I do not own Naruto, Mai HiME or any of the other animes that I will be using in later chapters.

I'm sorry about the massive delay and I hope that you will enjoy this latest chapter

I am not going to explain who's speech is who's. Bold this, Italic that, if you can't understand what is going on then you are all a bunch of baka's.

Taijutsu, pursuit, Awakening!

Of all the things that Iruka and Mizuki were expecting, indifference was not it. Shouts of denial, anger, confusion or maybe for him to just collapse and start crying. But they were completely shocked, when instead Naruto just yawned.

Iruka just gaped at Naruto as if he had just admitted to being a mad psychopathic serial killer/rapist and asked himself just what the hell was going on. Mizuki was just plain confused. This isn't what was supposed to happen!

Naruto looked up at Mizuki with a smirk "Is that it? Tell me something new, Baka!"

Iruka and Mizuki looked on in shock as Naruto continued to speak "I've known about the Kyuubi being sealed inside me since I was four years old, and I have even been able to communicate with her" causing the two men too widen their eyes.

"You've talked to the Kyuubi?" Iruka spluttered before the other part of Naruto's speech reached his mind "Wait a minute! The Kyuubi is a female? Who told you about the Kyuubi?"

Naruto looked at Iruka with a smile "That's right, the 'All powerful and terrible' Kyuubi is a female, and the Kyuubi that you know is not who she really is, she is actually quite gentle, kind, kind of sappy, if a little protective. She is no different than from you or I other than her species, and as to who told me, well Kyuubi herself of course"

Iruka just stared at Naruto in confused apprehension. The Kyuubi is a female? She is gentle and kind? She's like us? Iruka just sighed and hung his head, muttering something about Sake.

Naruto looked up at Mizuki who seemed angrier than before, his expression twisted with malice and scorn, Naruto frowned when he felt another, stronger wave of killing intent. Seemed that Mizuki was getting angrier and probably more desperate, meaning that it was time to even the odds Naruto thought grimly.

"Your right about one thing though" Naruto said placing his hands into a tora seal and looked up at Mizuki in determination who just glared back. "I'm no longer a full blooded human!"

Mizuki's eyes seemed to pop out of his head and Iruka's head snapped up "Not human? What does he mean?"

Naruto started gathering chakra causing Mizuki to feel apprehensive "But I am not a demon either!" Naruto said while making a series of seals and with a deep breath to calm himself down, yelled "Kitsune suppression no jutsu… KAI!"

Naruto's body was suddenly enshrouded in a cloud of dense smoke and Iruka squinted through the smoke, eager yet worried to see what had happened, while Mizuki was gritting his teeth in an attempt to suppress his fear, and as the smoke cleared Naruto was finally unveiled. Two sets of eyes widened when they beheld Naruto's true form.

Naruto no longer looked like the image of a young boy that he presented to the public. He now sported what looked like red fox ears on top of his head, along with a single red tail with a white tip. His eyes were still crystal blue but looked like foxes eyes, his nails were longer and sharper looking and his canine teeth were now elongated, his hair was slightly longer and very spiky, his body was fuller as well and looked far stronger, lithe and trim. His muscles were heavily defined (Think Gohan against Cell from Dragon ball Z), and he had also gained a few inches.

Naruto smiled a foxy smile after seeing Iruka's gob smacked expression and gave him a thumbs up, then looked up at Mizuki and said softly "I'm a hanyou, half human, half demon, I'm part of neither, detested by both species"

Naruto then assumed an unusual stance that Mizuki or Iruka didn't recognize. His left leg was pointed forwards, right leg bent at the knee pointed outwards absorbing most his weight, his shoulders where parallel with his feet and his arms were at his sides with his hands near his sternum and his face turned serious, eyes focused on Mizuki.

"I'll tell you once Mizuki. Surrender, or face the consequences". No doubt at all could be seen on Naruto's face and Iruka couldn't help a shiver running up his spine. He had never seen this side of the usually cheerful Naruto.

Naruto watched Mizuki's expression as it went through a whole range of emotions, confusion, fear, anger, hate, alarm, a host of other emotions he couldn't identify and finally nervousness. Naruto silently observed this kaleidoscope of emotion and wondered how Mizuki was going to respond.

It seemed as though Mizuki hate for him was greater than his fear because he shouted "You wont stop me demon! You will be the one to die! And I know just the way to insure your death"

Mizuki then began spinning the Fuuma Shruiken (Sorry if I got the name wrong before). Naruto just smirked and took another stance, expecting Mizuki to chuck it at him. Mizuki grinned cruelly when he noticed Naruto's new stance and he began swiveling his arm to throw the by now very fast fuuma shruiken.

Then to Naruto's horror Mizuki suddenly shifted his aim and threw the shruiken at Iruka who was still pinned to the wall while shouting "Through your loved ones!"

Iruka would later scold Naruto for doing it. But Naruto reacted instinctively and jumped in front of the shruiken, power levels rising, kunai poised in an effort to protect the closest person to a brother he had.

Kyuubi was just about to tell Naruto to not be stupid and get out of the way. When she suddenly felt a mysterious power in a section of Naruto's soul respond to the extreme emotions he was expressing. "What?" was all she could say before she was suddenly overwhelmed with waves of pure, hot, fiery power.

Back outside, time had seemed to slow down to a stop for Naruto. He could see the large fuuma shruiken slowly whirling towards him, screaming like a banshee to his highly acute fox ears, He could see Mizuki grinning and laughing crazily, triumph glowing manically in his eyes, he could hear Iruka shouting at him to get out of the way, his cries steadily getting more desperate as the shruiken approached.

Naruto could feel his emotions going wild. He could feel fear, desperation, love, anger, apprehension and an overwhelming desire and determination to protect his brother. It was then that Naruto suddenly felt a strange, powerful, yet familiar energy flaring inside him reaching for him. Naruto reacting out of pure instinct, held out his hands. As if he could block the deadly weapon with his bare palms, in the back of his mind he could hear Kyuubi crying out in shock, he felt the strange power flare to even greater heights and to his surprise, along with that of Iruka and Mizuki, a wreath of fire briefly flashed around him upon which fuuma shruiken bounced off and crashed into the ground a few feet away. All Iruka and Mizuki could do in their shock was gape at what had happened.

'What the hell was that!!" was both their thoughts.

Naruto was silently staring at his hands in shock and amazement. As if he had never seen them before. Naruto flexed his hands while silently asking himself what had happened. He lifted his eyes and stifled a gasp when he saw three, hauntingly familiar flaming tomoes floating in circle in front of him. 'What is this? Why is this so familiar? Why does it feel like I have gained something that had been missing?' he pondered when he heard the sound of another fuuma shruiken spinning and looked up to see Mizuki still up in the tree, spinning his second shruiken until it seemed as though it was a buzz saw.

"I don't know what that was" Mizuki spat out in anger "But you can be sure it wont happen again you freak" and with that, threw the shruiken as hard as he could. This time at Naruto who was still standing in front of Iruka. Naruto felt a flash of indignation at being called a freak. He again instinctively drew on the burning power flowing in his veins and again on instinct, raised his arm palm first and willed it to block. And again the fire colored barrier coalesced to enclose him safely within its depths and the fuuma shruiken was safely deflected.

Mizuki's anger soared at seeing his shruiken deflected again. He has been planning this moment for years and he not about to let his plans be destroyed by some wretched bastard of a Shinobi. This is not what was supposed to happen! He was supposed to be either dead, or cowering before me like the cowardly bastard he is! He is not meant to be DEFYING ME!

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!" Mizuki shouted and Naruto swore as he felt Mizuki's power levels raise substantially. Mizuki grabbed a kunai out of his holster and jumped into the air, diving at Naruto kunai poised in front of him. Naruto just smirked grimly, this is what he did best, and the clearing rang with crash of two kunai colliding. Naruto's knees just about buckled and he barely managed the strength to thrust Mizuki back and jump away. Any other genin would have been defeated from that attack alone. But due to the fact that Naruto was a hanyou, with demonic heritage received from Kyuubi he was strong enough to drive Mizuki back despite his inexperience and smaller size.

Naruto stood up from his crouch with a focused yet fierce expression and murmured "My turn!" and keeping his serious expression started running at high speed. Mizuki's eye's narrowed in shock at Naruto's speed. It appeared to be purely physical! Mizuki swung at Naruto's head, but missed when Naruto ducked low to the ground. Naruto rose and twisted in mid air swinging at Mizuki's chest with a fast, high powered, round house left kick. Mizuki leaned back away this kick, blocked two straight jabs aimed at his chest, but was caught in the jaw by a follow up right kick. Mizuki was sent flying through the air from its power, but managed to turn his momentum into a back flip and landed expertly in a crouch. Mizuki looked up just time to see Naruto quickly crouch to the ground and with a ripple of his body, seemed to launch his body like a missile across the ground. Naruto crossed the distance between them in an instant and Mizuki was forced to duck a powerful right hook and rose back up with a high powered punch which Naruto blocked expertly and back flipped to land in a defensive stance facing Mizuki and smirked. Mizuki just growled angrily in response and Naruto and Mizuki ran back at each other to engage in another bout of high level taijutsu.

Iruka watched both impressed and worried. Naruto was using a level of taijutsu that was about mid chuunin to low Jounin. Pressure points, arm locks, throws, even using Mizuki's strength against him! It seemed that Naruto had kept more than just his true form secret if one went by the current events. Mizuki was having a difficult time keeping up with the fast, strong, flexible and highly inventive hanyou Shinobi. Iruka frowned with worry. Fighting with taijutsu was all well and good, but there was more than just taijutsu to the ninja arts.

Naruto growled and launched a swift jab at Mizuki's upper shoulder aiming for a certain nerve cluster in an effort to paralyze his arm and gain an advantage over the determined man. Only to have Mizuki catch his hand in his own and while not letting go of his hand ,jabbed at his face which Naruto caught with his other hand. Naruto gritted his teeth and braced himself before pushing forward in an attempt to topple him over. But it seemed Mizuki had the same idea and began pushing back. Neither of them was able to overpower the other, it seemed it was a complete stalemate.

Mizuki gritted his teeth in frustration as he continued to push against his foe and he couldn't help but bite out "How is it you are so strong for your age, you bastard!"

Naruto felt a flash of irritation at the bastard comment but replied "That would be because hanyou's mature a lot faster than humans due to necessity of survival. So I am already the equivalent of a eighteen year human. Of course, because of my demonic side, my muscles are much stronger then a humans"

This pushing against each other began get old. It seemed they both agreed because they both let go and jumped away at the same time.

Mizuki began doing hand seals and Iruka gasped when he ended in a tora seal.

"Katon: Grand Fireball no Jutsu!" shouted Mizuki and shot a massive fireball out at Naruto who just stood still and allowed it to engulf him without a noise.

Mizuki and Iruka stared intently at the fireball as it dissipated knowing that a simple technique such as that wasn't going to do Naruto in. Iruka suddenly heard a soft pop and was shocked when a stump covered in exploding notes appeared in Naruto's place. The notes detonated. Creating a large explosion of which Mizuki was barely able to escape. Iruka himself was peppered with dirt clods and various other bits of debris from the explosion.

Iruka looked at the crater in the ground with wonder. 'Naruto didn't even try to escape, instead he substituted himself with that tagged stump. While it didn't really manage to harm Mizuki, what it did manage to do was disorientate Mizuki enough so that Naruto could disappear. There are very few Ninja who could have managed to keep track of Naruto through all that and Mizuki is not one of them.'

Mizuki started looking around for any sign of his adversary, but couldn't detect a thing. He suddenly felt a slight disturbance behind him and swiveled around just in time to deflect an onslaught of shruiken. When his instincts suddenly shouted out and he again swung around in time to block an incoming kunai being wielded by Naruto. Mizuki thrust Naruto away and jumped high a far away from his hanyou opponent.

Naruto landed in a crouch as did Mizuki and they both glared at each other, Mizuki stood up and spoke "I tire of this demon, you are an impressive taijutsu user and your use of Kawarimi was exemplary and I acknowledge that. But you and I both know that there is more to fighting than taijutsu" he said with a maniacal sneer of anticipation. Naruto's face twitched in annoyance knowing he was right.

"What can I do Kyu-chan? He's not called a chuunin for nothing and I don't know that many jutsu's"

"Calm down Kit, I doubt he knows any really powerful jutsu's and don't forget that you know Kage Bunshin, and I doubt that he would be able to do anything if you used it"

"I don't know, Kyu-chan I've only known it for a couple hours and I don't know if I can use it in a battle situation yet, though I suppose I can try" Naruto mused deciding whether or not he should it but it was Mizuki who clinched it.

"Time for you to die demon, and then after you are dead I'll kill your precious Ni'san and take the scroll!" Mizuki shouted and pulled out a kunai.

Naruto glared at Mizuki menacingly and turned to face him head on "If you dare touch Iruka Ni-san again…. I'll kill you" he spoke slowly enunciating each word with a deep growl. Mizuki couldn't help feeling a sliver of uneasiness but got over it and laughed maliciously with blood thirsty sneer.

"You wont stop me demon" he taunted and Naruto just scoffed at him and raised his hands into the ever familiar cross seal.

"Just you try it trash! I'll return it a thousand fold!" Naruto proclaimed angrily and with such certainty that Mizuki felt another sliver of uneasiness, but he pushed it down again. What could this boy do to him, he isn't even a genin!

Mizuki shout defiantly "Just you try it demon! Show me what you got!"

Iruka suddenly felt a massive spike of chakra coming from Naruto and he started wondering what was about to happen.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!" Naruto shouted and the clearing in front of the dilapidated hut was suddenly flooded with clones. They were everywhere, standing in the clearing, hanging on trees, even lounging around on the hut.

Both Iruka and Mizuki's eyes bulged. They both knew what this technique was! But as Iruka's heart flooded with pride, Mizuki's was flooded with fear. He started whirling around madly looking for an escape until he became dizzy and fell on the ground.

Naruto watched the fallen Shinobi with contempt and a little pity as he was overwhelmed with terror and fell over his own feet "Keh, what a coward, how he ever became a chuunin is beyond me" I might as well put him out of his misery"

Mizuki was just about ready to give up and let himself be taken in, when he suddenly remembered something he had in his possession. Something which would be able to save him despite the boys unexpected power. Naruto suddenly noticed that Mizuki had stopped trembling, and watched as he stood back up straight while reaching a hand into his chuunin jacket. Naruto suddenly had a bad feeling and he was just about to order his clones to attack when Mizuki just jumped straight high into the air startling Naruto who looked up to see what he was doing. Naruto eyes widened in horror as he watched Mizuki pull out a dark purple crystal and smear it with his blood.

Iruka's heart dropped when he also saw the blood smeared crystal in Mizuki's hand and he gasped "A fiend crystal, when did he get one?"

The crystal started glowing a violent red and Mizuki looked at Naruto who despite the blood pumping in his ears and the low voice Mizuki spoke in. Naruto heard what Mizuki said perfectly.

"I told you demon. You will die tonight!" Mizuki said and threw the glowing crystal at the ground amongst the mass of clones and the clearing was instantly filled with great clouds of smoke. Sounds of a struggle were heard and Naruto felt over half his clones had suddenly been dispersed. He was nearly overwhelmed by sudden images, memories he could say, coming from the clones denoting a large, shady, beast like shape that had appeared next to them and quickly destroyed them.

Naruto nearly staggered from the onslaught but managed to hold himself upright. He quickly recovered and ran over to wear Iruka was and started prying him off the wall knowing that he would only get in the way as he was now.

Iruka started when Naruto appeared next to him and started prying him off the wall and couldn't help asking "What are you going to do Naruto? Now that this fiend has appeared we no longer stand a chance!"

"What are you talking about? We're not dead yet!" Naruto startling Iruka who allowed Naruto to loop an arm around him shoulders and they jumped off through the forest.

Mizuki had by now landed back on the ground and he ran and jumped on the back of his stolen fiend. He then noticed that both Naruto and Iruka had disappeared, and he grinned wickedly.

"So they want a chase do they, I guess I can oblige them" before shouting at the fiend "Find them!" Fiend instantly jumped off quickly at great speed, which was surprising considering its size and it wasn't long before they were close behind the tree wayward duo, and quickly closing.

Naruto looked behind him and saw the large fiend quickly catching up, despite the fact they were jumping through the close growing trees of Konaha forest. Naruto cursed, not knowing what to do. Naruto then thought of something.

"Iruka get on my back! I can't go faster if I am dragging you along beside me!" Naruto shouted shocking Iruka who yelled back "What! Won't that just slow us down! You couldn't be nearly strong enough!"

Naruto grinned "I'm a hanyou of Biju descent remember Iruka. I am many times faster, and stronger than a human. Even with out using chakra to enhance my movements. So carrying you won't be a problem" Naruto said in a reassuring tone.

Iruka still wasn't convinced "I don't know Naruto I'm a lot heavier than I look"

Naruto just growled in annoyance "Trust me Iruka Ni-san I can do it" Iruka was about to protest again but Naruto looked him in the eye and said softly "Trust me Ni-san"

Iruka was caught at the trust me and just nodded and when they were in mid jump he moved and latched onto Naruto's back who with out missing a beat grabbed his legs securely and wrapped him tail around Iruka's waist to further secure him.

Now that Iruka was on him back Naruto could really rip loose and Iruka nearly fell off when they quickly picked up speed. He was astonished by how much faster they were going and that was with him on him back. Though now that he thought about it, it wasn't very surprising he was so fast. For most of his life Naruto has been running and hiding from the villagers, and there were rumors that he had evaded jounin level ninja multiple times, so he had to either be very fast, or good at hiding, or a combination of both.

Mizuki gritted his teeth when he saw that he was no longer getting closer and quickly ordered the fiend to go faster.

Naruto looked back and saw that the fiend was still closing in though at a slower rate than before. He gritted his teeth and pumped more chakra to his legs to run even faster.

Iruka looked back himself and his eyes widened at how much closer the fiend was but didn't say anything knowing that Naruto no doubt aware of it.

Iruka's lips pursed in thought and wondered out loud "Just how is it that Mizuki has an fiend in the first place?" He was startled when Naruto replied.

Naruto said "Do you know about the missing fiend at the stables?" and Iruka shook his head in a negative and Naruto continued speaking "A class B fiend inexplicitly went missing from the stables a couple nights ago and nobody has clue what happened. I think that this is the missing fiend. I think Mizuki stole it so that he could have an fiend with him when he left Konoha with the scroll" Iruka nodded in agreement but silently wondered where Naruto got such information. A missing fiend is serious business, not something a beginner Shinobi should know about.

Naruto in the mean time was having a small bout of deja'vu. This was just like his dream. Kyuubi was having to constantly remind Naruto to focus and to keep himself calm and centered. Though she herself was also concerned, this was indeed very similar to the dream. Kyuubi had a sinking feeling that they were going to discover the unknown ending to Naruto's dream.

They continued running for about five more minutes and Naruto was starting to pant heavily. He may be a hanyou, but he was still young, and running as fast as you can with a full grown man on your back can tire one out. Naruto then suddenly recognized the section of forest they were in, he had been there many times, he had practically lived in it at some point as nobody ever came to this particular section of forest much less go beyond it like he had. The infamous border forest of Death Gorge.

Naruto started when he felt a pulsing wave wash through him. Resonating with something within him. It was beckoning him, pulling him, telling him to come to it. Normally Naruto would have avoided such a pull, as something like that was to be avoided. But this was different somehow. Naruto debated with himself but turned towards the pulse. Naruto noted that they were now on a direct course for Death Gorge and he grinned. The valley was his personal sanctuary. He had always gone there to heal and for safety at various points in his life. He knew it like the back of his hand.

Kyuubi also felt that this was different "Kit this pull that you are feeling, go with it, I think that it is related with that strange power you seemingly possess" and Naruto just nodded in agreement. He concentrated on his running knowing that Kyuubi would direct him.

"Ni-san we are approaching Death Gorge!" Naruto shouted over him shoulder at Iruka who only nodded, being one of the few who knew exactly what the valley was for the poor beleaguered hanyou.

The pair burst out of the tree line with the fiend running close behind them and saw the quickly approaching cliff edge. Naruto continued running and just as they were about to go over Naruto shouted "HOLD ON NI-SAN!" and jumped at the edge with an excited yell from Naruto tail flying behind him and a panicked yell from Iruka. They soared down at a quick pace towards the steep incline of the cliff edge and landed heavily. Naruto's knees nearly buckled but they continued down the steep incline.

Meanwhile back on the cliff edge, Mizuki and the fiend skidded to a stop before the cliff edge. Mizuki couldn't help gaping at the young hanyou who was literally surfing down the incline of the valley like a professional surfer riding the wave, except without the board. He just could not believe the audacity of what the boy had just pulled and couldn't help but feel a twinge of begrudging respect for the hanyou brat.

"Got big brass ones don't he, bloody brat" Mizuki muttered wondering if he would ever possess the balls to do something similar if he were in the same situation a he was.

Mizuki pointed at the hanyou boy who by then was entering the jungle like forest at the base of the Valley. Mizuki shouted "Get him!" at the Fiend which jumped over the edge and started crawling down at a slightly slower pace but still at a fair clip.

Naruto and Iruka were now running through the dense forest of Death Gorge and Iruka was looking around in amazement, it was positively beautiful!

"Naruto this place is amazing!" Iruka exclaimed and Naruto flashed a grin.

"Now you know why I come here all the time, and if you think it is amazing now you should see it in the day time" he said with a grin and before taking on a grim visage "but enough gawking, we're not out of this yet!" he said with an unhappy tone and Iruka just nodded.

Iruka jerked when he suddenly realized something and asked "Why are we in Death Gorge in the first place? I mean, there's no help for us here"

Naruto suddenly looked pensive and said "I'm not sure, but something is calling me to the center of the valley, something I think can help us"

Iruka looked down at Naruto worriedly "Is this something related to those abilities you displayed back at the hut?"

Naruto nodded "I think so yes" Iruka just nodded in return and the two continued on.

A few minutes later they finally reached the middle of the valley and saw that the rumors of a spire being there were true. Naruto felt the pull coming from the spire and ran towards it but when he reached it the pull abruptly vanished. Naruto stumbled and skidded to a stop with the sudden loss of contact and just stared dumbly panting heavily at where the pull was supposed to come from.

Noticing that they were not about to go anywhere Iruka motioned towards the spire beside them. Naruto strode over to the towering spire and leant down to allow Iruka to get off and lean against the wall.

Just as he let him down Naruto felt a crippling wave of exhaustion flow over him and he fell to his hands and knees panting for all he was worth.

Iruka jolted at Naruto's sudden collapse and attempted to move over to him but a wave of pain from his wounds prevented any movement. Despite his exhaustion Naruto noticed Iruka's plight and waved him off.

"It's… alright… Ni-san… don't… worry… yourself" Naruto spoke between pants. Naruto paused to gain his breath before starting again "All that running around just caught up with me, but I'll be alright after a few minutes rest" he reassured him. Naruto knew though that he would need a bit longer than a few minutes. He felt absolutely awful. His lungs were on fire, he was soaked in sweat as was his clothes. His arms and legs were trembling like he had Parkinson's disease and they ached like hell. Naruto slowly reached down to his leg pouch and pulled out a bottle of water and started guzzling it like a camel that had gone with out drinking for a year.

Naruto could feel Kyuubi at work. Curing as much exhaustion as she could before Mizuki arrived "I'm doing my best Kit, but you have certainly out done yourself this time" Kyuubi said shaking her head in both worry and amusement

Naruto just grinned and said "I have haven't I Kyu-chan"

Naruto's breathing finally eased out as he laid on the cold hard ground. Said ground was to him very relieving on his hot and sweaty body. Naruto's ears perked up when he heard a big object quickly approaching through the dense forest. Although he was very reluctant to do so Naruto slowly got up to his feet and settled into a defensive pose. He knew that he would need to conserve his strength for the coming battle.

Mizuki and the fiend burst out of the trees and skidded to a stop just a few meters away.

The fiend stood nearly fifteen meters tall and it stood upon four scaly reverse jointed legs with three toed hooves. It had a body like a snake, and a long tail with a scorpion stinger on the end, it's upper torso stood upright like a humans, and it had six scorpion like arms with claws on the ends, it had eyes like a flies, all bulbous and multifaceted and finally its mouth was like a spiders with those two mandibles. It was a bluely green color and all up, it was an ugly son of a bitch, but no one could doubt that it was definitely strong.

Mizuki looked down at the exhausted looking hanyou before him and grinned cruelly, knowing that it wouldn't be long now. He will be free of Konoha, he will have his fiend and he will have his scroll of forbidden techniques. He noted the boy was still carrying it on his back. Life was good.

Naruto looked up at the monstrosity that was Mizuki's fiend apprehensively. He was still very exhausted from trying to escape and there was still the matter of what drew him to this secluded valley far away from any hope of rescue. Naruto glanced back at Iruka and his face grew grim and serious. Iruka's injuries were serious and though he would deny it, a liability. Naruto began to feel the stirrings of panic and fear but with a shake of his head Naruto calmly shunted them aside, it wouldn't help him at all. Naruto then thought back to before, when he had deflected the fuuma Shruiken. He had felt something, something familiar, but he couldn't grasp it! Something was still holding it back! Naruto resolved to break this unseen barrier, our survival could depend on it, he could feel it in his gut.

Mizuki shouted "This is it Naruto Uzumaki, you've doomed yourself by coming here, there is no hope for a rescue." Mizuki shook his head in mock pity "You were doing so well to, but all the better for me" he said with twisted grin and Naruto grimaced with distaste.

A simple order of "Kill!!!" was all it took before Naruto found that he no longer had time to contemplate Mizuki distastefulness in favor of desperately ducking and leaping aside when Mizuki's fiend was upon him, with a slash of it's sharp claws, followed by a stomp with it left front hoof. Naruto retaliated with a volley of kunai at its eyes which was batted away. The fiend then apparently decided to abandon all patience it possessed because it bum-rushed him with a crushing series of blows which caught Naruto completely by surprise.

Iruka watched horrified as Naruto was beaten into a bloody mess and then cried out when Naruto was then thrown into the cliff side beside him. Iruka looked on in dismay and worry as Naruto painfully pulled himself out of the hole he had created and again cursed Mizuki for betraying them in the first place.

Naruto painfully stood up and once again thanked Kyubi for the clothes and his hanyou nature. Naruto looked up only to see a large hoof and a flash of extreme pain as he was thrown into the ground again, this time creating a long trench in the ground from the blow by the large yet fast beast.

Naruto could feel fire in his bones and his vision nearly went black as he painfully rolled over, and watched resentfully on his back as the fiend almost seemed to swagger over to him confident in it's victory. Time almost seemed to slow down as the fiend raised it claw to kill him.

'Is this the end?' Naruto half listened to Kyuubi's desperate pleas for him as he watched his approaching death. He felt his heart glow as he felt Kyuubi express her love for him.

'Do I want it to end?' Naruto watched as the instrument of his death started to swing down and he thought of his life. He barely remembered his early years before turning four. Only that they were pretty much his personal hell. He definitely remembered how he felt when Kyuubi revealed herself. Shear resentment bordering on hate, it was all her fault! It was all her fault that he had to live the way he did! He remembered being angry when all Kyuubi said was that she was sorry, and he remembered the loneliness, knowing what he did made him feel all the more isolated. However he was unable to carry his grudge for long as Kyuubi just continued saying sorry, continued to look after him as she had always done since his birth. He later noticed that Kyuubi was nothing at all what the tales portrayed her. He eventually managed to forgive her and resolved to get to know her better and from then on his life started to change. Kyuubi was there for everything. She was there when he was kicked out onto the streets. She was there to comfort him when his hanyou status was discovered and she was there when ever he was hurt with comfort and healing of his body. She began training him in every taijutsu style she knew as well as a whole lot of other stuff, except jutsu, saying that she had not yet been in this world long enough to learn, what ever that meant. His relationship with her grew to a point that he could no longer imagine life without Kyuubi and she herself had stated that she was content living within him. That she could no longer contemplate a life on the outside. She was his dearest friend, his sister, his mother, his Nakama. She was all that and more. She was his partner. Naruto could only compare their relationship to a Shinigami and his Zanpakto, remembering the tales Kyuubi had told him when he was young.

'Do I?' The claw came closer, Naruto witnessed flashes of his brother Iruka, of his adopted little sister Hinata, of Old Man Hokage, and of all the other people in his life.

Naruto watched as the claw came within inches of his face.

'NO! This will not end here!' Naruto screamed in his soul and that final barrier shattered.

On the outside Iruka looked away not wanting to witness his students death only to feel the world exploding with power. Iruka whipped around to behold a scene of such extremes that it took all he had not to piss himself.

Mizuki had a big smile on his face as he saw the demons impending death and just he was about to die Mizuki was blown away by a big shockwave from the boy and his jaw dropped when he saw that his fiend had also been thrown away.

Both Iruka and Mizuki could feel the sheer power being displayed but they felt that it wasn't chakra they were feeling but something else. But where as one wasn't afraid at all knowing somehow he was safe, the other was terrified. Where was this power coming from? It isn't chakra! It isn't the Kyuubi's power! They watched as a pillar of fire stabbed into the heavens.

The pillar then suddenly lost cohesiveness, and although it was still stabbing into the heavens it was no longer a solid pillar, it was more like a helix slowly rotating into the sky, and they could see Naruto floating in the air a couple meters above the ground, slowly twirling around in the same direction as the helix.

Naruto slowly recovered from having his mind blown away by the powers awakening and he found himself floating above the ground. Naruto felt power condensing around his wrists and ankles and watched in awe and anticipation as four fiery golden rings with three inset glowing jewels materialized from his power. Apparently these rings were the manifestation of his new found powers.

As he watched the rings spin around he felt a name arising in his mind unbidden from the depths of his soul and Naruto uttered the name as he felt the rings resonate in time with him.

"HiME Element: Inferno Spirals!" Naruto said and the rings flared brightly in response.

By now Mizuki was terrified and he had had enough of the boys constant defiance against all odds. He pointed at both Iruka and Naruto and screamed "KILL THEM!!"

Naruto heard Mizuki's scream and quickly turned around only to see the fiend rushing at him limbs slashing, eyes alight with bloodlust.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in rage and resolve and shouted "I WONT LET YOU!!" and rose his hands towards the slashing and roaring fiend. The spirals lit up with power and to his surprise a lash of dense looking fire spurted as if from his hands and whipped out at the fiend, driving it back as if it was pushed back by an enormous hand giving it some painful looking burns. Naruto was aware of the lash continuing with the arc of his arms and cutting deeply into the rock face behind him. Great boulders came crashing down to the ground nearly landing on Iruka causing him yelp and Naruto heaved a great sigh of relief when he saw him unharmed.

Naruto then looked at him hands in astonishment, he did that? And Naruto couldn't help uttering a marveled "Cool!" though it was lacking quite a bit of control, though only time could fix that. Naruto stopped marveling his elements and looked at Mizuki with narrowed eyes. Control could wait for later.

Naruto focused on the spirals and willed himself to move upwards and found it was actually quite simple. He experimented with flying for a couple seconds and found that it was very easy and that he was able to fly in any direction possible and at which ever speed he choose. Naruto looked at the fiend and dived at it, tail flowing behind him, nimbly dodging all the blows as it struck out at him. Naruto continued flying around making the beast angry. When his danger sense tingled and he ducked quickly and saw that Mizuki had thrown a Kunai at him. Desperation was clear on his visage and Naruto dodged again when Mizuki threw another barrage of kunai. It was almost too late before Naruto noticed the activated explosion tags burning on them, and he barely managed to raise his forearms and block the explosion with his barrier. He saw that this time there were three tomoes spinning in a circle in front of him. As if to show that the barrier was working.

Naruto looked down at Mizuki in worry wondering silently what he would do now. His worst fears were confirmed when Mizuki shouted at the fiend "Ignore him! Kill Iruka instead!"

The fiend instantly jumped over Naruto and went after Iruka. Naruto turned around quickly and flew as fast as he could to get to Iruka before the fast fiend could.

Iruka could do nothing as the fiend loomed up before him and stabbed at him with one of its great claws. He let out a small shout of shock while tensing and looking away instinctively. He heard a whoosh and a crash of something heavy against a barrier of some sort. He looked up and saw Naruto in front of him, holding off the great beast with his barrier. Naruto chuckled and said "I told you, I wont let you!" then the fiend started to hit him in a barrage of heavy blows.

Naruto gritted his teeth as the beast struck down at him again and again and again in rapid succession like a battering ram. He felt the impact against his arms each time and he felt himself slowly being pushed back against the rock face. Naruto was very thankful that his barrier held true despite the relentless assault, otherwise he and Iruka would be nothing but a red pulpy smear on the ground. He felt his back slam against the rocky wall and braced himself against it to weather out the attack, he could hear Mizuki laughing crazily, shouting that he has them now and Naruto ground his teeth angrily.

The barrage kept on coming and Naruto continued holding the barrier. But despite the barrier being seemingly invulnerable, he felt his energy slowly slipping away. He continued getting weaker and weaker, and he started getting very worried. Naruto felt tears welling up in him eyes, and blinked them away and cried desperately in his mind 'I can't hold him off forever! Someone help me!"

Naruto started when something pulsed behind him and the fiend was suddenly flying through the air again. It crashed to the ground a fair ways away after a wave of energy emerged from the rock face behind him and pushed it away, where it landed very nearly on top of Mizuki and Mizuki himself was blown away, temporarily stunned

Naruto just stared at the sight stupefied 'What was that' he wondered and Kyuubi also stared at what had happened but couldn't help but feel relieved, it was starting to get dangerous back there.

Iruka was also gaping at the unbelievable sight that he had just witnessed but he was also relieved that the fiend was no longer assaulting them. Iruka suddenly saw a greenish light pulse in the corner of his eyes that was coming from the rock face behind Naruto.

Iruka called out "Naruto! Behind you!" while pointing behind him.

Naruto just blinked and murmured "What, Behind me?" It was then that Naruto felt the pulsing behind him, and he swiveled around and gasped.

There were some sort of markings on the rock face, and they were glowing a steady green. He reached out to touch them and at the contact, his heart stopped for a moment and he felt something like an electric shock. Then it started, the markings started to pulse in a regular beat sending wave after wave of energy thumping through his body. In him mind, he felt the echo of a colossal heartbeat matching the rhythm of him racing heart.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and he fell into what felt like a trance and a visage of something he couldn't quite discern suddenly appeared before him eyes and bowed before him, crooning in a comforting tone. Naruto suddenly heard a voice in him head.

"You have finally come Master" a wise ancient yet child like voice reverberated through his head and Naruto started and shouted out in surprise "Who are you?'

The child like voice replied "I am your Child partner Master. I have been waiting for some time to join you Master, I have been watching you, waiting for you, and I was so angry at the villagers and at myself for unable to help you, I was meant to guard you, but it was only because your elements finally awakened that you were guided to me, but if you release me, I can finally protect you like I'm meant to!"

Naruto shook his head a little at being called Master by this creature, the voice was filled with longing and eagerness and Naruto felt his heart soften at the anguish and guilt at his treatment, and he felt his heart warm at the beings desire to protect him, and despite himself, he couldn't help but begin smiling. He suddenly realized something and spoke up.

"Wait a minute, my Child partner? And what is your name?" Naruto asked, feeling an unknown anticipation that he couldn't explain.

The being smiled (at least he thought it was a smile) and said "My name is Kagutsuchi" and Naruto felt his soul flare in response and he felt it reverberate deeply within his psyche. He knew somehow that he would never forget that name no matter what and he replied "and the bit about you being my Child?"

Kagutsuchi nodded solemnly and said seriously "That birth mark you possess, the red comet like one on you chest" and Naruto placed a hand over said birth mark "That sigil proclaims you to be a HiME wielder, and every HiME has a chosen guardian called a Child who is bound to them along with their element. I am your Child chosen to fight for you and protect you. The Inferno Spirals which you possess are your elements"

Naruto just nodded but paused feeling that something was being left out and said "There's more to this, isn't there."

Kagutsuchi rumbled in agreement "If you choose to fight alongside with me you have to be prepared to put that which is most precious to you on the line. Meaning that if I die, that which is most precious to you will disappear along with me, never to return"

Naruto narrowed him eyes, him most precious possession? He was about to ask another question when him senses started screaming danger and he whirled around and saw a roaring fiend running at him, bloodlust and ki froze him body and he let out a startled shout.

As Mizuki rose back into consciousness he stifled a groan of pain as he grabbed his head at the onset of a blazing headache, then as he remembered what happened, a rush of anger flooded through him, dispelling any fear he may have had.

"That bastard will pay!!!" Mizuki roared and as soon as the fiend got up he shouted "KILL THEM NOW, NO MATER WHAT IT TAKES, KILL THEM!!!" anger and hate twisted his voice so much it sounded like he was a demon, and the malicious feelings from Mizuki only goaded the fiend on and it became even more blood thirsty than before

Naruto watched in ki induced fear as the fiend raced to kill him when he heard Kagutsuchi's cry "Master! Release me and I can help you!"

Naruto snapped out of his terrified stupor and reacting on instinct bent over backwards dodging the fiends blow causing it to over shoot him and loosing balance trying to twist around to kill him and Naruto capitalized by flying down and slashing the ham string muscle of the beast causing it to fall down.

Kagutsuchi cried "Grab the sword"

Naruto flew over to the sword, and settled above it and grabbed it, the sword started glowing and fire spurted out from the base.

The Fiend got up, Mizuki screaming to kill the demonl.

"Pull it out and cry out…"

The Fiend turned to him.

Naruto started pulling and the sword glowed even brighter, and it came free in a rush of flames.

The fiend started charging again.

Naruto roared to the heavens "KAGUTSUCHI!!!!" and flew off as the sword fell to the ground and stabbed the earth and began glowing even brighter.

A red pulse of power from the earth welled up. And another and another. Suddenly, with a great roar, fire burst forth from the ground, surrounding Naruto in a raging inferno but he did not burn.

The fiend was forced back by the sudden wall of fire that had emerged when Naruto pulled out the sword and shouted out the name.

Mizuki looked on in horror and terror at the sea of fire that had emerged from the ground, first it was those rings and now the brat was summoning a creature from hell!

Iruka looked on in consternation, awe and just a little bit of apprehension. He had been worried that they would not survive this night, but this moment might just be the turn of the tide. He had faith in that Naruto knew what he was doing, he made a promise to trust him, and so he would. But a sea of fire emerging from the ground? One couldn't help but be slightly cynical.

Naruto looked on as the fires continued to burn fiercely, he was wondering what his Child would look like, he had seen many different fiends in the stable, many of them fearsome looking and some that were beautiful, some that were down right ugly, but he instinctively knew that Kagutsuchi would be something unique.

The fires slowly shrunk down but still continued to burn fiercely when suddenly Naruto saw something and gasped as a great white Majestic dragon emerged from the flames. Its head had a sword of some sort stuck in its great jaws, it had six eyes green, with red cat like pupils, three on each side of its head just above the lips, It had four projections on the sides of its head two on top and two below its jaw and they each a green jewel set in them. Then it had another projection on its fore head again with a green jewel inset.

It had a long neck flexible neck with two rows of spines on either side of its backbone going down its length and more went along its back and long tail all the way to the tip. On the underside of its neck it had a mane of hair and it had thin black tattoos along the sides.

Its torso was bio-mechanical looking with red armor like shoulders and then yellow jewels further down on the front. Two great mechanical vents where in the middle and then at the base of the tail there were two spinning devices, which Naruto later found were energy generators.

Then Naruto's eyes beheld the great wings of fire on its back. They were attached to the shoulders and Naruto saw that when spread they would be almost fifty meters wide, there were also two long strands on the bottom of the wings which he could only liken to kite tail, they could be deadly for an enemy on the ground. Then finally two great big muscled arms protruded from under the wings so as to not be in the way. There were also two great hands adored with some mean looking claws.

He then saw that all up he was about 70 meters long from head to the tip of his tail and ten meters wide not including the wings

All in all, Kagutsuchi was one deadly looking creature, highly intimidating to its enemies, Majestic and courage inspiring to its allies. It also exerted one hell of a presence.

Kyuubi looked at the creature in awe, although it looked bio-mechanical she knew what the creature resembled quite closely, she never thought to see one, as they were legends even to the Biju, Kyuubi uttered a name in astonished awe which Naruto heard and nodded in agreement. A Phoenix Dragon. An appropriate name.

Kagutsuchi suddenly moved his head to look at Naruto and moved towards him. Naruto couldn't help moving away a bit in momentary fear, then Kagutsuchi crooned in reassuring tones towards him and Naruto felt himself calming down and a warm feeling crept through his heart.

"Kagutsuchi" he uttered fondly, moving and petting him on the snout and Kagutsuchi gently nuzzled him, making him chuckled, he knew then that he would not regret Kagutsuchi's presence in his life and a feeling emerged that he had only ever felt in Kyuubi's presence in his mind, peace, contentment and security. It actually felt quite nice to be the one who was being protected instead of the other way round.

Naruto's danger senses suddenly blared and he turned around to see the fiend jumping through the air and he barely had enough time to raise him barrier and due to the fiends weight, Naruto was driven into the ground. The pressure was enormous and he felt something in his chest break and he suddenly coughed up some blood, he grimaced at the familiar taste, he had tasted it many times. He continued to keep the barrier up but was about to loose it when suddenly he heard an angered draconic roar and he watched as Kagutsuchi swiveled around with a speed that belied his size and whipped out with his tail to batter the fiend away. Naruto dazedly noticed that Kagutsuchi didn't have any rear legs instead preferring to just float in the air while moving or curling up on the ground like a snake.

'I wonder if he can grow some?' Naruto mentally slapped himself for such a random thought in the middle of battle, though he did make a note of it before turning his attention back outside.

Kagutsuchi gave one flap of his fiery wings and rose up into the air and gave a defiant roar. Naruto rose into a crouch favoring his right side while clutching his left rib cage, probably two broken ribs, they'll healed overnight but they still hurt terribly. He limped over to Iruka to make sure he was protected.

Kagutsuchi opened his jaws to reveal some pretty impressive teeth and great gouts of steam. All of a sudden Kagutsuchi started sucking various bits of debris with some sort of device, Naruto could only assume that he was preparing for some sort big attack. Kagutsuchi continued gathering material when suddenly his chest expanded and a red light could be seen going along his neck to his mouth.

Mizuki was watching in terror as Kagutsuchi charged up his attack. He knew deep down, that he has lost, as his fiend was out for the count, and Naruto along with the beast was too powerful for him to overcome.

Naruto watched as the red light approached Kagutsuchi's mouth and felt a sudden foreboding. Kagutsuchi reared back his head and then when the light reached his mouth he thrust it forward and breathed out, and the biggest and most darn powerful fireball Naruto and Iruka had ever seen launched out of his mouth and screamed at great velocity at the downed fiend and by proxy, Mizuki.

Naruto screamed "Get down!" and rose a barrier to protect himself and Iruka.

Mizuki didn't have time to scream when the fire ball hit the fiend, as both were instantly vaporized and then fire ball exploded.

Naruto watched in growing horror as the wall of destruction approached him and Iruka and instinctively closed his eyes. He was about to scream when he felt a great presence above him and he felt himself and Iruka being scooped up. Naruto slowly opened his eyes and saw that they were being carried but Kagutsuchi!

Naruto cried out "Thank you Kagutsuchi! You saved us!" and Kagutsuchi looked at him and crooned and clicked softly, projections twitching gently in time and Naruto grinned and then he looked down at the explosion they were circling. He gave a whistle, very impressed with the size of it. He suddenly noticed Iruka coming out of shock beside him and he turned to him.

"Iruka-Nisan, you alright?" he said to Iruka who took a few moments to focus and rubbed a sore spot on his head that made him wince and turned to Naruto with a sheepish expression.

"Yeah somehow, although I wasn't much help back there…" Iruka trailed off as he suddenly noticed that he was currently being carried by the dragon he saw earlier, a dragon that was flying a thousand feet in the air!

Iruka stifled a panicked shout and slowly looked over Kagutsuchi's paw, at the ground below him. He couldn't help giving a low whistle as he looked over at the amazing view below and he heard Naruto casually sidle up beside him and gasp in awe.

Iruka felt sunlight hit his eyelids, and suddenly realized that they had been fighting through out the night. Naruto looked up when he felt the sunlight and gave an amazed gasp as him face broke into a beautiful smile when he saw the most amazing sunrise that he had ever seen and he couldn't help thinking that the sun was welcoming him into the next part of his life, for because of the sudden emergence of his HiME powers, life was looking much brighter for the young hanyou. Iruka looked at the sunrise for a few minutes before looking at Naruto as he sat arms spread wide enjoying the brisk wind blowing through his hair and ruffling his tail.

Iruka suddenly remembered something "Naruto come here for a moment" motioning Naruto over, who looked at him curiously and scooted over to sit in front of him.

Iruka said "Close your eyes" and Naruto looked at him questionably but complied. He felt something wrap around him forehead and get tied at the back and then Iruka said "Okay you can open them now"

Naruto opened him eyes and didn't notice any difference at first then he noticed that Iruka was no longer wearing his headband and him hand flew up were he felt a metal plate with the Konoha symbol on it. He looked at Iruka in astonishment who grinned proudly.

"Congratulations on passing, Naruto-kun" Iruka beamed proudly, only to be bowled over by enthusiastic hanyou.

Inside him Kyuubi smiled gently and murmured softly "Congratulations Kit, you made it, you really deserve this more than anyone, I am very proud of you"

Watching through a crystal ball, the Sandaime Hokage smiled at the happy looking hanyou.

"You definitely deserve it Naruto, I have a feeling that you are going to become the most powerful Shinobi in Konoha History, not to mention most powerful Hokage"

Sarutobi got up and went to tell the jounins that it was alright now and that the search was to be called off, the scroll was safe, Naruto was innocent of any crime, and that the real culprit had been dealt with. It's going to be a good day today!