Chapter 02: Akatsuki Attack
With each grain of sand, adding another got easier and easier. By the time Temari came to take him back home, Naruto had dozens of grains of sand forming a halo aroung his head. He looked almost like an angel, albeit a gloomy broody angel.
Baki had come at various points during the day to oversee his progress. He seemed to be impressed with his work. Everyone was so accepting of him here. Everyone seemed to want to help him. Best of all, when he had been training, the kyuubi had gotten bored and taken a nap. Everything seemed to be going right for him, despite having just lost everything.
Dinner that night was a tense affair. Gaara had something on his mind and refused to discuss it. His glares kept everyone quiet and the two jinchuuriki were able stew in silence.
---
"You know, I could teach you things that noone alive even remembers. I've seen powerful jutsu that do amazing things. I could be your teacher."
"I'm not killing myself, isn't that enough for you?"
"Enough?" the fox laughed, "Nothing will ever be enough for me. I could have everything in existance and I'd still want more."
"Greedy aren't we?"
"It's the nature of all living things, you just don't see it yet," the kyuubi chuckled, "You are the same way. Tell me, kit, I have given you powerand companionship, how long until you want more." Kyuubi took his had and placed it on her own chest, sliding it down until it reached her stomach, "How long until you want more, and more, and more. When will it ever be enough?"
"Not everyones like you!" Naruto retorted.
"Thats not how it feels to me," the kyuubi said with a fang filled smile.
---
Naruto awoke panting for breath.
"Stupid fox!" he gasped. It s taunting had become even more sensual. He stumbled to the bathroom and took an ice cold shower to calm himself down. Even with his hands touching the cold hard tiles of the washroom, he could still remember the taught muscles, the small hard nipples, the soft warm flesh. He rubbed himself until he finally released, the tightness of lust fading from his guts.
"I told you," the fox's voice whispered, "You can't stop thinking about me."
Naruto stood under the cold stream of water panting, and willing the kyuubi to leave him alone. He stood like this for several minutes before he found the will to move again. His body shivered uncontrollable as he scrubbed himself down, as if he could wipe away the taint of the fox.
---
Breakfast was quiet. Gaara had gone to work before sunrise. Kankuro was in his workshop modifying his puppets. It was just Naruto and Temari. Remembering how little he had like the cereal, Temari had opted to cook some eggs for breakfast. She was no chef, but she knew enough to at least get by on missions, and that was enough for the simple breakfast.
Naruto loved it. One egg was kind of runny, but that only made it tastier. He ravenously devoured them, licking the plate clean. Temari kept glancing at him oddly. He looked back at her and waited.
"Do you always growl like that when you..." Temari blushed, "In the shower, I could hear you, my rooms right next to it."
"Sorry," Naruto sunk down in his chair in embarassment, "I didn't mean to make any noise."
Temariscrewed up her face. At first, naruto thought that she was angry, but then she started laughing, despite any attempts she made to hold it in.
"I catch you doing that, and you apologize for making too much noise?"
Naruto stared at her blankly.
"You're amazing, Naruto. I don't know how you and Gaara do it."
Realizing that he wasn't in trouble, Naruto looked aat Temari's plate, "Are you going to finish that?" he asked. Temari slid her plate across the table to him. She had given him what she had thought were the better of the eggs, but Naruto loved the taste of the clear goo that topped the undercooked food.
"Thanks for breakfast," Naruto said.
---
Temari walked Naruto to the training ground. Baki wasn't there, but another Suna ninja was. In his hands were tekagi. They were smaller and lighter, than Naruto's and shined with a silver finish.
"Baki told me to train you today." the man said. He was tall and thin with long limbs. He wore a n ANBU mask in the guise of a tiger. "Please call me Tora."
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto introduced himself.
"Baki informed me that you have already been shown a special training method. He asked that you continue this while I train you in the proper use of tekagi and my taijutsu style which takes advantage of them."
"Yes, Tora-sensei." Naruto created shadow clones. He sent most of them to continue the previious day's training. He sent a few hundred to try and master the bunshin and kept about ten with him to help practice whatever he was taught. Tora seemed slightly surprised at the number of clones, but it was hard to tell through the mask.
"Your first lesson, is never let your weapon leave youyour side. Wear it at all times until it become a natural extension of your body. I found this sitting out here when I arrived."
Naruto's tekagi appeared, seemingly out of thin air, and Tora threw it at clones tried to grab it out of the air, but were dispelled as soon as they touched it. Naruto dodged the weapon and it struck right through one rock and embedded itself all the way to its wrist guard in the ground.
"Your second lesson is that your weapon is made with chakra conducting metal. Use this fact to your advantage. Fill it with your chakra for every attack. You will learn more advanced techniques for this when you are ready. Now, show me lesson one!"
Tora raced towards Naruto, claws outstretched. Naruto dove and grabbed his weapon out of the ground. Before he could get the weapon on, Tora pinned Naruto with his claws crisscrossing Naruto's neck.
"Lesson one is the most important lesson you will learn."
"I haven't lost yet!" Naruto leaned forward into the bladed, using a small patch of sand to keep the claws from slicing open his neck.
"You can't win from your position."
"I don't intend to."
"You used kawarimi with a clone," Tora said as he felt Naruto's own claws press against his neck, "But you aren't the only one who has clones." The tora in front of Naruto melted into a pile of sand and the Naruto holding the tekagi was kicked aside by the real Tora.
"You were wrong about one thing though," Naruto said, "I never used Karimi." Naruto lept to his feet and pressed his claw-like nails into Tora's neck, drawing a small trickle of blood. "Looks like I win."
"Maybe," Tora said, "Maybe not."
Naruto felt a slight pressure at his crotch and noticed the blades of Tora's Tekagi were beginning to press painfully down. Naruto jumped backwards, submitting.
"I think I'm going to like training you," Tora said, glancing out at the army of clones that were practicing, "How many more of those can you make?"
"That depends on how much chakra they'd need."
"Our training today will not take any chakra at all, so make as many as you can."
"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Another fifty clones appeared.
"Now you all do what I do," Tora called out, taking a stance.
The clones mimicked his stance, extending their tekagi in front of them, with their bare fist cocked over their heads. Their legs were half bent and aligned with thie gaze along the line of the metal claws. Tora walked along the line of clones, correcting small flaws in their stances.
"You're the best of them all," Tora told one of the clones. The clone immediately dispersed and the rest corrected their stances accordingly. "Perfect, now relax. And take the stance again."
After a few iterations of this, all the remaining clones had the first stance perfected.
"Now for the second stance of this form."
---
By lunch time, Naruto could feel the disadvantages of using such a heavy weapon. His arm trembled from the exertion very time he raised the heavy tekagi, but from all the practice, he and his clones could execute the first kata of the style flawlessly. The clones continued to train while he left to fill himself.
Temari met him on the way back and helped him find his way back to the Ichiraku store.
Shiru and Omi welcomed the two to their store warmly.
"Four bowls of miso ramen please!" Naruto ordered, "Extra toppings."
"So how are you doing today?" Omi asked him.
"I'm doing better," Naruto said, "Everyone in this village treats me well, noone has called me a monster or a demon, or spat on me, or tried to trip me in the streets..." Naruto went silent for a moment to calm the anger that that had been growing as he recalled all the terrible things that the villagers in Konoha had done to him. "And my training is going well." He moved his sand to demonstrate. It now covered almost half his body. "I don't have nearly the same level of control Gaara does, but my chakra control is improving. I also learned the first kata of a new fighting style that lets me use this." He raised his Tekagi for a second. "Tora-sensei told me to keep it with me at all times, but it's killing my arm."
Omi smiled and nodded as she listened to Naruto talk.
"I can probably help with that," Temari offered, "I had the same problem when I started using this fan." She turned from the counter and grabbed his arm, squeezing and kneading, and stroking the muscles until they began to relax.
"You shouldn't become dependant on her," the kyuubi warned with a growl.
"So," Shizu asked, "Is she your girlfriend?" Shiru asked as he placed the ramen in front of Naruto. Temari by shis time had been massaging his chest and back. She quickly released Naruto and turned back to teh counter, blushing.
"We're just friends," Naruto replied, "She's been showing me around, and stuff." He glanced over at temari who was conciously ignoring him, paying close atention to her own meal.
"If you picture her naked, you'll pay tonight," the kyuubi warned.
Jiraiya's influence in Naruto took hold and he could not help but to do the opposite of what the Kyuubi had said. He snuck furtive glances at Temari, noticing for the first time that she was an attractive woman. The meal continued in uncomfortable silence for a minute until Temari noticed Naruto looking at her with a goofy grin on his face. Her face quickly went from embarassed to angry and slammed her fan into his face.
"Oww. What as that for?" Naruto asked.
"You were thinking things you shouldn't have been thinking," Temari replied angrily, "Is that what you were thinking about this morning too?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Naruto grumbled, and then smiled, "I figured it out, you're jealous!"
This comment was met with another stirke of her fan.
"Not you!" Naruto grabbed his bleeding nose and waited for it to heal, "The kyuubi. She doesn't like you cause she's jealous that I'm spending so much time with you."
"Jealous? You belong to me, there's nothing to be jealous of."
"You were thinking of that fox!" Temari became even angrier and punched him in the face, breaking his nose and then marched out of the restaurant.
"Young love hurts, doesn't it?" Shiru laughed.
"You shouldn't tease him." Omi said, "Are you okay?" She got a warm wet towel to wipe up the blood.
Naruto nodded, "It will heal in a few minutes." He could already feel the pain of the broken bone fragments shifting back into place.
---
Tora had other duties to attend to, so Naruto trained on his own that afternoon, finally mastering the bunshin and bringing himself up to academy standards. His control of the sand had improved to the point that he held many thousands of grains and could cover any part of his body with a thin layer. He was feeling mighty proud of himself until he saw Temari cooking dinner.
Temari's glare filled him with fear and dread. He had thought that she would be over their little scuffle at lunch. He had been wrong.
"So, were you actually training when you were all alone, or having some fun with your little vixen again?" Temari asked him once Gaara and Kankuro had arrived.
Gaara raised an eyebow in surprise.
"Second day here, and you've already found a girl?" Kankuro asked, missing Temari's meaning.
Naruto sighed and banged his head against the wall.
"What do you expect from the student of the legendary pervert himself?" Temari jabbed, "Can't help but ogle everyone he sees, no matter who or what they are."
"Enough." Gaara halted the conversation, "Naruto we will talk after dinner."
Dinner proceeded tensly. Naruto found himself eating something that was rather burnt and indistinguishable. He thoughed about saying something, but cowed under Temari's unrelenting glare, "Thanks for diner, Temari. It's delicious." Naruto lied, barely controlling his urge to vomit.
Everyone else's dinner looked infinitely more edible than Naruto's. Naruto tried to imagine that he was at the Ichiraku restaurant and stuffed the entire glob into his mouth and swallowed as quickly as he could.
"Do you want seconds?" Temari asked, obviously challenging him.
"Naruto's had enough. He will not eat us out of house and home until he starts being able to pay his own way," Gaara said, coming to Naruto's rescue, "I'm done as well." He had only taken a few bites of his own food. "Naruto, You and I need to talk, privately."
Gaara took Naruto to his room. He closed and locked the door, then encased the two if them in a sound dampening layer of sand.
"Either you have done something inappropriate to my sister, or you have done something stupid. You will tell me the truth." A snaking tendril of sand began to bind Naruto."
"It's the fox," Naruto said, "She's been getting more aggressive."
"Do you think it will become a danger?"
"I don't know." Naruto admitted.
"What did the kyuubi do?"
"This morning, I woke up after the fox was teasing me. I..." Naruto blushed, "Your sister overheard some embarrassing sounds. At lunch today, she found out what I was doing was because of the fox, and she got angry."
"Was that everything?" Gaara's emotionless gaze was beginning to freak Naruto out, especially with the tendril of sand slowly coiling around him.
"She might have also suggested that I shouldn't picture Temari naked," the sand clenched around his legs painfully.
"Did you?" Gaara asked, still seemingly emotionless.
"Wouldn't you?" Naruto asked, "Well if she wasn't your sister or anything..."
The sand slowly worked its way up Naruto's body, coiling tighter and tighter until it reached Naruto's neck and squeezed until Naruto could barely breathe.
"Naruto, you are my friend, but she is my sister. If you do anything to hurt her, you really will learn what my sand can do to you."
"But it's not me, it's the kyuubi."
"Where's that will of fire that Konoha used to brag about. Stop acting like I used to, don't let your demon control you." Gaara said, a tinge of anger finally being inflected in his voice. The sand squeezed Naruto one last time, then released him."
"I didn't do anything wrong. It's not like I went peeping or anything."
"If you don't know what you did, then get down on your hands and knees and beg Temari to tell you. It is not my position to tell you these things." Gaara left.
Naruto walked over to his bed. He was exhausted and did not want to face Temari yet. He went to bed hoping that she would have calmed down by the morning.
---
"Welcome back kit," the kyuubi purred, "Did you enjoy your time with the sand bitch?"
"She's still our friend, don't talk about her like that."
"What a friend. She broke your nose, and served you that disgusting bile she called food, and embarassed you to set you up for that little encounter with Gaara."
"I shouldn't have looked at her like that."
"You think that's why she was angry?" the kyuubi laughed, "She thought that this morning, the one you were thinking about in the shower was her."
"If that was true, then she would have gotten angry at me this morning."
"You're so naive, kit. You really know nothing about females."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked angrily, only to be pounced on buy the kyuubi.
"It means that you need someone to teach you a lesson."
"A les–" Naruto was cut off when the kyuubi grabbed him by the neck and slammed him down to the ground.
"Yes, I told you that I'd punish you, didn't I?" the kyuubi smirked evilly, "You can't blame anyone but yourself for this."
The kyuubi leaned closer and bared her fangs. Naruto gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, expecting to feel them digging painfully into him. Instead he felt warm soft lips brush gently against his own. Naruto half opened his eyes and looked at the kyuubi leaning over him.
"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.
"I said I'd make you happy. You wanted me to love you," the kyuubi said, grinding her hips against his, "I am just giving you what you said you needed." She clamped a hand over his mouth and continued rubbing against him, her juices creating a warm stain on his pants.
Naruto let out a muffled moan as his body was teased to its limit. Then the kyuubi stopped, letting his body calm before starting her motions all over again.
"Isn't it beautiful. I can feel what you feel. The deep tightening inside that tells me when you've had enough. To think that I could have given you pleasure beyond anything you've ever felt before, but because you thought of her, you're stuck on the brink of happiness, waiting for that one little nudge to puch you over the edge."
Naruto tried to move his own hips, tried to escape the kyuubi's ministrations, but she was stronger than him, and he could not will her away.
---
Naruto finally woke up. His sheets were completely soaked with the sweat that dripped off of his body. His loins were so tight that it was exceedingly painful. It was dark outside and the moon shone through the slit of a window. He stumbled out of bed, each movement causing throbbing tension. He stumbled to the bathroom.
He burst through the door and leaned over the toilet. The kyuubi's chakra was filling him, not with his anger, but his untended lust. His claws gouged streaks into the tile as he grabbed his engorged penis and stroked it. It hurt to touch, and he let out whimpers of pain with every stroke. His claws ripped a tile from the wall and it smashed upon the floor. He wondered how long the Kyuubi had teased him; had tortured him.
"Naruto, are you okay?" It was Temari. Of course, her room was right next door.
"Don't come in!" too much demonic influence had caused his voice to change.
"Naruto, whats happening?" the door was pushed all the way open and Temari came in.
"I told you not to come in..." Naruto turned to look at her.
Temari's face looked shocked, but concerned.
"You're crying. That's not supposed to hurt."
Naruto's claws dug into the concrete as he saw Temari standing there weaing only her underwear and an almost tranparent sleeping gown. Naruto was sure that he was going to explode until a chunk of dried ejaculate was disloged and shot with a loud ping into the bowl of the toilet before he finally released.
He collapsed, panting as the demonic chakra faded.
"W-what... t-time... is... it?" he asked. He was too tired to even roll off a broken shard of tile that was cutting into his arm.
"Its a little after three." Temari responded. She grabbed a towel and covered naruto, noting how swollen and red his penis was before she covered him. She didn't even seem embarassed, probably because of the pitiful state he was in. "Why?"
"Over five hours," Naruto whimpered, "She wouldn't let me go, wouldn't let me move, wouldn't let me... I..." Naruto laughed weakly, "Jokes on her though, this time, she wasn't the one I was thinking about.
Naruto noted the bright red blush that crept into Temari's face.
"Sorry... I shouldn't have..."
"I was the one who burst in on you," Temari said, "I had no idea it was this bad."
"Not like the kyuubi would hurt me in a way she couldn't fix," Naruto said, "I'll probably be back to normal by morning." Naruto rolled over.
Temari looked in horror at his arm. There was a trickle of blood running down where a large chunk of tile had buried itself into his arm.
"Your arm!" Temari grabbed the offending ceramic and ripped it out. There was an initial spray of blood that created a pool around his arm, but the bleeding was quickly stopped by the kyuubi's healing.
"Thanks, that one was kind of painful," Naruto sighed tiredly.
"You should probably get yourself cleaned up and go back to bed."
"I want to, but I can't move."
"You really are an idiot," Temari said matter of factly. She began to fill the tub with water. "You know, Gaara is going to be pissed when he sees the water bill this month. Water isn't cheap in the desert."
"Sorry," Naruto said, "I didn't..."
"It's not your fault," Temari sighed and deftly removed his remaining clothes, "I can't just leave you like this."
"I meant lunch. I shouldn't have listened to the fox. You didn't deserve for me to treat you like that."
"I'm not really angry with you anymore."
"And I lied to you at dinner. It was the most horrible thing I've ever swallowed."
"I know, thats what I intended. I was more surprised that you actually finished it than... well finding lyou like this surprised me more, but that was a close second." Temari turned the water off and lifted Naruto into the tub, leaving the towel strategically placed.
Naruto fell into a dreamless sleep while Temari scrubbed the blood from his body.
---
The sun was already high in the sky when Naruto woke up. The combination of his training and the kyuubi's torture had taken a toll on his muscles. He felt weak, and his limbs trembled.
He thought Tora might be mad at him for being late, so he got dressed and grabbed his tekagi. He couldn't even lift the weapon and settled for dragging it along the ground.
Before he could leave, Naruto found a note on the table. Temari was going to tell Tora that he was sick and wouldn't show up. Her instructions told him to rest up. Naruto did as he was told. He lay on a couch and watched television in the living room, catching up on current events, dozing off every once in a while.
---
"Did you enjoy yourself kit?" The fox was at the end of her chain, Naruto was sitting just out of her grasp.
"Of course not. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?"
"I can feel everything that you feel," the kyuubi grinned, "You made us that way when you permanently absorbed my chakra."
"Another trick," Naruto growled, "I should have never listened to you."
"No one has been hurt," the kyuubi said sadly, "Isn't that what you wanted?"
"You don't think anyone was hurt? What about me?" Naruto asked, "What you did last night hurt me."
"And only you. That was punishment, kit. It was supposed to hurt, but this damn seal won't let me sink my claws into you properly."
"Punishment?"
"You said you wanted to be mine, and what's mine is mine. I will not let your little sand whore take you from me."
"This isn't what I wanted!"
"Nothing ever is."
"I just wanted to be loved, to be happy, really truely happy, for once in my life."
"You better learn to like pain, kit. Love hurts."
---
An explosion!
Naruto shot up from the couch. More explosions. Naruto grabbed his tekagi. His body seemed to be back at full strength. He ran outside and saw a battle occuring in the sky. Gaara was fighting someone. The pair raiced overhead, the man coming close enough that Naruto could recognize the cloak he wore.
"Akatsuki!" They were after Gaara now. Naruto leapt onto the rooftops and chased after them. The Akatsuki man was throwing explosives at Gaara. The explosives seemed to move on their own, trying to get around Gaara's defense.
Gaara was easily overpowering the Akatsuki until he started throwing explosives towards civillian buildings. Gaara was put on the defensive. As kazakage, it was his duty to protect the citizens of Suna.
Gaara got lucky and caught one of the man's arms and crushed it. The Akasuki began to launch wave after wave of small explosives at Gaara, and Gaara had to retreat behind his sand barrier. The akasuki laughed as the barrier of sand exploded.
Gaara looked pissed. His armor of sand was cracked and tumbling off of him. The Akatsuki ran. Suna's defenses began fireing volleys of Kunai at the invader. After dodging attacks for a minute, the Akatsuki stopped and launched an explosive the size of a building towards the center of the city. Gaara strained to gather enough sand to capture and contain the explosive. When it detonated, the sand was spread, hovering dangerously over the village threatening to crush it. Gaara used all of his strength to move the sand outside of the city before both he and the sand fell to the ground outside the walls, the Akatsuki following close behind.
Naruto ran to the village gates. He was met with the sight of an unfortunate chuunin being blown up by a booby trap. If he had arrived any sooner, it would have been him being blown to bits.
Baki arrived.
"Everyone stay back," he ordered as he surveyed the scene. One man went to grab the body of a dead comrade and drag it away from the wall. The body was booby trapped as well, "Don't touch anything! No one goes though this gate until the areas been searched for traps. No one runs off half cocked, not even you, Naruto."
"But Gaara was taken."
"As soon as this is cleared out, we'll send a tracking team, and we'll get him back."
---
Waiting was hell. He would have rather suffered from the Kyuubi's torment than stand around wondering what could be happening to his friend. He had walked between the gates and the Suna council chambers soo many times that he no longer had to look as his feet paced. The experts who were disarming the traps had fell for several of them while Naruto watched. Progress was slow, and the name Sasori of the Red Sands was whispered between the older generations.
Naruto almost bumped into Kankuro.
"I don't care if they haven't cleared it yet. I am going after my brother," Kankuro said.
"I'm coming too," Naruto insisted.
"I know some guys who are experts at tracking."
"What if the council tries to stop us?"
"If they say no, we'll go without their approval. Gaara will pardon us when he gets back."
Naruto nodded, "I'll tell Temari that we're going."
"Tell her to work on the council. They'll probably want to do something like fortify in case an enemy attacks while the kazekage is gone. Then, at least she'll be safe."
---
Naruto was shocked to find himself pulled into his mindscape.
"Fool, those are Akatsuki that you are going after. They are S ranked missing nin, just like Itachi and Kisame."
"I've gotten stronger," Naruto said, "And I can't let them take Gaara."
"You're insane," the kyuubi growled, "You are no match for one of them as you are."
"What would you have me do, sit back and wait while they kill him?"
"That would be the safest course of action, but then they would have another one of us. They would become even more dangerous and focus more on accquireing us."
"So what then?"
"Take more of my chakra. One tail should give you plenty of power to destory them. Even if you're forced to release me, we'll be out in the desert and the village will be safe."
"And kill Gaara, and Kankuro, and the other Suna shinobi that are with us."
"And how much more likely is that to happen if you are stuck with your current limitation? As you are now, you cannot defeat them with skill, so you must overpower them. Become an overwhelming force. You've been doing fine with half a tail, so you can handle it. You have to handle it."
"No!" Naruto refused, "I've done enough already."
"Let me put this in a way you'll understand, kit, you either accept my gift and go out with a chance of winning the battle under your own strength, or you don't wake up until everything is over."
Naruto growled angrily and strode forward. He grabbed the kyuubi by the wrist and yanked her towards him, sinking his fangs into her hand as soon as she was close enough. He was too angry to even enjoy the taste. He bit down harder to make the blood flow faster, ignoring the faint whimpers as his teeth ground against bone.
"Are you happy now?" Naruto growled.
"Ecstatic," the kyuubi purred as it licked its wounds, "Use some clones to set off the traps at the gate before you run through. Even if they're chakra sensitive, your clones will set them off." The kyuubi smiled, bearing her fangs as his mindscape dissolved.
---
Naruto's body was burning. His claws became longer, harder and sharper. His eyes could focus more sharply, drawn to movement and chakra. His teeth became sharper, his fangs peeking out over his bottom lip. He could smell scents that he had never known existed. The burning wouldn't stop. Blobs of red chakra leaked out of him as if he could not contain it all. In the corners of his vision a bright red mass of chakra flicked back and forth.
Naruto tried to reign in the chakra, but he couldn't control it. That didn't matter now, he would deal with that later. A coppery scent caught his attention. It was blood. He could hear a young child crying. He licked his lips as he imagined devouring the child's sweet flesh. Naruto, realizing what he was thinking wrested the thoughts from his head. He could not let himself be controlled by the demon's nature. He breathed deeply, calming himself.
Remembering the fox's advice, Naruto created two clones. One he sent to tell Temari what they were doing, the other went to the village gate. While they did their jobs, Naruto sad down, cross legged, and worked on gaining contorl of his body.
---
Naruto's clone ran like a blur, following a scent that he recognized to be Temari. He was surprised that he actually knew her scent. He'd rarely been close enough to smell her with the olfactory capabilities he's had up to a few minutes ago. He followed the scent to the wall where Temari was with a patrol group. She seemed irritated. Her scent was slightly strange as well.
The patrol group looked at him. Some were merely shocked. Others were afraid. All were brandishing weapons as he approached.
"Naruto?"
He glanced at Temari, advancing slowly and purposefully. He wondered at the musky odor mixed with blood signified.
"Back off!" Naruto growled, directed at the other ninja. They didn't move. "I need to talk with Temari. You will back off now or I will enjoy torturing you until you beg me to kill you," he tried to calm down. They were making him angry. Just their presence pissed him off.
"It's okay, do what he said," Temari did not sound too confident, holding her own weapon at the ready. The other Suna nin backed away slowly.
When Naruto was confident that they couldn't here, he whispered, "Kankuro and I are going after them. We need you to convince the council to send backup." He took one more sniff, then dispelled himself.
---
At the gate, there had been barely any progress.
"Out of the way or I'll kill you myself!" Naruto growled as he created a legion of clones that barged into the entrance.
The ninja who were disarming the traps ran for their lives as the clones were decimated by explosions and flying left a large pile of rubble blocking the way. It was not a real hinderence, but the clone was feeling angry. They could have saved Gaara if they had done this in the first place.
"Odama Rasengan!" two clones shouted as they and two other clones worked together to make the massively destructive attacks and slammed them simultaneously into the entire depth of the mighty wall was gouged by the resulting attacks, clrearing out any remaining traps that may have been hidden.
The clone dispelled.
---
Naruto's eyes snapped open when he caught the scent of wood, paint and poison. He decided then that he did not like the scent.
"You stink, Kankuro," he growled, standing up without looking to see the mentioned shinobi approach from behind him, "Let's go." The ground crackled sharply as he moved. A thin layer of glass had formed where he had been sitting.
"Again?" Kankuro asked.
"I need power to kill them," Naruto said, irritated that he had needed to wait so long.
"Don't you want to know how it went?"
"I really don't care. Probably the same as every other time you have demanded they let you go after him."
Naruto raced for the gate. Kankuro and two other ninja raced after him, having difficulty keeping up.
"Which way?" Naruto demanded to know as soon as they stepped foot outside the walls. He flexed his clawed fingers impatiently, causing the joints to pop. The two nin looked for clues. Naruto tried using his nose, but Gaara had always smelled like sand to him. Sand was everywhere, so there was no scent he could use. His red chakra flared.
"Naruto..."
"Unless you have something important to say, keep your mouth shut or I'll rip our your tongue,"
Kankuro glared at him. He glared back. Naruto's clenched teeth were digging into his lip and small rivulets of blood began to bribble down his chin. He opened his mouth and licked it up, smiling at the taste. Kankuro backed up, looking freaked out at having seen Naruto acting like this.
"This way!" one of the other nin called. They had found the trail.
Naruto ran in the direction they had indicated. Three scents stood out that followed the same path. One was like clay. Another smelled of wood, paint and poison like Kankuro. The third he knew must be Gaara. It smelled like sand, and blood – strong blood. He followed the scent, his heart pounding vigorously.
He ran fast, ignoring his surroundings. He was caught up in the thrill of the hunt. The wind wistled around him, dragging his cheeks back with its force. The scent was getting stronger, and stronger until he saw two figures and a blob that hovered near them. The one on the left was strong. He had beaten Gaara. His blood would be sweet.
His prey turned, caught off guard as Naruto leapt into the air with an inhuman reached his claws toward the man's head. If only he was closer, he would be able to feel the man's skull be crushed. As if to answer his bloodlust, the red chakra lanced forward, surprising both of the Akatsuki. The head exploded as chakra claws lanced through it, sizzling wherever the chakra had touched. Naruto laughed a crazed barking laugh as the blood sprayed, pumped from a heart that did not even know it was dead yet.
The blob fell. Gaara's body spilled out from what looked almost like a beak in the mound of clay.
"Deidra..." the other man did not look too impressed, "Now we're going to be late, but we will have an extra prize." The man reached out a hand and took a ring from his former comrade's finger. "The nine tailed fox. I didn't think that Itachi would have lost to you." The man's grating voice pissed Naruto off even more.
Naruto licked a blood spatter from his cheek. Sweet and earthy. He ruched the still living man. A mechanical tail shot out from under the cloak, aimed for his head. Naruto dodged to the side. With a swipe of his tekagi, the tail shattered. His arm arched over and drove the tekagi through his opponent's grinned at the shocked look on the face. His eyes widened. It was not shock. Needles shot out of the wide open mouth. Naruto's neck and shoulder were pierced by dozens of the projectiles.
Naruto released his weapon and stumbled backwards, reaching to tear out the needles. His body was feeling unsteady. Poison.
"I know that might not stop you for long." The man revealed an arm. His hand seperated, twisting to reveal the barrel of some sort of weapon.
Kankuro's Karasu puppet interfered just in time to save him from a debilitating blow. It was all Naruto could do to remain conscious as he watched the ensuing battle. It was completely one sided. Kankuro, no longer having the element of surprise was being outmatched by the Akatsuki.
The man revealed that he was the former puppet master of Suna, Sasori of the Red Sands, and then destroyed Karasu. When Kankuro brought out Kuroari and Sanshouo, Sasori made quick work of them as well, despite some impressive tactics. It seemed that they were done for.
"Gamayudan!" Sasori became inundated with toad oil as Jiraiya used a shunshin to appear in front of him. Sasori's movements were restricted by the thick gel that now coated him. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Jiraiya expelled a great fireball from his mouth, igniting the oil.
Sasori tried to use something sealed in a scroll, but the scroll was destroyed by the flames that covered his body.
---
"That was close," the kyuubi sighed, "this poison is very persistant."
"Not too much for you to handle is it?" Naruto asked.
"You'll be fine. I can heal your organs faster than the poison is damaging them. Eventually it will run its course. Anyone else would surely die from this."
"Weren't you afraid that I was going to die?"
"I was enjoying myself way too much. That was done beautifully. Did you see the look on Deidra's face as we killed him?" the kyuubi purred.
"What about Jiraiya? He'll probably think that I've lost control. What if he already knows about Konoha?"
"If he was going to kill us he would have done it already."
"But I did lose control... Again!"
"Would you have preferred to die, and let Gaara die? Let every jinchuuriki be snatched up and have their demon's extracted, killing them. What would Akatsuki do with this power? What would happen to your friends."
"Next time it might be one of them."
"You should have enough chakra to overpower anyone now. You just weren't ready this time. Train with your clones. Just imagine what you could do when you become stronger than me."
"What about the blood, and the killing? I shouldn't enjoy that."
"They did always call you a demon. About time they got it right."
"You're not just giving me your chakra..."
"I told you that your body would need to adjust to handle it. You never asked how."
"I am not going to be a demon!" Naruto roared. He rushed towards her. Grabbing Kyuubi by the neck, he slammed her harshly against the rock wall of his mindscape.
Despite the pain the kyuubi must have felt, she smiled and chuckled softly.
"What's so funny?"
"You're mine." The kyuubi latched onto Naruto with her claws, pulling herself towards him. Her breath rasped against the pressure of the fingers around her neck. She pushed off the wall, knocking them both over. She pinned him to the ground.
Naruto struggled, but she easily held both of his hands above his head with a single arm.
"You love the scent of blood, don't you? The taste? The sense of a person's life, flowing over your skin?" the kyuubi used a single claw to slice through his shirt, "Doesn't it get your heart pumping? The joy of being in control and hilding someone else's life in your hands?" She licked her claw, then stabbed it into Naruto's chest, dragging it down to his belly.
Naruto screamed in agony.
"Pain is just a proof that you are alive, that you have survuved an encounter. Enjoy the pain."
"Y-you said that the seal wouldn't allow you to hurt me..."
"That's the beauty of it, I am not hurting you. Somewhere deep inside, you want me to do this, you're begging for it."
"No, I..." Naruto shuddered as he felt the kyuubi's tongue begin to lap at the blood that was dripping from his torso.
"Delicious. Strong and salty, yet also sweet. You can tell so much about a person by how they taste." She licked up more of the blood, then leaned over his face. She stuck out her tongue and a string of blood mixed with saliva dripped out, falling into his mouth.
Naruto growled and struggled, wresting an arm free. He wrestled with her, struggling against her overpowering strength. His movements were throwing her off balance. Her hands slipped in blood and she fell, laying on top of him.
She didn't even seem to be trying. She giggled as she rubbed her face in the blood from the wound on his chest. The bleeding had stopped and the wound had begun to close. Naruto grabbed her wrists and then rolled over. He was now kneelng between her legs and pinned her to the ground. He breathed heavily, panting with the heat of his bloodlust.
"You've got me right where you want me, don't you?" the kyuubi asked, "Now, what are you going to do with me?"
Naruto growled. He couldn't think. The dribble of blood from her thin wet lips looked so delicious. He had to taste it. He held her down, giving one more warning growl before he took her lips in his own, flicking his tongue over them. The taste only made him want more. He stroked his tongue across her supple fleesh.
He nipped at her when she moved under him, a warning to let him do as he pleased. Her quiet whimper stirring him to bare his fangs and slide them across her stomach until he found the perfect spot to bite down.
A web of chakra tore them apart. Naruto's mindscape returned to the dank wet prison it had once been. Five seals lay over the great seal that locked the kyuubi within him. Naruto struck at the barrier. Blazing chakra blasted him backwards. He continued to attack the barrier over and over again until he tired and his bloodlust settled.
His mind slowly returned, remembering what he had been doing. It made him sick to think about it. He could see the kyuubi now in all its deadly form.
"Damn him!" the kyuubi roared, "I'll kill him!"
"What happened?" Naruto backed away from the barrier.
"Come now kit. We were just begininng to have fun."
"I don't even know what I was doing!"
"You're demon nature, you were letting it guide you. No creature has been so... enthusiastic in hundreds of years."
Naruto shuddered as he imagined the kyuubi as a little old lady.
"Did I really look that old to you?" the kyuubi pouted, an effect lost on its gigantic fox form, "Demon chakra has some advantages, and they outweigh the impact of breaking a few social taboos once in a while in the heat of passion. Kit, my chakra does not just heal you, it regenerates you. If it didn't, you'd have been dead of old age long ago because of the rate at which your cells are destroyed when using the chakra."
Naruto stared blankly at her.
"The more you use my chakra, the less you will age," the kyuubi said, simplifying the concept, "So use it a lot, a body is so much sweeter when it's young." The kyuubi grinned hungrily, eyeing him like a piece of meat.
Naruto shivered under the gaze of the fox and slowy backed away.
---
A fire flickered gently. At least he thought it was a fire. It was actually the glow from his chakra tail, a faint luminesence that danced, reflected in the melted sand around it. Naruto could barely move. His entire body ached. He coughed, spraying black, bloody phlegm into the darkness of the night.
"You're awake?" Jiraiya asked.
Naruto groaned. It felt like his insides were melting. Why wasn't the kyuubi healing him?
"I added an extra seal to hold in the kyuubi chakra, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. We can't even touch you."
"Poison..." Naruto rasped, "Remove... seal." He coughed again. His vision was going blurry.
"Are you sure? You're in control?"
"Help me," Naruto begged.
Jiraiya considered his options for a moment, and then said, "If you try anything funny... Gogyo Kaiin!" Chakra flared on Jiraiya's fingertips and he drove them into Naruto's stomach. Naruto vomited more blood and was sent flying, passing out before he hit the ground.
---
When Naruto returned to consciousness, he coughed up a foul smelling black glob. He was still weak. The sun was beginning to rise and Jiraiya watched him warily, handsign at the ready. Naruto sat up.
"Kankuro told me what happened at Konoha. Now it looks like the Kyuubi is manifesting constantly in you," Jiraiya said, "Tell me why I shouldn't blow your guts out right now?"
Naruto glanced at a large amount of explosive notes that were stuck to his body.
"If I were you, I would have done it yesterday," Naruto said sleepily, "But since I am still alive, I assume you're not planning on revenge?"
"That depends..."
"The kyuubi is a girl, a very naked girl. Want to see what she looks like?"
Jiraiya had a pencil and a pad of paper out, ready to take notes.
"I'm injured, you really don't expect me to do it now do you?"
Jiraiya nodded, as he began writing.
"Pervy sage... She's over a thousand years old."
Jiraiya dropped his research notes, gagging at the concept.
"My thoughts exactly."
"Well, erhm," the toad sage cleared his throat, "I called for a messenger toad to send a report about Akatsuki to Tsunade. Imagine my surprise when I heard that Konoha was gone and you were in Suna and wanted to talk to me. I thought that you had escaped some sort of enemy attack, What I didn't know at the time was that you were the one who attacked the village."
"Don't remind me. I won't let it happen again. I'll kill myself before I let anything happen to my friends again." Naruto shouted angrily, "But it's hard. More Akatsuki will come for me. I'll need to use the kyuubi chakra again. That's why I needed you. I need to know if this is weakening the seal. Will the kyuubi take my body and use it to kill my friends if I keep trying to control the chakra?"
"I'll take more than your body, kit, your I will devour your heat and soul." the kyuubi interjected.
"And I can't tell when she's being serious or just getting excited."
"Can you show it to me?" Jiraiya asked, "I can't touch you through the burning chakra."
"She say's that I'll be able to control that with training. Even now, I am not feeling as angry as I was when I first took the chakra," Naruto lifted his shirt, amazed that it was still in one piece.
Jiraiya gazed at the seal as closely as he dared. He hmmed and hawed for several minutes before leaning back and sighing.
'"I don't know," Jiraiya said, "The seal looks fine, but you should be careful."
"How's Kankuro?" Naruto asked, not seeing the Suna nin anywhere.
"He's gathering food. The other two died. They were hit with the same poison you were by stray projectiles."
"And Gaara?"
"He hasn't woken up yet. He doesn't have the same healing factor–"
"Regeneration, not healing..." Naruto corrected him, "We talked about that while I was asleep."
"We don't know what they did to him, but I don't think he'll wake up until we get a medic to look at him."
"Kankuro's back." Naruto announced as Kankuro's scent started to gain strength, along with a scent that made his stomach growl hungrily. Naruto stretched and stood up. He noticed Jiraiya visibly tense, "Just don't piss me off and I won't hurt anyone. I am going to get some clones to begin meditating on controlling the chakra. If I don't, I'll probably burn down any house I sleep in. Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
It seemed like the entire desert filled with clones. They all sat down and began to concentrate.
"If you have any idea's, i'd love to hear them. I really don't know what I'm doing."
"Maybe if I had some inspiration."
Naruto sighed.
""Haremu no Jutsu!"
Jiraiya's eyes bugged out when he saw Naruto's transformed clones.
"I'm quite a foxy vixen, ne Jiraiya-chan?" One of the imitation kyuubis said seductively.
A soft thud was heard as the approaching Kankuro dropped the food he had gathered. Naruto turned to look at him, then dispelled the jutsu.
"I just had a great idea for a new series," Jiraiya said, furiously writing notes.
"You were supposed to think of a way for me to control the chakra," he said growing agitated.
"I have an idea, but I'll need to do some research first."
Naruto growled and turned to kankuro who was picking up a pair of sand rabbits whose necks were broken. Before anyone could even blink, Kanuro was knocked to the floor and Naruto was tearing into the fresh meat, enjoying the sensation of the still warm blood trickling down his throat. Jiraiya and Kankuro watched in horrified fascination as Naruto's fangs ripped the rabbits apart, and when he was done, he licked the blood from his fingers and looked at Kankuro almost as if he wanted to eat him as well.
"Thanks for the food," Naruto said.
"Uhh... You're welcome..." Kankuro said, edging around the blood addled Naruto to check on his brother.
"Naruto, what was that?" Jiraiya asked.
"What was what?"
"You didn't even wait for the food to be cooked. You drank the blood like it was water."
"It tastes better that way," Naruto defended, "Besides, the blood gets me excited. I can't help it. It has something to do with my body adjusting to the demon chakra," Naruto left out the part about actually being transfomed into a demon.
"So if I cut myself, you might jump me to drink my blood."
"Don't worry, you two are safe, at least from that. You stink too much. I don't think you'd taste very good at all. And the younger the blood is the sweeter it is," Naruto noticed the shocked looks he was given, "Well, that's what the kyuubi tells me anyway, not like I've tried it."
Naruto laughed nervously.
Jiraiya sighed and unfurled a scroll, unsealing some dry rations.
"It's not a feast, but I don't really want to be slaughtering any animals right now," Jiraiya said, offering some to Kankuro.