Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I contributed to Naruto in any way! Nope! None!

Sky-eyed Kitsune: The second to last chapter…please enjoy! And thank you all for the most loverly reviews! I made this chapter a little longer for you all.

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I'd like to let you all know now, I have stopped replying to reviewers because I've got so many that it tends to take an hour to do so! X0 But please know that I treasure each review I get, and read them all. In fact when I read them they made me smile in the way that a writer does when they've realized that they have a reason to write! So sincerely, thank you all who take the time and read and review! I will though be answering questions if someone doesn't understand one part of the story or something along those lines. ^^

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Chapter Eleven: Pain

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Kiba wasn't sure how long he had been outside with Tenten by the blood laden ally. He couldn't tell when exactly it started to snow, but somewhere along the line he felt the frozen drops patter against his skin and almost instantly melt.

He didn't know how long Tenten had clung to him, tears pouring endlessly as she sobbed. He felt almost surreal, like nothing was even happening. Time for that matter, wasn't even happening.

To Kiba it had always seemed like Naruto couldn't die. It didn't matter how bad the injury, how painful the wound. He would always show up the next day with a goofy grin on his face and a few extra scars. He was, in a way, invincible.

Kiba should have known better.

Naruto wasn't always so strong, so incredibly hard to beat down. When Kiba had first met him the blond could barely utter a word without turning his gaze to the floor timidly.

Naruto was human, just like the rest of them. Pain, however, in a way seemed to be different for Naruto. Physical pain didn't bother, didn't even seem to hinder him. He just got back up over and over again. But emotional pain seemed to hurt Naruto more than anything Kiba had ever seen. It could tear Naruto apart from the inside out, and he would never pick himself up again. Emotional pain worked its way inside Naruto in a way that Kiba could never dream of relating to.

Kiba realized a couple years after meeting Naruto that this emotional sore spot seemed to be his only weak point. That's why Kyuubi was created. Kyuubi was Naruto's way of turning into someone that didn't have such a weakness. Kyuubi was Naruto's shield against the world. Kiba wondered what would happen if Naruto ever lost himself to Kyuubi, ever decided that he himself couldn't compare to his superior alter ego.

But then Kyuubi wasn't called a demon for nothing.

When Kiba saw Kyuubi descend through Naruto, it was like watching a horrible transformation from human to beast. Kyuubi didn't care about anything, and he knew he didn't. But that was the way Naruto made him. Kyuubi wasn't even a person. He was the ghost of Naruto's confidence.

Kiba blinked, breaking himself from the haze of his thoughts. He looked down at Tenten, gliding his hands over the soft buns on her head as the snow melted into it and turned it a shade darker with frigid wetness.

Kiba looked up at the sky, and he felt his own eyes water a little. Or maybe it was just the snow falling against his lashes.

Naruto didn't speak as he watched Orochimaru close the door, and it melted back into the white color of the entire room.

Naruto didn't know much about Orochimaru. He had once been a scientist but was arrested for performing inhuman experiments on unwilling participants. He had then gone into business and founded his company around the same time Naruto's father Minato had created his own empire. The two had been extreme rivals, and in a fit of rage Orochimaru shot Minato coming out of his company building after an excellent interview with the press.

Police had searched for Orochimaru but the man had fled the country.

Growing up Naruto always felt such unadulterated hatred for this man…this man that had ruined his life, that had forced him to create Kyuubi.

Naruto felt the rush of fire in his blood as pure hatred burned in his chest, traveling up his throat in liquid form.

"Afternoon Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said as he approached him, a smirk set upon his thin lips.

Naruto felt bile rise up in his throat as he gripped the wound on his shoulder that seemed to be growing hotter and hotter, and blood practically burning through his skin. He spit on the ground in front of Orochimaru, blood mixed with his saliva.

"Oh, someone has a chip on their shoulder," the man chuckled. He passed Naruto, sweeping down beside the blond and scooping up the gun in his hand.

He took out a handkerchief neatly folded in the breast pocket of his suit and wiped the weapon down.

"I have to say, I certainly didn't expect you to be raised as a coward," he remarked casually. He dropped the cloth now sodden with blood and tucked the unloaded gun into his pocket. He looked at Naruto, his eyes digging a tunnel through the blond's sparkling sapphire ones. He smiled a little.

Genuinely.

"You look just like your father."

"Fuck you," Naruto spat, and Orochimaru chuckled.

"You're a spitfire, aren't you? But then again I can't tell whether this is you, or your other self, Kyuubi."

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yes, I know about Kyuubi. Zaku has informed me of everything. That Kyuubi is just another part of you that was created to shield yourself from the blades of the world. Tell me Naruto, how does it feel to be the shell of a person?" Orochimaru crouched down against the wall. "To be such a worthless human being, such a useless thing, that you have to make another self just to get by?"

As Naruto listened to Orochimaru he bit his lip. He couldn't seem to keep up his head as gravity made it heavier and heavier, and he let it go slack, his golden locks overshadowing his face. The blood loss was dizzying.

"What will you do when you realize that no one really cares about you? They just care about Kyuubi, the great gang lord. Kyuubi has everything, and you, well, you have your pitiful memories. You may think that your 'friends' care about you, but you're hiding yourself from the truth: they don't even know you. How can they be your friends when they can't even see past the Kyuubi to the real person you are? Then again that is impossible as well, since you aren't even a person anymore; you're just a container for Kyuubi."

Naruto's body jolted a little as he bit so hard into the tender flesh on his lip that it split open, blood spurting a little and dripping down his chin. A drop pattered onto the floor and Naruto raised his head. He was grinning, cynically almost, as he tipped his head up to Orochimaru, his hair falling back.

"You're telling me things that I've been saying to myself every day of my life for the past five years."

Orochimaru's smirk slowly fell, and he scrunched his thin eyebrows a little.

Naruto released the wound on his arm, shaking his head as he chuckled.

"People like you could never understand…"

Orochimaru stood up and took two steps back as Naruto rolled himself onto his hands and knees, slipping a little in the blood on the floor.

"Making Kyuubi…was hard enough on its own. You're right, I'm his container--" Naruto coughed harshly, spitting up more blood that poured into the puddles underneath him. "…but he's a part…of me. He's not his own self, not his own entity. He's something that I made. But in order to make him…" Naruto pushed himself up from the floor, ignoring the strain in his injured shoulder as his muscles tightened. He wobbled a little, holding out his hands for balance as his vision ricocheted. "…I have to have his qualities. I can't give him something that I don't already possess. I realize now, that Kyuubi is a lie…Kyuubi is just an extension of myself, and nothing else." Naruto stood to his full height, running a red hand through his hair, leaving heavy streaks of blood from his soaked hand and staining the locks a deep crimson.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his teeth gritting slightly behind his tight lips. Naruto's eyes were wild, blue tinted slightly red in the bright light of the white room.

"I am Kyuubi."

Sasuke dipped his head up as he scanned the building. It didn't even look like a building anymore, but a skeleton.

He pressed the muscles in his quivering legs forward, the snow that had layered quickly under his shoes crunching. The snow was falling harder now making Sasuke's hair damp, and he pulled his coat more tightly around him.

He shook as he approached the door falling off its hinges.

Naruto could not be in there. He could be gone. He--

Sasuke shook his head, shedding the thoughts from his mind as he gripped his fist tightly and kicked open the door, rushing in

Naruto wasn't surprised that Orochimaru didn't want to see him anymore, considering that the blond hadn't exactly given him the broken down and helpless reaction he was looking for.

Naruto in the corner of Zaku's room under a broken window. The chilled air outside slipped in through the cracks but he didn't shiver. He was numb.

Zaku sat on his bed, flipping his loaded gun around his finger lethargically.

"So, orochimaru has been behind all this, ne/" the blond asked casually. Zaku snorted.

"Yea. Betcha didn't think of that huh blondie," he smirked.

"No…" Naruto said, standing. He had forgotten about his arm as it pulsed to the beat of his heart. It was just another part of him that was torn. "Then again, I also didn't know that you could do those things to me…"

Zaku raised an eyebrow as Naruto sauntered over to him, his shirt slipping a little from his shoulder to reveal the smooth expanse of sun-kissed skin hiding underneath.

Zaku grinned. "I'm pretty talented." He clipped his gun to his side and laid back, folding his arms behind his head confidently.

Naruto seemed to glide as he made his way over to Zaku coolly. He sat on his knees on the bed, his legs parting more than they needed to.

Naruto reached a hand to his shoulder, wiping his fingers in the half dry blood coating it.

"Seems that I'm still bleeding," he commented lethargically, and licked the blood off of his fingertips.

Zaku smirked. "Maybe I can get ya some bandages, but it's gonna cost ya."

"And what would that cost be?" Naruto asked, crawling on his hands and knees up to Zaku. He glided his body along the brunette's teasingly, and Zaku pulled down the blond's neck, sucking and biting it fiercely.

Naruto groaned and hid a wince, his hand sidling up Zaku's chest. He dipped his fingers under the man's shirt with one hand, hooking them on the inside of his jeans casually. His other hand rubbed up and down Zaku's leg, occasionally brushing against his gun.

"Mm Zaku," he purred, and the brunette released the abused tan flesh to look at him, their lips an inch apart. Naruto smirked as their lips brushed.

"You know why people kill each other?" he whispered.

Zaku gasped as Naruto flipped him over and threw him against the wall by his shirt collar. He immediately began to spring up, but froze when he heard a familiar deadly clicking sound, and he looked up into the barrel of his own gun.

Naruto grinned wildly.

"Cause blood is just so damn pretty!"

Sasuke knew he was in the right place.

From the moment he had burst into the building he was surrounded by three men, each wielding weapons. Luckily he had knocked out the one with the gun when he kicked down the door and it toppled over him. He was also thankful for the martial arts lessons Itachi had taught him, just in case.

After sustaining a cut across his face and one over his arm, Sasuke heaved off the door from the gun man, and swiped his weapon as he ran down the hall.

Nothing was passing by anymore. Naruto knew that he was moving because the burning in his legs told him so, but everything was just a blur of violent sound and colors swirling together in a chaotic mess.

Naruto punched, kicked, and shot at anything that obstructed him, leaving a bloody trail of bodies. The adrenaline was pumping too fast for him to even register exactly what was happening. Nothing was running through his mind, not one rational thought- only that he had to get out.

He didn't feel any pain that hit him. Every blow, every stab, every shot was blunted instantly once it connected with his body, and any wounds automatically went numb. The strength of his will was incredible; he could feel it pumping, rushing through him like a thick drug, heightening his senses and awareness to the point where he could shoot a dropping pin without even looking, but by relying on sound alone.

The hallways were all dark with the exception of some light creeping in through the cracks in the dilapidated roof. Naruto had been through gunfights in the dark. They were risky and dangerous. You didn't know who you heard grunt or cry out was on your side, or if the person you just shot was your friend. Naruto had fear then- great fear in fact- but he had none now.

Everyone he hit and everything that struck him was an enemy. He didn't even have to worry about looking.

Naruto could taste the bitter tang of his instincts on his tongue, urging him to find out way out to live, just to live and nothing else. He wanted to live- he couldn't die yet. He would never be satisfied if he died in this place.

And more importantly, he had something to take care of.

Sasuke couldn't believe how the old mansion was build. He was lost in its mazes, going in and out of rooms, down hallways and stairs without any sense of direction. He knew he wasn't going the right way because he hadn't met anymore henchmen.

Sasuke grabbed his cell phone from his coat pocket and speed-dialed Itachi.

"Hello?" Itachi said across the line, picking up immediately.

"Itachi, I know where Naruto is."

"Where!?"

"This old mansion behind the bar on the west side of town called Sanin Estates. Tell Temari." Sasuke hung up without another word as his expanse of hallway came to an end. He caught his breath as he turned back, when a sound from below caught his ears. They were muffled and difficult to make out, even when he pressed his ear to the floorboards.

Sasuke surveyed the old wood, and found a rotting piece behind him filled with holes. He pressed his ear against the holes and listened.

"-ound Zaku in his room. His gun was gone and he had been shot through the chest."

"You're telling me that Uzumaki is gone!?"

"We believe he's still in the house sir. There' s a bloody trail of guards down the second floor east hallway that he no doubt tore through."

"He's searching for an exit…damn it! Go, get him! Shoot him if you mu-"

Sasuke didn't stay to hear the rest as he took off like a shot eastward.

Naruto's trail of blood was finally catching up to him as his body felt the weight of his many wounds. His vision was stirring now and then, and he gasped for air, gulping it like water.

He placed a hand against the wall, leaning on it slightly as he walked, his fingertips painting a path of blood in their wake. Naruto could feel the whips of cold from outside, and knew that he was getting close to either an exit or a torn gap in the house.

"Just a little more…little…" his mind heaved, the exertion of merely thinking in his current state exhausting him. He felt blood dripping from the cuts on his face down his chin, his hair matted with crusty red. He couldn't feel his left arm at all and knew that it had been sliced open, blood leaking profusely and coating it in crimson. His other arm was bruised and dappled with the blood of his enemies.

He limped along, every step ripping through his body. He knew that he had been shot at least twice in his right leg, the blood soaking through his jeans.

Naruto swallowed and it felt like razor blades scraping down his throat. He couldn't remember the last time he drank something. He wasn't even swallowing his own saliva anymore--it was his blood instead that coated the inside of his throat. He was drowning in the blood of his enemies, and the blood of his own body.

The chill in the air became thicker, and Naruto focused his hazy sapphire eyes ahead of him. He could see light filtering through a large opening in the wall ahead.

Naruto picked up his speed, gritting his teeth and ignoring the slices of pain rippling through his entire body. The light came closer and closer, and Naruto closed his eyes as he slammed his shoulder against the wall, and he crashed through, falling from the second floor, the snow laden ground rushing up at his weightless body.

Sasuke had climbed the crumbling set of stairs up to the second floor, and withdrew a little as the coppery stench of blood and dead bodies slammed against his senses. There wasn't a doubt that this trail was left by Naruto.

Sasuke ran down the crimson hall, careful not to slip on any blood. As he sprinted he saw the horizontal red lines adorning the wall, and couldn't help but worry if it was Naruto's blood. A chill whooshed through Sasuke, throwing his hair back as he felt the wind from a smashed wall ahead of him.

Sasuke attempted to swallow his fear, but it stuck in his throat, large enough to choke on.

Naruto couldn't have jumped…no, he couldn't…he couldn't, not two floors…

Sasuke got down on his hands and knees, and looked down from the gaping hole. He almost choked on his own breath as he saw a body below, painting the snow a bright, bright red, blond hair crusted over with crimson.

"NARUTO!" Sasuke screamed.

Orochimaru huffed as he ran with his remaining five men out the back door, and he smirked when he saw Naruto lying in red snow.

"Fool," he chuckled. "Jumping from mansion floors? I'll be surprised if you aren't dead," he spoke to the body. He raised an eyebrow when Naruto lifted himself up shakily using one arm, the other useless at his point. He brought his knees up to help support him, and finally, agonizingly slowly, stood. He could've sworn he had just heard Sasuke's voice…

Orochimaru clapped his hands lethargically.

"Very nice. Now lets see how long you can last against three guns," he hissed, and without a word his henchmen whipped out their guns and shot all at once.

Orochimaru blinked as the bullets all disappeared into the distance, Naruto gone from the spot.

"The hell--" Orochimaru whipped around as one of his henchmen cried out. He dropped down as Naruto pulled a knife from his back, panting heavily. A few thin lines of blood dripped from his mouth and over his lips.

"I'm not dead yet!" Naruto shouted, his eyes burning a dangerous violet shade.

Orochimaru jumped back as his men opened fire again, but Naruto was much too fast, his energy seemingly unlimited, and they soon ran out of ammo.

They resorted to hand to hand combat, at which Naruto was just as equally skilled, even with only one arm at his use. But at five against one he was outnumbered, and a man wielding a knife went for his unguarded backside.

Sasuke knew he wasn't thinking, but acting on the agony of his heart, of his very being when he jumped out of the house. He didn't know how he landed without breaking any bones, or where his rush of energy came from as he leapt up and sprinted for Naruto, the blond unaware of the danger behind him.

Naruto jumped as he heard a familiar grunt behind him, and he saw the back of Sasuke as he was cut deeply across the chest with a knife.

Sasuke…was here? He came? For…

"Naruto!"

…for him?

"Naruto!" Naruto dropped back down to reality in time to dodge a punch, throwing back a kick for good measure.

He and Sasuke were now fighting side by side, literally back to back at this point, and Naruto had never felt something so pure, so absolutely genuine, rise up inside of him.

Love.

…love.

He could feel it radiating off of Sasuke in a tremendous wave of heat, and nothing had ever felt more real to Naruto. With renewed vigor the blond fought beside Sasuke, surprised with the raven's impressive moves.

Naruto suddenly gasped and dropped down to one knee, grasping his chest as his body shook. His breathing elevated to an even faster level, and he hunched over on all fours as his stomach pushed up bile and blood, spilling from his mouth and staining his teeth.

"Naruto!" Naruto looked up at Sasuke's cry, and saw with blurry vision the Uchiha running towards him in a frenzy.

"S'uke," Naruto tried to yell as he saw a man pick himself up from the snow and sprint for Sasuke with a knife. But all he could muster was a whisper. Naruto willed his damaged and numb arm to move, the other holding him up. It twitched and shook, slowly rising, and Naruto pointed a finger behind Sasuke.

Sasuke skid to a halt as he saw Naruto's arm rise, and he whipped around only to be pierced right below his left shoulder.

Sasuke grit his teeth and couldn't restrain a cry as he punched the man back to the ground in anger, and pulled out the knife, blood spurting forth.

"Sasuke…Sasuke…Sasuke…" Naruto repeated in his head like a mantra, his body finally giving out as he hit the snow. He attempted to crawl towards Sasuke as he dropped down to his knees and gripped his wound in pain.

"Sa…suke," Naruto breathed, reaching out a hand for him as he edged closer. Sasuke met his eyes at the whisper, and he winced as he released his hand from his wound, reaching out for Naruto's. Their blood dipped fingers brushed, and they both jerked their hands back instinctively at the sound of a gunshot.

"I'll admit, I am extremely impressed that you made it this far," Orochimaru sneered, approaching Naruto with his gun cocked and aimed at the blond. "But then again, this is the last place you will ever be."

Naruto blinked up at Orochimaru from the blood-stained snow and glared at the man.

"Do you know what this is Naruto?" the snake asked, shoving the gun in his face. "This is the same gun I killed your father with."

Naruto's pupils retracted and his breath caught.

"Stop it!!" Sasuke shouted as he held his profusely bleeding wound, his skin becoming paler from blood loss.

"Oh? Someone actually came for you Naruto. I suppose he wanted to see you die. It's funny how the world is- people make friends, claim to love their family members, but then don't keep in contact or visit them. It is only when they die that they feel that stab of regret, and they realize that they were so absorbed in their own lives that they didn't take the time to cherish those close to them. I can guarantee you this Naruto-kun: no one will feel that regret when you are gone. Nay, they will feel grateful to have not been obligated to know you."

"Bastard! You're wrong!" Sasuke shouted, and Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at him.

"What a noisy thing. Better I shut you up first." Naruto saw Orochimaru's arm swivel to aim at Sasuke, and nothing mattered anymore. If that trigger was pulled, nothing mattered.

Breathing didn't even matter.

Well my friends, the end is near! And by near I mean that the last chapter is upon us. Only one left before we wrap up. But please remember that there is a sequel!

Sky-eyed Kitsune