Chapter 7

"This is not good…" thought Kurama as Naruto slept. The kid wasn't supposed to be able to have any kind of feelings. But this human girl… she was a problem. It seemed he'd have to personally do something about this feeling problem. He could always try that. And if that didn't work… then there would have to be more drastic changes.

Kurama spread his red chakra over Naruto's body until he reached the brain. He would have to mess a little with what was inside. He needed to change some things. This was a lot easier when Naruto was angry or sad or needy, he could change memories and feelings and cloud his judgment to make him comply very easily. But even though it wouldn't be as easy, he still could alter memories and feelings. In fact, he could erase them.

Naruto woke up in the hospital and felt… nothing. Literally nothing, he felt no pain or remorse or worry. It was strange… something had happened. Something that had made him feel terrible and had clouded his mind with horrible thoughts just a few hours ago. What was it? He tried to remember, staring at the hospital ceiling. Why was he in the hospital again…?

And then suddenly the pain was back, preventing him from thinking or remembering anything. That familiar, suffocating pain in his throat. He clenched his neck and coughed.

"Ugh!" he grunted. He needed to feed. He needed to feed, now. It hurt, it hurt so much! His throat and chest were on fire and he couldn't breathe. His eyes became red and his teeth forcefully and painfully elongated, becoming sharp daggers. 'That's right,' he thought. 'I owe Kurama a whole lot of souls…'

Not being able to take the pain anymore, he jumped out the hospital window and landed on a balcony, surprising a nurse hanging sheets and making her jump and squeal. Naruto couldn't think clearly and all he cared about was soothing his pain.

"Don't move. Don't scream. Just stay," he ordered her quickly. He lounged at her neck while she stood there, horrified.

"Kid, stop,"he heard Kurama say, interrupting him just before his teeth could dig into her skin. "How are you going to explain this? You just barely managed to clear your name, don't ruin it. Plus, you don't even know if they're still following you just to make sure."

"But… but it hurts…" he managed to mutter. It hurt and nothing else mattered. And her heart was beating so fast…

"Fine, but don't kill her. You'll get a chance to pay me back later."

And with a sharp-toothed eager grin that made the nurse's eyes widen in horror and sent chills down her spine, Naruto fed.

Hinata woke up in her room. She'd been discharged from the hospital after some blood transfusions because she only had minor injuries despite being terribly low on red blood cells, as if she'd suffered major blood loss. Nobody could figure it out so they ended up blaming anemia and prescribing her fluids and vitamin supplements.

Naruto-kun had saved her. Everything that had happened the day before rushed through her mind. 'You can't touch her,' Naruto's voice echoed in her mind. 'Not her, I won't let you!' She blushed at the memory.

She heard a knock on her door. "Hinata-sama, are you awake? The Hokage is summoning you."

'I changed my mind,' thought Naruto. 'I love hospitals.' He hadn't been to one since he was human so he'd hated it for the bitter memories that popped into his head every time he glanced at it. But now as a Jinchuuriki, he realized hospitals were awesome. The reason? Blood donators. People donated blood all the time, and Naruto, with his sharp sense of smell, found where they kept it.

Naruto was wanted as a killer, or was at least a prime suspect at the murder cases, because he was a Jinchuuriki, yes. But that was because Jinchuuriki were known to lose control and kill people and then not remember any of it. They had no idea that Jinchuuriki fed on human blood. Therefore, even though he would be a suspect if lots of people were found dead or missing, no one would accuse him of being a blood thief.

And so, being in the hospital's blood bank, Naruto felt like he was in heaven. He looked like a little kid in a toy store. The blood was even classified! 'O negative… A positive… I wonder if they all taste the same or some particular blood type tastes better than the other…' Naruto thought. But then the pain was back and he couldn't wonder about anything anymore. He grabbed the first blood bag he saw and drank it down fast.

A low grumble escaped Gaara's throat. Being stuck in a jail cell annoyed him senseless. The meals were horrible. The cell was small. The bed was uncomfortable. And he was going to be "interrogated" soon. He knew that meant torture. He also knew that not only would his sand protect him anywhere, he had consumed so much blood in the past few days that he could increase his chakra levels and heal himself before feeling any pain. That wasn't the problem. None of that was the real problem.

"Naruto…" he growled. The problem was being stuck in there and not out there beating the hell out of that bastard.

"What's this about, baa-chan?" asked Naruto, walking into the Hokage's office. He found that blood bags were not nearly as good as drinking from the vein. And, since it was impossible to take the owner's soul through blood bags, it took twice as much to even being to calm his thirst. So he'd fed and fed and fed until the fire in his throat decreased and he was in control. Irritable, yes, but calm and in control. Then he was suddenly summoned by the Hokage. Luckily, Kurama had noticed a presence walking towards Naruto's room and he made him stop and go back.

He wasn't the only one in the Hokage's office, he noticed. Hinata was there too. "Hinata, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"N-Naruto-kun…?" she stuttered. Something had happened with Hinata… what was it? Why couldn't he remember?

"I summoned her," said the Hokage, interrupting his thoughts.

"I'm here too," a voice said. Naruto hadn't even noticed the pink-haired girl leaning against the wall.

"Sakura," he said. He didn't say it acknowledgement. He was just stating a fact. He couldn't care less about her.

"I brought you here because," said the Hokage "I have a mission for you."

"What?!" Naruto was dumbfounded. He hadn't had been assigned a mission in a really long time. The village had to keep the "monster" locked up and right where they could see him, after all.

Then someone knocked on the door and Yamato stepped in.

"You needed me, Hokage-sama?" he asked.

"Yes, now that you're here, Yamato, I'll explain the mission." The Hokage said.

Naruto jumped from tree to tree, eager to get to the next village where he could feed. This mission could not have come at a better time. Of course he had left the village to feed before, and he planned to do it again, but it being authorized this time could not have been any more convenient.

This was a simple C-rank mission. Baa-chan had simply run out of hands to do even this simple job and assigned whoever was available. Although he knew that Yamato was going just in case Naruto lost control. Naruto could easily shake him off though, according to Kurama, since he had no doujutsu that could protect him from Naruto's powerful commands when his eyes were red.

All they had to do for this mission was delivering some package safe and sound to Takumi Village. It was a long trip though; it would take three days just to get there, three more to get back. It was as if they had sent him on vacation. It was perfect for Naruto. It was just C-rank, not urgent, and since it was getting dark they could rest up in the nearest village, where Naruto could feed and feed without worrying about leaving a trail.

"I see it!" he yelled happily when he saw the forest clearing up and some houses in the horizon. He left the forest behind happily and began running down the path that led to the village.

"Naruto! You're going too fast!" Sakura yelled behind him.

They caught up to him and finally reached the hotel they were going to be staying in. they checked in and relaxed for a while. Sundown came and Naruto decided he couldn't wait anymore. He headed for the door.

"Naruto, where do you think you're going?" Yamato asked. Naruto smirked.

"To have some fun in town," he replied.

"You'll do no such thing. You know you can't go off on your own," he said. Naruto glared at him. He hated when people told him what to do. He turned his eyes red. Yamato got a kunai out but then Naruto spoke, making him lose all his willpower.

"I am going to leave. You are not going to stop me. You are not going to do anything. You are going to stay here and if you have to fill some kind of report, you will say I never left your sight and nothing unusual happened. You will go to sleep and not wake up until next morning. Understand?" Yamato nodded in trance and put his kunai back. "Oh, and don't try to order me around ever again, you lowly human."

Yamato then fell unconscious on his bed, not to wake up until next morning.

"Naruto…?" Sakura asked, not believing what she just witnessed.

"You too," he told her. "Go to sleep, forget this happened and don't wake up until tomorrow morning." She also fainted, although she landed on the floor. Naruto then noticed Hinata in the corner, looking shocked and a little scared. Naruto simply smiled at her, showing off his sharp fangs, and left.

'And now to have a little fun,' he thought. He wanted to hunt. He couldn't chase anyone through the streets, but there were other types of hunting that were also quite pleasurable. Making sure no one was around, he began to change his body. A sixteen-year-old boy's body was not adequate for the kind of hunting he had planned. He focused the red chakra and transformed into a twenty-one-year-old. 'And so the hunt begins…'

Hi everyone! I am SO SORRY I haven't uploaded like all summer, especially since I promised I would write every week... heh heh... Gomen! . But I had HUGE writer's block. I really had to think about how the plot's gonna continue too. It was hard because I originally planned this to be AU, maybe even a high school fic, but it took a different turn and now it doesn't fit. I think it's still semi-AU but oh well. Also, I planned on Naruto being very OOC but he turned out different from what I wanted so from now on, the Naruto I had in my head is back... at least for now xD Anyway, thank you so much for favoriting, following and leaving reviews, they make me really happy :)