A couple people did not care for the rape victim analogy in the last chapter and after looking back at it, I agree that it is a little dark and somewhat confusing. I was trying to express how unfair the situation is for Naruto and how he was violated by being forced to take the Kyuubi into his soul. Anyway, I replaced it with something lighthearted and shorter as it fits the story better and is easier to understand.

Also, Naruto's desire to leave the village may have been presented too hurriedly. I won't revise that because it would be kind of unfair for the readers who have already read the chapter to have to reread it, but I will try to soften how abrupt it was by having the characters rationalize or comment of the suddenness of Naruto's attempt to leave.

The reviews are helpful and I appreciate them very much.

Naruto was feeling better today. It felt good to get some of his frustration off his chest yesterday. He realized that it really wasn't fair to spring all of that on the Hokage so suddenly and that he had kind of thrown a tantrum. That was not to say that it wasn't justified. Also, he was allowed to be a little petulant; he was ten years old after all. He had been acting too mature lately anyway.

Now he had to decide what he was going to do with his life. Ever since he had gained some knowledge of the profession, he had known that he didn't want to be a ninja. But, to proclaim as much to the Hokage had really cemented it for him. Apparently he wasn't going to be leaving the village, so that narrowed his options down. He would stay for the Old Man, not because he thought he would use a sealing technique on him, but because Hokage loved him. He was upset Sarutobi had told him such a thing but he realized it was in the heat of the moment and that the man just wanted him to stay.

That; however, did not solve the problem of what he would do now that he was a non-ninja stuck in a ninja village. He couldn't really work in the civilian sector as he was utterly despised by the majority of the village. He doubted many people would come to the demon's restaurant or the demon's family dentist. Well, since this was the Hokage's fault, he would make him deal with it.

The Sandaime was in his office doing the paperwork that was still left over from his time away from the village. Yesterday was kind of a strange day. He and Naruto had returned only for the boy to say he was leaving. That was the first big argument the two had ever had. He wasn't really that good at dealing with angry children. The last time he had a fight with his son, Asuma, the young man had left to join the Fire Lord's personal guard for a number of years.

He was a little disappointed that Naruto did not want to be a shinobi. He was a patriot at heart and Konoha surely would be safer with one of the Bijuu guarding it, but he would not force the boy. Leaving mission reports out on his desk while the boy was around to read them had not been a smart idea. When they recruited the young children to become shinobi, they did it through idolized figures like the Yondaime or the Legendary Sannin, not with gory details of reality.

He was cut short of his musings as the door burst open and the very child he was thinking about walked into his office.

"Hey, Gramps!" Naruto said loudly as he plopped himself down into one of the chairs situated in front of the Hokage's desk. It was not uncommon for Naruto to stop by his office and he had a free pass with the guards outside. He was using a kitsune illusion to take the appearance of the pre-exploded human boy he once was. He was wearing an orange button-down tee-shirt and some baggy black shorts. It was a definitely a step up from that jump suit he used to wear but he still could not kick the orange habit. Even if he wasn't a shinobi who needed stealth, orange was still such a loud color. The boy would have none of it though; he just really loved the obnoxious color.

"Hello, Naruto," he greeted the boy.

"Hey, since I gotta stay here, and I can't really get a civilian job, I wanted to tell you that you're gonna have to support me from now on," the Hokage looked at him quizzically so he continued, "I figure I'll just hang around you and be your assistant or something."

'Actually,' the Hokage thought, 'that is not a bad idea.' He'd get to spend time with Naruto and even if the boy wasn't a ninja, he could still help him if he got into any trouble. It would be as if Naruto was his summon creature. "Okay," he said simply.

"Great," Naruto said, "I ain't gonna be your secretary though, so if you want me for something, just shout." The boy got up and headed for the door. "I'll be messin' around in the village. See ya at home, Old Man!" With that, Sarutobi was left alone to continue his paperwork.

Naruto didn't really have a lot to do. There was no point in jogging or working out because he had fully developed demon muscles and that was boring anyway. Mostly, he liked to read. But, even though that was one of his favorite activities, it wasn't the only one. Recently, he had started to draw. He started out just doodling like many children but he was trying to get better.

He also spent time on his taijutsu katas. Even though he wasn't going to be a ninja, he'd still be learning to fight. It wasn't like he really needed a fancy martial arts style to beat anybody, as all he had to do was shift to his true size, but he wanted to be graceful and have the option of kicking ass on the ground level. It wouldn't do to be slapped around all the time when he wasn't 500 feet tall. He also thought it was fun to spar with the Sandaime or sometimes Anko. In addition to the physical arts, he also practiced his kitsune magic. Over the last two years, he had improved the illusion that covered his true appearance so that hardly anyone could tell it wasn't his true face. It used no chakra so it couldn't be sensed that way, but attention to detail could spot flaws. By observing people, he was able to get rid of those flaws.

To further entertain himself, Naruto was thinking about taking up a musical instrument. With all the free time he had, it would give him something to do. He didn't know what kind of instrument he would learn yet, but he wasn't in a hurry. Maybe he'd listen to some musicians and see which instrument he liked the most.

His favorite thing to do, or at least one of them, was to hang out at Ichiraku Ramen. The noodles tasted just as good to his foxy taste buds as they did to his human ones. Also, the old chef and his daughter had always been there for Naruto, doing more for him in his youth than perhaps even the Sandaime. When he had been about to leave Konoha, he didn't think about those two, and now he felt slightly guilty for it. Teuchi and Ayame were definitely a plus to staying in the hateful village.

He also doubted he could get ramen that good anywhere else.

It was a few months after Naruto's tenth birthday that Naruto first took the life of a human being. The whole situation was, oddly enough, caused by a joke he had been playing on the village recently. He had taken to wearing a cheap necklace made of a small ornament hung from simple string and pumping it full of enough kitsune magic, the ethereal green-blue energy labeled as foxfire in folklore, for the round ornament to glow mysteriously.

Naruto would walk around the city and "subconsciously" touch the glowing necklace, as if to reassure himself that it was there. This was in order to fool people into thinking that the object was very important to him. He'd also started a few rumors, by transforming into an unassuming villager, that the object on the "demon-brat's" necklace was the fox's Starball.

Stories had been around for generations about kitsune's Hoshi no Tama. It was a traditional view that if you could get your hands on the magic orb in which foxes stored a portion of their power, you could get the kitsune to promise a favor. Now, many people in Konoha were not averse to the idea of having control over a powerful demon. Even though no one knew of the incident when Naruto had acquired the body of the Kyuubi, most had never thought the child was human in the first place.

Anyway, with the boy walking around with his supposed Hoshi no Tama proudly on display, many citizens were eyeing the gem with greed. A few had tried to swipe it, and this is where Naruto had the most fun.

When one man had reached for the necklace, Naruto had quickly transformed his appearance into that of a nine year old girl. A quick scream later and the "pedophile" was getting the shit kicked out of him.

He also put a small explosive note he got from Anko inside the ornament, along with glitter. And by glitter, he meant small shards of glass. So, that was fun.

It turns out that flaunting his fake Hoshi no Tama attracted the attention of some people a little more dangerous than your average civilian. One night, while he was sleeping in his room at the Sarutobi estate, his hypersensitive ears picked up a noise that would have gone unnoticed otherwise. He was surprised, to say the least, to find two masked men covertly going through his possessions.

After they realized he was sitting up in bed, there was a surreal moment where they all just looked at each other. Then, one of the intruders panicked. The man unsheathed his ninjato from his back, and in one fluid motion, severed Naruto's head from his body.

"Holy shit!" The other ninja whispered harshly, still mindful that they were in the Hokage's house, "I thought it wasn't able to be killed."

"Well," said the murderer of the child, "finding his fox charm won't do any good now, but on the other hand, the Kyuubi is dead." He glanced down to see the blood of the fox child still pouring out of its neck, turning the previously white mattress a dark red. Their master would initially be upset about the lost chance to control the Bijuu's power, but he would be delighted to hear that it had been killed. Hell, if he played his cards right…

His train of thought ended abruptly when an ethereal greenish blue glow illuminated the room. Both he and his partner watched at the demon child got a new head. It didn't really grow, it just sort of came into existence from the neck up. The now red-headed boy took a slow shuddering breath and then opened his crimson eyes.

There was a flash.

Youkai the color of his previously spilt blood had exploded from his body. The paint on the walls of Naruto room sublimed. It did not melt; it skipped that phase completely and evaporated in a flash. The exposed skin of masked ninja acquired the look of sunburn and their clothing burst into flame. It wasn't a roaring fire, but anything that was flammable inside the room was now on fire.

The demon child was now more demon than child. His form grew to fill the room as his muscles bulged grotesquely and claws erupted from hands that once looked human. Nine tails twisted angrily behind him as short red fur covered his body. Ears that look more like horns adorned the creature's head and its face elongated slightly.

A demonic arm pinned the man who severed Naruto's head to the flaming wall. The muzzle of the twelve foot tall man-fox came to rest inches away from the man's face. Even though the man could not breathe, all of his attention was on the baleful eyes seeming to stare into his soul. Naruto concentrated all of his loathing on the little man in his hand.

"…Fucking ninja!" he roared. The combination of the pressure on his body due to Naruto's grip, the oppressive nature of the youkai, and the unreal killing intent focused at close proximity caused several blood vessels in the masked shinobi's brain to rupture. Blood dripped from the man's eyes, nose, and ears as he opened his mouth in a silent scream. He died rather quickly afterward.

The man's partner, who until this time had stood in shock, thought this would be a good time to escape. He sprinted toward a window, heedless of the fact that he was still on fire. He didn't make it. The Hokage had woken up and ran to Naruto's room as soon as he sensed the demonic energy. He stood over the now unconscious, but still on fire, ninja in his pajamas.

Naruto tossed the body to the floor like a ragdoll. He calmed himself down and assumed his normal shape as the Sandaime used a minor water jutsu to put out the flames. Dimly, he realized he had killed a man but he didn't really care. Right now, he was looking at the slightly burned severed head on his mattress. It was just too weird. He had to pick it up.

It was surprising how small a human head seemed without being attached to a body. He was currently naked due to his transformation ripping his clothing, so there he was, holding his own severed head in the buff. The situation was just so odd that he started laughing. Maybe he was still a little off kilter from the violence.

He noticed the Hokage giving him a strange look, of course he knew why, but he couldn't help himself. He held up his own head by the hair and operated the mouth by holding on to the chin.

"Heelllloooo, Hooookaaaaageeeee-ssssammmaaaa," he said in a very fake high voice. He cracked up again when he saw the old man's face. "Oh, I'm keepin' this damn thing as a trophy," he muttered happily.

Sarutobi just shook his head. "Naruto, put some pants on," he said, "and for God's sake, put that thing away. You are really creeping me out." With that, he started to slap the living intruder in order to wake him.

The man groaned as he woke. The Hokage had taken his mask off in order to slap him awake and to see his face. He stiffened when he finally realized where he was and who was leaning over him.

"Now, young man," the Hokage began jovially, "perhaps you could tell me what you are doing in my home." It wasn't a question.

"I'm sorry," the man said softly but he did not appear to be speaking to the Sandaime. Sarutobi was slightly confused until the ninja started convulsing and then foaming at the mouth.

"Shit!" the Hokage opened the man's mouth to find a poison capsule that had been cracked in half. He stood up slowly and sighed as the man stilled. Naruto was watching, having finally put on some shorts that had escaped the flames since they were in his wardrobe. "Are you alright?" he asked the boy tiredly.

Naruto shrugged in reply; he didn't really know himself. He had just been decapitated, but he was still alive. Was that alright? Immediately after his head was cut off, Naruto found himself inside the dimension where the bulk of his body resided. The part of his head that had been lost was only a tiny percentage of the whole, so all he had to do was unseal a little more. To him, it was the equivalent of cutting himself while shaving. He had lost so little of his actual head.

Not that it would have mattered if his head was cut off in his full form. The Kyuubi was not so fragile as to die though decapitation. In fact, if the fox's whole body was obliterated, it would only slow it down. The Bijuu were demons of enormous power that controlled the elements. The one tailed demon, Shukaku, controlled sand and was even made of it. If you destroyed Shukaku, it would just make another body out of sand. Kyuubi was a much greater demon than Shukaku. Instead of controlling one element or even two, it controlled them all. Since elements were the base of everything, their combination could make anything. By doing this, Kyuubi could make a complete body. This was the reason that the Bijuu had to be sealed in order to be defeated. They could exist as long as they had elements to draw on.

In short, Naruto was just fine. He was only a little shaken up and it was understandable. How many people could contemplate their own beheading after the fact?

By this time, Sarutobi had called some ANBU to pick up the dead bodies from his home. At least a few never strayed far from him anyway and the ruckus alerted them as well. They set about examining the intruders with the Hokage before they carted them off. They were basically dressed like Konoha ANBU. They wore the same white masks and armor, but there were a few variations that a trained eye could catch.

These men did not have the typical "swirl" tattoo that those of the Special Forces possessed. However, both ninja did have matching tattoos. It consisted of two overlapping rectangles. The symbol did not hold any significance for the Hokage, and without any other evidence, he couldn't say who sent them.

Naruto; however, did have a way to find out where his attackers came from. Part of the benefit of being a demonic woodland creature was an enhanced sense of smell. After putting on a shirt and some sandals, Naruto, the Hokage, and two ANBU follow the scent of the two dead men back to the Hokage tower.

Sarutobi knew who sent the ninja. He and Naruto went back home as it was about two in the morning. They would deal with this later.

The particular door to the Hokage tower where Naruto had led the Sandaime yesterday morning led to one of the entrances to the catacombs under the village. Sarutobi knew that Danzou liked to lurk around down there where he could pretend he was the leader of the village. He had disbanded the man's Root forces a few years ago, but he had an inkling that the operation was still up and running. The problem was proving Root existed, but even so, he could admit to himself that he had been too soft in the first years of his reinstatement.

The catacombs were never really used to store the bodies of the fallen. It was more like a small underground city with many secret passageways that he, even as the supreme leader of Konoha's military forces, did not know of. There were just too many to keep track of and more were easily built all the time.

The main chamber of the catacombs was an open circular space that was about one hundred feet in diameter and several hundred feet deep. Walkways crisscrossed the opening at many levels, connecting to other chambers and passageways. ANBU headquarters were located in the vast underground city, as well as torture chambers and holding cells for interrogations. There was no prison located here, as that was in a remote area inside a volcanically active crevice, but the village needed someplace to hold offenders before they were transferred.

The Hokage knew that finding Danzou or the Root ninja in the sprawling underground city would take considerable effort. Trying to track them by smell would only work so well, as the poor ventilation allowed various scents to intermingle. Also, living in a village with the Inuzuka clan made people careful. They were lucky that the two Root members that had broken into Naruto's room were careless enough to leave a traceable scent on their way from the tower.

His plan was to send Naruto down into the catacombs with a human summoning scroll. The scroll would summon the Sandaime after it was torn open, as it was infused with chakra before hand. The summoning was rather slow, taking several seconds, and it left whoever was summoned a little disoriented for a moment, but it was an effective means of travel in noncombat situations.

Naruto could use his Kitsune illusions to make himself invisible, allowing him to prowl around the catacombs without being detected. He had no doubt that there were traps to sense chakra so people in genjutsu couldn't sneak past, but Naruto didn't use chakra. If the boy wanted to be a ninja, he could assassinate just about anyone thanks to his ability to cloak himself without using chakra.

Since Naruto wasn't a ninja and didn't ever plan on being one, the Hokage couldn't order him to find Danzou, but the boy wanted to do it. One, Danzou was a pain in the ass for Sarutobi and he'd help him as a friend. Two, Root came into his bedroom and cut off his Goddamn head.

The only problem Naruto had was the fact that there was going to be a lot of killing. Yesterday was the first time he had taken a life and it was something he had to think about. Sarutobi didn't have to give him any speeches and Naruto didn't need to hear any. He was smart enough and had read enough to deal with his feelings on his own, but it was a good idea to take some time to think about it.

So, after a day of introspection and preparation, Naruto entered the catacombs. He was clad in only a pair of sweatpants. The reasons for this were twofold. The way he fought by increasing his size was not conducive to wearing clothing and the temperature in the catacombs was fairly comfortable.

Naruto decided to take the short swords from the dead ninja with him. He didn't know any fancy kenjutsu, but they could cut things and that was enough. He also took a few kunai, even though they were strictly ninja tools. It always struck him as odd that shinobi used kunai but wore headbands indicating them as ninja. The only point to using a kunai, instead of a throwing knife, was that it was inconspicuous. A kunai was a gardening tool, a trowel used for digging. If you were not going to hid the fact that you were a ninja, you shouldn't use a blunt piece of metal with horrible balance that was never meant for throwing. Anyway, he took kunai so he could attack at a distance. He didn't bring any explosive notes, even though he thought they were one the best aspects of being a ninja, because they were to dangerous to use in precarious underground passageways.

Naruto had been in the catacombs under Konoha for over twelve hours. He was kind of frustrated in his search but he knew it wasn't going to be easy and he hadn't been trying really hard anyway. He had entered already cloaked in his kitsune illusion during the night and had been walking around haphazardly ever since. He did; however, take a nap a while ago.

He was surprised at just how extensive the tunnels under the village were. His strategy to find Root had been to just wander around aimlessly and hope that he would run into someone eventually. He assumed that Danzou's base of operations was located in the lower levels or the farthest reaching corridors as the ANBU headquarters and other various things of which the old man informed him were located on the levels closest to the surface and concentrated in a small radius from the central hall.

After a few more hours of searching, his sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps. He followed the sound through a series of corridors in the lower levels to find a ninja dressed in ANBU garb. He followed the man safely in his illusion of invisibility.

Less than ten minutes later, the ninja had unknowingly led Naruto to what seemed to be a cross between dojo and living quarters. There were four other people present but none matched the description of Danzou that Naruto was given by the Hokage. He noticed the same tattoo that was on the men that had been in his room on the exposed shoulder of one of the ninja so he assumed that all these men belonged to the Root organization.

Naruto figured his best bet of finding Danzou was to wait for one of the Root shinobi to go to the man and follow him. He waited several hours for someone to show up or leave and he was getting tired. He had started this search at night but it was now well into the next day. Finally, another ninja came into the room and after a few words, he left accompanied by another.

Naruto followed them to a location about fifteen minutes away and about two floors down. He watched as one of the men knocked on a doorway and a small lookout was slid open. After their identities were confirmed, the two ninja were let in and the door was shut and barred once more.

All the heavy security made Naruto think that the leader must be inside, but he wanted to be sure. He set down his swords, kunai, and summoning scroll around the corner. Then he took off his pants. He had a good reason for getting naked, as shifting to a smaller form didn't allow the option of wearing the same pants. Concentrating, he willed himself into a tiny form that resembled a fox crossed with an insect while maintaining his cloak of invisibility.

Quietly, he snuck under the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. The interior of this room was a stark contrast to the dreariness of the corridors outside. There was hardwood flooring and potted plants. There was even a small Zen garden off to the side.

Through a pair of traditional rice paper doors, Naruto found the one armed Root commander speaking with one of the shinobi that he had followed to this room. With his target found, Naruto snuck back outside and around the corner. He shifted into the form of the child he had once been and put his pants back on. After using another illusion to hide the whole section of hallway he was in, he broke the wax seal on the summoning scroll. He opened the scroll and laid it out on the ground, watching as the intricate circle of seals glowed a faint blue.

After about seven seconds, a wisp of smoke grew from the parchment and thickened in the air. Once it had dissipated, the Hokage could be seen standing there without his usual hat and robe. The old man had been prepared to jump to Naruto's location and was dressed in his battle gear. He had stopped wearing the long scarf after Naruto told him it looked stupid.

Both Naruto and the Hokage knew they had to work quickly as Danzou's ninja had likely felt the chakra involved in the summoning. After telling the Sandaime of how many shinobi were in the room at least and increasing his height to approximately six feet for easier sword wielding, they hurried to the room. Naruto winked at the Hokage and knocked on the steel. The fox boy's sensitive ears were able to pick up movement in the room before he heard someone fumbling with the sliding peep hole on the door.

The unfortunate man at the door could only make out a fist about five feet across approaching before the door was blown of its hinges and smashed into him. The others in the room were already wary after they felt chakra outside but now they were fully alert.

The dust settled and there stood the Hokage and an adult version of the demon brat. Danzou sneered at the sight of his rival and pet demon. "Attack!" the crippled man yelled as he fled for another passageway in the back of his office. He didn't waste time trying to talk to the Sandaime because the way he was dressed and the look in his eyes said that he was there for blood.

The Root shinobi hesitated a little since the man in front of them was their Hokage, but they had been essentially brainwashed into following Danzou blindly. Several rushed forward to engage the village leader, using numbers to their advantage. Naruto barreled into the thick of them while holding up both of the short swords confiscated from his earlier attackers. He received a few deep cuts as he and two others landed in a heap of limbs and steel. One man of to the side had taken a deep wound to his side when Naruto passed, but the two on the floor were mostly fine. They had just a few lacerations and Naruto had basically tackled them.

Close quarters combat was quick and dirty as there was no space for fancy movement. Naruto slashed wildly with his short swords while he and his opponents were still on the ground. He felt himself get stabbed with a kunai and a ninjato. After a moment they managed to right themselves and all three stood a few feet apart. Naruto was bleeding all over but he was already healing. He would have had several cut tendons and a punctured kidney if he were normal. One of his opponent's arms hung limply while his ANBU style armor had mostly protected him from Naruto's wild slashes. The other man was having trouble seeing due to all the blood flowing down from a wound on his forehead.

Naruto was surprised at the feeling he was having. The white hot pain from the cuts along with the bruises from impact did not cloud his mind. In fact, there was a strange sort of clarity. Maybe it was the adrenaline or maybe it was the fact that he knew he couldn't die, but he found himself smiling. He enjoyed throwing himself into the heat of battle.

Meanwhile, the Hokage took advantage of Naruto's break through the enemy ranks. Dashing to one side, he kicked one ninja into another creating a little space. He didn't have enough time for many hand seals due to the enemy's proximity, but a simple jutsu took just a few motions. Ending on the Tora seal, he breathed a small stream of fire at the line of Root shinobi.

This did little more than singe the ninja, but it did make them back up, thus giving the Sandaime more time. After biting his thumb and making a quick series of seals, the Hokage slammed his hand down on the floor with a cry of "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Intricate symbols appeared around his hand in a circle, calling forth the monkey king, Enma.

The Hokage quickly transformed his summon into the adamantine nyoi-bo. As seven Root ninja came at him from the veil of smoke left from the quick Katon technique, the aged leader began jumping and spinning, not unlike his monkey summon, all the while swinging the massive staff. Limbs were broken and skulls were smashed.

During his massacre of the men who rushed him, three men stood back and started doing hand seals. Once the last of the seven were incapacitated, the Hokage had to duck under a Doton jutsu. As rock and dirt flew over him, he was unprepared to dodge a fire and another earth technique. He managed to escape the fire jutsu, but was unable to completely avoid the dragon made of rock. The old man was clipped in the left hip and sent spinning into the wall.

Though it looked brutal, he was relatively fine. You didn't become Fire Shadow without taking a few licks. He sprung back up in time to avoid some kunai one of the three Root shinobi had thrown and let his staff fall from his hand. When it touched the ground, the staff transformed back into Enma and lunged at one of the men. While the monkey king mauled the poor man, Sarutobi threw one of the kunai back at the man's comrade. The man was able to avoid fatal injury, but still took the kunai in the chest below his clavicle.

The Hokage rushed forward to meet the last man's charge. When the ninja swung his wakizashi, the Sandaime stepped inside his guard while simultaneously grabbing his wrist. Sarutobi spun so his back was facing the enemy and shifted his weight, slamming the man on the ground, knocking him unconscious, and disarming him. With the man's sword in hand, he parried the kunai of the man who was injured in the shoulder. Then, he struck the ninja in the temple with the butt end of the sword, dropping him to the floor.

Enma had finished with his opponent by this time and was awaiting the Sandaime's orders. "Follow me," the Hokage told his summon animal before he ran to the passageway that Danzou had used to escape. The whole confrontation didn't take that long and he figured he could catch up to the bandaged man as he tried to hobbled away. He glanced at Naruto and dashed down the corridor, yelling a "Hurry up, boy!" over his shoulder.

Naruto had killed two of the three men he had contact with, not counting the doorman who was just unconscious. The first had bled to death after the kitsune's initial charge. The second was the man whose arm he had injured. He had surprised the man by enlarging his arm into a disfigured, clawed monstrosity. Naruto caught the Root shinobi in the neck and chest. Now he was facing down the final man, who seemed to be more skilled.

The ninja had thrown several kunai at him, with most sticking. Naruto's attempts to hit the man with his own kunai proved useless. He vowed to himself to learn how to throw knives faster and more accurately. What was irritating him was trying to use the ninjatos he had brought. He wasn't skilled enough to use them normally and they were too small to hold when he increased the size of his appendages. His hand was larger than the hilt and the blade was cutting hand. He needed a custom weapon after this.

Finally he was able to snag the man, but his success was short lived. The man had created a shadow clone and hid himself. Naruto didn't know what happened until a short sword was driven through his right eye and all the way out the back of his skull.

It seemed that it had killed Naruto; however, it was now the Root soldier's turn to be surprised. He had gotten up close in order to drive the sword into the Naruto's brain and thus, he didn't have any time to escape as two giant arms enveloped him. Red youkai started to pour from the kitsune's wound. The rest of his body began to grow and transform into some sort of fox monster. The last thing the terrified man in his arms saw was a large muzzle filled with sharp white teeth descending upon him.

Naruto dropped the bleeding body and roared as he pulled the sword from his head. He took a few heaving breaths to calm down after all the pain. Only after he could think straight did he realize he had eaten a man's head and part of his chest. He didn't throw up, but he did feel sick to his stomach. The crazy thing was that it didn't taste that bad considering it was mostly brain and bone, although the ninja's shirt wasn't that tasty. He did know that he was going to have some nightmares for a while. For now, he had to catch up to the old man.

Enma and Sarutobi had been running down a tunnel for a few minutes when the entered a more open area. Danzou was crossing the space when he heard the Sandaime enter. Realizing he couldn't run, he turned to face the Hokage.

"Why have you attacked me, Sarutobi?" Danzou asked the village leader.

"You know damn well why," the Hokage responded, "Sending your thugs into my home, continuing the Root division against my orders, and just being a general pain in my ass."

"Well, I have to admit that I never thought you would be this bold," Danzou said as he slid a hidden blade from his cane, "I think it's about time we put an end to our rivalry."

"Danzou, I have never viewed you as a rival," said Sarutobi while Enma transformed back into a staff, "merely an annoyance."

With that, the two old men rushed at each other.

Naruto had taken off down the same corridors that the Hokage had traversed minutes before. He was still shaped like an eight foot tall werefox as he followed his surrogate grandfather's trail. About half way to helping the old man, Naruto was slammed through the wall on his left and into a cave lit by torches.

Climbing to his feet, Naruto peered into the hole he made in the wall. Two masked shinobi stepped through the broken rock. Naruto growled and flexed his claws, having left the swords behind. Before he was able to charge the Root soldiers, a pillar of water from the small stream flowing through the cave smashed into his side and lifted him off the ground. Naruto crashed into the hard rock of the cave which would have snapped his bones if his demonic form wasn't so strong.

Naruto was getting tired of being blindsided. Getting up again, he noticed at least six other Root shinobi standing smugly around the cave. As Naruto began to grow even more, he started snickering. Soon; however, that turned into full blown laughter.

"Ha haha HAHAHAHA! Why are you so smug?!" he bellowed as nine long tails sprouted from the end of his spine, "Don't you know that I am the Kyuubi?!"

Some of the shinobi shifted nervously when he started to laugh insanely, but when he became a thirty foot tall fox, they were definitely afraid. Regardless of their fear, they began to assault the miniature Bijuu with their most devastating jutsu.

After the roar of their techniques died down, they stared at the large debris cloud, waiting to see what damage they caused the creature. Twenty seconds later, the cloud had dissipated somewhat but still lingered enough to simulate a dense fog. All at once, glowing crimson eyes appeared through the screen of dust.

Slowly, the cave was bathed in the eerie red light of youkai. The whipping of tails helped clear the remaining debris cloud but did nothing to ease the sense of despair that had fallen upon the Root forces.

"Puny ninja!" Naruto whispered, but in his current form, it echoed loudly through the underground chamber. It was even audible over the screams of a man as he was run through the torso by a massive dagger-like tail.

The Sandaime was rather surprised by the old war hawk's ability. He supposed if the man was trying to become Hokage, he would at least have to be somewhat skilled. Although Danzou was obviously better than most jounin, he was a little out of practice. Not to mention, he did only have one arm.

Sarutobi had clashed with the man several times but neither of them had injured the other; however, the Hokage definitely was not pushed beyond his limits. The only real problem he had to deal with was Danzou's two underlings that had arrived to help their leader by standing clear away and throwing kunai or jutsu at him.

Growing tired of the same old song and dance, the Hokage used his superior strength to push Danzou away. With some distance between them, Sarutobi swung his staff like a bat, but let it go towards one of the sniping shinobi. The great staff rotated end over end until it impacted with the rock in front of the hiding ninja. Due to the object weighing a surprising amount and being thrown with great force, it broke through the rock and collided with the man. After the broken and unconscious man was dealt with, the staff became Enma once more and the old monkey flitted around the edge of the cave on his way to the other Root officer.

The Hokage had not been idle during this time. He had thrown a few kunai before making a series of hand seals, turning the few into around fifty. Danzou, not having the ability to make seals due to his arm situation, pumped a great amount of chakra into the ground and then stomped. A wall of earth about ten feet tall rose in front of the Root commander.

Sarutobi was not called the professor for no reason. He had assumed his opponent would use a move like this so after his kunai shadow clone technique, he threw another kunai with an explosive note attached to it. The resulting explosion barely broke through the wall and only a little bit of rock blew out on Danzou's side. In the world of ninja; however, subtle tricks often decide the outcome of battles.

Danzou was slightly unbalanced and distracted, allowing the Hokage to make it around the destroyed wall and put a kunai against the man's throat.

"Well, you got me, Hokage-sama," Danzou sighed, "but I didn't really believe I could defeat you."

"Don't think of this as goodbye," Sarutobi told him cheerfully, "just farewell."

"Thank you for your humor on my deathbed, Sarutobi," said Danzou, "but I prefer to go out with more of a bang!"

The Sandaime and Enma, who had finished with the remaining ninja, then realized Danzou had channeled his chakra into a particular spot on the cave wall. The sizzling sound of explosive notes primed to go off echoed in the underground chamber. There were so many that the walls of the cave would undoubtedly be brought doubt, along with tons of earth.

"Sore loser," the Hokage told the giggling Danzou sternly before he slit his throat. If he was going to die, he would at least have the pleasure of that man's demise.

Just before the explosion, Sarutobi and Enma heard Naruto galloping down the hallway, singing "Here I come to save the day!" After Naruto had slaughtered all the hapless Root shinobi, he had followed the Sandaime's scent, a mix of tobacco and old people smell, down the hallway. Toward the end of his journey, he was able to hear about the coming explosion and was able to come up with a way to save the old man.

Six things happened in rapid succession: Naruto entered the hall, Naruto rapidly expanded, Naruto's giant maw came down on the old man and the monkey, Enma un-summoned himself, the explosive notes went off, and the Hokage wished the explosive notes went off earlier.

Half an hour later, when Naruto and Sarutobi made it out of the rubble, the Hokage didn't speak for five minutes. Naruto had asked if he was alright, but he would not answer.

"Naruto," he spoke at last, still covered in saliva, "just let me die next time."

Damn, that was the longest thing I've ever written! And yes, Naruto did eat the Sandaime to protect him from the blast. It was sort of a parody of Sasuke and Manda.

Anyway, what did you think of my first fight scene? Till next time!