The sun was out and shining brightly, drying the earth and leaving no evidence of the night's storm. Naruto and Sasuke stood side by side, taking in the view. Sho-ro stood before them, basking in light but seeming as cold as ice. The dread that hung in the air stole away their warmth, sending a chill down their spines.

"Death," said Sasuke.

Naruto nodded, clearly agitated. "I know, Kyuubi's anxious, he smells blood."

Sasuke placed a hand on his companion's shoulder; calming him. "We still have a job to do, let's go."

"Right."

The inside of the temple was worse than they had imagined. Naruto covered his nose and mouth, nearly gagging from the combined onslaught to his senses of sight and smell. Sasuke, ever the composed of the two; seemed completely unfazed, save for the slight wrinkling of his own nose. The heat of the summer months had soaked into the corpses, making the stink of the place near unbearable.

Something changed in Naruto's demeanor. Removing his hand from his face, he began to sniff at the air.

Sasuke looked appalled. "What are you doing dobe?"

Naruto seemed to find himself again and covered his mouth. "Not me, it's Kyuubi; something's not right."

"The fox again?" asked Sasuke. "I never realized he was so active."

"He's not, that's why I'm worried. He only gets this way when he feels threatened."

"What, you think whoever did this stuck around?"

Naruto nodded. "Kyuubi does."

"So the fucker was right; we have guests."

The voice came from the other end of the temple; a dark stairway under a glittering alter. From the shadows came a girl clad in a simple black body suit; long blonde hair on her head. Her eyes burned red.

Naruto and Sasuke immediately took out their kunai; readying themselves.

"Identify yourself," said Sasuke.

Naruto also spoke up. "Are you the one responsible for this massacre?" he said, gesturing toward the dead monks.

"So what if I am?"

Sasuke stepped in. "Then I'd say you'd best defend yourself."

"Wait," said Naruto. "There could be others. We should question her first."

Sasuke closed his eyes and smiled. Naruto, always surprising me.

The girl turned her eyes to the alter behind her. "Doesn't matter, you're dealing with me." Her eyes snapped forward and she flew, appearing in front of Sasuke; hand reaching for his throat.

She's fast! Sasuke smirked. Let's see if she can keep up with my eyes. The sharingan - user saw the hand coming and brought up his kunai.

The girl didn't miss the change in the leaf ninja's eyes. Uchihas; how predictable.

Sasuke's blade sliced through air as his assailant vanished. "Naruto! Behind you!"

It was too late. Twin arms snaked their way from behind Naruto and latched themselves to his chest.

Naruto struggled to free himself; finding the pressure on his chest too great. She's strong. The pressure began to increase as the arms squeezed. She's crushing me.

The girl's mouth found Naruto's ear as she whispered to him. "Die." Arms caved into the body they surrounded while said body vanished in a puff of smoke. Dammit! A shadow clone? Blonde hair whirled as she spun around to face the two leaf ninja who now stood together. "Tricky little worms aren't you?" The girl smiled wickedly at them. "Fine, let's heat things up shall we?"

Hands clasped together and created their needed signs. "Crimson Flame Armor!" Eyes glowed red, as did the rest of her body.

Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow; it was so hot. "Sasuke? Look."

"I am Yasuko. Sister of the Day, and vessel to the Flames of Death." The girl walked slowly towards the two boys; scorch marks trailing behind her. Each corpse she passed bursting into flames.

"Naruto? I don't think this girl's normal," said Sasuke.

"Yeah? What gave you that idea?" Naruto scoffed.

Sasuke ignored the tone in his partner's voice. "It's her chakra; it's different somehow." The Uchiha stared intently at the girl approaching them. "My eyes, they can't see her chakra anymore."

Yasuko clenched her fists and fire erupted from her body, melting the stone beneath her feet. "These monks, they died quickly and without too much pain." The flaming girl bent her knees and back, crouching into an animalistic stance. "The two of you; we're gonna have some fun."

Naruto felt the air shift and reacted, shoving Sasuke out of the way as pure strength slammed into him. Air shot from his lungs as Naruto collided with a wall. Kyuubi, you there?

You're burning boy. The fire, does it sting? The fox laughed, toying with his host.

You sure as hell know that it does. Now hurry up!

The fox rumbled his rumbling laugh. Fine, I'll help you; but be careful, this bitch is radiating some crazy power.

Sasuke opened his eyes, immediately searching for his dobe. "Naruto?!" he yelled; standing. "Where are you?"

"Don't worry about your friend," Yasuko stood in the middle of the temple; fire blazing around her. "You'll be joining him soon enough."

An explosion of dust and debris caught both of their attention as Naruto stood on his feet. The Kyuubi container emanated rolling energy, washing over his bare chest and healing his burns. "Wow lady, did you have to ruin my jacket?"

"Naruto are you okay?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, it's only because of the fox. He so graciously helped me." Naruto dusted himself off. "Don't let her touch you; her skin is like fire."

"Figured that out myself," said Sasuke. "So what do we do exactly?"

Yasuko stood there, taking the blond boy in; examing his unscathed flesh. Impossible! I made direct contact with him, he should be nothing but ashes. The seething girl watched as the Uchiha made his way over to his friend. Dammit! This is taking too long. Yasuko closed her eyes, focusing her chakra to her core. Time to finish this.

"We need to finish this now before she burns down the whole temple," said Sasuke seriously.

"I know," said Naruto. The knuckleheaded ninja bit into his thumb and slammed his hand into the ground. "Summoning!"

BANG! Smoke exploded into existence, obscuring all from sight. "Hi Naruto, did ya bring me some snacks?" The yellow toad that appeared was larger that any man and wearing a blue vest.

"Later Gamatatsu, we got a job to do."

Toad eyes blinked and took in their surroundings. "Naruto, where are we? I don't like this place."

"We're in trouble and need your help. Start building up your chakra."

Gamatatsu looked from Naruto to the boy beside him to the scary lady further away. "Ok."

Yasuko grinned manically. A new tactic? Makes no difference; a toad burns just as easily as anything else. Red eyes opened as her energy flowed. "I'll burn you all to hell!" she screamed. " Come dance with the Flames of Death!"

Sasuke looked worried but stood his ground. "Naruto, this isn't good. We need to take care of her before she releases all that chakra."

"Yeah; ok Gamatatsu, you ready?"

"For what? Oh yeah, chakra. I got it."

Naruto brought his attention back to Yasuko. "Right, let's go. Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Yasuko was taken aback. More shadow clones? The blazing blonde flexed her fingers, struggling to keep her power in check. Fuck! I need more time. Yasuko gathered up some chakra in her mouth and spit it on the floor.

A fire clone erupted from the chakra plem and brought it's hands together, inhaling through it's nose. "Dragon Breath Justsu!" the clone bellowed as fire spewed from it's mouth.

Naruto watched as his clones were incinerated. "Again, Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Four more clones darted away from their original, closing in on the fire clone.

The fire clone inhaled deeply once more, preparing another ninja flamethrower.

"CHIDORI!" Naruto's clones raced past the fire clone as Sasuke's fist pierced it's body, evaporing it into smoke.

The Naruto clones came together and formed an orb of chakra. "RASENGAN!"

It's ready! The air around Yasuko exploded and a pillar of flame shot into the ceiling.

The clones halted their attack, looking not at the girl; but at the two new figures approaching behind her.

"Sister stop! We have it, we have the scroll!"