Disclaimer:……………………… Bah!
Through Crimson Eyes: INSTINCT!
Jiraiya, Hiashi and the other ninjas looked on in horror as the now transformed Naruto slowly rose to his feet. He now stood nearly six and a half feet tall; his lightly furred form sleekly muscled. The nine fox tails behind him swished and curled about him as if each had a mind of its own. The slits of his red eyes were now more pronounced, as were the markings upon his cheeks. Red chakra was roiling about him like crimson flames, flares of energy shooting out across his body.
Then with quick, measured steps, Naruto began to stalk forward, striding directly toward the stricken Hiashi. His lips parted in a snarl, revealing a pair of sharp canines.
There was a slight rush of air as one of the Hyuuga ninjas, apparently hoping to catch Naruto by surprise, launched into a powerful kick from his right side. It was skillfully executed, with almost no sound as he launched himself bodily at the demonic form in front of him.
Too slow…
Bending back slightly, Naruto quickly and effortlessly evaded the strike. As he passed, Naruto reached out, his large clawed hand grasped the now terrified ninja about the ankle, and, swinging him briefly about, savagely smashed him into the ground.
Repeatedly.
The others looked on in shock at the brutality that was displayed; the foolish ninja's body reduced to little more than a bloody mess in a few seconds.
After the sixth time, Naruto dropped the now limp leg, and walked over the top of the bloody mess and towards his initial target. Hiashi, who had by this time managed to shake off his initial fear, immediately motioned for his ninjas to surround Naruto. They moved immediately, albeit unwillingly, into position about Naruto, a total of two dozen.
Glancing around idly, the bestial Naruto let off a small growl, his tails lashing out warningly. His body jerked about as he instinctively sought to gauge his surrounding opponents.
"Hiashi, stop!" Jiraiya yelled, "We have to retreat." He carefully set down the unconscious Neji before turning back to the elder Hyuuga.
Pointedly ignoring him, Hiashi immediately raised his hand, giving his followers the clear signal. All at once, all 24 of the ninjas launched themselves at Naruto, many of them forming seals as they leapt in.
Confronted with this threat, Naruto sprung into action as well. Whipping about, his tails swung off in nine different directions, each one managing to catch one of the attacking humans, throwing each of them backwards with enough force to send many of them through the walls of the surrounding houses. Two of them connected solidly with the village wall over a hundred feet away. The rest of them continued in, all of them striking at Naruto using the Hyuuga taijutsu style Gentle Fist, seeking to disable Naruto's chakra points.
All they managed to hit was air.
SLASH
One of the ninjas was immediately cut down from behind as Naruto, somehow managing to appear behind him, tore through him with a clawed hand blazing with crimson claw-shaped chakra. In a rain of blood the body separated into 5 pieces as the beast continued his grisly work. Catching another ninja by the head, Naruto swung him about, smashing his body into several other ninjas who were just beginning to recover from their shock, before slamming the ninja headfirst into the pavement. Naruto's tails continued to attack as well, each seeming to possess a mind of its own as they independently attacked the remaining ninjas, flinging them backwards.
Before any of them could react from their downed position, Naruto began to rip through each of them, savagely tearing at their bodies.
In the space of a few seconds all 24 were dead, their killer covered in their blood!
Another sound caught his ears and, snarling, Naruto turned as a large crowd of people, the mob from earlier, finally made it to the scene. The jeers and chants that had been coming from the crowd died as they looked upon Naruto's transformed state, a thrill of terror making its way through the crowd. The silence turned to screams as Naruto attacked, tearing through the crowd effortlessly as he lashed out with chakra powered claws. Blood seemed to rain as villager after villager was cut down mercilessly.
Naruto's rampage was halted however when he was jerked backwards as two arms wraped around under his arms and behind his neck in a full nelson. He howled with rage, thrashing bodily about as he tried to shake the older sennin off his back.
"STOP NARUTO! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jiraiya yelled. He hoped that Naruto might recognize his voice, and if he could just hold him back long enough he might be able to regain his senses. He pushed as much chakra as he could muster into his entire body, grappling Naruto with all of his strength.
Naruto was stronger however. Thrashing about, he was able to loosen Jiraiya's hold on him enough to throw him off. As the sennin was thrown off balance, Naruto quickly turned, delivering a powerful backhand directly to Jiraiya's jaw, sending back to crash against the village wall! After his pest had been taken care of, Naruto quickly turned back to the remaining villagers, who had taken this opportunity to run. Naruto snarled and turned his attention back to his original target. Without a pause, Naruto rushed forward, crossing the distance between them in nearly an instant, bringing his claw downwards in a brutal slash towards the Hyuuga patriarch!
A horn sounded in the distance.
Iruka was dressed and ready almost immediately after having heard the alarm. He had practiced it numerous times during drills as had all full ninjas, though there were few situations which warranted a village wide alert. The attack of the Sand and Sound had been one.
The other…
Heading immediately out the door, Iruka spotted a contingent of shinobi dashing quickly over the rooftops, their footsteps only barely heard. He leapt up to join them.
"What is going on!" Iruka shouted over the rushing wind. One of the ninjas, a man with pale blond hair tied up in a pony tail and wearing a black jacket over his vest, answered, "Were under attack!"
While this was certainly not news to Iruka, he could not help but feel a cold pit of dread settle in his stomach.
"Is it… another village, the Sound maybe?"
"No…"
Iruka could feel the cold grow more acute during the slight pause.
"…It's Kyuubi!"
Years of honed reflexes, combined with his activated Blood limit, were the only things which saved Hiashi from meeting a quick death. Almost too fast for even his eyes to follow, Naruto swiped his clawed hand viciously at the older ninja. Dodging nimbly to the right he was again barely able to dodge the tail which came sweeping in from his far right side.
And he was immediately thrown to the ground by the second tail which crashed into his ribs from the left! Driven to the pavement, Hiashi choked in pain, coughing up a bit of blood. Seeing movement, he quickly leaped backwards as Naruto's fist plowed into the ground where he had been, splitting the pavement nearly five feet in all directions.
That was hardly the end of Naruto's attack however. Hefting a sizeable slab of the shattered concrete, Naruto flung it at Hiashi with all his strength as the Hyuuga landed from his leap. Hiashi was barely able to avoid the deadly strike by quickly dropping into a roll, just in time for the slab to sail by his head before smashing into the house behind him, nearly collapsing the wall.
'Damnit' Hiashi thought. As much as he was loath to admit it, he had already found himself out classed by the transformed young boy. The damage inflicted by a single attack was more than enough to demonstrate the kind of brutality that the demon boy could inflict. He knew that he could not take much more.
There was an option though. He knew that if he could hit him with his 64 Hands of Hakke, the resulting negation of his chakra would weaken it enough for him to kill it! Although was also aware that Naruto had broken the Hakke before, during his fight with Neji, that was due to the fact that he had drawn the Nine-Tails chakra through his seal, an area which Neji had not hit. Now that he was drawing upon chakra normally, there was no reason why it shouldn't work. He would have to create some distance between them, which would give him enough time to ready the attack. He took to the roof, hoping to create enough distance for him to execute his plan of attack.
Meanwhile, as Hiashi was formulating his plan, Naruto continued to advance, following him quickly to the roof. Snarling, his chakra began to burn brighter, and his movement speed suddenly increased!
Almost taken off guard, Hiashi was still able to activate the Hyuuga clan's ultimate defense. Releasing chakra from his body, he was barely able to halt Naruto's strike before he began to spin his body, the chakra that he had built up forming a dome of power which pushed him back.
"KAITEN!" He shouted as he activated the technique. Naruto was thrown back several meters by the massive explosion of chakra, only to land nimbly on his feet, and with only a second delay, thrust forward again. Retaining his calm, Hiashi dropped quickly into the Gentle Fist stance. As Naruto came within range, he unleashed his attack:
"HAKKE TWO HANDS!" He shouted has he quickly struck two of Naruto's chakra points.
"FOUR HANDS!" Two more strikes in quick succession.
Naruto reeled back as he was assaulted by the Hyuuga clans most dangerous technique, growling in pain as his chakra points were pushed.
"EIGHT HANDS!" Four more strikes.
"SIXTEEN HANDS!" Eight more strikes came in a blur as the pace of the attack doubled.
"THIRTY TWO HANDS!"
"SIXTY FOUR HANDS OF HAKKE!" He yelled as the last of his attacks struck home. Naruto was driven backward and into the ground violently, leaving a sizeable crater!
His chest heaving from the mild exhaustion, Hiashi inched forward cautiously. Though he knew that his attack had certainly not downed the demon, he would be much weaker now without his chakra.
A large form stood up in the settling dust cloud, and as the dust cleared Hiashi could see clearly the red welts upon the body, and underneath, revealed to his Byakugan, he noted that the chakra circulation had stopped.
Smirking, more confident now, Hiashi shifted into a different stance. This particular stance was only known to the Patriarch of the Hyuuga family. It was a stance that, like the 64 Hands of Hakke, struck at vital points. But unlike striking at vital chakra points, this style struck at the vital arteries, bringing about a certain, and definitely painful, death.
As he shifted stances however, he became acutely aware of something else. As he watched with increasing horror, Naruto's wounds upon his chakra points began to heal, and the chakra began to flow freely again as Naruto's supernatural rate of regeneration took over. In just a few seconds all damage caused by the 64 Hands of Hakke healed as if they had never been made.
"No… That's not possible…" He whispered in disbelief.
So shocked by the futility of his attack, Hiashi was unable to dodge quickly enough as a now fully healed Naruto dashed quickly in, delivering a brutal clawed uppercut to his face.
"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Screaming in pain, Hiashi doubled over has Naruto's claws slashed him directly in the face, tearing at his eyes. He could feel blood leak down his face as everything was reduced to blackness. His eyes burned painfully. He heard a faint noise, quiet foot steps resound all about him. He swung out pitifully at the sound, vainly hoping to keep the beast back.
A sharp pain drove him to his knees as a powerful kick came into the side of his leg, shattering the joint.
Another strike came to the side of his head, throwing him roughly to the ground.
The last thing he could remember before his consciousness faded was the feel of a large hand grasping him firmly by his long hair as he was yanked upwards.
Naruto stood over his fallen prey, the human's hair held tightly in his paw as he lifted him up. Drawing his other hand back, fingers straightened, he prepared to plunge his hand through the hapless creature before him.
Just before his killing stroke began to fall, he heard a voice cry out behind him.
"NARUTO-KUN"
Halting, he half turned, throwing a menacing look over his shoulder. His eyes widened slightly as his red orbs met soft white eyes.
"Oh God!"
Hinata stood horrified at the scene before her. Numerous bloody bodies lay in the street, some of them brutalized beyond recognition. Having been mostly isolated her entire life; she had never bore witness to violence of this magnitude before. She still could not believe that such brutal violence could have been committed by Naruto, though given what she saw there could be little doubt.
She heard a scream of pain from the roof top across the street from where she stood. Steeling herself, she leapt up to the roof.
What she saw shook her to the very core.
A large bestial form stood only a few yards away from her position, looking down at another fallen ninja at his feet. He stood almost twice as tall as herself, nine red furred fox tails billowing behind him. What truly horrified her was that she recognized the outfit, or what was left of it. The beast was wearing the torn remnants of a very familiar bright orange jacket and equally bright orange pants. She was also able to note the unique stripes upon its cheeks.
"N-Naruto… kun?"
What had happened? This was nothing like Naruto, he had completely changed. His nine tails whipped about, smashing into the ground and walls, leaving sizeable holes where they struck
She watched dumbstruck as Naruto reached down and grasped the fallen ninja by his hair, yanking him roughly to his knees. Her hands went to her mouth as she recognized him, taking in the terrible wounds upon his face.
"F-father…"
Naruto drew his hand back, and her body was suddenly hit with a horrible sensation as she felt the demonic chakra begin to build! It roiled about him like a thunderstorm of murderous intent, bombarding her mind with images of death!
Fighting these feeling back, she did the only thing she could think of to do. She called his name.
"NARUTO-KUN!"
Naruto spun around, momentarily distracted from his current quarry as he gauged the newcomer. There were brief images in his mind, like memories. The human who stood before him seemed… vaguely familiar. Her scent was familiar as well.
He strode towards her, her fear causing his blood to burn with bloodlust. He still could not shake that odd sensation however, that feeling that somehow this creature was familiar to him.
No matter, she would be dealt with. She was only human after all, and was little more than prey.
Charging his chakra into his hands, Naruto formed two large claws of crimson energy, and with a snarl, slashed downwards towards the terrified girl.
Jiraiya shook away the dizziness as he pulled himself out of the rather large indentation he had made in the wall. He looked about, searching for any sign of Naruto or Hiashi. Hearing a scream he quickly leapt to the roof tops, hoping to catch Naruto before he went any farther.
He felt a presence land near him as Gaara seemed to simply appear next to him, his face calm as ever. "We do not have much time left" Gaara stated.
The sennin looked at him, uncomprehending "What do you mean by that?"
Gaara seemed deep in thought for a moment as memories of his own experiences flooded his mind. Finally he answered "Naruto is being consumed by the demonic chakra. The longer he remains immersed in it, the more his humanity is eaten away by it. It becomes addictive…" He trailed off.
"I take it that you speak from personal experience"
"…"
"So what can we do?"
"… Naruto needs to be jarred awake from his bloodlust. Only someone close to him, someone who he is deeply familiar with, can reach him in this state. He simply will not be able to recognize anyone else."
"Who could we get?"
"… Not you. That has already been made very clear." Gaara stated deadpan. "The pink haired one is probably the best bet, she would be the closest to him I imagine."
'Either that or his father figure Iruka, though I doubt that we'll be able to get him in time!'
"Until then, all we can do is try to hold him off."
Hinata could not even scream as she saw death descending on her. She could see in Naruto's eyes a moment of recognition before they clouded over once again, the brief flash of humanity wiped out by his burning desire for blood. She shut her eyes tightly.
'Naruto-kun, I'm sorry…
She suddenly felt herself lifted and propelled abruptly, vaguely aware of the explosion behind her as well as an angry growl.
Opening her eyes, she noticed that she was being held in arms that were incased in a skintight jumpsuit, the upper arms tightly bandaged. Lee helped her to her feet before taking his taijutsu stance in front of her.
Now that he was able to get a better look at his opponent, Lee could feel his throat go dry. He knew from some experience that part of this feeling of dread was caused by Naruto's massive killer intent, but unlike in the past, he was finding it much harder to fight off the effects.
Filled with rage at having yet another kill stolen from him, Naruto growled at this latest interloper. He would kill them both!
"NARUTO!"
He stopped short, his red eyes widening.
Sakura had arrived just shortly after Lee, and after her initial concern over Hinata's safety, had turned her attention over to Naruto. Though she too felt the same paralyzing fear that the others had, she forced it down, imagining the Naruto she knew so well: his foxy grin, bright eyes, and carefree demeanor. These images helped her to calm the fear that his now malicious aura aroused in her. She faced him, her eyes moist as she took in his transformed state.
Naruto was thrown into a complete state of flux. He could still feel his blood boil within him, urging him to kill this creature in front of him, yet he could not bring himself to move. He simply stood there regarding her warily.
Sakura began to walk forwards, slowly, her hands raised in a passive gesture. She did not stop even as Naruto snarled at her, his chakra boiling around with enough force to shatter the ceiling tiles upon the roof.
"Please… Naruto…" Sakura whispered, her voice breaking. Naruto merely growled in response, his hands clenching and unclenching nervously.
"Please… come back… don't leave us like this…"
Naruto's growl became louder, and he began to walk slowly towards her, his tails whipping about savagely.
"Don't leave me like this…"
This seemed to be the last straw for Naruto. Howling with rage, he thrust his hand out, catching Sakura by the throat before slamming her into the ceiling. He towered over her, his red eyes narrowing, fangs bared.
Her head throbbing with pain, Sakura simply reached up and grasped Naruto's arm, her grip was light as she looked up into Naruto's bestial eyes.
Naruto drew his second hand back, his fingers forming into a point as chakra began to build at the tips.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" Lee shouted as he launched himself at Naruto, delivering a powerful flying kick, hoping to knock the beast off Sakura. Without ever breaking eye contact with Sakura, Naruto's tails went into action, one of them intercepting Lee's kick while the others struck out at him from eight different angles. Lee was only able to dodge one as the other seven struck him dead on, throwing him backwards to crash next to the still shocked Hinata.
Sakura continued to meet his eyes, unflinching even as they overflowed with tears. She would not fail this time as she had so many others. She had not been able to keep Sasuke from leaving and she would be damned if she let Naruto slip away as well.
"Please…" She whispered.
"Please… come back…"
Naruto's eyes wavered, his hand poised for the kill trembled slightly. Growling softly, he thrust his hand downward…
"Kami-sama!" Iruka whispered. His thoughts were shared by the other shinobi who had arrived with him, each taking in the sight of the many slashed bodies littering the street at the main gate. Many of the victims were not even in one piece, their parts strewn about.
"Naruto… did this?" Iruka asked numbly, the question not really directed at anyone in particular. This was just too unreal, the scene before him forcefully dragging up memories of the time 13 years ago, during the attack by the demon fox. The painful memories washed over him, the old nightmares returning full force.
"WE HAVE A SURVIVOR!"
Iruka shook himself from his daze as he followed the others to where a body lay in the street.
"It's Hyuuga Neji!" The ninja exclaimed, picking up his body and hoisting him onto his back.
"Let's get him to a hospital, NOW!" One of them shouted. The others quickly complied, gathering up the two Hyuugas before making there way back to the hospital.
Which left Iruka.
He stood there, unmoving for a moment.
And then, dropping to his knees, he began to cry…
Sakura opened her eyes hesitantly after she heard the killing blow land. Looking to the side she saw Naruto's hand buried up to the elbow into the ceiling mere centimeters from her chest, the red chakra still pulsing around it.
Looking up, she could see Naruto's face, his expression a mixture of grief and horror as he looked down at her. His eyes were still red, yet they now lacked the gilt, mirror like surface of the killing beast that he had been moments ago.
"…S … Sakura-chan" He whispered hoarsely.
"Hai Naruto" Sakura whispered back. She reached her hand up slowly, stroking her hand over his furred cheek.
He immediately flinched away from her, his eyes wild as the memories of what had transpired began to crystallize in his mind. What had he done! Looking out towards the gate, he could see the bodies littered about on the ground, he could smell the blood. Looking down at his hands, he could see blood on them as well, the crimson ichor dripping from his claws to land upon the shattered roof.
Naruto then doubled over, clutching his head, a loud anguished scream tearing from his throat as the weight of what he had done settled upon him all at once. He didn't even notice when Jiraiya and Gaara landed upon the roof,
Sakura felt herself trembling as she got to her feet, and slowly began to walk towards him again, hoping to give him some manner of comfort.
Before she could reach him however, Naruto propelled himself from the roof down into the street, running as fast as he could towards the gates!
"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled after him. She began to run as well, though she already knew that she would not be able to catch him.
Hinata and the others seemed to recover from the shock of the moment as well, Hinata taking off in pursuit as well.
Jiraiya and Lee merely looked at each other, their thoughts somber as they considered the pain Naruto was feeling now.
Gaara was affected as well. The carnage he had witnessed had been similar to his own outbursts back in his own village years ago. He knew the pain that Naruto felt now, better than anyone.
He had to run!
He had to get away!
Anywhere but here! He had already caused so much suffering, so many deaths!
Their screams seemed to fill his mind even as he neared the massive walls of Konoha, even as he could see the bodies littered about the street. The smell of blood was becoming overpowering.
Behind him he could hear Sakura shouting at him, but the sound simply drove him faster. He had to get away from her, had to get away from everyone. He had killed so many, and had hurt his friends, his precious people. He had nearly killed Sakura, one of his very best friends.
As he came to the wall, he poured his chakra into his legs, thrusting himself upwards and over the gigantic wall. Landing on the other side he broke into a run once again, dashing through the thick forest which surrounded the village of the Hidden Leaf.
Without looking back, Naruto disappeared into the night, his nine fox tails streaming behind him.
Two figures stood concealed in the trees, watching the carnage taking place at the gates. One of them was tall, enormous actually, with an equally enormous sword attached to his back. His companion was considerably shorter, though he carried himself with an aura of quiet menace which made the larger one seem much less intimidating by comparison. Their cloaks, black with red clouds sewn into the material, billowed in the night breeze.
"So what do you make of this situation Itachi?" The large one asked, his deep voice rumbling in his chest.
"…"
"Itachi?"
"… Let's go Kisame." Itachi answered quietly.
"What! Why!"
Itachi shot him a glance indicating that he had no interest in discussing this. Kisame ignored it "We have him right where we want him now! He has left the village with absolutely no protection! This is the perfect moment to capture him."
"You are a fool Kisame." Itachi stated. His red eyes lingered on the forest where Naruto had disappeared.
"What?"
"You are a fool to think that the two of us alone would be able to capture him at this point. He would annihilate us. Our only option now is to gather the entire organization. We must treat Naruto with a much greater degree of caution."
Kisame looked as though he might continue the argument, but thought better of it. There was no deterring Itachi when he had made up his mind, and frankly he had no desire to pursue the Kyuubi brat by himself.
The two of them then vanished into wisps of smoke.
AN: This is my second revision to this chapter. I just corrected a few more spelling and grammar errors which had previously escaped my notice before. My thanks to all of you who provided me with the constructive criticism and sharp eyes for your help in catching these problems.
Chapter 11: Pursuit should be out in a couple days. It has taken me a little while to write, but I am close to done.
To all my readers, thank you for reading.