Chapter 25

Enemy & Friend

3 Months Earlier

The tranquility of the forest was shattered by a splash, followed by a string of curse words the likes of which would probably make even the hardiest of smugglers and sailors cringe. Naruto sighed while smirking bemusedly. He tipped up his small straw hat and looked out over the rippling surface of the lake to see his third, youngest, and thoroughly water-logged apprentice…swimming back to shore after failing at the water walking exercise…again. Mischief danced in his azure eyes as the girl that he had taken in continued to amuse him.

"Ahsoka, watch your language," he said, just loud enough for the soaked teenager to hear him, before tipping his hat back over his eyes. With an exhale of contentment, he continued to lean against the trunk of the nearest tree to the lake, at that moment probably the most relaxed being on the planet.

Ahsoka coughed before standing up and shivering, water cascading off her form in rivulets. Her response seemed to be tempered somewhat; whether by the cold of an autumn day or by her unceremonious dunk into the lake, Naruto couldn't be sure, but it took her a good five seconds to explode this time, where before it was almost instantaneous.

"Why in the name of the force can I not get this Sith-forsaken, Bantha-poodoo, Hutt-stinking exercise!" she cried into the quiet tranquility of the forest. Off in the distance, a mass of small animals could be heard scattering in every direction…all of them away from the eminent danger that was Ahsoka.

Naruto continued to smirk at her simmering exchange with no one in particular. Oh, how she reminded him of a certain young, brash, blonde-haired, whisker-faced, dare he say it, devilishly-handsome twelve-year-old genin who once studied under the ultimate coolness of one Kakashi Hatake. Much like him, she was cocky, arrogant at times, impulsive and had a short fuse, especially when she was trying to get something but couldn't. Despite these qualities, and also much like him, she was fiercely determined. If someone set a bar in front of her, she would do everything in her power to surpass it. If someone showed her a new technique, she would keep practicing until she mastered it. And if her friends were ever in danger, the lengths to which she would go to save them would be limitless.

"You'll get it, eventually…" Naruto consoled the frustrated young girl as he took off the straw hat and stood up. He walked over to her with a shake of his head and a reassuring smile, "…some people learn certain things quicker than others; some people have a harder time with certain things. Don't worry; you'll get it in time. I have complete faith in my cute, little apprentice," he finished by pinching her cheek condescendingly and gently tapping her nose with his finger.

She gave him a glare before she shivered again. It wasn't just because of the low temperature. It was also due to fatigue. The girl had been at it since dawn, and her chakra reserves were beginning to get low. They weren't down to a dangerous level, but they were beginning to get close, "I'll keep at this until I get it right."

"Not right now," Naruto replied in a suddenly serious tone, ignoring her simmering look, "Ahsoka, you've been at this for nearly five hours. Your chakra reserves are beginning to get very low, and I've already explained exactly what can happen when you're chakra reaches zero right?"

"But according to Aayla, the Force replenishes our chakra systems," Ahsoka pointed out with a tired but sly smile.

"And believe me, I believe her…" Naruto shot back without missing a beat, smirking himself, "…however, as your teacher, I will not take that chance. I want you to go back to camp, eat, get at least eight hours of rest and then report back here so we can continue, alright?"

Ahsoka tried to glare at him, but it evaporated after a few seconds. She was tired, nearly exhausted in fact, and at the moment, the idea of the warmth of her sleeping bag seemed irresistible. It annoyed her just a little that her teacher didn't seem to need any sleep at all.

"How do you do it?" she asked, letting her annoyance be known.

Naruto quirked his brow, "You want to know?"

She nodded her head.

Looking furtively this way and that, he leaned towards her and gestured for her to draw near as he replied in a conspirator's tone, "Come closer."

Ahsoka leaned forward, eyes alight in an almost childish curiosity which made Naruto's smirk grow into a small grin as he finished his sentence.

"It's a secret," he whispered, before laughing quite loudly.

Ahsoka huffed, "You are an ass!"

"That is exactly how you are supposed to view a teacher," Naruto returned with a grin as his laughter died down.

Ahsoka stomped away several feet, before stopping at the edge of the clearing and looking back, "Seriously though, how do you do it?"

Naruto looked at her for a moment before sighing, "We shinobi were taught from a very young age that although sleep is important, it can also be dangerous. We trained our bodies until near collapse to know our limits, to know when to rest, and when to fight. Shinobi are incredibly light sleepers; some even sleep with one eye open. Just the snap of a twig or the flutter of a feather can wake us up."

Ahsoka nodded her head, "It sounds like such a…life or death scenario."

"We were soldiers, little one…" Naruto replied with a small, humourless smile, "…it was a life or death scenario, and my ability to go on little to no sleep is a side effect of having to live with paranoia as my best friend, and even my lover at times."

She hesitated a moment, just a moment, before she nodded her head, bade him a goodnight, and left towards their camp. Rex had taken the Will of Fire out to a neighbouring outpost planet a few days ago, mostly to catch up on supplies and to make contact with a unit of renegade ARC troopers he had heard was hidden there. The four of them had to make do with tents, sleeping bags and fires until he returned.

Naruto waited a moment, making sure that Ahsoka had truly returned to the camp before turning back towards the once-again tranquil lake and stepping forward. He pumped a minuscule amount of chakra into the soles of his feet just as he took his first step onto the surface of the water. He continued walking as if he were still on dry land, so used to using the water walking exercise that it was just like second nature to him.

The last Shinobi walked to the centre of the lake and stopped, looking right and then left before taking a deep breath and pulling out a small storage scroll, pulling the seal off its cylindrical form before opening it with a twist of his wrist, muttering the release seal from his lips before the explosion of smoke overtook him.

The sheathed katana, his clan's family katana, always held by the leader of the Uzumaki Clan, flew high above the smoke. Cloth rolled around the hilt and along its sheathe, fluttering in the breeze as it rose as high as it could…before gravity did its work and began pulling it towards the water. Naruto's hand snapped outward from the smoke, seizing the sheath in a fluid grasp.

He brought the sheathed sword in front of him, placing one hand on the hilt and the other on the sheathe just below the guard, drawing it in a single flowing motion, listening as the blade hummed in the wind. He tossed the sheath away, knowing that it would reach the shore as he gracefully fell into a defensive sword-fighting stance.

He needed to practise too, after all.

His every move was fluid and precise as he followed the basic kata of a particular kenjutsu style he had learned nearly half a decade before, on the soil of the village of Kirigakure. Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage, had given him a place to stay for a time and offered to teach him everything he wished in order to prepare him for his hunt for Madara and the Akatsuki. Every time he remembered her, he remembered a strong and beautiful Kunoichi, angry at the losses of her people and seeing him as a young man who had lost everything, just as she had.

He felt a unique kinship with the woman, the exact nature of which he wasn't quite able to define. At times, he thought of her as a big sister; there were even a few times when, after Hinata had perished, he had given some thought to pursuing the beautiful, lava-spewing red-head as a romantic partner, but he'd never voiced such a desire. Suffice it to say, "Kindred Spirit" was the label that seemed to best align with his feelings towards her.

Sometimes he wondered how Mei was doing, as well as the Raikage, Gaara, Konan and those others who had survived the Fourth Great Shinobi World War. Did they follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, or did they actually bring peace to the land and eliminate the need for war? Naruto did not know what was happening, would probably never know, but he hoped that they did as they had planned.

"Your belief in human nature is admirable, but also foolish."

He faltered for a moment, but almost immediately continued his practise of the kata, listening to his dark half as an afterthought. He followed the first three dances of stab, slash, deflect and block before moving onto the more intricate forms, all the while his darker half continued to talk to him, to taunt him.

"The nature of human beings has always been to destroy and conquer, and eventually to destroy themselves."

He swore he could feel his dark half smiling wickedly as he spoke. His movements suddenly had a little more edge in them as he spun, parried, slashed and stabbed at an invisible opponent which was slowly beginning to take the shape of him, only with crimson eyes with slit pupils and pallid skin.

"How long before this ideal life ends, brother?" his dark half continued to taunt, imagination showing his other half with his hands in his pockets and a mocking smile on his pallid features, "How long before she learns the truth about what you carry? How long before they all realise the truth? Do you truly believe that they would still accept you? And here I was…thinking that you were over such childish, happy fantasy endings."

"Enough."

"Once they realise what you carry, they will see you, see us, for what we truly are…do you know what that will be, brother?"

"Enough!"

"They will see us as monsters."

"ENOUGH!"

He swung his sword so hard and with such chakra that it created a small gale of energy, forcing the water to ripple violently and the trees to creak as their branches moved to the sudden outpouring of power. Naruto remained where he was, panting as he mulled over his darker half's words, knowing that it was his ultimate fear in this life: to lose those he now considered his friends, his family.

He feared to lose Celeste, who he now viewed as a sister.

He feared to lose Ahsoka and Rex, who, although they had only been members of his crew for the last few months, had become family in his mind.

Above all else however, he feared losing Aayla. At this moment, losing her would truly bring him to the brink of insanity, and this time he probably wouldn't be able to come back from it. Losing his village, his friends and his first love had turned him into an avenger greater and more terrible than even Sasuke had been. He had loved Hinata so much that their love was considered legendary among the Elemental Nations. As mighty as his love for her had been, it paled in comparison to the depth and intensity of the love he now shared with Aayla Secura! If he lost her, then the whole galaxy would tremble at the very sound of his name.

That was how terrible the monsters living inside him were.

He had two choices. Should he keep his secrets hidden, knowing that when they surfaced, he risked seeing those he now trusted turning away from him? Or should he tell them, and still risk seeing them turn around and walk away from him…or worse still, attempt to kill him for what he had buried deep within him?

He stood there, on the centre of the lake, for several long minutes, his mind going back and forth on what the best option was. He knew that he would have to face his darkness again, eventually. It was just a matter of knowing that he had his new friends around him when he did. Would they remain at his side, or would they turn away and forsake him?

That was the question that always plagued him…the question that gave his darkness a foothold. It was time to start facing that darkness. Naruto took a deep breath before opening his eyes and looking ahead. It was time to find an answer.

Night had fallen nearly three hours ago, and Naruto still hadn't returned to camp. Aayla looked around for a moment before sighing resignedly. She picked up a stick of dried wood and threw it into the dying fire, listening to the crackle of the flames as they consumed the timber. Indulging her sombre mood she curled up, gripping onto her legs and placing the bottom of her chin against her knees.

Celeste and Ahsoka had already turned in for the night. With the Will of Fire out on a "gopher run" as Rex called his little errand flights, all the others had to protect them against the elements were two tents, each big enough for two people plus basic belongings, surrounding a small circle of stones that marked the outer edge of their fire pit, their primary source of heat and light.

Of course, they weren't really left to the mercy of the elements. The fabric of the tents were woven with insulation and microscopic thermals to keep the cold out, and the storage scrolls they were all recently taught how to make and use kept their supplies fresh and well-preserved. Ahsoka and Celeste shared one tent, while Aayla and Naruto shared the other, each tent on diametrically-opposing sides of the circular stone fire pit, several meters back from its edge.

She was beginning to worry. It wasn't like Naruto to be late coming back from training in the wild, of all things. Granted, Naruto was more than capable of taking care of himself, but there was a nagging feeling in her gut that something wasn't right, or at least something wasn't as it should be. A small part of her, in the back of her mind, went through the worst case scenarios: what if he had gotten lost? What if something had happened and he'd been hurt? What if they'd been tracked and found by Imperials or Sith?

Aayla eventually let her common sense calm her. This was Naruto Uzumaki she was thinking about, after all. That man would never allow his life to be ended by something as simple as a fall or an animal attack, or even getting lost in the wilderness. As far as the Sith went, the man had faced down Darth Vader in single combat…and had embarrassed him.

"Aayla," she heard from the voice that she loved to hear more than any other from behind her.

She turned around with a smile to see Naruto walking up to her from the edge of the clearing, the dim light from the crackling fire dancing across his form and his features. Her smile slowly morphed into a frown of concern when she saw that his expression wasn't the same as usual. If she didn't know any better, she would think that he was about to go into battle, and through the Force, she could sense that he was worried, hesitant about something, and…fearful.

"Naruto?" she asked in a low voice so as not to wake the other two members of their little group.

She stood up and covered herself in the brown cloak that she had taken to wearing to ward off the autumn chill. Walking towards him slowly, her concern for his well-being evident across her features, she asked worriedly, "Are you alright?"

He managed a small smile, "You know me too well."

Aayla didn't reply with her usual antics, the raising of her brow or with a small smirk and a light jib. She felt through the force that this was not such a time, "Something is bothering you greatly; your feelings betray you."

He walked over to her, gently pressing his forehead against hers as he placed his hands on her shoulders. He revelled in her warmth, and in the connection they had just begun to establish before pulling away and looking down into the warm depths of her dark eyes, "There is something that I need to tell you. Will you come with me for a while?"

She hesitated for the briefest of moments to collect her thoughts. Something was bothering him, that much she could tell and it was something serious…serious enough that he only wanted to tell her at the moment. He didn't want to talk to Celeste, Rex or Ahsoka about this, at least not yet. All of this, she had gleaned from the intense emotions coming from him, rippling through the Force.

She smiled reassuringly, "Of course, I'll come."

He smiled gratefully, relieved, "Thank you."

He then turned and started walking away from the camp. Aayla hesitated a moment more before following him. She followed him through the darkness of the forest, easily keeping up with him as he passed by thick, sturdy tree trunks. After crossing the shallow stream that provided them with their drinking water, they walked up a rolling hill. They must have been about a kilometre away from the camp before he stopped and turned around.

He moved across the small clearing, took out several glow-torches from his utility belt, and stabbed them into the ground, one by one. With a spark of his chakra, he lit them, bright white light exploded from the tips, illuminating the clearing and allowing Aayla to see him clearly. He looked across from her, his azure eyes more nervous and unsure than she had ever seen them, "There's something I need to tell you, Aayla."

"I'm listening," she replied softly and with a gentle smile. Naruto managed a weak smile in return, allowing the tension to ease just a little, but he slowly shook his head and stared off to the edge of the forest to his right. After a few moments, he sighed and then sat down, crossing his legs. Aayla's concern for her lover grew in leaps and bounds; he was behaving in a way that was so out-of-character for him.

She walked slowly towards him and stopped when two meters or so separated the two. She sat down across from him, crossing her own legs and placing her hands on her knees for support as she looked over at her beloved. Her brow creased somewhat as she attempted to glean exactly what was causing him such worry and uncertainty. He looked over at her, and sighed with a weak, nervous laugh.

"I don't know where to start," he managed at last.

Aayla mulled over his words for a moment before offering a disarming smile, "Well, I hear that a good place to begin is…the beginning."

Naruto chuckled dryly, "Right…from the beginning."

He took a deep breath, then another, and finally a third, before he opened his eyes and stared directly into her own, still nervous but seemingly determined to go through with what he was about to say, "Do you remember the story I told you, about the attack on my village on the day of my birth?"

Aayla nodded her head, "Yes, about how your village was attacked by a powerful creature…a demon, if I remember correctly. It was under the control of a Madara Uchiha and the Fourth Hokage, your father, was able to defeat it at the cost of the lives of both him and your mother."

"That's... the edited version, yes…" Naruto replied, "…but what I am about to tell you is the rest of the tale."

Aayla didn't reply; she simply waited and listened, giving him her complete and undivided attention.

"The Kyuubi no Yoko was so powerful…that even the combined might of the Shinobi of Konoha couldn't defeat it. One of the greatest armies the continent had ever witnessed…and all they could do was slow it down. It was so strong, even my father did not have the strength to defeat it."

Naruto took another breath, "So instead, he did the only thing he could do to protect the village. He used a suicidal sealing Jutsu to seal the Kyuubi away inside a container…a living container."

Aayla hesitated for a moment, feeling a chill which was not caused by the weather crawl up her spine, "And what did they seal it inside, Naruto?"

Naruto looked at her for a moment, sighed, scratched the back of his head and then slowly rose. It was so quiet that a pin drop could have been heard from thirty meters off. The tension in the air was so thick that they both began to find it oppressive. Naruto, delaying no longer, pulled up his shirt, revealing the tanned skin of his stomach. With the slightest exertion of chakra, he showed Aayla the intricate seal which housed one of the most destructive forces of nature ever known.

"He sealed it inside me," he responded quietly. Aayla could hear his voice cracking ever so slightly as he spoke, but he persevered, knowing that the woman before him deserved to know exactly what she was getting into, what all of them were getting into, by associating with him. His greatest fear seemed to flash before his eyes: she was going to leave; they were all going to leave with her.

Despite his fear, he continued relaying his story, "Inside me is imprisoned a creature so powerful…that with a simple swing of its tail, mountains would crumble, forests would cease to exist, tsunamis would sweep in and rip up everything in their path. Within me is one of the most destructive forces of nature ever known."

There was silence - complete and utter silence. Naruto had stopped looking at her, turning his back on Aayla to look out over the forest beyond. He felt like such a fool, allowing himself to think that anybody but Hinata could love him. Maybe his dark half was right: maybe there was no one left in this galaxy who would accept him, at least not all of him.

Naruto punctuated his heavy heart with a heartbroken sigh, "When Rex comes back, the three of you can hitch a ride. I won't stop you…" he was interrupted by Aayla.

"Naruto, I just have one question…" she replied, making him look back at her. He saw that there was no fear in her eyes, no anger, no hatred. Surprise was there, to be certain, but it was coupled with curiosity…and empathy? She posed her question, "…why did your father seal it inside you? Surely, there must have…been some other way?"

"There wasn't…" Naruto replied, turning away from her again to look out over the forest. He contemplated keeping silent her for a moment, before sighing in defeat. He had already told her this much; it wouldn't be right to not tell her the rest, "…I wasn't the first Jinchūriki to carry the Kyuubi no Yoko. My mother carried it before me, and another elder member of the Uzumaki Clan before her. The Kyuubi was once the personal weapon of Madara Uchiha, one of the founders of Konoha. He wished to take on the mantle of Hokage, and so challenged the First to combat. He summoned the Kyuubi and was about to kill the First, but he was stopped by the Hokage's wife, Mito Uzumaki, who sealed it within herself. The village knew that once she died it would be released back into the world, so they planned on switching containers, and my mother was a prime candidate."

"That sounds awful," Aayla responded, horrified at the potential implications of carrying such a burden.

"It was…" Naruto agreed with a nod, "…but it needed to be done. Over time, other villages saw this, and their leaders thought that if Konoha could control a tailed beast, then so could they. They began using the Bijuu they had imprisoned, implanting them within people, usually newborns or very young children. Within three years of that battle, each village had their own private super-weapon. In some villages, like Kumo, Jinchūriki were revered and respected. In others, such as Suna, they were reviled and mistreated. Fear can do terrible things. In Konoha, Mito and my mother's condition was kept secret by the Third and his council, who wished them to live their lives without fear. Mito was a respected elder until her death, and my mother became a strong Kunoichi, and she met my father, who saved her life and the two of them eventually got married."

"Then…how did it get loose, if it was sealed beforehand?"

Naruto continued to be both surprised and relieved at Aayla's sincere, empathizing curiosity, "My mother was pregnant with me and was about to give birth. It is known from experience that birth is a dangerous time for a female Jinchūriki. Their immune system and their will are both weakened by the labour, and most of their chakra is diverted towards the birth canal, so there's not as much available to hold the seal. If not properly managed, the sealed demon could break out. Madara was able to infiltrate the grounds, kill the Shinobi guarding her, and then kidnap her…one minute after she'd birthed me. By the time my father trailed them, it was too late. Madara had forcefully extracted the Kyuubi and set it loose upon Konoha. My mother was dying; a forced extraction usually kills a Jinchūriki instantaneously, and it was only due to her Uzumaki blood that she was able to survive…if only just."

She said nothing, continuing to pay Naruto rapt attention.

He continued, "My father fought Madara, defeated him, and then used me to seal away the Kyuubi no Yoko. It killed him, and my mother also died protecting me. I was the only being healthy enough to be able to withstand the sealing; there was no other way."

He looked over in time to see a tear roll down Aayla's cheek. It surprised him; he was expecting her to yell at him…call him a monster and a devil…run away from him as fast as she could; anything but what he was seeing! She didn't shout…she didn't run…she didn't even move! She just stood there, unable to pry her gaze from him as she cried silently for him.

"It sounds like an awful ordeal to go through," she finally said, her tears evident in her voice.

"It was…" Naruto replied with a solemn bow of his head as he turned away, "…and I can't put either you or the others in danger because of it. I'm going to face this, and end it tonight. I may win; I may lose. But either way, I want you and the others to get as far away from here as possible."

"No," she responded forcefully.

Surprised, he spun around, ready to give her a firm retort. Before the words could leave his lips, however, he was tackled with such force that he lost his footing and fell onto his back. Aayla pinned him down, using her knees to straddle him before giving him a piercing look: one of a woman who has made up her mind and would not be deterred.

'Such a stubborn woman I've fallen in love with,' he thought to himself before telling her, "This is not a game, Aayla."

"You think I don't know that?" she shot back, leaning forward so that their noses were touching. Her gaze was that of a furious warrior who would not be defied, her jaw set in grim determination.

This woman…this amazing, wonderful, woman…his warrior woman, spoke up once more, "I will admit that I barely understand the gravity of what you have just told me. But I know that if you are about to face your inner demons, then I will not allow you to do it alone!"

"I can only do it alone!" Naruto fired back angrily, "…don't you understand? I may be entering a place where there is no going back, into a battle that I may very well lose. I will not put you or anyone else in that kind of danger…"

Aayla interrupted him once more, "And I will not let you face it alone, regardless of the danger!"

Her features then softened, "Naruto, don't you understand? I love you! Nothing else matters to me, and nothing you could ever tell me would change that! Even if you tell me you are the devil himself, I would still love you, and I will not allow you to fight this battle without me! I can't let you! I CAN'T LOSE YOU!"

Naruto's eyes went wide at this; even in his wildest dreams, he couldn't have imagined anyone, even Hinata, this determined to face the level of danger that they were about to face. She was committed, he could see that now! He simply looked up at the radiant creature before him, her exclamations shouting through his mind.

"I love you!"

"Nothing else matters to me!"

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU!"

Those words echoed through his mind, blocking out his fear and his trepidation. They vanished as surely as the changing of the tide.

Aayla spoke again, slackening her hold on him as she looked down, her eyes now filled with anguished pain, "I will admit this. The fact that you thought I would leave because of this; that I would forsake you…that hurts, Naruto. Do you really have so little faith in me? In us? In the others who have grown to care for you and love you, here?"

Naruto closed his eyes, and shed a few tears of his own, "Aayla…I'm sorry. You're right…I was wrong to think that…" he added with a smile, "…and I've never been so happy to be wrong about something in all my life."

She smiled weakly down at him, "I am not going to let you go through this alone. I will stand beside you and support you. I will raise my blade for you. I will not abandon you…I love you, so please…believe in me. Believe in the love we share. Believe in Celeste, and Rex, and Ahsoka, too; we will never abandon you, Naruto. When we were at our darkest moments, you saved us. You kept us from falling over the edge. Now, it is my turn to save you."

"It's going to be dangerous," he said at last.

She smiled, "And?"

"We might not come back."

"I know."

"I don't want to lose you."

"You won't…" she replied with a shake of her head as she caressed his sun kissed hair, "…you've always been our protector, Naruto. You've been our rock, our pillar, our support and strength…it's my turn to strengthen you, my love."

She kissed him: a searing, passionate kiss. The moment their lips parted, many seconds later, the two of them were panting for breathe. Aayla stood and offered him her hand, "Let's do it."

Naruto no longer hesitated. He took her hand and allowed her to pull him up. He then spent the next hour with his sealing tools, making the appropriate seal: a special Uzumaki seal meant to not only allow the user to enter their mind at will, but also to bring a person of their choosing into their mindscape with them. In the oldest of Uzumaki traditions, it was considered that allowing a spouse or a lover to enter one's mind was the ultimate show of trust, the ultimate bond of affection…and it was this trust and this bond that he was about to establish with Aayla.

The seal was an intricate carving of circles and ancient runes, barely decipherable to even the most experienced of seal masters. The seal covered the flat ground at the top of the rolling hill, its points matching the exact spots where Naruto had stabbed the glow-torches into the ground a half-hour earlier. When it was completed, he and Aayla sat down, cross-legged, in the central circle, their knees touching, both of them looking at each other.

Aayla managed a nervous smile, "So what now?"

Her nervous smile was mirrored by his own as he raised his hands, palms up, "Take my hands."

She pressed the palms of her hands over his as Naruto gave further instructions, "Now, take a deep breath and relax. Clear your mind. Allow our foreheads to touch and together, utter this incantation in perfect synchronicity with me. Yuuen Omoiyuukai no Jutsu."

"Yuuen Omoiyuukai no Jutsu," Aayla repeated the phrase slowly, creaking open an eye to look at Naruto thoughtfully.

Naruto smiled, "You got it."

She smiled back, and closed her eyes again, waiting for his word.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

"Then in 3…2…1…"

"Yuuen Omoiyuukai no Jutsu." They said it in perfect unison. The seal activated in a glowing white light, illuminating the surrounding forest, a low peaceful hum emanating from the array in which the two sat.

Her feet met with solid ground, so suddenly that Aayla very nearly lost her footing. It was only when Naruto took her forearm to steady her that the Twi'lek Jedi was truly able to discern her surroundings. She was standing in the middle of a grand hall, a corridor of stone tiled floors and flawless ancient walls. Lamps were alit, illuminating the huge chamber and the corridors beyond in a warm, almost golden hue that seemed to bounce off the walls.

Getting her bearings and steadying herself she looked over at her lover gratefully, flashing a thankful smile which he returned. Naruto released her and turned around, looking down the corridor for a long moment, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I think I've come too far to simply give up and leave now, don't you?" Aayla replied, taking a few steps to overtake Naruto and walk down the corridor.

"Do you even know where you're going?" the blond asked wryly, causing the woman he loved to stop in her tracks, hesitant for a moment before whirling around to fix him with a mock glare.

"My sense of direction isn't that bad," she replied with a quirk of her brow.

Naruto shook his head, tension lifted from his shoulders for but a moment as he walked over to his angel and took her hand in his, squeezing it in reassurance, "We go together. This is my mind, after all; I'm the only one who knows the way."

Aayla nodded, and allowed him to guide her down the long corridor. She was no master in the art of mind-walking, but she did know from lessons that the mind had the potential to be a very powerful ally…or a fearsome enemy. A person like Naruto would be able to train their mind to overcome any direct attempts at penetration. Obstacles and protective measures could take any form, from walls and barriers, to traps, and even guardians. As Naruto guided her through corridor after corridor, turn after turn, she wondered if her beloved's mind was perhaps the most intricate she had ever seen. One could easily get lost in this maze.

Eventually, the very terrain began to change. The atmosphere changed from a well-built and properly-maintained structure, to a musty environment of ancient ruins and decaying catacombs. The solid stone tiles gave way to tiles which were cracked, chipped and discolored with age, and the lower they went into this…tomb…the more broken and destroyed the floor became. The floors weren't the only thing to suffer the further down they went: moss grew in the walls, cracks in the infrastructure threatened to cause the corridors to collapse, and as they ventured further, the roof began to show the same wear and tear. The glow-lamps, once so brilliant in their luminescence, now seemed to dim away or had died altogether, causing shadows to slowly creep along the walls and floor.

Then the flooding appeared; at first, nothing more than puddles of water in the misshapen, broken tiles, but slowly growing until they were walking through at least half a meter of water. The sounds of droplets falling from the walls and cragged roof, colliding with their brethren on the ground, became more and more commonplace.

Then came the breathing: a loud, thunderous echo of exhales and inhales, slow, methodical, as if there was a sleeping giant in the cavern ahead. Aayla had to shake herself from her doubt while she continued to allow Naruto to guide her. There was no place for doubts, now. There was a sleeping giant further in, and she was about to see the demon for herself.

"Stay close to me," Naruto whispered.

"Always," she smiled, watching as he managed a smile himself before continuing on in.

Finally, the corridor came to an end, and the two found themselves in a huge, cavernous chamber. The floor was covered with ankle deep water, and splitting the room in two was a wall of steel bars: the gates of the cage. Behind the gates, however, a mass of shadows was obscuring what lay within. All Aayla could make out was a silhouette, and by the Force, it was a huge silhouette.

On closer inspection, the Jedi saw the place where the lock should be, marvelling at the fact that there was a slip of paper holding the gates shut instead. On that piece of paper were two symbols in black ink. She recognized them as kanji from Naruto's sealing training, but she didn't know what they meant. She was amazed that such a simple looking slip of paper was strong enough to seal away an animal…no, a demon capable of causing tidal waves, demolishing mountains and destroying swaths of forest with a single swing of its tails.

A familiar voice reached out from the abyss, "Well, well, well... you've finally shown, brother?"

Aayla looked to her left, absently noticing Naruto place a hand on her shoulder to keep her partially behind him. A silhouette could barely be made out in the darkness, sitting on what looked like a rickety chair, slouched and bored. The being sitting on it was still for a moment, before bringing itself to its feet with a push of its hands. The figure stepped forward, walking until it was illuminated by the low light of the chamber.

She gasped at what she saw. It looked almost exactly like Naruto, a carbon copy. His clothes, his form, his features and physique were exactly the same. This one did not look like her Naruto, though. His hair seemed to have lost its bright golden vibrancy, almost looking like it was turning white. His skin was pallid and greyish, almost as if the hand of death had touched him, yet he still moved. It was this other half's eyes that caught her attention the most, instead of being vibrant blue orbs full of life they were as crimson as droplets of blood, the pupils morphing from a round orb into a sharp sickle, glinting in the low light.

"What?" Naruto asked with a face of pure stone, "Did you think I was going to run from you forever?"

His dark half smirked, red eyes glinting like those of a predator, "So you've finally decided to face me head on. At last, I was beginning to get bored."

"It ends tonight," Naruto said simply in reply, folding his arms, "Once and for all, it will end tonight."

"I know," his darkness replied with a bitter grin., "I will admit that I have enjoyed our little dance, but I suppose all good things must come to an end."

His eyes settled on Aayla, and his smile became just that little more venomous, "So you've brought the one who brought the light back into your existence, brother?"

Naruto shot a glare of pure, unadulterated malice at his dark self.

"She is indeed a beautiful creature…almost angelic, if you would pardon the thought…" his dark half grinned, closing his eyes, "…I wonder what she would look like in chains, writhing underneath me? Oh, how I would love to see that beautiful face…torn between pain and pleasure. It would be such a spectacle to see-"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence, for Naruto moved, closing the gap between them in a mere second, arm cocked back to deliver a deadly punch. There was an explosion of dust and thrown debris as the true power of his strike was made known. So powerful and untamed was the blow that it punched a hole straight through the thick rock wall.

His dark half hit the floor, skidding to a halt in a crevice of water, uncaring as chunks of rock slammed into the pool, causing ripples over the once clear, calm water. He looked at the aftermath of the strike, and scowled in disgust when he saw a long gash cut across his cheek, "Not much for talk, I see."

The dust cleared in time to see Naruto walking towards him, hands at his sides but with tenseness in his stance that meant he was ready for almost everything. His eyes had already morphed into the yellow sclera and bar shaped pupils of his infamous Sage Mode, red pigment flowing across his eyelids.

"Not much for warming up, either," his dark half finished wryly. His eyes scanned his grazed cheek just in time to see it heal over. His grin returned as he activated the Sage Mode himself, becoming an evil abomination of the man he was fighting against. The sclera remained crimson, but his pupils morphed further into the shape of crosses, merging his sickle shaped pupils with the bar shaped counterparts of the technique. The pigment that covered his lids was not red either. Instead they were a pitch black, as black as any abyss.

Deep within the shadows of his cage, the Kyuubi no Yoko opened a single, crimson eye.

Author's Note 1: Merry Christmas all and a Happy New Year. It's been a month, and I apologise for the long wait. This is to make up for that, the first edited part of my planned one-shot, I will continue to update with the one-shot separated into segments here, then upload the uncut version as a one-shot onto my profile. You'll know when it's up so don't worry. The next chapter will be called Beginning & End, and it looks like it's going to be longer than this one.

Thanks to ncpfan for beta-reading this piece and putting his own little flare for the dramatic into it.

On a side note my birthday is coming up, yes I am getting older by another year. I remember when I looked forward to my birthdays, but now I'm beginning to dread them, and I'm only 24. I should be dreading these things when I hit 40 not 24. How bad is that, lol. I'll feel better when my mates get me wasted though, it's always the perfect cure ;)