Author's Note; I know it's been a little while since I updated this story but writers' block had gotten a hold of me once again. It was so bad that I couldn't find a better name for this chapter and was close to posting it with no name at all! But, I hope this chapter doesn't discourage any of you and look like a filler. I promise, there will be more action in the next chapter. I was going to put it in this one but then it would have been so much longer than the other chapters to this story it would have been unbalanced.

Well, I hope you all like this and please review! 3

Oh, I almost forgot, I've gained inspiration from a story by Yuki-kyo-kira and the "No" series they wrote. Just wanted to let you all know before I forgot.

Chapter 6

Naruto's Power and the Demon Still Lives

The rest of Naruto's team had arrived at Tazuna's place, only to find him sitting on the roof, quiet until the three of them walked up to the board walk to get inside the house.

"I can't believe you left us back there! Couldn't you have taken us with you at least?" Sakura bellowed. She was tired, hungry and her feet were killing her, so her natural instinct was to yell at the man that caused her pain.

"I was starting to run low on chakra, I would have tapped into another chakra source if I did that. And if that were to have happened, we'd all be goners." Naruto said, smirking as he turned to look at her only for everyone to notice he wrapped his eyes again.

"How's Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked as Tazuna went inside.

"He's resting, was still out of it when we got here and probably won't wake up for a little while."

"At least he's okay." Sasuke sighed. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine, just leave me alone for a couple hours or until Kaka-sensei wakes up. I'm going to meditate until then." That's when Naruto turned back to facing the water and pretended like no one was looking at him. It was true, he wanted some peace and had hoped these two were smart enough to give it to him without him needing to run off somewhere.

"Let's go inside and see how Kakashi-sensei is doing." Sasuke muttered and he and Sakura went inside.

When they got inside, they were met with silence, there was a woman standing at the sink, a little boy was sitting at the table and Tazuna wasn't anywhere to be seen. It was most likely that he was upstairs, but it was obvious that they felt a little out of place.

"You must be the rest of that young mans' team." The woman said as she turned around upon hearing the sound of the door opening and closing. "I'm Tsunami and this is Inari."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha and this is Sakura Haruno. Do you have an idea how our sensei is doing?"

"It only looks like he's exhausted, but I'm no doctor and there isn't one in town. But your teammate did do something before going outside… where is it exactly that he went?" Tsunami shrugged a bit until she started whispering. "I'm a little worried, he looks just as exhausted."

"He'll be fine, we already talked to him before coming inside." Sakura preached, though you could tell there was a bit of venom in her voice. "I mean, he got himself in that mess anyway."

"You know he can hear you?" Sasuke muttered, he was truly not in the mood to test Naruto's patience today or any other day.

"He shouldn't have thrown himself in front of that ninja in the first place! I mean, Kakashi-sensei even told him not to! The stupid lunatic."

It was then that the room was filled with a screeching noise as the boy, Inari, stood up from his chair after pushing it back and glared at both Sasuke and Sakura. It was clear that he didn't want them here anyway.

"Why don't you go back home if you're so scared. You're all going to end up dead if you stay here anyway so why don't you just leave and never come back." Inari snapped before running out of the dining area and upstairs to probably his bedroom.

"I'm so sorry about what he said, just… don't take it to heart okay?" Tsunami apologized for her son before going back to doing what she was doing just as the front door opened. And when Sasuke and Sakura turned around, prepared to defend if necessary, it was only to see Naruto standing there with a half grin on his face.

"Kakashi's awake, let's go talk to him." He said, his grin on full blast once he noticed the looks on his teammates faces and went into the room on his left with them following him.

"So, I take it we made it here no problems?" Kakashi asked with a small gleam in his eye.

"Yes, no thanks to that jerk standing over there!" Sakura snapped as she pointed at Naruto. "He sped off towards here without us and Tazuna."

"I knew there'd be no one attacking again, besides, I did echo before speeding off with you half dead in front of me." Naruto said with a small shrug. "So, I took leadership and I knew they'd be safe on their way here so I took you ahead to see about some medical attention. But, when we got here, I lean that it'd not be wise to take you to a doctor because Gato is the one that corrupted the local hospital here and it was up to me and Kura to heal you up to where you are now. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to give you chakra to bring yours up to a desired level. I don't know how to do that."

"How is it that you healed me again?" Kakashi asked, this time he could only blink up that the blonde with his only eye that showed.

"I said, I healed you with Kura's help. Oh, you don't know his name… I thought I told you! His name's Kurama and sometimes I call him Kura. Stupid pervert, you need to think about something else other than your damn books." Naruto groused as he smacked the top of Kakashi's head, but only hard enough to make him wince slightly.

"I'm sorry, I … wait, how'd you… Never mind. What I need to do, is talk to you three so help me sit up." Kakashi sighed before grunting when he tried to sit up on his own.

"No, you're not allowed to move. You stupid fool, you had a gash in your side from when you went at it on the water with him." Naruto glared. "You try sitting up and I'll put you in a coma."

"Fine, but listen to me carefully, all three of you." Kakashi sighed and made sure to lay still unless moving his head to look at them. "Zabuza is still alive."

"What the fuck are you talking about! We all saw him fall when that hunter ninja stepped in!" Sakura screeched, though Sasuke could only managed a surprised look, but Naruto only grinned wider, knowing that Kakashi was telling the truth and stepped in to explain.

"Hunter ninja smell like blood, he smelled like herbs and the like. He's no hunter ninja, but I know I fooled the fucker when he took the body. Oh, that's another thing. Hunter nin's don't move their targets from where they've fallen, they dismantle the body and make sure there's no trace of it left at the spot, and there's always more than one. This boy, was alone and carried Zabuza away."

"Then why didn't you do anything to stop them?" Sakura hissed, clearly she wasn't happy that they'd have to face them again.

"Because, Kakashi was about to fall on his face and from using my kekkei genkai for so long I was running low on chakra. The lowest I've ever been at in chakra, was when I was chained with chakra restraints in that institution. But even there I could use my power to a point. It's been a while since I've been able to use my chakra to such an extent. No one at home dares to fight me and they'd rather try to kill me anyway rather than have a real fight, the damn cowards."

"Okay Naruto, I think they understand now." Kakashi butted in. "Now, I know we might not have much time to get you two ready for when they'll come back, but considering where that boy got Zabuza with those tools, he'll be out of it for as long as I'll be unable to move properly, and that's at least a month. So, I'd like to send word to the Hokage and have him send another ninja who can help us, and one that we can trust. I don't trust many considering who's on our team. So, I'd like Sasuke to write this message and have the Hokage send Itachi in to help. Another sharingan user will put us at a greater advantage."

"I'm on it." Sasuke nodded as he pulled out the scroll Kakashi gave him earlier and started writing the message.

"So, I get to have two Uchiha's in the same proximity… just fucking great. I'm not in the mood to have two brooding assholes in the same area as me!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, would you like to go out and try to calm down some before dinner? I'm sure you could use some down time until then. I'll send Pakkun out to get you." Kakashi suggested after Naruto stopped complaining.

"Thank you! I'll be able to sense if anyone's in danger, I won't be too far off but no one will be able to sense me doing whatever it is that I'll be doing while I'm out there." Naruto scoffed before standing up and leaping out the open window, swinging his arms around in short circles to have the water come up and catch him before he landed on solid ground and sped off with his Doton manipulation.

"Are you sure it's safe to let him out there sensei?" Sakura asked, though it was the villagers here that she was worried about.

"I'm sure, he just has some frustration to let out is all and he'll be back to his old, annoying, crazy self." Kakashi chuckled before wincing.

"Now, get yourself some rest, the message has been sent." Sasuke said a moment later. "We'll keep watch while you sleep."

"Yeah sensei, you can count on us!"

xxx xxx xxx

"Kit, you need to slow down, you're almost out of range of our echo." Kurama said, for the tenth time since Naruto left the house.

"Don't you think I know that, you fucking flea bag!" Naruto yelled out loud, knowing that no one for miles would be able to hear him.

"If you want to hurt something so bad why don't you come after me like you usually do?"

"Because I want to fucking kill something. And I'm getting close to my target."

"What? That measly little thing?"

"It's dinner for us, and tomorrow I'm going to hunt for more meat." Naruto grinned before pulling his broad blades off his back and snuck up on the large boar that didn't even know the blonde was coming because of how fast he moved.

It only took two slices and the boar was down for good, but it was too easy and Naruto wanted to cut more.

"I feel a tad bit better now anyway, I can settle for feeling like this."

"Would you like me to teach you a summoning jutsu?" Kurama asked as Naruto started tying the boar upside down and slit the throat a bit more so the boar could bleed out before he took it back to Tazuna's.

"What's the summoning?"

"You'll see, but it'll take all the concentration you'll need and it's more like a sealing than anything else."

"Why wait until now to tell me this?"

"Because, you'll need my help in the next battle, and with this jutsu, I can be summoned, be linked to you, and use all the power I want. And, you'll be able to bring me back at any time you want or see fit."

"You're willing to turn yourself into a pet? Wow, you must have sunk real low to want to do this." Naruto laughed as he fell onto the ground and rolled around holding his sides. "The great Kurama, treated like someone's pet, this is so hilarious!"

"I'm being serious you fucking snot!" Kurama roared. "Why do I even bother to help you sometimes?"

"Because you love me." Naruto laughed until he was out of breath and just laid on the ground for a little while. That laugh had made him feel lighter than he had ever been since he dealt with the Mist brothers. It was that far back that he could feel himself slipping, and the words from that little punk of a grandson that Tazuna had nearly made him snap.

He was going to teach that little shit a lesson one of these days, and he swore to it.

xxx xxx xxx

It was about five hours later that Pakkun, a small lap dog that Kakashi said he'd send out to get Naruto when it was time for dinner only for the dog to find Naruto in the clearing surrounded by at least ten slain boars, four deer, one cow and about a large, two handfuls of duck and chickens.

"You've been busy." The dog spoke, making Naruto turn around to see who it was.

"Don't tell me that you spoke… I've had enough of talking animals for one day." Naruto said, though his luck had run out when Pakkun chuckled.

"I'm afraid not kid, look, Kakashi sent me out to get you is all. Would you like to follow me back or can you make it on your own?"

"I can make it back on my own, unless you want to stay here a bit longer." Naruto shrugged as he pulled out a scroll and started sealing the meat into it for easier transportation.

"Is all this for your stay?"

"Yes, I know what the village is like, and I know for sure that this family won't be able to feed us for the time we have to be here, let alone three days. It's not a big problem to help them out. And I also wanted to kill something and I decided to make it benefit us all instead of some random villager or ninja." Naruto explained.

"Well, you sure put it to good use, and may I ask you something?" Pakkun nodded, until Naruto's words from earlier started bothering him.

"What's that?"

"What did you mean by talking animals earlier?"

"Kurama's getting on my nerves, pissing me off and that sort of thing. But we've managed to work things out and he's sleeping at the moment." Naruto answered as he finished packing up all the meat and put the scroll away somewhere Pakkun couldn't see. "Well, I'm ready to go."

"Who's Kurama?"

"He's who you guys call Kyuubi, but don't worry, Kaka-sensei knows we talk." Naruto smirked and they headed off towards Tazuna's home at a leisurely pace. "Oh, I take it Itachi arrived safely at Tazuna's place?"

"He was with Kakashi when I left and your two teammates were looking out around the house in case someone attacked." Pakkun nodded as they decided to jump up into the trees and travel up there.

"What were Itachi and Kaka-sensei talking about?"

"A strategy in how to deal with Zabuza and his partner, though nothing seems to be adding up right for either of them. Itachi looked troubled and Kakashi looked furious."

Naruto only chuckled before he remained silent throughout the rest of the trip back to the house when they met Sasuke sitting on the roof where he sat earlier and Sakura sitting in front of the house on the board walk.

"Finally, what took so long?" Sakura whined when she stood up and Sasuke jumped off the roof.

"I had some packing to do when Pakkun got there." Naruto grinned before going inside to see the table set and everyone but them sitting in front of a plate of food. "After dinner I need this place scrubbed, I have a lot to clean." He announced before sitting down next to Itachi and started eating.

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see after dinner." Naruto grinned between bites as his teammates sat down.

"Just tell us already." Sasuke sighed.

"Fine, I have about ten boar, four deer, one cow and a shit ton of chickens and duck to clean." He answered, counting off the animals with one hand as he remembered what all he killed, only to raise an eyebrow when he saw that everyone was staring at him. "What?"

"Why'd you kill so much?" Kakashi asked.

"Because, the state of this village is horrid, didn't you know that? This family doesn't have enough food to feed us for three days, let alone a month, 'ttebayo!" Naruto answered as he gave Kakashi a bewildered stare from across the table. "And they're all bled and ready to carve and such."

"I have a question for you, Naruto." Sasuke asked as he, his brother and the rest of the house sat around the table in front of a bowl of soup.

"Ask away duck butt." Naruto grinned before digging in.

"How much chakra do you normally have?"

"Hmm, when I asked that question myself from two different sources, I was told I had the amount of chakra of all five Kage combined times five, maybe six on a good day." Naruto answered, earning himself shocked looks from everyone around the table. "What?"

"Then, after such a short fight, how was it that you got so low?" Sakura asked loudly.

"Because, I constantly use my echo, that takes up a shit ton of chakra in itself especially when I'm doing such a wide range to begin with since we're outside our own home village, and when I use kekkei genkai abilities like ice, gale, explosion and the like, that takes up about the same amount of chakra as echo. Then, when I'm really pissed off, I tend to use too much chakra than necessary and that drains me quicker than normal." Naruto explained with a half grin and a shrug of his shoulders. "I gain more chakra reserves every day because of how many years I've had it constantly drained with seals of all sorts. That and being Uzumaki makes a big difference. People from the Uzumaki clan tend to have large reserves of chakra anyway but I'm an exception it seems because it just keeps getting bigger. Sooner or later though, it will stop growing but it doesn't look like it will be anywhere in the next five years or so."

"That's unbelievable!" Sasuke muttered in surprise, his food long forgotten as he staired at his blonde teammate with both awe and envy. There's no mistake, though, that those from the Uchiha clan have large reserves of chakra too, but they were nowhere near the Uzumaki clan with their own exception of Madara, an old ancestor that caused a lot of grief when the village was first created.

"Unbelievable, yes, but it's quite possible. But could this also be because of that other chakra you have sealed inside of you Naruto?" Itachi asked, his first time speaking since Naruto got back to the house.

"Yes, and he explained it to me back when I first asked and he said it was because sometime in my future I'm going to learn how to fully control his power and that I'd need a shit ton of chakra in order to do so." Naruto answered with a small nod between bites of soup, asking for more only when the little boy, Inari, had a couple bowls himself.

"I see." Was all Itachi said before he started eating himself, only to pause when he noticed that Inari looked like he was about to have an outburst. He could only tell because the boy was quiet and was biting his bottom lip to try and keep himself calm. It was normal for his own brother to do this sometimes when he got frustrated with his training.

"You all make me sick." Inari suddenly yelled as he shot up from his chair from across Naruto. "You all talk about strength, but none of that matters here. You're all going to just die so leave and fight another day, this town can't be saved and it won't be saved by the likes of you freaks and outsiders! And what makes me even more sick is that you guys think you know how much we've suffered and you seem to think that it can all be fixed!"

With that, Inari ran upstairs to his room, his footsteps echoing inside the house but no one was really paying attention to that, they were all busy looking at the blonde who seemed to be glowing white heat off of his body as his arms trembled. You could clearly see that he was trying his damned best to keep himself in check.

Kakashi knew exactly what was happening and painfully got to his feet with the help of a crutch.

"Itachi, perform the hand signs boar, snake, rabbit, dragon and ram with me. We need to restrain Naruto now and it takes two people when Jiraiya isn't around!" Kakashi almost yelled when Naruto sent out a blast of chakra that was only strong enough to send the table flying and everyone around it into the walls.

It took a moment for everyone to get their bearings, but both Kakashi and Itachi were glad that Naruto didn't go after Inari like they all thought he would, but they still performed the hand signs that seem to bring the straight jacket Naruto was wearing to life, making the black markings glow blue.

Instantly, the arms of the jacket suddenly wrapped themselves around Naruto's torso and buckled up behind his back and the hood that was added came above his face, leaving his nose and mouth free and buckled itself into place as well.

When it was apparent that Naruto was trying to fight against the restraints, Itachi jumped in with two seals in hand and slapped one on Naruto's back and the other one on his forehead, the contact causing them to instantly react and the combined seals that were added made Naruto fall to the ground unconscious.

"What were those two added seals Itachi?" Kakashi asked when Sasuke and Sakura managed to help him into a chair a few moments later while Tazuna righted the table, surprised that it didn't shatter because of how old it was and the force used to make it move.

"Master Jiraiya gave those to me when he learned I was being sent here. He figured that since another sharingan user was coming, then Naruto may need some help to be restrained because of who the opponents were. Sasuke may not have gone into great detail considering he most likely didn't completely trust your messenger, but he didn't fail to mention that Zabuza and a possible tracker nin-imposter were involved. So, Jiraiya knew that Naruto would most likely try something stupid and would need some help calming down." Itachi explained as he helped clean up the dining area with Tsunami, who was shocked into silence like Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna.

"He thought of everything, didn't he?"

"Not really, he knew that we'd be able to go as far as the jacket, but he wanted to be sure because he said the jacket no longer had the chakra blocker in its seal formula." Itachi shrugged. "And he told me that the jacket will release him by morning and the seals will only drain chakra for half an hour but he'll be unconscious for a while."

"Well, at least he'll get some rest. That'll help him replenish his chakra faster than normal but he won't be happy about the jacket being used though." Kakashi sighed as he scratched at the back of his head in worry. "He can sleep in the room the three of us and your brother will share. Sakura's using the spare room that's upstairs."

"Understandable." Itachi nodded before turning to Tazuna and Tsunami. "We apologize for everything that's happened. Naruto sometimes has a hard time controlling himself when his emotions seem to be all over the place."

"It's quite alright, but I'm the one that should apologize. Inari isn't usually like this. Please, don't be mad at him." Tsunami said before bowing to their guests and ran upstairs to heck on her son, most likely to scold him for his outburst then comfort him.

"Well, we've all had a long, long day so let's try to get some sleep everyone." Kakashi sighed.

"I'll stand guard for a while. I'm not at all tired from my journey. But considering everything that's happened, there's likely no possible way we'll be attacked for a while unless Gato decides to do things his way and sends his own people, and they'll be easy to take out anyway."

"Aright, but wake up both of the kids if you want to rest or need anything." Kakashi nodded as he slowly stood and made his way to the futon that was set up for him from earlier and Itachi helped put Naruto in another bed that was set up and made it so he'd be comfortable.

"I have to be at the bridge tomorrow morning around six and it's about a half hour walk from here." Tazuna said when Itachi was just standing up. "But there's something I wish to tell you all now that my daughter and grandson aren't in the room… a little history lesson for all of you and it'll help you understand Inari a little better."

"Go on ahead Mr. Tazuna, we'll listen." Sakura said quietly as she sat next to her sensei as he slept since it was, in her mind, the safest place to be with Naruto knocked out.

With that, Tazuna took a deep breath and started explaining everything that happened, from the first moment that Kaiza, the man his daughter married after he became really close with Inari and who became a hero in their land after saving their asses quite a few times. But he stuck with the story of how he saved the land from massive flooding by risking his life to get the flood gates closed.

Then he explained how Gato came into the picture, explaining how people, particularly women and children between the ages of twelve and thirty-three started disappearing and being found with obvious signs of rape and starvation until Kaiza stepped in and tried to stop it only to get himself captured, tortured and executed before the entire village. He didn't fail to say that Inari had witnessed the execution and how that's when the whole place changed.

By the time Tazuna was finished with his story, Sakura excused herself to go to bed before they saw her cry and Sasuke was clearly pissed off but also sickened with what this man did to these innocent people. He honestly wanted to throw up his dinner, but managed to keep it together as he went to his own corner and called it a night.

"I'm sorry if I discouraged you lot, but I thought you should know everything that I know." Tazuna apologized, but Itachi rose his head.

"We may be sad, but we're not discouraged, we're more or less enraged at this man and I, for a fact, know that we all vow to get rid of this man and his thugs for you people.

"We'll announce who's going to stay here and who's going to the bridge with you in the morning. But it's most likely that Naruto and Kakashi are going to stay here, and maybe my brother." Itachi said when he noticed that Kakashi was already asleep.

"What! Why are you making me stay here?" Sasuke hissed as he shot up from his sleeping bag and glared at his brother. Apparently he didn't like his brothers' plan and would rather be out of here than near Naruto.

"Because, someone's going to need to stay here if Tsunami goes somewhere and she'll need some protection in case someone tries to kidnap her. It's a high probability that it will happen at some point or another if Gato decides to do things his way." Itachi sighed, and these words seemed to make enough sense to Sasuke to make him calm down and lay back down with his back to the room. But he could tell his little brother was sulking and would probably do it all night into the next day.

"I hope you don't mind being with me and Sakura, Mr. Tazuna." Itachi asked with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"I don't care as long as I have protection is all and that my family will be safe." Tazuna yawned. "I'm going on up."

And with that, Tazuna disappeared up the stairs for the night.

"Oyasumi nasai, otouto." Itachi muttered, though he knew Sasuke heard him and wasn't asleep just yet.

"Oyasumi, aniki…" Sasuke muttered back before he was quiet for the rest of the night.