I'm back, with "chapter four" that's really just the second part of chapter three... And, with that having been said, I'd like to respond to some reviews that weren't just "update faster" or "great job."

Guest: "I want to ask you something, is Naruto going to move his ass? I mean, if it's to make him into a loyal Konoha shinobi..."

I legitimately have absolutely no idea what you're trying to ask... On any level. I sincerely don't understand.

Is there anyone, anyone at all, who understands this question?

willowskeith: as good as that plot sounds, that's not where this fic is headed. I've already got the whole thing planned out, and have written up to chapter fifteen. (Which is now chapter seventeen, since I split chapter three into three different parts...) Also, that's something that I've personally seen overused beyond all hope of recovery.

I will say it again (or have I said it before? I don't know): I fully intend for this to be my mark on the Naruto fanfiction community much in the same way as LD1449's "Lost Soul" was... Entirely original. A plot that hasn't been seen before, that cannot be duplicated, and the first book of a trilogy. (though the second has only a bare minimum of relation to the Naruto universe, and the third doesn't connect at all...)

I'm actually writing this as a real book, though obviously changing names and places and circumstances and such; I'm calling it, "The Dark Lord Trilogy," and this is book one.

Okay, that was all. If you have any questions or criticisms that weren't addressed, feel free to message me. Finally, we'll move on to the fourth installment of A Song of Severed Spirits.

"Naruto... I'm going to assume you can do this. Am I right?"

The two Genin of Team Seven were performing an exercise he'd mastered on his first day of chakra-based training in the Anbu; it was called tree-walking, and it was performed by placing chakra on the soles of the feet before moving up a surface. He'd certainly mastered it, and at a much greater difficulty-he'd been trained on walls of glass, rather than trees, and had the scars around his ankles to prove it.

"Obviously."

[Pathetic. This is what constitutes as training?]For the first time in years, the Kyūbi no Kitsune no Yoko spoke with his host. He was woken by a blast of a seal, and was saddened to find that it was unfortunately not the one that held him within; he did, however, notice that something was different-two of the eight seals had been removed completely, one was a third of the way undone, and another was almost entirely destroyed.

Apparently. It's incredibly disappointing, but they won't survive if they don't know it. For the first time in even more years, the container spoke back.

"Alright, then... Go scout out the town, particularly Gato's mansion and bases. Report back in three days, and don't get into any more conflicts than are necessary."

The boy didn't even bother to acknowledge the orders given to him, instead holding up his right hand before seeming to melt into the ground. It was just a fancy-looking Shunshin, one that was actually much faster than it seemed, and it sent Naruto into the very heart of Nami. It was his form of a dismissal, of sorts, particularly so when it hit Kakashi that the child was likely to disobey every parameter he'd set.

[It hasn't been very long, but I'm already beyond glad to have you back.]

I'm not back, not really. I still have a long way to go.

[Regardless, anything is better than having that insufferable brat stuck in your place.]

Hey, I'm not a- He paused mid-sentence. ...the seal-made personality tried to take control, and succeeded for a second. I'll need to be more vigilant.

First of all, he needed to change his wardrobe. This orange was making him sick, and he desperately needed something different; anything would do, even something that was hot pink, but if he had to stay in this monstrously-colored jumpsuit for another minute then he'd start killing people.

The store he chose wasn't very well-stocked, but it had what he needed: ink-black shirt and pants. After buying three of each and sealing them away, he noticed something above the doorframe: a black mask, in the shape of a fox. He didn't need to see the back to know that there was a voice modulator, or that it would meld perfectly with his face; he became acutely aware of how...natural...his voice sounded.

"Is that mask yours, sir?"

"Yes, it is; I bought it at a festival several years ago, since it was in such perfect condition... Why do you ask?"

"Well, to make a long story short," he idly noticed that the elderly shopkeeper was quite small, and mentally cursed himself for what could have been a potentially damning phrase in different company, "it used to be mine, and was stolen from me. I will be taking it back... And keep the change."

Naruto placed several thousand ryo in the man's hand, enough to make the poor merchant's eyes widen in shock, and knew that he would exit the place unnoticed. Placing his mask on his face, viewing the world through the gaze of his former self, he knew that all would be right with the world; his memories continued to flow to him, and his gaze was ever-more twisted to death; brilliant sapphire iris crossed the color wheel, transforming to the bloody red that had been Kitsune's trademark gaze... He was no more, and never again would be, Uzumaki Naruto. He was once again the soldier that he'd been born to become, even if it was only partially, and Kitsune could only laugh as he roamed the rooftops of the town.

At long last, after an eternity of waiting inside of that thrice-damned seal, the Demon walked free.

Something very bad had just happened, and Kakashi was pretty sure that he could get the right answer in three guesses. He'd felt an overwhelming presence of malice, and it was an aura he hadn't felt in more than a decade; angry, hate-filled, able to make him tense his muscles despite the fact that there was no threat in his immediate vicinity...

Just how far had his teacher's child fallen this time?

'I didn't feel anything except dread, unlike earlier... This morning definitely had two distinct feelings, one right after another; does that mean that he's unlocked two of his elements, and this one was just memories or other abilities? Either way, I can't bring myself to think that such a thing is good in any way.'

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask, though he idly looked up to see that both of his students had now mastered the exercise of tree-walking.

"Very well... Get down here, both of you, so I can show you the next step in chakra control."

"But sensei, I'm tired! Can we take a break?" Sakura's voice cut through the air, and Kakashi's frown only managed to increase in its severity.

"Absolutely not. If you're content with getting left behind, continue to walk up and down the tree... Otherwise, get down and follow me to wherever it is that I take you."

He felt something... The same woman as before, most likely, though she proved entirely illusive. What could her purpose be here, he wondered, and why did she only seem to show up when Naruto was away? Could they be connected somehow? He doubted it, but...

The thought struck him like a freight train from Yuki no Kuni. Twelve years ago, just before Naruto had been sealed, they had skirmished with a Kumogakure Anbu team; Naruto's excuse for letting them live had been that they weren't worth the time it would take, but he'd seemed to lock eyes with a Nekomata-masked woman whose reserves of chakra had been second only to Naruto's in that situation...

Kakashi shook the thought from his mind, chalking its invention up to boredom. Such a thing couldn't possibly be anything other than his imagination, and the event was from so long ago that he likely wasn't even remembering it correctly.

She smirked at the retreating forms of the Konoha Jonin and his two students, deciding not to follow after them; she didn't particularly care about them, and had only been there as a consequence of their association with the one she loved.

Now,at long last, she would likely be able to go to him... He would recognize her. He had to recognize her...

But, just to make sure, she would wait just a day or two before she actually approached him. That was the safe thing to do, after all, so she would watch and observe him.

In the night of the next day, a new man emerged from the shadows; he wasn't truly new, per se, but was instead simply lost and found again. Ripped sleeves bared his allegiances to the world, as they were inked and carved into his arms; he walked with no shadow, because he was the darkness; sanguine eyes with vulpine pupils stared out, almost seeming to glow, and they would never again retract to the false blue that had been created for them; his voice was mechanical, dual-toned in separate octaves, now fearsome instead of simply irritating; last was his mask, as cold and impersonal as he was, the proof that he was no more than a simple merchant.

A seppe-sai, that is. A seller of death.

"I can feel your presence, Nekomata, so you may as well come down. Did you think I would hurt you?"

The woman dropped down, giggling, her mask left on as she faced him. "Only if it was to bring me pleasure," she said, laughing... Clearly, even though she couldn't see his face, he was unamused by her joke, "and you still need to lighten up."

"You're too childish, Nekomata," he admonished her, "and an argument could be made that you're the most childish of all nine."

She pouted behind her mask, though he couldn't see it.

"In any case," he continued, "what's the news from Kumogakure?"

"E will support you, if you actually intend to go through with your plan, but only because of me; you'll still need to do the majority of the fighting on your own power."

"It's more than I was expecting, and that's absolutely fine." His eyes flashed with a grin that contorted his face beneath the mask, and he laughed inwardly. "...and about what you mentioned, the last time we met..."

"Well... You know there's no way that I'd say 'no' to that, right?"

"I do." He laughed. "Tomorrow, then, if you'll set the arrangements as soon as you can... After all, you should know that I'm very impatient about certain things."

"I do."

She vanished into the night, off to whatever constituted as a religious place. He didn't feel that he'd be too well-received in any of them, as he was likely to set himself aflame upon entering their grounds... Now that was a joke. That was humor at its finest.

It was a reference to a religion that had died out thousands of years ago, with the obliteration of the world order, and one that few people would truly understand, but that just made it even greater to behold.

He melted into the ground, reappearing atop a street light, crouching in preparation to move... It was time to train, after all, and he needed to get back into the absolute best shape that he could. Even the most well-trained shinobi in the regular forces, with few exceptions, was no match for the physical fitness regimen of the Kurojutsu Anbu... To that end, he needed to get back into the shape he'd previously been in; all the skills in the world would do him no good, after all, if he didn't have the speed or reflexes necessary to save his life...

The next day came early for Kitsune, and he quickly moved out; the Dark Lord would rise again today, and prove his resurrection to all those who doubted him. He who was born from chaos, created by death, a brother of the darkness, would show the world that they had been right to fear him. It was perhaps the greatest thing about being him, after all, that he was easily the most feared ninja of his generation...

In any event, he reached Gato's great mansion in very little time; that was when he felt an attempt to intimidate him, pathetic though it was, and knew that Zabuza had found the corpse of his apprentice.

"Are you here for vengeance?"

"..." The Kirigakure no Oni was silent, pondering, but then came to his decision. "No... Well, at least, not against you. I'm here to take out Gato for the perpetuation of the cycle, past and present, and to strike back against the system that forced Haku to become what he was. After that I'll head to Kiri, to try my hand at killing Yagura again... But, this time, I'll have the Kekkai Genkai rebels on my side."

"A noble effort... You go to Gato, then, and clear a path for me; I'll take out those that escape death by your hands. Also, if you see a woman with a lilac Nekomata mask, leave her be; she is mine."

"Alright then. On the count of five..."

Four... Mist began to blanket the area. Three. The mist thickened, filling with chakra to prevent any cabable sensor-type shinobi from discerning their location. Two seconds left in the countdown, and Zabuza began charging at the ornate stone doors... One second before impact, and he kicked the double-doors into rubble.

Zero seconds left... Hell broke loose as Kitsune waited outside, hearing the sounds of death emanate from the insides of the fortress. After his own five seconds of counting, he also began his run; hadn't he said that Gato would die within a week? Well, it was about to happen.

Believe it!