AN: Thank you to all that have favorite/followed the story so far. Also I would like to thank Antex-The Legendary Zoroark for all of the positive reviews. Overall it seemed most liked what I did last chapter so that's good. This chapter will cover the fallout from Sasuke's and Naruto's fight with Orochimaru. Also I want to start the finals. Originally I had the entire third round in this chapter, but the finals was big enough for one chapter so that's how I will publish it.
Chapter 9: I Will Not Lose Myself
Naruto awoke in darkness. He did not know where he was, or how he got there. All he could remember was the pain. He shoot up looking around for the enemy. He was alone. Seeing that there was no immediate danger Naruto looked around. He was in some sort of sewer it seemed. He was standing in water, and the pipes around him seemed to be leaking.
Naruto felt a pull to go deeper into the sewer. He did not know what he would find, but figured he might find a way out. As Naruto walked the corridors, he came to many crossroads, and forks in the path. He knew instinctively which way to go. Eventually he came to a room that was massive. It easily was ten times the size of the rooms he had been to before.
In the middle of this room was a gate of some sort. It had a seal tag on the lock which let Naruto know that it was a cage for something, something big. 'The fox.' Naruto realized what was in this cage. Somehow he had traveled to his inner self, and stumbled upon the seal for the Kyubi.
Naruto had tried before to speak with the fox on Katsu's recommendation that it was better to have a peaceful relationship with the mightiest of the Biju instead of a hateful relationship with a creature that could manipulate hatred. In the past Naruto could never find his way here. It seemed that the Kyubi hid himself from Naruto when he went looking.
Now that Naruto made it to the Kyubi he did not know what to do. Naruto did not know how to feel about the Kyubi. Katsu had told him to put himself in the Kyubi's shoes. He had to ask himself how he would feel being locked away for centuries, and Shinobi using him for his chakra. Naruto could not blame the Kyubi for being angry, but the Kyubi was also the one who killed his parents. Naruto may never knew his parents, or who they even were, but he knew from his constant asking of the third that his parents had died during the Kyubi attack.
Naruto could not accept the rampage that the Kyubi went on that night, but Katsu told him that he should hear the Kyubi's side of the story first. After all even the evilest of beings did not do things without reason.
Naruto carefully approached the cage. Now that he was closer he could hear breathing. The breathing of a gigantic fox who crushed mountains under his paws, and caused tsunami's with his tails. Once Naruto was close enough the Kyubi opened one of his big red eyes. It was creepy how Naruto could only see the one eye, and not any other part of the fox.
"So you have come boy." The Kyubi's voice was deep, and laced with power beyond Naruto's comprehension. Naruto nodded not knowing what to say.
"The sword that stabbed you was laced with poison. Very powerful poison. You are dying. You will die." The Kyubi did not sound very sad about that.
"Wait, if I die then you will die too won't you?"
"Biju are Immortal. We are made of pure chakra. I will lose form for a few years yes, but eventually I will reform outside of this prison."
"I can't die here. I have to become Hokage no matter what."
"No matter what huh? Very well. There is a way to save you, but you will not like it."
"What is it?"
"I will flood your body with my chakra. My chakra has healing abilities. It can flush out the poison, but if you are not careful my tainted chakra will consume you. So, what will it be? Die a pathetic death, or take a chance with my chakra?"
Naruto did not have to think about it. He knew what he had to do. He had to live no matter what. "Do it. Give me your chakra."
The Kyubi smirked. It was all going according to his plan. Soon he would be free, and now that the fourth was gone there would be no one to seal him again. Kyubi's chakra shot out from him into Naruto flooding his chakra pathways.
Burning. That was all Naruto could feel. It was even worse than what the sword had done. Naruto though could handle it. He was doing well. The burning was bad, but he was good at enduring pain. He was in control. That is until the hatred came. All at once the bad memories of his past that he kept locked away deep down inside was hitting him all at once. It consumed him.
"Go away, go away." He screamed, but nothing changed. Fear, anger, depression, loneliness. They all hit him at once, never ending. There was only one way to stop it. He had to destroy them all!
Sasuke was in pain. Pain he had only felt once before in his life. It was when Itachi made him watch the killing of his clan over and over again. It made him angry, he wanted to kill Itachi for what he did. All of his anger rushed through his body at once. Then it was gone. Replaced by power. A burning power that made him feel good. Better than he had ever felt. This was it, this was the power that could beat Itachi.
Ino did not know what to do. She dressed Naruto's wound, and it seemed to have stopped bleeding, but he still looked feverish. Ino was afraid it was poison. Ino was not a stranger to poison. There were plenty of poisonous plants in the world, but Ino had no training in dealing with poison. Even if she did know which poison was used she did not have any antidote with her.
Sasuke was also a problem. He had fainted after his battle with the creepy nin that attacked them, but after checking his body, Ino could not find anything that was causing him to break out into the sweat that he did. He did seem to have a strange mark on his neck where the nin bit him, but Ino could not figure out what it was.
Ino had never felt so useless in her life. Even in wave she was able to help some. Now all she could do was keep the fire going so they did not freeze to death, and protect them from enemies that might come.
She was pondering her next move when she heard noises outside the shelter. The blizzard had died down a lot which increased visibility, and aloud sound to travel better. Ino peeked out to see three shinobi from the new Sound village approaching. They must have known they were there because they were carefully looking for traps as they approached the shelter that Ino had dragged Sasuke and Naruto to.
Ino flew through hand seals. "Mind Arts: Memory altering Jutsu." The memory altering Jutsu was a powerful one. It aloud Ino to enter the minds of her enemies, and change their memories. The down side to the jutsu was that it was slow. The enemy had to be practically sitting still to hit. Also, it only worked on the unprotected mind. Anyone with a bit of training in defending the mind could shake off her probe.
Luckily the Kunoichi she hit was completed unprotected. Ino made the girl think that the two she was with was her enemies, and that they were after her lover. That way the Kunoichi would fight to her death to save her lover instead of running away.
The effect was immediate. She drew her kunai and attacked the two boys she was with. They were caught by complete surprise. One was not able to act fast enough, and had his throat cut wide open. He was dead before he hit the ground.
The other shinobi was quicker. He swung at her, but missed. Or so Ino thought, but the enemy Kunoichi was sent flying. The shinobi was quick to take advantage. He was instantly upon her beating her senseless. Ino knew she had to do something now that he was distracted.
Before she could launch another Jutsu, something flew out from behind her. In a blur something had kicked the enemy shinobi away. Standing there covered in black marks identical to the ones on his neck was Sasuke. He Sharingan was blazing, and he was smiling. The cold smile sent shivers of fear down Ino's spine.
"What do we have here? Fighting amongst yourselves I see. Stand up fool. I want to test my new powers on you." The sound nin got up. He charged Sasuke trying to hit him, but Sasuke jumped back. Sasuke's Sharingan could see ripples of air shooting out from the enemies first. Sasuke avoided them. He realized that whatever device the nin was wearing was able to shot compressed air at his opponents.
The nin was moving way to slow for Sasuke. He decided to make this fool suffer for thinking he could stand up to a mighty Uchiha. Sasuke got behind the nin grabbing his arms. He placed his foot on the middle of his back, and pulled. He heard a loud popping sound, and the sound nin started screaming.
Sasuke took great pleasure in his screams. He started laughing pulling harder so the nin would scream more. Ino looked on in shock. Never before had she seen anyone that this much pleasure in hurting someone. She was scared, but most of all she was sickened. Whatever part of her that liked Sasuke died in that moment. She ran out of the shelter screaming at him to stop.
He did not listen, he did not even turn his head to acknowledge her. He did notice the spike of chakra coming from the shelter he woke up in. 'What is that? Is that Naruto?' He knew it couldn't be. The chakra he was feeling was massive and foul.
The shelter exploded. Standing there was Naruto. He was shrouded by red chakra. The chakra was hot and tainted. The surrounding snow melted completely. Naruto was taking on a more animal like look. His teeth were growing into fangs, his nails grew into claws, his whisker mark scares deepened and darkened, and his eyes, his eyes became slits and pure red.
The chakra he gave off scared even Sasuke. This made Sasuke angry. How had the idiot get this strong? Sasuke charged him. He was not sure what he was doing, but the anger he felt from Naruto's chakra set him off. He did not get far when Naruto appeared in front of him back handing him away.
The shroud got darker. Now Naruto's skin was not visible. Only the shroud remained. It was dark, and it was evil. Naruto's eyes became pure white. Three tails swished behind him. "Fire style: Great Fireball Jutsu." A fireball flew at Naruto, but one of his tails swatted it away. With inhuman speed Naruto closed in on Sasuke punching him into the ground.
As he was beating on him more tails grew. 4, 5, 6, 7 tails sprung up in rapid succession. With each tail Naruto's chakra became stronger, and more inhuman. Ino had tears in her eyes. She watched helplessly as Naruto pummeled Sasuke into a crater. Suddenly he stopped. He seemed to be checking his handy work.
Sasuke was in the crater beaten. His black marks receded. He was unconscious, and seemed to be supporting multiple broken bones. Naruto raised his first again to finish the job, but Ino finally found her voice.
"Naruto stop!" She screamed desperately at him. It got his attention at least since he turned towards her abruptly. He launched at her. She closed her eyes expecting the worst, but she felt nothing. Slowly she opened her eyes to see that he had stopped. His claw was inches away from her throat, but he seemed to be struggling within himself. Ino knew instinctively what she had to do. She launched herself at him, wrapping him up in a hug. She held him close, so that he would know that she was here for him. "Naruto, come back to me." She whispered into his ear.
Naruto could only feel the hatred at first. He wanted to destroy everything, he had to destroy the ones that would hurt him. Then he felt the loneliness. Standing in front of him was a girl. A girl he did not know, or did he know her? He did not know. All he knew was that he did not want to hurt her. The voice in the back of his mind told him to do it, but he did not want to.
Then the unthinkable happened. She hugged him. Naruto was filled with warmth. The voice was gone, and he remembered who she was. This was Ino. He liked Ino. Ino was pretty. Ino was warm. His warmth. "Naruto, come back to me." Those words was all it took. Naruto forced the chakra out of his system, and back into the seal.
The effects were instant. Naruto was back to his normal self. He fell into Ino's embrace, and for the first time ever, he felt like he was home.
Katsu had felt the spike in chakra that he recognized as the Kyubi's. He had sensed Orochimaru earlier, and was leading a team to pursue, but it was hard to get clearance from the Samurai to commence an operation. By the time they got the go ahead Orochimaru was gone.
Now he felt the Kyubi's chakra, and he wanted to leave immediately, but he could not risk the other shinobi sensing the Kyubi as well. So Katsu put up a barrier to stop any Shinobi or Samurai from feeling the chakra spike.
Then he left undetected to deal with the problem. By the time he left the barrier he could no longer feel the Kyubi's chakra. He immediately teleported to the Hiraishin mark he placed on Naruto's seal. He arrived to see Ino trying to drag both Naruto and Sasuke to the base of the mountain.
"Ino what happened here?" Ino jumped. She did not notice Katsu approach but was glad to see him none the less.
"Katsu-sama. You got to help us. Naruto and Sasuke are hurt badly." She goes on to tell him what had happen while he checked their wounds. Naruto's wound had healed completely. Only a scar was left to show that he had indeed been hurt. Sasuke's problem was easy to spot too. After Katsu healed the multitude of broken bones, He examined the curse seal Orochimaru had left him.
It was an upgraded one from the one Katsu removed from Anko years ago. However, it still would not be an issue to remove from Sasuke. For all of Orochimaru's bragging he never did understand the fine art of Fuin jutsu. Now was not the time to remove it though. The removal of the cures seal would greatly weaken Sasuke.
This cure seal integrated a piece of Orochimaru's soul and chakra into the chakra system of its host. The result being that over time repeated use of the seal would increase Orochimaru's influence over you, and eventually Orochimaru would be able to take over your soul.
The new seals he created worked much faster than the first version. Katsu would have to wait until after the Chunin exams to pull the seal out. That left the problem of Sasuke using the seal too much in the next month. Katsu was well aware of Sasuke's hatred and drive for power. He had tried to train Sasuke to manage his hatred, but he feared that recent events only undid his work. Katsu knew that only Itachi could heal the scare on Sasuke's soul. For the life of him he could not figure out why Itachi wanted to push Sasuke into gaining the Mangekyo Sharingan through killing him.
Maybe he was being a little hypocritical since there were things he hid from Naruto as well. Things he was sure would make Naruto hate him in the future, but for now he would do his best to make Naruto into a Shinobi greater than any other. Just like his father would have wanted.
Katsu helped Ino carry Sasuke and Naruto to the base of the mountain. Since they had both scrolls needed they would advance to the next round. Now they would have to wait for Naruto and Sasuke to wake up.
Naruto awoke to the bright lights of a hospital room. He did not know how he got there, but he was glad to be warm again. He remembered everything. How he lost control of himself, and how it was Ino who stopped him in the end. He looked around. Ino was sitting in a chair beside his bed laying her head on the edge of the mattress.
She was so cute. He was glad she wasn't hurt. Naruto felt bad for putting her in danger. She was a light in his world full of darkness, and he wanted to keep her safe. He would get stronger to make sure that she stayed safe.
Naruto also noticed Katsu in the corner reading a book. Sasuke was also in the room in a bed next to his. Naruto cringed a little remembering what he did to him. Katsu noticed Naruto was awake, and motioned him to follow. Katsu lead Naruto to the room across the hall. Once they step inside, he put silencing seals up.
"I heard that you had a run in with Orochimaru." Naruto did not know who Orochimaru was, but guessed it was the nin that stabbed him. "That sword he carries around is probably the most poisonous thing in the world you know. You are lucky to be alive."
Naruto nodded. He was ashamed that after all his training with Katsu he could not beat this Orochimaru person, nor could he control the Kyubi's chakra. "Katsu-sensei I am sorry. I let you down."
"You didn't let me down. I never expected you to fight off on of the Sannin. Nor did I expect you to control the Kyubi's chakra on your first try."
"The chakra, it was horrible. There was so much hate and loneliness. It hit me all at once, and I could not control it." Naruto shuddered at the memory of the Kyubi's chakra hitting him full force.
"The Kyubi is a Biju of negative emotions. Like I have told you before Biju are made of pure chakra. The Kyubi's chakra is filled with negative emotions. It would be impossible for an inexperienced nin to control it."
"Then the Kyubi is really evil? If he is made of negative emotions then doesn't that make him a negative being?"
"No. The Kyubi I would say is someone who understands negative emotions better than anybody. He has been exposed to them all his life, and he is misunderstood. All Biju are misunderstood. Shinobi fear them because of their great power. Only the strongest of Shinobi in history could compare to the Biju. The Kyubi being the greatest of them all is probably the most misunderstood. I once told you to hear the Kyubi's side of the story, and I stick by that claim. It is not my story to tell, but I will tell you that the Kyubi has been sealed in one person or another for the last few centuries. It would make sense that he came to hate humans who hold him prisoner."
Katsu had given Naruto a lot to think on. It did make sense that if you are made of negative emotions, and you were treated badly in your life that you would come to hate the ones who treated you badly. You might even want to destroy them if you got the chance.
Later Naruto would speak to the Kyubi again and see if he was willing to open up to him. Katsu put back in bed despite Naruto's many protest. Ino woke up during their argument, and proceeded to drag Naruto back to bed and gave him a menacing glare when he tried to get up.
The doctor let Naruto and Sasuke leave later that evening. Sasuke had a case of chakra exhaustion, but that was taken care of easily when you had proper care. Naruto did not know how Sasuke had recovered from his broken bones so quickly, but he was glad Sasuke was not seriously hurt even if he wasn't talking to Naruto.
Katsu had explained as they were leaving about the month break between the two rounds, and how the third round would be a series of one on one matches until only one remained. "Now listen Naruto, Sasuke. I have been called on a mission to track down Orochimaru. Therefore I have set up new teachers for this months for you two. Sasuke, Kakashi will train you. You can find him at one of the bars in town. Naruto your teacher is a man named Jiraiya. He is tall with white hair. You will find him at the hot springs in town. I'll see you two in the third round. You better make it to the finals. Check the hotel for the tournament bracket."
With that Katsu disappeared in a yellow flash. Naruto did not know who this Jiraiya person was, but was glad Katsu-sensei wasn't leaving him out to dry. Plus if he was recommended by Katsu then Jiraiya must be strong. Naruto went to the hotel first to see who he would be facing. When he saw the bracket he was mildly surprised. They had him facing Neji. Neji came off a little arrogant to Naruto, but he was said to be the rookie of the year last year, so he must be strong.
Leaving the hotel Naruto went in search of his new Sensei. At first he thought it was strange that his sensei would be at the hot springs, but once outside Naruto could not blame him for wanting to be in warm water.
The hot spring was not hard to find. It was a popular place. Many of the Samurai, their families, and the other Shinobi were there. Naruto was glad that his sensei had given him a description of the man he was trying to find or he would be here forever.
Naruto did not find the man inside the hot springs. No, he found his new sensei outside the hot springs. He was peeping on the girl's bath. Naruto could not believe it. This was supposed to be the man who was training him. No wait! Maybe it was a coincidence that he was tall and had white hair and was at the hot springs.
Naruto carefully approached the man. "Um, excuse me but you wouldn't happen to be Jiraiya would you?" The man turned to Naruto and gave him a big smile.
"Oh heard of me have you. I'll sign an autograph later. Right now I'm doing research so scram."
The man turned back to his "research". He started giggling, and Naruto could hear what could only be described as every man's fantasy. The girls inside had started comparing their breast and from the sound of it a good decent amount of fondling was going on too.
Naruto shook out of his day dreaming. "I'm not looking for an autograph. I'm Naruto and Katsu said you would train me this month for the finals of the Chunin exam."
Jiraiya turned back to Naruto again. "Oh Naruto good to see ya. First lesson to learn is not to disturb me during research. "He went back to peeping. Naruto would not be ignored. He walked off a way then shouted, "Hey there's a peeper over here!" The girls inside instantly honed in on the hole Jiraiya was peeping through. Their riotous fiery came down upon Jiraiya who could only scream like a little girl as he was beaten into a bloody mess.
By the time the girls left, Jiraiya was a smear on the ground. A second later he popped back up like nothing ever happened. "Not cool kid. The Samurai have strict laws against peeping. I could have been thrown in jail. Then who would teach you."
"You weren't teaching me anyways. It's what you get for peeping on women."
"Whatever. Follow me, and will start your training."
Jiraiya lead him to a training ground on the outskirts of the village. "Okay kid there is only time to teach you two things before the finals, so listen closely. What I will teach you are two powerful Jutsu that can get you out of a tough spot if you use them right. First I will teach you the Summoning Jutsu. Then I will teach you the Rasengan."
"The Rasengan?"
"I'll tell you more when we get there, but first you have to get summoning down. Before that I'm going to see what you got so get ready."
"Huh?" Before Naruto could ask what he meant Jiraiya launched a series of attacks at him. Thus began one of the hardest training sessions of Naruto's life.
Naruto made it back to his room late into the evening. He collapsed onto the couch not noticing Ino was also on the couch. His head landed on something soft which he realized was Ino's lap. He was about to get up to apologize, but Ino ran her fingers through his hair making his eyes roll back in pleasure.
"Rough day?" She laughs when he just grunts in response. She had noticed him come in, and also noticed that he didn't realize anyone else was there. Sasuke never came back from his training with Kakashi-sensei, and she had finished her training with her dad a few hours ago.
Naruto looked dead on his feet, and she could tell that he had been sparing. Assumingly with his new sensei. She was a little surprise that Naruto collapsed on the couch, and indirectly on her but didn't mind too much. She had learned a new skill today. It was a passive mind reading Jutsu. It was weak, you had to be close to someone for it to work, and it was useless against someone with mind training. Naruto however did not have mind training, and she had been using it on him ever since he entered the room.
The jutsu only let her skim the top of someone's thoughts, but that was enough to know that Naruto did not know she was there, and to know that when he realized what he fell on that he was truly sorry. To reassure him she ran her fingers through his hair. The pleasure she felt between the link of her mind probe encouraged her to continue.
Ino was glad that Naruto was back to normal. Whatever that was out there during the second task was not Naruto. Ino had tried getting Katsu to tell her but he said it was Naruto's story to tell. She wanted to ask him, but feared that he would not tell her.
"Naruto can we talk for a minute?" Naruto was afraid of this. He still did not know what to tell her. He was afraid that she wouldn't want to be friends anymore if she knew about the Kyubi.
"What was that out there during the second task?" Ino could feel his fear. "Whatever it is you can tell me. I promise I'll be open minded about it."
"What you saw out there was the Kyubi's chakra taking over me. When I was a baby the Fourth sealed the Kyubi in me to save the village. The seal was made so that one day I would learn to control the Kyubi's chakra. So it is possible for me to draw on its chakra, but if I take too much it overwhelms me and I lose control of myself."
This was it this is when Ino called him a monster and leaves. Naruto sat up. He could not bear to look at her. To see the fear and disgust that was sure to cover her beautiful face. Instead of leaving, or yelling at him she hugged him. She held him close. "Naruto you idiot. I wouldn't hate you for something you have no control over. You are not the Kyubi, you are Naruto, and I know that you would never hurt me." And for the first time in Naruto's life, he believed it.
AN: Hope you all liked it. Next chapter is the finals, and the ending of my Chunin exam arc. Just a heads up I will not be doing a Sasuke retreaval arc, so more than likely I will do the time skip a couple chapters after the Chunin exam arc. Until next time.
