SaphireWhiteWolf: At first I thought you might be my sole reviewer. T.T But that's not the case!You have provided names, ideas, and given me reviews! Take a slice of cake!

7thDwarf: I'm happy to hear from you! Vacation? That explains everything! Don't worry, I just got back from a vacation myself.

Rizember: For such a happy-humor gal, you sure like angsty stuff! Lol. This is like a mega-chapter, hope it was worth the wait. Yay! Someone commented on Zetsu*yay, cookie!!!*

I would like to dedicate this chapter to the three of you guys! Y'all really cheered me up. So Riz, 7d, and Saph, be good and share this, unlike me and litewarrior..hehe.

---Chapter 10 Tired of This Nightmare

The field was not unlike the plain with the keening whistling he'd been on a week prior. Fresh green grass covered the meadow, stretching to the forest four hundred meters away. Yellow flowers dotted the area periodically. For once the weather was comfortable, sunny with a cool breeze, and a few clouds in a blue sky.

Nina had brought two wooden buckets (not unlike what would be found in a well) and insisted on carrying them herself. Naruto had relented and was instructed to follow her lead.

"This is the stawberry patch. Gramma an' me planted these," She explained, a bit of pride breaking through. "Daddy got us the seeds."

Nina was no longer in a dress but a more practical pair of shorts and loose shirt. Her boots let out little thuds as they hit the ground. The older blond had forgone his jacket and his shirt was being washed by Nina's grandmother. So he was dressed only in tattered orange pants, rolled up to his knees. He crouched down, content to let Nina show him what to do.

She giggled, watching as juice dribbled down his chin. "These are really good!" His eyes were bright.

I could just stay like this, I don't need Konoha.

An ugly thought reared it's head. Yeah? And what happens when the Akatsuki comes? And his fantasty burst into pieces, like shattered glass.

Like your dream.

The smile slipped off his face. "Yeah, do I really want to be Hokage anymore?"

No.

"What's so hard about two little letters?"

He was officially avoiding all conversations with the dog.

Instead, he went back to Nina, paying attention to her. Because it was just easier that way.

Next they went to a blueberry patch, and then found a bunch of blackberry bushes.

Sometime along the way, Naruto drifted off. He never realized when he lost consciousness.

---

Triumphant, she landed. Soon! Yes soon she would be there!

---

Kyuubi's grin only grew wider. (not that demons smiled or anything.)

---

Bright. He blinked his eyes. The blond whipped his head around. Where..? Then it clicked as his immediate memories of what he was doing before falling asleep came back. "Idiot!" Dozing off like that..

Totally like an idiot genin; weakling!

He ignored the voice's input. Then he noticed the lack of familiar faint pressure on his forehead. His hiate was gone! Impossible! It had been on..when?

Great! First I can't remember how long it's been, now this! A feeling of dread washed over him. What if I'm losing my memories!

It wasn't that unheard of after all, was it? He stopped breathing. Shinobi in the field went crazy all the time. But they still held onto their identity; even a faint idea of who they were..

"Don't be silly; I probably lost it a long time ago, right?" He was actually expecting an answer.

Akatsuki. They have it. You left it in our room.

Naruto nodded. "Well, duh! I can't believe I didn't think of that!" The blond nodded happily at the conclusion. It made sense after all.

He also noted with a glance that the damn bracelet was gone. Now he froze. "That doesn't add up at all." Come to think of it, the bracelet had been absent from his wrist for a while.

The blond pinched himself. "Alright. Can't be dreaming, cause I just woke up from a nap." Ok, that was sound and logical. Now what? What were the other options, possibilities?

"How do you know?"

The dog, as always, appeared randomly.

"Cause you're here. And I don't hear the voice when I'm awake." More sound logic. What was the hakkyou-inu's problem? All of it made perfect sense.

Fuuten gave him a long look before shrugging. Then disappeared with a loud sharp crack! this time.

Why worry about it? It's just one detail.

The blond nodded. It always went better when he listened to others advice. "Of course we're right. It's just one tiny thing anyway."

Well, it had been a really high cliff.

"Wait. Where's Nina?"

The voice didn't answer, and Naruto felt a wiggle of doubt squirm in. What if the voice really wasn't good to listen to?

The blond blinked, a suddenly, fleetingly, he was thrust into pure darkness. And then before he could comprehend anything, Naruto was back in the meadow. So fast, he couldn't even make sense of what he'd felt in that instant. A massive whirlpool of sensations, that were unidentifiable. The whole experience was strange. The genin knew one thing though:

He did not want to go back there.

Where-ever 'there' was anyway.

Dread filled him. All of the sudden, all he wanted to do was find Nina-and flee in the opposite direction as fast as possible.

---

Naruto absolutely tore through the fields to the cottage. And then proceeded to rip through it. A strange desperation filled him. The need, it was so strong.

He burst out the door; nowhere inside.

Outside somewhere?! The blond thought wildly.

"Nii-san?" And it was here that the twelve-year-old found her.

Relief flooded through him; from his eyes which saw her, to his mind confirming it, shooting to his heart, and racing though the rest of him.

Red-brown hair, shining grey eyes, cute little dimple; It could be no other. The gap-toothed smile made him warm inside.

"Wha's wrong?" God, she was so cute. Her eyes were full of concern; it was that child's way of just knowing when others (especially older kids) were upset.

He shook his head, stupid grin on his face. "Oh nothing. Nothing, Nina."

Then, her task of dispensing comfort gone, she pouted. "I was gonna surprise you!"

"Really? I didn't see your Grandmother anywhere."

"Daddy's here! I want you to meet him!" Nina squealed, oblivious to what he said.

"Ni-" The blond cut himself off. No use worrying her. Maybe she was off seeing a doctor, or friend, maybe?

Such an innocent visit he shouldn't concern himself with.

Nina grabbed his hand, leading him down a path he hadn't seen before. She swung his hand giddily, chattering on about this and that like a pretty bird.

While the Grandmother's cottage was cozy, but still nothing to write home about, this was..something else.

Majestic.

Tall, imposing, and sharp.

The paved path led to the front of the house, which had unused garden's in front of them.

Then, Naruto realized, he saw what must have been her actual house that she lived in regularly.

"Wow.." he mouthed. She lives here?!

Nina tugged on his hand; Naruto had come to a complete stop. "Come on, Nii-chan." That shook the blond from his stupor.

"Right. Show me the way, Nina."

"Don't go in. That place reeks of evil."

Everything seemed to freeze, like in a paused movie. Or as if someone had hit a button, stopping time. Only Naruto and Fuuten were immune to it.

Slowly, he spun around (for some reason it didn't occur to him that Nina might notice, but someone had hit the pause button, so it didn't really seem to matter). "Why?"

Was so impossible that it could be a good thing? That something nice was going to occur to him for once in his life? Why couldn't the blasted hakkyou go away? "Leave me alone! What's it matter?"

The dog only shook his head vexingly. "The darkest reside in that sunny abode."

Naruto growled at the words, feeling his ire skyrocket. "No!" he irrational ignored the warning. For once in his life, couldn't they just leave him alone? "Stop trying to destroy my dreams!"

Fuuten said no more, but refused to go a step closer.

"Konoha has already done that." The voice only mirrored similar sentiments.

Kill the dog. Even if it is right-the leaf has stripped you of happiness.

And with those words, someone hit the play button.

---

"Are you sure this isn't a bit early, Pein-sama?" Itachi voiced his concerns in a detached voice. (as always; his emotions had been killed a long time ago)

("Nii-chan?Why'd you do it Nii-chan?STO-)

He cut that line of thought off rather abruptly.

---

Kosai was a rather clever, shrewd man.

Or, at least, that was the impression Naruto got.

Tall, sharp, and a bit on the thin side, and angular. He was just like his house, actually. He shared a few traits with his daughter though; Red-brown hair (though his was curly) and rather short. He also had the same nose as his daughter (but it was rather crooked as if it was broken in a fight once). His eye though, were different, a cool mint green. Nina must get her eyes from her mom.

Kosai stared right back, giving his own personal examination. Naruto didn't break eye contact however, no matter how tense he felt under the near glare. The blond could see the carpet was a faded red from the corner of his eye. It felt scratchy under his feet. The thick uneasy energy in the air was obvious to all, sans Nina, and it held an oppressing feeling.

With a chill, the jinchuuriki found that the sensation was eerily familiar.

The Nina's father blinked, and as many have said before "The spell over the room was broken." It snaked away, but never truly left, only lessened to not be so obvious, slipping into the shadows. Things were more comfortable that way. He still felt like he was being watched.

Naruto glanced behind him..

But the dog wasn't there.

Why was that so disturbing? It's what we wanted.

Faintly he nodded; it was reassuring to have someone give him advice once more. Nice that someone had his back. The damn dog had been getting on his nerves anyway. Why be bothered? Naruto saw nothing evil here.

Kosai's lips curled upwards in a garbled version of a smile. "Hello, young Uzumaki." He gestured to the small girl. "My Nina has told me many things about you."

"Oh." Out of habit (cause stuff in the past had never boded well when it came to this stuff), the blond chuckled nervously. "Has she?"

He seemed to pick up on the young blond's discomfort. "Nothing bad. There is nothing we should know about I hope."

I tried to kill her, an evil demon lives inside me, and I might be going rouge. Nope. He had a perfectly clean slate. "Nah. Haha..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

Luckily, a perfectly timed distraction came to his rescue.

"Meow." A calico cat came up, rubbing Kosai's leg.

His eye twitched, recalling Tora.

"Hello, Tana-chan." Kosai greeted softly. "Nya!" was his reply.

Right. Not the dog. Naruto watched it with less concern now as it rubbed up against Nina's father. It can't talk.

Yellow eyes flashed. Okay, no messing with the cat.

"Yes, this is our Tana-chan."

Nina then came running in (when and where she disappeared to, Naruto hadn't noticed). "Nii-chan, come and see!"

---

Naruto sat out alone in the forest surrounding the mansion. It was that odd twilight time when the sun had set, but night had yet to come. The blond leaned against the tree contemplating.

He was going to become the Hokage, to get everyone's acknowledgement and respect. But thinking back, more than anything he only picked that as his goal for two reasons:

The blond wanted to be just the kind of man jii-chan was. The Fourth may have been his hero, but jii-chan was the kind of Hokage he strived to one day be.*

And two, he just wanted to proved those suckers wrong. A giant screw-you to all the ones who had ever disrespected or harmed him in any matter.

After all, what could be a better form of revenge? Even to those that may have looked down at him purely for his social status (orphan, clanless, a street rat), it would be a giant slap in the face.

"Kami, I'm starting to sound emo now." Just like Sasuke.

Despite all his faults, Sasuke was pretty smart, wasn't he? The dark-raven-haired genin was his rival and opposite in all things. But the Uchiha also had the one thing Naruto craved. So maybe he had the right idea.

It never occured to him all the tragedy surrounding those who went down the wrong paths.

But this isn't the wrong path.

He wasnt' sure if that was him, or the voice. In that one moment the lines that separated them blurred.

Naruto shed his skin, and a new better thing emerged.

---

The genin opted to sleep outside. Secretly, he just found Kosai ..odd. He gave off a feeling Naruto didn't like. Consequently, the blond didn't like being around him.

Why should we return? We are happy here.

Naruto frowned slightly. He couldnt' simply nod and get this over with. Important decisions shouldn't be made with such haste.

The dog materialized. "What are your reasons?"

God, was this thing his conscious or something?

"I have to be the next Hokage!" Even that excuse sounded lame in his ears.

"You still live with evil, don't you?"

And Naruto had nothing to say to that as he didn't have an inkling of what the dog meant.

"I have my friends," he continued, "Sakura-chan-he smiled fondly and blushed-and Sasuke-teme." The blond scowled a bit. "Even Kakashi-sensei, even if he is late all the time."

He ignores you in favor of Uchiha.

No us? The worried him for some reason.

Hatake does not know of 'us'.

The voice soothed.

"As long as you reside with evil..you will walk down unhappy paths. But, it isn't my decision to make. Hmm." The dog was being unusually serious. "So many choices, so many choices. Of course, it doesn't matter anyway! Doomed is as doomed does!" Fuuten unravelled, only the teeth remaining. The disembodied mouth lunged forward; Naruto flinched,waiting for them to sink into his flesh and bite him, but at the last minute they reversed, and did a loop. So it came as a surprise when they slammed into him, straight into his forehead.

A cold feeling washed over him, and then it passed.

Irrationally, he thought the dog might have imparted a warning.

The voice dissuaded him from such thoughts and prompted him, bringing up it's early point.

"Kakashi-sensei recommended me for the chuunin exams!" Naruto argued. "He wouldn't have done that if he didn't think I was ready! He believed in me."

He refused to train you, in favor of The Uchiha. it pointed out.

"He taught me the Tree Climbing exercise," the blond said weakly.

Everyone on your squad learned that.

Naruto was beginning to see the truth of his own warped perception of reality.

"Sharingans only," the blond joked, somewhat bitter.*

Even he himself wanted to be like Sasuke. Was it really a wonder that the "last Uchiha" was loved and praised, while he was overlooked?

"I can't go rouge though. Iruka-sensei wouldn't be happy. Plus, they'd hunt me down." The last part was a mere after thought.

The voice was silent. This Naruto was fresh and new, and more easily influenced by ideas of jealousy and wrong-doings. But it couldn't go that far, not yet. The foolish old man was gone, but Naruto was still tethered down by Iruka, hampering them.

---

The hell?

When he woke up, he was inside, not outside.

Alarm bells were disabled though.

Naruto was in a bed after all, and it was comfortable. Warm, in the clean sheets. Much better than the nightmare he'd experienced earlier.

The blond banished from his mind.

Nina appeared in the room before he could think any more on such matters.

She opened her mouth to speak, but her face contorted to that of fear, mouth open in a scream.

Nothingness.

---

Ugh.

Naruto opened his eyes quickly, recalling the tortured apparition of the girl. The sun beat down on him.

Wait.

The sun was beating down on him?

"Can't you ever color insidet the lines?"

Dog. Okay. Yay! He was just so thrilled.

"No. What are you talking about?"

"Hm. In simple human terms: can't you determine the lines between reality and fiction?"

The hakkyou-inu literally become sand and was blown away, though no wind was present.

"What the hell did that mean?"

No answer this time.

"I should probably head back to the house," he said to himself, feeling a bit lonely.

After a quick lovely merry romp through the woods in which several woodland creatures were granted a swift brutal death, Naruto came to The Mansion.

He skidded to a halt, kicking up a dust storm. Without hesitation, the blond went up to the porch and peeked through a window in sneaky-shinobi style. Hm. No one there. The lights were on though, indicating either someone was home, or had been taken with sudden force. An abrupt departure with no chance to react seemed to fit with what his paranoia was screaming at him: Trap!!

First, just to be sure no immediate surprise was awaiting him, the blond brought his fingers together in a familiar ram seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Three other copies of him popped into existence.

Wasting no time to examine to mirror images of himself (it'd be a good chance to gage how bad he looked), the genin was quick to direct them. "I need you to scout out the perimeter, and make sure it's safe to enter the house."

"Hai, boss." The three clones chorused.

They set out performing their tasks, and Naruto took a calming breath. It was nice, almost, to feel the adrenaline course through his veins, like fire. Battle-thrill, he secretly called it when he watched the older ninja in the training grounds sparring. Not that they knew he was there.

His eyes snapped open.

Alright Naruto, time to do this!

In his mind it was like a mission. A mission, when he hadn't done missions for a very long time. Hopefully, the blond wasn't too rusty.

But, then again, being on the run from, and being held hostage by S-rank criminals had to count for something. Meh, it was like extra-credit or something, to make up for all the times he was vadalizing- er, skipping class. Sharp. That was the word. Yeah, he had to be sharp.

Damn, I'm good. Naruto thought. His kage bunshin soon came back, ready to report.

"Nothing boss." Was the collective response. Although one did keep rambling on about a creepy clown mask in Kosai's room and the lack of ramen.

The blond dismissed them, and they dispersed in a poof of smoke.

First things first, Nina's room.

He bust through the door, abandoning stealth as the house seemed to be empty. Not to mention he was impatient. Something was nagging at him; probably the fact that he was completely going against all his instincts, that were only augmented by his shinobi training.

The blond's eye flickered quickly over the room. Carpet, walls, ceiling. Nothing suspicious; no obvious sign of a struggle. He looked under the furniture but to no avail.

The genin headed to the kitchen for more clues. No leads there. Unwashed dishes and leftovers, that was it.

Several other rooms on the first floor yielded nothing.

He dashed up the stairs to the second floor.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

The blond shook his head; only guest rooms were on the second level anyway. He should know that as that was were he'd been staying. Not to mention Kosai had told him that during the impromptu tour Nina had insisted on. Naruto shook his head. This was getting him nowhere.

I should've just headed straight to their rooms in the first place.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Four clones appeared. The genin was swiftly snapping out orders. "You two," He pointed to the ones on the left, "fan out. You other two split up. Check the basement and the attic."

Seeing that their creator was in a horrible "I'll-snap-some-necks-if-you-don't-get-moving" mood, they left without comment.

The entire house, it seemed, was empty. Devoid of life.

Finally, he found a lead. Something was underneath the house. Below the basement, according to his clone.

---

"What..what is this?" He whispered in horror and disgust.

Naruto had quickly found the secret passageway in the basement that lead down here..to..this place. Imagine "evil lab" and a healthy dose of "creepy" , "medieval" and "dungeon", and you had what he was looking at. It had dim lighting, cages everywhere and tubes filled with liquid that gave off a faint greenish glow.

The blond's eyes were locked onto the deformity in front of him. The worst traits of a human female, dog, and reptile were mixed together. All ugly, all over. The front/upper half was vaguely humanoid, but the skin was a sick scaly ash-colored mess. Patches of skin seemed to be tattered, and raw. The face looked like wax that had been allowed to melt a bit, sag and twist, before cooling it. It's eyes were human.

They screamed, and screamed and screamed. The eyes would forever haunt him.

This monster..had once been human.

Unable to tear his eyes from it, his eyes continued to drink in the nightmarish sight before him: the body was half twisted in the wrong direction, a short mouth/snout protruding from it's face. Naruto wondered if it could speak, and decided he hoped it could not. The ears were higher on the head than they should be, and a light coat of fur covered them. They were pointed, but neither human nor dog. The hands and feet were attached to too-long limbs, and almost had a webbed look (the fingers were partially fused together), and had short, thick, pointed nails. The tail was short, twisted, and covered in a grotesque mix of scale and fur.

The bottom half was beast, animal. The legs were short compared to the arms. The monster was caught between walking on two legs and four; neither suited it. A half-crawl was what it managed at best.

And then, the mouth opened. The teeth were a mangle of dog and human, and the tongue was forked. "Kill me."

The voice..it was a pale imitation of a human woman..but at it's core, still a person.

Naruto didn't know what the appropriate emotions he was supposed to be feeling. Pity? Disgust? "Disturbing" didn't even nearly cover it. With a start, he realized he was trembling.

"Kill me!" This time the rasp was louder, more urgent, intent.

The blond reached for a kunai, only to realize his kunai holder wasn't there. Dammit! Had he ever retrieved it from the tree? A crushing weight fell down on him as he figured out what he was feeling: fear. And he was weaponless, to boot. Naruto was kicking himself for his carelessness that border-lined on stupidity.

More than anything, he wanted to back away, and run out of the place screaming, to hell with his pride!

Clap. Clap. Clap. Naruto spun around, seeing who could be applauding such a thing.

Kosai!?

"I see you've found my latest project. Isn't she beautiful, my dear wife?"

What..what the fuck? What...what the hell? Disgust and horror washed over him, down to his dirty rotten core.

"How can you do that?!" He shouted in anger, hiding his fear. This man could give Orochimaru a run for his money as far as "twisted experiments" went. Naruto wished he had a kunai and could just stab it into his flesh; slit his throat and watch his blood gush out and stab him over and over.

"How can you not see the genius? I'm combining ninjutsu and fuinjutsu to recreate a lost kinjutsu!" Kosai raved. If it was possible to rave without raising your voice.

"That's just wrong!"

It was sick, but as much as he wanted to kill his wife (to put everyone out of there misery) Naruto did not want to touch that thing with his bare hands, as wussy as it sounded. Could he even kill the thing bare-handed anyway? The blond would have to do it with chakra.

Kage Bunshin would be moot for a direct attack. All it would make was more of him. Maybe if they transformed into something? Given the man's interests, Sexy Jutsu probably wouldn't be effective either. Harem Jutsu was just an upgrade..and summoning would pose the same problem as Kage Bunshin.

'Damn'

All that left was Rasengan which was not finished, not perfected, and his most unreliable technique. Great.

Someone just socked him in the stomach. That had to be the explanation. Cause the thing stumbling out from behind Kosai, could not be Nina.

"Nii-chan?"

"Isn't it wonderful?" Kosai asked conversationally, stroking..her..hair. "I fused her and my dear mother along with Tana-chan."

Nina's back was stooped, and she was taller than before. Wrinkles and bags were under her eyes, but the rest of her looked much younger. The chest was flat, but the arms were twisted the wrong way, and were more like cat's paws than human hands. The..tail, was bare, raggedly thin fur cover her back, and Nina's tongue was now like a cats.

Naruto couldn't stand looking at her anymore. A young-old person that was half monster.

"Why so sad?" The Grandmother's voice came out of the mouth now. "Nina-chan has helped her Grandmother obtain youth! I can now live again unhindered by old bones and joints."

He was gonna throw up-He was gonna throw up-hewasgonnathrowup! Naruto was dizzy, sick, and felt like crying and screaming at the same time. Wrong. Wrong. On so many levels. His brain must have been in shock, only short sentences and a slow sense of horror being processed. No. No. No.

Nina. There was no way to get her back. The only thing that could release her was death.

But he couldn't do that. Not her! Kill her? No..no. But only a monster remained where his cheerful almost-sister was.

"N..Nina?"

"Wha's wrong, Nii-chan? You seem sad."

Even her voice was different.. could she not register what had been done to her? All she'd babbled about was how great her daddy was, and that he was gonna find her mommy.

The blond couldn't take it. Naruto was overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed. Too much, all at once.

Outtahere..Get me out of here! It was all he wanted, his single most heart felt desire. At this moment, he would give anything just to disappear.

Become a ghost.

The blackness came and swallowed him, and Naruto was back there.

Back in that place he never wanted to return to.

-----

Words: 5,119

Damn. That was a bitch to edit. I just really wanted to get this "arc" over with though. I'm thinking one or two more "mini arcs" and then we'll be at the reveal *winks at saph* My hand hurts now T.T

Oh, the word for Sarutobi (the one Naruto can't remember) is "hope" for those who care. My head is just blank right now. Oh! I found a friend here that I know in real-life. Her account is Endless Raindrops. How weird is that? Hehe..finally I'm getting into darker stuff in my writing. Was the dog good? Oh and I did a play on Kosai's name. Was he evil enough? Er..I can't think of any "prompt" questions. Can you just review guys? I'm feeling burned out.

7/26/09