Warning: This IS Yaoi. don't like don't read

SasuNaru

FemKyuubi

Please review. no flames. constructive critisism welcome

If my rating is wrong please tell me

If any characters seem OOC for no good reason, please tell me. Kyuubi is OOC for a reason(that being Naruto's magic persuasive powers). Sasuke is NOT OOC. We don't know what he thinks, and during the him dying scene he acted the exact same way when he thought he was dying in the Wave Country Arc.

I decided not to completely rewrite the story since my lazy self took over. I've deleted the most glaring of plot holes, and altered a few things. Sorry about this taking forever. Explantion's in the AN in ch8. I might change more later, but this is it for now. Description of what I changed for those of you who've read this before's at the bottom.

Chapter 1: Time Travel

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he rushed towards his goal. Finally! Soon he and his team would reach Itachi. Sasuke was sure to be not far behind. He was anxious to once again lay eyes on the raven haired shinobi.

"Stop!" Kakashi called out, having received a report from Pakun, one of his nin-dogs. "We're nearby. Hinata, see if you can detect anything with your Byakugan," he ordered.

"Hai," Hinata replied, activating her bloodline and looking around. "There! Ten miles to the northeast. There only seems to be two of them."

"Alright. We need a plan," Yamato said. Naruto fidgeted, bored. He knew the use of a plan when trying to capture a powerful opponent such as Itachi, but it was taking so damn long! He began tracing the patterns of the bark on a tree, zoning out, so he consequentially missed most of the plan.

"Everyone got that?" Kakashi asked.

"Huh?" was Naruto's intelligible reply, having been broken out of his mind wanderings. Damn his inattentiveness! He'd missed the plan!

"Moron. Pay better attention next time," Kiba said, annoyed at Naruto's short attention span.

"Shut the fuck up, dog breath!" Naruto replied, angry.

"Calm down you two," Kakashi chided. "Naruto, we've decided to split into two man groups in order to surround Itachi and Kisame. You've been paired with Hinata. She can explain your part in the plan. And Kiba's right, you should pay better attention."

'Who asked him?' Naruto mentally grumbled.

'They're right, you know. Do you know how annoying it is being sealed into someone with extreme ADHD?' the Kyuubi asked. Naruto couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

'What's ADHD?' Naruto asked.

'Oh, yeah. Forgot that you humans have almost no knowledge of genetics and the various genetic disorders.' she replied.

'Wha d'ya mean by that?'

'Nothing. Anyways, what ADHD is doesn't matter. What does matter is that you're currently staring off into space and everyone's looking at you weird.'

'…Bitch' Naruto mind-spoke, before coming out of his reverie to see everyone looking at him funnily. Sakura was waving her hand in front of his face. "Huh?"

"What just happened? You blanked all of the sudden," Sakura said.

"Just thinking," Naruto replied.

"That's new," Kiba remarked, earning an animalistic growl from Naruto, which caused everyone except for Sai to blink.

"We should get going now," the oh-so-talkative Shino commented offhandedly.

The others nodded and split up. Shino and Kiba headed in one direction, Sakura and Kakashi in another. Yamato and Sai covered a third direction of attack, while Naruto and Hinata crept around to the unoccupied direction of offence.

Itachi tensed as he sensed eight distinct chakra signatures approaching. Kisame could feel it, too. "Think it's Sasuke's group?" the ex-mist-nin asked.

"No. I sense the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki amongst them. My little brother is unlikely to suddenly decide to team up with him," Itachi calmly replied. "More likely it's a team from Konoha come to get us before we can capture Naruto."

"Well won't they be in for a surprise when they realize that Deidara and Tobi are nearby," Kisame chuckled, grinning like a shark. Itachi just inclined his head by a fraction. All of them were morons. If his superior hadn't ordered it, and if it wasn't necessary, Itachi would never have gone anywhere near to pissing of a jinchuuriki with as much potential power as Naruto. It just wasn't worth the risk of being ripped to shreds.

A little ways off was Sasuke's group. "It looks like Itachi and Kisame are standing just over there on that ridge. They're surrounding by a group of eight Konoha ninja. The leaf-nin seem unaware of two other Akatsuki members hiding nearby," Karin said.

"Let the leaf-nin attack first. They should be able to take out at the least one of the Akatsuki members," Sasuke commanded. Karin and Juugo just nodded.

"Fine by me, as long as they don't break the Samehada," Suigetsu said.

"Hey, un, looks like we're going to be seein' some action, yeah," Deidara said.

"U-uh, y-yeah," Tobi shakily replied. Why the Hell did Deidara have to fly so damn high!? The clay bird that the two of them were currently on was about 500 feet up in the air, and Tobi was, of course, afraid of heights.

"Heh, chicken. How can a ninja be afraid of heights, un? Especially an S-class criminal such as yourself, yeah."

"I-I'm n-not sc-scared!" Tobi protested, visibly quaking with fear.

"Heh, yeah. We're goin' to be dive-bombing those pesky leaf-nin, un, as soon as they make their move, so hold on tight."

"WH-WHAT!?"

Tobi peered fearfully over the side at the so far oblivious Konoha shinobi. He DID NOT like the idea of being of the back of any bird, let alone a clay one, while it dropped unexpectedly and quickly out of the sky, plummeting at high speed towards the rock hard Earth below.

"A-are y-you sure we n-need t-to d-dive b-bomb th-them? C-can't we j-just hit th-them from wh-where we are?"

"No, un. We might miss 'em if we did that, yeah."

"B-but!"

"Hey, un, looks like somethin's 'bout to start, yeah," Deidara cut off Tobi's futile protest.

/Everyone in position?/ Kakashi's voice came over the headphones.

/Hai/ was the reply from the other three groups.

/Good. On three move out. One… Two… THREE!!/

At first it seemed like nothing happened when Kakashi gave his signal, but in fact the plan had begun. Hinata activated her Byakugan, and Shino sent his bugs crawling over to where the two missing-nin were standing. Naruto began lightly threading more of the Kyuubi's yoki into his system and spread out a web composed of a mix of chakra and yoki to alert him to any problem, although that wasn't a part of the plan.

/Hey, guys, we might have a problem/ Naruto's voice interrupted everyone's concentration. His teammates' initial annoyance was overridden when they heard the seriousness in his voice. Little did they know, but the Kyuubi had just told Naruto about the two extra Akatsuki members floating somewhere in the sky. His chakra/ yoku web had paid off.

/What is it, Naruto?/ Sai asked.

/Look up/ was his reply. The others had to stifle exclamations of surprise when they saw the big clay bird lazily floating above them.

'Shit!' was Kakashi's exact line of thought. He, stupidly enough, hadn't counted on extra company. /They've probably already noticed us. This is bad./

/Should we retreat?/ Hinata asked tentatively.

/Hell no! We might not get another chance!/ Naruto said, impatient to finish the mission, and get one step closer to retrieving Sasuke. 'Don't be hasty,' the demon sealed within Naruto warned, 'I know that you're worried about your boyfriend, but it won't help anyone if you get yourself killed, and, more importantly, me locked away slaving for those Akatsuki bastards.'

'Shut the fuck up. You're annoying me.'

'I could very easily say the same to you, brat.'

"Um, Naruto-kun, what's that?"

"Huh? Oh, it looks like a… BOMB!" Naruto shouted, staring at the quickly desending clay figure, which he knew was Deidara's medium for his explosives. This was not good…

BOOM!!

Kakashi looked up, startled. "What was that sound, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, a bit scared.

"Sounded like a really big bomb going off," Kakashi replied, stating the obvious. "It sounds like it came from… Oh, shit!"

"What?"

"It came from Naruto and Hinata's direction."

"Heh, sounds like Deidara already made his move," the blue fish man chuckled.

"Let's just hope he wasn't stupid enough to kill the Jinchuuriki," Itachi said, with his usual lack of emotion.

"What in all the hells was that?" Suigetsu asked.

"It came from the direction of the Jinchuuriki," replied Karin.

"Who asked you?" Suigetsu snapped.

"Stop it, you two," Sasuke said in a dull monotone, unconsciously mimicking his brother. He didn't show it, but he was a teensy bit worried about Naruto. Okay, maybe more than a teensy bit.

Even though he'd tried to kill him multiple times, Sasuke still thought of the blonde dobe as his most precious person, and he was, despite himself, almost constantly wondering if the fox boy had gotten hurt, and generally just thinking about him. He hoped that he wouldn't have to kill or even harm the boy anymore than he already had in order to kill Itachi.

Sasuke acknowledged that the feelings he had for the blonde, especially the feeling of what he could only describe as lust that he'd been had since shortly after they were put on the same team, weren't exactly very straight. He didn't care. Uchihas never overreact to anything. Even if they feel something akin to love for someone their own gender. Nope. It was taboo to show emotion for the great Uchiha Sasuke.

'Leader-sama, you might want to see this,' Zetsu said over his mind link with the leader. This looked like it might get troublesome...

Over a hundred kilometers away, safe in Amegakure, Pein's eyes narrowed. This certaintely wasn't looking good. The brat shouldn't be able to pull out that much yoki and live! No human, jinchurriki or no, even those with seals more advanced than Naruto's, had ever managed that.

/Naruto? Hinata? Hello?/ Yamato asked over the intercom. When all he received in reply was static, he turned to Sai and said, "That didn't sound too good. We should go check it out." Sai just nodded. The explosion had come from where Naruto and Hinata were, which couldn't be good. /Everyone, Sai and I are going to check to see if Naruto and Hinata are okay. Start the plan without us./

/Hai./

Hinata quivered, curled into a ball with her hands over her head. When she realized that she wasn't dead from the huge explosion, she blinked and relaxed her muscles.

"Hey, Hinata, you okay?" came the voice of Naruto. It sounded like his lungs weren't working right, and his voice was laden with pain. Hinata turned her head around to look over her shoulder towards the sky, and saw the reason why she hadn't been blown to bits. Naruto was standing over her protectively, surrounding by glowing red energy. There was blood pooling about his feet. Everything else around them was charred and flattened.

"H-Hai. Wh-what happened?" she asked, shaken.

Naruto chuckled dryly. "That bastard Deidara dropped a bomb on us. I didn't want one of my friends to get hurt, so I shielded you. I don't think the shield I put up around me was able to block all of the blast, though. My back hurts like hell."

'Kit, you're a moron. Thanks to your innate desire to be a hero, you now have burns all over your back, and part of your spinal cord is blown out.'

'Then how am I still talking and moving?'

'I set up a system where my youki can act in place of your major organs, duh. Weren't you paying attention all those times you got a vital organ demolished/ripped out?'

'Guess not.'

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata called out, as her hero collapsed. She deftly caught him in her arms, noticing the wounds on his back. Most of the flesh was completely burnt off, and the rest was badly burned. Several bones had been broken, and his spinal cord was, indeed, cut in several places.

"Well, well, well. What do we have 'ere, un?" Deidara asked, as his clay bird landed nearby the semi-conscious Naruto and the shocked Hinata. "Looks like a little girl and a wounded Jinchuuriki, yeah. Tobi, take care of the girl. I'll get the Kyuubi no gaki."

"Alright," said Tobi. This was getting messy. The brat shouldn't have merged with the fox enough to still be conscious from that blow. The blonde truly was as interesting, and even more so than, Orochimaru had thought he was.

"You! You're the one that hurt Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted, gently laying Naruto down on his stomach. "You'll pay!"

"Oh really, un? Yeah, I'd like to see you try."

"Um, Deidara-senpai, two of their teammates are heading this way." He really didn't need this. If any more of Naruto's teammates got killed the blonde could inadvertantely end up killing himself, which would not be good for him.

"Well, I'm sure that you can take care of at least one of 'em while I dispose of this girl, un."

Soon the battle was in full swing. In a matter of minutes the battle had been joined by Yamato, Sai, Kakashi, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Itachi, and Kisame. Sasuke's group continued to watch from the sidelines.

Despite their greater numbers, the fight was going downhill for the Konoha-nin. Naruto, although the Kyuubi would allow him to start using youki in place of his spine if his life came into immediate danger, was at the moment unable to move, and would remain so until the bitchy fox running around in his head finished healing him.

"Gekkou Taki no Odori!" Hinata cried out, spinning around. A lot of the water from one of Kisame's previous attacks flew into the air, and, laced heavily with chakra, was sent flying towards her adversaries. The projectiles blew up several of 

Deidara's bombs before they could hit the ground, and lightly wounded Kisame. Itachi calmly dodged the attack. Tobi was now nowhere to be seen.

Everyone paused for a second to readjust to the new situation. Tobi was gone, Kisame and Deidara were both slightly injured, while Itachi was merely scratched. Deidara was almost out of clay for his bombs, and Itachi was beginning to run out of breath. Hinata was panting heavily, and was almost out of chakra. Sai had a bad gash on his arm from Kisame's sword, and Akamaru had a cut in his side. Sakura's fists were bleeding, and she had been burned by one of Itachi's katon jutsus. Yamato and Shino had both been burned by Deidara's bombs, and both were quickly tiring out. Kakashi also had burns from Itachi's attacks, and had, miraculously enough, been cut by Tobi. Apparently the little pest used some kind of poison in his attacks, which was slowing down Kakashi's reaction speed. Naruto was almost healed enough to join the fray, but not quite. Kiba was panting and had also been cut by Tobi.

"Damn it," remarked Kisame, hefting his sword as if for another swing. "This is taking too long." At that, he charged at Hinata, swinging wildly. She was exhausted from the chakra consuming techniques that she'd started to use, and couldn't get out of the way in time. Her guts were almost completely ripped out. She gasped, and, falling to her knees, struggled to breathe, before falling prone, unmoving.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto cried out, mentally cursing himself for being unable to save yet another of his precious people. Red youki poured out of him, and, ignoring the gashes still present in his back, he pushed himself up into a crouch, and was soon surrounded by what seemed to be the form of a three tailed fox. Bloodlust and rage poured off of him, and then he sprung!

Kisame summoned up a wall of water, which only served to slightly decrease the speed of the rampaging Jinchuuriki and to further enrage him. Kisame blocked his claw swipe with the Samehada, which heated up and glowed red from the sudden intake of the fiery demonic youki. He swung the sword at Naruto, the chakra absorbing properties of the sword serving to make it possible for him to land a hit. He slashed open the blonde kitsune's stomach.

Such a maneuver was to no avail, since the wound healed over again in mere seconds. The gashes and burns on his back had also vanished without a trace by now.

Naruto's teammates were too busy gawking at the sight of the blonde's demon form to notice that Deidara had dropped another bomb, which instantly killed Kiba and Akamaru, and would've killed Shino if not for his shield of bugs.

Naruto became royally pissed when he saw even more of his friends die. In his mind it was all because he had failed to protect them. A fourth tail quickly sprouted. Naruto, hell bent on the thought of revenge, fought the Kyuubi harder than ever for control, and, understanding what Naruto was going through, she backed down and let him retain control.

Even Itachi was surprised when Naruto not only survived going to the fourth tail, but was able to remain in control of his body. Most Jinchuuriki couldn't survive even going to the third tail, and they all lost control around the first or occasionally the second. It was unheard of for a Jinchuuriki to make it alive to such a high level, let alone resist having their mind supplanted.

The blood covered genin charged with a roar of pure fury at the startled Kisame, forcing him to spring into action. He leapt to the side and swung his sword at the blood lust radiating Jinchuuriki. Big mistake. The sword was almost instantly overloaded with youki, and burst into a thousand fragments. Many impaled themselves in Kisame, while others hit Sakura, Deidara, Kakashi, and Yamato. Several grazed Itachi, and one or two actually hit him.

Kisame, by now pretty badly wounded, hit Naruto full force with one of his most powerful water attacks. The boy countered with something mimicking a rasengan, but much more powerful and volatile. He then split into two separate versions of himself, one continuing to block Kisame's attack while the other circled around and attacked the fish man head on at speeds rivaling Lee's at the beginning of the series without his weights on. Before what was happening had registered itself in Kisame's brain, Naruto had stuck a youki claw through his chest, killing him.

The two remaining Akatsuki members had been fighting Naruto's teammates. By now Shino and Yamato had also fallen, dead, and Sai and Sakura were badly wounded. Sakura and Kakashi were both pretty much out of chakra. Naruto saw this, and, roaring, charged Deidara, leaping high into the air.

The blonde nuke-nin saw Naruto charging and, noting his flight path, veered off course in order to avoid a painful confrontation. No such luck. One of Naruto's tails lashed out and wrapped itself around the clay bird that Deidara was riding. The clay actually began to melt from the extreme heat.

With a feral growl Naruto yanked himself over to the flying Akatsuki member. Left with no other option, Deidara jumped from the bird and set off the explosives buried within it just as Naruto landed on its back, creating an explosion much bigger than the one he'd used at the very start of this fight, and more powerful than even the one he'd dropped on Suna back when he was trying to capture Gaara.

He landed heavily on his feet and staggered a bit. He then looked up at where the bird had gone off. Naruto had been sent flying into the air by the blast. If he'd sustained any damage it was already either healed or covered over. He was currently flying about 400 feet off the ground, though, and was beginning to fall back to Earth.

"Should we join the fray yet, Sasuke-sama?" Juugo asked. He could feel the blood lust within him rising at the sight of the battle, and he was shaking with the desire to kill.

"Wait and see. I get the feeling that our presence isn't required just yet," Sasuke replied. He could tell that Naruto was still completely in control of his actions, and doubted that the blonde would kill Itachi, knowing about Sasuke's desire for revenge as much as he did. He might maim or torture the guy, but that was fine by Sasuke. The more painful Itachi's death, the better. And very few things are as painful as youki poisoning.

Plus he wanted to wait until Naruto had calmed down a bit. No need to uselessly risk his neck, after all.

It actually hadn't taken that long for Naruto to slay Deidara. The numerous bones that he'd broken when he fell were already mending themselves, and didn't make any difference to whether or not Naruto was able to fight at this point, anyways.

Itachi had managed to kill Sai and wound Kakashi in the time period it had taken for Naruto to finish his free fall, regain his bearing, and rip Deidara to shreds. Naruto was so utterly pissed by now that, upon seeing the state of his team, he roared and began to form a fifth tail, almost causing Kakashi and Karin to have heart attacks.

Back with Sasuke's group, Karin was marveling at how completely his chakra had changed, until it didn't even vaguely resemble chakra anymore. She didn't know it, but Naruto's human chakra was extremely low, and if it had been all he'd had he would've been dead from chakra exhaustion by now. He was running solely on youki now, his little remaining energy dedicated to keeping the seal intact.

Kakashi wasn't worrying about how weird Naruto's chakra patterns were. He was freaking out because at that moment Naruto was using over half of the fox's power, an event which Jiraiya had said would more than likely put the seal under so much stress that it would completely shatter, releasing the Kyuubi no Kitsune back into the world.

Both of those concerns were far from the first thing on Itachi's mind. Right now, his thought patterns pretty much consisted of, 'Fuck. I just pissed off a Jinchuuriki with the ability to go to the fifth tail ,and now he really wants me dead. I'm screwed.'

Itachi, being an Uchiha, didn't let the fact that his mind was screaming at him to run like hell and don't stop till he'd reached the end of the Earth show. Instead, he slipped into a fighting pose and reactivated his Mangekyou Sharingan. Naruto, still in control, tensed, ready to spring.

"Don't be scared, little human," Naruto snarled. "I'm only going to put you in a world of pain. I have no intention of killing you. Oh, no, I'm going to leave that job to your dear little brother."

Itachi narrowed his eyes, and threw himself aside when Naruto suddenly pounced. He managed to get out of the way of the initial attack, but as soon as Naruto landed all five of his tails lashed out, circling Itachi. He dodged as best he could, but one tail was able to catch him. Little spines instantly formed along the tail, pricking Itachi and forcing the harmful youki into his chakra network, where it immediately started fighting with Itachi's normal chakra, causing the pathways to feel like they were on fire, and, in several cases, start to burn.

As suddenly as he had pounced, Naruto whiplashed the tail holding Itachi captive around, before releasing him of its grasp, sending him flying into a nearby cliff side. Much of it collapsed, and a huge cloud of dirt was raised. Naruto impatiently dispersed this with a simple futon jutsu.

Itachi slowly stood up. He'd broken several bones when he smashed into the cliff, and he didn't have anywhere near to Naruto's healing abilities. He needed to end this before he was killed.

Knowing that there was a risk in such a maneuver, Itachi stared Naruto straight into the eyes, and, activating his most infamous ability, whispered 'Tsukiyomi'.

Naruto stiffened as the advanced genjutsu hit him. He blinked, and found himself in a ghostly world with a crimson moon and skies the color of dried blood. "Welcome to my world," Itachi said, materializing in front of Naruto. "Here, I control everything. For the next 72 hours, you will watch yourself kill your so called 'precious people' over and over again."

Naruto snarled and lunged at Itachi, only to have the missing nin disappear in a flurry of black wings. He looked around, and found that the scenery had changed. He was now standing on top of the Hokage monument, looking down on Konoha. There were a few key differences, though. For one, it was on fire. For two, there were people screaming bloody murder.

He soon saw why. There was a thing running rampant through the streets of his village. He felt a chilling sense of recognition. He couldn't put his finger on the identity of the blood cloaked figure though.

Suddenly, he heard Sakura cry out, "Naruto! You demon! Stop!" With a jolt he realized exactly whom that monster was. It was him. Naruto watched in horror as this blood thirsty version of himself ripped Sakura into bloody shreds, not actually killing her until the very last second. Naruto felt like puking.

Then, the unthinkable happened. A familiar voice screamed at him to stop, that he wasn't himself, to go back to the Naruto that voice knew. 'I know that voice!' thought Naruto, dread filling every fiber of his being. 'Sasuke! NO!!'

Naruto watched as his alter ego turned towards the raven haired teen, and smirking, advanced with the silent stride of a predator confident in the fact that it will kill and feast upon its prey. His eyes widened as the thing that dared to wear his visage pinned a helpless Sasuke to the very cliff upon which Naruto was standing. "I've been wanting to do this for the longest time," it whispered into Sasuke's ear. The demon had used a feature of its doujutsu to paralyze Sasuke, leaving him only with the ability to move his eyes and mouth.

Naruto, realizing what that thing was intending, screamed at it to stop, to not do that, to get away from Sasuke. It didn't seem to hear him. Naruto leaned forward and slipped. He caught himself on the rock, then looked at his arms and hands. They were see through.

"You don't get it, do you? You can't affect anything here. This is my world," the voice of Itachi whispered on the wind. Naruto pulled himself back onto the monument and tried to squeeze his eyes shut, to block his ears, to just look away. He couldn't, though. Itachi had rendered him unable to do anything but watch.

Naruto tensed when he heard Sasuke start screaming, as the image of his best friend dug claws into his skin. Naruto shook with rage and apprehension as his demonic form raped his most precious person. What scared Naruto the most about all of this was that if he ever went into the state where neither he nor the fox was in control again, he might very well do all of these things.

Naruto's mind was in chaos. Seeing all of these things was wearing down on his mental barriers. It was also having another effect. Itachi, knowing that the fox wasn't one to desire an insane Jinchuuriki, and would therefore try to break Naruto out of the genjutsu if given half a chance, had put up barriers separating her mind from Naruto's. Though, as Naruto's thought patterns bordered more and more on insanity, he unconsciously pushed at these barriers, and, between him and the Kyuubi, they weathered away, until the demon's mind was once again linked with Naruto's.

'Kit! Don't believe him! None of this is real! You wouldn't really do these things!' she shouted at Naruto, trying to keep him from going off the deep end. Some demons, such as Shukaku , quite enjoyed torturing their containers and taking their rage and frustration out on them. Not her. She had been sealed into an insane Jinchuuriki before, and she found it to be quite trying. She'd almost followed her host off the deep end.

'Yes I would! You know I would!' Naruto shouted back, tears streaming down his face.

'It wouldn't come to that, kit. I know what it feels like to lose precious people, and what it feels like to blame yourself for their deaths. I would let you have control back before you killed any of them.' She wasn't lying. She might try to fight for control long enough for Naruto to hurt his precious people, but she wouldn't let it come to killing. Despite herself, the blonde idiot had grown on her a teensy eensy bit, and she didn't want him hurt too bad. 'Let me take full control for a sec. I'll make that bastard pay for doing this. Don't worry, though, I won't kill him.'

Naruto's mind was in such turmoil that the fox's offer made sense, and he dazedly accepted. He felt himself sinking into darkness as the demon fox completely took over for the first time in his life.

Itachi narrowed his eyes once again. Something wasn't right. There was something off all of the sudden with the blonde's thought patterns. Too late, he realized what had happened. He was utterly unprepared when the full mental power of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune slammed into his will. They struggled briefly in a battle of the wills. Normally, Itachi would've won because of his natural advantage from the Mangekyou Sharingan, but the Kyuubi had a doujutsu of her own, which was just as powerful. Within seconds she'd overpowered his will, and broken the genjutsu.

Sasuke had been watching most of the fight with his Sharingan activated, and recognized the chakra patterns when Itachi cast the Tsukiyomi. What startled him was when a split millisecond later the Kyuubi apparently completely supplanted Naruto's mind, and was able to shake Itachi's hold on her and Naruto's minds.

He watched with a feeling of impending doom as the figure straightened, the final four tails defying all the laws of nature that siad that not even a hanyou could go beyond five tails as they began to sprout.

Something in Kakashi's gut clenched as he realized what had just occurred. Itachi had trapped Naruto in Tsukiyomi, which, instead of the usual result of the victim collapsing, caused the blonde to retreat into his own mind, allowing the Kyuubi to come out and play. 'We're in deep shit now,' he thought.

Sakura quivered nearby. She'd never felt this much blood lust coming from one person! It was impossible.

Juugo's desire to kill instantly abated when he felt the blood lust and rage rolling off of the blonde. He unconsciously took a few steps back, before tripping and just sitting there, mouth agape.

Suigetsu wasn't doing much better. He saw that something had changed, though he didn't know what. He now wished that he'd never come on this mission. All of his nerves were wound up real tight, and his brain was screaming at him full force to run like the wind and not look back, but his body was frozen to the spot and wouldn't obey.

Karin was faring the worst. She could clearly sense that the demon was in full control now, and was an inch from having a heart attack. Screw how good Sasuke looked! Nothing was worth being within a million miles of this thing!

Sasuke was perfectly calm. He'd been nervous for a second that the demon would kill Itachi, but it was clear that it had no intention of doing so either. When he judged that he'd waited long enough, he turned to his team and said, "Come on. It's time for us to intervene."

"Are you crazy!?" Karin shouted. Why the hell would he want to go anywhere near that?

"It seems to be pretty much working on Naruto's wishes, which makes sense due to the design of the seal. Naruto wouldn't wish for me or whoever the hell I choose to be on my team to be hurt, so we don't have to worry about an attack from that front. The other three might be a problem, and it's highly possible that more Akatsuki members are going to arrive soon, so you three only worry about those possibilities. I'll deal with Itachi and the Kyuubi."

Juugo nodded. Sasuke's logic made sense, and he wasn't much of one to dwell on possibilities, anyways. He'd do as he was told. Suigetsu and Karin were a bit more argumentative, so finally Sasuke told them to stay here and that they'd only have to join in if anyone else actually did appear. He also called them cowards, and several other things, which caused Suigetsu to get angry, which caused him to decide to come along. Karin remained adamant.

The trio descended to where the demon fox was playing with Itachi, battering him around like a cat would a mouse.

A little bit before Sasuke and his group made their move, Naruto and the Kyuubi were having a little chat.

'Hey, Fluffy-nee, we're dying, aren't we?'

'Sadly, yes. Your human body can't take this kind of damage,' the vixen replied, ignoring Naruto's new nickname for her.

'I'm sorry.'

'Huh? What do you mean, you're sorry?'

'It's because I wasn't strong enough to resist the Tsukiyomi or to protect my friends that this is happening. It isn't your fault you got sealed into a moron who can't do anything right. And, although you never told me why, I bet you had a pretty damn good reason for attacking Konoha.'

The Kyuubi gazed sadly down at her host. He was far too kind for his own good, though she marveled at his ability to find light within the soul of even the one who was at fault for the suffering he had gone through during his early years, and the reason why he had a group of S-class criminals after him.

'Don't think like that. The fact that you can resist my youki when it suits you, and that you've survived this long are both amazing.'

'You're just saying that!'

'Do you see any other Jinchuuriki who've been able to dodge Akatsuki this long? Have you met any with the ability to go past two or three tails?'

'Guess not.'

'Case and point.'

'Hey, something's going on out there! Is that… Sasuke!?' The fox laughed under her breath at how fast Naruto's attention shifted. That kid had the attention span of a squirrel! Reminded her of her younger self.

'Careful kit! Let me relinquish my hold first!' Her warning went unheeded as Naruto tried to yank control back from her. She tried to let Naruto have full control, but she wasn't able to unravel her mind from the control center of his body quick enough.

For about a minute, Naruto was trapped in the between form, where neither he nor the demon were in control, and instead he just lashed out at anything moving. It wasn't much time, but it was more than enough.

Everyone in the vicinity noticed the change, and saw that Naruto had switched from the fox being fully in control to the halfway state. Itachi, Kakashi, Sakura, Juugo, Sasuke, and Karin all froze. Suigetsu didn't, though, and instead started back pedaling, attracting the attention of the nine tailed Jinchuuriki.

Naruto lashed out a youki claw at Suigetsu, spearing him through the heart, the fiery youki killing him even though he turned to water. Even though he wasn't aiming for them, Sasuke and Juugo both had to dodge, also attracting attention. Something registered in Naruto's mind when he saw Sasuke. A whole mix of emotions floated up, though the mind of the in-between only was able to comprehend the jealousy, the hate, and the feelings of being betrayed. It charged.

Before Sasuke had time to properly react, the claw had curved back and taken a chunk out of his side. Normally it wouldn't be too life threatening, but with the youki poisoning taken into consideration, the wound was mortal.

Just at that moment, the Kyuubi was able to completely relinquish control, ending the in-between state. 'Kit, I'm sorry. I wasn't able to give you full control fast enough.'

'I understand. I was being an excitable idiot,' Naruto replied, taking in the scene before him with horror in his eyes, knowing full and well that this was all his fault. Behind him, Itachi started to laugh.

"Ironic, isn't it?" he choked out. Naruto briefly noted that he'd forgotten to remove his vocal cords. Itachi's maniacal laughter turned to coughs and wheezes shortly, though, so he didn't have to worry.

"Shut the fuck up," Naruto coldly replied, before dashing off to Sasuke's side. "Sasuke?" he whispered. "I'm so, so sorry. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"N-not your f-fault, dobe," Sasuke said. "M-mine for not c-counting on your reaction. Fuck, I didn't want th-this to happen. I don't care about dying, b-but I'd hoped to kill him, and I d-didn't want to hurt you anymore. I'm sorry." He 

whispered the last part, so that Naruto could barely hear him. He could feel tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"This brings a sense of de jà vu, huh teme?" Naruto whispered to the raven haired boy, brushing stray strands of hair out of his friend's face

"Yah. D-don't forget what I said last time, 'kay?"

"Don't worry, I won't," Naruto replied, mentally adding, 'I can't promise that I'll listen, though.' "I'll miss you, Teme-chan," Naruto said, before closing his eye and kissing Sasuke full on the lips.

Naruto was scared of what emotion he'd find on Sasuke's face when he opened his eyes. Would there be hate? Disgust?

Instead, Sasuke's eyes were widened in shock. Not for long, though. Before Naruto could pull away he started to return the kiss, closing his eyes and darting his tongue out to lick Naruto's lips.

Naruto was even more surprised than Sasuke had been, and he readily parted his lips, letting the wounded Uchiha slide his tongue into Naruto's mouth, exploring every crevice of the warm cavern.

One of the two of them, or maybe both, moaned with pleasure. When they finally parted for air, Sasuke shakily lifted his hand to touch Naruto's cheek, running his fingers over the whisker like marks. Naruto put his hand over Sasuke's, whispering the raven's name.

Sasuke smiled a ghost of a smile, before falling into a coughing fit. "G-goodbye, d-dobe," he whispered, before trying to gulp in as much air as possible, and failing, being forced by his burning lungs to breathe out. He didn't draw another breath.

"Sasuke! SASUKE!!" Naruto yelled, crying over his the corpse of his best friend and secret crush. He could sense the two remaining members of Akatsuki approaching along with the two new recruits, though they were still about half a minute off.

"Hey, you, guy who was standing next to Sasuke," Naruto said to Juugo, his body tensing as he prepared internally for the upcoming battle.

"My name's Juugo."

"Juugo, then, could you take two of my friends far away from here? The two currently alive should be a silver haired jounin with a mask over the lower half of his face, and a pink haired kunoichi. A big fight's about to start, and I don't want them taken out in the blast."

"What's in it for me?"

"The Kyuubi no Kitsune will seek you out when this is all over. She's powerful, and she's agreed to repay my debts for me in order to pay her own debts towards myself. She won't harm you, and she knows a wide range of techniques, and should be able to help you with whatever the hell you need assistance with."

"You're planning on releasing the demon?"

"Better than letting Akatsuki have her, and as part of our deal she's agreed to leave certain places alone."

"Fine."

"Thank you. The two should be right over there," Naruto said, pointing. Juugo nodded, and walked off to where Naruto's two surviving teammates were located. It couldn't hurt to help the guy, after all. Maybe the Kyuubi would be able to help him with his bloodlust problem.

Naruto waited until he felt the chakra signatures of Juugo, Kakashi, and Sakura almost completely fade away, before turning his attention to the four Akatsuki members now flanking him. The leader was still outside of his range.

"Huh, brat was able to kill Itachi and Sasuke. Impressive. Though Pein and Madara are going to be pissed that Sasuke's dead," Konan remarked.

"Doesn't make any difference," Zetsu replied, staring at Naruto from a distance. He'd been watching for a while, but had only now come closer and revealed himself. He didn't need to guess if Leader would be pissed that Sasuke was dead. He already knew.

"I'll just cut the little brat to pieces!" Hidan exclaimed, raising his scythe and charging Naruto. His attack was blocked by a wall of red youkai that seemed to appear out of thin air.

Naruto gently lay Sasuke down, before standing and turning to face the undead Akatsuki member. "You have ten seconds to get the Hell out of my sight before I rip you into shreds, human," he said, his voice sending shivers up Hidan's spine.

'This kid… Who… No, what is he? I've never felt this much power radiating from anyone! Not even one of the demons or even Madara!!' Konan thought, a little bit scared.

"3… 2… 1… Prepare to die, bastards,' Naruto growled, charging. Hidan had missed the rest of the countdown, apparently. He managed to dodge, but just barely, and the now nine tailed Jinchuuriki immediately swung back around in order to charge again. Hidan's ability to keep himself alive even when having been torn to bits was to no avail as his body burst into flames, swiftly turning to ash. He couldn't reattach what was no longer there, after all.

In Amegakure, a clone of Madara stepped out into Pein's sight. "Release them," he ordered, knowing that it would take the other demons to be able to subdue the nine tailed fox. Pein nodded and began unwinding the bonds on the demons and binding them to his will.

He finished releasing and binding the first four as the rejuvenated Kyuubi finally pinned down Konan and ripped her guts out, Kakazu having been taken out in a single shot by a claw through his chest. Then, the fox turned on Zetsu. The leader released his minions out then, knowing that Zetsu would probably be able to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

A couple of minutes later, Zetsu was on the run from an angry demon vixen, when the Shukaku and Nekomata arrived. They charged the Kyuubi, giving Zetsu a chance to retreat as far as he could and still observe the fight. Soon, Isonade and Sokou arrived. They were still knocked around a lot, though, and in no time at all Sokou and Isonade were both dead, and Shukaku was wounded.

A little later, Houkou and Raijuu joined the fight. The fox was having a hard time, now. It didn't take too long for her to kill off Shukaku, but his body was immediately reanimated by Nekomata, just like Isonade's and Sokou's had been. They were much weaker than the originals, but still pretty damn annoying.

Suddenly, the nine tailed fox demon leaped! She dug her claws into Nekomata's fur, latching on. She was having trouble, though, because of the cat demon's Shinigami bestowed powers. Then, she felt his powers weaken suddenly, and 

correctly guessed that Naruto had been the cause, lending a hand from the other side. She pummeled the cat's belly with her back claws, spilling his guts all over the ground. The Shinigami was unable to save him this time.

Before she could react, a wall of earth slammed into her. She surrounded herself with lightning natured chakra, causing the earthen cage surrounding her to crumble. She shook her head and turned her attention to her two remaining adversaries. Houkou had been the one to summon the wall of earth. The Kyuubi briefly wondered if Kaku was going to how anytime soon.

Then, as if the thought had summoned her, the Shichibi no Mujina, Kaku, arrived on the scene. She couldn't actually see her, but she could acutely smell her and feel her presence. The fox leaped aside as the ground under her feet crumbled, falling into a deep underground cavern.

She rebounded off of the cliff that Itachi had been slammed into earlier, causing it to form a large crack, and flew at Raijuu, surrounding herself with wind youki in preparation for his attack. Her assumption that his first reaction would be to pelt her with lightning was correct. She sent slicing gusts of wind ahead of her, cutting through his defenses. She then latched her claws into her fur, biting his neck. They struggled briefly, the fox continuing to release wind youki, before she sensed Houkou preparing to attack her.

The Kyuubi pretended to be oblivious to the incoming fireball, but then detached herself from her opponent and threw herself out of the way just before it made contact, leaving Raijuu to burn. The other demons apparently had absolutely no sense of teamwork.

Then, large spikes of earth suddenly thrust themselves up out of the ground, spearing the crown princess of the foxes in the belly. She coughed up a lot of blood, and fell limp.

Stupid Raijuu, indignant at his burns and cuts, strode up to her body, boasting about how he'd assisted in the capture of one of the four most powerful demons in existence, and one of the only two nine tails alive today. Imagine his surprise when, as he poked the bloody corpse, he was engulfed by wind-aligned fox fire. He died quickly; the wind natured half of Kitsunebi negated his lightning shield, while the fire natured half burned him to death.

Houkou shook his head. It was just like Raijuu to do something that stupid, and slipped into a ready stance, searching the surrounding area for signs of the fox. 

Then, he saw her. Well, he didn't exactly see her, more like sensed her. She was hidden underneath an elaborate genjutsu, which Houkou was only able to even so much as sense, let alone see through, because of his status as the master of illusion.

Kaku didn't notice a thing. Since it never crossed Houkou's mind to warn someone not of his original pack about upcoming danger, she was unprepared when the Kyuubi sprang towards her, throwing any earth in her way to the side with a doton jutsu.

Kaku and the fox struggled briefly, but Kaku's much lower strength and experience soon lost her the fight. After the badger demon was reduced to nothing more than a bloody pile of hide, fur, meat, and bones, the vixen turned to the illusionist dog demon, which was idly waiting for her to notice him.

Stealth and trickery don't come naturally to either dog or wolf demons, so Houkou hadn't considered that it might serve him better to attack the fox while she was preoccupied with his teammate and her back was turned to him. Canines were upfront fighters, living by a strict warrior's code of honour, versus the rouge's code of honour that the vulpine upheld.

He finished the genjutsu he'd been weaving, trapping her in it. She responded with an equally powerful genjutsu, dispelling his. The battle was one of illusions, but the fox quickly won due to her fox abilities, allowing her to cast what were known as 'true'illusions, an ability only held by a few.

"My, my, my, what do we have here? So the great Kyuubi no Kitsune was able to slay all seven of her adverseraries," Madara chuckled.

She whipped around, staring in surprise at the human looking creature who'd dared challenge her. She knew that chakra signature!

"YOU!" she roared, enraged that he dare show his face. "What in all the hells are you doing here, bastard?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Sorry! That information's a secret!" Madara said.

Kyuubi snarled. "You're no match for me, no matter how many little powerups you get! I'll always be stronger!"

"Go on believing that, my dear Stella," Madara said. The now named Stella could here the smirk in his voice, and it only served to fuel her rage. "Soon enough, my ambition shall be complete. The deaths of a few pawns, powerful though they may be, is inconsequiential in the grand scheme of things. Even the death of Sasuke won't set me back to far. More of an annoyance than anything else."

Her eyes narrowed. Madara was no idiot, to challenge one of the only two nine tails in existence. What did he have up his sleeve that was making him so cocky?

Suddenly, it hit her. Why else would he be so unconcerned about the loss of a second Uchiha, when he knew that he would need more than one Sharingan of Magekyou status or higher, with the user's potential high enough to exceed a three tail on their own, a potential which Itachi had lacked? There was only one possible explanation.

"Where the fuck is she, bastard? I'll fucking rip your guts out!"

"No need to be so rude! You'll learn soon enough."

That was IT!! Stella roared loudly, pouncing on Madara's location, Kitsunebi streaming from her fur and claws. His body dematerialized just as she hit. The bastard had learned how to fully control the Highway.

She lifted her bloody muzzle and roared her frustration to the skies. She'd been so close! And now, it looked as if Madara was planning to start a Third Great War.

She could not, under any circumstances, let that happen.

Growling in annoyance, she shape shifted into her humanoid form, consisting of a human female's body with long, flowing red hair, reaching past her waist. She had two matching ears sitting on top of her head, and nine tails fanning out behind her. She was dressed in finely woven chainmail shirt and leggings, with a dark red, almost black, cape draped over the ensemble. Her eyes were a piercing bright green, showing keen intelligence. She had several weapons strapped about her person, including two swords, several daggers, and a staff decorated with runes. These were the only visible weapons on her. The swords were strapped to her belt along with two daggers, and she had another two daggers tucked into sheaths on the outside of her boots. She held the staff lightly in her right hand.

Stella turned towards the direction in which Juugo had headed with her host's two surviving teammates, and began to seek them out. It didn't take long to find them, and she was able to heal both Kakashi and Sakura of their remaining wounds. As payment to Juugo for taking care of them, she used a kitsune sealing technique to suppress his bloodlust.

It took a bit, but finally she was able to assure Kakashi that she had no intention of doing any further damage to Konoha or its allies, and that she was over what had caused her to fly into a blind rage like that. She, of course, refused to tell him her reason for attacking Konoha in the first place.

Since he was still unsure about whether or not to trust her, Kakashi sent for backup from Konoha via a hawk, including information about the situation, and marking the message for Tsunade's eyes only.

To say that Tsunade was surprised when she received the message would be the understatement of the year. She immediately called for an emergency council meeting, in order to discuss this new turn of events. After much debate, they decided to send out their major members along with an ANBU guard of twenty people so as to talk to the fox. A message was also sent to Suna to tell them of this new turn of events, and Konoha's response.

In less than a week the groups from both Konoha and Suna had arrived at the valley. There they spoke with the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

She swore to them that she wasn't going to attack them, and also assured them that she had no interest in such things anyways. The explanation as to why she'd attacked Konoha in the first place was sketchy, but everyone pretty much understood that that hadn't been her original intention.

They were still wary of her, though, and put up defenses and warning systems when they arrived back at their villages.

Stella was pacing around her room in her personal pocket dimension. She'd repaid her debts to the kit, kept her promises, and now all that was left to do was hunt down her enemies and locate her closest friend. Not to mention figuring out what the hell Madara was really up to. Trying to start a war wasn't exactly a very good description. She couldn't shake the nagging worry that something was wrong, that she'd forgotten or neglected to do something.

Despite the fact that he'd been the only thing standing between her and freedom for three years, Stella couldn't help but miss the hyper blonde. She'd fallen under his unique spell and gotten attached to him, ironically enough. She screamed in frustration and punched the wall closest to her, reducing it to a fine powder.

Her fists clenched, one of the greatest generals to have lead a portion of the Rebel forces during the War realized what she had to do. She had to stop all of this from ever having happened. And there was only one person who could and would help her with that. Vesper, the granddaughter of Time.

"Come in!" Vesper called out as she heard the portal bell ring. She knew the chakra signature, and wondered why Stella, the Kitsune-hime, was coming to visit her of all people.

The fox lady swept into the living room where Vesper was seated, tinkering with clocks of all sorts, from archaic hour glasses to new age digital clocks. "No beating around the bush, Stella. Why in all the hells are you here?"

"I've come to ask for a favor," Stella replied.

"It wouldn't happen to be the illegal kind of favor, would it?"

"It isn't necessarily illegal, though it is probably widely frowned upon."

"Stella! You know what will happen if Grandfather catches me breaking the rules!"

"I need your help. You're the only Timekeeper who'd be willing in a million years to help me and who has enough power for what I have in mind. And, anyways, you more than likely wouldn't be working alone."

"What exactly are you planning?"

"I know the rules of time travel, so I know that it's impossible for a demon to go back in time, but there's no law saying humans can't go back. I'm planning on reviving the soul of my last Jinchuuriki and sending him back in order to correct 

past mistakes. At the moment there's another Great War on the horizon, and the only plausible way to stop it is too go back as far in time as possible and prevent it from ever beginning."

"WHAT!? Are you crazy? You'd need the help of not only a Deathkeeper but also a Dreamkeeper for that kind of stunt. And, anyways, you'd only be able to send him at the most as far back as his own birth, probably less."

"I know. I can call in a few favors for the help of the Deathkeeper and the Dreamkeeper, and even a time as recent as three years ago would allow so many things to be altered and prevented."

"Alright. I'll help you if you can assure the help of the other two. You better know what you're doing, though."

Stella, Vesper, Inferi, and Fortuna all gathered round the multitude of symbols drawn into the cave floor. Fortuna was a young, aspiring Dreamkeeper who specialized in prophetic dreams. Inferi was a mischievous young Deathkeeper who would often snatch souls from the afterlife who wished to be alive again and return them into the world either as undead or would resurrect them into a species and position that completely clashed with their personalities and ingrained habits.

Each of the four stood at a different corner of the figure centered in the room, facing northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. They spread their arms out, palms facing down, and began to chant. The various symbols located on the walls, the floor, and the ceiling all started to glow with an eerie light that cast a plethora of colors about the room, leaving no shadows, as the spell casters were surrounded in immense power, such that only demigods and the most powerful of demons can ever hope to come close to obtaining.

They could sense the border between this world and the next fluxing as Inferi ripped Naruto's soul out of the Shinigami's grasp, and threw him into Vesper and Fortuna's spell. Stella glowed a fierce crimson as her ties to Naruto's soul were reinforced and drawn on, and as her youkai poured into the jutsu. She knew that even she wouldn't be able to withstand such a constant drain of energy, and prayed to the great Fox Goddess that she might be granted with enough strength to see this through.

Translations:

Stella- Latin for Star

Vesper-Latin for evening/evening star

Inferi-Latin for the dead

Fortuna-Latin for fate/luck/chance

Kitsune- japanese for fox

hime- Japanese for princess

Jinchuuriki- Japanese for 'power of human sacrifice'. refers to someone with a creature of a species not their own sealed within them

nee- short for neechan, which is Japanese for sister

Gekkou Taki no Odori- Japanese for dance of the moonlight waterfall. sends water laced heavily with chakra spinning out in a spiral pattern, both internally and externally cutting the targets

Tsukiyomi- Itachi's eye jutsu. sends target into a world completely under Itachis control

Hai-yes

What I changed:

Completely deleted Cruentus as a character. Also wiped any mention of Stella's family. Added Pein and Madara, and changed who does what a bit. Added Hidan and Kakazu into the fight (I mentioned several times that four Akatsuki members came as reinforcements, not two). Completely altered conversation between Kyuubi and Madara (Cruentus before this was updated). Editted some mistakes.

First Updated: Unknown, sometime in early April or late March 2008

Second Update: 4/7/08, or Monday 7th, 2008

Last Updated: 4/17/08, or Thursday, April 17th, 2008