Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the Naruto characters. I bought some posters, and maybe an episode or two on iTunes, but other than that I only borrow.

I get annoyed with newer stories sometimes. So to appease myself, I write my stories.

This one was slightly inspired by when in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (remember that show?) Angel came back from Hell and was a feral beast. I then used that idea and wrote this.

Summary: Sasuke is at Orochimaru's, seeking power and more importantly, an escape from Konoha. While training, he finds what can only be described as a wild beast.

Sasuke was apathetic.

What could be a more accurate description of how Sasuke was, however, would be that Sasuke refused to let himself feel much of anything these days. Ever since he chose to abandon Konoha, he's been conflicted and it was just easier to not feel anything.

Sasuke knew why he chose this path. It is the only path he could choose. He needs to get stronger; he needs power. Orochimaru could give it to him. He had nothing to learn from Konoha. That place held nothing for him.

Well, maybe a certain blonde…

No. No! Konoha had nothing! He gained everything he could from that place and those people. At this point, they were only holding him back. Sasuke needed to move on to a more skilled plain. Konoha was determined to keep Sasuke on a weak plateau and he couldn't stand it. The Hokage and the Senseis were determined to keep him doing weak-ass missions so they could mold him to their liking. It was sickening.

And all those villagers! They treated him like a fucking doll! Always keeping him at arm's length—not that he really minded that part as he hated them anyways. Treating him as a one-dimensional personality. Only looking at him and claiming it is "love". Sasuke hated it all.

There was only one person who treated him like a person. Only one person in that village saw Sasuke for himself rather than as the Uchiha the rest saw him as. Only one person let Sasuke open up. Only one person opened themselves up to Sasuke. Sasuke fell in love with-

No. Sasuke left the village and…that…person.

Sasuke had made the smart choice. Dammit, he made the only logical choice. Konoha held him back and Orochimaru would help him achieve his revenge.

Revenge was Sasuke's life now. He needed to get more powerful so he can finally defeat his brother. Itachi stole everything from him and he deserved to die for killing their entire family. Sasuke was willing to do anything to make sure that he killed Itachi.

He was glad—an Uchiha equivalent of "glad"—that he made the right choice. Orochimaru was the only way he could get the power he deserved and his revenge. But he couldn't help feeling that it wasn't the right decision because now he didn't have Na—

But this WAS the right decision. It's the logical decision. The only decision. Sasuke knew it. He didn't have time to have feelings of regret when this was clearly the right decision to make.

So Sasuke felt nothing.

He had gotten pretty good at it during the past year. Sure, at the beginning, he had the tiniest bit of trouble perfecting this new mind set. It's not like he had any problem dealing with leaving the village; just certain….things…he left there. But that went away during the first few months.

That is, until today. Sasuke actually had to work to keep himself from feeling today. Well, anything other than the usual irritation.

Sasuke attributed this to how he was woken up by Kabuto today.

Apparently, Sasuke slept in today and Orochimaru didn't "appreciate" that so he spent his servant to wake Sasuke up.

Not that Sasuke really gave a damn. He was there because he chose to. Not because of Orochimaru specifically. If anyone else gave him the same opportunity then he'd definitely take it, Orochimaru was simply the person he was using to further his own skills. So as far as Sasuke was concerned, that snake bastard could shrivel up somewhere and rot.

So Sasuke felt no remorse for shocking Kabuto so badly his idiotic ponytail singed, that glasses-wearing kiss-ass was even more disposable than the snake. Kabuto would think twice about walking into Sasuke's room. Sasuke made sure of it with a not-so-subtle promise of what would happen the next time he tried it.

Kabuto had told him—with as much dignity as a badly singed man with smoking pants could muster—that it was almost time for his training.

Sasuke almost growled, but that would be showing some form of emotion to someone who was clearly not even close to being worth the effort. So he contented himself with an expressionless, passing glare and headed outside towards this hideout's training grounds.

Wild Beast

It wasn't the best day for training. There was a little drizzle outside. Not enough to make a real hindrance, but definitely enough to be irritating.

The drizzle made everything misty. It made the area slightly colder and a whole lot wetter. The foliage around the area was as wet as if it was really raining. A person could be just as wet if they stayed outside for more than 20 minutes, or maybe less. It made everything seem colder and very slick. Finding sturdy footing was hard, so people kept slipping. Plus, all the mist made things harder to see.

Sure, it was a helpful "lesson" to learn how to properly fight in the mist, but one Sasuke already knew. He had had some time to learn this lesson back when he was a part of Team Seven. It irritated him how it reminding him of the reason for his slight uneasiness that he had spent months blocking out.

He took out his irritation on the poor fools the snake bastard brought out to "play".

"My, my, my, Sasuke." Orochimaru hissed as he crept behind Sasuke. He might have placed a hand on Sasuke, but he had taught the snake early on to never ever touch him.

Sasuke simply sheathed his katana, not acknowledging that he heard anything.

"A little…irritated, are we?" Orochimaru moved closer, "Did we wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Sasuke got annoyed whenever people talked to him here. Orochimaru only ever proved to show that he's a pedophile with a fetish for snakes as he kept trying to incorporate himself with Sasuke by saying "we" and elongating any "S"s. And Kabuto would speak in a smug way, attempting to infer that he was more important than Sasuke until he was shut up with a glare. It was all very annoying.

Sasuke turned away from the people he had knocked out—they aren't worth being killed—and the snake. He wanted to be left alone.

"Awwwww, not leaving so soon, are we, Sasuke?" Orochimaru moved to the other side of Sasuke.

"Hn." Sasuke said as he closed his eyes. He had "played this game" with the snake before. Sasuke had more patience than the other, so he always "won".

"That's so sad. I feel as if you never want to spend time with us." Orochimaru pretended to simper.

"Hn."

"And all you do is isolate yourself. That's not healthy for a boy your age, you know. I'm quite worried about you."

"Hn."

"A boy your age should be more active."

". . ." Sasuke didn't feel like dignifying the snake with an answer.

"A boy your age has. . .urges." Orochimaru was close behind him and practically whispered.

". . ."

"But you aren't like most boys, are you?"

". . ."

"Most boys your age would have bed anyone willing in your position."

"Hn." Sasuke answered to make the process go by faster.

"But not you. You, my dear Sasuke, are a one-person-man."

"Hn."

"But your precious person isn't here, right Sasuke?" the whisper got softer.

". . ."

"He's back in Konoha, isn't he Sasuke?"

". . . .Hn." Sasuke began to walk away. Damn that snake bastard. He "won" this time.

Sasuke could hear the bastard chuckling behind him, "Bye-bye, Sasuke."

Wild Beast

Sasuke growled a little. He was more than merely irritated this time. This time, Sasuke was fucking pissed. How dare that snake bastard bring up. . .that. . .person? The one Sasuke refused to think about?

Sasuke had taken an extra-long walk to calm himself down. Usually, after training Sasuke would walk for at most around half an hour and find a quiet place to pass the time. Sometimes he would do some solitary training as that was the main reason why he was here. But today, Orochimaru had pissed Sasuke so much that Sasuke had wandered around for almost two hours.

He was sure that he had walked around in some small circles. Whenever he would recognize a little landmark in the area from this walk, Sasuke would simply walk in another direction. They had arrived at this hideout the day before yesterday so the area was relatively new to him, and he had at least a month to learn the scenery; maybe two months. He knew they were in Fire Country as he recognized the kinds of trees, but he took solace in the fact that they were in no way close to Konoha.

Sasuke found his way to an enclosed little clearing. He saw that there was a small waterfall, only wide enough for a burley person to stand sideways in; but around 7 meters tall. Next to the waterfall was a bunch of rocks, both boulders and part of the large hill the waterfall was falling from. There were trees surrounding the area in a haphazard way, some having fallen down either on each other or all the way to the ground. It was a perfect hideout in Sasuke's opinion. It was also beautiful, even in the mist.

The beauty pissed Sasuke off even more.

Sasuke growled a little now that he was, finally, alone. He could show the emotions he hid whenever he was alone.

Sasuke took in a breath to let loose a pissed off growl again when he stopped. He thought he heard something.

It sounded like a growl, but a real one. Sasuke's growls were noises he made of frustration. He knew they were intimidating to others, but they were undeniably human. But the growl Sasuke thought he heard was more animalistic, but at the same time not.

Sasuke couldn't explain it. It sounded like no other animal he had ever heard. It sounded softer than a large animal in volume, but just as harsh and threatening.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and looked around the area carefully from the spot he stood. Perhaps this animal was nocturnal and was hidden, but felt the need to protect their territory.

It would have been annoying, but once Sasuke learnt what animal he was dealing with, he would leave "their" territory. It's not as if he was worried, it would simply be pointless to try to fight for a territory that he'd only be near for two months at most.

But Sasuke was curious as to what animal would openly threaten something—Sasuke guessed—larger than itself. Sasuke hadn't bothered to mask his chakra so this animal obviously felt secure enough to challenge such an experienced ninja. It intrigued him.

The growl sounded again, from between some rocks and a fallen tree behind a bush. Sasuke took a hesitant step in that direction. Did he really want to find out what animal this was head on? It was probably used to ambushing its prey like that.

Sasuke decided against going forwards and instead jumped to the lowest branch of a sturdy and tall tree. He was about as high as the waterfall. He jumped to a slightly lower branch in the direction of the growling.

When he looked down, Sasuke almost fell from the tree. He was truly shocked.

The animal was Naruto.

But this was a Naruto that Sasuke had never seen before!

Naruto was still wearing his orange jumpsuit, but it was mostly torn; as was his forehead protector. Naruto was crouching on the forest floor on all fours much like an animal, and was softly growling like one. He wasn't facing Sasuke, but was sniffing the air with his eyes closed. Naruto's scars on his cheeks were darkened; more feral than what Sasuke remembered.

Suddenly, Naruto stopped sniffing and in one swift movement turned to face Sasuke and opened his eyes.

Sasuke would have gasped, but he is an Uchiha. Naruto's eyes were red; deeper than blood red. His pupils were slits, much like an animal's. The only times Sasuke had seen Naruto's eyes like this were after the Chuunin Exams and when they had last fought.

Back then, those red, slitted eyes had put Sasuke at unease; they unnerved him. But he could tell that it was still Naruto inside.

These eyes, however, almost scared him. He couldn't see his dob—NARUTO anywhere in those eyes. They could only be described as a beast's eyes. Judging by those eyes, Naruto now considered Sasuke as threatening food.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree a good 10 meters away from Naruto. All the while, those beastly eyes had followed his every step.

Sasuke de-activated his Sharingan, maybe that was putting Naruto in such a state.

". . .Usuratonkachi?" Sasuke said hesitantly.

Naruto snarled as a reply, bearing surprisingly long canine teeth. Was this truly Naruto? Maybe this was all a trick set up by that snake bastard. He did un-provokingly bring up Naruto after training which led Sasuke to take an extra-long walk to this clearing.

This Naruto-thing was in the shadows. And the mist was slightly obscuring Sasuke's vision. Maybe the shock of seeing something resembling Naruto was playing with his mind. This probably was some form of elaborate trick.

More confident, Sasuke looked straight into this animalistic-hoax's eyes.

"Dobe." He said as he took a step closer in order to reverse the genjutsu or figure out what the hell this trick actually was.

As soon as he took those steps, the animalistic-hoax attacked.

It bounded towards Sasuke on all fours, much like an animal would, snarling the entire time. He was bearing his surprisingly long and sharp canines and opened his mouth as he got closer, preparing to bite.

With a startled yell, Sasuke instinctually jumped up to a branch in the tree above him.

He looked down and saw It facing upwards, growling. He was still crouching, but he was taking his time. He was waiting for Sasuke to come down like before.

This hoax was getting on Sasuke's nerves. Was it not enough to torture him by simply mentioning what he left in Konoha? Now he had to fucking see his dob—NARUTO? And what's more, it couldn't be a regular Naruto? Did it really have to be this wild beast version?

Deciding he's had enough, Sasuke calmly stood up. If this was a hoax, he wouldn't give that snake bastard the satisfaction of knowing that it was getting to him. With one final look down at It, Sasuke headed back towards the hideout.

He heard It growl as he left.

Wild Beast

Sasuke discovered that the clearing he had discovered was only about an hour away if one walked in a fast pace. He estimated it would take forty minutes to run and an hour and a half to walk.

It was just about time for Kabuto to serve dinner. Sasuke would usually ignore the other two and simply take his food into his room and return the dishes the next morning for Kabuto to clean while Sasuke and Orochimaru trained, but today he would join them to learn the meaning behind the Naruto-hoax.

"Ohhhhh, Sasuke! How wonderful of you to join us." Orochimaru said in a deceivingly cheerful tone while Kabuto looked at Sasuke as if "wonderful" was the last word on his mind.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted as he brought his food to the far side of the table.

"Kabuto and I were just discussing with each other about dear little Konoha, weren't we, Kabuto?" Orochimaru hissed, projecting his voice loud enough so Sasuke could hear every word.

"…Yes, Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto said with an obvious reluctance join Sasuke into the conversation.

"Ah yes, the place has gotten so much duller now that their precious jinchuuriki is out of the village." Orochimaru said as he sipped whatever potion he had concocted for today's meal.

'Jinchuuriki? What's that?' Sasuke inwardly asked. It probably wasn't all that important, just a ploy to get Sasuke to participate in the conversation.

"It might be a perfect time for an attack." Kabuto suggested all to quickly as if he was afraid Sasuke would actually participate and dominate the conversation and Orochimaru's attention.

"Oh no, no, no, no, Kabuto." Orochimaru chastised, "Every village without their jinchuuriki gets itself extra protection to make up for their missing weapon."

'Weapon? Konoha had a weapon?' Sasuke wondered, though allowed no hint of it enter his expression or uninterested demeanor.

"But don't villages try to run out their junchuurikis?" Kabuto asked in a halfway confused voice.

"So much of this world you have to learn, Kabuto. The villagERS are the ones who attempt to drive out the jinchuuriki by socially exiling them and from time to time beat them when they get the chance, but the Kages can never officially exile them as their Bijus are far too valuable." Orochimaru explained to his servant, and Sasuke who was secretly listening.

"So why does Konoha no longer have their jinchuuriki?" Kabuto asked.

"Hmmmm? Well our friends, the Akatsuki have been after our dear little blonde jinchuuriki because of the Kyuubi sealed within him so the Hokage seems to have sent him with Jiraiya in hopes of making him strong enough to control the Nine-Tailed Fox." Orochimaru explained with a twisted smile on his face as if he knew Sasuke's head was suddenly swimming with confused thoughts, questions, and memories all at once at his words.

"With him out of the village and the Akatsuki after him, wouldn't it be ideal to capture him and use him for our own purposes?" Kabuto asked with a little excitement, but lost said excitement when Orochimaru gave him a sneer.

"No, you idiot. While I would love to kill two birds with one stone by killing such an unstable force, he is unfortunately protected by Jiraiya." Orochimaru practically spat out the last part.

Kabuto was subdued by the answer and Orochimaru seemed to have decided that Kabuto had taken the fun out of taunting Sasuke with this new knowledge. After finishing his meal, Sasuke left his dishes on the table for Kabuto to begrudgingly clean up after him and went to his temporary room.

Thoughts were whirling through Sasuke's head as he considered what Orochimaru had told him. He decided that the snake bastard was probably telling the truth because, while he did like to manipulate others, he only used the truth. Orochimaru liked seeing people's reactions and loved the sincerity behind it even more.

Thoughts were whirling uncontrollably through his head. If he tried to think about one thing, then another though overpowered the first and the second until he started to get a headache.

Sasuke needed to organize his thoughts.

He decided to start with the simplest and make his way through this new knowledge.

Naruto was no longer in the village. The Hokage knew about this and he was with Jiraiya, so Naruto was out of the village on their terms.

Naruto was supposable safe on this training journey thing. Orochimaru was clearly wary of Jiraiya, enough to be openly pissed at Kabuto for suggesting challenging him. Sasuke knew that Jiraiya already had a soft spot for the blonde so there was no question that Jiraiya wouldn't do everything in his power to protect Naruto. And Orochimaru was clearly wary of Jiraiya, enough to be openly pissed at Kabuto for suggesting challenging him. If Orochimaru had doubts on facing the toad sage, then no doubt countless others will be scared off.

But the biggest, Naruto was a "jinchuuriki". Sasuke guessed that term was the official name for someone with a tailed beast sealed within them. He vaguely remembered reading about the tailed beasts, particularly the Nine-Tailed Fox. The Uchihas had many scrolls about the Kyuubi, especially since the fox attacked Konoha.

Wait—Kyuubi attacked fourteen years ago on October 10th. . .

Naruto was born fourteen years ago on October 10th. . .

It suddenly clicked. Sasuke was seriously doubting this "jinchuuriki" thing at first, but that seemed to be what made it real. Suddenly, all the glares Naruto would receive in the village made sense. The way Naruto always flinched at any words related to "monster". How Naruto seemed to have endless chakra.

Suddenly the extra power Naruto gained during the exams and their last fight made sense.

Sasuke had seen pictures of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon. Those eyes had haunted him whenever he thought back to those scrolls.

Sasuke looked back on his memories of when Naruto had been overtaken by the Fox's power and realized that those were the same eyes.

The same eyes Sasuke had seen in the clearing.

Sasuke reviewed what he knew: Naruto is the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi and he is out of the village.

Maybe there was chance of the thing Sasuke had seen earlier really was Naruto...

But he'd have to go back tomorrow to make sure.

And that was Chapter One.

I have found that I am easily annoyed these days. It's most likely a mild form of PMS, but the annoyance is still there. During these annoyance times, I have found that I also get annoyed at other authors. It's totally not their faults, just mine and my hormones—which I so don't remember don't remember trading cooties for. I don't get annoyed at the work involved, the dedication involved, or the ideas behind it. Not at all. It's mostly bad grammar, cliché plots and changing the characters. I admit that I am somewhat guilty of those charges, but the excessive ones are the ones that peeve me.

Oh, and OC characters. I hate them as main characters because main character OC people almost always turn out to be Mary-Sue types and totally turn into canon-sues. I admit, I have used OC characters in my story The Ultimate Weapon, but I tried to keep them in the background as much as possible.

But that's my babbles/venting of my annoyance. It's not just me, though, I swear. My annoyances are shared by others and usually I just ignore it but when I'm in these moods they eat away at my literary soul.

But by the time this gets published I'll probably be over it.

But reviieeeewwww! Reviews make my day and make me smile, thus releasing me of my moodiness.