Hey everyone! I'm surprised how much attention my story has gotten. Alright, this is an important chapter. It also has a bit of a dark theme. Sorry about that, but it's necessary. I've also started to add quotes to some of the chapters in this story; you might want to check previous chapters just in case.

To GaritytheWizard: I hope so.

To Chewie Cookies: Laughs in unison

To Dragonman 180: Neither can I.

To: Kagehana: For the record, I try to update every Monday.


They say that pushing your body to its limits brings out the best in you. That may be true, but that's not always the only thing that comes out. – Me (Just ask my sister)


Naruto's Apartment

Naruto was totally spent. Groaning, he reached into his jacket, fumbled around until he found his key, and used it to unlock his door. The last of the said tasks was probably the most difficult, since his hand was shaking so badly that it took him several tries to fit it in correctly. As soon as he opened it, the blonde dragged himself into bed.

He lay there panting for about ten minutes before he felt like he could survive a trip to the refrigerator. With slight difficulty, he opened it and removed a chilled bottle of water. After impatiently unscrewing the cap, he quickly drank the bottle's contents. Smiling to himself in relief, the jinchuriki wiped his mouth off while he refilled the bottle at the sink with the other. When he was done with both tasks, he returned the bottle to its usual spot on the refrigerator door.

Naruto was surprised by how drained he felt. When he first started learned the third stage of the Rasengan, when he was traveling with Jaraiya (back when they were looking for Tunade), he hadn't been put under such intense methods. Sure, he had collapsed at one point, but that was after training for eighteen hours without a break.

Kakashi had been training him with his shadow-clone method for a while now, but since the third part of the training would take much longer than the others, he had insisted having one hundred and fifty shadow clones simultaneously deployed. Ordinarily that wasn't all that hard, but since each clone was repeatedly exerting the amount needed to use the Rasengan, whether it failed or not. Naruto had made progress, but not anywhere near as much as he had hoped. He hadn't felt this tired since he invented the Rasenshuriken. Scowling, he stumbled back in the direction of his bed. He had just fallen onto his destination when he realized he was not alone.

Moving on instinct alone, Naruto's hand went for his kunai pouch with much more speed than he should have been able to use. He was about grab one of his sharp knives when he realized his actions were pointless. Groaning, he closed the pouch and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"What do you want this time, you stinking fox," he groaned, his voice dripping with as much malice as he could summon.

"For you to get a brain, you arrogant child, if you keep talking out loud." A twisted, raspy voice, which couldn't have come from any human throat, replied.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Naruto asked it angrily. He hated that damn voice almost as much as the thing as he hated the thing that made it.

"It means that if you keep talking out loud like that, someone might overhear and start asking questions." The voice responded haughtily. Naruto got even more pissed. The Kyubi was right. If a neighbor, or almost anyone else for that matter, heard Naruto talking to himself, it would put him in a very sticky situation. It was much safer for the two of them to converse with thoughts and thoughts alone.

"Fine, but don't think you can push me around." He replied belligerently. "Now seriously, say what you want or stop bothering me. I'm tired."

"When you are tired is the only time we can talk like this, unless something is about to kill you." The Kyubi explained. He sounded like he was just as annoyed with his container as his container was with him. "Anyways, why do you keep wasting time here? You have enemies to kill! All of this… playing around is getting you nowhere!"

"Stop playing games, Kyubi! We both know what will happen if I do. You just want to force me to break the seal, don't you? As soon as I do, you'll just turn around and destroy Konoha!"

"The seal is going to break regardless. Your pointless actions are just delaying the inevitable. If you do it my way, at least your enemies will be destroyed first!" The Kyubi's ranting puzzled Naruto.

"What do you mean, 'delaying the inevitable'? The seal won't just break on its own." Unfortunately, Naruto's bravado was only met with sick amusement.

"Are you saying you haven't figured it out yet? Every time you borrow my strength, and as time passes, the seal weakens a bit. You're just a timed, exploding tag, and your actions just shorten the time before you explode." With this announcement, the bjuu started laughing manically. He left Naruto laying there with his eyes open in shock and fear. At first Naruto refused to believe this, but as he thought about it, it made more and more sense.

For example, the first time he had used the Kyubi's chakra, the situation was at its worst. His best friend was apparently dead, he was completely out of chakra, and he would have died ten seconds later. Now, it just kept getting easier and easier to set it off. The only thing that could explain it was a weakening in the seal.

"To be honest, I'm surprised that neither that joke of a leader, or the white-haired rodent told you about it. They probably figured it out years ago." The Kyubi taunted him. "Even they are at least smart enough to figure it out, and they don't even have a front-row seat to it. You should have realized it even before they did." With that, the feeling of the monster's presence vanished, Leaving Naruto with a deceptive feeling of privacy.

This conversation left Naruto with too much information for him to take in. He tossed and turned for hours in his bed, even though he wasn't asleep. He completely forgot about taking a shower, or even eating lunch or dinner. Finally, he fell asleep shortly after eleven, leaving him in thankfully dreamless rest.

The Next Morning

When Naruto woke up, only his body felt better than before. The feelings of despair that had plagued him yesterday had become feelings of depression. Naruto changed into clean clothes quietly, without his usual enthusiasm.

"I need to talk to someone about this," he muttered.