Hey there! Yeah, it's been a while. Hm. Haven't heard from Saph lately, it seems she has disappeared...

A big shout out for Rizember! She looked over part of the chapter for me, and also named the dragon. Go read her stuff!!

XxVioletAshesxX: haven't decided who he's gonna kill yet, and exactly how the ending is gonna go down. Probably no pairings either. Well..maybe.

MidnightPhase: I try my best! I tried not to "change my style", so hopefully you like it!

7thDwarf: lol. I keep getting comments like these. Who says it's just Kyuubi's fault. Kukuku..Thanks! XD

SaphireWhiteWolf and Gone and forgoten: Yum!! Thanks. Also to Saph: where the hell are you?? where have you gone? T.T

Obito-san14 and XXcreepy-girl360XX: thanks, I'm glad you like the updates. Cool screen name, btw (me likes obito!!XD) Okay. Please read Switch then?? *puppy dog eyes*

Houkakyou: seriously?! You think it's epic?? Woot! (thanks for checking out switch, btw)

---Chapter 12: From Creepy to Truffles in Turmoil

There. Almost there!! She wiggled her eel-like body with joy. She pumped her wings twice, gliding through the air; flicking her tail, letting loose a roar!

Kailan was here!

---

He crouched, on all fours, eying his opponent warily. Who was it to challenge him? Perhaps the beast was more powerful than it appeared? The fact that it had the nerve and daring to fight him made him nervous. He felt his claws dig into the earth, and answered the bear's roar with a feral snarl. He bared his teeth; a primal urge rose within him.

Hunger. That was what he felt.

Bear meat..maybe it would taste good? He hadn't planned on catching game this size, but it would do. All that mattered was that meat would soon be filling his belly.

The bear roared back, and fell back onto all fours, charging.

He returned the challenge, barrelling forward on all fours. The bear swiped at him, attempting to lop his head off, or claw at him until he was incapicated. He threw his body to the left, the paw missing his neck by a hair's breath. Before the bear had a chance to spin around, he pounced, landing on it's back. His opponent had no chance now! Giddyness filled him. His fangs sunk into the bears flesh, at the base of the neck. It flailed, attempting to throw him off. Blood matted it's fur. Growling, he sunk his claws into the beast's shoulders, latching on tightly. The bear stood upright, in a futile attempt to get him off.

Naruto "ran" his claws and teeth stayed where they were, but that left his legs hanging. So he moved his legs and feet in a motion not unlike walking up trees, but instead he was "running" up the animals back. His sharp nails gouged it's back, blood pouring from the wounds. He clawed at it with avengence, ripping open the back one "step" at a time. Within moments, half of it's skin was painfully scraped off, exposing the muscle beneath, some of which was ripped out.

He jerked his head, tearing out a hunk of furry flesh, and ripped his claws out, pushing off it's bloody back like a spring board with his feet.

Savagely, he threw back his head, letting loose a howl!

Victory!

Victory!!

He let the whole forest hear his cries of triumph.

Naruto jerked up, eyes snapping open, panting heavily. I..I killed him. And ate him. His features were a blur in his mind. A man, hard face, strong jaw, crooked nose. Older..older than him. But not old-old. Kakashi-old. Or Iruka-old. A..bad feeling welled up in him, like he was gonna throw up, but worse.

"Weak-Naruto is dead! Or do you want to act like the original?"

"Voice?!" His own er, voice, was hollow.

"It is I. Didn't you swear no one would hurt you? No one would make you feel weak, feel fear again?"

His eyes were wild. "I..I ..yes!"

"Then cast aside such useless things."

"That it? Do you not want to wander back to your disgrace?"

His eyes latched onto the dog. "What do you know? Huh, huh?! I don't need you! I've got Voice. Voice care for Naruto, and Naruto is good for Voice. Or else bad things happen!!" He shouted. As he did so, the blond threw his arms into the air, emphasizing his point.

The dog watched him rant calmly.

"You just hit the bottom of the canyon. Hard, with a big splat. Ain't no more fun anymore kid," Naruto could've sworn there was a hint of sadness in Fuuten's voice and eyes. "See ya."

One last final time he dispersed, grains of sand in the wind.

The breeze swirled around him, and Naruto swore he heard something whisper "Good bye."

---

"Itachi, how soon?"

He glanced at the red head. "Three days."

"Good, un! Leader-sama is restless!"

---

Trudge.

What a funny word. A cross between truffle and fudge.

Well, maybe that wasn't exactly the real meaning of the word.

But hey, screw it!

Naruto was not happy at all. As he trudged towards Konoha, all he could feel was turmoil.

Uh, turtle and foil?

Nah, the scribe writing this down got nothing.

The blond could barely feel the sun's rays on him. All that he focused on was Konoha, and getting there soon. This determination and blank-thought state kept his mind from wandering to other things. Like, what would he tell them? "Oh, sorry, I just went a little crazy and ATE A MAN!" Was there even a home left for him to go back to?

The Voice's words layed heavily on him "She hates you!"

Sure, he had more than Sakura-chan. There was Sasuke-teme..the ramen stand owners..um, Iruka. Kakashi? But the voice all had doubts about them, and the voice was all he had left.

"One day, they will fear us."

Truffles or no truffles.

---

He gasped. The gates! He..he..was here! At last, he'd returned! Naruto could see them through the trees from his vantage point on the ground. Just a couple hundred meters away..!~

"It will burn!"

The blond flinched at the suddeness.

"But, I thought..if we're going to live here?"

"They must pay for there crimes! None are innocent."

Naruto tilted his head. "None are innocent?" For some reason, he could never say no to the Voice.

"Yes," it crooned. "We will bring balance, justice. All that have wronged us will learn to fear us."

A twisted grin grace his face. "And grovel at our feet?" Something dark wormed into his heart.

It was like a drug; he craved approval from it; the voice. Despite all his encounters, it felt as if he hadn't had contact with any form of humanity in a long time.

"I promise."

---

"How do I know if they still want me anymore? What will they think about us?"

"Henge." It ordered.

Naruto did so, shakily. Why did he feel so frail, weak even? "Henge!" He whispered, urging his chakra to wrap around his form, like blanket. It coated his skin, hair, eyes.

Now Uzumaki Naruto was no more.

Kashiya was in his place; 5'2", 123 lbs. He was gangly, and awkward, looking to be 13 or 14. Kashiya's grey eye's shined, and his brown hair fell flat, shorter than Naruto's hair, and less wild. Kashiya was an amnesiac, with only the clothes on his back and a few personal belongings. All that were left of his memories was his first name, and the knowledge that he was the survivor of some horrible attack. An invisible person sometimes helped him; he thought it was a ghost, or some type of spirit that was watching over him.

Mother, father, is it one of you that watches over me?

Excitement filled him as he looked up from his feet, seeing the large gate. He'd retained his ability to read, all that was really gone was his personal experiences; all that made him.

Kashiya lacked an identity.

The perfect sponge to absorb anything and everything.

"Go in." For a moment, the disembodied voice spooked him. But then Kashiya remembered that this was the voice of the spirit that was watching over him.

He nodded. "Hai, spirit-san."

Obediently, he went up to the gates.

Two men appeared before him. The gate guards. Vaguely a memory stirred as he saw the vests they wore. Chuunin? The pair seemed to be good friends.

One had dark brown hair, and it was long in the front, covering one of his eyes; the other had blackish colored hair and a bandage across his nose.

"What is your business here?" The brown haired one said.

"I need a place to live," a slightly hanted look entered his grey eyes. "My village is no more."

The one with the bandage looked at him pityingly. "I see, we'll take you to the Hokage." He turned around, his partner as well, presumably to lead him into the village. "Oh, and my name's Kotetsu." The chuunin said, looking back over his shoulder.

Kashiya nodded, following them, watching in a bit of awe as the large gates opened. "Kashiya."

The last unnamed chuunin smiled. "And I'm Izumo, nice to meet you."

"I'm sure you'll like it in the village." Kotetsu continued.

"Who is in charge?"

"Lady Tsunade is now, she was Sarutobi-sama's student, along with Master Jiraiya, who brought her back."

"The legendary healer?" He asked, a bit in awe.

"Yeah, that's her." Izumo chuckled. "She can't keep up with the heaps of paperwork at all though."

'Ask about Uzumaki Naruto.'

'?' The name stirred something within him. Subtly he nodded, unconsciously responding. "How is Uzumaki Naruto?"

The two/duo seemed startled. "Why do you ask?" Kotetsu said warily.

"I don't remember much of my past, but that name shines like a beacon to me." He lied smoothly. In reality, he had no idea why this was so important to the spirit.

"Ah," Izumo gave a sympathetic look, "He's currently in the hospital. Naruto just got back from a mission with Jiraiya-sama. "

"He helped bring Tsunade-hime back himself," Kotetsu chipped in, "Or at least, those are the rumors."

"I see," he murmured. For some reason, that didn't sit right with him.

"Here we are." Izumo anounced proudly. "This is the Hokage Tower where Tsunade-sama resides and takes care of village affairs."

It was impressive tooking, and stood like a pillar, high in the sky, sticking out compared to the low-roofed houses surrounding it. Red and white (like many other things in the village) seemed to be the main color scheme. The pair of chuunin nodded at the guards, as if to say "he's with us" and let him pass through the wooden door without incident.

"Lady Tsunade, we have someone to see you. A passing visitor who may become a permanent citizen." Kotetsu said, voice carrying over to the next room. He assumed that was where this "Princess Tsunade" was.

"Come in then."

Kahiya blushed. She was beautiful all right, and seemed to exude a powerful prescence. Her chakra is intimidating.

"Tsunade-sama," he said respectfully, clasping his hands together and bowing.

"So, who are you then?"

"Kahiya, Hokage-sama," It wouldn't do any good to get on the bad side of powerful people. Especially powerful people put in charge of villages. Villages that raised shinobi.

And shinobi weren't always the most stable of people.

"Where are you from?"

"I.." he faltered. 'A small farming village' "..my village was small, and I remember planting crops."

"You remember?" She questioned.

"Lady Tsunade, young Kashiya here is suffering from partial amnesia."

"I see." She said, accepting Izumo's explanation. "Is there anything else you remember?" She added, her elbows were on her desk, hands together, in a business-like tone.

He hesitated. "No mam."

She contemplated the situation for a few minutes. Kashiya wondered if had been wise not to mention the voice. Invisible spirits that followed you and gave advice weren't strange, were they? And neither was listening to them..in most people's books at least. At least, that was what Kashiya believed.

"Very well then. I will be assigning a genin team to show you the sights and sounds of the village. They should be able to escort you withou trouble." Her tone implied she wanted no crazy antics.

Kashiya nodded acceptingly. The next words would strike a chord with him, despited the fact that he had never met these people, and couldn't even remember if he had.

"Call for Team 7."

---

Words: 2,174

Meh. I just really wanted to get something up!!! This is probably gonnna be the last summer update for this story. I should have just enough time to add another chapter to Switch before school. Then everything is gonna get hectic. If it's a bit confusing, it's meant to be. I meant to "finish" this arc and the two big reveals be next chapter. Guess that will be in chapter 14 then..

Please let me know what you thought! Was it okay, were my previous chapters better? What's the deal with Kashiya, the dragon, etc. I love hearing y'alls responses, and occasionally reviewers either get sneak previews, or get to help beta a chapter. Not just saying that either.

Wow. 460 was pretty cool, but what was with the two week wait?! Grr. Looks like a battle-royal next chapter. Hm. What is Tobi gonna tell Naruto Kashi and Yamato??

8/21/09