Naruto Wandering Demon

by Born From a NaruSaku Lemon

Sakura was captured returning from a mission by demons and her team pretty much left her there. Naruto, a wandering demon, rescues her and she decides to go with him and leave her village. AU. NaruSaku.

7. Chapter 7

AN/ Hey, people, what's up? Bet you all forgot who I am by now, huh? Shit, I did too. Anyways, I apologize for the extremely long absence and I'm glad people liked the last chapter. I hope I can make this chapter just as good—if not better—than the last. But, that's up for you, the reader, to decide. Now, some of you had questions to the last chapter, and, sadly, I'm gonna have to leave them unanswered. At least, for the time being. Can't really be called unexpected turn of events when they're... well, expected.

Disclaimer: ... Do I have to..?

"Speech"

'Thought'

'Inner Sakura'

"(Unimportant) Demon Speech"

Naruto Wandering Demon

Chapter 7: Confrontation in the Land of Waves

A thick fog slowly began moving in, surrounding the shore as the boat full of ninja neared, forcing the bug user of the group to call his insects back, lest he wish for their wings to get wet by the floating water particles and render them unable to fly, cutting his list of attacks in half. After the last of the bugs retreated back into the hooded boy's person, with a freaked out Naruto and Sakura staring at him, they made contact with the shore. Naruto was disturbed by the fact that the boy seemed to have absorbed bugs—and so many of them—while Sakura just plain didn't like bugs. Never did and she doubted she ever would.

As the boat touched the shore everyone got out—Naruto deciding to be a gentleman and help Sakura out—before the guys flipped the boat over to make sure it wouldn't drift off. As soon as they were done flipping it over and piling enough sand and rocks to make sure it wouldn't get pulled into the water, Shadow reached the shore.

"Hey, Shadow, enjoy your swim?" Naruto asked, trying—and failing miserably—to keep his amusement out of his voice. The midnight demon fox said nothing, merely walked over to where he was before shaking his body in an attempt to rid his fur of the water clinging to it. "Ah, Shadow, you bastard!" Naruto yelled, shielding his face from the flying water with his hands.

"Stop fooling around, you two." Sakura ordered when Naruto was about to start chasing Shadow, masking the small growl that came from Naruto's throat. "Let's get going. The faster we get Tazuna-san to his house, the faster he can finish building the bridge and free his people from Gato." The fact that they still had to get away from the Konoha-nin before they found out the truth about Naruto and her was only part of why Sakura wanted to finish the mission.

With a pout Naruto huffed before glaring at a snickering Shadow—("Naruto-sama is so whipped.")—his look promising he'd get the small demon back. Shadow merely ignored the glare, continuing to laugh lightly as everyone grouped together near the path leading away from the shore.

"So, Tazuna-san, this is the land of waves, huh?" Kurenai asked as everyone took in their surroundings. While the fog was somewhat eerie, it helped conceal the fact that a lot of the trees were old and withered. "It looks nice," She began trying to be nice, "Like a forest after a light rain."

"Yeah, it kinda has a nice alluring effect going for it." Sakura added, catching onto what Kurenai was doing. In truth, however, the forest scared her slightly. It slightly reminded her—not to mention the other three chuunin—of the forest of death, the forest in Konoha where she had taken her chuunin exam. The memory of the worst, most agonizing, unbearably difficult test of her life sent a small shiver down her spine.

"It's kinda creepy lookin' if you ask me." Naruto said bluntly, getting a disapproving look from Sakura. "I mean... honestly, I think I've been in battle fields that are less depressing." Shadow nodded, agreeing with his master's comment, while Kiba snickered at how straightforward Naruto was.

Just as Sakura was about to scold Naruto for being so brutally honest, Tazuna's chuckling could be heard. "It seems like you're the only one that isn't afraid to say what's really on his mind." the bridge builder complimented the blond before his mood became slightly solemn. "But, yeah. This is what became of the Land of Waves ever since Gato took over." His shoulders began to shake slightly as he clenched his fists. "But if I can just complete this bridge, we should be able to break free from his grasp."

The group was silent for a while as the old man composed himself so that they may begin their journey into the unfamiliar island. However, they all stiffened when they heard what sounded like a large object cruising through the air towards them, at an alarming rate. Everyone but Shadow and Akamaru immediately dropped to the ground, with Tazuna being tackled by Kiba, just as the object in question cut through where they had just been standing and embedded itself into a nearby tree trunk. There was no doubt in any of their minds that if they had stayed standing they would have been split in two. Even if they had ducked a few seconds later they would have surely lost at least part of an arm.

Looking up, they saw a tall man standing on the hilt of a large cleaver, which must have been the object that flew over them. He wore gray pinstripe pants, white and gray camouflage arm and leg warmers, bandages around his neck and lower face and no shirt. His hair was black and looked spiky, and he wore a Mist hitai-ate tilted over his forehead with the metal plaque on the left side of his head.

"That was quite a moving story there, gramps." the attacker said as he turned his head to look at them over his right shoulder. "But I'm afraid you'll have to die, right here, right now." He finished by throwing about a dozen shuriken towards the bridge builder.

The old man crossed his arms in front of his face in a feeble attempt to block the incoming projectiles. However, instead of feeling pain, he heard the sound of metal hitting metal. Opening his eyes, he saw the black haired woman crouched in front of him with a kunai in hand.

"Former member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū, Momoichi Zabuza; Demon of the Bloody Mist." Kurenai said, glaring at the tall enemy. Zabuza merely smirked under the bandages that covered his mouth.

"It's an honor to be known by the only person that has more stealth assassinations than I do; The Bloody Illusionist, Yūhi Kurenai. No wonder the chuunin that I sent before couldn't get the job done." Zabuza responded, crouching down to grab hold of his sword. He was forced to freeze mid crouch when he felt something cold and sharp against his neck. His eyes widened when he realized that the Kurenai below him was a fake.

'When did she?'

"Knowing of my skill, you still wish to fight me?" Kurenai asked him from her position behind him, making sure her arm would be ready to slit his throat if he tried to move away. As soon as she had recognized who her opponent was, she had cast a genjutsu as quickly as she could and had jumped up behind him. "How about you just run away now? I'd rather my students not see my old ways."

"Don't fuck with me!" Zabuza yelled as he turned, only to have the kunai rip into his throat, making the precious liquid inside him spray out. However, instead of falling to the ground dead, Zabuza's body burst into water.

Only after Zabuza turned into water did Kurenai realize what had happened. She grunted as she was pushed into the tree behind her, a rough palm around her throat. "It's been five years since you stopped specializing in assassination missions. Your skill isn't even half of what it used to be."

Kurenai grit her teeth, knowing the Kiri ninja was right. In her prime she was able to cast genjutsu so strong that she would be able to walk into a building guarded by highly skilled Jōnin, assassinate the target and walk back out the front door without anyone noticing anything had even happened until she was long gone. However, these past couple of years that she had spent training Hinata, and then Kiba and Shino, had made her too relaxed.

"Run away, all of you! I'll take care of him and catch up! Just get Tazuna-san to safety!" Kurenai yelled, noticing Zabuza make hand signs with his other hand. "Hurry up and go!"

"Too late."

In a flash the group was surrounded by water clones, each making the same hand sign. "Ninpō;" the clones began in unison, "Kirigakure no Jutsu." Only seconds later, the field was covered in a mist so thick that none of them could see their own hands in front of them.

Kurenai's eyes widened as she saw the mist begin to roll in, knowing what Zabuza was planning. Said man smirked as the woman in his hand struggled desperately to get out of his grip. "What's wrong? Can't stand the fact that soon the only thing that'll be left of your students will be bloody pieces of meat?" the Kiri nin taunted.

"Dammit," a loud voice was heard from inside the mist, "that's the third time I've walked into a tree!"

"Shino! Hinata! Akamaru!"

"Naruto! Where are you?"

"Sakura-cha—oww! Stupid trees!"

'That's it.' Kurenai thought. "Naruto, blow the mist away with your wind jutsu!" she yelled, remembering that the blond ninja had used a wind technique before.

"Oh. Good idea, oba-san!" Naruto responded before whipping up a gust of wind strong enough to clear the mist, revealing that the Zabuza clones were each poised to deliver a lethal blow. Thankfully, the mist was removed just in time for everyone to dodge, allowing Shadow to use his speed to push the bridge builder out of the way.

"So, you're the blond ninja that defeated the demon eels I sent, huh?" Zabuza said from his new position on the ground, a few meters away from the group of young ninja, still holding Kurenai, except now in a choke hold. "What's your name, kid?"

"Uzumaki Naruto. Sorry that I don't have a bloody nickname—hell, I don't even think I have a nickname." Naruto responded, throwing his backpack on the ground and getting into a fighting stance. "Now how about you stop picking on girls and take me on?"

Tossing Kurenai towards the water where another clone appeared, Zabuza smirked. "Suirō no Jutsu!" the clone yelled, trapping the Konoha Jōnin in a sphere of water that was connected to its right hand, inside of which she appeared unable to move. "While in this water prison, she can't move. But don't worry, she can still breathe. I wouldn't want her to die without witnessing her students deaths."

"Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba shouted, sprinting towards the water clone only to be stopped by a black mass. Not a second passed after he stopped when another clone brought it's massive sword down on the ground, right where Kiba would've been.

"Nice instincts, kid." the clone said, staring at the silent Shino.

"Now that Naruto-dono blew away all the mist, my bugs can come out." Shino stated, pushing his shades back up. "Naruto-dono, we'll get Kurenai-sensei free, you distract Zabuza." Naruto nodded, leaving the clones that jumped in from the forest to them.

"How is he making more clones without hand signs?" Kiba asked, glancing towards the Zabuza in front of Naruto, who was waiting for Naruto to make his first move, and the clones surrounding him.

"Maybe he's mastered this technique." Shino guessed, also wondering how it was possible. "Whatever he's doing, it's going to be a pain in the ass if he keeps making more clones. Naruto-dono, if possible, take him out."

As soon as the request left his mouth the blond disappeared, reappearing behind a surprised Zabuza, kunai in hand. Reflectively, the Kiri-nin brought his sword behind him, blocking Naruto's stab before jumping back.

"Quick one, aren't you?" Zabuza stated. "I might have to take this serious." he said, gripping the hilt of his blade tightly. Almost simultaneously they ran towards each other, meeting at the middle, Naruto barely able to hold back the heavy sword with two kunai. With a bit of effort, he pushed the sword back enough for him to jump back.

'He's pretty strong for a human.' thought the blond demon as he glanced at Zabuza. When the man smirked, Naruto turned around in time to block a swing from a clone, but left himself open when the real Zabuza swung his sword at him from behind.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled when she saw the mist-nin slash Naruto across the back. The only thing stopping her from running to him was an arm outstretched in front of her.

"Sakura-san, I know you're worried about Naruto-dono but with everyone else fighting and Kurenai-sensei trapped it's up to me and you to protect Tazuna-san." Hinata said, her voice, while still low, full of resolve and her doujutsu, Byakugan, activated.

Just as Sakura was about to tell Hinata that she'd probably be able to do it by herself, a shuriken whizzed by from behind, cutting the lavender eyed girl's cheek slightly. 'What the hell?' thought Sakura, wondering why the girl hadn't dodged.

"Sakura-san, can you put up a genjutsu that'll conceal our location?" Hinata asked. "I'll try to take down any clone that tries to attack us, but they can still throw kunai and shuriken at us and the Byakugan has a blind spot. But if they can't see exactly where we are, then it shouldn't matter."

Sakura nodded, performing the necessary hand signs. "Kieuseru no jutsu!" Chakra began to cover the three slowly, making them invisible to those outside the affected area. "I can only hold this technique for ten minutes, max, and it'll only cover a five meter radius, so don't move outside it." Sakura informed the two beside her.

"Hopefully they can free your sensei and we can get out of here before then." Tazuna said, with the two girls silently agreeing.

"Looks like your bitches have decided to hide themselves." Zabuza commented as he chased Naruto, who was jumping from branch to branch, swinging his sword. "Too bad, I kind of enjoyed watching them. The one with the long hair has a decent chest, and it appears she has the Byakugan, doesn't she?" Zabuza asked, rhetorically, missing Naruto by only a few centimeters on the last swing. "I'd probably be able to sell her as a slave to the cloud village after I have my fun with her. But as for the Illusionist and that pink haired bitch, I'll kill them after I've had my fun."

Naruto stopped on the branch he was on, clenching his fists, his face contorted in a look of pain. He was trying to stay calm throughout the fight, seeing as somehow every time he got nicked by the massive blade, he felt both a great deal of pain and himself lose control of his demonic chakra before it would decrease. However, when the man chasing him voiced his plans for his mate, he became unbelievably angry.

'Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.' a dark voice repeated in his head slowly, almost like a mantra. One that was extremely hard to ignore.

The blond demon was so out of it he didn't notice Zabuza landnext to him and put his sword's blade against the side of his neck, holding it there, waiting for him to open his eyes.

'I want to see the life leave his fearful eyes when I kill him. After all, I wouldn't have had to be here if he hadn't killed the demon eels.' Zabuza thought, his hand trembling with anticipation. At that moment, however, his mind was flooded with the memories of the clone he had created before the fight, the one he had given about half his chakra to and ordered to make more clones for him.

Apparently, the black fox had found and dispersed it and now the two boys were onto the last four clones.

Snarling, Zabuza pushed his sword down, cutting into the blond's chest, and jumped away before he was completely through, causing his bade to arch back to the same side that the cut started.

Just as Shino and Kiba finished off the last two clones and were making a sprint for the one holding their sensei captive, Zabuza appeared in front of them, kicking Shino away and swinging his blade at Kiba, who was pushed out of the way by Akamaru. Said dog whined in pain as it received a rather bad cut along its right rear leg.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, moving towards his injured companion, who was trying to get up again. "Relax boy, lemme take a look at it." he said as the dog lay back down. The wound was big but not deep, it would probably be alright as long as it received some treatment. "I'll have to ask Naruto for some more of that healing cream."

"How sad, did the fucking pooch get hurt?" Zabuza asked, before kicking Kiba across the face, sending him a few feet away. The brown haired teen looked up, his face horror struck when he noticed that the mist-nin had the tip of his blade flat against Akamaru's neck, getting ready to decapitate the dog guillotine style. "This is why you don't bring your pets onto the battlefield." the man smirked, noting that they were to scared to move in fear that he'd kill the dog instantly. "Now watch, because this is how I'll kill those three bitches when I'm done fucking them."

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as Zabuza pushed down and blood filled the air.

- Two Minutes Earlier -

Naruto grunted as he felt Zabuza's blade slice across his shoulder and arc across the left side of his chest. Again it felt five times worse than it should have. The blond grit his teeth as he hit the ground, both from the pain and his anger.

'How could I space out that much in the middle of a battle?' he mentally berated himself. He would probably hit himself if he could move his arms, but the pain was too much. 'I hope they can handle him while I recover.' However, as he thought that, he could feel himself losing consciousness.

'Get up. Must crush. Get up. Must tear. Get up. Must kill.' he heard the familiar voice in his mind as he got closer and closer to unconsciousness.

'No! I don't want Sakura-chan to see me like that!' he screamed in his mind. Suddenly he remembered what Zabuza planned to do to the girls and he struggled to get up, intent on not giving the man a chance to touch his mate. However, all he could do was push himself up enough to see Zabuza place his sword against Kiba's dog's neck. 'Dammit! Come on, move body! What if that were Shadow?' Naruto said in his head, struggling harder, angry at himself for being so pitifully useless.

'Get up!'

What Naruto heard next was all it took to send him over the edge. "—This is how I'll kill those three bitches when I'm done fucking them."

'Must Protect!'

In the blink of an eye, Naruto appeared in front of Zabuza and smacked the sword out of its current position. The hit was actually so fast and strong, that the sword was sent flying out of Zabuza's hands and embedded halfway into a tree. Naruto's hand had received a gash from hitting the edged side of the blade. Fisting that very hand, Naruto punched Zabuza, sending him onto the surface of the water.

Hand clutching his face, Zabuza rose to his feet, trying to make sense of what had happened. One second he's about to decapitate the dog, and the next he's sent flying. All he remembered was a yellow blur. Looking over towards the group of ninja on shore, his eyes widened when he noticed the blond brat was standing there, arm still outstretched from when he punched him.

"How is he still alive?" he muttered to himself, glaring knives at the teen. When said teen turned towards him, Zabuza froze for a moment. "It can't be... is that the sharingan?" he asked, staring into the blood red eyes in front of him. It seemed impossible as he knew an Uchiha has always been dark haired, which was beside the point that they were all dead. Except two brothers.

From on shore, Naruto glared at Zabuza, getting ready to kill him as soon as he came back onto shore. 'He's lucky that's the only thing a great demon like me can't do, walk on water.' Naruto thought, his hand opening a bit, but still closed enough that he could swipe at the human with his claws. 'I'm going to have to learn to do that; it's shameful for me not to know something that looks so simple.' He arched an eyebrow when he noticed Zabuza going through a series of hand signs.

"Congratulations, Brat, you've officially gotten on my nerves." Zabuza yelled as he completed his hand signs. "Now here's your prize; Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" As soon as he finished, water began to rise in a pillar before beginning to take the shape of a dragon. The water inside the dragon moved around with enough force to make it seem that it roared. It turned towards the group on the shore, roaring again as it headed straight towards them.

Kiba, carrying Akamaru, and Shino jumped into the trees, away from the dragon's path, but Naruto stayed still, not even flinching. In fact, he had an amused grin plastered on his face.

At that time, Sakura, Hinata and Tazuna came back into view, Sakura's genjutsu having exhausted her. When they saw the large water dragon heading towards the shore, they got ready to leap into the trees, but just as Hinata jumped away with the bridge builder, Sakura noticed Naruto wasn't moving from his spot.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, fearing that all the wounds that were visible on his body must be preventing him from moving. As she rushed towards him, so did the dragon, only it was faster. She could only watch in horror as, with the force of a tsunami, it crashed into Naruto.

"Kaze Onijutsu; Ranken." Naruto's voice came from inside the rushing water, though it wasn't said loud enough for everyone else other than Sakura to hear. Immediately, the water dragon was cut in two horizontally, the invisible attack following the body of the dragon until it reached Zabuza, where it came out of the water and, no longer being able to slice due to losing power along the way, crashed into Zabuza, knocking him backwards into the air.

'What the... fuck was that?' Zabuza mentally asked himself as he fell back towards the sea under him. That was, until he was hit by what seemed like the same attack, only from the opposite direction, knocking him towards the shore. With a pained grunt, the Kiri-nin collided roughly with a tree before falling to his knees on the ground.

As soon as he was up and had turned around, Naruto was in front of him, smirking, as one of his hands went around Zabuza's neck, pushing him into the tree behind him, and the other hand was occupied with it's constant acquaintance with the Kiri nin's face. After about a minute of assaulting Zabuza, Naruto pulled back his hand, fingers opening ready to delve into Zabuza's throat. That's when Zabuza saw his eyes again, noting that while they were just as red, if not redder than the sharingan, they held more resemblance to those of a demon with the vertically slit pupils.

Before Naruto could connect the final strike, however, he was forced to tilted to the side slightly as a few projectiles flew past him, sinking into Zabuza's neck and chest, over vital spots. Said man grunted before going motionless, his eyes becoming dull and lifeless. Naruto arched an eyebrow, turning to look at the direction from which the projectiles, which he noticed where senbon, came from.

In the tree behind him was a masked figure with long hair tied up on top of it's head in a bun head together by a light green cloth. The person wore a green loose fitting short sleeved coat with light green lining held together by a dark green obi and a long sleeved dark green shirt under and pants the same color. On the mask were four small wavy lines, indicating the figure was a Kiri nin.

"I'm sorry for almost hitting you, but I'll be taking that corpse." the ninja said, standing from the crouching position it was in. Naruto merely continued to stared at the ninja, confusion written on his face.

"And who the hell are you?" he asked rudely, not flinching when he felt his mate's hand on his shoulder. He'd sensed her walking towards him, but the mysterious person in the tree had him aggravated and on edge. Aggravated because of the way he came in and demanded the corpse of a human he was sure had a nice price on his head, and on edge by how a human had gotten so close without him noticing until he heard the senbon cut through a leaf on it's way towards Zabuza's body.

"I am Haku." the ninja responded, jumping down onto the ground, landing without making a sound. Even Naruto didn't hear anything with his heightened hearing. "I was charged with capturing Zabuza. Though I had lost his trail for a while, I came to this land as soon as I heard he had been spotted here. And though I resent not getting here earlier to help you, I still have to take that body." Naruto's eyebrows knit together as he glared at the ninja.

"It's alright, Naruto. Give him the body." Sakura said, recognizing the clothes that the hunter nin of Kirigakure wore. He seemed to be taking in her words, still glaring at the hunter nin, so she examined all the wounds Naruto had received, staring at the cut he had received on his back. She didn't know how he was still standing, mush less how he had taken that water dragon head on. 'Naruto really is amazing, taking down one of the seven best swordsmen from the mist.' Sakura thought, turning when she heard someone walking on water.

"Do as he says, Naruto-san." Kurenai said, making her way onto the shore, her clothes wet from when the water prison broke, due to the water clone dispersing. "He's a Kiri Hunter nin. It's his job to hunt down rogue ninjas like Zabuza." She explained, shifting her gaze from her squad, all of which where tending to Akamaru. "He has more right to Zabuza's body than we do, just because he was charged to hunt him down."

Naruto 'tch'ed before throwing Zabuza towards the hunter nin, the body landing face down, making the senbon embed themselves deeper, all but disappearing into his body. "Whatever. Guess this is the thanks I get for doing all the work, huh? I don't even get to collect the bounty on Zabuza's head." He said, aggravated, before walking towards the path leading into the forest.

"Wait a second, what do you mean, 'doing all the work'? Everyone fought just as hard as you did." Kurenai retorted as the Kiri nin vanished, taking Zabuza's body and blade with him. "Zabuza was defeated because everyone helped, whether they fought him directly," obviously she was referring to Shino and Kiba, who had received multiple wounds and bruises, though none as bad as Naruto's, "or protected Tazuna-san." she finished, referring to Sakura and Hinata, who had gotten some cut by the few attacks that had gotten past their defensive formation.

"Please, without me, your students would have died. The boys took on clones that couldn't have had more than five percent of the real Zabuza's strength. Sure the girls protected the bridge builder, but everything would have gone to hell if I hadn't been here to defeat Zabuza, who did not disappear after one punch." Naruto snapped back, turning around, facing them for the first time. "And you shouldn't even be saying anything, because you were the most useless during the battle, 'Bloody Illusionist'." he added, saying the nickname mockingly, when Kurenai tried to say something else.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, unable to believe what she was hearing, from Naruto no less. "What the hell's wrong with you?" She never imagined Naruto would ever act like he currently was. It almost seemed like he was a different person. But his eyes were what had her worried, as instead of the joyful vibrant blues she'd fallen in love with, they were a deep malevolent red. 'Those look like the eyes of an evil demon.' she thought to herself, a tiny part of her hoping that she hadn't made some sort of mistake in falling for the blond so fast. Though the rest of her knew their was some reason for his behavior.

"Hey, retard, calm down." Shadow said as he came out of some bushes towards the right. Naruto turned his gaze from Sakura to Shadow, his eyes gaining a slight edge to them causing Shadow to dig his claws into the earth. He knew of his master's violent tendencies when he he became this way. What Naruto said, however, surprised him.

"Fuck it. It's not worth it." he muttered, no one but Shadow hearing him. "Old man, lead the way to our destination." Naruto said as he went and picked up his backpack. It took Tazuna a second for Naruto's words to sink in before he nodded his head.

"Right. Let's head over to my house and get all of you patched up." he suggested, figuring that the Konoha ninja would be reluctant to ask Naruto for his healing cream. "Then tomorrow we'll go to the bridge." Everyone seemed to agree, though it was clear that the tension was high between the group and Naruto, which was most likely the reason he walked so far ahead of the group.

'I'm going to talk to him, get him to apologize and find out why he acted like that.' Sakura thought, as she ignored Kiba's comment of 'Typical Suna nin', trying to make her feet walk faster. For some reason, however, they refused to move any quicker than they already were. 'Am I that tired from sustaining that genjutsu back there?' she asked herself mentally. She felt fine, though, and her chakra should have returned by now.

It was like her body had it's own will and didn't want to move faster. 'I'm hesitant to speak with him.' she admitted to herself. Hesitant wasn't the right word though. What she felt was fear. Fear of Naruto. Fear of finding out that he was actually like this, and had just been acting. Fear that she had rushed into a permanent relationship with a demon without knowing everything about him. Fear of the last two weeks being a lie. But most of all, she feared that if she went to talk to him, and her other fears turned out true, she might regret leaving her village.

'No. There's no way Naruto would have been lying to me. He told me he'd never lie to me.' she thought. Fear, however, was a powerful emotion. It pulled at her growing insecurities as it tried to nestle it's way further into her head. Before she knew it, she was clenching her fists and biting her bottom lip as she blinked away the moisture from her eyes, her thoughts frightening her to the verge of tears. Shadow noticed.

"Hey, Pinky." he said, making her turn to him with a small glare, but her quickly blinking, glistening eyes took away most of the effect. "Don't worry about Master's behavior. It's just his demon blood acting up." he said, obviously trying to calm her down. Sakura's eye's widened.

'What's he doing mentioning Naruto's a demon when we're surrounded by everyone.' she thought frantically, turning her head only to noticed that she had in fact been walking a little faster than everyone else, and she was about halfway between Naruto and squad eight, plus their charge. "What do you mean?" the rosette asked.

"Master Naruto's nice for a demon, wouldn't you say?" he asked back, not answering her question. She nodded, not knowing where he was going with this. "A little too nice for a demon." he continued, making Sakura arch one of her thin eyebrows slightly. "Demons are, by nature, a violent species. Destruction and carnage is in our blood, no demon can deny this. Even demons that try to live peaceful lives will occasionally be unable to resist going wild. Master is no exception and he will return to normal. He just needs some time, usually around half to a full hour."

"So you're saying that he was overcome by his demonic blood?" Sakura questioned, not understanding. Naruto hadn't gone berserk and gone on a rampage, he'd just become rude.

"Yes. And while he's never gone into a killing spree or anything like that, this is the first time I've seen him so calm while he's like this. He's usually an asshole and completely ruthless against whatever opponent got him like that." Shadow answered, Naruto's earlier comment coming to his mind again. "If I had to guess, I'd say he was trying to control himself in front of you, pinky."

Sakura looked down, ashamed with herself for her earlier thoughts. 'How could I have doubted Naruto like that?' she thought, looking up from the ground, her gaze settled on Naruto's back. He was now slightly closer, though whether it was from her walking faster without noticing, or from the pain of his wounds finally sinking in, she didn't know. Not wanting to chance letting him just collapse halfway there, she sped up some, Shadow fallowing her as she approached Naruto.

Naruto had begun to lose feeling in his left arm, the side where Zabuza's blade had cut around in an arch as he had jumped away to toy with Kiba and Shino, and the exhaustion from using one of his more powerful Onijutsu was getting to him. However he doubted he could ask for assistance for the rest of the walk after his earlier behavior. 'Besides, I'm a demon, I don't need their assistance.' he thought, about to reach his right arm over and clutch his left side until he felt it raised and a small body slip through, making his arm rest over a familiar pair of shoulders.

"I'd go on your other side, but I think it would cause more pain if I press up against a wound that bad." Sakura said, staring him in the eyes when he turned to her before he looked away. She noticed his eyes weren't as red as they were before. "I know what happened back there."

"I know you know. I heard Shadow talking with you." Naruto replied, his voice calm, almost indifferent.

"Shadow says you were restraining yourself back there. Is that true?"

"Yes."

Sakura turned to look at where they were going, noting she could see a small house further down the road. "May I ask what it was that made you hold back?" she asked. She wanted to know, needed to be sure that the reason he fought back his very nature was because of her, so that any lingering thoughts of regret would fade away. All she received from the blond was silence for a few seconds.

"Because of you." He finally answered. "I had told myself that I wouldn't give into my demon blood after I marked you, that I would protect you with my own power. I hate when I let my blood influence me, it makes me want to do things I would never do otherwise. Plus, I thought you would regret coming with me if you saw me acting like the monsters I myself hate." by now he had turned to meet her gaze, and she saw that one of his eyes had turned back into the beautiful sapphire that it used to be. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, I hoped you would never see me like that."

Sakura smiled sadly. "To be honest, I was scared when I saw you acting like that. I thought for a moment that you had been lying to me—"

"I told you I would never lie to you."

"I know." she smiled, once again looking down the road at the house that couldn't be more than 20 paces away by now. "And I'll never doubt that again. But I want you to know something now." she added, making Naruto look down at her. "No matter what what you do, or did, I'll never regret leaving my village to come with you. Never doubt that." she finished, watching as his other eye also returned to it's former sapphire.

Naruto smiled, opening his mouth to say something only to be interrupted when the door in front of the house opened, a woman with long raven hair stepping out. "I'm going to the market, Ina—Oh my god, what happened to you!?" she screamed when she saw Naruto, who was at the time passing in front of the house with Sakura and Shadow. "Where did you get those injuries?"

"Tsunami!" Tazuna yelled from behind the trio, making the woman in front of them look down the road.

"Tō-san, you're back!" she said, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes, but can we save the welcome backs for later? These ninja are injured, especially the blond one." Tazuna said as he approached the house, his eyes widening as he was hit in the face by a rock Tsunami had thrown at him.

"That's for leaving to recruit assistants the day I was going out on a date with that merchant that was passing by! You knew I needed you to watch Inari!" she shouted, squatting down to pick up another rock.

"I know, I know! I'll apologize later, but right now we need to tend to," he ducked the second rock she threw at him, "our saviors wounds." she blinked, remembering the severely injured young man in front of her.

"Oh. Right. Come in, come in." she said ushering them inside, a small blush of embarrassment on her face. Everyone walked in, taking note of how small the house really was. "I'll get the medical equipment." she said, running up the stairs as she came inside after them. Inside, it seemed the tension from before hadn't gone away. Everyone sat down on the floor, Naruto, Sakura and Shadow sitting on the wall opposite team eight.

Kiba put Akamaru down on a futon and, swallowing his pride, stepped towards them. "Naruto... could I borrow that healing cream from before?" he asked, hoping to use it on Akamaru. Naruto nodded, asking Sakura if she could take it out of his backpack. She did so, tossing it to Kiba when she found it.

"You can go ahead and use it on yourselves, but not on the dog." Naruto said when Kiba caught it, making the boy's eyebrows knit together.

"Why not?" Kiba half shouted, anger clearly in his voice. "Just because Akamaru's a dog doesn't mean he's replaceable."

"I know that, I have a companion too." Naruto said, pointing at shadow with his right hand, his left arm having gone completely numb by then. "But that cream only works on humans. It'll only feel like your rubbing soap on it's wound if you use it on him." Naruto explained, his vision wavering when he finished. 'Guess the effects of my demon blood are finally going away.'

"Don't worry." Tsunami said, coming down with a rather large medical kit, placing it on top of the table in the middle of the room. "I'm sure I must have something to help him." opening the case, she pulled out a small bottle some wrapping bandages. "Could someone please get me a wet cloth?" she asked as she knelt down in front of Akamaru.

"I'll get it." Hinata said, running over to the sink. She came back and gave Tsunami a cloth she found at the sink, which had saved her the trouble of searching for one.

"Thanks. Now, I'm going to clean it's wound. It's going to hurt, so you guys will need to hold it down." the raven haired woman ordered, Kiba and Shino nodding their heads as they held down the white dog. Uncapping the small bottle, Tsunami poured a bit of the liquid along the dog's wound, making it whine as it struggled against Kiba's and Shino's grip, trying to get away.

"Akamaru, calm down, boy." Kiba said, trying to get the animal to stop struggling. "The sooner we can get this over with, the sooner it'll stop hurting." It took a few seconds for Kiba's words to sink in before Akamaru stopped struggling.

Tsunami mentally thanked Kiba for calming down the animal as she got to work cleaning the wound. As soon as she was done cleaning it, she set to wrapping it, making sure to wrap it tight enough that it couldn't bend, but not too tight. "There." she said, gathering her equipment. "It should heal fine, but I'd recommend it not move for at least a week" she suggested, taking out some more supplies.

"Wow, lady, you sure knew what to do." Kiba complimented, receiving the healing cream from Shino. While they had been restraining Akamaru, Hinata had been adding some to her wounds, and Shino had done the same after Kiba told him he could handle the rest himself towards the end. Now it was his turn.

"Well, a few years ago I was training to be a veterinarian. But then I got pregnant before my first year finished, so I had to drop out." Tsunami explained, putting away the supplies she was going to use to heal the ninja, seeing as they were already healed.

"So you have a kid?" Sakura asked, her hand running through Naruto's hair. He'd fallen asleep halfway through the little procedure. Given his condition, she'd be more concerned but he'd told her he was going to sleep, and she could still feel his breath against her skin as he exhaled.

Tsunami turned, nodding as Kiba walked over to give Sakura the cream so she and Naruto could use it. As he neared, however, he noticed something twitch in Naruto's hair. 'What the hell's that?' thought the brown haired boy, staring harder.

It seemed like it was an ear and it seemed like Sakura was playing with the ear, though she appeared to be doing it subconsciously. The ear would twitch if one of Sakura's fingers brushed the inside.

"Yes, I had a boy. Afterwards, I couldn't return to school while taking care of a baby, especially after the father left me, so I just stayed home to raise him myself." she explained before sighing, her hands going to her hips. "He's turning twelve soon, but the way he acts sometimes I swear he's still seven."

"If I'm such a pain, why don't you just kick me out then?" came a voice from the direction of the stairs. Everyone, even Kiba who was rubbing his eyes, turned to find a young preteen boy, most likely Tsunami's son. He wore a sleeveless black shirt, with a pair of gray overalls, with the two straps hanging around his waist. A white with blue hat covered his medium length raven hair, but fell short of blocking his charcoal colored eyes.

"Inari, stop saying that, and take off your hat, you know I don't like it when you wear it at home." Tsunami said, causing Inari to roll his eyes.

"I don't want to, so stop nagging me." Inari said, moving to the refrigerator where he quickly grabbed a bottle of water and returned to the bottom of the stairs. There he stopped, turning his head towards the group. "I'd go back home if I were you guys. There's no way you'll live if you stay. Not even Demons can defy Gato." he said ominously before going up the stairs.

Tsunami merely shook her head, sighing. "What am I going to do with that boy?" she asked aloud.

"Leave him, he's just entering that rebellious stage." Naruto said drowsily, trying to make himself more comfortable on Sakura's shoulder by nuzzling his head into her neck. The action only made the rosette giggle as his hair tickled her skin. The way the couple was acting almost made Team Eight forget about how the blond had behaved after the battle.

Kiba was more preoccupied trying to figure what was wrong with his eyes. One second, he sees Naruto with animal ears, then the next their gone. He had turned away for the brief minute that Inari had come down and when he'd turned back to Naruto, he couldn't find a trace of the ears he thought he'd seen. 'Damn, maybe I'm more tired from that fight than I thought.' Kiba thought.

Shadow, who had been curled up to Naruto's left and had been watching Kiba since he'd moved towards Naruto and Sakura, decided it would be best to get Naruto away from the rest for a bit. Clearly the brown haired teen had noticed his master's transformation disappear when the blond had briefly lost consciousness.

"Hey, dog boy, how come you've been just standing there for five minutes? Don't tell me you've been staring at my Master's fiancé?" Shadow said, making everyone look at Kiba, who had a blush of embarrassment on his face.

"N-no. D-don't be ridiculous." Kiba muttered back, embarrassed at being caught staring towards the two for so long and at the large accusation. "I just came to return this," he held out the container, "but I didn't want to interrupt you two." he explained. Sakura took the item and Kiba moved back to where Akamaru was as fast as he could, trying to ignore Naruto's amused laughter.

"Tazuna-san," Naruto called out after he stopped laughing, "do you have a room where I can go apply this and rest? Most likely a wound this big won't heal even with the help of my mother's cream." Naruto said, receiving a nod from the old man.

"I'll sleep in this room and you can use my room. It's the last door in the hallway upstairs." Tazuna said before looking at his daughter. "That is, if my daughter here didn't turn it into a storage room while I was gone." Tsunami merely rolled her eyes, admitting that she'd thought about putting it up for rent but decided against it.

Naruto bowed his head slightly, thanking the elder male before trying to get up on his own. The pathetic attempt he made at getting up only made Sakura sigh before helping him, actually going to his left side this time.

"Guess I'm going to be helping you up the stairs, huh?" Sakura asked rhetorically. Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"It's a good thing you're helping me Sakura-chan, I didn't think I'd be able to reach the wounds on my back." Naruto said, receiving a nod of agreement from the girl.

Kiba grinned as he watched the two teens slowly go up the stairs, noting that they were heading towards a room alone. "Hey, behave yourselves up there! Remember that there's a little boy in on of those rooms!" he shouted, receiving a smack to the back of his head by his sensei for thinking that way.

Sakura, thankful that Kurenai had hit Kiba for her, blushed profusely while Naruto chuckled, shaking his head. The two continued upstairs and to the last door in the hallway. Entering it, they found a rather plain room, with nothing but a large futon mattress on the floor and a few cabinets and drawers. Sakura walked Naruto to the mattress, about to lay him down gently when he suddenly squirmed free, letting himself fall flat onto the futon, face down. His wound made a sickening 'squish' as he fell on top of it, making Sakura wince.

"Ow..." Naruto mumbled into the pillow, his transformation disapating. Sakura shook her head.

"Why did you do that if you knew it would hurt?"

"I thought it would be comfier..."

"It's a futon, of course it's not gonna be comfy." Sakura said, kneeling down next to him before lifting his shirt up and pulling out a kunai.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What're you doin' Sakura-chan?" Naruto exclaimed, panicking as he turned and rose, before falling onto his back from the pain. "It hurts like hell..." he groaned.

"That's what you get for thinking like a pervert." Sakura said, though she did feel bad for him. His wounds looked extremely painful. "I'm trying to get this shirt off of you so I can apply your mother's cream onto these wounds."

"That doesn't explain why you're cutting it up..." he muttered, not trying to stop her anymore.

"The shirt's ruined anyways, what's the point of just taking it off?" she asked, continuing when he didn't answer. "Besides, taking it off normally would hurt more." she added.

"True... but I was serious when I said it only works on humans." Naruto told her, making her hands freeze.

"Then what about these wounds?" Sakura asked, becoming worried. She'd thought that Naruto would be fine as long as they had his mother's miracle cream. But if it didn't even work on him...

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan." he said, reaching for one of her hands with his right one. "I've never had an injury that didn't heal after a good night's sleep." he finished, smiling.

When what he said finally sunk into her head, she glared at him. "Then why didn't you say something before I spent my time and energy ripping up your bloody shirt?" she asked, angrily. Naruto laughed nervously.

"It did kinda hurt, so I thought since, you know, you'd already started maybe you could help me take it off?" by the end, he sounded more like he was pleading for her to continue rather than answering her.

"If you weren't so badly injured, I'd hit you." she growled through clenched teeth. She continued, though, ripping his shirt until it was basically just a rag underneath him. "Roll over." she ordered, helping him. She removed the useless piece of cloth from underneath him before he returned to his position on his back, noting that there was a thin line of blood on the futon from the cut on his back.

She gathered all the pieces of his former shirt so that she could go down and throw them out and hopefully get some bandages for Naruto. As she stood, though, his hand reached out and grabbed her arm. She turned her head to look at him and saw that he was staring at the cuts that she had received.

Seeing as she had been unable to move for the genjutsu to work, she hadn't been surprised when she got the occasional cut. Hinata was only one girl, after all. She couldn't have been everywhere. She figured she must have had around fifteen cuts, most small but some were bigger.

Naruto didn't say anything, he merely kept staring for a few seconds. When he tugged on her arm gently, she let him pull her down until she ended up sitting on her knees beside him. As he uncapped the container, Sakura noticed that he was using the arm that had been dangling at his side. Once he had it opened, he dabbed his finger in the cream and began to rub it over whatever cut he found.

The way he rubbed it over her cut sent a shiver down her spine. It was exactly like how he'd done it when they first met. From the way he was touching her gently, his hand rubbing in a way that made her wonder how it wound feel on another part of her body, to the way he lingered on each cut, even after it had closed, before moving to another one.

Naruto had started on her arms, moving up to her shoulders before lifting her shirt slightly, healing any cut that had reached her body, one of which was a little under one of her breasts, making her gasp. After that, he moved down to her legs, forcing himself to sit up and her to lie down. He took her shoes off, seeing as they were knee high sandals, slowly pulling them off her feet before throwing them towards the edge of the mattress.

After he healed the few cuts on her legs, he grabbed enough cream to spread around his hands before rubbing her feet, relieving any soreness she had built up from all the walking they had been doing recently. It was something he had done before, when she had cut her foot on a sharp rock in the edge of a river but unlike the last time, this time he was just doing it to make her feel good. His way of apologizing for the day's events, she guessed.

When he finished rubbing her feet, by which time she was already curling her toes from the pleasure his teasing touches were giving her, he moved up her body, his face hovering over hers as he gave her a sweet peck on the lips. "Better go see if—mph"

Whatever he was gonna say was cut off as Sakura grabbed his head and pressed her lips against his in a smoldering kiss. She force her tongue into his mouth and teased his own into hers. When he responded to the kiss, lowering some more until she wasn't raised off the bed anymore, she let go of the back of his head and moved her hands to the fly on her shirt, pulling it down.

As soon as Naruto heard the sound of a zipper opening he broke the kiss, his eyes widening when he saw the bit of cleavage that was revealed to him by her half opened shirt. He moved his left hand to grab one of hers, stopping it from opening further. "Whoa, whoa, Sakura-chan, What're you doin'? I thought we agreed that we would wait a little longer before going any further?"

"Naruto, it's your fault that I'm like this." she said as she finished opening her shirt, his weakened arm not being able to stop her. As he sat up, so did she, her hands once again grabbing the back of his head. "Now man up and take responsibility."

"What? I don't even know what that mea—mph"

Once again, her lips had cut him off, but this time he grabbed her shoulders and pushed himself away. He instantly regretted it when he noticed that from his current angle and distance, he could see her cleavage again, as well as the white bra she was wearing, but it seemed to bounce some from him pushing her back slightly, making him hold back a nosebleed and his resistance waver.

She once again exploited his weaker arm, pushing it away so she could reach him, planting wet kisses along his jaw. "Come one, Naruto. You know you want to do this as much as I do." she muttered against his skin, her breath making him shiver.

He didn't know how much longer his will could last. It would probably break if she kept it up for a little while longer, that he knew. What he didn't know was how he could get her to stop. 'There has to be some way to snap her out of it.' he thought, looking around the room, not finding anything that would help. 'C'mon, there has to be some wa—oh, god, not the ears.'

She'd found his weak spot, there was no way he could resist her if she kept messing with his ears like she currently was. He could actually see the last couple bricks crumbling from the wall he called his will. He was only a few more seconds from giving in.

"Damn. And I thought those Icha Icha books were unadulterated smut." Shadow's voice came from the window behind Sakura, making her turn around. "I thought you two were gonna wait till you knew each other better, or something like that?"

Naruto thanked whatever upper being there was that Shadow had interrupted them. Sakura however, didn't share his feeling of joy. "Shadow," Sakura began, getting up and walking towards the window, "leave." she pushed the fox off the window before shutting it. The sound of Shadow falling into a trash can and shouting 'damn broad' could be heard slightly.

After she pulled down the shade, which was unnecessary seeing as the sun was almost finished setting, Sakura removed her open shirt, letting it drop on the floor. Walking towards the futon, she dropped back onto her knees and crawled the rest of the way to Naruto, making her breasts get pressed together and move with the motions of her arms. "Now, where were we?"

"S-Sakura-chan, please. I-I'm tired, and I'm injured from fighting that freak with no eyebrows and... and we promised to hold off on the sex 'til we knew more about each other."

By the time he'd finished talking, Sakura had backed him into a wall, but she stopped when she heard what he said. "You're right, Naruto." she said softly, making him blink as she sat on her knees. She closed her eyes, taking a few more deep breaths to calm herself down, not noticing Naruto's wide eyes were glued to her chest as it heaved up and down.

"Uh... Sakura-chan, I was thinking, I bet you'd like to take a shower, in a real bath tub, since you don't seem to like taking baths in rivers and lakes." Naruto suggested, getting a nod from Sakura as she opened her eyes.

"Yeah, that would be nice." she admitted, her body tingling with anticipation at finally showering how it used to. She then noticed that he seemed to be staring at something, quite intently, and, following his gaze, felt her cheeks turn red in anger and embarrassment. She suddenly remembered she was half naked.

Turning around quickly, she moved to retrieve her shirt, still able to feel his eyes on her. When she was halfway across the room, she grabbed the pillow that was on the futon. "Naruto..." she called him before throwing the pillow at him. "Stop staring at my body like that, you pervert!" with that she picked up her shirt, putting it on as she walked to the door.

"Sakura-chan, you're mean. You're the one who took off your shirt." Naruto whined, rubbing the back of his head seeing as it had hit the wall due to the force of the pillow.

"And who's fault is it that I got hot and bothered?" Sakura turned to glare at him, making him hold the same pillow up as a shield.

"Mine! It was all my fault!"

Sakura smirked, opening the door. "I want you sleeping by the time I come back. And don't hog the futon." she ordered, stepping out and closing the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Naruto moved over to the futon and, placing the pillow down, allowed himself to collapse on it again. "Man, I'm tired." he mumbled into the pillow, ignoring the light movement in the room.

"Don't tell me fighting that human tired you out, Master Naruto." Shadow said, having come in through the window Sakura had reopened, no doubt wanting to let some cool air enter the room. "You weren't even fighting seriously."

"Yes, I was." Naruto responded, making Shadow stare at him strangely. "Or, at least, I was trying to. Each time he cut me with that damn sword, I lost control of my chakra felt some of my energy disappear. And it hurt a lot more than it should have." Naruto explained, turning his head to look at the dark fox.

"So I guess it's true what we heard? That the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shū have blades that were forged specifically to fight demons." Shadow stated, getting a shrug from the blond.

"I dunno and I don't care as long as I never meet any more of them. Just glad that guy's dead." Naruto muttered, closing his eyes, sighing. When he opened them, his carefree expression was gone. "Shadow... What were you doing during that fight? I didn't see you help out at all." Naruto accused, making the fox cringe at his tone of voice.

"I was scanning the area for any more possible enemies, and to figure out how he kept making more clones. Even the clone masters we've met before had to move some part of their body to make a clone without hand signs, but Zabuza wasn't. I found a clone that was actually making clones." Shadow explained. Naruto rose an eyebrow.

"A clone making clones?"

"No doubt Zabuza gave it some chakra and told it to sit back, just in case."

"Doesn't matter now how he did it. We still won, and he's gone now." Naruto said, yawning. "I'm going to sleep."

The room was silent for a few seconds before Shadow spoke again. "I'm going to miss the Purple Rain."

"Good for you. Now that Sakura-chan's with us, I won't let it happen ever again." Naruto responded. Shadow was referring to the way it would seem to rain Demon blood when Naruto would slaughter demons that forced him to give into his demonic blood. "I'll protect Sakura-chan without it. I'd rather turn into a human than let her see me like that again."

"You wouldn't be strong enough to protect her if you were a human." Shadow stated.

"If it was for her, I'd become one of those pitiful half-demons." Naruto retorted, shocking Shadow. Half-demons were the equivalent of scum, not accepted by humans or demons. "Now for real, Shadow, let me go to sleep." Shadow merely curled up on the ground, deciding to join his master.

- Ten Minutes Earlier -

Ignoring Kiba's questions about what had taken her so long, Sakura walked down the stairs, looking for Tsunami. She found her washing the dishes, seeing as everyone had eaten while she'd been upstairs. She had been up there for almost two hours, so she figured they'd gotten tired of waiting for them, if the two plates on the table suggested anything.

"Tsunami-san, do you think I could take a shower?" she asked the older woman, receiving a nod.

"That's the bathroom." Tsunami said, pointing towards the door underneath the staircase.

Sakura thanked the woman before heading to Naruto's backpack, pulling out a set of clothes. She had grown a habit of setting out her next set of clothes when she used the ones that were previously there. Since Naruto wasn't there to bring out her sealed clothes, she simply headed into the bathroom with her clothes.

Kiba turned to Shino when the water turned on. "Who'd have thought that Sasuke's biggest fan girl would end up with someone like Naruto." he said, laughing. Shino merely pushed up his glasses.

"I find that strange." he said, receiving a nod of agreement from Kurenai.

"So do I. Just two weeks ago, when we left to retrieve Tazuna-san and his companion,"—("Oh yeah. Whatever happened to the assistants you left so suddenly to recruit?" Tsunami asked, advancing on her father with a metal spoon.)—"from the border of grass country and fire country, I remember seeing her ask Sasuke out on a date as they were heading out on their own mission." the red eyed woman stated.

"W-well, Sakura-san's family does travel to Shigai a lot. Perhaps N-Naruto-san does as well?" Hinata suggested, her fingers tracing the top of the cup she was holding. "P-perhaps they were close friends, and that's why Sakura's parents want to set up an engagement between them."

"If they were friends, it wouldn't seem so strange for them to become something more on their own, would it?" Tazuna asked, rubbing his shoulder where Tsunami had hit him. "Naruto-san seems to care for Sakura-san, he doesn't strike me as the type to let his parents arrange an engagement between them unless she also wanted to be with him."

"If what you're saying is true, it would make sense." Shino said, pushing his shades up again. "After all, a fan girl crush is still just that, a crush. It wouldn't hold a candle to the love two close friends develop. If that's the case."

"Been reading Kunoichi Monthly there, Shino?" Kiba acused, his eyebrow raised.

Shino didn't reply and when the group heard the shower turn off they chose to remain silent. When Sakura walked out a few minutes later, she sighed contently, turning towards Tsunami. "Thanks for letting me use your shower, Tsunami-san." she said, moving to the bottom of the staircase. "I think I'm going to go to sleep now."

"Gonna join Naruto, are we?" Tazuna teased, snickering when the rosette froze, a blush on her face.

"W-well... he is my fiancé... a-and we've been sleeping together since we hooked up almost two weeks ago." she said, her face still a bright red, not knowing that her words could be misunderstood.

"Every night for almost two weeks?" Kiba mumbled, the mental image popping into his mind causing a thin line of blood to dribble down his upper lip. Tazuna , reacting much the same, received another whack from his daughter. If possible, Sakura's face turned redder, anger mixing in with her embarrassment.

"I meant in the same bed, you perverts!" Sakura yelled, about to head upstairs when Tsunami called her.

"Why don't you eat? There's a plate on the table for you." she offered, hoping to talk to the rosette. The way the younger girl and Naruto acted reminded her of how she and Inari's father had acted. Sakura accepted, still glaring at the two males.

- Elsewhere; Land of Waves About An Hour Ago -

A spiky head of long white hair turned, looking past the woman giggling in front of him. What he saw walking past the building he was in made him raise an eyebrow. 'Either Naruto and Kakashi's student work really fast,' he thought, amused, staring at the dual haired clone, 'or there are a lot of kids that look like Arashi.'

The boy outside was too young to be thought of as a possible heir of his late student, but his resemblance to Arashi was even greater than Naruto's, the demon he had met before. It was like he was staring at the eleven year old once-a-generation blond genius again. The only difference between them was the fact that the young boy outside had red streaks in his hair. Other than that he was identical, from his facial structure to his calm blue eyes.

"Hey, where are you going?" the scantly clad woman next to him shouted when he stood up, quickly making his way out the door.

Making his way out of the brothel, Jiraiya glanced around for the dual haired boy, finding him as he entered a book store. Even though he knew it was completely impossible for the boy to be related to his late student, he still followed him.

'Who knows, maybe I'm witnessing the effects of reincarnation.' the old man thought, entering the same book store the boy had. He looked through the isles, searching for the mysterious child, noting that the farther into the store he went, the more out of place he looked. 'I don't want to look like some pedophile scoping out kids.' he thought as he was about to enter the children's section.

Thankfully, he found the boy talking to a young worker. The woman was about five foot four, with short red hair and a body that Jiraiya had to rate as above average, with a face to go along with it. 'Wow, forget the kid, this is the prettiest girl I've seen since I entered wave.' he thought lecherously.

"Wow, you're in the wrong town. That place is at the edge of the island. Head over to the east, they're building a bridge near it, you cant miss it." the woman said, her voice sounding like it fit an overweight sailor more than it did her. The boy nodded, thanking the woman before heading out of the store.

'Kami-sama, I never thought I'd be turned off by a woman that pretty just by her voice.' Jiraiya thought, turning to leave after the boy. He followed the boy as he made his way around town, seemingly looking for something, or someone, if the way he quickly poked his head into the stores he passed before heading towards the next was any indication.

When the boy had done a full circle around the town, Jiraiya finally decided to approach him but was surprised when the boy entered the same brothel he himself had just left earlier. The boy walked in glancing around before turning to the woman smoking from a pipe.

"This isn't a place for little kids, boy." the woman in the lounge said, motioning for the boy to leave as she blew out a puff of smoke.

"Did a man with long silver hair come in here, about this tall?" the boy asked, raising his hand and standing on his toes as he indicated the height of the man he was searching for. The woman blew out another puff of smoke before she sighed.

"Suki, send your customer out!" the woman yelled, making the boy grip the top of his head from the volume of her voice. The first door down the hallway to the left opened, a man with long silver hair poking his head out, a pair of red and black lace panties on his head and a foreign substance glistening around his lips.

"Suki-chan's not here right now, please leave a message." the man said, a big smile on his face which grew larger when the woman in the room squealed, 'Ryu-sama!' From what Jiraiya could tell, the woman sounded like she was up against the wall, directly near the door, with the man teasing her.

"You, this kid is looking for you." the elder woman said, pointing at the young boy with her pipe. The man looked at the boy before his face fell.

"I don't know him; kick him out." he muttered, slipping back into the room.

"Ryuk!" the boy yelled before the man walked out again, the woman holding onto his hand as he walked out, trying to convince him to stay.

"Ryu-sama, don't leave." she whined, not caring that he was pulling her out stark naked.

'Where the hell was she when I was here?' Jiraiya thought outside, almost losing consciousness from the loss of blood due to his nose bleed. Her body reminded him of his former teammate's body when she was actually the same age that she appeared.

"Suki, get some clothes on, there's a minor out here!" the elder woman shouted, making the woman groan out a complaint as she walked into the room. Turning towards the two men, the woman cleared her throat. "I'm going to have to ask you to take this young man away from here, we don't want anyone telling the authorities that there's a minor in our brothel."

The man nodded, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth of the strange liquid. Sticking his head back into the room, he asked for his shirt—the woman took her panties back—before turning to exit the brothel. Once outside, they began walking towards the east, heading out of town. It didn't appear as if the silver haired man would be returning to the brothel.

Jiraiya had relocated himself in front of a vendor before the two had walked out. When they were a good twelve feet away, he began walking behind them. He followed them as they walked down the main street, heading towards the village exit on the east side. As soon as they entered the forest, he knew he'd be spotted, so he decided on using his ninja skills to conceal himself.

"What the fuck, Ōjō. It's been over one hundred years since the last time I mated with a human woman..." the silver haired man, Ryuk, whined, scratching the back of his head lazily. "Couldn't you have at least let me finish?"

Jiraiya was shocked, one hundred years? It was impossible for a human to live that long and still have the energy to cast a henge to appear that young, meaning the person in front of him wasn't human. But then, the boy seemed to be bossing him around, didn't he? Did that mean that the boy was also a demon.

"Shut up, you old pervert. You said you'd wait for me in 'that building'—"

"—I was waiting in that building..."

"No you weren't, you were pointing at the damn ramen restaurant."

"Nuh-uh! I never pointed at any building, I was holding my hand up in triumph since I knew I was finally going to visit a brothel again."

"So then why did you say 'that building'?" Ōjō angrily demanded. "You should have just said brothel."

"I thought it would be obvious what 'that building' meant."

"Well obviously not! Shit. I was looking all over town for you, you shitty bastard!"

"And why is that? I thought you were supposed to look for clues to where your brother's weapon is." Ryuk asked, his fox ears twitching under his genjutsu. It appeared Ōjō had heard something as well, since he stopped. They were at the top of the hill, the town they had just left completely visible from their current location.

"I think I found out where it is, but first we need to find my brother." Ōjō stated, sighing. "I hate Kyūbi-nii, he's always disappearing and making me wait for him." the young demon muttered, turning towards the town to see that there was an old human male standing on the path he and Ryuk had just come from.

"You two sure are having an interesting conversation there, mind if I ask a few questions?" Jiraiya asked, not allowing them to answer before he continued. "Who is this Kyūbi, and what is this weapon he is looking for?"

Ōjō stared at the old human, bored, before turning back to continue down the path. "So, Ryuk, got any idea where Kyūbi-nii is?" he asked the older demon, losing interest with the eavesdropper, since he thought it was someone that might have put up a good fight, not some old geezer. In the blink of an eye, Jiraiya was in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, blocking the two from leaving.

"Is this Kyūbi you're talking about the same one from eighteen years ago?" Jiraiya asked, not taking his eyes off of them for a second. Ōjō rolled his eyes.

"No shit. Of course it's the same Kyūbi from eighteen years ago." Ōjō responded, rolling his eyes. He knew humans were stupid but this man gave a new meaning to the word senile. What confused Ōjō, however, was the fact that the man said eighteen years ago, seeing as his brother hadn't come to the human realm until fifteen human years ago.

Jiraiya froze, unable to believe the young demon. His student had given his life to defeat the beast years ago; he'd seen the beast dematerialize as it's chakra was absorbed by his student, who later died, the demonic chakra acting like poison to his human body. Yet here was another demon, claiming that the Kyuubi was still alive.

"You're lying..." Jiraiya said, trying to not let the anger show in his voice. The demon smirked, as if saying, 'believe what you want to believe.' Clenching his hands into fists, he closed his eyes for a second, regaining control of his emotions before opening them. "Take me to him." he demanded, ready to beat them both into a bloody mess and force them if they refused.

Ōjō was about to laugh at the human when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ōjō, I think we should leave now." Ryuk stated, his yellow eyes on the old man, his genjutsu gone. With it gone, so were the fake human clothes. What he wore was simple, just a white sleeveless gi and white pants, no shoes. He no longer appeared frail, having eaten and rested properly, he now appeared to have a lean build.

Before any of the two demons could react, Jiraiya was in front of them, two blue spiraling orbs of chakra in his hands. He thrust them forward, aiming at their chests but was surprised when Ryuk pushed Oujou out of the way and grabbed the two orbs with his bare hands. He was pushed back slightly as the orbs tried to keep spinning, twisting his arms into two mutilated coils of flesh.

Jiraiya jumped back, unable to believe his eyes when the two arms began to untwist, returning to normal as if nothing had happened. He snapped out of his shock when the older demon chuckled.

"Surprised?" Ryuk asked, not needing an answer. The look on the man's face answered him. "That makes two of us. I never would have thought that there existed a pure blooded human that had demonic chakra." he continued, making the man's eyes widen slightly. "Yes, I can feel it, you have two... no, three chakra types. Human, Demonic and... one I don't recognize."

Ōjō appeared just as shocked as Jiraiya but whereas Jiraiya was shocked that Ryuk knew, Ōjō was shocked that there was someone like that. Jiraiya was quicker to recover from his shock than Ōjō was.

"Does this discovery make you hesitant to attack?" Jiraiya questioned when he noticed that the older demon hadn't attacked in the couple of seconds that he spent doing nothing. Ryuk merely gave him a smile.

"Actually, yes." he responded, making Jiraiya raise an eyebrow at his honesty. "In my current condition, even if Ōjō were to help, we'd be defeated. So I think I'm going to be going now." Ryuk finished, glancing at Ōjō. The young demon nodded, sprinting down the path at the same time as Ryuk. Turning when he saw that the man was about to start following, Ōjō smirked.

"Are you sure you want to follow us?" the younger Demon shouted, his hands going into a demonic hand seal. "Don't you think you should go help that town before it gets completely destroyed?"

Jiraiya was confused until he heard the sound of a building collapsing, followed by the screams of the villagers. Stopping, Jiraiya cursed at them before he turned around, running back to the town. When he reached it he ran in, about to use the Kage Bushin until he noticed that only one building had collapsed.

'Damn it, he tricked me.' Jiraiya thought bitterly, realizing that it had all been a distraction so that they could escape, and it had worked. They were long gone. "At least I know where they're going?" he muttered to himself as he helped the villagers move the ruble, trying to rescue the people that had been in the building.

- With Ryuk and Oujou -

"Did you really destroy the whole town?" Ryuk asked as they continued to run, weaving between the trees. He had actually wanted to return and visit that girl at the brothel after Kyūbi got the Kinsei twins. Oujou smirked.

"No, just one building. But I figured I'd bluff and say the whole town would fall, figured that would make him turn around for sure." the younger demon responded, laughing. Ryuk rolled his eyes.

"Did you just destroy a random building, or did you plan to destroy one beforehand?" the silver haired demon asked, hoping that the brothel was okay and intact. This time, Ōjō grinned wickedly.

"There was a book store that had a woman that looked like my mother, so I figured I'd just end her pitiful existence." Ōjō answered, the grin never leaving his face.

"Wait, I think I passed that store, you mean the pretty lady with that awful voice?" Ōjō nodded. "The only resemblance between them was the red hair."

"And? That's enough of a resemblance." the dual haired demon said, before adding, "Hell, even pink hair would be enough of a resemblance."

- Northern part of Wave -

Haku jumped from tree to tree, Zabuza on his back, still knocked out, while what looked like a demon made of ice carried the large sword the unconscious man used. Their plan for Zabuza to be knocked out long enough for them to escape had backfired slightly, thanks to the blond boy throwing the man face down onto the ground, making the needles sink deeper, almost puncturing both the heart and one of his lungs.

Thinking that the man would only be out a few minutes more than he would have been, Haku had stopped at a small clearing and removed the senbon he'd used to put Zabuza to sleep. However, after an hour had passed without the man waking, he'd decided to take him to their base, creating a moving ice creature to carry the sword.

However, seeing as Haku was a lost cause when it came to sense of direction, it had taken him longer than expected to find the base. What surprised him was the fact that Zabuza had yet to wake, it had to be four hours since he'd been knocked out. 'I guess as long as he's breathing, I shouldn't worry.' Haku thought, the base finally coming into view.

There was something odd about it, though. It looked like as if there was a large fire in front of it. Chalking it up to some of the guards building another ridiculously large bonfire, he didn't think much of it, but as he neared he knew he was wrong.

"What in the world happened?" Haku asked himself when he'd finally reached it. The base was in ruins, a large fire engulfing it and the field surrounding it. The bodies of the small army Zabuza had spent the last couple years building were now nothing but charred remains, some still burning. It appeared that some had tried to jump into the water, but that didn't work, if the floating, still burning bodies said anything.

He put Zabuza down, creating another two of his ice minions to guard his body before going to survey the damage, searching for anyone that might be alive so they could tell him what had happened. The closer he got to the center, the more charred everything looked. He stopped, turning with his senbon raised when he heard some movement to his left. It was a one of the older members of Zabuza's small army, a man that had joined even before he himself had.

Haku put his senbon away when he noticed that the mans left leg and arm were burned beyond healing, and even part of his face was also burned, his left cheek having had some skin peel leaving behind just the raw flesh. Haku approached the man, who upon seeing him leaned against a tree. "What happened here, Shiro-san?" he asked, helping the man support himself.

"Haku, oh my god, it was horrible! Everyone's dead, everyone's d-dead..." the man sobbed, unable to continue. Haku looked around, still unable to believe that it was real.

"Who did this, Shiro-san?" he asked again, once Shiro had calmed down. The man just shook his head, making Haku grip the front of his shirt and push him into the tree he was leaning against. "Tell me!"

"I don't know!" Shiro sobbed. "It all happened so fast, none of us stood a chance. I still can't believe it, he was just one man...Why did those stupid guards have to attack him!?"

"What do you mean 'one man'?"

"Just like I s-said, one man did all this, with just the snap of his fingers, he blew the whole place up with an explosion so big, everyone was killed, and those who were farther away burst into flames instantly."

Haku was stunned speechless. One man had done this? That was impossible, all this damage from just the snap of his fingers. "The southern guards, they saw some red haired man just walking past the building and decided to mess with him." Shiro began, snapping Haku back to his senses. "He told them to just leave him alone, but they tried to attack him... then, he snapped his fingers and the whole place blew up... I was returning from the town when I was caught up the blast."

"That's enough, Hiro." Haku said, trying to calm the man down.

"I-I tried to look around, but everyone was already dead... H-Haku, please... just kill me." Shiro cried, pleading, making Haku flinch. He never liked killing humans, but he also knew that it would be crueler to leave him as he was, useless to the cause he had deserted his village, his family, everything, for. "P-please, Haku... I'm beg—"

Shiro's voice was cut off as his body was frozen solid, even his blood freezing, his heart stopping mid beat. Haku bowed, showing his respect for the man who had protected Zabuza as long as he had, before he pushed him over, closing his eyes when the body shattered upon hitting the floor. He turned, taking one last look at all the bodies before heading back to Zabuza.

When he neared Zabuza's body, Haku was glad that he still hadn't woken, since it would be hard to explain what had happened. Picking him up again, Haku jumped into the trees, his ice minions following, carrying Zabuza's sword.

- Tazuna's House -

"Good night, Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san, thanks for the food and for letting us have your room." Sakura said, excusing herself, yawning as she climbed the stairs. It had been a little over an hour, so she was sure Naruto had to be asleep already. She passed the two other rooms, where the members of team eight were staying, since Tsunami had insisted that they take the rooms, meaning she and Inari would sleep with Tazuna in the living room.

When Sakura, entered the room, she confirmed that the two fox demons were sleeping before she looked at the floor, using the light from the hall to memorize how far the bed was and where everything was so that when she closed the door she wouldn't hit or have to feel around too much to find the bed. She also noticed that some of Naruto's wounds had begun to scab over, the smaller ones already beginning to close.

Shutting the door, she walked over to the futon and kneeled down, crawling into place. She had to stop herself from putting her head on Naruto's shoulder, not wanting to brush up against his wounds and accidentally cause him pain. She felt around for the pillow, pulling it so that she could lay her head on it before she felt Naruto snake one arm under her head, the other going around her waist, pulling her towards him.

"I thought I told you I wanted you asleep when I came back." Sakura said, sighing as she made herself comfortable against his arm and chest. She felt air leave his nose, tickling the skin of her shoulder, as he chuckled softly.

"I was sleepin', but I woke up a li'l when you were movin' on the bed." he mumbled, kissing her shoulder. He felt her smile against his arm before she kissed it, returning his affection.

Sakura stayed up a little longer, listening to Naruto's breathing slow down as she wondered how she could think someone that loved her so much would have tricked her into coming with him. And also about how since Naruto had said he couldn't lie to her, she shouldn't lie to him by not telling him about part of the reason she'd left with him. She just hoped it didn't make him think she didn't love him.

Unknown to her, Naruto was having a similar thought process as he pretended to be asleep.

He thought about how he was still hiding parts of his past from her, even though he'd promised to tell her everything truthfully. He'd skipped some parts of his past when he'd been telling her about himself, for fear that she might hate him for what had happened before. He swore to tell her about it as soon as he could, and hoped she would still want to be his mate afterwards.

However if she didn't, he would accept her wishes. After all, he'd purposely only half-marked her because he'd thought it was too soon, so that if she wanted to turn back, he'd let her. Cracking one eye open, he stared at the mark on her neck, blue and red instead of all red.

'I'll finish it when we mate for the first time... if she stays with me that long.' he thought, finally letting sleep overtake him when he knew Sakura had done the same.

To Be Continued...

AN/ Wow. I'm finally done. That had to be the most I've ever spent writing a chapter. I started right after I finished 'Cursed' chapter 2 and, while I did take a six or seven month break, that was almost a year ago! Fuck, I feel so ashamed. I just hope this and any future chapters for all of my stories make up for it.

Now, I have... a few things to add, I guess. One, for Ryuk's image, I've decided on making him look more or less like Youko Kurama. I apologize to those who aren't familiar, but search up the name if you don't know who that is. Next, I've decided upon the demonic hand signs, and they'll most likely debut next chapter, seeing as I'm still trying to make them original and figure out how to describe them. Lastly, it's been a while but hopefully it still works. Please review.