Hey guys, I'm back with the next chapter, school has been a real pain in the butt, and we've moved our computer office into my grandma's, but don't worry, I'm working on getting internet over at my place on a older computer. Here's the next chapter of my story.
Naruto had never felt more pain and anger in his life... His best friend... gone... his now former best friend... had killed her... and now... he would kill him! Naruto felt the fox's chakra peeling away flesh from bone, and then restoring it, but it was like the part of his brain that felt all pain had simply died with Sakura, there was nothing but anger swirling around him. And that horrible voice echoed in his head:
"You want to kill him..." The cold bloodthirsy voice of the Nine-Tailed Fox purred in his head.
"Yes... kitsune." Naruto's answer wasn't one of obedience but harsh agreement, his voice growling like the Fox's.
"Then use my power... and kill those who oppose you, as I have done..."
Naruto lost all control of his mind and turned to face the remaining combatants. He saw it... the flicker of fear in Sasuke's vertical pupils. Though they probably couldn't tell the Four-Tailed Naruto grinned wickedly. "Die..." His voice echoed with an inhuman, feral growl. You could practically hear the crushing of bones, the screams of pain... the blood splattering on to the nearby walls.
Then a great concentration of chakra began to form in front of Naruto open mouth, it flashed a great red light the blinded everyone, and when it was gone Naruto had begun to swell. His body expanded with the chakra inside of him, and then Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Sasuke could only watch as he suddenly deflated and with a deafening BANG! blasted the concentration of chakra right out of his body towards all three of the ninja.
There was a great flash of light, and if it weren't for the chakra around Naruto, he would've gone deaf from the sound of the explosion. Though Naruto couldn't see it but the walls of the Chuunin exam arena were incinerated, and so were any building or people within one hundred yards of the arena. When the light finally faded, Naruto was all that was left standing in the middle of a ring of fire, destruction, and screams. The only living thing left in that arena was Kakashi, who had been lying right behind Naruto when the blast came, and like a stone jutting out of a stream, Naruto chakra had diverted the blast around Kakashi.
The chakra was gone, and Naruto shook his head... and wished he could've just stuck it in the ground so as to not see the destruction all around him. He fell to his knees and tears of sorrow dropped to the ground. The entire half of the chuunin arena in front of him was a pitiless pile of rubble. But that was the thing, there was nothing but rubble. No Uchiha corpse lay mangled in the chiseled rocks. Nor was there even a sign of Orochimaru or Tsunade.
Naruto felt his heart almost stop. He could see a hand, long and pale. The hand of an adult woman. Then he saw another, whiter than death, the hand curled in a defiant gesture. It was Orochimaru's hand. And Tsunade's hand. A sick feeling in Naruto's gut told him there would be two hapless bodies attached to those hands. He wrenched his bowls of ramen.
Kakashi, Naruto noted, was okay. For some reason, Naruto was calm. He had surrendered himself to his new fate. A fate that had no dream. He knew what he had done, but simply could not absorb it. It was too much for the fifteen year old to comprehend. He'd killed his Hokage, who'd he always dreamed of succeeding. Naturally though, he didn't care of the snake bastard's death.
Naruto was content to sit there beside Kakashi 'til the ANBU squads came and took him. And more than likely... take his life. But then Naruto saw it. A lone figure stood on top of what remained of one of the pillars of the arena. His eyes changed from gold to red, as his hand-like wings disappeared into his battered flesh. Sasuke Uchiha stood wearily on the pillar, his shoulders sagging, his sword shattered by the force of the blast.
Naruto's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't. He'd killed his own Hokage without thinking, just to kill his former best friend. But there he stood, somehow able to avoid the blast thanks to his Sharingan. "SASUKE!" Naruto roared. But the Uchiha was gone.
Naruto's cry fell on deaf ears as Sasuke swept away from the arena before slinking threw the shadows and out of the village. Naruto stood, frozen to the spot, and then disappeared with the crooning of a wind, which was the only thing that brought a lively sound to the deathly quiet destruction.
It rained for the first time in months in the Village of the Sand. Naruto welcomed the rain. He hadn't eaten or slept in his two day journey over to the borders of the village. But also because he was dried out. His journey had literally been a blurr, having wept for most of the journey.
It was now as the water touched his face and lips that Naruto could taste the bitter salt again. He sat, huddled under a wild grove in the back of an abadoned house. The trees were scraggly, with only a few leaves cling to the barky fingers. He threw up for the fifth time that day, but all that came out was some bile.
His mind ravaged with a fever fueled by agony and fury. The agony of loss and the fury of revenge. He wanted to lose one and have the other. He was a rogue ninja now. Probably a class S criminal. He actually laughed at the thought. Him, a class S-criminal at only fifteen. The idea seemed absurd, but at that very moment Kakashi had wrote Naruto's name at the top of his personal bingo book.
Now the only question was what to do, and where to go. He observed his surroundings for the thousandth time, and saw nothing but withering trees with bent backs. Then he saw it. A small flash of metal. He wearily rose to his feet, bumping his head on a low-hanging branch from above. He stumbled towards it. It was a secret door. The dull silver handle was what had caught his eye.
He grabbed the handle and pulled. The door swung up and out of the ground with a groan. The grey light shown on steps before succumbing to the darkness. Carefully, Naruto climbed down. The first thing he heard was the rush of water. The sound curdled around in the darkness, echoing into the distance. He knew he must've been inside of some kind've underground cave or stream.
He pulled a flare from his pouch, and lit it. The bright red light flared upon what looked like an abodoned training center. There were enemy dummies with rusted shuriken protruding from vital spots. There were darkwood shelves aligning the eastern wall, opposite of the western wall where the water cascaded down in a petite waterfall. There were even punching bags. One hung directly over the small stream that trickled into darkness. The other simply hung behind the area where shurikens were thrown.
There was something else to, something heavy and powerful. It crawled out of the darkness and pressed all around Naruto. He somehow sensed that powerful ninja had trained and probably fought here. All Naruto could assume about the powerful prescence was that it was remnants of poweful chakra. Chakra strong enough to leave a mark in the air around him.
Then Naruto saw it. It was only a small shimmer, a flicker of the light reflected from the flare. But it was there. A sword hung above the stream, just visible in front of the yawning mouth of darkness the water flowed through. He strode across the water, and with a jerk pulled it from the chord it had been tied too.
It was the oddest sword he'd ever seen. There was the handle with leather straps attached, and the sword's sheath was built into the hilt. But it wasn't an ordinary sheath. The sharp edge of the blade protruded slightly out of the hilt. It was rather short too. It elongated only halfway between his elbow and shoulder.
Naruto stared at this strange weapon, and finally came to a decistion. He strapped the leather loops arount his wrist and forearm, while the hilt curved so much he could've easily pressed down on it with his thumb.
That's exactly what he did.
There was a click, as the button he pressed activated the mechanism with the weapon. With a silent swish the sword swung out of the odd sheath almost a whole foot. The blade itself was beautiful. One side had been stained jet black while the other side was a stunning white that almost glowed.
He carried the blade over to the steps, and climbed a few 'til he could examine the sword fully. In the grey light he could see an inscrption on the black side of the sword in the same white color of the other blade's side.
Shadowstealer.
That was all it said. Naruto pressed the button on the bottom of the hilt and with a swishing sound the curved blade slid swung back into the sheath. Naruto caressed the edge of the blade with his thumb. The sword wasn't as loving. Naruto jerked his hand back slightly as the sword drew blood from his thumb, slicing threw his flesh so quickly he hadn't noticed 'til it was too late.
And that's when it clicked. This was indeed a ninja's weapon. But not just any ninja's weapon. A weapon of assasination. He was glad he'd removed his shirt before putting on the weapon, otherwise it would've sliced right through the tough fabric.
He stumbled back down the stairs this time bringing matches and another flare. When the cave became a mottled cloak of shadow and light once again, Naruto spied what he was looking for. He spied several actually. Candles had been placed strategically around the room. They'd been placed in the darkest corners, in small clefts above a desk under the shelves. There were gaps in the several scrolls that filled the shelves.
These were filled with a cleft and a thick stub of a crimson wax candle. Naruto took matches to several of the candles in the darker recesses of the cave before lighting most of the cleft candles scattered among shelves and neatly stacked scrolls.
This place had obviously not been abodoned in a hurry. All Naruto could do was wonder why. His answer came when he spotted a banner hung above the mouth of the river and yawning blackness. The symbol of the Uchiha Clan. This place had not been abandoned, but all the people to accomadate it had been slaughtered.
Naruto felt a familiar rage surge inside him, and he looked around the place with lines of disgust etched in his face.
Slowly though, logic purged the boiling cloud in his mind. This could easily become his hideout, niether of the Uchiha's had probably ever been here. So, after several breathes, Naruto brought down the pack he always had ready in his apartment.
He unrolled his pad, and fell into a troubled sleep.
"Kakashi, you're telling me that Naruto did ALL of this?" Guy exclaimed, "He's a mere boy though, he couldn't possibly have..." Slowly understanding dawned in the Green Beast's eyes. "A demon did this," Kakashi said quietly, surveying the scene. "Our Hokage is gone, and that loss is what darkens the fact that Orochimaru is dead as well," Kakashi muttered glancing at the nearby body, hastily covered by a sheet.
"I only wish I could've stayed conscious to stop it!" Kakashi's words were bitter.
"Kakashi, I hate to say it but even with your mastery of seals, I don't think even your most powerful demon seal could've possibly contained Naruto."
Kakashi glanced at Guy, "Thanks Guy, that helps... helps a lot."
"He's right Kakashi."
Jiraiya appeared before them. "In fact, you wouldn't have been able to even get close enough too him to apply a seal."
"I've done it before Jiraiya, I could've done it again."
"No you wouldn have Kakashi, because even I only barely managed to control the chakra the last time he grew four Tails and gained the Fox's cloak."
Kakashi and Guy, hardened ninja veterans who had seen and endured many horrible and shocking things, nearly jumped in surprise.
"You're telling me he's entered a Four-Tail state before, and that he did it again here?" Guy exclaimed. Jiraiya simply nodded.
The silence stretched between them all, as the shock wove an air of tension over them. They all knew what must happen to Naruto.
"He must be killed," Kakashi said coldly, shelling his emotions.
"I'm afraid I must agree my old rival."
Kakashi surveyed the scene again, "I'll go. I failed him as his teacher. I focused too much on Sasuke. I owe this to him."
"I'm afraid that's out of the question Kakashi," Jiraiya said quietly. Kakashi slowly turned his head, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"Why not Jiraiya?"
"Because Hokages don't go off on personal vendettas."
Sorry it's been so long since I updated, like I said I didn't have axcess to a computer all the time. But I do now, so I'll make sure these chapters come a lot faster. R & R !