"Kyuubi…" Naruto breathed. "It's been awhile." Kyuubi parted his lips revealing rows of sharp teeth in what might have been a grin or a smirk. Naruto couldn't tell with the fox demon. "What…do you want?"

"Interesting you should ask…but yes, I do want something. A…deal, in fact." Kyuubi said slyly.

Naruto looked suspiciously at him, remembering all of their past interactions, most of which had ended badly.

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to make a deal with a demon."

"Ah, yes, but that's exactly it." He said while examining his claws. "I am a demon, not to mention the most powerful one, and so I can grant you things no human could."

"Demons are notorious for being tricksters. I don't see why you should be any different."

"Well, yes. I can't deny that we…fool around with humans a bit, but what I'm offering is different."

Naruto scoffed. "Different, huh? Well I suppose I can hear you out, even if I'm not going to accept whatever deal you're offering."

Kyuubi did his half grin, half smirk thing again. "Well," He said slowly, "I can offer you Power. Strength. Control. Whatever you want to call it."

Naruto gave a short laugh. "Power, Kyuubi? Isn't that what you offered before and I declined? What makes you think I've changed my mind?"

"Ah, yes. I rather though we might be reaching this problem. In answer to your first question; yes, I have offered this very thing once or twice before and you did decline both times. To your second question, well, things are rather different now. Before, you didn't need my power since you had your team as well as Kakashi, not to mention that almost every shinobi in your town would go running to rescue you." He paused here to see what Naruto's reaction would be, and seeing nothing very interesting, he continued. "Now, as a grown shinobi, you are expected to fend for yourself on your strength. However, as a Jinchuuriki, you have even more potential power, thus higher expectations, but those shouldn't be hard to reach since you have a 'demon', me, sealed inside you ready to offer you that power. What I am offering and what you would be accepting are no different from other Jinchuurikis and their 'demons'. Why we demons offer the power is simply a self-preservation instinct."

"Like I give a damn about people and their expectations." Naruto said irritably. "Besides, you make it sound like I'm going to accept."

Kyuubi scoffed. "We'll see soon enough, wont we?"

"Guess so." Naruto scratched his neck, examining Kyuubi. He didn't particularly like Kyuubi, but as he hadn't seen him in a while, it was nice to know he hadn't just dropped dead inside of him

"So, uh, what do you mean by self-preservation instinct? You're making me stronger, not you, right?"

Kyuubi looked at him for a while and Naruto was sure he was mentally rolling his eyes at his stupidity.

"I thought you might have become a bit more intelligent but apparently not." Kyuubi ignored the glare being shot his way. "Well, look at it this way. I'm sealed inside of you, so we can call you my…'house', as you humans call it. Anyway, imagine being trapped inside your house and it just happened to collapse on you. You would die most likely, so obviously you want to reinforce it, or as I'm doing, make it stronger. Essentially, that's what I'm trying to do."

"So you're saying that you are trying to keep me from dying so that you won't die as well?

"Glad you understand. So, what do you say?"

Naruto shook his head and Kyuubi let out a soft growl of frustration. "What I still don't understand is the danger I'm in."

"Even I'm not entirely sure. I know it will be harder for you to deal with than the Akatsuki but…I have a feeling about who it involves." Kyuubi paused and smirked at Naruto, enjoying playing with him. Naruto glared again and Kyuubi continued. "It's that Uchia boy."

Naruto let out a small gasp, feeling as though he had just been punched in the stomach. "Sasuke?! You're crazy! He wouldn't go and attack a one of the five villages! They're way too much for even him to handle! Besides, Sasuke wouldn't try to hurt me." He said indignantly.

Kyuubi raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? I seem to remember that he tried to kill your sensei a couple years ago. He spent his life trying to kill his brother, which he eventually did, and then he killed Orochimaru, one of the famous Sannin. A small thing like friendship won't stop him either. He would've killed that female ninja friend of yours if you hadn't intervened, and there's no saying how many more people he's killed since then. You say he wouldn't try to hurt you?"

Naruto knew Kyuubi was right, but he stilled growled defiantly at him. His pride wouldn't allow him to admit that the demon was right.

Kyuubi chuckled darkly, as though he knew what Naruto was thinking. "You will need my power sooner or later, and I'll be ready. I'm not willing to risk dying inside of you."

"Be quiet Kyuubi! I'm stronger than you think! I don't need your powers!" He spat, clenching his fists in anger.

"Control your temper. Rage is what allows me to control you, or have you forgotten? Your confidence is admirable though, even if it is sheer stupidity." Kyuubi raised an eyebrow as Naruto bared his fangs at him. "Maybe you would make a better demon than I originally thought, Kit."

Naruto had a last fleeting image of Kyuubi's smug expression before everything dissipated and he woke up in his bed.

"Demon my ass." He growled. "Like hell I would want to be one." Naruto lay there in bed venting his feelings of anger at Kyuubi until he slowly became aware of a growing pain in his hands. He brought them up to his face and saw small streams of blood trickling slowly from his palms down his wrists. He quickly realized the problem was his nails which had grown until they started to resemble claws and had been tearing though his flesh in his rage. He watched them until Kyuubi's power kicked in and they started to heal. He could almost hear Kyuubi mocking him, telling him he needed him. Naruto frowned and looked out the window. He had had enough of Kyuubi for a while.

It took a moment before Naruto realized what he was seeing. He jumped out of bed and quickly putting on his clothes, moved to the window for a better view. Sunagakure was bathed in an eerie, flickering red light that seemed to be coming from the narrow pass that made the village entrance. He cursed. This was uncalled for and he was in a bad mood after Kyuubi.

'Oh well. Maybe this will take my mind off that annoying fox.' He thought optimistically. He moved away from the window just as there was a knock on his door. He quickly went to open it and found a ruffled looking guard standing there.

"Sir! Kazekage-sama wants you to meet him at the front of the building."

Naruto nodded and the guard quickly left. 'What the heck is happening? It can't be the attack Gaara was talking about. That's not supposed to be for a while!" He quickly strapped on his weapons and ran down the series of stairs and hallways until he reached the front doors that led outside. He scanned the crowd of people, searching for the familiar mass of red hair, and quickly found him. Gaara was standing in front of the building issuing orders to the surrounding ninja. Naruto went up to him and kneeled respectfully in front of him to receive his orders. Gaara might not like Naruto to kneel in front of him, but they had to keep up the act.

"Teams 3,5,6,9 and 11 go and investigate the explosion. You will be joined by some guards from the pass. The rest of you patrol the city, except for the ones guarding this building. Dismissed." There was a blur as most of the ninjas disappeared to their respective tasks. "Kurai, you come with me."

Naruto and Gaara were jumping across the rooftops heading for the entrance.

"So, fill me in on what happened. I was, um, sleeping."

"Well, we don't know much actually. I was alerted around 5 minutes ago about a mysterious explosion at the pass. I have people investigating of course, but nothing's been found. We'll have to see for ourselves."

Naruto nodded and they sped towards their goal. When they got there, the place was swarming with ninja, looking for what could have caused such a huge problem.

"Report!" Gaara barked out.

"Kazekage-sama, it appears to be caused by a flame jutsu. The marks of an explosive device are not present, and any other possible causes have been ruled out by our special investigation team."

"Do you know who did it?"

"We traced the last bit of remaining chakra and determined it's no one in our town records, Hokage-sama."

Naruto was impressed. "Your people work quickly."

"Of course." Replied Gaara. "It's what they have been trained for."

"Um, Kazekage-sama, we do have a suspect in mind…" stated the ninja who had spoken previously.

"Yes?" Gaara prompted.

"Well it matches the records we have from Konoha. The Uchia Clan records, in fact."

Naruto stared. Tobi no longer existed, having been killed years ago, so that left only one person.

"Uchia Sasuke?!" Gaara stated sharply. The ninja nodded. "But that's…well, never mind actually. It's not so surprising."

Naruto looked up at the sky, observing the stars twinkling brightly. He could see the sun beginning to rise in the east. He looked back at the entrance and saw something move in the shadows. Upon closer investigation, he realized it was a…a dog? No, a wolf? What was a jet black wolf going into The Village for? As he observed it, it looked around straight him and its black eyes bored into Naruto's. At that moment, one thought surfaced in his mind.

"Sasuke." He whispered.