A fog of darkness enveloped Naruto's mind. And while he was trying hard to feel past it, it seemed that the harder he tried, the denser it got. It was suffocating him. It appeared, grimly, that there was no end to the choking darkness. But then someone was calling him. A voice rang dimly through the fogginess, shallow and soft at first, but gaining volume every second, clearing the darkness away a bit with every calling. And then he was conscious.

"Oh, you're awake now," a strange voice said with a mild relief. "I thought you were dead for a second."

It was dark, Naruto noticed, but he could just make out the ground flying past ten feet below. He was moving through the trees but his feet were stationary. And then there was that pain in his side. What the?... That's when he realized that he was being carried. He was slung carelessly under an arm; his side pressed hard against what he assumed was a kunai.

"Hey! What the?...Put me down!"

"Shhh. You'll get us caught."

Naruto tried to move put the moment he started to struggle that pain in his side got worse. "Put me down or you'll be sorry!"

The stranger laughed mischievously. "Oh?"

Naruto tried to perform the signs for a shadow clone jutsu but it didn't work. He couldn't summon any chakra. "What the—"

"You done?" The man asked impatiently. Naruto looked up at his mysterious assailant, growing more and more irritated with the situation every second. The man's face was covered in a shadow cast by a black hood. "I sealed away your chakra. You can't use any jutsus. And would you shut the hell up? We're gonna get caught if you keep yelling like that."

"Who the hell are you anyway?" Naruto seethed. By then he was far fed up with this back-and-forth game.

They came to a screeching halt on a branch suddenly. So suddenly in fact, that Naruto nearly fell out of his captors grip. But no such luck. With his free hand, the man pulled back his hood revealing a mane of blue silver hair. "Shin Matashiro, Association member number Two, expert in torture of the cruel and unusual variety and right hand to Hintaro-dono, king of all Mortalities."

"What?"

Matashiro scowled. He was used to people cowering in fear at the very sound of his name; he'd never met anyone who didn't even know his name. He scoffed. "Not that I was expecting you to know anything about us, you impudent brat!" He could feel his bruised ego throbbing.

"Well, what do you want with me anyway?"

The blue haired man smiled evilly and started moving again. That sharp pain in Naruto's side was starting to hurt more than ever. He could feel a warm trickle that rand smoothly from between his ribs to his stomach where it dripped into his jacket. "Well, I can't go telling you classified information like that, now can I?"

Naruto was done, his patients gone, he was all but about to attack the guy who Naruto was sure couldn't be more of an asshole if he tried, but that's when he remembered. Rido. What about her? Where was she anyway? Had he taken her too? His annoyance morphed into anger. "Put me down now. This is the last time I'll ask you."

"Or what, nine-tails?"

Naruto could feel it. He could feel his anger loosening the seal that held the Kyuubi at bay. He could feel the demon's chakra leaking out into him, taking over him. Yes, he could feel it, but he couldn't recognize it. He always felt it just before it happened, but that was all he knew of it. And the feeling was always forgotten once the demon took over, that feeling that knew but did not recognize, it always melted away. He could never grasp it.

Matashiro jumped at the sudden chakra flooding from his prisoner's body. The red hot chakra seemed to actually burn his fingers. He released his hold and Naruto was able to wrench out of his grip, fully under the demon's control. Matashiro spun around and landed on the branch in front of Naruto's. The blonde haired teen looked down at his side where a kunai was lodged in all the way up to the handle causing a river of blood that stained his jacket red. He reached down and yanked the weapon from his flesh, not wincing when the edges caught on his bone. Matashiro glared at the boy who was emitting a steady growl as they squared off, each one waiting for the other to make the first move. Matashiro was banking on Naruto to make the first move. He had a plan churning in his mind that was hoping would work. He hadn't planned on the nine-tails being released, that was a serious fault of underestimation on his part, but now that it was he had to compensate. Naruto lunged first, playing right into Matashiro's hands.

The man, who no longer had the advantage of being the only one who could wield chakra, preformed the signs to release his chakra net. He affixed the web of high density chakra to the branches of the tree he was kneeling in. He had to work fast or he would have the web placed in time before the kid reached him. Once the chakra was stuck securely to the bark, the strings of the chakra web literally invisible to someone without a spectacular blood limit to see them, he fell back into the lower branches of the tree behind him. His boots connected with the wood just as Naruto fell into the web.

The teen's clothes stuck to the strings first forming a bond that was impossible to break. Then the web began to drain the boy's chakra, sucking the Kyuubi's energy with every pulse of the boy's heart and delivering it into Matashiro's chakra system via a single sting of the web that was wired into his veins.

The chakra web jutsu had been passed down through only the purest and direst descendants of the Shin clan, with Matashiro being the first-born son of his father, the leader of the clan. Originally, Matashiro had failed at the jutsu, which had been taught to him at the age of five, like tradition. But in his early ninja days, he wasn't what anyone would call a prodigy. In fact, he had barely even graduated from the academy. He was a disgrace to his otherwise perfect clan and was ostracized by them because of it. The crippling isolation is most likely what led him to the Association in the first place.

"With every beat of your heart I get more powerful. It's impossible for you to win!"

%%%

"Hinata, your father has to talk to you." Mei, Hinata's maid, called into her ajar door. The blue-haired beauty looked up from her journal. Hinata blushed, embarrassed to be caught while writing something so personal. She shut her diary and shoved it into its locked box on top of her dresser.

"I'll be right down," she said with a bow. It was an odd habit, bowing to her maid, but she always felt uncomfortable if she didn't.

Once Mei had gone and shut the door behind her, Hinata slowly changed into a kimono. Hiashi preferred it that his daughter looked 'presentable' when she appeared before him, so she donned her white kimono and descended the stairs to her father's sitting room. Hiashi was having tea on the mats in the room's center. He didn't look up when Hinata entered.

"Sit." He ordered.

Nervous, she shuffled forward with small, restrained steps, bowed deeply, and sank to her knees on the other side of a small table. She looked down at her hands folded in her lap and waited for him to address her.

Hiashi sighed and put down his teacup. "Hinata, you should have known that this day would come eventually."

The girl was confused but kept silent.

"I have a husband for you. He is the shinobi son of a powerful daimyo, of whom has connections that we need. Of course, you understand. This marriage would make our clan's influence over foreign adversaries grow, not to mention the potential it has to produce skilled ninja offspring. It's an honor that he offered his son to us, not that our part of this bargain isn't significantly greater, still, this arrangement should prove to be—what are you…?...Are you crying?"

Hinata tried to stop herself from sobbing like she was, but she couldn't stop it. She'd always known that that this would happen, always know…but then why? Why was her heart breaking so painfully? Why did she want….Naruto?

"STOP." Hiashi barked, outraged.

Hinata swallowed her sobs and let the tears flow soundlessly. She bowed her head further, allowing her hair to shield her tear-stained cheeks.

Hiashi looked about ready to choke her, but he just clenched his fists and growled. "I should throttle you for that sort of nonsense. But you have to be prepared for you're wedding ceremony tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" she allowed the terrified cry to escape her lips. It was just so soon…

"That's quite enough out of you. Go up to your room and rest. Now."

Hinata rose fluidly. She was at her brink as she staggered up the staircase and collapsed into her sheets. She sobbed uncontrollably into her pillow, praying to wake up from this hellish nightmare. Why did this have to happen just when she thought she just might be brave enough to talk to him? Why why why why why why why

"Naruto…."

A/N: This is a really suspenseful place to leave off, but it must be done. I technically never formally classified this as a NarutoOC fic, so things could be getting Naruhina-ish….maybe…I don't know. Or maybe this will turn out to be a NarutoOC fic. Naruhina, NarutoOC, it'll all just have to play out. I'll update this very soon. Maybe even in four days. Anyway, thanks for reading!