X|.


'Damn, I screwed up big time,' Sasuke thinks, bolting out the door after Naruto. "NARUTO, COME BACK HERE, YOU LOSER!" He shouted in pursuit. At this point he didn't care if the whole village heard him at this point. He just wanted his dobe back. Itachi didn't matter now. What mattered was his best friend.

"Sorry about that!" Sakura laughed nervously, turning to the redhead. "they're like that sometimes!"

"It's alright," for someone who just witnessed a chase scene between two boys, she seemed really chill. "So, Karin, where did you live before here?" Sakura asked, as they closed the door behind them and opted for a tour around Konoha instead. "Well, I was originally living in Sound," Karin recalled, adjusting her glasses. "With Orochimaru, as an assistant for his long list of experiments. He's one of the three legendary sannins. Didn't you know?" She raises an eyebrow and frowns.

"Wow," Sakura exclaimed, shaking her head, "I never knew. The other two are still alive, aren't they?" Tsunade-san and Jiraiya-san...the three legendary heroes. She wondered time to time what happened to them, when she wasn't thinking of Sasuke-kun, of course.

"That's what I'm thinking," Karin says, as they walk together, "If Orochimaru can cheat death by switching bodies every few years or so, then maybe...oh, I don't know. I think one of them retired for a reason. They're not exactly youngsters anymore, you know?" Sakura nodded. This girl was smart. It was nice to know she could finally relate to someone a lot like herself.

"What's your clan? I'm a Haruno, by the way." Sakura brushed a strand pink hair back behind her ear nervously. "Not exactly special or anything-" 'like Naruto and Sasuke,' she thinks "-but I manage!" Sakura Haruno rambles on and on, hoping to dear God she doesn't sound as frantic as she does right now. "I see. And as for me? I'm from the Uzumaki clan. No one really knows about us, but we're a clan full of red-haired women. Sometimes, bloodline limits are passed down to the heirs, but that's just a legend. And one of them left our clan forever... Supposedly the first of the first married to the infamous Senju Hashirama. Whether that's factual or not, I have yet to understand." Karin elaborated, and waved to passerby civilians. Sakura's heart stopped for just a minute.

'Red-haired women?' Sakura thinks, the gears in her brain turning, 'but Naruto, he's...a boy and he has blonde hair! Unless he was...'

She stopped walking entirely, eyes wide with realization. Karin stopped, too, and blinked at her peculiar behavior.

"Sakura...?" she asked slowly. "N - no! It's nothing." Sakura waves a hand dismissively.

"If you say so...anyway." Karin sighs, as they sit down on a bench for a breather. "I'm beat. I've been walking all day just to get here. And I even met your hokage. He looks like my grandfather!" She cracked up, doubling over. One hand rested on Sakura's for support, and Sakura couldn't help but laugh, too.

"He is an Old Man, isn't he? He used to play with me and my friend by the flower field," she reminisces about the old simpleton days with Ino. Sighing to herself, her green eyes look up at the blue sky; reminding her of Naruto's big blue eyes. She really DID hope he was alright...after running off from whatever that was earlier.

'Naruto, you liar...' she thinks, frowning, 'you're not really an Uzumaki, are you?'


Speaking of the blonde, he was currently dealing with masses and masses amounts of people surrounding the exterior of his apartment. There were all sorts of weapons they scrounged up ; gunbai, tessen/gunsen, kama, and katanas. Their ages ranged from older men and women, along with children who copied their parents, as well as firing jutsus on his apartment. Some hooded men were performing rituals around the exterior, chanting "Lucifer" as an energy forcefield formed. A hexagram was set stock still in the middle. Seals were cast on the house by the other sinners. They saw this as a way of punishing the "monster of the village".

'What the hell? Why are they crowding my house?' Naruto thinks, trying to push past the people to see what was going on. "Stay away from my home, you hear me?" the blonde growled; a red aura surrounding him completely. He could feel Kurama pumping chakra into his system, and his chakra giving way to the Kyuubi. He couldn't do it now. Not with the villagers around like this.

"Oh, lookie here. The Nine-Tailed Fox himself. What do ya think, boys? Kill him now, or destroy that dump of a home he's got?" The leader and his gang set on the latter; tearing what was left of his house into pieces.

"STOP IT!" Naruto cried helplessly. He felt like just what it was like to be eight years old all over again. When the villagers beat him, and bullied him to the point where he wanted to leave; he wanted to destroy the village. The prejustice was killing him inside; enough to drive him to insanity. He was sure this was how Sasuke felt when his whole clan died, and everyone else still hated him for it. Those dark days were over. Or so the blonde thought.

He had tried his damned hardest to become strong, to become a hero worthy of his village. Why couldn't they just accept him? Just...why?

The leader of the gang sharpened his blade, grinning wickedly underneath that moustache of his.

There were two sides of these types of people; one group trying to burn down his apartment and rioting through his things, tarnishing them into nothing. And the second one was the ANBU; trying to prevent them from (in their eyes) destroying an innocent civilian's property for the sake of maintaining peace for the village. All of these morals were clashing together, and all for the same cause: the Nine Tails. The elderly was well aware that the brat possessed the monster, so this was, in other words, "justice" and it was secret for their youngsters. While the other was trying to protect the "monster",

This was a war of who was at fault; and pointing fingers at all the wrong people. It became a full out brawl, and some people were stabbed in the chest with kunais; landing on the ground, dead. One couldn't say one was "good" and the other was "bad". They had their own beliefs on what was right for the sake of the village. Naruto clenched his fist, as he watched his apartment alight into flames. The windows were shattered. Graffiti littered the walls, spelling the words "DEMON". It was a mess of it's former self.

"H - hey!" He screamed, as the older men trapped him against the wall. There was nothing he could do; the only option left was to go Kyuubi.

Just then, a sword swept through the pursuers.

A tall man wearing a cat mask nodded at the blonde, and all the men retreated to the alleyways as if it never happened.

The Konoha Leaf symbol was on his arm, and he was wearing grey armor. "Naruto Uzumaki! Follow me." The ANBU guard shouted, suddenly lifting him up onto his shoulders and running off toward the village before Naruto could get a word in edgewise.

"H - hey! Let me go!" Naruto demanded, his cheeks flaring up in red as he was carried away.

"Shut up, brat!" The man behind the mask hissed, "you're going to the hokage. There's nothing we can do right now, except wait for the other guards to stop their attack. Though, there's not much hope..." He added - more to himself - and Naruto bit his lower lip. The blonde tried struggling, but stopped and perked up at the mention of the hokage.

"..." Naruto, with no other option, clutched tightly onto him, and watched the smoke rise over his apartment. For the first time, in a long time, he let the tears fall along with the bloodshed. Sad for for the loss of lives over his being, angry at the fact that they attacked his home, and anxious about what would happen next for him.

"O - Old Man?" Naruto breathed. The guard carrying him nodded.

The ANBU promptly dropped him off on the welcome mat; leaving him at the front of the hokage's office. The door is opened by Konohamaru, who invites him inside excitedly.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Hiruzen Sarutobi smoked his pipe, turning around ever so slowly.


As they passed an apartment, the cherry blossom spotted the Uchiha at the door. She walked over to him with the Uzumaki in toe.

"There you are, YOU BAKA!" Sakura whacked Sasuke on the head. "SHANNARO! I can't believe you fought with him like that, you IDIOT!" Steam erupted out her ears like a volcano. Who knew that Sasuke-kun was such an idiot! "Sa...kura..." Sasuke wheezed, and stared death at her. The redhead from behind her shyly walked forward.

"W - wait, is that..." Karin blushed, "you're the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan, right?"

"How the hell do you know about me?" Sasuke snapped, eyes twitching in anger as he turned to the newcomer. He'd never seen her before, but he could easily tell she was another fangirl of his. And, frankly, he had had enough of those. The only thing they'd be useful for would be when he had to repopulate his clan. But, that could wait until after his revolution. "Oh, you bad boy~! Hey, listen," Karin fidgeted with her fingers. "All the other girls love to talk about you. They told me once I arrived at the Leaf. And I was thinking."

"That maybe we could go on a date?" She asked in a hopeful voice. He looked around for any signs of Naruto, hoping to the kami above he would save him from his current predicament. Even if the boy was obnoxious, at least he had the decency to save a teammate when he was in eminent danger. Oh, he'd be so helpful right about now. But, apparently, the gods weren't listening to him today.

'Not another fangirl...' Sasuke deadpans. "Look, unless this is important, I have something to do. So, scram! Beat it!" She tried holding onto his arm, and he tried shoving her off. But, she just wouldn't let go. So, his eyes narrowed, if possible, even more.

"But, Sasuke-kun~! I may have done something to you yesterday," she admits, her face still red, "I might've...used an aphrodisiac on you in your sleep!" She blurted out, and then covered it with her hands. His eyes twitched again. 'Wait, what the hell? I knew someone was spying on me the other night, but... I didn't think much of it. No wonder why I felt so off...and it's all because of her!' His killing intent sky rocketed to OVER 9,000 and even further beyond!

"I'm sorry, I wanted you to fall in love with me!" She mumbled in embarrassment from behind her hands. Sakura facepalmed. 'I guess this is how Naruto feels...when I acted like he wasn't there. I can't believe I was so selfish, all because I wanted Sasuke's attention.'

The redhead kunoichi, Karin Uzumaki, took a step forward, her eyes staring directly into his.

'...Thank goodness. For a second, I was worried he might not buy it. Orochimaru left me a second batch for another night if need be,' Karin thinks internally, a shadow overlooming her face. 'Once he's drugged enough, tying him up will be a piece of cake! All I have to is to take him with the Sound Four and then to Orochimaru's Hideout. Everything is all according to keikaku.' But, Sasuke had other plans. He was thinking more along the lines of a certain blonde ninja. 'That would explain why the deadlast left me. I wasn't acting like myself...damnit! Would the loser even believe me?'

"Why the hell isn't he answering?" He curses to himself, banging on the door again, but answering to nothing yet again. 'That's it; I'm breaking down the damn door. He doesn't need it anyway.' The door's hinges crashed to the floor, and someone else aside from Naruto stood there. The Uchiha stopped himself once he realized that this was NOT Naruto's apartment, even if it may look it. He tensed considerably.

Instead, he was face to face with an old lady. With a cat.

"Where's Naruto? Have you seen a blonde with an orange jumpsuit, about five feet high; really short?" He interrogated, pressing for answers.

(1) "Youngsters these days!" She sighed, looking down at her door. "Oh, haven't you heard? He's at the hokage's. Something about a fight or somethin'. And as for his house, well..." she paused, ominously. "...you should see for yourself."

That caught the Uchiha's attention immediately. Without even thinking, he rushed off the streets of Konoha.

"HEY! YOU STILL OWE ME FOR THE DOOR, BRAT!"

He could honestly care less.


(1) Yeah, about the old lady. She's a plot device for now. But only in this chapter! She's not part of the story after this.