Also, in answer to another thing, in my story, Kyuubi has previously, at least he had convinced himself so, that he thought of Naruto as a lousy human brat. Now Kyuubi is starting to realize he has begun to consider Naruto to be like his kit, and he has trouble coming to terms with that. The Kyuubi in my story hates humans, or at least used to.
And to answer a final question, in this story, the seal can mess with Naruto's mind because Kyuubi let it. Kyuubi could have stopped it from doing so. Kyuubi can mess with Naruto's mind, but it's difficult for him and it takes a LOT of chakra for him to do so without Naruto being in his mindscape.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII When team 7 got into town they split up to go to their various homes.
Naruto was exhausted, but he held himself up high for show until he reached his home where he fell on his bed, clutching his shoulder. It hurt...it had been a long time since he had been in pain like this. His worst beatings felt like this, but now that he was a ninja, and able to protect himself, he didn't get beaten like that anymore.
Damn it! Kyuubi had healed injuries before and the pain had gone away! He had to find someway to make it lessen. He scowled. He would sneak into the Hokage's library in the morning. For now, he would try to push the pain to the back of his mind like he had when he had been beaten. Maybe if he meditated he could do it. If only he could get a few hours of sleep...
After about a half hour, the blond fell over onto the bed asleep.
The night was not peaceful however. Naruto tossed and turned.
Everything was black, dark, he couldn't see anything around him and then suddenly Konoha was around him, in flames. Villagers were laying in the gutters dead, looking like they had been attacked by a wild animal. A sinister sounding voice came out of nowhere and said "Yes, the death of the villagers, the ones that have tormented you for so long! Doesn't it make you happy?"
Naruto looked at the sight in horror. He ran from it, from the voice, He cried "No!" and ran to the Hokage's office. The old man was dead, killed in a similar way as the villagers "No one to hold you back from becoming Hokage now!"
"No!" Naruto bolted out of the office. 'No!' He thought. The old man couldn't be dead. This wasn't happening. But his team would be ok, nothing had happend to them. He tried to reassure himself, but the feeling grew in the pit of his stomach as he ran to the Uchiha manor. Sasuke was dead in the kitchen blood pooling under him and a look of horror in his eyes "N..Naruto, why..." He coughed and tried to back away.
Naruto stared at him in horror. No, he hadn't done all of this! He hadn't done any of this! He couldn't have done any of this! He ran away again. Sakura, she would be alright. She had to be. He ran to her home to find her parents in the kitchen, also in a similar state to the villagers. He swallowed and ran upstairs, his legs starting to get wobbly. They collapsed when he found her dead too, or so the thought. He knelt down "Sakura-chan...did I do this..."He reached towards her.
Sakura was still alive as well "Naruto...you...monster." were her final words as she died. Naruto's hand drew back like he had been burnt and his heart clenched at those words. He ran again and keep running only to find all of his precious people dead. Iruka, Kakashi, the old man and girl at Ichiraku's, Konohamaru, everyone. The dark voice called out again "A demon doesn't need friends." All of the deaths hit him at once and he screamed.
Naruto woke up screaming. He buried his face in the pillow until he could stop. Tears ran down his face. Then he noticed he didn't smell of blood. Had it been a dream? His eyes opened wide. Please let it be a dream! He ran to the Hokage's office.
When he got there, he was going so fast that no one noticed him, but the Hokage wasn't in his office. It was this point that a familiar Jonin scared him out of his wits by speaking from out of nowhere. "Naruto, what are you doing here? It's four in the morning. Hokage-sama doesn't get here until 7." He showed himself to the genin.
Naruto looked at the jonin. He was alive, maybe if he was alive...everything was ok. He said "Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi looked at the boy with concern. He looked very upset. "What's wrong, Naruto? I didn't even know you had finished the exam yet."
Naruto asked "You're ok, right? Sasuke and Sakura are ok? Hokage-ojiisan is ok? Nothing happend, right?" He was shaking.
Kakashi said "No, Naruto. Everyone's fine. It's been a quiet night.Why?"
Naruto tried to smile, although he failed at the end, he was too shaky to make a good smile. He said "Just a bad dream, Kakashi-sensei. Arigato. I think I'll go back to bed now." His voice had lost a little of its shakiness through control.
Kakashi said "Oi, Naruto, are you sure you're ok?"
"Yeah, i'm fine."
Kakashi frowned as the blond walked away. A nightmare? The boy had run in here looking like he had met with the deathgod and then he had looked at him like a ghost. He had never seen something upset the boy so much. It must have been some nightmare. He would go after him, but he was supposed to stay on guard. The boy was strong. He could handle it, couldn't he? He went back to guard duty, but didn't take out his little orange book, his mind on other things.
Back with Naruto...
Naruto knew he couldn't sleep after that, but he needed to talk to the kyuubi. He had found out how to contact him after meeting him after a particularily bad beating when he was younger. He just didn't do it a lot. He went back to his apartment and did a different type of meditation.
He found himself in front of a familiar cage and in a familiar sewer. "Fox!"
Kyuubi growled at his jailor "What is it, brat?"
Naruto yelled "Did you give me those dreams?! The pain is bad enough! Do you want me to go insane!"
Kyuubi was silent. He had done nothing. What was the brat talking about? Then he realized, it must have been the curse seal messing with the boy's mind. "No, that was that seal the snake gave you boy. I've done all that I can."
Naruto looked at the fox with a look that the fox had never seen from him before. A pleading look. "You made the seal dissapear, can't you make it...can't you make me not have nightmares like that? Please..."
Kyuubi was shocked. What the hell had the dream been about to shake up his jailor like this? The boy who was so strong willed, who could take anything that was thrown at him? He was defeated, now. He could probably get him to agree to anything, but for some reason, he didn't get the pleasure out of this that he expected. He frowned. "Brat! Show me the dream!"
"No!" Naruto cried. Now Kyuubi could smell fear coming from him and horror, but it wasn't directed at him.
Kyuubi said "Then let me look in your mind. Come over here." Naruto walked over, his mind cloudy from the fear and exhaustion. His eyes closed as the kyuubi's chakra swirled around him. The kyuubi searched the boy's mind and found the dream. The nightmare had attacked all of the boy's dreams, the reasons he had for living. He could feel residual emotions that had been attached to it and he begun to feel something.
Was it pity? No, the kyuubi growled. He did not feel pity for this pathetic weakling of a human that was his prison. He was close to escaping, then who cared what happened to the human, right? He looked at the boy and his glare softened momentarily 'The human who would trust me, who I've watched the past twelve years as he's become stronger to be broken down now by that snake...' How he hated that snake-bastard! He'd rather stay with the kit then end up with him! The Kyuubi paused, not liking where this train of thought was going. Where had that come from? He DID NOT think of the human as his kit! He shut off that train of thought and looked at the boy before him who still had his eyes closed. He thought 'Well, he should stay sane for now, I don't need the jonins coming after him yet.' The only way he knew how to do it was if he stayed here with him. He let go of the boy and said "Go back out and do a forced sleep justu, then return here."
"How do I...?" Kyuubi growled at the boy's ignorance, but showed him the signs in his mind and pushed him out.
Naruto found himself back in his real body on the outside and the pain returned and the memories of the dream. He would do anything to get away from it. He did what the Kyuubi had shown him and went back into his mindscape.
When the boy returned Kyuubi just looked at him. He didn't know what to do with him now.
Naruto asked "What do I do now?"
Kyuubi said "How should I know?"
"You told me to come back here."
Kyuubi snapped "Yeah, I know. It can't get to you here."
Naruto went silent at the mention of it. The curse seal. He sat down, then looked up. "Thanks, Kyuubi-san."
Kyuubi was startled again with the respect that the boy just gave him. He had never shown him respect before. He was speechless.
Naruto was silent for a few more minutes, then he asked "How much time goes by in here?"
"Time is relative" Kyuubi replied. When the blond looked at him he could tell that he didn't get it. He sighed "It's however long I want it to be."
"Oh."
More silence.
"What now?"
Kyuubi growled. Why had be brought the ki...He Did Not think of him as his kit! Why had he brought the boy in here in the first place?! He growled "How about making it look less like a sewer in here."
"I can do that?" Naruto looked around.
"Meditate on it." He interrupted "Don't ask me how, just do it."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII So, what do you guys think of these developments? Let me know. I'll catch you later.