A/N- I was planning on only making this story a few chapters, but the way things are going and all the ideas that helped me find a point to the story say otherwise. I have a feeling this will be much longer then I thought when I started the first chapter.

Summary- Naruto is not like everyone thinks he is, he hides his true self form everybody. The few who know about the other him know very little. When various events force Naruto to spend time with his team mates in situations out side of the norm he finds it hard to keep up the act.

Parings- SasuNaru, some KakaIru others not decided.

Rating- very much an R rated fic

Warning- sexual situations, foul language, self mutilation, attempted suicide, a very OOC Sasuke. And bitchy Sakura!

Spoilers- for anyone who is not up to date on the manga

Disclaimer- I'm eating Ramen… which I do own.

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Red Walkways

Chapter Three

Kyuubi

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Naruto smiled at his handy work, it was 10:50 AM and the blond was ready to start his tests. The furniture was all moved to the sides creating a big blank spot in the living area, the throw rug was rolled back uncovering the wood floors. Chalk had been used to draw a complicated seal upon the floor, the white lines coming together to form something akin to an alchemy circle. The blond had turned off the lights and now had candles lit all over the room hoping it would help his concentration, the door and windows were locked and all the blinds pulled down.

Naruto moved over to his last finished note book, #10, and slid it in front of him as he took a seat in the middle of the symbol on the floor removing his shirt and throwing it to the side. Crossing his legs and closing his eyes after reading some of his notes, the blond started to slowly form hand shape after hand shape muttering their names as he went.

"Tori, Usagi, Tora, Uma…" he mummer gaining speed as he went.

As his seals progressed he knew it was working, though he couldn't see as his eyes were still closed, he could feel a burning on his stomach that told him the seal was showing. It was burning a bright red compared to its normal black; the spiral in the middle was starting to sluggishly spin in a counter clockwise direction.

Naruto winced as a sharp pain shot from his abdomen, he almost faltered in his seals but kept steady knowing that the slightest mistake could be fatal. The pain was almost unbearable; it felt like the skin the spiral was drawn on was rotating along with the marks upon it. He continued to mutter, a slight strain in his voice and he tried to keep it from wavering.

"Ryuu, Uma, Tori, Tora…" the names of each animal slipped from his mouth so fast they seemed to blend into some unrecognizable creature. The spiral spinning faster and faster… then it slowed to a stop. Naruto stopped speaking for a moment then began saying the exact same seals only in reverse order. The spiral started to spin again but clockwise this time.

Slowly the markings around the spiral began to change causing white hot pain to flood Naruto's body. The boy never uttered a word of discomfort as he kept up the steady seals; he began to reach the beginning again slowing down. As he uttered the last few seals he added a new one at the end yelling it out as the sequence concluded.

"Tora, Ryuu, Uma… KITSUNE!" the blond yelled out the seal slamming his hands together, it was one was one he invented just for the seal testing. His plan is to incorporate it into new Jutsus after he used it for this.

Once the final seal was reached a new Kanji began to materialize in the middle of the spiral, and this time Naruto did scream when the character was seared into his skin.

It was only one Kanji…

"Speak…"

Naruto whispered its name as the seal cooled and turned back to its normal black color, the blond slumped to the side and slipped into darkness.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Sasuke didn't know what to do with himself, he sat alone in his house up in his room, legs crossed on his bed with the blinds shut and the lights dim. He didn't know what he was going to do about Naruto; he knew the blond would never date him no matter how physically attracted they were to one another.

The Uchiha wasn't polluting his mind with ideals of granger when it came to him and Naruto. Sasuke was hoping at most to find someone like him; maybe the blond boy would be the first person he ever really opened up to. Around the blond he was already very relaxed and acted more open then with anyone else. Sasuke was sure Naruto was also hiding, the events at his apartment the day before cemented his theory; maybe this would be good for them…

Sasuke sighed… since when had he become so soft?

Now what was he going to do about training tomorrow? When was he going to talk to the boisterous blond?

XxXxXxXxXxX

The room was spinning before he even opened his eyes, don't ask him how but Naruto knew it was.

"Hey! Brat! Wake up!"

The blond groaned and rolled over on the floor as if to escape the sun that was normally coming through his window in the morning.

"Brat! I demand to know what's happening!"

The angry voice cut through Naruto's half coherent mind and he shot up into a sitting position.

"what the hell…?" were his first words upon awakening..

"I was hoping you would tell me!"

The angry voice that had woke him up shot back with a bitter tone.

Naruto looked around quickly finding no one in his home, and then he looked down at the seal that was still showing. The blond smiled at the alterations,

"It worked!"

"WHAT WORKED?"

Naruto jumped when the voice from before exploded in his mind with anger, he felt its rage wash over him. He could feel the fox's emotions as well? It seemed that surpassing the seal in anyway makes an emotional connection, like the part that kept their feelings separate was week and easily broken. The blond decided to keep this to himself and made sure to gage his emotions and keep them neutral for now.

'Kyuubi right?' Naruto made sure to think at the other being in him so the beast could hear. The Kyuubi merely grumbled a huffy "yeah" in response.

"wow… then it really did work…" the blond murmured in amazement.

"what worked? What did you do Brat! One second I was sitting in the silence of the seal then suddenly all this sound… wait I can hear the out side world…" Kyuubi trailed off, his voice becoming softer as he realized what was happening.

"you can hear what I hear." Naruto informed him out loud, "I altered the seal."

"You what! You risked our lives to alter the fucking seal? You could have killed us!" Kyuubi worted, angry once again,

"Yeah I could have… but I didn't…" Naruto smirked.

Kyuubi found himself at a loss of words as Naruto got to his feet and started to clean the chalk off the floor. After a minute or two he realized that chalk doesn't come off of unfinished wood floors.

"Shit…" he muttered, then decided he would paint that spot with black paint so he could get the calk off next time.

"Next time?" Kyuubi questioned.

'Did I think that so you could hear? I'll have to work on that…' Naruto thought to the demon as he pulled his carpet over the calk marks on the floor.

"There won't be a next time! You're not risking my life for your little experiments." The fox continued completely ignoring Naruto.

"Of course there'll be a next time! You can't stop me anyways. I was thinking of trying sight, what do you think?" the blond smirked to himself knowing the fox would fall into his hands.

"what do you mean I can't sto… sight?"

Hook line and sinker…

Naruto smiled again, "yeah, I could give you my sight. I was working on it but I needed information about the seal only someone on the inside could give. If you help me there I could give you my sight to go with the hearing."

"I'll think about it." Kyuubi grumbled not wanting to give in too fast or seem too eager.

"Fine"

Naruto finished moving the last of the furniture back into place; somehow this change in the seal didn't seem to be that shocking. He didn't feel uncomfortable, it was like him and Kyuubi had been communicating all along, and maybe on some level they had been. Stretching Naruto walked over to his bed grabbing his new note book on the way. He sat down and wrote a small summary of the events that took place and the results. He made a small note about the success of the Kitsune hand seal, he remembered the time it took to get it right, and it was hard when he had so little to work off of. Creating a hand seal for the fox was not an original idea, many had started but never finished, ninja tend to be superstitious people and the fox is bad luck. Someone would be working on the seal and something bad would happen, they would blame the foxes and stop their work. Naruto had look up every piece of information about progress made with the seal then finished their work.

Looking at the clock Naruto jumped to his feet at the time, it was 2:40 PM, grabbing some sandwich stuff Naruto started lunch.

"Oi brat, what are you doing." Kyuubi asked as strange noises came to his ears.

"I'm making lunch for me and Kaita, and don't call me a brat, stupid fox."

"I will call you what you are." Kyuubi shot back.

Naruto decided to be the mature one and ignored him; it was ironic that the sixteen year old boy was being the mature one in a fight with a demon that was probably hundreds if not thousands of years older.

Naruto looked at the clock again as he finished the sandwiches, he had just enough time. Shoving his into his mouth he held it there while grabbing the other rapped in a towel and two bottles of water. Running out the door he waded into the street of morning people, their hateful eyes burned. Naruto noticed an old lady glaring at him from a vegetable stand, he wanted to be sick with the intensity of the gaze… he couldn't take this today.

Naruto made like a shot to the ally where Kaita could be found, he dropped to his butt in front of her resting form pulling the sandwich from his mouth.

"Kaita." Naruto gently shook her; the women opened her eyes and smiled.

"hey kid, I didn't think you were coming." She murmured in a tired voice.

Naruto frowned, "sorry, I've been a bit behind in everything today cuz of the storm. Besides I'll always be here while you need Me." he handed her the food and water.

Kaita took the sandwich gratefully and unwrapped it while Naruto continued to eat his.

"By the way, I'll be talking to the owner of Ichiraku's again today; we have almost everything set up for you. He'll want to meet you soon."

Kaita smiled, "thank you kid, I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for you."

Naruto gave her a sad smile, "probably better off, it's most likely my fault your like this… it's always my fault." Then he got up to leave walking away from the homeless women, leaving her very confused by his mood swing.

"hey! Wait kid!" Kaita yelled after him her semi long black hair falling into her face; Naruto didn't stop as he vanished into the crowded street. The brunet women looked down at the towel the boy had left behind, sorrow filled her eyes.

"That poor boy… what has this village done to you?"

XxXxXxXxXxX

Naruto continued down the street at a fast run, he could feel his fragile walls cracking on the inside but kept his appearance that of blissful ignorance. Naruto knew it was stupid and irrational but he couldn't help feeling that everything bad that happened was his fault. After years of taking the blame for things he had no control over the blond started to assume that he was the cause of everything bad. Orochimaru, Akatsuki, the Itachi problem, Sasuke leaving, their fight, the third's death and more Naruto accepted the blame for. It was so much easier to have someone to blame… and that someone was him. On the out side Naruto seemed not to care, because if he did the villagers would rip him apart.

He passed the old lady again, she was outside the flower shop, Ino was talking kindly to her and she smiled warmly back, the sides of her eyes wrinkling with joy.

Naruto continued down the street with his eyes to the ground, he could feel the hateful glares that were always there. With his emotions out of hand like this the eyes felt like knives in his back and the whispers like a noose.

"brat! What's happening? I don't remember you telling me about this!" Kyuubi yelled out mentally, he felt like he was hit with a wall of emotions. Anger, guilt, depression and …need. The brat felt like he needed something but Kyuubi didn't know what, the fox was trying to tell himself he didn't care but something was pulling at his heart. 'Why the fuck am I feeling anything for this brat!' Kyuubi knew why inside, he knew him and Naruto had been connected for a long time and that ever since he met him for the first time that Naruto knew he wasn't what he pretended to be, just like him.

Naruto ignored the fox as he continued to walk aimlessly, he glanced at his watch, he had time and nothing to do. The blond was afraid to go back to his empty apartment, he wasn't sure what he would do, and he still needed to go to Ichiraku's so he could do that now. Naruto started in that direction knowing he didn't have to do it now and that he was just avoiding going home. The last episode was supposed to be the last time… he was supposed to have control over his emotions and not break down anymore.

Turning into the ramen stand Naruto made sure his smile was in place and walked to the bar sitting in his usual stool. His spot was never taken because no one wanted to sit where a demon had, Naruto felt Kyuubi stir as he tried to get the blonds attention.

The owner walked over when he saw Naruto take his seat,

"you want the usual kid?" he asked as he leaned on the counter.

"no I'm not here to eat I just wanted to know when I could bring Kaita down?"

the owner seemed a bit put out, "you can bring her down in a couple of days, say Thursday at 7:00 that night? Everything should be ready by then."

Naruto nodded then stood to leave but was stopped as the owner spoke again,

"hey kid, you ok? You seem a bit off." He asked.

The blond threw him his usual idiotic smile and nodded his head "yeah I'm ok, just a bit tired." That was the biggest lie of the day; Naruto felt a jab of sorrow as his emotions flooded him again.

Leaving the stand the blond ran to his apartment not wanting anyone else to notice his mood as his thin emotional walls broke. Why did he have to be so weak! Why did the smallest things have to hurt so much! Why did his emotions surge at random…

Slamming his door shut Naruto ran to his bathroom shutting and locking that door behind him. Kyuubi stirred again this time breaking through the blond's walls.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, what is this!" he yelled as panic started to crawl up his spine at what he was feeling from his host.

"what I always feel!" Naruto screamed back finally paying attention to the fox.

"what?"

"This is what I always feel, all the time! Because it's all my fault, everything!"

Kyuubi stopped at the emotion in the boy's words, he was just then was seeing how fragile the blond really was, how deep his act ran. How unstable his mind was.

Naruto dashed to the medicine cabinet ripping the door open and knocking over bottles until he found what he was looking for. Holding the blade close he fell back to the floor leaning against the wall, shaking he held out his under arm. In a slow smooth movement he slid the cold metal across his arm right between his wrist and elbow.

The feeling it gave him was wonderful, like a release to all his pain, he watched with fascination as the blood slowly oozed from the shallow cut. Then only minutes later it healed over as if it weren't even there.

"What's going on? What's happening!" Kyuubi asked when he felt the boy being cut, he couldn't hear any fighting but wasn't sure that it wasn't an enemy. It came again, slow and smooth as the shallow cut formed, then it hit the fox,

"You're doing this to your self aren't you?" his voice was concerned and even surprised the fox, he remembered the other time this happened and thought it was battle, but now...

Then the cuts came again and again, speeding up so the ones before hadn't finished healing. Kyuubi pushed more chakura into the arm healing the abrasions so fast it didn't even look like the blade was breaking skin if it weren't for the blood.

Naruto saw and felt the speed the demon was healing him in an attempt to stop him; the blond took advantage of this and cut faster.

Anger dominated Kyuubi when he felt the cuts coming faster and made his decision before he even thought about it. The fox cut off all chakura to that arm and felts the cuts slow until they stopped healing all together.

Naruto noticed the cuts weren't healing at the high speed and slowly stopped the blade; he waited a moment for them to close before he started again. When the cuts didn't heal the blond cursed and stood to bandage his arm.

"Kyuubi heal the cuts!" Naruto ordered.

"No" was the defiant reply.

"Look, I'm not trying to kill my self… just ease the pain a bit." The blond pleaded.

"It's still dangerous for us." The fox stated not wanting to say he worried for the boy.

Naruto sighed "I know what I'm doing, I learned my lesson after…" he trailed off not wanting to speak the words out loud. With a sigh the blond gave up, after he was done cleaning up the blood, disinfecting and wrapping his arm, he stood there for a moment. He was angry, but not at Kyuubi who was only doing what he thought best, but at himself for being so weak. He had been cutting less and less but the pain still overwhelmed him sometimes and he couldn't control himself. It was like his mind would go all fuzzy and the pain was the only way to stop it. Even though he told himself he had control; that he would never go as far as that time. Deep inside, he was scarred that while he was out of control and the haze in his mind had not cleared, that he would do it again.

Leaving the bathroom Naruto went to change out of his street clothes and into his chuunin uniform. Pulling on the green pants, fish net shirt and vest he looked in the mirror. He looked like hell, you could see his lack of sleep under his eyes and he was pale from the blood loss. Running a hand through his hair he tried to make himself presentable, he would go for a walk acting his normal happy and oblivious self so people wouldn't wonder, then come back here and look over his mission file.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Closing the folder Naruto sighed, there were five missions all together, they were small and simple, but dangerous of caught. The first was the easiest; a diplomat from Mist is traveling to Sand to form a treaty. A week from today he will cross from Wave country to Fire and team Kakashi will be there to meet him. Leaf and Mist have a peace treaty that states that no person or persons can cross from Wave to Fire or vice versa with out an escort from the respective land or the Hokage's pardon. Since this is no emergency there will be no pardon, now this is where it gets tricky. Fire and Tea country have a free passage treaty; anyone can pass from Fire to Tea or the other way around as long as they have reason. Reason can vary from family to being a traveling merchant as long as you check out; the mission to sand will allow passage for the team. Getting the diplomat across shouldn't be a problem as long as Tea knows leaf nin will be with him until they leave and they are not taking any detours. They will most likely send one or two Rain nin escorts as well, but the big problem it that some people in Tea and Fire think that an alliance between Mist and Sand is dangerous since they border Fire and Tea country, some rouge's may try to take out the diplomat. After that they will enter Wind where it's smooth sailing from then on. (Wave is an island but it is the only thing on the east side of Fire other then sea)

As for the rest of the missions, they are mostly collecting info, stealing scrolls and possible assassinations in areas where Sand nin would be to closely watched because of the tension between the villages. Leaf has no treaty with these places and therefore can work against, but won't be suspected to strongly. Garra knew he needed nin from another country and what better one then their newest diplomatic friend Konoha. Of all the nin there he trusted Naruto best and knew of his advanced abilities, he was a bit peeved that the chuunin needed a team because of the mission rank but shrugged it off. The Kazekage would find something for the others to do…

Naruto sighed, he knew Garra better then his own siblings did and hoped he wouldn't just disregard the rest of his team. The blond knew he was wishing with false hope since the chances of that were near zero. Garra trusted only Naruto (out side his village) and would have had no one else so he put up with the inconvenience of the team that would come with him. When it came to the missions Naruto knew Garra would try to shun the others away, distract them or just tell them right out he didn't trust in there abilities or loyalty enough to send them along with the blond.

Of course this was just one more thing to add to a growing list of thoughts that were flooding through Naruto's head constantly. On top of this Naruto had to worry about his self mutilation problems, dropping part of his mask in front of his team, the talk with Sasuke, his attraction to Sasuke, and his research. Plus he had to get Kyuubi to warm up to him so he could continue his tests and get the fox to open up to him and tell him of his past… he was going to get an ulcer at a young age.

Speaking of the fox he has been very quiet the last couple of hours…

Naruto lifted his arm and felt the sting of the still fresh cuts, they hadn't healed yet Kyuubi must still be pissed at him. Glancing at the clock the blond realized he had to make dinner and inform Kaita of the news at Ichiraku's (one more thing on his mind); he would have to try and talk to the fox on the way to Kaita's ally. He had some errands to run again as well, like getting the paint, so he had time to try and force the demon to talk to him.

Finishing up the small simple meal, not having enough time to make anything better, Naruto exited the apartment to eat with Kaita.

'Kyuubi…'

No response.

'Kyuubi… come one talk to me.' the blond begged.

'Kyuuuuubbbbiiiiii!'

no response.

'KKKKuuuUUUbbbBBBiiiIII' Naruto half whined half singsong-ed.

"Stop whining you sound pathetic." The fox scolded.

'yeah but it worked, sometimes you got to swallow your pride.' Naruto shot back.

"Are you stable enough to have a rational conversation?" Kyuubi wanted to be sure the boy wasn't going to break down again.

'more or less.' He answered while turning into the ally. 'Hold that thought I'll talk after dinner.'

"fine"

Naruto came back to the real world as he sat in front of the surprisingly awake Kaita.

"your up!" the blond chirped.

"yeah, I slept a lot today, hey, are you ok? You were a bit out of whack earlier." The brunet asked with real concern in her voice.

Naruto froze for a moment before handing the woman her dinner, "yeah I'm fine, I was just tired and a little out of it." He answered smoothly.

Kaita seemed skeptical but let it go when the blond flashed a bright smile that made his face light up.

"by the way" Naruto continued "you have a meeting with the owner of Ichiraku's in two days, I'll come get you at 7:00PM sharp."

Kaita's eyes lit up, "really!"

"yeah he said everything will be set up by then." Naruto smiled at the woman's obvious excitement.

Kaita threw her arms around the blond in a crushing hug, "thank you Naruto, I don't think I will ever be able to repay you for this."

"welcome…" Naruto said for the sake of manners. He really didn't think he disserved the thanks he was receiving.

The brunet pulled back, "to bad though, I'll miss seeing you three times a day." she mock whined, though she really would miss him.

"don't worry I'll visit all the time, I'm always there at least once every two days." Naruto reassured her while standing up; he threw the paper plates they had used in the dumpster by their side, flashing Kaita one more smile for the road.

"I got to go, but I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Kaita nodded and waved her goodbye.

As Naruto walked away he focused on the fox inside him,

"hey fox." He addressed out loud as they entered the crowd.

"well what did you want to talk about earlier." Kyuubi responded almost instantly.

'I want your help tonight' Naruto made a turn to head towards a shop for paint.

"I'm almost afraid to ask but, help for what."

A smirk made its way to the blond's lips, 'I need information on the seal tonight so I can start working on the new seal adjustments before the mission.'

"I don't know kit, I'm not sure I want to take the risk just to see again." The hesitation in the fox's voice was easily detected.

Naruto was a bit surprised at the endearment… kit, he kind of liked it. Zoning back into the conversation he responded.

'come on Kyuubi, your not alive unless you have something to loose, and you don't have much. Take the chance and gain something, besides I've been thinking and I might be able to find a way for you to… stretch your legs per say.' Naruto knew this would cement Kyuubi's help.

"you mean I could come out?" the fox almost didn't want to say it out loud, afraid it would disappear.

"yeah… with limitations."

"how come your trusting me? How do you know I won't be able to over power you and attack the village?" now that Kyuubi was thinking it through it did seem a bit odd.

'Because the seal it to strong, you might run the risk of braking it and killing us. Besides… even if you could over power me you wouldn't attack the village, at most you would just run away.' Naruto said with confidence.

"How can you be so sure, how do you really know?"

'Because I do… I can feel it, literally. I know there's more to you then you let on, and I intend to find out what" The blonds tone was now soft and reassuring.

Turning into the shop he had been looking for Naruto cut off the fox's response for a moment while he searched the shelves for plain black paint. Stopping to read one can for a moment he glanced out the window and froze. Sasuke was walking by the shop window and before the blond could even move the Uchiha had spotted him and entered causing the door bell to ring.

"crap" Naruto cursed under his breath as he grabbed the black paint he had found trying to act natural.

"what's wrong?" Kyuubi heard the comment and felt the anxiety rolling off his host in waves.

'Sasuke's here…' he thought back.

"so…"

Naruto sighed sending memories of the stormy night to his demon.

"oh…" Kyuubi muttered.

'yeah, 'oh' is right.' Naruto said bitterly as Sasuke met him at the counter.

The cashier here also gave the blond a dirty look but didn't do anything while Sasuke was there.

"Black paint?" the brunet question when he saw his friends purchase, an odd choice for the normally colorful boy.

Naruto just nodded not trusting his voice, they walked out of the store together, Naruto was about to go back home when a hand grabbed his cut arm to stop him.

"AH!" the blond squeaked causing Sasuke to let go quickly.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked just noticing the bandages through the fish net sleeves.

"nothing." Naruto lied.

"don't lie to me, I know something happened." Sasuke retorted.

Kyuubi was cheering the kid on happy that someone noticed his host's unstable condition, he was glad he didn't heal the cuts. Kyuubi knew he felt the connection he and the boy had before the alterations as much as Naruto did, but would never tell anyone because of how it affected his feelings for the kit.

"Really it's nothing." Naruto said with some force behind his voice.

Sasuke let it drop when he heard the boys tone, but he wasn't letting it go for good.

"ok whatever, I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to get lunch after training tomorrow?"

well that solves one problem, Naruto knew that was code for 'we can have that talk after training and act like it's a casual lunch.' There was a stirring in him that said Kyuubi was irritated about something but he ignored it.

"sure." Was his simple reply

"good, see you then." And Sasuke left letting the blond be on his way with his random black paint.

"fine…" Kyuubi said with a firm tone.

"huh" Naruto voiced

"Fine I'll help you with your research." The fox clarified, his frustration was overflowing and he knew after that display between the boys that he needed to get out and run some interference. He needed someone to help his host for both their sakes.

'GREAT!' Naruto chirped in his mind.

'we can start as soon as I paint the floor!' with that the blond was off down the street with his bucket of pain in hand.

A/N- well that was a random ending… and I felt like the last couple of pages were rushed… but I'm not sure how else I would do it. Naruto's unstable…