I do not own Naruto.
'I think I like that personality the best.' Kurama stated as Naruto continued to make his way towards the sounds of the battle.
'That's the first time I have experienced that one.' Naruto replied thoughtfully.
'Well, you never tortured anyone before, so you never needed it. I assume that that personality takes a lot of the experiences from your experiences at the hands of the villagers and uses those them to destroy your opponents resistance, the sadistic quality also helps and probably comes from me.' Kurama explained.
'Makes sense.' Naruto thought back as he stopped hearing the sounds of battle. 'Kurama, what happened over there?'
It took a little time for the fox to answer. 'They are both still alive. Which most likely means that your sensei lost, there is no reason for her to leave her opponent alive, and a lot of reason for your opponent to leave her alive.' Kurama hypothesized.
'Then we'll just have to clean up.' Naruto determined.
'Whoa kit, this opponent is better than you, that much I can tell, especially if he can beat an experienced kunoichi like your sensei.' Kurama warned his container.
'I know, but sensei should have injured him and caused him to use a fair amount of his chakra reserves, and hopefully I will be able to get a little bit of information from her before I have to fight. Plus, I can't return to Konoha without her or I'll be killed.' Naruto responded as he entered a clearing where he had heard the sounds of battle come from.
Across the clearing he saw a man, about 6'3", bald with a dark complexion and was wearing a lot of leather, something that was shared by most of the bandits in this group, though his was littered with cuts and you could see fresh wounds underneath the ripped areas, and a katana strapped to his side. He was nursing a bloody right shoulder and seemed to have most of his weight on his left leg. The one thing that threw Naruto off the most though, was that his eyes were glossy, showing that he was blind.
Off to his left was his sensei, with only her head above ground, looking down in defeat.
"Sensei," Kurenai's head whipped up when she heard her name being called out. "What can you tell me about him?" Naruto asked as he eyed his opponent.
"Naruto! You can't take this man on. Just run back to the village, we don't need any more casualties in this mission." Kurenai exclaimed trying to save her student.
"Sensei…" Kurenai looked at Naruto and saw him staring right back at her. "What can you tell me about him?" Naruto repeated.
Kurenai sighed. "He's a ninja from Kumo, as you know, and he is blind. Though don't underestimate him. Since he is blind, most genjutsu is useless against him and he is a sensor, one of the best I have ever seen, only topped by the Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga. He is strong with a sword and has affinities to both Lightning and Earth. I injured his right leg and arm severely earlier and he used a few taxing jutsu before he finally took me down." Kurenai gave Naruto all the information she knew, hoping it would keep her student alive.
Naruto just nodded as he looked across at his opponent who was "looking" right back at him.
"You got guts kid, but just because you know about me isn't going to save you. You should have run when you had the chance." The man said as he got down in a stance, heavily favoring his left leg.
Naruto said nothing as he settled into his own stance, unsealing his saber claws.
"Oh those are some interesting weapons you got there, but do you know how to use them." The Kumo missing-nin taunted as he unsheathed his katana.
'He's just taunting you to try and get a reaction out of you. He obviously can't see your weapons. Don't give him anything to use.' Kurama warned.
Naruto just nodded in response.
Both combatants stayed on opposite sides of the clearing, waiting for their opponent to make the first move. Naruto had already released his resistance seal on his way over to the clearing knowing he may get into this situation. Though he was feeling confident that he would at least be able to match his opponents speed since he had sustained an injury and planned on just outlasting him before going in for the kill.
Naruto's opponent, seemingly getting restless, bolted towards Naruto in an impressive burst of speed for someone with an injured leg.
He attempted a vertical downward slash which was easily blocked by Naruto as he crossed both saber claws above his head.
The missing-nin pushed off against Naruto and performed a back flip gaining a good amount of distance between the two combatants.
Naruto quickly made a few clones that went on the offensive to test the man out.
"So you can make clones huh." The missing-nin said as he flawlessly spun around and parried or dodged all of the clones attacks before taking them out with a swift slash.
Naruto's eyes widened minutely when he witnessed that, this man was very impressive to be able to take on multiple enemies at the same time without even getting scratched.
"If that is all you've got you are a long way away from being able to beat me." The missing-nin boasted as he got back in his stance.
Naruto just narrowed his eyes before he blocked a horizontal slash as his enemy appeared in front of him.
"Good reactions, but let's see if you can keep it up." The missing-nin then went into a barrage a slashes trying to break through Naruto's guard, but to no avail. After a full minute of his relentless assault, the missing-nin finally leapt back, putting some ground between him and Naruto.
"Yes, very good. But let's see how you hold up to this." The missing-nin said as his sword started to crackle with lightning.
'Shit' Naruto thought as he responded by channelling wind chakra through his saber claws.
"Oh. You have a wind nature, and from Konoha? That is quite rare." the blind man said. "And those truly are some interesting weapons you have there, can't say I have ever seen anyone with a weapon as odd as that." The man continued as he could now "see" the shape of the saber claws now that Naruto was channelling chakra through them.
Naruto was actually quite surprised to hear his opponent call him out on his nature. He didn't think his sensory ability was that good, but he was obviously mistaken.
"You're so boring… I'm the only one doing any of the talking, why don't you talk back to me?" The missing-nin asked trying to get Naruto to respond. "The silent type, you like to leave it all on the field of battle and let your actions speak. I get it." the man continued after a few seconds of silence.
Naruto was immediately on his back foot, for right after the man stopped talking he engaged Naruto in another relentless assault with his sword.
Naruto knew that he couldn't stay on the defense forever or he would eventually lose, even if he could easily outlast his opponent, he wasn't in control of the fight and would eventually slip up and make a mistake if he didn't try and take control of the fight.
So, instead of blocking the mans next slash, he pulled back both his saber claws and let the blade fly by him.
The missing-nin, surprised by the action, lost his balance and over extended giving Naruto an opening to try and take control of the fight, but this man had experience in these kinds of situations. Before Naruto could even attempt to gain control the missing-nin flipped his blade into a reverse grip and continued to spin.
Naruto, caught off guard tried to defend himself from the unorthodox attack, but the lightning infused blade still hit the fingers of his right hand. Luckily for him it was the blunt side of the blade, but the shock still caused his hand to involuntarily open forcing him to drop his saber claw.
The missing-nin, hearing his opponents weapon clatter on the ground, quickly spun his blade back around into a standard grip and slashed at his opponents exposed hand.
Naruto, seeing the slash coming, tried to pull back his hand, but was too slow as the man cut through three of his fingers and part of his fourth before he was able to retract his hand.
Naruto leapt back from his attacker and glanced down at his mutilated hand. His pointer finger was healing rather quickly, but his other three fingers were not growing back, the wounds just closed up.
'Shit.' Naruto cursed in his head, though he had a good amount of jutsu in his arsenal that he could perform one-handed or without seals, this kept him from learning new jutsu in the future.
'You're thinking about the future at a time like this kit?' Kurama deadpanned. His container was in a life or death battle, that he was losing, and he was thinking about the future.
'I'm not going to die here. There's too much at stake for me to just roll over and die. I'm not going to let those women go through anything more than they have already gone through. I've been through some of the worst things the world has to offer, and I would never wish that on any innocent being. Now this guy though, I'm going to break him.' Naruto finished his thought as he started to channel Kurama's chakra through his body. 'Sorry buddy, but I'm not strong enough to beat him on my own. Going to have to use your strength for this.'
'Just kill the guy so we can get back to Konoha, I still need to teach you how to understand animals.' Kurama stated as he laid on the grass in Naruto's mind, he knew that Naruto could take the man if he started using his chakra. He could go up to one tail so far and that would easily be enough to finish the injured man, though he knew that Naruto wouldn't use that much right off the bat since he is still unsure if he can completely control himself.
"I didn't want to resort to this, but I have to ensure that I win." Naruto said as he looked at his enemy, his eyes changing from cerulean blue to ruby red with slitted pupils.
"A Jinchuuriki. From Konoha, so… the Kyuubi." The missing-nin muttered as he felt the second chakra signature explode from his enemy. "I never got the pleasure of fighting our Jinchuuriki, so I guess I will just have to test my prowess against you."
Naruto said nothing as he lowered himself in his stance again, only brandishing one of his saber claws, before he took off at his opponent, moving much faster than he had been before.
The missing-nin barely raised his blade in time to block Naruto's jab at his neck, though his right arm nearly buckled from the force of the strike. "You are much faster, but if you think that alone will be able to beat me then you are mistaken." The man taunted before Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed.
"Fuuton: Kami Oroshi" Naruto thrust his hands out in front of him sending a powerful blast of wind towards his opponent. Though his opponent was ready for the attack, having sensed him building up chakra for a jutsu, and had already prepared a defense.
"Doton: Doryuuheki" The missing-nin chanted as he slammed his hands on the ground creating an earth barrier between him and the wind jutsu flying at him.
Before he had anytime to taunt his opponent, he was already under a barrage from his blonde foe as he was forced to block a vertical slash that was aimed to split his head in two. As he was focused on blocking the Jinchuuriki's saber claw he failed to notice the blonde's other hand take a swipe at him until too late.
Jumping back, the missing-nin held his injured chest where a large gash appeared and was bleeding. Not enough to kill him, but enough to hinder his movements even more than they already were.
"Kaze no Yaiba… I should have known you would know that jutsu." The missing-nin stated as he got back in his stance, though it was much sloppier than before, it seems that he was running out of energy.
Naruto just held up his left hand up in a half ram seal, he had sealed his saber blade into his sleeve, and spoke the name of his next jutsu. "Fuuton: Shinkuuha." Naruto took a deep breath and blew out a large amount razor sharp wind towards his opponent, who was finishing the seals for his own jutsu.
"Doton: Doryuheki." The man used the same jutsu he had used earlier in hopes of stopping this jutsu. This time he was not taken by surprise when his opponent appeared in a burst of speed, and immediately ran him through his gut with his sword crackling with electricity.
Naruto gripped onto the man's arm, a small smirk could be seen on his face.
"It seems I win." The missing-nin grinned as he 'looked' at the skewered genin on his sword. Though his grin fell when he suddenly collapsed.
Naruto stood there, coughing up bits of blood as he removed the katana from his gut.
"What did you do!" The missing-nin demanded as he struggled to get up, but found he could not move any of his limbs. It felt like they were being held to the ground by a powerful magnet.
"Gravity seal. You made the mistake of letting me within arms length, and whenever you fight a Jinchuuriki you always need to go for the kill, or they will just heal." Naruto lectured as the hole in his stomach started to steam and close thanks to still being in his initial Jinchuuriki state giving him an even greater healing factor.
"So what, you gonna kill me now? Can you kill me?" The missing-nin challenged thinking that a genin of his age may have trouble with his first kill.
"I've already killed so I could kill you if I wanted, but I'm not, I need to try something, and you seem like the perfect test subject." Naruto grinned as he knelt next to the man before placing two fingers on his forehead. Nothing happened until Naruto's fingertips glowed red for a few seconds and the next thing the missing-nin knew was he was standing in a volcanic wasteland.
"Wait a second, I can see!" The missing-nin exclaimed as he started to look around taking in his surroundings.
"Yes, you can. It wouldn't be any fun if you couldn't see, it would take away from the fun." The man heard a deep voice say from behind him.
He whirled around only for all color to leave his face he took a few steps back. Standing in front of him, in all it's glory, was the Kyuubi, grinning a menacing grin the promised untold pain to anything it could get it's paws on.
"You're my plaything now. Let's see how long you can last." Kurama said as one of his tails shot forward and grabbed the man as he turned to try and run. "There is no escape for you little ningen. Now let the fun begin."
Naruto made his way over to his sensei, who was still buried in the ground, as he listened to the screams of the missing-nin behind him.
"Naruto! Why didn't you leave when I told you to?! You could have died in that battle!" Kurenai fumed when Naruto was close enough for her to heard.
"One, you would have been captured by that man and would have become like the rest of the women here, I wasn't about to let you go through that… Two, what would have happened if the "demon" returned from the mission without his sensei? The village would hate me even more than it already does… If that is possible." Naruto answered calmly as he started to dig his sensei out of the ground. "Plus I knew that I would be able to beat him, you had already given him a couple injuries and had forced him to use a good amount of his chakra. I knew I could just outlast him at that point."
Kurenai just sighed at her students answer knowing that he was right in thinking that his life would be much worse if he did return without her. He probably would have been killed. "Did you have to take that stab through the gut?"
"After he cut off my fingers I wouldn't have been able to beat him by just outlasting him. My whole right side was open so I needed to end it quickly, I would rather not get stabbed, but I needed to get close and he wasn't used to fighting Jinchuuriki so I was able to use that to my advantage and get in close without him landing a fatal wound allowing me to end it." Naruto explained as he finished digging his sensei's upper body out of the ground allowing her to get the rest of her body out herself. "Though I really should have just played that fight much safer and not end up with as many injuries."
"You sound like an Aburame explaining everything you do." Kurenai noted.
"They are one of the only people who don't discriminate against me. I had met one when I was younger and we would talk a lot, him explaining different things he did on missions while I listened. I guess a bit of his personality wore off on me." Naruto replied as he looked back at the missing-nin who was now clutching at his eyes.
"I DON'T WANT TO SEE! NO MORE! NO MORE!" The man said as he ripped his eyes from their sockets, blood spurting out from his now empty eye sockets.
"What did you do to him?" Kurenai asked as she turned away from the gruesome scene, feeling a bit nauseous all of a sudden.
Naruto just smiled sadistically. "He's having fun with a fox."
Kurenai's head whipped around to look at her student asking a silent question.
Naruto just looked back at her, his smile widening as he did so.
Kurenai's eyes widened and her mouth was hanging open when she got that answer, she didn't even notice her student walking off.
"You coming sensei? We still need to get the women to safety." Naruto called over his shoulder.
Kurenai quickly shook her self out of her stupor and raced after Naruto and grabbed him by his shoulder.
Naruto quickly unsealed his saber claw and jumped away from his sensei and crouched into his stance, facing his sensei.
Kurenai just stood there frozen, shocked, and a little hurt, by what her student was doing. "N-Naruto… Wha- What are you doing?"
Naruto realized what he did and quickly sealed his saber claw, still looking quite shaken he spoke back to Kurenai, "I'm… I'm sorry sensei… It was just a reflex. Getting grabbed like that… It just reminded me of something and I just acted." Naruto tried to explain, not really wanting to hurt his sensei's feeling. She was nice and actually tried to help him without any ulterior motives. He didn't need to lose someone who actually gave a damn about him. 'Why the fuck did I just do that? I thought I had better control over myself.'
'You still have the adrenaline running through you from when you were fighting that missing-nin from earlier, so you are a bit more jumpy, still being in flight or fight mode and all.' Kurama reasoned.
"I'm sorry about that Naruto, but we have bigger problems. We don't want the Kyuubi getting out from your seal" Kurenai panicked.
Naruto just looked back at his sensei with a confused look on his face. "I would be surprised if he wasn't trying to get out of the seal." He said plainly.
"WHAT! Naruto this is not something to be joking about this is serious!" Kurenai screamed, not believing how nonchalant her student was about the Kyuubi possibly breaking out of the seal.
"Kurenai, the seal is extremely advanced, it would take me a few years of near constant research just to learn how to break the seal, and that is with all the resources I have available to me. The Kyuubi does not have access to any of these resources so he is having to basically start from scratch and come up with a lot of theories on his own. It would take him much longer than the time he has been sealed inside of me to even come up with something that could possibly break the seal. Plus he has been in there for a long time. Being caged for such a long time… I would try to break out also. But like I said, he won't be able to break the seal… Most likely in my lifetime." Naruto explained.
"Okay, so he can't break out of the seal. That's good. But, if he is able to talk to you he may be corrupting you Naruto! We have to let the Hokage know about this!" Kurenai exclaimed.
"No. We are not telling the Hokage about this. He is the only reason that we are alive and the only reason you weren't raped by that man. You owe him your life" Naruto objected. 'And I owe him my life a million times over...'
"Why wouldn't I tell the Hokage about something that could potentially be a massive disaster?" Kurenai argued.
"Because if you do tell the Hokage, then he will get a seal master, such as Jiraiya, to attempt to tighten the seal and cut off all contact I have with the Kyuubi. If that happens, I will probably die within a week. The only reason I am still alive today is because the Kyuubi heals me at an extremely fast rate. If I'm cut off from him, there is a good possibility that I lose that ability, and then those times that I was beaten or tortured and barely lived… I would die. That and he saved your life… So he's obviously not as bad as everyone has hyped him up to be." Naruto explained. "But enough about the Kyuubi. We really need to get the girls to town."
"I'm sorry Naruto, but the Hokage really needs to know about this. I am sure that he won't tighten the seal enough to actually cause any harm to you, just enough to make sure that the Kyuubi won't corrupt you." Kurenai persisted.
'I really shouldn't have hinted that I could communicate with you.' Naruto thought exasperatedly.
'Not one of your better decisions. It's always nice to take risks though, makes life fun.' Kurama responded.
'That's probably how you ended up being sealed in the first place…' Naruto thought back.
'I didn't think of it as a risk back then. I was just interested in getting a ningen out of my territory, but Madara was much stronger than I assumed, and his eyes…Oh how I hate the sharingan.' Kurama growled out angrily.
'It made life fun though, right?' Naruto snickered.
'I wound up inside of you didn't I?' Kurama quipped back.
'I am pretty amazing aren't I?' Naruto asked thoughtfully.
'Don't get full of yourself kit, you're still young and stupid.' Kurama remarked.
As Naruto was having his inner discussion with his tenant, Kurenai was still waiting for a response from her student. She was about to ask him if he was okay when she saw a smile find its way onto his face, and it wasn't a fake smile that she saw him put on sometimes… This was a real smile. She had a good guess at what he was doing, and if it actually made him happy to be talking to the fox, maybe it wouldn't be bad to trust him on this.
"Okay Naruto." Kurenai started, breaking Naruto out of his internal conversation, "I won't tell the Hokage about you and the Kyuubi. Let's go get the women back to the town." Kurenai finished as she started to walk towards the tents where all the women were waiting.
Naruto just stared at his sensei's retreating form confused about her sudden change. 'What the hell just happened?' Naruto asked.
'Hell if I know, I was busy talking to you.' Kurama replied, equally as shocked.
Naruto just shook his head and followed his sensei towards the tents.
So I wrote this chapter in between studying for finals so it might not be as good as the rest of them. It sure as hell isn't as long as I would have liked, but school takes preference. As always, please leave reviews of what you would like to see and I will see if I can fit it into the story.
~Dyna