Chapter 6- A Cursed Miracle

Yesterday

Mizuki busted out of prison in record time and was now leaping across the rooftops to get to his house for his weapons. He expected it to take at least several more months to get out, but it seemed Lady Luck had been on his side. The guards had been busy with other things while he snuck a couple tools. There was nothing as beautiful as a plan coming together.

Things were looking up, but he had one business matter to attend to before he ran to his master, Orochimaru: his revenge. He owed that little demon and Iruka a lot for throwing him into prison. Tomorrow, he was going to be sure to send both of them to Hell.

The Chunin quickly stepped up his stealth skills as he got closer to the Hokage tower. It was sad he had to get past the place in order to hit his home. At the time, it was the only place he could afford to buy.

He was now crawling under a particular window that was opened to the Hokage's personal office, a place of suicide for any normal sneaks. Mizuki was just about to get away, but stopped to listen in on a conversation when he heard the infamous Hatake Kakashi and the Sandaime having a conversation.

"…I think we have found the counterpart of the Rin'negan," Mizuki overheard them talking.

He never heard of this Rin'negan before. It sounded like they were talking about a Bloodline Limit of some kind. Deciding he was curious enough to stay and listen to what was being talked about, he sunk deeper into the shadows.

"…What we are looking at here is one of the three great Doujutsu, the one that created Bloodline Limits. Just as the Rin'negan brought about Ninjutsu, we're looking at the very source of every Bloodline Limit in existence."

The moment Mizuki heard that, his eyes widened in shock. Naruto had gained a Bloodline Limit of some kind, one that could grant people brand new Limits? If that was true then he could get his own! Forget that formula that Orochimaru had given him! He could get a Limit, and all he had to do is come into contact with the blond gaki's blood!

He smirked as he listened in some more, "…But that means we have to keep people away from Naruto's blood. Otherwise, a good deal of Limits would be appearing out of nowhere."

It was too good to be true. He could get his revenge and get a new Limit of his own in one shot. Two birds with one stone.

With an insane smile, he leapt off the building to go and plan. His day had only gotten better with this little tidbit of info.

Unfortunately for him, things really were too good to be true. If he had stayed a little longer, he would have heard a very important piece of information.

"... We should be thankful that Sakura didn't come into contact with anything else."


Mitarashi Anko had just walked out of the front door of the Hokage tower to head home for a nice dinner of her favorite food: dango. It was a nice day making men scream like little girls with some summoned poisonous snakes back at the office she shared with Ibiki.

Her smile was wiped off her face as she sensed someone nearby. Looking up towards an open window that led to the Hokage's office with a keen eye, she could make out the shadow of a figure next to the window. Because it was dark, she couldn't make out anything unique about the perpetrator quite yet, but she could tell when there was someone spying.

Before she could react and get some ANBU to handle the idiot, she saw the shadow leap away into the moonlight, revealing the smiling face of Mizuki. It was only for a split second though as he landed in the shadows of the nearby buildings and silently moved away.

The snake user scowled in annoyance. Mizuki had the misfortune to get stuck with her for interrogation. It wasn't a well known fact that she really liked Iruka, and unfortunately for the silver-haired Chunin that tried to kill said teacher, she took out her frustrations on the traitor with more than the usual glee.

Deciding to do her village a favor, she followed the piece of scum and began to keep tabs on him for the night.

Current Time

If anybody saw Ino now, they would think it strange that she wasn't being her usual bossy self, shouting orders, or yelling at something. As a matter of fact, she looked downright depressed. That was her mood as she walked down the white halls of the hospital, carrying a large bouquet of flowers for her rival.

Sasuke had come to her last night requesting she drop off some flowers at the Konoha hospital. Of course, she was shocked when she discovered they were going to Forehead Girl. Did that mean the pink-haired girl won out? That question alone put her deeper into depression.

She finally got to the doorway leading into her former best friend's room, but Ino's hand hesitated as she went to open the door. With a sigh, she grasped the knob and walked into the room.

Sakura lay on her bed sleeping peacefully with the occasional beep of a machine she was hooked up to. The platinum blond couldn't help but wonder what had put the girl here into the first place. Altogether, she looked unharmed.

Out of her curiosity, she used her free hand to grab the file at the end of the bed. Ino furrowed her eyebrows, finding the file bereft of any information on Sakura. That was strange; doctors always kept important info on their patients. She shrugged as she put it back.

Ino sat the flowers on a nearby table and stared at Sakura for a number seconds, each passing by like a turtle on morphine. Everything had gone Sakura's way, and it was all because she got lucky and landed a spot on Sasuke's team. Everything just seemed so unfair. Sakura had won. What more was there to it?

"I… I guess you win, Forehead," she quietly told the unconscious girl.

Where was she going to go from here? Sasuke was her driving point to get stronger, just so she could impress him… but where did that take her? She knew she needed to get stronger, but for what reason?

She sighed before she closed the door, making sure it didn't make any noise on her way out. Ino needed to think.


A half hour later, Sakura's bright green eyes slowly blinked open. She was confused to find her surroundings to be completely different from what she fell asleep to. After blinking her eyes clean, she was startled to find herself in a clean room found only in hospitals.

The Kunoichi lied there, recalling how she ended up in this mess. The last thing she remembered was getting sick at the Land of Waves. Oh, now she remembered; she had been coughing up blood that night along with other pleasant symptoms. She wondered whether she was in Konoha or Wave, having been in a state of coma during the trip back.

She turned her head to look around her room, only for her eyes to widen in surprise as her sight came across a large bouquet of flowers. Sakura looked over the gift trying to find out who gave it to her. To her confusion, the flowers were an anonymous gift.

"Ah, nice to see you awake!" Sakura looked towards the doorway to see the ever so lazy Kakashi staring at her. "You had us worried there. Had I waited another half hour to get you back to Konoha, you would've died."

She wanted to ask about the details of the trip back, but then felt how dry and scratchy her throat was. That wasn't mentioning the metallic taste in the back of her mouth –probably from the blood she coughed up. The scarecrow noted his student's desire to talk and walked over to get her a cup of water.

After she had sipped down some water, she let the questions fly. "When did we get back?"

The silver-haired jounin shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't keeping track. It was probably about five in the evening, or around that time, when we got back."

"Do they know what's wrong with me?" she asked in a soft whisper –her throat still felt sore.

That's where the copy-cat hit a dilemma. The Sandaime made it very clear that everything was to remain quiet. Besides, how would his student react to suddenly getting a first-generation Bloodline Limit?

"Well, the doctors said it was some sort of allergic reaction to something," he lied, remembering how the nurse had described the symptoms. "They didn't know what caused it, even after thoroughly testing you, but they eventually stabilized you. I do have a test of my own I would like to conduct, though."

Sakura looked on with confusion as her teacher pulled out a blank, white card. He handed it to her before he explained.

"Just channel some of your chakra into the card," he explained, answering her unasked question.

The pink-haired girl did as she was told and watched the card crumble to the floor below. What happened next caused Kakashi to raise an eyebrow and for Sakura to start panicking: the dust caught on fire. Without any hint of pandemonium, he walked over to the sink with a cup and came back to pour water on the tiny flames.

Before she could say she was sorry, Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well, that was… interesting. I got what I needed, so now I will be heading to the team's usual spot. I think I'm late enough to earn a couple choice words from Naruto."

She laughed lightly as he walked out of the room. Despite her light mood, Sakura couldn't help but wonder what the test had to do with.


Naruto and Sasuke were waiting on the bridge the team usually met on. Kakashi was being his normally tardy self and Sakura was absent –she had an excuse for her absence, though.

Sasuke would occasionally sneak a glance at Naruto, who was staring off into space. He was still sore about not getting the goggles off the blond's face, and even now he stared holes into his teammate's eyes, trying to figure out what was different with them.

If the maelstrom did have a Doujutsu, then why didn't he show it off like they expected him to?

There was another thing that caught Sasuke by surprise: Naruto wasn't complaining about their sensei being late as per usual. The blond was just sitting there and thinking, something that shouldn't be humanly possible either. Ever since the Wave mission, he was acting weird for no apparent reason.

It was while he was pondering about his teammate's unusual behavior that Kakashi had shown up in a poof of smoke.

"Sorry about being late. You see, there was this old lady…" he thought he could try something new today rather than his usual black cat one.

"Riiiiiight," Naruto drawled, wearing a foxy smile.

Sasuke just gave him a death glare, wishing that the man would spontaneously catch on fire for his tardiness.

Kakashi just smiled beneath his mask. It was obvious Naruto remembered their talk back at the Land of Waves; otherwise, he would've gotten yelled at like normal. He would admit that it was nice to have someone understand why you act the way you do –it was… refreshing.

"I came by to tell you guys that I'm giving you the day off," the wiry man said, smirking behind his mask.

The Uchiha's temper went through the roof. They had just wasted three hours of waiting for their teacher, only for the said man to give them the day off! Why the hell did they have to get stuck with this person when they could have gotten any other sensei in the Fire Country?!

Naruto on the other hand had a smile that threatened to split his face into two. That meant he would have time to train with Iruka-sensei… and to learn his Bloodline Limit. It was going to be so cool to learn the Hyakurai –he was giddy in excitement just thinking about it.

"That being said," continued the jounin, "Naruto, you and me have a meeting with the Hokage at around three. Oh, and Sakura is now doing well, just to let you guys know."

The blond knucklehead sighed in relief knowing that his teammate was okay while Sasuke just shrugged. At least she was going to be alright.

Kakashi then disappeared in a puff of smoke and left his students to their own devices.


Anko carefully followed Mizuki everywhere he went, all the while making sure that she didn't mess up and give away her position. It hadn't been as easy as it first sounded. Mizuki was one paranoid bastard, and it showed with how often he looked over his shoulder –then again, it wasn't paranoia if someone was after you. It was only by luck she was still tailing him without being caught.

Despite all this, and her following him, his motives were still unclear. It wasn't until they got into a particular neighborhood that things became clear.

Mizuki stopped on a particular roof that was over-looking a non-descript apartment complex. Shortly after they arrived, the blond bane of Konoha walked in front of one of the doors and knocked, revealing Iruka as he came to the door.

She narrowed her eyes as she realized what Mizuki's goals involved: revenge against the ones that threw him in prison.


Iruka was leaning on the door way with his arms crossed, raising an eyebrow as he stared at the blond. His favorite student stood in front of him grinning from ear to ear, ready to learn about his sensei's Limit.

"So, I guess you want me to teach you how to use Hyakurai, huh?" asked Iruka.

"Why else would I be here?" said Naruto, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Maybe to say hi to your favorite teacher?"

"There's that too… but please let me learn it!" begged Naruto.

The Kage-class Chunin just sighed in defeat. He doubted the blond would leave him alone until he did anyways. Then again, the thought of being able to teach someone else outside of his own person how to use his Limit was quite appealing. Knowing the hyperactive boy, he would have no problem keeping this secret, speaking that he did have his own Limit.

"Alright," Naruto leapt into the air with a shout, but calmed down as his teacher continued, "but there are some rules. One: don't tell anybody about this. I don't like attention and the village would definitely set their eyes on me if they found out. Two: don't train your Hyakurai by yourself. If the city has a power outage, I'm not going to cover for you."

The blond bobbed his head up and down like a parakeet as he listened to everything. This Limit had to be good if Iruka-sensei wanted to him to train with supervision.

"Don't worry, Iruka-sensei!" assured Naruto. "I have to keep the Kyoukagan secret anyways."

"Now that that has been settled…" muttered Iruka, clapping his hands together, "We're going to go and train at my favorite spot. So, follow me while I explain some things to you."

Both of them slowly began to walk towards the training grounds, all the while Iruka gave Naruto some lessons on his Bloodline Limit.

"Okay," he began as they walked next to each other. "Hyakurai is unique because it allows me control of real lightning because of my higher than normal bioelectricity. Other minor abilities that it has are my bioelectricity-sensing capabilities and my improved senses and reflexes."

Naruto looked around as he walked along and noticed the people giving him loathing stares as he passed by. Deciding that he didn't want to think about the villagers, he turned back to Iruka with a question he had since last night.

"Didn't you say something about the difference between real lightning and chakra lightning last night?" questioned Naruto.

"Ah, yes. There is some major differences," his teacher continued to explain. "Chakra based lightning works by homing in on chakra sources in its more uncontrolled form. Real lightning strikes things indifferently and with a much stronger charge. It's also much more difficult to control."

"What does that mean?"

"Well," Iruka scratched the back of his head as he tried to figure out how to give an example. "Let me put it this way: a single chakra lightning bolt would strike only one of two kunai that were stuck into the ground, and would always hit one if it was to be loaded with chakra. But if a natural bolt is used, it would strike that kunai and maybe the other as well because it reacts indifferently."

"Now if I wanted to use jutsu that involved lightning," the pineapple-haired Chunin continued on, "I could use my bioelectricity to do it, but it would be much harder to control, speaking that chakra really works like an extension of the body, while lightning is a pure form of energy."

Naruto could now feel as if his head was going to blow up like a bomb at the information he was taking in. No wonder he didn't pay attention in class back when he was back at the academy; it would give him a headache every time he looked at the blackboard!

The blond stopped rubbing his head as they both finally got to the training grounds. Iruka walked across from him and began to study his student under a microscope, trying to figure out how the Kyoukagan worked. The mirror-like pupils Naruto showed him last night were just too complicated to be a Doujutsu of some kind, but he kept his thoughts to himself as he continued to look onward.

"How do you copy Limits?" he finally asked.

"Um, I just look at you," answered the blond.

Naruto pulled off his goggles and began to stare at his teacher, willing his eyes to copy the Limit. His eyes quickly shattered and began to copy down the Hyakurai to add to his small arsenal. After a couple seconds, he gave a thumb-up to his teacher, signifying that he copied it.

"Alright, before you begin to use it, I want to demonstrate something," he said with a smile. "Make a couple of clones and have them come at me."

His student just put on his foxy smile before he made his favorite hand seal. With a large puff of smoke, a dozen clones appeared around the original. All of them charged with a battle cry, but the real Naruto stayed back with a confused look as he saw Iruka still wearing his own smile.

It was when the small troop of blonds touched Iruka that it happened. The only way Naruto could describe it was like a squirrel being stupid enough to not just touch a bug zapper, but to bite it.

Half of the blonds unlucky enough to hold on and not let go began to smoke as static electricity shot through and away from their hair like the Raikiri that Kakashi demonstrated on the bridge. The lucky half of the group launched into the air. When they landed, their hair was smoking and sticking straight up while smoke poured out of their ears. All of them finally disappeared, leaving a gawking Naruto with memories of what it was like to grab a bug zapper.

His teacher just snickered a bit before he explained. "What you just witnessed was me letting go of only a portion of my control over my bioelectricity. I constantly have to suppress it or otherwise, well… you saw what happened at my apartment last night."

He could now understand why Iruka was a little hesitant to let him copy Hyakurai. It required a lot of control to get the full effect the Bloodline offered. Otherwise, a lot of people would be pissed off about having a blown up power grid. If anything, it made Naruto want to learn it more if it required such control.

"Now…" His attention returned to his former teacher. "I want you to access the Hyakurai however way you do, and I want you to get a feel for it. You'll see a difference when you begin using it."

Naruto complied and willed for his body to change, making his eyes become the same color as Iruka's.

Iruka was right; Naruto could see, feel, and hear a difference. All of his senses took a dramatic spike, and everything just seemed to slow down. Then his teacher came up next to him and tried to lightly punch him in the face. Out of instinct, he blocked the attack as it came within a foot of his face.

"As you can see," Iruka's voice was now slower as well, "you brain is processing things much faster than normal, and your reflexes took a leap as well. This is all natural, but if you want everything to go back to normal, you must suppress your own bioelectricity."

"How do you do that?" Naruto asked.

Iruka continued to explain in a slow voice: "Well, first off, you need to try and calm down and when you try to suppress it, it becomes a matter of trying to stay relaxed. Then when you do, you have to stay that way or otherwise it will automatically go crazy again. Oh, and until you get it under control, we're not going back to Konoha."

"WHAT! That could take forever!" yelled Naruto.

It was almost noon and he doubted he could go without his favorite meal of ramen again –it was almost as if Fate itself was against him having his favorite meal. Last night, he fainted when he discovered that his big brother-like role model had a Limit and never got to have a bowl. Because of that, he was hoping to get one today.

"Yes, well, then you could pay all of the electrical damages, because I don't have that much money," countered Iruka with a smirk.

The blond gave in with a growl and a pout and sat cross legged on the ground to begin to try to relax. Iruka sat across from him, keeping an eye on his student so that he wouldn't take off. Not that he could get away in the first place; he did put a good deal of hunter-nin to shame in tracking.

He lost his usual friendly smile as he felt the bioelectricity of two other people nearby. Iruka didn't show it, but he was weary of their presences.


Mizuki was madder than hell when he heard everything the teacher said. The scarred bastard could have beaten him that night! Iruka must've pretended being weak that night; that's the only way Mizuki could've beaten Iruka.

The silver-haired Chunin now felt nervous about trying to get revenge on his targets. His former comrade had a powerful Bloodline Limit. There had to be a weakness, though. Iruka was a walking, talking power generator and a master of lightning jutsu, if what he said was true. If that was the case…

He smiled as he figured out a way around the electricity-generating Bloodline Limit.

In the shadows behind the unsuspecting man, Anko felt her eyebrows go past her hairline. Iruka couldn't seriously have that much power! The Iruka she knew was friendly and wasn't as obsessed with gaining power, but here he stood with at least kage class skills.

She blinked her eyes rapidly as she tried to process the information.


"…That's what happened when she put her chakra into the card," Kakashi finished explaining to his commander.

"Kinzokuton," muttered the Sandaime under his breath as he tried to think.

"Huh? Could you say that again?" asked the copy-cat.

"Her Limit is called Kinzokuton," explained Sarutobi. "It's an Elemental Limit that grants the user the ability to create the bi-element, metal. Much like Naruto when he uses Hyouton, she can manipulate earth to a degree. Could you tell me how this is possible?"

"I'm afraid I don't know much about Elemental Bloodline Limits," the scarecrow answered honestly.

The aged man lightly laughed. "I thought you would have learned a couple things when you and Tenzo worked together. After all, he is a Mokuton user. Let me explain it to you." The Sandaime leaned his elbows against his desk as he went into his 'professor' mode. "All elemental Limits have a dominant element. For instance, water is the dominant element in Hyouton, and thus, Naruto is able to manipulate it. It's when they shove the secondary element into the other chakra that they create the bi-element."

"If this is the case," continued the old timer, "the first element that appears on a chakra element card is the dominant element. Test it on Naruto and you would see this. As I said before, Sakura can manipulate earth to a degree. Amazing are these Limits, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are. I never knew there was so much science behind them," agreed the former ANBU captain with a hint of awe in his voice.

Everyday he hung around with Naruto, his Byaku Chakra just seemed to be getting simpler and simpler compared to these other Limits. The Kyoukagan alone had so much behind it that it could easily outdo anything in complication alone.

The elder ninja leaned back in his chair as he pondered about the recent happenings. He still needed more info on the Kyoukagan, but there wasn't going to be anything like that here in Konoha. This Limit was nothing ever heard of in the five great shinobi nations, not like the Rin'negan which was the key to founding the ninja world and the basis of many legends that existed.

He also thought about Naruto's parents. Minato had never shown such a trait; neither had Kushina, but then again, the two were really secretive about everything they did.

One of them had to carry the gene, but he doubted it was the former Yondaime, speaking he knew the Namikaze personally. The tomboyish Kushina was another story altogether. He knew about as much about her lineage as he knew how many stars were in the sky. If there was any information to discover, it would be from her side of the family.

"Kakashi," the said man looked up from his ponderings as he heard the Sandaime's voice. "I have a mission for you, but you need to finish it before the Chunin exams."

"What is it?" he asked with curiosity.

It had been a while since he had taken a mission without his students involved. It would be quite refreshing, but what kind of mission could this be? Obviously, it had something to do with the Kyoukagan.

"It's an S-class solo mission," said the Sandaime, explaining the perimeters of the job. "I would have you take a squad, but information about Kyoukagan is simply too sensitive. You are to go to the debunked country of Whirlpool and find whatever information you can on our mystery Doujutsu. There is no information on this Limit in any of the great nations, but this place quite possibly might be the birth place of the Kyoukagan users."

The Sandaime was thankful that Kakashi had no idea what Kushina's maiden name was, otherwise the secret would be out to one more person. But he could trust Kakashi with his life and that was why he was sending him on this particular mission.

"Who will be my substitute for my students while I'm gone?" the wiry man asked, remembering his job as a teacher.

"Why, Tenzo of course!" answered Sarutobi with a smile. "He could easily train Sakura and Naruto. Of course, our little mirror flower might want to copy Mokuton the first chance he could. So, who are to prevent him from doing so? We might as well, speaking he already has some skill in Hyouton. The other reason I'm doing this is because Tenzo would keep the Kyoukagan secret without a hitch. Don't worry; your team will be in good hands."

"I believe you," said Kakashi with a smile behind his mask.

Indeed, he too trusted Tenzo, having worked with him on a number occasions while he was an ANBU captain. The Mokuton user had even saved his life several times if he remembered correctly. They also happened to be drinking buddies too.

"When do I leave?" asked the copy-cat.

"Tomorrow. Until then, I believe we should go and get Naruto so we can explain what we've been able to study about his Limit."


It happened faster than the blink of an eye. Naruto could feel himself get thrown to the side by Iruka as a jet of water entered the clearing from the bushes, soaking his teacher.

"Naruto, change into another Limit NOW!" the scarred man ordered.

The blond quickly did as told as the water then started coming his way. Just as it hit, the water froze as Naruto quickly shoved wind element chakra into it. Both of them of then turned to the point of origin of the attack to see a laughing Mizuki step out of the bushes.

"That's the first time I've ever seen an elemental Limit before," he said with a victorious smile.

"Mizuki-Teme!" shouted Naruto.

Iruka on the other hand remained calm as he stood up. He was now sopping wet, much to his chagrin.

"Mizuki, it seems that you managed to escape from prison." Naruto thought it was weird how his teacher could keep so cool. "What brings you here?"

The silver-haired ninja chuckled lightly before he answered: "I'm here on business. I hear that the demon had a Limit and I'm here to steal something from him."

The maelstrom took a step back as he heard what his former teacher told him. How the hell did he find out about it!? Kakashi-sensei said he would keep it secret! Just how many people knew about his Limit!?

Anko had been ready to jump in at a moment's notice, and was just about to do that, but refrained herself from doing said action when she heard that the bane of Konoha, the most hated person to walk the streets of the village, had something many ninja considered valuable.

"How did you know about that?" questioned Naruto in shock.

"I overheard a very enlightening conversation," explained Mizuki. "But there was one little piece of information that just made my day: I heard that your blood can give anybody a Limit if they could get their hands on it. That's what I'm going to do now!"

The blond felt his eyes widen. He didn't know that the Kyoukagan could do that! Where the hell did this guy get his information?

In the bushes, Anko also felt her eyes widen as she too heard Mizuki's outrageous claim. This had to be some crazy made up story, and Mizuki was stupid to believe it. There was no Limit capable of creating other Limits; it was simply impossible… right? She again felt compelled to stay where she was, milking the situation for maximum info.

"There is no way I'm going to let you have my blood, bastard!" yelled Naruto defiantly.

"We'll see about that, demon."

Naruto readied himself to retreat as Mizuki pulled off one of fuuma shuriken and began to spin it like a buzz saw. The blond tripped backwards as he tried to get away, but as the criminal got to his target, he was abruptly stopped by Iruka and the kunai he was holding.

The silver-haired ninja haughtily laughed once more. "Don't even bother. I know your Limit's weakness. Just like a power generator, if it gets wet, it would short and get destroyed. Am I right?"

Iruka gave a mighty shove with his knife that pushed his opponent off of him, momentarily silencing the arrogant traitor.

Naruto looked towards his teacher with evident worry. If his teacher kept his Hyakurai on, then he would've gotten screwed over royally. That's why he wanted him to change Limits; if he got wet with it on, there was no telling what would happen.

"You're right," said Iruka with a grim look. "If I had left my Limit on, I would've been knocked unconscious from electrocution, but unlike Naruto, I can suppress it."

"I know. I overheard everything you two talked about, but without your strongest ability, you're just an average Chunin," said Mizuki as he smirked in victory.

True to what Mizuki said, Iruka's jutsu options had been severely limited. If he did activate Hyakurai even on accident, he would quickly get electrocuted by his own electricity. He grimaced as he realized just how strategic the traitorous bastard could be when he wanted to.

The scarred Chunin was just about to go through a set hand seals, but stopped as the sound of hissing filled the clearing. Mizuki looked down as he felt something coiling around his leg and gawked in horror as a set of vipers grasped his legs. All of them barred their fangs to discourage movement.

Another much larger viper began to coil around his neck, and much to his fear it had even larger fangs.

"Don't move," said a sadistic voice from behind him that he recognized as one Mitarashi Anko. "The smaller ones are pit vipers while the big one I'm holding is a fer-de-lance. One bite would lead to a slow and agonizing death."

Naruto had never been so happy in his life to see such a sadistic ninja coming to his rescue.

Iruka on the other hand recognized her almost instantly. "Mitarashi Anko. Huh, I've never been so relieved to see you."

"Yeah, well, I happened to be the neighborhood." Her smirk turned deadly as her attention went to the sweating Mizuki. "So, are you going to come quietly or am I going to have to drag you while you scream?"

Much to everyone's surprise, he smirked. "Two things: One: I've known you been following me since last night. Two: do you think I wouldn't have thought ahead?"

As soon as the last word left his mouth, he was replaced with a log with a puff of smoke. Before Anko could react, a shuriken had lodged itself into her shoulder, but as she pulled it out and turned to retaliate, she fell to the ground while her summons disappeared with multiple puffs.

"Shit… it's… poisoned," she said with a murderous glare aimed at the Chunin in the tree above.

"I coated that shuriken with a paralyzing toxin just for you," Mizuki said triumphantly. "You won't be able to move for a while, but don't worry, I'll deal with you soon enough. First things first; I've got business to attend to."

"Fire Release: Immortal Phoenix Flame!"

The silver haired criminal jumped away in time as five fast moving fireballs came his way, making the branch he was on explode. He jumped across from Iruka and charged forward with his fuuma shuriken spinning, but was stopped once more by another kunai his target was holding.

"Did you really think that I wouldn't take my weaknesses into consideration?" asked the scarred man. "I took the time to learn other moves outside of lightning jutsu, and it seems I was smart to do so."

Both of them jumped out of the way as a cold wind came from their side. Mizuki turned his attention back on Naruto, remembering his other purpose for his visit.

The blond wasn't going to go down easy, though, as he made several clones appear and ordered them to attack. Mizuki stopped his charge as he began to slash through the clones like a hot knife through butter, but just as he cut the last one, Iruka finished another set of hand seals.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

Iruka's target leapt out of the way as a powerful gust of wind smashed the area where he stood. While he was in the air, he threw his first fuuma shuriken towards the other Chunin, but the attack was met by a glowing, white kunai that sliced through it.

The two combatants turned towards Naruto to see that he had changed his Limit again, having been given the seven seconds necessary to change into Byaku Chakra. Naruto charged another kunai and sent the bullet fast weapon towards his traitorous teacher, but as the weapon made a hit, he was replaced with a log that splintered from the impact.

Before Iruka could react, Mizuki jumped out of the ground from behind him and, with his other spinning fuuma shuriken in hand, cut his target across the back. The scarred man fell forward, his back bleeding profusely.

"IRUKA!" yelled Anko from her position on the ground, upset that she couldn't help in any way.

Naruto just stared in shock.

It was happening again, except this time his teacher was about to die. He had to do something… but what? How was he going to reach him in time?

Then, he felt it again, the nightmarish chakra that infested him like a virus back on the bridge, the chakra that almost cost him someone he could call 'friend'. This time, though, he welcomed it. Mizuki was threatening a precious person; he had to be punished for his crimes.

The silver-haired traitor smiled maliciously as he was about to stab Iruka and finally gain half of his revenge, but stopped as something foul swept over the area. Everyone turned to look at the source, only to see a flame like chakra engulf the blond maelstrom.

Naruto began to change; his nails became claws as his birthmarks defined even more. His hair became messier while his canines became fangs. He looked as if he was seeing red as he stared at the shocked Mizuki.

His dark eyes, the mark of a Byaku Chakra user, shattered and the crimson, spinning tomoa of a Sharingan instantly appeared in his eyes as the mirror shards fell away, the demonic chakra removing the single major weakness of the Kyoukagan altogether. The goggles slipped off and were hanging around his neck, revealing his beautiful eyes for all to see.

Just as Mizuki was about to fight back, Naruto roared, unleashing a concussive wave that pushed the Chunin across the field. Iruka and Anko were spared as they were lying protectively against the ground.

The blond appeared above Mizuki and began to batter against him with sledgehammer punches. His target tried to fight back, but Naruto's Sharingan read everything like an open book, allowing him to counter and smash at Mizuki.

The traitor wondered if he was going to get out of this alive.

He thankfully found a way out the mess he was in as he pulled out a kunai and threw it towards the slowly standing Iruka. Naruto seemed to regain his humanity as he watched the weapon in shock, but his teacher caught the weapon coming towards him without any strain.

The demon powered boy sighed in relief, but Mizuki took advantage of the distraction to give a small cut across the boy's arm. Naruto quickly jumped backwards while holding the cut, despite it healing almost instantly, but it was enough as the kunai the traitor held was now bloody at the tip.

"Now I will have a Bloodline Limit of my own, and when I do, I'LL CRUSH YOU ALL!" roared Mizuki with an insane smile.

It was at that moment that the Hokage and Kakashi dashed into the training area at full speed, trying to stop Mizuki before he allowed the blood to enter his body.

"Mizuki! DON'T DO IT!" yelled Kakashi frantically.

Either way, it was too late as Mizuki stabbed himself in his arm. The wide eyed scarecrow and the Sandaime skidded to the stop, unable to prevent Mizuki from unknowingly committing suicide.

He laughed insanely, waiting to feel the effects of putting the Kyoukagan user's blood into his body, but instead suddenly fell to his knees while gasping for air and holding onto his neck. A second later, he puked up blood onto the ground. Much to his horror as well as everyone else's that was playing witness, the blood began to smoke before it became black, poisoning the ground it touched.

His eyes widened in fear at what he saw… and that's when the worst of it began to happen. Mizuki screamed in pain as he felt his blood begin to boil, bursting every vain, artery, and capillary contained in his body.

Naruto looked on in horror as his demonic side receded. The Sharingan, no longer of use, disappeared making his Kyoukagan shatter once more and leaving him with his normal crystal-blue eyes.

His eyes widened even more as he heard a dark laughter ringing through the back of his mind.

Kakashi and the Sandaime slowed to a trot with pity in their eyes as they watched Mizuki scream through the worst five minutes that he was going to ever experience. Iruka and Anko also looked on in unsung fear, wondering what was going on.

Mizuki could then feel more excruciating pain as his skin began to tear, leaving gouges all over his body and leaking blackened blood. He screamed even more as he felt his organs being liquefied from the black, poison-like blood.

Naruto took a step back as he watched in horror and disbelief that his blood had caused this. The way the man was dying… it was a fate that no one should be subjugated to. It was horrible to the point that no word could describe it.

Finally, Mizuki stopped screaming as he lifted his head to the sky with widened eyes. Slowly, blackened blood began to drip from his mouth, then from his ears and nose, and then ending when he began to cry the fowl liquid. With one final look towards the blond, he fell forwards, forever staring with fear-filled eyes, scared of his own death.

The blond began to breathe hard as he saw Mizuki's dead body lying there, seemingly staring back at him with lifeless eyes. As tears of frigid liquid silver began to fall from his eyes, a set of comforting arms wrapped themselves around him. He didn't even look at the man; just from the tender touch he could tell that it was Iruka.

The famous copy-cat shook his head as he came up next to the body, being careful not to step into the blackened blood that was rapidly poisoning everything it touched.

"Sakura, you were very lucky," Kakashi told himself.

Sarutobi stood next to him, looking at the fallen ninja with pity. "Kakashi, you have no idea how right you are."

Mizuki had just become victim to the most excruciating form of torture that the world could offer. The Kyuubi was truly the most sadistic son-of-a-bitch to walk the planet. Only such a mind could conjure up something so awful.

"Make sure to dispose of the body so that none of this could be made known," he said in a voice that spoke both volumes of wisdom and experience before he turned his attention to Iruka and Anko.

He walked up to Naruto while doing some hand seals and put his hand on the crying blond, making him fall asleep.

"I'm sorry, but right now he needs to rest," explained the Hokage. "What just happened was something he wasn't ready to see."

Iruka nodded with his own pity in his eyes. "I understand."

"Kakashi, when you are done, meet me at my office, but make sure that you pick up Anko on your way," ordered the Hokage as he and Iruka began to make their way to the Hokage tower, carrying a sleeping Naruto.

"Yeah, just make sure you don't do anything fishy, you one-eyed bastard," she threatened from the ground.

The silver-haired ninja just rolled his single eye and began to do his work.


A couple hours later, Iruka just stared in disbelief at the Sandaime while trying to digest what he just heard. Anko would have done the same, but unfortunately for her, she hung onto her seat like a limp noodle, the poison having not run its full course yet. Kakashi was leaning against the back wall, having already known all of the info shared. Naruto was on a futon, sleeping peacefully.

"Amazing," whispered Iruka. "No wonder it has to stay secret. If something like this got out…"

He was quickly interrupted by Anko, "…Then shit would hit the fan."

"Not the words I would use," said the Sandaime with his pipe smoking in his mouth, "but yes… that is what would happen. But today's events have told me something else: the Kyuubi doesn't like to share this gift with anybody."

"It makes me wonder why," muttered Kakashi sarcastically.

Sarutobi ignored him in favor of continuing his talk. "The more demonic chakra Naruto has in his blood, the worse those effects get. Sakura lived mainly because Naruto wasn't pulling on the Kyuubi's chakra at the time, but there was enough of it there to threaten her life."

"Damn, this just keeps getting better," noted Anko.

"Funny," said Iruka, something akin to worry crossing his face. "It's more ironic than anything. It seems more like a cursed miracle the more we look at it."

"That it is… That it is, Iruka," agreed the Hokage.


Naruto felt as if he landed in a cold puddle of water as he stood up, soaking wet. Last he remembered, he was looking at Mizuki's lifeless body and then the old man did some kind of jutsu to make him fall asleep.

He looked down at the knee-deep water, feeling awful that it was his blood that killed the man like that, but now he had to move forward. It wasn't good to dwell on the past, but now he knew not to let anyone get a hold of his blood in any way, shape, and form.

Looking around, he saw that he was in something that looked like a cross between a sewer with all the leaky pipes going in and out of the walls, and one of those funhouses full of broken mirrors. The water itself was silvery, but clear enough that it could be distinguished as some form of liquid.

He suddenly turned around as he felt a presence staring holes into the back of his head, but only found his reflection. It was hard to make out his image with it being so dark and the mirrors being broken. Still, that feeling of constantly being watched was nerve racking.

With nothing else to do, he walked down the hall towards a red glow.

Behind him, a set of stormy eyes watched his every movement from inside the mirrors.

The place just seemed like a maze; he felt like he was going nowhere and fast. The only sign that he was making progress was the steadily growing red light. Finally, much to his relief, he entered the antechamber the glow was originating from.

His eyes widened as he caught sight of the massive gate. Intricate seals lined the pillar-like bars, and a single piece of paper that had the kanji for 'seal' on it was holding the huge gateway shut.

Out of the darkness of the gates, a pair of human-sized ruby eyes stared at him, making him shift uncomfortably as he stood under their gaze. Slowly, they walked towards him and the person the eyes belonged to began to enter the light. The water rippled underneath as set of feminine feet walked on the surface of the liquid, but as the body came into view, he could finally see who it was.

Much to Naruto's surprise, it was girl about his age, stopping as a clear barrier came up in front of her and preventing whatever advance she had planned. Her hair was blood red and her skin was milky pale. She wore a simple dress with no bells or whistles; she was also well endowed, despite the age she looked.

"It's about time you met me, fool," she said with enough malice to make the hair on Naruto's neck to stand on end.

"Who… Who are you and where am I?" he asked, highly weary of the girl in the cage.

She gave a smile that made the blond's skin crawl, revealing her longer than normal canines.

Looking at her, Naruto couldn't help but feel fear, despite her fragile appearance. There was just something about her that screamed for him to run for his life, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"We're inside your mind –or the seal if you wish to be specific. If you don't mind me asking, don't you recognize the nightmare that ruined your life?" she smiled with mirth as she waited for his recognition.

That's when it hit him about her identity. Contradictory to popular opinion, the Kyuubi was not the son-of-a-bitch as people assumed, but rather, she was a bitch altogether.

"You!" he growled past his clenched teeth.

She lightly laughed. "Yes. Me. Me. Me," her eyes briefly glowed crimson and became slitted as she said the last word, "the bitch that killed everyone that lovely night that you were born."

Naruto's eyes shattered, turning his vibrant blue eyes into broken mirrors, mimicking the environment around him. He wanted so much to jump in there and kill her. She was the root of every awful thing that happened to him!

Looking at her smile, he could also tell that was exactly what she wanted. Calming down, he made his eyes return to normal.

"Like what I had your blood do to Mizuki?" she asked with a sadistic smile.

"That was you?" he growled.

It only caused her smile to become even more sadistic, if that was possible. "Oh yes! It worked so beautifully. It's worse than any form of torture on the planet and it only gets better and better with the more of my chakra you use."

"Then I won't use it," the blond simply said.

She laughed again. "That's like saying you won't bleed. You don't fully grasp just how unique your Limit is."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with caution.

"It's a Transcendent Bloodline Limit," she explained with a smile, glad that she had got stuck with the container she did, "a Limit that only appears once every fifteen generations. The one you happened to get stuck with not only copies Limits, but can create new ones whenever someone comes into contact with your blood. But as you can see, I'm very selfish and don't like to share.

She grinned evilly. "If only your blood was more poisonous when you're not using my chakra… then maybe that sad excuse of a kunoichi would have died when the blood got into her eyes."

It had gotten the effect she wanted as Naruto felt his eyes widen in surprise at the sudden revelation.

The Kyuubi then decided to rub salt on the wound. "Oh yes, she should have died. It was because of you she almost did."

Her grin slipped as he looked at her with fury. The redhead succeeded only in pissing Naruto off.

"You… You almost killed her!" he said, his Kyoukagan shattering again; he felt his resolve about what he was going to do strengthen. "I'll become strong, strong enough so that I don't need your chakra!"

She scowled. In her anger, her eyes began to glow and become slitted.

"You're going to need me eventually, whether you like it or not. Don't worry, I'll always be here," she said as she receded back into the darkness, failing to usurp any control on her container this time.

Naruto only narrowed his eyes as he saw her staring back at him loathingly with her ruby eyes. No matter what, he wasn't about to let her get away with anything; after all, this was the monster that laid waste to entire nations.

Suddenly, the world twisted, and another second later, he was blinking the sleep out of his eyes.


Everyone in the Hokage's office turned their attention to Naruto as he began to stir. Their talk just ended and everyone was about ready to go home.

Naruto then sat up, still looking really tired. "The Kyuubi is a bitch."

The next thing that happened had everyone blinking in confusion: The blond fell backwards, once more giving into the wiles of slumber.

Kill Joy no Jutsu (A.K.A. Author's Note): Well, here's the new chapter. Now to explain some things…

I'm sorry if I made Mizuki a little more powerful than normal, but it was a little necessary to advance the storyline.

Some of you are asking to stop having Naruto copying so many Limits, but think about it for a second. He has a Limit that can copy other Limits without any ill side effects; would you want to stop at just a couple? It may seem like I'm making him god-like, but not really. The limits and weaknesses I have given the Kyoukagan sort of prevent that from happening.

Second order of business: Here you all were thinking that Sakura had it bad. Mizuki just had the worst day of his life, plain and simple. Oh, and I imagine that some of you think that earth + fire = magma or something else, but for some odd reason, I can't see it that way. Don't worry; I plan on giving Sakura a major change of attitude come the Chunin exam arc.

Thankfully we are past that issue, how did you all like my try at a female Kyuubi? No, this isn't going to be a Kyuubi/Naruto pairing. She's just a little too evil for that right now. This is just me trying to go out on a limb and experiment. Also, how did you all like the change I gave to Naruto's mindscape?

If any of you read that, congratulations. I'll post the information about the Hyakurai next chapter because the author's note now is becoming way too long.