Black Flames Dance In The Wind: Rise of Naruto

by DevilKeys Writing

A storm is brewing. Casting a black shadow over the world, threatening to incinerate it and scatter its ashes to the winds. Humanity's only hope lies with a young boy. A boy sacrificed for their protection, yet condemned to a life of hatred and abuse. Will the pariah become the savior? Or will mankind be cast into oblivion by a monster of their own creation?

21. When Life Gives You Lemons

I'm back, and I'm here with chapter twenty-one!

I'm truly sorry for the delay, but some idiot ran into a telephone pole down the road from my home and the city sent out some guys to replace it. They cut off my power right when I was nearly done with this, and I hadn't saved it, so I had to start all over once they fixed everything. But, in their rush to get it done before the blizzard hit, they cut my phone lines, and didn't reconnect them before they left! So my DSL connection was shot.

Then I called AT&T to come and fix it. Well, they went to the wrong house twice, then when they did come I wasn't home. They said they needed access to the basement to figure out what was wrong. PRETTY DAMN OBVIOUS WITH THE SAGGING WIRES HANGING OFF THE HOUSE!

So I had to make another appointment, for which they didn't appear until three days later. Then they walked around the back, saw the wires, and said that it was a simple fix, and that they DIDN'T NEED ACCESS TO THE BASEMENT! I asked them if they needed to turn the power off to fix it, they said no...Then cut it off twenty minutes later, while I was working on this again. So that's twice I've lost my progress!

They didn't bother to cut the power back on before they left either. So I had to make yet another appointment and wait until the next MORNING for them to fix it. Well, they came...at seven-thirty in the EVENING! So every time I've replied to PMs and reviews had been at the library or a friend's house.

And now I'm back, and I can honestly say that I'll never trust a phone company again.

The promised lemon is here, and it's a doozy, if I do say so myself.

Enjoy, my loyal readers, and thank you for waiting!

XXXX

The Corpser glared and snarled. "Is that so? Even with your newfound power, you'd need an entire army to even stand a chance!"

Naruto growled. "Don't tempt me."

As the two demons faced off, Isaro tried to stabilize Hinata. But it was no use. She had lost too much blood, and her internal injuries were too much for any lone medic, no matter how skilled and experienced, to heal. All he could do was prolong her life and hope they could get the girl to the hospital. If one field medic couldn't save her, maybe the entire hospital staff could.

Naruto felt something was off. He didn't know what, but he knew there was something wrong with him, and not in a particularly bad sense. He felt stronger, borderline invincible even. This wasn't the rush he felt when transforming into Noctis. No, this was something else entirely.

"It's the moon." Nightmare said.

'What?' Naruto thought to his other tenant in confusion.

"Oh, right, it was daytime when you came here. Well, there's a full moon tonight."

'And that matters, why?'

"Certain demons gain power increases, or decreases, depending on how much light the moon is reflecting, and in what wavelength. You, while in this form, are one of them. Normally your human side would nullify this effect, with the exception of extreme conditions, and you'd never notice anything out of the ordinary. But, as Noctis, you're a hundred percent demon, thus you feel the effects full-on. A full moon causes a moderate power increase and magnified emotional extremes, like rage. A new moon, obviously, doesn't do anything to you. A blue moon will cause your demonic blood to go dormant, rendering you completely human for one night. The red moon has the exact opposite effect, cranking the demon in you up to eleven.

Normally, you'd be weaker than that big bug. But tonight just isn't his night, so show him the true meaning of pain!" Nightmare was also not very happy about the Corpser harming the one he had dubbed "Sex Kitten".

Naruto returned his mind to the battle just in time to avoid being impaled for a second time. He looked at the Corpser's legs and saw that the two he had effectively disabled were semi-functional once again. The joint of the first had healed enough to support the creature's weight again, and the second was growing its clawed tip back.

"Just stand still and accept your fate, worm. You are still nothing compared to me!" the Corpser snarled.

Naruto just grunted as he flung his battle chain at one of the creature's legs, using chakra to control in and make it wrap around the appendage. Naruto smirked and ran in between the spider's other legs and under its body. Yanking on the chain resulted in the Corpser's leg being pulled back and under its own body, causing it to flip onto its back, exposing its semi-vulnerable underbelly.

While his opponent was down, Naruto flew through a set of demon seals for a technique he didn't recall ever learning.

"Summon!" Naruto slammed his hand into the ground, causing a large explosion, blanketing Naruto and whatever he had summoned in a cloud of smoke, fire, and ash.

Eleven figures darted out of the cloud, one heading for the group of humans, and the other ten descending upon the incapacitated onigumo(Demon Spider).

Naruto came to a stop near Isaro and the mortally wounded Hinata.

"What is her condition?" Naruto asked his friend.

Isaro turned to look at the knight behind him and tensed. "Who the hell are you?!" he reached for his katana.

"I'm Naruto! Well...not right now, but that's not the point. What is her condition?" Naruto added more force to his words.

Isaro gulped. "I can't stop the bleeding, and she's going into shock. I'm just a field medic! If something like this happened on the battlefield, my training dictates that I end their suffering if I can't get them back to a proper medical facility!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Then let's get her out of here and to a hospital!"

"We won't make it! She's already lost way too much blood, the risk of causing further injury by moving her at the speeds it would take to get her there in time is too great." Isaro looked at the girl sadly as she grimace and squirmed in pain.

Naruto looked at the girl as well, and felt like someone had rammed a spear through his heart when he saw her expression.

'No, I won't fail!' the boy-turned-demon steeled his resolve once again.

"What's the extent of her injuries?" maybe he could help to stabilize Hinata until they could get her some real medical attention.

"That thing really did a number on her. The initial strike all but destroyed her small intestine, and her large intestine has been lacerated. I'm fairly certain her lungs are beginning to fill with blood, but I can't do anything to help her. As of now, gravity and our hands are the only things holding her guts in. If I flip her over onto her stomach, then her stomach is going to come out. It was also torn by her own body weight when the creature lifted her, so her stomach acid it also wreaking a fair bit of havoc in there." a violent tremor rocked the entire structure as they saw the Corpser get smashed into the floor by whatever it was fighting at the time.

"As I said before, blood loss is one of the major issues here, as is her internal bleeding. Whatever isn't on the floor right now is bleeding into her organs. The other major issue is her spine and kidneys. Her kidneys were destroyed when she was impaled, and her spine was severed, so she's paralyzed from the waist down. And the cherry on top of the shit sundae: that stinger seemed to have some kind of toxin in it. A powerful one.

So, in short, she's going to die. Either from drowning, blood loss, internal bleeding, the venom, or Kami knows what else. The only thing we can do now is...give her a quick death." Isaro made little effort to suppress the tremor in his voice. 'This girl...It's always the ones who don't deserve it.' he slowly reached for his katana, but was stopped by Naruto.

"No...don't...I...I'll do it..." Naruto felt his guilt tear at his heart, at his very soul. He had failed...He had lied to Hinata, his very first friend. He had vowed to protect her, to never allow harm to come to her. But here she was, about to die in some of the most slow and painful ways imaginable...all because of him.

'Hinata...I'm so sorry.' Naruto tried to say these words, but they wouldn't come out of his mouth. He knew that if he said them, Hinata would forgive him for his failure. But, in his own eyes, Naruto was not worthy of forgiveness. He had broken a promise, one of the most important ones he had ever made.

Making his way to her side, Naruto dragged his blade along the ground lifelessly. The horrible screeching noise causing Hinata to grimace and look at the source of the sound, only to see an armored demon holding a blade above her neck.

"N-Naruto-kun...?" she shuddered, then hacked up more blood.

Hinata looked up at Naruto with teary eyes and a sad and pained smile. She seemed to be resigned to her fate, as she gave a slight nod to Naruto and closed her eyes, awaiting to be beheaded by her "secret" crush.

'I regret only one thing...' Hinata thought as another tears slid down her cheek, mingling with the blood coming from the corner of her mouth. 'I never got to tell you...'

Naruto tried to steady his trembling hands, why was this so hard? He had killed hundreds of people without remorse. Given, they deserved what they got, but it had totally desensitized him to the act of killing. So why was it so hard to snuff out one more human?

'Is it because...she's one of my..."precious people"?' was that what a precious person was? Someone that you could never harm? Someone that you could never strike down, no matter the circumstances ?

Shaking his head to clear out the rampant thoughts, Naruto raised his giant blade over his head, preparing to end the Hyūga heiress' life in one quick, fluid motion, as he had done to many an assailant in the past. But he still couldn't control his shaking, almost causing him to lose his grip on the sword.

He heard a scream off to the side, but didn't bother to look, as he knew what he saw would make him lose whatever nerve he had left.

Anko was fighting to get to Hinata before Naruto could execute her. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew that demon wasn't Naruto, at least not the one she knew.

Mitara and Inaro were holding the Tokubetsu Jōnin back, knowing exactly what Naruto was doing, and why he was doing it. It was standard field medic training: If a shinobi has fallen, and there is no way to save him/her, the present medic-nin must end their suffering with one quick and precise blow, and burn the body afterward. Said medic must also stand before the shinobi council, with at least one witness, to prove that their actions were justified.

Both ANBU knew that the slaying of an heiress to the most powerful clan in Konoha would get anyone a one-way ticket to public execution, whether their reasons were valid or not. Someone like Naruto? They'd destroy him as soon as he stepped foot in the door. Neither knew what Naruto would do after this, but they knew that he would most likely not remain in the village.

"Anko-sempai, stop this!" Inaro shouted.

"There's nothing we can do for her, she's as good as dead!"

Anko snarled at the ANBU. "NO! There has to be another way!"

"Either Naruto finishes her, or Isaro will. It is required of all field medics to give their comrades a quick death if nothing can be done to save them!" Mitara shouted over a sudden roar of pain from the Corpser.

Anko's struggles ceased and she hung her head. She knew this whole incident was her fault, as she was the reason Hinata was there in the first place. When she had dragged her student along, something in her gut told her to leave the girl behind, but she ignored it, thinking that nothing could happen to her while she was surrounded by powerful ninjas. Given, she was in no way prepared for a giant spider, but she had still taken the risk of bringing a mere Genin on a mission that seemed to require a Jōnin and three ANBU to accomplish. And now that she looked back on it, she knew that was the dumbest decision she had made since trusting Orochimaru.

"Hinata...I'm sorry." Anko wept on Mitara's shoulder as he tried to calm her.

Meanwhile, Naruto's summons were each giving the Corpser their own specialized beat-downs. The Guardians were simply too much for the onigumo.

Most of them were simply too fast for the behemoth to hit in such a confined space, and Reformo was able to, much to everyone's surprise, overpower the Corpser. The shark/human hybrid had grabbed the spider's leg when it had tried to impale him, and picked the bigger demon up, albeit with great effort, swung it over his head, and slammed it into the ground with tremendous force. The impact caused in a tremor akin to a moderate earthquake and created a respectable crater.

Pondera and Veneratio just stared at the scene. "Damn. I knew Reformo was strong, but...damn."

Being a demon of very few words, Veneratio just nodded.

"Yes, Reformo is the strongest of us all, when it comes to brute strength. With it, he makes up for what he lacks in land speed and intelligence..." the old demon, Ignotus, hopped over a rock that was thrown at his head by Reformo, "and self-control."

The ninja demon, Affectus, appeared in front of Pondera. "Sir, the onigumo is much more resilient than we thought. It seems that most of our attacks amount to little more than pin-pricks to it." he spoke in a completely calm tone, like there wasn't an enraged, thirty foot tall demon spider behind him.

Clementia floated down next to Pondera. "What should we do? We'd be more than enough for this demon if we could get under its armor, but none of our attacks and pierce its hide."

Pondera rubbed his chin. "Hmm...Have you tried cracking it?" he ventured.

Clementia nodded. "Both Reformo and Morium have tried blunt-force damage, but their attacks just temporarily knock the creature down."

Pondera sighed and spared at glance in Naruto's direction. The shinobi he was talking to seemed to be screaming something at him, but Pondera couldn't make it out over the Corpser's roars. Whatever he was yelling, it must have been bad news, as he witnessed Naruto's shoulders slump, like gravity had just increased its pull on him tenfold.

'Well, I guess he's out...What the hell?' Pondera turned to fully look at Naruto as he circled around the wounded girl and placed his massive sword at her neck.

The other noticed this and turned to look in Naruto's direction as well.

"What in the nine levels of hell is that boy doing? The girl isn't hurt that badly, and I hardly think one such at her deserves a death from a blade like that one." Ignotus scratched his bald head in confusion, one of the few times he actually validated his name.

Veneratio spoke for the first time in his gruff and hollow voice. "She is but a human, old fool. While an injury like that would be little more than a painful inconvenience to us, it is fatal to a human. Especially one as weak as she is. Sure, she's stronger than the average human, but that's not saying much at all."

Ignotus shrugged off the "old fool" comment. "I suppose...After all, what isn't stronger than the average human?" he chuckled.

Affectus shook his head. "It's a pity. Though she is almost embarrassingly weak for a shinobi, I saw much potential in her. And the key to that potential, I suspect, is the one who is about to end her life...Once again, such a pity."

Pondera's eyes widened as he sidestepped a flying Morium. "What the-?!" he didn't have time to finish his sentence before he was hit by a flying skeleton.

"...Ow..." Pondera muttered.

Vereor smacked Pondera in the back of his head. "Shut up. You have no right to complain about pain...You didn't just get hit but a one-hundred ton spider...though you should have been." the living skeleton fired another volley of fireballs at the Corpser's face, more to distract than do any damage.

"Seriously, a little help here?" Morium walked by, glaring at the demons that were no longer fighting, then leapt back into the fray.

Pondera just snorted and pushed Vereor off, allowing him to stand. His battle chain shot out of the right sleeve of his white robe and glowed a ghostly pale green.

"I think his head would look wonderful in my trophy room."

Naruto still couldn't control his trembling hands. In fact, it had gotten even worse, tremors now rocking his entire body, causing his armor to vibrate. Eventually Naruto released his grip on the sword and fell to his knees.

"I...I can't do it...I'm sorry, Hinata, I've failed you again...Hinata?" Naruto looked at the girl, only to find her skin drained of all color and her chest completely still. She had slipped away during Naruto's inner struggle with his heart.

Hanging his head in shame and sadness, Naruto place his hand one the deceased girl's cheek, idly noticing that, while in his current form, his hand nearly encompassed her face. He wiped away the last tear that fell from Hinata's eyes.

Naruto's sorrow suddenly turned to raw fury. He was furious at himself, at the Corpser, at Anko, at everything. Furious at the Corpser for killing one of his precious people, one of his first, as a matter of fact. Furious at himself for not being able to save her, thus breaking his promise. And furious at Anko for bringing the poor girl into the hellhole that was the Namikaze Compound. He assumed that the Sandaime had told them of the dangers they could possibly face, making the fact that Anko still brought her student all the more infuriating to Naruto.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Nightmare was still in the process of finding a place to lock Noctis away when he felt it. Naruto's unholy rage. He wasn't even the target of such anger, yet the demonic knight still shuddered involuntarily. He honestly pitied whatever had incited such fury in the boy.

But it wasn't the intense anger that worried the demon, it was the heavy sorrow that was laced with it.

He wasn't the only one to pick up on the sorrow either. Noctis grinned insanely and turned to look at Nightmare, a cruel glint in his eyes.

"Well, old man, it seems that I'll get my revenge on you two sooner than I thought." Noctis laughed.

Nightmare looked at the other demon. "What are you babbling about now?"

Noctis gave no reply, just a sudden burst of power, tossing Nightmare away and releasing Noctis of his hold. The black-armored demon ran down the winding corridors that made up Naruto's mind, knowing exactly where he was going, and how to get there.

Nightmare, after shaking away his confusion at the sudden turn of events, quickly ran after the other knight.

It was at this moment Naruto's consciousness entered the mindscape, leaving his body on autopilot. He needed a few seconds to think without distractions. But, he wouldn't get his wish, as he stepped out of a side corridor, only to be nearly bulldozed by a black blur.

"What the hell?" he muttered to himself, deciding to follow the blur, not liking the fact that there was something unknown running rampant in his mind.

Naruto was joined in his pursuit by Nightmare, who just rubbed the back of his head and shrugged sheepishly, confirming Naruto's suspicions that it was Noctis they were chasing.

"How did he get away?"

"That was your fault. Whatever the hell happened out there got you extremely pissed, and more than a bit sad. Noctis picked up on this, and, since he's part of the Soul Edge, he feeds on anger and sorrow. He was given a sudden power boost and he threw me off, then bolted on me. I don't know where he's going, all I know is that we can't let him get there."

Naruto sighed. "...Hinata's dead."

This almost made Nightmare falter in his run. "WHAT?! That overgrown pest killed Sex Kitten?! Screw Noctis, get your ass back out there and tear that bug apart!" Nightmare growled.

"Believe me, I want to. But...I need some time to think."

"About what?!"

"..." Naruto didn't respond, and Nightmare decided not to push the matter, as it would do nothing but make things worse.

Noctis couldn't stop himself from cackling with insane glee when felt himself nearing his destination. It was just beyond Kyuubi's chamber, but Noctis had nothing to worry about. Kyuubi was still confined to her cage.

"Just a bit further and I can finally carry out my mi-!" Noctis was cutoff by a fist burying itself in his gut and launching him further back into the corridor he had just come from.

"End of the line, lowlife." a commanding, feminine voice hissed.

Noctis looked up to see Kyuubi, in all of her terrifying glory, standing above him in her human form.(1)

"What the fuck?! You're supposed to be in that cage!" Noctis screamed, not believing that he had been so close, only to run into a massive roadblock in the form of a demon that was infinitely more powerful than himself.

"Yes...you are." a monotonous voice called out from the darkness of the corridor behind Noctis.

Naruto walked out from the shadows, Nightmare behind him giving an apologetic look to Kyuubi, knowing that she was in trouble now.

Kyuubi gulped, feeling fear for only the second time in many millennia. "Um...Hello, Kit...What are you doing here?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the humanoid fox demon. "I came here to think. I left the Guardians to deal with the Corpser. But that isn't important. What is important, however, is the question of why you are outside of the seal."

Kyuubi sighed heavily, knowing that she had been found out. She couldn't think of a believable excuse for her being where she was, and she knew that Naruto wouldn't take her word on anything now.

"The truth is...I've been free of the seal for some time now."

Naruto rose an eyebrow behind his mask. "How long?"

"...Four years."

"So, from the time I was turned into a hanyou, up to now, you've been free to wander around in my mind?"

Kyuubi nodded. "I'm sorry for not telling you, but I-" she was cutoff by Naruto raising his hand to silence her.

"You can explain your reasons later, right now we have to get him" he glared at Noctis, "into a secure area." he looked at Nightmare and nodded.

Said demon quickly grabbed Noctis and dragged him back into the depths of Naruto's mind.

Naruto turned back to Kyuubi, who suddenly wished she was back in her cage, where she was relatively safe from Naruto's mental wrath.

But the masked boy didn't seem all too interested in punishing Kyuubi, or even talking to her at all.

Kyuubi noticed this and walked up to Naruto. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

Naruto looked at the demoness in confusion. "Don't you know? I thought you were watching."

Kyuubi shook her head. "Once you went full demon, our mental link was cut. I don't know about anything that happened after you getting blown through the wall."

Naruto sighed. "That thing...it...killed Hinata...I couldn't do anything to save her...I failed her." his legs suddenly felt weak and he held onto Kyuubi to keep from falling.

The fox demon's eyes widened at the new information, and a pang of guilt went through her heart. She knew that she was partially responsible for this, as it was her idea to leave Hinata in Anko's care.

And she could plainly see how the Hyūga's death would effect Naruto so much. She was his very first friend, even though they had both forgotten about each other.

But there was one thing that confused Kyuubi. "What do you mean you failed her? It's not like you let her die, I'm sure you did all that you could to save her."

Naruto snarled. "That's just it; I didn't do enough! I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't strong enough, my reaction time was too slow! I could have prevented this if I had gotten her out of there as soon as I saw her...Why did Anko even bring her here? What was the point?!"

Kyuubi placed her hands on Naruto's shoulders. "Listen to me. You didn't fail anyone. You tried your best, and that's all anyone can ask for. You can't blame yourself just because, this one time, your best wasn't enough."

Naruto hung his head. "...I promised her..." he whispered.

Kyuubi cocked her head to the side. "You promise who, Hinata? Promised her what?"

"I promised...that I would protect her. That I wouldn't allow any harm to come to her, from anyone, even her own family. It was six years ago, after I saved her from those Kumo shinobi that tried to kidnap her. I knew how her own clan treated her, how her own father treated her, and it made me sick. I couldn't just sit back and let it continue, so I made her a promise. I vowed to protect her at all costs. I promised her that whomever tried to harm her, in any way, would deal with me." Naruto squeezed Kyuubi's arm tightly, almost painfully. "I promised her...then I forgot about her. For all these years...what she must have gone through, all because I didn't keep my promise." he hung his head.

Kyuubi winced as Naruto's grip on her arm became tight enough that, if she were anything less than what she was, her bones would have snapped like dry twigs.

"Naruto, what's wro-?!" Kyuubi stopped dead, fear making its way into her eyes.

She could feel it, the Darkness welling up inside of Naruto. He was losing control of his emotions, and, as a result, he was also losing his control over the element of Darkness.

"Naruto, you have to calm yourself! You can't lose control, not now!" Kyuubi pleaded, but Naruto appeared to be ignoring her.

"I failed her...I broke my promise...I abandoned her, a comrade in need...as Hatake would say...I am worse than scum." Naruto lifted Kyuubi into the air with ease and stared into her eyes. "I am not worthy of forgiveness...I am barely worthy of life...I will avenge her death...and you will not stop me." Naruto's white mask was slowly taken over by dark tendrils, the kanji that decorated the surface turning bright red, the kanji for Darkness actually glowing.

"Naruto...regain control...don't lose yourself to this." tears welled up in Kyuubi's eyes as she witnessed Naruto's transformation and realized that she had lost him, possibly forever, to the Darkness.

Naruto tossed Kyuubi aside, then slowly faded away as he regained control of his body.

(Outside World)

No one knew just what had happened to Naruto. One second he seemed to be stricken with grief over Hinata's death, then he went into some kind of trance. Some of them, namely Anko, Mitara, Inaro, Kurohane, and Zabuza, were going to check on him, but were blasted away by an intense wave of dark chakra from the demonized boy.

Naruto's body shuddered once, then he lifted his head, the kanji for Darkness glowing brightly on his forehead. He slowly got to his feet and turned to the Corpser.

"You have slain someone that I cared for...In exchange for her soul, I shall take yours. Prepare to suffer." Naruto hissed.

The Guardians saw their new master and backed off from their fight. They could tell something wasn't right, and that it would serve them better not to interfere in the events that were to follow.

The Corpser, sensing the purely demonic malice and rage rolling off of this new threat, quickly turned to engage it.

"You wish to avenge the death of such a lowly human?! What are you? You are certainly not a demon, for you have no sense of pride! Fighting to protect such weak creatures, you truly are a disgrace to all demons. Even with her soft spot for humans, I don't know how even Kyuubi could stomach you." the giant spider growled.

Naruto tensed, his grip on the Soul Edge tightening.

The Corpser saw this and chuckled darkly. "What? You didn't think I knew about the demon you hold within you? You thought I didn't know about what you are, or rather, what you were turned into? I know your secrets, hanyou!"

The human occupants of the combat zone, minus Zabuza, looked at Naruto in shock.

'He's a half-demon?!' they all thought.

None of them thought any less of him for it. If anything, they held him at an even higher level of respect, knowing that he could and would go further than any of them ever could.

'Well, now I know why I can hardly ever win against him when we spar.' Mitara smirked, already thinking of whys to use this new information to get the upper hand on Naruto, and keep it, in their next spar.

Anko just grinned half-heartedly, her student's death still weighing heavily on her conscience, as he it would for many years to come. 'Maybe punishing Naru-chan for not telling me that he was a hanyou with make me feel better...'

Kurohane already knew, and was hoping that this new revelation would scare off some of her competition for Naruto's heart. But it seemed to be having the opposite effect. Chigusa and Kiriko were looking at Naruto with pure awe and admiration, and no small hint of love. Whether it was sibling love, or something else, the summon didn't know. But Haku's expression was the one that truly worried her. The intense blush, the far away look, and the small drops of blood coming from her nose were quite disconcerting.

Haku was indeed having naughty thoughts about Naruto, or more specifically, what he could do to her. 'He could...actually harm me while we're doing it...He could absolutely break me, ravage me in every way possible...The human sex slave and her hanyou master...' Haku promptly fainted.

Chigusa and Kiriko's thoughts were along almost identical to each other's. 'Wow...Nii-chama is even more powerful than we thought he was!'

The now possessed Naruto didn't pay attention to any of this, he was completely focused on avenging Hinata's death and dealing out the most painful mutilation he could think of to the Corpser.

Blurring out of sight, Naruto reappeared one the onigumo's head, sword held high.

The eye on the Soul Edge closed, then snapped open, revealing an icy blue eye, almost identical to its master's normal eyes.

"Devil Charge - Cerberus: Frozen Tomb!" Naruto, using a technique he didn't even know, slammed his blade down onto the spider's head, cracking its helmet-like exoskeleton, and completely encasing the creature in black ice.

The Corpser managed to thrash a bit before it was entombed, and let out an unearthly roar as the ice reached its head and silence it. The attack had sent a frozen shockwave through the demon's body which, upon reaching the ground, slowly crawled back up to the original point of impact, leaving a sheet of diamond-like black ice in its wake.

Naruto knew the creature wouldn't be held at bay for long, so he jumped back to ground level and readied himself for the oncoming assault from the surely injured and enraged beast.

Sure enough, the ice began to shudder and crack as the Corpser's eyes glowed a furious orange. With a wave of demonic chakra, the giant arachnid burst forth from its confines and glared menacingly at Naruto.

Cracks littered the surface of the beast's natural armor, caused by the sudden and violent drop in temperature from its normally five-hundred degree hide.

"You...INSOLENT WHELP! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" the Corpser screamed as it saw its own dark red blood ooze from the cracks in its armor.

Naruto gazed at the demon with eyes devoid of life. He found no pleasure in the onigumo's pain, as he normally would have, he just felt empty. This was his task, and he had to accomplish it at any cost, even if it meant his own life.

'At least then I could die with honor, not as the disgrace that I am now.' the Dark Naruto thought.(2)

Dark Naruto looked at the other demon. "Thermal shock. I simply cooled you off, and your heated exoskeleton cracked. You have weak spots now, and I intend to exploit them."

The Corpser growled angrily. "I have no weaknesses, Traitor, I am the supreme being here, not you!" it smashed on of its legs down on the ground in front of Naruto, not quite being able to reach him for some reason. The Corpser looked on in shock as its leg cracked more, fragments actually breaking off and falling to the floor. "WHAT?!"

Dark Naruto snorted. "Your natural armor is immensely strong, yes, but even the slightest breach causes the entire section to weaken. With the damage I've done to you, you can't even walk without the risk of your legs literally falling apart on you. Your size will be your downfall today."

The Corpser roared and attempted to smash Naruto again. Dark Naruto simply batted the limb aside with the Soul Edge, breaking off a large chunk that included the deadly claw tip. The beast roared in pain and held its injured limb above the ground, not wanting to put any of its weight on the appendage.

Dark Naruto took advantage of the demon's weakness and flung his battle chain at the monster's head. The chain wrapped around the creature's neck and Dark Naruto jerked the chain down with all of his might, smashing the Corpser's face into the ground.

While the demon was down, Dark Naruto began to flash through handseals, not obstructed by his gauntlets in the least.

"Demon Skill: Hell's Binding Chains!" Dark Naruto shouted.

The ground started to rumble as it had when the Corpser had made its appearance, then huge black chains erupted from below the Corpser and wrapped themselves around its body. The Corpser tried to fight against them, but it had absolutely no hope of breaking its bonds, as they were made to hold demons much stronger than himself. Everytime the demon so much as twitched, glowing orange runes would appear along the length of the chains and begin to drain the beast of energy.

"How...How do you know such a powerful technique?! You do not have access to the Vaults of the Underworld!" the Corpser screamed, referring to the massive vaults in the Underworld in which all known demonic technique scrolls were stored.

"I have a S-class demon and an even stronger tailed demon lord residing within my body, so I've picked up more than a few tricks." Dark Naruto just assumed that was the case, as he honestly didn't remember learning either of the two techniques he had used on the Corpser.

Dark Naruto walked up to the demon, seeing that it was now weak enough to kill. He raised the Soul Edge, but suddenly stopped before he brought it down. He looked over to Hinata's body and grew enraged.

"...No, I haven't punished you enough." Dark Naruto walked over to one of the Corpser's legs.

"What are you doing, Traitor?!" the giant spider growled.

Dark Naruto didn't reply. He placed the jagged blade of the Soul Edge on the creatures now exposed skin and began the process of sawing its leg off.

The Corpser screamed in agony as it felt its muscle and flesh alternate between being cut by the blade and melted by the poison. It could also feel huge amounts of said poison running through its veins, corroding them and causing severe internal bleeding.

Dark Naruto seemed to actually take some form of twisted joy from the demon's screams and the spurts of blood that were drenching him. It felt right to him, like he was put on this earth for the singular purpose of causing this demon extreme amounts of pain. Like this grotesque mutilation was what he was meant to do.

Dark Naruto proceeded to saw off seven of the Corpser's legs, opting to rip the last one off with his bare hands. He made sure he was absolutely covered in the demon's blood. He had done everything he said he was going to do to the Corpser. He had torn it apart, he had bathed in its blood. Now all that was left was to execute it and take its soul.

He was about to do just that until he got an idea.

'This demon's soul must be worth at least a few hundred human ones. Maybe I can have the Soul Edge absorb this demon's body along with its soul, and have it repaired for later use as a summon. It's supposed to work for me when I die.' Dark Naruto shrugged, then plunged his blade into the Corpser's skull.

The onigumo wailed in agony as its soul was ripped from its barely living body. Its wailing abruptly stopped when the chains binding its midsection to the ground constricted it with such force that its body was split in two. With its death, the Corpser's body slowly crumbled into black ashes, which were also absorbed into the Soul Edge's eye.

After accomplishing his task, Dark Naruto walked back to Hinata's cold corpse, kneeling next to it like she was some kind of fallen Queen.

"I have avenged you, Hinata. My your soul rest in peace." he placed his hand on her cheek again, only for Hinata's body to suddenly jerk to life and grab his arm.

Both Dark Naruto and Hinata were encased in a bubble of bright light, inside of which Dark Naruto could be heard screaming. The light bubble eventually decreased in size until it was a small orb right over Dark Naruto's heart. The ball of light sank into his chest and his armor turned into black dust that was absorbed into the eye slits of his mask.

His transformation complete, Naruto fell to the side, twitching in pain, but Hinata went still once again.

Naruto slowly sat up and looked around, finding himself surrounded by his friends and summons. He looked from Hinata to Pondera and sighed.

"I guess that's what you meant by your second clue."

Pondera smirked under his hood. "More or less."

Seizonsha leapt onto Naruto's head and began firing questions at him, some in the form of yips and barks, faster than he could answer them.

"Slow do-?" Naruto looked from Seizonsha to Hinata, then back again. "That's it!" he suddenly shot to his feet, taking the hanyou fox with him. "Isaro, is there a way you can temporarily restart her Hinata's heart again? If you can, then I may be able to save her."

Isaro looked at Naruto like he was crazy. "I can't do that, it would require a controlled and concentrated electric shock directly to her heart. My control over Lightning is horrible at best. I'm sorry." Isaro hung his head.

Naruto sighed, then looked at Kiriko, prompting the others to look as well.

Kiriko looked around, noticing everyone staring at her. "What?...Me?! Oh no, this is too much pressure!"

Naruto walked up to her. "You're the only one who can do this. I would do it, but I have just enough chakra left for what I'm planning. If I use any right now I won't be able to save her."

Kiriko looked at her surrogate brother, then at Hinata's corpse, and sighed heavily. "Fine, but only because I feel sorry for her, and you're such a cute little nii-chan!"

Everyone sweatdropped at that.

"...I'm going to let that one slide." Naruto said.

Kiriko knelt down next to Hinata's body and placed her hand directly over her unmoving heart, then nodded to Naruto. Naruto nodded back and his hands glowed green. Hinata's body jerked to life for a second time as Kiriko jump-started her heart, but she only had a few minutes left before she died again.

Naruto instantly placed his glowing hands on Hinata's stomach, quickly healing her.

Hinata looked at Naruto in confusion, she knew that her wounds were much too serious for any one person to heal, no matter how powerful they were.

"N-N-Naruto-k-kun, w-what are y-you do-?!" she suddenly went rigid as Naruto cut his palm and let his blood enter her system.

She could feel the new blood attempting to take over, and her body's natural defenses rushing to keep the foreign substance at bay. Normally, they would have been no match for something as powerful as demon blood. But Naruto's healing technique provided the defenses with a boost that allowed them to keep the blood from taking over. The result was an uneasy balance of human and demon blood. With any luck, the balance would naturally smooth itself out to something as harmonious as Naruto's or Seizonsha's.

It didn't take long for the demonic blood to make its presence known once the procedure was finished. Hinata's wounds began to close on their own, leaving everyone watching slack-jawed and baffled.

Before she passed out, Hinata looked at Naruto with pure love and affection in her eyes, and whispered something that worried him.

"...Master..." Hinata went limp again, but she was breathing normally, and only had a slight pink scar to show for her vicious impalement.

Naruto cocked his head to the side. 'What?' was all he thought before he, too, blacked out.

(Mindscape)

Naruto found himself in front of Kyuubi's cage, peering inside for any sign of the demonic vixen.

"Kyuubi?" he asked into the shadows.

No answer.

"Hello?" he took a step into the cage, phasing through the bars.

Again, nothing.

Shrugging, Naruto turned and walked back out of the cage, decided to search for the fox elsewhere. Since she was free of the seal she could have been anywhere.

After he phased through the bars again, a feminine voice called out to him.

"Naruto...I've been waiting for you." Kyuubi's voice was much quieter, more subdued, than it normally was. It didn't hold the commanding, authoritative tone he was accustomed to, now sounding almost submissive.

Naruto looked up to see Kyuubi in the black and red kimono he had seen her in when she first revealed her human form to him. He noticed that she seemed nervous, almost paranoid, and wouldn't make eye-contact with him.

"Naruto...are you...mad at me?" Kyuubi asked, still unable to bring herself to look her former jailer in the eyes.

Naruto shrugged. "That all depends on how you answer my questions." he captured her eyes with his as she looked up.

The demoness found herself unable to tear her gaze away, noting that the boy's eyes were shining like smoldering embers. A clear sign of the anger boiling just beneath the surface.

"...Ask your questions, I will answer truthfully." Kyuubi steeled her resolve.

Naruto nodded. "So, you've been free of the seal ever since we began to merge when I was eight, correct?" Kyuubi nodded. "My question now is; what exactly have you done with your freedom? Have you tampered with my mind in any way?"

Kyuubi shook her head immediately, almost offended by the accusation. "I would never do anything of the sort. Besides, the seal still has power over me, which is why I can't get out of your body unless you give me a vessel. My soul is tied directly to yours, and we are bound for all eternity. Likely even beyond death. Basically, if I fuck with your mind, the seal fucks with me."

Naruto nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Alright, next question. Some of my more...unpleasant memories have resurfaced. Are they your doing, or something else? Have you messed with the Door?"

Kyuubi, once again, shook her head. "No. I can't say for certain what's causing it, but I have little doubt that it's a side-effect of Noctis' presence in your mind. Whatever's going on, the Soul Edge has something to do with it. As for your other question; again, no. I have, in no way, shape or form, tampered with The Door. I've actually created defenses to keep anything from even getting near it." she proved her statement by waving her hand and having a large black ball appear at her side.

The ball seemed to be made out of shadows, and had eight glowing eyes arranged in a row of four on either side. Kyuubi snapped her fingers and a mouth appeared on the creature. Its jagged teeth moved rapidly around its wide jaws, like the teeth of a chainsaw. Upon closer inspection, Naruto found that each individual tooth rotated like a drill bit.

"I've dubbed these little monsters 'Manglers', for obvious reasons. They act as sentries in your mind, patrolling the entrance maze and every hallway, tearing anything they find to pieces. Nightmare has had more than one encounter with them, but they've left him alone as of late. That is, unless to gets too close to The Door. Now that they know he won't open it, they just follow him around when he gets near it, returning to patrol when he leaves the area."

Kyuubi waved her hand again and another creature appeared. It looked like something straight out of a serial killer's nightmare. It looked to be a human, originally anyway, with its arms and legs cut off, and replaced with the implements used in the amputation. The heavy, machete-like blades that were now its limbs made light, metallic clicks on the ground as it shifted its weight from one "foot" to the other. Bloodied medical gauze and leather straps and belts seemed to hold together the rest of the body, which was horribly lacerated, and also served to hold the metal vest-like armor to its torso. Its head seemed to have been severed, and was held suspended above the body by a strange contraption, which looked like it was growing from the creature's shoulders as opposed to just being attached. On the severed head was a metal "plague doctor" mask.

"This is the Slayer." Kyuubi said, with no small amount of pride. (3)

The Slayer snapped to attention, registering that it was being addressed. Its head blurred for a second as it shook rapidly, making odd clicks, hisses and wheezing grunts.

"He said 'Greetings Master'." Kyuubi clarified.

Naruto just nodded, continuing to stare at the abomination in front of him.

"...I'm pretty sure that thing is a sin against nature itself." Naruto said, shaking his head.

The Slayers head blurred again as it made more of the strange noises that, apparently, made up its language.

"He said 'Thank you'. Huh, that's odd…He seems to be familiar with you." Kyuubi scratched her head in confusion.

Naruto shrugged, then shook his head rapidly, making his mask blur like the Slayer's. He also made the same noises at the creature, relaying his message through its own method of communication.

The Slayer replied in a similar way, then disappeared as it dismissed itself. It was still "on duty", afterall.

Kyuubi looked on in shock. "How...?"

Naruto shrugged again. "What, you think this is my first time meeting him? I've met the others, too. Did you honestly think I didn't know about you? About what you've done in here?" he laughed at Kyuubi's expression. "Don't look so shocked. Afterall, it was you who taught me to be so observant. I know of all your creations; I've even modified some of them. I've known about your freedom for two years now, but I kept quiet about it, as it seemed you had a reason not to tell me. And as long as whatever you did didn't affect me in any negative way, I allowed you to do whatever you wanted. But, now that you know that I know, it's time for the most important question: what was your reason for not telling me?"

Kyuubi just stared at Naruto, jaw almost to the ground and eyes nearly bulging from their sockets. How the hell did he know so much?! Kyuubi wracked her brain for clues, checking her memories for anything she had overlooked that may have hinted at Naruto's awareness to her freedom. She found multiple instances when he had given her strange looks when she gave him certain answers to certain questions. When she had let something slip when she talked to him. She remembered that Naruto seemed almost amused when she tried to cover up her slip of the tongue.

'He's been toying with me the entire time!' Kyuubi's eyes widened at the revelation.

Naruto chuckled when he saw this. "So, I guess you've figured out my little game, just as I figured out yours."

"This entire time...you've been tricking me...ME, the Queen of Kitsune! A ten-thousand year old demon, tricked by a twelve year old hanyou." Kyuubi began to laugh. "I think I trained you a little too well."

Naruto chuckled. "Maybe." his eyes glinted dangerously.

Kyuubi didn't like the look she was getting and took a step back. The chamber around her and Naruto melted away, being replaced with a narrow platform suspended above a pit of molten lava by large chains.

Naruto stood at one end of the platform while Kyuubi stood at the other. He unsheathed the Black Soul and called out to the demoness.

"How about one more session, for old time's sake?"

Kyuubi stared at Naruto, then smirked. "How long has it been?" her clothes morphed into her sparring "uniform"(Same as what she was wearing when she stopped Noctis).

Naruto tightened his grip on the Black Soul, anticipating the upcoming fight. "A year at least. I can't wait to show you just what I'm capable of!"

Kyuubi's smirk widened into a full-blown grin. "Neither can I. I want to see what you've learned in your battles. Are you still the same cocky brat from a year ago, or do you finally have a handle on both your power and your ego?" her normal voice returned.

Naruto simply smirked, though no one could tell. "I assure you, I've matured since then, as you should know. So, what weapon will you be using today? Guan Dao? Bo-Staff? Sword? Or will you simply be fighting tooth-and-claw in an attempt to humiliate me?"

Kyuubi adopted a dangerous, evil smile. "No, I think you've earned the right to face my true weapons of choice."

Wisps of crimson chakra wrapped themselves around Kyuubi's arms, then glowed so brightly that Naruto had to turn away. When he looked back, he saw Kyuubi wielding two silver tonfa swords.

Twirling her blades as only a true master could, Kyuubi raced towards Naruto, not giving him any warning at all. With one slash, it was over, and Naruto was bisected at the waist.

Kyuubi scratched her head. "Well...that was a short fight."

Naruto actually laughed. "Yes, it will be." then he exploded with monstrous force, sending Kyuubi flying back and destroying a section of the platform.

The real Naruto appeared behind Kyuubi, then planted his boot into the back of her skull, causing her to fly forward, straight into another Naruto's Rasengan. Roaring in pain, Kyuubi cut the heads off of the two clones in one three-hundred and sixty degree spinning slash.

"Oh, Naru-chaaaan? Where arrrrrre youuuuuu?" Kyuubi called out in a sing-song tone, the underlying anger causing it to be even more creepy than it normally would have been.

"Riiiight heeeeeerrrrrre." Naruto said in his own sing-song voice.

Kyuubi spun and slashed at her opponent, only to cut nothing but air.

"What the hell?" she muttered to herself, then gasped when she felt hot breath on the back of her neck.

"Say, Kyuubi-sensei, how long has it been since you've taught me something?" Naruto whispered into Kyuubi's ear.

"What are you-? I-I don't know, a f-few weeks?" Kyuubi gasped again as Naruto's arms wrapped around her and his right hand brushed up against her left breast as his arm completed its journey around her.

"Hm? Am I hurting you, sensei?" Naruto placed his chin on Kyuubi's shoulder.

"N-Naruto, that's e-enough." Kyuubi tried to get Naruto to stop, as she thought he really didn't know what he was doing to her.

"...No, It's not enough. Not for me, and certainly not for you." Naruto moved his hand up to her breast again and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Kyuubi released a shuddering moan as one of her many fantasies involving Naruto was coming true. He was groping her, touching her in ways she never thought he would, but had always wished for. She moaned again as Naruto rubbed his thumb over her now erect nipple.

'When the hell did he get under my shirt?!' Kyuubi thought.

"I'm just that good." Naruto answered, like he had just read her mind.

Kyuubi's eyes widened, but she couldn't make a sound. Naruto grabbed her hand and brought it, slowly, up to his masked face. Placing her palm on the forehead, Naruto waited for the demoness to grip it before taking her hand away, allowing his mask to go with it.

Kyuubi shuddered as she saw Naruto's ever-present mask in her hand.

"N-Naruto? W-What are you-Ohhhh, Kami!" Kyuubi yelped in pleasure when Naruto nipped a certain spot on her neck lightly.

Naruto smirked into Kyuubi's skin as he trailed small kisses, nips, and licks around her neck and shoulders, hitting all of the right spots.

"What's wrong? It's not that good...Is it?" Naruto's smirk widened when he felt Kyuubi grind her body against his.

Kyuubi's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her mouth moved like she was trying to speak, but no sound, other than pleasured groans, escaped her lips.

"What was that? Do you want me to stop?" Naruto nipped Kyuubi's neck again.

The vixen growled in pleasure, her primal instincts beginning to take over. She reached over his shoulder and grabbed a handful of Naruto's golden hair, bringing his head around and crushing her lips into his.

Naruto smirked one last time before breaking the almost brutal kiss and whispering into Kyuubi's ear.

"I win." before Kyuubi could react, Naruto brought out a hidden kunai and slit her throat.

The demoness gurgled and held her neck in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. But she soon succumbed to her wound and fell to the ground. Naruto walked around to her side and rolled her body off of the platform and into the lava below with his foot.

Crossing his arms and looking over the edge, Naruto grumbled to himself, not particularly happy about what he had to do to defeat Kyuubi. She was like a mother to him, for Kami's sake! To use her pent-up sexual frustration against her...felt kind of weird in a distinctly creepy way. That's not to say he didn't get at least some pleasure out of it.

He knew it was going to take a few minutes to reform after her body was destroyed by the lava, so he sat down and waited.

After a while he started to actually worry about the demoness. She was infinitely more powerful than he was, and it only took him fifteen minutes, tops, to regenerate from even the most horrific deaths. It only took him seven minutes to come back from being dunked into a vat of acid. So Kyuubi should have been back in seconds!

"What is she up to?" Naruto muttered, looking around to check for threats. "I don't like this...Not at all."

He stood and walked towards the edge of the platform. He wasn't exactly surprised when he felt a presence directly behind him. Spinning quickly, ready to counter anything that was waiting for him, Naruto came face-to-face with Kyuubi. And she didn't look all too happy. In fact, she didn't look like she felt anything, really. She just stood there, giving him a blank stare eerily reminiscent of the ones he frequently used to irritate her when he was bored.

"Kyuu-chan?" Naruto asked, the slight tilting of his head and the tone of his voice reflecting his confusion.

Kyuubi, for a second, found herself captivated by Naruto's face. His unnaturally handsome features; his perfectly chiseled jaw, narrow blonde eyebrows, his lips, still a bit swollen from their brutal union with hers, set in a stoic line without so much as a hint of either a smile or frown. She couldn't look away, and quickly found her own face leaning closer to Naruto's, her crimson eyes locked with his blue ones.

With their faces just inches away, Kyuubi muttered one word, "...How...?"

Naruto cocked his head a bit more. "What do you mean?"

Kyuubi's expression didn't change as the area around them melted away and was replaced by the original chamber. It didn't change as she picked Naruto up with ease and slammed him into a wall, holding him a good two feet off the floor. It didn't change as her eyes blazed with unholy fury, born from both sexual frustration, confusion and humiliation.

"...How...?" Kyuubi said again, louder this time.

Naruto figured now was not the time to play games, and sighed.

"I found out, recently, that our merger works both ways. You can look into my memories from here, and I, to a lesser extent, can look into yours. I can only see recent ones, those closest to the surface, but that was enough. I know of your plans for me...for us...And I just want to know one thing: why me?"

Kyuubi's eyes drained of their rage as she let Naruto slide down the wall. Taking his hand, she dragged the bewildered boy into her cage and sat down on her bed, giving Naruto an unspoken order to do the same. As he complied, Kyuubi's outfit morphed back into her usual black and red kimono.

Sighing heavily, Kyuubi looked at Naruto. "Do you remember when I really started to train you?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes. It was about a month after our merger four years ago."

Kyuubi shook her head. "No, I mean really train you. When I stopped pussyfooting around in our spars and started...killing you." She bowed her head as guilt she thought she'd long gotten over resurfaced.

She remembered the first time she had attacked him, without warning, and ripped his throat out with her bare hands. She'd never forget the look of betrayal on Naruto's face as the color drained and he slowly died at her feet.

A sudden pain gripped her heart as she also remembered how skittish he was around her after that. He would rarely come within ten feet of her unless he was given a specific order that required him to be in closer proximity. The pain worsened as she remembered a time she had moved to ruffle his hair, a common gesture of affection. The moment he noticed her hand moving towards him, he had collapsed into the fetal position and screamed for her not to hurt him. She had brought back very painful memories of Naruto's past; memories that she had worked tirelessly to get Naruto to overcome. All that work, all null and void because of a simple lapse in judgment on her part. She knew damn well what her spontaneous attack could do to the boy, but she had decided that the risks were outweighed by the benefits.

Kyuubi spared a glance at Naruto and saw that he, too, remembered that day vividly. When he slowly scooted away to put some distance between them, Kyuubi knew just how paranoid she had made him.

"So, you do remember."

Naruto nodded. "Of course I do. I can honestly say that was the only time in my life where I really wanted to die. You were my reason for living, and you had betrayed me, so what did I have? I had nothing and no one. You were the one I confided in, my 'shoulder to cry on', if you will. When you killed me for the first time, I thought you had literally ripped my heart out. All I felt was this intense pain in my chest, then…nothing."

Kyuubi knew exactly what he was talking about. On that day, instead of reaching for the hole in his neck, Naruto had clutched at his chest as if he were having a heart attack.

(Flashback)

A nine year old Naruto walked into Kyuubi's chamber within his mind. It was just two days before his tenth birthday, and he was feeling slightly on-edge. His spy clones had heard the villagers and some shinobi plotting his downfall; an assault during the annual Yondaime Festival celebrating the "death" of the Kyuubi. Normally, Naruto wouldn't care. But this time they had both Jōnin and ANBU support. There were also rumors of a Black Ops. ANBU joining them.

That was what really got Naruto worried. The Black Ops. were a separate branch of the ANBU Corps., like the supposedly defunct ROOT division. If Jōnin were the elite, and ANBU were the elite of the elite, then the Black Ops. were the true upper echelon of the Konoha ninja ranks. Even if they weren't part of the official ninja roster.

Officially, didn't exist. Many started out as child prodigies; kids who could make Jōnin before they even hit double-digits. Naruto didn't know all their Black Ops. "recruiting" methods, but a popular one was to have the kids "disappear" or "die" on their first mission outside of Konoha territory.

In reality, they were taken and inducted into the Black Ops. program. Trained by others like them, they were turned into the finest warriors Konoha had to offer.

The fact that some lowly villagers even knew about them suggested that they were working with someone that ranked pretty damn high in the council. Someone who had managed to avoid the memory wipe that was apparently mandatory when one of the Black Ops. was seen.

'But the Black Ops. don't answer to anyone but the Hokage himself.' Naruto thought.

He knew something was wrong here. Either the rumors of the Black Ops. ANBU out for his head were just that, rumors, or there was something else much bigger going on. It was no secret that most, if not all, of the council hated his guts to some degree. Whether it be the Inuzuka, many of whom seemed to hold some kind of instinctive dislike for him; or the Yamanaka, who, like most others, hated him because they had lost a good chunk of their clan in the Kyuubi attack. That, and Kyuubi had put their former clan head into a coma seven years ago, which he had yet to wake up from.

It was his own fault for trying to get into Naruto's mind without permission.

Feeling that he was in over his head, Naruto decided to ask Kyuubi for help. She always knew what to do.

"Kyuubi-sensei?" Naruto called into the shadows that shrouded the back of the cage.

"...Yes, Naru-chan?" Kyuubi's voice called from the darkness.

Naruto groaned. "I asked you to stop calling me that."

Kyuubi giggled. "I know, what's why I do it. Please, come in."

Naruto walked through the bars without a second thought, totally unaware of the danger he had just put himself in.

"Kyuubi-sensei, what's your take on my birthday situation this year?" Naruto asked once he found Kyuubi, lounging on a couch and reading a book.

Kyuubi just turned the page of her book. "I don't think you have anything to worry about from the Black Ops. ANBU. I highly doubt one of them would hate you enough to want to kill you. They've been cutoff from their families and friends for years, if not for most of their entire lives, so I don't think they'd want revenge on you because I killed some people that they probably don't even remember." she turned the page again.

Naruto nodded, seeing no flaws in Kyuubi's logic.

"Now that I think about it, another explanation could be tied directly to the Sandaime Hokage. Maybe he's trying to expose a corrupt council member? Trying to assassinate a fellow Konoha citizen is outright treason, and punishable by death." Naruto rubbed his chin. "What do you think of that?"

Kyuubi closed her book and sat up on her couch. "I think that, at times, you are a little too good at what you do. But, for all of your skill, you've forgotten one of the most important lessons I taught you..."

Naruto blinked. "What? I haven't forgotten anything you've taught me, Kyuu-?!" the only thing he saw was a single twitch of Kyuubi's right hand.

A second later, he felt blood flooding his lungs. He reached up to his neck with trembling hands and found a ragged, gaping hole where is trachea should have been.

Naruto fell to his knees and looked around for Kyuubi through rapidly dimming eyes. He found her standing right in front of him, the missing chunk of his throat still clutched in her clawed right hand.

'Why...Kyuubi-sensei?...What did...I do?' suddenly the searing pain in his neck was nothing compared to the pain that gripped his heart.

It was the pain of knowing that you were truly alone in the world. The pain of knowing that the one person you thought cared really didn't. It was the pain of betrayal; a pain that Naruto was disturbingly familiar with.

Though she had no idea at the time, Kyuubi had just turned Naruto back into the scared little six year old he had been before he met her. Nearly four years of progress, undone in a single instant.

(End Flashback)

After that, Naruto had gotten increasingly paranoid. At one point it got so bad that even the slightest hand movement from anyone near him would cause him to flinch violently and draw a weapon or, in cases where he knew someone was stronger than him, run away.

The moment Kyuubi truly regretted what she had done was when the Sandaime waved at Naruto when he walked into his office. The boy had literally jumped through the ceiling and ran like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels.

Naruto suddenly chuckled, bringing Kyuubi back from her stroll down memory lane. "You know something? Back then, I didn't know whether to thank you, or find a way to lock you up forever and cutoff all contact. But I've outgrown that confusion, and today I say 'thank you'. If not for your...training, I'd have died long ago. You prepared me for the true horrors of battle."

Kyuubi smirked. "And you welcomed them with open arms and cold steel, becoming quite a battlefield horror yourself."

(Flashback)

Naruto smashed, face first, into the ground for what had to be the hundredth time in the last hour. Kyuubi had offered him a chance to learn how to use other weapons besides a sword and his own claws. Naruto, being the sucker for all things new and useful that he was, foolishly accepted her offer.

Kyuubi had now been kicking his ass for nearly an hour and a half. At first, she was going "easy" on him, pulling her punches and only using non-lethal attacks. But, after the forty-five minute mark, she had started to get serious, breaking his neck with her bo-staff several times.

Kyuubi giggled as she saw Naruto saw Naruto try to get up, but was having a bit of trouble, seeing as how she had broken his spine with her last strike. Stalking over silently, Kyuubi finished the downed boy with a powerful blow to the back of the head, effectively crushing his skull. The boy disappeared in a flash of light, respawning in another part of their battleground.

Twirling her staff expertly, Kyuubi walked off, whistling an eerie tune she had heard humans play at funerals long ago.

"Oh, Naru-chaaaan? Where arrrrre yooooooou?"

Naruto and Kyuubi's joint memory flashed, showing a new battleground.

Naruto walked along a narrow corridor, looking around cautiously for any sign of movement. He knew Kyuubi was here, somewhere, just waiting to pounce on him and inflict her own special brand of carnage.

Coming to an intersection, Naruto heard a sound coming from around the corner and pressed his back up against the wall to inch forward and take a peek. However, almost as soon as his back touched the wall, an arm burst through it wrapped around his neck. He tried to break free of Kyuubi's grip, but it was no use. She had more strength in a single finger than he did in his entire body. His struggling ended when he felt the cold steel blade of a dagger enter his back, slicing through muscle and bone as if it weren't even there, and skewer his heart.

The memory flashed again, showing a desert with high sand dunes and near unbearable heat.

Naruto hopped over the top of one dune, then twisted his body around in midair to avoid a deadly barrage of arrows. Successfully cheating death, Naruto looked around at the arrows that had missed him while running. Some had exploded on impact, some were still on fuses, some had released a poison gas, and yet others had melted the ground around them with their acidic payloads.

'Aren't any of these normal arrows?!' Naruto thought frantically as he heard the sound of more arrows whistling through the air.

One arrow struck him in the back of the thigh and he went down, hissing in pain as the acid melted his leg away from the rest of his body. With a resigned sigh, Naruto laid back on the burning sand and stared up at the cloudless artificial sky. He wanted to look away from the sun, but found that he could no longer move. He barely registered the sound of millions of arrows being released all at once, but he found himself oddly thankful for the projectiles. They blocked out the sun as the rained down on him.

Kyuubi's army of clones high-fived each other as they saw Naruto get turned into a half-demon pincushion.

The memory flashed once again, showing a dark forest with the only light coming from the full moon, unobstructed by clouds.

Naruto leapt over a fallen log, across a large ravine, to the cliff on the other side, clearing the hundred-foot distance in a single bound, then kept running. He heard the sounds of Kyuubi's demonic dogs barking and growling as they tracked him down. They would be right on top of him soon, and he had no way to stop them. He could destroy the dogs, but Kyuubi and her clones would just make more of them.

The Hell Hounds had caught his scent, and now there was nothing he could do to shake them. Even running through water wouldn't help, as they could smell his blood on the air. He had encountered one of the several "hunting parties" a while back, and had managed to escape. But not before Kyuubi struck him with her whip, scoring nine deep gashes across his back with the razor-sharp tongues. Tongues that were also coated in a toxin that kept his wounds from healing, ensuring that there would always be a trail to follow.

Deciding to take refuge in a cave, Naruto thought he was far enough away from his hunters to stop and think of a plan. Sitting on a rock, he rubbed his temples, trying to relieve the pounding headache that made it impossible to concentrate; another side-effect of the powerful poison.

Naruto was suddenly launched off of his rock and into the stone wall by a boot to the side of his head. He tried to get up and run, but the barbed tongues of Kyuubi's whip wrapped around his neck and brought him to his knees before her. He looked around and noted that all the hunting parties had converged on him, leaving him surrounded by Kyuubi's clones and their vicious Hell Hounds..

The beasts were easily twice the size of the Inuzuka's biggest dogs, and were covered in red-ish-brown fur that looked to be covered in rust or dried blood. Probably both, since their fur seemed to be made out of millions of small needles, which severely limited close quarters combat options. They were basically blind, with almost laughably tiny eyes set at the back of unnaturally deep eye sockets.

Kyuubi leaned down with a smirk. "Well, well, well. You've evaded capture for...nine hours and thirty-two minutes. Impressive; I believe you've set a new record. But this is the end of the line for you, sorry." she yanked on the whip, causing the barbs on the tongue to rip and cut through the skin, muscle and bone in his neck, tearing his head from between his shoulders.

The memory flashed once more, showing a massive hallway filled with every kind of trap imaginable. Spinning blades, spike pits, huge pendulum axes, and hidden vents that spewed both poison gas and acidic mist.

Once again we find Naruto running for his life. But this time, it wasn't demonic dogs or an platoon of murderous demoness' on his tail, though it was no less deadly. The object made an irritating whistling noise as it cut through the gas clouds created by Naruto activating traps. Fortunately for him, it wasn't immune to the acid mist, which compromised whatever on-board guidance system it had. This resulted in it smashing into the blade of a pendulum axe, ricocheting off and lodging itself into a wall next to a small round lump. Once the object stopped, it was revealed to be a giant circular saw blade.

Naruto stopped and panted harshly. Looking back at the deadly serrated wheel, he half expected it to free itself and start after him again. He then noticed the lump that the saw was next to and stared at it. He could have sworn he saw it move. His suspicions were confirmed when the lump revealed itself to be some kind of mechanical eye. It flashed once, then a long, narrow slit opened up in the wall under it. With a low grinding noise and a loud whir, another flying disk of doom was unleashed upon Naruto.

"Fuck." the boy hissed as he was forced to turn tail and run one more time.

After another twenty minutes of evading death, Naruto ran straight towards a wall, then dove to the ground at the last second. He was again saved by the saw's guidance system. Not because of a malfunction, but because it wouldn't allow the saw to go low enough to hit him. It forced the blade to pull up and crash into the wall ahead.

Naruto rolled over and laughed, allowing himself a moment of insanity. But he wasn't laughing about evading the projectile; he was laughing because that didn't save him. That, and massive blood loss tends to compromise your mental faculties. And nothing causes massive blood loss quite as rapidly as being cut in half at the waist. He continued to laugh, even as Kyuubi entered his field of vision carrying a large, bloody battle axe. And even after she brought it down on his head, he still laughed.

(End Flashback)

"I remember that time with the axe. What the hell was wrong with you that day? You were laughing even when you respawned! I had to kill you, like, fifteen times you get you to stop!"

Naruto just looked at Kyuubi, then started to laugh again.

Kyuubi's eyebrow twitched and she grabbed a pillow. "No, not again."

Naruto laughed even louder. "What? You're gonna kill me with a pillow?!"

Kyuubi growled. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Even that didn't shut Naruto up. And after three minutes of Kyuubi attempting to ignore Naruto, she finally snapped and lunged at him, brandishing her pillow like it was a deadly weapon. Which, in her hands, it was.

Cushioned blows immediately rained down on Naruto, causing him to cover his head and curl up in a ball on the bed, still laughing.

Kyuubi threw her pillow aside and grabbed Naruto in a sleeper hold. "Stop laughing!" she growled.

Naruto still laughed, even as he was being choked. "Oh, you wanna wrestle?!" he broke Kyuubi's hold and got behind her, then pinned her arms slightly above her head in a full-nelson. "Who's the King?!" he laughed.

Kyuubi growled, then flipped Naruto over her head and slammed him into the bed before wrapping her legs around his right arm, shoulder and neck in a triangle chokehold.

"Who's the Queen?!" she shouted.

Naruto used his free arm to tickle Kyuubi's inner thigh, a weakness he had discovered during a more serious grappling contest. The demoness instantly let go of him and tried to get away, but Naruto dragged her back and tickled both her thigh and her foot.

Kyuubi laughed hysterically, knowing that she was completely at the mercy of her "attacker", but still refusing to give up.

"Do you give?" Naruto smirked, he knew he had her now!

"N-Never!" Kyuubi managed to get out.

Ten minutes later, Naruto and Kyuubi laid side-by-side, both exhausted and panting. Neither had succeeded in getting the other to yield, but had had a good time trying.

Naruto rolled over to face Kyuubi. "You know, you never did answer my question." he said.

Kyuubi looked at him with a raised eyebrow, barely remembering anything that had been said before their impromptu wrestling match. "Hm? What question?"

"Why do you want me? As a...As a mate, I mean."

"...I want our relationship to be more than what it is now. What we have now just...doesn't cut it anymore." Kyuubi blushed and rolled over so that he back was to Naruto. "Not for me."

Naruto grabbed her shoulder and turned her around again, locking eyes with the vixen. "But why? What was wrong with what we have now? What we've always had? What's changed?"

Kyuubi ran a claw gently along Naruto's cheek, tracing on of the whisker-like scars. She noticed that they were larger and more defined than the last time she had really taken the time to look at them.

"Our bond started as one of a mother and a son. Then, sensei and apprentice. And I was fine with that. But, somewhere along the way...I noticed something. The things I was teaching you, the qualities and ideals I was instilling...Slowly, but surely, I was molding you into something more than the perfect warrior. I was shaping you into my idea of the perfect man, the ideal mate. And the more I think about it, the more appealing the idea becomes. In fact, I've already marked you." Kyuubi placed her hand on the junction of Naruto's neck and right shoulder and applied youki to it.

As she took her hand away, a tattoo appeared. It was a stylized silhouette of a fox sitting on his haunches, with four tails curled around its legs and five more waving about behind its back. Kyuubi smiled at it, then leaned in and gave it a long, slow lick.

Naruto let out a growl as an involuntary shiver of pure pleasure ran through his entire body. "What is that?" he asked.

"My mark, the symbol of the Kitsune. You won't be able to summon them, but when you encounter one, you will be recognized as my mate and they will leave you alone…For the most part." Kyuubi grumbled, knowing that some of her younger sisters would be all over Naruto just to piss her off.

Kyuubi suddenly hopped onto Naruto, straddling his waist and pinning his arms to the bed. "Now it's my turn to question you."

Naruto squirmed a little, not to escape, but to get more comfortable.

"Shoot."

Kyuubi leaned down so that their noses touched and stared into his eyes. "You've accepted me into your life, regardless of who and what I am, and the things I've done. You let me raise you as a mother, and guide you as a teacher. You've given yourself to me as a son and an apprentice, and, for a time, I thought I couldn't ask for more. But now, I ask you to accept me once more; as a woman. Can you give yourself to me this last time?"

Naruto looked into the fox's eyes, searching her crimson depths for any hint of deceit. He found only honest love within the demonic orbs. Undying affection directed only at him, and he came to his decision.

"I can, and I will."

Kyuubi smiled and captured Naruto's lips with hers in a passionate, but gentle, kiss. Tears of happiness streamed from her eyes and down Naruto's cheeks. Kyuubi had finally gotten what she had wanted for nearly thirteen years. A new mate and, most importantly, a chance to start a new family. A new life altogether.

Naruto returned the kiss with equal vigor, wrapping his arms around Kyuubi once she let them go. He felt her lick his bottom lip, asking permission to enter, which Naruto granted. Kyuubi's long tongue snaked into his mouth and wrapped around his, beginning a battle for dominance.

Needless to say, Kyuubi, will all of her experience, won in the end, dragging Naruto's tongue into her own mouth and sucking on it lightly.

Naruto's eyebrow suddenly arched and Kyuubi, sensing his thoughts, broke the kiss, panting slightly.

"Nightmare already took care of that. While you were tickling me, he used his limited control over the Soul Edge to have it absorb your body. We're in its world now, so I'm just as physical as you are." she leaned down to take Naruto's lips again.

"But what about the time thing?" Naruto asked.

"Already taken care of." Kyuubi crushed her lips against his again, just as violently as the first time they had kissed.

Naruto mentally shrugged and rolled them over so that he was on top.

(Warning, Warning, Warning! Lemon commencing now, all prudes scroll down to the next marker, indicating the end of the lemon! This lemon will be graphically detailed! You have been warned.)

Growing out the claw on his index finger, Naruto trailed it down Kyuubi's chest, sliding it into the valley of her cleavage and pushing aside her kimono. After doing the same with the other side, Naruto grew out another claw on his opposite hand and used them to trace circles around Kyuubi's erect nipples. He squeezed both breasts experimentally, loving the feel. Not to soft, not to firm, just perfect. Larger than a handful, but not awe-inspiringly huge; again, perfect.

The demoness arched her back and moaned as her entire body tingled in delight. Naruto gently squeeze both breasts in time with Kyuubi's pounding heartbeat, working into a rhythmic kneading. She hissed in pleasure when he flicked his thumbs across her nipples, then took the left one into his mouth.

While still kneading the other, Naruto sucked on Kyuubi's breast softly, barely touching it with his tongue and gently nibbling with his sharp teeth from time to time. He found every bundle of nerves in and around the sensitive mounds of flesh, remembering the hot spots he had seen in Kyuubi's memories of her "alone time".

The demonic vixen growled and groaned in pure bliss, not knowing how Naruto knew just what to do and where to do it, and too far gone to care. She wrapped her arms around Naruto's muscular torso, dug her claws into the Biosuit and tore it from his body. The halves landed with a splat on the floor on either side of the bed, having turned into black goo after being separated from the main mass.

Naruto finished with Kyuubi's left breast, giving it a particularly hard suck and a long lick from the underside, over the nipple, and up to her chin before going to her right breast and giving it the same treatment as the left.

Kyuubi clutched the bed sheets so hard that her knuckles turned white, her claws shredding some sections. She looked down at Naruto, unable to see his face through the spiky bush that made up Naruto's blonde hair. She looked further down and noticed he still had his pants and boots on, and that simply wouldn't do, not at all. Growing two tails, she used the tips to cut Naruto's pants and boots off of his body with expert precision.

Naruto noticed the sudden draft and looked up at Kyuubi, smirking at the completely dazed expression on her beautiful face. He decided to return the favor in his own way. Letting Kyuubi's breast out of his mouth with a slight pop, he blew cold air directly onto the saliva-coated nipple, causing Kyuubi to squeak. That squeak turned into a low moan when he licked her as he had done before. But this time he slipped his tongue into her mouth, trailing it over her sharp canines and licking the roof of her mouth.

Slipping back out of her hot mouth, Naruto began his descent. Trailing butterfly kisses down the length of her body, gently nipping any hot spots he remembered, or new ones he had discovered by chance. Upon reaching her belly, he dipped his tongue into Kyuubi's navel and nibbled the skin around it.

"Yeeeesssss!" Kyuubi let out a low, growling hiss, forming a coherent word for the first time since Naruto started exploring her body.

Continuing downward, Naruto felt Kyuubi's patch of perfectly trimmed pubic hair tickling his chin, and moved his head to the side, kissing her inner thigh. As he kissed, nipped and licked his way down her leg, he felt the heat of one of Kyuubi's tails at the back of his neck. If he didn't get to work soon, she would get rough.

The thought of getting manhandled by Kyuubi aroused Naruto more than it probably should have, but he complied with the unspoken order nonetheless. With a small smirk, lowered his head between Kyuubi's legs, and gave her right inner thigh a playful bite, letting his teeth gently scrape over her fair skin. He then extended his tongue to deliver teasing licks to the demoness' soaked outer lips. They were puffy and swollen with arousal; hyper-sensitive to even the slightest touch.

Kyuubi sucked in a sharp breath as her back arched and her toes curled. She writhed in ecstasy, but Naruto held her by her hips, keeping her relatively still while he worked his magic.

"Oh...Fuck..." Kyuubi shuddered, her voice coming out as little more than a breathy whisper.

Naruto kept teasing the demon fox, blowing cool air over her wet folds before attacking her clit with feather-light flicks of the tip of his tongue. This earned him a small flood of Kyuubi's juices, which he gladly lapped up, noting that she tasted a bit like honey barbeque sauce. It wasn't really surprising, considering almost anything smothered in the stuff could be considered her favorite food.

'Sweet and tangy.' Naruto mentally chuckled, then rammed his tongue two-thirds of the way into Kyuubi's warm tunnel.

Kyuubi's mouth hung open in a silent scream of pleasure as her first orgasm of the day tore through her body. Darkness gathered at the edges of her vision while flashes of light dotted everything else. She wrapped her legs around Naruto's head, pulling his face into her vulva and forcing his wriggling tongue deeper into her canal, prolonging her orgasm.

Naruto took his treatment in stride, not caring about the immense pressure Kyuubi's strong legs were putting on his skull. He twisted his tongue expertly inside his lover, lavishing her vaginal walls with his saliva. He felt her inner muscles contract almost painfully on the appendage, then return to normal for before clenching again in time with her erratic heartbeat.

Kyuubi could barely move. The only muscles that seemed to be working were the ones being stroked and caressed by Naruto's masterful tongue. Just as she nearly got her breathing under control, another orgasm hit her as Naruto retracted his tongue and closed his lips around her clit, sucking on it gently. The Queen of Foxes went limp after her convulsions ceased, fighting to keep herself conscious.

'H-How is h-he doing this t-to me?! How i-is he so goooooood...?' Kyuubi thought, her own tongue lolling out of her mouth when she felt Naruto completely extract his from her still gushing pussy. She absentmindedly wondered if she could get dehydrated because of this.

Naruto gave his new mate's clit one last lick, smirking when all she could do was twitch and groan. He made his way back up her body, kissing, licking, and nibbling as he had done before. Delving into Kyuubi's navel and nibbling on the skin of her belly, then up to her breasts. He gave each one a long lick, enjoying the way they bounced and jiggled. Then finally up to the left side of Kyuubi's neck, kissing and sucking on the skin, making his own mark on her.

Kyuubi's mouth opened, releasing a sound somewhere between a soft moan and a strangled hiss. Naruto used it as an opportunity to bring her into a kiss. But, as he played with her tongue, coiling around it with his own, he couldn't help but be a bit disappointed.

Kyuubi was almost entirely unresponsive, barely even going through the motions of returning the kiss. Apparently, his ministrations had prolonged her second orgasm long enough for the third to blindside her and beat her into submission. Naruto could tell she was started to float in and out of consciousness, and that simply wouldn't do.

He remembered her main external hot spot, the one that she could never properly get to herself. He kissed her briefly on the lips before moving to the juncture of her neck and right shoulder. He licked it until he felt Kyuubi shudder, then bit down on the spot that had garnered the response.

Naruto had no way of knowing that this was more than a mere hotspot. It was THE external erogenous zone on her body, one that even her former mate steered clear of. He had tried it once, and found himself unable to handle what he had unleashed.

Kyuubi suddenly came back to life. Her eyes lost the glazed, distant look and were now burning with an unearthly desire. She tossed Naruto to her side and pounced on him, going straight to his neck and biting the mark she had put on him.

Naruto had no idea what had happened. One second, he was running the show, with Kyuubi damn near catatonic underneath him. The next, he was on his back, with Kyuubi trying to eat him! But something strange happened when she bit into his flesh and his blood flowed into her mouth. Naruto suddenly felt very weak, but not physically. He felt weak compared to Kyuubi. He felt like he wasn't worthy of her, and that he should do whatever she asked to avoid her coming to the same conclusion. He felt submissive. He wanted to be dominated by this female that was so much more powerful that him.

A feral grin graced Kyuubi's features when she heard Naruto whimper like a puppy. She leaned into his face and licked his nose before reaching behind her and tearing Naruto's boxers away, revealing his massive erection, which she took into her hands.

"That was wonderful, Untenshi(mate), but now it's my turn." Kyuubi gave her mate's hard-on a firm squeeze, causing him to growl in pleasure. "And I want to return the favor." she let go, coaxing another whimper from Naruto, and slowly slid backwards.

Kyuubi used her claws to trace over the wonderfully toned muscles that made up Naruto's torso, sometimes drawing blood, but neither party cared. She licked up the crimson trails her claws made, loving the taste. There was just something about it that set her off even more. She raised her hips just enough for Naruto's member to pass under her, the swollen head barely brushing her netherlips. She brought her hips down again, just behind her lover's penis, hissing as the underside rubbed her clitoris.

"My, my, aren't we a big boy?" Kyuubi grasped Naruto's cock once again, moving her hand up and down at a terribly slow pace.

Kyuubi slid down even further, now sitting on Naruto's knees, and kept her grip on him. She leaned down, keeping eye contact with Naruto, and gave the head a small lick, enjoying the taste of the precum that had gathered at the tip.

Naruto growled again and laid his head back on the plush pillow. He felt her take the head of his cock into her hot mouth and suck on it gently. Too gently. She was teasing him, just as he had done to her.

Kyuubi snaked her tongue around the shaft as she slid more and more of her lover's wonderful cock into her maw. She felt the head hit the back of her throat, though she was no more than halfway down. She relaxed her muscles and suppressed her gag reflex in order to work Naruto's entire length into her mouth. She then used the muscles in her throat to massage the three and a half inches of cock in it.

The demoness held Naruto's hips to the bed to prevent him from thrusting into her mouth. She could feel him fighting her, but it didn't matter; this was her show now. Kyuubi pulled back a bit, allowing Naruto's cock to slip out of her throat, and began to bob her head up and down. constricted he penis with both her tongue and lips as she sucked her new mate off.

Naruto knew he couldn't hold out any longer, Kyuubi was just too good. She really was returning the favor, making him cum just as fast as he had made her.

"K-Kyuu-chan, I-I-I'm...!" he couldn't finish before he ejaculated straight into Kyuubi's waiting mouth.

The demoness' eyes widened as she felt Naruto's hot, sticky semen flow down her throat and into her stomach. She pulled back a little more, until only Naruto's head was inside of her lips, wanting to taste her Naruto's cum. She wasn't disappointed as the cock in her mouth fired off another jet onto her tongue. After milking him for the last drop, Kyuubi let Naruto's semi-firm member slip from her mouth with a wet pop. She savored the taste, noting that there was a slight undertone not unlike the honey barbeque sauce she loved so much, something that she had also turned him onto.

Kyuubi made sure Naruto was watching when she swallowed his thick juice, smirking when she saw his eyes follow the lump traveling down her throat.

"Are you ready to become a real man, Naruto-kun?" she grinned when he nodded. "Well, we can't have this then, can we?" she gave his semi-erect penis a long, slow lick, making it swell back to its full eight inches.

Crawling back up to eye-level with Naruto, Kyuubi straddled his hips, pinning his cock to his belly and grinding her crotch into his, covering it with her flowing nectar. She captured his lips in a fiery kiss as she lifted her hips and lined his member up with the entrance to her sex. With frustrating slowness, the fox demon sank down on Naruto's penis, feeling it stretch her inner walls.

It almost took her a full minute to sink down to the hilt, and she stayed still for a moment once she did, getting used to being filled like never before. Her old mate was never this good, not even when they were in their full-on demon forms. Kyuubi could barely believe that it was the head of Naruto's cock that was now resting against her cervix; the opening to her womb.

After twenty agonizing seconds, with Kyuubi only making small gyrations of her hips, she slowly raised her hips, her nether lips hugging his shaft the whole way. Just when it seemed she was going to let the entire thing slip out, she slammed back down, sheathing Naruto's tool within her once again. She rose again, then fell with just as much force, causing the head of her lover's cock to pound her cervix.

Kyuubi worked herself into a slow rhythm, rising and falling. Going up until only the head remained within her, then coming back down, rolling and grinding her hips at the base.

Naruto couldn't describe what he was feeling. Throughout his life, physical pleasure had been...scarce, to say the least. He was used to the other side of the coin: pain. He didn't even masturbate; something that Nightmare still routinely gave him shit about. The sheer ecstasy of the wet, searingly hot velvet vice around him was just too much for his brain to handle. But the rest of him was soon fed up with just laying back and letting things happen.

"Oooooohhhhhh yyyyeeeeeessss!" Kyuubi let out a breathy moan as Naruto started to thrust into her, hitting at just the right angle to press into her g-spot on the first try.

With that one thrust, Naruto had fucked up the rhythm. Kyuubi picked herself up and slammed back down violently on Naruto's shaft, producing a loud clap when their wet flesh connected. The bed chamber was filled with the tell-tale scents of sex, and the bed itself protested the demoness' frenzied pace, creaking and groaning in-time with every thrust.

Kyuubi grabbed Naruto's shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position. She then grabbed a fistful of his hair and brought his face to her chest. The pain of having his hair pulled brought Naruto's mind out of its dazed state, and the first thing he registered was the glorious bounty before him. Naruto wasted no time and attacked Kyuubi's breasts with fingers, lips, teeth and tongue his. Whatever hand wasn't being used to knead one of the fleshy mounds was used to steady Kyuubi as she bounced and rolled her hips on his lap.

As he lavished Kyuubi's tits with attention from his mouth and left hand, his right seemed to take on a mind of its own. It wasn't content to just hold onto Kyuubi's hip and migrated around to her left asscheek. Like the rest of her, the demoness' ass was absolute perfection. Soft and pliable, yet firm and toned; ideal for squeezing and smacking...and fucking.

Kyuubi's eyes widened and her entire body tensed as she felt her lover work a single finger between her cheeks and into her back door. She tossed her head back and screamed as Naruto hit two hot spots on her chest, her g-spot and a particularly sensitive cluster of nerves in her rear. This resulted in the most powerful orgasm Kyuubi had ever had in all of her ten-thousand years of existence. She didn't even know she had an anal hot spot!

Kyuubi collapsed onto Naruto's chest as a flood of her juices soaked both her and Naruto's crotches. She hit a smaller fifth orgasm when her heavily clenching inner muscles cause Naruto to cum as well, firing off multiple jets of semen into her hot tunnel. It was simply too much for her to handle, having been without real sex for nearly thirteen years. That would be torture for any demon, but it was especially tough on Kitsune, whose sex drives were legendary even amongst demons.

Seeing that Kyuubi could no longer continue under her own power, Naruto rolled them over so that he was on top. Kyuubi's legs automatically wrapped around his waist as he began to pump in and out of his mate. Cumming hadn't diminished his potency in the least; if anything, it just made him harder. The feeling of Kyuubi's inner muscles milking him...it was addicting. She was more than tight enough by herself, and the wetness and delicious heat were simply intoxicating. But when she clamped down on his pistoning member, it actually hurt. And that sudden combination of pain and mind-numbing pleasure was a kind of rush that Naruto had never experienced before.

But there was one facet of that rush that went beyond anything else. As Naruto looked down at Kyuubi's near-catatonic form, he found himself elated by the fact that he had brought her such pleasure. He wanted more, for both himself and her, but a one-man show wouldn't cut it. So, remembering what had happened before, Naruto leaned down and bit into the right side of Kyuubi's neck.

It worked. Kyuubi's legs gave a harsh squeeze, to the point where Naruto felt a couple ribs shift and creak inside him. She was no longer idle, bucking her hips almost frantically, urging him to go faster.

"Yes, yes, yesssss! Come on, fuck me!" Kyuubi wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck, pulling him into another animalistic kiss.

Naruto increased his pace, slamming into his demoness with long, powerful strokes. He could feel Kyuubi's inner walls undulating around him, just as she could feel his cock pulsing within her.

"H-H-Harder!" Kyuubi stuttered out her demand, squeezing the man between her legs even harder for emphasis. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was so very thankful for Naruto being a half-demon. The power of her legs would have crushed a normal man like a tube of toothpaste.

Naruto didn't have to be told twice and redoubled his efforts, ramming Kyuubi with such force that any normal woman would be wailing in agony instead of ecstasy. He could feel Kyuubi's claws digging into the flesh of his back, but the pain only increased the pleasure, making him unintentionally bite down on her nipple. He felt her walls squeeze tighter in response and smirked. It seemed he wasn't the only one who liked a little pain.

Kyuubi was going absolutely mad. Her beautiful face twisted into an expression of pure otherworldly bliss. Her eyes were glazed over, her tongue refused to return to her mouth, and her grin would only be outmatched by the one she would go to sleep with. Her body was on autopilot, bucking against Naruto and milking his cock for all it was worth. She shifted her legs higher up on her lover's sides and gasped as she felt him slip even deeper into her sopping confines.

Everything was perfect for the moment. Naruto's pace, the power he put behind his thrusts, the way he rolled his hips to massage her clit, the way he hit every single spot inside her. Everything was perfect...Then, suddenly, it wasn't enough. She wanted more, she needed more! She wanted him as deep as she could get him. She wanted him to rearrange her intestines with his wondrous cock!

"N-Naruto-k-kun...Give me...E-Everything!" Kyuubi's gave arched as she orgasmed for the sixth time in the last twenty minutes.

Naruto increased his pace yet again, slamming into Kyuubi's pussy with bone breaking force and blistering speed. He slipped out a couple times, but found his way back in by sheer luck. The loud and disturbing noises they made echoed around them, but only served to turn them on even more.

Naruto slammed into Kyuubi with one particularly hard thrust, growling loudly as he released his seed into his mate, then collapsing onto her chest, panting heavily.

Kyuubi groaned in pleasure as she felt her pussy overflow with Naruto's jizz. She savored the feeling of Naruto's warm cum oozing out of her stretch hole and running down the crack of her ass.

"That...was the best I've ever had...Ever..." Kyuubi whispered as she toyed with lock of Naruto's spiky hair, basking in the afterglow of her six orgasms.

Naruto looked at her and grinned. "What, you're done already?"

Kyuubi looked at Naruto with wide eyes and a jaw nearly unhinged in shock. "H-H-How?" was all she could say.

Naruto didn't answer her question, instead flipping her over onto her belly and positioning himself behind her. Before she could ask what he was doing, he grabbed her hips and plowed into her delightfully abused pussy.

Kyuubi screamed as her seventh orgasm instantly struck with the sudden, but welcome intrusion. Her eyes glazed over and her tongue rolled from the side of her mouth, small rivets of drool flying through the air as her entire body was rocked by Naruto's powerful thrusts. This is how she wanted it! She was being taken from behind, in the position that was the most natural for her. Fast, deep, and hard; just how she loved it!

Naruto dug his claws into the flesh of Kyuubi's buttocks, leaving crescent-shaped wounds that closed before they even bled. He was loving everything about this! The feeling of Kyuubi's muscular ass cheeks slamming against his crotch. The almost dizzying pleasure of her inner walls constricting his member. Her blissful moans, groans and growls. The expression on her flawless face, and the sight of her long red hair splayed out along her back. Everything.

Naruto shifted into higher gear, his hips becoming a blur as he assaulted Kyuubi's soaking passage. He could feel the head of his penis smashing into the entrance of her womb, but he couldn't break through. He felt his vixen squeezing him with masterful muscle control, her walls rippling and pulsating in time with his thrusts. She was also thrusting back against him, her taught ass him nearly knocking the wind out of him.

Kyuubi was in a world all her own. She could barely see anything, her vision alternating between bright flashes and complete blackouts. She flexed her inner muscles in an effort to make Naruto cum before she passed out. She had already hit her eighth orgasm, and she figured nine would be the lucky number. Normally, she could go much longer, but this was different. She didn't know if it was because she had gone without for so long, or if Naruto was just that good. Whatever the reason, she was fading fast, and if her next "Big O" was as intense as she thought it was going to be, she knew she'd be out like a light.

She felt Naruto's cock slamming into her cervix with each one of his brutal thrusts, and idly wondered if it was possible to die from too much pleasure. Using what little strength she could muster, Kyuubi pushed back against Naruto's thrusts, taking him in deeper and harder.

Naruto knew both he and Kyuubi were near their limits. This last round was now a competition to see who could get the other to cum first. Kyuubi's pussy had a distinct advantage over his cock, so Naruto decided to "cheat". He took his hands away from her hips and reached under her body to attack her breasts. He gently squeezed the soft mounds, reveling in his mate's low moans. Those moans became breathy and high-pitched when he started to pinch and roll her nipples between his thumbs and index fingers.

The position that he was now in, leaning over Kyuubi's back, limited the length of his thrusts, but not the speed. His long and powerful thrusts turned into short, stabbing thrusts that normally meant a man was at his limit, and Naruto was no different there. He growled into Kyuubi's ear and nibbled on her earlobe while thrusting into her with all his might, rocking her entire body.

Kyuubi roared as her ninth orgasm hit her like a rampaging Demolisher demon. Tears flowed from her eyes, and drool from her mouth. She suddenly felt Naruto's cock swell within her, growing to nine inches and expanding in girth. Her breath hitched as she felt him slip even deeper.

Naruto gave one final thrust, crying out along with Kyuubi as he breached the final barrier and entered her womb, then painted it white. He clamped his jaws onto her neck, fangs easily breaking the skin and letting her blood flow into his mouth while her juices flowed out over his member. This kicked off a tenth orgasm, which piggybacked off of the ninth. It was too much for Kyuubi to handle. Her mouth hung open in a silent scream and her eyes rolled upward. Exactly two seconds later, she was in lala land.

Naruto collapsed onto his lover's back, keeping his softening penis inside of her for the moment, not minding the feeling of their combined fluids oozing out over his cock. He listened to Kyuubi's light snoring and smiled before rolling off of her and succumbing to his own fatigue, never noticing the mark forming over the love-bite he had given Kyuubi. A mark in the shape of a winged dragon.

XXXX

...Damn...Just...Damn...

This is, and probably will always be, the longest chapter in this story. The lemon went on a lot longer than I had originally planned, but I held off a bit on putting it in. My girlfriend is probably gonna kill me for this, but I've got my Last Will & Testament all ready, so I'm good. And she'll probably want to get at least one last fuck out of me before she cuts me into fifty pieces and mails me to every state, so I'll go out relatively happy.

I've written a few lemons before(and straight smut scenes), but I've never bothered to check out the feedback. Believe me, the last thing you want is to read a chronic masturbator's opinion on your story based on how many times he came...(shudder).

Here's an example of one I did make the mistake of reading.

"Normally when I whack-off, my limit is six times a day. Well, I just came seven times, so I salute you, your story, and the keyboard you typed it on! And now I must rest."

Mentally Scarring, no?

I also got one from a female, which my girlfriend responded to by getting her IP number and trying to get the police to give her the address. I had to carry her out of the station like a sack of potatoes...a screaming, biting, scratching, and kicking sack of potatoes...Word to the wise, angry sex can hurt when only one of you is angry.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the lemon. I tried to keep it smutty, while at the same time writing with respect for the characters. I wanted to show that Naruto can unwind and become almost normal under the right circumstances and around the right people/person. I also wanted to show his sensual side as well, and show that his knowledge of human anatomy can be put to other uses besides killing.

The master thing with Hinata is an idea I came up with a while ago, but, at the time, I couldn't think of a reason for it. And even now I'm still not sure about my current reason, which is why I left it as an open subject that I can take in any direction. She's loyal to Naruto, but she always has been, so what's the difference now? I plan on using the master thing to get Naruto into some interesting situations.

Oh, and this is also the end of, what some have dubbed, the "House Arc". After this I'm thinking of some fillers...Tell me what you think of Naruto getting high. Here's what I'm thinking: While on a mission, Naruto is attacked with a poisonous gas as a last ditch effort by the man he was about to kill. The poison effects Naruto, but not in the way it was intended to. He seems fine on the way back, just a bit off balance. But when he gets back to Konoha, the former Prince of Pranks seeks to take his rightful place as the King of Chaos.

I speed-typed the hell out of this thing, so I have no idea how many errors are in it, spelling or otherwise. So if you can tell me about any errors you find so I can correct them later, that'd be great. Normally I'd do it myself, but this thing is too long for me to do that. It's just very hard for me to keep interest in my own work long enough for me to properly proofread it this time, what with me knowing just when and how things are going to happen.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed that, and once again I'm sorry for the ridiculous delay. And if you're gonna send me reviews telling me how much you fapped to the lemon(thank you and ew), just don't go into detail...at all...the numbers are bad enough, but at least I'll know if I did a good job.

(1) She's wearing the same thing she was in chapter fifteen: The Last Namikaze.

(2) From now on, this version of Naruto will be dubbed Dark Naruto. Given, Naruto's already a dark person, but this Naruto is morbid dark, almost "gothic" in nature. He's like Itachi, but more robotic and single-minded, and a bit less emotional. Example: Itachi seems to care about his life, about whether he lives or dies. Dark Naruto could care less about dying, as long as he accomplished his task, or died in the process.

(3) Yep, I took it from the game "The Suffering". The Slayers are, by far, my favorite monsters in the game. Honestly one of the best monster designs I've ever seen. Stan Winston(RIP)is the MAN!

*Edit- 5/15/09: Within this chapter a close-to physically impossible act was depicted: the penetration of the cervix. I figured everyone would know that I only put that in there for the same reasons hentai artists do: for effect. But, apparently, not everyone did. I received a PM today that consisted of someone asking me if it was really possible to penetrate the cervix. I'm not naming anyone, but you know who you are. So, instead of just explaining it to one person, I figured I'd just explain it to anyone who was curious.

IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO PENETRATE THE CERVIX!

Also, I received a PM a while back saying that it wasn't possible to penetrate the cervix. I was going to reply to it, and explain my reasons for featuring the act. But, when I checked the text file I keep all of my PM and Review Replies in(What? Don't look at me like that), it appears that SOMEONE decided to be an asshole and tell the sender of the PM that it WAS possible to penetrate the cervix. There wasn't a username or date attached to the reply(which is how I know I didn't put it there), so I don't know who that reply was to or when it was sent. So, to whoever that was, I apologize for my jackass friend's idiocy.

Furthermore, I also received a review for chapter 28 that suffered the same fate, so I must also apologize to Stygian Styx. I will also be attaching this little "PSA" to chapter 28, since it's the only other chapter to feature a lemon.*

Jason Out!