Genin Naruto, Hinata, Rock Lee, and Ten-ten are teamed up with the two Jounin Kakashi and Kurenai. During an assigned A-rank mission, that suddenly becomes a S-rank mission, Naruto suffers a fatal blow. The very essence of his personality is then threatened after Kyuubi's chakra leaks out in aid along with his killer intent, which, in due time, manifests itself in the form of a demon within. Naruto enevitably finds himself against this demon who is now fighting for control of his very existence. The means by which Naruto is to overcome this losing battle and save his soul are those by which Naruto has yet to realize!

Pairings: naruto&hinata, kakshi&kurenai
This is my first time making my writing public so don't be too hard on it.

Inuyasha and sonic fan: if you decide to check and see if I took your advice; I did and thanks for it because that one I came up with was kinda sucky.

- Chapter One: The Beginning of The Ending of A Life

"No way, baa-chan!" Naruto groaned agravatedly.

"This isn't up for questioning!" Tsunade argued.

"Why?"

"You guys are all we have for this kind of mission and whether you like it or not, you're doing it."

"Fine."

Though these were the ranked mission Naruto wanted, he hated escort missions. They were just so ho-hum: one-sided mission that rarely had excitment. They were to escort a man of medium height and fairly young. He looked as though he could not hold his own in a fight against even an amature assassin. He wore a big, light blue shirt; along with long, light blue pants and sandals. A hat made of straw covered most of his face and brought a mysterious yet calming atmosphere. What stood out, though, was the enchanting box he carried. It was not too big on his back but the historic graphics on it made it a sight to behold.

The team consisted of four genin and two jounin: Naruto, Tenten, Lee and Hinata -the genin; Kakashi and Kurenai- the jounin. They walked through the forest in a diamond formation: Hinata in front of the man, Lee to the left, Tenten to the right and Naruto in the back. Kakashi and Kurenai were in front of everyone walking side by side.

The journey took them five days which were quiet, with no reasons to get excited. The days were the same, Hinata admiring Naruto; Naruto getting frustrated about the mission; Lee thinking about training; Ten-ten thinking about training with Lee (A/N don't get your hopes up, its not happening in this story lol); Kakashi reading his erotica book and Kurenai pondering why Kakashi reads them instead of going after real women and having his own love life. Who knows what was going through the client's mind.

Upon arrival to their destination, the Hidden Village of Snow, Naruto's excitment flared. He sprinted to the front of the entire group and shouted in a slapdish fashion to the group, "Alright, here's your stop! Time to head back home!"

"Calm down, Naruto. You don't even know if everyone else is ready to go." Kakashi said in his natural calm, smooth tone.

Naruto hung his head in defeat before giving them each an individual look. He stared at Lee and ran up to him "Lee, you want to go back home, don't you? Don't you?" asked with the utmost trait of pleading immersed in his eyes.

"I would like to, but I would also like to make sure the client makes it to his exact destination, safely", Lee responded.

Naruto wasted little time on that denile before turning to Ten-ten and rushing up to her. "You want to go home? Right..., don't you?"

"Well..., I'm with Lee on this one." Ten-ten awkwardly answered.

Naruto drooped his head for a second before turning to his last chance, Hinata, who was now blushing at his begging stare. He rushed up to her and began starring into her lavender eyes. Her blush became greater than before from his face being so close to hers with his hands placed on her shoulders. "Naruto-kun's hands are on my shoulders!" she thought before fainting and falling to the ground.

Naruto caught her, "Hey... are you alright, Hinata-chan?" no answer. Naruto turned to the concerned group, "We need to get to the hospital" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi nodded and turned to Kurenai, "You take Lee and Ten-ten and finish the mission."

Kurenai nodded and the four rushed off.

Hinata's Dream

"Naruto-kun…!" Hinata shouted as her beloved Naruto ran away. "NARUTO-KUN…!" Naruto simply continued to run as though running from her. He stopped but did not turn to face her, "... (pant)... N... Naruto-kun... I caught up with you." she said through her exhausted breaths.

"Why are you here, Hinata?" Naruto grumbled callously.

She began blushing and started tapping her index fingers together, "B... because... I l.." she was brusquely cut off by a roaring voice.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Hinata was crushed when she heard this. In short order Naruto began to turn to her, but as he turned his appearance changed. This was not the Naruto that she remembered. His hair was still messy but now crimson red; his eyes were also crimson red; looking into them she saw pure evil and the intent to kill in them. Three black lines swirled around his black pupil as though they were symbolizing being immersed or surrounded maybe by darkness. His whiskers became more defined and fierce; his orange jacket became an open, black trench coat with vertical, red writing on both arms that read, 'Fox Demon Lord' written in kanji; a black shirt was worn under it. He now wore loose, black pants; and black boots on his feet.

Hinata's eyes widen at this sight, "Who is this person, no this... this demon?" She thought to herself. "Who are you? What did you do to Naruto-kun?" she yelled.

The demon then smiled, "Don't you remember me, Hinata... 'chan'?" The demon that was once Naruto whispered before his smile grew to reveal razor-sharp k-9s. "I am your precious Naruto-kun."

"No, you're not!" exclaimed in denial, despite witnessing the change with her own eyes.

Then, the demon began to raise his right hand into the air presenting his one inch long nails. With a snide chuckle, he swung at the girl.

Real World

Hinata shot up gasping and sweating. She then investigated her new environment. The strange room she was in brought her a lttle ease, "Where am I?" she thought. She soon noticed that her large, tan coat was on a coat rack by the door; she continued examining the room until she saw that Naruto was asleep in a chair next to the bed that she was sitting in. She began to blush. "N... Naruto-kun…?"

Naruto flew up to his feet, "What... who... I'm awake", Naruto's unintentional, ludicrous acts earned a small giggle. "Oh… Hinata-chan, it's nice to see that you're awake."

Hinata soon began to tap her index fingers together, "N... Naruto-kun I...", she was cut off by Naruto.

"Hey… Hinata-chan… Why do you tap your fingers together like that?"

"Umm... because..." she mumbled.

Noticing that he probably was not going to hear an answer (and even if she did say it, he would have probably not heard) Naruto continued, "You're kinda cute when you do that." Naruto claimed.

Hinata was shocked and she blushed even harder than she already was, "Naruto-kun just said that I was cute." She struggled to hold back her mind and body from fainting again, but in the process began trembling.

Naruto noticed, "Hinata-chan, are you alright?"

"Y..., y..., yes." She said under a breath.

"Are you sure, you're trembling?"

"I'm sure." 'Come on Hinata, now is the best time to confess your feelings for him." she thought "right, now is the best time." She conversed with herself. "N..." she aborted the mission when Kakashi appeared out of no where.

"Naruto, didn't I tell you to meet me outside when Hinata woke up?" Kakashi inquired with anger barely evident in his voice.

"Oh... yeah, that's right." Naruto said with a big smile, while scratching the back of his head.

Kakashi let out a soft sigh; then turned to Hinata, who had a small smile on her face as she watched Naruto scratch his head. "Hinata, are you feeling okay?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes sir", Hinata nodded after directing her attention to him.

"Alright then, shall we go."

Kurenai, Lee, Ten-ten and the Client

"Well, this is my stop." The client said.

They stopped in front of an ancient, stone-built shack. It was isolated from the village on the outskirts of the town, "This seems too far outside of the village to be of importance... or at least legal." Kurenai began to suspect, "Hey...! Where is this place?" she questioned aggressively.

Their client, who was now in front of them, let out a short snigger as he turned to face them, "Where is this you ask?" He smirked after asking, "This place is the beginning of Konoha's fall! This place is your... graveyard!" He shouted in excitement as he removed his hat: revealing a young, smooth, clean-cut face with slim eyebrows and short, brown hair.

"What!" Kurenai shouted as Tenten and Lee jumped to her side.

The man began to remove the box from his back, as he did, Kurenai and Ten-ten armed themselves with a kunai. The man removed, what seemed to be, two halves of a broadsword from the box. He lay them together on the ground before making two hand seals, 'Fire Style: Flames of Forge' (A/N I'm sure it sounds a lot better in Japanese). A small, blue, glowing circle then appeared around the sword which soon combusted into flames. The sword was egulfed in flame for a few seconds, until finally the flames died down and revealed the sword as one. The surprisingly unscorched man revealed a purple pill and ate it; shortly after, his muscles became grew large and very well defined. His chakra became slightly visible, whipiing around him and making a small pillar with him in the middle for a brief moment, "Are you Konoha ninjas ready to die?"

The man charged at them picking up the weapon at the same time.

Hokage's (The leader of the Konoha Village) Office

"WHAT!" Tsunade bellowed at the ANBU guards standing before her, "Are you guys sure?"

"Yes... we have confirmed it." said one of the two ANBU guards.

"Do we have anyone that we can send out there as reinforcements?

"No, there isn't." The second one answered.

"Fine then you two get out there as quick as possible, you're dismissed!" The two ANBU guards disappeared from sight. "I hope Kakashi and Kurenai can bring their team back... alive." Tsunade hoped in her mind.

Kakashi, Naruto & Hinata

"Hey..., Kakashi-sensei, do you know where we're going?" Naruto childishly questioned.

"Well..." Kakashi paused.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei...?

"Umm... Not really."

Outraged, Naruto shouted "What!" as he came to a complete stop, letting the two go ahead of him.

Kakashi's one exposed eye widen after he sensed a strong surge of chakra. He stalled before shouting, "Follow me, NOW!" within no time Kakashi was sprinting at inhuman speed; Hinata followed but left the dumbstruck Naruto far behind. When Naruto snapped back to his senses, he rushed off to catch up, "Hey, you guys wait up!"

Kurenai, Lee & Ten-ten

The blade of the sword was about forty-eight inches long and eight inches wide but at the collar was five inches. The hilt was black and the pommel a dark brown. The blade's collar was shaped like an oval and crafted from gold. The back had a blue trim and the face had several snowflakes as a design; its edge seemed amazingly sharp, but what made the sword stand out was its size.

The man ran up to them and kicked the battle off with a mighty swing of his sword. The Konoha ninja easily dodged, "Wow, what a wide attack range!" "Hey, you guys stay on you toes!" Kurenai warned. In a flash, the man disappeared and reappeared in front of Kurenai and attacked with another slice; with ostensibly satisfying results: he cut her in half at the waist.

Poof

Unmoved by the fact that he had only cut a log, the chap twisted his body and swung his sword the mighty sword lazily to deflect a kunai that flew out of a bush from behind. After landing in the ankle deep snow, he sight his sights for the unarmed Lee.

He swung horizontally but Lee eluded by ducking under it; following that he swung diagonally toward the ground. Lee spruung out of the way, avoiding the swing and launching a kick while in the air. The man parryed and swung up at Lee but he rolled in the air to the left landing in a stooping position before attempting a leg sweep. The man jumped about five feet in the air, assuming that Lee was going to continue his kick in a circular motion like a whirlwind, he went for a leg drop causing Lee to end his kick to jump out of the way. He also effectively got some distance between them. "You're good kid, too bad you have to die."

The man charged at Lee again but was stopped by a smoke bomb and a kunai tagged with an exploding tag. Lee noticed the tag and leapt further back.

Boom...!

When the smoke cleared there was no one to be seen. Lee stood up and saw snow dust heading towards Tenten. The man thrust but it failed when Tenten avoided it by jumping into the air. She pulled out a scroll which she twirled around her for three seconds before releasing a flurry of weapons before even beginning her decent. The man swung his sword vigorously at the weapons until he was now safe.

With the same scroll, Tenten summoned her own broad sword; it was neither decorated nor huge but average. She charged him but the man was not intimidated by her bravery. She jumped into the air again and brought her sword down heavily but he blocked by holding his sword horizontally over his head. She landed on her feet and swung diagonally downward; he blocked with his sword in his right hand by holding it to the left. She tried again, this time swinging diagonally upward but he ducked and won the dual with an upper-swing.

Poof

"Another replacement, huh?" The man questioned rhetorically as he turned to see a Rock Lee in his fighting stance: waiting, "So, you want to fight me?" He asked with a deep voice.

The man then ran towards Lee holding his sword diagonally in front of his face. Without a reaction, Lee was stabbed.

Poof

The man became frustrated with the shinobi's tactful and slightly humiliating hoaxes. He looked up into the sky, "Another... CLONE! Come out and fight me you Konoha cowards!"

"I must go and fight him; I cannot allow him to simply call us cowards." An enraged Rock Lee nobly whispered.

"I know that you want to fight him but judging by his sword and the way he fights, he can only be one person." Kurenai replied to Lee.

"Who…?" Ten-ten asked

"Yamcha Jitani. He's the best swordsman shinobi ever. He used to be on the good side, but decided that it wasn't as exciting as being a criminal."

"What does he do?" Tenten questioned as Lee gawked in curiosity.

"No body knows why but he infiltrates villages, claiming he has something important to do and many people want to assassinate him; so, it becomes a high-ranked mission and he can have the very best shinobi escort him. Then he defeats them and using a jutsu, he takes their memories, gets the village's most valued secret, and when he feels like it, ransoms the villages." Kurenai explained.

"How did they find this out?" Lee asked.

"He usually leaves one survivor to be a witness."

"What do we do, Kurenai-sensei?" Tenten questioned.

"Okay here's what we do."

Kakashi, Naruto & Hinata

"Come on you two, kick it into over gear!" Kakashi shouted as they ran towards the source of chakra. "I hope we don't get there too late." After Kakashi had that thought he began to receive images of Kurenai lying in his bed in complete submission by will. He shook his head to get the illusion out of his head; shortly after he received thoughts of her being dead. He shook his head again and just hoped that they would make it there in time.

Kurenai, Ten-ten & Lee

Rock Lee was now fighting Yamcha. Lee attempted a straight kick to the face but Yamcha jumped into the air; he swung straight down with force but Lee sidestepped. The force however was strong enough to splash the snow like water. Lee spun for a roundhouse kick but Yamcha ducked and countered with a reverse leg sweep but Lee jumped and followed up with a leg drop; Yamcha leapt back. He ran in for a thrust, causing Lee to stoop to dodge. Thinking the dual was over, Yamcha swung down but, to his dismay, Lee caught the sword by clasping his hands over his head.

Kurenai took the advantage; she appeared in the air behind Yamcha and used her own roundhouse kick, which made him release his sword as he was sent flying into the shack's wall - making it crumble. She did a few hand seals, 'Fire Style: Flame Dragon', with a great breath, she unleashed a dragon of fire toward him. Nothing could be heard except the sound of fire fighting ice and snow (fire's worst enemy's cousins). In a short period, out of the fire came a disfigured man, who seemed to be... melting. Kurenai's and Lee's eyes peeled open at the sight; Tenten, from her hiding spot, almost gave away her position when she gasped from shocked.

When the figure stopped moving, it struggled to do five hand seals, 'Forbidden Technique; Water Style: Snow Regeneration'. The figure stuck its arms into the snow, soon snow began creeping up the figure's body and replacing all that had been singed or melted away. Thus becoming the recognizable figure of a human body again. The figure came closer to show that it was Yamcha, now completely reformed and looking as though he was never in a fight.

"Now Tenten….!" Kurenai commanded.

Tenten pounced from her hiding place and released an even larger flurry of weapons than before. Yamcha quickly performed a few hand seals, 'Fire Style: Fire Ball no jutsu' (A/N does the 'no jutsu' part really make a difference? I think not... it's still english and it still does not sound that good) then released a giant ball of fire, which either melted or deflected the weapons. Yamcha flash stepped to front of Tenten, who was still high in the sky with no where to go. He buried his fist into her gut then spun to a position where he was better able to deliver a roundhouse kick which sent her on an express trip back to the ground.

When Yamcha landed, he ran towards Kurenai and Lee, "I'm going to kill you and take your memories!" Before he could get any closer, he was stopped short by five kunai. He looked in the direction they came from to see the three other shinobi standing on the horizon.

Much Better! Hope you like this story and also it gets better.