"Boring, boring, boring," he muttered to himself. Moka had told him she would need to spend the next few days sleeping so he hadn't been surprised when she wasn't there to work out with him. What had surprised him was that he'd grown so used to having her there with him. He'd spent years working out alone after Iruka got recalled. He'd always been fine with it. But now he found himself missing having her there beside him. The morning workout just wasn't the same.

Of course there was something else on his mind. He'd barely gotten any sleep last night. He'd been thinking about Moka's gorgeous pale body and the feel of her skin as he'd slowly slipped off her clothing. He'd thought about that wonderful pressure as she'd leaned into him. He thought of delicious scent and of the warmth of her breath against his skin. He thought about the way she smiled at him. Never the big open smiles that teenage Moka gave him. The adult Moka had these slight grins and smirks that always seemed to hint at more.

He loved teen Moka, he loved her warmth her openness and her kindness. But it seemed that her adult version kept praying on his mind. There was something about the older Moka that just drew him in. She was powerful and fearsome and he always felt that he had to earn what he got from her, she was a challenge.

Being so drawn to the adult Moka he almost felt as though he were being unfaithful to the younger version. He knew that wasn't the case since they were both the same person, and shared the same memories. Still, he felt a little guilty at being so into the adult Moka. "Is it possible to cheat on a girl with the same girl?"

He shook his head. This was pointless; he couldn't do anything about Moka right now anyway. There was something that he could deal with however. It was something he'd been avoiding for a long time. But now he would face it head on. He sat down beneath a tree in the lotus position and shut his eyes. He calmly began to meditate and focus inward. All right you damn fox; the warden wants to have a word with you.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto found himself in the middle of a vast cemetery. Well I wasn't expecting this. He got up and began walking around to try and find the fox. As he searched he glanced over at some of the tombstones.

'Here lies Uzumaki Naruto, murdered by the people he tried to serve.'

'Here lies Uzumaki Naruto, unloved, unmourned, and forgotten.'

'Here lies Uzumaki Naruto, whose death was a source of great joy.'

All the tombstones were similar, all of them recording some tragic end. "You know," he shouted. "I go to a school filled with monsters and I've had an entire village hate my guts. If you want to scare me you'll have to do a lot better than this."

From somewhere up ahead of him laughter rumbled. Oh don't blame me. Everything you see here comes from your own mind. There was fresh laughter. I'd say you have a poor outlook.

"Yeah well having a demon inside your guts will do that to a guy." He followed the sound of the voice to a large decrepit mausoleum. The entrance was barred by a rusted iron gate with a single paper seal placed on it. Beyond the gate there was only darkness. "I want to have a talk with you."

I imagined that you did human. After all this is the first time you've called on me. But really, shouldn't you be thanking me first?

"Thanking you?!" He shouted. "For what? Destroying my life? Making my whole village hate me? Killing my parents?"

Two large orange eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness behind the gate. For giving you power when you needed it.

"I'm not thanking you for that! So far as I'm concerned that's the very least you owe me after all the grief you've caused."

You know human, I don't think I care much for your attitude. I am the great Lord demon fox Kyuubi, show me proper respect.

Naruto smiled. "Fuck you."

What did you say? The Kyuubi growled.

"I said fuck you!" Naruto shouted at him. "You're the great lord of nothing now! All you are is a prisoner inside my belly!"

Beneath the eyes two rows of jagged teeth appeared. Have a care how you speak to me mortal or you will regret it!

"How? What are you going to do to me?" Naruto demanded. "Make people hate me? Force me to live all alone? Send me to a place filled with monsters that think of me as a, 'half breed' and occasionally try to kill me? Oh wait! You've already done all that! Face it; you've already caused me as much harm as you can."

You have no idea what I can do to you mortal worm.

"Save it," Naruto replied unimpressed. "I know all about how the seal works. You can't control me or hurt me unless I allow it. And hurting me doesn't really help you anyway, since if I die you die."

He heard the Kyuubi growl. I cannot let you die, that is true. But I can let you suffer. Perhaps the next time your mate is in danger I won't give you any of my power until your own life is in jeopardy.

"If Moka dies because you won't give me power when I need it I'll kill myself."

The Kyuubi glared down at him. They both knew he was speaking the truth. What do you want human?

"I want you to give me free access to your power whenever I need it."

No.

"The stronger I am the better chance I have of surviving." Naruto argued. "It's in your own interest to give me more power."

It is in my own interest to keep you alive. If you have too much power you will be all the more likely to kill yourself. The Kyuubi paused, and Naruto got the sneaking suspicion the fox was plotting something. However, there might be a way for you to gain greater access to my power safely.

The sudden friendly tone set off all sorts of alarm bells. But he was still interested. "I'm listening," Naruto said warily.

Listen carefully; you will need to do exactly as I say.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto opened his eyes and was once again beneath a tree. "Damn baka fox," he muttered. "And I've got to be an even bigger baka to think about listening to him." He stood up and began heading back to the dorm.

XXXXXXXXXX

On his way back he decided to take a slightly different more, 'scenic' route. He went by a spot with a large pond that actually had living trees and vegetation. The sun was just rising and it was pretty. It being so early in the morning he'd expected to have the whole area to himself. He was a bit surprised to see a girl standing on the water's edge skipping stones.

She had purple hair and was wearing a very casual outfit that included purple and white stockings. As he was running past she turned around to look at him. She seemed to have a lollipop in her mouth; he thought she looked kind of cute, though nowhere near Moka's league.

He flashed her a big smile and waved as he ran past. "Good morning!"

The girl gawked at him in obvious surprise. She didn't say anything but managed to raise a hand in a half hearted gesture as he went by.

Kind of cute but shy, he decided. As he ran past he forgot about her as he had many things on his mind.

XXXXXXXXXX

He first noticed it when he went down to the dorm cafeteria to eat. Conversations stopped and all eyes turned to him. He'd gotten used to getting a few jealous or unhappy looks from people. But this was different. Everyone stopped to look up at him. When he sat down at a table the two others sitting there quickly got up to leave. The looks themselves had changed too. He recognized the looks, he'd seen them often enough. They're afraid of me.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Naruto-kun!" As soon as he exited the dorm Kurumu ran up to him. "Are you all right?!" She grabbed his face and shoved it into her chest. "There are some crazy rumors going around."

"You're smothering him you big chested bimbo." Yukari said.

Kurumu released her death grip and Naruto took a moment to regain his breath. "What sort of rumors?"

"There's talk that you were attacked by a bunch of rogue monsters and that you killed one of them after getting a demonic aura. The whole school is talking about it." Kurumu said. "It's not true is it?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Yukari said. "Only the most powerful monsters have demonic auras. A human can't have one!"

"So you weren't attacked yesterday?" Kurumu asked.

The girls were putting him in a tight spot. He'd been planning to tell them nothing at all about the fight, and to say that Moka had left the academy for a few days. But if the whole school already knew… "Let's go somewhere quiet and talk."

They both looked stunned.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So you wound up rescuing Moka and killing their leader?" Kurumu said amazed.

"And Moka-chan is really all right?" Yukari said worriedly.

"Yeah, I really did that, and Moka-chan is fine. She just needs to sleep for the next few days to recover her strength." He'd told them a carefully censored version of events. A version that left out the Kyuubi's power or the fact he'd seen Moka naked.

"And you don't have a demonic aura, right?" Kurumu asked.

He gave her an easy smile. "I'm human, how could I have one?" Both girls nodded, accepting that.

"So I guess these rumors about you having an aura are just an attack on you," Yukari said unhappily. "What are we going to do about them?"

"We aren't going to do anything. I'll handle it; I've gone through worse so it'll be fine. I don't want you girls getting into any trouble trying to help me."

"But you don't want us to try and defend you from these lies?" Yukari pleaded.

"No," Naruto said firmly. "Once people make their minds up about something it's almost impossible to get them to change. Believe me, this is something I know about. If you two start trying to argue with people you'll just make yourselves targets. So please don't do anything on my behalf."

The girls were unhappy with that, but finally agreed.

"Well there's at least one good thing about this situation." Kurumu said.

"What's that?" Yukari asked.

Kurumu grabbed a hold of Naruto's arm, careful to make sure her breasts were pressing against it. "Since Moka's asleep I get to walk Naruto to class. Yahoo!"

Yukari immediately grabbed onto his other arm. "Don't get too excited you blue haired cow! He still belongs to Moka!"

That was how he wound up walking to class that day with a pair of girls hanging off of him.

XXXXXXXXXX

By the time he was done with club activities it was obvious just how much things had changed. People in the hall gave him a wide berth. In class they avoided looking at him. When he did catch them looking they immediately turned away. This was different from how it had been back in the village. Back then he'd seen plenty of fear in people's eyes, but even more hatred. They had been willing to glower at or threaten a small child. Here no one was about to come up to him and scream abuse in his face. It was definitely better than what it had been like in Konoha growing up.

But it was worse than it had been when he was just a, 'half breed.' At least then he was still accepted by the other students. His position was certainly low, but at least he could still interact with them normally. But now he felt like an outcast.

XXXXXXXXXX

That evening he went out into the woods to find a nice quiet spot.

"I really must be nuts to do this," he muttered.

The problem was he wanted the Kyuubi's power. Having had it once he wanted to be able to call on it whenever he needed. If he was going to survive, if he was going to protect Moka and the others he had to be as powerful as possible. And besides, he felt he had a right to the power inside of him. He'd spent his whole life being made to suffer because he was a jinchuuriki. It seemed only fair he should get the benefits.

He didn't trust the Kyuubi, that went without saying. But it was in the Kyuubi's own interest for him to get stronger. This was a way to do that… maybe. But in any case he was willing to try. He took out a kunai and cut his hand. Ninja had their own way to summon beings. It required a contract and a specific series of hand signs. But the Kyuubi had agreed to lend him the power to summon using the demonic method. He spread some of his blood on the ground and stepped back. He felt the Kyuubi's power suddenly filling him. He felt his face and hands transform and saw the demonic aura once more surround him with a cloak. Moka and the other s called it a demonic aura, but in his mind he thought of it as red chakra. Since the Kyuubi had given him the power he needed for this he concentrated and spoke the words.

"Come forth, I summon you."

With a burst of flame and heat a man appeared directly in front of him. He was a bit taller than Naruto and had two weird dots above his eyes. He looked at Naruto in shock that very quickly turned to anger. "Who are you? How did you bring me here?"

"I summoned you," Naruto said calmly.

The stranger stared at him; he could obviously see and feel the demonic aura. "That is impossible! I am Kuyou, a youkai kitsune! Only the great lord himself could summon me!"

I am the great Lord Kyuubi!! A deep voice boomed out. Now kneel before me and hear the commands of your Lord!