The boy stared at the huge fox in his mind. Its tail swaying slightly in a slow, mesmerizing dance while its red eyes stared at a point Naruto didn't care much to know what it was.
- I... almost missed you, you know... almost.
The fox laughed, looking away at him. She stared at the boy's state, and looked at his recent memories.
So much had happened in the time she had been asleep. She didn't think that this little boy would suffer so much like that.
It almost made her feel guilty for having fallen asleep, even though it was necessary and inevitable.
-... You have changed a lot.
It was the only thing she could say after seeing his recent memories. Such a young child to go through all that... the fact that the boy hadn't gone completely insane was impressive. It requires incredible mental strength.
Not only that, but his eyes glowed bright red with blue pigmentation, just like hers when she woke up.
The scratches on his cheeks were fierce, his teeth were fangs and his nails sharp claws.
- I can say the same for you... your tails...
He stared at the nine fox tails. They were still reddish in color, but on the side of each tail there was a line that glowed deep blue, a line that ran along the side of the fox's entire body. And, as said in the sentence above, crimson red eyes with blue pigmentation.
- Our bodies became one... just as you have undergone changes in your appearance, so have I.
She bowed her head towards him.
-... I'm not going to ask why it took so long... and... nor am I going to answer what happened in this place... how do I get out?
he asked with his head slightly bowed.
The fox was silent for a while, staring at him, until a sigh escaped from her mouth.
- Once you get out... you plan to go after that guy, Juugo, don't you?
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.
- How-?
- I have access to his memories. But that's not important, what's important is that as soon as you get out of here, you'll run away, nothing else.
The boy closed his eye and clenched his fists.
- That's it? Run away like a coward? After what they did?
- Yes, even after what they did. Don't get me wrong, Naruto. The people who did this to you deserve something worse than death. But it's not you who should give it to them.
She laid her head on her paws, still not looking away from him.
- But-
- But nothing. I know what you're feeling, this anger... it's what made you emanate part of my chakra before. Listen well, hate is not a feeling that deserves you. Don't feed it. In the end, it will take everything you consider important.
His red eyes with blue pigmentation glowed, as did the boy's one eye.
Naruto clenched his fists tighter, and turned around, kicking the ground in frustration.
Soon, he closed his eye and began breathing heavily. Something that didn't completely calm him down, but helped a little.
- They will get what they deserve, all of them. If you cross paths again in the future, you can kill them. But now, you will use our power to escape, nothing else.
They were silent for a while, until Naruto sighed, still angry.
- Okay... fine... how do we get out of here?
He turned and faced her again.
- This chair... I assume it can only suck up a certain amount of chakra, or withstand a certain amount of pressure... our chakras are mixed. Now that I am awake, I will help you to better utilize our chakra and stabilize our "fusion". Let the chair suck out your energy.
She explained, and Naruto nodded, coming out of his mind.
Back in that dark, cold room, he squeezes the chair with some force, and starts transferring more and more of his chakra to it.
The chair, as well as the tubes that were connected to it, begin to crack. Pure chakra began to surround his body, and soon, the chair was destroyed, as well as the tubes, causing a small explosion of chakra that cracked the walls, floor and ceiling of that place, as well as denting that iron door.
"There are a lot of people out there. You're going to have to fight your way out... the bright side, is that most of them are on the outside of this place."
The boy kicked hard at the iron door, and quickly attacked one of the men in the place who had gone to check what had been that noise and that strong chakra explosion.
Kurama watched intently as Naruto drove his claws into the man's neck and tore it open, going halfway across his chest.
Killing for him had become easy... something she had expected, of course, but she couldn't help but view it with a sense of disgust.
Most of Naruto's purity was gone. Much of it taken by the rottenness of that world. No beast, not even the Behemoth, which was the cause of his coming of age, that he fought in that forest turned him into a killer or caused those changes with him.
"By the way, Kurama... when they... tortured me... my severed limbs and open wounds regenerated"
"Yes, as I said, we became one, you have part of my regeneration. At that time, your anger and the sudden release of most of the chakra originally mine caused your regeneration to increase, which made it even faster than normal. The stronger and more connected we get, the faster she will get."
"... I get it, but... my severed fingers are back to normal... why isn't my eye?"
He jumped towards two other men. They wore a completely white outfit, an oddly shaped mask over their mouths, and a band across their it weren't for the different sizes, Naruto would say they were clones.
If it weren't for the different sizes, Naruto would say they were clones.
He punched the first one in the stomach, then planted his claws still on the same opponent. Leaning his body back, he dodges a punch coming from the other, and concentrating a small amount of chakra in his arm, he throws the man towards the other.
The two bodies collide, being slammed into the wall with such force that it cracks at the site of the hit.
Crouching down, he smashes his claws into the necks of both men, rushing back soon after.
"... That sword... is a cursed weapon, special... it molds itself from the chakra of its user."
"So... is it capable of killing you?"
"Don't be silly... your eye only didn't regenerate because when you were hit I was still asleep, and your regeneration was not yet as powerful as mine."
"Ah... so I lost my eye forever?"
"Unfortunately."
He clicked his tongue as he saw a corridor crowded with ninjas running towards him.
Concentrating chakra in his hand, he creates a rasengan and destroys the wall beside him. If one path was blocked, he only needed to create another.
With quick, heavy steps, Juugo approached a group of ninjas further ahead. All of them strong and highly skilled ninjas, he being their leader.
- What are they still doing here? You should be on your way to the base by now.
The group of ninjas turned to him, and some of them looked at each other fearfully.
- We have received new orders... Orochimaru-sama said that Akatsuki and some villages of the alliance already have knowledge of this place... he wants this place on the ground fast.
Juugo took a few deep breaths, showing clear discontent.
Further ahead, a ninja was talking to Dosu, who soon approached Juugo and gently pulled him by the shoulder.
They whispered something that the others couldn't hear, but it made them tense. Usually this meant something bad.
Juugo had a serious expression, frustrated eyes, and then turned to Tayuya.
The girl felt her body tremble. She hated it when he stared at her like that.
In fact, she hated everything about him. But, there was nothing she could do. He was the leader of that group, and the strongest in his "department," so whether she wanted to or not, she had to obey him.
- Tayuya, darling... you love me, right?
He approached her, gently touching her chin and forcing her to look him in the eye.
The girl held back her urge to say "no."
- Yes, I love you.
Juugo smiled. She had a bad feeling about this.
- Since you love me, you'll do what I say, right?
-... Of course.
- Good. I forgot the ring that boy was wearing inside, it might come in handy. Get it for me.
The girl's eyes widened, still staring into Juugo's cold eyes.
A blatant lie... especially since he had the ring on his finger.
He was trying to get rid of her... the same way he had gotten rid of the others before her.
"Bastard! You could at least come up with a more convincing excuse!"
- Why not send Dosu? He's the fastest among us.
She tried.
- I don't want him to touch the ring that carries my brother's sword. You know what he meant to me, don't you? I trust you.
"Son of a bitch!"
- But I'm not that fast, why not
- Tayuya!
His loud shout, along with the strong grip on her arm, forced her to shut up.
The girl lowered her head, controlling her anger. She had served him for years, against her will. Comforted him on cold nights, against her will. She had slept with him against her will, and she knew that he had had enough of her.
Now that the opportunity arose for her to leave, of course he would not let it pass.
-... All right.
She said, still with her head down. Juugo smiled, and turned away.
At that moment, a chakra explosion happened, coming from inside the base they were in before. A blast strong enough to make the ground shake, and destabilize some inattentive ninjas.
Everyone who was in that torture room recognized that chakra, as strong as ever.
Tayuya's eyes widened, and a thought raced through her mind.
It was all or nothing... if she didn't do something, she would die, and if her plan went wrong, she would die anyway.
What did she have to fear?
Picking up her flute, she imbued a certain amount of chakra, and soon, two creatures suddenly appeared. Creatures that immediately advanced towards the ninja, especially Juugo.
However, her plan was not to defeat him.
Concentrating another amount of chakra in her flute, she waits for the man to deflect the attack of her summoning.
And when he does, a materialized spirit of the one invocation she did not invoke quickly moves toward him.
Juugo, however, is faster, and since he can't attack a spirit, he deflects again. But he didn't expect the spirit to expand, and wrap itself around his hand.
Tayuya "sucks" the spirit back with the ring, turns around, and starts running towards the hiding place.
Juugo lets out an annoyed scream, and throwing one of the creatures away, starts running after the girl.
Tayuya was running as fast as she could, following the noise of the explosions and the intense chakra, hot, but at the same time, macabre ahead.
A chill runs down her spine, and as she reaches the end of the corridor, she jumps to the left, dodging a huge piece of stone that Juugo threw in her direction.
Getting up, she starts running again.
It wasn't long before she saw a short little boy pulling his bloodstained hand from the stomach of one of the disposable slaves Orochimaru had made available to them.
The moment she approached, the boy turned around.
Her brown eyes stared... or rather, were stared deep into the boy's one blood-red eye, a red that glowed brightly in the dimly lit corridor.
She felt the boy prepare to attack, saw the yellowish sphere that formed in his hand, yet he did not. For some reason, he just stood still for a while, letting her come closer.
However, before she got close enough, she felt Juugo right behind her, preparing to attack.
But in the blink of an eye, Juugo was thrown back violently, with such force that the wall with which he had collided was destroyed.
- You didn't come to attack me... what do you want?
The boy's childish voice, in a grotesque mixture of monstrous, made Tayuya's skin shiver. Especially as she was stared over her shoulder by that bright red eye.
- T-they discarded me... help me, and I'll give you that sword.
Naruto was silent for a while, watching with a narrowed eye, Juugo, who stood up extremely angry further ahead.
-... And why would I help you? I can simply take the sword from you. I don't owe you anything.
-... I know... I don't have an answer for that... but I had to try, it was better than simply dying without doing anything.
He was silent again, and a sigh escaped his lips.
Tayuya almost smiled when he extended his hand toward her, and she handed him the ring.
- Tayuya... you should have stayed put... your death would have been much faster!
Juugo growled, now standing up, his arms wrapped in a thick layer of stone. More and more chakra was concentrating all over his body.
- I can't beat him, so get ready.
- There are still too many of them out there! We can't go out the front door.
- Who says we're going to use the front door? We're inside a mountain, right?
She narrowed her eyes, confused.
- Yes, and?
The blond didn't answer, he just made a hand seal, and soon, several clones of him appeared.
Some of them stood around Tayuya, holding her by the shoulders in a sort of barrier.
Naruto concentrated a huge amount of chakra on himself and his clones.
For Tayuya, it was only a few moments, seconds.
In the first second, Juugo advanced furiously towards them.
In the second... second... Naruto and his clones made a few hand seals, and Tayuya felt superhuman strength spreading throughout her body.
In the third second, the clones disappeared, and the blonde's cheeks inflated, shortly after she heard him say something like a "Bijuu-dama".
By the fourth second, Juugo was already moving his arm to punch Naruto.
And in the fifth second... in the last instant the girl witnessed... the whole hideout was destroyed, an explosion pushed her and the clones away, the impact made her hear nothing but a buzzing sound, and before she passed out, she could still see the whole mountain being swallowed by the explosion.