Author Note: Hurray! Reviews! Thank you everyone! Now, what will happen to the one and only Naruto? Well, you'll be finding out in this chapter of course, and, let's say, a few other evil twists. Gosh, I love evil twists. Anyways, without any more babble, here is the next installment of Darkside! Whoo!

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Ahh! Spoiler alert! ... To those of you that haven't read far into the manga, Naruto loses control of himself once four tails have formed in his chakra. Just thought I'd spoil that for you... though it's not really such a bad thing... it's important to know! Really!

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Darkside

The troublesome situation

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Flashback...

Shikamaru sighed. What another boring day filled with nothing and, the worst of all... paperwork. The highly intelligent ninja absolutely detested paperwork, it was an abomination. Because of paperwork a one Nara Shikamaru currently found himself standing before Tsunade's desk.

Shoving both hands into his pockets, the exhausted man waited patiently (patiently in his opinion, anyways) with a slight frown creeping onto his lips. Tsunade read over the report he had to file out regarding the Chunin exams and finished as if she only read half of what he had written (and he assumed she had too).

"This looks decent. Shape up on your penmanship before writing anything else." She smiled, chiding Shikamaru but he didn't seem to be very interested.

Shikamaru slouched, deciding that keeping his posture perfect was just too troublesome, even if he was standing before a highly respectable person. Oh well.

"Besides everything else, there is something I want you to do while on the next mission with Sakura and Naruto. I highly advise you pay attention this time, Shikamaru."

Sighing again, but this time mentally, the leaf-nin showed that he was all ears and expected to be lectured about safety or keeping the team together. However, as she began to explain, Shikamaru had to stop his superior mid-sentence.

"Wait, so this is about Naruto? What did he do this time?"

"This is serious!" She saw Shikamaru visibly flinch so she decided that calming down seemed like a perfect thing to do. "Yes, this is about Naruto. Something important, that you must be aware of."

"And that would be...?"

Tsunade folded her hands together on the surface of her desk, glancing at Shikamaru sternly, silently hoping he would understand. "Naruto has always been looked down upon his whole life, that I'm sure you know of. He has a very... powerful demon harbored within his body, allowing Naruto to have unique abilities. But... his chakra can become deadly and he can lose control of himself if he's reckless." She paused briefly.

"You need to make sure that doesn't happen, and I mean it." Tsunade reached into her desk and produced three seals, identical to the ones Jiraiya gave Kakashi.

Shikamaru reached for the three thing pieces of paper, scanning over the professionally painted symbols on them. He placed each in a small pocket inside his vest, hoping it wasn't necessary in the future to use them. It would be too troublesome.

"Use the seals on Naruto if the chakra surrounding him grows more than two tails. You will need to place each seal on his stomach with extreme caution, I don't want to risk both his life or those of his teammates. Be careful..."

Flashback ends...

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"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Snarled Naruto, bearing his clenched teeth.

"It looks like we've got ourselves a little pest," the owner of the large shuriken sneered. He laughed mockingly, his shoulders shaking.

Shikamaru stood as if frozen in time. Naruto's chakra was so powerful! He could feel it choking the air, crimson tendrils of astounding strength threatening to strangle everyone. Even his opponent, a bandit that could be comparable to fearsome, looked aghast. This was so unbelievable yet such a sight to behold.

Lipping off again, the bandit who had managed to injure Sakura and immobilizing her arm, was quickly cut off by a fist to his face. He was flung backwards, hitting the ground with a sickening thud and knocked completely unconscious and shut off from the world around him.

"I told you I wouldn't let you hurt my friends!"

Sakura stepped back, away from Naruto. The heel of her right foot connected roughly with a root of a near by tree, knocking her down. The grass cut her hands but she didn't care, she couldn't care. She had seen Naruto like this before but his powers had felt controlled back then, not monstrous and untamed.

"Naruto! I'm okay! Shikamaru is too, everything will be fine!"

The words left her mouth and dropped dead. Naruto must have heard them but showed no signs of recognition. A smile played on his lips, holding within it nothing but wickedness.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll take care of everyone," he said in a voice that was his but not. The look in his stained eyes was alien, feeding the kunoichi's worry and fear.

"Looks like we've got trouble," one of the bandits sighed.

"Yeah, but we can take care of 'im, no sweat!" Another said.

"Right! Let's take this pest down!"

Multiple kunai, all aimed perfectly, were hurled at Naruto with great speed. The blond jumped upwards, dodging the sharp weapons and grabbed the one that had been meant for a head shot.

"Take this!" He snarled.

The kunai, now cutting air two times faster than what the bandit was capable of, pinned down one of the scraggy men within seconds of being thrown. Sharp metal pierced through his forearm, becoming quickly lodged between his flesh and the tree behind him. Unable to get away (and too afraid to move), the bandit fainted, finding his own blood unbearable to look at.

"Naruto," Sakura said cautiously, standing up to her full height. "I think we can take care of.."

"I said I'll take care of everyone!"

Sakura felt at a loss. She couldn't do anything unless she wanted to be forced into 'minding her own business' by Naruto. But there was a way to get him under control. All that came in the form of Shikamaru and his jutsu. It had to work!

"Shikamaru! Do something!"

"Your friend here won't be doing anything, little miss," the bandit that had the large shuriken scowled.

Shikamaru blocked an assault of kunai and shuriken. He couldn't properly get a hold on his opponent while he constantly moved about, but there was a way. However, Shikamaru couldn't even make the proper hand signs before Naruto took out the bandit mercilessly.

Naruto's chakra felt like scorching fire. Its intensity caused gooseflesh to appear on Shikamaru's arms as the ninja formulated a plan in his head. Then, growing right before his eyes, was the beginning of a new tail... a third tail in the crimson chakra moving around Naruto.

"This is too troublesome!"

Sakura ran over to her teammates, each step causing her arm to ache with pain. She immediately noticed the feral look in Naruto's eyes and could feel how dangerous his chakra was becoming. She looked to Shikamaru and watched him quickly withdraw three thin slips of paper.

He threw the first and winced as it landed perfectly on Naruto's stomach. The blond let out a howl of pain and before Shikamaru had a chance to throw the second seal, Naruto's ever growing chakra lashed out at him in waves of crimson.

"Naruto! Stop this!" Sakura yelled as Shikamaru was flung like a rag doll into an ancient tree. Thankfully, the shadow jutsu user got back up, the last two seals ready to be used at any moment.

Crimson chakra flared out once again but Shikamaru dodged it, throwing the second seal and cursing under his breath as the chakra cut it in half. He had one more chance, but Naruto was now too far away.

"Sakura! Catch!"

The kunoichi caught the thin paper between her middle finger and ring finger easily. Naruto flinched in pain from the previous seal, his skin burning underneath his black and orange outfit.

"I'm sorry, Naruto!"

With a quick flick of her wrist, Sakura launched the seal as soon as Naruto turned around. It landed exactly where Shikamaru had aimed the first, causing the blond to double over in pain. He clutched his stomach and howled out, loud enough for the leaves to shake and the forest to echo.

Sakura sighed heavily, both worried and feeling extremely guilty.

Did it work?

Continued in chapter seven!