the momentum and fell on his side. After catching his second wind, he stood and panted. Not as deadly as it was originally intended to be, the Hyuga Clan's technique still hurt and Neji would testify to that if he ever let his pride go.

His agression still pumping adrenaline through his veins, Hyoko ran towards him and swiped the feet from under him. Neji fell and turned on his side when Hyoko brought down an open palm intended to hit his shoulder. He hit the ground and recoiled back from the pain traveling up his right arm.

Jumping to his feet, Neji thrust a palm forward and met its destination as Hyoko took a step back from the hit to the face. Neji lowered his body as he hit Hyoko's stomach with his left palm. Another step back and Neji turned and shot out his right leg up and hoped to end the spar on account of technical knock out. However, it was not to be as Hyoko recovered and grabbed Neji's foot before it connected with his chin. With a twist of his hand, he heard Neji's leg pop and he grunted in an effort to muffle his desire to cry out in pain.

He fell but Hyoko refused to let go of his leg. He twisted his leg more and with his teeth gritted tightly, Neji finally let out a shout and squirmed in a vain attempt to free his leg.

Hyoko continued to apply pressure on Neji's leg as he continued to cry out from the pain.

"That's enough." Hiashi said calmly, trying to stop the fight with his words but on the inside, he wanted to stop the fight personally. Hyoko didn't seemed to listen as he continued to torment the Hyuga. The teen seemed to be in his own little world as he continued his assualt. The look in his eyes made Naruto angry.

"Hyoko!" Hiashi said, his voice louder than it was before. With Hiashi seemingly disapproving Hyoko's actions, Naruto used this to justify the following events that occured the moments following Hiashi's yell.

With speed given to him by the chakra beast that used to live inside him, Naruto appeared over Hyoko before anyone was aware of it. Blinking in surprise, Hinata looked to her side and saw that Naruto had indeed moved over Hyoko and she had not been seeing things.

Spinning, Naruto extended his right leg and kicked Hyoko in the face.

"What's he doing?" An elder shouted, demanding for an answer.

One of Naruto's tails wrapped itself around Hyoko's waist, stopping him from getting to far. Landing on his feet, Naruto swung his right fist up and it connected with Hyoko's face, sending him back. Set free from Naruto's tail, Hyoko flew back until his back hit the wall, cracking it from the pressure. He slid down the wall and became unresponsive.

After making sure that Hyoko would not be getting up soon, Naruto scanned Neji to see that he was favoring his right leg. His instinct telling him to jump away, Naruto did so obediently as a man older than Hyoko almost hit Naruto with a chakra-powered palm to the back. Naruto growled at the man, trying to warn him off.

"Tomaki, calm yourself!" Hiashi ordered and Tomaki glared at Naruto.

"Don't you dare touch my grandson again!" The older man shouted but it didn't seem to affect Naruto in the least.

Rushing past his grandfather, Hyoko attempted to redeem his fallen pride by ending the life of the village's pariah. With his tails lazily swaying behind him, Naruto swiftly swiped his right claw just as Hyoko hovered over him.

Hyoko's eyes glassed over as blood escaped his new wound. He fell back and his body collapsed in front of Naruto who stared at him stoically.

"Hyoko!" Tomaki shouted in anger and ran to avenged his seemingly dead son. He was stopped however by Hiashi how knocked him unconscious with a palm to he stomach.

"Take Hyoko and Neji to the medical wing." Hiashi told the medical-nin standing to the side. Knowing Hyoko, he had guessed he'd try to pull something like he did on Neji but he didn't think the medical attention would be focused on Hyoko. Motioning a Branch member to enter, he handed Tomaki to the Branch member.

"Take him to his room and should he wake, inform him of his son's location." The Branch member nodded and left to follow Hiashi's instructions. "This spar is over, the evaluation will be made at a later time." Though reluctant, the elders left the room with only Hiashi, Hinata and Naruto standing in the room.

"Though the execution was questionable, I'm grateful you stepped in when you did." Hiashi said but Naruto had his eyes closed. He looked up at Hiashi and smiled mirthlessly. He walked away and left the spar room. Hinata looked up at her father before bowing and folowing after Naruto.

"I was surprised since he and Neji never seemed to be on the same page." Hinata said and Yamato looked at the waterfall. No one said a word as thoughts rushed past Yamato's mind. Finally, Hinata asked, "So what now, sensei?"

"It's obvious, we have to save Takigakure." Gaara said and Yamato sighed and remorsefully nodded his head.

"It seems so. Naruto has gotten us too involved now." Yamato added.

"Do you think he'll fall into a trap?" Gaara asked. "He usually isn't very aware of his surroundings."

"Let's hope that's not the case this time." Shibuki looked at the remaining members of team 7 before shaking his head. "The task ahead of us will be perilous and no doubt we could lose someone if we're not careful." Gaara nodded his head in agreement.

"Hope? Hope is a useless emotion." Shibuki stated. Hinata stared at Shibuki but refrained from saying anything.

'Come back alive, Naruto-kun…please…' Hinata thought as she prepared herself to get into her first actual fight. It was like Yamato said, if they weren't careful, they could lose someone and this thought scared Hinata to no end.


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