I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.

Guts of Steel

Naruto sat up groaning and looked around. He and Guren were in a cave of some kind. The ground walls and ceiling of the cave were all an orangish red with small spikes in places and others that looked almost splinted. The ground itself felt something akin to metal.

"Where the hell are we?" Naruto wondered aloud waking up Guren.

"You," Guren growled. "I'm not letting you take Yukimaru away from me!"

She suddenly lunged at him with a crystal blade but Naruto sidestepped the attack and caught her when she began to fall.

"Don't touch me!" Guren shouted.

"Relax," Naruto sighed. "I'm not going to hurt Yukimaru or you. But if you cared about him, you'd let me take him so he would be safe."

"No!" Guren snapped slashing at him again. "I'm the one that's going to protect Yukimaru!"

Naruto sighed setting Guren down and formed a Rasengan.

"Neither of us is doing it from in here," Naruto sighed. "Rasengan!"

He slammed it into a wall but it did nothing. Then, despite there being no damage, the cave began to shake and a deafening bellow sounded from somewhere above them. They both covered their ears as realization suddenly struck them both.

"The fucker swallowed us!" Naruto gasped. "Son of a bitch!"

"What's that?" Guren questioned and Naruto turned to look.

There was something moving over the ground toward them but Naruto couldn't see what because they were too far away. After a moment, they stepped into the light and he paled. Mini-Three-tails. Hundreds of them.

"Run," Naruto stated. "Run now!"

Naruto created a clone then turned to run in time to see Guren trip from exhaustion.

"Damn," Naruto sighed picking her up as he ran.

His clone blasted the Mini-Three-tails with a Rasengan but it did no damage and the clone was quickly swarmed. After a few minutes, Naruto stopped in a large chamber free of Three-tails clones with several exits.

"This should be good for a while," Naruto stated. "As long as we don't attack the walls again."

"Who's we?" Guren spat. "You're the dumbass that blasted his insides!"

"Shut up," Naruto growled. "Look, we need to work together if we're going to get out of here alive. Then I'm taking Yukimaru to the Leaf Village where he'll be safe from Orochimaru."

"Don't act all high and mighty!" Guren spat. "You want to use Yukimaru just as much as Orochimaru. You want to capture the Three-tails for you village! Konoha already made a Jinchuriki out of the Nine-tails already! Now you want to use Yukimaru to make another one! You're no better than-"

"I'm the Jinchuriki!" Naruto interrupted.

"You...what?" Guren questioned shock written all over her face.

"I'm the Nine-tails Jinchuriki," Naruto stated. "I'm not trying to make Yukimaru into another one or try to use him. I'm trying to stop him from having to suffer a Jinchuriki's fate."

"I...oh," Guren said quietly then glared at him. "It changes nothing. I still have to be the one to take care of him. It's the least I can do after..."

"What did you do?" Naruto questioned. "Why do you feel so strongly that it has to be you that protects Yukimaru?"

"Because..." Guren took a deep breath then sighed. "Because I killed his mother. She took me in and probably saved my life and I repaid her by killing her. I was ordered by Orochimaru to attack Yukimaru's village but passed out before I found Yukimaru and his mother. I collapsed and she nursed me back to health. Then, I let her leave, only to kill her a bit later. Because of me, Yukimaru is alone. But...Yukimaru...He deserves to be happy. That's why I will do anything it takes to protect him. And also, I want to make up for what I did. Even if it's impossible, I have to try."

"You killed...I see," Naruto sighed. "Then let me ask. What is Yukimaru to you?"

"He..."Guren thought for a moment before looking Naruto directly in the eye. "Yukimaru is my home."

Naruto nodded smirking then walked over and knelt.

"Climb on," Naruto ordered. "We're getting out of here."

Guren stared at him for a moment then climbed onto his back and he stood creating thousands of clones who spread out into the Three-tails' stomach to search for an escape route. Naruto was running along with them but soon was running along alone with Guren as the clones had taken branch passages.

"Damn there's a lot of places to check," Naruto sighed then spun around as all of his clones were destroyed.

"What?" Guren questioned. "What's wrong?"

"My clones...they're all gone," Naruto stated as Mini-Three-tails swarmed toward them before separating and allowing three that were about their size to walk forward. "Damn. Hang on."

Guren looked at him like he was crazy until two clones appeared below a hole in the ceiling. They put their hands together and Naruto sprinted forward as more Mini-Three-tails arrived behind them. Naruto placed a foot in the clones' hands and they hurled him up through the hole where he landed lightly and sprinted away. Soon, they reached another area free of the creatures that now seemed to be created specifically to hound them. Naruto set Guren down and walked over to a cliff beside them looking down.

"That's a long way down," Naruto muttered. "Stay here. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

And with that, he drew his swords and leapt off of the cliff, landing at the bottom just as the area he now stood in filled with a very thick fog. Naruto looked around, seeing that he couldn't see a thing and realizing it was the same mist as from the forest. No sooner did he see this, did Danzo step out of the mist, but this time, he was holding Hinata by the hair with a kunai to her throat.

"It's an illusion," Naruto stated. "I know it's not real."

Danzo hurled the kunai, instantly drawing his sword and putting it to her throat instead as the kunai buried itself in his shoulder, quite painfully and literally. Naruto pulled it out and stared at it then at Danzo before dropping the kunai and kneeling.

"What...but...how..." Naruto stood gritting his teeth and sighed. "Illusion. Ignore it. Ignore it."

"N...Naruto, please," Hinata begged. "Please save me!"

Naruto turned away from them gritting his teeth harder and squeezing his eyes closed.

"Naruto please!" Hinata sobbed. "Please help me! Please!"

"Yes Jinchuriki," Danzo sneered. "Help her."

"Snap out of it Naruto!" Guren shouted slapping him. "It's an illusion!"

"I know," Naruto stated smiling. "But thank you for waking me up."

Naruto looked back and saw that he was standing on the edge of a cliff. Had he moved to help the hallucination of Hinata, he would have fallen to his death. Just as he turned back to Guren, thousands of Mini-Three-tails swarmed down from the ledge above and toward them before separating as several large ones approached them.

"Damn," Naruto growled before spinning around at the sound of water.

The cliff below them was full of water that had camellias floating along the top. Naruto and Guren exchanged confused looks before hearing a grass whistle. They looked up and saw that the water was coming from a spot above them. Before they could jump to it, the Mini-Three-tails all rushed forward knocking both Naruto and Guren off the cliff. The water had already dropped to a point that would be fatal, even for them so Naruto created a chain of clones that grabbed the ledge and his ankles, allowing him to catch Guren before the clones hurled them both to the spot the water was entering from.

"Yukimaru's leading us home," Naruto smirked.

Guren nodded and Naruto formed a Rasengan and smiled before driving it into the spot the water was escaping from producing a blinding explosion.

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