Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

The thick fog had begun to clear but the real evil had begun to settle in the village of leaves. Itachi had escaped a confrontation with the now two new mercenaries and had carried off his comrades with him not to mention that now Naruto was gone. There was no sorrow or sadness nor did any emptiness fill the hearts of those who knew him. What the young ninja had presumed was correct. No one cared except for one conductor who was most unhappy.

"I demand we assemble a search team!" yelled an angry Iruka as he slammed his palm upon the table that stood before the elderly Hokage.

"We should NOT risk anymore ninja! We lost Naruto but we need to now prepare for any oncoming attack from Atasuki. Sending a search team would only cause problems!" Sarutobi replied keeping his patience.

"So we condemn Naruto to his death?"

"Sacrifices are necessary but making more would be useless!"

"Damn you! Then I'll go by myself!"

"Iruka, would you convert yourself to a missing-nin just to die shamefully!"

"When I think about it, it feels like I'm abandoning my son. I will not give him up!"

"Don't let you emotions control you, Iruka!"

But the sensei could only scoff at the statement. His anger had gone to rage in seconds. But it is the truth for the respectable teacher. Naruto was like his son now. Before, he may have left Naruto to die but now he couldn't. Even if it meant his freedom…

Meanwhile:

Naruto walked swiftly and quietly while being joined with his new companions. He had not spoken with any of them and now kept to himself. But he felt the need to be himself, the loud and noisy boy he was just three days ago. Now, the situation had changed.

'I am now on the road to being a fearsome warrior! I can't be some arrogant boy anymore!' he thought while staring at a very still Hidan (who had impaled himself but only after creating this circle with some ink he had brought with him), he was praying.

"Why do you pray?" he asked softly. The arrogant Buddhist blinked his eyes with such annoyance.

"If I don't then I condemn myself to the deepest corners of hell! Even if that's my destination, at least I won't get the worst punishment!" he replied as if Naruto was asking too many questions.

Naruto just looked away slowly as if trying to forget that he asked. He remembered that he should only keep to himself in this group. But old habits die hard, I guess. Hidan sighed and ripped out his stake from his right lung.

"Ow! Anyway, kid why did you want to leave in the first place?"

"None of your business!"

"Hah! You think you're all that now that you are in the company of Atasuki! Kid, you have yet long ways to go till you become a real member! Until then, you are in the same rank as Tobi!"

'Tobi?'

"I don't care what you think!"

"…You have guts kid! I like that a lot! I'll teach you a special jutsu I know when we get to our hideout!"

Excitement simply sprung from the depths of his heart but…the truth struck him again. He managed to keep shut but being a member of Atasuki, Hidan could sense it.

"You got something to say, kid?"

"…No…"

Hidan grinned and laid back down sticking the stake back into his lung.

"Ow!"

Naruto looked away and cringed.

'I gave up my dream. I gave up myself. I pretty much gave up my soul for pity…or was it for something? I can't even tell anymore!'

It was darkness spreading in his heart. It was poison spreading through his blood. His soul was broken and he knew it wouldn't be repaired for a long time.

What is it in us that make us abandon our dreams! Is it hate? Or is it lack of faith? That question forever burns in the minds of those who abandoned their dreams and dwells in the hearts of those who surrendered to the bitterness of the world. It follows them till they die or find themselves. And do you know why it kills them? It's because there is no reason to forsake your dream. It's the fire in us that makes us go forward…

But this is far from the end of this story. There is still one person (or creature) that has something to say before the end, one that dwells in the stomach of our protagonist. One more evil than any said thing in the history of the world…the feared Nine-Tailed Fox!