Yes you're not seeing things, I updated again.

The first chapter of the Fu side story is out, if you're interested check it out. Anyway, after I finished writing it I just felt like writing the next chapter to this one as fast as possible. So here it is and I hope you like it.


Naruto: Making of a Hokage

Sound's End Arc

Ch.28 The Return

Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse this had to happen. Naruto didn't dare to move as the Sound ninja looked at them with a smirk on his face. He gritted his teeth, eyes darting to his teammates who appeared to be just as terrified as he was.

'What do we do?'

Not for the first time, Naruto's mind came up blank. All of them were close to falling over from exhaustion. Like a fool, he had thrown his chakra around unnecessarily when fighting the monster that killed his teammate, he was truly an idiot for giving in to a fit of fury when he had people depending on him.

He bit his lip, fists tightening, and muscles tensing in anticipation. Maybe he could get the jump on the Sound ninja and give his teammates enough time to escape... Yes, that sounded like the only way to make sure they didn't die.

"Hey don't get any funny ideas Konoha ninja," the Sound ninja's eyes lit up in glee. "There's no way you can hope to hurt me but, seeing as I've lived this long due to never underestimating my opponent..." he made a very familiar hand seal before placing a hand to his lips.

"Shit!" Naruto cried out as the ninja let out a powerful gust of air that threw them in different directions. The blond crashed against a tree before landing on his broken arm. He let out a scream of pain as he nursed his arm.

The Sound ninja watched the scene in amusement before moving towards the closest ninja, one wearing an odd green jumpsuit.

"Wait you bastard! Fight me first!" Naruto snarled as he tried to get up, only for his legs to buckle under his weight and make him fall face first on the ground.

"I see you care for your comrades. Very well, I'll kill them first," the Sound ninja laughed as he stood before Lee. "You know, many of my students were killed by your explosion," his expression darkened as he glared at Naruto, "That's why I won't show you even the slightest bit of mercy. I will kill you all like dogs."

Lee groaned in pain as he struggled to get up only to be kicked on his broken ribs, making him cry out in pain. He tried to clutch his side but couldn't as he was pulled up by the hair before being thrown against a tree. The impact from Lee's head against the tree echoed in the area before the ninja fell limply on the ground, clearly unconscious.

Naruto whimpered when seeing the amount of blood dripping form the tree.

"Now, where's the girl?"

"Dammit..." Naruto growled as he glared at the man, "Fight me you fucking coward!"

The Sound ninja chuckled, "As if. Look at yourself, you can't even stand up." He smirked when finding what he was looking for, a near unconscious Tayuya squirming on the ground, "Hey! I found her!"

"Wait-!" Naruto suddenly doubled over in pain with a scream, his abdomen feeling as if it were on fire. He drew in a raspy breath as he watched the man kneel before Tayuya and grip her throat tightly, "Leave her alone!"

Tears gathered at the corner of his eyes as he watched Tayuya fight weakly against the hold on her neck. He bit his lip as the pain on his abdomen intensified but he couldn't look away from what was happening; his stomach convulsed painfully, drawing a gasp from Naruto who felt as if his stomach wanted to turn inside out.

At the same time Tayuya was fighting for her life. She gripped the man's hands in a weak attempt to free herself, only for him to smirk and apply more force.

Naruto gritted his teeth, he remembered the deaths of Neji and Kiba, how he'd been unable to do anything for them. It was happening again, his friends were going to die again and he was powerless to stop them.

'Why?' Tears cascaded down his face, 'I trained so hard for three years... Why can't I do anything now?! Why do my friends have to die? Why couldn't I save them? Neji and Kiba...they didn't deserve that!'

The pain in his abdomen made him gurgle in pain as a wave of hatred entered his system, making him snarl at the Sound ninja.

'No!'

He struggled to lift himself off the ground with his shaky arms.

'I won't let them die! I'll murder that bastard before it happens!'

Images of Neji's and Kiba's deaths entered his mind as he slowly pushed himself up.

'I'll rip him apart until there's nothing left of him!'

He closed his eyes in pain as he got in a kneeling position.

'I...'

His eyes snapped open, burning a deep red as he slowly got in a standing position, arms dangling at his sides.

"I... I'll kill him," Naruto snarled as blood dripped from his mouth. He set his eyes on the Sound ninja, glaring at him in fury, "I'll kill you!"

An explosion of chakra rocked the area as a crimson red beam made up of malevolent chakra pierced the skies. The wind picked up harshly on the forest, kicking up clouds of debris that forced the Sound ninja to let the girl go and shield his eyes.

"What the hell is this?!" The Sound ninja cried out.


Orochimaru smirked. It was impossible to miss the amount of demonic chakra that had suddenly appeared despite him being several miles away from his former base.

"It seems that you were consumed by hatred after all, Naruto."


As the debris cleared out, the Sound ninja could finally see something, something that made him gasp in fear.

In place of the blond ninja was a giant fox with five tails, it's body appearing to be made of the same crimson chakra from a moment ago with many white seals around its body. He didn't have time to think about what they could mean as the demon fox let out an ear-splitting roar that created a powerful shock wave that almost sent the ninja flying back along with the unconscious ninja.

The demon fox turned to the Sound ninja, stepping forward as the ground beneath its feet was scorched by the demonic chakra.

"W-Wha-!"

He was cut off as one of the tails crashed down on his body, kicking up a cloud of debris but not killing him. The Sound ninja was left a bloody mess as the demon fox advanced on him before lifting a hand over him and crushing his body.

'More!'

The demon fox turned its head in the direction in which it sensed several groups of chakra moving towards it.

'There's still more... I'll kill them!'

The demon let out another roar that rocked the area before rushing towards the incoming chakra signatures. Trees were knocked aside as the red blur shot through the forest, finally out of its cage.


After exchanging information with various of his spies, Jiraiya was led to a vast forest that had one of the larger bases of Orochimaru. He had been watching over the place quietly before something came up and he had to meet with the Toads for a few hours, when he got back it appeared that something went horribly wrong.

'I didn't think this would happen though,' he lamented as he sped through the trees as fast as he could. He had felt the demonic chakra from earlier, the same he had felt years ago. 'Naruto doesn't have the key to open his seal, something horrible must have happened to have the Kyuubi force its way out of the new seals.'

The Toad Sage tried to go a little faster. Naruto, the closest thing he had to a grandson, was in danger and he would do everything in his power to make sure he was okay. The master was supposed to die before the student, and he'd be damned if he let it be the other way around again.


The group of Sound ninja were blindsided as a red blur crushed two of their ninja on the ground. Blood splattered from the demon's paws as it swung its tails at another three ninja with such force that their swing created shock waves.

"Retreat!" One of the Sound ninja cried out in terror before being caught by one of the demon's hands. "Let me go!" The ninja screamed at the top of his lungs as the demon fox opened its mouth to swallow him whole.

Another ninja tried to run to his comrade but was smacked aside by one of the tails before crashing on a nearby hill. The remaining ninja bolted from the area as the demon fox swallowed the Sound ninja on its grasp, the demonic chakra dissolving his body as soon as he entered its mouth.

The demon fox roared as it produced a sixth tail, its body growing in size and a skeleton beginning to appear on top of its body. Its tails swung wildly as it quickly pinpointed the fleeing Sound ninja and caught up to them in a matter of seconds.


Tayuya coughed violently while resting against a tree. She could see Lee from where she was and knew that he needed medical attention as soon as possible. There was nothing she could do though, she simply did not have the strength to do anything for him, not only that but it would probably be better if she didn't move him.

Her eyes strayed down the path of destruction to her right. Trees were uprooted, and there were many craters in the direction where the thing Naruto had turned into had run off.

She looked down, worry on her face, "Don't let it control you Naruto."


The first thing Jiraiya noticed was the destruction the Kyuubi had left on its path, the second were the crushed bodies of Sound ninja. More and more appeared the closer he got to the demonic roars. Even still, the thing that stuck out the most was the fact that he hadn't seen any other Leaf ninja.

He was sure that he would've run into one by now. "Let's just hope they're all okay," he muttered to himself as he finally saw the Kyuubi and, to his horror, its six tails.


"They're dead..." Naruto muttered while floating on the flooding sewers of his inner world. Everything was breaking apart, water coming from all sides as the Kyuubi grew impatient in its cage.

"That's right Naruto. This all happened because you refused to use my power. You're friends would be alive had you not been so stubborn," the Kyuubi pointed out from its cage.

Clouded blue eyes half-closed as the blond nodded.

"Let me out. Just pull the seal off and I can kill every single Sound ninja," the fox smirked, "You have my word that no harm will come to your friends. So let me out. Don't prolong the inevitable."

His body was pulled toward the seal by an invisible force as the Kyuubi watched on with a smirk on his face.

"You will feel no more pain. You will be at peace. No one else will have to die," the Kyuubi chose his words carefully, he had waited for this moment for years and he would not be hasty now.

'That's right, I'll do it... I promised to protect everyone but they're all dead. I...failed.'

They Kyuubi found himself able to influence the brat once again, not control him but heavily influence his emotions. The demon fox focused all of his negativity on the blond, not all at once but by small quantities, that way he would think the emotions were his own.

'There's no reason for me to be alive, I failed... It's my fault that everyone died, if I had just used the Kyuubi then none of this would have happened,' he began to pull on the seal.

The Kyuubi could hardly contain his smirk, freedom was so close he could almost feel the wind on his fur.

'The Kyuubi will take care of everything, I don't have to do anything anymore... I can rest.

As part of the seal began to peel off his hand suddenly stopped. His eyes widened slightly as he tried to pull the seal off but his hand would not move.

"What... Why am I stopping?"

"Hurry back, Naruto."

"Ino," he recalled her voice, her words before he left on his mission to sound.

She was waiting for him. If he didn't come back then she would be hurt, then he wouldn't be able to protect her anymore.

He would not see her ever again.

His eyes widened in realization of what he was doing and quickly pulled his hand away from the seal. The Kyuubi roared in rage as Naruto made sense of what was going on.

"What am I doing?" He asked himself as he looked around the sewers in wonder before his eyes landed on the Kyuubi.

"Let me out of this cage you brat!"

Naruto bowed his head slightly, "I'm not really sure about what happened but...you saved me from being killed didn't you?"

The Kyuubi clicked his tongue, "Don't think so highly of yourself. My only goal was to break out of this prison."

"Even so, you ended up saving me one way or the other so..." he looked up and grinned weakly, "Thank you Kyuubi. I'll return the favor some day."

"If that is what you wish then free me."

Naruto chuckled, "Don't be a smartass, I'll return the favor in some other way. I kinda need my body after all."

The Kyuubi growled as the blond gave him a nod before leaving, the water in the sewers returning to their normal level.

"I will get out of here! Naruto!"


Jiraiya had been fully prepared to fight the fox but to his utter confusion it had stopped moving for some time now. After killing the Sound ninja in the area it had just seized moving, staring blankly ahead without a sound.

"What did you do Naruto?" He wondered out loud before gasping as the white seals on the Kyuubi's body began to expand before fully engulfing the entire fox. "Is that the work of the new seals?"

The Kyuubi's body began to shrink down until only the body of Naruto remained, his skin was a deep red as the seals appeared on his body as well and began to restore his body to its original color. Jiraiya watched the action in fascination before rushing forward as his student's unconscious body dropped on the ground.

He was at his student's side in an instant before lightly slapping his cheeks, "Naruto, I need to know where the others are."

The blond stirred before opening his eyes, "J-Jiraiya-sensei?"

"Don't worry Naruto, I'm here. Tell me where the others are."

"Just follow the path the Kyuubi made, they should be there..." he muttered before falling unconscious.


Naruto woke up to the sound of chirping birds. Disoriented, he opened his eyes to see trees and the bright blue sky. He grimaced when feeling blades of grass tickling his face before he made out the sound of voices.

Wincing from his aching abdomen, Naruto sat up and looked to his side to see Jiraiya speaking with a large Toad he didn't recognize.

"Ah. Naruto, good to see you're awake," Jiraiya greeted with a grin.

"What happened?" Naruto asked as he scratched his head.

"After you fell unconscious I found your friends," Jiraiya explained while pointing behind Naruto, who turned around to see Tayuya and Lee sleeping on the grass, both with bandages on their bodies.

It wasn't until now that Naruto noticed something. His eyes widened as he looked down at his arm to see that it was perfectly fine without any sign of anyone healing it.

'Must have been the Kyuubi's doing,' he reasoned.

"In any case," Jiraiya continued, "I summoned a couple of Toads to heal you and your friends. The younger version of Gai was in the most danger but he'll make a full recovery soon."

Naruto smiled in relief, "I'm glad."

The Toad Sage's face grew serious, "Do you remember anything after the Kyuubi took over?"

"Not really," Naruto admitted with a far off expression, "I'm aware that he took over and that he destroyed a lot of things but other than that, nothing. It's weird, I could have sworn that I remembered more."

Jiraiya nodded absently, it was for the better that he did not remember. While Naruto understood that killing was necessary, he would be shaken to the core if he found out about the carnage the Kyuubi managed to do before being sealed again. Naruto would think himself responsible, no doubt.

"Anyway, it looks like your seal underwent another change."

Naruto looked up in confusion before pulling up his shirt to look at the seal. "You're right," he muttered as he looked at the seal carefully. Before, the seal had looked like a mess after the old Uzumaki had done something to it, now it appeared much more organized, like he remembered it before but with a set of seals circling around it.

"It looks like you will have access to the Kyuubi's chakra once again," Jiraiya pointed out before crossing his arms, "Listen. The kunoichi in your team told me what made you transform."

Naruto smiled sadly, "Right."

Jiraiya placed a hand on the blond's right shoulder, "Feel free to talk to me when you're ready. I won't force you to tell me anything but know that talking to someone about these things can help you feel better, take it from someone that has been through this before."

"I got it, thank you Jiraiya-sensei."

The Toad Sage grinned before nodding towards the toad at his side, "This guy's sending a message to Tsunade, all you have to do when you get back is give her a brief report about what you found on the Sound base."

Naruto nodded before wondering something, "How long was I out?"

"You were unconscious for two days."

The blond nodded and laid back down, "When are we going home?"

Jiraiya rubbed his chin before speaking, "You're friends are okay now, we could go in a few hours. I don't expect your green-clad friend to wake up so we'll need to carry him."

"Got it," Naruto answered before closing his eyes.

Ch.28 End