Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters written here. They are own by their respective owners. Nuff' said.

Warning: This is rated M for a reason (blood, gore, extreme violence, language, and possible adult themes/lemons, etc.) Some of the characters will be a little OC.

Now on with the second chapter.

The Black Leaves

Chapter 2

Several Weeks Later, Near Naruto's Apartment

It has been two weeks since Naruto was attacked by the strange black substance. At times he has contemplated going to either Iruka-sensei or old-man Hokage and telling them about it. Yet every time the thought crossed his mind, he would decide against it since he has yet to find any negative side-effects of the strange liquid. But that is not to say that there have been any positive effects either.

Since the day that he decided to sit next to her, Naruto was able to become quick friends with Hyuuga Hinata. Unlike most of the other academy students, Hinata would not laugh or yell at Naruto whenever he made a mistake. Instead she would help him understand and correct any problems that he had. She was patient when he was having serious trouble; she would laugh when he tried to cheer her up; she would comfort him whenever he was sad. Overall, Hinata was trying her hardest to be the best friend to her crush.

Naruto, on the other hand, was beyond the basic concept of happy. He finally had a friend that was in his own age group. Sure, he was friends with Iruka, old-man Hokage, Ichiraku Teuchi and his daughter Ayame; but none of them were kids and were normally too busy to play with little Naruto. When Hinata became his friend, Naruto was the happiest he had ever been. Ever since that fateful day, the blond and blue-nette would almost always be seen together. Except for tonight.

Naruto was currently strolling home with his stomach full of the heavenly food made by the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. He looked up at the clear night sky and gazed at the bright full moon that lit up the inky black sky. As far back as Naruto could remember he had always enjoyed the nights of the full moon. He did not know why he enjoyed such nights, just that whenever he gazed up at the full moon a sense of tranquility would suddenly wash over him. All of his fear, anger, sadness, and anxiety would simply disappear.

"Feed. Hunger." A deep demonic voice growled.

Naruto was suddenly at attention. He swiveled his head around to find the source of the voice but could not see anyone. His face instantly changed from calm to serious as he crouched into the taijutsu style he was taught in the academy. He slowly took out a kunai from his weapons pouch and froze.

Naruto remained in that position for a good five minutes before he slowly returned to his relaxed demeanor. Years of being ambushed by the villagers had taught Naruto to never ignore even the slightest hint of danger. He cautiously placed his kunai back into his pouch and continued his stroll to his apartment. After several minutes of uneventful walking, Naruto decided that there was no danger and completely returned to his calm demeanor.

Unfortunately, the calm of the night would not last. Suddenly, Naruto's whole body was wracked with blinding pain. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to bite back a scream of agony as the sudden pain forced him to his knees. Naruto was able to catch himself before he fell face first onto the hard ground. The pain increased with every second that passed as Naruto fought to keep himself conscious. He unclenched his eyes just in time to see the black substance from two weeks ago cover his face. He finally let out a scream for help as he slipped out of consciousness, but the cry was muffled by the black substance as it continued to cover him completely.

"Hunger. Feed." The voice from earlier growled.

Several Hours Later, The Jounin Bar

The Jounin Bar is exactly what it sounds like; a bar for jounin only. Because of the dangerous and sometimes emotionally draining life style that comes with being a jounin rank ninja; a special bar was built just for said ninja. It was open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and only jounin were allowed in. The bar was like any other found in a ninja village, except that the second floor was made specifically for drunk couples to spend the night in. Normally, The Jounin Bar would be full of tired, emotional, and drunk ninja; but not tonight. Tonight, the only patrons were a couple using one of the many rooms on the second floor and a single jounin who was drinking away his problem with gambling. The bartender had gone into the back room for a quick romp with his wife, leaving the drunk jounin alone at the bar.

He was about to reach for another bottle of sake when a food cart crashed through the entrance to the bar, leaving a large gaping hole.

"What the!" The drunk ninja swerved around as the food cart slid into the counter with a loud slam. He slowly stood on his two wobbly legs and tripped his way over to the large hole. Taking a swig from his sake bottle, the drunk stuck his head outside and squinted his eyes for any sign of who could have done this. In his inebriated state, the ninja failed to notice the towering figure rising behind him. In an instant he found himself half way down the stomach of a horrid creature.

Meanwhile, Just A Street Away

"The Hell was that!?" One Inuzuka Tsume shouted. The Inuzuka matriarch had just returned from a solo mission and was currently making her way to the Hokage tower to fill in her report when a loud crash caught her attention. She instantly changed direction and headed for where the sound came from. When Tsume landed on the building directly across from The Jounin Bar, she was met with the sight of the overturned food cart and the large hole in the wall. Nothing else.

Tsume's sense of smell, though, told her otherwise. The entire area smelled strongly of fresh blood and slightly of sex. Her brow furrowed as she scanned the surrounding area. Seeing not a single person, Tsume drew a kunia and lept down to the entrance of the bar. She cautiously made her way into the bar and forced her senses to maximum efficiency. The rubble on the floor would crunch or clatter with every step Tsume made and caused her to move at an even slower pace. She came to a complete stop at the center of the bar and remained completely motionless, except for her eyes which continued to scan the area. She noticed that the doorway that led to the second floor was destroyed, along with the stairway.

RUMBLE!!! CRASH!!!

Tsume just barely got out of the way as a large mass crashed through the celling. She performed a quick roll and jumped into her clan's fighting stance, facing where she was just standing. Her eyes grew as she saw what had nearly crushed her.

It stood at just over six and a half feet and was completely black. It's entire body appeared to be completely composed of pure, bulky, muscle. The thing's strong arms ended with large powerful hands. Each hand had five fingers that had sharp purple claws where the nails should be. A strong pair of legs held the beast off the ground. Tsume noticed that the feet of the creature were not human-like in any form. Each foot had two forward pointing toe-like claws that spread out into a V-like shape, while the third toe, on each foot, was attached to the side, like the thumb of a human hand. Each toe was double-jointed, like a finger and appeared to allow the feet to be used like hands. What caught Inuzuka Tsume's attention the most, though, was the thing's face. The face was somewhat elongated and looked alien. The eyes were pure white, large enough that they almost touched at the end of the creature's snout, and appeared to be torn at the edges. The being's massive jaws were what took up most of the lenght of it's head. The jaws were filled with countless razor sharp fangs that dripped with poison-green saliva. Finally, the monster's tongue was long, sharp, bright red, and twisted every which way as it licked it's massive maw.

"What the Hell are you supposed to be?" Tsume spoke with a disgusted grin. She noticed that it's head, hands, and feet were soaked in blood.

As a response the creature slashed at the Inuzukamatriarch with it's left hand. Tsume lept out of the way and tossed several kunai at the thing's head and neck. It did not make even the smallest effort to dodge the projectiles and charged at Tsume. The kunai stabbed into the creature, but it completely ignored them as it tried to shoulder slam the woman.

Tsume dodged the attack and sent a bone shattering kick to the thing's head. Tsume smirked as the creature staggered back from the kick. It quickly steadied itself and, to Tsume's shock, it showed absolutely no sign that it had ever been hurt. Even the kunai that had hit their target were gone.

The creature glared at the Inuzuka and let loose a loud, inhuman roar as it charged at her again.

"TUNNELING FANG!" Tsume shouted as she lept into the air and turned into a small tornado of claws and launched herself at the monster. The two were about to collide, when suddenly the creature ducked underneath the spinning Tsume, twisted it's body around, and grabbed her leg.

Tsume let out a scream of pain as her leg was crushed by the creatures grip. Next thing she knew, Tsume was being thrown through the wall of the bar and slammed into the building across the street. She tried to get up but the pain forced her down. She quickly looked up at where the creature should have been only to see the new hole in the bar's wall. She slowly crawled to her feet, using the wall to balance on, and searched the surrounding area for any sign of the creature. She could not find it. It had disappeared.

Next Day, Academy Courtyard, Lunch

Usumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata were calmly eating their lunches that Hinata's mother had made for them. And that was strange, normally Naruto would be going on about training, ramen, becoming a ninja, ramen, what he thinks the world outside the village is like, or ramen. Today, though, the spiky-haired lad was dead quiet; his face was one of deep thought.

Hinata, being the shy Naru-holic that she is, was very worried about her favorite blond. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but stopped herself incase he was thinking about something very important. So she just sat next to Naruto underneath a large tree and ate in silence.

'What the Hell happened to me last night ?'The blond thought. The images of the previous night, before he lost consciousness, played out over and over inside his skull. 'That stuff did something to me,' He looked down at his hand as he repeatedly opened and closed it. 'I feel different, yet exactly the same. I had better not tell anybody about this. I don't want the villegers to have another reason to beat me up.'

Hinata was about to confront her crush, but was luckily interrupted by the bell for lunch to be over and for classes to continue rang. Saving the shy girl from the risk of making Naruto mad. The two quickly finished their lunches and made their way back to Iruka's classroom.

Meanwhile in Konoha's Hospital

"...Then it just disappeared." Inuzuka Tsume finished as she rested in the hospital bed. After her short tussle with the unknown creature, Tsume dragged herself to the hospital and was now being treated for her broken leg.

"I see," The Hokage slowly said with a frown. He had received word from one of the doctors at the hospital that Inuzuka Tsume had some very important information that he needed to hear. "Thank you, Tsume-san. I will have an increase of personnel guarding the village and I will have the Konoha police looking out for this 'Back Demon'." The aged ninja said calmly as a rose from his seat next to Tsume's bed. "Now, I want you to stay here to heal until the doctors release you. Then I want you to tell Uchiha Fugaku-san and Itachi-san about last night. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Tsume said as she reluctantly settled into the bed as the Hokage left.

Just as the old man was about to leave the hospital he came to a sudden stop.

"Come out. Now!" He commanded. Suddenly, a woman in a tan cloak and a plain white ANBU mask appeared in front of the Hokage. "Who are you and why are you in MY village?!" He demanded more than asked.

The woman smirked behind her mask. "My my, are we a impatant old man," She giggled softly. "Everything that you need to know about me and my future husband is in a folder that I placed in your office. You don't have to worry about him for now. I temporarily sealed him away. We can't have him destroying his new home, now can we?" She giggled again.

Sarutobi's face hardened. "You know what attacked Tsume-san and killed those people at The Jounin Bar?!" His voice was stern and demanding.

"Yep," The woman said with a happy tone. "I've known him for the past two thousand years. He is more like an animal than anything else. But I still love him." She ended dreamily.

The Hokage gave the woman a questioning look.

"It's all explained in the folder. Well, anyway, I'll be back in a few years and I expect my demands be met when I return," Her voice suddenly became deathly serious. "Or else you and this village will cease to exist. Okay?" She said the last part in a happy tone.

Before the aged ninja could give a reply the woman suddenly vanished. The Hokage's eyes widened in shock. There was no warning of her departure, no smoke, he could not detect even the slightest amount of chakrait required to perform such a technique.

With a deep sigh, Sarutobi pulled out his favorite pipe and lit it as he made his way back to his office. 'Why do I get the feeling that it is going to get a lot more interesting around here...?'

TBC

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