Opening - Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung-Fu Generation

Ino blinked. "You want me to do what? I think I heard you wrong."

She, Naruto and Hinata were all gathered in the Uzumaki Clan's mansion, which was originally secluded outside Konoha's walls, but when the Kyuubi destroyed the original Konoha, the village was rebuilt to include the manor. Naruto and Hinata had taken a seat on a wooden trunk, the lid of which bore the kanji for fire.

Hinata shook her head. "No, you heard right. We need you to put me in Naruto's inner world with a Yamanaka Clan jutsu. It would make more sense if you had the whole story, but..." she shrugged. "Let's just say it's private."

"Um... what exactly are you guys planning to do in Naruto's head? 'Cause the only jutsu I know for something like this will put me in there too."

"Ah, screw it," Naruto sighed. "Ino, the Kyuubi no Kitsune is sealed inside me, in a cage in my subconscious." he lifted up his shirt and displayed the Eight Trigrams Seal. "The three of us have all agreed, Hinata should meet him."

Ino simply stared for a moment at his chest, then exploded, "Are you two nuts!? That's gotta be dangerous!"

Now you see it, Kurama growled. Your friends are the exception to the rule. Few among your kind are so open-minded.

"The Kyuubi just said he thinks most people aren't open-minded enough."

What? Don't, I'm talking to you, not her!

"Open-minded? No, I'm not that open-minded, you're talking about bringing Hinata, sweet and innocent Hinata, to a freaking demon!"

'Demon' is an extremely biased term. I was born here in the human world, not any kind of underworld, and in fact my father was human.

"The Kyuubi says-" Naruto cut himself off and shuddered.

What... the hell... was that? Kurama asked, and Naruto could hear the shock in his voice.

Hinata maintained a friendly expression, even while pouring out an aura of such malice that it could barely even be called something as simple as murderous intent. "If 'sweet and innocent' is your only objection," she said, very sweetly and innocently, "Please don't worry. I'll be fine."

Ino gasped in shock when the panic that was pressing her down suddenly vanished. "O-Okay. All right, hold still." she looked down and carefully, slowly formed the proper seal sequence, since her hands were still shaking. "N-Ninja Art: Mind Meeting Jutsu."

X

"Thank you, Ino-chan," Hinata said with a grateful smile. "And I'm sorry for using that genjutsu on you."

"G-Genjutsu?" Ino repeated, wide-eyed. "That's what that was?"

"It simulates killing intent. I'm not fond of it," she admitted, "but when the situation calls for it..." she trailed off, and looked around the brightly lit field of grass. "Naruto-kun, this is your subconscious? It's so peaceful..."

Naruto shrugged. "Honestly, this is just a picture. I can change it if I want, look." he snapped his fingers, and the field was replaced by a white, sandy beach; a perfect replica of the one they'd relaxed on yesterday.

Ino whistled. "Cool." Then, she jumped and looked around. The Kyuubi lives here! It could be right behind me... she turned, and found that she was twenty feet from the cage that housed a clearly visible and clearly relaxed Kyuubi.

"Welcome," the demon greeted with a forcibly polite tone. "Naruto, I told you. Humans aren't strong enough in mind and soul to accept the existence of my kind. They hate us. My presence in your world is a personal insult to them."

"That's not true," Hinata immediately replied, and made her way to the cage. "If it were, everyone in Konoha would hate you, and most don't. Sure, they're afraid. They resent you for killing their families. Given the chance they'd probably kill you, so that you'd never destroy Konoha again, but all of that is because you attacked us."

Kurama leaned down to look Hinata in the eye. "Yet you show none of those emotions."

"Naruto-kun told me about you. He told me why you hate us." Hinata looked down sadly. "How could I show you more of the same hate?" she looked up again, and continued, "You're not a monster or a demon. You started out good, but we were afraid of your power, we shunned you, and in return you resented us. And then you realized, you had the power to do something about it. Is that right?"

Kurama snarled, and lunged forward, bringing his left eye as close as possible to Hinata. "It wasn't me that started all of this. Don't imply that. Your ancestors sought me out and chased me away. In the beginning I allowed it, even though their spears and swords would do little to me I willingly left! Then, 'adventurers' came after me, aiming to slay me as a testament of skill. Some of those had white eyes like yours, the early Byakugan. Still I let them live, but my patience grew thin, and in time, I became angry. I went to your cities, and demanded first an explanation, then an apology, then compensation for centuries of abuse. In the end, when they refused all of that, I took what best could satisfy me. Blood."

Kurama roared, "And then, you all took it as justification! 'The beast was evil all along, and now it shows its true nature! Kill it, with blades, with ninjutsu! Turn its brothers and sisters against it!' The Tailed Beasts were goaded into hating each other, on your behalf! I haven't talked with Shukaku or Matatabi in five hundred years, my youngest brother and sister, because of you! And your kind!"

"Still, that wasn't enough. I hadn't yet suffered enough for you. And so, the Uzumaki, masters of fuinjutsu," Kurama glared at Naruto, "were commisioned to seal me inside one of their own." The Nine-Tails sighed loudly, and continued, "Mito was cold to me, yes, but in the end, she wasn't such a terrible host. She accepted that I was her enemy, and likewise she was mine, but there was... less hate between us than there could have been. And of course, just as things got better, as I began to accept my new life inside Mito, Madara Uchiha came along."

"That man was the embodiment of hate. He tore me out of Mito and subjugated me with his Sharingan, he turned me into a weapon! As a test run, he commanded me to level the Land of Whirlpools, then led me to Konoha. And who but the Hokage would arrive to stop me? He defeated Madara, brought me before Mito Uzumaki and sealed me inside her once more. How could she not hate me, by that point? I was doomed, by that point, to fall through the Uzumaki line, Jinchuuriki after Jinchuuriki who would always hate me for the destruction of Uzushio."

Kurama paused. "But then, of course, that expectation was violated by my second host, Kushina. That woman... Naruto's mother... she never hesitated to scream right back at me when I called for blood. She tried to count herself as an equal to me, so she talked to me. In time, she too grew close to me. I might have even counted her as a companion, not a host, but before that could happen, Madara returned, Sharingan glowing once more, and released me. He commanded me once more to destroy Konoha. Kushina begged, actually begged Madara... Tobi, as he called himself, to stop, but no. I laid waste to this village. AGAINST MY WILL!"

"But the Fourth Hokage confronted Madara, defeated him, and released me from his control. By that point, I was locked in battle with every remaining ninja in the village. I reveled in my hate," the Bijuu snarled at Hinata, who by now refused to make eye contact. "I kept destroying your home village, until the Hokage came for me, with an infant in his arms, and Kushina at his side. They attacked me together, and sealed me in here. Twelve years now, I've been locked away in a third Jinchuuriki."

Kurama turned, then, to Naruto. "After all that... do you think one little human being polite to me, will just erase all of the hatred in my heart?"

Ino slumped into a sitting position, sinking a bit into the soft sand. "Every word of that... it was true," she whispered shakily. "No one can tell a lie through the Mind Meeting Jutsu."

"And?" Kurama turned to her, growling. "What does it matter?"

"So all of those terrible things... really happened to you!" she sobbed, shocking the Kyuubi. "You r-really felt that way... a-all those centuries... and it was n-never your fault!" Ino slouched forward and held her head in her hands, shivering. "And I called you a demon."

"All the more reason," Hinata replied, "To keep it from happening again."

Slowly, the Nine-Tails took a step back. Its tails stilled, and sank silently into the sandy floor of its cage. "...Get away. All of you." Kurama shook his head, and clenched his eyes shut. "I don't want to hear this anymore. GET OUT!"

Ino flinched, and clasped her hands together in a seal. "R-Release," she whispered, and vanished from Naruto's mind, along with Hinata.

Naruto made his way to where Hinata had been standing, directly in front of the lock on the cage. "What the hell, Kurama? They were showing you they actually cared, and you lost it! Why?"

"This is wrong!" Kurama roared back at him. "All of it! Hate me! Like you're supposed to! HATE ME!"
Kurama threw a brutal genjutsu at his host, trapping him in a vision of Konoha being levelled. He saw his infant self being carried into bloody battle, Kurama attacking his parents, drawing their blood with fatal wounds, aiming to kill Naruto himself. He saw Kushina die first, as Minato sealed all of her remaining chakra into Naruto, then Kurama vanished at the same time the Fourth Hokage collapsed in death.

"HATE ME!"

He saw an illusion of Kurama closing in on Hinata, alone and unarmed, visibly drained of chakra and screaming weakly in horror. As Kurama raised its claws to rip her apart, Naruto swept aside the genjutsu with a brutal pulse of his own mental force.

"HATE ME!" Kurama roared a third time, and Naruto glared back at him.

"Shut the hell up!" he strode forward, passing the threshold of the cage, and kept moving toward the Kyuubi, who opened his maw to fire a Tailed Beast Ball. Using the godly power Naruto had over his own mind, he backhanded the attack apart harmlessly, and kept approaching. Kurama began retreating backward, and Naruto raised his right hand in a fist.

"I still don't hate you," he declared, as Kurama found himself pressed against the back of his cage. "I'm barely even angry. I'm hurt. Hurt that you still want me to hate you!"

He kept walking forward. "GET BACK!" Kurama screamed, and formed another, much larger, Tailed Beast Ball, which Naruto again destroyed. "GET AWAY!" The Kyuubi squeezed its eyes shut.

"Move past this, you idiot!" Naruto shouted back. "Move on with your life! You've got a chance to make your life better for the rest of eternity, don't throw that away because you're afraid of a change!"

He punched Kurama in the snout, which did absolutely no damage. The fox opened its eyes reluctantly. "I want to help you," Naruto continued sadly, "I really do. But I can't if you won't let me! So make up your damn mind, you stupid fox! Do you really want to live in hatred forever?"

The Nine-Tails replied, after a long pause, "...No. No, I don't." he looked away from his third Jinchuuriki, and slumped, laying down at the edge of his cage. "Tell Hinata and Ino, I..." he paused, and shook. "I'm... sorry. I shouldn't have chased them away. They meant well."

"Alright," Naruto replied, and gently laid a hand on Kurama's muzzle. "I'll get you out of here one day, believe it. But first we gotta get the world ready, ya know? When I let you out, I don't want Konoha's entire army jumping you, and I don't want you stepping on them. But when the time comes, I won't hesitate. I'll let you out into the real world, I swear."

X

Hinata jumped when Naruto finally resurfaced in the real world. His eyes opened, and he blinked a few times. "Thanks for the help with that, Ino-chan," he smiled, then added, "Kyuubi-san wanted me to tell you both he's sorry."

"Sorry?" Hinata and Ino repeated together.

For chasing them away. They did nothing wrong.

"For chasing you away," Naruto repeated. "You didn't do anything wrong."

And I'd like to thank them for showing me sympathy.

"Now he wants me to thank you for showing him that you care."

"You can hear his thoughts that clearly?" Hinata questioned, and Naruto nodded.

"He can hear you guys too... Now that I think if it, we could've just done this, instead of bringing Ino-chan into it..."

"Oh, crap!" Ino yelped suddenly, having spotted Naruto's alarm clock. "I have a date with K- I mean, I'm supposed to meet a friend in like ten minutes!" She jumped up from where she'd been sitting and made for the door. "Sorry guys, I gotta go!" Before anyone could reply, Ino was out the door.

"Ehh... what the hell was that about?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Ino-chan..." Hinata said slowly, "is dating someone whose name begins with a 'K.'" She blushed. "And we only know one person in our age group who has a name beginning with 'K.'"

Naruto blinked. "Kiba?"

Hinata nodded. "It's my only guess, but..." she glanced to the door. "Ino-chan didn't want to tell us, so we shouldn't be trying to figure it out behind her back."

"Ow! What the hell?" Naruto and Hinata both glanced to where Ino's voice was coming from. She quickly reentered the room, and called, "Hey, there's a barrier ninjutsu in the hallway! I can't get through!"

The two Team Eight Genin paled. "We're locked in here?"

"Ah, come on!" Ino groaned. "Don't say it like a line from a cheesy horror movie!"

Naruto smirked against his will, then grew serious again. "Who would wanna capture one of us? The first one that comes to mind is Orochimaru, who wants my eyes. I don't think anyone's angry enough at you to try this, Ino-chan..."

"When I was younger, Kumo once tried to kidnap me for my Byakugan," Hinata suggested. "But I doubt it's them again. It's probably Orochimaru, or more likely one of his followers. Byakugan!" She finished, and glanced around the room. "I don't see anyone in the manor... Wait! There, on the roof. But... that's Mizuki-sensei. I can see his chakra flowing, he's definitely holding up the barrier."

"Damn it. We can't let him choose where we fight." Naruto gritted his teeth. Mizuki-sensei, I knew there was something wrong about you. "Ino, I'm gonna get you out of here. Hinata, let's take this guy down!" he slapped together a few seals, and glanced up at the ceiling.

"Naruto, what are you-"

"Air Bullet!" Naruto punched upward, blowing the roof overhead apart. "Ino, go get help!" She nodded, and leapt away through the hole in the building. "Rinnegan!" His doujutsu flared over his normal eyes, showing him the chakra and natural energy in his field of vision.

"Damn it," Mizuki snarled, and abandoned his efforts to maintain the barrier. "Demon brat." he blurred through a much longer seal sequence, and called, "Diamond Dome Jutsu."

Naruto glanced out the window over his shoulder, and his Rinnegan showed him a clear barrier of chakra encasing the entire building. Ino just barely flew past its edges before it cut off an inch of the blonde hair trailing behind her.

Hinata jumped up through the hole in the roof, and took up a Gentle Fist stance where Mizuki could see her. "What do you want with Naruto and I?" she asked angrily. Naruto released the sword in his ring, and placed himself at her side.

"Well, first I'm gonna kill him. Then I'll rip his eyes out of his head. I'll sell one to Orochimaru, and keep the other for myself." Mizuki grinned. "And hey, seeing as you're here, I'll take a Byakugan too. I won't be coming back here when I leave, so why not piss off more of this backwater village?"

"You-" Naruto stepped forward, but Hinata extended an arm into his path, surprising him.

"Naruto-kun, I want to go first," she declared, and Naruto nodded after a moment, stepping back. Hinata glared at Mizuki, and assumed a stance of a much higher Gentle Fist level. "Mizuki Tora, you have betrayed the Hidden Leaf Village. You've conspired with a missing-nin, and for that alone, you are now a missing-nin yourself. For that, I would have the legal right to summarily execute you right now. But you continued. You threatened me, and the one I love most. Your life is forfeit to me."

Mizuki started laughing, quite loudly. "Fucking Genin think they're all gods of war," he observed after he calmed down. "I'm gonna enjoy this." He reached for one of the two Fuuma Shuriken on his back, still baring his teeth in a grin.

"Gentle Fist Art." his eyes widened as Hinata blurred forward, and slapped her open hands into his chest. "Two Palms!" his arm fell limp back down to his side, and Hinata locked eyes with him, glaring with her intimidating doujutsu. "Four Palms, Eight Palms, Sixteen Palms!" she took a deep breath, and resisted the urge to recklessly continue her attack, then leapt back to Naruto's side.

"Brats," Mizuki snarled, and triggered his brand-new Cursed Seal. "I can't believe I have to use this already." the senjutsu chakra flushed through his tenketsu, restoring them to full functionality, and he stood.

He whipped out and let fly his first shuriken. Hinata ducked, but noted the speed and power behind the throw, and immediately spotted the second shuriken in the shadow of the first with her Byakugan. She rolled to the side, dodging it as well, and jumped back to her feet. He's faster now. That seal... it's a lot like the one Orochimaru put on Naruto-kun. It fills him with energy harvested from nature, and apparently it can counter a Gentle Fist strike to sixteen or more tenketsu. But that's just fine. I have more weapons at my disposal.

Hinata clenched her right fist, and suddenly remembered the bronze ring on her finger. I can use the spear later, but for now, I know exactly how to counter his shuriken.

Mizuki reached into one of the pockets on his flak jacket to produce a scroll filled with storage seals. He laid it at his feet and pulled out a third Fuuma Shuriken from within, then threw it.

"Shinra Tensei," Naruto called, with his hands reaching for the shuriken, pushing it back. Mizuki caught it, and was pushed away another twenty feet.

"Protection of the Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms."

Naruto grinned. She must've finished it recently. Her ultimate defence... maybe it was when I was learning kenjutsu...

Hinata closed her eyes, and the rooftop beneath her feet began to glow green. Mizuki's eyes narrowed at the sight of this unfamiliar jutsu, but he threw his shuriken, and Hinata's eyes immediately opened. She held out her hands in the direction of the approaching weapon, and a grid of glowing green chakra threads intercepted the Fuuma Shuriken, slicing it into dozens of useless pieces that scattered at Hinata's feet.

"That... is... awesome!" Naruto exclaimed gleefully, forgetting Mizuki for a moment. Hinata smiled, and the rest of the dome-shaped grid became visible around her. Naruto grinned as he realized he was within her field of protection.

Mizuki drew two more shuriken from his scroll, one in each hand, and whipped them at the field of lasers. As he predicted, they were also cut to pieces, but he was already reaching for more. "This laser grid thing is pretty effective, I'll admit, but there's no way you can keep up with me." using the boost of speed from his Cursed Seal, Mizuki threw dozens of shuriken at the grid. Just as he intended, the grid's chakra threads clustered together to cut apart the shuriken, leaving small openings in other spots. There! Mizuki spotted a hole of the right size, and used the Body Flicker Jutsu to dive through it headfirst.

His last shuriken, held as a melee weapon, was met by Naruto's cutlass. The Jinchuuriki had jumped between Hinata and Mizuki, knowing his cutlass would stop Mizuki's shuriken. The rogue Chuunin's feet hit the ground, giving him leverage to push Naruto back. The boy's physical strength couldn't possibly match that of a Chuunin with a Cursed Seal. "You gotta know by now, I'm just toying with you two brats. I know pretty much every kinjutsu this village has produced. Mulitple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Naruto mustered the strength to shove Mizuki back, even as a hundred copies of the rogue Chuunin appeared to surround Hinata's personal Gentle Fist ninjutsu. Weakened, Mizuki retreated a few steps and popped a soldier pill into his mouth. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." A single clone appeared next to Mizuki, then dispelled itself to spread the soldier pill's chakra amongst all one-hundred and one remaining Mizukis.

"Tell me, Nine-Tails, do you know any kinjutsu?" Mizuki asked Naruto. "Some of them fit perfectly together when used in a sequence. For instance, a Shadow Clone can cut itself, drawing chakra-infused blood." One hundred Mizukis slashed their Fuuma Shuriken across their wrists. The clones all made the same hand seal, and roared in stereo, "Fire Release: Burning Blood Sacrifice!"

Hinata's Byakugan eyes widened, watching serpents of crimson flame form from the shed blood of the clones. "Naruto, I can't stop a fire jutsu like this with chakra threads. And a hundred of them..." The snakes coiled in the air above the vanishing clones, preparing to strike.

"It's all right." Naruto's Rinnegan gave off a faint purple light. "Asura Path! Forge Level One!" A wall of rapidly hardening liquid metal rose around them to stop the first attack of the fire snakes. It grew into a dome that held Naruto and Hinata in near-absolute darkness.

This'll only hold 'em off for a moment, Naruto noted silently. The weak metal was already glowing with heat from their first hit, giving off the only light in the dome, and the snakes were still ramming into the metal again and again. Naruto started a new sequence of seals. "I have a jutsu that'll get us out of here, but I never thought I'd use it like this," he admitted. "Ninja Art: Seal Summoning Jutsu."

Hinata blinked, watching a massive green slate chest appear in front of Naruto. "What is that?" she asked, and Naruto lifted up the thin stone lid of the trunk.

Inside was most of the Uzumaki Clan fortune, several sheathed cutlasses, and two dozen Hiraishin kunai. Between the surface of the gold and weaponry, and the lid, there was room for four people. Naruto climbed into the chest, and his feet sank a few inches into the gold coins. "Come on!" he called, and Hinata leapt into the chest, laying down next to him. Naruto closed the lid as quickly as he could, then made another hand seal, and returned the stone chest to where he'd concealed it under the tiles around his pool.

Hinata's Byakugan saw through the lid of the chest, showing her an enraged and confused Mizuki on the roof above them. "How did we get here?"

"I marked this trunk with a fuinjutsu, so I can teleport it to me, then back to its original location here." Naruto shrugged, and the gold coins under his shoulders clinked. "You know, I only finished it the day before yesterday."

"And now Mizuki has no idea where we are," Hinata noted. "We can ambush him through the roof."

Naruto pushed open the lid of the chest, lifting the panel of the floor above it as well, then sat up and said, "I can't see one solid object through another, but I can see Mizuki's chakra like a light shining through the walls, and that's enough. He just popped another soldier pill."

"The best way to attack him would be directly from below," Hinata mused. "I could tear up the roof beneath him with a thrown Rasengan, and hope to catch him in the blast."

"The first attack is always a feint," Naruto murmured to himself, quoting Shikamaru.

Hinata glanced at the pool. "That's right... We have the perfect weapon to use. I'll use the Water Dragon Bullet, but I'll make it move through the house, down here, then move up through the roof and chase Mizuki to the spot above us..."

"...Then throw a Rasengan at the roof he's standing on!" Naruto caught on, "And he'll fall into the pool down here. He'll be disoriented for a moment, and then, we'll hit him with everything we've got!"

Hinata nodded, and began swiping her hands through the longest seal sequence she knew. "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu," she murmured, and the serpent rose out of the pool, growling softly.

Mizuki checked the integrity of the barrier around the Uzumaki Clan estate. It had required most of his Cursed Seal's chakra to prepare, but he'd laid it in advance and allowed his seal to refill with natural energy. The barrier, Mizuki noted, was perfectly intact; nothing had broken through.

He knew he was running out of time, however. Soon, ANBU and Jounin would be sent by the Hokage, once Ino got to him, and the barrier wouldn't hold out against them. At least one would recognize the material of the dome as diamond, and know that diamonds can be burned with fire or a Fire Release jutsu.

A Water Dragon Bullet exploded through the roof and lunged at him, roaring. "Shit!" Mizuki snarled, and retreated, leaping away from the dragon. A Water Dragon Bullet from a Genin? Most Chuunin don't even have enough chakra to fuel a jutsu like this... but that Hyuuga kid might have the chakra control to do this with perfect efficiency... Damn it, I might have to take this seriously-

The roof under his feet exploded the moment he landed on it. He was thrown another twenty feet into the air, and his eyes widened with shock when he glimpsed Naruto shoot past him, cutlass already in hand. The younger shinobi twisted in midair to look down at Mizuki, and reached for the mansion with his free left hand. "Banshou Tenin!" he called.

Rather than pulling the huge building toward himself, Naruto was yanked toward it by the Rinnegan jutsu, far faster than Mizuki was already falling. The freshly minted missing-nin saw Naruto speeding down toward him with his sword poised to cut him in two, and he intercepted the strike with his last Fuuma Shuriken, wielded in his right hand.

Naruto's jutsu shot them both together into the pool, cracking the bottom of it with Mizuki's back. Mizuki looked around, seeing nothing but white frothing bubbles and swirling water, but Naruto's Rinnegan showed him the silhouette of chakra flowing through Mizuki, even if he was blind to everything else. The Jinchuuriki pumped chakra throughout his limbs, and kicked off of the pool's floor, surging up into the air above the pool.

"Wind Release: Wind Scar!" Naruto roared, and slashed his sword through the open air, forming it into blades which tore through the water and lacerated the stone floor beneath. He landed at the edge of the pool, and grinned. "I think that did it, Hina-chan."

Mizuki roared, and exploded up out of the water. His Fuuma Shuriken was scratched and scarred; apparently he'd used it to block one or two blades of the Wind Scar. He landed on the surface of the water, furious, and reached for Naruto and Hinata with one hand each. "Summoning Jutsu," he snarled.

Naruto croaked in shock and pain, when he suddenly found himself in front of Mizuki, with the latter's extended hand around his throat. Hinata was in a similar predicament. "No more fucking around," Mizuki said with a glare aimed at Naruto, then lifted them both from the surface of the water. He jumped into the air, then threw both Genin downward.

Naruto felt the stone crack under his back when he struck it, and when his breath was knocked out of his lungs, he saw it rise through the water as a series of bubbles that joined the myriad others in the water. He turned his head painfully, and saw Hinata floating slowly upward with her eyes closed.

Just before he might have completely lost his mind, Kurama warned him quietly, Hinata is alive. You can still see her chakra; you know she'll be fine. She hasn't yet breathed in any water; you still have time.

Naruto nodded, though no one saw it. He curled into a lazy sitting position on the bottom of the pool, and aimed his right hand, now disarmed, at Hinata.

The Hyuuga princess's eyes shot open before he could use his Rinnegan jutsu. He'd intended to use Banshou Tenin to grab Hinata, then Shinra Tensei to fly upward with her, but that clearly wasn't necessary. She turned to him silently, and nodded, then swam into an upright position to kick off of the bottom of the thoroughly ruined pool.

Rather than use chakra control to stand on the water's surface, Hinata began to tread water, forming a Rasengan as she did. Mizuki noticed this, but couldn't think of any explanation for why she wouldn't stand. I know I can do this, Hinata decided, and finished her Rasengan. All it takes is a large enough mass of water. I can do this!

She touched the Rasengan to the surface of the water, still sloshing violently around her and Mizuki from the repeated jutsu striking it. The water slowly began to whip around her in a perfect, circular whirlpool. Naruto, still underwater, was shoved by the water currents into a corner of the pool. He knew what would come next, and decided to use Shinra Tensei. He coughed water as he surfaced, and stood shakily at the edge of the pool.

Mizuki smirked briefly at the injured Uzumaki, but quickly directed his attention back to Hinata, whose feet had now touched the bottom of the pool. What the hell is this kid doing?

Naruto grinned when he saw a three-foot circle at Hinata's feet be wiped clean of water. "Ya know, Hina-chan," he whispered quietly, "You really are incredible."

If I was an Uzumaki, Hinata noted, I'd be a legal adult from this moment on. The Rasengan turned blue in her hand, and formed a bubble-like sphere of clear, blue-green chakra around itself. I did it! "Water Release: Rasengan!" She roared, and raised the jutsu to throw it at Mizuki.

I don't think I'd survive getting hit by that, Mizuki decided, and jumped through the sunlit hole in the roof. Hinata tracked his movement with the Byakugan, and lobbed the Water Rasengan at him. Shit! He tried to twist out of the way, but the attack still scraped up along the front of his legs, past his waist and chest, doing minimal damage until it struck his chin, where it exploded.

Mizuki was thrown headfirst across the entire manor, and he struck the far side of his ninjutsu barrier. He heard a few of his bones crunch, but he could still stand. He turned and saw Naruto and Hinata still following him. His Cursed Seal began repairing his body, snapping broken bones back into alignment, but he spotted a second blue sphere in Hinata's distant hand, and made his decision.

"Screw this, I''m outta here," he growled, and let the barrier fall so he could pass.

He turned to run, only to meet a fist wrapped in red flames that slammed into his jaw, fracturing it in three places. Kiba kicked him in the ribs as he tried to stand, breaking two of those as well. "You bastard," Kiba growled, "I could pretty much smell how low you were, at the Academy. Spineless, heartless." Mizuki crawled away, trying to stand, and Kiba let him. "I'm gonna kill you, and I'm gonna like it."

"No," Gaara rasped, "If anyone gets that satisfaction, it will be me. But first..." his sand wrapped around Mizuki, and held him immobile. Only his head was left exposed. "Tell me, Mizuki Tora... Hokage-sama deduced you've read the Scroll of Seals. Is that true?"

Mizuki nodded, looking around with horror at the gathered ninja; Kiba, Gaara, Temari, Kankurou, Ino, Asuma and Baki.

"The Eight Trigrams Seal is written in that scroll. The perfect seal for containing a Tailed Beast. Did you know, Naruto Uzumaki bears that seal?" Gaara pulled Mizuki, and the sand containing him, closer. "After I bring you to your Hokage-sama, I will see to it that I or Naruto learn that jutsu. If I have to torture the information from you, I will do so." Gaara smirked evilly. "In fact, let me show you how I'll begin. Sand Coffin."

Mizuki howled as his elbows and knees were snapped backward, dislocated. "Given proper medical attention, that damage won't be permanent," Gaara growled, "but now you can't escape me. And it hurts, doesn't it? Come with me," the One-Tailed Jinchuuriki commanded, and turned to leave. The sand holding Mizuki floated behind him, taking with it the missing-nin inside.

"...Whoa," Kiba commented, as Gaara left.

"He used to be a lot worse than that," Temari noted sadly, then cheered up. "But your friend Naruto's already changing him. He called me nee-chan last night." she glanced past Kiba, at the now badly-damaged mansion. "Let's go get your friends."

Kiba nodded with a grin, then spotted Naruto and Hinata, approaching on the roof. "Hey, guys!" Kiba waved, and his fellow members of Team Eight leapt from the roof to join the group of shinobi.

"Yo, Kiba," Naruto greeted, grinning. "You should've seen Hina-chan; she was amazing, believe it!"

Hinata barely, just barely blushed. "You really think so?"

"You kicked that bastard Mizuki's ass and destroyed half of my house! It was awesome!" Naruto replied enthusiastically.

"It wasn't half of the house, just a few holes in it, but I'm sorry about that," Hinata said with a wince.

"Eh, don't worry about it. I can fix it in a couple of days with my Asura Path," Naruto shrugged. "It's pretty much the Yin Release, ya know?"

"Yin Release?" Kiba questioned.

Naruto nodded. "Creating something from nothing using chakra. I looked it up. It goes with the Yang Release, to bring inanimate objects to life, and that makes the Yin-Yang Release. That's how the Sage of Six Paths created the Bijuu."

X

"Hokage-sama," Gaara intoned quietly, "The others are still at the Uzumaki Clan mansion. I brought Mizuki here alone."

Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe grimly. "Thank you, Gaara. Your father Kazekage-sama will want to see Mizuki interrogated immediately... If we're to ally against Oto for this treason-"

"The Fourth Kazekage is dead." Gaara watched Sarutobi's eyes widen. "I thought you knew... Orochimaru killed him shortly before we were sent into the Forest of Death."

"No, that's..." The Third Hokage slumped into his chair. "I spoke with him, this morning..."

"My father was fond of concealing his face with a cowl under his Kage hat," Gaara replied. "The man you've spoken to is an impostor."

"Orochimaru is known to possess a jutsu for stealing a slain victim's face..." Sarutobi scowled. "That must be how he's doing this."

Gaara closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. "He means to kill you. There's no doubt about that."

"The two of us are meant to sit alongside each other in the Chuunin Exam finals," Sarutobi replied. "We'll be spectators-"

"I know. My father allied himself with Oto in a plot to attack Konoha when that day comes. I've already informed my Jounin sensei Baki to call off that attack; it's clear that Orochimaru has been influencing my father."

Gaara blinked as a thought occured to him. "Now I can have what I want," he mused. "Hokage-sama. I strongly suggest you arrange a fight between myself and Naruto Uzumaki as quickly as possible. In exchange, I will stand at your side in the finals, and Naruto will likely do the same. Both of us carry demons within us; we'll be powerful allies. And yet, we're still Genin, less likely to tip off Orochimaru than a full squad of ANBU."

The Hokage nodded. "We can turn Orochimaru's plan against him, with this. Suna will call off its attack, leaving Oto alone on the battlefield, or better yet, help Konoha strike them down. Meanwhile, Orochimaru will try to assassinate me, and you two will help me stop him. Together we can take him down... after all these years..."

"But you must arrange for Naruto to fight me before then," Gaara insisted.

"I... suppose I can have that done..." Sarutobi turned his gaze back to Mizuki. "But for now, I need to deal with this traitor. The sooner we start wringing information out of him, the better."

"Fuck that," Mizuki barked, and the Cursed Seal of Earth that had spread over his body began to glow fiery orange. The marks faded into his skin, which turned deep brown, and his eyes glowed crimson.

"Sand Coffin," Gaara replied, and clenched both of his hands into fists, but Mizuki threw his arms into the air, breaking free of the sand.

The Hokage pulled off his hat and cloak in one smooth motion, revealing the armored shinobi uniform he wore underneath. He took a defensive taijutsu stance, but Mizuki shot past him, smashing through the wall behind his desk. A cloud of debris that had once been a wall obscured the path he'd used to flee, and while Sarutobi immediately followed Mizuki through, he stopped once he passed the dust cloud. Mizuki was already gone.

The Hokage sighed. "I should've seen that coming... the Flying Thunder God Jutsu was written in the Scroll of Seals. Mizuki would surely have learned it before he even returned the original scroll."

"Original?" Gaara repeated.

"Of course. Why would he have returned the first scroll, without copying everything written in it onto a duplicate?"

Gaara gazed into the dust cloud thoughtfully. "Orochimaru sent Mizuki after Naruto. It's obvious why; he still wants the Rinnegan. And that power Mizuki used... a Cursed Seal. He's an investment on Orochimaru's part, and that means..."

"...It means Orochimaru will give Mizuki a second chance to capture or kill Naruto," the Hokage finished grimly. "A second chance for us to capture him."

"Next time, I'll be certain to remove his limbs completely. It should take him longer to regenerate them, rather than just fixing the joints." Gaara said this with a disturbingly calm voice, and Sarutobi noticed. Gaara caught the appraising, concerned look from the Hokage, and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's nothing," Sarutobi replied hastily, and looked away.

"Ah. I see." Gaara turned to look at the door. "An ordinary Genin my age would be unable to say something like that. I unnerved you. I'm... trying to change, now that I know the true nature of my condition, but I have so little to work with. I don't know what someone with any warmth inside them would say or do." he made for the door, and continued firmly, "But I will learn. I'll find that warmth, eventually." I won't let you keep me from that, Shukaku.

X

This note was originally part of the beginning of chapter 14, but I really should've moved it here a long time ago.

Mizuki does not know the Hiraishin. He knows a high-speed travel jutsu, similar to the Shunshin, that was fast enough to have the Hokage, in the heat of the moment, mistake it for the Hiraishin until after the chapter ended, at which point he looked through the Scroll of Seals to make a list of jutsu Mizuki could have possibly used.

We'll call this Zabuza's Theorem: When a character makes a guess or deduction, don't just assume they're right.

As for Mizuki creating a hundred shadow clones, I cite Eliezer's First Law of Fanfiction: You can't make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star. In Naruto terms, this translates to You can't give Naruto the Rinnegan unless Orochimaru gets a Scroll of Seals and a powerful new minion, as a start. Mizuki is stronger because Naruto is stronger. For reference, the (First) Three Laws of Fanfiction can be found on my profile.

That said, I made a terrible mistake for not giving any kind of warning that something like this would come up. Out of nowhere, the first and weakest villain in the entire series can spam clones the same way Canon!Naruto does, with no explanation or prior warning. That was stupid and I hope you guys can forgive me for my error.

Please Review!