Title: Half past eleven to half past twelve

Rating: Action

Pairing / Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Jiraiya, Pakkun

Word Count: 1, 037 words

Warnings: Just for Naruto's usage of kyuubi's chakra… although I think we're all past that by now.

Summary: Naruto is out of control, Kakashi summons Pakkun to find him, and Jiraiya deals with a mist nin (although he'd rather be writing porn…)

A/N: This chapter was only written by listening to my favourite fighty-fighty music. Lots of fighty-fighty music.

Kakashi felt Naruto's chakra before he saw him.

When he did, he couldn't stifle the gasp at the sight of Naruto's condition. The orange jumpsuit was virtually shredded, staying on him only due to the amount of blood splashed across it.

He had lost his jacket, and the t shirt did little to conceal the cuts and bruises on his arms, and a deep, angry gash running the length of his neck and shoulder. His hitae-ate was askew, and his dark red eyes were wide with – panic… shock… fear…

Kakashi wasn't sure.

In the near darkness, he could see the chakra of the nine tails swirling around Naruto, could see the shape of the tail, the ears, the claws of chakra around his feet and hands. Naruto jumped across the remains of a wall and flew over to his sensei's side, panting.

'Kakashi-sensei… I can't hold this for much longer… it wants to get out…'

Even his voice was different, deeper, menacing, an animal like sound.

Kakashi dropped to one knee. 'Stop molding his chakra, Naruto! Just use your own!'

Naruto shook his head. 'I can't… if I stop now, I won't be any good… but it hurts…it burns… I don't have any chakra left… just his…'

Kakashi swore. The evening had taken a turn for the worse, and the last thing they needed was one out of control genin powered by a demon's chakra.

Naruto sank to his knees, pressing his hands against his temples, face contorting in pain. His breathing was more ragged now, and when he threw back his head, it was to let out the howl of rage that had been building up in his throat.

Kakashi fell backwards, landing painfully on the rubble as the chakra around Naruto increased in intensity, so much so that Kakashi could feel his exposed skin burning. In that instant, he understood what Naruto had meant, and his eyes on his student narrowed.

A second chakra tail was forming.

Before Kakashi could react, Naruto was on all fours, bounding off into the night.

Swearing, Kakashi made to go after him – and froze in horror as mist shrouded the streets.

Jiraiya sighed. 'Really, don't they have dossiers on Konoha shinobi anymore? Legendary is one thing, but stupidity… that's another. Don't you know who I am?'

Beneath him, the frog laughed, a wheezy, croaking sound that sounded ominous in the mist.

'Should I care?' the shinobi asked inquiringly.

Jiraiya looked offended, although no one could see it. 'Er, yes, you should. Haven't you ever heard of Jiraiya-sama, the frog hermit?'

'The third of the sannin? Interesting… I will indeed be feared when people learn that I killed a sannin.'

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. 'Spare me.'

Growling low in his throat, Naruto glared up at the shinobi that blocked his path. The chakra tails were the only things really visible in the mist, but his enhanced senses saw the shinobi in front of him in perfect detail.

'Get… out…of…my…way…' he snarled.

In answer, the nin reached into his weapons bag and pulled out several wickedly curved shuriken.

'I don't know who you are,' the nin began almost conversationally, 'but your life was over the moment you crossed my path.'

Pulling his arm back, the nin let fly with the shuriken – and reared back in shock as Naruto swiped through the air with an outstretched arm – and the chakra shield swept forward, knocking the shuriken to the floor. Moving so fast he was just a blur, Naruto lunged forward, and his claws tore open the mist shinobi's chest.

Kakashi ran his thumb across the wound in his arm, collecting a drop of blood. Clasping his hands together, he formed a set of seals before placing his palm on the ground.

'Kuchiyose no jutsu!'

Mere seconds later, a voice echoed eerily in the mist.

'Yo.'

'Pakkun, I need you to find Naruto. In this mist the best – and possibly only way – to find him is by scent.'

'What's he gone and done now?'

Kakashi sighed. 'He's drawn too much on Kyuubi's chakra. I'm not sure how much he can handle before he loses himself – or his body refuses to take the strain. When you find him, call me and I'll come at once.'

'Gotcha,' Pakkun replied, and trotted off in the direction Naruto had last taken.

Kakashi grimaced and got to his feet, listening for footsteps in the mist. Although he didn't hear anything, he didn't let his guard down.

Abruptly, bright flames lit up the night.

Jiraiya glanced down at the frog. 'How about some oil?'

The frog croaked in reply, and Jiraiya got to his feet, legs slightly apart. He brought up his right hand, calling out his jutsu. 'Katon: Gamayu Emudan!'

Flames lit up the night, chasing away the clouds of mist.

Jiraiya plopped back down on the frog, propping his chin on his hand and yawning.

'You're fifty years too early, boy,' he told the nin casually. 'Come back in a few years and I'll think about challenging you again.'

The nin laughed softly, placing his kunai at the sannin's throat. 'For you, it's a few years too late, old man.'

'Really?'

Folding his arms, Jiraiya glanced up at the nin. 'You know, I could be working on my novel now, but no, I have to fight someone who can't even recognize a clone if it bit him in the throat. As I said, you're fifty years too early to fight with me.'

The nin sounded shaken. 'How – when –'

'When you used your mist concealing jutsu,' Jiraiya pointed out. 'The moment the mist surrounded us, I created a clone and left it on the frog, and decided to take a walk on the ground.'

He shook his head sadly. 'You're lucky, you know, if it were Gamabunta you were on, he'd have killed you by now. You can bring him to me now,' Jiraiya told the frog calmly.

The nin gasped in shock as the frog's tongue surrounded him before lifting him into the air – and slamming him face first into the ground.

Jiraiya glared at his summoning. 'You just wanted to kill him yourself,' he accused.

The frog laughed wheezily and disappeared.