Welcome back! Before I start im just gonna answer the one question that I had in the reviews:

oghren- The academy only goes to age twelve. If your wondering because of the Akumanoshi recruitment, it's just an alternative to the usual three man teams in terms of training.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! I appreciate it a ton!

Demons:

Chapter 3:

Naruto grinned to himself as he walked down the street, Hinata walking beside him. He bit down on the stick of pocky currently being held between his teeth. Both were on their way to the training grounds they regularly used for training. They went there almost every day, pushing each other to their limits in order to improve.

It had worked, too. They had become two of the strongest genin ever to graduate the konoha academy, right behind the likes of Itachi Uchiha and Minato Namikaze.

Naruto had shown great promise in kenjutsu, which he had found out their sensei brought in a ninjato to class to see if it would suit any of students. A few, including Naruto, had taken to the blade, and Iruka told them to speak to their jounin sensei's when they graduated about learning more.

He also showed an even greater promise in genjutsu, something none of their classmates were interested in, aside from being able to break them when casted. He was able to absorb information about the art with incredible pace, learning what was given to him faster than the instructors could teach him.

Thats not to say that his other skills were lacking. He only had one ninjutsu beyond that of the academy, but only because he didn't have a way to learn any more, but his taijutsu was better than most in the class.

It paled in comparison to Hinata's however. Her Juuken made her a force to be reckoned with in close quarters, so much so that many of the instructors couldn't face her in bouts of taijutsu. Her other skills were also solid. She could break most genjutsu, and her ninjutsu was up to par. She didn't have much skill with a blade, but she was capable enough of defending herself against one if need be.

Naruto grinned and swallowed the rest of the pocky he had in his mouth as the pair walked into the middle of the clearing that dominated much of the training ground they were at. The two walked to opposite ends of the area and faced each other, taking their own stances.

A wind blew, and a leaf floated gently towards the ground. Both stood still waiting for the other to make a move.

The leaf was picked up by a gust of wind right as it was about to touch the ground, sending it tumbling through the air. The two remained still, neither wanting to make the first move.

The leaf moved gently down seeming to stop before it landed.

Then it touched the blades of grass on the ground, and the two burst forward.

Naruto threw a jab at his friend's jaw, only for it to be blocked. He knew that fighting her in hand to hand combat was a bad idea, but it was necessary. He had formed a plan long before they had arrived, as he was sure Hinata had as well. They knew how the other fought well enough that the spar was as much of a battle of wits as it was of strength and skill.

The fight continued in a taijutsu bout for quite some time, and he let Hinata control it. Neither were fighting particularly hard, as they were both waiting for the perfect time to put their plans into action.

Hinata got her opportunity first as Naruto stepped back to avoid a quick jyuuken strike to his chest. He stepped on a rock and slipped, forcing him off balance. She took advantage, putting on a burst of speed to position herself behind him before he could recover and turn.

Before she could actually strike, however, he managed to twist his body and recover his footing in time to see her chakra laced palm lash out.

Time seemed to slow as his already razor sharp senses went into overdrive to take in everything they could. Trees, leaves, and even blades of grass snapped into focus. He could hear every bird chirp and every leaf whistle in the wind. He could smell every scent in the clearing with incredible clarity.

Less than a split second later, he moved forward even as Hinata's hand moved towards him.

As the hand touched his chest he didn't even pause. He had immediately seen that the Hinata in front of him lacked a shadow, and instantly began searching for any sign of another.

When he couldn't see one, a hundred scenarios flashed through his mind. He considered and systematically discarded each for one reason or another faster than most people could even think of them.

He had found the one he judged as the most likely and acted on it. Even as he passed through the clone, dispelling it, his hands were blurring through the hand signs for a complex genjutsu. He felt chakra coming off of Hinata's palm right behind his back.

He flipped forward and braced his feet against the tree in front of him.

He grinned as he felt the genjutsu take effect on his friend.

He pushed off of the tree, cracking the bark and launching himself backwards and over her head.

He finished the flip and landed behind her, and seeing that the technique had done it's job and prevented her from moving her limbs, he prepared to put a kunai to her neck and end the spar. Before he got the chance, however, she pulsed her chakra and dispelled the illusion, forcing him to engage her in taijutsu once again.

He frowned as he realised that they were back to fighting in her element. He noticed her smirking and grinned internally. The bait was laid out, now all he had to do…

Soon he saw her move slightly back and begin flashing through a short sequence of hand seals that he immediately recognized.

"Donton: Iwahashira no jutsu!(Earth Release: Rock Pillar technique)" He let off a tiny pulse of chakra, and dodged the rock that burst up behind him by jumping towards Hinata. As soon as he was in close enough, he moved behind her and held a kunai to her neck.

She pulsed her chakra and tensed, then sighed. "When did you put the second genjutsu on me?"

He grinned. "At the same time as the first."

Her eyes widened a fraction. "How long have you been able to use dual layered genjutsu."

"I've been practicing for a couple of months now. I only got a hold of it three or four days ago." He said with a grin. It was no small feat either. It took an incredible amount of chakra control and concentration to use dual layered genjutsu.

She sighed again. "So… graduation is tomorrow isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Naruto replied. "I was thinking…"

She turned around and looked at him as he pulled the kunai away. "About taking the hunting group out for one last hunt?" He nodded. "I was thinking about that too. We're going to be too busy and too split up to do it again."

He nodded again. "One last hunt huh?"

He watched as she smiled, making butterflies flutter around his stomach. "I'll go get Sakura and Ino. You go get Sasuke and Kiba."

Hinata smiled again, sending butterflies through his stomach a second time, then disappeared in a shunshin. He left in his own a second later.

Half an hour later, Forest outside Konoha

The group of six academy students moved quietly through the bush, making nary a sound as they searched. They had yet to find their prey, but it never took long.

Naruto felt his heart speed up as he felt the chakra of a demon a few hundred yards to the south. This was their prey, and one the group had gotten very good at finding and killing over the past couple of years. They had fought quite a few of them, up to C class.

Hunting demons wasn't legal, however, and they had to sneak out of the village very carefully each time. They hadn't been caught so far, though, and they had no reason to think they would be this time either.

He felt something off about this demon's signature, but he couldn't quite place it. He had spent a portion of his time training with Kaede on detecting and reading chakra and youkai signatures. It was one of the many benefits of being her host.

He glanced at Hinata out of the corner of his eye. She had her byakugan active and was already motioning for the rest of the group to stop.

She turned to them and whispered. "Found one. Two-hundred meters south by southwest."

Sasuke turned in the direction that she mentioned. "What kind?"

"Wolf. Looks like a low class C." She replied. They all looked at each other and moved at once.

A couple of minutes later they found themselves watching a huge wolf, ten feet tall and nearly twice as long. It was walking slowly through the woods, its nose to the ground. Suddenly it stopped, bringing its snout up and looking around.

It sniffed at the air a few times before turning right towards them. Before it could start moving, however, the group shot out of the woods, Sasuke and Kiba leading the charge.

Sasuke began flashing through hand seals, preparing to unleash a fireball on the wolf. As soon as he got within range a huge mass of flame burst out of his mouth, slamming right into the wolf's side.

The Uchiha smirked as Naruto landed beside him along with Kiba. "Easy."

Naruto didn't relax like the others did, instead staying on guard while watching the fireball dissipate.

Hinata, who still had her byakugan active, suddenly yelled out to her friends. "Get back! It's still alive!"

The three academy students jumped back, clearing the area just in time to dodge the claw that cut through the air that their bodies had just occupied. The slash cleared the smoke enough that the group could get a good look at the demon.

It had grown considerably and was now fifteen feet tall and nearly thirty five feet long. Its fangs and claws had grown another six or seven inches and looked as sharp as razor blades. Its fur had grown longer and looked unkempt. It was growling feraly at all of them with its lips peeled back, giving them all a good look at the a teeth that could rip them to shreds in seconds.

The group started sweating as the demon started putting off a considerable amount of killing intent.

'Shit!' Naruto thought, 'This isn't a class C. It's at least a high B.' Before he could tell the rest of the academy student that they needed to run, Kiba and Sasuke rushed forward, intent on killing the menacing wolf. Ino and Sakura, in perfect tandem with their male counterparts, launched a barrage of kunai and shuriken. Hinata shot off to flank the beast from behind, leaving him alone.

Cursing, he ran through the hand seals to his one ninjutsu. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)". He launched a large ball of wind at the demon. Right as it was about to hit, the wolf jumped into the air, dodging it completely.

Thought his attack had missed, he smirked a little. As he knew they would, Sasuke and Kiba jumped on the opportunity granted to them by their opponent jumping airborne.

Sasuke launched a large fireball once again, this time aimed directly for the wolf's stomach.

"Tsuuga!" Kiba spun like a human drill, following just behind the Uchiha's fireball and slamming right into the wolf. The beast was sent flying into a group of trees, breaking them.

Naruto looked into the trees, waiting for any sign of the demon. After a few tense moments there was the sound of slapping bones and a large puff of smoke that obscured the demon's form. Naruto, along with all of the other students, stayed on guard, waiting for the wolf to make its move.

After a few more tense seconds that seemed like hours, he saw a form appear in the smoke. It was tall, at least six and a half feet. When it walked out of the smoke, Naruto saw the demons human form. It had pale skin that had a grey tinge, along with short grey hair that was disheveled like his fur had been. He was wearing nothing, so Naruto could see that he had bulging muscles that looked like they could break any one of him or his friends in half with no effort.

"You brats are really starting to piss me off." The wolf growled.

Naruto heard Hinata curse to herself and mutter under her breath. "Shit… If he has a human form, he's probably a class B." She turned and looked at Naruto. "Naruto-kun, we need to get out of here, we can't take on a demon like him yet. We're not-"

She was cut off as she caught sight of the humanoid beast leaping behind her with her. "Look out!" Naruto yelled. He launched himself towards the demon, blocking its claws with a kunai as it tried to cut Hinata's head off.

He heard Kiba's voice from behind the wolf. "Tsuuga!" Before the spinning boy could impact however, the wolf backhanded him without even sparing him a glance. Kiba was launched into another tree, and he groaned as he tried to get back up.

Naruto grit his teeth as the demon put more pressure on the kunai, making Naruto's arms begin shaking and forcing him to drop to his knees.

He watched as the wolf pulled his other claw back, preparing to gut him with it. Hinata saw the hole in his guard and, with a burst of speed, got close and began launching juuken strikes.

The demon was startled at the sudden speed, and had seven of its tenketsu closed off before it reacted and kicked her away. Naruto saw an opportunity and slipped out from underneath the wolf's claws to stab his kunai deep into the back of the wolfs leg.

He was stabbed in the shoulder with the beasts claws for his effort. Before it could finish him off however, Sasuke came up behind it and hit it in the ribs with a powerful roundhouse kick.

The wolf sucked in a breath and roared ferociously, infusing the primal sound with youkai. The air blasted everything around it away a good ten feet.

He landed next to Hinata, who was picking herself up and watching the stationary wolf warily. Each breath it took came out as a throaty, intimidating growl. "I'm done playing with you petty ningens."

It disappeared from their sight, moving faster than they could see. It appeared next to Kiba, who was still trying to pick himself up. The demon grabbed the Inuzuka by the throat, dragging his back against the tree as he lifted him to eye level. It reared its arm back, preparing to behead the boy. It put too much weight on its injured leg, however, and it stumbled. It caught itself though, and once again prepared to kill Kiba.

Naruto looked with wide eyes, time slowed, and the world snapped into sharp focus for the second time that day. He was never so thankful for what he had affectionately dubbed his "Fight mode". His mind blazed through every plan he could think of, but everyone ended in failure and Kiba's end. He, nor his one ninjutsu, were fast enough to stop the demon.

Then another plan burst into his mind. It was crazy, and the chances of it working were nil, but he didn't have a choice. He was running out of time to figure something out.

'I need to do it… I can't… No, I won't fail.' He flashed through hand seals. He called out the name of the jutsu in his mind. 'Akuma no Genjutsu: Oni no Kyoufu!(Demons Illusion: Fear of the Beast)'.

The wolf's claws shot forward, and Naruto's heart stopped. 'No… No… Why-Why didn't it work?' But right as Kiba's end was a mere split second away, the demon stopped, it's eyes wide.

"Wha-What… No. It can't be… Not here! IT CAN'T BE HERE!" The wolf let go of Kiba, completely forgetting its existence in favor of staring wide eyed at what the genjutsu was showing it.

Hinata and Sasuke, both of which had seen Naruto's hand seals, exploded forward like bullets. Neither of them had any idea what the beast was seeing, but they were planning to take full advantage of its distraction. They both reached the wolf at the same time, and launched into a dance as their strikes flowed between each others. Years of working as a team had honed their teamwork to near perfect levels.

Hinata was rapidly closing tenketsu and shutting down organs at the same time that Sasuke was crushing bones as tissue with each strike.

Dozens of strikes later, Naruto watched the demon finally fell to its knees and give one last shuddering breath.

He immediately collapsed back against the trunk of the nearest tree, giving a long sigh of relief. Everyone was more or less fine. Kiba was shaken up, but a concussion and maybe one or two fractured ribs was infinitely better than the alternative. He saw Sakura and Ino standing from where they had been thrown by the roar and knocked out. Aside from a knot on Sakura's head, they seemed fine. Sasuke and Hinata had come out of it with nothing more than a few bruises.

All in all, they were lucky to be alive, much less in as good shape as they were.

He sat for a few more seconds, then pulled himself to his feet. Hinata was tending to Kiba's wounds with a first aid kit, and Sasuke was already working on skinning the wolf that had returned to its beast form upon death. It's hide could be made into moderately high quality leather armor once they sold it back in Konoha.

Once Hinata was done helping Kiba, she turned to was looking at him closely, as if trying to find the answer to her yet unasked question by her byakugan alone. "How did you manage to catch a demon in a genjutsu? Their youkai is too dense for humans to do it unless they're an expert with illusions. Kurenai-san, Konoha's best genjutsu user, can barely even do it."

Naruto looked at the girl that was his closest friend, briefly considering telling her the truth. As soon as the thought came, it was dismissed, however. He had promised Kaede that he would tell no one.

"It was a genjutsu that I read about at the Library. It was specifically made to work on demons. It probably worked because of my dense chakra." He lied. "It was the only thing that I could think of to do at the time."

Hinata looked at him surprised. "Well," She started. "It worked I guess. And it did save Kiba's life…"

Sasuke, who had finished skinning the wolf and sealing the hide in a sealing scroll, walked over to the pair. He nodded at Naruto. "Good job Naruto." With that he walked away and began getting the other three academy students ready to head back to Konoha.

Hinata looked at Naruto and smiled. "He's right I guess. Good job Naruto-kun, you saved our asses. I don't know what we would have done if Kiba had gotten his guts ripped out. Thanks." She pulled him into a hug, then laid a kiss on his cheek, making his face turn bright red.

Hinata giggled as she watched him stutter. "N-N-No p-p-p-problem."

His mouth stretched into an embarrassed grin and he scratched the back of his head.

The next day, Konoha Academy

Naruto looked around the class. It would be his last time sitting in it as a student, and while it made him excited, he also felt a little sad about it. For those joining Akumanoshi, like Hinata undoubtedly would, it would mean that he would see them rarely, if at all. He would make sure that he and Hinata would stay best friends though, no matter what.

As if summoned by his very thoughts, the Hyuuga heiress chose that moment to sit next to him.

"Hey Naruto-kun." She said.

"Hey Hinata-chan!" He replied with a smile.

She seemed indecisive about something for a second. The moment passed quickly, however, and she looked him straight in the eye.

"Naruto-kun… Please, please, reconsider..." She said.

His happy smile faded away slowly as he realised what she was talking about. "Hinata-chan, we've been over this. I won't do it."

"Please, Naruto-kun. You're the best demon hunter that I know. I don't get why you won't just join Akumanoshi with me. We can request to be put on the same team and we'll get to kill demons together." She pleaded.

Naruto scowled, then sighed. "Hinata-chan… I'm sorry, I really am. But I can't." It wasn't that he thought he wouldn't like it in Akumanoshi. On the contrary, he enjoyed putting down demons that gave the whole race a bad name. He couldn't join, though, because he was sure that it wouldn't be long before someone found out he was a demon host. It was their job after all.

Hinata scowled as well. "And you won't tell me why! You just tell me you can't! It's all you say!"

She seemed to be on the verge of tears, and it tore Naruto's heart to pieces, but he couldn't give in.

After a few second of silence, Hinata spoke up again. "Fine… I'll respect your privacy, Naruto-kun… But if you ever change your mind, I'm sure they'll let you join."

"QUIET DOWN CLASS" Iruka yelled as he walked in the door to the class. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I congratulate all of you in making it this far.

"However, before you can make the next step in your career, you will need to pass the genin exam. For those of you who wish to join the vaunted ranks of the Hunters, there will be a separate test for you to take in lieu of the Konoha exam. It will be more difficult, so be sure that you're prepared if you want to attempt it. If you fail, you will still be able to try and become a Konoha genin.

"We will start with the top student this year. Hinata Hyuuga, which test would you like to take?"

"I want to join the Akuma." She replied quickly.

The teacher nodded. "Very well. There are two representatives from Akumanoshi waiting for applicants in the next room over. Follow me."

Hinata stood up and, with one final glance back towards Naruto, followed her sensei out the door.

Two hours later, outside the Academy

The students were gathered outside the front of the school building. Those who passed were grinning and celebrating with their friends and family. Those who didn't were scowling and heading home quickly.

Among those scowling was one Sasuke Uchiha. He wasn't going home, but had failed the Akumanoshi test nonetheless. "They failed me because of a general knowledge test… Why do I need to know the last known sighting of a drake demon? They're dead! It doesn't matter! IT'S BULLSHIT!" He lashed out a foot at the nearby fence, obliterating a few boards with the harsh kick.

He had passed the Konoha genin exam of course, but he had failed the Hunter's test. He wasn't able to pass the 'General Knowledge' part of the test. It was the written test about demons that had nothing to do with killing them. It was considered important because of the age old adage 'Know thine enemy'.

Naruto walked up behind the fuming boy. "Sasuke?"

The Uchiha whirled on the him, sending him a glare. "What?"

"I heard about what happened…" He trailed off as the raven haired boys glare intensified.

After a short and awkward pause, Sasuke finally stopped glaring and sighed. "Do you know why I wanted to join the Akuma's so bad?"

Naruto nodded. "Because of the… Attack?" Sasuke nodded in response.

The attack that he was referring to was known throughout the world as the Uchiha Massacre.

The Uchiha's had decided to travel to another country as a clan in order to improve relations with a city there. They had traveled down a well used road that was well maintained for most of their journey. However, there was a stretch after that road ended that they had to travel on a less used road in order to get to another main thoroughfare.

What none of them knew was that the road had recently been claimed by an S-Class demon as its territory.

Territory that it didn't like the humans encroaching on.

It attacked, and when the smoke cleared, the only survivors were seven year old Sasuke and his older brother Itachi, who had managed to finally kill the demon. The two limped back to Konoha over a three month trek. When they finally made it back and told the village what happened, they were stared at with pity and given words of condolence.

And Sasuke hated it. He hated it with every fiber of his being. They didn't understand. None of them could. The pain, the loneliness. None of those who looked at him like that could understand what he felt.

But Naruto had never looked at him like that. Naruto looked at him and treated him just like he treated everyone else. It was something that made the Uchiha respect the blond.

After the massacre, Sasuke vowed that he would dedicate his life to killing as many demons as he could.

"If you know why I wanted to join, then you know why I can't just accept that I'll be stuck as a Konoha shinobi." Sasuke said bitterly.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah… But look at it this way, I didn't join Akumanoshi either, so maybe we'll end up on the same team."

Sasuke looked surprised. "You- You didn't join? Why?"

Naruto hadn't told anyone but Hinata that he didn't plan to join the Hunters. They had all just assumed that he would and left it at that.

He frowned. "It's… Not something that I like to talk about."

Sasuke stared at him for a few seconds before nodded. "Alright. I won't pry."

The blond gave the other boy a lopsided grin. "Cool. We're gonna be on the same team, I know it. Let's do our best to kick as much demon ass as we can as Konoha shinobi!"

Sasuke grinned in response, then held out his arm. Naruto's grin widened and the two grasped each others forearms in an unspoken promise to be the best demon hunters the world had ever seen.

A/N: Shit guys. So sorry for the late update… Like really late, but a lot of shits been going on. My grandma passed away from pancreatic cancer, and I was spending some time with her out in Arizona before she died. I really didn't feel like writing while it was all going down.

Then my basement flooded, and I had to help deal with that. Between those two things, college apps, and trying to make Eagle Scout, I've been unable to really write.

Once again, so sorry guys.