Chapter 01: Never Give up

Naruto lay sprawled on the ground weeping bitterly. His hands and face were scorched. His clothes were shredded. His hair was matted with dry blood. Next to him lay charred remains. They were unrecognizable except for the one, pale, half-lidded eye that was crusted with blood and dirt. A Hyuuga eye staring lifelessly at Naruto.

Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox, screamed out his frustration from the center of a humonguous crater that had once been Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. The soil was blackened where he lay, a pit deeper than the ground nearby, more desolated, baked into a solid imprint of a giant Fox's foot.

In the distance, the forest blazed brightly. Though it was evening, the village was lit up as bright as the light of day, The great walls lay in ruins, crumbled, and crushed, as if they could not stand with nothing left to protect.

Deep laughter reverberated in his skull. It had enjoyed this. It had loved this. It wanted more bloodshed. Naruto could feel the Fox's evil chakra straining against the seal, trying to take control once again.

"Damn you stupid fox!" Naruto's voice rasped. His mouth was dry. Ash was falling from the sky, choking him. He welcomed the sensation, the burning. He wished that it would snuff out his life and that of the fox. There was no reason to live, no reason to fight. None of his precious proplr were still alive.

---

It had only been that morning when Naruto and Jiraya walked through the gates of Konoha. His friends – most of them at least – had been waiting for him. Three years was a long time to be away. Even the fifth Hokage, Tsunade of the legendary sannin, was there to greet him, but she stayed back, allowing the friends of his own generation to welcome him properly.

Sakura Haruno, his team mate was first. She greeted him with a literally bone-crushing hug. Tsunade had been training her while he had gone off on a training journey with Jiraiya, another of the sannin.

"Lucky kid," Jiraiya pulled out a notepad and began jotting down notes, glancing between Sakura's enthused greeting, and the veiled, but generous assets of his former team mate.

"I look forward to sparring with you again Naruto-san!" a boy clad in green spandex yelled enthusiastically as he gave Naruto a thumbs up.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were next. They were less vocal, but he considered them friends none the less.

Next was Kiba Inuzuka, and his partner Akamaru. Naruto gazed at the dog in astonishment. It was bigger than him now. Last time he had seen Akamaru, he had been small enough lay on top of Kiba's head comfortable.

He didn't recognize the next person to greet him, but then he couldn't see the boy's face. His collar covered him right up to the bottom of his eyes which were covered in dark sun glasses. After a brief exchange, Naruto realized that it was Shino of the Aburame clan.

Finally, to greet him was Hinata Hyuuga. Her cheeks were bright red and her index fingers tapped together nervously.

"H...hello, N...N-Naruto-kun," she stammered before turning away shyly.

"Three years and you still act kind of weird," Naruto observed. He grabbed one of her hands and shook it vigourously. Kiba caught her as she fainted. "Yep, still weird."

No one noticed the strange looking man who was half green and half white and looked like he was being eated by a venus flytrap. The man was observing vrom a shadowed area. He sank into the ground, ready to tell his master that the Kyuubi had returned.

---

Ichiraku ramen was Naruto's favourite. If he had the choice, he would eat nothing else. Ayame talked with him about his recent trip while her father Teuchi, the owner of the Ramen stand worked on cooking up Naruto's fourth bowl for the evening. Teuchi handed the bowl to Ayame.

"For our favourite customer, this one's on the house," Ayame smiled. There was a large crash and the walls of the stand exploded into tiny slivers as a scaled sword ripped through. The angle of the slash severed Teuchi's body at the chest and ripped Ayame's head from her body. She dropped the bowl of ramen, spraying him in the face with her blood. Tsuchi and Ayame were dead. The sword now began to make its way downward towards Naruto. He had no choice but to run.

"Going somewhere?" Itachi Uchiha stood in the entranceway, blocking Naruto's escape. His Akatsuki cloak blew majestically in the wind. He struck Naruto who had to Roll to avoid Samhaeda, the blade of Itachi's partner Kisame.

The world began to swim before Naruto's eyes. A genjutsu. Naruto could not fight against genjutsu to save his own life. He had always been a ninjutsu specialist, genjutsu was just too complicated for him, and required too much chakra control.

"Kai!" Naruto let loose a burst of Chakra in hopes of cancelling the genjutsu before it really was too late. He could already feel his mind shutting down from the jutsu. Samehada sliced through a support beam and the stand collapsed on Naruto.

"Careful, we need him alive." Itachi warned Kisame who had begun digging through the rubble.

Naruto was in pain. Kyuubi was healing him, but it couldn't heal the wounds where beams from the roof had pierced through his body and nailed him to the floor. He was bleeding and defenseless.

---

Naruto found himself in the dripping wet tunnel of his mindscape. It smelled rank, and the pipes covering the walls were covered in slime. He could see a red glow and feel heat from in front of him. He knew the kyuubi was there. He trudged forward. He soon came to a large chamber. A giant gate was before him, a large paper seal covering the lock. His tenant was there.

"Let me out, or we're both going to die," the kyuubi said.

"No!" Naruto refused. It was much too dangerous.

"They killed Teuchi and Ayame," the kyuubi reminded him, makeing the images of their deaths flash through his head, "and now we're trapped, and dying. If you don't let me out we're both going to die, kit."

Naruto cried out in anguish as he watched his friends being killed over, and over again.

"Don't you want revenge? I can kill them. I can save you. I can make them pay!"

---

Red chakra was leaking out of Naruto's body. The beams impaling him were burned to a crisp and his wounds closed. Then, the chakra poured out explosively in massive amounts. All nine of the kyuubi's tails appeared at once.

Itachi and Kisami did not have time to move before they were envelopped in the burning chakra. They died immediately, not even realizing that they were being killed as the chakra expanded to form the massive body of the nine tailed fox.

Naruto's tails of chakra flicked around, smashing buildings as if they were made of paper. Alarms were sounding. Cries of fear filled the streets of Konoha. Naruto laughed as he attacked the village. His mind was gone, overwhelmed by the demonic chakra and replaced with an incomparable bloodlust.

Ninjas attacked him, but they could not penetrate the chakra barrier that was now his skin. His friends were crushed mercilessly under his claws. Not ever the hokage herself was able to stop him, and she was crushed easily. His friends could only look on fearfully as he killed them one by one, that is all but once of them.

Hinata Hyuuga stood before him. Instead of looking afraid, she looked sad. He growled angrily. She should fear him, tremble before his might. He charged up a ball of burning chakra between his tails. It hovered like a second sun over Konoha. He launched it into the air.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata yelled out, steeled by the fact that she knew that she was about to die, "I love you!" The giant red ball hit the ground. Naruto's form began to lose cohesion and he tried to protect Hinata with his burning claws, but they only seared her flesh.

"Hi... na... ta..." his demonic voice yelled forlornly as the entire city of Konoha was engulfed in the blast from his attack.

---

He lay in the ruins of Konoha for two days, willing himself to die, holding the charred remains of the woman who had said she loved him. No one had ever said they loved him before. Why did she have to die? Why did he give in to that stupid fox. He should have been the one to die. Now everyone he cared about was gone.

"Hinata," he cried, his throat parched from days of laying in the smoldering ruins without water. It barely came out as a whisper. He was weak now, his time would come soon. He would die soon, and then he could tell her, he could cry out as he was dragged into hell, she would know that he loved her too.

---

Naruto found himself in an unfamiliar place. A stoney tunnel. Geysers of flame erupted from cracks in the floor. He wondered if he was really in hell. Was he dead? He walked forward. There was a cavern. The floor was molten rock, with stepping stones leading to a ledge. His eyes widened. He could see Hinata there, chained to the wall by her ankle.

"Naruto-kun..." She sobbed over and over again.

"Hinata," He ran to her and gathered her in his arms. "What are you doing here. You don't deserve this. I'm the only one who should be in hell."

"It's because I loved a demon," she replied sadly, "you did this to me!" She grabbed him and her claws dug into Naruto's back.

"You're not Hinata!" Naruto realized angrily. The fox had tricked him. "How dare you use her face!"

"I thought you wanted to see her again." The Hinata face split into an unnatural looking fox-like grin.

"Don't you dare use her face!" Naruto pushed the kyuubi away, slamming it against the wall.

"Damn you!" the fox growled, "Please don't hurt me again, Naruto-kun..." The kyuubi shied away from him in a manner that very much reminded him of Hinata.

"Stop using her face!"

"But, I love you, Naruto-kun..."

"Please stop," Naruto begged.

"Promise me that you won't kill us. Let us live and we'll give you everything you ever wanted."

"You can't give me anything I need. You can't love me. You can only destroy."

"What is love anyway. I have to keep you safe and happy, kit, isn't that love?"

Hinata's form disappeared, leaving a vaguely humanoid shape in its stead. It was a naked girl, but the proportions were wrong. Her skin was vaguely orange in color. Her eyes were red and slitted. She had claws and a fox-like tail. She had no breasts, but she had three pairs of small pink nipples running down her front. Her hair was fiery red and orange, relatively short, but spiked out in tufts that pointed in every direction.

"Please..." the Kyuubi wrapped her arms around Naruto. "I'll do anything for you. Use me any way you want, just don't let me die." She hugged him tightly.

---

Naruto opened his eyes. He was no longer laying in the ruins of throat was moist. Someone had given him water. He was laying in a wooden cart. His movements were restricted by bandages that covered most of his body. An old man was sitting at the front, holding the reigns.

"Where are we?" he asked.

The old man jerked on the reigns, bringing the cart to a halt. He moved with the slow deliberation of a man whose bones ached as he climbed into the back of the cart with Naruto.

"So, you're awake," the old man said, "how are you feeling."

"You should have let me die," Naruto said, "I want to die."

"Calm down. You shouldn't throw your life away."

"I killed them all, everyone I loved is dead because of me."

"That's impossible. It would have taken an army to do that much damage," The old man helped Naruto to sit up. "You can't blame yourself."

"You should kill me now, before I kill you like I did them."

"I don't think you are in a position to–"

The old man was cut off when Naruto grabbed him by the throat and slammed him down onto the cart. The old man looked terrified. Naruto's nails were digging into his throat. Naruto wore an expression that looked almost like anger, but the old man realized that it was pain when he noticed a pair of kunai sticking out of Naruto's shoulder.

"You saved me," the old man realized, "But your injuries..."

Naruto stood up. Except for the wounds from the kunai, his body felt fine. The Kyuubi had taken care of him while he was out, or maybe the Kyuubi kept him out so he could be taken care of. Either way, though he was hungry and thirsty, he was otherwise in pretty good condition. He plucked the kunai from his shoulder. They were the only ninja tools he had now.

Bandits emerged from the trees.

"You'd better just give up. Just empty your pockets and leave the cart and we'll let you pass." It was a young man. He had too many scars for his age. He moved almost like a ninja. He probably came from a ninja family, or flunked out of the academy.

Naruto let out a gutteral laugh, a crazy laugh. "I wish it was that easy. I wish you could kill me. You probably deserve to live more than I do after what I did to Konoha." Naruto formed the modified tiger handsign for his favourite jutsu. "But this old man doesn't deserve to die, so I guess that means I have to kill you. Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Ten copies of Naruto appeared and launched their kunai at the bandits. Except for the leader, all the bandits were killed. The leader was surrounded by the clones and grabbed by the arms and legs. The original Naruto walked up to the immobilized man and slashed him across the throat.

"I've already killed an entire village. What's one more life to me." Naruto said irritably and wiped the blood off the kunai.

Naruto checked all the bandits. He took the best set of clothes that would fit him, their money, and all the ninja tools he could find. It wasn't much. He had a ratty grey shirt, a pair of beige canvas pants and some black combat boots. They only had a few hundred ryou between them for money. For ninja tools: six kunai and a handful of smoke pellets.

Naruto ripped off the bandages that covered his body and put on the clothes he had taken before climbing into the cart and sitting down. The old man looked slightly shaken by the encounter.

"When we get to wherever you're going, the only payment I want is for you to end my life." Naruto said. He removed the charred Konoha forehead protector and threw it as far as he could into the forest.

---

"Living's not so bad is it, kit?" Naruto just sat there limply as the kyuubi snuggled up to him. She traced the line of his chest teasingly with a clawed finger. "Just rest and let me take care of you."

"You don't care about me," Naruto replied, "You are just doing this for you."

"I'm sorry, kit, I really do care about you," the fox pulled Naruto's head down against her chest and stroked his head soothingly. "The sooner you believe that, the sooner you'll be happy."

"Stupid fox." Naruto growled.

---

Naruto woke up when the cart came to a sudden stop. The hot and dusty air told Naruto that they were heading in the direction of Wind Country.

"Old man," Naruto said, "Where are we headed?"

"I'm making a delivery to Suna." the old man said, "But I think we'll take the night here. I'm sorry but I spent most of my travelling expenses on bandages after I found you. You were pretty beat up then, even if you look fine now. You may end up sleeping on the floor."

"The floor's more than good enough for me," Naruto sighed as he climbed out of the cart, "I slept most of the day anyway, so I'll keep watch as well."

"Thank you," the old man said, patting him on the shoulder, "you're a good kid."

"I wish that were true." Naruto created a shadow clone to watch the cart.

---

They had gotten a small room with a single bed. There was no window, and there was barely enough room for Naruto to lay on the floor beside the bed. He couldn't sleep. If he did, the fox would come to him again. He couldn't let it do that. Even if he knew that it was lying to preserve its own life, the sweet words it whispered were slowly breaking down his defenses.

His shadow clone suddenly became dispelled.

Naruto created another to watch the old man, then ran out into the streets. He didn't see anything. There was noone around, but his shadow clone had been destroyed from behind.

"Run!" the kyuubi's voice in his head ordered. He didn't hesitate. If he had, the senbon needle that lodged itself into his shoulder would have been in his neck.

"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" After forming the seal, a circle of Naruto clones faced outward, looking for signs of the attacker. Two more of his clones were picked off by senbon needles.

"The villagers. They hide in their homes and attack. Kill them all!" the kyuubi growled.

"No!" Naruto would not listen to this. It only proved to him how despicable the fox really was.

"It's for your own safety!"

"You want me to massacre another village? Wasn't one enough?"

"You don't care for any of the villagers and they attack you from the shadows."

"I didn't see anyone!" Three more clones poofed out of existance. From one of their memories, Naruto saw the glint of the moon reflecting off of a needle held by a hand inside one of the buildings.

Naruto ran and leapt through the window, tackling the person hidden on the other side. It was a young boy. Naruto was surprised. He could not believe someone so young could throw with such accuracy. A senbon needle was stabbed into Naruto's stomach by the boy.

"I told you to kill them!" The rest of Naruto's clones were destroyed. It seemed that the whole village was in on the attack.

Naruto grabbed the needle and ripped it out of his gut and prepared to drive it into the boy's eye. The boy showed no fear. It was as if he didn't see the danger in front of him.

"It seems you were right," the fox said, "It looks like some sort of possession jutsu."

"Possession?"

"It controls the boy's body, and probably those of the rest of the village."

"The old man!" Naruto yelled as he felt his clone get stabbed in the back. Naruto raced back towards their room, dodging a hail of senbon needles. The old man was standing, holding a kunai to his own throat.

"This would have been so much easier if you had just let us take the cart," a voice echoed in the darkness, "If you surrender, I'll spare your client's life."

Naruto stood still for a moment, thinking, and then punched the old man.

"Ow," the old man dropped the kunai and rubbed his bruised cheek. "What was that for?"

"A ninja took contol of your body. I was probably only spared because I didn't go to sleep, which is probably why he couldn't control me. Sorry about hitting you though, but it would have been worse if I hadn't," Naruto said and then made a bunch of shadow clones, "Why don't you come out from wherever you're hiding?"

"I can tell something about you. You were never meant to be a ninja. You can't do what it takes to win, like kill a little girl."

The clone standing by the door was stabbed by a young girl who leapt boldly into the room.

"But I don't need to kill her, since I know where you are," a clone helped him to create a swirling ball of chakra and he slammed it through a wall, "Rasengan!"The wall was completely destroyed, revealing a hidden passage and a now dead ninja.

"Dad!" The little girl cried out when she saw the body of the ninja who had a large swirling indent in the center of his chest. She attacked Naruto with renewed fury, but lacked the control her father had given her when he controlled her and Naruto was easily able to restrain her.

"I'm sorry."

---

The next day, noone was outside when they left. The innkeeper was not even there to collect the money for the room.

"I told you that the whole town was in on it," the kyuubi gloated. Since there was no one in town, Naruto used the opportunity to search for supplies and cash. Senbon needles seemed to be almost universally owned by the people of the village. A few had kunai, but he only found one ninja wire and a few explosive notes.

"Stealing from the people of the village?" the old man asked.

"Spoils of war. They tried to kill us, and steal from us."

The old man looked disappointed in Naruto's actions, but Naruto now had a well stocked pouch of ninja tools, brand new clothes he had taken from a tailor shop, and the money from every cash register in the village. With the help of his shadow clones, it had not taken long to ransack the entire village.

---

The kyuubi nuzzled his cheek.

"Such a good kit," she said. He had finally fallen asleep. "You knew what had to be done and you did it. The look on that girl's face when she saw her father, and the way you took everything that you found, it was... delicious."

Naruto shuddered as the kyuubi licked his jawline delicately. Naruto elbowed her hard to make her stop.

"Listen you stupid brat," the kyuubi growled as she transformed momentarily into her gigantic fox form, pinning him with her paw, "You will not resist and you will enjoy it, or I'll bite off your stupid little head."

"Still only pretending?" Naruto asked, "Maybe I'll just jump head first off the next cliff we pass, and put us out of our misery."

The kyuubi shrunk back to her girl form, kneeling over him, her hand restin on his chest. Sh stretched her body out sensuously, feeling the bulge in his pants grow.

"Are you really mad at me? Or are you just afraid that you might actually like me?" she grinned ferally, "Or maybe you just take after that pervert Jiraiya."

"He might still be alive." Naruto realized, he had not seen Jiraiya after he had transformed. Perhaps Tsunade had sent the pervy-sage on some sort of mission right after they had returned.

---

They were now in the desert. The harsh sun beat down on them, and waves of sweltering heat rose off the dunes. The cart moved slowly, constantly getting stuck in small dunes that were growing on the road.

Naruto to a drink of water. He was sweating. The old man seemed to be doing fine.

"How are you feeling?" the old man asked.

"If I can't convince you to kill me, thie sun will do it for me," Naruto replied, squinting through the brightness.

"You can't really feel that badly," the old man told him, "You're young, and you have so much to live for."

"Yes, I can't wait to make more friends, only to slaughter them."

"That's the spirit!"

"Stupid fox," Naruto gazed around at the surrounding desert. A small group of travellers were running in their direction, quickly catching up to them. "There are people coming."

The old man nodded, "This is a commonly travelled road. Probably just some Suna shinobi returning from a mission.

"Looks like it," Naruto could see the glint of forehead protectors. He took another drink of water.

Soon, the ninja were readily recognizable by the Suna symbol on their headband. The lead ninja, Naruto recognized immediately. It was Temari, sister to the kazekage Gaara who was a jinchuuriki like him. Gaara contained the ichibi, the one tailed raccoon.

"Naruto!" Temari looked at Naruto like she was seeing a ghost, "Konoha was... we thought everyone..."

"They are." Naruto said with finality.

"I was on a mission to deliver a missive to Tsunade, and I found the entire village... there was nothing left. What happened?"

"I did. I lost control."

"How are you now?" Temari's hand gripped her fan, waiting for his answer. She had first hand experience of how unstable a jinchuuriki could be.

"Hoping that someone will put us out of my misery."

Temari's gaze softened, "Is the bijuu causing trouble?"

"Only if you count trying to keep me alive. When ever I get close, she stops me."

"The kyuubi's a girl?"

"Well, I think so, the form she uses is definitely a girl."

"I could have appeared as Sasuke, if that is what you would have wanted."

"I just want you to shut up!" Naruto's outburst surprised everyone, "Not you, the fox."

"Well, let's get moving then," Temari said, "Gaara will need to hear your part of the story."

"I thought we were moving."

"Get off your lazy ass and push!" Temari smacked Naruto on the head with her battle fan.

---

With Naruto pushing, they managed to get to Suna before nightfall. With Temari's help, there was no problem passing the gatekeepers and she marched Naruto straight to the Kazekage's office.

"We have to begin preparations."

"Akatsuki is going to make a move. My spy has always been reliable in the past."

The conversation stopped. The two men from the village council glared at the intruders, backing off when they realized who is was.

"Temari-sama!" The two council members stood at attention.

"Konoha is gone."

Gaara sighed, "You two make your preparations. Leave us." The light coating of sand on the floor was shifting irritably, "Welcome to Suna, Naruto. Are you here on a mission?"

"I told you, Konoha is gone!" Temari repeated. Gaara glared at her irritably.

"What do you mean gone."

"Big crater is all that's left," She tossed a scroll with the kazekage's seal on it onto the desk.

"You failed your mission then," the sand grabbed a piece of paper, stamped it, then moved it to another pile.

"You saw what happened?" Gaara asked Naruto.

Naruto nodded.

"And?"

"I happened," Naruto told him, "Two members of Akasuki came after me and I lost control."

Gaara sat still for a moment, thinking. "What do you intend to do?"

"Nothing, ever again," Naruto said, "I want to just see your sand funeral... from the inside."

Gaara's face twisted into a murderous smile. The gourd on his back discintegrated into particles of sand. The sand converged on Naruto and began to cover him.

"Gaara, wait!" Temari protested.

"Sand burial," Gaara said, raising his hand towards Naruto.

"But he's..."

Naruto sighed in relief. It was almost over. Soon the fox would not be a threat to anyone.

"He's what?" Gaara asked, making a tendril of sand grab onto her leg.

"He's your friend!" Temari broke the tendril of sand with her fan.

"Not anymore," Gaara said, "The Naruto I know does not abandon his friends, he doesn't give up, and he's now a chunnin in the village hidden in the sand." Gaara's fist clenched and the sand dropped, gathering into the shape of a gourd on his back once again.

Naruto had been expecting pain, crushed bones and suffocation. Instead, the sand slipped through his fingers and left a Suna forehead protector.

"You brought him here. Find him a room, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, I'm busy," Gaara dismissed them.

---

"What do you want?" Naruto asked.

"I want to make you stronger," the fox replied, "Don't you want to be strong? Doesn't it feel good to feel my chakra enhancing your body?"

"So you can destroy more of my friends?"

"I'll only give you a little bit, not even a tails worth. Think of it like training. I'll give you a little more every day. You'll get used to my chakra, and soon it won't affect your mind at all."

"You mean, I wouldn't be a danger to anyone?"

"At least not to your friends. I wouldn't want to be one of your enemies though."

"I..." Naruto did not know what to do. It was everything he could have wanted. It was probably also a trick to make him weaken the seal. "What would I have to do?"

The fox grinned in an unsettling way. She disappeared and embraced him from behind. She held her wrist to his lips. "Bite me. Drink my essence. Take as much as you want," she whispered seductively.

"I can't." Naruto turned his head away.

"Did you want to drink from somewhere else?" Naruto felt her feral grin, which caused one of her fangs to rub against the side of his neck. Her claw traced the edge of the seal on his stomach, exploring upwards to his throat. For a moment, Naruto thought that she was going to slit his throat, but then, with a flick of her wrist, she made a cut on her own arm. She rubbed the cut against his face, letting a slick stream of blood run over his lips. "Drink up."

Naruto tentatively reached out with his tongue, licking the blood froom his lips. It was salty and hot, burning his throat like extra-spicy ramen. It was delicious. He boldly began licking at the cut. He couldn't get enough of her taste. His tongue stroked the kyuubi's self inflicted injury until it healed to the point that blood no longer flowed from it.

"Bite me, or I can show you where else to use that tongue," the offer was too good to pass up. It was a free chance to give the Kyuubi a small dose of pain. He bit down on her hard. His fangs bit much deeper than her claw had cut. She gasped, enjoying his vigour.

---

It was too noisy. It was the first thing Naruto noticed about the Sabaku household. Temari and Kankuro were having some sort of argument. When the shouting suddenly ceased, Naruto guessed that Gaara had woken up the same way. Naruto got out of bed. He was still wearing the same clothes he had been wearing when he had arrived. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and left to see if it was time to eat.

He followed the sounds of, now civil, conversation to the kitchen. He yawned and stretched,

"Why is everyone staring at me?"

"What's up with your face?" Kankuro asked.

"Coming from the boy who wears makeup," Temari said snippily.

Gaara acted sensibly and showed Naruto his reflection in the side of a metal toaster.

Naruto gaped at what he saw. His eyes had beome red and slitted. His teeth had become more pronounced fangs. His whisker marks had become thicker and more defined. The tips of his hair had taken on a slight orange hue. Naruto reached out to touch the reflection. He now had claws.

"Don't we look handsome," the kyuubi purred.

"Stupid fox," Naruto sighed. He didn't want to deal with this. "What's for breakfast?"

Gaara nodded towards a box of cereal. Naruto sat at the table and pured himself a bowl with some milk. He took one bite and spit it out.

"What's wrong with this?" Naruto asked, "It's like eating cardboard."

The sand siblings tried the cereal, but it tasted fine to them. Naruto just drank the milk from his bowl. The milk tasted fine. He tried a soggy piece of cereal again. It was edible, but it did not taste good.

"Do you have any ninja gear?" Temari asked, noting what he was still wearing.

"I lost everything," he replied, his mood becoming even more sour, "but I scavenged some stuff from some bandits. He tossed his pouch onto the table and the contents spilled out. Temari and Kankuro laughed when they saw the quality of the stuff he had.

"Money?" Temari asked, pushing a dull and rusty kunai away from her.

"That was easier to find."

"Then we are going to get you some new clothes and ninja tools first."

"I don't have nearly enough for that," Naruto protested, showing the rather large pouch of money.

"Maybe not if they're made of solid gold."

"But this would barely buy me anything in Kohona."

"Were things really that expensive?"

"I was still using the kunai that Iruka-sensei gave me when I was in the academy."

"Why–" Before Temari could ask any more questions, Gaara released a wave of killing intent.

"It's because of what we are," Gaara said angrily.

---

Temari showed Naruto to the best shops in town, making sure that he got good deals, and good clothes. He had found an orange jump suit in one of the civilian stores that looked almost like the one he used to wear. Temari had convinced the store owner that it was in his best interests not to sell it to him.

Temari eventually agreed to allow him to buy an outfit. He now wore a pair of red sandals, yellow cargo pants, a skin-tight red shirt with armored plates inside it, a yellow chunnin vest, a white cloak with red flames, and a pair of red fingerless gloves with metal plates on the knuckles.

At ninja tool store, he got a package of explosive notes, some ninja wire, some good kunai and shuriken, and two windmill shuriken.

He had spent less than half the money he had taken from the town and decided to stop at a weapons shop. He had never been able to afford weapons before.

He tried everything he could: swords, spears, daggers. Nothing seemed to feel right to him.

"Buy that!" The kyuubi ordered when he saw some tekagi. Three claws, each a foot and a half long made of dark metal. The underside of the blades gleamed brightly where they were sharpened and polished to a razor edge. Naruto put it on. It was heavy.

"You've got a good eye," the shopkeeper told him, "That is a good weapon. It's even made of chakra conducting metal."

"Get it!" the kyuubi ordered, "Everything else is worthless."

"I don't know. It's not bad, but how much does it cost."

Temari had been looking at battle fans and came over.

"He's been trying to get rid of that for ages. It's a piece of junk," Temari told him, "It's way too heavyto be practical."

Naruto looked at her incredulously. Her battle fan was much heavier than the claws he now held. "Can I try it?" Naruto asked.

"Of course," the shopkeeper grstured to a padded practice dummy, "I wouldn't want you to make an uninformed purchase."

Naruto swung his entire arm, striking the practice dummy with the blades. Three small dents appeared in the wood from the impact.

"It's made of chakra conducting metal, kit, so don't be an idiot and conduct some chakra."

Naruto focused his chakra and the blades glowed with a dark blue aura. Swinging the tekagi again, the blades left a much deeper impression. The indents were slightly blackened.

"With a little bit of practice, you could cut right through solid rock, or even steel, with those," the shopkeeper told him.

---

Gaara assigned Naruto to train with his own teacher, Baki. This was to determine his actual ability and to help teach him the procedures of the sand shinobi.

Baki decided that the first thing to do was test Naruto's strength. He had seen Naruto fight in the chuunin exams, but that had been years ago. He asked Naruto to show him everything he had.

"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto and his clones focused chakra into their new weapon and attacked Baki from multiple angles. With little effort, Baki managed to dispense with the clones and disarm the real Naruto.

"You just got that today. You should train with it before you carry it into battle," Baki said. He had expected more from the boy who had once defeated Gaara. He picked up the tekagi and put it on. "Especially when the are as cumbersome as this is," he said as he dropped the claws.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto concentrated chakra into his hand and his clone focused on spinning the chakra. "Rasengan!" Naruto thrust the Rasengan towards Baki.

Baki dodged to the side, grabbing Naruto by the wrist and slamming the jutsu into the ground. A small crater was made with spiral grooves. The Naruto who had attacked Baki disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Odama Rasengan!" Naruto had another clone helping him make a rasengan that was bigger than a man's head.

Baki did not want to get too near the jutsu and performed a substitution jutsu. A large stone was vaporized where the technique struck, and a large spiralling crater extended from the point of impact.

"What else have you got?" Baki asked. He was impressed with Naruto's raw power, though not his speed was fairly average, and his intelligence was sub par as far as he could tell.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto bit his thumb and spread his hand on the ground. With a large puff of smoke Gamabunta, the toad boss appeared.

"Eh? What did you summon me for, Naruto?" Gamabunta asked, "This guy causing you trouble?"

"Actually, I was aiming for Gamakichi," Naruto admitted.

"You had enough chakra in that summon to get two of me," Gamabunta grumbled, "Is there something different about you?" Naruto looked away guiltily, "Next time you summon me, there better be a real battle, or at least plenty of sake," Gamabunta said, dispelling himself.

"I only really have one trick left." Naruto told Baki.

"Let's see it then," Baki beckoned for him to bring it on.

"I'm warning you, I beat the third hokage, Jiraiya, and Ebisu sensei with this technique."

Baki was beginning to get excited. This kid must have some power to beat a kage and one of the sannin.

"Let's see it then," he said, watching closely.

"Haremu no Jutsu!"

"Not very impressive," Baki said, before knocking down Naruto and dispelling all his clones, "Unless your opponent is weak willed. I would recommend not using that jutsu around Temari." Baki sniffed back a droplet of blood that threatened to leak from his nose. "Tell me, don't you know any of the basic jutsu?"

"Of course. I graduated the academy didn't I!"

"Then show me a henge. Turn into Gaara."

"I'll do better than that." Naruto formed his seal and created three shadow clones. Each one looked like one of the sand siblings, and he transformed into Baki."

"Now, kawarimi," Baki ordered, thowing a shuriken at his mirror image. He barely noticed the switch and threw another suriken at Naruto who had switched places with the Gaara clone, and transforming so that anyone not paying close enough attentionwould not have noticed the switch.

Naruto performed another substitution, and then again. He was now the only one left and released the henge.

"Now a bunshin."

The result was sad. The colours were all wrong.

"I thought you said that you could do the e-ranked jutsu." Baki smirked at the listless miscoloured clone.

"I've never been able to do that one," Naruto sighed.

"You have chakra control problems."

"How could you tell?"

"Gaara had the same problem, but he overcame it. I suspect I'll be able to make it easier for you though. I want to test something. Create a kage bunshin for me."

Naruto did as he was asked and Baki took the clone out of sight.

"What are we doing?" the clone asked when they stopped.

"You'll see. Just make another bunshin for me."

The clone complied and a second clone appeared. Baki once again led it away.

"I want you to remember the word desert and dispel yourself." Baki told the clone. The naruto clone nodded and disappeared.

Baki shunshined back to the first clone.

"What was the point of that?"

"I'll explain later. Do you remember what I told him?"

The clone thought for a moment, "You told him to remember the word desert then had him dispel." The clones correct answer was responded to with a kunai to the center of the forehead.

Baki returned to the original Naruto and asked him what had happened to the first clone.

"You stabbed it in the head," he replied, cautiously stepping back as he answered.

"As I thought. Your clones not only have fully functional chakra networks, but also transfers their memories to you when they are destroyed."

"What's your point?"

"By having your clones train, you can learn jutsu much faster. How many clones can you make?"

"I don't know. A lot."

"Show me, make as many as you can, but leave them with enough chakra to still perform jutsu."

"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Baki estimated that there were almost two thousand clones.

"How much chakra do they have?" Baki asked.

"They could probably each do the odama ransengan a few times before they got tired."

"Excellent. Hopefully you'll learn this quickly then," Baki picked up a grain of sand and placed it in the middle of his forehead. It stayed in place. "This is the chakra control exercise that I taught to Gaara. Once you're able to hold a grain of sand with just chakra, learn to hold it so it is no longer touching you. When you've mastered that, add another grain. Keep it up until your entire body is covered. Gaara is the only one who had enough chakra to maintain this, his Suna No Yoroi, the sand armor that covers his body, is the result of this training. If you can achieve that, then you will certainly have enough chakra control to do a simple bunshin. If you cant, you can train with your clones until you can perform the technique perfectly."

Once Baki was sure that Naruto understood the training, he left to report to the kazekage.

---

Getting a piece of sand to stick to his head had been easy. Iruka had used a similar exercise in the academy to help him concentrate his chakra, but holding it away from his head was completely new to Naruto. He and his clones worked on the technique for hours until one of the clones dispersed itself. It had completed the exercise, for a second. It wasn't much, but it was progress.

Soon, the clones were dispersing themselves almost constantly and half an hour after he had mastered a single grain, he began to work on two. This exercise prooved to be almost as difficult as creating a rasengan without the help of a clone. It was like he was trying to concentrate on two things at once, which he was.

It took the clones several hours to achieve the second grain. By this time, Naruto was famished and was having trouble concentrating. He dispersed all his clones at the same time. He realized too late that this was a mistake. His mind was barraged with the memories of two thousand clones, giving him a debilitating headache. He decided that he would not disperse so many at one time again. He rubbed his head to help clear the pain and was pleased to find that the two grains of sand were still hanging there without any real effort on his part to hold them.

"Training all this time and only finished two grains?" Temari goaded him. Naruto hadn't known she was there, or how long she had been watching him.

"I'm getting better." Naruto looked at the smirking four-short-ponytailed girl.

"So's Gaara. I think he's improved more than you, and he's only been doing paperwork."

Naruto let out a gurtteral growl. It was animalistic and intimidating, even to Temari. Naruto tried to calm himself, he could feel the foxes chakra leaking out more and more.

"Just let it out," the voice of the fox purred inside his took a kunai and placed it at his own throat.

"Stop it, or I'll take both of us out."

"She should have treated you with more respect. You're more powerful that her," the kyuubi said, attempting to use his pride to increase the bloodlust that was beginning to fill him.

"Naruto?" Temari looked on as Naruto slashed his own throat. His face paled and he fainted as blood gushed out. Temari rushed over. His wound was already beginning to close.

---

"Are you trying to kill us?" Kyuubi lunged at Naruto, but he kept his distance and the seal held her at bay.

"Yes," he replied simply, "And if you ever try anything, I'll do it again, and again until you stop or I succeed."

The kyuubi's demeanor instantly changed. She stopped straining on the chain and crouched down, wrapping her arms around her knees, muttering pitifully. She looked at Naruto, bloody tears flowed down her cheeks.

"I didn't do anything. I just talked. Please don't hurt us. Don't kill us."

Naruto was taken aback by her mournful plea. "You're afraid. You haven't had anything worth fearing in so long that you can't take it, can you?"

"I am not afraid!" the kyuubi lashed out angrily.

It was almost funny to see the kyuubi acting so fearfully and trying to hide it. He felt sorry for her. He walked forward and crouched in front of her. He wiped the blood from her face with her hands. On instinct, he licked the blood from his hand. It had the same deliciously burning taste that he remembered.

"Even if you didn't make me lose control, you shouldn't encourage me to kill people who aren't trying to kill me."

"Why not? You know what I am. I am a demon. I enjoy fighting, and killing, and bathing in the blood of my enemies," she shuddered pleasantly at the thought.

"Shes not our enemy."

"Just because she isn't your enemy, does not mean that she isn't mine," the kyuubi pouted.

---

Naruto woke up in the hospital. Temari was standing next to the bed he lay in looking worried.

"Hey, Temari-san." Naruto alerted her to his conciousness.

"What the hell were you thinking!? You could have killed yourself!" Temari instantly began to berate him.

"That was the idea."

"But, why?"

"It was me or you, I made a choice," he said guiltily.

"What possible danger could I have been in..."

"My appearence isn't just for show. I have the Kyuubi's chakra permanently filling my chakra coils. I'm going to have a bit of a short temper until I get used to it."

"You know I didn't mean what I said, right?" Temari asked, "I was just..."

"I know. Sakura was the same way," Naruto said, a wave of sadness washing over him as he recalled what had happened back in Konoha, "I think I might need some help to deal with this." He said. He opened the window and jumped out into the street. He didn't want to accidentally destroy the hospital. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto bit his thumb and summoned a toad. He managed to put in little enough chakra that he summoned Gamakichi this time.

"Yo, Naruto... What happened to you?" Gamakichi asked.

"I'll explain later," Naruto said, "I have a job for you."

"Sure boss." Gamakichi replied.

"I want you to spread word amoung the toads. If Jiraiya is still alive, tell him that I am in Suna and I need his help. It's urgent."

"I'm on my way." Gamakichi returned to the summon realm.

"Why are you calling for Jiraiya," Temari asked, "What can he do for you that we cant?"

"Except for my father, he's the one who knows the most about the kyuubi's seal. I have to make sure that it's alright, and that what we're doing won't endanger your village."

"Well you must be hungry. You want to get something to eat? Thats why I came to get you when you were training."

"Say no," the kyuubi urged. Naruto's stomach argued otherwise with a loud growl.

"That sounds like a yes to me," Temari said.

---

Naruto was taken to a small restaurant in the backstreets of Suna.

"It's not much, but I thought you might like this place," Temari told him.

It seemed to be just a normal home, except for the faded sign above the door that looked like a pig.

"Shiru and Omi are the only ones in Suna who sell ramen." Naruto's eyes lit up when Temari told him this.

"Ramen!" He raced through the door and was greeted by an old couple.

"Welcome to the Ichiraku Noodle House," the old woman said, "I'm Omi and this is my husband Shiru. Please enjoy."

"Ichiraku?" Naruto was shocked, "You aren't related to Teuchi and Ayame are you?"

"You know them? Teuchi-kun is our son, and Ayame-chan is out granddaughter," Shiru said, "Do you know them? How are they doing."

"I'm sorry. It was my favourite restaurant." Naruto said, "I didn't even see it coming."

"You don't mean." Omi covered her mouth and bit back tears.

"They're both dead. A man named Kisame killed them in an attempt to capture me." Red chakra began to leak from Naruto.

"And the man who killed them."

"I killed him. I... I should have just let them take me. It would have been so much better if I had just given myself up and let them kill me."

"Calm down," the kyuubi told him, "Don't do anything stupid." The red chakra began to receed.

"Sit down wherever you like. It's on the house today."

Temari wrapped an arm around Naruto's shoulders and led him to a seat.

"Just tell me what you want," Shizu said.

"Four servings of miso ramen, extra toppings," Naruto said.

"You're that kid Teuchi was always talking about, his best costumer. Naruto, isn't it!" Omi said when she heard his order.

He nodded in response. A minute later, his order was ready.

"Can you tell us everything that happened, please," Omi asked.

Naruto told them his story. By the end they had run through the whole gamut of emotions. In some ways they were angry, but in others it was like Naruto was a memento of their son.

"If you need anything. Please come to us," Omi hugged Naruto in a grandmotherly fashion, "We may be old, but at the very least we can make you some nice hot ramen to fill you up and make you feel better."

"Whatever you do, please live on. Don't let out son's death be meaningless," Shiru told him.

"Thank you." Naruto felt better now than any time since the incident had occurred. It was like a great weight had been removed from him. "The ramen was delicious. I should get back to training."

---

Temari walked him back to the training ground.

"Thanks for showing me that place," Naruto said, "I feel a lot better."

"You gave us back our brother. It's the least I could do," Temari replied, "We could never repay you enough. It's like Gaara is a whole new person. You know what they said applies to us too; Don't be afraid to ask us for anything. We're here for you no matter what."

Naruto smiled and created his clones to begin training.