Author: Okay...this is where things get interesting. First off, I looked at the links J sent me, and I'm inclined to believe what s/he said. That means that I had to go and revise my last two chapters so that my fic would not become AU.

Important Changes (So that you won't have to go back and re-read the other chapters if you already did):

The girl who attacked Naruto was in fact Kiba's sister, she is names Nira and she is a chuunin. Everything that was previously said to have been done by Kirara, has been changed to Nira.

Akira (Kiba's father) was changed to Kirara (Kiba's mother) and all actions for those two were switched. Kuromaru however, is still with Kirara, just so none of you are confused.

Nira also makes mention to Naruto (while screaming once she's been detained by her mom and Kakashi) that her father was killed by Kyubi, which is more reason for her to kinda lose it and not listen to anyone until the ANBU member shows up.

Also, I started using "-san" for family members because I remembered that oni-san, oto-san, and oka-san all use "san" so I figured that it would work.

Sorry about any confusion. If there are any questions, please send them to me in a review, I'll be happy to answer them.

Btw – Dalcacris is my brother, so the idea about Kiba's dad dying is an idea that we bounced off each other, I didn't steal it from him...not like it matters.

Refused – hehe, about the summary, I just realized that I have a huge problem with typos...lol. It really is supposed to be "he knows they can't accept him" lol. Thanks for catching that.

...uh I think that's it, so...Without further delay and hesitation...

Chapter 3:

A faint wind blew through the circle that the ten young ninjas were standing in. It did little to cool the warm air, and even less to break the mounting tension that was yet to reach a climax. None of them spoke, for none of them had anything to say for time being. Looks of confusion and shock told anyone around whatever needed to be said.

It was shortly after Naruto had gotten out of the range of sight that speaking became a feasible concept. Naruto's nearly evil grin was still etched in their faces, and the idea of him being the Kyubi was certainly more possible to them having seen it.

"I-I'm confused..." Lee was the first to speak. "Naruto is Kyubi? How is that possible...what did she mean?" His voice quivered as if he didn't really want to know the answers to the questions everyone needed to ask. All eyes turned to Shikamaru, hoping that the shadow chuunin had some vague idea of what was going on.

He felt the gazes drift his way, and racked his brain for a moment despite the pressure, his gaze still on the ground.

"I've heard of such jutsu before..." he began, no one interrupted. "She said that he had been sealed, well I've heard of such things before from books. Demons that were too powerful to be destroyed...used to be sealed into a vessel. Normally that vessel would be killed as soon as the sealing was complete, the ritual says that someone must die...But in this case, Naruto wasn't killed...someone else died in his place."

A faceless image of the Fourth drifted across the minds of all of them at once. There was another eerie moment of dead silence.

Sasuke was the next to break the silence.

"So that explains why that dobe was able to beat me." There was a bit of malice in his voice. He pulled the leaf headband off of his head and looked at it, a crazed smirk drew itself across his face. "I should have known that no one would be able to match that power...at least no one normal. Lucky bastard."

Everyone was shocked at the words that came out of his mouth, and shocked more so by his next action. He turned his back and hopped onto one of the roofs and just left. Sakura stood speechless, wanting to stop him somehow, but not knowing exactly how. Her eyes fell back to the ground.

'How could he say something like that?'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of sudden sobbing. She turned to see Hinata on her knees, weeping opening and rather loudly. Shino was sitting closer than he normally would, but looking awkward, comforting never his strong suit.

There were no words coming from Hinata's mouth, just tears from her eyes. No one was exactly what she was crying about, it could have been any flurry of things, no one except Sakura.

Hinata was crying because she thought she had lost Naruto forever.

Sakura knew that because she felt the same way, but about both Naruto and Sasuke. Her job had been to keep the team together, to stop arguments and fights and hold everyone together no matter the circumstance, that's what her job was...and she had failed it miserably. She felt like crying, she merely lacked the energy to do so.

"Fate has an odd way of working doesn't it? Naruto's fate was to be spurned by the village for being Kyubi, the Hokage tried to alter that fate by not telling the next generation. But we found out anyway...its our fate then to do as the adults around us then." A solemn Neji concluded.

Tenten turned in slight disbelief, she had thought he was over the "fate rules all" belief.

"No, that can't be true..." Sakura muttered under tearing eyes. Ino walked over to her friend and placed her hands squarely on the girl's shoulders.

"And why not?" Neji masked any emotion that he had felt behind his Byakugan eyes.

"B-b-because Neji-san...we can't hate him...for what he is not." Hinata's trembling voice was the next to be heard.

"But he is Kyubi isn't he?" Chouji's voice held confusion, not malice like some would have thought. "I mean, that's what Shikamaru said right?"

"Chouji..." Sakura began, tears fading from her eyes. "When you and everyone else went out to get Sasuke...you were there with Naruto. Was there any reason not to trust him? Sure he might have been annoying...but was he in any way a demon?"

Chouji and Shikamaru started looking uncomfortable, Neji was feeling it.

"No"

"Then how can you say that he is a demon?" Hinata's voice mysteriously stopped quivering, tears no longer pouring from her eyes, her voice just sounded like a sadness that could only be told by a muse.

"Because he is still the Kyubi Hinata-san." Neji was cold as ever.

Silence there, and nothing more. (Author: Altered quote from Poe's The Raven) ===============================================================

"What the Hell were you thinking?" Tsunade didn't even attempt to mask her anger at the young girl in front of her.

Nira kept her eyes locked to Tsunade's, her eyes quivered involuntarily, betraying the show of brevity she was struggling to maintain. She stood tall, her entire body stiff, her knees pushed together to keep them from shaking.

"Do you not understand what forbidden information is?"

Nira stayed silence as she knew she was supposed to.

"Do you not understand what it means to keep information quiet? How can you expect to trusted with more advanced information in a mission if you can't even keep something as simple as this quiet."

"I can't believe you..." she continued, her screams had managed to escalate further, allowing everyone on the floor to know what was going on. "...you came in here not a few days ago asking for permission to partake in the jounin exam! Being a jounin is more than just being strong enough, there are other things you have to be able to do."

"On top of that! You attacked a fellow leaf-nin. A genin nonetheless! He's no more than twelve or thirteen, you had no reason to attack him, I don't care who you think he is. That, and you threatened to kill nine other genin and a fellow chuunin if they interfered! If Shikamaru hadn't stopped Gai's kid, what would you have done? That doesn't sound like someone who is ready to take a jounin exam, that doesn't even sound like someone who's been trained in Konoha at all!"

Nira cringed. Against her better judgment, she opened her mouth to speak.

"B-but..."

"But what?!" Tsunade was glaring straight through the girl.

"But he's a demon. H-he has to die. That's just the way things are. It's the way ninja's have always dealt with demons in the past."

Tsunade walked over to the girl and slapped her with the back of her hand, holding back enough so that the girl stayed in the room, and merely fell on the ground, a bruise preparing to grow already.

"How would you know that? Have you ever talked to him? Do you even know him?" The volume in her voice was reduced, but the rage was still present, manifest in a slightly sadder tone.

Nira looked away, unable to get her legs to support her again.

"So then how do you know he is a demon?"

Nira closed her eyes. "I know what he has done. To this town...to my family..."

"Everyone lost someone in the attack Nira..." There was a soft tone in her voice now. "...but that doesn't mean that they can go get vengeance."

Nira turned away to hide the growing tears in her eyes.

"Its easy for you to say that Hokage-sama. But put yourself in my shoes...the closest person to me...my brother, was almost taken away because he couldn't control the beast within him. How would you react if it was someone that you held close to you...would you have done anything differently?"

Nira looked up to Tsunade with pleading eyes.

There was silence in the room for a few unbearable moments.

Tsunade walked back behind her desk and sat down.

"For the next six months your status as a ninja is officially revoked. You will therefore not be allowed to carry or buy ninja weapons of any kind. You will also be prohibited from training in ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. If you are seen doing so, your status will be revoked permanently."

Nira turned to hide growing tears. She was glad Tsunade didn't permanently revoke it in the beginning like she should have...but still, being a ninja was her life. She had devoted so much of her time to it...now it was gone, just like that.

"Give me your leaf head band and you chuunin vest. Then you are excused, come see me six months from today."

Nira blinked away tears and managed to find the strength to stand. She trudged toward the desk and slowly unzipped the vest. It slid off her shoulders, relieving a weight from her shoulders. She put it down on the desk and went to slide the headband from around her torso where it had been hidden under the vest.

She turned to the door and walked out, leaving a piece of her in the room with Tsunade.

Tsunade watched the girl leave and rested her head on her propped up hands to think for a moment. She hated being Hokage for now because there were much more important things she felt she could be doing.

She sighed heavily. ===============================================================

The walk back to his apartment had been longer than he had thought, already the wounds from his "battle" with Nira were healing. The blood on his face was drying and caking on thickly, accompanied by the tears that had began covering his face as soon as he left the others behind.

He slipped his hand into his pocket and grabbed the key, withdrawing it quickly and unlocking the door. He stepped inside the close quarters and quickly shut and lock the door as if to block out the images in his mind.

The stares had been worse the whole way back to his temporary haven.

He looked around his apartment, his gaze leading to the few extra pairs of clothes he had, sprawled over the grounds along with scrolls that he had meant to read one day or another, if not return them all together. Empty cups and packs of instant ramen along with the few pair of wooden disposable chopsticks that he reused filled his kitchen-living room.

As much as he would have rather seen the filthy existence of his surroundings, only the silent looks of guilt and betrayal from the other genin and single chuunin came to mind. When he turned his head, he didn't see one room bleed into another, hardly separated by barriers of clothing and trash, he saw his gaze go from one genin to another. The looks on their faces burned into his mind.

He could endure the stares of the people in the crowds, nameless faces that he would only have to stop and bug if he wanted to. He had endured those all his life, even though the faces had greater malice now than before, that was the easy part. The thing he couldn't shake at all, was the silence that followed to after he confirmed what the genin (and Shikamaru) had heard.

The fact that none of them with the exception of Sasuke would talk to him, and even Sasuke seemed a bit more hesitant than normal. Hinata tried to at least, better than most of them, but she had only made him feel worse.

"Just Naruto now then…" He spoke without consciously deciding to as his thoughts drifted to what she had called him.

Sakura tried, that was good wasn't it? But then again, she didn't have a problem talking to Sasuke even while he was possessed or actively seeking Orochimaru.

"…at least with Kyubi, you didn't know your enemy Sakura…" he sat down on a single seat couch after moving a pair of briefs onto the floor. He sunk into it, mostly out of grief. "Kyubi only attacked once, killing those that you didn't know. Orochimaru not only attacked, but has plotted and moved against us time and again. Him you knew, him you faced, him…you had real reason to fear…yet I'm the one that you feared so much that you couldn't talk to…"

…humans fear what they don't understand, it's in your nature…

For once, the foxes voice in his head sounded soft, almost caring as he tried to comfort the kid who's eyes were still watering though the audible crying had long since stopped. Naruto had mind to yell at the creature about the whole thing being his fault…but just having someone to listen to him…to talk to him…realize that he was there and not just some faceless silhouette that imprisoned a demon. It was kind of comforting, even though the listener was the cause of all his pain…he still seemed a good listener, for now.

"I know that…" Naruto spoke audibly, a completely subconscious action as he continued the conversation that would have seemed one sided. "But, that doesn't help things. Sakura…she…we were supposed to be a team, supposed to look out for everyone on it equally weren't we? I mean…Sasuke flips out and heads out for Orochimaru…and she has the confidence to go and try to talk some sense into him rationally…me? I try to fight you…and I get a stuttering shell that looks like Sakura at my side. She couldn't even ask me a full question."

…she fears you, they all do. They fear me in you…what you…what we could do. Don't mind them, they don't know anything…

Naruto looked around the room as if to see Kyubi, his voice had grown stronger as if he had been right next to him and not in his mind. His gaze turned towards a mirror, half covered by a t-shirt draped over it. In the reflection he saw himself, yet at the same time, someone completely different.

The reflection dressed the same, had the same hair, the same pattern of blood on his, as a matter of fact it was a perfect copy except for the eyes, fangs, and claws.

The eyes were blood-red, not like one who's had too much alcohol or marijuana, but someone who found a way to personify absolute hate in a gaze. The feral eyes fixated themselves on him…bearing through him…scaring him. He was pretty sure they tried to break him…yet somehow the eyes seemed familiar…the gaze, the same fear had been felt before.

The claws and fangs were sharp enough to cut through almost anything short of metal, or so Naruto assumed. The fingers and jaws were tensed as if anticipating a kill at any moment, almost itching at the chance to tear through some poor thing with them.

Then he remembered where he felt the stare coming from.

His mouth dropped, but the reflection's didn't. He slowly stood, and trudged closer to the mirror to get a better look. The reflection made a similar move, but at it's own pace. Naruto was but a few feet from the mirror before Kyubi spoke, the reflection's jaw moved accordingly.

"They fear this that you can become…a power not seen in this place for years…"

"But, whoever said I wanted that?" Naruto's voice came out meeker than when the thoughts played through his head a moment before.

"Because I know you…I've been you…I've lived everything, every memory, every celebrated failure, every denied success that you have. I've seen the hate in their eyes bred from their fear. You want power almost as much as the Uchiha kid, so you can prove to them once and for all that you exist…so they'll acknowledge you."

Naruto cringed at the thought of being compared to Sasuke when it came to wanting power, it had been true a little…hadn't it? He did want power, or else he wouldn't want to be Hokage…he pushed himself to the brink of his limits, then jumped past them without a second thought. He wanted power…he had worked for it…the fox was right…he had to be…after all, it had lived all of his experiences and seen him grow…a part of him of sorts…he wouldn't lie to himself….

"The only difference between you and that other kid is that you haven't embraced the power given to you. I have no problem lending power to those who I respect, you are mortal after all. When your life takes a natural end, mine will begin again. I have eternity to wait kid, and I'm becoming more patient by the day."

Naruto said nothing as he looked to the image in the mirror.

"I have more power than your mind is even capable of dreaming of. All you need do is ask and I will give you however much you can handle, it's been like that since you first came to me, it's still like that now. All you need to do is quit pretending that you don't want my power…and then anything will be possible for you…for us. With even a glimpse of what I have to offer, you could wipe out this entire village if you did it right. You could smite them with the unholy vengeance that is yours by right to wreak…all you have to do is accept your desires…and they'll come true in a heart beat."

Naruto's gaze fell away from the creature in the mirror.

'Become the monster that everyone says that I am?'

"Yes"

For a moment Naruto forgot that the fox was actually in his mind and not in front of him, which meant his thoughts weren't safe from prying ears.

"…but, I don't think that I want to do that. Sure, these villagers are jerks and everything, but not everyone of them deserve to die. What about my…"

Naruto almost finished the sentence but stopped short…the Kyubi-Naruto smiled a wide grin.

"…your friends? The ones who disowned you while you fought for your life? The ones who you would have helped without a second thought? The ones that you thought would understand you but you were too afraid to tell about me? Or are you talking about the ones that were so full of fear that they couldn't talk to you once they found out about the skeletons in your closet?"

Naruto didn't speak, he merely looked back to Kyubi's representation, staring the feral eyes head on. His eyes filled with tears and his eyes began to quiver.

Memories of the past hour flooded his mind. The stares, the silence, the betrayal, the hurt, the pain…all of it…he relived it a few times, but he didn't remember it being so harsh. He was pretty sure that when Shikamaru had caught his eyes when he was fighting, that the chuunin didn't smirk maliciously before looking at the ground. He was sure that Sasuke didn't clap a bit when Naruto saw him sitting on the roof. He was sure that he saw Ino holding Sakura back…not trying to push her into the circle…but these were his memories…the only log of what could have happened…it had to have happened, or else he wouldn't remember it happening.

The tears amplified, and through the boy's water-logged eyes, he failed to see the hallucinations smirk.

He opened his quivering mouth to speak, but before he could he was hit with another barrage of painful memories.

After the fight, when things settled down…Rock was snickering…snickering that the boy had lost so easily. Hinata sounded disappointed when she called him, hesitation in her voice…but only from deciding whether or not to talk to him…she decided otherwise and dropped the comment. Ino and Sakura were whispering something to one another before pointing and laughing.

"So then, you're the Kyubi eh? Just a monster then…"

Chouji's voice rang out.

"Yeah Chouji…that explains why he managed to be so strong…now I'm not surprised he beat Neji and Kiba, they were both way out of his league."

Hinata's voice was so sure of itself that it sent chills down Naruto's spine.

"What a weakling"

Shino's muffled voice added.

"Agreed"

Ino's bossy tone added to the mix.

"And I thought you were something…no one beats Neji…at least no human."

Tenten's voice was quiet and mocking, Naruto could imagine the gleeful smile on her face.

"Fated to do nothing more than fail…"

Neji's voice calmly melded with everyone else's.

That was the last one he registered, he fell to his knees as the rest of the young teens took their verbal shots at him. His hands pressed against his ears, vainly trying to shut it out but not helping. The words were lost on him, but the tone was evident enough to show the meaning.

They hated him.

His vision began to blur and slowly a tinge of red crept into his peripheral vision on all sides. His nightmare of a memory slowly fading to a dream of fantasy.

His blood began to pulse harder now…he could feel chakra surrounding him…chakra that wasn't his. He clenched his eyes shut, willing everything to go away, to just fade into the background…but it didn't. He could still hear what had transformed into a jovial laughter about him while his eye-lids tried to ward off reality. He could almost feel his eyes shift to the feral version as an odd lust filled the back of his mouth. His fingernails morphed, along with his canines.

But it wasn't until he felt a soft kick that he actually lost it.

He sprung up quickly to find himself face to face with Ino who was looking slightly shocked at him. Without even thinking about it, his hand slid across her throat, leaving four slash marks and a now gushing flow of blood. It was odd how if felt…there was fire coming from the liquid as it touched his skin...burning him…but tempting him. The pain was so much so that it seemed like pleasure, and as he watched the blood slide down and stain the suffocating girl's shirt…temptation overtook him.

He grabbed her by the shoulder with one hand and forced the other into her gut, she shuddered for a second, spurting out the beautiful liquid-fire onto his head. It helped for a moment before the lust grew stronger.

Confident the girl was dead, he tossed the corpse aside.

There was a scream.

He turned to see a pale Sakura looking over at the corpse that had been flung aside.

Hate joined the rage and bloodlust he was feeling. He closed the distance between himself and Sakura before she could react. He slid his knee into her stomach, reveling in the feeling of it closing around his leg, and the sound both her body and voice made as the impact took effect. He dropped his knee so she could slide down to her knees before placing the other knee square in her forehead. She fell backwards but found herself with four evenly spaced open wounds running from her head to her stomach before she hit the ground. The unmistakable joy in Naruto's face as the blood flew through the air and cloaked the boy in a new color.

Kyubi's hallucination smile grimly at the now convulsing boy.

'Yes, feel the joy of killing with your own hands. Feel the joy that no weapon can bring. Taste their blood, revel in their screams, enjoy the feeling of complete power that I an give you. Feel what it's like to kill those who tried to kill you, give in to the blood lust in your mind, so that you can do it in this world too.'

The demon grinned even deeper, soon his revenge would be complete, he had to make sure to send thanks to a certain clan for allowing the whole thing to accomplished.

…fools…

Naruto almost began to laugh as his eyes went wide. The blood was getting everywhere, and Sakura's eyes were closing as she fell away into absolute sleep. The air smelled of blood even to his human nose, and there was little more satisfying than that.

What kept him from laughing was the crackling sound that he heard from behind him. He turned to see Sasuke, eyes blaring with Sharingan, and a Chidori already in his hand. The darkly cloaked boy charged blindly lashing out at the demon with the blade of lightning.

Naruto stepped inside quicker than even Sasuke anticipated. The hate had grown to immeasurable proportions, as the demon's muscles tensed in anticipation of a long awaited kill. With both hands, he grabbed Sasuke's arm so tight that circulation ceased immediately, ignoring the static numbness the Chidori was producing in one of his hands.

He wrenched the boy's arm down and lifted his knee to collide with the joint at the elbow. The crack was almost orgasmic, accompanied by the scream, Naruto could hardly keep from turning his grin into a full fanged smile. He released his grip on the boy's arm, the Chidori already faded away, and turned grabbing each of Sasuke's shoulders in each hand.

He pulled him closer and dug his fangs into the boy's neck. The flesh under him pulsed violently, sending blood straight into the demon's mouth, feeding the frenzy, fueling the hate. He ripped his fangs across the front of Sasuke's neck and dropped the dead boy.

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, let out a hearty laugh, and commenced with the pre-teen genocide.

Reality came back to him as quickly as it had left. Kyubi was still standing in the mirror in Naruto's altered form, a huge grin on his face. He shook violently from his new place on the floor.

"So…what about it? You felt it, you saw it, you wanted it there…do you want it here?"

Kyubi's reflection extended a hand to shake as if mirror boundary was not there.

For most, when provoked by a situation, a certain reaction will ensue every time without fail. For few others, when a situation presents itself, a mental coin is tossed in the air, whichever side it lands on decides how the person will react.

Somehow, someway, Naruto made the switch from one to the other. When the coin flipped, a reaction that Kyubi had not anticipated showed itself.

The shuddering and quivering escalated without a moments notice. Kyubi could feel the boy's mind strain as all rationality faded from his mind. The quivering body on the ground began to breathe irrationally, drooling a bit, and confining itself to a fetal position. His eyes wide, he shut out everything but his own thoughts…which Kyubi could still hear.

'T-t-they hate me…They just…laughed…again…just like they always did. They mocked me…spat on me…cursed me…hated me. They hated me for what I couldn't control…for what was done to me…they hated me…they hate me. Everyone hates me…but them…its worse…they used to…I thought they…they said that…but…they liked me…I know they did…they did…they did…did they?'

Panic attacks are not something easily dealt with from the outside. Those around can often lose their heads, especially when the one panicking pulls out their last kunai and starts cradling it like a child. Its that much worse when you know that knife can kill you too…and you can't take it away yourself.

…shit…

'Why…why do they want to hate me so much…what did I ever…why me? How come? Th-they call me a…m-monster…they said I'll never be able to do more than kill…'

The memory of his fantasy flooded his vision, as if he were watching it at a movie theatre.

Kyubi cursed himself again…the boy's frantic mind was impossible to control.

Naruto's eyes were wide, streaming out water that he hadn't even drank. He clutched desperately to the kunai as if it were a lifeline.

'…maybe…it's the truth…'

Kyubi would have gasped if he had a real mouth…things were only going to get worse for now. His plan was backfiring in his face, and things weren't looking like they were going to change anytime soon.

'…I don't…wanna hurt them…I just wanna be…liked. If I…if I…d-do what they want…they'll like me…they'll accept me…they'll remember and acknowledge me…If I d-die…they can't hate me. I'll have done what they wanted…and they'll be happy…and they'll be…happy.'

A quivering hand brought the kunai out as far as his arms could reach. It was joined by the other as they turned the blade back on the user.

…kid…don't be stupid…

'…they hate me now…'

…then hate them back…make them pay for hurting you…turn on them and make them pay. Kill them…just kill them…you want to…just do it…

Kyubi's voice sounded like it was getting desperate, had Naruto been in his right mind, he would have thought it odd that the fox sounded like he almost cared.

'…but I don't wanna hurt them…just make them happy…this is how I'm gonna do it…'

He bowed his head in shame and pulled the blade to plunge right into his heart.

Before contact could be made, his arm paused in mid-air. His eyes opened to see his right arm covered completely in red chakra.

…I'm not letting you do this to me…

'You don't have a choice…this is your fault…your gonna pay too.' There was anger in his thoughts again. For a moment, Kyubi thought he had broken through to the normal Naruto and the boy would stop this…he was wrong.

Gathering all the chakra he could muster, Naruto focused it on his arm, in a quick move he over-powered the chakra holding his arm.

The Kyubi had underestimated him, like everyone else...only he wouldn't have the chance to live to regret it.

The kunai lunged forward before Kyubi could stop it…all he could do was watch.

…damn you…

Naruto shut his eyes and waited for the end to come.

Author: Hey…that turned out pretty good I think…I gotta say, that's the first chapter in this fic that I've felt confident about. Sorry about it being to so long, at first I thought I wouldn't be able to write a long enough Naruto scene so I wrote the others to fill the gap…when I got the Naruto scene…things just kind of wrote themselves, so, hope you enjoyed.

I think I have a problem with being a bit anal retentive about details from the original manga…I've edited and fixed a crap load of stuff for this fic so far…and I fear that more will happen. I'll make sure to let you know if changes are made so you won't have to read it again.