Sasuke was feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time, fear. Fear of death, fear of dying, fear of having not accomplished everything he wanted to.

His whole body shook and his eyes were wide in a combination of shock and terror. He was sweating, trembling like his body lost the ability to be tense. And he was getting colder little by little.

'No, not now. I can't die now. Not before Itachi. This cannot happen. This is impossible. How could this be?' He thought in a panic, trying to will himself to stay alive. But it wasn't working so well. He could feel himself getting weaker and his vision becoming more blurred.

The Konoha nin didn't react, at least to him. Yamato tried looking around the area, certain there was someone unaccounted for nearby, and Sakura immediately joined him in the search. The question was not just who attacked Sasuke, but was he that person's only target?

Hinata kept by Sasuke in case he tried anything new, and four-tailed Naruto was right there with her, waiting for any signal to attack again. Hinata did not bother to hide her satisfaction at seeing Sasuke hurt so much. After all the pain and misery he had caused others in his mad quest with revenge, directly or indirectly, he deserved to die. At least in her mind.

Feeling his body weaken, Sasuke made a feeble attempt to get back on his feet. He succeeded, but his glare was the only strong part of him. His stance was shaky, his legs struggling to support his weight now.

"If I'm going down, you're all going down with me." Sasuke threatened, readying himself for a suicide jutsu Orochimaru had taught him.

-Flashback-

"You might not like to hear this Sasuke but part of ninja training is not just being able to win but preparing for the chance you lose." Orochimaru once told the Uchiha. "A sad fact is no one can win every fight every time. Not even Itachi. But not every defeat has to result in someone's death, be it your own or the others. The strongest ninja are not the ones that have never lost a fight, but those that have and managed to get away alive to fight another day."

"Bullshit." Sasuke scoffed while sharpening a sword, another thing he was learning as part of kenjutsu training. "If they truly were the strongest they wouldn't have lost in the first place."

"Strength is not as black-and-white as you believe it is Sasuke." Orochimaru continued, this time in a correcting tone. "Consider the asp, by itself it is small and not exactly fast. But it can sneak up on it's prey with great skill and strike them before they even know the asp was there. And while the bite alone is nothing more than an irritating pain, the venom will kill in no time. A snake even smaller than my arm can kill a person just as well as a lion or crocodile can, which in terms of physical strength it could never hold a candle to."

"What's your point?"

"My point Sasuke is there's more to strength than sheer brute force. I myself favor ninjutsu, but I also took the time to learn taijutsu, kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, physiology, biology, strategy. All to make myself a well-rounded fighter, so no matter what situation I find myself in, I'm prepared to come out on top." Orochimaru explained. "I did not choose one aspect and say that's all I needed for the rest of my life."

"I am learning more than one thing." Sasuke insisted.

"No Sasuke, you're not." The snake sannin countered, confusing and irking his newest pupil. "While it's true you are learning more than one way to attack, attacking is all you seem to have the patience to learn. While it is true you can't defeat Itachi without offensive maneuvers, surely you realize that Itachi will be on the offense as well. He's not going to just stand there and let you kill him, he's going to fight back. Like it or not, you need to learn how to respond to attacks rather than just deliver them."

"I already know that." Sasuke insisted.

"More than just the substitution Sasuke. I'm talking counter-attacks, blocking jutsu, redirecting attacks, more than merely avoiding a hit. Also what to do in the event you are hit. Face it, no matter how strong I help you get there will always be the chance that Itachi can still wound you enough to kill you, even if not right away."

Sasuke put down his whetstone but not his sword, looking offended. "I will not lose to Itachi."

"And you won't, as long as you prepare yourself. Victory favors the prepared Sasuke. Prepare yourself for the fact that Itachi will fight back. Prepare yourself for the fact that you will not get away unwounded. Prepare yourself for the fact that your life will be in danger. Once you accept that, once you stop believing that Itachi's already dead and he just doesn't know it, then you can be strong enough to defeat him. Otherwise, you're just masking your suicide as martyrdom."

Orochimaru then looked like he got an idea he liked. "That reminds me, I know one way to guarantee that Itachi dies beyond a doubt. The problem is this jutsu has a high cost, your own life."

"My own life?" Sasuke asked.

Orochimaru nodded. "Yes, if it looks like there's no chance of you getting away alive, you use this jutsu to kill yourself and your enemy at the same time. Sure you die, but at least Itachi dies too. In a way, that's victory enough."

Sasuke shook his head. "No. I must live to ensure my clan rises from the ashes."

Orochimaru shrugged. "Suit yourself Sasuke, but ask yourself this. If there were only two choices to make, kill yourself and Itachi together, or die by yourself and let him live, which would you take?"

It would be a while before Sasuke could answer that, and when he did, he chose the first option.

-End Flashback-

'I can't believe I have to use it here, hell I can't believe I have to use it at all, but I'm not letting these losers be strong enough to get out of here alive.' Sasuke mentally raged, readying his one and only suicide jutsu.

All of a sudden a giant snake burst out of the ground, but instead of going for the Konoha nin it went for Sasuke instead. Caught off guard as well, Sasuke was in no condition to retaliate or get away.

Right away, moving with a purpose, the snake captured Sasuke and swallowed him whole, halting his jutsu. While everyone watched in disbelief, the snake continued forward without a moment's hesitation and slithered up and out of the crater.

Naruto went right after the serpent with a roar.

"Hina-" Yamato started, but was cut off by her already going after the Kyuubi-influenced boy. "Okay then, Sakura, we need to go find whoever the surprise sniper is and what they came here for."

The pinkette nodded and before they took off she made one last fleeting glance in the direction the snake went and a single word raced through her mind.

'Sasuke...'

The snake proved to be unusually fast for its size, but four-tailed Naruto was fast as well. Running on all fours, Naruto came up to the serpent and slashed at it, but the snake deftly avoided the attack in a way not unlike a sidewinder. Naruto jumped in a way similar to a pounce, but the snake managed to swat him away with its tail, making him collide with a tree. The snake then went back underground.

Recovered quickly, four-tailed Naruto came to the hole in the ground and stood at the entrance, growling but not going in. He paced around the hole for a moment and then let out a roar, possibly of rage. His animal instincts were probably the only thing keeping him from entering a snake's lair.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted when she caught up to him. He turned to her but did not attack. But the moment Hinata took another step forward, he let out a fierce growl that forced her to halt.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata said, the worry evident in her voice. However he gave no indication that he understood her. Instead all he did was growl more and take a predatory step toward her.

"What's wrong? Naruto-kun, it's me."

"It is Kyuubi-kun's chakra. It's overwhelming him." Lilith said as she watched through Hinata's eyes.

"What?"

"He is loosing his humanity. At first he still recognized you as his mate, but the longer he remains like this the closer Kyuubi-kun gets to taking over his body and claiming it as his own. And there's no guarantee that he will go easy on you like Naruto would. Right now the mind in charge is neither Naruto nor Kyuubi but a war ground for both with Naruto losing. I don't think he can recognize you anymore."

"That is ridiculous. Of course he will recognize me." Hinata stated, sure of her words enough that she took a step forward. "Naruto-"

That was as far as she got because one of the tails suddenly came straight towards her with intent to impale. It was only instinctive reflexes and enhanced speed thanks to Lilith that saved her life.

The attack instead struck a tree and rendered it to splinters.

Hinata was awestruck, unable to believe that Naruto had just attacked her. "NARUTO-KUN!" She cried, with a bit of hurt in her voice but mostly concern for him.

However Naruto simply roared like a feral animal and ran straight at her with killer intent.

"WINGS NOW!" Lilith screamed.

Suddenly bat-like wings burst out from Hinata's back causing a few rips in her jacket and the next thing she knew she was in the air.

The now beast-like Naruto continued to roar and growl at her and with sheer power he leapt a great distance into the air. With an outstretched claw he nearly grabbed Hinata's ankle, but once more only quick acting on Lilith's part saved them both. Hinata with Lilith's help manipulated the air currents to keep herself out of the jinchuuriki's reach and then started to fly away to draw him from the others lest he attack them instead.

Four-tailed Naruto roared in anger once he was back on the ground and began chasing her from below.

"YOU IDIOT!" Lilith cried. "You nearly got us killed!"

"What?" Hinata asked, suddenly realizing what was happening. "How are we moving?"

"When you spaced out I had to take control to prevent your boyfriend from ripping us to shreds."

"That is not Naruto-kun."

"That's Kyuubi-kun for you. In the beginning it was only because of your lover's feelings for you that he was tame, but now that's obviously not enough anymore. Kyuubi-kun has no reason to spare you, even with me in here."

"There must be something we can do. Something to snap him out of this." Hinata said as she turned her head and saw that Naruto was still coming after them.

Lilith was silent for a moment as she contemplated a course of action. "There may be a way."

"What?"

"It is dangerous though and I would not recommend it."

"I do not care, tell me." Hinata pleaded.

"Succubi are beings who feed on the sexual desires and fantasies of others. Sometimes we enter the dreams of an individual to find out about their idea of a fantasy woman in order to take that form and appear before them."

"How does this help?" Hinata demanded.

"Simple, you can enter Naruto's mind and instead of finding out what turns him on you can drag him out of this feral mindset directly."

"Tell me how."

"Our tail is not vestigial you know, it has functions. And I don't mean just lock-picking or cock-licking. You need to get close to Naruto and touch the tip of our tail to his forehead like you would a kunai. Do that and we should be able to make a mental connection to him."

"It won't hurt him will it?"

"Not unless you intend to hit his eye instead."

The very moment she finished that statement Hinata did a complete 180 turn in the air by flipping around acrobatically and was now flying straight toward Naruto instead of away from him.

"You are completely insane!" Lilith yelled.

"Just get ready!" Hinata yelled back as they neared Naruto.

It happened in what seemed to be split second slow motion. The moment they got close enough Hinata's succubus tail whipped out to make a connection to Naruto's forehead just as Naruto's fox-like claws shot out to rip Hinata apart. It was like one of those moments when a race was decided by a photo-finish. Who would reach who first?

As it turned out… Hinata did. The tip of her tail made contact and suddenly she found herself engulfed in darkness.

Hinata found herself standing in Naruto's apartment, though it was in horrible shape. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls, trash littered the floor and numerous cockroaches scampered around like they were daring someone to step on them. The overhead lights were flickering and there was a smell of decay in the air. Also, everything in the room appeared to be broken. Shattered plates and glasses, a torn futon, dull and rusted kunai, and moth-eaten clothing. Another strange thing about this place was that there was no door.

Sitting in the center of the apartment, sitting in a chair at the table, was Naruto. He was just sitting there staring into space like he was almost catatonic. He did not seem to really be aware of Hinata's presence.

Hinata slowly approached him, taking small tentative steps at first before she finally spoke up. "Naruto-kun?"

No reaction was made. Hinata drew closer to him and then reached out and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto-kun?"

It was then that he did react. First it was a small shudder but then he turned his head and looked at her. At first he did not seem to recognize her but after a moment a look of realization appeared on his face. "Hinata-chan?"

A smile appeared on her face as she nodded and hugged him tightly. "Yes, it is me."

"Wha…what are you doing here?" He asked.

"I am here to take you home."

"But…but I am home." He said as he gestured to the squalor surroundings.

Hinata shook her head. "No, this is your mind Naruto. You are losing control and the Kyuubi's chakra is taking control of your body. "

"The Kyuubi?" Naruto said as he tried to remember, his mind was so fuzzy at the moment.

"Yes Naruto, remember?" She said as she took his hand and held it tightly. "Do you remember we were on a mission?"

"The mission… Kabuto and Orochimaru… Sasuke." Naruto said as he rubbed his head.

Hinata nodded and continued to hold his hand. "Yes."

"I… I went into Kyuubi mode." He said as his mind started to clear up. "But too many tails… the chakra… could not control so much." He started to stand up. "It all got so dark and then everything turned red."

"It is alright now though." Hinata told him.

Naruto gazed deeply at her. "You… you came to get me?"

Hinata nodded and then she kissed him gently.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. When the kiss was broken Hinata whispered to him. "Let's go now." Naruto nodded in agreement with her.

When they turned, they saw that this time a door had now appeared. They walked slowly towards it and Naruto reached over and turned the knob. When he pushed open the door, they were surrounded by light as they walked through.

Naruto awoke with a gasp. He sat up from the ground and gave himself a quick pat down. He then looked at his hands, when he saw that they were no longer claws he let out a sigh of relief. "I'm back to normal."

Then realization hit him. "HINATA!" He said as he looked back and forth.

He saw her lying on the ground, in front of him, the wings and tail gone but the clothes torn to reveal they had been there. He quickly went to her side and held her in his arms as he gave her a small shake. "Hinata-chan? Are you alright? Speak to me." He cried.

She gave a small moan and cracked open her eyes.

Naruto hugged her tightly. "Hinata-chan I am so sorry. I could not stop myself, I… I did not mean-"

She silenced him by placing a finger upon his lips and gave him a small smile. "Kiss me." She said softly.

And he did, deeply and passionately as he continued to hold her. Her kiss back let him know she forgave him, making him happy and wanting to cry even more.

When the kiss ended Naruto held her like he was afraid she was going to be taken away otherwise. Hinata made no effort to escape his grasp, knowing he needed some reassurance she would still be there for him. And she knew the best way to do so.

"Naruto-kun..." She whispered into his ears. "It's okay."

"Did I hurt you? I can't remember." He asked.

"No, you didn't do anything to me. I was worried for you though. I thought I might have lost you."

Naruto didn't respond, not sure what to say. 'I put Hinata-chan in danger. I can't do that again. I won't. I'm supposed to keep her alive, not risk killing her. If this happens again and I go too far that time...' He didn't want to think about it. The idea alone was making him feel like there was a chakra vicegrip on all his tenketsu.

"You will never lose me Naruto-kun. I spent fifteen years trying to get you. It's going to take a lot more than Kyuubi having a temper to keep me away from you." She told him, then kissed him to convince him she was not going to hold what happened against him.

Naruto got swept away in the kiss. He was in an emotional turmoil and desperately needed to reassure himself that he still had the best thing to ever enter his life. He leaned forward making Hinata fall back on the ground, their lips still connected.

"Nice, this time he's the one taking initiative." Lilith noted. "Let's see how far he'll go if you let him."

Hinata had no reason to disagree.

Naruto pulled away and looked into her eyes, looking for any sign to stop. Knowing he would take any sign of uncertainty as such a sign, Hinata smiled in her usual loving way and nodded. The blonde then unzipped her jacket, and when he could he sneaked his right hand under her mesh shirt to caress her breast while his left hand unzipped her pants and slipped under her panties to rub her clit.

Hinata moaned with a smile. 'It feels nice, letting him be the one to start it all.' Usually she had to start their sensual activities, at least to some degree since Naruto was too nice to push himself on her. Now with Naruto being the instigator, she found herself highly excited and more than willing.

This time it wasn't about her needing energy, it was about him knowing he was still loved. Something she was more than willing to let him know.

Hinata removed her torn jacket and then her shirt and bra. Naruto removed his hand from her breast and slowly stripped her of her pants and panties in one move. Once nude she put her hands on his top zipper. "Allow me." She offered, then unzipped his jumpsuit top. He removed the jumpsuit then Hinata pulled off the shirt he wore under it, then caressed his chest and abs. "You're so handsome."

"I don't deserve you." He whispered.

"Let me be the judge of that." She told him before unzipping his pants and helping him get nude too.

Neither of them were concerned about being caught, not by their team nor by any enemy. For now, for this one moment, there was no team, no enemy, no mission, not even Lilith. There was nothing but themselves. Still, just to be on the safe side, Hinata did cast a privacy genjutsu to hide them from others and Naruto set up some shadow clones to guard. Just because they weren't concerned didn't mean they were going to ignore their shinobi instincts entirely.

On her back Hinata pulled Naruto on top of herself. She was ready, but Naruto needed some stimulation. Getting an idea, the Hyuuga heiress made her tail appear and have it caress his manhood in a way Lilith had already referred to as 'cock-licking'. The extra stimulation worked, making him erect enough to penetrate her.

He started to enter her, but once he got to where her hymen used to be he stopped. "Umm... Hinata-chan? One of my clones just died. Sakura-chan and Yamato-taichou are headed our way."

"Damn." Hinata complained. "We better get dressed then."

With speed worthy of ninja, the two got their clothes back on. Hinata had to unseal a spare jacket to replace her ripped one, lest the other two got the wrong idea about what happened to her.

When Sakura and Yamato got to them, delayed slightly by Naruto's clones, they saw the two were out of breath and their clothes were a bit ruffled but nothing else. "What happened?" Sakura asked.

"Sasuke got away." Hinata explained. "We tried finding him, but Kyuubi started affecting Naruto-kun more and I had to drop the search in order to stop that and return him to normal. I think that was unarguably a bigger priority for us."

Yamato looked at Naruto for confirmation, and saw a genuine look of guilt. "How did you suppress the Kyuubi?" He asked Hinata.

"A very complicated way that's hard to explain. But let's just say it's why Hokage-sama ordered you to let me and Naruto-kun be together at night so I can see to him quickly." Hinata said, in no mood to go into a detailed lie. "Did you find anything?"

Yamato shook his head. "Nothing. Whoever attacked Sasuke got away. Fortunately it appears the Uchiha was his only target. By the way, you said he got away. Does that mean he's still alive?"

"He wasn't dead when he left, but he might be now." Naruto stated.

Yamato withheld a sigh. "Orochimaru will try to heal him before it's too late. But now that we've lost the element of surprise we'd be fools to try anything more to hinder them. Let's go home before they decide to retaliate."

No one argued.

The trip back to Konoha was a little shorter on time than the trip away from it. Reason being mostly because the team didn't stop at a hotel this time, Yamato saying now it was a waste of money. No one was really in the mood to argue. But fortunately Naruto and Hinata were able to get away long enough for a quickie during the night to both their reliefs.

"So the mission was a failure?" Tsunade asked the team in her office.

"For the most part, yes Hokage-sama." Yamato answered. "We were unable to capture anyone, which was the mission directive, but we were able to accomplish something that could prove beneficial."

"Go on." Tsunade said curiously.

"We found out the spy was Yakushi Kabuto, and has defected to Orochimaru to the point that even if the real Sasori had shown up the reaction would have been the same. Before my cover was blown I was informed that Orochimaru is an extensive traveler, which explains why we've failed to capture him years ago. But that also implies that he has a lot of people across the Elemental Nations to cover his tracks for him."

"We already expected that. But it's nice for this to be confirmed rather than mere speculation so now we can prepare properly. Anything else?" Tsunade asked, hoping that wasn't the only victory this team had on this.

"We encountered Uchiha Sasuke after a fight against Orochimaru and Kabuto, and it was quite... interesting to say the least." Yamato continued. "One thing I must ask first, was anyone else assigned to go to that area in the time we were to be there?"

Tsunade looked confused. "No, why do you ask?"

"Because someone we've yet to identify managed to deliver a lethal attack to Sasuke from a distance, not unlike a sniper. Unless someone from another village happened to be there at the same time, the only explanation is someone from Konoha followed us and made sure we never knew they were there except for that one moment. And the fact this person didn't bother to reveal themselves to us afterwards or kill us off tells me they came there for a purpose."

"Indeed." Tsunade stated, then briefly closed her eyes in thought. 'Hunter-nin know to let allies know when they're in the area in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts and surprises. I have no hunter-nin in that area, and the only village I know of with a bounty on the Uchiha's head is Suna because of Kazekage-sama's insistence. Any other village after him would only spare the other ninja if they weren't prepared for more targets, something hunter-nin rarely are. Therefore, the most logical explanation is someone other than a hunter-nin was sent there under orders to eliminate Uchiha Sasuke and avoid this team to the best of their abilities.'

Tsunade then opened her eyes again and calmly stood up. "This disturbs me, but unfortunately I can't exactly look into it anymore. The important thing is you're all alive, the Akatsuki aren't in league with Orochimaru, and Uchiha Sasuke is dead therefore Orochimaru cannot use him." She saw them flinch. "He is dead isn't he?"

"Sadly we cannot confirm for absolute certainty." Hinata announced. "The wound he received was quite bad, bad enough that I don't think anything short of your skills could allow him to recover fully Hokage-sama. But Orochimaru did manage to get Sasuke out of there before he died, and we can't ignore the possibility he may very well have the capability to keep the Uchiha alive for now."

Tsunade sighed and slumped back into her seat. "Great, so Orochimaru still has the body he intends to take as his own. I had really hoped the Uchiha had died and thus Orochimaru would be forced to use a different one in who-knows-how-soon." She then straightened up. "At least with him wounded and Orochimaru pressed for time he'll be forced to prioritize healing Sasuke to get him back in shape, something he can't do quickly. That will buy us some time to work against them in the future and allow us to not focus too much away from other threats. We have to take what victories we can get I suppose."

"There's one more thing Hokage-sama." Yamato added. "During the fight, Naruto tapped into the Kyuubi's powers. Four tails worth of power."

Tsunade's eyes widened, remembering what Jiraiya said about Naruto using that amount of chakra. "What happened? Tell me everything." She ordered, briefly giving the whiskered blonde a worried look.

"The last thing I remember before that was Hinata-chan bleeding after Orochimaru managed to destroy the underground base we were in, creating a crater to the surface. I think some rubble hit her hard, but I got pissed and wanted to kill him and his croney. After that, it was all a blank, and the next thing I saw was Hinata-chan smiling at me looking as pretty as ever."

Hinata smiled with a flattered blush and looked away.

Tsunade looked to Hinata. "How did you manage to get him to return to normal without being hurt?"

Hinata gave a coy smile. "He just needed a woman's touch is all."

'I wonder where you touched him then.' Tsunade thought, trying to keep any sexual images of these two out of her mind. "If that's the case then it's definitely vital for you to accompany Naruto on all future missions for the time being. We need someone who can keep him under control."

"Hey!" Naruto objected, feeling a bit insulted.

Hinata gently wrapped her arm around his. "Isn't that what you wanted Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, but she didn't have to put it like that."

"Anything else worth noting?" Tsunade asked, only to get negative head shakes for answers. "Then you're all dismissed."

The four ninja left the office but Naruto and Hinata stayed together. "Want to go get some rest Hinata-chan?"

"As long as it's in your bed with you in it. But your clothes aren't invited to join us." Hinata joked.

"Same with yours then." He joked back, enjoying the sense of comfort he had with this girl. Hinata was enjoying it too, enough that she had barely even given any thought to the strange fact that Lilith hadn't said a word since they entered Konoha.

When they got to Naruto's apartment, he got suspicious immediately. 'The door's not locked.' "Someone broke in." He whispered. Ready for a fight both carefully entered the apartment.

Seated in the front room looking quite relaxed but also bored was a man neither had seen before. He looked to Hinata and smiled. "It took you long enough to show up Lilith."

"Aru!" Lilith screamed.