Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, or any other ninjas for that matter.
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Addicted to an Outcast
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"You better be careful boy, for a moment there I was proud of you! We cannot be having that too often can we? Kukuku. See, I told you how much fun it was to watch the life slowly drain from the eyes of your prey. There is no feeling greater then to know that the one you have chosen to die does so at your own hands. Someday I will show you how it is really done, but for now I will rest; I have been over extending myself too much of late and even more so with what you did to your prey. I will be back by the next moon, try to keep yourself occupied until then," the voice slowly trailed off in Naruto's mind.
Slowly the influence that Nine-tails had been exerting on Naruto for the past week faded away as Nine-tails, like his host, went to sleep. Even though he had chosen to let go of Naruto he was very pleased that he had managed to keep so much of his hold over the boy for so long. This was the first time the nine-tailed fox had slept so peacefully in over sixteen years.
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"Well what do you think we should do with him then Kakashi?" The Third did not see this coming. He knew it was a bit odd to have four genin on the same team, but he really didn't have anywhere else to put Naruto. While not overly hostile to the genin, not a single other Jonin had expressed any interest other then for the safety of the village over Naruto. Most surprising though was that this new problem was coming from an unlikely source. Unlike most of the village, the Third didn't treat Sasuke like he was the god's gift to Konoha. No, you had to earn his respect, and Sasuke was not doing a good job if it lately. The petty squables, insults and a few more questionable incedents with Naruto were starting to really weigh on the Third's mind. It wasn't helping Team Seven's team spirit either; inevitably either Naruto or Sasuke would set the other off, and then the girls would each back one side, battle lines drawn.
"Hmm, well after Naruto's bloody lip and Sasuke's black eye I seperated them. I have never seen Hinata so mad, heh. She might have attacked Sasuke if I hadn't…" Kakashi was good at a lot of things, but baby sititng teens was not one of them. Teach them to kill? Yes. Teach them while not letting them kill each other? No.
"Kakashi, I am going to give your team a bodyguard mission, sans Naruto, to get them apart for a while to cool off. It is just a simple C-rank to Wave Country. Make sure you make it clear that this is not a reward for behavior however." Kakashi nodded when the Third paused to make sure he was bing clear about that. "Do you have any idea what set them off?"
"Nope they wont say a word." Kakashi was already reaching for his Icha Icha Paradise book, so the Third knew he was as good as gone and dismissed him after the first giggle slipped out.
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"I can't believe he said that?! Just thinking about that jerk makes me want to smash his smug face again!" Naruto was ranting and raving as Hinata stifled a giggle at his antics.
"Naruto, you d-did not have to punch him though," Hinata was secretly glad that Naruto would stand up to anyone for her, but in this case Sasuke was right, she was weak.
"Oh, yes I did! He called you weak! You. Weak. Ha!" Naruto was pacing back and forth hands waving in the air when they were not making rapid gestures to punctuate his words. "And now you all get to go on a super cool, mission and I get left out like I am the bad guy or something. Its not fair!" Naruto pouted.
Hinata just looked down at her feet, pushing her finger tips together, " I am s-sorry Naruto, its all m-m-my…" Hinata's stutters trained off as she felt Naruto's warm hand gently touch her chin, pushing her gaze up to meet his. Her face felt like it was on fire; maybe she still had a bit of chakra poisoning…
Naruto just smiled one of his rare smiles, "You don't ever have to tell me your sorry Hinata." Hinata nearly passed out when his hand moved from her chin to her forehead, "Are you feeling okay Hinata? You look flushed."
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Hinata was not looking forward to her first c-rank mission. It wasn't just that she didn't have the confidence that she wouldn't mess up, but it meant leaving Naruto for the first time since the forest incident. The last month had been the happiest Hinata had been since her mother passed away. Naruto was…well he was amazing. He was soaking up anything anyone would teach him like a sponge. Unlike herself who, "can't properly grasp the most basic technique of the Gentle Fist style."As her father put it.
Luckily, Hinata regained her focus just as her father finished his lecture about not embarrassing the clan in front of foreign ninjas. Not trusting her voice, she nodded curtly as he dismissed her to go meet her team at the gates. Quickly Hinata rose, grabbing her bag and made for the door. Closing it quietly behind her she nearly jumped out of her skin when she nearly walked into Naruto, who was leaning against the wall just outside the room. Hinata hoped that he hadn't heard what her father had sad to her, it was so embarrassing. Unfortunately, she knew he probably had, given his senses seemed to be very acute. Trying to cover her tearful eyes Hinata let out a small, "Eep," and ducked her face to hide her eyes.
Naruto didn't try to look at her; he could smell the tears. One thing he was desperately trying to learn was how to act around other people. When he first came to the village, after getting over his initial fear, he had blindly trusted everyone. That had lead to getting picked on at the academy and being attacked on the street when they went out. Naruto's voice sounded so soft, yet so sure, "He's wrong. You know? They all are. I can see you Hinata, and you can see me. I don't think I really care about the others…" Naruto paused catching his breath before his final thought spilled out. "I kind of wish you could have been with me and we could have been together. Not in the bad way like it was when I was alone, but a good way. Umm, so yeah…good luck on your mission! You're going to do awesome!" Naruto reached out for her hand and awkwardly held/shook it, not really knowing what to do. Before Hinata could think of a reply or even get the blood pumping to blush he was waving while running off into the Hyuga compound, not daring to look back. He promised he wasn't going to cry, and he didn't want Hinata to know he was close to breaking a promise.
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Hinata was the last member of Team Seven to arrive at the gates. Looking at their client, Tazuna, Hinata let a small scowl slip by her normally serene face. "This one looks super-weak too! I'm not sure these brats are worth my hard earned money." Tazuna took a deep swill of his sake and turned at the same time to wobble off down the dirt road. Hinata could see the rest of her team already mirroring her scowl. As if forecasting the future Sasuke expressed what Hinata felt, "This is going to be a long mission."
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The next two weeks were rough for Naruto. Not only was he back to being alone most of the time, but it seemed that some of the clan had taken to pulling pranks on him, or just straight up breaking or hiding his few possessions. When he trained with Hiashi, which was rare given that Hiashi was almost always busy with clan matters or personally teaching Hinabi, Naruto could tell that Hiashi was not happy about what was going on. What ever was going on, Hiashi didn't seem to do anything about stopping it. Naruto naturally responded in kind and fought fire with fire. Maybe Hiashi had a bit of a soft spot after all, he hadn't told Naruto to stop his pranks. "If you are not going to at least honor me with your attention while I train you, then you can do it yourself," Hiashi was looking straight at Naruto having caught Naruto's mind drifting. Naruto looked a bit ashamed of himself, but perked up when Hiashi suggested, "Why do you not go stretch your legs and train on the academy grounds for a bit, Naruto."
"Can I? Alright!" Naruto simply leapt into the air and did a back flip over the Hyuga compound walls.
"Sigh, will I ever be able to tame him down some with manors?" Hiashi stood and looked up at the azure blue sky for a moment before retreating inside to get back to work.
Naruto made it to the academy grounds as stealthily as he could. Instead of going straight to work, or going to visit Iruka-sensei, he laid down in the grass to think for a bit. Thinking about loud was something that Naruto had always done since he had always been alone, "Its about that time again isn't it?" His hand moved to rest on the seal over his stomach. "Its odd that the voice has been so quiet, and I haven't had the normal nightmares yet." Of coarse the dreams he was having were in some ways far scarier. He had grown up dealing with dreams of death and suffering, but these new ones were different. He had dreamt that Hinata had been hurt not once, but twice. "Maybe the voice has a new way to torture me…"
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Later that evening, Naruto was sitting alone in the corner of the Hyuga dinning area, eating his dinner when it hit him. He had been enjoying his ramen (which he had literally begged one of the cooks to make for him) when a casual thought ran through his head, "Man, I really need to kill something, these hands are far too clean!" Naruto froze and turned an ashy gray. How long had it been? Without the dreams to gauge the time, Naruto had no idea. Time was a new concept to Naruto. Before there was light, dark, and killing times, not days, weeks and months. Naruto looked up for Hiashi before remembering he was at a council meeting. "Oh crap! I know Hiashi said not to leave the compound, but if I don't…" Naruto tried to leave the room as quietly and as casually as he could, not that it mattered. After the initial shock of him being there the rest of the clan pretty much ignored him since Hiashi let it be known that he would personally "train" anyone that messed with Naruto.
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"I've got to find a place to hide. I don't want to hurt anyone!" Naruto was stumbling through the undergrowth of the woods inside of the great Konoha walls; desperately looking for some place he could contain himself before he lost control. The bloodlust was becoming harder and harder to control. His features were shifting back and forth from normal to his more feral look, and his senses were in overload mode. He felt like his pounding head was going to explode from all the over stimulation it was receiving. He had never really tried to fight the voice before and it was not going well. Just as he was starting to lose hope he smelled it. Snakes. Looking around Naruto noted a dilapidated estate to his left and very dense undergrowth to his right. "Ah, well, better then a person at least…" Naruto thought already losing control with this little loss of will power.
Kyubi on the other hand loved snakes, or more precisely, loved to kill snakes. The Kyubi possessed Naruto made his way into the briar completely ignoring the cuts and tears on his cloths and exposed skin. Following his nose led him to the opening of a dank looking cave entrance. Naruto put his nose to the ground and smiled a sadistic grin. There were more then just snakes down there! Silent as death he made his way through the darkness into the depths. Naruto came to a sudden stop when we turned a bend in the cave to find a rickety looking wooden door blocking his path. Eyeing it up and down, Naruto did what came naturally. He grabbed the door handle and yanked the entire construction free of its supports.
There, in the darkness, glowing fox eyes met glowing snake eyes. Naruto licked his lips and growled, "The only thing I like more then the smell of blood is its taste!" Naruto's sharp canines cut his lips as he spoke.
A voice from the cave responded, "Really? Me too! I just knew we were going to get along, Naruto-kun."
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"Hinata, what is going on here!?" Hiashi had returned from the council meeting to find the entire Hyuga estate in utter chaos. Hinata looked like she had just returned from her mission, as she was still covered in dirt from the trip home, as well as several visible bandages. The cynical part of Hiashi's mind noted the second fact, "Hmph, still as weak as ever. Maybe its time for another sparing session with Neji."
"I can't find Naruto! No one has seen him for hours!" Hinata didn't even turn around and bow to her father when she spoke.
"You will show me respect no matter how much of a fool you choose to make of yourself!" Hiashi growled. This was exactly what he did not need right now. Things had been so peaceful for him while she had been away.
Hinata looked like she nearly jumped out of her skin at his command, and turning he saw the reason why she had not turned. Hinata's Byakugan was activated and she was not even twitching her eyes around. (As in her eyes stare straight forward. If she did not have 360 vision she would need to move her eyes to look around. The Hyuga's see this as a bad habit and a weakness.) Despite still being mad about her conduct seeing this did soften Hiashi's temper a little. Jolting out of his inner thoughts he heard Hinata, head still bowed, stammering out apologies. "Enough for now. Tell me what you know."
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It was nearing dawn by the time Hiashi got a solid clue to where Naruto might be. After demanding aid from the other clans, which he was sure he would pay for later, he had Hana Inuzuka on Naruto's trail. Naruto seemed to have left the Hyuga estate is a rush and dashed around town and then the woods aimlessly. Now they were nearing an old clan house out in the woods. Hana interrupted his thoughts, "Isn't this….his place?"
"If you are referring to Ochimaru, then yes," Hiashi hated dealing with people who were lead around by their emotions. Hiashi watched as Hana talked with her dog companions before turning back to him.
"They say the trail leads into a cave in that briar, but they wont go in there, and neither will I," Hana added defiantly. Her clan be damned, sending her to chase the Nine-tails.
Hiashi looked at her with an impassive disproval, "Your aid is much appreciated. Hinata go tell the Hokage…"
"No!" Hinata interrupted, immediately slapping her hands over her mouth with a look of shock on her face. Almost toppling over to bow low before her father she tried desperately to explain, "p-p-please let me go with you. I n-n-need to know Naruto is okay!" Hiashi arched his brow, plainly ignoring the barely contained laughter from Hana. Hinata had been acting different since she met the boy, it was almost as if… "Oh, this is going to be a huge headache," Hiashi thought, "but I can use this for now…" Turning his back on her he replied as he leapt up into the surrounding trees, "fine, but do not get in the way." Hinata, scared stiff, followed close behind.
The cave entrance was partially hidden by the briar plants, but that was no problem for the famous Byakugan. Silently the two landed near the entrance, and immediantly shut down their enhanced eyes. Reflexes caused them to even try to shield their eyes with their arms as the Byakugan had exploded into a sea of chakra colors and shapes more intense then staring at the sun through a telescope. Then it hit them; the killer intent so dense it froze even the battle harded and cold Hiashi. "Th-th-that's Naruto!" Hinata managed to whisper, "what is h-happening to him?!"
Not bothering to respond Hiashi ducked into the cave mouth with as much apprehension as if he was entering the cave to hell. Personal and clan honor demanded that he carry out his promise to the Hokage, even at the cost of his life. Hiashi was momentarily surprised when he noted Hinata right behind him. "Maybe this is going to be more useful then I thought," Hiashi pondered to himself.
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Naruto hurt. Not any particular part of him per say; he just hurt all over. His eyes didn't seem to want to listen to his commands to open them, his nose refused to smell anything but blood, and his arms felt strangely stiff, as if pinned. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifted his head and his eyelids broke away the dried blood helping to hold them shut. The scene in front of him was what he had feared the most. Across the cave leaned up against the wall was the second friend he had ever made. Recent memories flooded his mind, and his tired mind did nothing to stop them.
Naruto was lying in the field of the academy again. "Maybe the voice has a new way to torture me…"
"Oye, kid, you hear voices? Like in your head?" Naruto shot up looking for the source. No one snuck up on him. Ever. Seeing him frantically looking back and forth the voice spoke again, "Up here silly. You know that humans don't naturally look up for danger? Makes ambushing weaklings like you easy!" Naruto looked up at the strange woman in the tree. She was wearing a skin tight, metal mesh body suit, with a skirt that was far too short and a large tan trench coat. Naruto tensed until he saw that she had a Leaf headband just like his.
"I'm not weak!" Naruto was going to go into a rant, but just then he finally caught her scent. Blood and something hospitally permeated it. Not even the large amount of sake she had consumed could mask it. "Umm, yeah. What's it to you?"
The woman just smirked down at him before taking a whole dumpling into her mouth. "I got me a voice too!" She responded while chewing. Naruto didn't know why, but something about her "I don't have a care in the world" attitude was making his skin crawl. "So why are you out here all alone?"
Naruto eyed her, but guardedly responded, "I was training."
"Really? Training what? Your napping skills?" The woman found her own joke extremely funny and laughed way too much at it.
"No! My chakra control," Naruto trailed off. Other then the Hokage no adult had shown this much interest in him. Even the other kids pretty much ignored him now, besides Hinata and in his own twisted way, Sasuke.
"Well, it's not going to improve itself. Get to work, you bum!" Naruto had no idea why she was yelling at him, but at least she didn't seem to be angry. Still eyeing her he tried to concentrate his chakra into his feet so he could climb the large academy tree. Despite a running start (Hinata's suggestion) he soon slipped up and landed on his backside. "Bahahahahahah, you weren't kidding. Your control sucks!"
Naruto glared at her. "You know, I may not know much, but shouldn't you at least introduce yourself before mocking someone?"
She just smiled back down at him, "Why don't you go first?"
"Umm, okay," Naruto paused. He had never really introduced himself before. "How?"
The woman nearly fell out of the tree laughing, " I don't know. How about your name, what you like and what you hate, maybe your dream or hobby?" At least this seemed to calm her down some while she hung upside down from the branch, using chakra to stop her laugh induced fall.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like Hinata and people who treat me like a person. I think I'm starting to hate everyone else. My dream is to become so powerful that everyone respects me and thinks I'm awesome! Then they wont hate me, so I wont hate them! My hobby is training."
Some how the woman was gulping down what was left of her sake bottle, still upside down while he spoke, and as he finished she introduced herself, "Mitarashi Anko, Special Jonin. I like snakes, things that make me feel good and dumplings. I hate almost everything, but especially a certain snake. My dream is too graphic for kids and so is my hobby!" Naruto paled a bit at that last part. Maybe she was one of those 'perverts' Sakura had told him about. "Now that we are best friends and all, maybe I can help you a bit with your chakra control. I bet your seal is messing it up."
Now Naruto was really suspicious, "How do you know about that?" Sticking out her tongue, Anko tugged at her coat collar. Naruto quickly hid his eyes, "I was right. You are a pervert!"
After a moment of silence Anko bonked him on the head, "Do you even know what that means? Here just look." Naruto cracked his eye lids open just slightly and saw that she was pointing to a seal on the side of her neck. Naruto reached for his shirt and tugged up on it. Putting a little chakra into it caused the seal to light up an eire red. "Mmm-hmm, just like I thought. Its leaking into you and making things go all 'bleh'. Your going to need to practice either shutting off that leak or pushing the chakra out of the way so it can't interfere."
Naruto spent the rest of the day being both tutored and mocked at the same time. He found it infuriatingly pleasuable to have Anko pay attention to him.
The sound of a single drip started Naruto out of his flashback. Oddly enough it wasn't blood that had dripped, it was drool. The body of Anko stirred a bit. Naruto watched in morbid fascination as the corpse yawned. "Wait corpses don't yawn." Naruto was trying to think about this when Anko gagged and turned to the side to vomit. When she was done, Naruto could see her whole body shaking in a cold sweat. She was tying to do something with a needle and veil, despite shaking so bad she could barely hold them. Finally, she finished what ever she was doing and without ceremony plunged the needle into her arm, injecting the clear liquid into her body. Naruto's eyes stung as he pushed their sensitivity up a bit. Luckily, her metal mesh seemed to be in pretty good shape, unlike most of her cloths turned rags. He could make out scars over much of her exposed body, especially around her forarms.
Anko let out a shuddering sigh of pleasure and finally looked over at Naruto, meeting his eyes with her own. She smiled in a drunken fashion and half crawling, half dragging herself through the blood, came towards Naruto to inspect him. Naruto didn't feel like he had the stength to do anything more then watch as she reached him and leaned in close. Her breath felt like fire to his abused skin. He felt her wet tongue slide along a still open cut on his cheek. It looked like she was going to come share the taste of his blood with him when a flash of chakra exploded into the opening of the cave.
Anko let out a surprised cry as she was thrown back across the room by a powerful and deadly strike from Hiashi. Had Anko been a normal person she would have most likely died from the attack. For what it was worth she wasn't normal, so she didn't die.
A second flash brought Hinata into the room, but she had the wind knocked out of her by what she saw. The entire room, from rock floor, to rotting wooden furiture, all the way up to the low hanging ceiling were covered in blood. The warm moist air was not as she had earlier thought from the cave, but from the drying blood that caked the room and the two people in it.
Her eyes wandered from the woman who was barely moving, to the thing hanging on the wall. Despite going into denial, her eyes just wouldn't lie to her and tell her that it was not Naruto pinned to the wall with a kunai in each wrist; and it wouldn't tell her that it wasn't his blood that seemed to be pooling on the floor. A large sinister seal surrounded Naruto's form on the wall, and seemed to pulse with a beat of its own. It looked like some scene from a barbaric sacrificial ritual. "Naruto, no!" Hinata yelled and she absently noted that despite her traitorous eyes the Byakugan was useful for the fact that it let her see through her tears.
As Hinata silently approached she could just barely see Naruto's chest moving. She could hear his heart beating, or was that her heart that she heard? Numbly she carefully removed each kunai and quickly stopped the bleeding from each wound.
"And this is the thanks I get for saving everyone? Well fuck, I guess it fits perfectly into the pool of empty promises and I.O.U.s I always get instead of a 'Thank you Anko for doing the dirty work we wont do ourselves," Anko was fumbling with another needle that she again stabbed into her arm.
Hiash still had not moved out of his deadly stance and was watching every move Anko made. "Still just another self pitying junky Anko? I had thought you would have grown out of it by now. The Hokage was very clear on my orders concerning the boy. Enjoy the sweet release of the death you so want trash," Hiashi moved to kill the woman despite the dumb look and confused smile she now wore. Just before the killing blow was delived, something that had never happened to him before took place. Someone had stopped his strike, with a single finger, and they did not look happy.
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End chapter four.
Before I get the post asking – No Naruto doesn't "need an adult" nothing like that happened.
Those who left a good review or asked a question should have all got responses. I try to generally answer any questions people have with out using long author's notes, as I personally don't like them. So, if you leave a question, I'll get back to you asap with a reply!