Shadow and Wind: New legends

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Disclaimer: Everything that isn't Kishimoto's is mine. There's not a lot left, now is there? -_-'

Oh! And Beta readers are awesome! Many thanks to Zanros

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38. The Fifth: Counseling

Face to Face with the Fox! What has it in store for the blond hero?

Naruto felt odd. The last time he faced the Nine Tailed Fox its mere presence made him sick to the soul. That day he had no trouble at all believing the beast was in fact a demon. Now though… he felt light, like his tenant had no power over him. On the other side of the bars, the Kyubi was smiling like a predator about to seize its prey. The cocky Genin decided to return the grin.

"Hey stupid Fox! Mind telling me why I'm here this time?"

"I summoned you here wretched brat." The Fox growled "The connection is hindered – again. I do not know how I could be trapped into someone so unskilled that…"

"Actually, that was on purpose," The blond admitted proudly, "You said hindered though… damn!" He had hoped the seal would have been more powerful than that.

The demon stopped smiling. "You did this?"

"Well not me exactly, but…" Naruto stopped to look at the Kyubi. "What's wrong? If I didn't know better, I'd say you're upset."

"I gave you my power, power you demanded, and now you throw it away? You are trying to toy with someone far beyond your comprehension brat!" warned the Nine Tails, who suddenly became quite more ethereal – and ominous."

As scary as the Tailed Beast was, what it said simply incensed him. As if he had wanted to kill the person that brought him back to Konoha, as if he wasn't already taking Kyubi's power seriously enough that he didn't want anything to do with it. "Toying? How about trying to freaking possess me, you Fox bastard!"

The Kyubi smirked. "Ah… so you blame me for your weak will… amusing."

Naruto gritted his teeth; he wouldn't rise to the bait. "Well I'm correcting that mistake you know," the blonde announced brazenly, "Your chakra is blocked off – so say goodbye stupid fox!"

The Fox looked at the boy he must have thought insignificant and laughed. Instead of anger, all that the Jinchuriki could feel was dread. Shouldn't the bastard be mad, swear his eternal vengeance or try to eat him… something? As the beast stopped, his eyes fell upon Naruto again, and the boy subconsciously stepped back; the eerie smile was back again.

"Foolish human. You will never get rid of me as long as I'm sealed within you. Our connection is hindered, not severed. You're merely delaying the inevitable for I will be free. And when I am," another ominous chuckle, "I reserve a special fate for you, boy. I will not let you die that easily."

"Yeah, I'd like to see you try, you know!"

"You have an endless amount of guts brat, I will give you that." Then his grin suddenly grew larger. "So you truly want nothing to do with me, brat? That… can be arranged."

Naruto had no idea what the Fox meant by that, but next thing he knew, incredible pain coursed through his whole body. The fact that he felt it as he was unconscious, in the depths of his mindscape was telling. It felt like his blood stream was on fire. He wanted to curse the Fox, but the pain was such that he couldn't even think straight. The boy fell on one knee, and before he could wish for death to stop this internal inferno, the intense pain stopped, leaving a dull ache in its wake. Naruto was too drained by the whole ordeal to even feel relief. Instead he let sweet nothingness take hold of him and collapsed in the sewers of his mind.

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Shikamaru sat at his usual spot. He wasn't really to order or hungry at all really, he just needed a bit of time to think. For the last week or so he had been, for a lack of better words, busy. His schedule had been quite filled; between the usual chores, the training with his dad, his own training, the handing of Naruto's popularity problems and the fact that though they trained separately he still had to do missions with the rest of Team Ten, Shikamaru had to fight for his downtime.

Arguably he enjoyed mission time the most. The team took three missions, all C-ranked since Asuma wasn't with them for the moment; most of them easy jobs for the most part. The fact that he could spend time with his friends was a plus really. Even Ino lessened on her egging and nagging – that or he had finally learned to tune her out. Furthermore, this had given them ample time to come up with ideas on how to improve Naruto standing in the village… or at least find incentives to have them treat the Jinchuriki decently.

Speaking of which…

"Shikamaru."

The voice startled the Chunin enough that he lost his train of thought. And if that wasn't bad enough, the voice belonged to a girl other than Ino; that meant even more trouble. He turned to face the newcomer. "Haruno," he said, identifying the kunoichi and returning the greeting at the same time.

Sakura averted her eyes, part in nervousness and part in shame. "You can call me Sakura, you know?" there was a heavy silence in the midst of the lively stand. "Can I buy you a bowl?" she added when she noticed he had yet to order.

Shikamaru gave her a look. "Sure, why not? I was just about to order anyway," he answered after a while. It's not like he had anything against her now that she had made up with Naruto. And if she hadn't… well, that was her problem really – as long as she stopped hitting his friend. He glanced at the kunoichi again before deciding that he'd rather eat his lunch alone. "What do you want?" he asked bluntly.

"Nothing!" she replied too quickly. Shikamaru didn't care either way and so returned to his thoughts, but before he could pinpoint the place he had been rudely interrupted, Sakura decided this was the right moment to blurt out, "I just figured since you're close with Naruto now we should get along."

He shrugged for sole answer. There was nothing wrong with that… except for the fact he'd rather stay clear of nagging troublesome women. "Actually… I thought you left with Naruto," She added.

"Har… Sakura, last time I checked, Naruto was on your team, not mine. I don't even know why he left."

Sakura gawked. "He didn't tell you?" Shikamaru gave her look that told her he had already lost interest in the conversation. "I'm sorry, I just figured he would. I mean…"

This was getting nowhere, and he had the whole afternoon to go cloud watching for once. "What do you want, Sakura?"

She bit her lip; this couldn't be good. "I was wondering," she started hesitantly, "How come Naruto and you are so close now? I mean you weren't hanging out so much before but ever since that mission…"

Shikamaru muffled a groan. Oh hell no. "Sakura, please tell me clearly that want tips to get along with Naruto so that I can flat out refuse."

"What? How could you think…?" the kunoichi stopped her act seeing Shikamaru was not impressed. "Oh and why not? I just don't get him anymore!" Ah, there we go, thought the Chunin. "At first I thought he was just an idiot who got lucky to be Genin, and couldn't get a clue. Then he's actually stronger than I thought, then he has that… secret of his, and then suddenly he's friends with everyone, even Ino! I mean she picked his clothes. And he… he's annoyed with me! Oh he still acts goofy and all that during missions, but…"

Shikamaru stayed quiet. He had spent enough time with Ino to know those type of girls needed to vent their frustrations from time to time. Now, why she decided he of all the shinobi in the village was the appropriate person to talk to was beyond even his comprehension; he did threaten her with permanent disability last he recalled. Then again this was a girl… you didn't try to understand girls… unless they were stuck in your team. So he did the most logical thing he could at the moment; he ate his ramen before it could get cold.

"…I don't know; it's not the same anymore. I don't like it she finished lamely."

Seeing Shikamaru enjoying his ramen, Sakura passed through different emotions. Finally she raised her hand to slap so common courtesy to her fellow Leaf shinobi, but thought better. So instead she laced her words in venom and asked, "Did you even hear a word of anything I said?"

Shikamaru looked up from his food. "Huh? no sorry. I kind of lost you when you started to sound like Naruto was at fault or something."

Sakura lifted a finger to berate him, before flushing and collapsing on her stool. She seemed to realize her mistake at least. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm a little angry because I… we should be the people Naruto trusts."

"Funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing," the young genius replied scathingly. Sakura looked up and shivered; Shikamaru's eyes shone with the same freezing cold as last time. "You see I'm also angry at you, because you should have been the people with Naruto's trust."

"I deserved that," she admitted, "And what's worse is I'm not even the worst offender. There are so many things I haven't noticed, so many things I should have… poor Naruto."

Shikamaru, who by then had finished his bowl, raised an eyebrow. "What about Naruto?"

"What do mean, 'what about Naruto'?" the scandalized kunoichi snapped, "Don't you know how hard his life was? How hard it still is?"

The Chunin sighed. "Let me rephrase that; what does Naruto think about this?"

Sakura blinked. "…What?"

"Better yet, now that you know what are you going to do about it?" he pressed.

"I… don't know yet."

'Yet?' There's hope for her… yet, thought Shikamaru. At least she intended to do something about it instead of just feeling sad for her teammate. He guessed a nudge in the right direction couldn't hurt.

"That's a start I guess, the next step would be to stop pitying him."

"I'm not—"

He didn't let her finish. "You see that look you had when you mentioned his problems? Did you ever look at Naruto like that?" the question startled her, but from her reaction Shikamaru could she did. "You feel sad for him, feel his pain? That's what pity does. You want know what else is does? Absolutely nothing, other than remind him his life sucks. Newsflash: he knows it better than anyone else. Naruto doesn't need people to feel sorry for him – especially you.

"Me? Why?"

Shikamaru slapped his forehead; that girl was as clueless as use making the situation even more troublesome. Insteadhe settled for, "Because you're supposed to be his friend; how would you feel if Sasuke just felt sorry for you, to know that he was pretending to be nice or even like you out of pity?"

Sakura shuddered. "I think I get your point." The kunoichi looked like she had a lot of thinking about. Shikamaru simply hoped this conversation ended up helping Naruto in the end. Sakura got up and faced the Chunin. "Thanks for the advice Shikamaru," she said, smiling at him.

The young boy shrugged for sole answer, praying that after this he would be left alone. To his great satisfaction he was, as Sakura had left Ichiraku's. Now if only he could recall what he was thinking about… nope. Oh well, he still had other things in mind, like his father's training for example.

"Good afternoon Nara."

What, again? What were the odds of two people wanting to find him near Ichiraku's? Maybe it simply was one of those unlucky days… at any rate as soon as he dealt with the new annoyance he was going to his cloud watching spot to think in peace. And it was an annoyance indeed, for the newcomer was none other than Neji – complete with the customary glare from Tenten. Resigned to his fate, Shikamaru greeted the Hyuuga half-heartedly.

"How has Naruto been?" Neji asked while ordering a bowl of ramen.

"Dunno – haven't seen him in a while." Which was partly true; besides the evening before Naruto's mission with Jiraiya three days ago, he hadn't seen the blond that much, being both busy and in separate teams.

"Any news?"

"Besides the escort mission we've done?" Shikamaru asked back, "None." And thankfully you still think nothing happened on that mission so you won't get nosy about it.

Neji nodded. "I see. Keep me informed."

Shikamaru twitched. Who died and made that stuck up his boss? The guy had absolutely no clue of what they were up against! The Chunin decided it was high time to have Neji, and to a lesser degree Tenten, off his back. "I won't," he said ignoring Neji's frown, "It's simple really; you want to help Naruto, right? Then help him and leave me out of it."

The prodigy looked more upset than angry. "Are you saying I'm not doing anything to help?"

"I know that you're at least trying to do something, and you know that as well," Shikamaru assured him, "Care to guess who doesn't?" Neji became thoughtful. "You should at least talk to him, or kick his ass in a spar, I'm sure you'd both enjoy that," the young Nara added.

Neji spend a while staring at his ramen. "I'll reflect on your advice," he finally said. He made to leave but stopped. "Nara, I heard something interesting from my cousin a while ago. It seems you and Naruto have been a great help to both houses of the Hyuuga clan."

Shikamaru groaned. He knew that little secret would make its way to Hyuga prodigy eventually.

"I… never truly respected or acknowledged anyone for a long time… until I met Naruto. My fight with him has been truly… eye opening. He is special." He looked at Shikamaru. "Oddly enough, I get the same feeling from you Nara." That surprised the Chunin.

"Does that mean we're friends or something?" Does that mean he's still gets to be nosy? the Chunin dreaded.

Neji probably read his mind because he smirked. "Let's settle for 'or something' for the moment. I'll see you around Nara."

Oh, wasn't that great! First Sakura, now Neji; this only supported his decision to leave the ramen stand, less the next bothering fool professed his eternal love or something.

Now that would be plain scary.

Shikamaru got up, but was stopped by Ayame this time. "You're not going to leave without even eating this, right?" she said, pointing at the bowl Neji had never touched.

He looked at her like she was an alien. "Who do I look like woman? Naruto?" snapped the young Nara, "I didn't even order this!"

Cue to the one-minute staring contest that Shikamaru lost – obviously. Try as he might, Ayame was still a troublesome woman; it was stupid to even think about winning against one of woman's best weapon. Still under her best death glare, the Chunin was forced to sit and take the food that had gone cold. And the damn woman had the gall to look smug about it too.

"Troublesome."

At least the food wasn't that bad. The boy slurped the noodles glaring at the Ichiraku waitress as best as he could. He was about half done when he felt watched. Right next to him, Tenten was openly staring at him, which did little to lift his mood.

"…What?" he snapped between two bites.

Tenten took her time to answer. "Are you and Neji… together?"

Shikamaru was so surprised and repulsed by the statement that he choked on his food. It took a lot of coughing, wheezing and soup juice to guide the food down its proper path. Even Tenten looked alarmed for a moment. "Damn it woman," he nearly shouted, "are you trying to kill me?"

"Sorry." Shikmaru narrowed his eyes; she didn't look sorry at all. "Oh come on," she said to placate him, "I had to… I mean, he doesn't even spend that much time with Lee, and Lee's his teammate!" The boy said nothing; he instead focused on his noodles and subsequent exit. Unfortunately, the older kunoichi wasn't done with him. "Seriously though… what were you talking about?" she asked with perfectly feign innocence.

Ah… so it was about that. The Chunin smirked. "About the fact that I'm not paid to be a messenger – if you want to know something about someone, try to at least ask him before snooping around." Tenten glared. He shrugged. "I'm serious; that's exactly what we were talking about… or at least that's what I told him anyway; the irony's not my fault."

Tenten attempts to find any kind of deceit on his face failed, and so she pouted, her endeavour ending so boringly. "And about who?" she asked finally.

Now that he couldn't tell her. "I'm pretty sure the person's called 'None of your business'," Tenten's frown returned. "Don't worry though; it's not a girl, so no need to get jealous over it." he joked.

The effect was not what he expected however, as Tenten froze for a split second before responding with a grin to say, "Ha! That would be the day!"

The slight hesitation didn't bode well… but for now this was only speculation. He wasn't Ino, so he didn't care about gossip, in fact his bowl of ramen was practically finished; the sooner he could drink the rest, the sooner he could leave.

As for Tenten the silence that followed made her apprehensive. "Hey, Nara, I'm serious; I only was curious about what you two were talking about." Shikamaru internally groaned. Why was she on the defensive then? She had basically admitted she was at least interested in him. The fact he could see that was telling. "'Just aggravated that he is more with some nobody than with his teammate – no offense," she added.

"Well, this nobody beat the kunoichi that kicked your ass, so I'd be remiss to take offense – no offense," he retorted.

"Fine, you win this round Nara," The weapon user admitted. "Thanks anyway," she muttered as she left.

Just in time too; he had finished his ramen now all he had to do was…

"Woman – what is this?" he nearly snarled when he saw that his supposedly empty bowl was now filled to brim with food.

Ayame looked completely clueless. "Beef ramen – it's on me," she beamed.

"Look I just told you I'm not…" he stopped when he realized the true evil that was Ayame. "You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?"

The waitress he had always pegged for a sweet normal harmless girl smiled evilly. "You have no idea."

Shikamaru shuddered; he couldn't get out of here fast enough. "Ok…" he said, thinking of something, "here's the deal I'll stay put ten minutes – not one second more – if you take that bowl—" he hadn't finished his thought that the food had mysteriously disappeared. The boy grinned. Checkmate. "Thanks," he said, as he got up to leave.

Ayame looked scandalized. "Hey, we had a deal!"

"Nope," the Chunin answered smartly, "you never let me finish, right?" He started to walk away triumphantly when he nearly walked into Shino.

"Shikamaru. I was looking for you."

The young genius twitched. He twitched some more when he her giggling behind him. Turning around he mouthed a silent, "Damn you!" to the waitress before turning to face the new annoyance.

"I would like to thank you," Shino said, "one of your suggestions fit my style perfectly."

"It's nothing." He answered back, making for the streets, "Now if you'll ex—"

"What's 'Team Oblivion'?"

"Huh?" to Shikamaru's credit, his surprised expression was feigned perfectly, giving enough time to come up with a credible lie. "You mean the Oblivion Gang, right? That's a team of evil shinobi in the Super Ninja Mayhem series." Shikamaru was glad they had named their team after the famous movie; it made for the perfect cover. "'Didn't think you'd be the type to be interested in movies," he teased.

"…May I borrow it?"

Shikamaru blinked. Is Shino trying to…? "Sure. Naruto has it right now, but I'm sure I can rent a copy for you tomorrow."

"Very well," answered the insect user.

Anyway, now was the time to leave. He started to walk again only to hear a loud thump next to them. He wasn't glad about the source of the sound, but couldn't help being worried about it.

"Hinata?" he hazarded. She looked completely out of it.

Next to him, Shino shivered. "Well, I'm going," he suddenly announced.

Shikamaru almost let him leave his sight before reacting. "Wait – aren't you worried about your teammate?"

"She'll be fine," he answered back. There was a hint of apprehension in his voice.

Before Shikamaru could ask anything else, Shino had disappeared. Well if Hinata's teammate didn't want to do anything with her, he sure as hell didn't even want to know what was up with her. Teuchi's daughter had other ideas though.

"You're not seriously going to leave her like this, right?" she accused him, but even with her, he could detect a hint of worry in her voice.

"You…! Her teammate said she was fine! I'm leaving, you troublesome woman!"

"Shikamaru."

Said boy shivered. It definitely sounded like the Hyuuga heiress, but at the same time it was totally different. The Chunin started to understand why Shino was so hasty to leave. He felt like this Hinata was… dangerous. If that wasn't scary, the fact her murderous gaze was locked on him certainly was. Ayame looked down right scared. Yeah, he definitely wasn't staying.

"Look Hinata," he started, "It's been a long day…"

"Shikamaru, sit down."

She wasn't asking, and he had feeling a refusal would the last thing he'd ever do, so Shikamaru sat. It definitely was one of those days. He buried his head into his arms trying to find out what kind of conspiracy he was the victim of now, cursing Naruto in the mean time; it was his fault this whole thing happened. And speaking of the super idiot… three guesses what Hinata's woes were about. He mentally prepared for trouble

"How can I help you," the Chunin muttered.

The kunoichi sighed. "Naruto… is thick, isn't he?"

Shikamaru raised his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow. He might be sealing his death with that one, but he was a guy, and that line was practically served on a silver plate. "I wouldn't know," he answered, stifling a snort. "I never saw him naked after all."

It took a few seconds, but when Hinata understood the double entendre she transformed from moody with a tinge of killing intent, to her shy and spluttering self. "WHAT? I didn't mean he was thick! I mean, yes he's thick," Shikamaru's eyebrow raised higher, "I mean, not like that, I meant his head, not…" at this she blushed hard.

Shikamaru chuckled now that his life was out of imminent danger. "You're definitely a lost cause, Hinata. Kiba must be very annoyed; two girls on his team and both are taken."

The girl froze. "Was I that obvious?" she whispered.

"Only if you aren't called Naruto Uzumaki." And from what she was saying, that was the whole problem to begin with. Then again… I guess love is blind only when it's about yourself judging by the fact Sakura still doesn't get it. "Oh and the stalking," he added for good humor, "definitely the stalking."

At first she blushed, but realizing he was only teasing, Hinata smiled coyly instead. "What do I do now, though?"

Shikamaru gawked. "Why the hell are you asking me this for?" This startled Hinata, and earned him a glare from Ayame, which caught his attention. "And why the hell are you glaring at me?" he said to her, "Do I look like a shrink? Do I look like a counsellor?"

"Sorry Shikamaru," Hinata said, "I just thought, since you're his best friend…"

Wait, he was? Guess Sasuke didn't count anymore… Damn! "Fine," Shikamaru huffed, "but you probably won't like it." He gathered his thoughts before saying, "For once, you should take a page of the Sasuke's fan club."

Hinata's eyes became saucers, while Ayame laughed herself silly; even she had heard about the hysterical girls. "You're obviously more passionate than any of them considering your… hobbies," Hinata turned crimson, "the difference between you and them is they were bold and not afraid to confront their target. Naruto won't get it until you smack him upside the head with the fact… and then some."

The Chunin was right about the reception of his advice, judging from the near depressed expression on the Hyuuga's face, still she thanked him. Shikamaru took the opportunity to finally vacate the premises. As his luck would have it, his cloud watching time had been nearly cut in half. From his disastrous diner he learned one thing; on one of those days, stay away from Ichiraku's. Speaking of which; he'd have to plot his revenge against Ayame.

He wasn't even halfway to his gazing spot when a Jonin intercepted him; he had to report for a mission. He glared at the messenger before heading to the Hokage's tower. Whatever he got this time he at least hoped it would take too long. He immediately noticed his teammates weren't at the mission desk waiting for him. Instead a familiar face greeted him.

"Genta," he greeted politely.

"It's been a while Nara," The politician returned. "Today you'll receive a B-ranked mission; you are to find Jiraiya and give him this scroll."

The Chunin took the missive, but wasn't ready to accept the mission so easily. "If I recall correctly, Kakashi received a similar mission and it was S-ranked. In fact, why not send him on this mission? He seems more suited for this kind of job."

"Different circumstances Nara. The danger of the mission was greater since the Sannin was not within the Fire Country. As for Hatake I'm afraid he is currently… is something the matter Nara."

Shikamaru blinked, he had been looking at the billboard next to the desk. Smaller villages couldn't always afford professional mercenaries like shinobi to do the job, so they also relied on good old wanted posters. One of the faces on these posters…

He shook his head; hopefully this was a coincidence that wouldn't repeat itself. "I apologize… you were saying Kakashi was…?"

"…Indisposed – along with three other Jonin."

Well that certainly couldn't be good. This could be the reason they were attempting to contact Jiraiya in the first place. Of course, it wasn't his place to guess, so he didn't. "Am I going alone?" he asked instead.

"At first yes; backup will be sent to catch up with you if haven't made contact with the target by the first town."

So I'm alone then… great.

"You should depart as soon as possible Nara." declared the smug Genta. He then added, "Speed is of essence here after all."

"Of course," the Chunin drawled. "Between us though, since we both know better, what's the trap this time?"

He was rewarded with a small smile. "Don't die Nara." the boy muttered his famous catchphrase and turned to exit only to be called back. "My proposition still stands, Nara," The man said. This time it was his turn to smile, and he left.

Well, soon as possible probably meant before the gates closed today so he had two hours. It was enough time to head home and get ready, relay some last minute instructions to Choji and Ino before leaving. And he'd have to hurry too…

Troublesome.

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Jiraiya knew teaching Naruto would be a challenge. He had already taught the boy and found him… slow to say the least. Now however the boy turned to be the only student to make him want pull his hair out.

He knew Naruto could tank a good amount of pain, and thanks to the Kyubi his resilience was near limitless. So to see him scream in agony from beyond consciousness had him regretting ever agreeing with the boy's demand. He recalled Minato's kid being sealed once before… had it been this bad? He certainly hoped so.

He had thought his condition would at least stabilize after a while, but instead something unusual happened; Naruto suffered from symptoms of severe chakra exhaustion. Nothing Jiraiya couldn't treat with soldier pills, or maybe one of the few remaining chakra pills he had gotten from Tsunade ages ago, but with the reason behind the lack of chakra being at best due to Kyubi, at worst totally unknown, Jiraiya didn't want to take chances.

They would backtrack to Otafuku Town, as it was the nearest and most decent place. Naruto would safely rest there.

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When Shikamaru arrived in Otafuku Town, he decided to crash at the nearest inn; it wasn't as if he was in any hurry to sleep outdoors. He might ask about Jiraiya and Naruto around town, but he wouldn't get his hopes up; at the slowest pace, the two shinobi would be halfway to the next town by now. Keeping that in mind the boy went to sleep hoping against all odds they weren't in any hurry.

The next day held interesting news. A search through the various inn and hotels told him the people he was looking for had indeed rent a room at 'The Night Inn'. The interesting part was that the man and child in question had come back and were currently lodging at the same room. Well if that didn't make things ridiculously easy…

Shikamaru asked for the room number and headed for the third floor. He knocked, but no one answered. Oh well… he'd just stick around until they came back, with that decided he headed back down to rent a room next to Jiraiya's; might as well wait in comfort. He went to his room, picked a scroll on chakra manipulation to peruse, and waited.

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Naruto woke up to the uncomfortable sensation of cold and humidity. His eyes wondered aimlessly around him until they fell onto a gigantic eye. That was all the blond needed to be completely awake and even jump a full meter back. Naruto took deep breaths to calm his heart gone overdrive, while the Kyubi was chuckling behind his bars.

"Damn it! You scared me, you bastard!" looking around, his worry temporally took over. "I'm still here… What the hell did you do?"

The Fox's sarcastic smile felt like a giant sneer. "I took back my chakra; I might have been a tad… forceful about it." The Tailed Beast chuckled, impervious to Naruto's leer, "Let's see you try to succeed without me; I look forward to the day you come back to beg for my help, whelp."

Naruto remained thoughtful, annoying his tenant.

"Our business is done; get out of my sight, brat."

"Thank you." That answer threw the Fox for a loop, giving ample time for Naruto to explain himself. "You did exactly what I wanted you to do, though you were a bastard about it. You also saved my life a couple of times."

As much as Naruto disliked the Kyubi, he had to admit that some good did come out of it. Their very natures and history made it clear they wouldn't be friends any time soon, but he had to give credit where credit was due. He had to… respect the Kyubi. Ugh, that thought left a bad taste in the back of his mind. Anyway, that meant he had to behave like a reasonable host.

"Is there… a good way of freeing you?" he asked.

The Kyubi was even more surprised. But after a beat it answered. "There is one thing you could do; remove that seal on the door."

Naruto blinked. "Just that?"

"Yes," The Fox answered, its head now very close to Naruto

Naruto approached the gate. "Well I don't see why—"

His hand was nearly touching the seal when he jumped inside the cage, gathered a Corkscrew Hurricane in his right hand, and slammed it right between the Demon Fox's eyes, not even surprised by the sheer speed at which he had created the technique. The Demon was so shocked he had only reacted by howling in pain; giving the blond all the time he needed to exit the prison.

"Of course not you retard!" yelled the blond, "I'm not stupid! I'd die, you know!"

The sheer amount of Killer intent and chakra was enough to send him crashing against the nearest wall.

"YOU CURSED WRETCH!" roared the demon.

Naruto snickered despite the crushing pressure. "Totally worth it," he uttered, painfully getting up. "…I meant without me dying you stupid fox," he chided.

The Fox was still trying to get one of his paws on the boy that dared strike him. "You come over here and kill me," it snarled.

Yeah… that wasn't going to happen anytime soon; his current strongest technique didn't even leave a dent on the thing. I guess you're stuck here then, he thought. Being stuck in a place like this would definitely suck, realised Naruto. He'd go mad too if it was him; No wonder the Nine Tails tried every trick in the book to escape – short of killing himself, of course.

"Do you like sewers?" suddenly asked Naruto, his mind still on Kyubi's predicament.

The changed of topic somewhat mollified the Fox, who rolled his eyes at the question. "This is your mindscape; you did this."

"I did? Huh I wonder why," the Genin mused. He willed, wished, nearly ordered a change of scenery, but nothing happened. He shrugged. "Well sorry, I can't change it." He then glanced at the cage. I wonder…

The Next instant, all of the water inside of the cage had vanished, Naruto gestured victoriously while the tenant marvelled at the change… no matter how small it was. At least it proved one thing; Naruto could control the contents of the Kyubi's cage. Why the same wasn't so for the rest of his mind troubled him, but he'd tackle that situation at a later date. For now, he had a bit of leverage on the Nine Tails.

"Well, what do you know? I can mold your prison anyway I like," Naruto said with a grin.

The Fox grew apprehensive and asked, "Where are you going with this brat?"

"Let's make a deal; I won't turn stay into a living hell…"

"I'd like to see you try brat!"

Naruto snapped his fingers, and suddenly the cage shrunk to a painfully small volume, crushing the Fox that howled in fury. He snapped his fingers again and now the demon fox was struggling against a floor that had become quicksand. The last change was an indestructible radio played the worst tune he could think of: The Song that Doesn't End. He let that play at full volume.

"I yield, I yield!" the Kyubi yelled not even five minutes after the last form of torture, "You proved your point; now stop that! My ears are starting to bleed!"

Naruto shrugged, and the radio disappeared, taking with it that infernal song. Now that he had the Kyubi's attention, what was he going to ask from it? He was already adamant about the Tailed Beast's power. With that out of the way, there wasn't much he could want from it now, was it? What would Shikamaru ask for? Surely something intelligent such as…

"Information!" He said, snapping his fingers.

The Fox looked…odd. "…Information? …From me?"

"Why not?" Naruto reasoned, "I heard you existed even before Konoha was created; I bet you know a whole lot of stuff."

The blond was about to list other reasons for his idea but was cut short by the loud laugh of the Nine Tails. "It seems I underestimated you," the Fox full mirth admitted.

"What does that mean?" the blond inquired vainly. Seeing the Fox wouldn't answer him, he shrugged. "Okay then, first question; what are you?"

"…The Kyubi." Said Kyubi answered derisively.

"Bzzt! Wrong answer." To punctuate his comment, a bolt of lightning struck the Kyubi's rear. The Beat yelped before glaring at Naruto. The boy was unfazed. "This is a test, to see if the deal is worth anything," he reminded it, "I don't have to do this, you know? I just felt I owed you one for the stuff you did before." a moment of silence, "Let's try again, what are you?"

"I am…" Here the Kyubi paused, no doubt thinking about Naruto's proposition more than about the question itself. Finally, the Nine Tails answered. "I am a manifestation of chakra given a consciousness."

Now we're talking! "Given, as in made?" pressed Naruto. "By who?"

"The Sage of Six Paths."

"Okay…" No clue who that was… maybe Jiraiya or Shikamaru would know. "Does that mean you have a name, then?"

The Kyubi's mood darkened considerably. "None of your business brat," it growled.

Touchy. "What do you want me to call you, then?"

This startled the Fox who looked at the Genin strangely. "…Nine Tails is fine, brat," he relented.

"Is there a way to get you out of me without killing me?"

The Fox didn't think twice about the answer. "Either you'll die the instant I'm free or shortly after. For you, I'd bet on the shortly after. It would possible to heal you then, but it would take a miracle worker to do so."

"If I ever found a way to get you out without killing myself… what would you do?"

Suddenly there was a vast amount of Killing Intent was the Kyubi answered, "…There is… a certain someone I'd devour."

Naruto shuddered. …Sasuke much? "And then…?"

"Hunt, eat roam…"

"…Huh." That one had definitely stumped Naruto. He would have thought his home would have been the next logical step to complete its revenge.

The Kyubi shrugged in return. "Do you care enough for an anthill on a side of the road to go out of your way and destroy it?" Naruto blinked, and then shook his head. "Konoha is the anthill," The Tailed Beast added.

Naruto never thought of it like that; a tad humiliating, but not worrying – not that much anyway. "OK, that's good enough. You at least answered truthfully to most of my answers. Naruto focused on what he wanted. "Well, got to go now. Hope you like your present."

With that Naruto snapped his fingers and disappeared under the threats of his tenant.

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The sound of a door knock startled Shikamaru out of his reading, for the simple reason that it came from the room belonging to Naruto and Jiraiya. He was about to leave his room to see who it was when a voice chilled him in his tracks.

"Kisame."

The next moment, there was a loud crash; the door to Naruto's room had been busted open. Shikamaru cloaked himself in his shadow and strained his hearing in order to plan accordingly.

"Well, isn't he a heavy sleeper?" muttered the swordsman.

"Wait Kisame," said Itachi, "That's not our target."

"You sure? Well shit; tricked again! Those Leaf bastards are starting to become a pain in the ass."

The Uchiha shrugged. "Let's go."

Shikamaru let out a breath. Not only he was safe, but his friend was too. Now all he had to do was wait for the two of them to leav—

"Itachi! I'm going to kill you!"

Shikamaru recognized the voice. The only good thing about the current situation was He didn't have to hide behind his shadow skill anymore – also the chirping sound of Sasuke's Chidori would cover the sounds of his head banging against the wall.

Shikamaru wasted no time. He knew the next battle, along with his window of opportunity to save the younger Uchiha from himself, would a matter of instants. He took out various tags and grenades, started his shadow needle technique and waited for Sasuke's advance. He didn't have to wait long; two seconds later and the revenge driven sharingan user let out a war cry.

"[Chidori!]"

He timed his entrance right after Sasuke passed his door, sending his shadows against Kisame. The blue-faced shinobi didn't even bat an eye as he shaved the technique into nothingness. Shikamaru smiled; the shadow had carried some explosive tags that would detonate any moment now. And detonate it did; as he ran towards Itachi, the swordsman lunged as well, only to be blasted through a door and even the window by the sound of things. That was fortunate; it gave him a bit more time to save the idiot.

"Nara."

The double exclamation came from the two brothers. By the look of things, the battle – if you could call it that – was already over. Next to them was a brand new window, a testimony to Sasuke's power. As for Sasuke himself, his face was a mess and he was clutching his left ribs with his right hand – the wrist was broken by the looks of it. How Itachi dealt that much damage in the time he took him to simply get there… The most important part was his appearance and the explosion were enough to stop Itachi from doing something more permanent.

"Don't you 'Nara' me you troublesome bastards!" the Chunin ranted. "You're looking for Naruto by the look of things, and he's obviously obsessed with you, so how come I get caught in this crap? …Again?"

Sasuke looked murderous in spite of his injuries, Itachi… did he just see his lips twitch? The troublesome bastard was finding this funny! Whatever, he still had to secure Sasuke anyway.

The shadow user threw two grenades as he got closer. The Uchiha threw two kunai and closed his eyes in order to block the light he knew was coming. He however didn't know about Shikamaru's noise grenades, so receive the full effect of the deafening bomb. A moment later Shikamaru had finally secured the troublesome Uchiha and was inching towards the opposite direction, only to see Kisame hop back into action; a chilling grin on his shark face.

"Well played, little bastard, but now it's time to die."

Next to his partner, Itachi had recovered and both were now on the offensive. Interestingly enough, Kisame's speed was at least equal to that of his partner, so the Chunin knew for certain he had no way of really escaping two S-class shinobi. But Shikamaru had a plan – or at least a hunch. His Mind flicker activated, he waited for the two of them to be within striking distance to use his last resort jutsu – a Body Switch technique.

A moment later Shikamaru and Sasuke were in Naruto's room. The Chunin didn't look back to see the surprised rogue nin faces as they were hitting a fake Naruto, and didn't wait for whatever nasty surprise said fake hopefully held; he took the wounded Uchiha he jumped out the window.

A fall from the third floor certainly didn't help Sasuke's injuries, but from the eerie light coming from the battle zone, there were probably better here. He took his charge amidst the dumbfounded faces of the nearby civilians and headed for the nearest alley.

"Let me go you coward! Itachi is still back there! I must kill him, I must…"

"Get yourself in your hospital you suicidal idiot!" snapped the Chunin, "You're in no condition to fight anybody, let alone kill them. I'll give you a soldier pill and a painkiller, but only to get the hell out of here. Because those two back there will be after us in a heartbeat and I don't want to be found by pissed off missing nin. Unless you're thinking we can take on two S-class shinobi by ourselves?"

Sasuke could barely walk by himself as it were, and Itachi had clearly demonstrated the he was in a different league, so he had no choice but to accept. The two moved swiftly and stealthily through the town, which wasn't hard considering there were festivities today. The hospital was not an option for obvious reasons, so Shikamaru decided to lose themselves in the crowd and hide in any place they could.

"Damn," muttered the Chunin as he reached another empty alley, "I hope they really aren't going after us." Sasuke was looking worse by the minute; they couldn't go on much longer.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about those two for a while," said a familiar voice that for once Shikamaru was glad to hear. "Fancing meeting brats," declared the legendary Jiraiya, "let me take you to my place."

/-/ /-/ /-/

Naruto woke up.

The blond yawned loudly, scratched his head, wondering where he was. At least he was certain he wasn't in his mindscape anymore; they didn't have beds there. He looked at the door and – lo and behold – It opened. In came his current best friend.

"Shikamaru! What are you doing here?"

Naruto was glad to see a friendly face; it meant this place was safe… wherever that was. Plus, it was Shikamaru! He was so glad he totally missed Chunin's twitch.

"I'm so glad you're here, you know! I was starting to think that whole mission thing was going to bore me to death."

Without a word of greeting, Shikamaru went straight to his friend and smacked him behind the head. Naruto rubbed the sore part furiously while glaring at the back of his retreating friend.

"What the hell was that for!" he yelled after him.

Shikamaru said, "This is all your fault!" and slammed the door behind him.

What the hell was his problem!

Team Oblivion is back! But what about the extra baggage?

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A/N: Hey! What's up everybody! As you know the summer is usually my slow period of the year, so expect infrequent updates… or not; I dunno yet, we'll see how it goes.

Next chapter, you'll get a glimpse of Shikamaru's training. Also… We'll be meeting some familiar faces next chapter… care to guess who?

Lastly, don't forget about the R&R! It's up in the Ch 37 review section. Here's a snippet.

Rev: So… what's the deal with Naruto and the Kyubi?
SShun: The big question hey? Some think it's a bad thing because you're running away from the problem in a way.
Naru: Hey that's not true, you know! I wanted the fox sealed because so far it almost did the opposite.
Shika: Then again, you did become a total BAMF in canon due to the Kyubi.
Naru: Well… I… that's true, I guess.
SShun: On the flip side, some are intrigued, and others go as far as congratulate you for the bold move.
Naru: Ha! Proves I'm right, you know! Though the Fox bastard keeps acting like I'm missing something… *mumbles*
Shika: So… mixed reception, eh?
SShun: Yup. To all I can only say two things. 1: I don't like how the whole Kurama thing was handled in canon – felt rushed. 2: Like a reviewer said, what Naruto did has its consequences, good and bad. What happens from that is up to Naruto… and me of course.