OK this chapter took a little longer due to the fight scene. It's kinda hard to write a good fight scene without using 'suddenly this happened' yada yada yada. I apologize for the delay.

I don't own Naruto, but this story is all mine!

"Naruto, there you are."

Naruto turned slowly. He took a look into the shadows where the figure was standing. The piercing red eyes with the black lines resembling the demon wind shuriken.

Naruto felt a tad bit of fear but was ready all the same if he needed to fight. "Yup, so tell me why you wanted me to come out here for. I abandoned my village for this, so you better have damn good reasoning."

Itachi walked out into the light so Naruto could get a better look at him. He hadn't changed much since he saw him a few weeks ago. "The leaf village is soon to come under attack. You have maybe two months' time before the Akatsuki make their move to attempt to capture you."

"Why would you even care? You don't have any reason to concern yourself with a village you left." To say Naruto was confused would be an understatement. Besides his normal level of confusion, this just blew that out of the water.

"Despite what you may think, my loyalty still lies with Konoha. I know you do not trust me, but what I speak is the truth. I want to prevent it from being destroyed."

"Even if I did believe you, what makes you think that I could keep it from being destroyed?"

"Because Naruto, I would train you myself. The Akatsuki would not approve of me training one of their jinchuriki prizes. But I have recently 'disposed' of my partner Kisame. I cannot allow them to stop this." Itachi gestured over to the burn spot on the ground. Kisame's sword Samehada stood hilt up from the soil.

Naruto still didn't trust Itachi even if he now believed that his loyalty was with Konoha. "And how would you suggest we get me strong enough to take on the Akatsuki. They are the most powerful missing nin of what the ninja world has to offer. It wouldn't be so simple."

Itachi remained stoic. His facial expression hardly ever changed. Something that got on Naruto's nerves easily. "You forget Naruto. I can use the Tsukuyomi. I control time while you are under its effects. Ten hours in the Tsukuyomi is equivalent to one minute out here. Combine your shadow clones in your training and you have approximately five years of training in one week. You would be under for a month giving you effectively 20 years of experience. Then you would apply your training in the real world. Do you understand now Naruto?"

Naruto nodded in agreement. He understood but that doesn't mean he liked the plan. "So what would happen to my body in the real world while I was under this Tsukuyomi?"

"You would be in a coma like state for the duration of the month." Itachi explained.

"I still don't buy it. There has to be something you get out of this." Naruto replied skeptical.

"I get nothing out of this, you simply are able to protect your village and those precious to you. This includes your Hyuuga girlfriend."

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER!" Naruto's eyes flashed red as he yelled at Itachi. The memories still being an open wound. Rubbing salt on them wouldn't help. Naruto calmed down and dropped his head again. "She isn't my girlfriend, besides, she never really cared about me anyways. She was just on some mission to make sure I didn't kill myself."

"You're wrong Naruto. During your 'date' I placed her under a genjutsu. I needed to get you out of the village, and having those ties surely would not have benefitted the village. I did what was necessary." Itachi watched as Naruto's hands clenched and unclenched.

It was a few minutes before Naruto seemed to calm down. He had opened his mouth several times to speak but words wouldn't form. How could they? "You're not one to speak about ties. You killed your entire clan. And for what?"

"I did it in order to protect the village itself. The Uchiha were planning a coup d'état. I made the decision. I killed everyone important to me that night. I'm not asking you to kill your friends and everyone close to you. What I'm asking is to sever those ties long enough to ultimately save them." Itachi's demeanor changed during this. Naruto could see the pain on his face when he spoke about killing the clan. But there was also a certain amount of sincerity in his voice.

Naruto was doubtful at best. There were too many missing pieces of the puzzle. In the past he would go head first if it meant protecting those close to him. "So a month in the Tsukuyomi?"

"Yes."

Naruto stood still, hardly moving a muscle. The thoughts running through his mind were all of saving the leaf village. 'If what Itachi said was true, then I don't have the time to train enough to save the village. The only other liable option without putting the others in danger would be his plan.' "Ok, I agree. Only to save the others though. I couldn't stand myself if they got hurt at my expense."

Itachi only nodded and held out his hand. Naruto slowly moved to shake his hand.

Before the two shook hands a voice had been heard followed by a chakra emittance.

"EIGHT TRIGRAMS AIR PALM!"

Itachi was knocked back several yards and a blur of midnight blue hair rushed in front of Naruto. Naruto stood stunned looking at the person in front of him. "H-Hinata?"

Hinata quickly spun around with a speed that would rival Neji's rotation and smacked Naruto as hard as she could. This left a large red mark spanning from his left ear to his mouth. What she did next though surprised him. She put her face in his chest and started to cry. She had her hands curled into fists on his shoulders.

"How… could you… leave me like that… N-Naruto?" She managed to choke out between sobs.

Naruto just stared down at the mass of hair he could see as it moved up and down from her crying. He was at a loss for words, didn't his clone keep them in a barrier? "I thought you didn't want anything to do with me."

"Th-that's not t-true. I w-was under a genjutsu and I thought you w-were Sasuke." Hinata was still crying into his chest. She had him again, she was not letting him go again.

"So everything you said was about me?" Still being hurt he wasn't sure what to say.

"N-Naruto, I meant every w-word except for the p-part where I told you to get out of the v-village. I w-want nothing m-more than to be with y-you, p-please don't go." She sniffled out. She didn't have time for finesse, she had to put her feelings out now or risk losing him.

Unfortunately their time was cut short as Itachi quickly approached the two. "Naruto, you must make your choice. You either stay with her and everyone you know could die, or you come with me and they all live."

Hinata quickly took up stance in front of Naruto. "Naruto, what is he talking about?"

"I'm sorry Hinata but I can't let anything happen to you." Naruto moved around Hinata and slowly walked over to Itachi.

To say Hinata was mortified was an understatement. "Naruto p-please, what's going on?" She spoke with more tears forming at the side of her eyes.

"It's either I go with him or everyone I care about dies Hinata. I can't let that happen, especially not to you." Naruto was on the verge of crying himself. She confessed that everything she felt was towards him. This was a very easy decision to make, he needed to protect her.

"N-Naruto, we could find a way please just come back with me." Hinata slipped out of her stance. It was apparent Itachi wasn't a threat at the moment. She still stayed ready to act just in case anything happened though.

"I'm sorry Hinata, but I can't." Naruto dropped his head. "Like I said, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you. So please just let me protect you."

"What a touching moment between the demon and his whore." Attention was drawn to six men with ANBU masks without design on them who had appeared behind Hinata. One had a hold of Hinata's hair and was pulling her back practically yanking out her hair. "Too bad, it really was touching. But you're a missing nin now, and we can kill you right here and now." The man, assumed to be the leader, cast a glance over to Itachi. "And as an added bonus we get to kill Itachi Uchiha too? This day gets better and better."

Naruto began seeing red. This man had officially infuriated him. His eyes went red and his whiskers elongated and grew darker. His teeth began to sharpen and his eyes had a dark ring begin to surround them. His fingernails sharpened and grew longer to form claws of sorts.

"You can call me whatever you want but the second you involve Hinata is where I draw the line!" Naruto roared in a deep voice. "If you don't let her go this instance you all die."

The ROOT agents all cast glances towards each other. Each one of them trifled a laugh so as to not make him any angrier than he already is. They each knew what they signed up for and knew it could be dangerous, they weren't about to lose their bargaining chip in getting him back to the village.

The leader of the ROOT squad looked back at Naruto. He held up a kunai to Hinata's throat. "We'd like for this to end in a slightly more civil manner, but we would have to kill him first." The man said motioning to Itachi.

Itachi stood staring at the man. He knew he could easily take them but right now, this was Naruto's fight. And he didn't think Naruto would appreciate him putting his girlfriend in danger.

The ROOT member then pulled his mask up just slightly revealing his mouth to Naruto and Itachi. HE then proceeded to whisper into Hinata's ear while keeping an eye on Naruto. 'Don't take this personally, but I need to rid the world of a monstrosity, and to do that I need you.'

The ROOT member then looked at Naruto again. Then back at his fellow teammates and nodded. He then kissed Hinata's neck, making her shudder in fear. "N-Naruto…" She pleaded sounding near helpless.

Tears were swelling while this man continued to kiss her neck. But it wasn't what he was doing, Naruto had let out a scream of rage and the nine tails cloak began to appear from his skin. Naruto was on all fours with one tail completely developed and another on its way.

Naruto then spoke in a voice that wasn't his own. Eliciting fear from every person except for Itachi. "Either you let her go now, or your life ends within two minutes."

The ROOT member smirked, "Hn. Let's see you do it." He ran through a quick few hand signs. "Ninja Art: Mind Closure Jutsu!" Hinata's eyes seemed to roll back into her head and she fell to her knees, then to the ground. She was unconscious and something inside Naruto clicked.

"HINATA!" That was the spark that ignited it. Naruto now in three tailed form took off towards him landing a punch to the man's chest sending him flying back several hundred feet killing him on impact.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Neji brought his head up in disbelief. "Kakashi-sensei."

"Yeah I know, I feel it. There's no doubt about it, Naruto has unleashed the power of the nine tails. We need to hurry." Kakashi knew this could end badly. 'Naruto don't hurt Hinata, you'll never let yourself live it down if you do.'

They both took began at a faster pace than they were currently going. With no idea what was going on, they headed directly into the storm.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto had come to a stop where the ROOT leader had been standing. He stared down the other five members daring any of them to move. Naruto still remained in his three tails state for the time being.

Each one of them knew what the nine tails jinchuriki was capable of so they took extreme caution. It was the man in the back who finally made a move. He ran through a series of seals as fast as he could while Naruto began to charge. Naruto bolted straight towards the man as he finished his hand signs. "Earth Style: Stone prison jutsu!" Right as Naruto's fist was about to connect with the man's throat four concrete like walls erupted from the ground surrounding Naruto.

Three other ROOT members ran to the top of the wall that had been created. Naruto was at the bottom staring up at the men about to jump. The three ran through hand signs as fast as they could.

The first jutsu that came was from the man on the left most wall. "Fire Style: Fire Bomb Barrage!" Twenty fire balls similar to the phoenix flower jutsu came hurling towards Naruto. As Naruto dodged the first few, but as they hit the ground they exploded causing debris to fly everywhere. Several craters had been formed and in the middle of the one unscathed part stood Naruto.

The ROOT agent on the middle wall had just finished his hand signs as his partner's jutsu finished. "Water Style: Boiling Geyser Jutsu!" Water began to erupt from the ground where the craters had been formed. The heat from the water was apparent from the steam giving off of it. The water rose to Naruto's neck as it burnt his body.

Naruto began to climb on top of the water as the third man finished his jutsu. "Lightning Style: Twin Thunder Strike!" Two bolts of red lightning descended from the sky hitting Naruto as he was getting out of the water. The lightning hit Naruto as if he were a human lightning rod. It sent him into spasms while he tried to regain control of his body.

The two remaining ROOT members on the outside of the walls had been working on their own jutsus while the three had kept the nine tails busy. "Earth Style: Stone Crypt Jutsu!" A ceiling had been formed on the walls and the stone creation began shrinking in size. It shrunk until it was the size of an outhouse.

The final ROOT member had been focusing his chakra and then ran to the stone prison. "Sealing Art: Eternal Prison!" He placed his hand on the prison and black markings encompassed the prison proving the jutsu was a success.

"Nine tails secured." The ROOT members then backed away from the prison for the final jutsu.

The earth style user began a series of hand seals. "Earth Style: Stone Prison Burial!" The prison began sinking into the ground. It went further than they could see and he released the jutsu. The ground was covered back up and the ROOT members turned their attention to Itachi who had not moved except to get Hinata away from the battle.

"You're the next one to be buried Itachi." Announced one of the ROOT members, confident since they trapped the nine tails miles beneath the Earth's surface.

"You should turn your attention back to the one you have yet to defeat." Itachi replied as he looked over to the spot where they buried Naruto.

"What are you-" His words were interrupted by a large earthquake then a demon chakra bomb shooting from the ground. From the bright light that occurred from the dissipation of the bomb appeared Naruto.

Naruto now sporting five tails and his body no longer recognizable stared at the men and took off in a flash. The closest man to him was the first to fall as one of Naruto's tails pierced through his heart. Naruto lifted him then threw the body at the lightning style user.

"Earth Style: Giant Stone Golem!" A large amount of rock lifted itself from the ground and took the shape of a medieval guard. He turned his attention to Naruto and swung his fist at him creating a large depression in the ground.

The golem's hand began to shake as another chakra bomb blew out of his fist and tore off his arm. The golem then backed away as Naruto took off towards his feet and wrapped his left leg in his chakra tails. He then proceeded to crush the leg until it shattered and the golem was left falling onto the ground.

Naruto took a giant leap and brought down with as much force as he could crushing the golem's head. From the rubble, a sharp jagged rock was thrown stabbing the water user in the stomach. He coughed up blood and fell to the ground dead.

"Lightning Style: Twin Lightning Dragons!" Two large dragons made of the same red lightning formed around the lightning user and charged at Naruto. As they neared him, he let out a horrific roar negating the two dragons and deafening the lightning user.

Naruto's tailed beast state then began to shift again. Another tail began to form followed by a skull that surrounded Naruto's head with a spine running up his back. He looked at the remaining three men.

Naruto then began running at them full speed. He threw his claw into the man's eye sockets and ripped his skull out. He then crushed the skull in his hand and bolted towards the earth style user. Before the man could put up any kind of defense Naruto had broken his neck by means of a punch to the throat.

Naruto turned his attention to the last man. The seal user. Naruto began charging a demon chakra blast as the man stood there petrified, knowing his fate.

"NARUTO!" The call of his name distracted Naruto just long enough to turn his attention to the man who called his name. Kakashi stood there with his sharingan active. "Naruto, calm down, I know there's probably no reasoning with you since you're this far, but please just think of Hinata."

This elicited a response from Naruto as the killing intent fluctuated. The remaining ROOT member took note of this and ran through hand signs and took off in a sprint towards Naruto. "Sealing Art: Demon Chakra Seal!" The man thrust his palm into Naruto's stomach knocking him back a few inches.

The chakra from the nine tails burned his hand and when he pulled back he was face to face with Naruto again. The chakra from the nine tails was fading from Naruto. Before it all faded Naruto's tail thrust into the man's stomach and immediately pulled back out. The man collapsed in a heap on the ground, bleeding out.

The nine tails chakra slowly began disappearing from Naruto. As it went away you could see Naruto's skin covered in blisters and burnt. Once all the chakra was gone Naruto fell forward, collapsing. Luckily Kakashi was fast enough to catch him.

"Kakashi-sensei, wh-where's Hinata?" Naruto managed to choke out. "Is she ok?"

"Neji's with her, she's gonna be alright. Come on I'll help you over to her." Kakashi slowly made his way over to where Neji, Hinata, and Itachi all stood. He set Naruto down by Hinata and watched as Naruto fell right beside her.

Naruto stayed there looking at her, he didn't know when it happened but he fell for her, and hard too. He made a vow on the day that Haku and Zabuza died to always protect his precious people, and now he finally found the one he wants to protect the most.

He reached up and grabbed the necklace he was wearing with his non broken arm. As he did though he began coughing violently. He started to cough up blood. Several ribs were broken and had shifted causing his insides to bleed.

"Naruto!" Kakashi was quickly by his side. "Neji use your Byakugan to tell me what's wrong." He ordered.

"Right." Neji searched over his body before he found the source of the problem. "Naruto's chakra has been depleted to dangerously low levels and has several broken bones, ribs, and his arm. He needs medical attention now, otherwise…"

"I get it, Neji see if you can go find a doctor in the town. In the meantime I'll watch over him and see about transferring him some of my chakra." Neji nodded and took off into the village in search of a medic.

"Now, why are you here?" Kakashi asked pointing his question at Itachi.

"I came to make Naruto an offer." Itachi remained emotionless, even as everything had occurred he never changed his expression.

"What kind of deal?" Kakashi quickly shot back.

"He had the choice to come with me to save everyone he cares about, or if he stayed, it would be very likely the leaf village be destroyed. I want to prevent that, and he is the best way to do so."

"I see. And did he make his choice yet?" This time he directed the question at Naruto who was barely conscious.

Naruto struggled to find his voice but eventually mustered it up. "Yes Kakashi sensei I did, I'm going to train in Itachi's Tsukuyomi using shadow clones to get stronger. I need to protect you all. This is the only way."

"Don't go." Nobody noticed Hinata who was now awake and looking at Naruto. You could see the puffiness in her eyes as if she had been crying or was about to.

Naruto turned to Hinata. He decided he liked looking at her. She was the most beautiful thing to him. "I'm sorry Hinata but I have to, it's the only way I can protect you." Naruto watched as she struggled for the words to say. Before she spoke up he decided to say something else. "You have my headband." He said with a smile.

Hinata looked down at the headbands she had. "I'm sorry I was holding on to it for you, you can have it back if you want." She began taking it off but before she finished he spoke up.

"Keep it Hinata, it looks better on you anyways." Another smile plastered on his face. This earned a blush from Hinata who retied it around her neck so it hung loosely.

Then Hinata got an idea. She reached around behind her neck and began untying her own headband. "If I'm keeping yours, then you're keeping mine." She then sat up next to Naruto and tied it around his forehead.

The two were broken up from the moment by an approaching Neji. "Kakashi-sensei, unfortunately I could not find a medic ninja, if Naruto is to survive then we must get him back to the village now."

"I understand. How will this affect Naruto though, Itachi?" Kakashi directed.

"I can still place him under the Tsukuyomi, although, I will not be able to pull him out of it as I originally planned. He will have to do that himself. Also once I have distanced myself from him the time he experiences in the Tsukuyomi would fluctuate, so again I have no control over how long he thinks he stays in. And, while I am distanced from him, I won't be able to control what he experiences, therefor, like an infinite Tsukuyomi, such as the one spoke about in the Uchiha archives, he will experience what he most desires. His experiences though will remain with him, say if he were to master a jutsu in the Tsukuyomi he would be able to perform it in the real world when he gets out. One last thing, the world he creates within this Tsukuyomi will seem as real to him as it is out here, so he will have memories of things in the Tsukuyomi and in the real world but will not be able to differentiate which was made up and which is not."

"I see, and Naruto, what do you want to do?"

"I still want to do it Kakashi-sensei, I want to protect everyone, and don't worry I'll get out no problem, just you watch. Believe it!" Naruto smiled at his statement. Even with blood on the side of his mouth dripping off his chin from the blood he coughed up earlier. "And Hinata." Hinata turned her attention back from her thoughts of him leaving her. "Wait for me, I will be back. That's a promise, cause it's my nindo, my-" He was interrupted as Hinata pressed her lips against his. They reveled in the kiss for what felt like eternity. Neither wanted it to end, but in the end air took priority.

Once they broke the kiss Hinata spoke up. "Our ninja way." Hinata corrected. She hugged him with every ounce of strength she had. Like if this were a dream she didn't want him to go, it was like losing him even if it was only for a set amount of time.

Naruto turned his attention towards Itachi who was looking down on him with sharingan ablaze. "Do it."

Itachi simply nodded. Naruto stared at Itachi as his comma like markings on his eyes spun around like a roulette machine. Kakashi, Neji, and Hinata watched as Naruto's eyes glossed over and he lost consciousness.

"It is done, I will be going now. Take care of him, and get him to the hospital. He will need as much time as he can get to prepare. And tell your hokage to get ready for war." With that Itachi disappeared in what seemed similar to phasing from existance.

"Let's get him back to the village. We need to report to Lady Tsunade what has happened and get him medical treatment. He won't last much longer with the emergency chakra transfusion I have applied."

"Right." The two Hyuugas spoke in unison. Kakashi pulled Naruto onto his back carefully, not wanting to hurt him anymore, and the three were off towards the village at a pace they could only hope would be fast enough without doing any real harm to Naruto. They had to get there fast if they wanted Naruto to have the greatest chance of survival.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Are you sure you want to do this Sasuke? After all the leaf is heavily guarded, and although the sound is heavy any numbers, we just don't have the same quality ninja they do." Spoke Kabuto. Even if he wanted to get Naruto back for the time he hit him with the rasengan, he knew this was still a plan set up to fail.

"I'm positive, the only way for me to obtain the mangekyo sharingan is to kill my best friend. So that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to kill Naruto. We attack in one month make sure all of our troops know the battle plan, we will not fail."

With that Sasuke was off, leaving Kabuto to his own thoughts and orders for their village army.

Well Guys, this is it! This was the last chapter of The Depression of a Shinobi. I feel like it was incredibly anti-climactic though. Oh well, that's why there's going to be a sequel.

Itachi turned out to be the good guy, even though he played with Naruto's emotions, he still had the village's best interests in mind. And his Tsukuyomi, I had to make a few things up, and it doesn't run on the same premises of his usual tsukuyomi or the infinite tsukuyomi. It's like some hybrid of the two mixed with my own twist.

Speaking of the Tsukuyomi, what are some things you all would like to see in Naruto's perfect world? What would he like the most, there are three things that I'm positive will be there. His parents will be alive, he has a relationship with Hinata, like a full blown relationship, and Sasuke never left the village. But other than that what would you guys like to see?

The next story will be posted probably at the end of February beginning of March. This gives me time to write a few of the chapters and whatnot. The next story will promptly be name Into the Tsukuyomi. It's gonna have a lot more NaruHina fluff in it, A LOT more.

If you all have any questions leave it in the review and I'll post an Author's note answering any questions!

See ya for the next part of the story!

Dcept