AN: Alas, Naruto is still not for sale, so I cannot buy it... Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing!

-demonicnargles

"Speech"

thought / talking in mind

"Demon speech"

Demon thought / talking in mind

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The men ran as fast as they could straight at Kakashi and Kyuubi.

Kakashi turned to Kyuubi. "Naruto, you need to take care of yourself. Sasuke is seriously injured, and I don't think Sakura is well equipped for fighting, let alone protecting herself and someone else. I'm going to help her. I'll be back as soon as I can. Take care of yourself."

With that, Kakashi leapt over the crowd of men and continued toward the other end of the bridge.

The men ignored this and instead focused on the remaining ninja, Kyuubi.

Kuso! I can't use my power again so soon! It would tear this body to shreds! I need time to heal.

Then just use what you've learned of ninja techniques.

That goes without saying, mortal!

Don't call me mortal, or I won't let you-

Kyuubi ignored the rest of whatever Naruto was saying in order to concentrate on the challenge before him. From the way they ran, it was obvious that none of them were ninja, or had even the slightest bit of training. Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.

Kyuubi flung a kunai at a man's unprotected forehead. The thug tried to dodge, and ended up taking it in his right eye, instead. His momentum clung his body onto its stomach, and the two men immediately behind him tripped on his corpse.

Kyuubi lashed out with several more kunai, and though most found their targets, only a few killed or incapacitated their victims. Kyuubi held onto the kunai in his left hand, and put out his right in front of him. When the first thug reached him, Kyuubi grabbed the man's shoulder and used it to push himself into the air. Once he was airborne, he spun around and kicked the men nearby.

Landing in the newly made clearing in the crowd, Kyuuubi leapt and slashed his kunai across the throat of a man still off-balance from the kick. Kyuubi spun around to slash another man, but was blocked by a sword. Some of them are armed.

Seeing that the edges of the blade were not very sharp, Kyuubi grabbed the sword, and held it still while he slit it's owner's throat. The hand that he had put on the sword bled slightly, but Kyuubi paid it no mind. It wasn't as if he wasn't drenched in it from his last fight.

Kyuubi slashed, grabbed, spun, and stabbed. Then he stopped. The four men remaining from the crowd of perhaps two dozen stood about ten feet behind Kyuubi. To be sure, Kyuubi was not uninjured, but compared to the carnage around him, he had relatively few and minor injuries. A stray punch had knocked his mask from its place over his lower face. As he slowly truned to face the remaining men, their eyes widened at the sight of his face.

After the first few seconds, Kyuubi had begun enjoying the fight. Or maybe it would be better termed 'slaughter.' This showed in the expression on his face, the expression that terrified the four men. His mouth was contorted in a maniacal grin, and although the genjutsu on his eyes was still in place, they looked hardly less fierce than they could have without it.

The men ran.

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The men couldn't be blamed. They had just been scared out of their minds. So when they saw the second masked ninja look at them, it wasn't their fault that they panicked. They simply saw the bodies around the second ninja, and, not knowing that the bodies were unconscious but living people, they assumed the worst. So when the ninja looked at them, they did what seemed to be the only logical thing to do, and jumped off of the bridge.

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Kakashi was slightly confused. These men were supposed to be hardened thugs. So there was no reason for them to jump over the edge of the bridge. Maybe the unconscious people around me frightened them. Kakashi looked one last time to make sure that Sakura and Sasuke would be alright, and hurried to help Naruto.

As he ran towards the unfinished end of the bridge, a strong gust of wind came and blew the remaining mist away, revealing to Kakashi the reason for the thugs' panick. The entire end of the bridge was covered in blood, which was slowly draining off the bridge through the ducts made to divert rainwater. There were bodies strewn across the bridge, lying in unnatural poses with gruesome expressions on their faces.

And in the middle of it all, Kakashi saw Naruto. The boy stood facing him, mask on, and an unreadable expression in his eyes. The formerly black clothes were now a dark red, with a few cuts and nicks that had been added since Kakashi last saw them.

Kyuubi walked over to Kakashi. "Mission completed."

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Kakashi mused over the mission as he and his team made their way back toward Konoha. Tazuna had been relatively unfazed by the bloodshed, and had mentioned that it was about what Gatou had done several years ago. The four men had been located. Three of them had drowned, and the fourth had tried to kill those who found him the moment they came into view, and so had been killed.

The bridge had been completed, and the only signs of the fight were a few minuscule scratches here and there, and the plaque commemorating the 'Great Naruto Bridge' to the boy who had done the most for its completion.

Gatou was in jail, and likely would be for a long time.

Naruto now wore his spare outfit, having burned his other one. The dried blood had been impossible to wash out, and the smell made it impossible to remain undetected while wearing it.

Kakashi was worried about Naruto. No boy should be able to kill so casually. For someone who has never taken a life, he did it far too easily for it to be natural. I understand that he had a troubled childhood, but could it really have been so bad as to deaden his touch with reality? Or maybe it wasn't his first time killing.

Kakashi had thought, at first, that it was just the Kyuubi that had allowed Naruto to kill like that. Kakashi had felt the Kyuubi's power during Naruto's fight with the other mist-nin. But during the second fight, there had been no surge of demonic chakra, no overwhelming presence of evil. There had been no hint of any outside influence. And yet Kakashi knew that no untrained boy should be able to kill so quickly, and remain so calm about it afterwards. Naruto acted exactly as he had before the mission, running in circles and occasionally complaining about their slow progress toward Konoha.

Kakashi would mention this to the Hokage privately. Maybe he would know something about it.

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Kyuubi sprinted through the forest, occasionally crossing paths with the group to make sure that they hadn't stopped. They did so every so often to tend to Sasuke's wounds.

Kyuubi acted exactly as he had before. Why shouldn't he? He had killed thousands of people, probably tens of thousands. A few dozen more didn't even come close to the number of people he had killed in seconds before. But something was up. Kakashi was much more quiet than usual, and he glanced at Kyuubi a lot.

He couldn't know... could he?

Maybe you should have toned down the fight a little.

No. It is easier to kill than to capture, and I was in a hurry to avoid being killed.

But you could have run away, and then Kakashi would have no reason to suspect you.

It's too late to worry about that now, kit. What has happened, has happened.

And you need to get another outfit to replace the one you lost.

That goes without saying, mortal.

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Naruto ignored the 'mortal' comment. Kyuubi seemed to alternate between that and 'kit' depending upon his mood. Naruto knew why Kakashi was suspicious. Kids weren't supposed to be able to kill like that. He had tried to explain it to Kyuubi, but the demon didn't care. To him, killing was as natural as... whatever demons normally do. Kyuubi didn't see how it could be such a big deal. Naruto hoped that nothing would come of it.

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End of chapter. Please review!