Chapter 2: A Taste of Blood

"Tsunade-sama… I'm sorry!" Naruto whispered with a pain-filled voice. "I really tried to bring Sasuke back, I swear I tried!"

"I know you did. You know Sakura, she's just… Overreacting," Tsunade assured him, aware of the fact that he had hardly ever called her Tsunade-sama before, instead replacing the word with something less respectful. "She'll get over it, and we can try again later."

Due to his fast healing abilities, Naruto had been let out of the hospital that day, though he was still slightly weak and unable to put up a very good fight. However, the next day, when he left his house and met Sakura by the bridge, awaiting Kakashi, she gave him a cold stare. "Demon," she muttered darkly.

Naruto turned away, doing his best not to let her see the tears he attained every time she said that.

Kill her.

The voice that Naruto heard those words in was a low and evil-sounding one. None other than the Kyuubi.

Kill her.

He ignored the voice, although it wasn't empty words. The third time, and it came with a bloodthirsty urge. As soon as Naruto felt he was going to g mad, Kakashi landed in front of them.

"Well, we're going to take it easy today, after both the shock of the events yesterday and the injuries Naruto received," Kakashi said. Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes, not bothering to notice that, for once, Kakashi had gotten there on time.

"Injuries?" Sakura spat angrily. "I'm willing to bet you they were self-inflicted just so it would seem like he actually cared!"

Naruto flinched at the harsh tone of voice, but said nothing. However, he couldn't shake the fact that it really hit him hard when she added, "The twerp is just a demon encased in a human body!"

Seeing Naruto's pained reactions, Kakashi interrupted her. "Okay, today is simply a chakra control exercise. I want to see how well you can stand on water, so I'll make the water rougher as time goes on. You two need to do all that you can to stay above water."

Naruto and Sakura reluctantly stepped over the river as Kakashi made a hand seal. In an instant, the water began to lap at Naruto's ankles. He adjusted the chakra flow carefully to go in correspondence with the water. Suddenly, the water started to splash in multi-directions. Sakura had no problem, though Naruto found that with his mind distracted by emotional problems, not to mention his average chakra control skills, it was quite a challenge.

"Doing well?" Kakashi asked Naruto, who was obviously struggling. Suddenly, he remembered something. "I forgot to tell you two that Tsunade might send you guys on a mission to find Sasuke.

Kill them. I have the power to do that.

No, Naruto responded mentally, extremely distracted by now. Why don't you show me your power to help me with this training? It's the least you can do after what you've done to me.

If you require that so you can think about your options, I shall.

Naruto felt the pressure wear off as his chakra began to seemingly control its flow automatically, and he gave a small sigh of relief.

After a few hours, Kakashi stopped and let Naruto and Sakura get off the water. "That's it for today."

"Works for me. The farther I can get away from him, the better I'll be," she muttered, obviously talking about Naruto.

Kill. Bite. Something. Teach her that you won't stand for such insults, the Kyuubi encouraged.

No way!

Do it.

But…

Listen. She's just going to yell at you for something that was hardly even your fault for the rest of your life unless you do this. Besides, it's her pain, not yours.

It's mine mentally.

Do it. You know you want to.

Naruto gave in for only an instant, only to realize he was biting deep into Sakura's shoulder a second later. Kakashi immediately intervened and pulled him off of her.

"That's enough," Kakashi told them, and took the horrified Sakura to the hospital, leaving Naruto in the woods. He felt blood dripping from his fangs, which quickly became normal teeth once more.