Chapter 31: Dramatic Display

(Italics: Thoughts/Flashbacks/Dream sequence. Bold: Title and Kyubi's / Demon's / Inner Naruto's / Inner Sakura's Speech. Underline: Time Skips)

Ino was in shock over what had just happened, Naruto had summoned the Nine Tailed Fox spirit... Where did he get this much power? The thoughts and possibilities seemed to be endless for the young Kunoichi.

How was the demon fox still alive and how could Naruto summon it? She knew her imagination was immediately searching for the worst case scenario so she decided the best course of action would be to confront Naruto about it. Although no matter how much she cared for him she couldn't help but feel slightly afraid.

Naruto panted from exhaustion from the large amount of chakra it took to maintain the Kyubi's form, especially since the fox in essence was an enormous mass of chakra. Naruto glanced in Ino's direction to make sure she was okay. Ino's form lied on the ground, propping herself off the ground with her hands.

Her eyes locked with Naruto's, her pupils radiating fear. Naruto who was a bit too tired to fully process a thought at the moment thought:

Why does she look so afraid?

Then it hit him. He had revealed his secret. And for that he struck fear into the very heart of the one he sought to protect.

Naruto turned his head, tears barely forming in the corners of his eyes, his tears were like a dam on the very brink of collapse.

Naruto turned to Ino, his mask completely down, his facial expression filled with a lifetime of sadness and loneliness. He smiled sadly and said: "I'm sorry Ino..."

And with those words Naruto vanished, leaving no trace that he had ever been there to begin with. Ino's eyes shot open wide as she suddenly realized how painful this subject was to Naruto, could it be more than being able to summon the Demon...? But even if Naruto couldn't tell her she would have to ask the Fifth Hokage or Jiraiya what this was all about... If anyone could tell her it would be them.

After taking a long walk Naruto had finally arrived at his apartment. No matter how old he got this revelation to Ino had made him an emotional wreck in a short twenty minutes... Naruto sighed and sat down on his couch as he thought:

How could I Summon the Kyubi in front of Ino? God I feel like such an idiot... I revealed I have a connection with that damn demon and that alone brought terror to her heart... Damn I need a drink...

Naruto bit down on his thumb and performed a summoning technique Tsunade had shown him as a congratulations gift for making it to Jounin rank. After Naruto finished the hand signs he called out to himself: "Sake Summoning Jutsu."

A bottle of Sake and a dish to drink it out of appeared on his wooden table in a cloud of white smoke. Naruto smiled in delight and poured himself a cup full as he thought:

I wonder where the Sake comes from...

Tsunade's eye twitched in frustration as she muttered to herself: "Damn where did my Sake go? I could have sworn I just bought a bottle the other day..."

She sighed and ran out the office door as she called out: "Shizune I'm going out for some Sake, I'll be right back."

Shizune, who clearly misunderstood what Tsunade meant by: "Going out for Sake." Chased after Tsunade as she called out after her: "Wait! Lady Hokage!"

Ino sighed and got up, just as she was about to race as fast as she could toward the Hokage Tower three ANBU Black Ops appeared and asked: "Are you alright?"

Ino nodded and said:

"I'm fine the enemy has been eliminated, you can see for yourself."

The ANBU nodded and signaled one of his Agents to investigate the remains. The leader kept his eyes on Ino and asked:

"And of the Jinchuuriki?"

Ino didn't understand the word and asked: "The what?"

The ANBU leader merely shook his head and said: "Forgive my language, what happened to your teammate Naruto Uzumaki?"

Ino's memory replayed of his facial expression filled with more sadness and loneliness that should ever be experienced by anyone. She snapped back into reality and wiped away a few tears that had begun to form and replied:

"He must have returned home, me and him had... An argument." She lied.

The ANBU Nodded in understanding and asked: "Is there anything else you require of me? Are you injured?"

Ino shook her head and said:

"No... I'll be fine... You just make sure you do your job and I will do mine, I need to report to Lady Hokage right away." The ANBU nodded and replied: "As you wish..."

And with those words the ANBU captain and his remaining agent vanished into absolute oblivion. Ino glad to be free of the distraction began to travel toward the Hokage tower at a steady rate. As she was running she thought:

What the hell is a Jinchuuriki? And why did the ANBU refer to Naruto as one?

Ino momentarily shook away these thoughts as she alertly raced toward the Hokage tower.

Naruto had finished drinking but the alcohol's effects were quickly fading away, and Naruto knew drinking would only momentarily set his mind on other things then what was currently bringing him down in his world.

And it seemed to be more frequent, but for him it was almost like medicine, being the container of the Kyubi alone made it a completely different story from other people, if someone without the Kyubi's healing influence tried to consume the amount of alcohol he regularly consumed they would have long died of alcohol poisoning, or most of the time remain constantly intoxicated at, but usually that has to do with a low tolerance of alcohol.

Naruto proceeded to finish the bottle's contents, put it down lazily on his night stand and passed out.

A/N: Naruto's having some emotional shit, I wrote the chapter this way to be in character in how the Naruto in my story would react in this scenario. Anyway I know this is pretty much filler and a bit short but I did my best to continue the story. I was stuck here for a bit. Anyway REVIEW if you care!

Peace! - DemonicLove555