Tou-san
Kyuubi stared in horror at the bloody mess that was his mate and… his kit! Where was his kit?! From then on, everything was red… Naruto

Inspired by Just Let go my Kit by Moonlight black rose

Chapter 1

Twelve year-old Uzumaki Naruto stared forlornly out the guest bedroom window, his gaze falling over the endless blue of the sea. Three whisker marks marred each of his lightly tanned cheeks, giving him a somewhat animalistic appearance. Shaggy, golden locks fell haphazardly around his face, just waiting for someone to ruffle them.

There was a knock at the door, causing him to turn. "Come in." He said in a soft tone quite unlike himself.

A young boy with dark hair and a fisher's hat turned the knob and stood in the doorway. "Mom says dinner's ready." He said.

Naruto nodded. "Thanks, Inari. I'll be down in a bit. I'm just… going to stick here for a couple minutes longer, alright?"

The boy nodded, his eyes filled with concern for his hero and idol. He turned and left, closing the door behind him. Naruto sighed and rested his elbows on the windowsill, holding his hands up to his infinite blue eyes and examining the longer, sharper fingernails he now possessed with a frown.

Something was not right about this.

The mission Team Seven had been assigned had seemed innocent enough at the beginning. Escort a drunkard old man back to his home village and protect him from bandits and robbers. Nothing like the glamorous job Naruto had been hoping for.

However, that had all changed when a surprise attack hit them, the two legendary Demon Brothers emerging from a puddle, intent on killing the old man. The bridge builder, Tanuza, then confessed that he had lied about the mission because he couldn't pay for a higher ranking one and told the team his sob story about his village and the business tyrant, Gatou.

Not long after that, they encountered a second, higher ranking ninja by the name of Momochi Zabuza, who was defeated and whisked away to safety by his accomplice disguised as a hunter-nin, a feminine boy by the name of Haku.

Naruto's eyes softened sadly at the memory of the boy. His past had been somewhat similar to Naruto's own and they had managed to form a sort of bond even after knowing one another through only three encounters, only one of the friendly.

After a week of training and preparing, Naruto and his sensei and teammates, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura, encountered the two missing-nin once again on the nearly completed bridge, engaging in what was to be a fight to the death. Kakashi engaged Zabuza while Sasuke and Naruto fought with a masked Haku. Sakura guarded the bridge builder. Eventually, Haku rendered Sasuke unconscious, proving Naruto into unlocking his hidden powers and take Haku out. But once the mask fell away, everything went downhill.

Haku had acted as a human shield, saving the life of his precious person and losing his won life in the process. Not long after that, Gatou appeared with an army of thugs. After disrespecting Haku's corpse, Zabuza unleashed his fury on the business man, killing him and numerous other people in the process with only a kunai in his mouth, his arms having been rendered useless.

Furious at having their meal ticket taken away, the remaining men moved to take over the exhausted ninjas and raid the village, but were luckily frightened away by two sets of Kage Bushin jutsus and a large group of crudely armed, but determined villagers.

Zabuza had died by his subordinate's side not long after that. Wishing that he too could go to the peaceful afterlife with Haku, whose soul was as pure as the snow that fell.

Sakura had berated him fiercely after the battle, screeching like a banshee since his "obvious stupidity" allowed her "precious Sasuke-kun" to get hurt "how he could have been so careless" and "how they'd all be better off without him." It took all of his willpower not to make that become a reality. He couldn't remember why he even liked her in the first pleace, anymore.

Sasuke was training harder than ever, which wasn't very hard, and often sent Naruto man an ice-cold death glare. The blonde figured he was trying to figure out why Naruto was able to defeat Haku while he, an "elite-stick-up-his-ass-everybody-bow-down-to-me-'cause-I'm-the-best-but-I'm0going-to-walk-all-over-you-like-carpet-anyway-Uchiha," could not.

Kakashi… was Kakashi, enough said.

Naruto ran his eyes over his fingertips and clicked his fingertips together, harder and sharper than any kunai. So far, he had managed to keep the change a secret from his teammates, but he wasn't sure how much longer that would last. He would have to but some gloves when he got back to Konoha.

Despite his sensei's reassurances that his seal was perfectly fine (he had Kakashi look at it twice), he still couldn't shake away the feeling that something was… off. Kakashi had been somewhat wary around him for a couple days after the blonde ninja used Kyuubi's power and chakra on the bridge, but even after the masked man went back to acting like his sub-normal self, Naruto still questioned if that had really been Kyuubi's power he used on the bridge.

Naruto had always been… different from the other children his age, and not just because he was a loud-mouthed demon container. While most people's chakra could be described as having a bluish color, Naruto's always seemed to be more of a light purple or indigo. He relied more on instinct and trickery during a fight than depending on harsh taijutsu training and well thought out tactics. There had always been something about him that was, in short, animalistic.

Heck, he could go days without eating or drinking and be perfectly fine and that was something he now knew was just as abnormal as his rapid healing ability. He didn't even need to sleep as much as other people!

Since he had found out from Mizuki about the Nine-tailed demon fox seald within his body, he had assumed that it was Kyuubi that made his "unique" abilities the way they were, but now… he wasn't so sure.

True, Naruto had never used Kyuubi's chakra before and so had no idea what it would feel like or what the side effects might be, but despite Kakashi's reassurance that it had indeed been the fox's chakra he used on the bridge, Naruto felt that it was something else.

That it had been his own power.

He clenched his hands into fists and crossed his arms, leaning heavily against the window, looking out at the ocean.

During the fight, Naruto's senses had heightened. His sense of smell, eyesight, hearing; heck, even his sense of touch and taste had gone off the charts. His body felt stronger, he moved faster, and his instinctual way of fighting became more brutal, acute, and refined.

He could still feel Haku's rapid pulse under his palm when he grabbed his wrist, the salty-seaweed of the ocean, see every detailed crack in the mask, hear every shard of ice that hit the ground, and taste the stray particles of blood caught in the misty air.

It had felt…

Good.

Natural.

Real.

…

Sickening.

What was he?

"Naruto! Are you coming down? We're waiting for you!" Tsunami's kind vice called to him.

The blonde sighed and pushed himself away from the window. "
Coming, Tsunami-san!" he replied. He really would have preferred to stay in the room, away from everybody, but they were going to be expecting a loud, noisy, hyper blonde. He sighed. It was going to be exceptionally hard to put his mask back on right now.

He reached for his jacket, but stopped as his fingers brushed the fabric. Too much orange. It was too much. He loved the color, it reminded him of something comforting he saw in a dream or fuzzy memory once, but now it seemed like he… just wore too much of it.

He drew his hand away and walked out of the room. Another thing to buy when he got back home; a new wardrobe. Maybe something orange and black…

"There you are, you baka! What were you doing up there, taking so long? I'm starving to death here and all you can think of is yourself?!" Sakura screeched.

Hello to you, too. "Ah, sorry, Sakura, I was just thinking!" He said with a blinding smile, scratching his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah, well just don't do it… wait, what did you call me?"

Naruto gave her a confused glance. "Sakura.' That's your name, right?"

She nodded, frowning. "Yeah, but you didn't add the '-chan' like you always do."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I guess I didn't, did I?" He chuckled and sat down next to Inari, picking up his chopsticks, seemingly oblivious to his pink-haired teammate's curious glance. "Itadakimasu!" He said happily, diving into his food.

Tsunami giggled, obviously pleased that someone could like her cooking so much, and proceeded to eat along with everyone else.

Inari swallowed his somen noodles and looked up at the blonde. "Ano, Naruto-niisan?"

"Mm?" Naruto grunted, looking over at the other boy, noodles still hanging out of his mouth.

The dark haired boy fiddled with his chopsticks. "I guess you'll be headed back to Konoha soon, now that the bridge is finished and all…"

Naruto swallowed. "Hmm, I guess so, huh? Hey, Kakashi–sensei? When are we going back to the village?" He failed to hold back a twitch as he saw that the silver haired man's plate was completely bare. How does he do that?! He eats faster than I do!

Kakashi looked up from his little orange book. "We'll head back tomorrow afternoon, after you've all had a good night's rest."

Naruto nodded and went back to his noodles.

"We're sure going to miss you guys." Tsunami said, smiling. "If it weren't for you four, we probably would never have gotten the bridge finished."

"Except for you, shorty." Tanuza said.

"Hay!" Naruto protested, but he was smiling, knowing he was being teased. "Yeah, well I'll be glad I never have to see you again, you old drunk."

The gray haired man took a swig of his sake. "Touche."

"Ano, Naruto-niisan, promise you'll write, okay?" Inari said shyly.

Naruto placed a hand on the younger boy's head. "You bet. I'll write every month and let you know how great I'm doing in training! Maybe I'll even ass some tips for you so you can learn how to be a ninja too, eh?"

The boy's face brightened considerably. "Yeah! I'll become a great ninja! Even greater than you, Nii-san!"

"Ha! As if! No one's greater than me!"

"You just wait, though, I'll…"

He adults watched in amusement as the two boys playfully fought over who was going to be the better ninja.

Tsunami gazed at the two fondly, despite their friendly bickering. During the few days Naruto and his team and been with them, she had come to think of the boy as a second son or nephew. She would truly miss him once they left.

Dinner wrapped up not too long afterwards, Sakura helping Tsunami out with the dishes before heading to bed.

Naruto snuck out the window and climbed onto the roof, staring up at the stars. The starts were prettier here in Wave Country than in Konoha, he realized. The thin mist that always veiled the air caught the light of the stars and made them shine brighter.

The young ninja always loved watching the night sky. He always thought it looked like someone took a large diamond and smashed it before throwing the pieces onto a black canvas.

His eyes were drawn to his clawed hands again. His eyes widened. They were gone! The claws were gone! He held his fingers back up to his eyes and examined them. The claws really were gone; his fingers were back to normal!

He punched a fist into the air. "Dattebayo!" he whispered happily, being sensible enough to not yell and wake everyone who was asleep. But as soon as the grin came, it faded.

He looked back down at his hands. His claws were gone. Why was that troubling? His hands were back to normal, so he should be happy, right?

So why did he feel incomplete? Like a part of him was missing?

He frowned. It didn't make sense.

"Mou, I thought you went to bed, Naruto."

The blonde jumped and spun around. "You! Don't sneak up on me like that, sensei!" He said in a harsh whisper.

Kakashi looked mildly surprised that Naruto didn't yell out as ususal, but didn't comment, choosing to sit down next to his student. "I hardly 'sneaked,' you just failed to pay attention to your surroundings."

Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but seemed to think better of it and snapped his mouth shut, looking back out at the ocean with a serious expression on his face.

Kakashi eyed his unusually silent student. It was strange to see Naruto, Konoha's loudest, knuckleheaded ninja acting so… normal. Though the silver haired jounin would never admit it out loud, he was concerned for the boy.

Ever since the incident on the bridge, Naruto had been different. Not immensely, mind you, but a small part of him had changed, and somehow, Kakshi had an uneasy feeling that it didn't have to do with the deaths of Zabuza and his ally. The jounin's concern only arose when Naruto asked him to look over his seal.

Suddenly, Naruto looked over at him, grinning. "Eh heh heh he! Sorry I'm so quiet, sensei! I guess I'm just going to miss this place when we get back to Konoha is all!"

Kakashi's eye turned upward in the semblance of a smile. "Oh? Why's that?"

Naruto looked sheepish. "Ah, well, everyone's so nice here and all…" He drifted off, but the unspoken words rang loud in Kakashi's ears. They treat me like a real person here.

The man made an understanding grunt and looked out at the oil black ocean. They sat like that for some time, teacher and student, before Naruto finally excused himself, saying that great ninjas needed their sleep.

End Chapter 1

Okay, I'm not really satisfied with end of this chapter, but okay. Most of my focus is going to my other fic, The Demon Prince of Konoha right now, so… yeah. I'm not all that good at writing about people sitting around. I'm much better at actiony stuff.

I've also decided that Kyuubi and Naruto will be sort of semi-evil. They'll become dark and malicious and all that, but they still have values on things like family and precious people.

Okay, well it seems that there will be romance and Gaara will have a different heritage!

Okay, more voting!

Who should Naruto be paired up with? I'm kinda leaning towards Gaara, since he's going to end up a kinda big character, but it's up to you guys!

Also!

Should Gaara have some demonic hertitage?

Read and review! I love my reviewers!

Ja ne!

Mysteri