Author's note: After a long vacation, this story finally resumes. So sorry to let you all hanging for so long, but this chapter just didn't want to be written and fought me tooth and nail in every paragraph. Fortunately in the end the author prevailed and so here comes the next installment of your (hopefully still) favourite story. Pray with me that the next chapters would be easier to write.

Enough of my rambling, now on with the story.

A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nothing changed during the summer holidays.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Shimo square~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nukui was bored. When he had finally graduated from the Kumo Shinobi Academy and was assigned to a team, he had expected all sorts of exciting missions and wonderful adventures. Instead he got stuck on the horror otherwise known as D-ranks and even after they received their first C-rank, nothing interesting had happened. They just got stuck guarding a pottery merchant who nobody wanted to steal from. Even when they had travelled through an area notoriously known for being infested by highwaymen, nothing of note occurred, if you don't count the time one of the wagons got stuck in the mud and they had to help getting it out, which ended with Nukui falling face first into said mud. Needless to say, it wasn't the kind of excitement he had wished for, though his teammates and sensei were highly amused.

"I wish something happened," he said to the dark and nearly deserted plaza.

"And just what would you want?" Ai, his kunoichi teammate asked sarcastically. "A heroic battle? Don't be silly. You'd just get yourself killed."

"I can take care of myself!"

"Yeah, we saw enough proof of that," she grimaced, but the expression wasn't visible on her dark face, so the irony was completely lost on Nukui. "Just be glad nothing happened and you'd be able to add a successful C-rank to your record."

"I'd rather add some kills to it," Nukui replied. "Maybe even ninja kills. Now that would look great on my resume!"

"Not likely to happen," Ai smirked.

"Quit it, the two of you," their third teammate interjected. "On case you've forgotten, we're on duty here."

"Oh, we remember, don't worry, Yuu," the kunoichi replied.

"I just don't understand why all the three of us have to be on guard," Nukui complained.

"Because it's an order, dummy," Ai scolded.

"I know it's an order, I just don't understand the reason behind it," the young genin complained. "It's completely deserted around here! And it's not like anyone would ever want to steal some old cracked pots!" He threw his arms around so wildly that he nearly knocked over one pitcher.

"Be careful," the girl snapped. "You don't want us to fail our first real mission due to your own clumsiness! Now how would that look on your record?"

"It's not like anyone would miss that ugly thing," he huffed. "How can that guy even know how many of them he has?"

"I assure you he knows very well," Ai informed him. "And if you break it, you would have to pay it from your mission wages; that is if we get paid at all. He might just say we failed the mission if we couldn't protect his goods from ourselves. And you don't want to know what Kei-sensei would have to say about that." Nukui involuntarily shuddered. He most certainly didn't want to get on the bad side of the jounin. But he covered up his slip of composure quickly.

"Still, I want to see some action."

"Guys?" Yuu spoke in a grave tone.

"What is it?" his teammates asked in unison.

"Do you hear that?" He didn't have to specify. The sound of multiple running footsteps was nearing them rapidly.

"What's going on?" Nukui mused aloud.

"I think you're about to get your wish granted," Ai answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Near the city~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto pumped more chakra to his legs. His strained muscles protested vehemently, but he carried on. But he could already tell that it won't be enough. Despite his increased speed, the sounds of his pursuer were nearing. He had already reached the first shacks at the edges of the city, but that meant nothing. The inhabitants were either sleeping or trembling in fear and he couldn't count at managing to hide himself among them. Not from a competent ninja and that was exactly what his pursuer was. Most likely even a jounin. He wrecked his brain for a possible way out of this mess, but he came empty. He might try to get the girls' help, but if the shinobi on his tail was really good, it won't be enough. So maybe he shouldn't expose them. But how would he relay his findings to them? He still had a mission to complete.

He checked how much chakra he had left. The results weren't heartening. He wasn't exactly exhausted yet, but making so many clones had taken a good deal from him. And it did nothing to deter his pursuer. How could he tell which was the real one? Was it just luck or did he have a way? If so, then there was no point in trying again. But if not...

'Here goes nothing,' thought Naruto as he clasped his hands in the familiar cross-shaped seal. In a puff of smoke, four clones materialized around him. They all mingled for a moment to confuse the enemy and then took of in five different directions. Naruto himself took a sharp turn to the right. But before they could disappear from the street fully, there was a sharp hiss in the air and senbon started raining from the sky. Naruto avoided them thanks to a headfirst dive to the nearest alley, but three of his clones weren't so lucky. The needles hit them and they dissolved back into raw chakra. With only two possible targets the pursuer didn't have a hard time deciding where to go. He quickly created a clone, Naruto couldn't tell which kind, and pursued both.

He took another sharp turn, hoping that the older man wasn't so agile and that he might gain some ground. It worked only partially. The man lost a couple of paces, but covered the lost distance in mere seconds.

The young chuunin swore inwardly. The situation had just gone from bad to worse. Not only he couldn't shake off his tail, he now confirmed it was a highly skilled ninja, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hit his clones at such distance. He reckoned now was a good time to pray for a miracle. Too bad he didn't believe in gods. Only demons, and he sure as hell didn't want to ask the Kyuubi for help. Not if he could help it. Not even if it should kill him. Well, maybe if it should kill him. But otherwise not a chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~City streets~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A low dog's growling sounded through the otherwise silent night.

"What is it?" Hotaru asked.

"A lot of chakra being thrown around," Hana translated. "It looks like there's a battle going on."

"Do you think Naruto got discovered?" the purple-haired girl worried.

"What else could it be?" The Inuzuka replied.

"You're right," Hotaru sighed. "So are we going?"

"Do you have to ask?"

"No. Lead on." The two girls and three dogs quickly disappeared in the dark streets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Streets of Shimo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto had been able to keep most of his lead through a series of sharp twists and turns. He even managed to gain a bit of a distance when his pursuer had tried roof-hopping, but the old thatched roof gave way under him and he fell straight into someone's house. The angry shrieks of its inhabitants followed them for quite a time before they were muffled by the distance. But then suddenly his luck had run out. Instead of the maze of narrow streets, he found himself on a spacious square. And there was no time to turn back and try to hide. The enemy jounin was nearly breathing down his neck. Naruto's overactive imagination even supplied the touch of hot air on his scalp.

But he couldn't give up yet. The situation wasn't completely hopeless yet, or so he told himself. The square wasn't empty. There were stalls built there for the great market and other entertainment accompanying the festival. With any luck there might be something he could use to slow down or even stop his pursuer.

As it was, luck wasn't on his side tonight. Soon after he ran past a few stalls, he heard a sound from close ahead. He couldn't be sure, but it sounded like a blade being drawn. There were people ahead! And considering where they were, he couldn't count on them being friendly.

He ducked left. He didn't even know why he did it, he didn't sense any immediate danger, but it had occurred to him that he should do something.

"Stop him!" his pursuer shouted.

'Great,' Naruto thought. 'So they are together. Just my luck to run straight into a trap.'

He heard footsteps from ahead and then a kunai came sailing past his ear from ahead. It was almost too easy to dodge, which should have warned him, but he failed to take the clue. So the explosion from behind took him completely by surprise and flung him into the nearest stall.

'Curse it,' he thought trying to untangle himself from the cloth that had been covering the goods. He could hear multiple footsteps coming close. He had to do something quickly.

Fortunately he managed to free his head so he could see. He noticed a barrel standing not too far from him and performed a quick Kawarimi. It served to free him from the cloth. He glanced over his shoulder to find out what his pursuers were doing. The jounin was further away than he remembered; the explosion must have delayed him as well. He could see two others as well, a boy and girl, both of them about twelve and neither of them wearing a flak jacket. So genin then. But if they were a standard team, there should be...

He didn't have the time to finish the thought when his ears caught a soft rustle right behind him. He threw himself to the side and another young boy came crashing down at the spot of ground he had occupied less than a second before. Naruto didn't waste any time and kicked the side of the young shinobi's head before he had the chance to stand up. The genin collapsed with a yell. Naruto paid him no further mind and ran.

He didn't get far. He suddenly noticed the jounin right in front of him. 'How did he get there so fast?' Naruto mused. 'Or did I lose my sense of direction and ran into him?' There was no time to contemplate it. His most pressing concern was getting away from him. His hands itched for the hilt of his ninjato, but he didn't have it on him. In fact, for the sake of his cover, he didn't have a single weapon on him. It sucked big time. So ninjutsu was his only option. He had no time to form seals, but fortunately he knew a way around the problem. He took a deep breath, filling the air in his lungs with chakra and converting it to Wind. Than he screamed. The jounin's eyes widened, as the tiny blades cut into him. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto threw himself to the ground just in time to avoid a hail of senbon from behind. One quick glance shoved him the enemy jounin, who he thought he recognized as Kei, bleeding from a number of small cuts, but lacking any serious injury. 'Well, I didn't really expect this will finish him off,' Naruto thought, 'but what can I do now?' Before he could come up with an answer, he heard footsteps behind him. One glance over his shoulder revealed the genin team assuming battle formation. He was surrounded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Market square of Shimo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nukui was excited. This was what he had been hoping for! Some real action and against some real ninja! Sure, she was just a little shrimp, but she had managed to draw blood from Kei-sensei and that was something. They had yet to reach the same achievement during their team training. But now they had her surrounded with nowhere to run. It was going to be a piece of cake. He was going to pay her back for the kick to his cheek. He was going to pound her to the ground. Sensei was going to be proud of him and he will be famous and he'll make chuunin soon ... Yes, it was all he could hope for on a mission like this.

He saw the girl turning towards him, her hands already clasped in a seal. He raised his kunai. He wasn't going to let her finish her jutsu, whatever it was.

He wasn't fast enough. With a puff of smoke, two clones appeared beside her. 'Just Bunshin?' Nukui thought. 'That's the stupidest trick the Academy taught. This is going to be a piece of cake.' He barely finished his thought when the clones attacked simultaneously. He swung his kunai at the middle one, the one he thought was the original, but the little child evaded easily. Small hands grabbed on his forearm and before he realized what was going on, he was lifted in the air and thrown towards his sensei. Kei easily sidestepped and Nukui sailed past him. He had just enough time to wonder how could such a small girl have so much strength, when he landed on a nearby stall and heard something breaking. It scared him, but than the lack of agonizing pain let him know that the broken things weren't his bones. He got up and dusted himself off. He took in his surroundings as he was doing so. All around him were lying shards of inferior-quality ceramics and the remains of disturbingly familiar stand. 'Crap' was all that went through his mind at the moment. Their client wasn't going to be happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The plaza~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto's heart was beating fast. His plan to use the Kumo genin team, he finally got a good look at their headbands, as human shields yielded only partial success. One of his clones was destroyed by the kunoichi before it could do anything, and the other one was locked in a furious battle with one of the boys until his teammate came to his assistance. But at least he managed to slip between them and now the jounin had to run around his own team to get to him. The chuunin hoped he had managed to wound the boy he had thrown; if the Kumo shinobi had to give him medical assistance, it would slow them down. But luck really wasn't on his side tonight. The Kumo team was already back on their feet and ready to chase him again. He couldn't come up with anything better to do but run.

He was sure this was going to be the end of him. They were gaining on him. Then the yellow glow of a Lightning jutsu lit up the night and he was sure he was done for. But the pain never came. Instead he could hear painful grunts from behind. He chanced a glance over his shoulder. The three Kumo genin were down on the ground, only one of them trying to get up. The jounin seemed unharmed, but he was looking around searching for the threat. Then four furry tornadoes came charging at him and his students. The jounin dodged, but the genin getting up was pummeled to the ground.

Naruto shouted in joy. The girls had arrived! Maybe he won't die here tonight! But it was still too early for celebration. There was still a jounin out to get him.

Lightning crackled again and there was a hiss of pain. Naruto couldn't tell who did it come from. He stopped running. Now the whole team was assembled, they could fight. But first he had to do something about his current unarmed state. He ran to the downed genin and quickly relieved him of his weapon pouch. He strapped the bag on his own leg in record time and looked inside. Fully stocked on kunai and shuriken and there were even some Exploding Tags inside. Perfect. He still missed his sword, but at least he didn't feel naked anymore.

He looked around to assess the situation. Both Hotaru and Hana were now engaging the Cloud jounin. He didn't know how they would fare against him, so he had to hurry. He was alone to deal with the three genin. One of them was still down after Hana's Tsuuga, but the other two were already getting up. Naruto jumped to the closer one, a dark-skinned boy, and kicked him in the temple hard. The young ninja slumped to the ground unconscious. That left him alone with the girl.

The kunoichi was already standing, holding a kunai in each hand. Naruto reached into his newly acquired pouch and took a pair of kunai of his own. He did it just in time; the Kumo kunoichi didn't wait on anything before attacking. He blocked her two stabs, but got caught by a kick to his side. Either she was pretty good for a genin, or Naruto was too exhausted to fight properly. He stumbled back. It was time to take this up a notch.

He charged Wind chakra into his blades. They weren't specially made for this and couldn't hold as much s he would have liked, but it was enough. The girl charged again. He blocked her attack, his kunai slashing through hers and leaving a deep gash on her forearm. She blinked in surprise, forgetting her concentration for a moment. It was all the Konoha chuunin needed. He kicked her into the stomach, hard. It knocked her to the ground.

Naruto quickly followed up his attack. He was at her side in a flash. She tried to stab him with his remaining kunai, but he evaded nimbly. He stepped on her wrist, making her let go of her weapon. Then he knelt and slammed the pommel of his kunai into her temple. She slumped unconscious alongside her teammates.

The Konoha chuunin breathed out a sigh of relief and looked how his own teammates were doing. It looked like the answer was not good. Hana got just thrown backwards by a vicious punch and Hotaru was clearly favoring her left leg. One of the Haimaru siblings was lying on the ground, nursing a wound. The Kumo jounin appeared unharmed.

The golden-haired boy pondered the best course of action. Kei had currently his back turned to him, so he might be able to take him by surprise. But it was a tricky prospect. Nobody made jounin by letting their enemies sneak up on them.

He shot one last glance to the downed genin team. None of them had a sword, so he'd have to make do with just kunai. And of course there was still his new technique. It was still far from perfect and he was tired, but he was confident he could successfully use it in battle now, if only for a short period of time. He channeled chakra to his forearms, made it whirl around them and sharpened it into countless tiny Wind blades. Then he dashed forward.

Kei blocked a wild sword swipe from Hotaru and aimed a kick at her midsection, forcing her to take a step away. Then he turned around to face the charging Naruto. The blond chuunin had barely time to look surprised when the man stabbed his kunai at him viciously. He narrowly avoided the hit meant for his head and thrust forwards his right arm. The jounin blocked with his left arm, but the Wind-sharpened edge cut through his blade. His eyes widened a bit, but he evaded quickly, avoiding any serious injury, only a thin red line appearing on his forearm. His right arm sprung in counterattack.

Naruto saw the move, but was too slow to react in the nick of time. He brought his arms up to block, but he didn't make it. The kunai hit his left shoulder. Fortunately it was only a flesh wound, but it still hurt. He cried out in pain, but didn't back off. His right arm continued on its course, hitting the outstretched arm of the Cloud jounin. The man screamed as the rotating Wind blades dug into his flesh. He jumped back. Then he was forced to dodge an attack from Hotaru, which brought him into the range of Hana's dogs. Snapping teeth grazed his ankle. By that time, Hana got back on her feet and rejoined the fray. For a moment, things looked up. Then suddenly a hail of shuriken flew through the air, forcing the trio of Leaf chuunin to back off from their opponent.

Naruto turned around to see the newcomer. He recognized him immediately. How could he have forgotten about him? It was the other ninja that had been present at the clandestine meeting. It took him a long time to catch up with them, but now that he was here, things were about to get really ugly.

Naruto turned towards the newcomer; Katsumi was his name? He thought so. The chuunin tried to stand in guard stance, but a sharp pain in his left shoulder made him wince. It seemed that the wound was more severe than he thought; he had trouble moving his arm. He grabbed the injury with his other hand. It was bleeding profoundly.

Katsumi moved to attack and Naruto crouched to defend. In the meager light of the crescent moon, he noticed the blood glittering on his right hand, flowing towards the thin red line. 'Crap' was all he had time to think before it touched and a red heat came alive within his body.

"No!" he screamed. He wouldn't succumb to it. He couldn't let that stupid furball control his body again. He would fight for dominance and would show the fleabag where his place was: behind the bars of his cage.

'Hear it, Fuzzball?' he shouted internally. 'Stay where you are!'

"Make me!" the Bijuu answered.

'I will,' Naruto promised determinedly. The beast laughed in response.

"You're welcome to try."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shimo plaza~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hana was just getting up after being sent flying by a kick to her stomach (again!), when she suddenly felt the presence of the sinister red chakra. She looked up and saw Naruto's form enveloped in the all too familiar red haze.

'Oh, hell,' she thought. 'Will he get berserk again? Should we run for our lives now or should we capitalize on this opportunity?' She took a look around. The Haimaru siblings were whining in fear, their tails between their legs. Hotaru was quickly limping away. The two enemy ninja were watching the spectacle in confusion. Particularly the jounin they had fought had his back turned to her, not seeming to realize she was still here. It was an opportunity too good to pass. She sprung to her feet as quickly as she could. Then she shot forward in the spin of Tsuuga. Kei had noticed her at the last moment, but it was too late for him to dodge completely. The furry tornado caught his flank, the Inuzuka's iron-hard claws digging deep into his belly.

Hana stopped spinning and landed. She looked at Naruto. He was still surrounded by the cloak of Kyuubi's chakra, glowing menacingly, one tail swinging behind him, advancing on his enemy, who was backing off slowly. She could tell that he wasn't in control of his body anymore. There was only one thing she could do now. She picked up her wounded dog and ran after Hotaru.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Naruto's mindscape~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sinister red chakra was flooding through the bars of the cage and the Fox was grinning victoriously.

"See your defeat, puny mortal," the demon spoke with glee.

"In your dreams," Naruto replied with determination. "I forced you back once before and I can do it again."

"In your dreams," Kyuubi echoed his earlier words.

"Don't be so cocky," the Jinchuuriki chided. "Last time you took me by surprise. This time I know what to do." He strode purposefully to the seal. The flow of red chakra intensified, solidifying in to a wall blocking his path.

"What makes you think I'll let you do it?" the kitsune growled.

"What makes you think I'll let you stop me?" the boy replied nonplussed. He plunged straight into the wall. It wasn't as solid as it appeared, but it resisted his progress valiantly. But he was relentless. Step by step, he made his way forward until he could touch the seal. The little tear he had mended during the battle in the fields was torn open again. He laid his hand on it and pushed his chakra into it. The Kyuubi screamed in rage and tried to knock him away, but he held fast. Soon the sinister flow was stopped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Market square~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He came to. He was still on the plaza and it was still night. In front of him lay the three genin from Kumo. They were still unconscious. He looked around. A few steps behind he could see one half of Katsumi. He couldn't see the rest of him anywhere. It was probably somewhere among the many overturned stalls. He shuddered with the realization that it was probably his doing (he couldn't remember and he was glad for it). He was just relieved he wrestled the control back before the Kyuubi could do even more damage. He didn't know how he would cope if he had torn apart the three children before him. (The fact that they were all older than him didn't seem relevant.) Or if he attacked his teammates again. That was something he really wouldn't be able to live with.

Speaking of the girls, where were they? He couldn't see them anywhere.

'I hope they got away alright,' he thought. He jogged to the spot where he last saw them fighting. There was a large puddle of blood. Naruto followed it. It led under a fallen table. Underneath two big feet were sticking out. He recognized them as belonging to the Kumo jounin. It appeared the man had been wounded and then tried to crawl away, when the stall had fallen on him. And considering the sheer weight of blacksmith's goods lying atop him, it was unlikely that he was still alive. 'One accounted for,' Naruto thought. 'But where are Hana and Hotaru?'

Then he noticed a second, thinner blood trail leading away. 'So that's where they went,' he thought pleased that his teammates had indeed gotten away relatively unharmed. There wasn't enough blood to signify a serious wound.

He followed after them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nukui slowly woke up. His whole body hurt and his head was the worst off. What had happened? Did he steal his father's sake and got drunk again? He swore he'd never do something so stupid again after the resulting hangover, beating and grounding.

"Don't move," Ai's grave voice interrupted his thoughts. "You might have a concussion."

"What happened?" he inquired.

"Don't you remember? We were in a battle yesterday," the kunoichi explained.

"Oh." Now it was coming back to him. The appearance of Kei-sensei pursuing a young child, his elation upon finally seeing some action, and then his delusions of grandeur being shattered by a small slip of a girl that couldn't have been any older than ten, if that. It was utterly humiliating.

"How did it end?" He wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

"It seems we've lost," she informed him. "I wasn't exactly conscious to see it, but Kei-sensei was badly wounded and the enemy was nowhere in sight."

Nukui grimaced and slowly sat up. For the first time, he took in the devastation scene that used to be the busy marketplace just yesterday.

"What the hell happened here?" he wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," the kunoichi replied, "but somehow I think I'm lucky I wasn't awake to see it."

"Me too," he replied.

"We're lucky to be alive."

"Yes," he said looking at a nearby pile of ceramic shards. "But how are we going to explain it to the client?"

And that's it for today.

Next time: Whatever I write, probably the way home and a plot twist I've been building for.