Chapter 9:

Naruto slept peacefully that night, until the sound of shattered glass caught his attention. Jerking up in bed, he looked to the window to find shards scattered on the floor. He then began cursing his luck and how repairing the window would set him back. Turning his head, he found a kunai buried in the opposite wall.

Seeing a note tied to the weapon, he got out of bed and picked it up; not conscious enough to consider the possibility of an exploding tag.

"Damn it, who'd do something this early in the morning?" He broke away from his thoughts long enough to look at his clock. "…this late at night?"

Naruto's eyes quickly scanned the note and he suddenly his eyes went wide as the pupils narrowed to slits. Hastily grabbing his gear, he burst through the already broken window.

I challenge you to a death match.

If you refuse, I'll kill my hostage – Hinata; after having some fun first, though.

If you don't come alone, or speak of meeting to anyone, I'll kill her.

Meet me at…

-Aiyoru Asagin


"Why won't these damn marks go away?" Kiba thought angrily, staring at the glowing lines on his forehead left from his encounter's with Kumi. "It's not a wound because it'd have healed by now, and it couldn't be a seal… the chakra would have dispersed after this much time and it wasn't completed all at once."

Akamaru whimpered and he quickly patted him on the head. "Don't worry Akamaru, we'll hide out in the forest for a while. There's no way she'll find us there."

As he stood up to make his move towards the trees, Kiba couldn't help but notice an orange streak in the sky.


"Here he comes, Hinata-sama." The silver-haired shinobi laughed. "Let's see if he has any hope of defeating me."

In an instant, a glowing orange figure stood across the clearing from the villain and his hostage.

"Let her go." He spat.

"Hmm, then you'd have no incentive to fight me. Of course, to make this fair, I can't allow her to offer you any assistance." He laughed, placing a chakra-filled hand on her forehead.

Naruto watched, horrified, as her eyes rolled into the back of her head before going limp on the tree she was tied to. At that sight, his hatred for Aiyoru grew more intense and the orange glow escalated to a flaming pyre.

Aiyoru simply burst out laughing. "This! This is what I've been waiting for. Fight me at your best so that I may feel the exhilaration of true battle!"

As the feral adversary charged headlong, the ninja made several hand seals, ending on the seal of the tiger.

"Lance of the Dragon!" He yelled; a seal appearing in the air before him, sending a pillar of lava hurtling towards Naruto.

Too enraged to dodge, he took the attack head on.

"Second level!" The masked man laughed, cutting a strand of wire with a kunai.

From the trees surrounding the clearing came scores of kunai, shuriken, and senbon. Many of them plunged into the lava in the spot where Naruto's body would be.

"Heh, a physical and chakra attack. Survival is-"

From the end of the lance, came a claw fully formed of chakra. It whipped out raked the man's chest. He fearfully watched as pieces of his ribcage went along with the talons.

An instant later, Naruto's body was out of the attacks as well, slightly burned and with steel stuck in his limbs and torso.

"I-impossible! The chakra needed to repel that… damn it! I'll pack more into the next one!" He hissed, performing the hand seals yet again.

Before they could be finished, Naruto was right in his face. Terrified, he attempted a counter by performing a roundhouse kick to his head, but the attack was caught by a clawed hand. Its grip tightened until the bone offered no more resistance.

Dropping the man to the ground, Naruto slid other hand into the man's chest; destroying his lung and heart.

"Excellent! Absolutely perfect!" Kyuubi laughed. "Now kill the girl! Satiate your bloodlust!"

"I'm not going to kill Hinata-chan." Naruto replied, calming down; pulling out the weapons in his body as his eyes returned to their natural shade of azure. "What is with you and killing everything, anyways?"

"No reason… oh daddy, why didn't you love me…"

"Huh? You had a neglectful father?"

"Uh… yeah… neglectful… wait, did you say Hinata-chan?"

Naruto looked to Hinata's unconscious form and sighed.

"Yeah, I did…" Looking down at the slain man, Naruto scowled. "Why'd he do it? And am I that strong, or do you really give me that much strength?"

"Heh, of course, kid. There ain't anyone better than me!"

Naruto stepped past the carcass and began untying Hinata. Once she was down, he managed to get her on his back and he began walking home.

Halfway off the battlefield, she stirred and a puff of smoke came from the remains.

"Hinata-chan? Are you alright? Aiyoru didn't do anything to you, did he?"

She muttered something incomprehensible.

"Hinata-chan?"

"It wasn't Asagin-san." She whispered. Her face was red and it was all she could do to not stutter; perfectly content, though nervous, to be so close to her precious.

"Eh? But…" He headed back to his opponent and saw a fat, black-haired man. "What's this? Just a minute ago-"

"Henge…"

"Henge, then where's the real one?" He thought.

"So it was just some psycho kidnapper? Well… I'll take you home. Can you walk?"

"Ano… I…"

"What do I do?" She panicked. "I want to stay like this, but if I tell the truth he might not think that I'm so weak… but I might not get another chance like this… what should I do?"

"A-ano…" Inner-Hinata whispered. "Maybe you s-should stay like this…"

"Ah, if you don't mind, I'll just carry you; you must be tired. Besides, you're pretty light." He laughed, slight blush visible in his cheeks.

"A-arigato… for this and for saving me…"

"No problem. I'll be there for you anytime. But hey, Hinata-chan… is there someone you're interested in?"


Sorry for taking so long to update, I was hoping to be able to post the link to my story on but I'm not having any luck getting an account (darn e-mail problems), so the link will have to be in my next chapter (if anyone cares).

Wondering what's going on with the story (with Aiyoru, not NaruHina)? I hope so.

Now for reviews:

KunochiDreamer: glad you enjoyed it, hope you like this one too.

thief-uchia: well... although I don't want to get rid of readers, I don't want to lead people on; so don't expect much in the quality of yaoi. I'm not very good at common romance as it is (so lonely...), but I do have some brief plans (Kabuto and...; Itachi and...). So far, it'll only be brief 'cameo' appearances. However, since it'll please at least one fan / reader, I'll try and find some opportunities for and 'awkward situation' at the very least. Unknowingly, I have put in a sentence or two that could be misinterpreted. My friends, who I originally wrote this story for, love the opening line of the first chapter: "Sasuke panted heavily as he made his way gradually further from both the site where he left Naruto's battered body and Orochimaru's waiting grasp." Think about it for a minute.

Well, I'll try and have another chapter posted by next weekend. Hope you're enjoying it.