Well, here's the next chapter of this story. Reason for not updating in so long is at the end, so that means you have to read the entire chapter to get to it… or you could just scroll all the way down.

Disclaimer: I don't really own Naruto…. or anything really….

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Chapter 4: Naruto's Mentality

Naruto sat up straight in bed, cold sweat pouring down his face. His eyes were wide in the darkness of his room, flicking around for any signs of visible danger. He was panting hard, as if he had just run for a day non-stop at his top speed. He shook his mind, trying to shake the vivid, clear dream he had just experienced from his mind.

It was so life-like, enough so it was hard to distinguish the real from the false. Then again, for most of his life, the line between his reality and imagination had been blurred so many times it was hard to see through the haze.

He stilled his breathing to a slow crawl, a far cry from the heavy panting he was doing moments before. Still, broken memories from the dream assaulted his mind and he spasmed in his bed, powerless to stop them.

Bodies lay scattered around him. He stood in an ocean of them, all he knew slain by his blade. Each one had the same face.

War cries sounded from somewhere behind him but he kept his cold, hard gaze forward. Whistling sounded through the air as a hail of arrows thudded everywhere against his back. He felt his liquid life blood flow from the numerous wounds on his back, but he kept standing.

Turning around, he faced his would be attackers, who were staring at him as if he were the devil himself. It was unnerving, to see the face of yourself plastered on the man whom you just shot.

On his back, he felt the arrows pop out of him and the wounds seal. They clattered to the corpse infested ground with a dull thud.

He raised his sword high in the air and ran at full speed, killing intent racing through his entire being…

The scene skipped forward and he clutched his head in pain, refusing to let out a single cry escape his lips, despite the hurt.

"Kill them," he heard a voice whisper in his ear. It was that same damn voice, the one that never left him alone, the one that tortured him day in and day out. "Look at them all. They're helpless, like you were once before, when you didn't have my help."

"No," he fought back, though his hand was moving on its own accord. The blade came up high, raised above the head of one of his look-alike clones, who had had his eyes gouged out with the blade moments before. Other look-alikes kneeled around him, facing similar injuries. "I won't."

"Don't even try it boy!" that voice screamed to him, "You are nothing without me! Without me, you wouldn't even be nearly half as powerful as you are."

Try as he could, he couldn't do anything. The blade came down and with a sickening thud, his head rolled onto the floor, staring up at him with lifeless eyes.

"See." the voice in his mind chuckled. "You couldn't resist the slaughter."

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked the voice harshly, "Why are you showing me this?"

That voice laughed in his mind once more.

"You ask that question every time you sleep, every time you use my power. You already know the answer."

Suddenly, it all stopped. The intense pain gnawing at Naruto's mind was gone, utterly obliterated. It was as if it had never been there in the first place. He sat up in his bed, running a hand through his hair.

Then he fell back to his bed, his eyes wide awake.

"You'll eventually get used to it, boy. Eventually." The edges of Naruto's vision shimmered, and there, floating above him, was a dark figure.

"Shut up," Naruto said to him, shaking his head to try and clear away the imaginary figure. "Just go away."

"Boy, I won't go away. This is the price for my power, something which you seem to forget. Besides," where the dark figure's mouth should be appeared a set of razor sharp teeth, set in a feral grin, "You know you love it anyways."

"No, I don't." he said, putting his arms behind his head and staring up at the figure, "I don't even like thinking about it."

"Don't even try to lie, boy. I know you, because I am you. You can try your entire life, but you'll never be rid of me. You know you'll be serving that damned Shinigami for the rest of your poor, pathetic existence. You need me because without me, you would be useless to serve him. Remember, I am Insanity, and I'm the one who allows you to cross over that line between what one perceives and what one imagines. I give you the power to trick the mind and control it to such an extent that you can change the world around you. Of course, this is all in exchange for…"

"In exchange for losing my mind, piece by piece, every second of my life." Naruto finished for him, rolling to his side.

Insanity chuckled, "It was your decision. You're the one who offered the deal, all those years ago. I will give you this though, your mind is the strongest I've ever inhabited. It's been nearly thirteen years, and yet your mind has still not broken. Any lesser man would have been far gone into his own little world after the first year."

Naruto snorted, before catching himself and schooling his face into an impenetrable mask. This was how he had not fallen insane for so long, by keeping himself calm around Insanity. "Any lesser man would not have been able to summon you."

"At the age of four, no less." Insanity chuckled.

Naruto didn't respond, opting instead to sit-up in bed. He threw his legs to the floor, standing up. The apparition that was Insanity shivered and disappeared. No matter what Insanity said, Naruto could feel something was changing. It seemed the process was accelerating somehow. It looked like he would be paying a visit to his mother now….

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Naruto gave a slight nod to the woman guarding the cell. She nodded in return, gripping the halberd she held tight enough to make her knuckles white. This woman was obviously new, as she seemed extremely nervous around Naruto. Then again, with fame like Naruto's, it would be hard not to be nervous.

The other one guarding the cell, however, gave him a warm smile. This man was a friend, one who had been on guard ever since she had been put inside it. He was Yuji, the one whom the Shinigami had introduced with much bravado the first time he had met him, many years ago.

"Going in to visit her, Naruto-kun?" he asked.

Naruto nodded and took out a thin piece of obsidian colored steel contained within his sleeve. You weren't allowed to have anything you could use as a weapon inside the cell. He handed the steel to Yuji, who nodded and lined it up against the wall. He motioned for Naruto to follow him and they reached the first door.

This door was nigh impenetrable. Though it looked like a solid chunk of gold, Naruto knew better. When he was young, he and the Shinigami came to visit his mother. This was after he had obtained Insanity, and yet, even with his help, he could not break in.

Yuji laid his hand flat against the door, positioning his hand directly on the door at a certain place. From his belt, he drew a dagger. He seemed to wait a moment, before plunging the dagger straight into the back of his hand. He made no sound as he did so and the wall seemed to disappear. He pulled the dagger out with a squelch, as blood dripped from his hand onto the floor. Yuji, however, paid it no mind and bade Naruto to enter.

Naruto nodded and briskly walked through the space where the doorway once stood. He didn't ask if Yuji was alright or not. It would be pointless. He already knew that the man had accelerated regenerative abilities, bordering on the unimaginable. You could cut off the man's head, but then he would grow an entirely new one. Naruto knew. He had tried it before.

Without looking back, he walked onwards, down the dark hallway. After minutes of walking, he saw a ten by ten wall of bars, crossed in a pattern over an opening at the end of a hallway. The bars glowed a dull golden brown color, illuminating the space behind and in front of it with light. Silhouetted against the light was a hunched over figure, with rags hanging off their body and hair splayed haphazardly over their face.

Naruto approached cautiously, not knowing if she was herself or not. Thankfully though, a tired, kind voice greeted him.

"Naruto-kun?" his mother asked, unsure if it really was Naruto or not.

"Hai, hahaoya." He responded, bowing formally to his mother's figure.

She let a small laugh of happiness, before running up to the cage and looking beyond the bars. Light splashed over her face, and Naruto realized for the hundredth time that she was getting weaker with each passing visit. Even now, her face was shallow, showing she didn't have much to eat, and her eyes had extreme bags underneath them. Her dull, grey colored eyes peered out of the darkness at him, shining with a small gleam of excitement while showing more of the fatigue present within them.

"It's so nice to see you again, Naruto-kun." she said, a smile gracing her features, "Have you been eating healthy?"

Naruto let out a small grin, answering his mother with a nod.

"That's good. Has the Shinigami been treating you well?"

"Hai."

"Have you gone on any missions?"

"I just came back from one."

"What kind?"

"Assassination." He told her simply, not going into any details. Though his mother had no qualms about what he did, being a former shinobi, he still didn't like to talk about it.

Silence reigned over the room for a few moments, as Naruto's mother looked over his face, staring at him intently. Finally, Naruto decided to say something.

"Is there something so interesting about my face, hahaoya?"

She smiled at him, saying, "I'm just thinking about how handsome my little boy has grown up to be. Just like his father. Ah, woe be the day you actually meet a nice girl and settle down."

"That will never happen, hahaoya." he answered her calmly, "Not as long as I have the Shinigami."

Naruto's mother just stared at him, before telling him, "That's not good, Naruto-kun. That'll make people question your sexual orientation."

Naruto could have slapped his head in exasperation. "I didn't mean it like that, hahaoya. I meant…"

"I know what you meant," she laughed, "I was just teasing. By the way, have you been getting enough sleep?"

Naruto turned his eyes away, along with the rest of his body, "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

When he didn't hear her say anything, he continued, "I think the process is accelerating. Insanity is gaining more control."

His mother made a thoughtful noise, before turning around to face the back of her cage. "Seems like it is, though 'accelerating' for you would have meant death for someone else." she chuckled a bit, "You haven't gone on any missions where you've taken something from, have you?"

Naruto was just about to speak, before his mother cut him off, "Other than their lives."

He paused and thought for a moment, before it clicked. "Recently, I was on a mission where I had to take out two people, both considered high-ranking shinobi. I had to shift through some of their memories." He didn't add the fact he killed them both.

His mother only nodded, as if that explained it. "Of course. You must have seen all they've gone through. All high-ranking shinobi have gone through more than most, and they've probably seen more than twice that amount. Just keep your head to yourself and you should be fine."

Naruto nodded, thanked his mother, and turned to leave, but her voice stopped him.

"Wait, Naruto-kun." She said. He turned and saw his mother, though something was different. Now, staring back at him, were a pair of startling violet eyes. "I've given you information that'll help you. Now, why don't you return the favor?"

Her voice was sweet and caring, though with a somewhat scholarly tone. He was drawn to it, even though he knew he shouldn't even listen to it.

"That's good now. Come closer, Naruto-kun." He did as he was asked, and took a step towards the cage.

"Closer, Naruto-kun. You can't open a gate from so far away."

He walked up closer, his hand reaching towards the gate, his eyes behind his glasses mesmerized by the violet ones staring into his, hypnotizing him. He almost opened it, but at that moment, he felt a tug pull at his back, as if someone was beckoning to him.

His eyes snapped back into focus and his thoughts were his own once more. He jumped back as if the door were something hazardous to him, though in actuality, it was. An angry looked crossed his features, and he felt his rage flare uncontrollably. A black hue surrounded him, and a crackling sound filled the room.

"Bitch." He said through clenched teeth. Then, he turned around.

Behind him, the sweet and caring voice had transformed, and the voice screamed at his back as he left to go answer the Shinigami's call.

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I know what you're all thinking. Most of it might be cursing me out for not updating for so long. I've got a reason for not updating, though I don't believe it's a very strong one, however valid it may be. To tell the truth, the reason I haven't updated in so long is as follows: I'm a lazy ass bastard once school starts. That's really all there is to it. I've had all these ideas in my head all this time, but I've just been so damn lazy that I don't want to type them down. Hell, I have them written down (somewhere), but just not typed.

Anyways, this chapter and the next were once combined, but I decided to just cut it there and leave all the action in the next chapter. Sorry for the ones who wanted some ass-kickery in this chapter and for the ones who wanted to see some quality work. Next chapter is a mission with a high-death count probability.

Words: 2,488

Page Count: 6

Time: Obviously a couple of months…