¿Et tu brute?
As it may seem, I may just be betrayed
by the ones I thought stood behind me
instead, their knives and daggers were glistening
...and I did not know.

The blonde, now in perfect health, stood at the mouth of a cave with his two pairs of watchful eyes behind him. The size of the natural shelter was large enough to fit a medium sized embassy and it saddened Naruto to see that only half of it was filled up with cowering figures of sand civilians, hardly any of them being children and the rest of the population consisting of sand anbu and regular shinobi of ranks he did not know.

Neji had rejoined the group shortly after Kakashi and the blonde reached the peak of the sloped canyon wall to get to the large crater above. Words were never exchanged between the intense Hokage and the wary Hyuuga, but the tension that settled heavily into the air was thick enough for Kakashi to grab and hang onto.

As soon as the trio appeared, they were surrounded by sand shinobi, accusatory questions being hurled at them left and right with no means of escape, and yet none of them bat an eyelash at the hostile auras surrounding said shinobi. It was only natural for them to feel that way. They needed someone or something to blame, it was more practical to believe another village brought them to their knees than some phantom beast, it sounded less crazy too. Who exactly would believe them? It was hard enough trying to swallow the fact that the tailed beasts even existed, and it took multiple eye-witnesses and half of Konoha to be destroyed for that story to even be heard with believing ears.

Naruto's eyes searched the fray for Gaara or at least his brother while the men in front of them continued to bombard him with questions he had no intention of answering. As he expected, Kakashi took charge of the situation, attempting to answer their queries one at a time with his usual polite eye crinkle. Unfortunately, it only served to ignite their flames a little more and seeing as his good cop persona failed, Kakashi scratched the back of his head and hoped Neji would step in to fill up the gaps. His affinity for killing people far outweighed his political one and the former wouldn't help any of them right now.

Living up to expectations, Neji was less than polite, caustic even, and such brass surprised Kakashi while Naruto more or less spaced out and left his thinking space to more important matters.

"Temari's memories only served as a reference point for Gaara's last location, but he could've always moved somewhere else...though I don't think he would do that given what all has happened"

Naruto's mouth moved but made no sound, earning him a questionable look from some of the less aggressive sand shinobi standing there. If he wasn't so distracted from what was going on he would've felt inclined to shoot the younger man a look that said to keep his nose out of his business.

One of Kurama's eyes languidly opened, he seemed to sleep a lot more often than not lately, "I think it's quite obvious to you now that he's not here, but he was and he couldn't have gone far."

Naruto visibly frowned, "Then where—

"If no-tails doesn't want to be found then he won't be. Out of all of us, he was the one that isolated himself from the group, sometimes disappearing to lands we never even knew existed. The stench of his anxiety practically coats this places in waves of unease. Just know that his host wouldn't leave this many precious lives unattended and unguarded while he's away. If my senses weren't so dulled by all this sand, I would be able to tell you how many chakra signature and movement detectors were around the base and on top of these canyons, but alas...the sand inhaled into your body as of right now is interfering with my nose."

"Then he should know I'm here already and is on his way. All that's left to do now is to wait for his return." The blonde gave Kakashi a look once one of the many sand shinobi threw him a rather perculiar expression that was less than professional.

Kurama paused for a moment, his silence meaning something far deeper than words, "And is that a good idea?"

The blonde rolled his shoulders slightly, working his muscles out of their soreness from his recent fall, "Do you know something I don't?"

"It is impossible for one such as yourself to play coy with me when we are one in the same. Your secret army cannot take on the world, your faith in them will only lead to the destruction of your village."

Azure eyes narrowed, "My faith in them doesn't blind me. It's because of them that I could get to Suna when I could, besides...I won't be here long."

Kurama sighed, the action rumbling the chains that wrapped around his neck, and making the murky waters beneath him distort and move. The kid was biting off more than he could chew, and he was afraid that he wouldn't see reason considering his host thought his home was indestructible. Those monsters (something that even Kurama considered surprising coming from him) inside of the red army were unstable, luckily the kid kept their leashes unbearably short and suffocating, even now he knew what they were doing and whom they were speaking to—all of them. They may be loyal to his host until death, but that same loyalty did not stretch towards the village as well. If anything, they despised the place and every civilian in it, a jealous sort of attachment to Naruto making them snarl at the village the blonde holds dear. It took all of his attention away from them, and at least half of them wished to destroy it despite Naruto's cold warnings. The others considered the Leaf with a cruel sort of indifference. They wouldn't bat an eyelash while watching the whole thing burn to the ground with all of its laughing children and mothers inside. Unless ordered they wouldn't lift a hand.

Kurama knew that his blonde host knew this, what he knew the boy knew unless he specifically wanted otherwise, and there were many things Naruto didn't know. Such knowledge would probably lead to the kid's destruction, and then Kurama would be set free. It wouldn't be real freedom however. He would always feel that nagging sense of loneliness and betrayal if Naruto ever drew his last breath, and he couldn't have that. He wouldn't have that.

Even knowing that there were certain events that were coming to pass and that it may irrevocably change his village and his people forever, he still chose to risk all of that for one man. Kurama didn't know if it was love, blinding devotion, or obsession. His host was becoming an enigma even to him.

The beautifully furred red fox receeded further into his golden prison, enshrowding his long limbs in darkness and making the watery depths beneath him tremor with his massive size. Clawed hands made their way to one specific destination that couldn't be seen casually in the darkness, despite this, red-gold eyes gazed on into the abyss in an almost familiar and fond manner until he reached it...that small little light in the distance that was nearly engulfed by the blackness around it. Getting closer to it, he stopped and looked down, the small tv in front of his foot being no bigger than a speck to his vantage point. He sat on his haunches, still towering over the thing, and leaned down to meet it face to face, his muzzle barely touching it as the light from the device managed to shine directly into his right eye. The sudden light was quite invasive to his sensitive sight and he squinted before widening his eye to let in more light, and with a sigh he was able to see everyone gathered in a circle.

His breath came out in steam from his nose as he assumed the leader position for the meeting, his gaze meeting each and every single tailed beasts' eyes, "Good evening everyone."

Naruto looked up from the spot he seemed to be staring at on the far opposite wall of the cave. Azure eyes finally seemed to take in anything and everything around him for the second time that night, noting the frightened civilians again, the absence of children, and the absence of Gaara. Something told him he was on his way, he had to know that he was here already and ready to protect the rest of Suna with his life if need be.

Neji was by the mouth of the cave with a speck of other Suna shinobi, on guard Naruto surmised, while he and Kakashi were more towards the heart of the cave, albeit sectioned off from the villagers by sheer aura alone. Looking at them closely, the blonde noticed that not a lot of them were injured, most untouched as if they were just woken out of their sleep. It seemed as though the beast hardly marked anyone. It was either kill them and eat them, or spare—not even that—but pass over, not worthy...something predatory along those lines.

Some reared back and forth cradling their skulls, a wild look crossing their eyes, some stared into space as if in a daze they would never get out of, others cried out in a strangled, blood-curdling way for their loved ones, their names echoing off their lips in a sad song, and more stared at nothing giggling maniacally, their eyes wide and glazed and moving around erratically. Naruto turned away. There wasn't much left of Suna, and it made his heart twist painfully.

"According to some of the jounin, Gaara left about an hour ago with no explanation as to why or where he was going," Kakashi leaned on the same wall Naruto sat against, "his brother was meant to stay here as a leader for the rest of the group, but after a few minutes he began to look anxious and left after the kazekage."

The blonde didn't have to look at the jounin to let him know he had his full attention. His eyes were still gliding over the heads of the civilians and resting on the small group of Anbu that survived with their shining black, porcelain masks. He frowned at the thought of Kankuro leaving these people to their own devices in fear of Gaara's state of mind. As logical as it was to run after a distraught jinchuuriki, he should've known that out of all people he could calm the red-head down. Clearly more than half of the people here were quickly descending into madness, the subtle hum of insanity bordering along the lines of roaring the more time ticked on, and Kankuro had the audacity to leave them alone. He should count himself lucky not coming back to discover the rest of the villagers had killed each other to the Suna shinobis' horrors. There isn't much they can do when all of them were nearing chakra exhaustion and about fifteen of them passed out from the same thing.

The more Naruto looked at the situation, the more he cringed at the thought of sticking around a moment longer than he felt was truly necessary, Gaara and the blonde's love for Suna being the only reason why he was rooted to his spot.

"At this point I honestly have no idea what could've happened to him [Kankuro], it's very likely that he's dead one of two ways," Naruto sighed heavily, the thought itself disgusting him, "the beast may have gotten to him, or Gaara may have killed him with his emotional instability. Though I sincerely doubt the latter, it may be a possibility in this case."

Kakashi stroked his chin in thought, the unhinged minds of Suna's civilians making him tense with nervousness, "I don't think after the death of his sister he would leave Kankuro unattended if he knew he was following after him. He should be on high alert by this point in time."

Naruto subtly nodded, thinking the same thing as he watched Neji from the corner of his eye, "Was that all that was told to you while I spoke to Kurama?"

The jounin's eyebrows rose in slight surprise, so thats what he was doing, "No it wasn't, but more importantly what did he have to say? I'm sure he had an interesting comment on tonight's affairs."

"Despite his obvious amusement towards mortal turmoil, he's taking this whole beast thing in a seriousness I didn't think he could possess. Usually he would chuckle at the ideas humans would make up, but he isn't laughing this time, and the punch line doesn't involve the phantom."

Kakashi surmised he should've been wary, frightened even, but a strong emotion like fear had long ago sucked in his anxiety and replaced a sort of willingness there, "So now it's confirmed. The phantom beast is as real as any of us now. Will you call a summit?"

The blonde sighed deeply. It was no secret that he hated summits with a passion. Those meetings where he often had to put a leash on himself and reign back his emotions when it came to the flip mouths of other nation leaders, that Mizukage being the main one to irk more than one of his nerves with that attitude of her's. It almost got to the point when he almost declared war on her whole village just to shut her up. He knew how much of a frightening opponent he could be, which was why other nations hardly antagonized him unless they felt the need to, but that Mizukage seemed to dance and stomp on his hands. He mentally pat himself on the back for showing such restraint.

Usually Kiba and Shikamaru would accompany him to summits, choosing to stand behind him rather than beside him as most other nation leaders had their advisors set up that way, but for this sort of topic he was going to bring to the table he may just need Ino. Her political prowess made her a force to be reckon with, not to mention give undisputed arguments that few could find faults in except for either Shikamaru or Kiba, and her cold tongue could duke it out with the Mizukage all she wanted for all Naruto cared. However, it was unfortunate that he would have to call forth this meeting considering whoever did had to act as the current leader of said meeting. He didn't mind that aspect of it too much, he just hated the trouble of it all that came with it, the whole thing was just a giant nuisance he would be forced to deal with.

"I have to. Concealing this kind of information from the alliance will rise more trouble than it's worth. I'm the only one who would have access to this information and relay the message to the alliance at the same time. The others haven't been too forthcoming as of late anyway and that's not my problem, however, it's my responsibility that somebody in power knows something as crucial as this."

Kakashi shot the blonde a pitying smile, genuinely feeling bad for the kid and all of his responsibilities. He vaguely wondered if the old Naruto would've still taken up the title if he knew what all the future had entailed. Then again Kakashi surmised that the blonde really didn't have a choice since the beginning.

In a village filled with snow, a maiden kneels by a frozen lake...

Pale, ivory flesh, smooth to the touch, hard as bone, and about as thick as concrete itself. From afar, her beauty was ethereal but seemed frighteningly out of place, something very nice to gaze upon from great distance, but terrifying the more the onlooker got close.

And speaking of onlookers, a young female child, just a girl, was starting to realize this fact.

Something very human, yet primal, was bursting through the seams in the young babe's conscious. Something that warned the girl that she had stumbled onto something that should not exist, or be in their world and her curiosity was rooting her to the spot she stood. She was hardly covered by the frozen underbrush that reached over her pretty, young head at that and she vaguely wondered why such alarms were ringing between her ears in the first place, it was just a pretty onna kneeling by a frozen over lake.

The girl's breath caught and her teeth clenched as a biting chill swept through the air like a freshly polished blade. It hit the exposed parts of her flesh and a soft curse rang from her tightly pressed lips like a prayer. Her father, being the head of their village, was quite wealthy, but was very cheap when it came to his money and curse him for not getting her the adequate type of deep winter clothing! Speaking of clothing, the girl noticed something else about the mysterious onna that struck a fearful chord inside of her.

Her black yukata with silver and white koi designed onto it, simmering silver obi, and traditional wooden geta.

The biggest cause of death in her village was hypothermia, even murder and other such crimes were low because of the harsh conditions, and here this woman, with her exotic hair matching the same color as hydrangea, and beautiful yukata was out in the open encirclement very much alive and unaffected by the deathly chill. She almost seemed frozen in time kneeling like that without moving.

This wasn't right. Something wasn't right with her.

The girl, smart for her age, took a step back, her primal and human instincts kicking into overdrive...snap.

Her heart could've stopped, and her breath held so fast and so hard that she swayed slightly on her feet with nausea and light-headedness. She never took her eyes off that woman, and to her relief she didn't seem to notice nor hear the absolute obliteration of the twig underneath the girl's feet. It hadn't been that loud either. The two were quite a bit of distance from each other, and the howl of the increasing wind made thought processes hard to hear without some amount of effort. After ten minutes of absolute nothing, the girl softly closed her eyes and sighed deeply in relief, her comformity making those alarm bells silence and warmth spread through her limbs. She wasn't noticed. Something just told her that she wouldn't want that onna's attention, and it would probably do well for her to leave now. Her father never approved of her venturing far from the village anyhow.

She opened her eyes, glad to see that her eyelashes hadn't stuck to the tops of her cheeks only to find that same onna in front of her. Her breath caught once more, her heart leaping to her throat, and her own fear choking off her scream.

Magnificent eyes gazed at the dark pool of black water high above, it's black waves rolling angrily and crashing unforgivably against the border of his world. He was tempted to reach his hands up and imagine once more that he would be able to touch it without being destroyed. His reflection stared back at him from above, the constant motion of the Black Sea turning his image into something monstrous and terrifying. It was as much as a seal as it was a giant, massive mirror that reflected exactly what the person staring at it wanted to see.

Painfully luminescent red orbs noted once more that the Black Sea stretched far across the sky above them all and no matter where he went—where any creature went—the anomaly would still be above them—mockingly so but most of all it mocked him the most. And yet still the male gazed longingly at the waters above him, not being able to bring out that roaring spitfulness he use to have during his younger years, and instead it was replaced with a curiosity and burning sense of needing to conquer. It burned him so much that it was so far out of his reach and yet seeming to be impossibly close, just enough to touch but never being able to do so.

He was alone in his grand throne room, the only place where his subjects knew, if he were to be here, he was not to be bothered. The masses of his people wouldn't feel the need to congregate around him and fight for his attention, and it was here that he could breathe his own air. If he were to be among his people, then it was a known fact that he would be the only one staring at it, and such weakness could only show when he was completely alone. Truly he was a selfish and greedy creature. The world he was in now simply wasn't enough.

The black waters churned and soon they began to part in the form of a ravenous whirlpool , a startling sight if he had not been so use to being greeted by the vision due to his trusted envoy having the ability to travel back and forth. Speaking of his trusted ally, there he was in all his grace descending from the sky in his true form that was so unlike the forms that he was use to seeing. He watched as wings just as black as the murky surface above sprouted from his back and rest once his ally was on his feet in front of his throne.

Red orbs noticed that even here, in this land of death, his ally still caused more decay and ruin. As if his home and kingdom wasn't wasted enough, it almost angered him, but such a thing was out of the dark one's control. The man below him stood tall and lean, wearing nothing flashy, as his profession had no need for such things, while he was surrounded with rusted over golds and jewels , treasures the world above would never know, yet on his person only laid two pieces of jewelry. A dark as blood, ruby ring that occupied his left pinky and the crown of kings lying lazily on the side of his head that he didn't usually sport.

He was a tyrant king that has the world yet still wants more.

"I have planted our seed. Your portal will be born soon enough."

His voice sounded like multiple ones all speaking at once. If he had been a lesser creature he surmised the grating sound would've intimidated him, but he also knew that the dark being in front of him had the ability to change the sound of his voice to nails on a chalkboard or to velvet running across silk. The voice he heard now was dark and powerful, something that meant nothing in the eyes of this unsatisfied king.

"How long?"

A dark eyebrow quirked, "Mighty excited for a royal such as yourself," said King wasn't pleased with the creeping undertone of amusement in the dark one's voice, "you know...it's not all it's cracked up to be up there, but I have traversed through many worlds and that one is by far the most...amusing."

The king offered no response and instead watched the decay of his lands and his throne room as well as the lack luster color of gold flake away from his grand chair, all things that he's seen before. This didn't go unnoticed by the dark one, who took no sort of pleasure in the king's well or ill-being. He only vaguely wondered why this powerful creature would want to leave the lands that were given to him by birthright, abandon the very people that lived or died simply because he asked of it, and slight the unquestioned, raw authority that he alone possessed for a world that would reject him the moment he revealed himself. He couldn't understand, couldn't fathom the very thought, yet he was intrigued. This hadn't happened before. The bloodline of royalty went back far, and none of his successors had ever desired such a thing, it was unheard of. The outcome of it all had the dark shadows surrounding him writhing in cruel excitement.

No sort of noise was made as the king rose gracefully, his tall height almost staggering from the dark one's vantage point, and slowly he descended the stone, crumbling steps leading up to his throne, knocking countless treasures and gold away from him as he descended. Any lesser being would feel mighty inclined to prostrate themselves before him, his grandness almost overwhelming in such close proximity, but he was his own enigma as well and fell from somewhere high up that once put him on a pedestal above all. That alone was what made the dark one meet the king's eyes head on. There was no challenge, no smoldering emotion, nothing, just mutual recognition. It was because of this unspoken agreement that he would be permitted to follow him anywhere and everywhere, simply because he understood their placements in this world.

"Come. I must prepare," the sounds of their synced footsteps were near non-existent, "I have to choose who will join us on this expedition."

Kiba frowned, Ino's words sparking a dangerous sort of doubt in him at the thought of the worst possible outcome for the village somehow becoming the best one. He had no idea just how fast the gears were turning in that blonde head of her's, but he could only guess that her thoughts were less than pure.

Shikamaru crossed his arms, his eyes trained harshly on the woman in front of them, "Care to explain that statement?"

The subtle smirk on her face grew. Of course she was waiting on someone to ask, Kiba thought with the roll of his eyes.

"I know that you all heard that noise outside, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it could be—

Shikamaru was growing impatient, "Ino. The point."

Blue eyes narrowed to slits, displeasure written all over her face at the prospect of her thunder being stolen away, "This is our opportunity to capture the thing and conduct numerous tests on it to see how it works and how it utilizes its abilities, once we do we can destroy it once and for all. The other smaller villages will look to us as their saviors."

The Inu knew where she was going with her idea, but it served more of her purposes than anyone else's, "Except no one is going to see it that way. They're going to despise us for only taking action because the danger is knocking on our front door. We didn't lift a hand when they were getting slaughtered, what's gonna change their views of us now?"

Shikamaru nodded his head in agreement, "As much as I would like to turn our political image around, I can't without Naruto's support. My hands are as tied as everyone else's"

"We don't need our image when we have the fear of the beast to use as a weapon. Nothing's better than spreading rumors when it's more than likely to be believed."

Kiba paused, this might actually be worth while, "And the other village powerhouses?"

"We can leave that to Naruto. He's the Hokage after all." She waved a flippant hand through the air to emphasize her point.

Shikamaru put a hand on his chin, obviously considering the rather crude and conniving idea, "Well it is on Leaf soil, we would have to take it into custody anyway. My only concern is capturing it and containing it. The noise we heard just now was only an indication that it was nearby, not that we would successfully be able to keep it in our general vicinity, which is a risk in and of itself."

Ino paused, most likely not taking the safety of konoha's citizens into careful consideration, Kiba should've known, "Couldn't we just issue a complete lockdown?"

"It doesn't leave chakra behind, it can't be seen, and it only needs its brute strength alone to kill shinobi and civillian alike, I don't think people's homes could stop something like that. It would only serve as another nuisance to clean up should that thing start tearing up and down the streets."

Shikamaru's words cast a sour taste in Kiba's mouth. If anyone of like emotions heard the conversation the three of them were having they would surely look at them in disgust. Surely people of such cruel ideas shouldn't be in such powerful positions, and maybe Naruto knew that, but said man couldn't necessarily point fingers considering he was cruel as well. Where did the Inu fit into all of this tyranny?

Well. Monsters should be with other monsters.

Onyx eyes blinked open groggily, flashing between sharingan and black pupils in disorientation. A loud, deep ringing was the center focus of Sasuke's concentration, and the most of the throbbing rested right on his temple. He was against showing any sort of emotions or signs that he was in pain if he could help it, but as it stood, he couldn't help gritting his teeth in utter agony.

Palms coming up from his sides, he brought them to rub soothing circles on either side of his head, the cool and soft ground underneath offering some amount of comfort to him as he did so. His vision was hazy as hell and seemed to be hastily swiveling from side to side of wherever he looked, so he opted to close them. He was, for the most part, still alive, breathing, and in well health enough to feel such pain. At some point he must've rolled off of Hinata, which explained why he didn't feel her underneath him and the ground as a substitute.

Memories of what happpened to the both of them rushed towards him like a tidal wave, and he froze in his place on the grass. He had no idea if that—that thing was still around. There was no question that even his somewhat heavy breathing had to calm, the movement itself could alert that monster, and he had no way of knowing unless one of his senses cleared up first. The only thing he could truly rely on as of now was touch and feeling, but the latter was useless now since he had to keep his movements miniscule. Chakra reserves? He had three full resevoirs at his disposal, and none of them were touched despite the horrifying incident. What he could do was use a very small bit of it to feel around with. His bloodline was what made him an excellent sensory, but without the use of his doujutsu specifically, he would have to rely on his more baser instincts to feel aroujd with. He wasn't well versed with the basic ability and sometimes it was enough to keep him alive when his sharingan was beginning to tax on him, and he was better at it than others, but his range was limited.

He started the process subtly, gently probbing the area around him inch by slow inch to get a feel of what exactly was around. A couple meters away from him was a body laying prone, on its side if he was correct. There wasn't a familiar pulse against his senses that indicated life and with slight wariness and cold sweat he ventured on. Grass. Grass. More grass and...roots? He must've reached the flower bed that surrounded the monument and if the heaviness there wasn't a sign that the oil above it did corrosive damage then he didn't know what was. A body laid amongst the midst of the flowers as well, but something was clearly very wrong. Sasuke could feel strange, awkward movements coming from it, almost like jerking or convulsion, but like the other carcass, the sense of life was not there.

With this realization dawning on Sasuke second by second, a rise of panic was grabbing him by the chest painfully, yanking his brain around, and making his overall thought process erratic and irrational. If he couldn't hear or see anything in the next point five seconds then he was burning everything around him to the ground with Amateratsu, survivors or no survivors.

And like a switch, he opened his eyes to find his line of sight cleared and stable, likewise his hearing no longer disturbed by constant ringing, and his body relaxed a bit more now that it was somewhat back to normal. Though he could now breathe a bit easier considering his vision was no longer doing loop-de-loops all over the place he still couldn't get too comfortable by making sudden movements. He noted the position of the moon and the sluggishness of his body, which more or less confused him. It hadn't been too long since he fell unconscious that his body should feel like a boulder had hit it, if anything he should feel the slightest bit achy from lying prone on the ground (which had jagged rocks in it he should add) for the maximum three hours like he had been.

Looking over to his right, he was able to release the slightest bit of breath in relief at the sight of Hinata untouched. He wouldn't go so far as to say she would be someone he deeply cared for, he couldn't even trust her, but the Uchiha would admit that it would be pretty terrible for her to be killed by something as horrible as the beast. Just imagining her being torn apart so ruthlessly and in such a vulgar way made him sick.

She laid on her back, arm across her mid-section while the other was tangled in her long, ebony hair, which was sprawled above her. Her clothes were mildly dirty, and with a frown, Sasuke realized that at some point she must've been clipped by one of the beast's claws if the decently sized wound on her shoulder wasn't indication enough. Sasuke vaguely wondered when it could've happened, surely he would've noticed. Images of her knocking him down as the phantom rushed over them flashed before his eyes and he guessed that's when the wound was made, he scoffed softly, stupid woman. What exactly was she playing at? Risking her life like that went against the ideals she put forth, the idea that everyone around her was expendable, and here she was pushing him out of the way of certain death. Maybe he was more important to her motives than she let on.

Her blood already started to clot and attempt to heal the scratch, the color of the fluid already turning into a rusty, ugly, and flaky brown. The Uchiha was just glad that was the extent of her injuries, and shaking his head at the fact that she got off lucky, himself even more so, the others...not so much.

With the responsibility of someone else's life on his back, Sasuke boldy, yet slowly sat up and looked around more. He would've whistled at the sight presented to him, and he could only think of how angry Naruto would be to come back and find his little place of peace little more than destroyed. It meant something to Kakashi as well, and Sasuke knew that if he was right about the jounin then he would finally see some real emotion on the man. The jade rock shooting out of the ground was cracked and scratched, one of the main Sakura trees literally drooped with the heavy weight of blood splattered onto it, the ground was littered with craters from the rampant beast, and the flower beds...—

Sasuke had to clench his teeth tight and reach for his throat to stop the rush of bile from making a scene and alerting his presence. There in the flower beds, was the burly man that rubbed Sasuke the wrong way, the one that could hardly contain himself, the same person with the shattered red anbu mask, and the same man that was currently being devoured from his stomach down. The beast had his massive hand steadied on the anbu's face, his jaw turned away from the rest of his skull and the bone breaking through torn, bloodied flesh. His stomach and intestines looked as if a bomb went off inside of them, pieces of it littering amongst the flowers in small piles of pink and red mush, and with a small disgusted lurch, the Uchiha noticed that even his genetalia had not been spared. The man's eyes were rolled back far enough to where the nerves, veins, and bloodwork could be seen and Sasuke couldn't understand why he didn't hear the terrible noises as soon as he came to. The crunching of bone, the ripping and shredding of flesh that sounded like cut leather, and the hungry, delighted snarls coming from the monster enjoying every part of his meal. Not too far from him was the female anbu, up in one of the Sakura trees, her body hanging lithe and broken on one of its branches. Her blood seeped into the bark and made the petals droop and wilt with the heaviness of her fluids, her flesh the same porcelain paleness as the moon itself with shades of blue. Her red anbu mask was also broken in two on the ground beneath her and to Sasuke's slight dismay he came to notice her pretty face.

It was then he knew that he had a decision to make.

He could run. He could take his chances on the idea of his speed somehow being faster than the beast's and managing to get into the village deep enough to alert some officials, while simultaneously bringing the beast into contact with the millions of people and their families within Konoha. Sasuke may have let many things grow and fester over on his conscious, some of those things treacherous and truly devious, but being the cause of the destruction of such a large amount of leaf civilians? He wasn't a hero by any means, far from being a savior, a bit of a murderer, and a full blown liar, but he refused to have the deaths of millions on his back. It was too much. Sasuke wouldn't and couldn't become his brother. He saw the clear, haunted look in his eyes while he was fighting him, and yeah that was obviously due to him destroying their family, but Sasuke would still feel the same.

He could stay and wait. He would have to rely on the slim chances that Konoha shinobi would notice something amiss and venture a little beyond the gates to find them, while he, at the same time, would pray that the beast's next interest in a meal would be either the woman up in the tree, or the broken girl laying on the ground next to the monument, and not him or the still unconscious Hinata. There was no question that the more that thing ate, the more of its strength returned. The proof of this was the slowly disappearing limbs of it, its darkened fur becoming almost translucent against the back drop of nature, before turning completely invisible to the naked eye. He was quickly and surely running out of time to make his choice, until he realized something else that threw a wrench in his whole thought process once more.

Any decision he made would affect Hinata.

If he chose to run he would have no choice but to carry her in his arms if she didn't wake up any time soon. If he was caught, the outcome was certain death. There was also the option of escaping without her and running break neck speed back into Konoha and getting someone else more suited for the situation to go back for her. They were too far for him to run all the way around the perimeter to reach someone in time and going back the way they came would surely be quicker but finding someone along the scarely populated route would take too long as well. Sasuke would rather not think about what her prestigous family would do to him should they find out he was a factor in their precious heir's death, there would be no stopping them.

With a heavy sigh he knew that he was dead either way, and whatever choice he made meant that he could either be killed by the beast and at the same time get Hinata killed as well, or he could possibly escape on his own, resulting in her death, and then being killed by her clan, or he could die alone through some odd hand of fate.

The side of his mouth twitched at the thought of his demise, fine.

He was a blur rushing over towards Hinata, picking her up with ease and situating her in his arms so he could run easier, and bolted over and up into the trees before the beast could lift his head. He didn't even look back as the haunting area behind him faded away, the smell of death and sulfur also soon becoming apart of his past the farther away from Konoha he got, and he didn't stop even when he passed over the borders that bled into another smaller village.

Unbeknownst to him, the beast disregarded the escape of his prey with little to no indication that it even noticed. It was satiated to the fullest extent of the word, so fat with the blood and muscle mass of its adversaries that it almost felt lethargic.

It was because of this gluttonous mistake that the beast had been caught...

A/N — This is quite possibly the first time where I've been stumped trying to figure out what to put in this area. I feel like it should be something important like pertaining to the plot, but...struggling real hard here. I hope you guys are happy with the introduction of the supernatural I've finally added. Ten chapters in and it probably feels like it's been forever huh? Well, the wait is over. Now all you guys are waiting for is Sakura's fated return, but I feel like that should've been a secret some how. This is re-make from the original so I'm sure many of you already knew that would happen but still.

For the smart ones out there—no. The psychic ones. I, pretty sure you guys already figured out who the king is, and just for that I should change him just for the sake of there being a curveball but that would hardly be fair and it would severely throw a monkey wrench into my plans for this plot.

Just beware. You guys may think it's dark now. It's about to become way shadier. Im gonna take you guys somewhere deep. I'm talking I-regret-reading-this deep. Well...perhaps not that deep but pretty darn close. Just know that this plot will continue to descend into darkness.