Author Note: Hey everyone, just wanted to say thanks for your interest in my story, it really keeps me motivated and excited!
Ppsh: I appreciate your input and I'm glad you took the time to read my story. Just continue to read and I assure you that everything will explain itself in due time, especially with the old couple.
Here's chapter three, R&R please!
Chapter 3: Demons Inside and Out
Standing there without moving a muscle, Naruto stared at the masked man radiating killer intent. After a moment of intense staring he shifted his attention slightly to look at Hinata.
"Hinata?"
"Yes Naruto?" she answered.
"Do you trust me?"
"I always have." she replied with a small smile.
With a slight smirk Naruto brought his hands together and formed the all too familiar sign.
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" he yelled as ten other clones of himself appeared. Nodding together, they burst away separating. Naruto and one other clone charged the man and Hinata as the other clones attacked the woman throwing kuni at her to back her up and give him some space to work with. After throwing their kuni, the clones resorted to Tai jutsu to back the woman up even further. Closing the space between him and the masked man rapidly, the ninja tensed as he prepared to cut Hinata's throat. Suddenly two hands burst through the ground and grabbed the man's ankles, his eyes widened in horror as he looked down to see a third Naruto staring at him smiling evilly. "How? When did he hide that clone?" the man asked himself panicking. Then his eyes grew even wider as he thought back and it dawned on him, "He must have hid it when he tackled the girl to the ground, just before they rolled away!"
Seeing that the man was distracted with her Byakugan, Hinata took advantage of the opportunity at hand. Bringing a chakra-filled palm strike up, she blasted the man's elbow that held the kuni to her throat, shredding the ligaments in his arm. Then, pushing the arm away, she dived to the side as Naruto reach the now disabled and distracted man with a Rasengan.
The man's eyes dilated with fear.
"If there's one thing you should know about me," Naruto yelled as he plunged the Rasengan into the man's solar plexus, "it's that I always keep my promises!"
Driving him away with a massive wind fueled explosion, the man left a cratered trail in his wake. Dust and debris blocked his vision until it finally dissipated to reveal the man lying in a three foot deep crater twenty five yards away. Turning around, Naruto then ran over to where Hinata was kneeling.
"Are you okay?" he asked as he helped her to her feet.
"Of course I am, I never doubted you." she replied with a small smile and blush.
"How adorable." The woman's voice rang out, grabbing both of their attention. They turned to see the woman dispel the last of the shadow clones. "I hate to interrupt this touching moment," her voice dripping with sarcasm, "but I'm still here."
"What about our deal?" Naruto yelled angrily. "You said that if we could touch either one of you then you would submit to us! Right now I'd say your partner over there," he jerked his thumb to the crater, "is looking like the south end of a north bound horse!"
The woman chuckled at him, a dark menacing chuckle that made Naruto's hair stand on the back of his neck. There was more to this woman than what he could see on the outside.
"That is true." the woman said. "But the bounty on your head is much too high to pass up because of some petty deal." Then she shifted her attention to Hinata. "And that Hyuuga girl's eyes would fetch a fine price on the black market." The woman's eyes began to gleam with greed as she thought about the profit she could make.
Hinata quivered at the thought of her eyes being gouged out. "Get it together!" She berated herself mentally. "Just a moment ago you were talking about kicking their asses with Naruto, don't go soft now!"
Forcing a smirk onto her face, Hinata replied, "You can try to take them, but don't be disappointed when you fail."
The woman chuckled again. "Oh I will take them, there's no doubt in my mind I can. I know who you are Hyuuga Hinata." An evil smile twisted on her face underneath her mask.
"Go to hell!" Naruto screamed at her in fury. It was one thing to threaten him, but to threaten Hinata for no reason other than to steal her eyes was too much. "Not while I'm still breathing she won't." he promised himself. This girl was too precious for him to fail; he would do everything in his power to keep her safe.
The woman laughed maniacally dragging him back to reality. "Not before I turn you two in."
Both getting into their fighting stances, Naruto and Hinata looked fiercely at the masked woman. However, they were surprised when she jumped back even further and landed on the pond.
"Might as well gain home field advantage." she said as she flashed through some hand seals. "It may be cheap but who cares? Kirigakure no jutsu!"
Suddenly a thick dense fog rolled in, reducing Naruto and Hinata's vision down to practically nothing. Standing back to back, they prepared themselves for whatever might come, trying to listen as best they could for any indication of an attack.
"This isn't good." Hinata thought. "Usually I would at least be able to see someone's chakra, but this fog is different. It's almost like the fog is charged with chakra itself, I can't see anything!"
Suddenly and out of nowhere the attack came in flurries; kicks, punches, and weapons, Naruto and Hinata doing their best to defend themselves against an invisible enemy. Hearts racing and senses firing on all pistons, the two did their best to ward off the relentless attacks. But each time the attacks came, the damage to the two young shinobi grew more and more as their defenses were worn down little by little.
"Naruto." Hinata said between breathes as she deflected a few kuni and a random kick to the head.
"What?" he asked as he blocked a hook to his side and threw a kick that connected with nothing but fog. "Damn this fog!"
"We need to do something about this fog. My Byakugan is useless and I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." She said as shuriken grazed her hip and she winced in pain.
"I know we do." Naruto said through clenched teeth as an upper cut blasted him in the gut. "But what? We can't keep doing this forever; I need to think of something, anything!" A sudden sharp cry of pain from Hinata and a few shuriken in his arm followed by a kick to his head brought him back quickly. Ripping them out, he quickly turned around to see Hinata standing up slowly as blood dripped down her left arm. He could feel the frustration rising and the helpless feeling growing as he looked at the pain on Hinata's face. "I swore I would protect her!" he screamed to himself as his anger hit its boiling point.
"That's it, fuck this!" he yelled as he brought his hands together. "Tajū Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"
Quickly a hundred clones appeared scattered throughout the fog.
"Find her!" Naruto yelled as they all scattered and began looking for the deadly ninja.
Instantly clones began to dispel all from a certain area. As soon as this happened the other clones received the message and began to converge on the general area. It was the crudest form possible for tracking someone, but Naruto wasn't looking for style, just for something effective.
"Hinata, follow me!" he yelled as they took off towards the other clones. "We have to hurry before she can counter my clones and relay false information to me."
Hinata couldn't help but give a small smile as she silently praised him. "They may call you an idiot, but your ingenuity on the battlefield is second to none Naruto-kun."
Sakura was not having a very good day. To start off, she had gotten a rather unpleasant lecture from Shizune this morning for having let Naruto and Hinata leave the hospital without treatment the night before. Next, even though it was her day off she managed to get dragged into pulling perimeter guard duty with her sensei Hatake Kakashi since the village was still low on manpower. However, nothing prepared her for what came next.
She was walking around the perimeter of the walls about one hundred meters into the woods lost in self pity when she heard someone call her name. Turning to see who it was, they saw a flustered and slightly irritated Inuzuka Kiba racing towards them on his larger than average dog, and teammate, Akamaru.
"Sakura!" he said as he skidded to a halt in front of her, "I know something you're gonna want to hear!"
"What is it?" she asked cocking her head slightly to the side in curiosity.
"It's Sasuke!" he said almost breathlessly.
Worried now and fully attentive, she perked up. "What about him? Is he okay? Did something happen?"
"He's a missing nin!"
Irritated, Sakura closed her eyes and breathed. "I know that already." she said evenly. "He's been missing for awhile!"
Kiba shook his head quickly as frustration played across his face. "You don't understand, he's missing. As in he has officially been labeled as a rogue ninja!"
"What?" Sakura shouted out, "When did this happen?" Her emotions were starting to creep up on her as a mixture of fear, worry, and concern washed over her.
"About ten minutes ago. I tried to find you as fast as I could when I found out." Kiba said.
"Who gave the order and why?" Kakashi asked seemingly out of nowhere. His lazy nonchalant eye didn't show it, but he was concerned just as much as Sakura was.
"Danzo did." Kiba spat out disregarding the honorifics and respected title of Hokage. "He gave the order after a group of cloud ninja showed up asking for permission to hunt him down." He continued frowning. He knew that there was no way to override the current Hokage's order, but he also knew how much Sasuke meant to Sakura and Naruto.
"Have you told Naruto yet?" Sakura blurted out, beating Kakashi to the question. They both knew how he was going to react to the news.
Kiba shook his head, "No, not yet. I came to you first because you were closer." He sighed closing his eyes for a moment, acknowledging what they all were thinking. "Besides, we all know how he'll react when he finds out. I figured it would be better to tell you first."
Sakura and Kakashi both nodded in agreement.
"Still," Sakura said quietly as she looked down, "he needs to know." "I know this is going to hurt him like Hell but he has a right to know. We need to do something!" Suddenly looking up determined, she stared hard at Kiba. "Can you and Akamaru track Naruto down?"
Kiba smiled confidently and Akamaru barked happily. "What are you kidding? Of course we can!"
"Good." Sakura said as she started walking towards them. "Lead the w-."
"Sakura."
Sakura turned around and looked at her sensei half questioning and half irritated.
"Don't forget you're still on duty." Kakashi pointedly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Anger suddenly began bubbling up through Sakura and she started to radiate killer intent as she slowly began walking towards her sensei.
"Are you saying," she spoke quietly as her voice started to shake with rage, "that this worthless guard duty is more important than Sasuke?"
Kakashi slowly started to back up, raising his hands in a defensive manner. Suddenly he felt extremely small in front of his student, as if the gods had turned their backs on him until Sakura was finished with whatever she had planned for him. "Tsunade," he asked himself as he began to sweat, "what have you created?"
Hinata stood hunched over trying to get her ragged breathing under control. Things had not gone the way they were supposed to. This fight should have ended a long time ago and yet here they were facing off against this rogue water nin who was very good at attacking from the shadows. And by shadows she meant this accursed fog.
The woman had caught on as soon as they had drawn near and counter attacked by quickly dodging the clones in the fog and attacking randomly from different locations. The end result was just as Naruto had predicted, contradicting data flowing into him and his clones.
Quickly he stopped Hinata and formed another hundred clones to buy themselves some time.
"Naruto," Hinata said as they stood back to back once again, "we really need to do something about this fog." She tried to hide the desperation in her voice but she was physically drained and the thick fog was taking a psychological effect on her as well. From the deep recesses of her mind she could feel the self doubt and fear begin to slip into her consciousness and begin to eat away at her resolve. Gritting her teeth she tried to push those thoughts away. "I'm stronger than this damnit!"
"I know, I know." Naruto said gritting his teeth as well. "I'm out of ideas though!"
Truth be told, he hadn't even finished planning his last idea, it was just a desperate attempt to locate the woman and zero in on her.
"I've got to think of something soon. Hinata is looking worse for wear and I'm not doing too well myself. This damn fog is just so thick!" Suddenly Naruto had an idea. To call it an idea would be a stretch, in fact it was more like a last ditch effort and the plan didn't go unnoticed.
"Hey baka, you aren't honestly thinking about doing that are you?"
"What choice do I have? We can't see anything in this fog and I'm out of options!"
Kyuubi groaned. "How about you just die? That would be a lot less painful."
Naruto couldn't help but smile at his prisoner's whining. "Shut up and take it like a man! Besides, it's not like you're gonna feel it."
"A plan as idiotic as this? I'm bound to feel it…" Kyuubi sighed heavily, "God this is going to hurt!"
"Naruto?"
Quickly pulled back to the reality, Naruto realized he had been silent for awhile as he argued with the Kyuubi and Hinata was still looking to him for an idea.
Taking a deep breath he spoke. "Hinata, I have an idea, it's risky, but I don't see any other way out right now."
There was a moment of silence before she responded. "What is it?"
"I'll handle it, but when I say 'now' I need you to jump away as far as you can, okay?"
Hinata hesitated for a moment. She had no idea what he was planning to do, but she had complete faith in him. All she could do was agree to what he asked.
"Okay."
"Good." Naruto said, determination filling his voice. Quickly he brought his hands together. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"
Two clones formed next to him and he quickly held his hands down to his sides while his clones began to focus the chakra. "It's now or never." he thought to himself. "Yes, but are you sure it will work?" Naruto smiled inwardly, "How about I don't answer that and we just find out?" Kyuubi growled in frustration. "Don't bother, I can read your thoughts too. Let's just focus on not dying." Naruto silently agreed. Then he got an idea.
"Hey Kyuubi, give me some of your chakra."
"Falling back on me already boy?" Kyuubi sneered even though he knew the situation was much more serious.
"No you stupid fox! Just give a little bit of your chakra. Focus it on my ears; maybe it will increase my hearing."
Kyuubi thought for a moment. "Maybe the boy is on to something…"
"Done. It's not much so make it count. Ever since your father fortified the seal I haven't been able to give you practically any chakra."
Instantly Naruto felt the slight rush of hot demonic chakra begin to flow through him and up towards his ears. The world around him seemed to suddenly come alive, every lap of water at the pond's edge, every breathe Hinata took, every movement of his muscles contracting he could hear. "This is incredible." he thought to himself. "This is just a taste." Kyuubi muttered. "I know what your powers are capable of fox!" Naruto practically hissed. "Yes," retorted Kyuubi, "but I've never actually given you complete control of my chakra before."
Naruto wanted to ask what he meant by that but he was out of time. The attacks had abruptly picked up where they had left off earlier and the air was filled with the whistling of sharp ill-willed objects flying at them through the dense fog. Quickly his clones sprang into action, jumping in front of him and Hinata to absorb the blows of the kuni and shuriken directed at them. In an instant the objects plunged into the clones and dispersed them but not before absorbing everything that was a threat to the original and Hinata.
Holding his twin Rasengans out in front of him, Naruto began focusing his ears in on his surroundings and felt his blood ran cold with what he heard; the fast pace of steps on water and the faint, almost silent, hum of a blade slicing through the air. Except… it wasn't coming at him. Twisting around as quickly as he could, he did the only thing he could. Screaming Hinata's name, he jumped in front of her.
Hinata stood there in shock, frozen at what she saw before her eyes. Right in front of her no less than a foot away was Naruto slumped over a wakizashi. Her mind began racing a million miles a minute as she was bombarded with wave after endless wave of emotions. "No! This can't be happening!"
"N-Naruto!" was all she managed cry out.
Turning his head he looked over his shoulder at her, blood trickling down the side of his mouth and his eyelids looking heavy.
"Hinata…" he whispered. "Go now."
Unable to move, all she could do was shake her head as tears began to stream down her face. "I'm n-not going a-anywhere without y-you." she said as she tried to suppress the shuddering sobs rippling through her body.
The sides of his mouth upturned in a slight smile. "Hinata, you of all people should know that I'm not going to die-"
"-Before you become Hokage." Hinata finished with a small smile and tears still running down her cheeks.
Naruto chuckled but it turned to a cough as blood sprayed in a fine mist out of his mouth. "Damn I hate getting stabbed!"
"I hate to put a damper on your dreams boy, but it's over for you." The woman spoke coldly as she twisted the blade in him causing him to scream out in pain.
Looking up fiercely, Naruto spoke louder than what he was expecting to. "No, you're wrong. It's over for YOU!"
The Rasengan in his left hand had died out when had been stabbed but he managed to keep the other one going.
"Hinata MOVE!" Naruto screamed.
Grabbing the woman's shirt with his left hand he pulled her to him while at the same time driving the Rasengan straight into her face.
Hinata gathered herself quickly and focused her chakra down into her feet and legs. Jumping back, she was still far to close when the chakra wind explosion happened causing her to tumble through the air end over end. Hitting the water, she skipped and skipped for about ten yards before coming to a stop.
Immediately the thick fog began to dissipate and Hinata's could see again. Looking around and not finding Naruto she began to panic. Activating her Byakugan she quickly located him on the east side of the pond lying on the shore. And he wasn't moving.
"Naruto!"
Silence was the only answer. Then after a few seconds he groaned and sat up. Rubbing his head he winced, then looked over at her.
"It's okay Hinata…I'm fine."
Hearing this she let loose a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "Thank the gods! That was too close." Her entire body was in pain but she knew she would live, but Naruto looked far worse. His jacket had been completely shredded and was clinging to his chest and shoulders. His left arm appeared to be fractured from the back blast of his attack, and he had multiple cuts all over his body, most notably was the huge gash across his right cheek which was bleeding profusely. Thankfully though, he would survive.
A sudden laugh brought them crashing back to reality. Looking out in front of her, Hinata saw the body of the woman that was floating in the water begin to stand up. As she, or it, did, her head began to reform from what appeared to be from only water.
"What are you?" Hinata whispered.
The woman laughed again. "I am Sashishio Shinsui, formerly from the land of Water." She turned her head to the side causing an audible pop to be heard as she cracked her neck. "What you just witnessed was the kekkei genkai of my clan; the ability to replace any part of our body with water to avoid damage. Although," she paused as she cracked her neck again, "that jutsu the boy used was something else. I'm going to be feeling that for at least a week. But on the bright side it looks like he took a good bit of his own attack."
"I may be down but I sure as hell am not out yet!" Naruto yelled as he struggled to his feet. Swaying for a moment he gained his footing and then broke into a shaky run straight at her.
"Doryūsō no Jutsu!"
Out of nowhere giant earthen spikes burst through the pond's surface everywhere forcing Naruto to leap back and land on the shore effectively cutting him off from Hinata. He was so distracted with the spikes that he didn't even notice the earthen human form rising up behind him, raise its club like arm, and bringing it down on his head. The last thing Naruto saw before the darkness closed in on him was Hinata screaming something.
Nadareru Yama had definitely had better days. Not only had the little blonde punk gotten the jump on him, but he also got knocked through the ringer as well. Bashing the back of the kid's skull in made him feel a little better though. Turning and looking out across the pond he saw his teammate about to face off against the Hyuuga girl.
"Shinsui," he called out tauntingly, "you look worse for wear."
Scowling at him she turned her head slightly to address her partner. "I could say the same for you. I thought blondie there had killed you."
Yama snickered under his mask. "His jutsu may be powerful, but it's incomplete."
Shinsui nodded slightly in agreement. "You didn't kill him did you? Madara-sama won't take too kindly to us killing the jinchūriki."
"No, he's only knocked out." Yama paused and then chuckled darkly to himself. "But he'll have one nasty migraine when he wakes up."
"Okay, keep an eye on him while I wrap this up. We've been here too long."
Turning her attention back to Hinata, her eyes burned fiercely in a sick kind of smile as she stared at the girl. "I guess that just leaves me and you now, princess."
Hinata felt the fear begin to seep into her mind and seize it. She felt frozen, her body was in pain and she felt completely helpless. Her breathing which was labored already became ragged and uneven as panic began to set in. "Now's not the time to lose your nerve!" she tried to assure herself. "Naruto needs you more than ever!"
Forcing a smirk on her face she backed into her family's infamous Jyuuken stance. "I promise you," she spoke evenly with determination, "that's the last thing you want."
The woman laughed to herself as she slipped into her own stance, holding her wakizashi out in front of her. "We'll see about that."
They stood facing each other for three breathless seconds.
Three.
Hinata activated her Byakugan, examining the woman's layout of her chakra coils. Focusing her energy she prepared chakra in her legs and arms.
Two.
The air around the training ground fell deathly silent, the intensity of the situation closing in around the two oppressively as the stood staring each other down.
One.
The two kunoichi ready themselves for the inevitable, their muscles tensing for the battle that was about to take place only a heartbeat away.
Zero.
In one blink the woman had closed the distance between themselves. Shinsui brought her blade across horizontally aiming to decapitate Hinata and end the fight on the first strike. Hinata saw it coming and ducked under the blade, landing three quick chakra filled palm strikes to her chest and torso. To counter Shinsui threw a knee at her opponent's gut and when it was blocked she reversed her blade and brought it in rapidly in a stabbing manner. Although she wasn't looking directly at it, Hinata's Byakugan told her of the incoming blade and she quickly ducked again under the opposite arm with grace as her flexibility allowed her to move with agility and precision. Caught off guard Shinsui swung wildly with her blade but not before the Hyuuga heiress landed five quick and devastating palm strikes to her back; one to each kidney, one to the spine, and one to each shoulder blade.
Jumping backwards just far enough out of reach of the tenacious blade, Hinata prepared to finish the rogue nin. "I've wasted enough energy already dodging this blade. It's time to end this!" Taking a quick deep breath she slid into a completely different stance catching Shinsui off guard yet again.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!"
Within five seconds Hinata had struck all sixty four of Shinsui's tenketsu. Hunching over in pain she collapsed into the water and for one brief moment Hinata allowed a genuine confident smile to cross her face. "I have gotten stronger!" she celebrated silently. "I just hope Naruto is okay…"
She was quickly dragged from her thoughts though when she caught sight of the woman start to move and then slowly stand up; a crazed maniacal look in her eye as she began to laugh out of control.
"Did you forget already sweetie," she asked between breathes, "about my kekkei genkai?"
Dread immediately replaced Hinata's confidence as her only thought at that point was, "Naruto, please help."
Naruto was running down the same damn white washed hallways again. Turning a corner he didn't even bother to ask the nurse what room as he raced past her, planted his foot, and cut around another corner. "Damnit! I need to figure this thing out!"
Gritting his teeth he pushed himself to his limits, sprinting as fast as he could until he was in front of the door again. Not missing a beat walked to the door and in one fluid motion he had kicked and stepped through the door.
This time he saw Sakura standing in front of the bed while Sasuke was still standing by the window again.
"Sakura-chan…" he called softly to her.
Slowly, the pink haired green eyed girl turned around with tears streaming down her face and covered in blood once again. She started to fall but in a moment Naruto had appeared beside her and scooped her up in his arms and set her down lightly on the floor.
"Sakura-chan! Are you alright?"
She merely shook her head slowly while the tears continued to fall. She shuddered slightly as she choked back a sob silently.
Looking up in panic he called out to Sasuke. Once again he turned his back on him but this time he said something different.
"Not yet…Not yet Naruto."
"What are you talking about?" Naruto cried out in confusion. "What do you mean, 'not yet'? Help me! Help Sakura!"
Slowly shaking his head he spoke again. "Not yet Naruto…Soon you will realize it…but…not yet."
Then, just like every other time before, he vanished through the window as he seemingly dematerialized.
The quiet whimpering brought Naruto's attention back to Sakura. Brushing the hair out of her face he tried to remain calm but he knew he couldn't. Not when the girl he cared about so much lie dying in his arms.
Trying to calm her he spoke softly, "It's okay Sakura, I'm here. You don't have to worry anymore."
Closing her eyes she spoke, barely audible. "I'm sorry Naruto…I've failed you…I've let you down…I'm so sorry."
Again another whimper escaped and she sobbed even harder as her tears increased.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto cooed, "it's okay. You haven't done anything wrong. Stop your crying, your whimpering, I'm here."
She shuddered harder this time as finally a sob escaped her lips. It rocked through her body as she cried as if she was guilty of same horrendous crime that she didn't mean to commit.
She whispered now, each word getting quieter than the last. "That…isn't…me…"
With that her body went slack in his arms and just as that happened he heard one last whimper coming from right above him. He froze. "Who is that?" he asked himself shakily. The faint sound of water dripping on tile brought out of his frozen trance. "No, not water…Blood." Naruto felt his stomach drop as right in front of him a steady drip of blood fell from the bed into a gathering pool on the tile. That's when, for the first time, he realized there was a third person in the room. Someone was lying in the hospital bed, whimpering and bleeding slowly, painstakingly slow, as if it was the last of their blood leaving their body and the quiet whimpers were a last desperate plea for help.
Slowly, Naruto raised up and with him his eye level but just before he could see the face of the person who was laying in the bed the floor gave out again and into the darkness he tumbled, consuming him completely. Naruto closed his eyes tightly as he cried out in a mix of frustration and torment, however, when he opened his eyes he found himself somewhere else entirely.
Opening his eyes slowly he found himself sitting on soft, green, luscious grass next to a small koi fish pond with lily pads and pink blossoms on top dotting it. Birds whistled cheerfully as they flew back and forth through the woods surrounding him and for the first time in a long time Naruto felt relaxed. Lying back against a tree, the shade blocked the bright warmth of the sun but it didn't matter, it all felt the same in this place even under the shade. He sighed contently as he closed his eyes for a moment and listened to the birds sing happily to each other as they flew about the branches of the forest.
"This is no time to be sleeping boy."
Naruto's eyes snapped open as he sat up with a start. Sitting in front of him, roughly the size of Akamaru, was a orange and black fox staring at him with an annoyed look on its face. However, the most distinguishing thing about the fox was it tail, or tails.
"Seven, eight, nine. Oh Shit, it's -."
"Yes baka it's me!" Kyuubi cried out exasperated. "I pulled you out of your night terror so we could have a little talk."
"Wait a minute." Naruto said slowly. "If you're Kyuubi why aren't you towering over me? And why aren't we in the sewers? And why aren't you locked up? Oh no, you escaped!"
Kyuubi sighed heavily. "This is going to take forever explaining this to this idiot."
Looking up at Naruto he spoke. "Listen up boy I'm only going to say this once since we're short on time. I'm not locked up because this is your dream. Well, I fabricated this place because you were dreaming. When you dream I can come and go as I please, but because I find you annoying I usually never enter them. Therefore, since this is a dream I can choose which ever size I wish and whatever place I wish when I see you." After looking around for a moment he added, "And if it means getting out of those damn stinking sewers then you can expect a lot more visits, this place isn't half bad." As he said this he lay down and stretched out in the sun. Once comfortable he looked at his host and asked, "Did you get all of that baka?"
Naruto's head hurt. It actually hurt. In a dream for god's sake! Contorting his face as he tried to process all the information, he finally gave up.
"To be honest…no." he admitted as Kyuubi groaned audibly. "But, because you said we are running short on time I'll accept what I hear as long as you promise to explain it later."
Kyuubi nodded. "I promise kit." Then, sitting back up he looked seriously at him. "Now the reason I pulled you here is because I want to talk to you about this reoccurring dream you keep having. Do you have any idea what it means?"
Naruto thought for moment and then spoke. "I'll be honest I have no idea what it means. I've heard somewhere that dreams can be messages sent from the subconscious, but I have no idea what the message is." He paused for a moment longer and stared at the koi fish in the pond. "You are able to get in touch with both sides of my conscious aren't you?" he asked.
Kyuubi nodded.
"So then you could tell me what the message is right?"
Once again Kyuubi nodded.
"So what does it mean then?"
Kyuubi inhaled deeply and then let it out. "I don't know kit."
"What do you mean you don't know?" Naruto shouted. He could feel his anger starting to rise.
"I don't know it's weird. Usually I can understand the messages your subconscious sends but this one is…different."
"So we're both clueless then." Naruto said disheartened staring down at the grass in front of him.
Kyuubi nodded quietly, and then stiffened up suddenly, ears erect and his tails spreading out. Naruto noticed and looked up at him questioningly.
"What's wrong? What is it?"
"Our time is up." Kyuubi said looking back at Naruto. "I have already taken the liberty of healing you while you've been unconscious."
Naruto stood up and just stared at Kyuubi, he was shocked that the demon fox was being so…nice.
"Thanks." Was all he managed to get out.
Kyuubi just shrugged it off. "Just be ready, when you come to you're going to have to move and think fast." Then he smiled sinisterly after a moment. "I sense that Hyuuga weakling is about at her limit."
Naruto felt the dread in the pit of his stomach begin to spread quickly throughout the rest of his body. His thoughts began to race. "I've been unconscious this entire time which means that Hinata is fighting both of those ninjas right now. She may be strong but the level of skill they're at is too much for even her."
Kyuubi's grin grew even bigger as he read Naruto's thoughts, his sharp, white, pointed teeth revealing themselves from underneath his orange haired muzzle.
"Better hurry, you haven't gotten much time now. The finishing blow should be coming any moment now." Then with a laugh Kyuubi disappeared and with him the once relaxing forest that surrounded them.
Panic set in as Naruto began to fear the worst. With the darkness quickly setting in around him he had one thing on his mind.
"HINATA!"