Fear.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open to see Itachi towering over Naruto, the monster's lips pulled back in a pleased smile as the fox slowly inched away from him.

"We finally meet, Kyuubi." His elder brother greeted.

Kyuubi?

The foreign name only seemed to terrify Naruto further as he gave an obvious start.

"Naruto." Sasuke spoke, voice hoarse from the blow he had been dealt earlier. "Come here."

With a blink the fox was at his side, the animal's tiny nose twitching uncontrollably as it anxiously quivered against his leg.

"Naruto?" Itachi tried the word with interest. "Did you give him that name?"

Naruto's ears shot upwards in alarm as Sasuke struggled against the metal chains that both bound his arms and sealed his chakra. Such tools were often used by the ANBU in order to subdue prisoners; Sasuke cursed the irony that he found himself chained by them now.

"It's his name." he growled hatefully.

Itachi's brow shot straight up, and he stood frozen for a brief few moments before erupting into crazed laughter.

"Surely you jest, little brother." He chuckled. "Or do you really not know?"

At his side Naruto's legs stiffened, and the fox's lips pulled back in a feral growl.

"So he hasn't told you." Itachi commented, crouching down.

With a flash Naruto transformed and he blocked Sasuke from view as if protecting him. "It is the law of our species not to speak of it." He snarled, his voice trembling in a way that Sasuke had never heard before.

What is he so scared of?

"Then let me enlighten my little brother in your place." The older man said smoothly.

"No-!" Naruto lunged forward brashly only to have Itachi fluidly grab his face and force him to the ground, blood pooling beneath the bottom of the blonde's skull.

"Itachi!" Sasuke spat murderously. "Release him!"

"Your pet is going to have to be silent for a few minutes." The man said flatly, unflinching against Naruto's flailing form. "While I educate my foolish little brother on what he has been blindly holding in his hands."

"Mmphhhh!" Naruto struggled to no avail.

"The Jubi." Itachi sighed. "A beast rumored to have created the very world itself. It is said that the Sage divided it into Nine, creating the Original Nine."

Sasuke's pupils dilated.

The original nine?

These words were familiar to him; they were the very words Kabuto had spoken before Naruto had inexplicably attacked him during their mission in Sound.

"This isn't your first time hearing it, I see." Itachi observed. "Your so called fox is the Kyuubi – the nine-tailed bijuu. When all the nine of them are gathered, it is said that the Jubi will be revived, bestowing upon its contracted human enough power to control the world."

Sasuke's jaw slacked.

…What?

Naruto stilled, and the blonde could feel Sasuke's piercing gaze on him as he lay frozen against the ground.

Why?

The fox didn't understand.

He didn't understand who this human was, or why he knew their secrets.

"Mmmmphhhh!" he struggled, lashing out at his capturer with a flame imbued fist. It proved ineffective as Itachi endured the blow, treating it like no more than a pesky mosquito bite.

"The original nine." Itachi smiled, gazing down at the blonde. "The first and original Anima. They are not governed by the same rules as the others; they are beings that transcend even the need for a human bond. The eight revealed themselves shortly after turning their backs on mankind, but for some reason the ninth chose to remain hidden within the safety of the Nursery. He put himself in the mercy of Konoha's protection and even allowed the possibility of acquiring a new master."

Red eyes glinted metallically as Itachi's fingers pressed Naruto's skull even further into the ground.

"Did you know, little brother?" he asked breezily. "I actually went to the Nursery and visited this little fox."

Sasuke's face was pale as he listened.

"He did not wake up for me." Itachi spat out bitterly. "I was not chosen. Imagine my surprise upon finding you to be his master when he rejected all else."

His eyes narrowed, the sharingan brightly accented against deep red.

"You." He clucked his tongue. "My weak, fragile little brother whom I allowed to live on a mere whim. I was surprised to even find you alive – I was sure that seeing our dear, departed father would be too much of a shock-"

Blinding rage erupted from Sasuke and vibrated in their bond, causing Naruto to rise with a surge of power as he felt his master's overwhelming fury. His tails wrapped around Itachi's arm as fire coursed through them, causing the older man to snatch the limb back to his side and grant the fox his freedom. The blonde rushed back to Sasuke's side, his tails spanning out protectively.

"Why?" he asked, his voice cracking. "Why do you know so much? Not just you – other humans too."

He shivered as he remembered Kabuto's smug face leering over his own.

"Your beloved Konoha has known about your existence since its very creation." Itachi shook his head. "Why are all of you so uninformed? I'm disappointed."

"I don't give a fuck about you or your approval." Sasuke spat out, finding his voice. "Fight me, Itachi! Don't hide behind dirty tricks!"

"You still do not understand, little brother." Itachi spoke with exasperation. "Your existence itself is inconsequential."

Naruto growled. "Sasuke's existence is everything." He said stonily. "You are the one who does not understand."

The older man observed with interest as the blonde refuted him defiantly.

"Your fox has a loud bark," Itachi remarked, drawing clearer. "Though with the number of tails he has, I don't think his bite can quite compare."

The blonde's tails flicked as if with annoyance, but Naruto remained uncharacteristically quiet.

Worry.

Sasuke glanced at his partner, his mind still struggling to absorb everything that had been said. He had always known his fox was special – that much had been painfully obvious. But now that Itachi stared at the blonde with such apparent hunger in his eyes, the raven-haired man began to realize just what kind of burden he had unknowingly shouldered.

…Burden?

Was that it?

"I'm going to kill you, Itachi." Sasuke hissed. "I don't care what you have to say. I will rip you apart, limb by limb, for what you did!"

Naruto glanced behind him, startled by the amount of hate dripping from his master's voice.

He wasn't necessarily the sharpest slice of bread, but the fox understood the hints, and it made his blood run cold. He remembered the dreams of blood and tears that often flashed before him the few times when Sasuke was vulnerable, and right now his master's emotions peaked so violently that they bled into his own.

He killed them.

With this realization, Naruto became absolutely livid.

"You fucker!" He snarled, showing off sharp canines.

"You've trained him well." Itachi admired, applauding the fox's open hostility. "Unknowingly, you have molded one of the legendary bijuu into being your personal lapdog."

"What do you want, Itachi?" Sasuke snapped, mentally bidding his fox to wait. Naruto looked as though he was itching to attack, and the raven-haired man knew that spontaneity would only prove to be futile against his older brother.

Patience.

Naruto seethed but stilled.

"My goals have never changed." The older man deadpanned. "It has always been about power."

Pain.

Hatred.

Sadness.

Naruto struggled to keep his head clear as foreign emotions invaded his own, twisting and churning in his chest until he feared he would be overwhelmed by their intensity. They leaked from Sasuke's unmoving form, and though the raven-haired man remained temporarily compliant the metallic tint of his eyes betrayed the fire of his will.

Though the blonde would protect him until his very last breath, Naruto found that he was still too terrified to meet his master's eyes. He was scared of what he would see there, spiraling within the depths of anger and infinite darkness.

Would Sasuke be mad at him for keeping it a secret?

It wasn't as if Naruto didn't trust him.

But such things, such power…

Weren't they better left unsaid?

The fox had always been swept into an endless loop – he craved companionship yet harbored an intense distrust for mankind; he despised them, yet wanted to protect them all the same. From the very beginning, the blonde had been determined to fulfill his late master's wish of watching over Konoha, yet he had stayed in the Nursery with his tail tucked in between his legs while everything in his master's beloved village had gone to shit.

He wanted his master to be strong, yet he had kept him oblivious to the true possibilities of being his master.

He had not intended to tell Sasuke the truth.

Not yet, at least.

Not at this point in their bond.

Naruto knew only too well the taste of corruption and the disgusting smear it left on the tip of his tongue. Sasuke was like fresh air that surrounded him and embraced him, purifying the doubts that the blonde had brewed within him for over a hundred years.

Sasuke had wanted him for him, without knowing anything of the burden he carried.

Now he knew, and Naruto feared change.

He feared and feared; still, he would not let Sasuke die.

Nothing was scarier than having another bond ripped away.

"Naruto."

The blonde's head shot up at the foreign sound of his name leaving Sasuke's mouth before immediately averting his gaze, his stomach clenching and unclenching. His master stared directly at him, though the blonde avoided his gaze with much trepidation as his lower lip trembled.

Since his rebirth as the Kyuubi, Naruto had known almost nothing but rejection. He had secluded himself on that mountain in a place even time could not touch, far from the reaches of greed and the disparity of human affection for his kind. Time and time again the fox found himself feared and hated, and even when he was lifted into the light he had been mercilessly thrown back down into the darkness only moments later.

Sasuke's rejection would be too cruel.

As would be the adulteration of his soul.

"Don't you dare lower your eyes when I'm talking to you." Sasuke snapped, forcing the blonde to meet his gaze with reluctance. Naruto was startled by the raw intensity that illuminated Sasuke's onyx eyes which spoke of none of the emotions he had been expecting.

"Naruto. You are mine."

Do not doubt.

The blonde's lips stretched into a wide grin.

"Okay."

"Touching." Itachi drawled. "I'm sorry little brother, but time is running short and we have a need for your fox."

Sasuke's teeth gnashed in a fierce snarl.

"Over my dead body."

"Yes." His brother replied amiably, taking one step closer. "That was the plan."