The Heart of the Demon

Chapter 8

The Bridge of Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters

It had been several days since Naruto and Kakashi's confrontation and they had yet to speak, but not because of a lack of trying on Kakashi's part. Naruto had been keeping to herself for the most part and always took guard duty over Tazuna at the bridge; even Sasuke hadn't been able to get more than a few words out of her since that night.

Sasuke woke up early but of course Naruto was already gone probably off training until Tazuna was ready to go to work. He sighed and headed down stairs to get some breakfast before going out and training himself.

Naruto was in the forest not far from the house beating her frustrations into the trees. How could she be so weak, no one was supposed to see her like that, she wasn't some helpless child anymore, she was a demon, a tool of death and destruction. The more she thought about it the angrier she got, with a loud growl she used her wind enhanced claws to tear what was left of the tree in front of her apart letting it fall with a loud thud. That was why she had been avoiding Sasuke, whenever she saw him now all she could think about was how weak she was in that instant, about how vulnerable she was, she couldn't stand it. She heard a gulp and looked over to see Tazuna standing there, this wasn't okay she didn't even sense him this was getting into her head too much.

"Maybe I'll come back in a little bit" Tazuna said nervous about the clearly angry and very dangerous girl that had just torn down a tree in front of him.

"No" Naruto and took a deep breath composing herself "I'm fine, let's go" She started walking towards the bridge and Tazuna followed.

In the several days that she had been guarding him they hadn't spoken much she wasn't very talkative and seemed to be angry often and quite frankly she terrified him, she was only thirteen and not only had she killed but when she did she seemed to really enjoy it. So he was content with not talking as long she guarded him and didn't kill him, he didn't want to accidently provoke her or anything.

It was about a half hour walk to the bridge and the whole way they walked in an awkward silence which Naruto was grateful for she was in no mood to talk to anyone. She needed something to take her frustrations out on, something alive, something that would bleed. They arrived at the bridge to see the workers lying still on the cold concrete.

"Oh god what happened!" Tazuna yelled as he looked over the still forms of his friends.

"Well well he only has the little blonde bitch guarding him this will be easier than I thought" they heard Zabuza call it from further down the bridge before he started chuckling.

Naruto smiled so he wasn't dead after all, this was just what she needed and the hunter ninja was with him, this was going to be fun. "Oh you're back didn't get enough of getting your ass kicked?"

Zabuza stopped chuckling but kept his demeanor "you don't have Kakashi to help you now, and even with your strength you can't beat both of us"

Naruto grinned widely at him "I'll take that challenge" she created two clones "take Tazuna home can't have Zabuza trying to kill him while we fight" the clones nodded and took off with Tazuna.

"You think we're just going to let him go?" Zabuza said with a smirk "Haku go get him would you"

"Of course Zabuza" Haku replied.

Naruto quickly went through some hand seals "Summoning jutsu" there were four puffs of smoke around her that reviled four foxes that stood six feet tall on all fours.

"You called" the one closest to Naruto said while they all glared at Zabuza and Haku

"Yeah, we're gonna have some fun. Keep the big one with the sword busy while I kill the small one"

Zabuza hadn't expected that, how much did this kid have up her sleeve? He was worried now Haku was strong but was he stronger than this crazy blonde? Either way she had pretty much assured Tazuna's escape with this it didn't seem likely they would be able to deal with her and catch Tazuna before they got back and brought reinforcements.

The foxes gave a quick bow of their heads "as you wish" they said in unison before engaging Zabuza as Naruto intercepted Haku's attempt to chase Tazuna

"You don't get to get away" Naruto said as she swiped at Haku's stomach with her claw. Haku pulled back as Naruto attacked in a wild frenzy pushing him further down the bridge and away from Zabuza who was in a heated battle with the foxes. Haku and never seen anything like this, she looked so frenzied and wild, yet her attacks were fluid and precise, she never left an opening, he was sure if he wasn't as fast as he was that he would live long, this was a devastating fighting style she had clearly perfected. He had to get some distance it was only a matter of time before she hit him and with those claws one hit was all it would take.

Haku jumped back throwing a volley of senbon as he did. Naruto easily deflected them with her claws and quickly closed the distance he had just created. Haku used what little time he had to go through some hand seals "Ice Style: Ice spikes" he called sending a volley of large ice spikes at the charging Naruto. Naruto lit her gauntlets in flame and sent a wall of fire ahead of her melting the ice before in hit her. Haku jumped away again throwing more senbon which Naruto dodged as she went through some hand seals of her own "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu" she called as she sent the mass of searing chakra flames at where Haku was about to land.

Haku's eyes widened and he did the only thing he could think of to save himself, he used his ice mirrors. The flames died down and Naruto found herself staring at a floating panel of ice "what the hell is this?" she asked to herself a second before identical panels started forming all around in the shape of a dome.

"This is my ultimate jutsu, you're quite strong to force me to use it so early in the fight. I don't want to kill you, just let us take Tazuna and I'll let you leave this dome alive, something no one has ever done before." Haku wasn't lying, he didn't like killing and it would be a shame for someone with so much potential to be killed so young.

Naruto let out a laugh "well that's too bad, because I really want to kill you"

Haku decided to again try to persuade he "Don't you have a special person? Someone you would do anything for? Someone you would give your life for? Zabuza is my special person, my goals are to help him achieve his goals. He wants to free the land of water from the tyrannical fourth Mizukage, it's a noble goal that needs to be fulfilled, unfortunately we have to do some less than noble things to achieve that goal, we need money and thus we must kill the bridge builder. Now please leave and let us be, live to fight another day because I know you will a very important person someday if you do."

Naruto smiled widely at the mirrors "That was quite the speech, I do actually have a special someone, someone I have dedicated my life too and I will do everything I can to help him achieve his goals. Do you know what he is telling me to do now?" she paused for effect "He's telling me to kill you, and I can't wait" her smile turned into an evil grin as she said the last part.

Haku sighed and frowned beneath his mask "Very well, I'm sorry it had to end this way" Haku shot though the mirrors faster than even Naruto could keep up with sending and endless volley of senbon as he did. While she was able to block most of them some made through her defenses and the more that did the slower she got and she slowly became a human pin cushion.

Zabuza watched as Naruto forced Haku further down the bridge but was unable to help due to the four large foxes engaging him. He hoped Haku would be fine but he had to deal with these before he could help him, so he did as he always did and used his hidden mist jutsu the first chance he got. The jutsu had middling effects on the foxes while they couldn't see him their senses of smell and hearing made up for it, effectively stopping Zabuza from getting close enough before they noticed him and keeping the direction of Naruto and Haku to well-guarded for him to get past. He felt a large flare of chakra from their direction he had to finish this fast if he wanted to help Haku in time.

Zabuza quickly went through some hand seals "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu" He shot it at the nearest fox twisting it so it would hit the others as well. He heard a yelp and puff of smoke before the collision of fire and water, he could sense that two of the remaining foxes had used jutsu of their own, probably a combination to counter act his jutsu. He only had a second to think this because the third fox shot a jutsu at him having devised his location via his water vortex. He dodged out of the way of a large fire ball that exploded not far behind him.

He went through some more hand seals "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" he yelled as the torrent of water nailed the fox that had attacked him, this was going fast, but not fast enough. He followed up by charging one of the remaining two foxes and engaging it in kenjutsu. He caught the fox of guard and it didn't last long.

It was down to one on one and they stared off against each other waiting for the other to make a move. The fox made the first move jumping at Zabuza going for the throat. Zabuza was ready to counter when two senbon flew from side and nailed the fox mid-air causing it to yelp and puff away before it reached him.

Zabuza looked over to see Haku "Haku, did you win? Is she taken care of?" Zabuza was skeptical it hadn't been long and Naruto was strong, but then again Haku was also very strong and he didn't doubt his abilities.

Haku nodded "yes, she is dead"

Zabuza gave a small smile as Haku walked towards him "Well good job I thought th-" he was cut off as Haku got about 5 paces away he exploded. Zabuza coughed up some blood and blinked trying to regain his bearings, he couldn't move his left arm or leg and upon further inspection it was because they were no longer attached to his body. His left half was mangled and burned, his right did a little better he could move his right arm a bit but the pain was excruciating. He should have realized it wasn't Haku from the beginning, this was it for him even if Naruto didn't come finish him he would bleed to death in a few minutes.

He looked down the bridge as his hearing started to come back and he heard footsteps, it was Naruto, and she was dragging Haku who had a hole in chest right where is heart was. It hurt more than any of his physical wounds to see Haku like that, dead, cold and lifeless, it was like his heart was torn out which is what looks like literally happened to Haku.

Naruto collapsed to her knees, there were senbon in virtually every part of her body, how did he have so many of them? It didn't matter it was time to end this, she built up Kurama's chakra and expelled it in a large burst sending the senbon shooting out of her.

"Impossible, no person could live through that" Haku said in shock

Naruto laughed "Haven't we already covered this? I'm a fucking demon!" with that she formed Kurama's chakra into a fist and slammed it into one of the mirrors. The mirror shattered under the unyielding force of the most powerful tailed beast.

Haku came flying out of the mirror and crashed hard on the ground, his mask split through the middle and fell from his face as he hurried to get to his feet. Right as he go to them Naruto had his neck in a vice grip, she was coated in a visible layer of red chakra. She grinned evilly at him with her red eyes ripping into his soul, she was terrifying. She just stared at him for a few seconds before he felt a searing pain in his chest, he looked down to see her hand was now inside his chest cavity, around his heart.

Naruto brought her face to his ear "Zabuza's next" she gave his only a couple of seconds to contemplate that before she crushed his still beating heart. He choked out some blood and went limp, she callously let his corpse fall to the ground with a thud tearing what was left of his heart out as he fell. She held the heart above her head and rung what blood there was left into her mouth "yumm" she cooed as she licked her lips. Now it was time for some fun with Zabuza.

Naruto dragged Haku and dropped him just out of Zabuza's reach, she was grinning the whole time "He wasn't much of challenge Zabuza, it's sad really, you fell right into that trap. It was way too easy to read you." She stepped over to his mangled side as he looked at her with all the hate he had, he tried to pull out a kunai but she simply took out one of her own and used it to pin his remaining hand to the bridge. She stuck her clawed hand, that wasn't already covered I Haku's blood, into the gaping wound on Zabuza's side eliciting a loud scream of pain. She brought the now blood covered hand to her lips and licked the blood off getting a blissful grin on her face as she did "oh I was right, you are delicious, even better than Haku"

"Fuck you, you insane bitch just kill me and get it over with!"

Naruto shrugged "if you insist" she bent over and pulled his sword off his back positioning it above his chest "it's only fitting you die from your own blade" she gave him a smirk as she impaled his sword though his chest. Zabuza grunted and blood shot out of his mouth, the bandages had been burned off in the explosion, and flew right into Naruto's smiling face. Zabuza looked over to Haku and whispered "I'm sorry" before his eyes glazed over and he finally died.

Naruto's smile faded a bit, that was fun, but it was over now and she wasn't satisfied, as if some higher being was granting her every desire she heard clapping behind her.

"Well, that was quite impressive. You should come work for me, I could use someone like you on my payroll" Gato smiled as he said it, he was clearly confident the fifty men he brought were enough to protect him from Zabuza, or now this girl who had killed him.

Naruto knew who this was; Gato had actually come out himself, what luck! She giggled a bit before it went into an outright laugh "What luck! Here I thought my fun was over and you show up with a bunch of fresh meat, I can't wait to taste it" she licked her lips and started walking toward the group.

Gato gave her a smirk "come on kid, you may have been able to kill Zabuza but this is fifty on one, you've got no chance"

Naruto simply smiled "We'll just have to see about that" she created two clones and they all charged the remaining distance. The thugs got into defensive positions but they weren't ready for what came next. The clones each sent barrages of wind chakra out from their claws that literally tore apart the front line of men sending blood and body parts flying into the crowd. Naruto herself went through some hand seals as she jumped high above the crowed "Fire Style: Dragon flame Jutsu" she sent into the mass of men lighting nearly a dozen with the super-heated flames.

Gato started in horror as the Narutos tore through his men like they were little more paper, he watched as a burning man screamed in pain as his skin melted and his bones cracked from the heat. He had nowhere to go, where ever he turned there was another man being cut down and mutilated. It wasn't long before the screams died down as she ran out of men to massacre and all that was left was Gato horrified and cowering in the mass of gore the was the remains of his men.

Naruto finished off the last enemy gouging his eyes out with her claws and digging into his brain; she then looked to Gato and started walking menacingly toward him "what was that about no chance?"

Gato was shaking and whimpering as he watched the blood drenched girl slowly approaching him with a smirk on her face "I.. I'll give you anything! You name its yours, all the money you could ever desire!" He begged as he tried to back away.

Naruto chuckled "I don't want your money Gato, I want you head" with that her two clones grabbed his arms and forced him to his knees.

"NO NO PLEASE!"

Naruto grabbed the sides of his head with her clawed fingers digging into his neck and pulled with all her might. Gato screamed and wailed and then started gurgling on his own blood as his spine broke under the pressure and his neck tore. Naruto pulled and ripped at his head until if finally detached from his body. It was hardly a clean cut, a piece of the spine was hanging from the back and bits of meat where dangling from the severed part of the neck.

She dispersed her clones and her eyes widened a bit, she dropped Gato's severed head and turned around, there was her team standing there looking at her in horror and disgust. Kakashi looked more disappointed than disgusted, but she didn't give a fuck what he thought or Sakura for that matter who was now vomiting. No it was Sasuke that she cared about, and his face was twisted with disgust from the scene in front of him. Naruto had always know love was impossible for her but his face in that moment only confirmed it more than ever, no matter how much he thought he loved her, Sasuke would never be able to accept her for who, for what she was.

"Naruto, what did you do?" Sasuke asked hardly able to get the words out of his mouth.

Naruto opened her mouth to talk but nothing came out. She took a deep breath and hardened her features "I did the job, I protected the bridge and its builder"

"WHAT?! You ripped that man's head off! How can you say that?!" Sakura screamed at her

"Oh that, I was just having some fun with Gato there" she smirked only farthing the disgust on Sakura's face. After a while of no one saying anything Naruto decided to go clean up and walked past them like nothing had happened.

Kakashi grabbed her arm as she passed "You can't do this Naruto, I have to report this to the Hokage"

Naruto chuckled "And what do you think he's gonna do? My methods may be brutal but I didn't do anything wrong, they were enemies and I treated them as such" she pulled her arm free "now if you'll excuse me I have some Gato to wash off" she walked off leaving her team standing silent on the bloody bridge.

Team seven left later that day, there wasn't much in the way of goodbyes with how it was left. The residents were grateful for everything they had done but scarred and disgusted by the mess Naruto made on the bridge. Kakashi decided that with Gato dead there really wasn't anymore danger and he needed to report to the Hokage, so he decided it was better to leave now instead of waiting for the bridge to be completed, even though it was only a day or two from completion.

The run back to Konaha was quite, no one really wanted to talk about what happened but at the same time none had put it behind them enough to talk about anything else. Without Tazuna to slow them down they were able to reach Konaha just after the sun set. They went straight to the mission office after arriving.

"You're back already? Was the mission a success?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto before nodding "Yes lord Hokage, the bridge builder is safe and the threat was eliminated."

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the way he said 'eliminated' "I expect a full report"

"Of course, but my team is tired and would like to rest, may they collect their pay and go home? I can make my report and if it is needed they can report in the morning." Kakashi asked hinting that he needed to talk to Hiruzen alone.

Hiruzen nodded "Of course, you three are dismissed; you can pick up your pay from the secretary on the way out."

The genin bowed "Yes lord Hokage" and left the room.

After they were gone Hiruzen looked expecting at Kakashi "So?"

Kakashi sighed "It's Naruto sir, I'm worried about her. We encountered several enemy ninja on the mission, she is very skilled and was even able to beat Zabuza Momichi and his Ice Style wielding apprentice alone, but she killed them, not just killed them but mutilated them and seemed to relish it."

Hiruzen listened and contemplated the information "killing is part of the job, you know that. She maybe isn't as taken by death as most but it's hardly cause for concern."

Kakashi was stunned "She's thirteen, you don't think it's cause for concern that she likes killing?"

"How many have you killed Kakashi? How many of those were before you were thirteen? You never had a problem with killing enemies, was something wrong with you?"

"The difference is I never ripped a man's head off to 'have some fun' as Naruto so elegantly put it"

Hiruzen sighed he didn't want to believe there was anything wrong with Naruto but if what Kakashi said was true it was hard to deny "You know what she has been through Kakashi, something like that is bound to leave scars. As long as she isn't harming this village's citizens, our allies, or harmless civilians then no action will be taken against her." He let out a deep sigh "Keep watching her, if you think she might harm an innocent report to me."

Kakashi nodded "One more thing, she knows, she knows about Minato and Kushina, she knows about my relationship to them, she knows everything."

Hiruzen's pipe fell from his lips in surprise as a myriad of thoughts and worries went through his head "How?"

"I didn't get the chance to ask, but I think it's safe to bet it was this Kurama. I don't know how he would know but nothing else makes since. Maybe it's not just the attack that made her how she is."

"Did you find anything else about him?"

"No, she deflects every time anyone tries to get any information about him, the only thing she will say is that he saved her and was there for her when no one else was."

Hiruzen sighed "well keep trying, this Kurama sounds dangerous, he could be manipulating Naruto."

Kakashi bowed "yes sir" and after being dismissed left. He didn't like it but the Hokage was right, she had been though a lot and it was crazy to think something like that wouldn't have a lasting effect on her. If only he hadn't been so weak, maybe Naruto wouldn't be the monster everyone, including her, saw her as.