Authors Notes: Alright, chances are this may be my last update before Christmas sadly, as I had hoped to have all of my current Naruto works updated by now, but with the holiday's and all, things do tend to get a bit hectic.

Now, I know there are a few questions revolving around if Krul knows that it was Kakashi that delivered the final blow to Naruto, and the answer is, yes. She witnessed the entire thing, however, both her and Naruto are keeping it under wraps because they want to rub it in his face that, at least from his perspective, he had failed. And Naruto will taunt him about it too. Should be fun.

There was also another witness to the events as well, our shy little wall flower Hinata; though she was unable to identify that it was her own sensei that attempted to kill Naruto. Something that I will be touching on in this chapter, actually.

Since according to the votes, a majority of you want her to be changed, I am working on how that will come about. I don't want to use the trope of her being fatally injured, since I will already be using that on another during the second phase of the Chunin Exams.

I am open to any suggestions on how and why Hinata will be turned!

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Review Corner

12Ookami12 – Yeah, I like to go back and forth between the various supporting characters. Though, the only constants that will get bashed with me, are Jiraiya for the most part, with mild Kakashi bashing, depending on the story.

And as for my secret harem member, actually, it is someone from the Naruto-verse! Yes, I remembered who I was going to bring in, after combing through my notes and past reviews and private messages. That was a lot of digging.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark – I think the bigger question is going to be how she will react when she firsts encounters Krul, since our little vampiress is older then all of the villages, and pre-dates the use of chakra.

3headed-dragon – I am still playing with multiple ideas of how Hinata's time under Kakashi's tutelage will affect her further. I am playing with an idea where she wants to 'free' Naruto's spirit, which will lead to some tension between the two of them for a bit.

NaruCrazy – Covered this above. Short version, Naruto, Anko, and Krul wanna see Kakashi squirm a little, while Naruto will taunt him. Before all three, Naruto mostly, unleashes their own justice upon him.

As for Ino, you are correct, it wasn't as built up as it could have been. Though as for Sakura, sure, she is a hard core fangirl for the Uchiha, but even then, she would miss the attention Naruto once showered over her. Add on top that Ino was moving away from their rivalry, and the Uchiha always pushing her away, she was feeling isolated.

As for Kurenai, their relationship is more of a sibling thing for the time being.

Shadowhell1992 – I have an idea for how Naruto will obtain the Sharingan, and it won't be from Sasuke. Also, I do not plan on Kakashi's team heading to Wave this time around.

Harem – Anko, Fem!Haku, Fem!Kyuubi, Ino, Hana, Hinata, Koyuki, Krul Tepes, Kurenai, Mabui, Sakura, Tenten, Tsunade, Tsunami, and Yugao

Due to popular demand, Hana has been added to the mix, others may join. However, I do not want to make the same mistake I did with Darkness Falls.

The Crimson King

Chapter 6

Training Ground 13

Hatred burned in the exposed eye of one Kakashi Hatake as he glared down from his vantage point up in the trees at the training field below as the first member of the now official Team 8 or as Anko had dubbed it, Team Fangs, entered the training field. To the cycloptic Jonin, the blonde whiskered teen that had just arrived was a mockery to the memory of his late sensei. Even more so after his failed attempt to avenge his fallen mentor three years ago.

He had hoped to remedy that failed attempt by playing at the elder village leader's heart strings, and get the boy placed on his team. From there, he had various plans for the 'demons' demise. One such plan, he had visualized, was to use the Haruno girl's obsession over Sasuke, by holding the Uchiha at knife point in a mock hostage situation and order her to kill Naruto, and if she had actually followed orders, well, all the better in his eyes.

Should that fail, and the girl not succeed or refused to follow the order, he would have simply orchestrated a training accident between the Uzumaki and Sasuke. Of course after ensuring the blonde was significantly under trained while giving the Uchiha access to numerous higher ranking Katon jutsu, as that was the Uchiha's natural elemental affinity, with very few from the now nearly extinct clan having affinity to other elements. Hatake had also planned to use Sasuke's status of being the 'Last Loyal Uchiha' to avoid any consequences befalling him, unlike the Haruno girl, whom would have been stripped of her shinobi status and potentially imprisoned. Even if the girls mother was on the Civilian Counsel.

Lastly, if all else had failed. He would have ensured the boys demise on their first mission outside the village. Either by allowing a bandit to deliver the final blow or even enemy shinobi to dispatch him, or do it himself away from the eyes of the other two and/or client, depending on what the mission would have been. However, all of his planning had been rendered moot, thanks to that red eyed bitch.

While Kakashi had taken into account that others, if only few in number, would show an interest for the blonde brat, he had disregarded them as a negligent factor, banking entirely too much on an emotional old man. Instead, Kurenai Yuhi; an up and coming Jonin Kunoichi had derailed his entire scheme with a precise focus of logical assessments she had planned for her team as a whole, which admittedly, had made a far better case for her then he would have liked to admit.

After the teams had been announced, Hatake had attempted to coerce the famed Genjutsu Mistress into swapping Kiba and Hinata, for Naruto and Sakura; even attempting to goad her into it by dangling the Hyuga girl in front of her, as it was no secret that the ruby eyed woman had viewed the girl as a daughter. However, much to the silver haired Jonin's disdain, Kurenai had stood firm in the her team. Kakashi had figured it had something to do with the 'Snake Whore' that had constantly accompanied the team, and how said woman was constantly around the Uzumaki brat.

"What are you doing here, Hatake?" A voice broke him from his musing, prompting him to turn to face the person who had intruded upon his train of thoughts.

"Anko." Kakashi replied evenly, as he peered at the Snake Mistress.

While he had never thought highly of the woman before, due to her being the former apprentice of one Orochimaru of the Sannin, Konoha's biggest traitor to date since Madara Uchiha; not to mention the fact that the woman had aggressively turned down any man that dared approached her, all for a brat that was five years her junior. However, in the past three years, he could feel a sort of dark and predatory aura rolling off of her with the faint scent of blood when ever she entered the same room he was in, or if she was within close proximity, as she was now. Making him feel increasingly uneasy around her.

"I swear to Kami, Hatake." Anko hissed. "If this is another one of your piss poor attempts to get Nai-chan to trade you Naruto-kun for that flea ridden mutt of a Genin, I am going to rip that Sharingan out of your eye socket and shove it up your porn loving ass."

"Mah, mah Anko-san, that's not nice to threaten a fellow Konoha Shinobi with such unneeded violence." The masked man waved off in a relaxed fashion. "As for Uzumaki, I still feel he would benefit under me far more then Yuhi-san."

"Of course, in a village full of Shinobi and Kunoichi, you're the only one capable of training him." Anko scoffed as she leaned up against the tree trunk, the sarcasm in her voice evident. "You just don't know when to give up, do you?"

"Of course not." Another voice spoke up behind the masked Jonin before Kakashi could respond, prompting him to spin around, only to be met by the whiskered teen he had just been observing. "After all, how can he get a second chance to kill me if I am not on his team?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the blonde vampire as Anko chortled from where she stood. Which had only served to feed his anger further.

"What's the matter Hatake-teme?" Naruto taunted with a grin. "Upset that Hokage-ji-ji put me out of your reach so you can't try and shove that lightening jutsu into my chest again?"

"You should be dead and rotting in the Shinigami's stomach that night three years ago." Kakashi snarled out, since it was obvious Anko was clearly well aware of his attempt on the boys life that night, three years ago. "The fact that you are still alive only proves that you are a demon."

"Pfft, you clearly don't understand any Kekkei Genkai that isn't the Sharingan." Naruto scoffed. "Otherwise, if you were half the Shinobi you claimed to be, you would have known that the Uzumaki clan were known not only for their chakra chains, monstrous chakra reserves and stamina, but were also known to have unparalleled regenerative abilities."

"And to think, you were supposedly my father's best student." The blonde continued with a snarl. "He would be ashamed at what you had become Hatake-teme. A blatant contradiction to his teachings. Face it Hatake-teme, you are trash."

Those final words echoed within the mind of the cycloptic man as both Naruto and Anko laughed darkly as they faded away from his vision, dispelling into clouds of mist that intertwined with one another, all the while their laughter echoing within his ears, before taking form once more on the ground below as the rest of the members of Team 8 were finally arriving, leaving behind a stunned Kakashi.

'How the hell does he know how to use a Shunshin!?' The masked man scowled, unaware that what the two had used was not a Shunshin. Growling to himself, the silver haired Jonin departed in his own Shunshin.

"Morning everyone." Kurenai greeted her team as she entered the training field, eyeing the two vampires with an accusing glare. "You two are behaving yourself, right?"

"You wound me, Nai-chan." The whiskered vampire mocked being insulted. "When have we not behaved when Anko-chan and I have been alone together?"

"Do I really need to make a list about all the things you two have done?" The ruby eyed woman lightly glared at the two.

"Our first D-Rank mission, at Konoha Textiles, Anko-san had pulled Naruto-san into the changing room, and proceeded to make out with him." Shino delivered in his usual monotone voice. "In addition, the provocative loud moans Anko-san made, only served to garner the attention of the patrons within the store."

"That was one time." Anko defended, childishly crossing her arms in front of her chest in a mock pout.

"Then there was the time at the Gilded Rose Restaurant and Inn when you dropped butterscotch into the bartenders mixed drink." Sakura pointed out, recounting when their team had been sent to the establishment to help stock, clean, and in Anko and Kurenai's case, sample some of the drinks.

"First off, that was purely an accident when Anko-chan and I were wrestling around…." Naruto trailed off when he realized his defense was not helping his case in the slightest. "But hey, they got a very popular new drink out of the deal, so it worked out!"

"While it is true that their new Butter Beer beverage is very popular among it's patrons, it does not excuse the fact that you two were horsing around while we were on a mission." Kurenai lightly chastised the two vampires, though she really did enjoy the new drink that came of their fooling around.

"That's only two things." The whiskered blonde challenged, though from the expressions Kurenai and his fellow team mates had, he could tell they had an entire list of things they have yet to mention.

"Let's see this week alone you two had already, swapped out the apples with onions at the caramel apple snack stand on the main road." Kurenai began to list off the series of pranks the two had unleashed upon their unsuspecting victims, holding up her index finger to emphasis the point.

"Put fast acting laxatives in the chocolate in the mixture of the local bakery, as well as some rather questionable 'special' ingredients in the batter for their brownies." The Genjutsu Mistress raised two more fingers, bringing the current tally to three. "Making the store extremely popular for the rest of the day."

Both Anko and Naruto couldn't help but giggle amongst themselves at the memory of that particular prank.

"And then there was that fiasco at the Inuzuka Kennels, when the two of you 'accidentally' sprayed poor Kiba with bottle of female hormones to encourage breeding amongst the pack." A fourth finger was raised, while the two of them struggled to hold in their laughter. As well as Sakura, whom was beginning to snigger at the outcome. "Which resulted in a pack of large male Inuzuka wolf hounds trying to mount Kiba."

It only compounded the matters further when Tsume had come out to see what the commotion was, and had falling to the floor, laughing her ass off at the predicament her youngest child was in.

"In our defense, he was asking for it when he tried to proposition Anko-chan." Naruto stated.

"On a positive note, Kiba-san has become more humbled after that particular incident." Shino pointed out, since the feral boy had all but ceased any pursuit of any female after that.

"That is besides the point." The ruby eyed woman stated with a sigh, turning her attention back to the pair of vampires. "And not even two days ago, you two had showered the Yamanaka Flower Shop with highly concentrated mixture of lavender, chamomile, vanilla, jasmine, and valerian; which saw to Inochi, his wife, and any one else that entered the shop for longer then three minutes fall asleep."

"That one was actually Ino-chan's idea." Anko pointed out, earning herself a light glare from her sister-like figure. "What, she said her father was too stressed out and needed to relax more."

"Did I miss anything?" Kurenai ground out.

"Well, this morning we put itching powder in the ANBU's uniforms, as well as sneezing powder in their masks, however we left Neko-nii-san alone." Naruto began, earning a groan from the genjutsu mistress.

"Oh, we also swapped out the old mans porn book with a rather graphic yaoi novel." Anko added, though this particular bit of info prompted the teams pinkette to gain a blush and a slight nose bleed.

"And we put timed paint bombs on the Hokage Monument." The blonde vampire finished with a grin, which was mirrored by the Snake Mistress.

Almost as if on queue, the sound of multiple small explosions could be heard in the distance as the faces of the villages previous Hokages were covered in a cloud of multicolored smoke. As the wind carried away the colorful dust and smoke, it revealed that all of the faces now had various Kumadori make up. Each of the past Hokages faces had been painted over, making them look like various Kabuki's.

"Wonder what we can do tomorrow to top this?" Naruto mused out loud.

"Think that Genjutsu is ready?" Anko added, earning a thoughtful expression from the blonde.

"Let's just start today's training." Kurenai could only groan in resignation as the two of pariahs began to plot the next days string of pranks. "Sakura, you start off with the chakra control exercises I have you. Shino, work on your taijutsu with Anko-chan, and Naruto, you're with me to help identifying and breaking genjutsu."

Team 7, Training Ground 3, Later That Day

Hinata Hyuga frowned slightly as she watched over the group of people that were scattered around the training ground, as their day of training was coming to a close. They were suppose to be her team, though that was being extremely generous calling them that. Since day one, their assigned sensei had shown blatant favoritism towards the Uchiha on the team. Giving the Inuzuka and herself only vague instructions while he took the raven haired teen away for more personalized training. She was fairly certain that if Kiba and herself didn't have their clans to fall back on for the necessary training required of them, they would be at a severe disadvantage compared to the rest of their fellow graduates.

The week full of D-Rank missions didn't prove to be any better, as Kakashi would laze around, reading that Kami forsaken book of his, while the Uchiha would slack off, doing the absolute minimum. Leaving both Kiba and herself left to pick up the slack. As expected, once they had completed their tasks, meaning herself and Kiba; Kakashi and the client would heap praise upon the arrogant Uchiha for working so diligently. While the other members of the team were only given subpar credit for their contributions.

While the Hyuga Heiress had never considered herself a spiteful person, all of the special treatment the raven haired emo received had made her sincerely wish the kin slayer, Itachi Uchiha, would return and finish the job and spare her from having to constantly endure the arrogance the boy exuded. However, her desire to see the Uchiha clan completely wiped from the face of the Elemental Nations was not what was on her mind at the moment, well, at least not at the forefront of her thoughts. No, what had her attention now was her supposed sensei, Kakashi Hatake.

For whatever reason the man had shown up even later then usual, much to the entire teams annoyance, one of the very few things all three of them could find a common ground on. To make matters even better, the masked Jonin seemed to be in a particularly upset mood when he had finally deigned it necessary to arrive. Foregoing his usual greeting and obnoxious excuse as to why he was late, he had immediately barked out instructions before disappearing with the Uchiha for the rest of their training duration.

However, what plagued her mind at the moment about the masked Jonin was a lingering sense that she had seen him from somewhere before. Or rather, his hair to be more specific, as odd as it sounded. Though to be fair, it was one of his more identifiable physical features, aside from the way he covers his face.

"All right my cute little Genin." Kakashi called out to them from his perch atop one of the posts. "That's it for today, report here at six in the morning tomorrow."

'So, would that be six our time, or his time?' Both Kiba and Hinata thought at the same time.

The Hyuga Heiress didn't bother listening to the rest of what the silver haired man had to say, knowing that it was just going to be the usual stuff. Which namely consisted on him dismissing both Kiba and herself while he held Sasuke back for additional training. Kami did she hate this team, especially since it put her at odds with finding out just what the hell had happened to Naruto three years ago. Or to answer her burning question as to who was that person that had drove that lightening jutsu into his chest?

'He had something about doing it for his sensei, before he struck Naruto-kun with that jutsu.' Hinata narrowed her eyes in thought. 'What did he mean by that?'

So far, the only thing she was able to deduce from what she saw that night was that the individual that had delivered the final blow was male, and no doubt, an extremely skilled Shinobi, perhaps Jonin or even ANBU level. Admittedly, she probably could have had all her questions answered that very night, if she had just been brave enough to stick around for a few more minutes, instead of running off in fear when she had thought her pillar of light had been killed. Only for him to arrive at the academy the following Monday, completely healthy.

Initially, she had been over joyed that he was still alive. However, that joy had quickly turned to concern as she slowly began to realize that something inside him had changed. No longer did he wear that bright orange jumpsuit that she loved, namely because it made him easier for her to spot; nor did he have that same warmth he once possessed that had drawn her to him. Instead, there was an aura of allure that surrounded him, but it felt unnatural to her. So, she had backed off and observed from a distance.

While she sat there musing, she felt an odd sensation that she was being watched. Her first instinct was to look amongst her team, only to see them still focusing on Kakashi, whom had oddly enough, opted to share some of his past experiences while on unclassified missions. Seeing that it wasn't any of them, she began to observe her surroundings, until she spotted a mop of rosy pink hair.

Focusing in on the strange girl, she took note of her appearance. The most obvious was the rosy pink color of her hair that was partially done up into two pigtails held up by a pair of black head pieces, somewhat resembling the appearance of bat wings. Her clothing was also odd to the Hyuga girl, consisting of a black, frilly style dress with a layer of white ruffles over black ruffles of the skirt. The preteen girls top had a raindrop shape opening a the top of her chest, just above her budding cleavage with the straps of the top crisscrossing over each other and around the girls neck to hold up the blouse. Her long, slender and pale arms exposed, showing off her flawless skin. Aside from her clothing, what Hinata found peculiar about the girl, was her crimson colored eyes. Crimson eyes that were staring right at her, causing her to shiver slightly.

"Kakashi-sensei." Hinata ventured to speak up, not taking her eyes off the strange girl. "Who is that?"

Kakashi took a moment to look in the direction the young girl was looking in, and scowled under his mask as he saw the person in question that the Hyuga Heiress was inquiring about. Turning back to his team, he could see the two boys curious as well, surprisingly, Kiba was not drooling all over the girl like he would have almost a week ago, making the cycloptic Jonin ponder what could have caused such a change in the feral boy whom was always trying to show off how much of an 'alpha' he was.

"That is Krul Tepes, sole member of the Tepes family." The masked Jonin explained to his team. "She moved into the village about nine years ago with the Hokage's permission. She usually keeps to herself, so I don't know why she is out here."

"Wait, family? Why not clan?" Kiba asked, finding it odd that just some random survivor of a family would need the permission of the Hokage to settle into the village, unless they held some sort of political importance, or were extremely powerful. Whether it be from a Kekkei Genkai, possession of an extensive library of high ranking jutsu, or something else that would benefit the village as a whole.

"Supposedly she possesses a unique and powerful Kekkei Genkai."

Hearing this, Sasuke's ears perked up as he allowed his eyes to travel over to the form of the preteen girl, whom was now conversing with some red haired woman he could vaguely recall visiting the academy for some reason or another. Kiba on the other hand had recognized the red haired beauty and had quickly averted his eyes, much to the confusion of both Kakashi and Hinata.

"Do you know what her Kekkei Genkai is?" The Uchiha inquired. If it proved to be a strong enough, he would over look the fact that she was a civilian and not a strong kunoichi and give her the honor to bare his children to repopulate his clan, and if her family was powerful and influential as it was implied she was, then all the better to benefit the Uchiha, as it should be.

"No." Kakashi replied, glancing to the now two women, his eyes narrowing at the red head. She looked too much like that Uzumaki whore that married his sensei, and robbed him of his second father figure after his own father had committed suicide. "The only one that knows the full detail of the Tepes family is the Hokage. Not even the Councils are privy to what her family has to offer the village."

"Isn't that odd that the rest of the council would not be aware of a family or clans potential within the village?" Hinata asked.

"It is unusual, but not completely out of the Hokage's power to make such a decision without the knowledge or approval of the council." The masked Jonin shrugged. "After all, the council is there to advise the Hokage, not tell him what he can and can not do within his own village."

Hinata remained silent, as she turned her attention back to the pink haired girl. Back to the crimson eyes that were boring right into her own, giving the bluenette an uneasy feeling about the girl. Almost as if this Krul Tepes knew something about her, and her specifically as she was seemingly ignoring the rest of the team and focusing solely on her.

"That being said, I would advise you all to stay away from her." Kakashi stated, fulling turning to the Genin before him. "I don't trust her. Aside from the Hokage, no one knows anything about her. Not even Jiraiya-sama was able to find anything about her, her family or her past before the Hokage ordered him to cease all investigations on her."

Hinata frowned, not liking the sound of any of this. All the mystery surrounding pinkette, and the fact that not even the villages spy master was able to dig up anything about the girls family before the Hokage had ordered him to stop.

"What's the dobe doing here?" Sasuke asked as he glared at the whiskered blonde.

This prompted the remaining members of the team and Kakashi to turn, only to be greeted by the sight of Naruto and Anko approaching the two young women they had just been talking about. Both Hinata and Kakashi narrowed their eyes, each for a different reason. For Hatake, it was because once again, the blonde was mocking him, just with his mere presence.

For the Hyuga however, she was suspicious. Kakashi had just told them how the pinkette was reclusive and kept to herself only speaking with the Hokage, however, here was Naruto and Anko both approaching and interacting with the preteen girl as if they were old friends, family even. Furthermore, the red head that accompanied the Tepes girl seemed to be sub-servant, mostly towards Naruto. Something that struck the Hyuga Heiress as being odd.

As she continued to observe the group, her eyes widened as she watched as Naruto reached out and caressed the pinkettes cheek before leaning in and giving her a sensual kiss, causing an old sense of jealousy to flare up within the Hyuga once more. Unconsciously, she had activated her Byakugan only to sharply take in a breath of air at what she saw.

Each of their chakra signatures looked off. Naruto's remained to be the solid purple, though now his chakra had black wisps floating outwards, touching and licking the other chakra signatures near him. Almost as if they were bound to one another. Anko's on the other hand, had become similar to Ino's. Becoming a dark, crimson red with the same black wisps snaking around her signature, intertwining with the other black wisps exuding from the whiskered blonde. Furthermore, the parasitic chakra signature that had been located on the Snake Mistress's neck had completely vanished.

The red head was an entirely different story. Her chakra signature was like a raging inferno of fiery red and orange, all compressed into one small form. It almost felt like she was looking into the sun, due to the sheer amount of power that was coming off the woman. Very faintly, the Hyuga girl could make out nine individual strands coming out from behind the young woman, almost as if they were nine tails attached to her.

Lastly, there was the pinkette herself and the one that made Hinata's blood run cold in her veins. Her chakra signature, or rather, her complete lack of one was void of all color. Just cold, and empty blackness, with more prominent dark tendrils flowing outwards from her body. It was clear that whoever this girl was, she was not human.

Deactivating her Byakugan, Hinata watched as the group of people she had been observing depart from the area, all the while a new question burning within her mind.

'Just what are you, Krul Tepes?'

Additional Authors Notes: And done!

I know, not as much action as a lot of you would have liked, but I really wanted to set up some foreshadowing of things to come and building sub plots. Fear not, next chapter will have more blood shed, as well as an actual confrontation between Hinata and Krul.

And yes, right now Hinata is completely unaware that it was Kakashi that had attempted, or rather succeeded, to kill Naruto that night. She recognizes him, but just can't place where she saw him from. But she will learn his part in it within the next few chapters, after which, her subplot will be concluded.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments in the reviews, and have a Happy and Safe Christmas!