...Yo. What's it been, almost a month? Feels longer. Oh well, here's the new chapter. It's got some combat, a little setup so no one's just showing up for no reason, and (hopefully) the stakes are nailed to the ceiling.

Mm, steaks...

When an Aburame boy burst through the doors to his office, out of breath and soaked in sweat, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage, was ready. Not an emotion showed on his face, and his was the voice of a powerful commander, "Report."

The Aburame boy snapped to attention and said, "Lord Hokage, there is an unknown threat in the forest of death. My jonin sensei, Kurenai Yuhi, as well as the jonin sensei of team 10, Asuma Sarutobi, have moved to investigate and eliminate the threat, as I suspect other jonin sensei have as well."

Hiruzen nodded to the boy, "I see. You're dismissed."

The boy hesitated, "Lord Hokage-"

The boy was startled by a hand on his shoulder. An ANBU black ops agent was standing behind him, "You just received a direct order from your Hokage."

There was a very slight tremble in the boy's voice, "Lord Hokage, there is something deadly about the chakra of whatever that threat is." The boy held up a finger, upon which there was a dead bug, "Anything that it touches seems to die." Then the boy allowed himself to be led out of the room.

"Send a nonlethal suppression team to the forest immediately."

"Lord Hokage?"

Hiruzen ignored his soldier's unasked question, "Also, send someone to find Jiraiya. Have them start their search at the hot springs and expand from their. When they find him, have them tell him this-"

Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai, three of the jonin sensei who had students in the final round of the chunin exams, were able to link up and move toward the disturbance as a group.

As the three jonin navigated through the huge trees, Guy, in the lead, said, "Do you feel that?"

Kurenai answered, "There is a foul presence in the air."

Asuma sucked on his cigarette, "Doesn't it remind you of something?"

Guy nodded, "That day, twelve years ago."

Kurenai said, "Twelve years? You don't mean-"

"If it is what I think it is, then none of us can afford to hold back." Guy was wearing his serious face.

Before either Asuma or Kurenai could respond, a flash of grey passed through their field of vision. Then the tree in front of them exploded and fiery debris rained on them.

Through the debris, a red-orange blur rushed at them. Guy stood to block the charge and raised his foot for a kick.

"No!" From above, a kunai charged with lightning chakra speared through the branch Guy was standing on. The branch snapped, and Guy was forced to turn his block into a dodge.

Guy latched onto the side of a tree below where the orange blur stopped. Guy's eyes widened. It was a kid, no older than one of his own genin, surrounded by a blazing aura of inhuman chakra. Blonde bangs hung over blazing red eyes, and the whisker marks on his face were curled into a snarl.

Kakashi appeared on a branch next to Guy, "Don't let him touch you."

Guy spared his eternal rival a glance.

What little of Kakashi's face that was visible was paler than usual, and his mask was slick with sweat. There was a tremor in his friends' shoulders, and one of his sleeves was ripped; his hand had been hastily wrapped in the material. His sharingan eye was bared, and hadn't left the boy.

"I see." Guy tensed his body and readied his chakra. If this was the kind of opponent they were facing, then holding back really would get them killed. As he opened the first of the eight inner gates the air shifted, and it wasn't Kakashi who was standing next to him anymore. Demonic red eyes beared down on Guy, and even with the first gate open he didn't escape unscathed.

Ordinarily the punch would have missed, but Guy hadn't been able to avoid brushing against the scathing aura. Instantly, Guy felt as if his insides on that side had been churned with a molten katana. But he continued his motion and was able to escape further maiming.

As that exchange ended, Kurenai finished the set of hand signs for a paralyzing genjutsu. She yelled, "Asuma, now!"

From a position directly above what had to be a raging jinchuriki from some other village, Asuma filled the air with his acrid smoke jutsu. A spark from the flint in his teeth and another explosion rocked the forest, accented by a distinctly feminine scream of agony, "Wha- Kurenai?!" Panic flashed in Asuma's eyes as he stared at Kurenai's burnt and unmoving body. He didn't notice the orange blaze of death barreling toward him until it was too late.

Before Asuma could be torn asunder, a green blur passed by and swept him out of the way of the danger.

At the same time, Kakashi swept through and grabbed Kurenai's limp form before kicking off as hard as he could. They needed to get away and regroup, but Kakashi figured their chances of that were slim to none with Naruto practically nipping at their heels.

As that thought ran through Kakashi's head, twin snakes curled through the air toward the deadly kid. A belligerent voice rang out, "Have no fear, the sexy and single Anko is here! With reinforcements!"

Kakashi's head snapped up, "Anko! Whatever you do, don't let that chakra touch you!"

Anko's twin shadow snakes hadn't held up well when they'd latched onto the kid, "I can see that!" She let the snakes disappear and called out, "Hayate!"

"You got it!" A blur of movement ricocheted off of a tree behind the kid and a sword came down on his neck. The thok of steel sliding through wood was barely enough warning for Hayate to latch onto a target for a hasty substitution. He didn't bother turning to see how close certain death had come, only concerned with the breath in his lungs and the aches in his body that let him know that he was still alive.

Anko through a kunai as she tried to find a place to give them the advantage. Whoever this kid was, they were fast. And apparently an untouchable juggernaut as well, according to Kakashi's rushed explanation. She watched as the kid tore through the stone wall that Kakashi had summoned, before tanking more than a few of Guy's fireball punches to try and get a shot in. Everything the kid touched smoldered and shriveled, and he was some kind of substitution master to boot.

Guy was the only one of them who was able to tangle with this jinchuriki(What else could it possibly be?) without touching him or letting himself be touched, but Anko could see that he had to use the inner gates just to keep up. Guy wouldn't last much longer with that horrible wound in his side that no doubt made every breath he took an exercise in agony. They had to make this shot count.

Anko signaled the other jonin, and she muttered to herself, "Time to do or die."

Naruto wanted to rip this man to shreds. Daddy bowl cut was right in front of him, but he was drawing on some kind of power of his own that was letting him stay one step ahead. Naruto was frustrated, but he pressed on. Every swipe he took was a hair closer than the last. He let a smirk inch it's way onto his face. The man in the green jumpsuit was tiring. All Naruto needed to do was take one more step, get his hand close enough to a vital organ, and ruin this jonin's career.

Naruto tried to take that step, but something caught his foot and slowed him down just enough to let the bowl cut live a little longer. Naruto raised a foot and stomped on the head of the snake that had thought to stop him. It wasn't necessary, the things teeth and gums had already dissolved, but grinding it's skull into paste under his foot felt kind of nice. Maybe he would do that to Kakashi, as well as the rest of the ninja who'd thought to stop him.

Naruto looked up when he noticed the foreign chakra that was trying to manipulate his senses. It couldn't get past the aura of power around him, but it was annoying enough to want to get rid of. With that person trying to slip their chakra into his own it was a simple task to follow it back to the source.

Other than the bowl cut(and maybe Kakashi) the jonin's moves were in slow motion. And with the severe burns she'd recieved before, that dark haired woman didn't stand a chance. She was too far away from the others for any of them to interfere. She would be the first to be ripped apart. Her blood would be spilt, her guts would rain down, her head would-!

Only a step away from tearing out the woman's throat, something stopped Naruto in his tracks. He saw the thin line of darkness that had no doubt connected to his own shadow through the woman's. Without a thought, orange chakra pooled at Naruto's feet and sped along the line of the shadow. The woman launched herself away as the entire shadow exploded in flame, but the ANBU who'd cast the technique wasn't so lucky.

Naruto flexed his chakra and some shadow clones popped into existence to assist with the bloodshed.

Over the sweet screams of agony from that particular ninja, Naruto was just able to make out someone's quiet words, "Mind Transfer Jutsu."

Tenko Yamanaka had led a fairly long, fairly successful career as a ninja, and as a Yamanaka. When she was a genin, she looked into the mind of a rapist. As a chuunin she saw into the mind of an insane missing nin from the mist. Since she'd joined the ANBU she'd seen even more than her fair share of sick minds in the field, but never before had she seen a mindscape fashioned after a sewer. Tenko's projection had appeared before an iron door set into the side of the sewer wall. It wasn't unusual to have to open doors when hijacking a person's mind. She reached for the handle.

"Oh no you don't."

Tenko's eye widened, and she screamed as her projection was shredded into nothing.

Something pounded from the inside of the door, "Who's there?! Let me out!" Ryuto's voice echoed through the sewer corridors.

A panel slid over on the door and Ryuto was able to see through it. Naruto chuckled as he stepped from around a corner, "Are you comfortable?"

Ryuto scowled, "What, you think this is funny?" He slammed against the door, "Put me back in control!"

Naruto shrugged, "Why should I?"

"Because-!"

"What would you even do with this body? Train? I can do that without you. What else?"

"..." Ryuto opened his mouth, but found that he didn't have a response. Instead, he asked, "Where did this power even come from? I know it's not natural."

This time Naruto laughed out loud, and when he stopped abruptly there was no echo, "You really haven't figured it out yet? I thought you were supposed to be a ninja." Naruto shook his head, "You can't even see underneath your own underneath."

"Don't you patronize me!"

Naruto waved him off, "You're not scaring anyone like that." He tucked his hands in his pockets, "Why don't you take a look around before you ask stupid questions?"

Ryuto's eyes widened, "Take a look?" Slowly, Ryuto turned around.

The walls stretched far and high, the ceiling was too high to see. Torches lined the walls all the way around up to the line of bars that separated the room. The bars themselves were individually far too wide for Ryuto to wrap his arms around, even if he transformed to be six-foot-two. In the middle of the bars was a cross section with a slip of paper pasted on. There was a single word written on the paper.

Above the cross section, shrouded in darkness was a single blood red eye, focused directly on Ryuto.

Behind one of main bathhouses in the leaf village, an old man was perched with his body pressed against the privacy wall, and his eye pressed up to a tiny peephole. His long white hair was held back in one pony tail that fell past his knees.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin."

Jiraiya didn't even turn around, "Go away, can't you tell I'm busy?"

"I have a message for you, from the Hokage."

"Okay, well he can tell me himself when I go see him after I finish my research." He made a shooing motion with one hand, "Now go, before you get me in trouble."

"...I will alert the women who are bathing to your presence if you refuse to hear me out."

"Well someone's a persistent one." Jiraiya rolled his eyes and actually turned to face the ANBU, "Fine, what's so important that you needed to interrupt my research?"

"This is what I was told to tell you," The ANBU paused for a moment, "Naruto is alive."

Jiraiya slid open the window to the Hokage's office, "What the hell, old man!"

Hiruzen looked at his student, "Jiraiya, I promise that I will explain everything later, but right now Naruto needs you. He's snapped, and the power of the Nine Tailed Fox is excaping."

Jiraiya grit his teeth, "Damn it." He jabbed a finger at his teacher, "We're not done here." Hiruzen nodded. "Where is he?"

"The forest of death." And then Hiruzen was left alone with his thoughts. He held a hand to his head, and his pipe to his lips. He needed to gather his thoughts in order to properly deal with the fallout that would undoubtedly come after the whole situation was resolved.

When the screams of agony reached Gaara's ears, he stopped in his tracks. Kankuro and Temari walked a few more steps forward before they noticed their brother had stopped in his tracks.

Kankuro peered over his shoulder, "Gaara?"

Temari gulped, "W-what's wrong, Gaara?"

The little red head smiled, "Mother says to go back." Then he turned and walked toward the sounds of terror and destruction.

Baki, the sand team's jonin sensei, sighed, "...I hate it when he gets like this." He gestured at Temari and Kankuro, "You two go back to the hotel, I need to make sure he doesn't kill anyone too important."

Gaara's older siblings had no problem with that.

Ryuto's whole body shook, "No, it can't be!"

The big red eye blinked, and another one opened alongside it. A deep rumble shook the room, and a big mouth full of pearly-white teeth smirked down at Ryuto, "You have my thanks." The voice was deep, Ryuto felt it through his entire body.

"Wha-?" Ryuto furrowed his brow and grit his teeth, "No! You're not real! Get out of my head!"

Suddenly, Naruto was right next to Ryuto with a look that promised pain and misery, "Your head?"

The deep voice chuckled maliciously, and Ryuto fell over, "Calm yourself, Naruto. Don't you think he deserves a little lenience? After all, none of this would have been possible without him." The eyes stared at Ryuto, gleaming with amusement, "If it weren't for you, who knows how long I would have remained dormant."

Naruto smirked, "That's right. You've been around for so long now, I almost forgot there was a time when you weren't."

Ryuto curled in on himself, closed his eyes, covered his ears, and shouted, "Nonono!"

Naruto leered over Ryuto, "In the beginning you grew without my noticing, but one day I found myself in here. That was when I met this guy," He jabbed a thumb toward the face in the shadows, "You should have realized by now that this is the-"

Ryuto tried to fold himself into a ball, and shouted, "NO!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "The Kyuubi. The very same Kyuubi that nearly destroyed the village twelve years ago. The very same Kyuubi that I was hated for." Ryuto shivered, but otherwise didn't react. Naruto continued, "We spent a lot of time in here, just the two of us. And together we hatched an idea."

The Kyuubi's smile was cruel, "We let you burn yourself out, then take control, go wild on anyone in our way, and leave the village to live out the rest of his life," The eyes glanced at Naruto, "...In peace. Away from the villages and ninja and anyone else."

Naruto nodded, "I get to be free, and he won't need to worry about getting resealed when I die."

Ryuto wiped his nose and mumbled into his knees, "...There was no guarantee that I was going to burn out."

Naruto through back his head with a howl of laughter, and was joined by the Kyuubi. The entire room shook and Ryuto fought to keep from smacking his head on the iron door. As their laughter died down, Naruto wiped a tear from his eye, "Ah... Do you even realize what you are?"

Ryuto frowned, "What?"

Naruto shook his head, "Wow. I-I'm legitimately surprised. You actually have no idea, do you?" Ryuto shook his head dumbly, and Naruto turned to the Kyuubi, "He has no clue. Can you believe that?"

The Kyuubi chuckled lightly, and Naruto only swayed on his feet, "Perhaps you should simply tell him, I wish to see the look on his face."

Naruto snorted, "Yeah, me too." He turned his blue eyes on Ryuto, "You are just one part of me."

Ryuto glanced up at Naruto, wide eyed, "Wha-?"

"Specifically the part of me that houses my negative emotions. Things like..." Naruto trailed off for a moment, before listing points with his fingers, "Fear," Ryuto's breath hitched, "Paranoia," His hands clamped onto his pants, "Insecurity," He shut his eyes tight, "Guilt," Ryuto tucked his head as far behind his knees as he could, "...Loneliness."

Ryuto couldn't hold back the sob that wracked his body, "Stop."

Naruto ignored the plea, "You are the embodiment of my negativity, isolated from the other parts of myself, and distilled over many years." Naruto gestured to the shuddering excuse for humanity curled up in the water, "You are nothing but a hollow mask. A weight to be discarded." Naruto towered over Ryuto, "And when you're finally gone," Naruto reached down and wrapped his fingers around Ryuto's throat, "There will be nothing left to hold me back!"

Bomb. Dropped.

That's the end of that chapter.

As you all can see shit is getting closer to hitting the fan, and when it does... It will be glorious.

Thanks for reading, you loyal fans of mine. I appreciate you.

P.S. I just realized that the inspiration for Ryuto is partially Red vs Blue, go figure.