Naruto

Behind Blue Eyes

Chapter IV

Naruto was walking the streets of Konoha. It had been a few months since Team Eight had been formed and passed their real Genin test. It wasn't easy, mind you in fact they almost failed the test since neither Sakura nor Ino were exactly keen on the Idea of working with Naruto. Not until Naruto said if they failed they would be separated from Sasuke even more.

Over the past few months Team Eight had done many odd jobs around the village in socalled d-rank missions. Honestly the missions were getting to everyone as their clients made their dislike of Naruto. This raised the question of why everyone hated Naruto. Sure he was loud and obnoxious but that didn't warrant such hatred from the villagers.

Naruto knew exactly why he was hated as did Kurenai but Ino and Sakura did not and while Naruto could tell them why he doubted it would do anything to strengthen their bond. Ino and Sakura simply believed what the adults told them about him since no one could tell them the truth.

Today though Team Eight had been told to meet at the mission hall instead of the training grounds. Naruto hoped for a mission that didn't get him dirty looks or hushed comments to Kurenai about him. While most didn't know this Naruto but Naruto had enhanced senses thanks to Kurama this made him quite a good scout. As Naruto arrived at the mission hall he saw Ino and Sakura waiting for him.

"Hey Ino-chan, Sakura-chan." Naruto called out.

Now anyone who knew Naruto knew he wasn't fond of formalities, often using honorifics like chan or kunwhen dealing with others. Hell he calls the Hokage Jiji for crying out loud not exactly respectful but no one corrects him on it since there was no real harm in it.

"Hey Naruto." Ino said to her fellow blonde.

"Get lost Naruto you ruined my chances to get with Sasuke-kun." Sakura was still resentful of Naruto believing he somehow had control of the team placements.

"I had nothing to do with our team placements Sakura-chan." Naruto said in his defense. "Anyway, is Kurenai-sensei here yet?"

"Yes I am." came Kurenai's voice from behind Naruto. "Now let's go inside and get us a mission shall we?"

With that the four of them entered the mission hall where the Hokage was waiting with his staff. Hiruzen, the third Hokage, was sitting behind a desk with a number of scrolls before him. Hearing the door open Hiruzen lifted his head taking a puff of smoke from his pipe and exhaled through his nose.

"Ah Team Eight, how are you today, here for a batch of missions?" Hiruzen asked.

"Actually Hokage-sama, I want to take on a c-rank mission. I think it will be a good lesson for my team." Kurenai replied.

"A C-rank you say? Well I do have something that could be handled by your team. A simple escort and protection mission, nothing too wild." Hiruzen said. "Iruka go get the client."

Iruka rose from his seat and left the room and left the room only to come back a few moments later with a short man in simple clothes and a bottle of sake in his hands.

"This is my protection? I asked for ninja not brats and can the two girls even fight?" the man asked, clearly not impressed by Team Eight.

Just then a kunai shattered his bottle of sake and imbed itself into the floor behind the man.

"We are ninja if you don't like it get your mission from another village though if you're looking for protection Im guessing you might not make it to another village so don't question our ability to protect you old man." Naruto replied to the man's initial question.

"This is Tazuna, a bridge builder from Nami. He has come to us for protection while he finishes his bridge." Hiruzen explained.

"Alright everyone go get your go bags and meet at the main gates in one hour." Kurenai said dismissing her genin.

XxXxXxX

Two days had passed since Team Eight left Konoha. Naruto was in the front of the group keeping an eye out for anything out of place anything that could pose a threat to them or their client. Naruto then noticed a small puddle to the side of the road. Naruto narrowed his eyes. It hadn't rained in weeks and they were pretty far from a water source. This was an ambush.

As Team Eight passed the puddle when Kurenai who was at the back of the group passed two figures rose from the water and instantly bound Kurenai in chains and seemingly tore her to shreds. Naruto instantly reacted while both Ino and Sakura froze up. Naruto threw a kunai and pinned the chain to a tree.

This forced the duo to separate their gauntlets and face Naruto on his terms. Naruto on the other hand was already gaining the upper hand in this fight. Not only did he get rid of the chain on the Duo's gauntlets but he was also tapping into Kurama's chakra evident in his crimson eyes with slit pupils instead of normal round ones of normal humans. In the treeline Kurenai was watching the events unfold she could tell Naruto was tapping into Kurama's chakra but he wasn't in tailed beast form that would scare Ino and Sakura more than they already were.

'Naruto seems to be a capable ninja. He's facing two enemy shinobi by himself without even caring that he could be outclassed.' Kurenai thought to herself.

Naruto had two kunai in his hands held in the reverse grip to fend off his enemies' gauntlets. Naruto had several things going in his favor. He was smaller, more agile, and he was a Jinchuriki. This combo spelled disaster for the rogue shinobi he was fighting.

Kurenai knew who these two ninja were; they were the infamous Demon Brothers from the Hidden Mist Village. And they were experts at coordinated fighting. Kurenai prayed Naruto could handle them alone but she was prepared to intervene if it became too much for Naruto.

"All we want is the old man kid." Gozu said.

"Not going to happen ugly." Naruto said firmly.

"Then we'll kill you first then maybe have some fun with your two female companions before killing the old man." Meizu said with a look in his eye that told Naruto all he needed to know about what Meizu ment.

Naruto's demeanor changed instantly as a sinister red chakra began to emanate from Naruto with a sinister feeling. Kurenai knew Meizu sealed his and his brother's fates with that sentence. No one threatened any female with rape infront of Naruto.

"Is that so?" Naruto asked with Kurama's voice baking him.

Ino and Sakura felt the sheer power of Naruto's chakra and fell unconscious instantly. Meizu and Gozu felt the power of the chakra and knew Naruto wasn't your typical ninja. Kurenai held better at the power of the Kyubi than her genin but even she was scared of this version of Naruto.

Naruto rushed forward with speed that no one could follow with normal vision almost as if he used the shunshin to move. Before either of the two Demon Brothers could react, Naruto gripped their gauntlets and crushed them in his hands breaking the bones in their wrists while doing it causing the Demon Brothers to cry out in pain.

Naruto then jumped back and began to channel chakra in front of his mouth creating a ball of pure chakra. Once he had built up a decent amount of chakra Naruto condensed the ball making it smaller, deadlier. Then he fired a beam of chakra at the Demon Brothers who were caught in the middle of the beam. They cried out in pain as their bodies burned at the chakra engulfing them.

When the chakra died down the Demon Brothers were on the ground dead; all that remained were their charred corpses. When Naruto saw that the brothers were in fact dead he let Kurama's chakra fade. Kurenai walked out of the treeline over to Sakura and Ino and checked on them once she saw they were fine she turned to Naruto.

"So, you can use the Kyubi's chakra?" Kurenai asked.

"I can." Naruto said before dropping to one knee.

"You overdid it again." came Kurama's voice in Naruto's mind.

"I know." Naruto replied to Kurama.

"Tazuna you never said there were ninja after you this is beyond the scope of a c rank mission." Kurenai said to Tazuna.

"My village is poor. Gato came to our village and bought all the trade in and out of our village. Now he imposes high taxes for us to use them. We barely have enough money for food. My bridge is a threat to Gato's hold over our village." Tazuna said.

"You should have told us the truth from the beginning. I'll send word back to Konoha and ask for reinforcements. Naruto, you need to rest." Kurenai said firmly.

A/N: Hey everyone Azrael here with a new chapter of Behind Blue Eyes. here we get to see more of Naruto's character and his bond with Kurama. As always if you like the story drop a review and if you have suggestions leave a comment and tell me I'm always open to ways to improve my writing and look for ways to give more to my readers.

Anyway, until next time ja~ne!