Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto would have hot man smex and Sakura and Hinata would never have been created.

Warnings: None

Rating: PG

~~~~~o~~~~~ Scene change, time break, etc…

"Talking"

Thoughts

Kyuubi

Chapter 2: Atarashii Kaishi

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Naruto woke up screaming.

Images poured into him, memories filled with blood and pain, throwing his mind into chaos. Confusion, pain, fear. Love and hatred. Too many complicated feelings to sort out.

He couldn't catch his breath, yet he couldn't stop screaming either. He was in agony as all the past and future hurts hit him all at once.

He couldn't do this. Not again. He wasn't strong enough. He could feel his mind cracking.

Just when Naruto thought he couldn't take it anymore, a girl appeared.

"Myobu," he choked out as he finally stopped screaming. "Myobu, I…I can't…I just can't…! Too much…!"

"Shh…It is alright now. Just rest," Myobu said soothingly as she laid her hand on Naruto's forehead.

"No…" he whispered. "Sasuke…Need Sasuke…"

Before he could finish, his eyes slid shut as the darkness engulfed him once again.

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Sasuke POV (Third Person Objective)

Sasuke didn't know what was going on.

He'd just told Naruto that he was one of the ones he wanted to fight the most and Naruto had smiled when suddenly, his whole body had jerked forward as if Naruto had been struck from behind. For a split second, their eyes had met.

Pure terror. Directed at him. Naruto's eyes were filled with it, as if he expected Sasuke to try and kill him or something. But Sasuke didn't have time to think about it. Before it had even registered in Sasuke's mind, Naruto's eyes had rolled into the back of his head and he'd crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

If only he'd stayed like that.

A couple of seconds later, before anyone could react to his collapse, Naruto's eyes flew back open and he screamed. No one moved. No one could move.

Sasuke was likewise frozen in place, still unable to comprehend what was happening.

Naruto wasn't supposed to scream like that, like Ibiki was using one of his torture techniques on him. Naruto was supposed to grin like a dobe and say he wanted to fight Sasuke too!

Only a few moments had passed, yet it felt like an eternity. Just as Sasuke and Sakura moved to help their teammate, a woman appeared next to him. Sasuke wanted to push her aside. He needed to get to Naruto, needed to help him. But it seemed Naruto knew the woman.

No, a girl, Sasuke's mind automatically corrected as he glimpsed her young face.

"Myobu," Naruto seemed to choke out. At least he'd stopped screaming. "Myobu, I…I can't…I just can't…! Too much…!"

"Shh…It is alright now. Just rest," the girl said. She put her hand on his forehead and his eyes immediately began to close.

"No…" he whispered. "Sasuke…Need Sasuke…"

ME? He needed ME? Why?

Before he could ask him, Naruto's eyes slid shut.

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Kakashi's POV (Third Person Objective)

Kakashi was worried. No one screamed like Naruto had for no reason. Something must have happened.

A white-haired girl materialized next to Naruto, causing most of the other Genin to move away from Team 7.

For a moment, Kakashi drew a complete blank before the information he wanted was just suddenly there. She was Myobu (no last name), a gifted shinobi who'd made the rank of Chuunin less than a month out of the Academy, which she'd graduated from after only two months of attending. About a year ago, she'd been found wandering the forest outside of the village with no memories and had been taken in by the Third.

But Kakashi already realized there was something wrong with this information. Something else was going on other than just Naruto having some sort of fit.

As Naruto's eyes closed, Kakashi leapt from the platform to Naruto's side.

"Do not," the girl said, freezing him in place as he reached for the blond.

"What did you do to me?" he asked, surprised he could still talk. The other instructors were beginning to react and move towards them. If he could, he'd rather this be resolved before they became involved.

"Do not worry, it is not permanent. No one should touch Naruto now. Anyone's touch but my own could awaken him. In his current condition, that would be…disastrous."

"He needs medical attention. As his sensei, I'll be the one to take him to the infirmary and—"

Before he could finish, Myobu cut him off.

"If you take the time to care for him, you will not be back in time to help the young Uchiha at the end of his match. I know Naruto always complained that you showed favoritism to Uchiha, but believe me when I say he would be deeply aggravated if you let his…condition worsen because of him. While you watch over Uchiha, I shall calm Naruto so that he does not lose himself to…rage."

Kakashi heard the small hesitation and felt a chill run down his immobilized spine.

She knows about the Kyuubi. But she's just a child…How?

He saw Sasuke start at the sound of his name and open his mouth to say something. To stop the (most likely) rude encounter, Kakashi smiled and gave a small laugh.

"Oh my, for a child, you seem to know more than you should. Have you been a naughty little girl to find out that information?" Kakashi half-joked.

"No, it is something I have found out from Naruto himself. Perhaps one day, you will understand. Now, I shall take him to the infirmary. Do not worry. We will be back in time for Haruno's match," Myobu assured him.

And just as the other instructors reached them, she released Kakashi and gathered Naruto in her arms, disappearing in a swirl of fire, leaving Kakashi to wonder why she'd said Sakura's match instead of Naruto's match.

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Naruto's eyes flew open as he inhaled to scream. Before he could, a soft hand covered his mouth.

Darting his eyes to the hand's owner, Naruto relaxed a bit when he saw Myobu.

"Everything is fine. It will be alright this time, Naruto."

He flinched as the words reminded him of what had happened. Or what hadn't happened. Or what might happen.

These thoughts whirled in his mind, mixing with the new torrent of memories, rubbing his mind and heart raw as he tried not to scream in pain.

Sasuke's electrified sword going through his chest. Sasuke's harsh words. Sasuke killing him, killing others, killing…!
Naruto cut that thought off before it could bring back the hysterics, only to be ruthlessly plunged into other memories.

Gaara dying, Itachi dying. Kakashi. Iruka. Hinata…!

Again, he cut off his thoughts, letting memories from his childhood wash over him instead.

Loneliness. Beatings. Hatred. Pain. So much pain. And worse than the constant beatings—

"Naruto!" Myobu's voice broke through the memories sucking him down.

"Concentrate! I know it is hard. I know it hurts! But you have a battle to fight soon. You must put this away for now. Let it take over you later. Right now, put it out of your mind," Myobu said harshly.

"How…!" Naruto panted, his voice strangled.

"You know how. You have done this dozens of times. Before every battle, after every heartbreak, you learned how to shove it all inside for later. You must do this once again."

Naruto gave her a lost, broken look. "I can't…! It's too much, I can't!"

"You must!" she yelled. When Naruto flinched away from Myobu, her face softened. "I know it is a lot to ask of you, and I would not ask it if it was not completely necessary. But you must concentrate now. We do not have much time before Haruno's match starts," she said in a gentler tone.

"Sakura's…match? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, confused, latching onto the distraction desperately.

"Her preliminary match with Yamanaka-san. For the Chuunin exams," Myobu elaborated at Naruto's blank look.

"Preliminaries…What! But that means…!" Naruto said, panic rising as he began to understand.

"Yes. Orochimaru has given Sasuke-teme the curse mark already. You do not have much time to convince him to stay."

Naruto stared at Myobu in horror, barely noticing the tiny flash of amusement at her use of his nickname for Sasuke.

"Why?" was all he could choke out.

Myobu understood instantly.

"Would you have ever been able to truly trust Sasuke if you took the choice to stay away from him? If he did not decide for himself to choose you over gaining power for his revenge?" Myobu asked sadly, watching as Naruto struggled to accept this particular truth.

"I understand that it is hard to take all this in, Naruto, but you must concentrate. There are more important things we need to concentrate on," she said.

"What could be more important than this? This is the whole reason I came back!" Naruto asked.

"When the Kyuubi and you were sent back, your souls…" Myobu paused, searching for the right word. "…merged. The reason I did not let your sensei or others care for you is because of the changes your body is going through. We must find a way to hide it before you are seen."

Naruto stared at her blankly. "What are you talking about?"
Myobu sighed and guided Naruto over to a small bathroom with a mirror.

"This is what I mean."

Naruto stared at his reflection in growing horror. Myobu was right. He couldn't let anyone see him like this.

The whisker-like scars had become wider and darker and the lines of his face had become slightly more angular, almost…foxlike. His hair was no longer the sunshine blond of before. Instead, it was reddish, a very pretty strawberry blond. But most startling of all were his eyes. His eyes were no longer the shadowed but still happy blue eyes he remembered from his youth, but purplish and hard, like amethysts filled with sorrow.

Slowly, he touched the mirror, tracing the changes in the glass, flinching as he noticed his nails had grown and become sharper, like claws.

Myobu brushed Naruto's hair away from his ears gently, showing him the very slightly pointed shape of them now. As he rubbed the points, he noted they'd become slightly fuzzy as a fine layer of baby soft hair grew over them.

"What's going to happen to me?" Naruto whispered, transfixed by the sight in the mirror.

"Your senses will become enhanced. I suspect you may even grow a tail. Once the preliminaries are over, you will need to make a permanent henge with a seal, like Tsunade-san did. It would take too much energy and concentration to try and maintain a regular henge all the time. But we do not have the time now to do such a thing. You will have to make do with a regular henge until this round is over."

Naruto nodded, slowly absorbing her words.

"Sasuke's already got the cursed seal…How am I going to save him? How do I save everyone?" Naruto finally said, a single tear running down his cheek.

"I am so sorry Naruto. But I believe you can save the world." (1)

"I have to."

Naruto wiped the tear away, determination filling his eyes as his mission began.

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Translations:

Atarashii Kaishi — New Beginning

Sensei — Teacher (for this usage)

(1) — Anyone who has seen the Avatar series might recognize this line from the episode openings.

A/N: I'd actually planned to make this longer, but this seemed like a good place to end it. And really, at the rate I'm writing, if I tried to make this chapter longer until there was another good place to end it, I probably wouldn't have updated for a few more weeks.

Sorry the updates are so slow! Working on a ship in the Navy is actually more time-consuming than I ever thought it would be.

I hope you liked this chapter! Please review!

Ja ne!

~MikoAmaya