Terrible Truths

Naruto stared at the scroll trying to take everything in. Unfortunately, though, Yondaime had only taught him to speak the human language, not read it. He could read, but not very well; Tsunade seemed to realize this quickly and began to read the important parts aloud.

"This sealing technique has been used but a few times, and in most cases, neither Bijuu or container have been willing to work together. This cooperation is very key to their survival, and without it at least one of the pair will die."

Tsunade skipped the next paragraph, explaining it was merely directions how to use the technique.

"For the Bijuu, difficulties in mobility as well as communication are common. Many bijuu are used to running on four legs and may find it difficult to train themselves to walk on two. Communication, however is the more pressing matter. When the bijuu is in control of the body, it will need to be trained by either what used to be the container or surrounding people. Without good communication, the bijuu will be unable to help the container when returning to normal, which may cause problems.

For the container, it is hard to portray their position. In some cases, the container awakes, when in others, they stay unconscious the entire time. If the container wakes, they will be able to speak to their Bijuu in a sort of telepathic manner."

Tsunade turned to Naruto, "Naruto may not wake up, but I can trust you to take care of him?" Naruto nodded,

"Of course, you can count on me. I wouldn't dream of letting harm come to him… Even though he's been a nuisance sometimes, I've enjoyed having him for comic relief." Naruto smiled, and beckoned Tsunade to continue. She scanned the scroll for more important parts until she came to the very last paragraph.

"If the Bijuu and container wish to return to the way they were, they will be able to do so, but only with a very high risk at hand. They must defeat and take the life of the person who killed the container."

Tsunade fell silent, and Naruto looked away from the scroll, knowing that such a feat would be difficult. He also knew Naruto would not be willing to kill his friend for his own life.

"He… he wouldn't want to do that." Naruto said weakly. However, Tsunade straightened her posture and looked at Naruto with piercing eyes.

"He's going to do it… I'm going to make it a mission… he's never been able to refuse a mission."

Naruto looked at Tsunade and shook his head,

"He won't do it… And I don't want to destroy the relationship between him and that pink-haired Kunoichi… He made a promise to bring Sasuke back, and if I kill him-" Just then, Sakura burst through the door, tears streaming down her face.

"Kyuubi… Please!" Naruto took a step back in surprise as the kunoichi wrapped her arms around him again. "Kyuubi, if it brings Naruto-kun back again… Please… Kill him." Naruto looked down, not responding, but instead of leaving her alone, he put her hands on her shoulders and pushed her back.

"If you'd rather have Naruto than Sasuke living, I'll try to talk to him…"

Sakura sobbed into her hands. There was no way she'd rather have Sasuke than Naruto, after what Sasuke did to Naruto. In her opinion, he was no longer a runaway friend, he was a terrible enemy.

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Minato picked up the small fox in his arms, and smiling, gave him a big, wet hug. The small fox growled and launched himself out of Minato's grasp.

"What the hell was that for?" He yowled angrily at the boy, shaking hid head irritably. Minato gave him a mischievous smile,

"My, you picked up on the bad words quickly, Kyuubi." Kyuubi murmured something under his breath that made Minato's smile widen.

"I don't say them all that often!" Kyuubi fixed his cold gaze on him, watching Minato as he began to groom himself.

Minato looked around and took in the beauty of nature, the warm sun, the babbling brook, and the angry six-tails standing in front of him.

"What? I thought you just needed to cool off, your temper is quite hot. I thought some cold water from the stream would be a perfect remedy for you!" Minato ignored Kyuubi's rude response, and instead reflected on the past month's work. Ever since he had left the village, he had tried talking to Kyuubi. At first, he got the young animal saying basic things like "food", "water", and "danger", but Kyuubi had caught on so quickly, he had begun to teach him more elaborate things.

Kyuubi had already gotten two more tails since they had left the village, and Minato was proud at what he had been able to teach the young nine-tails. He had begun with small battles using kunai and shuriken against Kyuubi and had slowly upgraded to S-rank techniques, practicing both offense and defense.

Minato's smile and pride quickly disappeared as he thought back to the village. Now that he could talk to Kyuubi, he wanted to ask him a very important question, but Minato was almost too scared to ask it.

He stood several minutes without saying anything before clearing his throat and starting,

"Oi, K-Kyuubi-kun."

"What?" Kyuubi retorted, apparently still upset about the wet hug.

"Back when we first fought together… when I blacked out… what did you do…?"

Kyuubi cocked his head to the side, as if trying to remember what happened.

"Ah! You mean when you were injured?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's see…"

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Kyuubi watched, astonished as his friend rushed around the clearing, executing every hidden ninja. However, he wondered why Minato hadn't attacked the ninja right in front of him, they would have been much easier to take out, they seemed younger and less experienced.

Minato jumped down into the clearing, smiling at the exposed ninja, and laughing softly. Then, he suddenly stopped, and Kyuubi watched as his face dropped, and he spun around to face another ninja who instantly embedded a poisoned blade in his stomach. Rage engulfed Kyuubi as he watched Minato fall to the ground, unconscious. What made him really angry, though, was that the enemy nin had been on Minato's side, cheering him on, but then the next minute, a foe.

Kyuubi ran over to Minato, checking the wounds, and realizing that if he didn't get help soon, he would surely die of the poisons. Infuriated, Kyuubi began sending his chakra into Minato's body. If Minato couldn't finish the battle on his own, Kyuubi thought, then he would have to do it for his friend.

Minato stood up, now a mere puppet to the demon. His eyes were a blank red, showing no emotion, and the ninjas seemed to realize this was not Minato's doing.

A certain kunoichi leaped over to Minato's body and looked worriedly at him,

"Minato-san, you've been injured with a poison blade, we need to bleed out the poison before it spreads too much." She took out a kunai, and Kyuubi, not understanding what she had said, used Minato's body to pull out his own kunai and lash out at her. She fell back, a large cut in her shoulder, fear in her eyes.

"M-Minato…" Minato turned and glared at the rest of the group, preparing his next attack, Kyuubi would not forgive these nin for hurting Minato…

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Inuluvr here!

I'm terribly sorry about all the difficulties chapters 7-9 may have caused some of you! I got a couple messages telling me that was not allowing you guys to see the newest chapters, so I e-mailed an administrator.

I hope this chapter won't be as much of a problem, please send me a message if it is, just so I know. XD So, how are you guys liking this story so far? Be honest:p

Ah! And I'd really like you all to thank AnimeOtaku31821, who has been a huge inspiration to me, and who has really helped me along the rougher parts of this story. Many glomps to you, AnimeOtaku31821!

Look forward to hearing from you guys, you're all so kind! Oh, and I'm sorry that I haven't been updating every night, I'm trying to finish Harry Potter, and I've got work on top of that. XD So much to do, so little time