Chapter 6

The rain seemed never-ending. He watched puddles merge and form mini-rivers that streamed over his toes. It pounded rhythmically over his head and shoulders; and ran down his neck, soaking every inch of him.

But he was numb to the cold. He was numb to everything. He felt... nothing.

His movements were robotic, he didn't care where he was going; his legs were moving by themselves as if on autopilot. Even his tail trailed behind on the ground, lifeless and still.

The disguise jutsu had dissipated shortly before he'd left the porch outside the Haruno household. Not that he remembered doing so. His mind was as blank as his emotions.

Despite this his senses still picked up on the lone figure following silently across the rooftops. He ignored it. What did it matter to him? What did anything matter?

The presence in the back of his mind had other ideas. It bared its teeth at it.

Kakashi was fuming. It had taken over an hour to get the story straight and to calm the outraged Sakura. By that time, Naruto had already disappeared. It was just so unreasonable. The boy hadn't even done anything!

He rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. Who knows what kind of devastating effect this was going to have. He needed to find Naruto, and quickly.

Swiftly thanking his host, he sprinted down the street looking for signs of the boys passage. He cursed silently as he realised all traces had already been washed away.

The words in his head at that moment would have made Tsunade blush like a schoolgirl.

All her guests had sighed with relief and, one-by-one, collecting up her gifts to take upstairs to her room.

It had been an eventful birthday. After that brief but oh-so-very embarrassing outburst her mother had apologised with the biggest birthday cake she had ever seen. It seemed even her guests had thought nothing of it, so that was ok. Only Kakashi-sensei had brought it up.

Sakura frowned as she remembered his worried expression (or what she assumed was a worried expression, it was hard to tell anything from what little you could see of his face). Perhaps it was a little unfair on Naruto, but he didn't have to leave!

She had put together a plate of food for him and brought it outside, only to find he had already left. 'How dare he leave my party!' growled inner Sakura.

Then she stopped. In her hand was the little gift Naruto had given her, she hadn't opened it. Wondering what he could possibly have given her, she pulled at the ribbon.

'Probably just some crappy little...'

She gasped in amazement. Hardly daring to believe it, she turned over the emerald green hair comb to admire it from every angle. He had bought it for her!

Instantly, tears sprang to her eyes. She wiped them away irritably. Forgetting her other gifts, she made her way to the mirror to try it on. It was perfect.

Her mother watched curiously as the front door slammed and a pink haired figure wearing an emerald green hair comb sprinted down the street.

The ANBU was getting annoyed. It had been constantly raining and he was soaking, yet he had to remain tailing the brat.

Wiggling his toes to try to get feeling back to them, he watched as Naruto plodded down the street and abruptly turned left.

'Left?' He thought in surprise. 'He doesn't live that way...'

He had assumed the boy had been heading home. This was odd.

Springing from his perch on the far roof, he shadowed him from the street instead, keeping several feet behind at all times so as not to be noticed. Perhaps he was going to visit someone? There was nothing but houses that way.

'Why is he going this way?'

As they reached the huge stone wall surrounding Konoha, he stopped. Surely he would turn back now, there was nowhere else to go. He hid in the shadow of a building so the boy wouldn't see him when he went past.

But Naruto didn't stop.

The ANBU watched in confusion as he climbed the wall with his claws ((If you've ever seen spiderman... just like that)) and disappeared over the top.

Gritting his teeth in exasperation he used chakra to propel himself to the top and followed the boy into the trees on the other side.

It was dark and eerily quiet. Crouching down, he searched the ground for signs of footprints. He frowned as he noted the scorched underbrush and scratch marks on the bark of trees.

He stepped carefully, so as not to make a sound, all senses alert for anything. But he couldn't react in time. The creature dropped from the branches above him, expelling all the air from his lungs. He didn't have the breath to scream as its fangs pierced his throat.

The scents of the forest, oh they brought back such fond memories. The freedom, the rainwater on the leaves, the blood of a fresh kill... 'wait what?'

Naruto-kyuubi opened his eyes and turned in the direction the smell was coming from. He sniffed. Human. But that wasn't all. He sniffed again. Something familiar. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Something foul.

Flexing his claws, he dropped to all fours and charged back towards the smell. He knew that scent. With each stride anger built up in his chest, forcing chakra to flow from every inch of skin and surround him in a glowing Kyuubi-shaped ball of fury.

'How dare she be here!'

There was no way his target couldn't have felt him coming. The very earth was trembling beneath him. Sure enough, she was waiting for him, hackles raised and spitting acid that sizzled through the undergrowth before her. Behind her was the prone body of an ANBU.

"NIBI!" he roared.

She bared her fangs in that patronising grin she always had.

"Why hello there, kyuuuuuuubi," she smirked, deliberately drawing out his name in a belittling way. "Have you come to join me for dinner?"

She purred and rubbed up against him. He batted her away, glaring at her. She giggled and twitched her two tails at him, before returning to what was left of her meal. If anything, her arrogance infuriated him even more.

He pounced, sinking his inch long fangs into her haunches. Screeching, she kicked out at his head, but he dodged and skidded around to face her head on. Her pupils were dilated so much, they had almost disappeared. Purple chakra enveloped her and she puffed herself up to her not-so-very impressive true size. She waved her tails violently, battering anything that got in the way.

"Why are you still in that ridiculous human form kyuuuuubi?" she sneered.

They circled each other, looking for an opening to attack. He said nothing.

"You should be thankful, Danzo-sama will help you, like he helped me." She licked her lips. "You can be your true self again, it'll be just like the old days. You and me. No more humans, we..."

He didn't let her finish. There was nothing she could say that he would ever believe. He slashed viciously at her face, successfully scratching three deep marks into her snout.

Enraged and in pain, she headbutted him in the stomach, sending him flying head-over-heels into a tree. It knocked the breath out of him, but caused no real damage. He flipped back onto his feet and dodged just in time as she sent a chakra fuelled paw into the ground where he'd just been lying.

But she was faster than he was in her true form. One of her tails caught him by the leg and swept him into another tree with such force that he was certain this time he would come away with some broken ribs.

It wasn't looking good. He couldn't defeat her in his current state.

Frustration ate at him. Nibi laughed and strutted round in a circle. Baiting him and smirking at his failed attempts to hit her. Rage boiled within him.

Suddenly he felt something release. Pain seared his stomach for just a moment, in the place where his seal was. Then he felt chakra infuse him. More chakra than before.

He saw Nibi's eyes widen and her pace come to an abrupt stop as two more tails emerged from his backside to join the one he already had. His grin widened. Now he had three tails, there was no contest between them. He would beat her to a pulp.

Danzo paced the Hokage's office, deep in thought. Not long ago he had received word of a large surge of Chakra in the forest near the border of Konoha. He wasn't concerned, but it complicated matters.

Nibi had been a successful test, but now she was definitely making a nuisance of herself. She would have to be contained for now. It was the kyuubi that was the troubling thing. It appeared to be progressing at a much faster pace than he had anticipated.

Not to worry though. It only meant his plans would need to be implemented sooner than expected.

For now, he also had the chuunin exams to plan. If all went well, he would have not just two but three jinchuuriki under his control.

When the ANBU troop arrived on the scene there was no sign of movement. The leader, wearing a bird mask, surveyed the area and determined with a nod that all was clear.

Quickly they emotionlessly destroyed the remains of their comrade and gathered up the unconscious cat demon to take back to HQ.

It had been over a week now since her birthday. Naruto had never come back.

Even Sasuke seemed more melancholy. She didn't blame him, it was almost lonely without that loud-mouthed annoying idiot.

She started as Kakashi landed infront of them without warning. "Sorry im late, I... oh never mind." He realised they just weren't listening.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke got to his feet. "Are we entering the chuunin exams?"

Kakashi sighed. Sakura came closer. She was also interested in the answer, the chuunin exams would be a good opportunity to prove herself to everyone.

"No."

She nodded, unsurprised. Sasuke clenched his fists.

"Why!? I'm ready! I can do it!" The desperation in his voice was clear.

Kakashi placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "You know why. Teams of three remember, Sasuke, teams of three."

Sasuke hung his head dejectedly. Teeth grinding in frustration. "Right," he said between clenched teeth.

"We shall be watching though, try to learn as much as you can from the participants. You can use it for when you do compete."

He turned and stalked off before Kakashi had even finished speaking. Sakura sighed; he was getting increasingly more difficult to deal with. She looked up at the sky and touched the hair comb in her hair.

"Naruto, where are you?"

The first two parts of the chuunin exams were conducted privately, but they could watch the third and final event. The tournament. Sakura settled into her seat between Sasuke and Ino. The blond's team had failed during the second event, but in a rare moment of kindness, Sakura had decided not to rub her nose in it. It wouldn't do to be childish and immature all the time. She was growing up; time to act like it.

Sneaking a glance to the side, she stole a look at Sasuke. He sat motionless, staring straight ahead with total concentration at the contestants gathering in the arena below, ignoring everything else.

On Sasuke's left sat Kakashi, nose buried in his little orange book. He had been on time for once. Past him lounged another jounin, Gai-sensei, who sprang to his feet every so often to shout encouragement at the almost identically dressed youth in the arena. It was embarrassing to be sat so close to the guy. Sakura tried to hide behind her hand as several people in the rows infront turned to find the source of the disturbance.

She glanced to her right. Ino looked bored and played with her ponytail; no doubt she would rather be in her flower shop right now, but stayed to support her friends. On Ino's right sat the pretty dark haired girl, Hinata.

Sakura didn't know Hyuuga Hinata that well. She was a quiet girl that kept to herself most of the time. As if sensing her gaze she looked up at Sakura and gave her a shy half-smile. She smiled back, then turned back to the arena.

There were eight participants still in the tournament.

Another Hyuuga, Negi, stood by his teammates, Tenten and the Gai-lookalike Rock Lee. Next to them stood Kiba, his puppy lying on top of his head, and Shino, as mysterious as always. She made a mental note to one day find out what he actually looked like beneath that thick heavy fur coat.

The final three Sakura didn't recognise. They were ninja from another village; a blond girl clutching a giant over-sized fan, a guy with odd purple facial markings, and a red-haired boy.

She narrowed her eyes at the red-haired youth. There was something about him... she just couldn't put her finger on it.

Sasuke had apparently noticed it too. He was watching the boy with undisguised ferocity.

Soon the first match was underway.

Rock lee versus Kiba. Not for the first time Sakura wondered whether he was allowed to bring his pet with him; nobody made a move to stop him so she assumed it was ok. The others cleared the arena, leaving just the two of them (and dog) with the invigilator.

He gave a nod and rock lee immediately sent a flying kick to begin the fight.

It was over in no time at all. Kiba and his dog, Akamaru, lay in a jumbled mass of limbs infront of the victorious rock lee. Gai-sensei was literally crawling over the railings in excitement, yelling his praises.

Hinata sighed in disappointment. Not surprising, Kiba was her teammate after all, but she hadn't exactly been all that encouraging. She was supposed to be here to support him right? Sakura shook her head in exasperation. 'Hopeless girl'.

Next up was Negi versus the red-haired boy, whose name was revealed as Gaara. This would be interesting. She sat forward slightly to see better.

Gaara had a large gourd tied to his back. Sakura wondered if it was the sand village's thing to possess over-sized objects. 'I wonder if they're compensating for something...... lets not go there.'

Posing as the third Hokage was easy. Danzo sat by the Kazekage of the sand village overlooking the tournament, completely at ease.

Excitement was threatening to overflow inside him. 'Soon... it will happen soon... I have it all planned out perfectly'.

He stole a glance at the Kazekage. His spies had assured him that he suspected nothing, believing this all to be his own brilliant idea. Danzo struggled not to laugh insanely, as much as he would've loved to. It hadn't taken much to infiltrate the inner workings of the sand village and plant this scheme.

The second match had begun. He watched with predatory anticipation, his eyes never leaving Gaara's face. Under ordinary conditions the two were evenly matched; but Gaara wasn't ordinary.

'Soon. Very soon. The seal should be at breaking point now.'

Sure enough, the boy was already beginning to change.

Sakura watched in horror as the sand surrounding the red-haired boy cleared to reveal a misshapen form. Tan coloured flesh with swirling blue patterns covered him from head to toe. A single... tail?... curled round to rest against his back.

He didn't look human anymore. He looked... like a racoon. 'What the hell kind of jutsu is that!?' exclaimed inner Sakura.

Negi seemed just as shocked, but recovered quickly and leapt to resume his attack. The Gaara-turned-rodent bared his fangs in a feral grin and raised a clawed hand... paw?

The shockwave from the impact sent everyone in a three mile radius reeling.

Sakura coughed. Sand and dust filled the entire arena in a choking cloud, concealing everything. She waved a hand in front of her face, blinking to stop her eyes tearing up. Shadowy figures stumbled past her, arms held up before them like bizarre mummies.

As the dust settled, she began to make out something unbelievably large standing in the middle of the arena. Something enormous. Something that was growling deeply; the sound of which resonated around the stadium. Something with such killer intent she could feel it to the depth of her soul, and it terrified her.

Swinging his tail high and roaring in triumph, Shukaku tore a hole in the arena wall and stepped out into the streets of Konoha.