Chapter Nine

A Waltz of Death and Bloody Tears

Naruto let loose a huge sigh as he strolled down the streets of Konoha, walking to the place that he had agreed to meet Sakura and Sasuke for training the night before. The Kyuubi boy had come to no solutions about his problem concerning the fox demon and had stayed up through most of the night. His normally well cared for appearance was frazzled and dark circles were beneath his blue eyes from his lack of sleep. Even the glitter that normally sparkled in his gorgeous blue orbs seemed to have be dulled by the terrible condition of Naruto's situation. He had come to the conclusion that he could not tell his team mates, that was much to risky. Naruto did not want to take the off chance that somehow other people would be around to hear it, or that one of the two of tell someone and try to get him help.

The blonde forced a smile and waved in a shadow of his usual energetic self when he saw Sakura and Sasuke. He was trying desperately to act like he always did but he could see by the look on Sakura's face and her hesitance that she could see his anxiety etched across his face. Naruto finally reached the two, even spying the hidden concern on Sasuke's face. "How was your relaxing day?" Sakura asked cautiously. They were always so aware of what was going on when something was wrong with Naruto. It was always so easy to have pointed out.

"Great!" Naruto said loudly, trying desperately to be normal. His lie was obvious but neither the pink haired girl nor their raven haired companion even bothered to try and deny it. "So where are we going to train exactly?"

Sakura grinned and even Sasuke allowed a small smile to ghost across his features for a moment. "You'll see when we get there!" Sakura said cheerily. The two of them were trying to cheer Naruto up, they apparently had a plan for this.

Naruto smiled gratefully at their efforts, he really did appreciate them more then anything. "Then lead the way," Naruto responded kindly, his energy lacking but it was easier to just do as he was feeling then fake his energy. It was to hard to be fake and out of the blonde's nature anyways.

Sakura nodded and hopped off in the direction to which they would be going. Naruto took Sasuke's hand a little shyly and the two of them hopped off together into the trees.

"I can get there myself," Sasuke said as they started through the trees, a bit of bitterness in his voice.

"I know you can. But does it hurt that I want to hold your hand?" Naruto asked Sasuke with a playful touch to his voice. The Uchiha allowed another ghost of a smile to cross his face at Naruto's question.

"No. I suppose it doesn't," The raven haired Uchiha responded softly to Naruto as they leapt through the trees. Naruto suddenly grinned when he realized where they were going. He was assaulted with memories from when he had been a genin. They were going to the place that Kakashi had made them take their first test to become official genin.

Sakura was there before either of them and was already stretching in the grass below them. "Hurry up you two love birds," Sakura called after them jokingly. Shyly both boys dropped each others hands and Sasuke stood unsurely with Naruto's contact despite his earlier assurance of being okay with Naruto.

"So what did you have in mind Sakura chan?" Naruto asked the pink haired medical student. She had gotten very good at her medical skills since she had started training under Tsunade and could easily be considered a medical nin these days.

Sakura smirked and sat down on the grass to continue her stretches as she spoke, "Well you see... I was thinking it would be interesting if we took turns sparring against each other. I mean it's been a long time since we've fought each other on friendly terms. It would be nice to see how we've all come along, don't you think?" Sakura responded, looking pointedly at Naruto and Sasuke who had nearly killed each other in the past. Even as they stood together as a couple it was not hard to believe that they had often been at each others throats. Naruto and Sasuke were like night and day.

"Sounds great to me!" Naruto was enthused and this caused his two team-mates to smile at having finally gotten some honest and happy reaction from Naruto.

"Whatever is fine," Sasuke responded to the suggestion with indifference as was characteristic of him.

Sakura nodded, looking pleased with herself for thinking up this situation. "I can spar Naruto first. The winner can spar Sasuke kun and then the two losers can spar each other after that. How's that sound?"

Naruto nodded in response. "Sure thing. I don't think I've seen you fight forever Sakura chan!"

"Haven't you? But - "

"When you punch me through a fence that doesn't count," Naruto teased and Sakura put her hands on her hips threateningly.

"Eep!" Naruto yelped, and pretended to hide in fear behind his own arms. Sasuke took a seat beneath the shade of a tree and closed his eyes. Naruto had to force himself not to wonder about Sasuke's blindness. It was so hard to do though. He was having trouble imagining how Sasuke felt not being able to analyze fights or even just watch them. Surely listening to their movements was not the same as it would be to see it.

"Fighters ready," Sasuke called from his tree. It started Naruto but Sakura had been waiting for the cue and struck her battle stance. Naruto stood there starring back at her dumbly.

"Go!" Sasuke said when he assumed that they were both ready.

Right away Sakura charged for Naruto, wheeling her arm back in a deadly punch towards Naruto's face. The blonde reached up to block it, dumb founded, he could not ever recall Sakura as being such a foreword fighter. The pink haired girls first connected with Naruto's blocking arms and send him skidding backwards. The Kyuubi boy did a back flip when Sakura advanced on him again, pressing in with her fists.

"You've changed a lot Sakura chan," Naruto said grinning as he began to push back. The blonde lashed out at Sakura and caught her across the face with a left hook punch and sent her to the ground. The pink haired girl grinned dangerously as she looked back at Naruto.

"You've not changed at all Naruto," she commented as the blonde charged foreword at her with another attack. All Sakura had to do was roll out of the way to move away from the clumsy and forward attack. Naruto was just getting warmed up, but he sure was not doing very well. His body and mind were exhausted from the long night.

Naruto jumped up and aimed a kick for Sakura's head but the pink haired girl retaliated by catching Naruto's ankle. Her fingers wrapped around it tightly and she spun Naruto about in a full circle before throwing him off into one of the trees.

Naruto braced himself for the hit. When Naruto crashed into the tree all the breath was pushed violently out of his lungs, more strength and force had been put into that attack then Naruto would have imagined the frail looking kunoichi to possess. Unfortunately, as Naruto tried to regain his breath he heard familiar whispers in his mind and could feel those deadly fox claws digging into his mental throat.

'Naruto! Let me out! You can't contain me much longer!' The Kyuubi screamed as the fighting progressed.

"No! Never! Never!" Even as Naruto denied the fox demon he could feel that he was already loosing control. The moment of wavering in strength had awakened the sleeping fox and now he was being forced to fight to battles at once. Naruto had to hide his inner battle desperately from his team mates. He remembered when he and Sasuke had almost fought together but the fox had intervened. This could not be happening again. It just could not.

The Uzumaki boy's strength was no longer his own however and the Kyuubi was already starting to control his limbs and take his body with the deathly grip it had. Naruto could not deny the agony in his mind and body as it expanded with every second extra that it was resisted. Sakura advanced on him and Naruto grabbed onto her throat. The blonde's movements were to fast for her and his fingers closed tightly on the pink haired girls neck. The pressure was almost unbearable instantly and a sadistic smile twisted Naruto's face.

"No! Stop, how can you have control? I never let you!"

'Foolish boy. You're not strong enough to hold me back. I am going to ruin you for all the time that you've kept me locked away within this wretched body.'

"Na-Naruto!" Sakura chocked out, her hand tapping her thigh with lessening strength as the life was being squeezed out of her body.

"I WON'T LET YOU!"

Naruto released her and Sakura dropped to the ground coughing and hacking. Sasuke was frowning. "What's happening Naruto? What did you do?" He was asking, sounding worried and like he was having trouble believing what he had heard.

Naruto kneeled down beside Sakura, apologizing profusely. "I am so sorry Sakura chan! I just got carried away. I didn't even hear you tap," Naruto said to the coughing medical nin. She waved him off and laughed nervously.

"It's okay Naruto. But you win so I guess you're going to spar Sasuke," She said, sounding more then a little worried, "that is if he is up to it."

"Yeah sure I am," Sasuke responded almost instantly. It was as if he did not even think twice about what had happened. Sasuke knew that Naruto had just chocked Sakura good. He could not deny that she had been treated a little more roughly then a friendly spar should have allowed. He also remembered when Naruto had fled their last encounter with no real reason. The Uchiha wondered if the two events were connected and he intended to find out.

'You're lucky. I was going to kill her. No matter, I'll take the thing you love the most instead...' Kyuubi threatened. Naruto was rattled but he was to frightened of revealing his secret to decline Sasuke, who seemed so ready to spar.

"Alright then! Ready... GO!" Sakura yelled, dropping her hand like a referee. She would be monitoring this fight for sure. The pink haired girl was a little worried about the intensity that this one might take on. Her one had massaging her throat as the action commenced.

Naruto and Sasuke circled each other. Sasuke's head was cocked slightly to try and listen to every little sound that Naruto made so that he could gauge where the blonde was coming from and what he was doing.

But he was so intent on listening to Naruto that the Uchiha was not paying attention to his own two feet. Sasuke's toe caught a rock and the Uchiha stumbled.

"I can't do it... Knowing that he's so handicapped..." Naruto thought to himself hopelessly.

'You can't... BUT I CAN!'

Naruto was lost again to Kyuubi, but this time was worse then before. The will of the Kyuubi broke through Naruto's, the fox wanted so terribly to destroy everything Naruto had worked desperately to repair because of the demon. Hate would make the blonde easier to control, and so did the fear that Naruto was harbouring.

All the thought had happened within a fraction of a second. Chakara suddenly burst from Naruto and he went flying at inhuman speeds towards the Uchiha boy. Naruto caught Sasukes' falling body with an uppercut strong enough to send the Uchiha going in the opposite direction, up.

The Uchiha tried to shield himself from the following hit that he knew was coming. Naruto followed after as was predicted, his eyes glowing red and his teeth sharpening as the Kyuubi took sudden control of the blonde haired boy and Naruto lost what little restraint he had left.

"NARUTO!" Sakura could be heard screaming in the back of his mind as the Uchiha had beating laid into him. Sasuke tried desperately to keep up through sound but it was not possible. The Uchiha could feel his ribs cracking under repeated blows dealt out by Naruto. Sasuke was confused, what was Naruto doing?

Sharingan flickered on and suddenly Sasuke could see everything vaguely again. It was blurry and fuzzy but it was just clear enough for him to see sort of what was going on. Sasuke started blocking things again, but he was pinned underneath Naruto. Hastily Sasuke started forming seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu," Sasuke yelled, blowing out flames right in Naruto's face. But the fire simply went around the barrier of chakara that had been created around Naruto because of the Kyuubi. Sasuke did not want to allow his cursed seals to release because it made his sight condition act up, and to use the sharingan any further then he had would make his eyes ache and his head pang with migraine.

Naruto reached through the fire and smashed Sasuke's nose with the heel of his hand. Breaking it grossly, blood splattered across the helpless Uchiha's face and he screamed out in agony. His hands tightening on Naruto. Since he had gone blind, Sasuke had never felt so frightened in his life. This was why he did not want to continue as a ninja without his sight. Sasuke simply could not fight without his eyes. It was as easy as that, Naruto was tearing him to pieces.

The moment Sakura noticed that Naruto had sprouted three tails from his behind the pink haired girl leapt into the battle. There was no time to get help, they were on their own here. Sakura grabbed on to Naruto and tried to tare him off Sasuke even as Naruto continued to brutalize the Uchiha. Pale skin grew redder and redder with the warm blood that was splattering across the Uchiha's delicate body. Sasuke was barely conscious, and Naruto's mind was struggling for power over the Kyuubi's.

Angry with the distraction of a weaponless Sakura pounding on his back, one of Naruto's fox like tails lashed back at her and sent her flying away with enough force to make her a groaning heap of crumpled ninja on the grass.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed, forming words for the first time since the beating had started. Despite his ruined state, the Uchiha somehow managed to move. He slammed Naruto in the chin with the heel of his hand. Sasuke understood everything now, but that may not matter anymore. The Uchiha was going to be slaughtered by the deadly Kyuubi.

"Stop Naruto! If you love me!" Sasuke shrieked. Naruto froze.

"I do love him... I love him damn it! I can't let you win," Naruto thought to himself desperately. A sudden strength overcoming Naruto's mental state and he locked the doors on the cage of the Kyuubi. The bars were bent and twisted, nearly escapable in some places, but the fox was back behind the deal that it had been trapped within in the first place.

Naruto came back to his senses and looked at the shattered Uchiha before him. Naruto could see that the damage he had done was nearly fatal. Sakura was moving again, her body shivering with pain and shock, but she was alright.

"I'm so sorry... So sorry," Naruto said desperately, tears starting to stream down his face.

"Why'd you let it take control...? Dobe..." Sasuke murmured softly before falling into blackness. His body went limp in Naruto's arms and the blonde cried out into the air as he pulled Sasuke's still body closer to him.

Naruto's tears began to mingle with the blood on the Uchiha's face, causing rivers of the blood to drip down Sasuke's face in a fashion that looked a lot like bloody tears. Bloody tears of betrayal at Naruto's weakness.

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And I am going to leave you off right there for now. That being for two reasons. One I need to get off to bed because I have school tomorrow. And two; I think that's an awesome cliff hanger to torment you all with.

Now we're finally getting into the REAL issues. I hope it was worth the long wait. ) It's always gotta get worse before it gets better! Thanks for the reviews on the last chapters!