Mortal Man

by Royal Flamingo

Obito had realized Madara was manipulating him. This was for sure. It was too late to prevent his old sensei's death, especially after the Nine-Tailed Fox attack. Fortunately for him, he still had Minato's new born to implant his DNA with, and hopefully, just maybe, save the world from Madara. Sharingan!Naruto, eventual Rinnegan!Naruto. EVENTUAL Naruto/Yugito.

7. Seven and Nine

-7-

Seven and Nine

Enjoy!

---

If she was being honest with herself, and that was getting harder and harder by the day, it was actually rather simple this time around.

Yūhi Kurenai was not having a pleasant start to her day.

No, she wasn't at all, honest to God.

First, she woke up late after a night of debauchery, mainly drinking and billiards, with Asuma and Genma. Her headache was only slightly off-put by the copious amounts of water and pain relievers she took.

Second, her team was almost woefully unprepared for anything higher than even the most basic of C-Rank missions. Shino, at minimum, Shinigami bless him, was the strongest overall, and was easily adapting to the life of a shinobi. He was quiet, he was intelligent, and most importantly, he had common sense!

While he wasn't as physically blessed in taijutsu as his two counterparts, his bugs granted him immense advantages over stealth and recon. He was able to disable opposition through use of his chakra-sapping insects. He was her best asset in the team makeup.

Kiba was the physical brawler of the team, and he was damn good at it. He was still rough around the edges, and brash as hell, often times jumping into mock-battles without assessing the situation or instigating arguments between any shinobi who mouthed off to him, but overall, he was a solid piece.

Hinata, however…

"My God…"

She was, to put it very politely, what many Jounin would consider a "project", or a shinobi that is very raw, rough around the edges, and is able, at best, to be molded into something competent and stable.

But calling Hinata a "project" would be the equivalent of calling… of calling…

Fuck, she didn't even know what Hinata was the equivalent of.

She was often times scared, she was clumsy, for Heaven's sake, she couldn't even hold herself in a simple Taijutsu battle against Kurenai when she was holding back to such an incredible degree. It was honestly quite amazing how behind Hinata was.

Her Byakugan was at least awakened, at minimum, meaning she wasn't a completely lost cause. It was rough regardless, no matter how Kurenai looked at her.

And to top it all off, her normally calm, reserved features were really being tested right now, so much so that two of her students were attempting to block out her absolutely tearing into that stupid fucking bridge builder who bought this stupid fucking mission.

"I have a team of rookie genin and you saw fit to buy a team of four to help you lead a fucking rebellion? Have you lost your goddamn mind? Not even mentioning the fucking Demon Brother's were after you, you couldn't disclose this to us? What the fuck else are you hiding-"

Kiba whistled softly and turned to Shino. "What happens next, eh?"

The bugs radiating inside of Shino buzzed in harmony and he titled his head slightly. "According to Konoha Legislature, official mission protocol when a client lies under the contract obligations is to abandon the mission and blacklist the client, or in extreme case, blacklist the entire nation. Most likely, these two," Shino nudged one of the tied-up brothers who snarled and spit at his shoes, "will be the least of our concerns headed forward. I presume they are working under the orders of someone exceeding them in strength."

If at all possible, Kurenai's yelling increased in volume. Shino and Kiba glanced over at the rather scared shitless bridge builder and turned back to each other. "So, we are most likely headed back to Konoha, then?"

Hinata was currently sitting on a tree branch, hands to her ears, trying to forget about whatever just happened, tears threatening to break from her eyes. She wasn't ready for this, for any of this, and she had never felt more scared.

"Yes, most likely."

While they were waiting, Kurenai had sent a shadow clone to report back to Konoha ASAP, requesting backup for the current situation at hand. Most likely, the two Demon Brothers will fetch a moderate return, and she'll split it three ways between her three students and pocket the compensation money granted for this situation.

They were waiting for a fair amount of time and Kurenai eventually walked away from the bridge builder and calmly (or as calmly as she could muster in her current mindset) approached her two conversing students.

"My sincerest apologies for seeing my in that state of mind, I try my best to remain calm around you three but I believe the situation called for it." Kurenai said after a moment of hesitant deliberation.

Kiba gave a wolf's grin and laughed heartily, while Shino merely furrowed his brow in contemplation. Hinata, while removing her hands from ears, was still hesitant. However, even she dropped her guard after a moment.

"My clone dispelled, meaning she reached Konoha. Two Jounin are on the way to help arrest and escort these two back to Konoha."

Kiba picked his nose for a moment and turned to his master. "We aren't continuing the mission?"

Kurenai frowned in annoyance at the aforementioned 'mission' and put a hand on her hip. "Tazuna intentionally deceived Lord Third, and by proxy, us. This mission will not count as a failure on your records, but we are indeed backing out of the agreed contract. I will handle the matter of your payments with Lord Third once we return safely to Konoha, but rest assured you three will be properly compensated for the failed mission."

Both kids nodded in appreciation and respect, with Hinata trembling slightly when looking at the missing nin in front of her, but other than that, they were all relatively satisfied at the news that they would be returning home, with at least some profit to be made from the mission. It was better than nothing.

With that in mind, Kurenai did remember that this mission was originally for Hatake, and he was currently on his way to Takigakure with his lot of children. Hopefully his C-Rank was going better than hers.

He was the famous Copy-Nin, after all.

---

Tazuna took a hesitant step towards his home. The fog was beginning to thicken. His mission was a failure.

The team from Konoha had abandoned him, although he couldn't blame them. He had lied directly to them. It was laughable, really, to expect them to continue their mission. But still, he had hope.

The fog continued to thicken.

He took a step and paused when the sound of metal scraping pierced his eardrums. The sound of soft footsteps approaching made him choke back a few tears.

The fog directly in front of him cleared up. Standing in the Mist were a muscular, grey-stained man with a smaller man and a mask of death.

"Tazuna, it's been far too long since I've seen your face. Were you trying to avoid little ol' Zabuza?"

In a flash, the masked nin was behind him, two knives made of pure, unfiltered ice resting their jagged edges narrowly against his jugular.

"We have a lot to discuss."

---

"Man, look at the size of that wasp."

Kakashi didn't take his eyes off his prized literature as they casually walked forwards. Naruto, entranced by the apparently big wasp, was chatting their ears off about a childhood memory of a wasp stinging him directly on the nose.

"It was incredibly painful. One of the wasps stung my nose and I had to have an ice pack on it all day, and when I went to bed, I couldn't feel my nose."

Sakura giggled lightly at the story and Sasuke opted to remain silent, but he was mentally recounting a rather similar story.

"Damn wasps indeed, Naruto."

The heat was scorching as sweat continued to build up on all of their brows, Kakashi no exception. He had to admit, despite attempting to stick to any sort of shade that trees would provide, it was rather cruel why the Shinigami itself decided to curse his innocent self with this blistering weather.

It wasn't what he deserved. His kids, however, they could all melt. It's the least they deserved for merely existing.

This was a C-Rank mission, simply enough, but with the reports about different raids taking place on small settlements and houses on the outskirts of Takigakure, Kakashi was feeling a bit more social than usual, at least with a Konoha client.

"So, Shibuki," he started after a moment, idly noting how the man jumped at the mere mention of his name. "I haven't been to the beautiful village of Takigakure in quite some time, how is it nowadays?"

To the three genin, it was a simple question, trying to pass the time while they traveled together. Well, both Naruto and Sasuke had their suspicions about the normally reserved Kakashi opting to initiate conversation on his own accord, but they remained quiet.

Sakura was oblivious, but that wasn't her own fault.

But both Kakashi and Shibuki were well aware of the true meaning of the question. It wasn't simply being polite, or attempting to spark a new budding friendship. Shibuki's father taught him well enough about how most shinobi operated.

"Ah, oh no, oh no oh no ohnoohnoohno- what can I say?"

Shibuki gulped silently, tugging on his collar attempting to alleviate his currently racing heart, pounding against his chest. His eyes shifted from the trees, to the front road, back to the trees, apparently searching for a way out.

All of this noted by Kakashi and brewing in his mind, of course.

"Ah, well, hehe, Takigakure is doing well, I'd say. We are currently preparing for our annual gardening tournament, if that excites any of you kids," he motioned towards the three genin. "it should be happening during the time we are there, and it only takes a day!"

Naruto gave a curtesy smile and opted to remain silent, while Sakura, for once on the trip, felt a genuine pulse of excitement. She liked gardening with Ino as a kid, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Sasuke didn't respond.

Kakashi gave a small 'hmm' and continued on walking, eyeing the young man curiously. "I find it curious that you had to purchase an escort back to Takigakure after staying in Konoha for such a short amount of time. Normally the group of shinobi who escorted you stay in the village until you are done, or in rare circumstances, simply return to the village until you need an escort back."

It was a simple enough observation, but this time around, Sasuke caught onto the hidden question.

Why did you hire us?

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, who was still enthralled by a group of wasps circling a tree branch, and before he could scoff, he realized something.

His tensed body, the slight turn of his head in the direction of Kakashi and Shibuki, and his neck was strained.

He was acting like he wasn't paying attention.

Although Sasuke didn't know why. It was literally just Shibuki getting grilled by their teacher, it wasn't like it was a reconnaissance mission. It was as if Naruto was attempting to act smart.

Regardless, at least he was paying attention.

"Ah, well, it was simply, uh, we needed all of our shinobi at our village to be on standby for any missions. We are running a little low on funds, you see, so any missions can help our economic situation." Shibuki answered after a moment.

"But wouldn't simply having only one shinobi wait in the village for you be more efficient instead of purchasing an entire mission for what is a relatively short trip?" Was the answer Shibuki got.

"Like I said, we are short on funds, but this escort mission was covered under the economic alliance your esteemed leader and I signed earlier this week."

Something wasn't adding up. While Lord Third was known to be particularly kind to smaller villages who needed any help they could get, it didn't make sense one bit to him. There had been the reports, sure, but if he was so worried about funds, he could simply ask for loans from Konoha, but-

Then it clicked.

He's expecting an attack on his village!

With that, Kakashi finally silenced himself and continued walking. He'd talk to his team when they arrived and assess the situation, but for now, he felt confident enough to continue on with the mission. A few thugs didn't scare him one bit, and even Sakura, for all her faults with hand-to-hand combat, could most likely hold her own.

It would be tricky, sure, but if push came to shove, they could simply leave the mission, once he had enough concrete evidence to prove to the Hokage that this mission was a false mission.

Decisions, decisions, he presumed.

---

They eventually saw the giant tree approaching rapidly, much to the awe of Sauske and Sakura. It was absolutely towering over the entire city, and it was beautiful.

Thick, healthy foliage adorning the top of the tree. It was an absolutely shining emerald color, with a smooth looking, dense dark brown trunk running up into the Heavens. The genin could see a wide variety of animals using the tree as their homes, such as a multitude of birds and different land mammals, like squirrels.

The city gates seemed to pale in comparison, at least in size. A dull off-white color, with chipped paint every so often, seemingly coming in patches. It appeared to be painted brick, or cement, they weren't really sure what to make of it.

Behind the walls protecting the village, they heard various sounds of laughter, every day chatter, and just genuine activity going around. A bustling city, indeed, although Kakashi knew it was fake.

Kakashi mentally counted something. "Six shinobi greeting us at the entrance gate."

The Takigakure guardians saluted their leader returning and nodded at the Konoha shinobi behind him. Kakashi, in return, held his hand up in greeting.

"Welcome to my village, where we have the world's biggest tree!"

Sasuke glanced up at said tree. "Not much competition, I'm assuming."

Shibuki merely grinned in return and flashed through a series of hand signals. Immediately, two of the guards disappeared into thin air, and the big walls opened up. The four of them walked through, and instead of a city, pure empty land greeted them. Lush grass, sure, but none of the buildings or routine business of life being conducted.

"Our city is well-fortified and guarded, enough so that we have a minor genjutsu playing at all times to make it sound like this is where the actual village is. We need to pass through an underground walkway before we reach the actual village. It'll only be a few minutes."

And with that, a patch of thick grass a few yards away from the now closing doors slowly faded away, leaving behind a descending spiral staircase. "Follow me."

Glancing amongst themselves, they began the descent, and eventually, traversing the poorly lit underground system. It was long and narrow, with the buildup of grime and dust causing them to cough every now and then.

Naruto, however, was beginning to feel a little weird. It was actually starting to sink in when they were approaching the village, but it was easy enough to ignore, or write off as simply first mission jitters finally beginning to kick in.

But now, walking through the oppressive corridors and taking every dark step towards the village, Naruto could definitely tell something was wrong. Something dangerously wrong. He felt a knot forming in his stomach, and no matter how many breathing exercises he attempted, it simply wouldn't calm him down.

His head was beginning to ache just slightly. He silently swallowed some saliva. His head continued to pound against his skull. Eyes lingered on the floor as he pushed on.

Something was, quite clearly, hurting his very essence as a person and if he was being frank, it was annoying the shit out of him. He could handle a headache. He could handle a stomach ache. He could handle both at once, but fuck was it annoying.

His vision was also a little shaky, if he was being honest. He could still walk just fine, for the moment, and his hearing and sense of smell were A-Okay, but he'd prefer to not suffer through any more of this nonsense. What could be causing all of this? He was fine approaching the village, and now this happens. Ugh.

Regardless, Shibuki told them they were approaching the entrance to the surface, and with that, Naruto decided once they settled into their residence for the trip, he would take, without a shadow of a doubt, the deepest nap he will ever take. Assuming their sensei didn't make them train, that is.

The group stopped on their heels after a moment. Shibuki knocked lightly once. Then, he gave two quick, but hard, taps against the steel door. A stunningly hard, single knock. Then, a three second pause.

And a final, rapid succession four knock count was rattled off.

Shibuki took a step back, motioning for the shinobi squad to do the same. Suddenly, after a moment, the door swung open outwards, with two scarred eyes staring back at the leader. "Lord Shibuki, welcome back. These are the Konohagakure representatives?"

He nodded after a moment and beckoned the group to follow him past the doorway, leading them further into the city. His head was really beginning to throb now, and he grinded his teeth against each other in an attempt to relieve some of the pain.

Walking up another set of stairs, they reached the top and looked around them, entranced. Tall, clandestine buildings hidden under the trees shade overlooked them as kids of all ages ran around laughing and playing. A few waved and screamed at Shibuki in pure, unfiltered joy and some of them waves shyly.

"Welcome to my humble village, Team Hatake. I hope you'll find it the accommodations and amenities suitable to your tastes. I'll direct you to the housing that you'll be staying in for your brief time here in a moment, along with a private plot of land designated for any shinobi training you may be doing."

Kakashi gave a nod of gratitude and motioned for his students to wait in place. The village surrounding them was rather staggering.

A chilly breeze made itself known, passing through the dust-covered dirt and through the overpowering shadows originating from the mighty tree of hope that had rooted itself throughout the small village.

Rummaging through the air was the light scent of cherries, plump and ripe for the picking, but the team couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. It was a rather pleasant smell, reminding Sakura of her mother and father baking her sweets for a barbeque on a warm, soft summer day.

The feeling of innocence, the feeling of nurturing. It was a blast from the past, an ode in sensory form to the days of youth, of kindness and warmth in her heart.

Naruto and Kakashi, and to an extent Sasuke, couldn't relate to the stellar mood she was in when smelling the fruit being baked in the air.

They wouldn't ruin it for her however, when they saw the glowing smile that threatened to make them break out into a smile of their own. If she was happy in the village, then they'll let her be.

They stood with Shibuki for a moment before one of the villages jounin materialized into the scene from apparently nothing. The shinobi handed off a sealed scripture to her leader, and nodding tersely at the One-Eyed Warrior, she vanished into thin air again.

Kakashi took the scroll without hesitation and with confidence. Glad that his part was done with for today, he briefly eyed Shibuki before the younger man motioned for the four to follow him.

Feeling another sharp pulse of pain from his head and clutching it slightly, the ground below him seemed to appear rather foggy. The Nine-Tails jinchuriki coughed slightly, slapping the side of his head.

The Uchiha, while noticing the obvious discomfort his companion was in, paused when he felt something.

It was overbearing, with immense pressure. It reminded him of Naruto on a significantly larger scale, but even the powerful blond couldn't ever hope to match whatever the Hell this was. Raising his vision to the trees above him, he scanned for anything, anything, that could be causing this.

The tree tops seemed normal, nothing wrong with them, but it was still bothering him. He could handle an intimidating figure, hell, he could handle a downright scary figure, but this… this was different.

Then he found her.

His vision, powered by his bloody Sharingan, glared menacingly at the green-haired witch watching over them curiously. He had half a mind to go scale the tree and slap the dog shit out of her, and suddenly, it had clicked for Sasuke.

Whoever, whatever this woman was or had the ability to do, was causing Naruto his immense discomfort. It was odd to him, anyways, as the woman was rather far away, and even with his Sharingan blaring, he was having a hard time focusing on her mop of green hair and rather luxurious dark skin.

Sasuke jabbed Naruto in the stomach, eliciting a groan. "Naruto, we are being watched." He whispered rather harshly, with the blond slowly raising his head in response. Pointing in her general direction, Sasuke scowled as another wave of anxiety washed over him.

"Nng, just… just leave her be, Sasuke." Now, normally Naruto never worried the dark brunette, but that caused the Uchiha to raise his eyebrow in consideration. Out of all the spars, all the intense physical exercises they went through, no matter how many times Sasuke felt he would drop from sheer exhaustion, he had never heard his teammate practically groan in pain.

If their marvelous sensei was phased or even remotely bothered at all by the pressure emanating in waves from the woman, he didn't bother to show it, instead casually following Shibuki to their residence for the trip.

Regardless, soon Sasuke felt the radiating pressure ease up, and glancing back at the tree, he saw that the woman was gone, and with a sigh, he continued on with his team, not realizing the innocent pair of beetles following the group at a distance.

---

The group was beginning to settle in. Naruto gave a curt yawn and rested softly on his pillow. It was roughly seven in the evening, with the soft chittering of the wildlife outside their boarding lulling the blonde into a comforting sense of security.

He was sharing a room with Sasuke, the two queen sized beds giving them a respectable distance between themselves. Sakura got her own room, albeit it was definitely smaller, but her benefit being she was privy to a Kumo-sized King mattress in the upper right corner of her room.

Kakashi got his own room with a regular queen bed, and he had already unpacked and showered by the time his three students began to even settle into their rooms.

Naruto had to admit, their room was rather nice. It was a rich mahogany wood cabin, but that aside, it was extremely well polished, with two medium sized windows overlooking some of the numerous, shimmering lakes reflecting the descent of the crowning sunset, breathing life into the wildlife coming into their own.

With a light knock, Kakashi casually opened the door, his two male students staring at him. "Yo. I just finished telling Sakura this, but I stopped by to say we are having a team dinner tonight at roughly 9:30, so dress for comfort. Tomorrow morning I'll be busy with the meeting all day, roughly 10 AM until around 8 PM or so. With that in mind, I'll leave a clone with you guys to overlook your training. You all will train from roughly 9:30 in the morning to 6, after that is free time to do what you want, such as explore the village, but within reason, obviously. That's all, see you in a few hours."

He closed the door behind him gently, and Sasuke glanced over to the other bed, where Naruto was curiously staring back at him. "I'm going to shower, you can sleep if you need, I'll wake you up an hour before."

Naruto gave him a grateful nod before letting the tides of sleep overcome and overpower him, snuggling softly into his heavenly pillow. It felt like what he imagined sleeping on clouds would feel like.

---

He was a heavy sleeper, he had to admit, but normally he would be able to feel if someone transported his bed to the middle of a serene lake. But normally, lakes didn't have such a pungent smell.

Flexing his hands, the water rushing through his palms felt slimy, felt like mush resting on his fingertips. It was slippery, and no matter how much he attempted to grab the slime, it would tease him, slipping through the cracks of his nails effortlessly.

Rubbing his eyes slowly and opening them, he shot up, splashing all around him when he glanced around. Wherever he was, wasn't right.

The walls surrounding him were a rusted orange, and they were bleeding. Thick, toxic blood was currently oozing down the chipped paint, pooling slowly at the bottom of the ground, and the blood was slowly spreading itself across the floating muck that was surrounding Naruto.

It made him feel queasy. While he wasn't disgusted or shocked by blood (despite the numerous amounts of times Sasuke had cut him in training when they were sparring with kunai), but this… this wasn't natural. This was unholy, it was sinful, it was an atrocity of the human senses.

Glancing behind him, there was an equally towering and equally bleeding wall suppressing him. He took a harsh breath, and took a step forward against the dirt, grime and blood that was wallowing through the darkened waters.

The hallway in front of him was encompassed by oppressive darkness. While he couldn't see much, it seemed to span an indefinite amount. Cautiously, he took another step.

It smelled awful. It reminded him of the slaughterhouse near his apartment in the crisp heatwaves of an especially awfully scorching summer. It reminded him of the incessant squealing and squeaking of pigs being led to their slaughter. The thick, remorseful smell of innocent animals being tortured and afraid, away from their families, awaiting certain death.

He coughed, scaring himself as he flinched. He could hear something scuttling the walls further into the hallway, and could hear hissing from behind him as the invisible light source that once lit the hallways behind him dampened and left him in the vulnerability of darkness. It was Hell. It was awful, feeling this powerless.

As he drew farther into the damp hallway, trying his best to ignore whatever would brush against his feet below the water that he couldn't see, he began to hear a noise. It was soft, slow and meticulous. It reminded him of stories of olden day witches.

It was an indescribable cry, mournful and soul-shattering all at once. It was the beginning of suffering and the end of chaos. It raised the shackles on his neck and caused bristles of goosebumps to run shockwave after shockwave of fear and trepidation down his shaky arms. It was pandemonium. It was terror.

Each individual gasp of air from whoever was breathing entranced him, begged for his help and nurture, and despite how much he wanted to run, desperately longing to save himself from whatever nightmare he found himself in, he felt an invisible, unexplainable need to push onwards and help whoever was in need of sacrifice and safety.

He continued onwards. The echoing of screaming was slowly beginning to compound itself against his whimpering eardrums. No matter where he looked, the overwhelming, drowning cacophony of tortured screaming, mixed with the industrial noises of metal scraping against metal, screeching out in anger and pain.

He pushed forward, against his better judgement. He didn't know where he was, or what his goal here was. Fuck, he wasn't even sure how he got here. But he was here.

Whether he liked it or not.

The hoarse crying was beginning to climb harsher and harsher through his ear canals, his eyes begging for him to tear his gaze away from the bleeding walls. He wasn't sure, but it sounded like the walls were groaning in pain with each step he took. Groaning at him. Whispering his name in excess pain, horrific unison.

His hands were shaky. Shaky, shaky, shaky. Shaking like a still-growing tree in the midst of a typhoon. He could barely hold onto a spare kunai as the wailing in the distance enticed every foot step forward, pulling the blond further into the depths of madness, the depths of calamity.

A feral, harsh light was slowly making itself known in the depths of the hallways. It was a grim, bleak, orange and red fire flickering, attempting to lull him into a false sense of security. His chest tightened, and so did his grip on the kunai. Sweat continued to build.

The crying was inescapable now. Inescapable. Wailing, screaming, oh God make it stop, make it stop, makeitstopmakeitstopMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPOHGOD-

The screaming was clawing into his brain, scouring his brain. He couldn't make it stop. It was torture, it was as if death was demanding a worthy sacrifice in the name of chaos.

MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPNARUTOPLEASEMAKEITSTOPPLEASEPLEASEPLE-

Clutching his head, it was a short-lived relief. He had finally made it to the light, the murky water below him taunting him briefly. It still held a pungent, putrid odor that was assaulting his heightened nose, but he could handle it for now.

Looking into the 'room' (if it could be called that), was a set of rusted, dark brown bars of metal, and past that, darkness eternal. He couldn't see anything past the obsidian chunks of rough metal, but he could feel something. By this point, with all the terror and fear he had experienced, he had a pretty solid fucking idea what monster was causing all of this to happen.

He could hear it breathing. Laughing. Watching.

The woman who was crying, whose voice he had followed, was curled up, pathetically so, holding her knees, giving off a soft whimper every now and then. She was rocking slowly back and forth in the room, not daring to look up at the blond who had just entered the room.

Her hair was stained red, it reminded him of blood. Dark, brutal blood. Gripping the kunai, he did his best to comfort her, resting his palm gently on her shoulder. He gripped it lightly.

"Hey, are you alright?"

The woman looked up, her eyes sunken and gaunt cheeks stained with permanent tear trails rolling helplessly down her face. Her eyes were a sickly yellow color.

Before she could say anything, or move anything, or even attempt to do anything, Naruto had jammed his kunai straight through the bottom of her chin, into her brain cavity, watching as the light in her eyes faded with her mental brainpower.

He released his murderous grip on her, watching as calmly as he could as she started to dissolve into the water, her body becoming a mixture of disgustingly black tar and sickly green muck. His eyes flashed up to the bars in front of him. Waiting.

"Perhaps you aren't as useless as I first thought."

Naruto choked at the thunderous voice. It boomed. Resonating through the walls surrounding him, and the hallway he had once traversed to even arrive here, it nearly shattered his eardrums. The voice inherently demanded respect. Demanded blood. Demanded fear.

He couldn't see in the bars, but that's certainly where the voice came from. The disembodied cries had fully stopped behind him. No more metal screeching, suffocating and silencing. No more torture.

So far.

"Kyuubi."

A brittle silence washed over them.

"So, you know my name, boy?" It growled back at him.

Naruto nodded. "I suppose I do."

It was short, terse, and could have been longer, but another piece of silence was cast.

"You are unsure of yourself, aren't you?"

The blond remained silent, unsure of how to answer.

"I see it every time you talk, with every new person in your life, how you lie so easily to fit their desires in life. How you beg and cower internally for people to like you so they don't abandon you like Konan did, isn't that right?"

Despite how much he wanted to turn away, to reject the allegations and notions being put on him right now, he couldn't find the power to fight.

There was no defense he had against these, at least for the moment. He refused to show this to the demon, however.

"You can't hide from me, though," the demonic voice echoed softly, a smug tone of voice in use. It was infuriating, it was horrific, and with his might and soul, he could tell the Nine-Tails was taunting him right now.

"we are one in the same now, boy. I am a part of you, and you are a part of me, and we are bonded as one-"

Naruto threw his kunai through the metal grate, but it was worthless, as he never heard a clanging sound.

"Shut up, you stupid fox! I'm- I'm nothing like you! I-" that's when Naruto realized, for the first time in a long time, he felt genuine, raw anger.

The fox, hidden by the depths of decay and misery, bellowed a taunting laughter. It rattled Naruto's knees, shaking him to his core, and almost made him drop down and beg the cruel demon for mercy and relief.

"Just like your mother."

Just like clockwork, he stopped in his rant. "I- w-what?"

He couldn't see the feral, visceral grin the Nine-Tailed Emperor gave, but he could feel it.

"You see yourself as so noble, so pure, so undeserving of the cruelty and hatred given to you, and yet here we are. A foolish, scared little boy bickering with a chained-up fox."

Grinding his teeth together, he stopped himself from flinging a desperate attack into the confines of the jail cell. He knew he wouldn't return.

The fox's energy, bleak and slowly crawling through his muscles and veins into his heart, lungs and brain, caused visions of slaughter to dance in rhythm of his breathing, the demon laughing at his discomfort.

"A wise decision indeed. This cage protects you from me, not the other way around."

Screams of the damned souls consumed by the fox plagued his mind. The shouting and cries of misery refused to let themselves be suppressed by the carnal desire to ravagechainslaughterrampagedestroykill-

Naruto stared up at the fox. Or at least, the darkness. A wave of anger rushed through his body.

"Not even your mother dearest was mentally strong enough to suppress the instinct to kill for very long. You won't either, for we are one, and whatever I will, shall be carried out."

Gritting his teeth in a refusal to answer, in a refusal to play the fox's game, he was simply content to stand still, holding the incessant cacophony of slaughter at bay from his memory.

"Another jinchuriki is nearby, in this desolate village. I'm sure she has felt the pull too. The demand of engagement. The desire of flesh."

Naruto glanced up. "Like… like sex?" He ground out painfully.

The Nine-Tails merely laughed in return; the sound hollow.

"To think, humans can only focus on carnal, primal desires of lust and not the desire to conquer, to ravage the lands before you in the name of pride. She has hair of emerald, eyes of amber, and she will seek you out."

His vision shook for a moment, this time actually causing him to drop to one knee in pain. His breath was beginning to shake, his hearing begging to rip itself out just so it wouldn't hear another fucking moment of screaming.

"I won't-" Naruto forced out. "I won't let you w-win, Kyuubi. I am stronger than you, stronger than this."

The winds emanating from the jail cell began to pick up. It wasn't a harsh breeze, but it was causing his clothes to flap wildly.

"Naivety and false bravado will lead you only to death," the Kyuubi began after a moment. "there isn't anything for me to 'win' here. I am bound by the will of the Shinigami to forever be in servitude. If your soul ceases to exist, I will perish with you."

The fox paused. Contemplating.

"All things lead back to me. My power, my chakra is your essence, your lifeforce. There will be a time, sooner than later, that you will need me to survive, to slaughter in the name of the Hidden Leaf."

Naruto felt his conscience being dragged back into reality; his senses being granted a release in agony, but before his body left this realm, he felt the call of the void, the pull of the fox's grin leering at him.

"I know everything."

---

Naruto woke up to Sasuke shaking him. The clock read 8:41 PM. He had been sweating in his sleep at the nightmare. The demon's deformed, haunting laugh echoed through the canvas of his mind, pervasively staining itself into his cortex.

Something was wrong with him because even the stone-faced Uchiha took a cautious step back at the sight of the orphan's face. It was horrifying, to say the least.

"Are you- are you okay, Naruto?"

He gulped down a choked-out breath, and before Sasuke knew it, Naruto was delicately gripping the sides of his face, as if he was making sure he was safe from any harm. It felt weird, seeing Naruto show care.

Whatever happened in his dreams, it was… agonizing? So, he let him be.

After the blond wordlessly broke the contact and went to shower, the Uchiha waited in solitude for his companion to return. They were both dressed up moderately nice, but they hadn't packed for a fancy dinner, so they made due with what they had.

Naruto was awfully quiet. No doubt, rattled at whatever dream- nightmare, he had suffered through. The four of them were walking towards the restaurant, and even Sakura was aware of the unusual silence of the blond.

They settled into their reservation. It was a seafood resort, and the bills were pretty pricy, from first glance.

"Don't worry about the payment, I'll cover." Kakashi said, his voice coy as he pondered the menu casually.

Naruto wasn't in the mood for any form of eating, and politely declined when the waiter came around. He had a meek cup of iced water resting on the table, with the other three making small chatter as they munched their food.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto began suddenly, bringing the table conversation to a halt. The screams of suffering replayed in his mind.

"you'll always protect us, right?"

Kakashi paused at this, but didn't change his visage. He set his plate down. "Why do you ask?"

He paused at this, unsure of how to answer, but Sakura beat him to the punch.

"Of course he will, Naruto!" she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world at the current moment. "We are a family now! Kakashi, Sasuke, you and I! We always got each other's backs!"

For once, since his dream, Naruto couldn't hear the screaming, or the echoing, taunting laughter of the demon.

Family.

Naruto could only chortle. "Yeah, family."

---

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were at their private training grounds. The Kakashi in front of them was merely a clone, with the real one in a political meeting right now. They sat down together.

Their sensei was going over some basic instructions. Stuff they could practice together. It was simple enough, and they figured it would pass the time until their break for the night. Stuff like workouts, taijutsu sets, that sort of stuff.

Sakura was running sprints down the way, with an extra set of hoodies and baggy sweats on. He wasn't trying to make her lose weight. Far from it. He was improving her stamina, her conditioning, and her overall movement speed.

Sasuke was working on his physical strength. Rapidly moving large rocks, doing squats with patches of tree branches that experienced immense overgrowth. Focusing on handling unbalanced buckets of water while attempting to climb trees.

And Naruto was currently meditating.

Well, meditating wasn't the right term. He was focusing on inner growth while attempting to disregard all of Kakashi's summon dogs barking his ear off. That kind of meditation.

The screams were quiet today.

Naruto took a side glance when he felt something in the area. It wasn't a bad something, like last night in the… dream, but it was a warm something.

Something he was looking forward to seeing.

Pausing their vocal cords, the dogs began sniffing as the pungent smell of insects was approaching rapidly. They didn't identify this as an enemy, but it was very uncommon smelling a scent this strong and chakra-based when not being around the Aburame in Konoha.

They motioned for the blond to stand up.

That's when Naruto felt it.

He leaped out of the way, crashing into the ground and tumbling a few steps, scraping his neck on the dirt beneath him. The coarse dirt brought him back to reality.

Kakashi, or at least his clone, hadn't interrupted the person barreling into the fray, and the dogs had some silent understanding wash over them, so with hesitation, Naruto waited for the dust to settle.

Sasuke and Sakura were watching from a short distance.

Naruto's heart skipped.

The Nine-Tails hollow words ringed louder and louder in the back of his mind, as if he was still actively taunting him.

The woman had starch green, short and frizzy hair, with an absolutely dazzling set of amber-tinted eyes, reminding him of a soft summer day. His first initial thought was being drawn to her mint hair.

Her eyes traced him up and down for a moment, an inquisitive, all-too familiar glint in her eyes. She looked rather small, and rather thin, but appearances were always deceptive.

She was the jinchuriki of the Seven-Tails, through and through. Not only was the description given to him by the Nine-Tails immeasurably accurate, he could feel the pull described by his demonic prisoner.

Their powers were reaching out for completion, yearning for the sweet, inescapable embrace of power and destruction. It was overpowering, and for the first time in his life, he could actively pinpoint her scent.

Everyone in the clearing were still silent, unmoving, watching in a hidden curiosity. Sasuke identified her as the woman from yesterday, but he hadn't felt any of the nausea, any of the anxiety, or pressure, or anger, or desire for rampage that he had felt yesterday. He felt perfectly fine.

"Hiya, number nine! Let's battle!"

Naruto dropped guard in confusion at the exact wrong moment, because as soon as he blinked, a roaring punch was rocketing towards his skull with downright terrifying speed. Wildly tilting his head to the side, he remained on the defensive while the green-haired woman assaulted his body with attempted homicide punches.

He hadn't been tagged yet, but he could feel the air being pushed with each attempted strike, and she was packing a fucking punch, if these were any clear indication. It was almost as if-

Then, with just his luck, she landed a punch to his midsection and he want spiraling backwards, his breath being knocked out of him as the ground beneath him had inch-thick drag marks, showcasing his dug-out path of pain until he crashed helplessly into a tree.

Twenty feet from where he was originally punched.

"Guah!" He choked after a moment, taking the brief pause to catch his breath against this woman with apparent tyrannical strength.

"What the- what the fuck." Naruto groaned out, a rare instance of him both cursing out loud, and everyone but the girl widened their eyes, even their clone sensei.

The woman was about to leap for another strike when both Sasuke and Sakura hopped in front of the downed blond and formed a defensive shield around their blond friend. The woman had the decency to look confused. Kakashi sighed.

"Why're you guys in the way? It was just getting good, ne?" The woman- teenager, actually, she looked pretty young- said in a moment of obliviousness.

Naruto, from that one punch, was still attempting to catch his breath and relax himself, his lungs and ribcage screaming in pain at the connected attack. His vision was shaky, strikes of blinding light invading his eyes. She had muscle, to put it plainly.

"Can we-" Naruto panted. "can we start over, please? Can I at least know your name?"

The woman blinked, owlishly so. "You don't know my name?" She asked.

Naruto took the hand being offered to him by Sakura. Brushing some of the dust off the black pants he was wearing, and took a swig of water. He glanced over her curiously.

"I will not lie to you, no…" Naruto admitted. "but I have an idea about who you may be."

Squaring his shoulders off and facing her with his visage of confidence, he held his hand out in greeting. He was met with a grin, and instead of a handshake, she held her fist out, prompting him to do the same. He hesitantly tapped fists together.

She grinned back at him.

"I'm known as the Bug Lady, or the Patron Saint of Unholy Insects, the Devourer of Souls, but-"

Her smile revealed nothing, and yet, revealed everything Naruto needed to see at once.

"you all can call me Fū, ne?"

Sakura was confused, deservedly so.

"Who- who calls you those names?"

Fū gave a mock tap of her chin and shrugged her shoulders. Her arms reminded Naruto of spaghetti, but her punches gave him the impression this was one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin in the form of genjutsu.

"People who don't matter. Let's fight, Nine!"

"Wait," Naruto cut her off. "I haven't even told you my name yet, Fū."

Sasuke by this point had wandered off to continue his training, after glancing over the Kakashi clone, who was reading his fine literature. If he wasn't bothered, then Sasuke wouldn't be either. It only seemed logical.

The dogs had dispelled themselves by this point.

"Well, what is your name then, ne?"

He caught his breath.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Her laugh reminded him of the same sunsets the previous nights, descending into the horizon with a wink and a cascade of electrifying colors. It rippled through his body, entrancing him.

She never answered him, instead getting back into a fighting position. He tensed up, his muscles searching for a line of attack. Fū smirked at him. "You talk too much. Less talky, more fighty!"

Naruto jumped out of the way as she threw a casual punch, causing her to hit the tree behind him.

Well, more like obliterate. Whatever the mighty oak used to be before was now instead shards of splinters and a dead, crackled tree trunk. A miniature dust storm was flying around.

Uncertain movements would easily lead to a set of fractured ribs, maybe a pierced lung if he was especially unlucky. For whatever bizarre and cruel reason, she had superstrength.

Reading her chakra without the Sharingan was easy enough, but at a core, principle level, it didn't make logical sense as to how she was able to shatter a tree with minimal effort and almost collapse his chest.

He presumed it was the Seven-Tails inside of her. It was the only thing he could think of, anyways, that allowed her to outclass anyone he had ever seen before. It was downright ridiculous how strong she was.

Then she appeared from the dust cloud. The clacking of her ninja sandals against the dirt put him on edge, and he waited with an abated breath.

She flipped forward, planting her left palm on the floor. She bent her arm and used it as a spring, blitzing forward with an outstretched leg, her foot narrowly missing his neck as he tilted his neck.

Her strike had so much force behind it caused a menacing gale of wind to pass by his neck, causing a slight cut. His eyes widened as she brought her fist up for an uppercut, her eyes flashing in victory.

It was short-lived, however, as he put his energy and force behind his fist to counter her blow, deflecting her attack in desperation as he planted a boot into her midsection. She skid back a few feet and stopped herself on a dime, planting her left heel behind her calmly.

"Not bad, ne? I was always touted as the taijutsu prodigy growing up, and I'd like to think I don't fail my reputation."

Naruto sighed. This would be a long day, indeed.

---

Team 7 had just returned to their home, finished with training, with Naruto nursing a rather extreme headache and a dark, nasty bruise that was swelling rapidly on his right shin.

They had walked home in silence. Sasuke was pondering a few things, but didn't outwardly voice these concerns amongst his companions.

Who was she? Why did Naruto and her seem to know each other? Why did she keep referring to him as "Nine" or "Number Nine"?

And most pressing on his mind.

Why did Kakashi allow her to interfere with our training?

Something wasn't adding up for the Uchiha avenger. Their sensei was lenient, sure, but even he wouldn't let some random kunoichi barge into their private training ground and dog smack the almighty Hell out of Naruto for a few hours on end.

He had taken the abuse just fine, in the end. But something wasn't normal, wasn't really clicking with Sasuke. It was all too odd, all too convenient for his taste. It was as if this was all pre-meditated. The ninja- Fū, he mentally corrected- was strong. Far too strong for someone of her build. She was built like a piece of 1-ply, and if he was reasonably guessing, she was around 5'1, MAYBE 5'2 at the tallest.

So, it begged the question. She was able to physically obliterate any tree, patch of dirt, or structure that got in the way of her apparently 'friendly' spar with Naruto, and on the few occasions she managed to land a hit, the resulting crack would have given shivers to even the most masochistic of men and women.

Now, what kind of shivers, he didn't dwell on.

Shibuki had mentioned a few times that Takigakure was hurting for a stream of income, which in itself didn't make too much sense either. If they were low on cash, then this mission was actually a net negative, at least immediately so. It would take at the earliest a few months for any sort of economic alliance to truly start benefitting the needier of the two sides, and Konoha was especially generous to lesser villages and nations who needed the support.

But still…

Why had Kakashi let her spar with Naruto? He knew it was ultimately a clone that was only meant to support their individual training, except it still would have interfered with anything it found suspicious. In fact, now that he thought about it, even the dogs that Kakashi had summoned didn't do shit when she popped her head into the mix!

Which means this was intentional. Surely, it had to be. Why else would Kakashi ever allow a random village's powerhouse ninja to beat the shit out of Naruto for a few hours on end? It was dumb, this was all dumb.

Naruto limped casually into his room without another mention of whatever happened that day in the training grounds, and Sasuke had to admit, he didn't blame the blond one damn bit about not being in a talkative mood. He was pretty fucking beat up.

Sakura offered up a subdued shrug and declared she was going to shower, and Sasuke didn't contest the issue. He knew that Kakashi wasn't done with his meeting yet, they still roughly had an hour until he returned, so he decided to investigate personally.

Slipping into the room, he inspected it all. A simple, green duffel bag laid limp on the chair in the corner of the room, and the bed's sheets and comforters were pristine, as if Hatake had never slept the night before.

He stalked over to the duffel bag and opened the side pockets. From what he remembered about… his brother… most high-ranking shinobi had a copy of their mission directive, and Sasuke assumed their sensei was no different.

Shuffling through the different pockets, he gave a huff of annoyance when he came up empty, rolling his eyes and moving to the dresser.

The top shelf was empty, save for a few tool bags and some spare medicine. The middle shelf had only his jounin vest resting calmly, with no sight of anything more than that. Closing the drawer, he moved to the bottom shelf, the last attempt.

Gripping the golden curved handle, Sasuke pulled slowly, but the shelf didn't budge or give way. He pulled it again with more force. Nothing. Putting his shoulder above the shelf for more power, digging into the mahogany, he tried once more, but nothing happened.

He jerked the drawer to the right, then tried pulling, noticing how the shelf budged just a very little. Sasuke reset the position of the handle. He jerked it right, then immediately jerked it left, and noted that it felt much weaker with the added attempts.

He jerked it right, then left, then right again.

Nothing.

Right, left, down.

Still nothing.

Right, left, up?

He heard a 'click' and smirked in smug joy when the drawer slid out.

Then his smirk faded into a look of sheer annoyance when the drawer was empty, dust collecting calmly on the dark wood.

But why would there be a locked shelf, needing a specific pattern?

He guided his fingers along the sides of the upper portion of the shelf, touching for anything that could help. He circled around, tapping everywhere he could, coming up short.

Sasuke's hand briefly dipped upwards when he felt a secret alcove, and his breath was caught in his chest. His hand rolled over something smooth. He gripped, and pulled.

This was the same scroll that he had seen in Kakashi's hands before they left the Hidden Leaf. Curious, he opened it.

Just for safety, he activated his Sharingan.

"Oh… oh shit. That makes sense."

---

After reports of the rather brutal training session the previous day, their teacher had granted them amnesty and allowed them a day of rest, a day of healing, both mentally and physically.

Sakura was planning on actually partaking in the so-called "gardening tournament", at least, going off of her reading through the flyer they gave them.

"What do you do in the tournament, Sakura?"

"Well, um-" she began, glancing over at Naruto, who had his arms in his lap as he waited patiently. "… it says in here that they grow a separate batch of quick growing seeds that can grow to their full height within an hour, and participants are attempting to balance the fertilizer, water, and other factors such as sunlight in an attempt to get their plant to grow the highest. They aren't meant to be ate or used in trade, strictly for tournament play. Every year the seeds are randomized."

Naruto hummed in response. "And it begins in an hour?"

"And a half," she gently corrected. "but technicalities aside, any participants have to register in the next half hour, so you are kind of correct, Naruto. Kakashi is busy with his meeting so it'll just be Sasuke and yourself watching."

At the sudden revelation that he would be watching Sakura partake in this tournament instead of using his coveted time for something better like training, but a quick, albeit sharp, look from Naruto shut him up in his place. He supposed he could support her.

After a bit of idle chit chat and finding a good dress to wear, she sauntered off out of the door and left the two of them alone. Immediately, Sasuke turned his head.

"Sasuke, just for today," Naruto said before the Uchiha could fire off, his eyes silently begging. "I promise you I'll buy you any amount of food you want when we get back!"

"Naruto, the food isn't the point!" Sasuke snarled, momentarily surprising the orphan. He knew that Sasuke could be rather abrasive at times, but he never heard the Uchiha sound like that.

It was somewhat scary, honestly. Or at least, it was concerning to hear from him. He much preferred the quieter, more neutral tone he was accustomed to hearing.

Sasuke took a moment to breath. "I don't care about the food, what I care about is training. You should know that."

Naruto nodded, apologizing. They went silent.

They both took showered before getting dressed, Naruto in an orange t-shirt and black shorts, with Sasuke in his usual Uchiha attire.

They both put on their ninja sandals simultaneously.

Together, the Uchiha and the Uzumaki traveled towards where Sakura said it would be taking place. The two of them had twenty or so minutes until it actually started up, and both of them figured enough seats would be available for easy pickings.

That was, until the arrival.

"Why are all the seats taken?" Sasuke hissed, scanning over the crowd a few times. There were two sections divided down the middle, with each section holding ten rows, and in those ten rows were about fifteen or so chairs. The only seats really available were the seats near the back of the auditorium, far away from the performance arena.

The stage was void of any contestants, and the only thing that was inhabiting the wooden platform were a few sets of cans, some bags of seeds, and various different tools such as lamps with different intensities for artificial sunlight and tables and desks to rest their plant while they moved around.

"I don't know either." Naruto admitted, his eyes resting on a pair of seats in the second to last row. He pointed over there and nodded slightly in the general direction, Sasuke glancing over with a huff.

They sat down.

Thankfully, the auditorium had a sealed off top, the roof protecting the two of them from the powerful rays of blistering heat emanating from the sun. Naruto and Sasuke were packed in around two sets of families.

"Apparently this is entertainment for them," Sasuke whispered in shock to the blond. "at least Konoha has a few parks, what the Hell is this?"

Finally, with five minutes to spar before it began, the contestants were introduced. Sakura walked on stage, and when she locked eyes with her companions, she was practically beaming.

She waved excitedly and Naruto returned it with vigor, his arm slightly nudging the people beside him. Sasuke nodded and leaned back into his seat.

Introductions were made, rules were given, applauds were had. Families screaming for their child, or spouse, or whoever, to do their best, and take home the pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow. There were about twenty-four contestants in total.

And they were away, shuffling around each other while they all clamored and fought for different tools and spaces. It was surprisingly rough, and Naruto had to admit, if Sakura wasn't able to use chakra to enhance herself, she would be in quite a tough spot, vying for a bag of fertilizer with a much older man. Luckily, he seemed to be a civilian, and she easily overpowered him.

This continued on for a while, and it seemed Sakura was doing decently enough, but neither the Uchiha or the Uzumaki would tell due to the sheer boredom they had just watching this unfold.

"I don't get it," Naruto pondered towards Sasuke. "why doesn't she put some of her chakra into the soil?"

Sasuke glanced over.

"She doesn't want to be disqualified for cheating; I assume, anyways."

Naruto took this answer at face value.

He continued to watch when he felt a slight pressure on his right arm. He glanced down and nearly jumped out of his seat when that same pressure was a blue and white, sparklingly beautiful beetle. It had a glimmer around it's… shell? The wings were shimmering, despite there being no sunlight.

The beetle made a noise not unlike that of a soft chitter, and began to fly away from his arm. Naruto slowly followed it as it carried itself out of the row, and began flying down the middle of the split pathway, towards the back exits of the auditorium.

When it reached its destination, Naruto locked eyes with the same shinobi he was almost buried by on more than a few occasions. Her amber-filled eyes held that same sizzling, encompassing beauty that the beetle had. She looked beautiful.

She was waving and pulling her arms towards herself, and Naruto got the silent message. He pointed towards the stage and the pink-haired participant, but Fū waved her arm dramatically to the side, and beckoned him again.

Why am I doing this?

Naruto leaned over to Sasuke, who had been asleep apparently for a little bit. He shook him awake.

"I'm gonna go use the restroom, my bowels are acting up."

Sasuke scrunched his face up, his eyes narrow and his nose raised in disgust. "I didn't need to know the specifics, just go!"

Naruto raised his hands, attempting to placate the Uchiha, and, apologetically, shuffled his way through the row, trying his best to not bother the viewers.

He walked down the aisle, not noticing Sakura staring at him momentarily as he left. She figured he was simply going to the bathroom, or maybe getting a drink. It was pretty warm in the auditorium, at least for her, anyways.

Opening the exit door, Naruto was immediately dragged to the side by an excited Fū. "Why are you here?" he asked firmly, not quite harsh but also a fair bit agitated. She giggled and gripped his wrist, pulling him with her despite his best attempts to remain planted.

Why is she so strong?

She reached the front of a janitorial door, and with a light push (for her standards), disregarded the lock entirely and the door swung open. It amazed him how she didn't break the door off the hinges.

She hopped up to an open window and looked back at him. "Well, are you coming or not, ne?" She asked with a smirk, before dropping down to the outside. Naruto mused it for a moment.

He was here for Sakura, and he didn't want to let her down or lose out on her performance. He had hoped it would be a simple conversation, something he could get done quickly and return to his seat.

But something was pulling him, he could feel it. It was a natural feeling, but at the same time, it wasn't normal. A better way to put it would be…

It felt natural to go after her.

Was it the Tailed-Beast inside of her? Was it what the Nine-Tails had told him a while ago? And speaking of which, the Nine-Tails HAD been quiet recently.

Too quiet.

He hadn't heard any screams or sounds from when he was in… wherever he was, and met the Kyuubi. It was honestly worrying, but he figured it was for the better if he couldn't remember the sounds of horror he heard in there.

Naruto shrugged. He could apologize to Sakura later, worst case scenario.

He hopped up onto the window shelf.

Glancing down outside, he saw Fū staring up with a smirk, and she beckoned him again. The birds were chirping down, and he gave a genuine smile. "I knew you'd come around." She giggled, turning her head back towards the road.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Naruto said, sticking his tongue out. "where are we going?"

She waved her arm forward and hopped further down, onto the main street. He followed her.

They walked side by side on the street, her slightly in front, and he could see the side of her lips curved upwards into a joyful smile, but something was out of place when taking a quick glance around.

Most of the villagers downright moved out of the way from her path, and while she was dead set in the middle of the road, dragging him along, it was the looks on their faces that concerned Naruto the most.

None of the villagers voiced any of their concerns, but the way their eyes darted among her body, and away, or how some of them sneered and hid their children's eyes from the view, or just how some of them, once laughing and joking around, crossed their arms when they placed their vision on her.

It reminded him of how he used to be treated in the Leaf village.

Then it clicked as to why she was so convinced they were friends, or that they could become friends with each other.

She never had a real friend before.

He wouldn't know when the next time he'd see her, or ever, for that matter. And chances are, she didn't know either. He sighed to himself.

She turned her heel on a dime and dipped into a dark alleyway, and momentarily let go of his wrist to hop over a tall, slightly bent chain-link fence. It was drooping partially at the top. He followed her lead.

They were in a field of corn. She returned to gripping his wrist and continued to bring him along for a journey. They bobbed and weaved through the cornfield, brushing against some of the more matured stalks.

Finally, they reached the other side of the field and in front of him was a rather sizeable tree, with a makeshift, wood-panel ladder nailed into the trunk, leading up through the leaves. Did she… live in a treehouse?

Instead of using the ladder, she walked up the tree, further and further, until she reached where the trunk and the leaves intersected. Naruto noticed a patch of leaves that were more spread out, as if this was where she moved the leaves to reach into a deeper part of the tree.

She parted the leaves and continued her ascent, and Naruto followed.

Moving the leaves, he noted an odd, plastic feel to them, but paid it no mind. It was probably just a difference in village location-

As he looked around the inside of the 'leaves', or rather, what he now identified as plastic leaves, it all made sense.

The entirety of the leaves were fake, plastic, recycled and repurposed to merely look like real leaves. The tree trunk was real, or at least if it was fake, it felt real. Inside, it was hollowed out and shaped into a dome, with wooden walls resting on the very top of the tree branches and the top of the trunk, surrounded by the domed-leaves.

Her tree house was hidden by the fake foliage, and he had to admit, it did indeed resemble a real tree from the outside, even when walking up to be right next to the leaves, they looked real, it was only when he touched them did he realize.

She ducked through the top of the doorway and so did Naruto, his mouth opening in awe when he glanced around the actual treehouse. It was a spacious room, with a bed and a table and twin sets of chairs, and there was even a miniature bookshelf in the closest corner to him.

A miniature dresser was at the tail-end of the bed, with two drawers she could use to store clothes. It had a lamp in the shape of a beetle, tinted red. A mirror was standing loosely next to the bookshelf.

"Fū, you live here?" Naruto exclaimed, turning his head in rapid succession to take in the entire sight.

She misunderstood, however, and took his voice of awe for a voice of shock, and before she could tell him off, he continued.

"I read about treehouses in one of my childhood books. They always seemed pretty cool." Cool, not cute. He said after a moment, his eyes starstruck. His mouth was still open, basking in the sight of the room.

Fū wasn't expecting that. Whenever she showed her house to anyone, they would compliment it and politely figure a way out, and never return to hang out with her again. So, with someone genuinely complimenting it…

It was a new, but warm, feeling.

"I've lived here since I was seven!" she said, her voice laced with theatrical pride. Naruto whistled and inspected some of the books. They were mainly about bugs. He did note a few books about gardening, however.

He put the books down and took a seat on her chair. She grinned at him and pulled out one of her drawers. Reaching into the deeper, back half of the shelf, she removed a small, glass case.

Inside was the most beautiful, charming, and captivating insect he had ever seen. The shell of the beetle was a gorgeous emerald green, a shade or two brighter than her hair, and it seemed to shimmer from the reflection of the sunlight breaking in through her window. The legs were a gorgeous shade of ashy-white, almost a snow color. It had two short, but relatively thick, antennae that curved outward, fidgeting every now and then. It was inspecting the newest guest through the glass.

"Isn't she lovely, ne?"

Naruto stared some more at the beetle, entranced. While he wasn't the type to call anything "beautiful", much less a fully grown insect, he had to admit that this was a gorgeous specimen, a shining example.

"I found her out in some of the forests when she was just a freshly-hatched girly, and I took her home with me. Well," she began to correct herself. "more like, it followed me home, I tried to leave it in the forest, I swear!" She giggled at the look of sheer awe.

She set it down on the table in front of him to look at closer. She continued on.

"There are two things that make 'er rarer than usual. Normally a Takigakure Lime Beetle, like that, even though the shell is most certainly not a lime color, is born male, and the legs are a more darker shade of grey, not the off-white you see on her."

"Does she have a name?" Naruto asked after inspecting the beetle a few times over.

Fū actually hadn't thought of that. At most, she called the beetle "the bestest girl" but that was mainly to herself, and Shibuki, on the off times she would bring up the beetle to the young man. Then it came to her.

"Stinky," she replied, off the top of her head. "her name is Stinky. Do you know why, ne?"

He pondered the question for a moment.

"I assume she can make a really bad smell when surrounded by predators?"

Fū grinned at his guess. "You are warm, but nope! Her species actually only eat fruits, peaches and pears to be exact, but when she's surrounded by predators or even stressed, her species can release an odor that's foul for anything else, but has a pheromone that induces calmness and a feeling of safety for themselves."

He could appreciate that.

Despite her high-tempo and energetic self, she seemed actually rather intelligent. She practiced and utilized a concise and fluid martial arts style, was very quick to read and predict Naruto's attacks, and knew a lot about the different insects, if that was anything to go off of.

But his mind went back to why she was living in a treehouse, sheltered away from the main streets, resorting to traveling through a cornfield and over a fence before she could even actually venture through the actual roads of Takigakure.

He had his suspicions, however.

"Fū," Naruto began, "as cool as it is, why are you living here? In this treehouse, I mean, and not an actual home?"

Fū reached in to pet Stinky, who chittered at the touch. "Shibu and his dad built this for me when I was a little girl, to keep me safe and sound from some of the meaner villagers. It's awesome, I get my own bed, my own room, and I can do whatever I want!"

But her tone of voice was off. She wasn't meeting his eyes, when in most of her previous conversations, she looked him square in the face. Her voice was also a little shakier than he was used too. Her cheeks weren't as rosy.

Fū was either lying, or it wasn't as 'awesome' as she was letting on. Either one made him sad.

---

"And now, folks, the contestants are entering the fourth stage of the competition!"

Sasuke mentally groaned. Please Shinigami take me away.

So, Naruto had ditched him. He had been gone for a long time, and while Naruto normally was a fan of not stressing his return time, even this was too much for the blond.

Sakura had noticed, of course, that he had been gone for a while too, and the flash of hurt on Sakura's face had caused some bubbles of anger to rise through Sasuke's chest, but he brushed it off. If the blond idiot didn't want to support their teammate, then so be it.

But, just to check…

Sasuke quickly got up, and walking directly out of the auditorium, he did a full circle of the hallways, the building being shaped as a circle for easy travel. He eventually found his way back to his starting point, and nodded to himself.

There were no bathrooms in the building.

He quickly browsed the outside front area section, and saw a dedicated building for bathrooms, a few paces from the stairs leading up to the entrance.

Good to know.

He returned to his seat, nodding at Sakura when her face lit up at seeing Sasuke return. Her smile was amazing, and her steps had some more pep to them. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

---

Fū was still showing him some of her nick-knacks around her 'house', such as her signed poster from her favorite traveling music group, or her first ever kunai she… broke in half?

What?

Whatever, she was proud of it, so he would be too. She grinned, so he did too.

They talked for a fair amount of time about many things, such as how Stinky could fly for five days straight without a break, how Fū was essentially a genin in most areas except taijutsu (and Naruto could attest to that personally), or how Naruto could cook.

Then the conversation ebbed and flowed for a while after that. At one point, Fū had called Naruto "her bestest friend in the world", and despite having barely met her the previous day, he didn't feel the need (or have the heart) to correct her.

"Hey, Naruto!" Fū said with a wry grin. "do you wanna be my pen pal?"

"A… pen pal? What's that?"

Fū took out a piece of paper and sloppily wrote down some words. Her writing was getting more intense and so was her grip, and after a moment, the pen in her hand snapped! and without a blink of the eye, she already had a new one in her hand, writing once again on the piece of paper.

Naruto didn't comment on this.

Sliding the paper over to Naruto, he read it curiously. It was a mail address for Takigakure.

"We write each other letters, ne!" Fū said with excitement. "the mail can most likely get to Konoha within three days, four at the most, and we can write each other!" She was bouncing with excitement, her eyes shining like a full moon in the heart of the ocean.

Naruto sighed. "I don't know the mailing address for Konoha, Fū. I'm sorry."

She clicked her tongue as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. She tapped the piece of paper in front of him again.

"That's why I wrote down my address. You'll write me as soon as you get back to Konoha, then I can write you! Easy, ne?"

Naruto wasn't too sure about it. It seemed like a dream, too good to be true. The villages would most likely heavily inspect any form of communication between the two, and while it would be nice if Naruto could talk to his new friend, he wasn't sure.

It would probably be best if they played it safe.

"Fū, I'm not too sure-"

"Please, Naruto?"

He had never heard her sound more desperate before. It was scary, horrific and depressing all at once. Her sound, normally rejuvenating and invigorating all at once, able to justify and praise the goodness of innocence and the ability to remain positive, was unjust, it was sad and pathetic and unbecoming of someone like Fū.

He faltered, and he faltered hard.

"Okay, okay, I'll see what I can do, Fū. It might take a while, though." Naruto admitted, smiling as Fū danced around the room and threw Naruto into a bone-crushing hug. She laughed and picked him up effortlessly, spinning him around the room while the Uzumaki slowly lost breath.

"Thank you, Naruto, thank you thank you thank youthankyouthankyou!"

"Ach!"

Fū dropped him with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of her head. She pulled him into a genuine hug, dripping his midsection tightly, his clothes scrunched.

"Thank you, Naruto."

---

The moon was shining overhead, soft rays of pale light breaking against the ground. Slipping through the door to the cabin and attempting to sneak through, Naruto mentally sighed when he saw Sasuke casually sitting on a chair in the living room. He took a breath and walked in.

"Naruto."

He inhaled sharply, and tried to calm himself. No, this was a simple Sasuke greeting. Nothing more.

"Greetings, what is up?"

He idly noted Sakura and Kakashi were not in the room. Normally at minimum, Sakura would be creating conversation with her favorite person, but that didn't seem to be the case here.

Sasuke turned his sharp gaze onto his teammate, his face neutral.

"You were gone a long time."

"Yes," he admitted. "I suppose I was."

Sasuke hummed in response and took a sip of his tea. "Kakashi is going to take a little longer in the meeting, he'll be back in roughly two more hours, or so his clone said."

The blond nodded in response and moved to make his own cup of tea. Peach tea, specifically. Sasuke remained quiet, his arms folded in front of his face.

"I couldn't find the bathroom myself, where was it?" Sasuke asked innocently enough, but Naruto felt there was something off in his tone of voice. He was never this… sly sounding, when asking a question. Like it was a trap.

"Oh, haha," it sounded fake, and Naruto rubbed the back of his head, and Sasuke saw. "I couldn't find the bathroom there so I came back here, and I accidentally fell asleep on my bed."

The room went quiet.

"Well, he can lie on a whim."

"We locked the door on the way over there." Sasuke pointed out.

"Well, yeah," Naruto retorted. "I used my house key."

Sasuke scowled very briefly, and Naruto winced. "You left the key inside when we went to the contest."

He mentally growled, although it was his own fault, really. He knew that Sasuke knew that he was lying, that much was certain, but now he was basically verbally circling his prey.

"Yeah, haha, I came in through the side window, I forgot I thought I had my house key."

"The windows that are always locked?"

Naruto paused.

"…Yes."

The two stared at each other, and Sasuke's face contorted into a snarl. Naruto immediately raised his hands to placate the enraged Uchiha.

"Look, I'm sorry, I know-"

"You made her fucking cry!"

Naruto halted in his place; his mouth stuck open. He tried to find the words, Hell, any words to say, but his brain was silent. Sasuke smacked the tea out of Naruto's hands, the glass breaking on the ground.

"You left your own teammate's performance for what, a fucking foreign ninja you met a day ago? Naruto, are you an idiot or are you just that ignorant?"

Uzumaki took a step back, reeling at the shouting. His eyes didn't have their normal sheen to them, instead they were a sad, drowning shade of blue. "Look, I understand-".

"No, Naruto!" Sasuke cut in, his eyes comparable to the raging destruction of a monsoon. "apparently you don't understand, Sakura is our teammate and you fucking abandoned her!"

"Hey, wait!" Now it was Naruto's turn to cut him off. "I didn't abandon her, I just didn't think she would be as hurt if I made my decision."

"No, you did abandon her, do you have any idea how sad she was, Naruto? She genuinely was crying when we got back here, and after all that bullshit you said about me opening up to her and becoming friends with her, you go and pull that? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Naruto didn't have any time to respond before Sasuke gripped the collar of his shirt and pulled him up into the air, his Sharingan spinning wildly. Naruto grabbed his wrists and tugged them free.

The two boys glared at each other. "You are going to apologize to her when you see her again."

"I know, I planned on it-"

Naruto reached out but Sasuke smacked his hand away, and the two boys glared at each other in response. "No, you will apologize to her." He stressed the message, and the two of them became quiet.

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"It shouldn't be me you apologize too."

They got quiet once again, and before they could continue, they heard the door click.

Naruto and Sasuke both turned and saw Kakashi standing in the doorway, staring back cautiously at them. He could hear the yelling from outside the house, and could tell it was something about Sakura, but he wasn't too sure. He could also feel the tension in the air.

"Yo, sorry for taking so long, there were some hiccups at the meeting. Is everything… okay, here?" Their sensei asked after a moment, taking a look at the broken tea cup scattered around the floor, and the edges of Naruto's collar being recently scrunched.

Collecting his thoughts, Sasuke turned away and walked from the room, and Kakashi shifted towards Naruto. "We had a… minor disagreement, but it's my fault Kakashi-sensei, don't get mad at Sasuke, okay?"

Kakashi accepted this at face value and didn't press the issue.

"Where's Sakura?"

Naruto shrugged. "I think she went for a walk."

"He thinks, doesn't know for sure, despite the three of them having been together all day."

"Well, we are leaving tomorrow afternoon, so make sure you get some rest, okay? I'll go look for Sakura, make sure she's okay."

Naruto nodded, and retired to bed, his mind in a whirl.

---

The three students sat at the table, all quiet, all thinking separate lines of thought. Sakura wasn't meeting Naruto's gaze, and in opposite, Sasuke was glaring a hole through Naruto's head.

Kakashi had decided to make them a small breakfast before they left for their home, the man humming to himself jovially as he dug through the temporary fridge. The cooking pan was starting to heat up, the oil sizzling to itself.

The three of them were all waiting patiently.

Before Naruto could say anything to his pink-haired teammate, a knock on the door broke the silence. Sasuke wordlessly got up and went to check. Kakashi continued to cook.

In walked Shibuki, who nodded at everyone. "Hello, I'm sorry for interrupting the peace, but I wanted to say thank you for you three being so courteous and respectful to our village on your mission, the entirety of Takigakure is grateful. I have brought the four of you parting gifts, molded specially for you four."

He handed them each a miniature replication of the mighty tree rooting the village, made out of a shimmering golden coat.

"I'd like to talk about what this means for the Hidden Leaf, and by extension you three, now that Takigakure is a vassal village for the Leaf, if that's alright."

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder as he flipped a piece of bacon. "By all means, Lord Shibuki."

Sakura's eyes were wide, her mouth slightly gaping while she fumbled and stuttered over her words. She couldn't think of anything to say, especially after hearing that Takigakure was under direct control of the Hidden Leaf now.

Sasuke, having already read through Kakashi's mission scroll, merely gazed at the village leader.

Naruto didn't know what it meant to be a vassal village, but he understood it was important enough to warrant a visit to their housing directly.

"Thank you, Jounin Hatake. As I was saying, it-" before he could continue, the foundation of the house rumbled, the glass windows rattling like a skeleton before they shattered, leaving shards in the house.

The chairs they were sitting on were beginning to creak and crumble, before Naruto fell on his rear, the disturbance of the Earth shaking proving far too powerful for the chairs.

"W-what is going on?" Shibuki stuttered after a moment, his eyes wide in fear, the tone of his voice nothing more than a soft whimper.

Kakashi moved away from the stove and directed his three students and Shibuki away from any glass or objects that could tip over, such as bookshelves. "Shibuki, is there an invasion?"

The man paled at the thought and tugged at his collar. "I-I'm not sure, we have patrols every hour reporting in and they found nothing suspicious, I d-don't know, Jounin Hatake, I swear!"

Kakashi scowled and directed his attention to the door. "You four, hunker down while I investigate, and do not leave, understood?" His tone was low, feral, and it was a far cry from the normally playful, albeit neutral, tone of voice he was used to using. His hand looped the circle at the end of a kunai in preparation.

"N-no!" Shibuki cried. "I need to protect the H-Hero's Water! I can't stay here!"

Their sensei shook his head in sheer anger and summoned a dog, the canine sniffing the air, and then barking furiously towards Kakashi.

"Okay, change of plans everyone!" Hatake stated. "Shibuki, we are headed towards whatever you need to protect. You three, help any villagers evacuate towards the South Wall, there is a safety zone there, now move!"

Kakashi and Shibuki hastily ran out of the door, and the three teammates followed, but split off from their sensei and raced towards the village streets. No words were shared between the three of them, the situation too tense.

Smoke and fire from various buildings were rising to the top of the skyline, and screams that could be heard from the village edge haunted the environment. Explosions in the distance were destroying most of the concrete structures as they raced forward.

Arriving at one of the main roads, they took a glance around. Most of the villagers were running towards the south walls, and they didn't see any aggressive ninja. "Okay, Sasuke, Sakura, check out the buildings on the left, I'll check the buildings on the right for anyone trapped." Naruto commanded, as both of his teammates nodded, breaking off to help.

Naruto lowered his shoulder and broke into the first house on his right, the smoke in the living room forcing him to cough. He rushed through the living room, having found nobody and checked the top floor, the house empty and vacated. He jumped from the second story window and wall ran into the next building, a gaping hole in the wall from the attack.

Nobody was trapped on the top floor, but when he reached the bottom, there was a young woman crying helplessly as she was stuck behind a raging fire. She caught his eye and screamed in fear. He motioned for her to get out of the way, hugging the wall as close as she could, leaving an empty space.

Getting a running head start and channeling chakra into his fist, he dashed through the fire, ignoring the pervasive, intense flames dancing around his exposed skin as he connected his fist with the wall, the entirety of it crumbling under his power, leaving him room to help the woman climb out safely.

"South Wall, safety zone, got it?"

The woman was crying hysterically, her right hand having been burned intensely while she waited. Naruto shook her shoulders as gently as he could in the situation, while still also catching her attention. "South Wall, go!"

She nodded frantically and started to run. Naruto took the small pause to cough and attempt to clear his lungs, but the smoke was leaving his chest with a burning sensation.

He continued on, reaching the next house and this time, while checking to see if Sasuke or Sakura could see, activated his Sharingan and did a quick scan of the house, focusing his chakra to his head in an attempt to expand the range of his hearing and vision. Finding no one, he went to the next house.

Before he could enter the fourth house, he heard a scream that sounded eerily like Sakura's from the other side of the street, and rushed to investigate. Bursting into the house, it wasn't on fire, but he charged up the stairs and saw that Sasuke had defeated a ninja, his scratched headband hanging loosely off of his head.

Sasuke, still fighting the second of two invaders, saw Naruto in his peripheral and dodged a kick before gripping his opponent's fist, stopping the blow. Wasting no time, Naruto ran and delivered a flying kick to the head of the invader, sending him sailing through the window, the glass shattering from the impact.

"Are you guys alright?" He asked when he landed. Sasuke nodded, and Sakura did as well, although her nod was shaky, and her eyes were watering. The three of them were about to leave, before more bandits came up the stairs, and they prepared for combat. They heard vicious barking behind the bandits.

"They have attack canines, be cautious." Sasuke warned the other two, gripping two shuriken. Three of the bandits rushed to the Uchiha, and before Naruto could move to intervene, one of the dogs rushed at him, snagging his leg and throwing his head back and forth, tearing into the skin and causing blood to drip onto the ground.

A bandit attacked Naruto, the dog still ripping into his thigh, and Naruto was able to punch him off before another landed a crushing kick to Naruto's midsection, forcing him onto his back. The bandit quickly put his knees onto both of his arms and stabbed a kunai down, narrowly missing Naruto's head as he tilted it.

Naruto freed one of his arms and pushed back the attacker's wrist, the kunai being pushed more and more as he desperately tried to stop the hit.

Sakura was frozen in fear, watching in horror as Naruto's leg was being more and more ripped and shredded, blood pooling at the base of his body. Sasuke was faring a bit better, with his Sharingan flaring wildly as he bobbed and weaved through three separate bandits, but even he too was starting be pushed back, being strictly on the defensive.

"Ignore her for now, she's useless." The bandit on top of Naruto barking towards his teammates, putting more force behind his kunai. Naruto grit his teeth in frustration and struggled to push back with one arm.

"Sakura, throw a kunai!" Naruto shouted in desperation, howling in pain as the dog was tearing chunks from his leg.

She sat there, her body unresponsive, and the bandit on top laughed. "Give it up, boy. The girl is a pussy, through and through." The bandit shoved downwards again, the kunai edging closer and closer to his head.

"Sakura, do something!" Naruto shouted again, his vision becoming a bit hazy.

"Shut the fuck up, kid, she's done!" The bandit snarled, slamming his hand back down on the kunai, Naruto's arm giving way, but before it pierced his eye, he threw his body in an attempt to be free, and the kunai stabbed into his right shoulder.

"Argh!" Naruto cried out in pain, the bandit retracting the kunai and trying again, Naruto struggling helplessly as the bandit was reaching his head.

"Sakura, fucking DO SOMETHING!" She glanced up at her name, seemingly broken from her trance. She widened her eyes and reached for a kunai, but the bandit wasn't paying attention to her,

"Kid, I said shut the fuck u-" before he finished his sentence, a dull thud was heard, and his voice was cut off completely. Naruto felt a heaving weight on his body, and realized he had fallen dead, a kunai protruding from the center of his forehead.

Naruto ripped the kunai from the dead bandit, and shoved the body off. He slammed the kunai onto the dog's skull, a loud whimper breaking through the room. Naruto slammed the kunai a second time, this time silencing the dog completely, and slammed it again, and again, and again and again, until the dog's cranium had the consistency of gelatin and the poor canine's skull was reconstructed into multiple, fragmented pieces around the room, bits of brain matter and tissue littering both Naruto's clothes and the wooden flooring.

Naruto threw the dog out of the window and winced as he attempted to move his leg, the bloody, soaked limb ripped open, his thigh a bloody pulp. While it was torn wide open, it was already starting to heal and close by itself, no doubt from an outside, third-party influence.

Sasuke had defeated two of the bandits but was tired out from the third, and the bandit struck his throat with a chop, causing the Uchiha to cough and fall helplessly to the ground. Before he could be finished off, Naruto ran and stabbed the kunai into the bandit's throat, tackling him to the ground to finish him off at the same time.

Naruto helped Sasuke up, the Uchiha scowling at being saved by Naruto, but not outwardly voicing his anger, instead opting to move over to Sakura. Her gaze was hollow, her words being caught in her throat as she stared at the scene in front of her.

"Sakura, are you alright?"

She didn't look up, her vision stuck on the corpse in front of her. "I killed him."

Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other in caution, listening to the girl ramble.

"Sakura, we need to move, are you okay?"

If the sound of his voice reached her ears, she made no move to stand or respond, her voice a whisper against the screams of the villagers outside.

"I killed him."

Naruto was sitting down, bandaging his thigh while it healed, the white cloth stained a crimson red from the excess blood leaking out. He bit into the handle of a kunai while he did this, his face strained.

Sasuke dug a chakra pill from his bag and ate one, closing his eyes while he breathed heavily. His Sharingan had been reverted and his onyx eyes scanned the room, momentarily opening them.

Naruto began wrapping his shoulder as best as possible.

"She's in shock from her first kill," Sasuke stated, coming to a standstill. "we need to protect her and get her somewhere safe. Naruto, are you able to continue?"

The blond finished wrapping the bandages and nodded his head in confirmation, and snagged a chakra pill for himself to eat while he attempted to recover. They were both tired, and were hoping this shit would be over soon, but they still had a mission to do.

"We move, together, and get Sakura to a Takigakure-sanctioned protection zone. We find Kakashi and we go from there."

Naruto could agree to this plan, his vision clearing up after a moment.

Before they could pick the girl up and move her, four kunai broke in from the window on the opposite side of the room, explosive notes sizzling.

"Sakura, make an Earth wall!" Naruto screamed hoarsely; his eyes wide as they both turned towards the girl.

"I killed him."

"Aw, fuck, jump!"

Naruto grabbed Sakura and jumped from the window, Sasuke following closely, and the house behind them exploded, the three of them being sent flying as flames licked the back of Naruto, his body capturing and protecting Sakura as he shielded her from the blast radius.

They landed in an open field, rolling a few feet before coming to a complete stop. Naruto coughed as he let go of Sakura, her body falling lifelessly onto the ground. She was still conscious, but mentally she was shutdown.

His back was torched to a crisp, and his vision was shaky and blurred from all the smoke and trauma. He couldn't hear anything either, a piercing, deafening ring shaking his ears as he attempted to get his bearings.

He looked around in an attempt to find his black-haired teammate, and found nothing, meaning him and Sakura were alone for the moment. His hearing was still gone, the ringing giving him a headache.

Naruto groaned in pain as he smacked his head, attempting to clear his hearing up so he could protect Sakura. Before he could, he saw a figure standing on a building dozens of feet away.

He couldn't hear anything, and the figure on top was staring down, his mocking grin glinting dangerously in the sunlight.

Naruto's hearing was starting to come back, and he stared cautiously.

"Greetings, Leaf-nin," the figure said. "my sincerest apologies for the trouble my men have caused you, but if I were you, I'd give up. This is my one offer."

Naruto coughed and got to his feet; his kunai gripped tightly. The man raised an eyebrow, and smirked.

The two of them didn't give way, their intense gazes not being broken.

"Oh, a fighter, huh? I'll love breaking you in!"

Naruto's back was aching, the immense pain from the explosion causing him to wince whenever he even shifted. Sakura was still… somewhere, hopefully having fled to somewhere safe.

Sasuke still hadn't been found, hopefully he was somewhere nearby and ready to fight because this man sure as shit wasn't about to take it easy on Naruto.

He took a swallow of saliva and readied himself for combat, a kunai in his left hand, his shoulder burning intensely, his thigh suffering from any extended movement. They were both healing, due to the Fox, but if he didn't turn his situation around any sooner…

The man jumped down and threw a few shuriken, the blades casually flying towards Naruto as he jumped a few feet back. Dodging them, he quickly threw a kunai in retaliation, but his aim was wildly off due to his body debilitating him, his vision slightly hazy from the pain.

The man began running towards Naruto, his spikey hair being pushed back by the wind, and Naruto twisted his body to defend.

The man got within fifteen feet and suddenly shifted his momentum to the right, throwing two shuriken in distraction. Naruto grit his teeth in annoyance and turned to deflect the strike coming from his right, the man curling his arms to give a devastating hook.

Naruto pushed the man's hand past his forehead as he got inside the guard, delivering a quick strike to the bandit's chest as the man raised his knee, planting it into Naruto's stomach.

He ignored the pain for now and leaned backwards, evading another sideways attack and returned with his own strike, forcefully swiping into the man's jaw as they both hopped backwards to regroup.

"Better than I thought, kid." The man genuinely complimented, shrugging to himself. Naruto merely spit some blood onto the ground.

They stared at each other for another moment then continued to battle, neither of them getting the upper hand on the other.

Wincing as the man connected a kick to his good shoulder, Naruto did a somersault using the momentum of the hit and threw his kunai in his hand, the man casually using his own to deflect the attack into the ground, his grin menacing.

Naruto scowled and flipped through a few hand seals, building up condensed air into his chest, the wind blades threatening to break out of his lips. Retreating backwards, he shot off the jutsu, the man raising his arms to guard as the blades cut into his arms.

They weren't as strong as they could have been, mainly because Naruto was attempting to conserve power and energy, but his arms were bleeding and he was in obvious discomfort, his face contorted into slight rage at being injured to that extent.

Readying a second set of kunai to throw, Naruto chucked them in the general area and slipped into his handbag to withdraw another chakra pill, chewing it fast and swallowing before the attacker could push his defenses again.

Naruto activated his Sharingan momentarily, due to the sudden increase in chakra circulating his body, and watched as the man performed a few hand seals, finally resting his hands on the Snake seal.

"An Earth technique."

He slammed his hands into the ground, and the ground rumbled under the both of them. Naruto stumbled a bit as the crumbling ground and soil beneath him shifted his weight around, his thigh crying out in pain at the sudden sensation.

Suddenly, in front of the attacker, a terror-inducing roar was emitted, and the earth was twisting and spiraling in command of the bandit, Naruto attempting to steady himself in response.

Out from the ground erupted a thick, spiral-shaped stone dragon, the dark brown serpent barreling towards Naruto, and he widened his eyes, and attempted to jump to the side, only for the beast to crush against his body, sending him flying backwards, eventually rolling on the floor as the momentum carried him.

He couldn't find the willpower to move after a technique like that, and eventually forced himself to sit upright, turning his gaze as the bandit was rushing towards him.

Although at this point, it was pretty apparent this was no mere bandit, but someone much stronger.

In all likelihood, the leader of the bandits.

The man hopped into the air and attempted to connect with a downwards arcing heel, but Naruto raised his arm in time and sunk slightly under the force, and threw him off, gritting his teeth.

The man landed and didn't immediately attack.

"You aren't like some of my men, are you? You have some strength to you yet."

Naruto's glare was furious, and he threw a shuriken hissing as his shoulder had a bolt of pain, and the man casually tilted his body to the side.

"Some fight in you left indeed. It's a shame I can't take you with me." The bandit shook his head in mock pity, clicking his tongue in disappointment. Suddenly, he rushed forward again, engaging the blond in hand-to-hand combat, Naruto gradually being pushed back.

Suddenly, both the bandit and Naruto felt a shift, and the bandit glanced up to inspect briefly, but Naruto could feel the energy, the chakra behind the attack. It was Sasuke.

Taking his opportunity, he gave a swift uppercut to the man sending him into the air, and Sasuke rocketed down and delivered a brutal flying side kick to the man's abdomen, sending him barreling ahead of them, the dirt being kicked up.

Naruto glanced into Sasuke's eyes, seeing three tomoe in his left and two in his right. He was on the edge of awakening the Sharingan to it's full potential, at least before the Mangekyo, like Obito has mentioned before.

"Giving you trouble, hm?" Sasuke said, his smirk in jest, and Naruto scowled playfully in reply. The two of them glanced forward, watching the man get back up to his feet.

"Yeah, I guess so, Sasuke."

They watched as the man started to run towards them again.

"Shall we do a dance?"

Sasuke gave another smirk as he grew twin kunai. He ignored the clunky wording.

"Let's go, Naruto!"

The two of them began their own rush forward.

Splitting up slightly, Naruto jumped to the left while Sasuke ran around the right, silently agreeing to overpower the man through two different frontal assaults, Naruto moving in first.

The man grimaced and turned his body to the blond, deflecting a punch and attempting to strike him back, only for Sasuke to come in and deliver a brutal kick to his stomach forcing him back slightly.

Naruto, hopping into the air, watched as his Uchiha counterpart engaged from the front, and grinned to himself when the man couldn't decide where to guard, and brought his foot down onto the man's uplifted arm.

Sasuke had tangled his remaining arm with his hand gripping it, and swung his other fist and connected to the man's jaw, sending him back yet again.

Then, the Uzumaki and the Uchiha attacked together.

The bandit was struggling to keep up with both of the boys at once, taking attack after attack as they quickly overwhelmed him, the man gradually building up bruises and slight blood loss as they pummeled him backwards.

Naruto ducked under a kick and allowed Sasuke to hop over his back, the man being kicked straight on the jaw, a few teeth flying out from his mouth at the impact, and Naruto built strength into his fist as he punched the man straight on the throat, blood gushing from his mouth as they synchronized their kicks, their feet planting themselves into his stomach and causing him to go flying backwards.

They paused momentarily to catch their breath as they saw their handiwork, the man laying on the ground dozens of feet from them, seemingly defeated.

Only for him to gradually rise to a stance.

Naruto suddenly dropped to one knee, the pressure of the sustained combat and assault building up on his damaged ligaments and body. Sasuke, as well, felt pain, his chakra reserves being slowly drained, his Sharingan beginning to flicker out. He wasn't forced to a knee, but he was hunched over, his breaths ragged.

"Naruto, that green-haired ally of yours would be a real benefit to us right now," Sasuke attempted to joke, his Sharingan finally flickering off permanently, at least for the rest of the fight until he ate another chakra pill.

Despite the intensity of the situation, the blond couldn't help but laugh at the statement. "Yeah," he agreed. "she really would be right now, hehe."

The man began to run again.

"He really doesn't stay down."

Sasuke grimaced as he wobbled in place. "No, he does not."

The two began to run to meet him in combat, the both of them struggling to stand.

Naruto put extra force into his run and attempted to kick the man, only for him to swat the shin away and deliver a resounding punch to his jaw, sending him tumbling back. Sasuke ducked under his teammate and attempted an uppercut, only for him to grasp the fist and throw him behind, the Uchiha rolling painfully in the dirt, red blood marks smearing the soil.

The man turned around and threw his foot onto Sasuke, his heel digging into the boy's stomach as blood jumped from his mouth, splattering itself on the man's ankle. He quickly twisted his torso as he executed a spinning backhand to the charging Naruto, a sickly snap heard as Sasuke realized Naruto had his nose broken, on top of his shoulder and thigh injuries.

The man removed his heel from the Uchiha and began his leisure trot over to Naruto, the boy coughing in pain as he attempted to shift his body to a sitting position. He glanced up at the bandit, and shuddered as his vision was getting blurry.

The Nine-Tail's voice was beginning to echo inside of his thoughts.

The desire of power, the thirst of violence, it was slowly seeping into his body, his brain, his heart, he wanted revenge.

"Is this what the fox meant when it said I couldn't escape from the pull, like my mother?"

Before the man could strike down, he quickly glanced up and leapt out of the way, the reason being someone was rocketing downwards with vengeance. The body crashed into the ground in front of Naruto, a huge dust cloud grazing his watery eyes.

When the dust settled, he breathed a major sigh of relief.

"Fū, reporting for duty!"

Naruto sunk back into the ground, his vision hazy, but a dumb smile on his face, despite the circumstances. He rolled over and rummaged around for another chakra pill, hopefully that being enough to carry him until the fight was over.

Slowly, but surely, Naruto rose to his feet, and eyed Sasuke stationary on the side of the field, his body rising and falling in rhythm. He was still alive, at least.

The man glanced at Fū; his eyebrow raised. "You were a short squirt when I left, glad to see this shit stain village knows how to do something right." He mused after a moment.

Fū hopped a few steps, and the man attempted to sweep her feet out from under, only for her to step on his shin, the bone immediately snapping in place, and she cocked her arm back and delivered a monstrous punch to his jaw, the man being sent flying backwards, a few teeth dropping helplessly to the ground as Naruto watched, wide-eyed and shocked in place.

She glanced back and gave a thumbs up, her grin shining amongst the carnage, and she quickly tilted her head towards Sasuke, and Naruto got the message, straggling over to pick the boy up and chaperone him somewhere safe.

Dumping his body away from the battlefield, Naruto felt the chakra pill slowly beginning to circulate his body. It wasn't much, and he would be feeling one hell of a crash once the pills wore off, but he could deal with that later.

He jumped back next to Fū.

The man was beginning to look weird. His once scarred skin was now being engrossed by sickly, onyx looking seal marks around his body, one of his eyes turning a nasty, pale yellow tone, the glint in his eye murderous.

His muscles were bulging slightly now, and his hair had grown somewhat since Naruto last saw about a minute ago. He quickly uncapped a bottle, Fū gasping next to Naruto, and she immediately attempted to rush, but the man, with enchanting power, kicked her in her stomach, sending her directly backwards.

"Ah, recognize this, huh, bitch?" The man taunted, gulping down a few drinks as the bottle was about half empty now.

Naruto, however, was beginning to feel the call of bloodlust, a silky voice in the back of his ear canal, tempting him.

"Call upon my power, child."

Paying no attention to the voice, Naruto struggled to stand, his body screaming for him to rest. His shoulder was in immense pain, his thigh wound was bleeding through the bandages, leaving small puddles wherever he would go, and his back was feeling the effects of the explosion earlier.

"You can end his miserable existence right now, just call upon me."

He watched as Fū rushed forward with a punch, and his eyes widened in shock as the man grabbed her fist in place, and crushed his knee against her midsection, and punched her throat, dropping her to her knees. He then picked her up by the neck and threw her to the side, his intense gaze falling on Naruto.

"Release your urges onto him, deliver us from suffering."

Naruto took a step forward before the man appeared in front of him, and Naruto, attempting an open palmed strike, winced as the man gripped his hand, and held his fingers.

And twisted.

Naruto screamed in pain as his fingers were completely broken, but his voice was cut off short when he felt a chop to his neck, blood oozing from his mouth as he was stopped in his tracks.

The man gripped Naruto's neck and raised him up, pulling out a dagger from his back pocket. Despite pulling and tugging on the arm with all his might, he couldn't break free.

"In so much pain, yet iron-clad against using me. How remarkably idiotic."

The man struck, digging the blade deep into Naruto's stomach.

"Is this how you will die?"

The man pulled the blade out, and readied another strike.

"Against someone as weak as this?"

His lips were chapped with blood as a second piercing attack connected.

"He would have never beat the Uchiha nor you without you two having been weakened already."

The blade was withdrawn again.

"Wield my chakra, boy."

He found himself with the blade once again, deep inside of his stomach, having been stabbed a third time.

"I said, wield it, boy!"

Withdrawing the blade, the bandit was about to strike again and finish the job when his hand was beginning to burn, the intense heat causing him to drop the blond, the boy a bloody husk.

The palm of his hand was scarred and burnt to a crisp, and he glanced down at the boy again when he saw the stomach wounds beginning to heal up. The fingers he broke had fixed themselves and were healed as if they had never been broken.

A reddish, orange chakra was beginning to bubble around his target, and it felt… poisonous. It didn't feel natural. It felt evil, it felt malicious, it burned his hand and now it compelled him to run away, to flee and never look back.

"This wasn't supposed to go this bad; it was supposed to be simple!"

The boy rose up, his eyes drawn in slits, and before he could do anything, he was sent flying, and he realized he didn't even see the boy throw a punch.

Landing softly, he cursed as the Hero's Water was beginning to wear off, and the cursed mark that snake had given him was proving to not be enough. Suddenly, he coughed. A pulse of pain had run through his heart, and he clutched the skin protecting the organ as he realized the water he had consumed was beginning to kill him.

He got up, his vision blurry, and before he could move, the blond was in front of him again. He attempted to punch the kid, but he coughed up blood, and looking down, he realized that the boy had stabbed his stomach with his nails. And he watched as the nails were ripped from his stomach, and a sickening realization was dawning on him that the boy now had claws, his nails having grown in length, and that same red cloak of chakra was around him, a singular tail of… whatever it was, swishing behind the boy.

His intestines were threatening to spill out of his stomach, and he fell onto his rear as his vision was beginning to become more and more blurry. Gravely, he realized this was his unmarked grave.

The man glanced up at the boy, who was readying a strike, and his soul left his body as the boy's claws pierced both of his eyes, and protruded out from the back of his head, sending him off into the afterlife.

The man's body dropped, and so did the boy's.

---

The Nine-Tails laughed to himself as he reflected upon what just happened.

Like clockwork, Naruto had given in to the bloodlust.

And like clockwork, the boy had slaughtered, rather easily in fact, the man he was fighting to the death with.

It was all too easy to predict.

His chakra was slowly beginning to heal any deep or intense damage, including all the stab wounds and the burnt patches of skin, and it wouldn't be too long, probably about a month, before it was patched up.

Sooner or later, Naruto would find himself back in front of the Nine-Tails.

He guaranteed it.

---

The invasion had been fought off.

While the damages were extensive, it was nothing that the village couldn't repair, given enough time and funds. Some buildings would have to be repaired, sure, but otherwise, the tree was alright and they still had some leftover Hero's Water.

All in all, not terrible, but not impressive.

Team 7 had found themselves mainly in a hospital.

Naruto and Kakashi were put in medical comas, while Sasuke was still conscious but undergoing serious medical care and treatment in order to return him to full form.

It was simple enough. Naruto and Kakashi could be brought out of their comas at any point, it was mainly so they could be treated without any complications and without worrying about the pain waking them up mid-treatment.

Naruto easily had it the worst, anyways, and had doctors and nurses stationed around him nearly 21 hours a day. His stab wounds had stitches and were healed, any signs or threats of infection swiftly dealt with, they were mainly working on skin grafts for his back, but the medical staff were amazed that his back seemed to be healing on its own.

Kakashi, however, didn't suffer from many wounds, but was instead suffering from chakra exhaustion, and would need anywhere from a few days to a week in order to heal properly. He would be fine, overall.

The Uchiha had a few broken bones, and was suffering from an almost completely split wrist, but other than that, it was in a cast and would be fully healed in roughly two months, able for live combat after about a month.

They were all being watched carefully, only left alone for a combined nine hours amongst the three of them.

Obito and Itachi, however, saw their chance.

While Kakashi was under the influence of the coma, Obito snuck in while the staff had left him alone for the three hours, and carefully removed his Sharingan eye, and replaced it with one of the eyes of the Sharingan from the massacre.

It wouldn't have the Kamui like Obito's remaining eye, but it was fully matured, meaning it would be essentially the same thing.

Slipping out of the room, he found himself looking at Itachi once again.

"I obtained the eye, and we'll put it in Naruto when his team returns to the Hidden Leaf, his body still needs to recover from the fighting that went on."

Itachi sealed the eye in a jar, the strange liquid Obito had been using protecting the eye from wilting. He put it on a shelf and went back to his seat.

With that in mind, a question floated through his head, but he didn't like the possible answer he was thinking of. "How will you explain to Pain and Konan where your other eye went? It will surely raise questions."

Nodding to himself, he glanced over at Itachi. "You are the Leaf's double agent inside of the Akatsuki, making reports to the Third Hokage every so often, but obviously you are also working for me without reporting this. I need you to prove your allegiance to the Akatsuki, so you won't be revealed."

Itachi felt a pit growing in his stomach. "What does this have to do with your eye?"

Obito pointed right under his eye, his Sharingan blazing.

"You will extract the eye to implant into to Naruto,"

The Uchiha paused.

"then kill me and report to Pain that I was a traitor."

---

Long ass chapter, long ass month, here we are.

Before anyone asks, I'll explain a few things.

Kurenai might have seemed a little OOC, and that was intentional. Normally she is calm and reserved, but the situation made her blow her top. I'm not gonna write her all mean and loud and shit, I'll stay true to her character.

The mindscape sequence where Naruto is wandering the halls to meet Kurama was intentionally over the top and dramatic, all the way up to the fake-woman Kurama made in front of Naruto, with his "not so useless" comment alluding to the fact it was intentionally dramatic. He was attempting to psyche out Naruto and scare the life out of him as he was wandering, and when he stabbed the 'woman', that's when the Nine-Tails decided to take him seriously and actually talk to him. It proved he wasn't afraid, or at least, wasn't afraid enough to let it affect him fully.

Another thing about that is the screaming and shouting Naruto was hearing as he walked, and it suddenly disappearing when he left the meeting. This was also intentionally done; I didn't just forget to include it in the writing afterwards.

Kakashi letting Fū just waltz into their training and fight Naruto will also be explained in later chapters, with the reasoning being hinted at when Shibuki said that Takigakure is now a vassal village for Konohagakure.

Naruto disregarding Sakura and going with Fū is also going to be explained in a future chapter, I didn't just have him abandon his teammate without reason. He was being influenced by the two of them having tailed beasts, and the 'pull' was outside his influence.

And yes, I will elaborate on where Kakashi was during all of this shit going down, and yes, the person Naruto, Sasuke and Fū fought WAS Suien.

I gave Suien an Orochimaru curse mark despite him not having one in canon, because I plan on Orochimaru having a pretty far reaching impact on many aspects of the world.

And finally, I will explain what happened with Sakura and the mental and emotional toll her first kill will have on her, I avoided talking about her at the end for a reason.

Some of you may or may not ask, "if you need to explain all of these details without it being apparent in your writing, you might need to reflect on how you world-build and how you set your plot up."

Which might very well be true, but I also want to leave a sense of mystery and provoke some thought.

I'd like to imagine that all of my readers understand that not every detail will be apparent from the start, and that they might need to wait for future chapters for details to clear up.

Trust me, everything will be explained in due time.

Thank you for reading!