Drip

Drip

Drip

Naruto floated in the sea of his own consciousness, letting the waves of liquid that flowed from Kyuubi's cage to drag him to and fro. Now that the contract with his tailed beast was made, he no longer feared the power inside him, and instead let the place take him where he wanted. It was an almost tranquil escape, his mind. Now that he had nothing to fear, he could come here whenever he needed time to escape, or time to think or rest. He could be silent and insightful here, which was now whenever he slept.

Just as he was beginning to lull himself to sleep in his own mind, he heard footsteps on the water, and knew where it was coming from. "I was wondering when you would show up, furball"

Kyuubi, now in his human form, scoffed and kicked some water in his orange jailor's face. Flinching at it, Naruto sat up to look at his prisoner, and was surprised to see that he looked younger now. Standing at about a couple inches taller than him, stood a boy with spiky red hair that fell to his shoulders; he wore a bright red haori over a dark brown shirt with matching pants. His eyes were deep red and slightly slit. He smiled at Naruto's discomfort, before extending a hand to help him up. When Naruto took it, he was pulled up to stand.

"I had some things to take care of."

At this, Naruto gave the fox another once over, "I'm assuming that 'thing' was a makeover?"

The fox gestured to himself, pulling at his own clothes, "Kinda. I can manipulate my appearance however I want to. Its one of the powers that a fox has," at this, he took Naruto's hand and placed it on his shoulder, as if to convince him of his reality "think of it as very powerful genjutsu. Anything my fox abilities can get its powers around, it can manipulate to take on another form."

Naruto gaped, before taking his hand off and backing up for a better look, "What? How?"

Kyuubi opened his mouth to answer, but the words that came out were foreign to the young ninja. Naruto decided to take the only sensible response here and just stare until his companion got the message.

Kyuubi sighed, "Okay, do you know of the Sage of Six Paths?"

"No, why?"

Kyuubi chuckled, "Because the only way I can explain my power to you otherwise is through a tongue you won't understand." He started to laugh again, only to see Naruto grow even more confused. He became serious again, "Fine. A long time ago, before ninjutsu and the Five Great Villages, was a time when Japan was in constant war. The people, scared and bitter against one another, fought constantly over every little thing, until war was as natural to them as breathing, I will refer to this time as Before Chakra, or BC," he stopped, as Naruto raised his hand.

"Yes, peanut gallery?"

"What do you mean, 'Before Chakra'?"

Kurama smiled, "Oh yes, it is just as it seems. In this time, there was no chakra to behold of. The people fought exclusively with weapons," he stopped when he saw Naruto's face of disbelief. He gave him a moment to think before continuing, "When it seemed like the war would continue on forever, a woman came from the darkness and quelled it. She used the power of an ancient tree to inherit chakra, and from it she became the first user of ninshuu. Using the tree's remarkably strong and ancient powers, she was able to bend nature itself, subduing the people with it until they feared her as a goddess. Her name was Princess Kaguya, the rabbit goddess."

Naruto nodded, only barely able to wrap his head around the conundrum. He raised his hand for another question.

"Yes stupid?"

"Was she the sage?"

Kurama shook his head, "No, she was far more powerful. She could use thunder ninshuu far more powerful than anything you worthless ninjas use with but a thought. She could manipulate the elements themselves, sometimes for entire weeks on end without getting tired. She was the personification of pure and unbridled power. But, like all power that is unchecked, it ran rampant through her body and was burning her out very quickly. She used it like a kid in a candy jar, and over time her body mutated to try to accommodate the power. She gained the ability to see everything at once, and from a third eye on her forehead, she grew the ability to perceive all things."

Naruto stared in wonder, and finally fed up, Kurama flicked his wrist in annoyance, causing water to erupt from below and form a screen. This action caused Naruto to fall. From the screen, appeared a practically regal woman who was tall and fair. She wore a white kimono and had two red dots on her forehead, right above her eyebrows. Her lips were curled to be tight and emotionless, and her hair was long and straight, going down her frame. All in all, Naruto had to say she would be very beautiful, as if a statue, if it weren't for her eyes. Her three eyes were very unusual, two being blank and white, showing a disinterested look that stared into the nothing. Her third one however, seemed angry and demonic, having three concentric rings lined with nine tomoe, three around each. Despite their differences, they all radiated power, even as an image, and Naruto couldn't fight the urge to bow down in front of her.

Kyuubi chuckled, "She was the progenitor of the ninja age, and the one who brought peace through fear to the ninja world."

Looking up to Kyuubi from his place on the ground, Naruto managed to tear his eyes from the image of the goddess, he was about to say something, before something caught his eyes, "Hey Kyuubi, doesn't her eyes look like the Byakugan?"

"Which ones?"

Naruto slapped water at him, "You know which ones, the normal ones. They look a lot like Hinata's, without the weird veins."

Kurama turned to look at the image again, inspecting it closer for something that he hadn't seen before, "Hmm, I guess they do."

Naruto nodded, agreeing, "And the ability to see everything at once, isn't that kinda like what the Hyuuga eyes do too?"

Kurama nodded too, "Yes it is. Looks like you finally graduated to Incompetent. Good job."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Kurama sighed again. This was going to be a long night, "Her eyes, though a much more powerful version, were the original Byakugan. With these mutated eyes, she could use her vast chakra to see all living things at once. No one could ever sin or sneak up on her so much as she had chakra. And with the power of the old fruit, times that she didn't were nonexistent."

Naruto looked back at the picture with more respect, "And what about the other eye? The one on her forehead. What does that do?"

"That, is the Eye of the Jyuubi" the fox answered.

"The what?"

"The… oh just shut up and let me finish!" he said, getting annoyed at the interruption. Naruto, who had his hand up, put it back down. He looked like he was about to say something, but managed to stop. Despite this, he looked like he was about to continue as soon as the need arose.

Kurama accepted this, knowing this was the most he got out of him, "Over time, her body wasn't able to contain all of this incredible power. It started to break down, her very bones protesting against the overwhelming power it possessed. Over time, she started to die, only managing to stay alive due to her ability to change the very flow of nature. She controlled her own bones, even, hardening and growing new ones when needed," Kurama stopped to point at the horns on the image's head, "those bones came about because she was unable to fully control the process."

Naruto rose his hand again. Kyuubi ignored it. Figuring he was in his own head, he used that to create a thousand clones of himself raising his hand. Kyuubi ignored that too. Shrugging, he started chanting "Hey, teacher!"

With the entire thousand.

Kyuubi ignored it still.

So he played K-Pop.

"Yes, idiot?"

"So you mean to tell me that- wait… I'm idiot again?" at this, Kyuubi pointed to the many Naruto clones around him listening in. Naruto dispelled them.

"Yes, Incompetent?"

"So she died because she was too powerful? How does that work?"

"Hmm, I guess you don't understand the burden of power?" he said, gesturing to the picture again. It showed the woman from before gesturing in front of a devastating storm. "The people feared her. With great power comes a responsibility to keep up with it, and she had the responsibility of preventing wars. She was a goddess who sinned by eating a forbidden fruit in order to bring peace. These things are bound to kill even the best, and she was not an exception."

"So what does that have to do with the Sage? Or fox magic?"

Kyuubi used the water to restrain him and gag him.

"As I was saying, she was dying. She knew that had she died, she would not be able to keep the peace anymore, so she gave birth to two sons. One ran off and did whatever. We don't care about him."

Naruto spit the water out, "I have a feeling this is a cop out"

"So do I. Anyway, before he went off to eat fire or whatever, he and his brother, who inherited her chakra, fought against an evil creature. It came to take its chakra back"

Naruto spit the water out again, as Kyuubi re-gagged him, "I thought they got the chakra from the tree?"

"Yes"

"So they fought a tree?"

"No"

"What"

Kyuubi changed the image on the screen to two men fighting an unimaginably large and horrifying creature. At the sight of it, Naruto almost fainted. The Kyuubi changed the image to ramen and revived him.

Now awake and hungry, Naruto could continue, "What was that?"

"The tree"

Naruto pointed at the image, which was now ramen, incredulously, "That is not a tree!"

Kyuubi looked at him, "I should hope not"

"You know what I'm talking about!"

"Let's say the tree turned into that"

"WHAT? Trees can do that?"

"Well, not all of them, just that one."

"What is it?" he asked again.

Kyuubi sighed, "That's the Juubi, the ten tailed creature"

Naruto tilted his head.

"It was the tree?" When Naruto nodded, he continued, "Basically, the two brothers from Kaguya fought it and the other one, Hagoromo, or the Sage of Six Paths, absorbed it and became its container, much like you're mine. He then went to teach everyone chakra, giving all of the people a bit of his. When he neared the end of his life, he used his power called Creation of All Things to create something out of nothing, and split that beast into nine. He gave form to the nine chakras, and created from its body the moon. When he created us, I was fascinated by his power and…"

"Wait…" Naruto started slowly, "you were one of the nine chakras created from that thing?"

Kyuubi sighed, "I was. Along with the other eight, us nine are part of that creature. I am the strongest"

Naruto sat there, overwhelmed, "So what you're saying is, there existed a creature so powerful it requires about nine of you to exist?"

Kyuubi nodded, "Yes, but we'll never be together like that again for it to come to pass. I don't have a problem with my brethren, except maybe Shukaku, but I have no real need to become fused with them again. Now, will you let me finish?" Naruto nodded, so he did, "I was entranced by his ability, and I wanted to emulate it. I created from my powers then an ability naturally shared by foxes, the ability to deceive. Being a force of nature, I could do it better, to the point it became real. This is fox magic, a genjutsu crafted after the Sage's. While it cannot create form from nothing, it can manipulate the original chakra shared by just about all things to create an entirely new form."

Naruto raised his hand.

"I'm guessing you want to know if this is your power?" Naruto nodded excitedly, "It is not"

Naruto dropped his hand and flopped to the water, "Oh come on! What's the point of all this training I've been going through then?"

Kyuubi punched him, causing a bump on his head, "Didn't you understand the power thing? Using high level genjutsu like that would burn you out and kill you. As it stands, only my chakra is able to manipulate things like that, and you can only handle about 1/1000th of one tail. Enough for about one transformation before you burn out. We need you to train and get your coils up, before you go out and get yourself killed. The more chakra you have, the more you can handle, and the more you can use it."

Naruto grumbled, "If you can call that training…"

Kyuubi chuckled, "You signed up for it, its not my fault you need to work hard in order to get stronger. The physical training is training your body and increasing your chakra, so its okay."

Without warning, Naruto jumped up and tackled the fox kid to the ground, causing the two children to start rolling around on the water. This went on for a while, before Kyuubi grew his tails and detached Naruto from him, holding him in the air above him. He brought his knees up and kicked the boy away, sending him flying through the air, before slamming into a gate. Naruto shook his head dazed, before jumping up and glaring at the boy who was now standing and doing the same, now with four tails moving behind him.

"What was that for?" the fox boy asked.

"You wrecked my jumpsuit!" Naruto shouted back. He gestured to his clothes, which mirrored his actual ones, to show it was tattered and falling apart. Had he not been in his mind, the damage done would be enough to make it completely fall off around him with all the movement he was doing.

"No, you wrecked your jumpsuit," Kyuubi snarled, "I would love to take credit for it, but that was all you"

"It was during your horrendous training!" Naruto shouted.

"The training that got you those muscles!"

It was true, during the week they were here in Tazuna's house, they were training nonstop, often off in the woods by themselves, where no one could see the fox using its power to speed up the building of his muscles.

"Either way, you wrecked it…" Naruto grumbled, folding his arms. "It got me through twelve years without a scratch, and you destroy it in a week"

Kyuubi laughed, "And I made sure you only brought one, so we're safe for now from that horrendous color."

Naruto sighed. He had been looking away from his mentor to pout, but brought himself to look at the fox boy, who appeared to be doing the same.

"So, what did you bring me here for tonight?"

Kyuubi glared at the boy before him, before relenting and creating a construct of water that took the form of a training dummy. "The same thing we've done every night. While you can only train your body outside, you can train chakra manipulation in here. Time moves only slightly faster in here since you're not used to my chakra yet, but we should have 15 hours or so to practice the Fox Eye Genjutsu. Do you remember the handseals?"

Naruto nodded.

"Then begin"

XxX

Kakashi was not amused. Had he been any less of a ninja, or any less an ANBU, he would be unable to sense the very small amounts of demonic chakra leaking off Naruto every time he slept. It would often come in very small bursts, almost imperceptible had the fear struck into him that seemed permanently tied to that red chakra not alerted him to its presence immediately.

It had been a week now, and almost every day since the incident with water walking, Naruto had run off to train by himself. At first, he had been objective to it, as they worked as a team or not at all. Kakashi was a stickler for team things, in fact, all of Konoha was. Either way, with Kyuubi running rampant inside his student's mind, he didn't want the boy off on his own for very long.

So that was exactly why he went out to retrieve him the first morning he disappeared.

Only to find out that Naruto was much better at stealth than he let others know. It wasn't enough to fool an experienced ninja like Kakashi, apparently, but by the time he had followed Naruto's very few tracks to where he was, he was astonished at what he saw.

In front of him were two Narutos.

Normally, that wasn't very surprising. Naruto had a habit of spamming clones whenever he felt the need. That was very often. Very often. Actually, a lot more often than even he was willing to admit. Naruto used the forbidden jutsu so often that he embarrassed other people at its abuse. Kakashi wasn't even sure how he managed to embarrass him, as his very own best friend was a tights wearing psychopath.

And that was a whole can of beans into and unto itself.

But no, what was different about this clone was that it was red headed and slightly taller than him. Sure, all the Naruto-esque qualities were there, but in each quality that was similar, there were a bunch more that weren't. Wherein Naruto had whisker marks, the clone had deep gashes that seemed to be indented in his skin. Where Naruto had spiky and energetic blonde hair, the clone had wild, almost unruly red hair. Where Naruto was bright and exuberant, the clone was feral, and almost majestic. Where Naruto had bright, deep blue eyes, the clone had purple, almost slit ones.

And it also seemed to shrink in on himself as if his own jumpsuit was going to kill him. That alone told him that it wasn't Naruto. Naruto took great pride in his orange jumpsuit.

He was about to jump out and confront the duo, when an almost imperceptible ANBU sign from the clone told him to wait. Okay, Naruto definitely didn't know that. Deciding to wait, Kakashi saw then that the clone set up obstacle course upon obstacle course for Naruto to run through. He went on to push Naruto through them, often reneging on his promises to not interfere to, well, interfere. Often by making it even harder. Naruto even came close to death several times, which prompted Kakashi to act, when he was intercepted.

XxX

Flashback No Jutsu

Kakashi, upon seeing Naruto about to die from a MASSIVE log about to fall on him, was about to save his young charge, when a shot of red appeared and burst the trap to pieces. Naruto cringed as the wood chips flew all around him, choosing to defend himself rather than dodge. Kakashi could plainly see he was out of energy and exhausted, which made sense, as he was at these courses for the better half of four hours. He looked about to collapse, when the red blur appeared again, and made it evident that it was the red haired Naruto clone.

It caught the original, and seemed to cradle it for a second, before kneeing it in the face and causing him to shoot back up.

"Yatta! What was that for?" Naruto asked, holding his nose and glaring at his clone.

"Because you're still not getting your spatial awareness down! As a ninja, and as a son of THAT man, you should have senses and instinct that warn you to impending danger, and you're ignoring them! You can do so much better than that!" the clone yelled, catching the original halfway through the rant, pushing him back up.

Naruto just collapsed again, sitting flat on his butt, before flopping back.

"How can you expect me to do so well when I've been a ninja for all of a couple months?" he asked.

"Its been four" Kyuubi corrected

"Even better!"

Kyuubi sighed, before extending his hand and pulling the boy up. When he was standing upright, or as upright as an exhausted person could, he put his hand on Naruto's stomach and instantly red chakra exploded over Naruto's body, rushing and circling all around him.

"Whoa!" Naruto yelled, looking at his own hands unbelievably. The power that coursed through his body was amazing, and all of his fatigue seemed to disappear. As soon as the power appeared, it left, leaving the boy feeling a little empty, but otherwise okay.

"What was that?" the blonde asked. Kyuubi sighed. He hoped this wasn't becoming a habit.

"I used some of my power to ease your muscles and replenish your chakra. You're now more or less back at full power."

Naruto tilted his head, "You can do that?" Kyuubi nodded, "Why haven't you been doing this all along? I could have used it when Hyuuga-san was training me into the ground!"

Kyuubi laughed, "For three reasons, stupid. One, we hadn't made a contract, or even known each other at those points; therefore, there was no way for me to help you. Two, I can only do it once a day, as the seal converts my power into your own, and abusing it more than once a day hurts us both."

Naruto nodded, seeing the sense in those words, "And the third reason?"

Kyuubi smiled. He smiled a smile so demonic, even Sarutobi and Kakashi's together wasn't nearly as horrifying, "My training can't even compare to the Hyuuga's. I will not have a weak vessel." After saying his reason, the red haired clone picked up Naruto and threw him through several trees, into another training course.

"When you get through that and back to me, we can start another sparring session!" He yelled into the forest.

By now, Kakashi had been thoroughly intrigued by the almost relaxed way the two spoke to each other. From the voice alone, the one eyed jonin recognized the clone as the Kyuubi, and the closeness between the two was disconcerting. He would have to talk to the blonde about it later. For now, he pulled out a kunai, and whipped around to hold it at the neck of the red haired clone, who had appeared behind him the second it stopped screaming.

It chuckled, "We meet again, one eyed. You just don't understand this ban of weapons and me, huh?"

Kakashi was not amused by its nonchalance, "What are you doing running around?"

Kyuubi smiled, "I can send some of my chakra into clones to control them for a while. When Naruto and I found this out, we were so excited to set up a training regimen," Kyuubi stopped as he felt Kakashi press the blade closer into Naruto's clone's neck, "okay, so maybe I was excited about it, but he was curious!"

Kakashi frowned, though it wasn't visible, "And I suppose this whole, 'taking over bodies' thing was a new revelation? Something you didn't just so happened to get him to do?"

At this, Kyuubi frowned too, "Oh, so you are still worried about me taking control from him, huh? Don't worry about that. The seal is still firmly in place on his real body, so I can't exactly take over his real mind. The seal, however, is so high leveled it can't even be copied by the clone technique, giving me slight reign over it. The downside, however, is that my chakra burns out the clone's much faster, making his clones last about half as long as they usually do. Pity, I would enjoy more time in this world, however horrible my form is…" he stops to flex his fingers, "He can't even make more than one anymore, as the chakra transfer would disrupt them."

Kakashi pressed the blade closer. He didn't believe the demon, but its countenance didn't provide a good reason for a lie, "And what about these, courses, as you call them? How do I know you're not trying to cripple him?"

Kyuubi scoffed, "Didn't we go over this before? If the stupid dies, I die too," he uses a finger to push Kakashi's blade away, "and if you push that blade any further, this clone dies, alerting Naruto to your presence. Though I'm its consciousness, its still his clone, and dispelling it before I leave it will give him as well as me all of the memories it had garnered. From the way you've been spying on us for the last four hours or so, I'd say you didn't want that to happen."

Kakashi's eyes widened. He wasn't sure exactly when, but he forgot about the fact that the fox signaled him with ANBU seals, "How did you learn-"

Kyuubi interrupted him, "Did you forget who my last container was? The Spicy Blood Red Habanero, Kushina Uzumaki of the ANBU? Her seal was impressive, as all Uzumaki seals are, but they didn't keep me from watching in if I really tried. I was bound to learn something."

Kakashi sighed. He guessed that made sense. It was no secret among the close members of the Yondaime who his Captain of the ANBU was, and he actually inherited that role from her when she became pregnant. That still didn't answer some things.

"Why are you training him?"

This question actually caught the fox off guard, "What?"

Kakashi straightened up and holstered his blade, not wanting to cause a scene and alert his charge. This kind of commotion was not what he needed. "Why are you training Naruto then? If you don't want to kill him, and you don't want to take over his mind, why are you training the boy? I think I'm more than competent enough to do it myself." At this, Kyuubi started laughing, showing off Naruto's lengthened canines. He didn't know why, but he felt offended by the perversion the Kyuubi's presence did to Naruto's body.

"Were you not listening? I cannot have a weak vessel. Now that I'm out and can sense my other brethren, I can sense them training their vessels as well. I want to show them all that I am still top fox, and to do that, I need to have him as strong as possible. If that means doing your pathetic job for you, so be it"

It was Kakashi's turn to scoff, "And it has nothing to do with you wanting to take over his body when he utilizes enough strength to use more tails?"

Kyuubi, who was laughing at his own jabs at Kakashi, stopped laughing to now stare seriously at the man, "Do you think that's all that I'm interested in? No, I've long since given up on your world. I no longer care about its future."

This caught Kakashi off guard, did the fox say he cared for the world in a way that didn't pertain to its burning? "What do you-"

It was that moment of hesitation that hurt the jonin, however, as Kyuubi used this time to flash behind the man, in a burst of speed the man knew that Naruto couldn't do himself. Instantly, Kakashi could feel the clone's sharpened nails pressed against his neck, breaking the cloth that usually extending to his mask and about to pierce his skin.

"I'll be honest with you, ninken. I do not like you. I respect your distrust of me, I do, but you are seriously putting a hampering in my plans. I've tried using logic to persuade you of my innocence but that doesn't seem to be enough, so here's the ultimatum. You will accept me as Naruto's companion or we will set each other to war. I care not what you perceive your power to be, but compared to my own you are still but a kid. Let this happen and we can easily make Naruto into the ninja his father meant him to be. I'll even train the other Uzumaki boy and the Hyuuga if you wish," Kyuubi chuckled as if his words were funny, "Oppose me, however, and Naruto will only be the unfortunate casualty. I have no need to be your enemy, you can teach him human moves I could only begin to understand. But do not hamper my progress," the fox finished, leaking killing intent that made the one eyed jonin cringe. It had been a while since he'd done that, but he was sure to not let it know. He still wasn't sure of its standing.

"I don't understand your reasoning of helping the boy."

Kyuubi scoffed, before releasing his prey. He would eat the man another day, "Do you really want to know?"

Kakashi, sensing the sudden softer tone, just nodded.

Kyuubi sat down on the branch and seemed to wait for a while before responding, "Its because he reminds me of someone. He's an idiot. No matter how much info is blown into his head, no matter how obvious something is, he will always remain that way. He is blissfully unaware of the world around him, and hopelessly optimistic about the future, even if no one else is. Even when the horrors of the world hit him like a brick, I'm sure he will bounce back and hit it as well, "Kyuubi stopped and flicked a random twig into the forest where Naruto was. After a couple seconds, the sound of falling was heard, and Naruto screaming about having to start over.

Kyuubi continued, "He doesn't take an easy way, even if it is the best way for him, because he believes in doing things right. He wants to become great" Kyuubi looked down, "I guess I just want to help him along. Though unrefined, that boy has a certain power in him. Thus far he hasn't really shown it, but he can bring out the best in people. I just want to give him the power to protect what he grows. I never had people caring for me, but through him, I think I can feel something like it."

Kakashi stared. Was this what the beast felt about life? Or was this a ruse? He wanted to feel sympathy, but killing intent was still present. He settled for sitting next to the fox.

"Listen-" he started, but the fox boy raised his hand, silencing him.

"I care not for your words, ninja. This was simply something to pass the time while the idiot practiced out there in the forest. Unfortunately, using that thing to get behind you has used all of my chakra in this body, and the clone's chakra isn't far behind," the fox then put his outstretched hand on Kakashi's shoulder, "I'm willing to get along with you for a bit, but only if you prove to me your loyalty in these young students. Teach him in my stead, and I will ensure you no ill will from me." And with that, the clone disappeared. Shortly before it poofed, Kakashi saw its features return to normal, signaling that Kyuubi had left before it could dispel. This meant that Kakashi's secret was safe. Naruto did not know he was watching.

Speaking of the kid, Kakashi could hear him coming through the forest, back into the clearing. Jumping clear off the branch and landing in a light crouch in the clearing, Kakashi took out his little book and started to pretend to read it. This was the sight that greeted Naruto as he ran into the clearing.

"Hey sensei, I'm done!" Naruto yelled as he ran into the clearing. His jumpsuit was torn in a few places, giving the impression he went through a tough ordeal. His labored breathing was also an indication of this. Nevertheless, he looked excited, and not threatened in any way. If he had been forced to act this way, Kakashi would be able to see through it; his emotions were sincere. Emotions that soon showed shock when he saw it was Kakashi, and not Kyuubi.

"Umm, I'm done with my jog, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto quickly tried to cover up. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He had heard Naruto call out sensei, but it was obvious it wasn't for him. Did this mean Naruto saw Kyuubi as one too?

The silver haired man smiled, "Is that so? Well then I guess you're ready for more chakra manipulation training then?"

Naruto gulped, visibly scared. They spent the rest of the morning doing this until Yoshi and Hinata awoke doing just that.

XxX

Ever since then, Kakashi trained them harder than ever in their strengths to capitalize on their weaknesses. This wasn't his real team, but they would do for now. Naruto, while being okay in close combat, was simply second rate to Hinata. He couldn't blame him, as the Hyuuga's style was a perfect offensive technique, even when defending. Where the boy's real talents lay were in stamina, and surprisingly fuinjutsu. He could easily throw around enough chakra to make a dozen clones and set enough seal traps (though very sloppy) to back up his team.

Hinata was great offensively, but had no projectile jutsu to speak of. Beating her was simply a matter of out ranging her, and that made her a glaring liability. This was offset by Yoshi's Lighting Notes, which could easily outrange even the farthest of enemies, backing up Hinata perfectly.

Yoshi, while able to somewhat match Naruto's speed, was terrible in taijutsu; most of his ability in the art based on outpacing the enemy. Anyone even slightly skilled in close range combat and prepared for him could easily match and even overpower him. No, his talent lay elsewhere. His style was based on setting up notes and then getting far away to set them up again. His abilities required him to stand still just long enough to set his notes to hone in on a target, time that was enough to kill him. Naruto's seals protect him in his moments of weakness, and make his one weakness bait.

Kakashi was sure that their teamwork was better than his actual team.

Either way, Kakashi wasn't too sure about the fox. He didn't pride himself on being able to see into a person's heart, as he had all but shut his own off, but he felt a sincerity in the fox's words that one didn't hear often in the ninja world. He supposed he could blame it on the fox's cunning and trickery, but he also supposed the demonic being actually was making Naruto stronger. Kakashi sighed, he would let this go, for now. He looked back to Naruto's barely glowing form and decided that standing here would do nothing to help either of them, and decided to go out and do his job for once. Opening the window, the one eyed ninja took one last look back at his teacher's son and couldn't help a faint smile. He looked so much like his father.

With that thought, he left into the night.

XxX

Haku remained passive as he walked through the streets of Wave. Around him stood the people of the country in rags and bones, having sold all else for the smallest bits of food and water. They sat where they fell, groaning and tired from working in Gato's designated areas where their payoff was far less than their workload, and still they were required to pay a stipend simply for existing. The situation here was far less than pathetic, and was getting even worse every day.

In the young boy's hands was a small bag of ingredients. It was nothing really, just a small paper bag holding the barest amounts of ingredients, including rudimentary medicinal herbs that, fairly, were in poor quality. He still bought them at some exorbitant prices, but that was for the sole reason that there was really no other place for him to go on such short notice. He searched all over the village for it, but barely managed to get the ones he got now.

Not even because they were in competition for them, but because no one could buy anything.

Every place he went was bare and scrapped, with little to nothing on the shelves. The owners all seemed shocked that anyone was even capable of opening the door to their shop, as apparently it was an art lost long ago. Half the time Haku couldn't even find what he was looking for, and asked for directions, only for him to be directed to things that bore little to no resemblance to what he needed. Haku sighed, his pouch was now noticeably lighter, and his hands unfortunately weren't much heavier.

Stepping over another passed out citizen on the street, Haku took quick inventory of his items. A few Quickdraw grass bundles, a Sience seed and… other miscellaneous things. They all unfortunately blended together in a dull brown that signified their nearness to death. The young ninja hoped they would be good enough as he started going through various handseals with one hand. At the end of them, water gathered from the surrounding air and formed a mirror of ice. Deciding there was nothing else for him here, the youth stepped into the mirror and disappeared, the structure breaking to pieces and melting away seconds after forming.

A man sitting against a broken down house not too far away was stunned at what he saw before him. He was about the ask the pretty youth for some money, or even some food, as obviously she was well off if her fancy kimono and shiny hair was anything to go by, but upon seeing the spectacle happen, he decided that maybe he should just starve for a while.

XxX

Hinata stood with a blank expression on her face. She was standing outside a door, her fist raised and ready to knock. Mere inches away from the frame, all she had to do was knock in order to gain entrance to the room, or at the very least alert those inside to her presence. She was unable to do this.

Her fist started shaking. She was nervous; obviously so. Sweat started to appear on her forehead as she peered blankly, almost soullessly ahead of her and into the door, as if she could see what hid just beyond it.

The problem here was that she could, and she most definitely did.

Byakugan active, young Hinata Hyuuga stared directly through the door in front of her, and into the room Kakashi just left. Laying inside was a still asleep Naruto, but that alone wasn't what caused her to pause. Around the boy she grew up with was a glowing field of… red. Just red, almost malevolent chakra. It moved in jerky, unpredictable patterns, and seemed to be manipulating not only Naruto's mind, but his body as well. Hinata swallowed hard, she could barely contain the nervous energy she was feeling.

That was the same chakra she saw Kakashi fighting with out in the forest; the same chakra that burned her wrist.

Hinata looked towards her outstretched hand, and looked at the tight wrappings around her injury. She pulled it back and rubbed it almost reflexively. It burned, even now a week later. Through the bandages she could see residual red chakra tainting her skin. It wasn't hurting her anymore, so much as just lingering there. It gave her a nervous feeling whenever she saw it. A feeling she wasn't willing to live with any longer. With a huff, she gathered her courage and moved to knock on the door again. This was her one chance. Naruto had always disappeared each morning and reappeared only when they were deep in training. She had no other time to ask but now, so she was going to.

With more determination than she had felt ever before in her life, Hinata brought her fist to the door.

Only for it to be caught by a swift hand.

"Eep!" Hinata squeaked as her hand was caught by the wrist not even millimeters from the door. Utilizing her 360 degrees of vision, the Hyuuga heiress saw her red haired teammate holding her hand in the air. She had been so focused on her task that she ignored what happened around her. She cursed, that was not a thing that a good kunoichi was to do, and certainly not something she would do again.

Meanwhile, Yoshi just stared at her with a grin on his face, "Late night desires keeping you up? Personally, I would be glad to entertain you if the blonde is too sleepy."

Hinata blushed slightly before pulling her hand away. She hissed a little at the tight grip she had to pull her already injured hand away from, before adopting a playful, almost mocking face herself. Now in "Dirty Hinata" mode, she was ready to retaliate. "Sorry, Yoshi-kun, I don't think you could ever possibly measure up to Naruto-kun. His stamina is legendary, and I don't think you could even last two minutes with me", she chuckled, "you certainly didn't last very long before."

Her hissing didn't go unnoticed, but the red haired boy just smirked, "I'm more than willing to go for a second round."

Hinata sneered, an undoubtedly adorable thing still on her face, "No thank you, Yoshi-kun. I'm a bit preoccupied right now, but you're more than welcome to play with yourself." At this, Yoshi just chuckled, before turning and urging Hinata to follow. After staring for a few seconds, at both the red haired boy in front of her and blonde haired one sitting in the room, Hinata came to a conclusion. She ignored her new teammate as usual and went back to knocking on the door. She raised her hand to knock, when suddenly she felt electricity coursing through her body. Sparing a glance back towards the red haired boy, she realized that he went through handseals faster than even she could see. Gone was his playful attitude and jovial nature, now replaced with a serious one fixed with a glare.

"I'm sorry HInata, but this is not up for discussion. Raiton: Electrosensory Control"

And just like that Hinata felt the muscles in her body being manipulated by the electricity running through her. Albeit reluctantly, she was forced to follow the boy as he led her down the stairs and into the early morning.