Chapter 04: The Killing Mist
Naruto found Jiraiya preparing dinner.
"I'd offer you some, but I heard you already ate," Jiraiya said, "Word about the village is that a demon attacked a woman and child. A young man from the village was killed, his body was missing chunks of flesh and was covered in bite marks. The man and his two friends tried to protect the woman and child who ran away while the men were killed."
"Is that how they're telling it now?" Naruto replied disgustedly.
"You're telling me that you didn't go crazy, killing two men and torturing another."
"No, I did go crazy. I killed two of the three bandits who were attacking a woman and child."
"And tortured the third for fun. 'Beware the Kyuubi and her Jinchuuriki'?"
"She wants to be feared again. We are demons after all."
"We?"
Naruto couched nervously, "Well, I will be, when I've absorbed all the chakra. Humans can't handle this amount of chakra."
"How long have you known this for?"
"It's why I sent the message with the toads, why I wanted you to check the seal back then."
"So you are slowly transforming into the Kyuubi Didn't you think that this might be a trick, a way for the Kyuubi to escape?"
"I told you, that is why I had you check the seal. As long as the seal holds, the Kyuubi is stuck inside me.
"And as you turn into a demon, you've gained a taste for blood and human flesh that you can't resist. You love killing and causing pain, and you're growing more powerful."
Naruto nodded.
"How is that any different from releasing the Kyuubi?"
"Because, if I train myself, I'll learn to control it. The only people who should fear me, are the people who are my enemies."
"The line between friends and enemies sometimes shifts unexpectedly. I hope you become strong enough to control your actions, even in the face of your enemies."
"The Kyuubi won't let my friends get hurt, she knows that I'd rather die than let that happen, and dying is one of the few things she refuses to do."
"We're going to have to pass through town to get to the docks. Do you think you can handle that?"
"Can't you pick me up further along the shore?"
"Not if we're going to test my theory," Jiraiya said.
"What theory is that?"
"If you can't smell or taste blood, you can control yourself."
"So?"
"If we filter the air through something, then maybe we can eliminate any traces of blood, which means that you;ll be in total control of yourself."
"I guess that might work. It worked with the clones when I was testing myself before."
"Using toad oil is not a permanent solution though, but you say the nin from Kiri at the chuunin exams, didn't you?"
"What about them?"
"They had masks that allowed them to breathe underwater. They must also filter the air. If we got one, you could wear it and filter out any scent and taste of blood."
"I could return to Suna. I wouldn't have to be afraid of hurting my friends anymore!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
"The ship will leave in the morning. You have to know that you can't just walk into Kiri and buy one of those masks. The technology is unique to Kiri and Neither Suna nor Konoha are on good terms with them. We'll have to find some Kiri ninja and kill them... Or let them find us. You should probably hide your forehead protector as well. You don't want to cause any trouble for Gaara."
Naruto had a piece of cloth soaked with toad oil tied over his nose and mouth. He did his best to breathe only when he absolutely needed to to avoid inhaling the scent. He was afraid that the scent was so strong that he'd neither smell nor taste anything for days without it being tainted with the odor. Despite his discomfort, he bore the smell. Though he could smell people and blood faintly through the toad oil, they smelled almost like they were rotting and the thought of drinking their blood made his stomach turn.
The villagers who saw him coming backed out of his way, ushering children indoors. He saw the woman and boy from the day before. The woman saw him as well and screamed. A man, presumably her husband, came out of a nearby shack. Naruto continued walking.
The man yelled at Naruto, but Naruto ignored him. He had gotten plenty of similar treatment. A rock struck him in the back of the head. He turned and raced across the street, snatching the boy from his mother. He growled, his tail beginning to emit tongues of red chakra.
"If you don't want to die, you'll not try that again!" he snarled. The child began to cry.
"Naruto stop!" Jiraiya called to him.
The boy's father grabbed a stray piece of lumber and smashed it across Naruto's back. The wood shattered and sizzled. Naruto threw the boy at the mother before leaping with claws outstretched towards the father. He could smell his own blood. The heat of his chakra was making the toad oil evaporate.
Jiraiya grabbed Naruto's wrist and chopped him in the back of the neck. Naruto's claws only made a glancing blow before the shock of Jiraiya's attack knocked him unconscious.
"The old pervert got you good," the Kyuubi laughed at Naruto who rubbed his head.
"I shouldn't have attacked the kid anyway. I've lived through worse."
"The stone never should have hit you in the first place. He's not even a ninja and he got you good."
"Not like you noticed it coming either."
"Maybe with a few more tails of chakra, you would have sensed it coming."
"Maybe with a few less, I wouldn't have needed to."
"With a few less, that kid would have been able yo beat you up. His dad wouldn't have needed to try."
"If he hadn't interfered, I would have been fine. The kid was already too scared to move. I was still in control until that man attacked me."
"If you were in control, you would not have attacked the kid in the first place, kit. You're making progress, but you're a hundred years too early to consider yourself in control."
"Like you were in control when you attacked Konoha the day I was born?"
"That was a delicious bit of fun wasn't it. Too bad your father was there. Not many experts in fuuin-jutsu, and fewer still who would attempt the reaper death seal, and even that wasn't strong enough to actually kill me."
"Maybe not, but I can think of half a dozen ways that you could die now."
"I thought we were past the treats stage, kit, or did you need something more to entice you."
"Not now, I have a headache," Naruto grumbled, once again rubbing his head.
The Kyuubi laughed.
The small boat rocked on the waves. The sea breeze raised the water over the hull, splashing across Naruto, waking him up. A fisherman was eying him warily, a harpoon within arms reach. Jiraiya stood by, waiting for him to wait up.
"Just couldn't keep walking could you?"
"I'm not as tolerant as I used to be when people attack me for no reason."
"He was afraid of you, and with good reason. You almost killed him. I don't know when his father's wounds will close either. They're infected with the demonic chakra."
"He should have been grateful, I let him live and saved his life."
"Because you found someone else to kill instead. None of you're reasons for saving him were anything other than your own lust for blood and violence. Stop making excuses and control yourself. If anyone else had been the one to knock you out, they would have killed you on the spot, and if you keep getting stronger, not even I will be able to stop you from hurting innocent people."
"I am not going to hurt any innocent people, I promise. I'll do whatever it takes to stop myself, and I never go back on my word."
"I hope you're right."
The small boat anchored off the coast of an island, the closest dry area of the land of water.
"This is where you get off."
"I expected it to be bigger," Naruto said as he gazed at the small island. He could see a small village, but the rest of the island was mountains and forest. It would take less than a day to explore the entire thing on foot.
"That's just an entry port. The waters around these islands can be deadly, so they have a system of ferry boats with experienced crew that know the currents of their routes. This makes them strongly resistant to attack, but their population is so diverse and segregated that civil wars are common place," Jiraiya explained, "There is not likely to be, even among the civilians, people who are not proficient in a weapon. With any luck, we won't have to go far though. The ferries are guarded by mist shinobi loyal to the Mizukage. We don't want them to take any more notice of us than they have to, and I am hoping the bandits feel the same way."
"You think the bandits might be working for the village hidden in the mist?"
"Suna is one of the strongest ninja villages because they have such high standards and live in such a harsh environment. Disrupting trade with them will weaken them financially, and if food becomes scarce, even the ninja will try to find new homes for their families."
"But they could just be bandits."
"If they are they'll stay near the outlying islands to avoid close scrutiny."
"How will we find out which?" Naruto asked.
"See there, it looks like theres a break in the vegetation near the base of the mountain. Go there and set up camp, while I gather some information. If you see anyone, stay well back. We don't want any accidents."
Naruto and Jiraiya leapt out of the boat and began running on the surface of the water towards the island. Jiraiya veered off to one side, heading for the village.
As Naruto approached the location that Jiraiya had pointed out to him, he heard the sounds of someone else approaching from the direction of the village and could smell men and alcohol reeking in the direction that both of them were headed. He picked up his pace and found a convenient place to spy at the edge of the clearing. There were some tents set up in the clearing and ten men wearing blue camouflage outfits were lazing around, laughing at lewd jokes and drinking from jugs of expensive looking sake.
"You think the old whore is up for another tumble?" one of the men asked, red faced from the drink.
"You're so drunk, that you wouldn't be," another of the men said slapping the first man on the back, making him choke on the sake.
"Besides, I think she had all she could take when I finished with her, no fight left at all," a masked man said. He wasn't drinking, instead he was sharpening and polishing a katana.
The man who Naruto had heard approaching entered the clearing. He limped slightly. He was older than the other men as was seen by his gray hair. He was wearing a filter and mask, and at Naruto's angle, he could not see anything of the man's face, but he felt familiar.
"Did you get a good price?"
"I'd have gotten better if you lazy bums hadn't hoarded the food and drink," the old man hollered back and snatched the questioner's drink, chugging it down "I've got good news though, Konoha's gone, and so are all their ninja. We can move closer to the trading routes since we don't have to worry about their patrols anymore."
"There a war we haven't been told about?"
"War, no, it was all done by a single kid. I would have recruited him if he wasn't so damn dangerous. But he was a good kid; just had to protect the old merchant traveling alone."
"Like you would have had trouble with bandits," a man laughed.
Naruto felt his chakra flare angrily as he realized who the old man was.
"Trouble? Not with him. I must be losing my edge. The kid save me twice, then as soon as we got to Suna, he was whisked away to visit his friend the Kazekage"
"Too dangerous? Sounds like someone scooped him up before you could."
"Did you want a share of the profits or not? With our raids, the people of Suna are getting desperate, the prices are beginning to rise since trade is so unpredictable nowadays."
"Did you hear when the next caravan's coming?"
"They should be heading here from Tea country. They headed out as soon as they realized we got the last one."
"They keep this up, we'll be able to retire by the end of the year."
"No you won't," Naruto growled, emerging from the trees, "I'm retiring you now!"
"Naruto, you wouldn't kill an old man would you?"
"Of course not, just killing you is no fun..." Naruto chuckled demoniacally.
"Kill the... whatever he is!" One of the men threw a bottle at Naruto who caught it. He took a swig, then spit it on the ground.
"Nasty stuff, I'd much prefer your blood."
"Y-you've changed... Did you want a s-share. You could be very well rewarded if you joined –"
Naruto head a movement behind him. Had it not been for his enhanced senses, he would have not noticed the man who had tried to sneak up on him while he was focused on the old man. The smell of oil. It was the man who had been polishing his sword rather than drinking. Naruto caught the sword of the man with his tekagi, then let his chakra flare. His tail of chakra wrapped around the attacker's arm. The immaculately polished katana was dropped as as the man's flesh began to burn.
Remembering his secondary mission, Naruto grabbed the breathing apparatus from the old man.
"Smell this. The sweet ecstasy of burning flesh. Doesn't it make you feel so alive?" The old man looked like he was going to throw up and then fainted. Naruto frowned. There was no fun in playing with the man now. He turned to the man who was wrapped in his tail. The flesh from the tips of his fingers to his neck was blackened and blistered from the heat. His face was pale and his eyes glazed over in shock. Naruto laughed crazily as he had an idea, and then began to capture the rest of the men alive, penning them in with shadow clones.
He found the woman that the men had been talking about. She was laying in the tent. Her face and body, while they may have once been beautiful, were now bruised and swollen. Cuts were apparent on the woman's neck and arms where the bandits had restrained her before infecting her with their foul seed. Her eyes gazed at him dully. Her spirit was broken, and her body was soiled. He left her there.
Naruto returned to his shadow clones. Some had gotten water and used it to wake the old man.
"I should have known. Look at you... demon. You stripped the dead like it was nothing, I should have known then how rotten you are. Did you have fun with the whore? Her father was the head merchant of the caravan, she screamed for him for hours until we showed her his head."
"Disgusting!" Naruto spat, "She was dirty and foul. I like fresh meat... Don't you?"
Naruto walked over to the man with the smoldering arm. He was the tastiest smelling one of the lot, almost completely unsoiled. The man was unconscious, and probably dying. Naruto dropped his weapon and then dragged the man in front in his former boss.
"Now this, this just looks so delicious that I could eat him right up."
Kneeling behind the man, Naruto carefully removed the shirt and armor. The man flinched whenever Naruto's claw came too close to his flesh and burned him.
"You're like that are you?"
Naruto ignored the old man and placed his lips over the cords of muscle in the man's neck. The old man frowned distastefully at Naruto's actions. Naruto grinned, revealing his teeth as they sunk into the meat, spraying a fountain of blood all over the old man.
The great amount of blood stripped Naruto of all conscience.
Naruto opened his eyes when Jiraiya pressed the filter device against his face, watching him warily. Everything smelled like ash and steel. Naruto's breathing rasped with an echoing shudder as it passed through the grating. It took a lot more effort to breathe.
"The mission is done," Jiraiya said, "Let's go."
Naruto glanced at the encampment. The bodies were lined up in a row. Spelled across them in ripped out chunks of flesh were the words, "Nine Tails Of Death". The flesh removed to write this message had been stuffed into the throat of the one it had been carved out of. The sight of it made him sick. He couldn't believe that he was the one who had caused such a massacre. Deep inside though, his guts cried out for more violence and death, the urge churning uncomfortably. Without the scent of blood, however, the feeling was foreign to Naruto.
"We should take the stuff they stole back with us..." Naruto said shakily.
"No. It's all infected with the demonic chakra. If a civilian were to purchase any of it, they would probably die."
They walked away from the camp in silence. Naruto keeping quiet in shame, Jiraiya in anger. Naruto slammed his fist into a tree as he passed to relieve some of his tension. The bark shattered and a crack ran half way up the trunk of the tree.
"Upset?" Jiraiya asked. He formed some hand seals and a giant explosion engulfed where the bandit camp used to have been.
"What about the woman who was there?" Naruto asked, eyes bugging out in shock at Jiraiya's actions.
"She was already dead. They gave her an overdose of some sort of drug. I think it was just meant to keep her cooperative.".
"I shouldn't have done what I did. I don't even know why I did it. I could have captured all of them alive."
"The scent makes such a large difference?" Jiraiya asked.
"I feel almost like I was before, except... angrier. I have this feeling that I'd enjoy killing things, But it's fainter, and I can control it."
:We'll see," Jiraiya replied. He glanced speculatively at Naruto.
"Do you think they'll forgive me?"
"Dead people don't forgive."
"Not the bandits, the woman and child from the port, the survivors of Konoha, everyone else."
"Probably not, but if you're serious, it doesn't hurt to apologize.... much..."
Naruto and Jiraiya went to the village to look for passage back to the mainland. The villagers gave them a wide berth and stared at Naruto fearfully scurrying away from wherever he approached. Feeling hungry, Naruto approached a food stand, but the proprietor closed down as Naruto approached.
"You know, we don't take too kindly to your type here." A ninja wearing the garb of a Mist ANBU shunshinned in front of Jiraiya and Naruto.
"I guess it is a good thing that we're just looking for passage to the mainland then," Jiraiya responded cordially, "We're not looking for any trouble."
"Then go, but the boy is not going anywhere. For his crime, the punishment is death."
"What crime?" Naruto asked, taking a small step back and clutching his tekagi tightly. He wondered if someone had escaped and talked of what had happened to the bandits.
"Don't even try denying anything. It's obvious that you have dirty blood."
"What's that mean?" Naruto demanded.
"He thinks you have a kekkei genkai," Jiraiya grimaced, "That would have made this a whole lot easier than your real problem."
"I am afraid that you will have to die now." Another ANBU appeared and a third was on top of a roof.
"But I don't even have a blood limit!" Naruto raised his tekagi and blocked a downward strike from a sword.
Jiraiya leaped into action, but the second ANBU interfered. The third threw a kunai and it struck Naruto in the calf. Naruto stumbled. Jiraiya struck his own opponent with a rasengan, sending him flying into the one who was attacking Naruto, barely saving Naruto from the next sword slice.
"As if I'd need a kekkei genkai to defeat worthless trash like you." Naruto threw some shuriken at the ninja who had hit him with the kunai, wincing as he shifted the weight on his injured leg. The ANBU blocked easily.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, forming his crossed tiger seal. Several Naruto clones appeared and all of the Naruto's raced off in different directions, bouncing off of buildings and making their way towards their target and trying to surround him.
As the clones flew towards the Mist shinobi, he easily dispatched them with a short black sword that could have almost been considered a dagger by its size.
"Quadruple Rasengan!" Naruto had one on each tail and in each hand. He spun, slamming all four attacks into his enemy one after the other. The ANBU exploded in a shower of water.
"Suiton: Suigadan!" The ANBU used the water from the destroyed clone for a water fang bullet technique. Spikes of water formed around Naruto. Naruto threw some shuriken towards where he had heard the attack called moments before the water pierced his body. It was only another clone. "Damn! Where did he go!" The ANBU whirled around. With a puff of smoke the shuriken which had landed near him transformed into Naruto and three clones.
"U-" The four Naruto's kicked the ANBU into the air. "Zu-Ma-Ki-" each syllable coincided with a kick or punch that tossed the ANBU higher. "Tailed Barrage!" Naruto's chakra flared and all four of the Naruto's slammed burning chakra tails into the ninja, sending him hurtling down through the roof of the building. He landed badly on his leg which, while almost healed, was still painful. He fell off the roof and down to the street below where Jiraiya was watching his fight, the other two shinobi already disposed of.
"Good work, Naruto,:" Jiraiya caught Naruto before he hit the ground, careful to avoid the still burning tails. "Naruto?"
'Damn leg. Why didn't the Kyuubi..' Naruto finally noticed that he was not feeling quite right. Things were getting blurry and his head was throbbing.
"Dammit kit! Can't you even go on one mission without getting poisoned?" The Kyuubi was cursing.
"That bad?"
"It's only dismantling your brain, good thing you don't use it!"
"Hey, It's not like I tried to get poisoned."
"Got poisoned, and didn't even enjoy the fight. You could have taken them easily."
"And would have probably killed half the village in the process," Naruto retorted.
The Kyuubi glared at him angrily. Her eyes flared brightly. "Just take off the damn mask. You aren't going to learn anything like that. I thought you wanted to learn to control yourself."
"And now I'm in control."
"Until someone gets in one good punch."
Even though only in his mind scape, Naruto's sense of smell and taste returned powerfully as his filter mask went tumbling into the lava. Kyuubi's scent engulfed him. Her powerful pheromones had him straining against his pants in seconds.
"Now you want to control yourself, this is how we do it." Kyuubi said, "Otherwise you'll be sorry, and I am not taking the blame for it."
"What are you talking about, bitch." Naruto tackled the Kyuubi as his demonic features manifested.
"If you distract me too much, I won't be able to stop the poison." Kyuubi warned.
Naruto growled and pushed her to the floor, trying to take a dominant position. Kyuubi refused to allow it and thrust her palm against his chest, sending him flying off of her and into a wall.
When Naruto woke up, it was dark. It comforted him to smell only the metal and charcoal of the filter. The Kyuubi had been merciless. Whenever he had finally managed to resist her scent, she had made it more powerful and then thrown him against the rocky walls in his mind scape.
His eyes began to adjust and he realized that eh was in a cave. Jiraiya was sitting nearby watching him carefully. He could see the old man clearly, but from Jiraiya's lack of reaction, Naruto suspected that his teacher could barely see in the dim light of the cave they were in.
"Oi, Pervy-Sage," Naruto said, "Where are we?"
"Not far from where you lost consciousness," Jiraiya replied, "I need you awake so you can henge. I barely avoided the second ANBU squad. I was almost caught when the man you were fighting took me by surprise."
"He didn't get you did he?"
"Who do you think I am? You don't get the title of Sannin for being a weakling." Jiraiya boasted.
Naruto grinned happily. Things seemed almost normal now between them. It felt like a huge and oppressive weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"How is this?" Naruto asked sexily. He had henged into the form of his sexy jutsu, though with more clothes.
"Pretty good..." Jiraiya replied before performing his own henge, "but this is one thousand times better!" He looked exactly the same except for his hair which had become black instead of white.
"Like that is going to fool anyone!" Naruto protested, "You just dyed your hair."
"Really?" Jiraiya asked, "Maybe you need to take a closer look."
"Yep... I see it now. If you ignore the hair, YOU LOOK EXACTLY THE SAME!"
"We'll see then, but you're only a beginner at this."
As soon as they entered the village, all eyes were on them.
"It's him again." Naruto head a woman whisper to her husband. The two of them began walking as far from Naruto and Jiraiya's path as possible.
"I told you they'd see through you," Naruto gloated.
"Keep up your guard," Jiraiya replied, "This is no morning fog."
White mists had begun to roll in from the direction of the water.
"The hidden mist jutsu." Naruto recognized it from his first c-rank mission. Zabuza Momochi, one of the famed seven swordsmen of the mist, had used the same technique. It soon became almost impossible to see anything.
"Whatever you do, don't take off your mask. We don't want any civilians to get involved in this."
Naruto formed a group of clones and sent them out in all directions. Almost immediately they were all destroyed.
"We're surrounded." Naruto said.
"Doton: Doryuheki!" Jiraiya formed a tiger-ox seal and then slammed his hands into the ground. Walls of earth rose up around them until they were completely surrounded. "Naruto use your odama rasengan straight down."
Naruto formed a clone and the two of them formed a rasengan that was almost the size of Naruto himself.
"Now throw it into the ground and jump!" Jiraiya was already running up the vertical face of the earth walls he had created.
Naruto leapt after Jiraiya and raced up the wall directly behind.
"Get ready to run." Boar. Tiger. "Doton: Yomi Numa!"
The earth walls crumbled into mud as Jiraiya and Naruto leapt off of them and into the air above the mist. From there, they could see that many ninja waited outside the mist to kill them if they tried to escape. They were spotted. Some of the enemy nin threw shuriken and kunai at them, but most fell short and the others were easily blocked. It looked like they would be in trouble when they fell, that is if Naruto's rasengan had not exploded. The mist was instantly dispersed by the force of the explosion and a great tidal wave of mud raced in every direction.
Naruto and Jiraiya dove down into the tidal wave of mud and rode it past the enemy ninja. When they got out, they were both covered in mud and indistinguishable from the other people who had survived the attack.
"Not involve civilians?" Naruto asked, "How many civilians do you think we killed with that attack?"
"Not many. The mud flowed around the buildings. Hopefully everyone was inside." Jiraiya glanced around at the town and the various other mud colored people. "Lets go before they figure out that were not one of them."
"Where are you two going?" a mist nin shouted to them as they moved towards the harbor.
"They were probably heading this way. We're going to check it out." Jiraiya replied, "They were looking for a boat weren't they?"
"Good idea, but you should report to the commander first."
"No time. They're getting away as we-"
"I'll come with you then... and kill your friend with the tails."
"Argh, my henge." Naruto had lost his transformation in the explosion and ensuing chaos.
The Mist ANBU dashed forward, swinging his sword in an arc to cut Naruto in half. Jiraiya tripped Naruto and Naruto fell backwards, the sword barely missing him.
"Katon: Endan!" Jiraiya shot a stream of burning oil from his mouth, but the enemy deflected it with his sword, melting the blade in the process.
"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" The clone raced forward as if to attack directly. "Clone bomb!" Naruto activated a paper bomb that he had affixed to the clone. The attack missed, but forced the ninja to give them enough room to run.
Other Mist nin had caught up now and two stood in front of them.
"Just die with dignity and let your accursed kind be extinguished."
"I told you, I don't have a bloodline... I am a jinchuuriki!" Naruto released his full two tails of chakra, enveloping himself in the fox mantle it created.
"Kit, show them your power. Don't hold back. Remember your promise, you don't go back on your word."
"Because it's my nindo. I will do what I promised," Naruto whispered under his breath, "Jiraiya stand back."
The enemy looked uncertain of whether they wanted to approach him. He crouched down and then glared at the Mist ANBU, his tails flicking back and forth. He dashed forwards, faster than either of the shinobi expected. One tried to block, but the Kyuubi chakra would not be stopped by mere steel. He was swatted aside, a strip burning across his chest where the chakra had struck him. The other shinobi had dodged upwards. Naruto leapt after him only to be slammed down to the ground with a water bullet.
Naruto created a few shadow clones. The man was caught as he descended, unable to fend off multiple assailants of Naruto's power. Naruto slashed with his tekagi three times. Down the left side, across the top, and down the right with a little hook on the end. The kanji symbol for nine. The clones dispersed
"Was that necessary?" Jiraiya asked. He had not wasted time or effort dispatching the man who Naruto had knocked into the wall.
"I promised to enjoy my battles, and to make Kyuubi feared."
"Did you enjoy that?"
"Not really. It's not the same when I can't smell the blood." Naruto admitted.
"Don't even think of taking that filter off."
"I promise I won't take it off if there are civilians or any allies weaker that you nearby." Naruto replied, "At least not until I can fully control myself without it." He let the demon chakra recede and walked over to the man Jiraiya had finished. He carved the same mark into that man.
The other mist shinobi were staying back.
"We just was to leave," Jiraiya called out, "If you leave us alone, you will live, if you attack us, I guarantee that you will wish that you got it easy like these guys."
They managed to walk all the way to the docks without anyone else trying to stop them.
"If there is going to be a trap, this is where they'll do it," Jiraiya warned. The mist shinobi were moving closer as they shadowed Naruto and Jiraiya. "The water will give them an advantage."
"We should have just run across the water. We could have avoided this whole mess."
"You might be able to make it, Naruto, but my chakra reserves would probably run out hours before we reached the other shore."
"Then just ride a toad."
"Don't you remember what Gamabunta told you when you summoned him into salt water, I don't know how you got away with it that time." Jiraiya scanned the area. "There are no civilians They must have been evacuated to another section of the village."
"So does that mean it is a trap?"
"It means, that when they come, we don't have to hold back like we did before." Jiraiya grinned and patted his bicep as if to demonstrate his strength.
"If it gets bad..."
"It won't so don't even think about taking that mask off."
"Actually I was going to ask if I could blame you if I have to summon Gamabunta into the water."
"Don't even try it. Just make us run over there."
Naruto created some clones and henged one into Jiraiya. The two clones walked out into the open, scanning back and forth for any signs of danger. When they came near to the water, the trap was sprung. Six Mist ANBU rose up out of the water, just finishing hand signs.
"Suiton: Suiryudan!" The six called out in unison. Six massive dragons rose up out of the water and crashed into the clones who had no chance of escaping. The attack left a large crater in the tread hardened dirt. The six shinobi approached the crater cautiously to make sure that Naruto and Jiraiya were dead. Only too late did they realize that it was a trap.
"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" Six more clones burst out of the ground, burying the ANBU. A hail of kunai stopped them from killing the captured shinobi.
"Behind you!" Jiraiya warned. Naruto had been too engrossed in his clones to notice the enemies who were sneaking up on them. Without turning to look, Naruto formed a rasengan on one of his tails and thrust it out, just catching the enemy before he had been impaled. The enemy was knocked back, but Naruto hadn't had enough time to form the rasengan properly and it had done minimal damage.
Jiraiya was defending against another two opponents. Others were helping the shinobi that had been caught in the headhunter jutsu. Naruto had to focus on the man attacking him. He swung out with his tekagi, but it was blocked and the man thrust a katana through Naruto's chest.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Jiraiya summoned a building sized toad that Naruto had never seen before. It was wielding a spike covered sasumata.
"Sorry, how clumsy of me," the toad said as his weapon dropped on one of the shinobi that Jiraiya was fighting. "What did you summon me for Jiraiya?"
"Good work, Gamaken, see if you can take care of a few more of these Mist shinobi. They are being a little troublesome."
"I'm not sure that I'll be much help, but I'll do my best," Gamaken replied.
"Don't think I'm beaten so easily." Naruto said, thrusting his tekagi into the side of the ninja who had stabbed him. The ninja was shocked. He had thought hat he had finished Naruto. Naruto grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled it painfully from his chest. He released his demonic chakra to speed the healing. He collapsed to one knee and waited for his injury to recover.
Gamaken, despite his lack of confidence, was doing quite well against the Mist shinobi. He spun his dual pronged weapon around expertly, deflecting attacks and crushing enemies. Between him and Jiraiya, the mist ninja were soon forced to retreat. When they were gone, Gamaken returned to Myobokuzan.
"You alright?" Jiraiya asked Naruto. Naruto nodded and stood up. There was nothing but a bright red scar where the sword had pierced him, and that was slowly fading as well.
"I'll be fine, but I'd prefer not to do that again," Naruto said, touching the sore spot.
"Then it is time that we borrowed a boat and left before they get any more ideas about attacking us. If we hadn't disrupted their trap, we probably could not have won that."
"I guess I'll just have to train harder." Naruto said. He carved a nine into the one he had killed.
They went quickly to the docks and took an undamaged fishing boat that was left there. Jiraiya left a quick note that it could be retrieved on the other side, then they set off. Naruto took the oars and then made shadow clones and rowed the boat as fast as he was able, even using a pair of clones to run behind the boat and push it.
They made it across before nightfall and Jiraiya asked one of the villagers to take care of the boat until it was claimed by its rightful owner.
The people of the village obviously remembered them. They stayed away from Naruto like he had a contagious disease, muttering apologies if they came close to him. He guessed that they had seen what he had done to the bandit, instead of it just being gossip.
When they passed by the house where the woman and boy lived, Naruto veered away from Jiraiya and knocked on the door. The door opened a crack and the father's eye peeked out.
"What do you want?" The man asked angrily. Naruto could see the flash of steel through the crack.
"I am sorry, I couldn't control myself a few days ago," Naruto said. The man obviously did not accept his apology. "Jiraiya told me that your wounds will probably take some time to heal. I don't have any particular skills, but if there's anything that you want done, please tell me and I'll take care of it."
"I won't fall for your tricks demon." The door swung open and the man was standing there holding a fish knife.
"If that will make you feel better," Naruto said as he created a mass of clones, "You can stab as many of me as you want until you are bored.
The real Naruto went over to Jiraiya who had stopped and was standing ready in case Naruto lost control.
"Do you think that is going to accomplish anything?" Jiraiya asked, "He'll probably never trust you."
"But maybe he'll stop hating me. Only my enemies should fear me. I don't want to be a monster."
"They will see you as a monster either way."
"But at least this way, I know that I am not.," Naruto replied, "Maybe that man will figure out something useful to do with those clones. One of them has a quarter tail worth of chakra. That's enough to create a small army of workers."
"What about your training? You haven't made any clones to train today."
"You know how dangerous I can be. I don't know the limits of control that this filter gives me. If I had an accident..."
"Yes it is better to leave it until we are away from other people," Jiraiya agreed.
That evening the Kyuubi was waiting for him. She stood, arms crossed, waiting for him to approach. Naruto knew that if he went he would be forced to do something that he'd probably not like, or have his mask removed and become entranced by her scent.
"You have to come to me eventually. You want to learn from me, don't you? You want to be powerful so that you don't have to rely on your instincts that urge you to kill your friends."
"All you've done is increase my chakra to impossible levels. I can't really control it. I have no way to use it."
"You haven't asked," the Kyuubi said, "You know that everything I do is to keep you safe."
"What about the promise that you forced me to make. I never would have agreed if you hadn't controlled me–"
"I didn't do anything. It is just what I am, and you like it. If you didn't you would have fought me off, the seal would have constrained me. You did nothing that at some level you really wanted to do. Stop blaming me and accept that you aren't a perfect little angel, never have been."
"Then teach me something. A jutsu that I can use with my hands and tails, someing I can use in an instant when I am being attacked."
"Your tails are as powerful as any jutsu. Your claws can pierce steel. The problem is that you don't use them right."
"You know a better way?"
"No, you know a better way. You keep training in it, and training in it but you never apply it. Use your claws like the tekagi, channel chakra through them. You remember how the Inuzuka used to deflect steel with his claws. Your claws are stronger. Your muscles are stronger and faster. You just have to use them."
"I wanted a jutsu. I need to train more before I am good enough to use that style in battle."
"Excuses. You just like to be flashy. You're not going to learn anything new until you learn some nature manipulation. If you can't elementally compose your chakra, you will not be able to do man of the more complex jutsu."
"Okay."
"And you have no idea what I just said."
"Nope."
"And that is why you're a terrible student. You don't understand anything."
"Damn fox!" Naruto cursed when he woke up. He headed over to where Jiraiya was camped, making sure that his mask was tightly fitted to his face. Jiraiya was already awake and making breakfast when Naruto sat down.
"Not hunting this morning?"
The thought of hunting was appealing, but he didn't want to risk anything by taking off his mask and looking for blood. "It's safer this way."
"You'll have to take that off to eat anyway," Jiraiya replied. He removed the porridge-like instant rations from the fire and began eating. "Besides, it's got to be better than this. It tastes like sand."
"It did come from Suna, you know, maybe it is sand."
"No, the sand in Suna definitely tastes better."
"I'm surprised you haven't done anything perverted for this entire trip. You are the type to run off and try to seduce a woman for food."
"Maybe when you can control yourself a little better I'll take you again, but for now, I prefer my women alive."
"Prefer? Errgh! I knew you were a little bit of a pervert, but..."
"First I am not a little pervert, I am a big pervert, a super pervert. Second, I may be old but it is still a hundred years too early for me to get that desperate."
"Whatever. I'm going to get some real food," Naruto said as he got up and left Jiraiya to the bland and lumpy meal.
Naruto put the filter mask back on. He could still smell the blood on his teeth and lips. He licked it off, enjoying the taste, then tossed the filter aside. The Kyuubi was right. It was only a temporary measure. He needed to eat. Anything could happen in a fight. Even with the mask, he could still be a danger.
Naruto ferociously rubbed the blood on the back of his hand. His teeth ground into his lips, only making it worse. It was making him angry. He wanted to kill something, but he knew that it would only make the lust for blood grow.
Naruto howled out his rage and slammed a chakra filled claw into a tree. His fingers pierced the tree right to the palm of his hand. He ripped his hand out and the tree toppled towards him. He struck rapidly, piercing, rending, tearing, and slashing with his claws until only splinters and shards fell onto him.
The smell of blood had faded now. He placed his mask back on and headed to Jiraiya.
"What's wrong with you, you've been moping all day," Jiraiya said when they stopped to make camp for the night.
"I can't make it work," Naruto said, "Even if I live, sleep and breathe this filter thing, when I eat it comes back. I become a demon again."
"What happened to the gutsy ninja who never gave up?"
"He died with Konoha!" Naruto growled, digging his claws angrily into the dirt, "Kyuubi isn't any help either, she just says that I have to get used to it, that after a few hundred years, I'll be able to resist it when I want to and that I should focus on getting stronger."
"Naruto, you learned the rasengan in a week, a jutsu that takes months for even genius' like me or your father to learn. If you focus, You will learn to control it in weeks not hundreds of years."
"This isn't the same. I just had to learn how to do the rasengan. For this, I have to fight myself every second that I am angry or smell blood or... I don't know what else will cause it. I'll lose my mind and I'll kill everyone. What's the point of being almost immortal if you will kill everyone you care about."
"I am alive, so are Gaara and his siblings. Naruto, there will always be people who care about you. You are not a monster."
"I can think of a hundred different ways to kill you, and I'm not sure how long I can hold myself back before I try one of them," Naruto said seriously, making Jiraiya shudder from the killing intent radiating from him.
"But you haven't, and you won't. Even when you lose control, I still believe in you."
"I am not the same person you could believe in."
Jiraiya watched as Naruto stalked off into the forest.
Naruto came to Jiraiya after eating the next day.
"I've been thinking," Jiraiya said, "And I think I know a way to help you. It should speed up your training a thousand times, but it will be dangerous."
"Whatever it is, I will do it!" Naruto said resolutely.
"Then take this and make as many shadow clones as you can." Jiraiya pulled out a vial of fresh blood, "Have the clones bite down and break these while wearing the filters. They should only be able to smell my blood and your blood. Then, they only need to calm down. It's the same as your training. The more clones you make, the faster it will work. But the more you make, the more likely it is that someone is going to get killed."
Naruto grabbed the vial and made sixteen clones. The clones all ran off in different directions.
"I gave them almost all of my chakra," Naruto said, "They'll find a deserted place and then do the same thing."
"How many will there be?"
"I don't know. I used all my demon chakra and normal chakra," Naruto punctuated his point by waving his two tails. The fur was no longer bright and bushy but dull and listless, losing most of their volume.
"That much chakra... It could take weeks to exhaust at that rate," Jiraiya pointed out.
"This will be easier when we get to the desert. There are too many villages in the Land of Fire."
"How long will the training clones last?" Jiraiya asked, obviously worried that thousands of berserk Naruto's might overrun the country.
"They are only going to be left with enough chakra to sustain themselves for about ten minutes."
"What about you, you don't look like you have even enough strength to travel."
"I'm fine. The clones will be dispersing, so even if I am tired, I'll slowly be getting energy back from them."
"You've really thought about this a lot, haven't you. You don't usually think these things through."
"I have been thinking about this ever since I started training like this. I could learn from every ninja in a village at the same time if I had enough chakra. I could become the strongest shinobi in the world. I could learn medical jutsu, and even genjutsu I wouldn't have to worry about my friends getting hurt because I could protect them all at the same time."
"But only if you can control yourself, right?"
"I'm going to do this every day and every night. I'll train with blood a hundred years every day until I don't even notice it anymore,"
By the time they set up camp for the night, Naruto had fully recovered his chakra and they had arrived at the edge of the desert. Despite his exhaustion, they had made good time. Naruto had not had any success in his training, but he was determined to continue. He used up all is chakra in making a group of clones, then collapsed from chakra exhaustion.
"About time you got serious about your training," the Kyuubi said, "You improved more than I expected.."
"What improvement. My clones all failed, they couldn't even resist for a second."
"It took me a hundred years to do that much," Kyuubi laughed, "But you're almost half way there in just a day."
"It's not enough."
"I'll let you in on a secret of life: It is never enough. You will always want more, and because of that you will get stronger." The Kyuubi beckoned him towards her.
Naruto reluctantly stepped forward, wondering what she had in store for him.
"I've been so busy training you, that I haven't taken care of you properly in days." She removed his filter, cutting the strap that held it to his face with her claws.
Her scent filled his nostrils and he felt desire flood him. She wasn't throwing him into the wall, and that was as good as an invitation to him now. He felt his demonic desire fill him as he scented her musk. He stuck a hand between her legs, grabbing her, and claiming her as his own. The hair was already damp with her juices.
"Why do I feel like I am not the one who needs to be taken care of?" Naruto asked, licking the wetness from his fingers as the Kyuubi rapidly disrobed him.
"Who's the one who has trouble controlling their desires?"
The Kyuubi grasped his testicles hard, asserting her dominance and punishing Naruto for the insult. He was forced to hold onto her to keep his knees from buckling from the pain.
"Is this why you liked Sakura so much?" The Kyuubi released Naruto, then grabbed his hard on and plunged it into herself, "You're such a twisted boy."
By the time Naruto and Jiraiya had reached Suna, Naruto's training had come along to the point that he could resist for almost a full second before he began to succumb to the blood. Some of the clones had come across bandits and other less than savory characters and had used the opportunity for extra special training and to appease the Kyuubi's desires.
Gaara had of course insisted that they report on the results of their mission.
"Why is it that I am hearing reports that the Kyuubi is loose? Your mission was a c-rank to kill a small group of bandits." Gaara grabbed the side of his head as if he was experiencing a terrible headache, "What were you thinking? There had better be an explanation for what I've been hearing."
Between Jiraiya and Naruto, Gaara managed to get enough information to understand the situation.
"You are my friend," Gaara said as his sand wrapped around Jiraiya and Naruto's necks, "And that is the only reason you are still alive. You're too troublesome to be out in the open now. I am reassigning you to ANBU under Tora. I want a full report from both of you on my desk first thin in the morning or I'll bury you." His sand clenched painfully and then dropped to the floor, "Now get out."
Naruto and Jiraiya turned to leave. Gaara stopped them just before they passed through the door.
"Baki say that your training continues at sunrise, so you had better get to sleep early."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Naruto said respectfully. This seemed to Irritate Gaara more than anything else.