Naruto 1. The child of misery

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble Angel

**Chapter: **The child of misery.

**Disclaimer: **I hold no rights over the anime series, manga or any other aspect of Naruto.

**A/N: **Well hi, guys! After completing my last Naruto fanfic I decided to undergo the most brutal challenge of my life… to completely rewrite the story of Naruto into a dark and twisted version by asking myself one question… "What if Naruto ended up like Gaara?" now it is impossible for me to imagine the knucklehead being that bad so… it will brighten up a little bit in future chapters… but there will be some heart wrenching Konoha vs Naruto moments. Anyways there WILL be NaruHina and stuff. Enjoy!

* * *

_Twelve years ago the village of Konohagakure was attacked by an evil demon… The nine-tailed fox demon. The shinobi forces couldn't do anything to stop it and countless lives were spent until the mighty fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to seal the demon away…_

"Minato! Surely, there must be another way!" exclaimed Hiruzen Sarutobi as he marched up to his successor, Minato Namikaze. "No, I won't let you do this!" he then began to make hand-signs to create a jutsu.

The blonde-haired man just smiled and placed a hand on his predecessor's shoulder. "Hiruzen… do me one favour… I want my son to be known as a hero one day, not as the monster I am about to seal into him… you are the Third Hokage once again…" and with that the blonde hero disappeared into that yellow flash to which he earned his title and performed a series of hand-signs. "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal!"

_The demon could not be slain so the man who would be known as Konoha's greatest hero sealed the demon into the body of a new-born infant. That boys name is…_

A blood-curdling scream of agony resonated throughout the torn landscape as the body of the Fourth came crashing down holding a small child. "Minato! NO!... oh, ancestors, watch over him in the next life…" the old battered ninja cried as he clutched his dear friend's lifeless body in his arms. "Yes, Minato… I shall watch over this one… welcome to cruel, bitter life, young one…welcome…

_Naruto Uzumaki…"_

* * *

Twelve years later…

_The Ninja Academy of Konohagakure._

"… and that, class, is the first basic rule of chakra manipulation, any questions?" Asked Iruka Umino after placing the chalk down and turning towards his class. Most of them had their arms down except for a boy wearing a large, grey coat and who had a small dog lying on his head. "Yes, Kiba?"

The boy placed his feet on the table and examined his fingernails vainly before finally asking his question. "Why do we have to go over the same old bullshit every month!?" the young boy asked without even looking at his sensei.

The vein in Iruka's forehead grew to gigantic proportions the moment the words left the boys mouth. "Because, Kiba Inuzuka, this "bullshit" as you call it is the one fundamental principle to creating a jutsu… let me demonstrate…" an evil smirk spread across the teacher's face as he said this and everyone who was sitting next to Kiba took one step away. "Suiton: Mizurappa! (Water Release: wild water wave!)" Within a matter of seconds the young Inuzuka was drenched head to toe in water and his little dog was shaking furiously, much to the enjoyment of the class.

"Aww! You even got Akamaru wet!" the soaked boy exclaimed miserably.

Everyone was laughing merely until one of Iruka's colleagues rushed into the room. "Irukaaa!" the silver-haired chunin exclaimed as he burst through the door.

Iruka immediately stopped laughing "Mizuki, what's wrong?"

"It's Naruto!" Mizuki exclaimed much to the shock of his fellow teacher.

"Oh no! what has that little punk done now?"

"IF YOU EVER SO MUCH AS LOOK AT ME AGAIN, I'LL KILL YOU YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!" Naruto screamed as he kept ramming his foot into a kunai that was protruding out of the place where the man he was beating's testicles would have been.

Iruka, Mizuki and the rest of the class that was brave enough, made their way over to the gruesome scene. "Naruto, STOP!" Iruka called out, calling the attention of said boy to him. Naruto was covered head to toe in blood and what everyone, except for a certain pale eyed, dark haired girl, failed to realize was that the only blood on Naruto that was from the man was a few droplets on his toes; the rest belonged to the blonde child.

"Iruka sensei! Thank kyuubi you came!" Iruka winced upon hearing such praise for the monster that destroyed the village and murdered his parents. "I want you to fire this piece of fucking shit and tell the Hokage to have whatever is left of his pathetic little pecker removed!"

"That's enough, Naruto! How dare you assault a teacher!? AND HOW DARE YOU SPEAK ABOUT THE KYUUBI IN SUCH A MANER WITH ME PRESENT!" Iruka then backhanded the bloody boy and turned to his class. "Everyone! Come with me to class! Mizuki, take out the trash…" Iruka's remark to Naruto made the boy's face take on an expression of pain and hurt.

"But… but you don't know what h-he did…" Naruto whispered as his bottom lip began quivering and his eye's welled up with tears. Nobody heard him, though, as everyone turned to head back to class. Nobody except for one girl; Hinata Hyuga…

Naruto just ran in the opposite direction and left the academy while Mizuki took the battered body of his colleague to the infirmary. "Oh… poor Naruto…" whispered the Hyuga girl as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

* * *

The next day.

"All right, class, settle down!" Iruka exclaimed as he picked up the attendance list. "Alright let's see who's here, shall we? Aburame Shino!" Iruka called as he lifted his gaze from the list in his hand.

"Present…" almost everyone in the room received a shiver down their back when they heard the quiet, raspy voice of their stoic classmate.

"Yes…_ ahem…_ Akimichi Chouji!" Iruka had the good sense to raise an umbrella to shield him from the shower he was about to receive.

"Breshant!" the chubby young ninja exclaimed while munching on his barbeque flavoured chips, sending said chips flying accompanied by a few droplets of spit.

Iruka immediately put away the umbrella once the chubby boy had sat down. "Chouji, could you not eat in my class!?" Iruka shouted irately while performing his big-head no jutsu to which Chouji just rolled his eyes and stuffed his face again. "Anyway… Haruno Sakura!"

The pink-haired girl's head shot up from resting on her hand "I'M HERE SASUKE, MY LOVE!" she yelled while doing kissy faces at said boy.

Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sakura, how many times do I have to tell you… GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR PUSSY AND THINK WHERE YOU ARE!" Iruka had just about had enough with the pink-haired daydreamer. All she ever did was drool over Sasuke and pretend to do her work while all she really did was write erotic love scenes in her notebook in which Sasuke would be drilling her hard one way or another.

"Y-yes… Iruka-sensei…" she looked down as a blush spread across her face while the class laughed uncontrollably except for Ino Yamanaka who simply scowled at her for dreaming about HER man.

Iruka breathed a sigh of relief after reading the next name. 'Finally… someone reasonable' with a smile he called out the next name "Hyuga Hinata!"

"P-present, Iruka-sama…" the young Hyuga girl began playing with her fingers nervously and kept sending short glances at a certain blonde that she had always admired.

Iruka then pinched the bridge of his nose when he realized who was next. "_sigh…_ Inuzuka Kiba!"

All the class received as a response was a loud snore from said boy. "Woof! woof!" Akamaru seemed to have answered for his master.

'Perhaps I should wake him…' "Suiton: Mizurappa! (Water Release: wild water wave)"

Kiba woke up screaming and immediately sat up strait in obedient attention.

"Now that we've had our bit of fun, let's continue with the class, shall we!?" Iruka read the next name on the list. "Nara Shikamaru!" no response. "NARA SHKAMARU!" everyone's gaze fell upon the sleeping figure of the lazy boy and Iruka's eye had begun twitching. He walked up to the sleeping Nara. "Shika-kun, it's time to wake uuuu-uuuup" he said in a sickly sweet tone.

"Mom…_snort…_ stop being…_snore…_ a bitch and let me…_snore… _sleep… troublesome"

"I'LL STOP BEING A BITCH WHEN YOU STOP BEING A LAZY, GOOD FOR NOTHING SON OF A BITCH!" that was the second time today that he had to use his big head no jutsu.

The lazy Nara sleepily got up and stared groggily at Iruka. "Troublesome…" he said nonchalantly.

Iruka simply muttered something about talking with bitchy moms and read the next name on the list. With a smile he announced the next name "Uchiha Sasuke!"

"_Sigh… _present…" the onyx-haired sole surviving heir to the noble clan said in a bored tone. A certain pink-haired girl squealed at hearing his voice while a certain blonde-haired girl just tossed him a rose she had taken from her parents shop.

"Right… ok… last, Yamanaka Ino!" Iruka was fearful of what reply he might receive from yet another Sasuke fangirl.

"Yeah, whatever, present!" Ino said while looking at Sasuke with butterflies in her stomach.

"Ok, then. Let us begin on the more advanced steps of chakra manipulation…"

"Umm… Iruka-sama…" came a small soft voice.

"Yes Hinata?" Iruka was anxious to get on with the class.

"Umm… you… you didn't call out… Naruto-k… I mean… Naruto-san's name…" she said as a blush threatened to creep across her face from almost using the _kun _suffix. She hated it when people would forget or ignore the blonde boy… she found it unfair and unjustified, especially since he was always alone.

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot…" Iruka said through clenched teeth. "Uzumaki Naruto…"

Everyone's eyes shifted to where he sat. Naruto was a boy who always reeked of something. Villagers would often urinate on him as he passed or would throw rotten food at him, but what he reeked of most was blood. His clothes consisted of a matching costume: a once orange tracksuit that was now tainted a constant red after being tainted in so much blood with the once blue parts on his shoulders and waist being a dark purple with a spiral crest on his back that was the only part that remained in its natural colour, his once orange pants took on the same red tint as his tracksuit. The blonde haired boy stood up, revealing that he had iron cuffs on. "Present…" he said in a dark tone.

'Oh Naruto… I'm so sorry for what they did to you…' Hinata had always watched him from a distance. There was a time when he seemed so full of life and he smiled from ear to ear. Sadly he hadn't smiled in two years and his relationship with his teacher worsened. She gave him an apologetic look.

Naruto caught on to her look and glanced at her, making her blush before being called to attention by his sensei. "Now, Naruto, can you give me a summary of yesterday's class!?"

"B-but Iruka-sama… Naruto-k… Naruto-san wasn't here in yesterday's class!" Hinata had to hide her blush after almost using the _kun _suffix again. Unbeknownst to everyone is that Naruto mumbled a soft _thank you _under his breath.

"Well, since he has such faith in the _grand kyuubi _I just thought maybe he can ask him on the subject of chakra manipulation!" Iruka's glare could bore holes in a person's soul right at that moment as he spoke with sarcasm.

Hinata remained silent. Though she knew speaking of the nine-tails in such praise was wrong, she was more curious than angry at the blonde… 'Why_ did_ he praise it… is it not a terrible monster that was destroyed by the Fourth? Why…' the girl decided to stand by her secret affection and opened her mouth to speak.

"It's alright… don't get in trouble… on my behalf…" Naruto mumbled as he gazed curiously at the girl. 'Why? Why _did _she stick her neck out for me?'

Hinata went silent as another blush crept across her face. 'He _does _care…'

"I am sorry, Iruka sensei… but I do not know the answers to your question… and I humbly ask that you forgive me for yesterday's… incident" he spat the last word with venom, clenching his fists.

"Why am I not surprized? Well then, I guess that you and the rest of the class can at least show me why the hell I bother, hm? Everyone, transform into me! Failure to do so will result in a disadvantage at tomorrow's graduation exam!"

After a lot of groans, moans and hateful glares at Naruto the class reluctantly lined up and began transforming: Shino's transformation was good, but it creeped everyone out that bugs were coming out of his ears. Chouji's Iruka was a tad bit fat. Sakura henged into Sasuke but passed due to the fact it was a perfect henge. Hinata henged into a blonde-haired, blue eyed Iruka with whisker marks but Iruka decided to let it slide since he figured that Naruto probably brainwashed her or something. Kiba's was almost perfect except for having claws, fangs and excess ear hair. Shikamaru performed an excellent henge but then decided to transform into a totally naked woman which then caused Iruka to nose bleed all over the place. After a lot of screaming it was Sasuke's turn. Iruka marvelled at the perfect reflection of himself and decided that he would take the Uchiha out to ramen that evening. Ino then, much to everyone's discomfort, turned into a completely naked version of Sasuke and, to Sasuke's amazement, was actually perfect. 'Has she been spying on me?'

"That leaves…" everyone in class turned to the shaking quivering form of Naruto Uzumaki. "Naruto! COME HERE AND HENGE, YOU LAZY GOOD FOR NOTHING!" Iruka then undid his iron cuffs.

Naruto was shaking. Every time he tried the Henge no Jutsu he always transformed into the object of his nightmares. "B-but… Iruka-sensei… I…" he now had tears running down his face.

"Shut up and henge!" Iruka then slapped him over the back of his head.

Hinata looked at the boy, concern evident in her eyes. 'Oh, Naruto-kun… hang in there…'

Naruto nervously performed the hand sign and summoned his chakra. "H-Henge no Jutsu!" he then let loose a huge burst of chakra and took the form of a huge nine-tailed fox. Everyone in class started panicking and Iruka pulled out a kunai.

"Everyone, get back! I'll deal with this!" Iruka shouted as he charged towards the bestial figure in front of him. He had to dodge one of the nine whipping tales and then another before reaching his student and plunging the kunai into its arm.

After a scream of pain the fox disappeared into a puff of smoke and, in its place, there laid a quivering, bleeding blonde boy with a kunai protruding from his upper arm; his eyes wide with fear. "Why? Why does that… that beast always appear? I… I'm scared Iruka-sensei… I'm scared…" The boy then hugged his knees and sobbed loudly, full of anguish.

"You should be! I've a mind to expel you from the academy right now for that little stunt! You fail today's class and tomorrow you will suffer a fifty percent penalty on your score at the graduation exam!" Iruka spat with anger as he pulled out the kunai viciously, making Naruto's arm spatter blood all over the floor. "AND CLEAN UP THIS MESS!"

"But, Iruka-sama! You… you can't give him that sort of punishment…" The young girl was at the verge of tears. She knew it wasn't Naruto's fault, he looked way too frightened to pull off a stunt like this voluntarily and it infuriated her to see him receive such a harsh and brutal punishment.

"L-leave it… I… I accept… h-his punishment…" a soft, quiet voice came from the blonde who was now licking up the blood off the floor with his tongue as he softly whimpered to himself. The visage was breaking the girl's heart, seeing someone who was once so full of life in this state was something she couldn't stand.

"Alright as for everyone else, class dismissed!" everyone except Hinata cheered as they went storming out of the class doors. Iruka then turned to Hinata. "What's wrong, Hinata?"

"I… I wish to help Naruto-k… Naruto-san clean up…" she said as the blonde looked up in awe that someone was willing to help him.

"Well… ok… but just help him! Don't do the lazy slacker's work for him!" An irritated Iruka stated as he walked out of the room, leaving the two alone.

"Yes… Iruka-sama…" Hinata said while bowing. "So… are… are you alright?" She asked with a voice filled with concern while turning toward her blonde classmate.

"Y-yes… thank you…" the boys head never rose from the floor as he continued to lick up his own blood. "I… I really hate him…"

The next hour was filled with an awkward silence that was only broken once they had finished cleaning. "So… what is… your nindo?" The pale eyed girl finally asked once she got the courage.

Naruto just stared at her for a while before answering. "To never go back on my word…" he finally said in a voice filled with depression and desperation.

Hinata smiled. "That… is my nindo as well" she was surprised to see him raise his arm and hold out his hand expectantly.

"Naruto…" he said quietly.

'He wants to shake hands?' She hesitated a moment before finally reaching her own hand out to meet his. "H-Hinata…"

After their handshake the two of them said goodbye before returning home.

'I… I can't believe he reached out his hand to me!' she had a warm tickly feeling in her stomach for the rest of the day and had pleasant dreams about whisker-faced boys that night.

'What… is this… feeling…? it is warm…' Naruto thought as he was lying down on his bead, gazing at the ceiling. Just then a brick came flying through his window and hit him on his head. Naruto got up calmly and placed a finger on the damp spot on his head, sticking it in his mouth afterwards. 'That's the second time I've tasted my own blood today… damned village must be having a break…' he then made his way to the window to see another brick flying his way. After it broke his nose he just looked toward a drunken old man with a basket full of the heavy pieces of masonry. "Here we go again…" minutes later the village echoed with the screams of pain of said drunk who was being scattered across the village in pieces.

* * *

**A/N: **well I wanted to make this chapter longer… but I sadly couldn't due to the fact that if I continued I would easily make this a six thousand word chapter which I don't want to put you guys through considering it is the first chapter. Yes, I know you hate me for making Naruto this poor abused little guy and Iruka this sadistic, teacher but I promise Naruto will learn what it feels like to be loved in the end… maybe. I also apologize if this fic is weird… I'm trying a different style of writing and I'm not quite used to it… please R and C!


	2. A bitter betrayal

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble Angel

**Chapter: **A bitter betrayal

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing apart from my imagination.

**A/N: **Another pain-filled chapter… I just wanted to say that I do NOT hate Naruto… nor do I hate anyone else… well maybe Sasuke a little, but no one else! Thank you.

* * *

Naruto walked in the direction of the ninja academy with rings around his eyes from lack of sleep. He hadn't slept all night after tearing apart the villager who dared to assault him; he kept tossing and turning from all the nightmares. Just as he took another step, a foot extended outward and he tripped.

"Hey, well if it isn't my favourite piss-pot!" the voice came from a young man who looked to be eighteen.

"Get lost, Daiki… I'll be late for my graduation exam…" Naruto said in a monotone voice as he dusted himself off. As he was about to make another step he felt something hard come into contact with the back of his neck and lost consciousness.

* * *

Time passes…

Naruto felt a hot, sticky, foul-tasting liquid being splashed onto his face as he awoke and looked up to see Daiki putting away his _equipment. _"Ah, so you've woken up, eh? About time; your almost late… ahhh nothing like consecrating the morning piss on the face of a demon!"

Naruto got up, gritting his teeth and made his way out of the dark alley and onward to the academy. 'Damn that Daiki! Always knocking me out and pissing on me! I would tear him apart if I wasn't in a fucking hurry!' Naruto continued walking while people shouted at him and threw pieces of garbage or just plain stones at him. He tried his best to ignore them, but their hateful words towards him made him sob quietly. The academy was only around the next corner he just had to make it…

"Hey, demon!" Naruto always hated that particular insult. It was the lack of understanding as to why they called him that that made him angry.

Naruto slowly turned to face the source of the voice. "Don't call me that again or I'll…" when he was finally facing the voice a large stone came flying and hit him on the head with a sickening _crack_. He fell to the ground and lost consciousness instantly.

* * *

One hour later…

Naruto was lying in a small pool of blood when he finally awoke. "Why? Why? Why can't… I just have one day? One painless day is all I ask…" Naruto began sobbing as he continued onwards toward the academy.

Iruka was pleased. His students had all passed their respective tests with flying colours.

Shino demonstrated mastery over his insects of the the likes Iruka had never seen. Chouji demonstrated a perfect expansion jutsu. Sakura made an amazing henge jutsu. Hinata showed the prowess of her Byakugan. Kiba and Akamaru pulled off some very nice combined jutsus. Shikamaru managed to ensnare several people into his shadow jutsu. Ino had shown her mastery of her mind-manipulating jutsus and Sasuke made a small army of clone illusions. Iruka felt so proud over each and every one of his students except for one…

The door burst open and Mizuki was standing in the doorway. "Iruka, Naruto Uzumaki has arrived!"

"Well tell him that he failed! If he cries about it, tell him he should come on time next time!" Iruka was seething that Naruto had the nerve to come LATE to HIS exam.

"Come now, Iruka… he was attacked outside; he is covered in his own blood… as well as other things… can't you give him a chance?"

"Alright… but just because you asked me, Mizuki. Send him in." There were a lot gasps and grimaces at the sight that walked in before them. Naruto had a scar that was beginning to disappear on his forehead and blood all over his face and mixed into his hair. "God, Naruto… you look like shit!" Iruka got up, pulled a cloth out of his ninja bag on his leg and spat on it. "Hold still…" he wiped away most of the blood and managed to eliminate the stench of urine. "Alright… now that you at least look and smell presentable… I want you to make twenty perfect clones!"

Hinata went wide-eyed "B-but Iruka-sama! The minimum is normally only three!" Hinata could not believe her sensei was giving Naruto an unfair test.

"Yes, but Sasuke did twenty, so he should too!" Iruka said with an evil smirk. 'There is no way he'll do it and even if he does… I have yesterday's discount…'

Naruto just looked to the floor. "Ok…" He made the hand-sign "Bunshin no Jutsu! (clone technique)" after a huge surge of chakra thirty clones appeared, much to the shock of everyone in the room.

Hinata felt so proud of the one she secretly admired and unconsciously whispered "Well done… my Naruto-kun…"

After the shock died down and after a few cheers were given, Naruto felt for the first time in years… proud of his existence. "Alright class, SETTLE DOWN!" the class went deathly silent after Iruka used his big head no jutsu and he turned towards Naruto. "Naruto…" the blonde boy expected to receive a pat on the shoulder and an _I'm proud of you _from Iruka, but instead his next words hurt him like a kunai to the heart. "You fail…"

"Wh-what!?" Naruto was shocked to the core. He had been spending so much time training for this moment and had put every ounce of his chakra and effort into his bunshin no jutsu. "W-why?"

"I told you only to make thirty and just look at these clones! They are mediocre at best! Add this to your punishment from yesterday and you fail!" Iruka hissed.

"B-but... I tried… so hard…" Naruto whispered as tears ran down his face. He fell to his knees in defeat and placed his hands on his face as he let out heart-wrenching sobs.

"Iruka-sama… that's… that's not fair!" Hinata couldn't bear it any longer, seeing the boy who had put a smile on her face every day crying so inconsolably was breaking her heart. "Surely, he deserves to pass! He has worked so hard…"

"Who cares? He's nothing but a loser… our sensei's failure. Let him cry. If he was worthy of being a ninja he would have taken his failure like one…" The onyx-haired boy known as Sasuke announced matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, your so right, Sasuke! And why do you defend him, anyway? He is a creep! Always smelling like he rolled out of a dumpster! If I were you I'd be glad that he'd be out of my life!" Sakura piped in after her long time crush spoke his harsh words.

"Anyway… class is dismissed! I want you all to grab your ninja head bands and go tell your parents who are waiting outside!" Iruka ordered with authority.

Everyone immediately got up and charged to the exit except for Naruto, Iruka, Mizuki and Hinata.

"Iruka-sama… do… do you not care? Do you not care that they call him a failure?" Hinata had never seen Naruto so sad and just wanted him to stop crying.

"No, Hinata, I don't… because that is what he is…" Iruka then turned to the exit.

Hinata was shocked at her sensei's confession and was about to say something before Mizuki beat her to it. "Aww, don't listen to him, Naruto-kun… he just said that because he cares and just wants you to become tougher…"

Hinata relaxed after hearing his words. 'Yes, that makes sense! I just wish that he didn't have to go so hard on Naruto-kun…' Hinata debated whether or not to leave Naruto until a nod from Mizuki relaxed her. "Ok… good bye, Naruto-k… Naruto-san… See… see you tomorrow…" Hinata stammered before leaving.

Mizuki placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You wanna get a bite to eat?"

Naruto looked up toward his only friend with tear-stained cheeks. "Yes… thank you…"

The two of them walked out and continued down the road to Ichiraku Ramen receiving hateful glares from the villagers they passed by. "Aww, don't listen to them, pal! Who needs'em?"

Naruto smiled sadly at his only friend and gave him a hug. "Thanks… Mizuki-sensei!"

Once the duo had reached the ramen shop and stepped through the curtains, the owner threw a hot spoon at Naruto, burning the side of his face. "We don't serve his kind!"

Naruto was seething with fury but a gentle hand on his shoulder from the only man who had ever shown him friendship and kindness apart from that of the Third, calmed him down. "We'll go somewhere else, ok pal?" after a quick nod from Naruto the two of them headed towards a bar that sold dango.

Mizuki tucked into his sweets immediately; winking to the beautiful waitress who served him. Naruto, on the other hand, just stared at his dango; ashamed that, because of him, his friend had to pay double for what they usually cost. "I'm sorry…" he finally managed to mutter.

"What for? I get well paid for my chunin tasks and the money I receive from working at the academy is just gravy!" The silver-haired man let out a small chuckle after his statement and swallowed his shot of sake afterwards.

After they finished they both wandered around Konoha for a while until Mizuki finally stopped. "Hey, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto stopped and turned around. "Yeah, Mizu-kun?"

"You're still feeling bad about not graduating, aren't you?" Mizuki asked with a soft tone.

"Yeah… a little… but I feel better with you around, Mizu-kun! You're my only friend!" Naruto was happy around Mizuki. He seemed to understand him; he seemed to know what it was like to have the world against you… what it's like… to be alone.

"Well… as your friend, I want to let you in on a little secret…" Mizuki said with a sly grin on his face.

"What?" Naruto could trust Mizuki. In fact he could only trust Mizuki. He had been there for him ever since he was dying of hunger on his doorstep, begging for food. He just opened the door and showed him kindness the likes he had never experienced before. So it was only natural that Naruto placed his full trust into his chunin friend.

"Well… I know something that would impress Iruka very much…" He leaned in and began to whisper. "In the Hokage tower… there is a scroll… a scroll that contains all manner of amazing jutsu… take it and go to the forest… I'll meet you there and tell no one! Don't get caught…" with that Mizuki saw Naruto take off in a flash and smirked inwardly. 'My, kid… you are just too stupid!'

Naruto ran through the streets in direction of the Hokage's tower. 'I won't let you down… I can't wait to see all those cool new Jutsus!' Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by Daiki who called out to him.

"Hey, demon brat! Thank god you came… I needed to take a piss and there I thought it was gonna go to waste!" The repulsive young man let out an evil laugh.

"Oh, yes… I haven't had time to thank you… for all the… yummy piss you've been making me drink for the past two years…" Naruto grinned ear to ear and approached his prey slowly.

"Wait, man… what… what is with that grin? What is… no, NO STAY BACK! NOOOO!"

Seconds later the street was painted red in blood; guts scattered around the gruesome scene. Naruto unzipped his pants and released his bladder of its contents while rolling his eyes to the back of his skull. "You were right, Daiki… it feels good to consecrate your piss on someone…" Naruto placed his male anatomy back into his pants and wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve. "Mmm… yummy…" Naruto then continued on his way to the Hokage's residence.

A _clanging _sound resonated through the halls of the Hokages residence as an old chunin teacher made his way out after a meeting with the Hokage. 'Damned brat! He rips my balls off with a kunai and still I get told off by the old geezer… I swear if I see him again… I'll slit his throat even deeper than before! Wait, someone is coming!' The ex-sensei tilted his head to the side, trying to see who was approaching. "IT'S YOU! I am glad to see you, Naruto… now I can pay you back for my manhood!" he exclaimed while pulling out a kunai as he hobbled quickly to the blonde-haired boy.

"Ahh… didn't I tell you that if you looked at me again, I would kill you? You worthless piece of shit? And, you know what my nindo is? It is to never go back on my word…" Naruto glared at him, full of bloodlust. He smiled as he made his way to the old, crippled teacher.

The man dropped his kunai and started stumbling backwards. "You… stay back, I said get back you demon! No, no, NOOO-AHHH!" Blood spattered and smeared all over the walls, as sickening popping sounds resonated throughout the area.

"Thanks for the snack…" Naruto said as he gazed into the lifeless eyes of the old teacher he had never cared to even learn the name of. He continued onwards down the hall until he reached the scroll room. "There it is… come to papa!" he wiped the blood off his hands onto his clothes and took the scroll from its place, and then he ran to the place where he was told to meet Mizuki. Little did he know that a certain old man was watching him through his crystal ball.

"Hmm… what manner of trouble have you found now, young one?" the old man asked no one in particular as he smoked his pipe.

* * *

Iruka was walking home after a long day and talk with the Hokage, his hands in his pockets and his head in the clouds. 'Hmmm… maybe I have been a little hard on Naruto… I mean… it's not like it is _his _fault that he has that… that thing in him… maybe I am letting my private feelings cloud my judgment…' He was instantly snapped out of his thoughts after hearing his best friend's voice.

"IIIRRUUUUKAAAA!" Mizuki screamed at the top of his lungs as he ran after his friend.

"What is it, Mizuki?" Iruka feared the answer.

"The… the Hokage has called all available chunin to his residence! It… its Naruto, he… he has stolen the forbidden scroll!" Mizuki managed to get out before Iruka set off for the Hokage's residence.

'To think I was about to change my opinion of him! I'll make that little bastard pay!' His fists clenched and his heart racing, Iruka was eager to see blood.

The Third Hokage stood outside his residence with his hands behind his back. "Alright everyone… I want you all to track down and capture Naruto Uzumaki and bring him here… this is to be a locate and capture mission! I do not want the target harmed in any way!"

"But he has the demon! Surely we are allowed to…" just then a scream of pain came from the young chunin as a ninja wearing an animal mask appeared behind him and stuck a kunai in his throat.

"Anyone else want to go against the decree?" The old man gave each one of his men, save the ANBU, a quizzical look. After several _no sir_s the Third raised his hand. "Right then, scatter! Find the boy!" everyone disappeared in a cloud of dust and the old man took an intake of smoke from his pipe. 'Hmmm… how did he know about the secret scrolls…? I wander…' he took the pipe out of his mouth. "ANBU assemble!" A squad of ninja wearing different animal masks all appeared in front of the elderly Hokage.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" one with a cat mask asked.

"I need you to investigate something for me…" the Hokage's gaze shifted to the crystal ball he had taken out of his pocket.

* * *

Naruto had been training really hard to master the first Jutsu in the scroll he took. The _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. _'I… will make… Mizu-kun… proud!' he said as he channelled more chakra. Just then a kunai hit him in the back. "Huh? So they are sending ninja now, huh? Did the old man send you!? I can't think of Hokage-sama agreeing to having me terminated…" Naruto said calmly as he took the kunai out and licked it. The bloodlust he had experienced that night making him more beast than boy.

"No, the old geezer never said a thing… he even ordered us _not _to kill you…" A muffled voice rung out. "I'm just doing justice, demon boy!" a figure wearing a black mask came out of the woods wielding a massive shuriken.

"Yeah? Well, I won't kill you till you give me some answers! Why do people always call me demon!?" Naruto said while moving into a battle stance.

"Ha! It's because…" the masked man then threw the shuriken, sending it flying at blinding speeds. "You are the one the nine-tails was sealed in twelve years ago!"

Naruto's eyes went wide. "No, that's a lie!" he ducked just before the shuriken could decapitate him. "The nine-tails was destroyed back then! That's what made the Fourth so legendary!" Naruto threw the kunai at his adversary who dodged it skilfully.

"No, that was a lie used to glorify that arrogant prick! The truth is that you are the kyuubi no kitsune!" the man said with a smirk under his mask. "Did you really think that the way you rip people apart and devour their flesh was normal!? It was always the beast that was mistakenly preserved within you!" the attacker mused as he threw a volley of kunai and shuriken at the shocked, blonde boy.

"Why… why was I never told…?" Naruto fell to his knees after the wall of steel hit him. "I… all my life… people have hated me…" the ninja began walking over to the bleeding boy and took out a kunai. "Why? Why did he do it? Why did the Fourth do it!?"

"To protect the village…" the ninja was now thoroughly enjoying the boy's misery and torment.

"To… protect… THE VALLAGE!?" Naruto roared as he got up and shook off all the weapons. The masked ninja got thrown off balance at this sudden shockwave of chakra. "You mean that I have gone through hell all my life at the hand of the village… TO PROTECT IT!?"

The masked ninja quivered in fear as Naruto showed his face to the moonlight. His canine teeth had become flesh rendering fangs and his fingernails had become steel-shredding claws, his whisker marks were more pronounced and his eyes turned red as blood with his pupils forming into slits. "d-don't…" the mysterious ninja begged before claws came down and tore his throat out.

"So, this is what you wanted, huh? THE DEMON!" Naruto kept clawing the long-dead body as he drained his fury and bloodlust. Finally, after an hour, the blond-haired boy stopped. "Who the hell are you anyway!?" he asked as he pulled the mask off. He went completely white when he saw Mizuki's bloodied face staring back at him. "M-Mizuki…? No… no,no,NO!" Naruto's eyes filled with tears and he began to sob and wail loudly into the night.

It was then that Iruka found them. "Naruto, you bastard!" he then caught a glimpse at what Naruto was clutching in his arms. "M-Mizuki…?" seeing the body of his best friend mutilated almost beyond recognition snapped something in his brain. "YOU MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" he then punched Naruto so hard that he flew through a tree. "I might not be able to kill you… and the Third told us not to harm you… but you heal quickly and you are not going to mention a word to the Hokage, are you?" silence is all he received as a reply. "Good… it is good that you're silent… BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOUR SCREAMS WOULD ATTRACT SOMEONE!" the rest of the night would be filled with silent screams of pain as Naruto was bound to a tree and beaten all night long.

* * *

The next day

_The Hospital of Konoha_

Azure eyes slowly slid open as Naruto begun to take in his surroundings. 'th-this is… the hospital?' His eyes finally shot open as he looked around the room.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata didn't care that she had used her secret suffix out loud; all she cared about was the boy in that hospital bed.

Naruto investigated and saw two pearl-colored eyes gazing into his. "H… Hinata…? What are you…" he was enveloped in a hug from said Hyuga before she passed out. "What the… are you ok?"

"Ahh, I see that you are awake, young one!" the voice came from Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage. "You gave us quite a scare!"

"Hokage-sama… yes umm… this girl…" Naruto tilted his head at said girl. "Is she alright?"

"Ohh…" the old man let loose a chuckle. "By what I can tell, she is better than alright!" the old man said while taking the dark-haired beauty and placing her on the chair next to the bed. "She has been here since early morning…"

"Really? Why would she do that?" The boy mused as he gave her a quizzical look. She was indeed quite beautiful in his eyes, more beautiful than any other girl.

"I'm sure she will tell you herself when the time comes… now, about last night…" the old man got serious.

Naruto winced as the painful memories of last night came back. The killings, the scroll, the training, the fight, the revelation, the unmasking and the beating… it all flooded his mind like a tsunami. "Why…? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me that I am the kyuubi?" Naruto asked sadly.

"Mizuki told you, huh?" the old man's expression was that of a father looking at his injured son.

Naruto winced again after hearing the name of the man he considered his best friend… almost a father.

"Look, I wanted to protect you, so I… I passed a decree that no one was to tell you or anyone else who didn't know about what you keep locked away in your body…" The old Hokage gave Naruto an apologetic look before continuing. "It would seem that Mizuki committed treason three times over… my ANBU discovered that he murdered one of his comrades and then had dealings with a SS-rank rogue ninja… He planned on framing you to get the forbidden scroll and give it to a rival village… and last but certainly not least he broke my decree!" The white-haired man got more and more angry the more atrocities he revealed.

Naruto felt sick. He slaughtered his best friend, learned what he really was and received an excruciating beating from his sensei all in one night. Now he had only one question on his mind. "Why did you order the decree? To make me think I had done something wrong? To trick me into obediently loving this fucking village!?"

The kind hearted Hokage just looked at the blonde boy. 'Oh, Minato… he is so much like you… and like his mother…' He placed a hand on his young ward's shoulder. "No, young one… I made the decree so that your generation would come to love and admire you… not get driven away like the narrow-minded fools their parents have become…" the Third looked deeply with his grey eyes into Naruto's azure ones. "So that you would find love and happiness…"

"Umm… Hokage-sama?" Naruto looked curiously at his guardian.

"Yes, young one?"

"What is love?" Naruto asked, his voice laced with confusion.

"Ahh, well… love is…" he gave the young Hyuga a glance as she slept peacefully in her chair. "Love is something warm and pleasant that binds two people… a bond of trust and understanding"

"You mean like how I felt about Mizuki?" Naruto felt a sharp pain in his heart, he couldn't explain it; he just felt like someone had thrust a red-hot kunai into his chest.

"No, Naruto… Mizuki never felt that way about you… true love is a bond that two people share between each other." The old man embraced Naruto warmly. "I am sure somebody will allow you into their heart someday…" as the white-haired man finished his sentence two pearl-colored eyes sleepily opened.

"What about Iruka?" Naruto finally asked. He didn't know why but he felt guilty about leaving the girl in the seat next to him without a teacher. "Is he in trouble?"

"He had a panic attack and I believe he hurt you… but apart from that he is ok…" The old man wanted to hear Naruto's verdict before sentencing the man who had beaten the boy so badly. "What do you wish be done to him?"

Naruto was in turmoil. On one hand he wanted to rip Iruka apart for what he had put him through last night and the past year, however, he understood now why he did it and he didn't want to leave the girl he had come to feel… pleasant around without a teacher. "Let him go… as if it never happened…"

"As you wish…" the old man smiled. 'So… he has learned of compassion…'

"Naruto-k… Naruto-san?" a soft, quiet voice came from behind the Third who then looked over to see the pale-eyed girl slowly rise from her chair.

"Oh… hello… Hinata…" Naruto, once again, was in turmoil. The feelings within him were so warm and pleasant, similar to Mizuki, but different… he felt… _happy_ from hearing her voice and his cheeks became warm for no reason. This made him confused… not that he wanted the feeling to go away, but he did want to know what they were and what caused them.

"Come on, young Hyuga… let the boy rest…" the Hokage placed a hand on her shoulder and began to lead her out. Just as he reached for the door handle he heard a voice call out to him.

"Please, allow me… Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (shadow-clone jutsu)" a physical clone manifested in a puff of smoke and opened the door.

"Get healed up soon boy… or you'll be late for the ceremony…" the old man said trying to mask his glee.

"What ceremony?" Naruto didn't remember any ceremonies being held recently.

"Your graduation ceremony, of course!" The old man stated with glee as he grinned from ear to ear.

"You mean…?" Naruto was in shock.

"Mmm-hmm…" the Third nodded his head.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata, unable to suppress her happiness, ran over to Naruto and gave him a hug and, once again, passed out in his arms.

"Well… I'll take her to the academy now…" the old man picked her up and left with her in his arms.

Naruto was beside himself. He had passed thanks to the third Hokage and yet… that wasn't the reason for his happiness… it was the fact the girl had embraced him that made his heart soar. 'Is… is this love?'

* * *

**A/N: **well I am bushed… this chapter was difficult to write, oddly enough… I just wanted to make Hinata jump onto him and kiss him and that was the problem… I promise… in a later chapter… I'm just gonna say this once; no Naruto is NOT gonna permanently be this beast that eats people, but he will be occasionally due to bloodlust. A bit like Gaara, really. Also his relationship was a bit like Gaara and his uncle in this fic so… you understand how impacting it is supposed to be.

Anyway review and criticize, plz, Thank u!


	3. Kakashi the perverted one-eyed jounin

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble Angle

**Chapter: **Kakashi, perverted one-eyed jounin, at your service…

**Disclaimer: **I own the pain that sleeps in my soul… nothing more and nothing less… (Meaning that I don't own Naruto)

**Warning: **this chapter contains explicit details of suicidal content. You have been warned!

**A/N: **I want to take a second to thank everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited thus far… to think it hasn't even been half a week and already people are like… _I love this!_ Thanks, guys!

* * *

_It had almost been a full week since the day that Naruto found out what he truly was and today was the day that he received his official title as a genin of the leaf. _

The Hokage's residential building.

"So, young one, how did you like your graduation?" the old Hokage stroked his beard as he spoke to his blonde ward.

"Well… it wasn't much of a ceremony… just a bunch of whores showing off their children to one another while their spouses flirted behind their backs… all the while shooting me glances saying _go to hell _or _go and die_… you know, the usual…" Naruto felt glad that he was a genin but he still felt hurt about his fate as the village's un-thanked hero.

The Hokage looked at the boy sitting in a chair in front of him warmly. "Now, now, Naruto… it isn't nice calling your classmate's mothers whores, you know… you won't make friends like that… surely, there must have been _someone_ there who you liked talking to…" the Third smirked inwardly as the thought of a certain pale-eyed girl entered his mind.

"Well… the only ones there that weren't being glorified by those dumb fat asses they call parents were Sasuke Uchiha, who I didn't talk to on account that I can't stand him, and Hinata… who I did talk to… a little bit…" Naruto felt that warm, pleasant feeling coming back into his chest and his cheeks went hot for a moment. "But anyway… thanks for the dinner that evening…" Naruto said as he tried to ignore the feelings in his heart, but he found that they were just getting stronger and warmer as he remembered the act of kindness from his Hokage.

"So, you received the ramen? And? Was it tasty?" the old man asked with interest as to what the boy thought of his gift.

"Yeah, thank you… Hokage-sama…" Naruto stared at the floor as a small smile formed on his face.

Just then the door opened and a man dressed in a ninja's uniform walked in, a sheet of paper in his hand. "Hokage-sama! Naruto's profile…" he then set the paper on the white-haired man's desk before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

The Third carefully read the contents of the profile and then looked sadly at the boy in front of him. "Is this true, Naruto, what it says here?" he then cleared his throat and read out loud. "_Name: Uzumaki Naruto, age: twelve, Interests… "Getting beaten to a bloody pulp and then deciding to slit my own wrists till the bad feelings go away…."" _There was an uneasy silence before the man continued. "_Favourite food: anything that hasn't got maggots in it… poison is best!?" _The white-haired ninja then threw the paper on his desk and walked over to his ward. "Naruto… how long have you…?" it was breaking his heart to learn that his old friend's son felt this way about himself.

"Ever since I could hold a kunai… I had used it to make the feelings go away… but I always healed before I could bleed out and the poison would only make me sick… no matter how strong it was…" Naruto stated in a monotone voice as he continued staring at his feet.

The Third let out a sigh. "Listen, young one…" the wise old man was interrupted as his door flew open. "What the devil!?"

"Old man; I, the great Konohamaru challenge you!" A little kid with a helmet then charged in with a kunai in his hand. He made it three feet before tripping over his exaggeratedly long scarf. "Owww, grandpa! I… I hurt my leeeg!" the young boy cried as he clutched said extremity dramatically.

The old man sighed again. "Oh, dear… let me have a look at that…" he then went over to the boy and looked at the injury. It was a shallow cut made by the kunai that had been dropped, from the boy's hand, onto the floor and it was leaking a small amount of blood. "Oh, my… that cut looks nasty, grandson…" The old man said with concern evident in his voice.

"Hokage-sama… let… let me take a look…" Naruto got up from his chair and rushed over to the younger boy. "Hmm… don't worry, kid… this won't hurt…" he then pulled a roll of bandages out of his ninja kit and began wrapping the crying boy's leg in them. "There… now, as soon as you get time, rub some alcohol on it to stop any nasty infections and don't put too much stress on it." Naruto then sucked his finger that had gotten a little bit of blood on it and hummed to himself. 'This kid tastes sweet… no, no, no! I can't think like that…'

"Th-thanks…" the little boy looked curiously at Naruto. He had an air of… cold loneliness like a lone wolf among a pack of dogs.

"Naruto, I do believe you haven't met my grandson… Konohamaru, this is Naruto; he just became a ninja!" the old man stated with pride. "Naruto, this is Konohamaru; my grandson!" again there was pride in the bearded ninja's voice. "Hmm…" an idea hit the Hokage. "Ah, why don't you spend the day together? After all, Konohamaru, your dream is to be Hokage… so why don't you start getting to know more about the village and it's people?" he looked at his grandson. He had never really gotten to know anyone as a friend since all people would do was try to glorify themselves for his grandfather's favour. "And Naruto, you need a friend so here is my grandson! He is kind hearted, much like a certain girl I know, eh?" the old man then started laughing.

"I don't know… you sure it's a good idea for a kid this young to follow me around?" Naruto looked at said kid. He had to admit; he was curious as to see how a friendship starts and wanted to get to know the grandson of the man who practically raised him.

"If you would prefer a lecture on how what you said in your profile is bad then, by all means, be my guest!" The Third let out a chuckle.

"Hmm… alright, Konohamaru… lead the way…" the words barely left Naruto's mouth before a small arm grabbed and tugged at his own, effectively dragging the blonde out of the office.

"Do have fun!" there was a smirk on the old man's face.

Once outside the office, Konohamaru turned to look at his new friend. He was curious to see if his hunch was correct and had to put Naruto to the test… "So, Naruto… if I was to punch you in the balls… what would you do?" Konohamaru said with a smirk. He knew that if Naruto was just trying to look good, he would say _I would tell you that I have balls of steel _which irritated young Konohamaru very much.

Naruto glared at him with cold eyes. "Well, Konohamaru, firstly I would tear out your eyes and then I would make you swallow them, secondly I would tear out your _other _balls and force them through your ass and out of your mouth…" he said matter-of-factley.

Konohamaru gulped as a small shiver crept down his spine. That was the first time anyone threatened to do something, let alone something like that… and it was the first time someone called him by name instead of _honorary grandson. _He then, much to Naruto's surprize, hugged him lovingly and continued to drag him down the hallway and to his room. "I'm glad you aren't like all those other guys who always say "_I would endure anything you throw at me, honorary grandson!" _I really hate that..."

"Well… it is better than having stones thrown at you…" Naruto mumbled to himself.

"What was that, Naruto?" Knonhamaru looked quizzically at his new friend.

"Hmm? Oh it was nothing… so… you wanna be Hokage, eh? Do you know any jutsu?" Naruto asked, trying to change the subject.

Konohamaru smirked. "Well… I do know one…" he was now sporting a foxy grin.

"Well? Let me see…" Naruto folded his arms as he looked expectantly at his little companion.

Konohamaru giggled. "Not here… in my room!" he then grabbed Naruto's sleeve again and rushed him to his room.

Once they got there, Naruto started looking around the mid-sized bedroom. It had a bed, a closet and a desk; the floor was covered in toy ninja tools and weapons and, much to Naruto's surprize, there were posters of women in swimsuits everywhere. 'It would seem that he has spent more time collecting toys and posters than looking for more furniture… curious…'

Konohamaru then turned around. "Ok! I'll show you my totally amazing, original jutsu!" He performed the hand signs and Naruto tilted his head to the side curiously. "Sexy no Jutsu!" Konohamaru then took the appearance of a naked woman.

Naruto just stood there, his mouth agape and his eyes wide. "So, my brave, handsome ninja… what do you think?" Konohamaru asked in a seductive woman's voice. _He _then began to suckle on _his _finger and trail it down _his _body and finally ended up cupping _his _breasts.

"What I think, Konohamaru, is that… women do not have penises." Naruto said matter-of-factley as he looked toward the _woman's _groin area to see a little-boy-hood dangling there.

Konohamaru reverted back to his male, little boy form with a look of utter shock plastered across his face. "WHAT!? What do you mean!? How do they pee-pee!?" Konohamaru could have sworn he heard hysterical laughter coming from his grandfather's office.

"Haven't you seen a naked woman before? I mean, you have a lot of posters…" Naruto could not believe that the little boy actually thought that women had penises. 'Innocence…' he thought with a smirk.

"Yeah… but… only with swimsuits on… I… are you gonna tell my grandpa?" the boy asked with worry as a blush made its way onto his cheek.

"No… In fact I think I'm gonna help you. Just follow me." Naruto led the young Konohamaru out of the Hokage residence and went in the direction of an old adult store that Naruto often snuck into. He was human, after all; or at least that is what he thought before a week ago.

Once they reached it, Naruto threw a stone through the window that was located in the back of the store and snuck in when the owner went to see who did it. He quickly took a random H-comic and left; looking rather proud of himself. The duo made their way over to Konohamaru's room and shut the door. After a long afternoon of continuously henging into women, Konahamaru finally got it right. "Yeah! Sexy Hentai no Jutsu!"

He transformed into a beautiful and anatomically correct young woman as Naruto clapped with pride. "Well done, Konohamaru…" he felt a smile creep onto his face as he watched Konohamaru with pride.

Konohamaru decided to act like the woman in the comic he and Naruto just _salvaged _and asked in a seductive voice. "How… would you like your repayment? I could… grant you anything your… _part _desires…" Konohamaru was laughing inwardly as he thought how he was gonna use his new jutsu on his grandfather.

"Just one…" Naruto said in a solemn voice and expression.

Konohamaru was now in a panic. 'Oh no! I didn't think he was gonna actually take it seriously… boys are icky! Ew, ew, ew, ew! Gross, gross, gross!" he then reverted back to his normal form in hopes that Naruto would forget about his offer.

"I want you… to teach me how to transform." Naruto's voice was laced with shame. He could never pull off the jutsu and whenever he tried, he would appear as the nine-tailed fox that had always haunted his nightmares.

"What? You don't know how to henge?" Konohamaru was beside himself. Naruto had told im that he mastered a complex jutsu like the Kage Bunshin and yet he didn't know a simple henge jutsu.

"I'm afraid not… you see I have nightmares about a big ugly fox and whenever I try to henge… I always become that fox…" Naruto said as all the joy he had before suddenly vanished, leaving that aura of loneliness that Konohamaru sensed earlier.

"Don't worry! Lemme see what I can do…" Konohamaru said in a comforting voice. He was gonna help his new friend. He was going to help Naruto.

* * *

That night.

Naruto was lying down in his bed, thinking about all that happened between Konohamaru and him. "Heh… maybe people… aren't as bad as I thought…" He closed his eyes to go to sleep but was awakened suddenly after someone broke into and vandalized his apartment again.

The intruder was a male who looked to be in his late twenties. He was laughing bitterly as he was exiting the apartment before hearing a cold and quiet voice. "What are you doing in my home?" He turned.

"S-stay back demon!" the man took out a small knife out of his rucksack and pointed it fearfully at Naruto.

Naruto chuckled as shook his head slowly. "When will they learn?" he took his biggest kitchen knife and threw it at the intruder with such force that it effectively pinned him to Naruto's kitchen wall. The blonde boy laughed manically before licking his lips. "So kind of you to offer me a midnight snack…" the man let out a few screams of fear and pain before being silenced forever.

* * *

The next morning.

Naruto was lying in his bead gazing at the ceiling, blood all over his face, hands and clothes. He had dark circles around his eyes. "Another sleepless night…" he then looked over the the pile of gore and bones that was sitting in the far corner of his room. "Great… it looks like I have a mess to clean up…" he then gathered the _mess _and threw it into a dumpster that was located in an alley in between his apartment building and another.

As he closed his bedroom door he let out a heavy sigh. "I'm so tired…" he fell on the bed and realized that the sun hadn't even fully arisen yet. He took a shard of glass from the floor. "I guess… now is as good a time any…" he then pressed the glass to his wrist and felt his warm iron-flavoured life-essence flow out. 'Maybe I'll… be… lucky…' were his final thoughts before his vision faded…

* * *

Time passes.

Naruto awoke hearing what seemed to be distant laughing. He opened his eyes to find rays of sunshine hitting his face and something dry and thick on his wrist. He looked down. There was a thick layer of dry blood all over his wrist and hand and even more blood on his clothes that had pooled all over the floor around him. "Ugh… I guess today was not my lucky day… more cleaning to do…" he got up and stripped. He had blood stuck to every part of his body and, because it was dry, it was beginning to give him a rash on his groin. He went into his dirty bath-tub and opened the tap. He scrubbed all over and tried to relax a bit. 'I don't want to look _too _tired for my day at the academy…' afterwards he gave his clothes a rinse and set them out on his kitchen table to dry as he got a cloth and wet it. He went about the house, naked, cleaning all the dried blood that he could find. 'there…' he looked at the clock 'all done with another hour to spare…' he then decided to spend his extra time with a certain hentai comic that he had been keeping under his bed…

* * *

One hour and a half later…

The Ninja Academy of Konohagakure.

'Damn, I was almost late…' Naruto rushed in to see that almost every spot had been taken, he was especially sad about not being able to sit with Hinata. 'Fuck…' he mentally cursed when there were only two spots left… and both were next to Sasuke.

The moment he sat he got a disgusted glare from Sasuke. "What do you want, loser? Go and kill yourself and leave me alone…" the Uchiha said wile staring off into space.

"Oh, I would if I could, believe it…" Naruto muttered under his breath. Just then he felt a large amount of killer intent being directed at him.

"Naruto… I believe that is my spot…" Naruto was just about to turn his head before a fist knocked him unconscious and a certain pink-haired girl dragged him out of his place and left him in the middle of the class. "There; trash like you doesn't deserve to sit anyway… SASUKE!" she then latched onto his arm, not giving a second glance toward the bloodied Naruto.

Hinata was so angry that Kiba, who was sitting next to her, could FEEL the steam coming out of her ears. "Listen, S-Sakura… w-what you d-did to Naruto-k… Naruto-san was wrong! Please s-say sorry!" Hinata cursed herself mentally for being too nervous to go and slap Sakura for hurting her Naruto-kun.

"Who cares? If he wasn't such a creep, then maybe I wouldn't have hit him! But even my parents call him trash, so why should I be different!?" Sakura didn't even look at Hinata or she would have seen the murderous glare she was receiving from the pale-eyed girl.

Hinata was just about to say something when the door opened. "Alright, guys, settle down…" Iruka walked in and his face went red with fury the moment he saw Naruto lying there. "NARUTO UZUMAKI! Get up, you lazy son of a whore!" Iruka kicked the boy in between the legs as he screamed.

Naruto's bloodshot eyes opened groggily before a wave of pain shot through his body. He got up and heaved. Then he sat down next to Sakura, completely ignoring everything else in the room.

Iruka then cleared his throat. "Listen, guys, you are now all ninja of the leaf, bearing the title of genin; the lowest rank in a village's ninja force. So you will be put into three man teams that will function under the leadership of a jounin. This jounin will also carry out your future training and will be referred to as sensei from now on!" Iruka then picked up a list that was lying on his desk. "Here is the formation of the teams… Team seven will be: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and…"

Sakura jumped and punched the air with joy after hearing that she was with the boy of her dreams. "Hell yes! My love, I knew that we could never be destined to be apart!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Fuck my life…" he muttered under his breath.

Iruka continued reading. "…and Uzumaki Naruto." He spat out the name with disgust.

Naruto felt sick. 'Why them? Why no-one else but them!? Why do I have to go with them? Why… could I not be with… Hinata?' Naruto quietly wept while Sakura was cursing loudly about _how_ _come I gotta be with that mangy piece of shit over there!_

Hinata felt bad about her secret love. 'Oh, Naruto…'

Iruka then read the next team's formation. "Team eight will be: Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba!"

Hinata felt her heart sink. 'What? I have to go with _Kiba?_ Why could it not be my Naruto-kun?' she was snapped out of her thoughts by an arm that had found its way over her shoulder and looked at its owner.

"Well, Hinata-chan, it looks like we will be spending time together, eh?" Kiba grinned.

"Y-yes, Kiba-san… I… look forward to training with you…" Hinata was trying desperately hard to get as far away from her new teammate as possible.

Naruto felt all his sadness turn into anger as he watched Kiba move his arm around Hinata. 'What is this feeling? He… he hasn't done anything to me and yet… I feel like I must protect Hinata… what is this feeling!?'

Iruka then read the last team formation out loud. "Team ten will be: Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino!"

Chouji high-fived his childhood-friend. "Yeah, Shikamaru! You want some chips?" he opened the bag of potato chips he was holding.

"Yeah, thanks" Shikamaru to a chip before hearing Ino scream.

"WHAT!? That giant-forheaded freak gets Sasuke while I'm stuck with the lazy good for nothing asshole and _fatso _here!?" Ino yelled in a high-pitched tone.

The vein in Chouji's head grew very large as he crushed a chip in his hand in anger. "_Fatso? Fatso!? _FATSO!?"

Shikamaru face palmed. "Troublesome…"

After an overly dramatic episode of Chouji screaming how he was not fat, Iruka sighed. "Now… you will be meeting your new senseis after your lunch-break… eat up, get to know your teammates and return in two hours!" Iruka then ran out of the class thanking his ancestors for granting him salvation from the group of little monsters that he disliked so much.

Everyone got up and started heading towards the door at their own paces. Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru were out first as Ino was trying to kill Chouji for calling her a hag; Shikamaru followed them while muttering the word _troublesome _over and over again. Sakura and Sasuke were next to leave followed by a rather stoic Shino who had not muttered a single word in all the time he was in there. Finally all who were left were a very happy Kiba who still had his arm around Hinata, a very uncomfortable looking Hinata and a very mad Naruto.

He walked up to Kiba and twisted his arm back. "OWW! DUDE! WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!?" Kiba was taken completely by surprize by Naruto, who usually kept to himself. "Naruto!? Get the fuck off of me!"

Naruto glared at him with hateful eyes. "Listen, you worthless piece of dog shit…" be begun in a cold, threatening tone of voice that made Kiba feel uneasy. "Hinata Hyuga is the heiress to one of THE most noble and important clans in all of the leaf village and must be treated as such, do you not agree?

Naruto was now digging his claws into Kiba; they had grown from his sudden surge of anger. Kiba nodded. "Yeah, course she deserves respect and all that, but what did I do wrong?" Kiba felt his blood begin to seep out of his body.

"Simple. You placed an arm around her without her giving you her permission… that could be viewed as an unwanted sexual approach and…" Naruto leaned in closely to Kiba and whispered into his ear. "I care about her… and I don't even want to mention the kind of hell I'd drag you through if you hurt or saddened her in any way… do you agree that it was a bad thing to do?" Naruto had to fight the urge to tear the Inuzuka limb from limb.

Kiba started crying. "Yes, y-yes I… I'll be more considerate of her in the future… please don't kill me!" Kiba now began to sob as Naruto's form reverted to normal as he stared at the Inuzuka incredulously.

'Kill him? Are people afraid of me? Do people always attack me because they think I'm gonna kill'em?' The realization hit Naruto like a earth-release jutsu. 'They… fear me?'

Kiba got out of Naruto's grip and headed to Hinata, who was staring wide-eyed at the whole affair. He fell to his knees, causing Akamaru, who had been sleeping the whole time, to fall off his head. "I'm so, so, so sorry, Hinata… please, please say you will forgive me!" he begged in a desperate and fearful voice as he soiled himself.

Hinata stared at him, wide-eyed in shock. "Y-yes Kiba-san… of course I forgive you…" Hinata then saw the boy dash towards the exit as Naruto stood there, wide-eyed with blood on his hands. "N-N-Naruto-k… Naruto-san?"

Naruto looked towards the wide-eyed girl. 'Shit! Shit, shit, shit! I must have scared her… fuck! I… I am a fucking monster!' he unconsciously licked the blood from his hands and gave her a solemn look. "I'm sorry…" he whispered before disappearing down the hall, much to Hinata's confusion.

'I… I must have made him feel bad… but… I am actually… happy that he would care about me enough as to do that for me…' Hinata stared down the hall. "Naruto-kun…" she whispered before going after him.

* * *

Meanwhile at Naruto's house.

A masked man wearing a thick, green reinforced vest with an emblem on the back walked into the house. "So. This is where Naruto Uzumaki lives?" the man said as he looked around with his lone visible eye.

"That's right…" said the third Hokage as he walked in behind the man.

"Hmm… this place smells of bleach…" The masked ninja said as he looked at the walls that had a pink colour to them. "I have a feeling that… this place has been the sight of many a bloodbath…" he said as he entered the bathroom. "Yup, definitely a blood-_bath_" he said with a chuckle as he looked at the blood-stained bathtub.

"It is not funny… I would post ANBU guards, but I don't want to make Naruto feel like he is some kind of monster…" the Third said, taking a puff of his pipe.

"Well… for him to cover the place in this much death… he sorta…" the silver haired man was cut short by the Third.

"Don't say it… sure, the beast within threatens to come out as his bloodlust surges… but deep down, he is a good, caring young boy who only wishes to be loved and cared-for…" the old man let a lone tear roll down his face.

"Well… you may want to see this…" the black-masked man picked up a bloody shard of glass. "Is he ok? I don't want to be the sensei of a corpse…" he chuckled once again.

"It is not funny, Hatake…" The Third then took the glass shard and threw it away. "But I assure you… he can't and won't die that easily…" he turned and, much to his horror, saw the masked man holding a hentai comic in his hand. "Hatake-san! I knew you always carried some manner of perverted literature that my old student keeps writing, but I never thought you would read that… stuff in my presence!" he was secretly trying to sneak a peek at the comic for he, just like his student, was once a renown pervert in his day.

"I swear on my honour, Hokage-sama, that this isn't mine… but…" He grimaced as he tried to wipe off a certain sticky substance that had stuck to his fingerless glove that had come of the comic book. "I think I'm gonna like this kid…"

* * *

Naruto was looking for his new teammate, Sakura Haruno, in hopes of befriending her. 'Maybe if I learnt how to make friends… I could be a better one to Hinata…' He finally spotted her sitting next to an irritated-looking Sasuke.

He shot Naruto a glare before walking off. Sakura was about to follow but a certain blonde-haired boy stepped in her way. "What do _you _want, whiskers?" she glared at him intensely.

He just ignored her glare and said. "I… I think we got off on the wrong foot… I… want us to be… friends… I… here" he gave her a small rice ball that he had taken for his lunch.

Sakura glared at him even more intensely. "_Friends_? You're kidding, right? Me? Friends with _you_? If I wasn't pissed that you drove my Sasuke-kun away, I'd be laughing my ass off! I would never be friends with you!" Sakura then slapped the rice ball out of Naruto's hand and stomped on it.

Naruto looked to his feet. "Why? Why… why do you hate me?" Naruto's bottom lip quivered as he struggled to keep his tears back.

"_Why? Why!? _I'll tell you why, you are a creep, a loser, a weirdo! You scare most people away with your weirdness and those that are brave enough, like Sasuke-kun, can't stand the sight of you and go away when you come near me!" Sakura then turned to leave "I'm going after Sasuke…" she took three steps before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

The hand belonged to Naruto who had placed it there to ask one last question. "Do… do I frighten you?" he had tears running down his face, fearing what she would say.

She spun around and punched him in the nose, effectively breaking it. "No, you disgust me, creep!" she then ran towards Sasuke while Naruto stared wide-eyed at her, blood spilling from his slightly bruised nose.

After a while he ran to the bathroom and began sobbing inconsolably.

* * *

Meanwhile…

Hinata felt sick; there was no way she could eat. Not after what she made Naruto go through. 'Honestly… he protects me, shows me he cares and I… I make him feel like a monster…' she couldn't contain her tears any longer and began sobbing.

"What's wrong, Hinata-san? You are crying…" the low-pitched, quiet voice came from Hinata's new teammate, Shino Aburame. "Is… there something I may help you with, new teammate?"

Hinata brushed the tears off of her cheeks and made an effort to put a smile on her face. "Shino-san… I… yes… I mean no, I mean…" she then began to cry again. "It's… It's Naruto! I… Kiba got too friendly and Naruto, he… he was only defending my honour and yet… I was so startled and shocked that I looked at him the wrong way… I… I want him to forgive me!" Hinata was now hugging herself as she sobbed loudly; tears gushing down her face.

Shino looked at her and smiled warmly. "Listen… if he cares that much about you then he will forgive you, whether you ask him or not… if he is hurt, then do your duty as his friend and comfort him… just like how I'm doing my duty as your friend… now." He adjusted his sunglasses. "After all… you were the first girl to talk to me… you… showed me kindness and I feel it only natural that I return said kindness… that is friendship, is it not?"

Hinata embraced the Aburame. "Thanks Shino! I promise… one day, you will have lots of friends!" she then turned around and started running.

"Where… are you going?" Shino adjusted his sunglasses once again.

"To find Naruto and tell him that I'm sorry!" she then hurriedly ran further away.

"Well, you won't find him that way… he was heading towards the bathroom with what seemed to me like a broken nose…" Shino then just stood there as Hinata turned around and bolted towards the lavatories at the speed of lightning.

* * *

At the bathroom…

Naruto was sobbing very loudly as the words _creep, weirdo, demon, monster _and _loser _kept echoing in his head. "I'm so… stupid! Why would anyone want to be _my _friend!? I… I'm just a fucking demon! A monster that should be dead! YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!" he yelled at his reflexion on the bathroom mirror before punching it; embedding shards of glass into his hand, his warm blood trickling onto the floor. "She… she probably hates me… I… I know she does… Hinata… I'm… so sorry…" he fell to his knees and began crying like he had never cried before.

Hinata had walked to the bathrooms and heard screaming. She rushed to the door and heard the voice of her secret love whispering to himself in between heart-wrenching sobs. She hesitated to enter the male's bathroom but she couldn't help place an ear to the door. It broke her heart to hear the despair that resonated within Naruto's voice and then there was the cries of anguish and self-loathing, those cries finished what was left of Hinata's effort to keep back her tears. 'Naruto… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…' after a few moments of crying Hinata burst through the door and ran to Naruto. "NARUTO, I'M SO SORRY, PLEASE DON'T CRY!" she fell to her knees and latched onto the back of the crying blonde, tears now gushing from her face.

"H-Hinata…?" Naruto looked over his shoulder to find a sea of black. 'Wait… no… it is dark blue…' He felt her tears soak through his thick blood tinted clothing and felt her arms clutching at his sides. "I'm… I'm sorry I made you cry… I… I overreacted…"

Hinata's head shot up and she saw the self-loathing in his eyes. "No… I… I am sorry! You… I really am thankful to you… protecting me…" a small blush came over the two young genin's faces. "I… I want to be there for you as…" Hinata struggled and Naruto gave her a quizzical look. "As your L… as your friend…" she could not confess her true feelings, she wasn't ready.

Naruto's eyes went wide in shock. "F-friend? You… you want to be… _my _friend?" His heart was racing faster than ever before.

"Yes, Naruto-kun… more than anything!" She had a look in her eyes that Naruto had never seen before. He didn't know how to describe them, they were warm, like the old man but… they had something else… something stronger.

Naruto embraced Hinata and clung onto her for dear life. "I… I also want to be your… friend… Hinata-chan…" Naruto whispered as all his pain seemed to magically vanish while he held her.

The suffix he used made Hinata blush furiously and she was glad that he was no longer looking at her face or he would have caught on. "We should go… I think I heard the bell signifying that we meet our new senseis…"

The two simply walked to the classroom side by side and entered. Shino had saved two spots for them next to him. "Here… sit…" the two of them sat next to the bug master and he smirked. "Naruto… how is your nose?"

Naruto looked confused. "My… nose?" he then realized that Sakura had broken it but it had healed fairly quickly. "It… it is fine… thank you" he looked at the spikey, dark brown-haired boy with glasses and though about his relationship with him. 'Now that I think about it… people call him a freak a lot… I wonder if someday… we can be friends?'

His thoughts were interrupted after the doors slid open and two jounin walked through the door. "I am Kurenai Yuhi… I will be the jounin leader and sensei of team eight…" the black haired woman approached the group of genin. She was wearing a white dress with an intricate floral pattern and her most distinguishable feature was her red eyes that looked like rose petals. "Who is to be my charges?" she asked in a soft tone. Naruto's first impression was that she was shy and that this was probably her first time as a sensei.

Kiba stood up. "Wow! You look like a goddess!" most people glared at Kiba as he howled like a wolf.

Kurenai blushed. "Why thank you _little boy…_" gave him a smirk as she called him that, making Chouji, Ino, Shikamaru and Sakura laugh. "I take it you are Kiba Inuzuka?"

Kiba puffed up his chest. "So, you have heard of me, eh? I knew I would be legend, but this is just…" he was cut off by Kurenai giggling.

"Actually I could tell because of the dog that is sleeping on your head…" Kurenai had to stifle her laughter. "And you must be Shino Aburame… I've heard a lot about you from your former sensei, Iruka. He says you have promise…" She gave him a warm smile while his only reaction was to readjust the position of his sunglasses. Kurenai then spotted a girl who was hiding behind a blonde haired boy. "Are… are you Hinata Hyuga?"

She came out of her hiding spot behind Naruto's back. "Y-yes… Kurenai-sensei…" She was still shy to completely show herself to her new teacher.

"It's alright, Hinata, you don't have to hide…" Kurenai said as she looked at the blonde boy who acted as a human shield for her new student. "You… you're… Naruto, right?" He nodded. "I'm sorry, but I need her with me…" she leaned over him like a mother looking at her child. "Please, can you let her pass?" he nodded again and moved allowing Hinata to join her other two teammates who had already assembled.

"B-bye, Naruto…_ kun_" Naruto smiled warmly at her and for the first time in two years it was genuine.

"Bye… Hinata" She waved good-bye before disappearing through the doorway.

Everyone was asking themselves the same question: _what the hell is going on between those two!?_

"I believe that is my cue…" the voice came from a ninja wearing standard uniform: the ninja protective reinforced vest that bore the emblem of the land of fire, a long-sleeved bodysuit and black pants that reached down to his ankles. His most distinguishable feature, however, was his beard and the cigarette in his mouth. "I am Asuma Sarutobi… and before you ask, yes, I am related to our current Hokage. I am the new leader and sensei of team ten… I want my three genin to rise, state their name and walk out when I say so… alright, now."

Shikamaru was the first to get up. "I am Shikamaru Nara or Nara Shikamaru… it is troublesome one way or another…" he then stuck his hands in his pockets and walked out.

Chouji was the second to stand and, after swallowing his chips, spoke out loud. "I am Akimichi Chouji, do you want any chips!?" he walked over to his new sensei and held his bag of chipas out.

"Uhh… no, thank you…" Asuma then took an intake of smoke and blew it as far away from any of the young ninja as he could. Chouji just shrugged before leaving.

Ino finally got up last. "I am Yamanaka Ino! The hottest and sexiest kunoichi in the land of fire! And waaay more qualified to be with Sasuke than that huge-forehead over there!" she stated with self-assurance.

The vein in Sakura's forehead grew bigger. 'This should be interesting…' Sasuke mused.

"Oh, yeah!? Well take a look, Ino-pig!" she then raised her dress above her head, showing her bra-encased breasts for the entire world to see.

Ino almost throttled her, but thanks to her new sensei, who was trying to get his new student under control while refusing to look at the pink-head, she was taken out of the room.

Sasuke looked at Sakura with an amused expression and chuckled to himself. "Man, I was right… this was interesting…"

Naruto had looked but then simply gave her a distasteful look. 'Even I can tell she stuffed paper into her bra…'

* * *

One hour later…

"Grrr… WHERE IS THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING LOUT OF A SENSEI THAT WE HAVE THE MISFORTUNE OF BEING ASSIGNED TO!?" Sakura had been tapping into the consciousness of Inner Sakura for a while now. Inner Sakura was a more passionate, extremist and fiery version of the real Sakura.

"Calm down, Sakura, or you'll end up stupid like him…" Sasuke said matter-of-factley while pointing towards his blonde teammate.

Naruto had been thinking about the way he felt about Hinata. He was happy to call her his friend but something inside of him wanted to make her more than that. He was feeling totally new emotions and experiencing others that hadn't been felt in the last two years. His deep thought process was interrupted by the door sliding open. "Umm… hello, Team Seven?" A tall, silver-haired man wearing a mask asked sheepishly before entering. Once again it was a ninja wearing standard uniform but he seemed… different. His entire face was covered by a mask that he wore and his left eye was covered by his headband that lied across his face, rather than sit on his forehead. "Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki… come, I wanna talk with you…

The three followed the man to the roof of a building. "Now I guess you are all wandering why I wanted to see you, right?" his lone visible eye curved upwards, showing that he was smiling.

"Umm…" Sakura started as the three males looked at her. "Because we are your team?"

"That's right! A gold star for the pinkey!" The man clapped before regaining his calm, cool face. "I want to get to know you better… I want you to tell me about your dreams, your intersts, your hobbies and other crap like that…" the man lied back against the railings.

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "How about you go first mister one-eye?" Sasuke then layed back onto the concrete bench he was sitting on.

The silver-haired ninja glared at Sasuke lazily with his eye before sighing. "I am Hatake Kakashi… my interests are few and my dreams… weeeell… as for my hobbies… I like _fine literature…"_ the man smirked a little bit at Naruto before coolly asking "Now how about you?"

Sasuke scowled. 'So, basically, we learnt his name and that he likes reading…' He took a deep breath. "I am Uchiha Sasuke… I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything… I have not a dream because it will become a reality… to destroy someone who I hate with all my heart…"

'Just try it…' Naruto thought as he heard this.

"Okaaay…" Kakashi's lone eye looked sombrely at him. 'Hmm… he means his brother…' His eye reverted back to normal. "Alright, how' bout you, pinkey?"

Sakura glared at him for a moment. "My name is Haruno Sakura and my interests, hobbies and dreams for the future are… SASUKE-KUN!" she then tried to compose herself. "I hate, however a certain blonde-haired weirdo that I had the misfortune of being put on the same team with!"

The one-eyed ninja groaned. 'Great, a fangirl… and a real bitch by the look of it…' he then looked toward Naruto. "And, how about you?"

Naruto stared at his feet. "I am Uzumaki Naruto… my interests are getting beaten to a bloody pulp by a group of ungrateful fuckers every day… my hobbies… I like _fine literature _as well…" he said all but the last sentence in a monotone voice, the last sentence was laced with some manner of sarcasm. "I… I happen to also hold those I care about very… close to my… heart… as for my dream…" He thought for a moment. "To be Hokage, so that I can teach everyone in this miserable village a lesson… you mess with a fox and you get bitten…"

* * *

**A/N: **Wow, I never would have thought that this chapter would be so long! I wanted to do so much more but I guess I'll just put that into the next chapter… anyway pleas R and R if you liked it and if you didn't… then as well!


	4. For whom the bells toll

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble Angel

**Chapter: **For whom the bells toll.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto… and I kinda took the title of this chapter from metalica…

**A/N: **well guys… this chapter is basically about me setting the ground skills of our three genin… and Naruto learning what feelings he has been experiencing. I apologize for any misspelled jutsu and if I make this chapter's action unrealistic… also there is some very intense NaruHina of course.

* * *

Naruto thought about what he wanted. "To be Hokage, so that I can teach everyone in this miserable village a lesson… you mess with a fox and you get bitten…" Naruto's face then gave birth to a very disturbing smile.

Sasuke looked at his teammate with curiosity. 'Hmm… this guy…'

Sakura looked at him with disgust. 'What a creep!'

Kakashi looked at him with a smirk. 'Hmm… this is what the third meant…'

* * *

A flashback…

Kakashi was standing in the Hokage's office and looked at the man with shock evident in his eye. "Are… are you sure, Hokage-sama? Not that I object but… I mean, he _is _my former sensei's son, after all… if push came to shove… I don't want to be the one who has to kill my late sensei's child…"

The Third rose from his seat. "It is that specific reason that I want you to be his sensei… I want him to learn the same value of friendship that you did… I want him to look up to and admire his sensei like you did yours. If I gave him a different sensei I am sure that he would be treated like a monster… isolated" The old man spat the last word distastefully. "I want someone who can look past his cold, bloodied exterior and see who he really is…" the Third walked over to Kakashi and placed a hand on his shoulder. "He has been hurt badly by this village…" the old man said shamefully. "So please pay no mind to anything bad he says about me or this village… just… do me this favour, Kakashi"

* * *

Back to actuality…

Kakashi looked warmly at his blonde-haired student "Good… now that we have established a relationship, I want to inform you of tomorrow's test…" Kakashi said in a bored tone of voice.

"Test?" Sakura inquired.

"_sigh… _a test in order for you to officially pass onto being a ninja and, let me tell you, not a single person has passed my test!" Kakashi thoroughly enjoyed the gasp he received from the girl. "I would advise against you having breakfast in the morning. If you do… you'll puke!" He then disappeared in a silvery flash, leaving a wide-eyed Sakura clinging onto an irritated looking Sasuke. Naruto seemed to be unfazed by the news.

"So… what do you think about this, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura looked up to her black-haired teammate expectantly.

"I think… that as long as you stay out of my way, you pink-haired loser, I will be fine…" He said nonchalantly.

Sakura just squealed. "HE ACKNOWLEDGES ME!" she then buried her face into his chest.

"Sakura… you do realize he called you a loser, right? I think it is embarrassing how you let him walk all over you…" Naruto stated with concern before being cut off by his pink-haired teammate.

"If I want the opinion of trash, I will ask trash. Ok, creep?" She glared at him before burying her face into Sasuke again.

Naruto's face softened and contorted into a hurt expression before going cold once more. "As you wish… I think I'm going to leave, see you tomorrow Sakura, Sasuke…" He then jumped off the roof and landed on his feet in front of a villager who then decided to punch him in the face.

"How dare you scare me like that, you monstrous asshole!" he was about to punch him again before catching a glimpse of Naruto's red eyes. "I- I mean… I'm sorry!"

Naruto clutched his head and grimaced, afterwards, his eyes returned to their azure colour. "I… I should go… sorry…" he then ran through the street in direction to his house. He turned the next corner and bumped into someone wearing a beige coat and with black shorts. He looked up to see two pearl-colored eyes staring at him. "H-Hinata?"

"Hello… Naruto-kun…" she blushed since she used her favourite suffix for the blonde boy in front of her. "Do… do you want to get something to eat? I… I didn't have much for lunch…" she said nervously. 'I hope he says yes…'

"Uhh… sure…" Naruto welcomed the pleasant feelings that came whenever he was with the Hyuga heiress.

Hinata smiled. "Ok… how about we head to Ichiraku Ramen?"

"I… I don't think that I'd be welcomed there…" he looked at his toes.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun… I'll take care of it!" she gave him a confident look as she said this.

"Th-thanks… Hinata-chan…" he hesitated before holding out his hand slightly.

Hinata smiled. 'He… he wants to hold hands?' she took his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze. "Ok… let's get going!" she then began to lead him to the ramen shop.

Naruto blushed as they walked together. 'What… what is this growing feeling in my chest? I… I feel like my heart will break a hole in my chest… Why does her simply touching my hand… make me feel so… so… so amazing?' he then looked at his beautiful friend as she was looking ahead, leading him to their destination. 'She… she is so beautiful… not like the girls drawn in hentai comics… she is so warm and she gives off a… shine…' he then noticed the glares she was getting from the villagers. "H-Hinata…"

"I know, Naruto… I don't mind…" she turned to him and smiled, a bright pink blush on her face. They continued the rest of the way in silence.

When they entered the shop Naruto instantly received a glare from the owner. "We don't serve the likes of him…" He said distastefully.

"Well, I am Hinata Hyuga, heiress to THE Hyuga clan and I say you do serve him, now!" she said with a fiery tone that Naruto had never heard from his beautiful friend. The old man just sighed and the two friends took their seats. "There… I told you I'd take care of it."

The two of them ordered their ramen and Naruto just gazed at his pale-skinned companion. "Why… why were you crying… back then in the bathroom?" He asked curiously.

The pale-eyed girl looked into his eyes. "Why? Because… I… because you… because you were crying, Naruto-kun…" She started playing with her fingers.

"But… why would that make you cry?" He still had a confused expression.

"Because, Naruto, you are my lo… I mean you are my friend and I care about you!" she blushed furiously after almost calling him her love.

"You… care about me?" Naruto felt a new wave of emotions flood his heart. 'Why does she make me feel so… strange?'

"Of course, Naruto-kun… I… I care about you and I don't want you to cry…" She blushed more intensely. This was the closest to confessing her secret admiration to the blonde boy.

"Sakura… she says I'm a creep…" He said solemnly, remembering the events of that morning.

"Don't listen to what she says! She is wrong!" Hinata once again had that edge in her voice that Naruto was starting to like.

"But… she is right… after all I am the…" he stopped himself from saying the rest, remembering how the other villagers treated him. He most definitely didn't want her hating him.

"You're the… what?" it was her turn to look confusedly at her friend.

"Never mind… she is just right… I am a creep…" he said, the coldness in his voice returning.

"No, Naruto, you are not… try to show Sakura that she is mistaken, show her the _real _you…" she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"The… _real _me?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"Yes, the one who defies the village's stupid attitude and tries so hard to show it its mistake!" she paused a moment. "The Naruto that put a smile on my face… the Naruto I love…" she whispered the last part without knowing that her blonde friend was listening attentively.

"Love?" Naruto felt, for some odd reason, his heart was skipping beats.

Hinata flared red. "Y-y-yes as a- a friend!" she had to fight to keep from fainting. 'I can't believe Naruto-kun's hearing!'

Naruto looked at his feet. "What… does it feel like? To love?" he asked solemnly.

Hinata looked at him incredulously. "You… you've never… loved anyone? What about your parents?" she asked, not remembering that Naruto had no parents.

Naruto's face looked hurt. "I… I never knew my parents… Hokage-sama says they… died when the… the fox attacked… that I… I was taken out of my dying mother's womb…" he now had tears running down his cheeks.

Hinata gasped and placed her hands over her mouth. "Naruto, I'm so sorry! I… I didn't…" she was silenced by Naruto who had placed a finger on her lip and brushed away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks.

"It's ok, Hinata… Now, could you answer my question?" he said with a sad smile.

"Yes, Naruto… love… is… a wonderful feeling… it makes you want to do nothing else but protect the person you care about… to hold them and gaze into their eyes… it makes your heart soar when you see them happy and fall when you see them sad… it… it can make you laugh and it can make you cry… it… it is both light and dark" she said as she tried to summon up her own feelings. 'Kind of like you, my Naruto-kun…'

Naruto went wide-eyed. 'That is… how I feel… so… I… I love her?' he smiled as she had answered the question he was asking himself for some time. "I see… but… I am afraid that the _real _me died… two years ago…" he said as the coldness returned to him.

Hinata shook her head. "No Naruto, don't you see?" he gave her a quizzical look. "This _is _the real you… the one who makes me feel happy, the one who shows that he has kindness in his heart… the one who protected my honour from Kiba… the one who accepted my friendship…"

Naruto smiled. "Thank you Hinata!" he got up and hugged her tightly. "I love you!" he said as he ran towards his home after paying for both of them.

"N-N-Naruto-kun said… th-th-that he… l-l-loves me?" Now she was done fighting it and fainted there and then. The owner just looked at them quizzically; neither one had touched their ramen.

* * *

That night…

Naruto was smiling as he gazed up at his ceiling. "I… I love her… I actually feel love… and she loves me… as a friend…" His heart sank a little bit after saying the last part. "I… I feel… so… _happy…_" just then he heard a noise coming from the kitchen.

There was a man, who seemed to be in his early twenties, painting the words _piece of fox shit _in bright red letters. "hehe… That stupid fox kid will be none the wiser…" he then heard someone clear their throat.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said in a cold voice; his eyes red with bloodlust.

"I erm… I was doing… I mean I… PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" he fell to his knees and started urinating.

Naruto was now approaching the man with intent to kill, but he stopped himself when he got close. " go…" he clutched his head in pain. The man got up and ran to the door and practically leapt outside. Naruto fell to his knees screaming in pain, his nose bleeding. This was the first time he refused his bloodlust and he was not liking it. "Never… never again… I… will not spare anyone… again…" he then looked at the small puddle of urine that was on the floor. "Great… I spare him just to have another mess to clean up anyways…"

Outside the man was shaking. "Ha! Stupid motherfucking fox is soft!" he then felt a cold presence behind him. "Who… who are you?"

"I am Kakashi Hatake… and that _"motherfucking fox" _is not only my student, but also the son of my sensei, who I cared for deeply before he sacrificed his life to protect assholes like you…" he glared coldly at the man who had vandalized his student's home. "I'm going to tell you this once, I don't like to repeat myself…" he appeared infront of the quivering man and whispered in his ear. "When I'm done with you… you're going to wish Naruto had killed you…" The rest of the night was filled with silent screams of pain.

* * *

The next day.

_The training field._

"Damn… I'm beginning to really hate this guy…" Said Sakura as she paced from side to side. "I woke up with a note on my bedside table telling me to come to the training field and I find _this _idiot! Well… at least you are here, Sasuke-kun!" she then gripped onto Sasuke's arm.

"_sigh… _To think I missed my morning stroll around my family's grounds just to sit here with you two…" the ebony-haired boy huffed.

"Yeah… why can't you just die, Naruto!" Sakura then walked up to Naruto and hit him on the back of his head.

"Sorry… I'll try harder…" Naruto whispered as he felt more tears coming.

Just then Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Hi guys…" he glared at Sakura. "Is something going on?" he then looked warmly at Naruto. "I don't want any fighting… if you are going to have any chance of passing then I suggest that you get along…"

Sakura giggled. "Oh, come on, Kakashi-sensei… I mean it is only Naruto, who cares?" Sakura said as if it was nothing.

"I do, as a matter of fact, Haruno-san, I care deeply for my students and I want them to get along." Kakashi said matter-of-factley.

"Getting along is all well and good… but he has broken many a rule in the academy. He has assaulted teachers, put other student's in hospital and he even stole the forbidden scroll from the Hokage's residence… he is scum and should be treated as such…" Sakura said in her defence.

Kakashi let loose a small chuckle. 'she is so naïve…' He sighed. "Those who break the rules are considered as scum, that is true…" Naruto looked at his sensei with a hurt expression. Kakashi then gave him a warm look. "But those who abandon their friends and comrades… are worse than scum." He then went over to Naruto and checked the back of his head. "You alright?"

Naruto smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah, Sakura really didn't do anything… I err… fell and hit my head…" he said with a small smile.

"Alright… Now, for your test…" the jounin then pulled a pair of bells out of his pocket. "Is to take these bells from me…" he then took a timer out of his ninja kit and set the time for noon. "before noon… failure to do so will mean you stay at the academy another year and you will be tied to those three posts over there…" he then pointed to three posts that were a little way away from the group. "and miss your lunch… also I will eat my own lunch infront of your very eyes for my amusement. Any questions?" Kakashi then looked at his students. "Yes Naruto?"

Naruto lowered his hand and gave Kakashi a confident look. "How much force can we use?" He then licked his lips.

Kakashi stood unfazed by this change in personality. "All of it, no holding back… now I will give you the signal and you will start in… three, two, one… GO!" Everyone except for Naruto disappeared in a flash.

Naruto stood there and took a deep breath. "Ok… just take the bells… no killing… ok!" he then started walking towards the scent of his new sensei.

Sakura had finished setting her last trap and was now just sitting back and talking to herself. "Ahh… that one-eyed creep is gonna be in for a surprize… I mean, he is so lazy that Shikamaru seems hiper compared to him…" she then let out a small chuckle. "Not like my Sasuke-kun… ahh he is so brave, so handsome… so sexy… ohh why can't we just get left alone together!? Why'd that creep, Naruto, have to be a part of our team? Why couldn't he just go to hell where he belongs?" she just sighed as she lied back onto the soft ground.

Little did she know that Kakashi was observing her all that time and had already deactivated all of her traps. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know, you are not doing a very good job of staying hidden, talking to yourself…"

She gasped. He made a hand sign and disappeared into leaves. 'What the… what is this!?' she heard someone approach. "Who… who's there?"

Sasuke then came stumbling out of the bushes. "Sakura, my love…" he then walked towards her.

"Sasuke… you… you… OH SASUKE!" she then ran to him and kissed him.

"Sakura I… Ahh!" Sasuke then clutched his chest.

"What is it!?" Sakura was frightened at this sudden action.

"I…" just then his form morphed into Naruto.

"N-Naruto!?" Sakura couldn't believe her eyes.

Naruto smirked. "So, Sakura, you not gonna call me trash, hmm?"

"W-what are… where… I… what happened to Sasuke, you trash!?" She finally barked in an angry tone of voice.

"Oh, you mean…" He morphed into Sasuke again. "Me?"

"Sasuke!" she then kissed him.

_Sasuke _pulled out a kunai and pointed it towards his own heart. "So… since my _true love _called me trash, I guess there ain't no point in life, huh?" he said with a smirk.

"Wait, Sasuke, NO!" she tried to stop him but she found that her hands were bound. "What the…?"

_Sasuke _gave her a grin. "Goodbye Sakura…" he plunged the kunai deep into his chest, covering much of the area in blood, and fell to the floor.

"SASUKE, NOOO!" Sakura fell to the blood-soaked ground sobbing.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was thoroughly enjoying the pink-haired girls screams. 'My, for all her big talk she is pretty stupid… that is my lowest level genjutsu and she has THIS bad a reaction!? Well, serves her right…' he then began giggling as he bound Sakura in steal wires. 'This is just like that moment in Icha Icha Paradise… of course I'm not going to touch her… unless she asks me to…' a perverted look made its way under Kakashi's mask. Just then he sensed a presence. 'What is that… Sasuke?'

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)"

Kakashi turned to see a huge wave of fire heading towards him. He immediately grabbed Sakura and leapt into the bushes. 'This guy is insane… he would have killed her!'

"What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei? You scared?" Sasuke grinned evilly.

Kakashi stepped out of the bushes with an angry expression in his right eye. "How dare you use such an intense offensive jutsu with a comrade in the way… you could have killed her!"

"So? If she was a better ninja, she wouldn't have gotten trapped in such a miserable genjutsu…" after that he made more hand signs. "Bunshin no Jutsu! (clone jutsu)"

The area was then filled with illusion replicas of the Uchiha each one of them sporting a smirk. 'Interesting...' Kakashi simply stood there calmly.

"Take this!" all the Sasukes yelled as they ran towards the silver-haired jounin. Kakashi dodged the illusions attacks and managed to make a few of them disappear while he was at it. Sasuke then got behind him with a kunai. "This is it! You're finished!" he then plunged the kunai into Kakashi's heart. 'I did it! Not such a badass jounin as everyone thought, eh?' just then Kakashi disappeared into a cloud of dust, leaving a log in his place. 'A substitution!?' Sasuke then felt a steel wire wrap itself around him. "Damn you bastard… you were deliberately leaving an opening so you could use a substitution jutsu and get behind me… clever" Sasuke spat the last word with a hint of sarcasm mixed with venom.

"Yes, it was… now I think I'm gonna have lunch, why don't you join me? Oh, what's that? You're hands are tied!? Well don't worry _Sasuke-kun_! You don't have to eat, just watch!" Kakashi then laughed hysterically at Sasuke's and Sakura's expense. He then dragged the bound Sasuke and Sakura to a large stone with writing on, the timer he had set for noon was sitting on said stone. "Oh, I almost forgot… Kai (release)" Sakura immediately awoke from her slumber. "Welcome back, pinkey!" Kakashi's lone eye smiled.

"Wh-what, where, who, why!? SASUKE!" she screamed in panic.

"I'm right here, you banshee… geez" Sasuke said looking non-too pleased.

"Oh, Sasuke! I thought I lost you!" she then slithered to her love interest like a worm an placed her head on his lap, much to Sasuke's annoyance.

"I must say, guys, that I am disappointed…" Kakashi then walked over to the stone and placed a hand on it. "I practically gave you guys the answer to getting the bells and you STILL failed… to think that you berate Naruto on _his _so called mistakes when you guys are the one who are clearly the failures here…" Kakashi took a deep breath. "Sakura, you got lazy; you set your traps and simply lied down on your pretty, little ass… when what you should have done is go help your teammates. Also, you talk to yourself too loudly."

Sakura blushed. 'Did… did he say _pretty little ass? _What kind of sick pervert…?' she grimaced.

Kakashi's gaze lifted from Sakura's face to Sasuke's. "You, on the other hand are even worse… you saw that your comrade was trapped in a genjutsu and you didn't bother to help her. What is even worse is that you tried to use a fire style jutsu on me with her in the vicinity… you would have killed her, you moron!" Kakashi then gazed angrily at the Uchiha before his expression went calm again. He kneeled down and stroked the engravings on the stone. "You know what this is? This is a memorial stone… the names of all the leaf shinobi that gave their lives protecting the village are inscribed here. I hope that one day my name can join theirs… my best friend… his name is on this stone and so is my sensei's." Kakashi let alone tear travel down his face.

"W-what happened to them?" Sakura inquired.

Kakashi let out a long, sad sigh. "Many years ago there was a terrible war called the third great shinobi war… many died during that war and many young ninja same age as you were called to the front lines… I was only a young boy back then…" he reminisced.

"So… he died on the front lines?" Sakura asked with curiosity.

Kakashi sighed again. "No, pinkey, he didn't… I was made a jounin at that age and my two closest friends and teammates were assigned to my squad… we were to engage in a covert sabotage mission to put an end to the war… I had trained with them since I was a lowly genin and was overconfident in my own abilities since I was a jounin and they simply chunin… I was arrogant" he spat the last part out like it was something that had gone rotten. "The female member of my squad got captured and the knucklehead who I came to view as my best friend insisted that we saved her…"

"And then what? You save the girl and he died of a heart attack while he kissed her?" Sasuke said bitterly. He was not happy to have been ridiculed in such a manner.

Kakashi glared at him with such intensity that he could melt glaciers. "No, Sasuke, I was a different person, back then… I thought that rules and regulations were all there was to being a shinobi… that we are meant to do our duties and nothing more…" his voice was filled with regret. "I'm sorry, father…" he muttered under his breath before continuing. "My friend wanted to save her… but I refused so, naturally, he went after her… I arrived there later and received a… injury… so I was weakened. We managed to save our friend and get her away but… the hideout she was taken to was collapsed by our enemies… he… he was crushed trying to save me…" Kakashi now had tears of pure sorrow and regret running down his face.

Sakura was now sobbing and burying her face into Sasuke's thigh. "That… is so… sad!"

Sasuke just laughed. "Sounds like a real dope, if you ask me… giving your life for someone, ha!"

Kakashi felt his anger at the lack of respect for his friend begin to take over before he felt a hand touch his waist. He immediately turned and kicked the owner of the hand to see a blond haired boy look at him before getting kicked and disappearing into a cloud of smoke. 'What? Naruto? No… it was a shadow-clone' he then felt two hands grab him and pin him to the floor. He opened his eye that hand shut to see two azure eyes staring at him. 'what!? He… he is so fast!' he then made a prayer, thinking that Naruto was going to kill him. He was surprized to say the least when all he heard was the jingling of two bells. "N-Naruto?"

Naruto chuckled. "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei… if I scared you… I… I'm sorry" he then got off of his sensei and held out a hand, which Kakashi took, and helped his sensei to his feet. "I… I heard what you said… I'm sorry… he… he must have meant a lot to you…" Naruto's tone was dark and saddened as if it was him who had lost his friend.

Kakashi was utterly shocked. He was an elite jounin, trained as an ANBU and had been on thousands of dangerous missions, and yet, a simple genin snuck up on him. "Naruto… how… how long have you been…?" was all he managed to say.

"I found you after you brought my two teammates here… at first I was going to charge up to you, beat the shit out of you and taken the bells, but then… I heard what you said… I… I'm sorry I… didn't use teamwork… but I swear I will try harder next time!" Naruto then looked at Kakashi with determination.

'Minato-sensei… he… he is so much like you… he truly is your son…' Kakashi then snapped out of his thoughts after a very loud _ahem _from Sasuke. "Oh yeah, what about those two?" he shot them a glare before returning his attention to Naruto.

"What will happen to them?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well… they failed to retrieve the bells so… they will be sent back to the academy…" he said as he revelled in the pleasure he got from Sakura and Sasuke's reactions. 'serves those two right!' he thought.

Naruto wanted nothing more than to see the boy who had belittled him for so long and the girl who rejected his friendship so brutally and harshly get sent back to that hell of an academy, but… something echoed in his head.

_Try to show Sakura that she is mistaken, show her the_ _real you…_ _The one who defies the village's stupid attitude and tries so hard to show it its mistake…The Naruto that put a smile on my face… the Naruto I love…_

'Hinata…?' he then looked at his two teammates before giving a defeated sigh. "I will give them the bells… then they will have a bell each and pass, whereas I will have none… and fail…" he said in a monotone voice, trying to mask his sadness.

Kakashi just stared at his new blonde student. "Naruto…" he smiled under his mask. 'He really IS your son, sensei…' he saw Naruto cut their bindings and give each of his two other pupils a bell each and then heard the timer alarm ring, signifying that it was noon.

Naruto then turned to leave. "I guess I'll go get ready for another year at the academy…" he hung his head low in defeat and took a step to leave.

A hand placed itself on his shoulder. "The only thing you are getting ready for are your new assignments in Team Seven…" he said with masked glee. "You pass!"

A spark of pure joy made its way onto Naruto's face and he smiled. "Really?"

"Mmm hmm" Kakashi nodded, his eye revealing he was smiling.

Naruto hugged him. "Thank you… Kakashi-sensei…" he said with true gratitude.

Kakashi just smiled under his mask again before walking off with his blonde student. 'I had a feeling I would like this kid…' he pulled a book out of his satchel named _Icha Icha Paradise _and looked curiously at Naruto who had pulled out a comic called _The nine lovers of the Kitsune. _"What is that?" he asked while looking at the age rating on the cover. 'An r rated hentai comic?'

"I could ask you the same, sensei…" Naruto said eyeing the book in the jounin's hand.

Kakashi just ruffed up Naruto's already messy hair. ' I had a feeling I would like this kid… and I was not mistaken…'

They walked off towards town, leaving two very annoyed and confused genin.

* * *

That evening…

Naruto was walking with his hands in his pockets; not paying attention to anyone he walked by. He then bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry… Hinata!?"

Said girl was looking at him, a blush on her face. "H-hello, Naruto-kun…" she had not gotten over the events of the day before and was quite embarrassed.

"Do… do you want to walk with me? I would understand if you don't but if you do… I mean I would like you to, I mean…" Naruto had no idea why but for some reason he found it hard to speak and his face kept getting hotter and hotter.

Hinata giggled. 'He is nervous…' she then put a finger on his lips, which caused him to blush even more, before saying "I would love to walk with you…"

They then began walking and Naruto began to tell her about his test and she felt so proud of him for giving Sakura and Sasuke the bells and merely latched onto his arm. She then began looking at his features. He was truly quite handsome in her eyes. His face had a certain glow that would always appear whenever she was around and she adored his cute whisker marks; his canine teeth were slightly longer than a normal human's and the tips of them poked out of his mouth ever so slightly, not as much as Kiba's but just enough for someone to notice if they looked closely enough. Another thing she loved were his blue eyes that shone with an azure, sky-blue, glow to them. "And then Kakashi-sensei ruffed up my hair and laughed…" he noticed her staring at his face which caused him to bury his head slightly into the collar of his tracksuit jacket. "Uh… Hinata, is something wrong?"

She then realized that they had stopped and she was staring which made her blush uncontrollably. "W-what? Oh, no Naruto… so… how did Sasuke and Sakura react?" she wanted to change the subject.

"Oh… weeeell… they were kinda mad at me for making them look bad…" he wanted to leave out the part about them beating him and telling him that they would kill him if he made them look bad again.

"Naruto… they aren't worth your friendship… don't sacrifice your happiness for their sake…" she said with concern for her secret affection.

"I… I want them to at least acknowledge me… after all we will be fighting together and I want friends watching my back when I'm going up against somebody tough that could kill me…" he said while thinking about Kakashi's story.

This brought a new wave of concern to Hinata. The ninja world was a harsh and merciless place and things happen. She clung onto him for dear life. "Naruto! Please… please promise me you will be careful! Promise me that you will come back safe and sound from your missions! Promise me!" she then began to sob loudly into his shoulder as he looked at her with a blank expression.

"Hinata…" he then embraced her lovingly and his expression softened. "I can't promise you that… but… I can promise you that I will fight to come back to… you, because you are my m… friend and I love you…" he blushed at almost calling her his mate.

She looked up. "You… you promise?" she gazed into his eyes pleadingly. "Promise that… you will not ever give up… that you will fight to come back?"

Naruto smiled warmly as he brushed her tears away. "Yes… I promise…" he then embraced her. 'Of course I would come back… I now have a reason to live…'

* * *

**A/N: **This had to be one of the fluffiest things I've ever written! And just to inform you they are not a couple yet, just very… close friends that are not ready to admit their true feelings. Yes, before you ask, Kakashi WILL be a father figure to Naruto in this fanfic and he WILL give Sakura bashings for being a cunt and will *try* to make Sasuke less of an asshole toward Naruto, but will he succeed? I don't even know the answer myself!

Anyway R and R please! Thank you! FH out!


	5. The demon from the hidden mist

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble Angel

**Chapter: **The devil from the mist

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing apart from pain and misery…

**A/N: **Well hi, guys! I am back with another chapter of the fanfic and, yes, this chapter will introduce one of the most awesome (if short lived) villains that the series ever had…

* * *

Naruto was sitting in the Hokage's office, blushing at having curative ointment applied to his face by a certain pale eyed Hyuga. He had returned from yet another D-ranked mission. The mission was to locate, capture and return the cat of the wife of the feudal lord of the land of fire back to her; however the cat reacted badly to Naruto and had scratched him fiercely.

"Thank you, Hinata-san, for taking care of Naruto's injuries…" said a very amused Kakashi. He had heard from the Third that the two of them were close _friends _which was only confirmed when Naruto started blushing furiously at her touch. "I know you have more important duties… but I appreciate your time"

Hinata smiled. "Don't be silly, Kakashi-sama, I am glad to help Naruto-kun!" she said as she applied another blob of the viscous fluid to the boy's torn face. "But I must say, Naruto-kun… you have amazing regenerative powers… you are healing faster than I can rub!" She said with a warm smile.

"B-but… it still makes it less… painful" he said with a nervous smile. He liked her touch and wondered if this was another symptom of love or just because he had a member of the opposite sex touching him. He then winced as a bad memory come crashing into his head.

"Are you ok, Naruto-kun?" Hinata said with concern.

He looked into her eyes and once again felt at peace. "Yeah… just a bad thought…" he said solemnly.

Kakashi looked at the boy with concern. 'It must have something to do with what happened two years ago… a female's touch should be hard to bear after that experience…'

Sasuke sighed loudly. "Fuck this, are we going to do something or just take pity on the whiskered freak for being too stupid to avoid being scratched!?" he was now tapping his foot on the floor.

Kakashi and Hinata glared at the Uchiha before Naruto chuckled. "you're right, Sasuke… Hokage-sama… I'm ready for my next duties!" Naruto then arose from his seat and walked over to the Hokage's desk.

The Hokage chuckled. "Well, I've got some nice D-Ranked missions here, young one!" He then took out several sheets of paper with contracts written on them.

"D-ranks? Are you joking? An Uchiha like me… I am a motherfucking elite! I refuse to do anymore D-ranks!" He then walked up to the Hokage's desk and slammed his fists down.

Sakura came to the side of her crush and latched onto his arm. "Yeah, Sasuke is way too cool for that other shit like cleaning gutters, eww…"

"Now look here, Uchiha-san, you may be the last Uchiha in the village, but I am the god damned Hokage! And you will show me and your comrades respect!" the Third then gave Sasuke a glare that signified he meant business.

The glaring contest continued as Naruto talked to Hinata and Kakashi about little things. "So, Hinata, how is your team doing? I know I can trust Shino… but… is Kiba behaving?" Naruto frowned.

"Oh, yes, Kiba has been the most quiet I've ever known him to be… and Kurenai-sensei is an excellent teacher… she is kind and patient and I hope that I'll make her proud…" Hinata started playing with her fingers.

"Kurenai is a good person and I know you will make her proud… if all Naruto says about you is true!" he then gave her a wink and chuckled at the blush that spread across their faces.

"ENOUGH!" The Hokage rose from his chair and took the pipe out of his mouth. "You will be given D-ranked missions for the rest of your life if you continue like this!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Hokage-sama, Sasuke was my number one student and could easily handle any C-Ranked mission… I believe in him!" Iruka said from where he was sitting.

"But what of Naruto!? He has never left the village and I believe that he could find himself in danger…" the Third had a concerned tone of voice.

"Who cares? Good riddance I say… if he dies we leave him for the crows and we won't have to bother with a funeral…" Sasuke said with an evil smirk. Ever since the day of the bell test he had hated the blonde and all the positive attention he received from their sensei.

"I second that opinion!" Sakura then clung onto Sasuke, much to his annoyance.

The Third had smoke coming out of his nose… and it wasn't from his pipe. "Listen, you lousy excuse for a ninja, if you say another word about Naruto-kun, I will banish you and your pink-haired fangirl from the village, you got that you lousy piece of…" nobody had seen the Hokage that mad. Ever.

Kakashi decided to interrupt the conversation. "Ok, you two just stay here and _talk_" he then gave Naruto a wink before turning to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama, while I apologize for the… attitude of my student, do you not agree that this is just what we need? I mean, Naruto has been kept in the village his whole life and he has… demonstrated that he is capable of defending himself out in the field…" he said confidently. Kakashi had faith that Naruto would endure anything, especially an easy C-ranked mission.

The third Hokage took a breath of smoke from his pipe and exhaled it in a long contemplative sigh. "You are right, Kakashi… the young one is strong and capable… ok, I have the perfect mission for your team, Kakashi!" the old man smiled at Naruto who was obliviously taking with Hinata. "Naruto… I am afraid you have a mission to go on and lady Hinata has _her_ team to get back to…"

Naruto turned his attention towards the old man. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"You are to escort a bridge builder from the land of waves back to his home and protect him while he builds an important bridge. Can your team do that, Kakashi?" the Hokage then looked over each and every member of Team Seven and gave especially bad looks to Sasuke and Sakura.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Sakura is so clingy that she is practically living armour… she will make a decent meat-shield… Sasuke is so _good looking _that he would make the perfect decoy and Naruto would handle everything else effectively!" he said half-seriously. "What?" he asked when he saw the glares he was receiving from Sasuke and Sakura.

"The land of waves… what can you tell me about it?" Naruto had never left the village and knew very little about the outside world.

"I think you had better ask our customer about that…" there was an audible belch that immediately took all the attention in the room. "Ah, here he is now, Tazuna-san, here are your escorts!" The old man stated proudly as he showed the old drunken the team that would help him.

The man was wearing tattered clothes, had a large, straw hat and held a bottle of sake. "These runts are to be my… _burp_… protectors!? You gotta be fu…_burp_…king kidding me!" The drunken bridge builder then almost collapsed onto the floor.

"_This _is our customer!? What a joke!" Sasuke said with distaste.

"That's enough, Sasuke! Yes Hokage-sama, we accept!" Kakashi slapped Sasuke over the head.

The old ninja then looked to Naruto. "What about you, do you think this mission isn't worthy of you young one?" he said with a smirk.

Naruto was standing next to Hinata and hadn't spoken a word on the matter. "I don't mind, Hokage-sama, as long as I get to see some of the world…"

The Third chuckled. "Now that's a good boy… right, _ahem_, now get to it!" he then waved his hand and everyone, including Hinata and the bridge builder, left the office.

"Kakashi… bring him home safely… I… I care very much for that boy…" the old man mumbled to himself as he took another smoke from his pipe.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about Sasuke, Hokage-sama, he is the best of the best!" Iruka stated with pride.

"I wasn't talking about Sasuke, Iruka…" The old man then took another breath of smoke.

* * *

At the east gate of Konoha.

Team Seven was waiting for Naruto to finish saying his good-byes to Hinata. "Come on, loser!"

Kakashi slapped him softly over the back of his head. "We will wait… a shinobi must always say his good-byes before embarking on a mission… you never know what might happen" he said almost as if he was saying it to himself.

"And promise me that when you come back I'll be the first one you tell!" Hinata said as she embraced her blonde friend.

"Yes, Hinata, we are friends after all, right?" Naruto looked into her eyes warmly.

"R-right… friends…" Hinata then buried her face into her secret love's chest.

"Please don't cry… I'll be back soon, I promise…" he gave her a tight squeeze. He had never been in this situation before… he had never had anyone to come home to.

"Ok…" she then let him go. "See you soon…" she brushed away the tears from her face.

Naruto gave her one more reassuring smile before turning to his comrades and his charge.

Tazuna took another swig of sake and turned to leave; Kakashi gave Naruto a smile and a thumbs up while Sakura and Sasuke looked at him and her disapprovingly. "Gosh, what a slut…"

Just as the words left his mouth Naruto appeared in front of him in a red flash, ready to decapitate him with a claw. "SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD!"

Kakashi grabbed Naruto's arm just as his claw pierced Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke stared wide-eyed at the blonde as blood slowly trickled down his cheek. Kakashi then turned Naruto around and looked him in the eyes with his lone eye. "Naruto, listen… what he said was wrong, but I don't think Hinata wants you murdering a teammate on her behalf… wouldn't you agree?" he said in a fatherly voice. Naruto nodded as his eyes went back to their original azure colour. Kakashi smiled under his mask before turning to Sasuke who was just standing there wide-eyed in shock. "Sasuke, I would think an Uchiha better than to call the heiress to a fellow noble clan such a nasty word… I know Naruto is good-looking but, please, control your jealousy"

Tazuna laughed as Sakura and Sasuke gave Kakashi a glare. "Oh, please… even if I was homosexual, which I'm not, I would never feel jealous of anyone who wanted to be with _him_!" Sasuke said as he regained composure.

"It's… alright… you are forgiven…" Naruto forced out before his face once again turned dark and bloodthirsty. "But if you EVER say that again… I will kill you!" he said in a low, menacing growl.

The group continued to walk with Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna walking in one line behind Naruto and Kakashi; who had their noses in their _fine literature. _Naruto sniffed and could smell a foreign chakra. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei…" he lifted his gaze from the erotic comic and looked up at his sensei.

"Yeah, I know…" he looked down to his student. They continued walking until a bladed chain looped around Kakashi. Sasuke and Sakura gasped before moving into a defensive stance around Tazuna. Kakashi and Naruto smirked.

There was a blood-chilling laugh before the chain tightened around Kakashi and he was ripped apart; his blood and body parts going everywhere. "One down! Four to go!" two ninja wearing gasmasks and metal claws came running toward Naruto laughing. One positioned himself behind Naruto. "Two down!"

He swung at the blonde who then disappeared into smoke. Naruto then appeared behind the assailant and whispered in his ear. "I don't think so…" Naruto then plunged his han through the ninja's chest so that he was gazing at his own beating heart in front of him.

"W-what… are…?" Naruto grinned before crushing the beating organ in his hand, sending blood spattering in all directions.

Naruto laughed manically before taking his hand out of his victim and licking some of the blood off his hand. "So sweet…"

"Die you freak!" the other ninja exclaimed as he charged at the blonde-haired boy. Naruto managed to get most of his body out of the way but his arm got a nasty cut all the way down. "Got- Ahhh!" Naruto then tackled the man to the ground and looked into his eyes. "What… what the hell are you!?" he then began crying.

"Me? I'm just a kid… and I'm _hungry_…" He licked his lips before dragging the screaming man into the forest.

"What… just… happened?" Sakura was looking at the gruesome scene in front of her while clinging onto Sasuke. There was then an ear-piercing scream of agony that made her faint into Sasuke's arms.

"Naruto has just defended you all from two shinobi, that is what just happened…" Kakashi said as he appeared beside the group.

"K-Kakashi!? What… oh, get off me!" he then threw Sakura on the floor and turned to Kakashi. Kakashi pointed to a pile of broken logs. "A substitution… clever" he said the last word with sarcasm.

Naruto came stumbling out of the forest. "I… I'm glad you're alright, Kakashi-sensei…" he had blood all over him and his own was trickling down his arm. "I… feel… funny…ohh" he then collapsed into unconsciousness.

* * *

Time passes…

A camp in the forest.

Naruto's eyes shot open. "GET AWAY!" he screamed as he sat up his bedroll.

Kakashi was bickering with Tazuna. "Those were ninjas from the hidden mist! My student was poisoned!" Kakashi said with obvious worry in his voice.

"But if we don't continue my country is screwed!" Tazuna said as he took another swig from his bottle of sake.

"Could you stop drinking that!?" Kakashi slapped the bottle out of Tazuna's hand.

"K-Kakashi… sensei? What… what happened?" Naruto said groggily as he arose.

"Oh Naruto, thank goodness… you were poisoned by those men's claws and I had to drain the poison from you… at first I thought you would die from the poison… and then… you were pretty bad with the blood loss…" Kakashi then sighed with relief. "We are turning back… I can't risk the lives of my students…" Kakashi stated as he checked Naruto's injuries.

"What!? You can't! Gatou will end up destroying the land of waves!" Tazuna exclaimed.

"Not our problem… you DO realize that a mission of this calibre is B-ranked at least?" Kakashi said turning to Tazuna, his lone eye showing that he had a bored expression.

"Who is this Gatou?" Naruto inquired.

"Gatou… he is the head of a huge shipping industry… he has taken over the land of waves and has sucked it dry of all its wealth and resources. If anyone dares to stand in his way then his mafia comes after them and… well, my bridge was to be a masterpiece connecting the wave country and the mainland… however it will seem that it will never be finished…" he then began sobbing exaggeratedly.

Naruto simply huffed. "Well you should have rated this mission a B or A-rank, shouldn't you?" he said as he began to lie down.

"I… I am sorry… but… we don't have the money! My country is too poor to afford A-ranked assistance!" He continued wailing. Naruto just gritted his teeth. "I… I promised my daughter and grandson to return… I… I guess that they will be disappointed…"

Naruto sighed. "Kakashi-sensei… maybe… maybe we _could _help him…" Naruto said irately.

Kakashi sighed. "All right… just… just be careful next time…" he said as he rewrapped Naruto's arm in bandages. Naruto then closed his eyes and tried to sleep again. "You got on his soft side…" Kakashi glared at Tazuna who had stopped crying.

"Well… I was serious about everything I said… just fake tears!" the old man laughed hysterically before falling asleep with his bottle of sake in his hand.

"_sigh_… I guess I'll try to get some shut-eye as well…" Kakashi said as he walked over to his bedroll and lied down in it.

* * *

A day later…

Near the Land of waves.

"This mist is damned thick…" Sasuke said while, much to his annoyance, Sakura clung onto him. Naruto was reading another page of his comic and Kakashi was reading his book.

"We are arriving… I will take you through the vegetation to avoid enemy detection…" the ferryman said as he took them closer to the dock.

"Thank you…" Tazuna said as he disembarked.

"Watch yourselves!" the ferryman said before he started rowing away.

"Thanks, you too! Ok now, take me home!" Tazuna demanded as he took another swig from yet another bottle of sake.

"Yes, of course Tazuna-sama…" Kakashi said in mock servitude. 'Honestly, does he have an infinite number of bottles?' the one-eyed ninja thought as the group made its way to town.

Naruto was still reading his H-comic. 'And so she said _"Kitsune, my love… this… this night belongs to us…"_ wow! I'll never understand why her breasts are so big…' he thought as he read his comic.

"Naruto you are such a pervert! I guess it is one more thing to add to the list as well as trash! Nothing like my Sasuke-kun!" Sakura then buried her face into the Uchiha's then put his comic away. "Oh? So NOW you choose to be a gentleman, eh? Well sorry…"

Naruto sniffed. "It's not that… I… I can smell chakra… a really strong chakra" Naruto's eyes darted from theft to right before he charged after a glint in the bushes. He then came out with a dead rabbit in his mouth. "Sorry… I saw its eyes and thought it was an enemy…" he said as he spat out the dead creature.

Kakashi looked at its blood-stained fur. 'This… this is a snow rabbit… they are supposed to only be this colour in winter and yet… it's springtime…' Kakashi continued to ponder while Sakura was throttling Naruto for killing a rabbit before he heard a swishing sound. "Everyone! GET DOWN!" Kakashi exclaimed as he tackled Tazuna to the ground.

Sasuke immediately ducked and Sakura was pushed by Naruto. The blonde, however, didn't duck and simply tilted his head to the side; his cheek barely getting scratched by the massive blade that passed. The blade then embedded itself into the trunk of a nearby tree and a shirtless man wearing striped pants with camouflage detached sleeves and ninja sandals then appeared on the hilt. "You… you are a brave boy…" he said in a very low-toned voice through bandages that were wrapped around his mouth and neck. "You sure you're from the hidden leaf? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were from blood-mist but they haven't made a decent shinobi in years…"

"So… you are the goon that Gatou hired… Momochi Zabuza! S-ranked hidden-mist missing-nin… nick-named _The demon of the hidden mist_!" Kakashi said as he got up.

"Ahh… Hatake Kakashi… S-ranked jounin of the leaf and nick-named _The copy ninja!" _Zabuza said as he dropped off of his massive cleaver's hilt.

"Copy ninja?" Sasuke asked as he arose from his encroached position.

Kakashi lifted his ninja headband. "I am the wielder of the Sharingan eye… that is why I am called this." He said matter-of-factly.

"How the hell did you get…?" Sasuke asked angrily before being cut off by Naruto.

"Who cares? Kakashi who is this joke?" Naruto asked nonchalantly.

"Joke!? You have real balls, kid… I think I'm gonna enjoy ripping them off!" the devil of the hidden mist then pulled the blade out of the tree.

"This man is Momochi Zabuza… one of the _seven ninja swordsmen of the mist _who specializes in assassination…" Kakashi said as he glared at the shirtless man.

"Bingo… and you are Hatake Kakashi the _copy ninja_ said to have copied over one thousand jutsu… I am surprized that such a miserably poor old man could finance such a high-ranked shinobi…" Zabuza said with a smirk. "I am even more surprized that a leaf kid could have some balls and address me in such a manner…" he then swung the blade and let it rest on his shoulder as he approached.

"Get back, guys… I'll handle this…" Kakashi then took out a kunai. "All of you protect Tazuna!" he then placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You too, Naruto, this guy is very dangerous… just stay with our charge…" he said with concern.

"Well… I was hoping to just kill the old man quickly… but I guess I'll just go through you first!" Zabuza then laughed evilly and disappeared in a flash, reappearing on the surface of a nearby lake. He raised his left hand and performed the tiger seal with his right. "Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu! (Ninja art: hidden mist jutsu)"

The area was then enveloped in an impenetrable mist. "Damn! Guys, watch your backs… Zabuza is a master of silent killing… be extremely careful in this mist!" Kakashi stated with concern.

Zabuza's voice rang through the mist. "Which method of killing shall I go with? The liver, the lungs, the spine, the clavicle vein, the jugular, the brain or the heart?" there was then evil, dark laughter.

"I… I can't see him in this damned mist!" Kakashi cursed. He wanted to run over to his students to protect them. Yes even Sasuke and Sakura.

"Not even with the Sharingan!?" Sasuke was shocked to hear the Uchiha's precious Sharingan being beaten by a bit of mist.

"I… I can't smell him well enough… his chakra is everywhere and I can't get a fix on the source!" Naruto exclaimed worriedly, sniffing the air.

Sasuske took out a kunai. 'Damn… I… I can't bear this tension anymore… I… I feel like I'm gonna suffocate from it… I… I'd prefer to die at my own hands rather that at that bastard's!' he said as he prepared to plunge the kunai in his belly.

Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke… we can trust Kakashi-sensei. And if you can't trust him then…" Naruto's eyes went a bright red and his eye formed into slits. "Trust me!"

Kakashi felt his heart soar with pride at hearing his student and former sensei's son's words. "Naruto I…"the he saw a silhouette appear in the middle of the group of genein. "Watch out!"

Naruto smirked. "I know…" in a flash he kicked Zabuza with such strength that he was sent flying through the air. "I can see him through this mist with my eyes!" he said matter-of-factly.

"Y-Your eyes!?" Sasuke asked in shock while everyone else gasped. 'Eyes better than the Sharingan!?' he glared hatefully at Naruto.

"What exactly can you see with those eyes, Naruto? Kakashi asked curiously while keeping his own senses on alert.

"Well… I can see through fog, mist, haze and darkness with ease… I can also see through illusions, genjutsu and chakra-made mists like this…" Naruto said in a quite smug tone. Everyone was still surprized that Naruto had a doujutsu. "Also…" Naruto said as he took a kunai from his ninja satchel and threw it towards Kakashi. "I can see people's anima! Clones and henges are useless!" the kunai flew past Kakashi's face and he heard a clang.

Kakashi looked to the place Naruto had kicked Zabuza to find a puddle of water; he then turned to see the real Zabuza holding his blade up in a blocking stance. "It… it was a water-clone!?" he then ducked as Zabuza swung his blade.

Zabuza made the tiger hand seal. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu! (Water-clone technique)"

Naruto smirked with his red eyes. "But… you know when I see the anima of a person it makes me… HUNGRY!" Naruto then charged after Zabuza with drool running down his face as he sported a maniacal grin.

"Stupid insolent brat!" Zabuza shouted as he kicked Naruto in the chin, lifting him into the air. He then plunged his massive blade into the ground and used it as a stepping stone to get higher that Naruto. "I am Zabuza Momochi! Demon of the hidden mist!" he then sent his foot crashing down into Naruto's stomach and shot him into Kakashi's arms. "And don't you forget it…" he said with a smirk as he landed gracefully on the butt of his weapon.

Kakashi held Naruto as the blonde coughed up blood. 'Damn… he has several fractured ribs and I don't know about the rest of him…' Kakashi set him down carefully on the ground. "Guys, watch over him… alright, Zabuza, you want to dance? Let's dance!" Kakashi said while performing the hand sign. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu! (water-clone jutsu)"

"Hehehe, dancing is for girls! This is man's work!" Zabuza and all his water-clones exclaimed as they charged at Kakashi.

"Hmm… I have a feeling he is missing the point…" Kakashi said to himself as his clones charged to meet Zabuza's. Both side's water clones all crashed in a huge thunderous splash; water spattering on all sides.

"I just don't get you people… underestimating me like this… it's actually funny…" Zabuza mumbled to himself as he took up his blade. "I AM ZABUZA!" he screamed as he swung his blade a full three hundred and sixty degrees; wiping out every clone on the field.

All that was left was water after Zabuza rested his blade on his shoulder. "And I am Kakashi Hatake!" Kakashi yelled while in mid-air.

"Hm, insolence!" Zabuza exclaimed as he jumped in the air and swung his blade in an overhead motion, slicing Kakashi in two who then disappeared in a cloud of smoke; leaving log that had been split in two. 'A substitution…' the swordsman then landed with his blade sinking into the damp mud. "I'm stuck…"

He felt a kunai rest on the skin on his neck. "It's over!" Kakashi exclaimed.

"Really? Because you seem to be forgetting something…" Zabuza said with a smirk.

"What?" Kakashi asked while pressing his kunai harder against Zabuza's neck.

"I am one of the _seven ninja swordsman of the mist_…" he said as he detached the handle off his blade. "Do you really think that… THE BLADE IS THE ONLY PART OF MY WEAPON THAT I USE!?" he screamed in his deep, menacing voice as he sung the handle and hit Kakashi over the head with it like a cudgel; making the copy ninja fall to the ground clutching the side of his head in agony. "And now I'm going to kill you…" he whispered as he kicked Kakashi in the ribs with such force that the Sharingan ninja went flying into the nearby lake.

Naruto looked at the scene in front of him. "Ka… Kakashi… sensei…" he got up and started staggering towards the ninja swordsman. His eyes had reverted back to blue and his bloodlust had declined. 'thank god this mist has cleared…' he thought as he continued to walk. "Hey… I… I am gonna make… you pay… for attacking… my… sensei…" Naruto said as he forced his breathing.

"Naruto! If you die, I don't want to carry your corpse!" Sakura exclaimed as she thought of how Kakashi would make her and Sasuke bring Naruto's body all the way back to Konoha.

Zabuza turned to see the bloodied blonde staggering towards him. "You've got guts, kid, which is good because…" he then appeared in front of Naruto. "It'll be SO much more fun ripping them out!" he then swung his blade.

Naruto ducked just enough for the blade to miss the tips of his spikey hair and then put all his strength into his right arm. "Don't… under… estimate me…" he then punched Zabuza in the face; sending him flying a few feet before he dragged his blade in the ground. Naruto then felt something tear inside of him and he coughed up a lot of blood before falling to the ground unconscious.

"Heh, a bunch of kids wearing headbands and pretending to be ninja… adorable…" Zabuza said with his voice dripping in mockery and sarcasm. He then started walking over to Naruto. "Well… if you are going to play like ninjas… you are going to die like ninjas!" the demon said as he held his blade above his head.

"Hey! If you think Naruto is going to get all the glory, then you are obviously a loser!" said Sasuke as he took something out of his ninja pack. "Demon-wind shuriken! Windmill of shadow!" he said as he held the enormous shuriken. "Now die!" Sasuke threw it with all his strength a sent it flying through the air at the swordsman.

Zabuza caught the shuriken in his left hand. "Ha! Do you really think that I was going to fall for that!?" he then laughed maniacally before noticing a second shuriken flying towards him. "a second one!?" he then threw the demon shuriken he was holding at the one that was coming at him. "Did you think that I was going to fall to that!?"

The two shrunken collided and the second one… cried. The second shuriken then disappeared into a cloud of smoke; leaving a bloodied Sakura on the ground with one of the blades of the first demon shuriken in her leg. "Sasuke! I… I'm sorry I failed you!" she said while clutching her bleeding leg.

"oh… now this is just pitiful…" Zabuza said as he plunged his blade into the ground next to Naruto. "You two are not even worthy of my blade!" he said as he jumped onto the butt of his weapon. He then begun making a long, complex series of hand seals. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu! (water release: water dragon bullet jutsu)" a huge dragon made entirely out of water then came from the lake. "Now you will all die! Hahaha…" Zabuza began laughing maniacally before he was swept away by the massive water dragon. After the raging torrent, he had been pinned to a tree. "What the… Kakashi!?"

Kakashi Hatake stood triumphant with his Sharingan eye glaring into Zabuza's. "You didn't think that I would stay down did you?" the copy ninja said with a smirk.

"I… you copied my jutsu before I even finished it!?" Zabuza's eyes widened at the realization that he had lost.

"Yes… thanks to your ranting I had completed all the hand seals and cast the jutsu whereas you just did the hand seals…" Kakashi's Sharingan wheel then turned. "Now… you're finished!" he said as he pulled out a kunai.

Just then Zabuza shrieked and went stiff. A masked ninja came out of nowhere and bowed. "I am a tracker ninja of the hidden mist… thank you for the help with our missing-nin, Zabuza… I am grateful… now I bid you farewell, I shall take the body and the blade with me to eliminate them." The masked ninja then picked Zabuza and left before anyone could mutter a word.

'Tracker ninja? Yeah right… I believe that we will have trouble pretty soon…' Kakashi thought to himself before Tazuna's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Kakashi-sama! The kid!" he said as he held a bloodied Naruto in his arms.

"Damn! He needs medical attention, fast!"

"Kakashi-sensei! I am badly hurt!" Sakura said while pointing at her leg.

"Ah, yes… I'm afraid that a small wound like that isn't life-threatening but in any case we need somewhere to shelter ourselves!" Kakashi tried to remain calm as he held Naruto in his arms.

Tazuna pointed in a certain direction. "Quick, my house is that way!" and then the group made their way towards the bridge builder's house.

* * *

**A/N: **Damn… fight/action is damned difficult to write… I hope I made it more or less ok… I also want to explain Naruto's powers:

He has heightened hearing.

He can smell chakra.

He can heal almost instantly from normal injuries and can survive severe blood loss and stuff.

His red demon eyes have a type of visual jutsu (this was requested) that allows him to see through genjutsu and stuff. Also he can see peoples anima (soul) after all it IS the bijuu's eyes.

Please review and review!


	6. A reason for living

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and Noble Angel.

**Chapter: **A reason for living.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, yadda yadda yadda.

**A/N: **I have made another chapter yay! I am glad that people like what I did with Naruto's abilities. Haku will be in this chapter, YAY!

* * *

Naruto was in a deep sleep. He was once again in his eternal hell; his nightmares making him scream out in fear. "No… please… wha-what are you doing… no, not that kunai! Please… no, no… NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" he shot up from his bedroll, covered in sweat with bandages wrapped all over his body.

"Oh, you are awake! Hey, are you ok?" a woman who seemed to be in her twenties asked. She was wearing a short-sleeved turtle neck and a navy blue skirt and had a wet cloth in her hand.

Naruto looked around and saw the woman hovering over him. "AHH! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Naruto then tried to push her away and started to shake and cry.

"Hey, dad! Are you sure that he didn't hit his head?" she then turned to Tazuna with a quizzical look on her face.

"Is he awake already? Wow… he receives several broken ribs, a tear in his stomach and a punctured lung and he is up in less than twenty-four hours…" Tazuna said surprized.

"Naruto? Oh, thank goodness!" Kakashi said as he put his book away. He ran over to his student. "Naruto, are you alright?" he asked with concern after he saw his normally unshaken student wet himself.

"Eww… he just woke up and already he is super gross!" Sakura complained from where she was sitting; a bandage wrapped around her leg.

"Ha! He acts tough, but all he is… is a bed wetter!" Sasuke then laughed mockingly while Sakura clung onto his arm. "Damn it, get off of me!" he screamed at Sakura who just ignored him and continued to snuggle into his arm. 'Damn… people are going to start thinking that Sakura is my girlfriend or something…'

Kakashi glared at his other two students. "It is not funny! Naruto suffers from intense nightmares!" he then turned to Naruto and looked him in his bloodshot eyes. "Naruto, listen to me… it is me, Kakashi-sensei…" he said in a fatherly tone of voice.

"Ka… Kakashi… sensei?" Naruto visibly relaxed a bit, but he still had true unmasked fear in his eyes. "I… I saw _her _again… I…" He then began to sob.

Kakashi pulled him into an embrace and let Naruto cry into his chest. "It is ok, Naruto… You were very brave, you know?" Kakashi said while Sakura and Sasuke looked at them disgustedly.

Naruto looked up. "What… do you mean?" he asked with confusion.

"The way you stood up to Zabuza it was very brave, foolish, but brave…" he then smiled. "I'm proud of you!"

Naruto went wide-eyed. No one had ever said that they were proud of him and no one ever comforted him like this before. 'Is… is this what… the other kids feel like when they have parents? Is… is this love too?' Naruto asked himself while he let out all his built up anguish into Kakashi's chest.

After an hour, Naruto had finished pouring out his pain and had gotten dressed. "I don't know why you treat him like that, Kakashi-sensei… it is embarrassing for a ninja to cry and, quite frankly, it is embarrassing to watch you pat his back like that…" said Sasuke while he ate an apple.

"I owe it to someone… to two people actually… one was that friend of which I spoke" Said Kakashi in a solemn voice.

"Who was the other?" asked Sakura curiously while she looked at her butt in a mirror. 'Gotta look good for Sasuke'

"And why do you owe it to your friend? Didn't you say he died a long time ago?" Said Sasuke nonchalantly.

"Well… it was my friend who taught me the philosophy that I told you in your test… that those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. And the second person is classified, Sakura…" Kakashi said while looking at Naruto who was now entering the room.

"Kakashi-sensei, have you seen my comic?" he said in a monotone voice. He hadn't shown such emotion to anyone. Ever. Kakashi was someone who he felt comfortable around; he was someone Naruto felt… proud around.

"Yes, I have it here but we should begin training today… I have a feeling that that tracker nin was false and in cahoots with Zabuza. If that is the case then we could be facing him at any moment… although I think he would need to heal." Kakashi mused.

Sakura went red with fury. "WHAT!? I am wounded! I can't train!" She screamed in a shrill voice.

"Oh come now Sakura… Naruto received injuries that could leave someone in the hospital for weeks and he is ready, aren't you Naruto?" Kakashi said while taking out his book. 'I'm almost at that chapter… I've heard it's real hot' he thought as a perverted blush spread across his face.

"But I can't heal like him! I mean that piece of shit heals almost instantly!" She said defensively. She really wanted to just relax with Sasuke.

"Sakura… how many times have I told you to not call Naruto…?" Kakashi glared at her with intensity before Naruto spoke.

"It… it's alright, Kakashi-sensei… She is right… I… I heal too quickly… and she is right… I… I'll train alone if you want, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said in a monotone voice, clearly he was hurt by still not being able to form a bond with his teammates.

"Actually, I would like some training… about time you actually taught us something." Sasuke said as he tossed the apple core out the window.

"I'm feeling better, Kakashi-sensei! I think I can definitely train with Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said hastily after hearing that Sasuke wanted to train.

Kakashi sighed. 'Bitch… she makes Naruto feel terrible just for her to eagerly agree if Sasuke is involved…' He clenched his fists. "Alright… but please say sorry to Naruto…" he glared at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Alright… sorry, whiskers…" she managed to force out. "There, and now we can train, right Sasuke? Ooh, I hope it is some hot close taijutsu!" She smirked. 'I'll be like "take this, Sasuke" and he'll be like "Oh, I think it'll be you who takes it…" and then…' she received a nosebleed from her perverted thoughts.

"No, it isn't… we will be learning…" Kakashi started in a bored tone of voice before the door swung open. "Hmm?"

"Inari!" Tazuna said as he ran to the boy who walked in. "It's so good to see you!" he then embraced the young boy lovingly. "Inari, these are the ninja heroes that are gonna help us! Team seven, this is Inari, my lovely grandson!" he spoke with pride.

Kakashi held out his hand. "Hello, please to meet…" he said before Inari slapped his hand away.

"You aren't kidding anyone… you aren't gonna protect us!" the boy growled.

"Listen, you don't have to worry! I am an Uchiha! I am an elite ninja that can defeat anyone…" Sasuke said as soon as he could pry Sakura off of him. He was cut off by Inari.

"I don't care who you are! If you are stupid enough to think yourselves heroes, then you will die!" the boy exclaimed, ignoring the glares he was receiving from everyone except Naruto.

A solemn, monotone voice then piped in. "No, we are not heroes… but we do want your money, so that makes us your protectors… believe me, I am more monster than hero…" Naruto then turned and had slits for pupils, even though his irises were blue. 'hm, just what I thought… he has darkness in his soul… just another gutless brat who thinks himself tough because he has suffered' Naruto thought as he was growing more and more irritated with the situation. He then walked out of the door and, just before exiting, turned to Kakashi. "I'll be waiting in the forest…" Inari left and headed to his room while Naruto headed to the forest. He stopped and saw Inari crying at his windowsill. "Heh… real tough guys don't cry…" Naruto said to himself as he headed to the forest; tears falling down his face.

"Sorry about that… Naruto… he is kinda… upfront about things…" Inside Kakashi was apologizing to Tazuna.

"Yeah, Naruto is a wimp who likes to act tough…" Sasuke was now eating another apple. A kunai then came and pinned the apple into the wall; narrowly missing his hand and face in the process. "What the hell was that for!?" he yelled in outrage.

Kakashi simply smirked under his mask. "These people don't have much to eat and you are eating what little they have… I just don't like greedy people who only think about themselves!" He said in a sickly sweet tone of voice. "I am limiting you all down to the meals that Tazuna and his lovely daughter, Tsunami…" he winked at her, making her blush. "Provide for us… no snacks!" he then glared at Sakura who was eating the apple he had pinned to the wall.

Sakura grinned. "What? You don't think I'm gonna let a perfectly good apple that touched the mouth of my beloved Sasuke go to waste, do you?" she asked mater-of-factley.

Kakashi face palmed. "Ok… we're done here…" he then grabbed Sasuke and Sakura by the ear and dragged them towards the forest. They approached a small clearing and were greeted by loud cries accompanied by sickening _clacks_. Kakashi peered through the trees. "Oh, Naruto…"

Naruto was punching a tree again and again, the tree had been stained red with blood and Naruto's knuckles had been flayed down to the bone. "I… will… not… fail… next… TIME!" he yelled in between cries of pain.

Kakashi walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto… you shouldn't beat yourself up over losing to a jounin… Zabuza isn't some bum who talks big. He is one of the most powerful ninja in the world and you should be proud… most guys, even jounin, die within moments and never land a hit… you are a genin! And you gave him a real fight…" Kakashi then noticed tears running down the blonde's face. 'Tears of shame…' he thought. "You… you aren't beating yourself up over Zabuza… are you?" he asked with concern.

Naruto went silent. "What's… going on?" Sakura asked no one in particular as she felt a cold feeling fall over everything around them.

Kakashi looked at Naruto intensely. "You… you feel ashamed and responsible for _that incident_, don't you?" Naruto tensed after hearing Kakashi's words.

"How long have you…?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"I was the one who found you…" Kakashi said. A cold breeze then ran throughout the forest, as if it was a product of the tension in the air. "I want you to know that it wasn't your fault… please, don't hate yourself for it!" He said as he gave Naruto's shoulder a squeeze.

"I'm… ready for training… Kakashi-sensei…" He said in a monotone voice.

Kakashi wanted to discuss the matter more with Naruto but then he realized they weren't alone. "Ok… _ahem_… today will be a lesson on chakra and its manipulation…" he said as he turned towards the others.

"Oh no, not this crud again!" Sakura yelled. Sasuke sighed with frustration.

"Sorry guys, but this lesson is a very important one…" Kakashi said in his aloof tone of voice. "Now, can anyone tell me the principles of chakra, jutsus and chakra control?" he asked.

Sakura sighed. "Chakra is the energy created by the combination of physical and spiritual energies. We ninja use this energy to perform jutsus…" Sakura said secretly enjoying the fact she was the best in her class when it came to theory.

"Yes… a jutsu is made when chakra is released by a hand seal and can take many different forms depending on the seals used, the amount of chakra released and the knowledge of how to make it…" Sasuke continued in a monotone voice.

"Oh, Sasuke!" Sakura then latched onto him like a leech.

"Yes… now about chakra control and manipulation…" Kakashi said after Sasuke pushed Sakura off of him. "Chakra flow can be influenced through intense training and be directed to specific points of the body… for instance…" he then walked over to a tree and placed his foot on it. Much to everyone except Naruto's amazement, Kakashi started walking up the tree; uninfluenced by gravity. He stopped upside-down on a thick branch. "You see? By channelling the chakra to my feet I am able to stand upside-down without falling. However, chakra can alter the body in other ways… it can be used to replace stamina and lost energy, increase the power of physical attacks and even…" Kakashi was then cut off by Naruto.

"Or even make you invincible… it can be used to heal wounds and cushion great impacts that would otherwise obliterate you in a second…" he said in a solemn voice. He knew all too well the powers that chakra gave… and the price.

"Shut up, baka! (idiot)" Sakura yelled. "Kakashi was talking before you…" she then pissed herself after Naruto gazed her in the eyes with big red orbs.

"Naruto is right chakra can make you invincible… which means those with a very strong, powerful chakra…" he then looked back and forth between Naruto and Sakura. "Are feared above all else." He jumped down from the tree. "Sakura… maybe you should… err… get changed…" Kakashi said.

Sakura snapped out of her daze and looked at Kakashi confusedly. "Change? Why?" Kakashi then pointed towards her lower body. She noticed that she felt wet on and in-between her legs, looked down and screamed. "What the fuck!? I… I…" she then had a blush that could rival Hinata's.

"A reaction to being exposed to fear… the human body instinctively shuts down the control that it has over the bladder due to adrenaline… you got scared." Kakashi said matter-of-factly while Sasuke was rolling on the floor laughing.

Sakura seethed. "Me? scared of that shit!? HA!" she then walked up to Naruto, who was looking at his feet, and bent down to look him in the eye. "Listen here, you worthless fuck, I am NOT afraid of you!" Inner Sakura was in control now.

Naruto's eyes had returned to being azure and he had self-loathing written all across his face. "Sakura… I'm sorry…" he never finished his sentence as a fist crashed into his face.

She punched him again and again and then threw him to the ground and straddled him; covering him in her urine. "I am NOT afraid of you, you worthless piece of shit! I am better than you, trash! And so is Sasuke! He is fucking better than you too! You will never be loved! And I will not ever fear you! EVER!" she screamed as she kept punching him again and again. She was ridiculed and embarrassed in front of Sasuke, who was now rolling around laughing at her, and by Naruto of all people… he needed to pay and she needed to let him know that he would never scare her. Ever.

Kakashi tried to get her off of him but she was incredibly strong for a girl her age. "That is enough, Sakura!" he shouted in a desperate attempt to get her sane again.

Sakura just kept on punching Naruto's now very bloody face. "Your whore mother probably threw you in the trash, because that is what you are, TRASH! And your bastard father pissed on you with disgust you stupid fuck!" she screamed with her face getting redder and redder as her frustration grew. She wanted Naruto to scream in pain, but he just lied there… with a sad look in his eyes.

That last verbal assault was the final straw for Kakashi. He grabbed her by her collar and pinned her against a tree forcefully. He glared deeply into her eyes with his Sharingan wheel turning. "Listen… if you ever say anything like that about Naruto or his parents with me present… I'll use my most harsh and forceful method of punishment on you… so back off." He growled in a low, very menacing voice. He let her down. "I suggest you get changed… you stink of piss" he said with disgust. "Sasuke, you will accompany her and give her some of the extra clothes you packed!" he ordered the Uchiha who had now stopped laughing and was just speculating.

"Alright, if I must… I hope she doesn't piss in them!" he then started laughing while he took Sakura with him to Tazuna's house.

Kakashi then turned towards Naruto. "Alright… you ok Naruto…?" the blonde was nowhere to be seen. "Naruto?"

* * *

Deeper in the woods.

Naruto was sobbing loudly while he was curled up in a ball hugging himself. "I… I didn't mean it Sakura… I… I HATE MYSELF!" he wailed in despair. His wounds were already healing but the stench of urine and his own blood still remained. "I… I'm sorry, Hinata… I… I tried to bring back the old me but…" he took out a kunai and looked at his reflexion on the blade. "I… I am not worthy of love… Sakura was right…" he then positioned the kunai so that it was pointing directly to his throat. "I am trash" he then pushed until he felt warm liquid flowing down his chest and coming up his throat. He coughed up some blood before his world went black.

* * *

Time passes…

Naruto opened his eyes and saw a beautiful night sky above. His T-shirt and jacket were removed and he was covered in bandages. 'What? I'm still alive? Why can't I ever… why can't I ever find release… what did I do… to suffer like this?' he thought as tears fell down his cheeks.

"Good, you are awake… I was worried you wouldn't make it" came a voice to his right.

Naruto reached for a kunai but his satchel was missing. He then turned to see a beautiful young _woman_. "Who… who are you? What are you doing here…? Where is my equipment and clothes?" Naruto asked as he began to feel woozy.

He fell sideways but the _woman _caught him before he hit the ground. "Careful… you lost a lot of blood… my name is Haku. I found you lying in the forest in a pool of blood. And as for your clothes, I washed them for they seemed to smell like urine and had a lot of blood on them…" Haku then went to a nearby tree and took the clothes and satchel that was hanging from one of its branches. "Here…" _she _gave all the stuff to Naruto. "Why did you try to kill yourself?" Haku asked with curiosity.

Naruto went completely still before replying. "I have no reason to live…" he said solemnly. "No family… one friend that would end up hating or hurting me… no respect from anyone except my teacher… but he says it's because he owes someone a favour rather than just for me…" he kept thinking of all the things Sakura said to him.

"You don't have a purpose, hm? I know how that feels… but surely there is someone precious to you that you want to serve and protect?" Haku asked curiously. "There must be someone who you would die for… someone you love." Haku mused.

Naruto looked into space and could only see what seemed to be an angel with white eyes and dark-blue hair looking at him with a smile that made him feel so at peace. His gaze returned to Haku. "That friend that I told you about… I care deeply for her… but she is just a friend, right?" he then told Haku of his feelings toward Hinata and when he was finished Haku was laughing. "What… is… so funny?" he asked with a very confused expression.

Haku smiled. "Naruto… have you ever thought that you love her not as a friend, but as a lover?" _she _then grinned.

"What? A lover… I err…" his cheeks got hot as blush made its way onto his face. "I… I know that I… care for her… but even if I did want her as a lover… she would never love me like that…" he said as his misery returned.

"Why not? You have a nice body…" Haku then winked.

"I know that you are a boy, Haku…" Naruto said in a monotone voice. "She isn't so shallow either… so I'm not worried about my appearance… It's just… I… I have darkness inside of me… it… it is hard to control and… and… I don't want to hurt her!" he said as tears ran down his face.

"Then get stronger so you can control it…" Haku said matter-of-factly. "Work harder to earn her love" Haku then started walking. "Do that and you shall find your purpose…" he then turned to face Naruto "And you will find your light" Haku then disappeared.

Naruto was just standing there, wide-eyed. "I… must become stronger?" he asked himself. "I… I need to get back to the others…" he then began sniffing. "I smell Kakashi-sensei's chakra… that way!" he then began running in the direction of the smell.

* * *

At Tazuna's house.

Kakashi was pacing from left to right. "Damn… it has been hours and he STILL hasn't come back…"

Sasuke and Sakura were digging into their meals. "Who cares?" Sasuke said as he put another piece of sushi in his mouth. "Hiv'll brushed fee a indranch, anchibuey… (he'll just be a hindrance anyway)" he said with his mouth full.

Sakura was just staring at Sasuke. 'Oh my… Sasuke is just so cute when he eats…' she thought to herself. "Yeah! Since I happen to be a genius at chakra control, it would put me off my game if that blonde baka (idiot) was here…" Sakura said as she put a piece of sushi in her mouth.

Kakashi was about to say something when the door opened. "I… I'm back…" Naruto said sheepishly. Kakashi grinned ear to ear while Sasuke and Sakura just sighed with frustration. "Is… is there anything left for me to eat?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"Naruto, where were you?" Kakashi asked with concern as he gave Naruto his plate of sushi. "You missed training… and… I was… worried about you" Kakashi said sheepishly.

Naruto just took a bite of his sushi, chewed and swallowed before answering. "I… I was thinking about my dream… I just want to say that… I'm sorry, Sakura, if I scared you…" he then caught a kunai before it hit his face. "I will try… harder… to… control… myself…" He was already itching to kill her after she threw the kunai. He stuck it in his leg; the pain took away his bloodlust.

Kakashi then appeared behind Sakura and slapped her over the back of her head. "What did I say about being bad to Naruto?" he asked.

Sakura just sighed. "Sorry, whiskers…" she forced. She was still pissed about being intimidated by Naruto.

"It's alright, Kakashi-sensei… but I promise that I'll get stronger!" Naruto said with confidence. 'I need to be… I have to protect Hinata… especially from you, Kyuubi…' he thought as he ate.

"Wow… you sure did a lot of thinking in them woods, boy" said Tazuna as he took his plate to wash.

Naruto then froze for a moment before smirking. "Let's just say… I discovered my purpose!" he said before putting his plate down. He turned towards Kakashi. "I'm going to bed… I'll be waiting in the forest clearing in the morning" he then went to his sleeping quarters.

Tazuna then turned to Kakashi. "I have a question…" he said.

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. "Yes?" he asked with curiosity.

"If what that boy said before to Inari is true… then why are you helping us?" the old bridge builder asked.

"Naruto… he considers himself an evil monster for that is what he was and is being called by everyone in the village… he is confused and troubled by feelings of compassion, love and kindness because he was rarely ever shown such emotions at a young age" Kakashi said in a solemn voice. "His father and mother died when he was born and he has a… certain _burden_… inside that makes it even harder. That girl who you saw in the village is his only friend… I believe she loves him and has seen past what her parents see… he is a different person when she is around and I believe that she brings out the best in him…" he said with a sad smile under his mask. "But… with his self-esteem being constantly _ahem _lowered he feels constant doubt that he truly is good… In other words: he is constantly feared and hated so he thinks it is because he is evil and yet… he doesn't see what he truly is…" Kakashi let alone tear fall. "He is his father's son… he proved it when he insisted on coming. "_forsaking your rightful duty is less courageous than facing an army for pay…" _his father would say things like that…" Kakashi then got up. "Anyway, I think we should follow Naruto's example and rest… come on, you two, you've had enough!" he then dragged Sasuke and Sakura with him to their sleeping quarters.

* * *

The next day…

When Kakashi and the others awoke Naruto had already gone. The found him in the forest clearing with his H-comic. "Well… you woke up early. I can't believe you haven't finished that already!" Kakashi said in amazement. "Anyway…" he then remembered that Sasuke and Sakura were with him. "yesterday we began training in chakra control by sending chakra to our feet… Sakura, you should go and protect Tazuna since you are already pretty good at chakra control… Sasuke made it up to the first branch…" he then pointed towards a tree with several slashes on it. "Today I will assess your abilities, Naruto… concentrate chakra into your feet and try running up the tree…" he said as Naruto put away his comic.

"Ok, Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto said as he turned towards the tree he was leaning against. 'Concentrate my chakra…' he then concentrated his chakra into his feet and ran towards the tree. He ran halfway up the tree, much to everyone's amazement, before he bounced off and turned the tree to splinters. "Damn! I put too much chakra into my feet!" he exclaimed as he landed.

Kakashi walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Naruto… I believe in you" Kakashi said with a smile.

Naruto went wide-eyed before tuning to a tree and gathering his chakra into his feet. 'Yes… I will do this… for Kakashi-sensei and… for you Hinata…' he shut his eyes tight before opening them with slits for pupils. "I WILL DO THIS!"

* * *

**A/N: **well, a lot of you were wondering what Haku's chat would be like and I brought it! I know it is kinda early for Haku's talk but I felt Naruto needed this. Also I apologize for Kakashi being ooc but I feel that this was necessary. I also apologize for how short this chapter was… I was planning to include the fight with Zabuza into it but I thought that it was right how I left it… so anyway please review and criticize and stuff… PEACE OUT!


	7. Battle on the big bridge

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble angel.

**Chapter: **Battle on the big bridge.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the awesomeness that is Naruto… just my dark twisted imagination.

**A/N: **Hi my readers. I FINALLY got the big fight with Zabuza and Haku… enjoy!

* * *

The sixth day of training.

The forest clearing.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed as he still could not manage to control the amount of chakra that flowed through him. "I still can't run up a tree without bouncing off!" he shouted with frustration.

Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto… thanks to your… particular position it is especially difficult for the right amount of chakra to come… but it will be impossible if you don't calm down. You are close… there aren't any more broken trees and you aren't going into your bestial state anymore… I think that today you will achieve total control" Kakashi said with smile in his eye.

Naruto got up and charged at the tree again. "I will become strong! I will be in control and I WILL earn Hinata's friendship!" he ran all the way up the tree but when he was about to reach the top the tree's top branch broke and he fell.

He hit the ground with a thud. "Naruto!" Kakashi ran over to Naruto and checked for any injuries. He was unconscious. "Damn it, Naruto… why must you push yourself so much?" Kakashi asked himself before taking the boy in his arms and carrying him away.

* * *

Time passes…

Naruto's eyes shot open. "GET AWAY!" he screamed as he rose from the bedroll. "Fucking nightmares…" he mumbled as he got up. He felt oddly weak and his breathing was laboured. He took a step forward and collapsed. "What the hell? What is wrong with me?" he asked himself as he lied on the floor.

"You are suffering chakra exhaustion… try not to move" came Kakashi's voice from the corner of the room. "you haven't been sleeping much lately, have you?" He said with concern.

"A little difficult when you have ceaseless nightmares…" Naruto said in a monotone voice. He then crawled to his bedroll. "So… how long till I can move?" he reached for his comic.

Kakashi had his nose in his book. "Normally it would take days… but in your case you should be at full strength in a few hours." He said in a monotone voice, masking his glee.

"I'm sorry if you are disappointed in me… I… I still used too much chakra…" Naruto said as tears ran down his face.

"Actually…" Kakashi was now grinning from ear to ear under his mask. "I checked the branch that broke and…" he lifted his gaze from the book and looked proudly at Naruto. "It was rotten… and I saw no signs of it breaking due to chakra so… you did it!" he said with pride. "You have achieved chakra control!"

Naruto smiled. "That's good to know… I don't think I can train anymore today and I would hate to spend all night training." He said in a monotone voice, trying to mask his joy. His face then went grim. "What about Sasuke and Sakura? Where are they?" Naruto asked. He wasn't eager for them to ruin his day.

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "They are protecting Tazuna… they won't be back until supper… we have the entire day to ourselves…" a perverted blush crept across his face. "So… you wanna read?" he asked.

Naruto looked at the comic in his hand. "Sadly I've finished this… not so exciting when you already seen all the goods…" he said in a sad voice.

Kakashi was now grinning ear to ear underneath his mask. "_ahem _I happen to have gone to a… fine literature shop and you know what? They have an H-comic section! So… I kinda went and purchased the next issue of _the nine lovers of kitsune _you umm… want it now or later?" the masked jounin asked playfully.

Naruto's face was beaming. "Thank you… Kakashi-sensei… I… I'm really glad that you are my sensei…" he said sheepishly, making Kakashi blush in embarrassment. The two of them read their books until nightfall.

* * *

At night.

Kakashi was helping Naruto set the table while Tsunami was cooking some rice and some fish stew. "Thanks boys!" she exclaimed joyfully. The three of them continued until the door burst open. "Dad, how was your…?" she then looked at the sight of what came in.

Sasuke and Sakura had red faces and were swaying from side to side while Tazuna was grinning sheepishly. "Uhh… about them… they kinda slacked off and went into a sake bar… and since the bar has so little customers they kinda let them drink…" he grimaced at the beating he was going to get. "five bottles each…" he winced.

"FATHER! How could you let two twelve year olds march into a sake bar and drink five bottles… EACH!?" Tsunami screamed, placing her hands on her hips.

"Well… they slacked off! I mean, what if we were attacked? The _elite ninja _and his _genius at chakra control _were nowhere to be seen!" he said defensively.

"That's no excuse!" Tsunami screamed.

"That's quite alright, Tsunami-chan, this'll teach them a lesson…" Said Kakashi as he watched the two of them kiss and throw up in each other's mouths in amusement. 'I only wish I had a camera…'

Sasuke collapsed in his own vomit while Sakura made her way to Naruto. "Naaarruuuutooo… I… I looove you, Sasuke…. Givesh mes a kiiiss!" she exclaimed as she tried to kiss Naruto.

Naruto moved backwards uncomfortably. "Uhh… Sakura… I don't really…" she then collapsed in his arms. "What should I do, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as the girl slept.

Kakashi chuckled. "I should think that these two have had their fill for today…" he said in amusement. "Just take her to bed… I'll take Sasuke." He then picked Sasuke up by his collar and dragged him to his bedroll. Naruto slung Sakura over his shoulder and took her to bed. "There… now how about we go and have some of that delicious stew that Tsunami made?" he asked while rubbing his hands together.

The two ninja made their way to the table and Inari also walked in. "Well… I guess that just means more for us, eh?" Tazuna said as drool spilled from his mouth.

The group ate in silence before Kakashi asked. "So what is the story behind that photo on the wall?" he then carefully lifted his mask to eat a piece of fish, making sure no one saw his face.

Everyone except Kakashi and Naruto froze. Tazuna then looked at Inari who had moved to a corner of the room. "The missing face belongs to Inari's adoptive father, Kaisa… he was a great hero who risked his life protecting the town. When Gatou came it was Kaisa who tried to stop him… he was then publically executed in front of everyone…" the old man said sadly.

"Why? Why would he risk his life to protect… a town?" Naruto asked. He now knew what it was like to care so much about someone that he would risk his life to protect her, but a town? A bunch of people you don't know nor care about? To him it was strange.

"Because… Inari is from this country and this town… Kaisa wanted to protect all those precious to Inari because he loved the boy very much…" Tazuna explained in a solemn voice. "The day that he died was the day we lost our will to fight…" Tazuna then lowered his head.

"Sounds like a waste… I mean if he didn't die protecting a bunch of random people then he could be here for the kid over there…" Naruto had never experienced what it was like to like or be liked by his village. They had tried to kill him so many times that he thought that the very notion of him dying for them was inconceivable.

"What would you know? What would you know about loss and caring? About being there for people? I'm sure that in your town you are practically worshiped for just being a ninja… I bet you've had a happy life… so don't talk like you know my dad or what he was like…" Inari said as he glared hatefully at Naruto.

Everyone stared wide-eyed as Naruto disappeared from where he was sitting and reappeared on the far side of the room with Inari pinned to the wall. "Yeah, I don't know what it is like to lose someone, you little punk, because I've never had anyone to lose!" Naruto was so furious that Kakashi could feel the anger radiating off of him. "I've been alone my entire life! And no, I am not worshipped by that shit some call a village! You know what they like to do to me!? They like to stab and torture me, piss on me for fun! I DO know, however what it is like to care for someone so much that it damn hurts! It is because of that someone that you are not a damned corpse!" Naruto glared at the boy with his red eyes. He could now see the fear, the terror in his soul. "You know… about a month ago I would have killed you strait away and eaten you… but now I don't want Hinata to hate me for killing a kid like you! Even if you are a worthless sissy!" Naruto then let the kid go before storming off to his room.

Inari urinated in fear. He had seen the pain in Naruto's red eyes and he could feel the killing intent that he had radiated. Tsunami then went over and hugged her child. "It's ok… try to understand, Inari that… it is not good to judge people by what they are. Sure he IS a ninja…. But I am sure that ninjas are not worshiped and actually have problems as bad as we do…" She said as she stroked her son's hair.

Kakashi was still in shock. Not from the outbreak, but by the fact that Inari was unharmed. "Damn… this training was better than I thought!" he said to himself in amazement. 'to think that he can now control himself without receiving a nasty headache… he must really like that girl…' he thought to himself.

Tazuna managed to snap out of his shock. "Sorry about that… Inari gets a little… moody on the subject of his father. Is the kid gonna be alright?"

Kakashi then realized that there were people in the room. "Oh… Naruto has a lot of built up anguish. I'm sorry for the outbreak, but you see… Naruto is loved by only a select few people… and sadly it is only because we know who his father was… shamefully even I would shun him if I didn't know the truth…" Kakashi looked to his feet. "He is very touchy about his past and people assuming that he has a nice life must be like the worst insult you can imagine…" Kakashi then looked at Inari before continuing. "You are lucky… he has undergone very intense training in order to suppress and control a certain something that sleeps in his soul… all in order to protect and serve the only person who loves him for who he is… not what his father was." He then got up and headed to his sleeping quarters.

* * *

The next day.

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and Tazuna had all set out towards the bridge; leaving Inari and Tsunami alone at home…

Tsunami was sowing an old cloth. "Inari, can you help me, dear?" she called out. She was preparing for the celebration for the bridge building.

"Ok, mom… I'll be there in a second…" Inari said as he placed the torn photo of his father under a small pillow in his room. He then rushed down the stairs to go help his mother.

Outside two men approach the door. "You ready, Zouri?" the one on the left asked. He had his hair tied up in bunches and there was an eye patch covering his right eye. On his left shoulder he had a wave like tattoo and a tattoo that spiralled around his left arm as well as tattoos on his right arm.

"Yeah, Waraji… just remember that the woman is mine. Try not to slash her up too much!" The one on the right said. He was wearing a beanie and had makeup around his eyes. He was wearing a thick coat wrapped in bandages and that had many pockets.

Both men drew their katanas. "No promises there, Zouri…" they then both laughed evilly before breaking down the door…

At the bridge…

The ninja and bridge builder arrived to a gruesome site. All the workers that had shown up had been slaughtered and were lying in a pool of their own blood. "The hell has happened!?" Tazuna was in shock.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai. "It would seem that Zabuza recuperated from his injuries… everyone make a circle around Tazuna-san!" Kakashi ordered as he took his head protector off of his Sharingan eye. A thick mist enveloped the group. "Damn… it his Kirigakure no Jutsu! (hidden mist Jutsu) I can't see!"

Naruto sniffed. "His chakra is dispersed… it is just like that day…" Naruto then allowed enough of his forbidden chakra to flow for his eyes to become infused with the demon's.

Just then Zabuza came out of the mist with his cleaver held high above his head. "DIE KAKASHI!" before he could get too close, Sasuke threw a kunai at him. He liquefied into water after throwing his blade upwards. "Wrong one!" everyone stared wide-eyed as the real Zabuza caught the blade in mid-air and came down with it poised to strike.

"Kakashi-sensei! Look out!" Naruto pushed his sensei out of the way.

Kakashi slid a small distance and just stared at the sight before him. "N-Naruto!" he screamed in utter fear. Fear of failing his sensei and his student, fear of losing Naruto.

Naruto was standing there, laughing. "Damn… It's a good thing I saw you coming… Kakashi-sensei would have gotten killed otherwise…" He was shaking. The blade had gone halfway through his right shoulder and he was stopping it from tearing him in half by holding it in place.

"You… I need to be careful around you… you're pretty strong, kid… normally I would have turned the guy on the receiving end into pork chops… but you, you are actually holding it in place with your bare hands… it really is a shame you have to die here. I would have loved to make you a tool…" he applied more pressure on the blade and a sickening crunching sound resonated as he slowly carved through what was left of Naruto's shoulder blade.

Naruto cried in pain and fell to his knees. "Oh, no you don't!" Kakashi exclaimed as he came from where he was sitting and kicked Zabuza in the face.

Zabuza ducked and pulled the massive cleaver out of Naruto's shoulder. "Well… it looks like you two are quite dangerous… more than what I can say for the other two brats…" Zabuza stated in amusement.

Sasuke screamed and charged. "I AM THE GREATEST ONE HERE! I AM AN UCHI-haaa!" Sasuke then received a powerful kick to the chest.

"What a brat… hey deal with him for me, would ya!?" he called out to a masked ninja who had appeared in the mist.

"Yes, Zabuza-kun…" the mysterious ninja then grabbed Sasuke and dragged him into the mist.

"Now… who's up to a bit of fun?" Zabuza laughed and then disappeared into the mist.

Kakashi turned his attention back to Naruto. "Naruto are you alright?" he asked with concern. He checked Naruto for injuries.

"I'm… ok, Kakashi-sensei… I heal quickly…" Naruto managed to say while he gripped his shoulder. He had a huge wound that was spurting blood and his right arm was just hanging there. His eyes remained red though.

"Kakashi-sensei! Leave the trash! Sasuke-kun is waaay more important and he was dragged into the mist!" Sakura screamed as she kept sending fearful glances towards the thick mist.

"Sasuke can handle himself… Naruto, however is gravely wounded…" Kakashi said before Naruto pushed him out of the way. "Naruto…!?"

Just then Zabuza's massive cleaver came flying out of the mist and barely missed Kakashi and Naruto's faces. The demon of the hidden mist then appeared in front of Kakashi and kicked him across the face. "Hahaha, fools! Did you guys forget I was here!?" The demon exclaimed. Kakashi then disappeared into a puddle of water. "What? Water clones…" he then jumped back, took his blade out of the ground and positioned it on his shoulder. "So… that is your game, huh? Well, I got news for you… I INVENTED THE GAME!" he then spun around with his blade in a three hundred and sixty degree angle and then crouched down with the blade elegantly balanced on his two shoulder blades.

The area was showered in water as all the Kakashi water-clones were sliced into ribbons and turned back into water. "Wow… I was sure that I would get you…" said Kakashi while he carried Naruto in his arms. "You ok, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded. "I think I can fight…" Naruto said as he looked at his wound. It had almost completely disappeared and the bone was completely mended.

"Ok… but don't overdo it…" Kakashi said with concern as he placed Naruto on the ground.

Naruto then looked to where Sasuke was. "Sasuke is in trouble…" He said as he looked through the mist with his demonic eyes. Sasuke was trapped in a losing battle against the masked ninja and seemed to be surrounded by… mirrors?

"Ok… go help him, but don't be reckless!" Kakashi said as he performed the tiger hand seal. "Mizu-Bunshin no Jutsu! (Water-clone Jutsu)" twenty water clones then appeared and charged towards Zabuza.

"Don't worry… I won't be underestimating these guys again…" Naruto said with a smirk. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (shadow-clone Jutsu)" the blonde exclaimed before fifty Naruto clones appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Help Kakashi-sensei!" he ordered as he sent his clones charging towards Zabuza. He then ran into the mist.

"Ahh… the Kage Bunshin… you trained him well, Kakashi!" Zabuza exclaimed as he sunk the blade into the stone bridge. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" sixty Zabuza clones then appeared, each wielding a massive cleaver blade.

The two sides clashed with huge violence. The Zabuza clones ripped right through the Kakashi and Naruto clones but were slowly being overrun by the sheer quantity. "I didn't teach him this! He learned it on his own!" Kakashi said as he snapped the neck of one of the Zabuza clones, turning it into a puddle of water.

Zabuza swung his blade in a one hundred and eighty degree angle; wiping out a huge amount of Zabuza, Naruto and Kakashi clones. "That may be so, but he is no match for my protégé, Haku!" he then approached Kakashi with his blade resting on his shoulder. "So, how about it? Let's go blade to blade to see who the real man is, eh?" he then charged with his blade poised for an upward slash.

"Well… I only have enough chakra for one more jutsu…" he then nodded to his last water clone who nodded back and walked away. "I guess you're on!" he then took out a kunai and charged.

* * *

Meanwhile with Naruto and Sasuke…

Naruto shattered the last mirror with a devastating punch while Sasuke was hurling wave after wave of fire at the masked ninja. Said ninja threw another five needles. "It is futile… I am too fast for fireballs…" he said as he disappeared from sight.

"Damn… Naruto, stay outta this. He is mine!" Sasuke exclaimed as he pulled the needles out. "Katon: Gokakayu no Jutsu! (Fire release: great fireball Jutsu)" he made the hand seals and then let loose a huge ball of flame.

The masked ninja dodged it and threw three more needles. "I told you it is futile…" he said in frustration. 'Zabuza-kun could be in danger and this boy is wasting my time…'

Sasuke then charged at his masked foe with a kunai raised. "I am an elite!" he screamed as he came at him with the kunai.

The phony tracker ninja simply stepped to the side at normal speed and tripped the Uchiha. "Please. Stop with the elite nonsense! You might be able to create fireball jutsus as a genin, but I could perform far greater attacks as a mere child… and look who broke my demonic reflecting mirrors! Those mirrors are extremely difficult to break and your friend over there shattered them in a single blow… if you at least tried you might become as strong as I or he is… but I doubt it…" he said as he walked away.

"That bastard… is not my friend! He is trash and so are you! I am the damned last Uchiha!" he then got up and threw his kunai which was easily deflected by a needle. "Wha-haa!" he exclaimed as a fist was driven into his stomach.

"What a joke…" the masked ninja spat in disgust. He then grabbed Sasuke by the collar and performed a seal with his lone free hand. "Sensatsu Suisho… (Thousand flying water needles of death)" hundreds of particles of water then turned into ice needles and hovered around them. The masked ninja jumped back. "Farewell…" all the needles then shot towards Sasuke, turning him into a human pin cushion.

"I… I will…" Sasuke said weakly before collapsing to his knees. "Defeat… you…" he then took out a kunai.

The masked ninja sighed. 'He isn't even trying to get up…' the then threw a needle into the middle of Sasuke's chest that made the Uchiha collapse lifelessly.

Naruto and Sakura were watching the scene as the mist cleared. Naruto smirked as the Uchiha collapsed. Sakura screamed. "SASUKE-KUN! NOOO!" she then ran over to Sasuke and held his lifeless body in her hands, leaving Tazuna alone and defenceless.

"Wait Sakura, no!" Naruto yelled. Too late. The masked ninja had already thrown a needle directed strait for Sakura's heart. Naruto let out a huge burst of chakra and it enveloped him in a red cloak. 'This… power… IS AMAZING!' Naruto was in ecstasy. He had never felt THIS kind of power before. He shook his head, now was not the time to have orgasms from the surge in power. He moved faster than the wind and appeared in front of Sakura, taking the needle for her. He then jumped forward and concentrated his chakra into his clawed hand.

Blood spattered everywhere as Naruto's hand went right through Zabuza's protégé. "I… I see what you meant…" the ninja said as blood gushed out of his mask.

"Why did you let me live? Haku?" Naruto said in both confusion and sadness at the fact that the person who showed him what he truly felt was actually his enemy.

"You… knew?" Haku said in surprized as the bloodied mask fell off revealing Haku's face covered in blood.

"Your chakra it smells… cold… could be your ice styled chakra… and your soul… it is pleasant and bright, so why? Why do you serve Zabuza?" Naruto asked, still in confusion.

"When I was a child my… mother was murdered by… my father for belonging to… a clan of shinobi known as the Yuki clan…" he said in a weak voice. "He tried to… kill me too… but I showed him my… true power… I was then all alone… until Z-Zabuza-kun… took me and… trained me… he… he became my purpose…" he said as he looked to where his master was fighting.

Naruto looked at Haku sadly. "I understand… but… you know that in order for me to fulfil my purpose and protect Hinata… I have to kill him and you… don't you?" he asked in a solemn voice.

Haku chuckled, coughing up some blood in the proses. "And… you must understand that I must… avenge him as my final duty as his tool? I… am… sorry…" Haku then stuck a needle into Naruto's neck, causing the blonde's throat to fill with blood.

Naruto simply let the blood flow as he crushed Haku's heart, which he was holding the whole time. "Yeah… me too…" he then coughed up blood.

* * *

Zabuza and Kakashi.

The two jounins clashed together again. "Well, Kakashi… you are stronger than I thought… that Sharingan eye must be something, huh?" he then noticed that Tazuna was left defenceless. He smirked.

"I don't care for… bragging, but yeah, it is!" he then applied more pressure onto Zabuza's blade.

Zabuza let Kakashi have his way and jumped back. "Well… I must say, you trained your brats pretty well… one of them seems to be dead… and the pinky is crying over his corpse, HA!" he then disappeared from sight.

Kakashi's eyes widened. "wait… if Sasuke is down and Naruto is helping him… Sakura was supposed to be defending Tazuna… but that means…!" Kakashi then moved frantically in Tazuna's direction.

Tazuna…

Tazuna was standing there, watching the pink haired girl cry in front of him. "Are… are you alright?" he called out.

Just then Momochi Zabuza, titled _the demon from the hidden mist_, appeared behind the bridge builder and swung his blade. Tazuna's head fell from his shoulders with an expression that showed he had not felt anything at the moment of his death. "Target eliminated…" Zabuza said with pride as Tazuna's headless body collapsed. "Hey, Haku, you can withdraw, now… our work is done!" he then scanned the area in search of the boy. His eyes went wide when he saw Haku standing there with Naruto's hand through his chest. "HAKU!" he called out in shock, grief and anger. He then felt two arms wrap around his and saw Kakashi coming towards him. "Damn! I lost focus!" he cursed.

Kakashi looked at the headless body of Tazuna. "Shit… I'm going to kill Sakura…" he then turned his attention back to Zabuza. "Well… it would seem that this is your last battle… any last words?" he asked as he channelled his chakra into his right hand.

Zabuza sighed. He knew this was his last moment of life. He knew that even if he somehow got away, it would never be the same without Haku at his side. "I… I have a request…" he said as he looked towards Haku, who was still standing there with Naruto.

"Let's hear it…" Kakashi said. He was no heartless monster; he would at least hear his enemy's last request before he sent him to the next life.

"Please… bury us together… in a secluded area where the sun shines brightly… Haku he… he always loved to see the sun rise… maybe if our bodies lay side-by-side then maybe… I can be redeemed and… stay with him in the next life… I… I am sorry for what I have done…" the demon said in a solemn voice filled with regret.

Kakashi stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before the sound of a thousand chirping birds snapped him out of his daze. "It shall be done… Zabuza, demon of the hidden mist…" Kakashi said before plunging his electrified hand into his foe's chest.

The bandages around Zabuza's mouth turned red as they soaked the blood that was coming from the ninja's mouth. "Thank you… Kakashi… of the… Sharingan…" his voice got weaker and weaker before finally going silent. He dropped his blade as his body hung lifelessly from Kakashi's clone's arms.

"Kai (release)" Kakashi said to release the clone jutsu. He then fell to his knees. "Damn… I used a lot of chakra…" he then closed the eyes of both Zabuza and Tazuna before rising to his feet and staggering over towards Sakura who was still crying over Sasuke's body. "Hey, Sakura… you know what?" Kakashi said in a whisper, trying to mask his absolute rage.

Sakura sniffed. "What? Sasuke-kun is dead and…" She was cut short.

"TAZUNA IS DEAD BECAUSE YOU FAILED, YOU WORTHLESS OVERLY HORNY TEENAGER!" Kakashi screamed with rage.

Sakura looked over to see Tazuna lying there, dead. "I… I'm sorry, but… but this is Naruto's fault! He didn't protect my Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed defensively with tears running down her face.

Kakashi gritted his teeth. "Oh no, Sasuke-kun is hurt! How will we survive!? Oh, but you know something?" Kakashi said with a voice laced in sarcasm. "He isn't dead!" he then pulled out the needle in the center of his chest and Sasuke's eyes shot open.

"Sasuke! You're alive!" Sakura shouted with relief before hugging the boy, sinking some of the needles further into his flesh.

"Oww! Damn it, Sakura! It hurts bad enough already!" Sasuke screamed as he pushed her away.

Kakashi sighed. "Where is Naruto?" he asked with concern as he looked around. The blonde-haired boy was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm… here… K-Kakashi… sensei…" Naruto called, making a few gurgling sounds as he talked. He staggered over to them with his head hung low.

Sakura got up and walked to him. She then slapped him across the face, sending him to the ground. "You bastard! Why didn't you protect my Sasuke-kun!? You know Tazuna is dead because of you!?" she screamed. She then felt something come into contact with the back of her neck and she lost consciousness.

"That's enough from you…" Kakashi said as he went over to Naruto. "Naruto… Naruto? NARTO!" he then realized that Naruto was unconscious and he checked him over. He was really pale from blood loss and had a needle in his neck that was stopping the healing process. "Damn! Sasuke, take Sakura! I'll take the other three!" the two last conscious ninja then began lifting the bodies of said people…

* * *

Time passes…

Night time…

A camp ground close to the leaf village…

Naruto was, once again, trapped in a horrible nightmare. "No… no… please… I… I… no, not that kunai! No, no, NO!" he screamed as he awoke from his slumber.

Kakashi lifted his gaze from his book. "Naruto, thank goodness! I was worried…" the copy ninja said with a sigh of relief. "you lost a lot of blood…" he explained after he received a confused look from Naruto.

"Where… are we? Where is Tazuna and his family?" the blonde asked.

Kakashi sighed again. "I'm afraid that we failed… Tazuna is dead; his daughter… was raped and butchered… Inari… he… he killed himself…" Kakashi said in a solemn voice.

Naruto's eyes widened. For some odd reason he felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest with a kunai… it hurt badly. "We… I failed? they are… dead?" he said as tears rolled down his cheeks. He had spent the last week or so with those people and suddenly knowing that they were dead made him feel bad…

"Zabuza and Haku are also dead… I buried them on a little cliff's edge on the eastern side of the island… just like Zabuza asked…" Kakashi said, once again, in a solemn voice.

Naruto was just sitting in his bed roll with his head hanging low; tears dripping from his eyes. "I… failed… I tried to become stronger… to be able to protect people close to me… but I… I failed…" he said as he wept.

Kakashi mentally kicked himself after realizing what he had done. "No, no, no, Naruto! You didn't fail!" he said as he waved his hands in front of him "Tsunami and Inari were left alone… they were defenceless…" he said in a solemn voice. "And you can thank those two for Tazuna's death!" he said as he glared at Sakura and Sasuke who were sound asleep in their respective bedrolls.

Naruto continued crying as all the memories of Tsunami, Tazuna and even Inari flooded his mind. "Why? Why does it hurt!? What is this pain?" he asked as he gripped his chest, letting all his tears fall down his face.

"You are feeling sorrow… you formed a bond with those people… while not strong enough to for you to feel utter grief, it is still causing you heartache and pain to know that they are dead…" Kakashi said before placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "But I want you to know that this happens often… not just charges, but fellow teammates and friends on other teams die all the time…" he said as he enveloped Naruto into a caring embrace. Naruto could not bear the thought of his beloved Hinata dying on a mission and began to openly wail and cry in heart wrenching sobs into Kakashi's chest. "Don't worry… I'm here for you…" Kakashi said caringly. He spent the rest of the night hugging the distraught boy.

* * *

The next day…

Late morning…

The village of Konohagakure.

Hinata was standing by the east gate of town. She had returned from her very first C-ranked mission and was now waiting for her secret love to return. It troubled her that she had gotten her first C-ranked mission two days later than Naruto and yet came home earlier. "Oh Naruto… where are you?" she asked herself as she kept gazing at the road. Just then a group of silhouettes made their way closer and closer to the village. "Is… that… Team Seven!?" Hinata jumped with joy until she got a better look at the group.

She looked on and saw Kakashi approach first with so much blood on him that at first it looked like he was wearing a red costume and had dyed his hair red. Sasuke was next and he had hundreds of holes in his clothes and blood stains around each and every one of them. Sakura came third and only had minor blood stains on her. Hinata panicked when she didn't see Naruto but a warm look from Kakashi calmed her. "Don't worry, he is a little depressed so he is trailing behind…" he said before he continued walking.

Hinata felt concern when she heard that Naruto was depressed but immediately felt better when she saw Naruto's silhouette form down the road. However she felt her concern heighten when she got a better look. Naruto was looking at his feet and had severely torn clothes and was the bloodiest of all. "Naruto!" she called.

Naruto looked up and saw Hinata there, safe and sound, playing with her fingers looking beautiful as ever. "Hinata…" he whispered before running up to her and picking her up into a tight embrace, much to her surprize. "Hinata… promise me… promise me you will return! When you go on missions… promise me that you will come back!" he cried as tears rolled down his face.

Hinata didn't know what to say. The boy she loved was here, holding her and begging her to promise him that she would return from her missions; much like she did to him. "I… I promise that…" she looked into his eyes full of pain and worry. She placed her hands on his shoulders. "I cannot promise that I will come back… you know I can't" she said and she saw the huge surge of pain in his eyes. She nervously pulled him into an embrace. "But I promise that I will fight with all my heart to return…" she said as he sobbed again into her shoulder. Later that day he told her about the mission, the training, the fight and the news that they had failed; excluding the part about how he discovered that he was in love with her…

* * *

**A/N: **Well, it is official… this chapter made me wanna cry while writing it. Is it because of Tazuna and his family? Hell no! Zabuza and Haku… I think I nailed their deaths, if I do say so myself. Also, I am satisfied with the ending, if it is too cheesy for you, then tough… cause I think it ain't cheesy In the least bit! Finally… PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR KILLING TAZUNA AND HIS FAMILLY!

Thank you for reading and… umm… there was something I wanted to say… Oh, yes, REVIEW PLEASE!


	8. The Chunin Exams part 1

**Title: **TheFox-Demon and the Noble Angel

**Chapter: **The Chunin exams part 1

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, guys!

**A/N: **Well I got… interesting feedback on my last chapter… I apologize for the mass death and depression and stuff. I also got a lot of people saying that the fic is getting too dramatic and cliché… I apologize for that as well. Anyway, this chapter will be less dramatic and angsty (I hope) so just hang on to your eyeballs and read!

* * *

Konoha.

One week after Naruto arrived from Wave…

Naruto and Hinata were walking side-by-side through the streets, ignoring the glares they received from the odd villager and talking about their week. "And so then Shino used his insects and sent the rats running from the field…" she said as she recalled her last mission. "So… how was your week? I understand that Kakashi-sama gave you the week off, right?" she asked. Naruto had been given the week off by Kakashi and the Hokage as a reward of his heroism in saving Sakura from Haku in the disastrous wave mission. Hinata was particularly happy about Sasuke and Sakura being punished for their failures by having to do double the D-ranked missions with only two thirds of the man power.

Naruto was staring at Hinata as she told him of her missions and quickly looked away when she turned to hear about his week. "Well… Sasuke and Sakura kinda… asked me to do the work for them, so I kinda… helped them out…" Naruto said with a blush. He did not want to include Sasuke and Sakura's threat to beat him up and hate him for ever if he refused.

Hinata then stopped and turned towards Naruto. "Naruto… please don't tell me that you did all the work for them!" she said with concern for her secret love. She hated it when those two would take advantage of the boy she loved because she felt it was somehow her fault for telling him to show them his kind and caring side.

Naruto looked at his feet. "Maybe…" he said sheepishly.

Hinata felt a rush of anger take over her body. "Naruto, don't do that! It was their punishment for their failure and for making you go through that… depression!" she exclaimed angrily. She could not stand those two lousy excuses for human beings and their constant abuse of Naruto's need for acceptance.

Naruto felt the memories of that day on the bridge flood his mind. "I… I deserve the punishment… I failed…" he said in a solemn voice as he continued looking to the ground.

Hinata mentally kicked herself. "Naruto…" she placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to look him in the eye. "You didn't fail… you fought bravely and gave it all your heart. You do not and should not deserve to suffer for _their _failure!" she spat the last part out with venom. She then managed to get a glimpse of Naruto's eyes and saw the pain in them.

"I'm sorry…" he said in a sad, weak voice.

Hinata then embraced him. "I'm not mad at you… just… promise me you won't beat yourself up anymore, ok?" she whispered into his ear, causing shivers to go down his spine.

Naruto then returned the hug. "Alright… I promise…" he then blushed when he realized that they were so very close to one another.

Just then he heard something. "What is it, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked after seeing him grow tense.

"I… I think Konohamaru is in danger…" he then went running at inhuman speeds. 'I can't let the Hokage's grandson get hurt!'

When Naruto reached the source of the voice that was pleading for help, he saw Konohamaru being held up by the collar by a guy who seemed to be a little older than Naruto was who was wearing a black full body suit with a hood that had cat ears. The cat eared boy was throttling Konohamaru violently. "How dare you bump into me, you little punk!" he shouted as the girl next to him sighed with frustration.

"Kankuro, we're not supposed to cause trouble… besides, do you want to get our little brother mad?" the girl asked as she rested against the fence she was standing next to.

"Who's causing trouble? This kid is the only troublemaker I see…" he said as he raised his fist to punch the small crying boy in his grasp.

Naruto had had enough. "Hey, the guy with the makeup… let him go, or I will kill you…" he threatened Kankuro in a cold voice.

Kankuro froze. 'Is that…? No, no it isn't… are there really other freaks with voices that morbid in the world?' Kankuro thought as he turned. He saw Naruto glaring at him from a small distance away. "Beat it, kid! I am waaay outta your league…" he said nonchalantly.

Naruto growled. "I'll say this once more… Put. Him. Down." Naruto was now looking at Kankuro with demonic eyes.

"Kankuro… I think you should listen to him…" said the girl who now kept shooting Naruto scared glances.

"Nah, what's he gonna do!?" he then resumed throttling Konohamaru.

Naruto grinned evilly. "Ok, then…" he got down on all fours. "TIME TO DIE!" he appeared in front of Kankuro with an outstretched claw ready to decapitate the cat eared boy.

"What the…!?" Kankuro glanced into Naruto's eyes and for a second saw death staring him in the eye. He closed his eyes tight, let go of Konohamaru and urinated himself. He had expected death and yet… nothing came, he was alive. He opened his eyes slowly and saw Naruto's clawed hand held into place by sand. "thank you, Gaara…" he whispered to himself as he backed away.

"What the hell is this!? Damned sand!" Naruto yelled as he pulled his hand free of the vice-like grip of the sand.

Just then a boy appeared. He was younger than Kankuro and yet… there was an aura of coldness that surrounded him. Naruto examined his features. The boy was quite short and had red hair, no eyebrows and the kanji for love on the left side of his forehead. He dressed in another desert styled full body suit with a white cloth on the left shoulder. His most distinctive feature was the huge gourd he carried on his back. "So… you managed to actually break through my sand… most impressive…" the red-haired boy said in an icy voice.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Naruto asked with annoyance.

"Hey, you can't speak to Gaara like that you…" Kankuro started before being cut off by said red-head.

"Kankuro… you openly picked a fight with the leaf shinobi… you are a disgrace to our village… so shut up or I'll kill you…" Gaara said in a cold threatening voice. Kankuro immediately stopped talking and the red-haired ninja turned to Naruto. "I am Gaara of the Desert… and you are?" he asked as he tried to look Naruto in the eye. Naruto was looking to the sand on the floor and how it went back into Gaara's gourd.

Naruto slowly lifted his gaze. "I am… Uzumaki Naruto" he then looked Gaara in the eye.

Gaara gasped. Naruto had the very same eyes as him, eyes full of pain, hatred, loneliness and misery. But… he also had something else, something more… a hunger that even made Gaara feel uncomfortable. 'This guy… has eyes like mine… he is definitely worthy pray…' Gaara regained his composure. "Uzumaki Naruto… I apologize for my… sibling's behaviour, it was out of place" Gaara said while glaring at said sibling.

"I'll say. This is the Leaf Village… a long way from Suna, aren't we?" Naruto said as he kept glaring at the group of Sand shinobi. "What is your business here?" he asked.

Gaara looked back towards Naruto. "The upcoming Chunin exams… they are being held here, in Konohagakure. We have passes" he then took out a signed writ of passage from his pocket. After showing Naruto he put it away and turned to leave. "I… look forward to… _competing _with you in the chunin exams..."

Naruto frowned. "Don't think it'll be that damned easy! You attacked the grandson of the Sandaime… I happen to owe that man quite a bit and guess what… sorry ain't gonna cut it!" he said as he took a step forward.

Gaara, Kankuro and the girl who was with them all prepared with Gaara readying his sand, Kankuro taking out some sort of mummy that was strapped to his back and the girl pulling out a giant fan from a holster on her back. Just then someone ran up to Naruto and grabbed his arm. "Naruto, no!" Hinata pleaded as she tugged on it. "Please… you… you'll get hurt!" she cried as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

Gaara noticed that his face became friendlier and his eyes… warmer. Naruto sighed. "Fine, get outta here… just know that if you mess with this kid again, I will kill you!" Naruto threatened.

"You have my word… we will not touch the spawn of this village. Temari, Kankuro; come!" Gaara ordered before walking off with his fellow Sand shinobi.

Naruto then felt two small arms wrap around his waist and looked down to see Konohamaru hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Onii-chan (big brother)… I… I would've been a goner if you hadn't come!" the little boy said as tears ran down his face. After a few more moments of hugging and soft sobbing Konohamaru smiled at Naruto and left with his friends.

Naruto was dumbfounded. "Onii-chan? But… we… we are not brothers…" he had never heard of someone calling someone who isn't their sibling a brother before, especially not him.

The blonde then felt two arms wrap around his right one and looked to the right to see dark-blue hair. "Perhaps he sees you as a brother, Naruto…" Hinata said as she rested her head on Naruto's shoulder, making him blush. "Please… don't… don't be so reckless next time. You could have gotten hurt…" she said in a sad and pleading voice.

The two of them walked while holding hands. They didn't utter a single word, they just walked and enjoyed each other's company. After a few hours of this they reached a park and sat down on a bench. Naruto finally broke the silence. "I… I would make a terrible older brother…" his thoughts jumped back to Inari and his final words to the boy. The memory brought a bitter feeling to his stomach, a feeling he would come to know as regret.

Hinata was just looking at her knees. "You're wrong, Naruto-kun…" she looked up to his face. "You would make a good big brother… after all, you went up against three shinobi that are older than us just to help that little boy… I think he is proud to call you Onii (big brother)…" she said as she looked into his eyes. She was one of the only people in Konoha that had ever looked into his eyes and seen the real him; the Naruto that she met one day a long time ago…

* * *

Flashback…

Five years ago.

The Hyuga residence.

Hinata, now at the age of seven, was being tested and trained time and time again by her father, Hiashi Hyuga. During this sparing match she was absolutely sure she would impress her father and finally earn his respect. He had been a strict and harsh father, obsessing over turning his young daughter into an elite, cold killing machine; something Hinata simply did not have the makings of. "Come on, Hinata… at this rate your younger sister will be heiress!" Hiashi yelled in an angry tone.

Hinata staggered to her feet again and readied her Byakugan. "Alright… gentle f-fist!" she said weakly. She charged forward at her father and blocked his first palm strike with her left arm and then tried to dodge his left hand, but tripped. "Oww… I… I can't do… it…" she said in a hoarse voice.

Her father turned around to leave the room they were in. "Hm, you are truly weak and pathetic… I hope that your sister will be a more promising heiress than you or else the Hyuga are doomed." He said matter-or-factly before leaving his sobbing daughter alone.

Hinata just lied there, crying. She had never been acknowledged nor appreciated by her father and she was often belittled by him. "Why? Why is he… so… mean? Why can't he… love me?" she said in-between sobs.

The door slid open and a boy a couple of years older entered the room. "Because you are destined to be a failure!" he exclaimed mockingly at her.

Hinata tried to stop sobbing but the tears just kept falling. "Why… why am I… a failure?" she asked as a new wave of tears fell down her face. "Why Neji? Why does everyone hate me!?" she finally got the strength to ask.

Neji got close and looked her strait in the eye. "Because… You. Are. Weak." He said in a dead serious tone. Hinata quickly rose to her feet and left the room crying. 'Well, that got her out of here… pampered cry-baby.' Neji though as an evil smirk spread across his face.

Hinata ran out of her family estate without even stopping to put anything on her feet. She just ran until finally collapsing onto her knees in the middle of a training ground. "Why… why can't they just… love me?" she said to herself as she buried her face in her hands.

Just then she heard footsteps and looked up, startled. "Hey, don't be afraid… why are you crying?" said a boy's voice.

Hinata couldn't make anything out; all she could see was a dark blur since the sun was behind the boy. "M-My… my family… no, never mind…" she said as she tried to keep back her tears.

The boy crouched down and looked at her bare, dirty feet. "You don't have anything on your feet…" he then unstrapped his own sandals and put them on her. "There, all better! Now c'mon… you can tell me, what happened to your family?" the boy said in a kind voice.

Hinata just stared at her feet in amazement of this stranger's kindness. She had never seen nor heard of such an act of kindness before. "They… they hate me… nobody loves me…" she said as she sniffed.

"What? How could anyone hate someone as nice and pretty as you?" he said in shock.

Hinata blushed before brushing the tears away with her sleeve. "They… they say I'm weak… that I am not strong enough to be… the heiress of the clan…" she said sadly.

The boy pouted. "What? Really? That's all?" he asked in amazement.

Hinata frowned slightly. "What do you mean that's all?" she asked in a sad voice.

"Well… I mean, I don't know nothing about clans and stuff like that… or families for that matter. But it seems to me that your family is being silly… I mean… you are pretty and nice… and you talk smartly… not like me… so I think that you would make a good… heiress, whatever that means. As for being week… just try to be stronger!" he said while sitting back onto the ground.

Hinata sniffed. "But… I try to get stronger! I try and I try but I can't get strong enough!" she cried.

The boy looked at her and then ripped something. He handed her some fabric to blow her nose. "Well… just work a little every day… don't let them get to you and in time you will see that you will get to be a real tough girl… hehe, I bet you're even tougher than I am!" he cheered as he looked closer at her face.

Hinata smiled. "R-really? I… I don't think so…" she said sheepishly.

The boy blushed at the beauty of her smile. He was young, around seven, same as Hinata and he had never gotten into _those _feelings, but… there was something about her smile that made him feel happy and blush. "well… how 'bout we test each other's skill?" he said as the idea struck him.

Hinata tried to make out the boys features but the sun was still making it difficult to see. "Ok…" just then a cloud passed in front of the sun and she saw his smiling face for the first time. She immediately blushed. The boy had dirt smeared all over his face and his clothes were torn and dirty, but she found him… radiant, like the handsome hero of some story.

He reached his hand out to her. "All right… c'mon!" he said as an invitation.

She blushed a bit more as she took it. "So… what is your name?" she asked sheepishly.

The boy grinned. "Naruto Uzumaki! The greatest ninja this village has ever seen!" he exclaimed. He then looked at her and tried to hide the blush forming on his face. "And… uhh… what's your name?" he asked sheepishly.

"H-Hinata… Hyuga Hinata… pleased to meet you, Naruto-san" she then bowed.

Naruto shook his head. "no, no… don't be so sad and boring. Again, and this time do it with a smile!" he exclaimed happily.

She then smiled and, much to her own surprise, it was genuine. "I am Hinata Hyuga! And… I… I am glad I met you, Naruto-kun!" she then said cheerfully.

"Waaaay better! Wow, what a pretty smile! You should do it more often!" he exclaimed, making them both blush. "Now. How 'bout we get to that spring match!" he said eagerly.

Hinata giggled. "You mean sparing, right?" she asked amusedly.

"well, I finally got the angel to laugh!" he laughed.

Hinata blushed. "A-a-angel!?" she stammered out. It was the first time anyone had given her such a name.

Naruto blushed and smiled sheepishly. "Well, yes… I mean, a certain old man told me about them… he said that they are beautiful, kind and smart girls who help people who have lost their way…" he said with a fierce blush on his whisker-marked face.

Hinata smiled with a blush on her face. "Th-thank you…" she whispered to him.

He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Anyway… c'mon! let's spar!" he said as he got into a fighting stance.

"Ok… Byakugan!" she exclaimed as she activated her Kekkei Genkai.

Naruto looked curiously at her chakra enhanced eyes. "Wow, cool eyes!" he said while clapping.

Hinata then remembered. "Oh no… that's right, you don't have any Byakugan… no, I can't fight you; it would not be fair!" she said as she relaxed her Byakugan.

Naruto's face saddened. "Aww, please! To tell the truth… I really need to spar. No one… no one wants to even talk to me…" he said as he looked at his feet.

Hinata could not understand why no one would want to talk to this boy; he was a very nice person. "No! don't… don't be sad!" she quickly said. She didn't want the boy that had been so nice to her to cry.

The boy lifted his head and grinned. "Who's sad? I'm not…" his bottom lip quivered a little bit, betraying his façade. He looked away, not wanting to cry in front of the girl he just met.

Hinata felt terrible. On one hand she could spar and seriously hurt him since he didn't have the Byakugan, on the other hand she could deny him the sparing but hurt him by doing so. She made her decision. "Ok… I'll spar with you…" she said as she got back into a fighting stance.

Naruto looked at her with glee in his eyes. "Yay! Wow… this is the first time anyone has ever spared with me! Ok, ok… no holding back!" he got into a stance. "Hey, aren't ya gonna use that cool eye thingy?" he asked curiously.

"No… it is something that could hurt you… I…I don't want to hurt you…" she said sincerely.

"Hurt me? Pffft. Like you can hurt me…" he picked up a sharp stone. "Look at this…" he then gave himself a shallow cut.

Hinata slapped the stone out of his hand. "Don't do that! I… don't want you to hurt yourself…" she said with concern.

"yeah, but look…" he then showed her his cut. Much to her amazement the cut had healed. "See? I heal really quickly!" he said with a grin.

She smiled. "Ok… if you insist… Byakugan!" she said and got back into her stance. She then charged right at him.

Naruto was surprized by her sudden charge and pleased that she had gotten serious. He readied himself to dodge. "All right! C'mon!" he jumped to the side and got behind her. "gotcha!"

She spun around with a smirk on her face. "No, I got you!" she then touched his left leg with a bit of chakra.

"Hmm? Wait… what the heck!?" he said as his leg got numb and he collapsed face first into the dirt.

Hinata's eyes filled with worry. "Oh, I am so sorry! Are… are you ok?" she cried as she knelt by her friend who was now lying face down on the ground. She turned him belly up.

He smirked. "Ok, now I gotcha!" he stated as he pinned her to the ground. He was now on top of her; both of them panting exhaustedly.

"You… you were feigning?" she asked in disbelief. She had lost again but she wasn't sad in the least bit.

"Feign… oh, you mean pretending to be hurt? Nope. You got me good, can't feel a thing in my left leg!" he said as he patted his left leg. "But I don't give up that easily!" he said cheerfully. "Oh, woops, lemme get off!" he then slumped to the ground next to Hinata and they both lied there, staring at the clouds.

"I… I'm sorry about your leg…" she said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Nah, don't be… it'll get better soon. By the way, what was that cool move!? I never saw taijutsu like that before!" he exclaimed while looking at her.

"Oh… that is my family's style of fighting… Jyuken" she said.

Naruto's face lit up with curiosity. "Wow! What can it do!?" he asked in amazement.

"Well… it is used to hurt enemies inside their body by disrupting their chakra network…" she said, summarizing the long lecture her father gave her.

"Wow! Can it do anything else?" he asked. He was truly fascinated by this new style of fighting.

She smirked. "Well… it can do… THIS!" she then began tickling Naruto.

"Hey, hahaha…. Cut… haha… cut it, hahahaha… cut it out!" he managed to blurt out in between laugh attacks. He was mercilessly tickled by his pale-eyed friend.

"Not until I win!" she said mockingly.

Naruto gripped his hurting sides. "Ok, hehehe… ok… you win!" he said desperately.

Hinata smirked. "What happened to not giving up?" she asked in amusement.

Naruto giggled some more and smirked. "It isn't giving up… if you learn a new Jutsu!" he said as his smirk got more intense.

"What Jutsu did you learn?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Jyuken, million tickles!" he then began tickling Hinata in the same way she tickled him.

After a few more minutes of this they ended up lying side-by-side. "I… I think I need to go soon…" Hinata said sadly.

"Aww… well…" he got up and reached his arm out to her. "Remember to keep trying every day and you will be the best kunoichi ever!" he exclaimed surely.

"Ok! I will!" she said cheerfully as she took his hand.

"Promise me…" he said.

"I give you my word… and… I won't ever go back on my word!" she said in a fiery voice.

Naruto laughed. "Good! I hope we can be friends in the future!" he said just before his eyes went wide.

Hinata kissed him on the cheek. "We can and we will, Naruto-kun…" she then left, blushing madly.

Naruto just stood there, wide-eyed and watched her run off.

* * *

Back in reality.

Hinata smiled at that memory. It was the day her life changed, the day she discovered her nindo and… the day she met her soulmate. She and Naruto had very little contact after that. He would often wave and blush at her, but she would be ushered away by her guardian. After a while they finally went to the academy again and she had hoped to start a relationship but Naruto was… different. She had wondered what made the boy who she saw with a permanent smile on his face turn so… dark, so angry and… so sad. 'Do you… remember that day, Naruto? I know that we were children but… my love for you was true back then and it hasn't changed… I just wish that… you would love me back…' she thought.

Naruto turned his head to face her. She had been staring at him for the greater part of the time they were sitting down and she had not taken her eyes off of his face. He was in inner turmoil. 'Why does she seem so… familiar? I love her because… well… because… why _do _I love her? Is it because she is pretty? No… she is pretty but I feel like… even if she wasn't I would still feel good around her… Maybe it is because she is kind? No… I… I'm a demon… kindness is something I can't fall in love with… or can I? I don't know… But…' he then looked into her eyes intensely, making her blush and look away. 'Those eyes… I… I know them… Hinata… Hinata Hyuga… damn! Why can't I fucking remember!? Did that damned incident fuck me up so much that I can't even remember something I know is important!?' Naruto cursed in his head. He had a hard time remembering his past ever since the incident from two and a half years ago.

Hinata turned towards her blonde friend. "Naruto… can I ask you something?" she asked hesitantly while swallowing a lump in her throat. She had to get this one question off of her chest.

"Hmm?" Naruto's mind was not currently paying much attention to his dark-haired friend.

Hinata gulped again. She did not want to ruin her current relationship with Naruto over a question, but… she needed to know. "What happened two years ago?" she asked while she closed her eyes shut, expecting Naruto to scream about her being too curious.

Much to her surprize Naruto only looked at his feet. "Hinata… I… I need to go…" he said solemnly before getting up and turning to leave.

Hinata panicked. 'Oh no! I… I knew I should not have asked… what do I do?' she thought as she saw Naruto begin to walk away. "Wait, I'm sorry, Naruto-kun!" she cried as she took his wrist and pulled him back to her.

Naruto stumbled forward and fell with Hinata to the ground; him on top of her. It was then, seeing her blushing face, feeling her warm breath on his face and feeling her intense heartbeat synchronize with his, that Naruto remembered the first time he ever felt truly happy; much more so than with Mizuki. His eyes went wide. 'She is… that girl… Hinata…' he was at a loss for words. He had pushed that memory into the darkest recesses of his mind, thinking he would never feel happy again. "Hinata…" was all he managed to whisper.

Hinata and Naruto's faces were so very close… she could taste his breath and see the small silvery-blue colours that circled around his iris. "Naruto…" she whispered. They then both closed their eyes as they leaned in closer to kiss…

"Well… this is certainly interesting." Came a familiar voice from besides them.

Their lips were barely centimetres apart when they opened their eyes. Naruto pulled away quickly and rose to his feet. "S-sorry, about that…" he said sheepishly as he held out his hand to help her to her feet.

"I… I am very sorry! I… I-I-I didn't mean to! I mean… I was…" she stammered as she got up.

A hysterical laughter brought the attention of both blushing individuals away from each other. "Sorry… it's just… oh, it's like something out of Icha Icha!" Kakashi Hatake said as tears of laughter rolled down his face.

Naruto's blush grew even more intense at what his sensei was implying. "Umm… Kakashi-sensei… why are you here?" Naruto asked with a small amount of annoyance.

Kakashi then scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well… I just wanted to tell you two that you have been nominated to take part in the upcoming Chunin Exams… here are your entries!" he said as he took two tickets out of his pocket and handed them to the two young ninja. "Well… don't stop on my account… oh yeah! Just remember, Naruto, to be careful… I'm all for it but some people tend to frown at young people like you to lose your… you know…" he then winked at Naruto who had not quite gotten his head around Kakashi's veiled message. "Well, I gotta go… I hope that you two will take part, hehehe…" he started chuckling before he disappeared into a cloud of dust and leaves.

Naruto stared at the piece of paper in his hands. "An admittance?" he asked himself.

"This is for the Chunin Exams… only the best genin are considered to be good enough to take part" Hinata stated in amazement. Her attention went back to the blonde next to her.

Naruto lifted his gaze and looked at the girl in front of him. She had a new radiance to her as if she was a missing part of him that had returned. "Umm… I… I a-apologize for f-falling on you…" he stammered out nervously.

"Don't … it was me who tugged you too hard…" she said sheepishly. She noticed Naruto was looking at her… differently. "Is… is something wrong?" she asked with pink cheeks.

Naruto smiled. "No… nothing is wrong… so I'll… err… see you tomorrow…" he said with the same shade of pink on his whiskered cheeks.

Hinata brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen onto her face. "Yeah… tomorrow…" they then gave each other nervous glances before walking to their respective homes.

* * *

That night…

Naruto was just lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. "So… does she still feel that way?" he said to himself as he remembered the moment between them earlier that day. 'Did… did she try to kiss me?' he thought as he closed his eyes. He later woke up due to nightmares and decided to read his hentai comic until dawn came.

* * *

The next day.

The academy.

Naruto approached the academy, still confused about his experience with Hinata the day before. "So, you actually showed up, loser trash…" came a voice that made Naruto grit his teeth.

"Good to see you, Sasuke…" he said as he made a fake smile. "Is Sakura with you?" he said while looking around.

"Yes I'm here, trash!" Sakura said as she came out from behind Sasuke. She had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep.

"Sakura? Are you ok?" Naruto asked with concern.

"Shut up, trash!" she screamed.

Naruto lowered his head sadly. He still wasn't accepted by his comrades. He then spied Hinata walking with her group. "C'mon, let's go…" he said hastily, much to the surprize of his two teammates.

They came to a corridor that had the sign _floor three _on it. There were a lot of people standing around. "This is most un-youthful! Let us pass!" said a boy wearing a green jumpsuit.

"Oh, c'mon… you kids want to pass through to the Chunin Exams? HA! What a joke!" said one of the boys blocking the entrance.

A girl with her hair wrapped up in two buns then came forward. "Hey, we have the right! Please let us through… ahhh!" she tried to force her way through but was knocked down by the two kids.

"Oh, please… the fuck was that!? Honestly, the Chunin Exams are tough; people die! Do you think a few little squirts like you have any chance of surviving when WE failed three times in a row?" said the other boy.

The girl with hair buns got up. "We understand, but give us a chance to…" she began before she was cut off.

"Hey, who the fuck are you kidding? Just turn back and give up. Until someone actually shows us that they are made of more than just shit, we aren't gonna let anyone pass through!" the one on the left said.

"But… we… we were nominated… that means that you… that you have to…" said a quiet nervously as people stepped aside to reveal Hinata standing there, playing with her fingers.

"shh, Hinata, these guys are no joke! Let's just come back later…" said Kiba as he walked off. He froze when he saw Naruto walking his way. 'Oh, shit!'

"No, Kiba… I don't give up that easily!" Hinata exclaimed. Naruto beamed at hearing those words as they awakened the memory once again.

"Listen to your friend, little girl… we don't need spoiled bitches in the Exams…" the moment the words left the ninja's mouth he felt the force of an avalanche pinning him to the wall and felt sharp claws digging into his neck. "The… Fuck…?" he said in a choked voice as he looked down to see two red orbs staring him in the eye.

"Listen… you are going to let everyone pass through, you are going to take down this pathetic miserable excuse of a genjutsu and most important… YOU WILL APOLOGIZE TO THE GIRL YOU JUST INSULTED!" Naruto screamed angrily, making everyone except Hinata take one step away from him. Hinata just looked at him with her heart beating out of her chest; not out of fear, but out of love and affection. Naruto then tossed the ninja to Hinata's feet. "APOLOGIZE!" he screamed again.

The kid got onto his knees. "I'm sorry… so very sorry…" he said irately. "Alright… I'll release the genjutsu. Kai (release)" the genjutsu faded away into a blur and revealed that it was really the second floor that everyone was in. The young ninja then got up onto his feet. "Ok… you can all pass through… just… remember me when you are dying…" he growled.

Naruto chuckled. "Good… ok, let's go…" he said in a cold voice.

Hinata blushed and followed Naruto and his group with Kiba, Shino and Akamaru following closely behind. When they went through the door the two kids who were blocking it were enveloped in smoke. "So… those are Kakashi and Gai's students… that blonde kid is…" when the smoke cleared it revealed two grown men; one wearing bandages on his face and the other had a bandana and a mask that only covered his lower mouth.

"Yes… the nine-tails jinchuuriki this is going to be fun, especially for us supervisors!" the one with the bandages said amusedly.

Team Seven and Team Eight moved through the halls until they reached the training room. "Well… this'll be easy for me! I am an Uchiha… one of the elite clans!" Sasuke started ranting to himself with Sakura drooling all over him.

"Holy shit! Is it always like that with them? Damn… makes me glad you and me aren't like that, eh Hinata?" Kiba said as he nudged her with his elbow. "I mean, I know you dig me but at least you aren't a fangirl like that pink-haired piece of work over there, am I right?" Kiba whispered into her ear, making Hinata very uncomfortable.

Just as the words left his mouth he felt something grip his testicles and squeeze them so hard that he almost passed out from the pain. "You are going to take back those words before I castrate you, mutt..." Naruto said in a cold voice as his claws dug themselves further into Kiba's balls.

"I AM VERY SORRY, HINATA! I-I DIDN'T MEAN A WORD!" he yelped as Naruto pulled.

Naruto smiled. "There, better isn't it?" he said in a sickly sweet tone of voice. "Just remember that if you treat her like _your _property again, you will be the last Inuzuka… your clan will go extinct if you can't reproduce…" he said matter-of-factly.

Kiba fainted from the new wave of pain and Shino had to pick him up and carry him away. "Naruto… you really shouldn't do that…" Hinata said.

Naruto looked at his feet. "I'm sorry… I just don't like him acting like… like he owns you…" Naruto said solemnly.

Hinata got close to Naruto, making him blush. "But I am glad you did…" she whispered into his ear with a smile, sending shivers down his back.

Sasuke and Sakura looked at the scene in disgust. 'For the love of the Uchiha… why does she always get so clingy… I mean it's not like he's me!' Sasuke thought with jealousy. He didn't have a crush on Hinata but… he didn't like to share the attention of the girls of his class.

"You there! You wear the crest of the Uchiha, the ultra-elite clan of shinobi!" came a voice. Everyone looked up to see the guy wearing a jumpsuit looking down at them from the overview of the training area. He jumped down. "I am Rock Lee! And I wish to fight you! It will be the ultimate test of my skill!" he exclaimed.

Sasuke looked at him curiously. "Why the hell would you want to fight me? I mean, I am an Uchiha an elite shinobi with skills unparalleled and nobility supreme…" Sasuke continued to rant on and on about the might of both him and his clan.

Naruto just stared at the scene with boredom. 'my, what a joke…' he thought. "Hinata, why don't you go on with Shino, I'll catch up…" he said as he pushed Hinata a little towards the admittance area.

"Ok…" Hinata said. She felt sick with all the ranting about noble clans; if it was up to her all clans would be nice and equal.

Once Hinata left the premises, Naruto's eyes grew cold and dark again. He would revert back to his cold and cynical self whenever she wasn't around. Sasuke had finished his rant. "So, in conclusion, why would you want to fight me, practically a demigod? You'll just get crushed by my awesome powers…" Sasuke asked with arrogance.

Lee had half fallen asleep by the time Sasuke had finished bragging. He snapped back to attention. "I wish to test my abilities and…" he blushed. "you… what is your name?" he asked in Sakura's direction.

"Uhh… Haruno Sakura…" she said formally.

Lee gave a dazzling smile. "I… I want you to go out with me!" he exclaimed while raising his thumb.

Sakura looked at him with disgust. "No… I don't like big eye browed freaks…" she said in a monotone voice.

Lee looked to his feet. "I… I see… BUT I WILL PROVE MYSELF TO YOU BY DEFEATING SASUKE UCHIHA!" he yelled with great fire and passion in his voice.

Sasuke smirked. "Very well… I will try not to hurt you too much with my awesomeness…" he said while readying his Sharingan. He had received it after his temporary death in the wave country and was eager to try it out.

"Listen Lee or whatever, Sasuke isn't really worth the effort…" Naruto started before receiving a punch from Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun is the most powerful shinobi in existence! Don't belittle him!" she screamed as she kicked Naruto in between the legs.

Naruto dodged the kick and simply smirked. "Whatever…" then went to a wall and leaned on it.

"Come at me!" yelled Lee.

Sasuke grinned as he charged towards the thick eye browed boy. "Take this!" he yelled as he threw all of his bodyweight into a single punch.

Lee dodged it. "Too slow!"

Sasuke looked with his Sharingan. "What the…!?" he yelled before receiving a violent kick.

"Leaf Whirlwind!" Lee exclaimed as he spun around, sending a flurry of kicks above and below the Uchiha's waist. He then kicked Sasuke in the chin, sending him skyward. He then appeared above him and delivered a series of punches going so fast that all anyone could see were blurs.

Sasuke crashed onto the ground and coughed up blood. "Damn!" he cried weakly. He got up and this time he glared intensely. "Ok… now to read your moves, thick-browed freak!" he yelled angrily as he charged at Lee again.

Naruto looked at the clock. "Hey are you two done? This is kinda dragging on…" Naruto said with boredom in his voice.

Sakura looked at Sasuke with admiration. "Yes, my Sasuke-kun has the Sharingan! The Uchiha clan is the best!" she exclaimed, making Sasuke's ego grow even bigger.

Naruto smirked. 'Sasuke is going to lose…' he thought as he turned around to go to the meeting area.

Sasuke was about to make a move, but then Lee appeared in front of him and kicked him in the chin again; sending Sasuke skyward again. 'What!? I… I could not see…' the realization hit Sasuke. He thought that this guy was using chakra to enhance his speed but…

"Yes, this is just plain, simple taijutsu, Sasuke!" Lee exclaimed as he performed a new move. "Leaf Shadow Dance…" he said as he appeared behind Sasuke.

Sasuke went wide-eyed. "So you are just…" he began.

"Using Taijutsu, yes that is correct." Lee said "your eyes could read me but… if your body cannot even follow my speed then it is useless!" exclaimed Lee as he prepared for another move. "And now I will prove how hard work can beat genius…" he said as a kunai came flying and pinned his loosened bandage strip to the wall. 'Wait, that's…!'

A massive tortoise appeared. "That's enough, Lee!"

Lee dropped to the ground and froze. "I… I can explain!" he cried.

"Don't come at me with that bullshit! You were going to use _that _skill, weren't you!?" the tortoise yelled.

"Yes, but I swear I wasn't going to use the other one!" Lee exclaimed defensively.

Sakura was holding Sasuke in her arms. "Are… are you ok, Sasuke?" she asked with concern.

"He… he defeated me and didn't even… take a hit…" he was in shock.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun… I still think you're awesome!" she exclaimed as she hugged him.

"Don't give me that excuse! Are you ready… for HIM!?" the tortoise exclaimed as Lee went wide-eyed. "Here comes Gai sensei!" the tortoise exclaimed as someone appeared in a cloud of dust.

"The fires of youth are burning strong!" exclaimed a man wearing another jumpsuit, a jacket and had the same hairstyle and even thicker eyebrows as Lee.

Sakura was inwardly throwing up. "Gross… he's even worse!" she cried in disgust.

"Gai-sensei… I am… so sorry!" Lee exclaimed with tears in his eyes.

The man took a step to Lee. "Lee… YOU ARE A FOOL!" he yelled as he punched Lee so hard that the boy went flying.

Lee got up and stroked his swollen cheek. "G-Gai-sensei…" he said with big, puffy, tear-filled eyes.

"Don't… just…" Gai also had tears in his eyes.

"Sensei…" Lee whimpered.

"OH LEE!" the elder ninja then got down and hugged his student.

"Oh sensei!" Lee cried as tears gushed from his eyes.

"Lee… this is just a sign that the flames of youth burn strongly in you!" Gai said as he tightened the grip on his student.

Sasuke was plunged into a huge depression. 'I actually lost to that piece of shit?' he thought in disgust.

After a few more seconds of crying into each other's shoulders the two green-clad ninjas pulled away from each other. "I will pass my punishment after the chunin exams… five hundred laps around the field!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.

"No, sensei… one thousand laps!" Lee exclaimed with tears making a small puddle on the ground.

"That's my Lee!" the thick browed sensei exclaimed.

"Come on, Sakura… let's go…" Sasuke said while glaring at the green-clad ninja. They then started walking in the same direction that Naruto had gone.

Gai looked up. 'So… those are Kakashi's students…' he then jumped and appeared in front of the two genin. "Wait… how is Kakashi now days?" he asked with a smirk.

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked since Sasuke was too depressed to bother.

"Yes… we are…" the jounin began. "ETERNAL RIVALS!" he yelled as he flashed a smile, quite a lot like Lee's.

Sakura almost threw up. 'Honestly they are both too creepy…' she thought as she buried her face into Sasuke's chest, much to his annoyance.

"I just wanted to say sorry for my student and…" Gai started before looking at the clock that was hanging on a nearby wall. "YOU NEED TO GO NOW!" he screamed as he noticed that there was only five minutes to go before the first part of the exam begun.

Sasuke, Sakura and Lee immediately sprinted towards the meeting room and managed to burst through the door with a few seconds to spare. "Ok… so where is that trash?" Sasuke asked as he looked around the room. He then spotted said blonde talking to a guy with glasses. "C'mon let's go…" Sasuke growled.

Naruto looked up and smirked. "You lost…" he said coldly.

Sasuke was about to say something but decided it was futile to hide it. "yeah… I lost… how did you know?" he asked.

"I can smell his chakra… it is so much more intense than yours… I believe he's trained a great deal to make himself stronger… you. You've sat around scratching your balls screaming how much of an elite you are…" Naruto said in a very cold voice, so cold that Sasuke got shivers. "But you know what? You are a joke and a disgrace to your clan…" he said gain in a cold voice.

Sasuke was taken aback by this new attitude from Naruto. "Fucking bastard!" Sasuke exclaimed as he pinned Naruto to the ground and punched him several times. "You have no right! What would you know!? You've never belonged to a clan! to a family! You've never experienced how hard life can be!" Sasuke screamed as he punched Naruto to the ground.

All of their former classmates looked at the scene with different reactions. Sakura was glad that Sasuke was finally giving Naruto the beating he deserved. Shikamaru was rather indifferent, Choji felt some sympathy for Naruto and Ino was just looking at Sasuke's ass. Team Eight had the greatest reactions. Kiba was glad that the boy who had often given him nightmares was getting beaten to a pulp, Shino felt bad for Naruto but even more for his pale-eyed friend. Hinata was utterly heartbroken by this gruesome spectacle for she knew how hard Naruto's life often was and how _noble _noble clans could be. "Sasuke! Stop!" she yelled as she tried to pull Sasuke off of Naruto.

"And you, why do you defend this worthless trash!? You are supposed to be from a noble clan as well and yet you act like his whore!? What a joke…" he said mockingly.

Naruto instantly jumped up and pinned Sasuke to the wall. "Listen, you useless piece of arrogant shit, I have been fucking beaten to a pulp by villagers while they kiss your fucking ass and why? Because you belong to some shit clan! Well… Hinata belongs to one too and do you hear her bragging about it!? No, she doesn't! and yet she actually trains and, guess what, she is more elite than you, you piece of shit!" Naruto screamed into Sasuke's ear.

Just then the door burst open. "Is there something going on in here!?" yelled a man wearing a black trench coat and a bandana with the leaf's insignia plate on it.

Naruto growled and took one step away. "No…" he said coldly.

The man in the black trench coat Glared at Naruto before turning towards the rest of the ninja in the room. "I am Morino Ibiki, your supervisor for the first part of the Chunin Exams! And let me tell you little motherfuckers this is going to be hell on earth for you…" he said a a grim smile spread across his scared face. "I want no unauthorized fighting, do I make myself clear?" he said in a threatening growl to Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked. "Very well… I was done insulting his little whore anyway!" he said mockingly.

The wall was spattered with blood as a fist drove its way into Sasuke's jaw. "Listen, you piece of shit that I have the displeasure of being on the same team with, I don't care if they fucking execute me for killing the last godforsaken Uchiha, if you insult Hinata again I will rip off your balls and force you to fucking eat them!" Naruto growled as Sakura tended to Sasuke's swollen cheek.

"Ibiki-sama, Naruto broke the rules! He should be failed!" Sakura screamed as Naruto glared hatefully at Sasuke.

Ibiki simply had an expression of indifference. "He broke the rules? What rules? I authorize that punch. Let the Uchiha grow some balls." He said matter-of-factly. "Anyway… we will now begin the first test; the written exam! Everyone sit where you have been assigned to and fill out the test sheets that will be passed to you!" he yelled.

Everyone took the seat that they were assigned to and lifted their pencils. As soon as all the papers were on the tables Ibiki called everyone to attention. "Nobody look at your test yet, there are a few rules I am going to explain…" he started while eyeing the young genin. "Number one: This test is made up of ten points and uses a subtraction system… all the questions being answered correctly will result in a perfect score of ten and failing them will, of course, result in a big fat zero! Number two: although you are separated this is still a team effort, that means the your teams success rate will depend on your overall team score… Number three, the most important: anyone caught cheating will have two points subtracted from their ten initial… so five times discovered will result in an instant failure!" he explained rather amusedly. He revelled in the look of utter despair that came across the genin's faces. "So, for fuck's sake, BE REAL NINJAS!" he yelled. "Final rule: those of you that lose all ten points will result in not only you failing, but your comrades as well…" he said, receiving a large gasp from everyone present. "The test lasts one hour… BEGIN!" everyone turned their sheets and started looking them over.

Sakura was amazed at the level of difficulty, although she knew the answers. Sasuke looked blankly at his test. 'Hmm… there's no way that you are meant to think and solve them yourself… that's it!' he activated his Sharingan and started copying someone who did know the answers. 'piece of cake… that piece of trash had better not let us down or he will be sorry!'

Naruto looked at his exam. "We are supposed to cheat…" he whispered to Hinata who was seated next to him, much to his joy.

"I can use my Byakugan… what about you?" she whispered back.

"Hmm… I may not have three hundred and sixty degree vision, but I have good hearing… mutter the answers under your breath… please…" he pleaded.

Hinata smiled. "Of course, Naruto-kun…" she then activated her Byakugan and got a perfect view of the tests.

Pretty soon everyone got the idea and started cheating. A few were caught and some even failed, but Naruto and Hinata's teamwork paid off. His hearing was so sharp that he could hear Hinata when not even she heard her own voice. After a long silence the clock on Ibiki's desk started ringing. "Ok, that's enough!" he yelled, startling a few of the people in the room.

"Thanks, Hinata…" Naruto whispered as he gave her hand a squeeze in gratitude.

"Your welcome, Naruto-kun…" she replied.

"Now, you who are left may have noticed that an hour has not passed yet… it has actually been forty five minutes… now I will tell you guys the tenth question…" he said while glaring at everyone who was left. "But let me lay down some new rules…" he said with a smirk.

'New rules?' Sasuke asked himself mentally.

Ibiki looked at Naruto and Gaara. 'Wow… those two have been perfectly calm for the whole duration of the test… so… those are jinchuuriki…' he thought as he looked into the cold eyes of both genin. "First. You must decide if you are going to take the test or not…"

"Take it or not!? What happens if we don't take it!?" the girl from the Sand village, Temari, asked.

Ibiki chuckled. "You fail and will have to take the exam again along with your teammates…" he said as everyone gulped.

"Well then of course we will take it! What kind of shit choice is that!?" yelled a genin.

Ibiki smirked. "Second. If you take the tenth question and failed it, you will fail and you will never take the Chunin Exam again…" he said coldly.

A few people slammed their fists on the table while others cried or shrieked with fear. 'My, what a bunch of pussies…' Naruto thought as he looked at the mass panic around him. He then felt something shaky touch his right hand. "Hinata?"

He looked at her and saw the dread on her face. "Naruto… What… what if I don't know the answer?" she asked with a look of dread on her face.

Naruto gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "Hinata… you are the smartest in our class. You will be fine and if not… then I will fail with you…" said with a intense blush on his cheeks.

"Naruto…" she said as she looked at secret love.

"So, who will give up and go home!?" Ibiki asked.

After a long silence a genin raised his hand. "I… I AM SORRY, GUYS! I just can't take this exam…" he cried. He was then shown out, together with his two teammates.

A bunch of other people raised their hands and left with their comrades. In the end there wasn't even half of the genin left over. "Anyone else? Remember that you will be a miserable genin your entire life!" he exclaimed.

Hinata looked at Naruto. "Naruto… you were excluded from a lot of the classes… you might not know the answer…" she said with concern.

Naruto smirked. "I might be a genin for ever… I might never be a Hokage teach this motherfucking village to respect me… but I am still the fucking strongest shinobi in this damned room!" he said as he bit his tongue to quell his anxiety, making it bleed all over his mouth and sending blood spilling down his chin.

Ibiki smirked again. "Well… I guess there is one thing to say about this…" he said as he glared intensely at everyone in the room. "Well done! You all pass the written test!" Ibiki exclaimed cheerfully.

A bunch of people were shocked, some fainted, at this revelation. "What!? You mean that all we did was for nothing!?" Sakura yelled in outrage.

"No. It was to prove how good you are at gathering intel. Or in your case, Haruno-kun, how smart you are!" Ibiki said with a small smile. "Also… you guys have guts! And that is what this test is all about!" he exclaimed.

"So, we pass? SWEET!" Kiba jumped up, making Akamaru fall from his head.

"You pass the first stage… the real test begins now, hehehe…" Ibiki said with an evil smirk.

"Speaking of real tests…" came a female voice.

"Oh no…!" Naruto's face went pale and he bit his tongue so hard that he almost severed the tip. "Not that voice…" he said completely oblivious to the blood gushing from his mouth and onto his desk.

Hinata looked at this change in demeanour from her friend. "Naruto, what is…?" A woman then crashed through the window.

She appeared in a purple flash in the center of the room. "Hi, you little fucks, I am your next examiner…" she began as she looked at the genin. She smirked when she saw Naruto's pale face.

"A-Anko…" Naruto stammered.

She chuckled. "Good to know you haven't forgotten me, Naruto-kun…" she said in a seductive tone. She snapped her attention back to the group of genin. "I am Mitarashi Anko!" she exclaimed.

Naruto's grip on Hinata's hand tightened to the point that he was hurting her. "N-Naruto-kun… what…" she saw the look of utter fear in Naruto's eyes. "Who is she?" she asked.

"The origin of my nightmares…" he said fearfully.

* * *

**A/N: **This was THE longest chapter I have ever written… in anything… I'm sorry it took so long to write and I hope it brightens up the mood from the last chapter.

Anyway R and R please. Thanks for reading this!


	9. The Chunin Exams part 2

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble Angel.

**Chapter: **The Chunin exams part 2

**Disclaimer: **I still own nothing…

**A/N: **Hello everyone! I apologize for practically abandoning the fanfic but I had a severe case of writers block… as well as some technical complications but I'm back and I would like to give thanks to **shadow-hunter104 **for giving me the boost I needed to get my lazy inspiration to start doing its job.

* * *

Outside training area forty four.

Noon.

All seventy-eight genins stood expectantly as Anko picked her teeth with a kunai. After she was done she just kept twirling it around her finger through the small ring on the butt of the weapon. "Right, listen up, you little motherfuckers! This is the second part of the Chunin Exams… area forty-four; nicknamed… _the forest of death…_" she said with a smirk.

Everyone gazed up at the tall, foreboding trees and felt a tinge of fear fill their hearts at the impenetrable darkness in between them. Naruto had managed to get some of his wits together in the journey from the academy to this place. "What a joke…" he whispered to himself.

Anko heard. She threw the kunai at Naruto; just grazing his cheek. "Ahh… Naruto-kun. Good to know you have some balls!" she said amusedly. She got close to him, so close that the only ones who could hear the conversation to follow were Naruto and Anko herself. "How've you been? You sure grew up, Naruto-kun…" she licked his cheek gleefully. "Mmm… you taste even sweeter than before... it arouses me how much your blood has matured. So sweet, so… potent" she said while licking a new droplet of blood that fell down his face. "Perhaps after the exams we can… have a chat?" she said seductively.

Naruto gulped. He was standing there, wide-eyed, the whole time. The feel of his warm blood running down his face and Anko's warmer tongue licking it off was, ironically, making him freeze. "I…" he whimpered as his eyes swelled with unshed tears.

"Hmm… you taste so good… if only we were alone…" she said as she licked another droplet of blood that was running down Naruto's cheek. She quickly turned and pulled out another kunai from her kit.

The man behind her was wearing a sugegasa hat with the standard grass ninja attire. "I believe this is yours?" he hissed as she brought the kunai Anko had thrown previously up to her face with his tongue.

Anko smiled and took the kunai as she simultaneously licked the blood off of her lips. "Why thank you! Just a word of advice; don't creep up on me again or I'll kill you!" she said in a sing song voice along with a grin that went from ear to ear.

"Sorry… it's just the smell of blood is so… invigorating…" the weird grass ninja hissed as he lowered his hat in respect to Anko. The hissing ninja then went back to her comrades.

Anko looked at him quizzically. 'hmm… he seems so familiar…' she thought as she subconsciously rubbed a small black mark on her shoulder. She noticed that people were beginning to stare and regained composure. "Ahh, don't worry about it; I know how… arousing the blood of _that one _is…" she said smirking at Naruto while she wiped a bit of his blood from her face with her finger and licked it off. She then turned away from the whiskered boy and walked towards a booth that was beside the gate; picking up some papers that were lying on the counter. "I'll need you to sign these consent forms!" she exclaimed as she passed a sheet of paper to each genin.

"Consent forms? What for?" Sakura asked as her attention was snapped away from Sasuke and directed towards Anko.

Anko grinned ear to ear. "There will be plenty of blood and guts spilled in this test… if you don't sign these, I will be knee-deep in paperwork, hehehe…" she giggled.

Sakura nervously took the paper and hesitated before signing. She looked at Sasuke, his determination reassuring her. 'I don't care what this crazy bitch says, I am NOT leaving Sasuke-kun! And if Naruto dies then my life will be so much easier…' she thought before aggressively writing her name on the sheet of paper.

Sasuke took the sheet and wrote his name carefully; making sure that the name _Uchiha_ was written perfectly. "There… a work of art…" he said to himself as he looked at the masterpiece that was his name.

Choji looked at his sheet of paper. "Hmmm… I'll need my guts for eating… if there all spilled, how will I eat my delicious barbecued pork?" he asked as if it was some philosophical question to life's meaning. A quick bonk on the back of his head from his teammate, Ino, cleared all hesitation from his mind as he signed the waiver.

Ino took the paper and signed it while licking her lips. 'I WILL be with Sasuke… even if I have to kill big-forehead over there…' she thought with an evil smirk.

Shikamaru looked at the paper in his hand and then at the sky. He watched a cloud in the shape of a dog pass by. "_sigh_… troublesome…" he looked back at the document. "Very troublesome…" he said as he took the pen from Ino and begrudgingly wrote his name.

Shino took the paper in his hand and, without uttering a single word, wrote his name down on the waiver.

Kiba took his and stared at its contents. "The hell?" he asked himself as he read the paragraph stating that if he was eaten by giant bugs the examiner had no blame. 'Well… if I back down now then I'll look like a coward… no one will want to be my girlfriend… especially not Hinata…' he thought as he looked at said Hyuga. 'Also if I go through with this, I'll get my payback on Naruto! Yeah… and it's not like giant bugs can hurt me, so…' he wrote his name on the paper. "Hehehe… this'll be fun!" he exclaimed with an evil smirk.

Hinata looked at the paper in her hands. 'If I sign this… if I go into that forest… there is a chance I will never come back…' she then looked at Naruto. 'He… he's shaking…' she thought as she made her way over to her secret love. "N-Naruto?" she called out his name.

Naruto was trembling. It was so out of character for the murderous young man to show signs of fear, especially in front of everyone. 'Damn it… move… I've gotten stronger; she can't… she can't do this to me again!' he thought as he tried to force himself to stop trembling to no avail, managing only to add a boiling rage to mix with his icy fear; the result being his uncontrollable shaking. However everything stopped as he felt a gentle hand fall onto his shoulder.

"Naruto?" Hinata called again, since he obviously didn't hear her the first time, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Naruto's entire body tensed as his mind raced through hundreds of different thoughts. 'Damn… I… I'm supposed to protect Hinata but… if I look like a weak, vulnerable child she will probably worry… I can't let her worry…' he turned his head, against his muscles protests, and looked into her white eyes. "Y-yeah?" he asked nervously.

"Are… are you ok, Naruto-kun?" she had huge traces of worry laced in her voice. She looked at his reaction for any signs of… well anything.

It took him a moment to register her words. He was still on edge; he could still smell _her _chakra. 'No, now's not the time…' he thought as he contorted his face into a smile. "I'm perfectly fine… H-Hinata…" his words sounded as if he was trying to convince himself, which in a way he was.

She wasn't convinced. His words, or better said the way he spoke them, only made her worry deepen. "Naruto… did… did something happen between you two?" she asked cautiously.

Naruto tensed even more and turned away from Hinata. "I said I'm fine… there is nothing to worry abou-" he was cut off by Hinata.

"Does it have something to do with what happened two years ago?" she asked, knowing that he wouldn't get this worked up over nothing.

Naruto's anger flared as he spun around, no longer bothering to mask his emotions. "Leave it alone before I make you!" he threatened with a violent growl.

Hinata gasped. She didn't want to anger him like this, but she had obviously gone into forbidden territory and his reaction only made her feel worse. "I…" she felt tears coming and ran towards her teammates.

Naruto just stood there with a blank expression. He regretted his words since the moment they left his lips and he hated himself for snapping at and even threatening Hinata. 'Fuck… what have I done?' he just stood there while Anko briefed everyone about the objectives of the test, Naruto hearing enough details to make a clear picture of their objective, just stared off into space. He remained in that state until an angry voice snapped him out of it.

"Naruto, you bastard! I'll kill you!" Kiba screamed as he rammed his fist into Naruto's face, a sickening crunch being heard as Naruto's nose shattered, and Akamaru jumped off of his masters head and bit deep into Naruto's shoulder; blood trickling down his face and chest.

Naruto didn't even flinch. He simply brushed Akamaru off, turned around and muttered "I'm sorry…" he then proceeded to walk back to his teammates. He found them looking at a scroll that was resting in Sasuke's hand. "Hey…" he whispered sadly.

Sakura looked up. "Finally your back, you lazy shit! Now I'll have to explain everythi-" she began to speak irately until Naruto cut her off.

"I already know our goal…" he said solemnly. "We have five days to get a scroll of the opposite colour to the tower in the center of the forest…" he summarized Anko's instructions.

"Good, so don't mess this up; you little shit…" barked Sasuke.

Naruto was too deep into his thoughts to even hear Sasuke. 'Damn… why? Why did I say those things to her!?' he bit his lip, drawing some blood.

The sound of a certain woman's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Naruto?" Naruto lifted his head to see Anko looking at him with mischievous eyes. "Don't die." She said in an overly sweet voice.

Naruto grew tense again but once his team stepped into the booth, got their scroll and arrived at the twelfth gate, he relaxed. An instructor, thankfully for Naruto it wasn't Anko, unlocked the gate and started counting the seconds on his watch. A small ringing sound signified the test had begun. "Alright, best of luck Uchiha-sama, Haruno-kun!" he said to the aforementioned shinobi. Naruto didn't even care that he wasn't acknowledged.

The three young genin charged into the forest at blinding speeds and Naruto gave a long sigh in relief at not sensing Anko's presence any longer. "Ok… just point me at the enemy!" he growled. He desperately needed to kill something; to rip the meat from someone's bones and savour their sweet blood. 'I need to relief myself of this stressful shit…' he thought as memories of what he said to Hinata flooded his mind.

There was a bloodcurdling scream and Sakura and Sasuke stopped in their tracks. "Stop…" said Sasuke to Naruto who was darting off into the forest.

Naruto stopped and gave Sasuke an annoyed look. "what is it?" he asked irately.

"That scream…" said Sakura as she clung to Sasuke's chest. "Protect me Sasuke-kun!" she yelled dramatically.

Sasuke growled. "Get off of me, woman!" he screamed as he shoved he off.

Naruto just rolled his eyes at how stupid these two morons were being but he figured that he was going to have a good time with all the enemies they were attracting. Just then he started sniffing, his nose having caught the scent of hostile chakra. 'looks like some fools have come… oh, goody…' he licked his lips as he skulked off into the bushes just like the beast inside him would have done.

Sasuke and Sakura didn't even notice as the Uchiha kept trying to pry off the love struck girl. "Damn it! We'll attract enemies like moths…" he said as he finally shoved her into the dirt.

"Hahaha, that's quite a performance! In fact I might let you live… if you give me the scroll!" came a shinobi with a mask on. He was wearing a full body swimming suit and he had messy brown hair.

"Ha! You think that I'll just give it to you?" Sasuke said, smirking. "I'm afraid it will be you who gives me the scroll!" he exclaimed as he cracked his knuckles.

The diver shinobi sighed. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to get my hands dirty after all…" he then pulled a kunai out of the satchel on his left leg and charged.

Sasuke performed a variety of seals. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire release: phoenix fire technique)" as he said this a volley of small fireballs flew out of his mouth and started pelting the landscape.

The masked ninja dodged them and threw his kunai. "That's all you've got? Pathetic!" he mocked.

Sasuke grabbed the kunai and held it between his fingers. "_I'm _pathetic? You're the one who can't even throw a kunai!" he said in a mocking tone. He was then tackled to the ground by Sakura. "Sakura!? What the fuck!?" he screamed irately.

Just then the kunai he was holding that had fallen to the floor had exploded. "There was a paper bomb attached…" she said in a whimper.

Sasuke looked at the huge scorched patch of ground in front of him with shock at the fact that he could have missed such an important thing. "Yes, it seems that the little bitch is more perceptive than you…" the enemy ninja pulled out a kunai. "Ah well, it's been fun but I guess I should end this…" he strapped another paper bomb to his kunai. "Now your scroll is mi-" a hand then shot through his chest, ripping out his heart. "but… who…?" he turned his head to see two red eyes staring at him.

"You forgot about me…" Naruto growled. "It was smart to leave your friends at a safe distance… a shame that they will be disqualified for losing a comrade… oh well." He said casually as the man begun coughing up the last of his red fluid.

"You… _cough_… aren't hu- _gag_… man…" he said weakly.

Naruto chuckled. "No. No I'm not…" he ginned as he crushed the heart he was holding and pulled his hand back, spraying blood all over him and his teammates. The man fell to the floor in a pool of blood and Naruto started lapping the blood from his hand.

Sasuke and Sakura weren't all that used to Naruto's way of killing and they felt a little sick at the display of savagery. "N-Naruto? What took you so long, you asshole! Sasuke-kun was almost hurt!" she yelled.

Naruto stopped lapping and tilted his head to the side curiously. "But doesn't _Sasuke-kun _always say he's unbeatable? I'm sure that even if I had held back, he would be fine…" he said cynically.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. "C'mon… let's just get out of here…" he then got off of the ground and walked off into the forest.

Naruto was about to take a step before his head shot up and at blinding speeds, he ran up to and pushed Sasuke and Sakura several feet in front of him. "What the fuck was that for Narut-" just before Sakura could finish her complaint a huge shockwave pushed her and the Uchiha to the ground. "What the…?" A huge snake then slithered from one wall of trees into another, taking Naruto with it.

"Sakura, is it an enemy attack!?" Sasuke asked as he staggered to his feet.

"I…" Sakura was frozen with fear. Sasuke looked in the direction that she was staring.

Standing amidst the dust and chaos was the grass ninja from before. "I am afraid that this is the end for you…" he hissed.

Sasuke turned his attention away from the creepy ninja and looked at Sakura. "Did you see what scroll he has?" he asked.

"He… he ate it!" Sakura shrieked.

"And if you want it you must rip it from my corpse…" he said with a snakish grin. "So who will it be… me…" he lifted her gaze so that Sasuke and Sakura could look her in the eye. "…or you?" when the two leaf genin saw his eye, they felt the icy fingers of terror grip them like a vice.

Sasuke doubled over and puked. 'what the fuck is this?' he kept seeing images of himself being killed in horrible, gruesome ways. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?" he finally screamed.

Sakura managed to crank her head to look at Sasuke, never taking her eyes off of the grass nin, and spoke "it… it is the… the ki-killing intent… it is like… a jutsu" she couldn't move anything apart for her lips and it seemed she was going to pass out from lack of breath.

Sasuke managed to reach into his ninja kit and pull out a kunai with his trembling right hand. 'There is only one way to deal with this fear…'

The terrifying ninja laughed and licked his kunai. "fool boy, I'll kill you before the kunai leaves your hand…" and with that he tossed the knife at him; only for it to miss it's mark and sink itself into the trunk of a nearby tree. "hmm… interesting…" he licked his lips.

Sasuke was on top of Sakura, panting and shaking violently. "Sasuke-kun…" she would've smiled if she wasn't still shaken by the fear that gripped her. She then felt something warm and wet start to trickle down her chest and onto her thigh. "you're bleeding…" she stated with concern.

Sasuke had activated his Sharingan and was smiling at her. "Sakura… have faith in my power…" he said arrogantly before carrying her deeper into the trees.

The grass nin smirked. "Using a kunai to inflict pain to block out the fear… not bad…" he then started following the trail of blood. "but it isn't going to save you…"

* * *

Somewhere close to Sasuke and Sakura's position.

Naruto was struggling with the snake that had dragged him deeper into the forest. "you poor, sorry animal..." Naruto said as he stood still; the snake wrapping him in its tail. "… I am in REAL need to release my anger…" the snake opened its huge maw and brought Naruto closer to it. "… and… I REALLY HATE SNAKES!" he exclaimed as he ripped the coils around him apart and pulled the huge animal's jaw apart. After he was done he let out a huge roar. "I've got to go find the two idiots…" he then started sniffing and, like a bloodhound, followed the scent of their chakra.

When he got to their location he found Sasuke fighting off a smaller snake. "No! Get away!" he then threw all of his ninja tools at the beast. The Uchiha then landed on a branch and was panting furiously.

Sakura shrieked as the grass ninja burst from the snake's guts. "You cannot relax for a second, else the predator feast on the flesh of its pray…" he said as bile trickled down her face. He then slithered up the tree trunk to the branch Sasuke was perched. "Give me a taste!" he hissed as he lunged forward like the animal he resembled.

"No, I don't wanna die!" screamed Sasuke as he cowered in fear.

Just then a kunai came flying and if the snake nin hadn't stopped in mid air it would have killed him. "What is this?" the shinobi hissed. His eyes narrowed and fixed onto a shadowy figure that was standing on a branch a little way away.

"So…" came a cold voice. "You're the one who summoned that giant snake…" he then stepped into the light, obscuring his face in the shadows of his hair. "I don't like snakes." He said matter-of-factly.

"You are awfully brave, boy… coming to a fight against an unknown enemy" the grass ninja hissed.

Sasuke looked towards his teammate and saviour. 'If I can toss Naruto the scroll… this guy will leave me and I can escape without seeming like a coward!' Sasuke's pale face began to regain some colour at the thought of being safe. "Naruto!" he called. "Here, the scroll!" he then took the scroll out of his tool kit and tossed it to the blonde. "Now run! This guy will kill you, and I don't want to be disqualified just because you were too stupid to survive!" he yelled.

The mysterious nin laughed quietly. "Listen to him and be gone, boy… The Uchiha is my pray." He hissed, much to Sasuke's dismay.

"I can't do that… the bastard is my comrade and I have no choice but to help… otherwise Kakashi-sensei would be disappointed as well as… others…" Naruto said as he caught the scroll.

"I said beat it!" the hostile grass nin exclaimed as he glared deeply into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto's red eyes simply pierced the shadow covering his face with his own glare. "I'm not going anywhere…" he said with a chilling voice.

The snake nin simply laughed "This will be fun…" he said to himself as he shot from the tree branch like a viper.

Naruto smiled. "But for whom?" he asked nobody in particular as he leapt from his own branch with the ferocity of a feral beast.

The two clashed together with a series of kicks, punches and claw attacks; neither of them sustaining any damage. Naruto then put all of his anger and frustration behind a mighty kick that sent his opponent flying into a nearby tree. He then leapt off of another tree and sent his fist into his opponent with such force that the tree was broken in two. "Did he get him?" whispered Sakura to Sasuke. They had both fled the area and were viewing the fight from a safe distance.

When the dust cleared, Naruto was standing in the center of the broken tree stump with his arm through a log. "Kawarami no Jutsu (body replacement technique), eh?" he then gathered chakra into his arm to shatter the log and drew a shuriken from his tool kit. His red eyes scanned the landscape, searching for the smallest hint of his enemy, and fixed on a tree one hundred and twenty five degrees from his own position.

He threw the shuriken and watched as it soared to its mark. The grass ninja used his sugegasa hat to block the shuriken and then let it drop to the ground. "Not bad, Naruto-kun… you are quite perceptive!" He was lying vertically on a nearby tree trunk, like a gecko. "I see you are no ordinary genin… or ordinary human for that matter…" he said as he licked his lips in the delight he was receiving at facing such a powerful opponent.

"No kidding… neither are you…" Naruto said in his cold voice. The two of them then stared deeply into each other's eyes, despite the distance, as if they were testing each other's will through their narrowed pupils. Predator against predator. Killer against killer. Beast against beast.

Sasuke puked from the dense killing intent in the air and mentally cursed them for taking too long to kill each other. "How about… we stop all the fun and games, Naruto-kun, and have a real battle?" the snake nin asked rhetorically as he drew five shuriken from his kit.

Naruto bore a wide, fanged grin from ear to ear. "I'm so glad…" he started as he grabbed five kunai from his kit. "…that you approve!" they then leapt from branch to branch, throwing kunai and shuriken at blinding speeds. Sasuke and Sakura watched in amazement as the various tools soared through the air, whistling all the while, and clashed in a beautiful display of sparks. Naruto came to a stop on a branch and his opponent followed suit. "_Haa… pant… _you're good…" he said with a smile. 'damn… this guy isn't even chunin level… he's at least a jounin and he's been holding back! No… can't give in… I'll need to use _that _power…' Naruto got down on all fours and let a red chakra surround him. "Let's finish this!" he growled.

"Oh… what is this? Interesting… very interesting…" the grass ninja said to himself as he pulled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo in the shape of two snakes intertwined. 'So… this is the power of the nine tailed fox… the Akatsuki are right to want this power…' He bit on his thumb and drew a line on his tattoo. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (summoning technique)" the snake nin then placed his hand on the tree branch he was standing on and he was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Naruto leapt off of the tree enveloped in his red cloak of chakra and with his mouth letting out a steady flow of drool that evaporated from the heat of said chakra. Just as the smoke surrounding the mysterious grass ninja began to dissipate, a huge snake came out of it and lunged in Naruto's direction.

"GO TO HELL!" screamed Naruto as he ripped through the monstrosity, splitting it down the middle and showering the area with a crimson rain.

However his opponent jumped up, using the snake as a distraction, and jabbed Naruto right in his seal. "Five pronged seal…" he whispered as Naruto fell limp in his grasp. He then drew a kunai and plunged it into Naruto's shoulder and let him fall to the forest ground below.

"My goodness, what a loser!" yelled Sasuke as he fought to contain his laughter. He and Sakura had sat on a tree far away from the battle for the entire time. "Come on, we should get out of here…" Sasuke then turned around and prepared to leap from the branch.

Sakura had a blank expression as she felt mixed emotions at seeing the defeat of her comrade. Hate. Her family hated Naruto, her friends hated Naruto, Sasuke hated Naruto and so she did too. Fear. She also saw what Naruto was capable of; his savage bloodlust… so if this guy could defeat Naruto then that would make him worse, didn't it? Remorse. She felt bad about the way she had treated him before now knowing that he could be dead. Affection. 'no! I do **not** have feelings for Naruto!' she forced all thoughts of the blonde out of her mind, but her immeasurable guilt kept forcing her to think about him again. She grabbed Sasuke's wrist. "Maybe… we should go back to… see if he is still alive?" she said hesitantly.

Sasuke gave her an incredulous look. "Nah, we might fail the chunin exams but we will always have next year… hopefully with a less stupid teammate…" he said brushing her off.

Sakura couldn't shake off the guilt. "But… I know that if it was you… Naruto would…" she began before Sasuke grabbed her by the collar and glared her dead in the eyes with his Sharinga.

"Don't you **ever **compare me to that little shit… you got that?" he said in a low menacing voice.

Sakura had tears in her eyes and she was trembling slightly. "Sasuke, you're scaring me!" she cried. Sasuke was about to say something but noticed something with his Sharingan eyes. "Sasuke…?" Sakura said cautiously when she saw the expression of fear on his face.

Sasuke tossed her aside and dodged the incoming kunai before it went through his chest. "Fuck! I've got no choice…" Sasuke jumped up just in time to avoid his pursuer's second kunai and tried to gain some footing. "It is a shame that you will die a slow, horrible death… you did me a favour and ridded me of a pest!" he yelled as he started threading his fine wires through the adequate equipment.

The grass ninja smirked. "Your total disregard for your comrade is… touching." He then came up-close for taijutsu.

"I won't miss the way he kissed Kakashi-sensei's ass nor the way he thought himself equal to everyone else!" he exclaimed as he threw an exceptionally large shuriken, narrowly missing his opponent. 'this stupid fool… I knew he would be no match for me!' Sasuke then threw a couple of kunai and activated his trap.

The hostile shinobi turned around and caught the shuriken in his teeth before it decapitated him. "Nowt fad… but youw'll hwaf tow dow bfetter fuan fuat (not bad… but you'll have to do better than that)" he managed to mumble with the sharp weapon in between his teeth.

Sasuke smirked. "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu! (fire release: Dragon fire technique!)" as he pronounced his jutsu, a small ball of flame traveled down the wire and hit his enemy right in the face; flames soon engulfing his head. "And that, Sakura, is why you should never compare me to that incompetent idiot!" he said arrogantly.

Sakura's eyes were still fixed on the mysterious nin. "S-Sasuke… look!" she exclaimed, pointing.

The man's face and headband had melted off; leaving a different, paler face with purple paint running down his face and a sound nin forehead protector. "Ahh… amazing, truly marvelous! To think that at such a young age, you have reached stage two of the Sharingan… you really are _**his **_brother!" he said in a serpentine voice. "I can't wait to see you develop it to it's true potential!" he licked his lips again and looked intently into Sasuke's eyes with his yellow ones.

Sasuke froze. "W-who the fuck are you!" he shrieked frantically.

"My name is… Orochimaru…" he said just before regurgitating the scroll. "And if you wish to see me again…" he then burnt the scroll in his hands. "… then survive and pass this exam!" he said with a smirk.

Sasuke swallowed a lump in his throat. "Y-yeah? W-w-why would I wanna do that?" he stammered.

Orochimaru smiled and crossed his fingers into a crossed-tiger seal. "Because you'll want me…" he said before his neck stretched out and his head bore fangs, like a snake. He bit into Sasuke's neck, leaving a black symbol on the back of his neck. "You will seek me out when you crave my power the most…" the serpentine shinobi said before merging into the wood of the trees.

Sasuke let out a scream of pain before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. Sakura bit her lip; looking between Sasuke, who was shaking from the immense pain, and Naruto, who had gone missing with a kunai in his shoulder. "Oh, fuck it! I'm coming, Sasuke-kun!" she then took Sasuke in her arms and slung him over her shoulders, making a point to get as far away as possible from the area.

* * *

Somewhere on the forest floor.

Sundown.

Naruto's eyes fluttered open as an immense wave of pain shot through his body. His vision was blurred and he was disorientated. "Fuck… I… _cough"_ he began coughing violently and rolled on his side so he could puke. There was blood mixed with bile and every time he coughed he felt some more blood come up his throat. "Sakura… Sasuke… where… a-are you… two?" he asked himself. He staggered to his feet and leaned against a tree, examining his wounds: he had several cuts and bruises that only caused minimal pain running down his entire body, he had an excruciating pain in several areas of his ribcage and the tip of a kunai was protruding from his right shoulder. The worst pain, however, was the one on his seal.

"What… did that bastard… do to me?" he asked himself painfully. Naruto's wounds would normally heal right away and he never felt as bad as he was feeling now. He brought his hand up to his forehead "shit… I'm burning… and then there's this thing…" he stated irately while looking at the bloody kunai. He then reached onto his back and grasped the butt of the knife. "Here goes…" he then yanked it out, almost collapsing from the pain. He then took out his hentai comic and began ripping the pages out. "it was a gift from Kakashi-sensei… but I'm sure he'll understand…" he then began stuffing his open wound with the crumpled pages to stop the bleeding. After all that he took off his tracksuit jacket and ripped it; making a makeshift bandage and sling out of it.

After he was done, he pulled down his forehead protector so that it was around his neck and began walking; to where he didn't know. After what seemed like an eternity he heard voices. "We should set up camp, Kiba…" came Shino's voice. Naruto began staggering towards it.

"But if we do, then we'll be behind! Or even worse, we could get attacked and some bastard could make off with our scroll!" Kiba yelled furiously; Akamaru barking in favor of his master's words.

"But if we wonder in the dark aimlessly we will get tired… do you want us to fall into a trap like… insects?" Shino argued, never losing his cool. He sighed and readjusted the collar of his large grey coat. "Are you sure this is about the exam?" he finally asked.

Naruto was now peeking in between the trees at a safe distance, making sure to remain undetected. "What are you implying, Shino?" Kiba growled.

Shino buried his face into the collar of his coat, finding comfort in the soft fabric and then looked Kiba dead in the eye. "I know you have feelings for Hinata… and I know you are jealous of Naruto for his recent… behavior around her. But you cannot jeopardize our team's success because you want to get back at Naruto…" Shino was then cut off by Kiba.

"Jealous? I'm furious! Ever since we first came to the Academy, I've always liked Hinata, always! But she had her eyes set on that blonde loser… and right when we get the chance to get closer, BAM! That asshole starts playing around with her… she's too good for that freak and what does he do, huh? How does he treat her? He fucking threatens her and upsets her!" Kiba continued to rant about his feeling for Hinata for a few more minutes before said Hyuga came down from the treetops.

"All clear, no hostile shinobi for one kilometer all around us…" she then gave a hesitant look towards Naruto's position. "…the area is safe" she stated sincerely. "Kiba… I… would like to rest for a while…" she kept sending short glances at the tree that Naruto was hiding behind.

Kiba sighed. "Fine, but if we get ambushed, don't blame me…" Kiba said, defeated. He then marched to a nearby tree and sat up against it, Akamaru jumping in his lap. "Good night" he yawned.

Shino walked over to a log and used it as a pillow, his messy brown hair getting covered in moss and insects. "Sleep well…" he said as sleep embraced him.

Hinata was then the only member of her team left awake and she looked indecisive. "I…" she began moving towards Naruto's hiding spot. She stopped "…sleep well…" she said before turning around and lying on the ground, a short distance from her teammates.

Naruto was sure that she had seen him. 'and yet… she fears me…' he thought solemnly as the memory of that morning hit him; giving him new psychological pain to match his physical one. "Damn!" Naruto yelled softly as he punched a tree, only managing to hurt himself. He then slid down into a sitting position with his back against the tree, put his face in his hand and cried. He let out all the emotion he was trying to ignore. He felt so helpless, so weak and now… so lonely. A loud snapping sound caught Naruto's attention and he went to investigate. As he approached he saw a shadowy figure looming over Hinata and, without thinking, he drew a kunai and threw it at the mysterious silhouette.

"Ow! Shit!" the figure turned around and Naruto could make out that it was an Iwagakure shinobi wearing a brown jacket, yellow shirt and torn brown shorts. "Damn! The jutsu should have put everyone into a deep sleep…" he said as he wrenched the kunai from his arm.

"I wasn't asleep…" Naruto said in a cold voice. He knew that if this guy was to attack, he couldn't possibly fight him off in his weakened state. "Get out of here and I might let you live…" he said. He had to intimidate this guy no matter what.

The stone ninja had to fight the urge to break down laughing. He snickered, locks of his brown hair covering his eyes, and then looked Naruto in the eye. "No." he stated flatly. He then drew a kunai and lunged at Naruto.

Naruto had difficulty walking, let alone dodging, so he threw himself to the ground and rolled. The stone nin then threw his kunai at Naruto, hitting him in the leg. "You… bastard…" Naruto then staggered to his feet. "I…" he began coughing violently and his opponent took this opening as a chance to pummel Naruto into a tree with a series of punches.

"Any last words, punk?" the shinobi said as he brought a kunai to Naruto's neck. Naruto spat a mixture of blood and saliva in the ninja's face. "You little-AHHH!" he screamed as a kunai came through the darkness of the trees and cut off several of his fingers before landing in the mud.

"A ninja must be wary of his surroundings… first and most important rule of being a ninja…" a slender young man with silver hair wearing black shorts, a purple top and glasses then came through the trees.

Naruto recognized him. "Kabuto?" he managed to mumble. He had talked with the man before the chunin exams began.

"Hey Naruto! I must say, you are looking worse for wear my young friend!" he said in a friendly tone. He then kicked the stone ninja between the legs and grabbed him by the collar. "Hmm… why would you go after the girl when she obviously doesn't have the scroll you're after? Maybe you wanted the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga family, hmm?" he then put his hand on the enemy nin's groin, feeling a hardness. "Or maybe you wanted to satisfy a more… _primal desire_?" Kabuto said with a smirk. "Ohh, naughty boy _tisk, tisk_… what to do with you, hmm?" an evil smile crept across his lips. "Why don't we let Naruto here decide?" he then tossed the Iwagakure nin to Naruto's feet. "Here, use this…" he then handed Naruto a kunai.

Naruto took the weapon and managed to stand up right. He walked over to his enemy, who was trying to get to his feet, and grabbed him by the hair. He looked at his green eyes with his own azure ones and saw the pain, sorrow and fear in them. "I… don't you **ever **come near Hinata again… you got that?" the stone nin nodded. Naruto dropped him and saw him scurry off into the bushes like a wild animal and then turned his attention to Kabuto. "Here, I won't be needing this…" he then offered back the kunai he was given.

Kabuto was taken aback on the boys recent shift in behaviour. 'usually he would rip someone apart, if given the chance…' he smiled "no, keep it." He then looked at his wounds. "Hmm… you have a very nasty shoulder wound, there." He stated as he unwrapped Naruto's makeshift bandage. "You stuffed it with… hentai pages?" Kabuto laughed at Naruto's blush. "I need to check the rest of your body for injuries…" Kabuto stated.

Naruto painfully lifted his black t-shirt over his head and sat, topless, with his back against the tree. "Here…" he said. He wasn't used to people looking at him with so little clothing and the fact that he had lost his bestial power made him feel even more vulnerable.

Kabuto was, to put it simply, surprised that a twelve year old boy was this fit. Naruto had absolutely no excess body fat and was almost as muscular as he was, despite being seven years younger. "I'm going to scan your body with my chakra… hold still" he then concentrated his chakra into his hands and moved them up and down Naruto's torso. "Hmm… you have some minor cuts and bruises that will heal in a couple of days… oh… you have a broken rib… and it seems to have cut one of your organs…" he said while looking at a very badly bruised area on Naruto's abdomen. "I will need to operate on you, or else you will die of internal bleeding… you seem to have a fever too…" he said in a worried tone.

Naruto looked at Hinata's sleeping figure and then back to Kabuto. "Do what you must… I can't protect her like this…" he said, determination thick in his tone.

Kabuto smirked. "Alright… it is good that she has a jutsu that stops her from waking… this will be very painful and you will, no doubt, scream in agony… are you ready?" he said as he concentrated chakra into his hand.

Naruto fixed his gaze on Hinata. "Do it…" he then braced himself.

Kabuto started the procedure of realigning the broken rib, stitching the open cut on Naruto's stomach and also stitching his shoulder wound. All the while Naruto hadn't made a sound. He just continuously stared at Hinata and bared his teeth. "All done…" Kabuto said as he got up. Naruto staggered to his feet. "Easy! I might have healed you, but you can't overdo it…" Kabuto said as he marveled at his handiwork.

Naruto flexed and stretched his right arm. "Thanks… it doesn't hurt as much anymore…" he then started coughing.

"Here… take one of these…" Kabuto handed Naruto a small black pill. "It is a blood increasing pill; eat it to restore some of the blood you lost… you will need that blood to combat the heavy fever you've got…" Kabuto said as he gathered his things together. "Now I must leave you… I've got to get back to my group!" he said with a smile. He then gave Naruto a compass. "Remember to keep heading northwest!" He then started climbing up a tree.

"Kabuto…" Naruto called. When the silver-haired genin turned to look at the blonde, Naruto smiled warmly at him. "Thanks… for everything…" he said.

Kabuto turned. "No problem… we leaf ninja should watch out for each other…" he then disappeared into the treetops.

Naruto then put his shirt back on and moved to sit next to where Hinata was lying. "I guess I should take this now, huh?" he put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it, instantly feeling better. He looked down at Hinata, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. "I'm sorry for what I said… I really am…" he then silently wept into his knees and would continue doing so for the remainder of the night.

* * *

Three kilometers north of Naruto's position.

Sometime after sundown.

Sakura was breathing unevenly and her throat was burning. She had carried Sasuke over her shoulders for hours and was now exhausted with both physical and psychological fatigue. Her legs gave out and she collapsed, Sasuke's limp body rolling next to her. "I… I can't… go on…" she then began to weep 'I… I wish… that Naruto was here…' she then openly sobbed. "Naruto… we all treated you like dirt… but…" memories of how Naruto simply took her blows and verbal assaults and then did her and Sasuke's punishments afterwards filled her mind. "I… I'm sorry…" she looked to Sasuke's unconscious form, remembering all the times he treated her like dirt. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" she cried as she sobbed. "I didn't… I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO DIE NARUTO!" she cried in her anguish.

A sharp intake of breath from Sasuke called her attention and she slowly rose to her feet. "I… I'll protect you… Sasuke… I love you so much…" she said as she brought the Uchiha heir to a covered spot under some tree roots. "We will be sheltered here…" she then placed a hand on his cheek. 'He's so cold…' she didn't know how to light a fire nor could she perform fire-release jutsu, so she did the only other thing she knew would keep them warm. She took Sasuke's clothes off so that he was completely naked. 'WOW… Sasuke is so sexy…' Inner Sakura said, but after that she fell silent; Sakura's main subconscious now taking over and going into overdrive. Sakura then took off all her clothes and hung them on a nearby tree root; gasping at how cold the air felt on her damp, sweat-covered skin. She looked at Sasuke hesitantly before lying next to him and wrapping her arms and legs around him. 'I… I need to keep him warm… god, this is so embarrassing… what if someone catches me!?' she then looked at Sasuke's sleeping face. 'no, this is a test of love… I will keep Sasuke-kun safe… it is my duty as his future wife, CHA!' Inner Sakura managed to say. Sakura shook her head. She couldn't be thinking like that now, she had to keep Sasuke safe, not drool all over him. 'I… I wish you were here, Naruto…' she buried her face in Sasuke's chest and wept quietly…

* * *

Team eight's camp.

Just before dawn.

Hinata sleepily opened her right eye and scanned her surroundings. She spotted blood on the floor, making her jump up and start looking around franticly. She then caught sight of Naruto, covered in blood and wounds, sleeping on a low-hanging tree branch. She examined his wounds. He had a hole in his black t-shirt with a large, nasty-looking, stitched wound; as well as several other nasty-looking wounds. "Oh, Naruto-kun…" she said with concern. Naruto then stirred and Hinata quickly pretended to be asleep.

The blonde opened his eyes and rubbed the sleep and remains of his tears out of them. He then looked towards Hinata. She was lying with her back to him and the thin blanket that was draped over her that night had fallen off to the side. He got up and walked over to her, then, he raised her blanket up to her chin. "I… I should get going… I'm sorry…" he said before placing a small kiss on her cheek.

Hinata felt her cheeks heat up as she felt Naruto's hot breath on her ear as he said his words and she had almost fainted when she felt his soft lips caress her left cheek. 'N-Naruto kissed me!' she smiled; her heart racing and her body temperature rising. She then felt something metallic being placed in her hand followed by footsteps leading away from her. 'Byakugan…' she activated her Kekkei Genkai and looked around her campsite. He had already left and was heading northwest, toward the tower. "Naruto-kun… there is nothing to be sorry about…" she said as she placed a hand on the cheek he had kissed. She looked at the object in her right hand. "Naruto-kun's forehead-protector?" she looked worriedly in Naruto's direction. "Please be safe, Naruto-kun…"

* * *

**A/N: Hi, guys… I'm sorry for taking, what, four months? Well whatever, to write this chap… I initially planned on making a really long fight between Sasuke and Orochimaru but I decided that he wasn't worth the effort… also I am sorry if you don't like Sakura's change in attitude, but I want to just say that I don't hate Sakura. She is just too interested in Sasuke and that affects her view on Naruto, but how will she act now? Will she go back to her Naruto-hating old self? Or will she develop some kind of caring for the poor blonde? Wait till next chap!**


	10. The Chunin Exams part 3

**Title: **The Fox-Demon and the Noble Angel.

**Chapter: **The Chunin Exams part 3

**Warning: **This chapter contains graphic depiction of rape…

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from the Naruto series.

**A/N: **Hi, guys! I am so pleased with the reviews I've been getting so far and the number of favs and follows is more than I could ever have hoped for! I hope that you'll like this chapter as much… ON WITH THE FIC!

* * *

Sakura's camp.

Dawn.

Sakura opened her eyes sleepily as she felt Sasuke's body shift under her, his leg rubbing against her sex. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun…" she yawned. 'CHA! I SLEPT WITH SASUKE-KUN!' Inner Sakura was up and ready to go. "Shut up… I can't begin admiring Sasuke-kun's amazing… body…" she had subconsciously begun rubbing against Sasuke. She threw herself off of him using all of her willpower. 'NO! I can't… I must prove my love to him! I must protect him…' she rose to her feet slowly and stretched. "Naruto, you had better not be peeking at me, you perverted piece of…"

No reply.

Sakura looked solemnly at her feet. "That's right… he's…" her bottom lip quivered and she clenched her fists. She then went to sit by Sasuke. "I know that you hate Naruto… I guess we all hated him, huh?" she began talking to Sasuke's quivering form. "But… despite being a weird, dirty creep… don't you think he deserved a little slack?" still no reply from the Uchiha. She gave him a sad smile. "I guess… I guess it is useless now, huh?" her smile quivered and turned upside down. "I… I don't… I don't know what to do…" she was now sobbing. "I… I was never good at any jutsu… I am terribly scared of fighting… and I have no practical experience in the field…" her tears began dripping down onto her groin, dampening her pink sex-hair. "hehe… I don't even have decent breasts… absolutely useless…" she bit her lip before crying again.

A kunai then came and hit the ground right in between her thighs, almost hitting her in her sex. "Ohh… how naughty. Deciding to take a nap naked with Sasuke-kun, despite all the terrible and dangerous shinobi around? It is as if you wanted someone to see you nude…" the raspy voice came from one of the Otogakure ninja. He was hunched over and had bandages covering all of his face except for his left eye.

Another ninja came out of the bushes. "But Dosu… this girl has nothing to show apart from her curious pink hair… I didn't know it grew that color, hehehe" another sound ninja said. He had spiky brown hair and a scary glint in his eyes.

Sakura froze. "W-what do you w-want?" she managed to say.

"We have come for Sasuke-kun… on behalf of our master…" said the hunched ninja, Dosu. "Get in our way… and Zaku can have his way with you…" he said with a huge, mad grin under the bandages covering his face.

Sakura gulped, as if she was swallowing all the dread and fear she felt. "And… would that master be… Orochimaru?" she asked nervously.

Dosu's eye grew wide. "If you know his name… then I'm afraid… you must die" his icy voice sending chills through Sakura's body.

"Can I have some fun with her first, Dosu?" said the brown-haired sound nin while he licked his lips.

"Why not… just don't get too attached, we WILL kill her after." Dosu said.

Zaku then moved forward towards Sakura. "N-no… get back!" she then moved to take a kunai from her ninja tool kit but was stopped by Zaku who quickly threw himself on top of her and pinned her down. "Get… get off of me!" she screamed.

"Ohh, yes… scream… it turns me on!" he said as he bit into Sakura's left nipple, making her scream in pain. She tried punching him, but all she managed to do was flail her arms hysterically. "Let's see if this little girl can play with the big boys…" he brought his hand down to her abdomen and then her groin, curling the curious pink pubic hair around his fingers. "Who would have guessed with your tiny tits?" the perverted oto nin said with a wicked smile.

Sakura bit her lip. 'Am… am I going to… is he going to rape me!?' she moved her head so she was looking away from the man on top of her. "Please… Sasuke-kun… help me…" she managed to mutter. Of course there was no reply from the sleeping Uchiha.

Zaku inserted his index finger into Sakura's sex and continued until he came into contact with her virginity. "Ohh, a virgin… should have known with your breasts… hey, Dosu, you wanna join in? she is wet!" the disgusting young man yelled over his shoulder.

Dosu was busy inspecting the large metal device on his right arm. "Nah, I'm too good for this Konoha slut… maybe you want to join the fun, Kin?" he said to a kunoichi with long black hair and piercing black eyes.

"You kidding? She's so pathetic that it makes me almost shameful of being the same sex as her… I think less of Zaku now…" she said as she balanced a needle on her middle finger. "Why don't we just kill the Uchiha and get on with our mission?" she asked irately.

"Because what's better than killing your master's enemy?" he asked, receiving a shrug from the black-haired kunoichi. "Killing him after shaming his girl…" he said as he unbuckled his belt.

Sakura was now on the verge of hyperventilating. "No! Get away!" she was now trying with all her might to get free. "Ino! Kiba! Shikamaru!" she began calling out. "Someone!" she continued screaming. 'Oh, god… I'm… I'm really going to… am I really going to…?' she gasped as she saw the erect manhood of the defiler.

"C'mon… give it a small taste!" he said as he grabbed Sakura by her hair and brought her face up to his hard organ. Sakura refused but the feeling of having his hot member rubbing against her cold cheek made her skin crawl. "No? Alright… you know, you should thank me! I'm gonna make the last few minutes of your life something amazing!" he laughed as he went down and positioned himself to take her virginity.

Sakura cried and sobbed in pain. She had had enough. The guilt for having treated Naruto like dirt, the regret that she would never be able to say sorry to him, the exhaustion from carrying Sasuke for three kilometers across the tree-tops and now the deep dread of being savagely raped by a complete stranger while her precious Sasuke slept peacefully was just too much. "Please… help me… Naruto…" she managed to mutter as she felt her defiler enter her slowly.

"Leaf Whirlwind!" came a thunderous voice as a green blur came and threw the perverse oto-nin into the air. "you…" said the blur as it came up an struck the shinobi in midair "will…" another blow "never…" the blur then pushed him with its foot "touch…" several more blows "SAKURA-CHAN AGAIN!" a foot then came hammering down on top of the sound ninja's head, making him crash into the ground with a terrible explosion of dust.

"Who the hell?" Dosu asked as he tried to see into the cloud of dust.

When the dust cleared there was a green-clad young ninja with bushy eyebrows. "I am Rock Lee… and I am not amused!"

* * *

Somewhere in the woods

Just after sunrise.

Naruto stumbled through the trees, looking at his compass. He had been walking for a couple of hours, ever since he had left Hinata, and it was now past sunrise. "Damn… I feel exhausted…" he said as he panted uncontrollably. "I… need a… break…" he then sat down against a tree and started looking at his equipment. 'Ok… so I have one kunai, two paper-bombs and three smoke-bombs… damn!' he sighed at his terrible situation. "Don't even have any hentai to entertain me… heh, not like I could do much it if I had any… only fools drops their guard and sexually stimulates themselves in highly dangerous areas like this…" he then heard something approach. He quickly jumped to his feet, mentally thanking Kabuto for the ability to move, and took out his kunai. 'I only have one… I need to plan my moves carefully'

All that came from the bushes was a squirrel.

"Fuck… all that worry for nothing…" his stomach rumbled. "I'm so hungry…" he looked at the little furry animal. He moved his hands slowly into the hand-seal for shadow-clones. "Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu (shadow-clone technique)…" in a cloud of smoke appeared five other versions of him; all surrounding the furry rodent. The all jumped on it at once and Naruto killed it by ripping its head off. He then collapsed onto his knees from chakra exhaustion. 'damn… whatever that bastard did to me has completely drained me of my chakra…' he then started devouring the squirrel, his teeth ripping through it quickly. There was another rustle in the bushes.

Naruto left the bloody pile of bones and guts on a rock next to him and pulled out his kunai. "Hm, as sure as you were that you'd kill me before and now… you scare so easily, like the other mindless little boys that fancy themselves men." Came an icy voice filled with pain and solitude.

Naruto's eyes widened. 'I know that voice…' Naruto gripped his kunai with more strength. "Your name is… Gaara… Gaara of the Desert." He said as he looked to make sure there wasn't any sand nearby.

"I see that you remember me, Uzumaki Naruto…" the red-haired sand shinobi then stepped out of the bush opposite Naruto. Naruto took hold of the scroll he was carrying in his belt. "No… I do not wish to take your scroll…" Gaara said with a small, sad smile.

"Then why have you come?" Naruto said, not taking his eyes off of the redhead.

"Before… you looked at me with coldness… an icy darkness that snuffed out all signs of life and happiness…" the curious young ninja said while looking into Naruto's eyes.

The other two Suna-nin then came stumbling after their brother. "Damn… the hell happened to you? You look like shit!" laughed Kankuro. "Not so tough now, huh? And where is your headband?" he said looking at Naruto with scrutinizing glances.

Naruto was about to speak but he was cut off by Gaara. "He gave it to that girl…" he said, smirking at the look of confusion he received from Naruto. "Your eyes changed when she touched you… they were warmer, happier… as if something gave your life meaning… what makes that girl do that?" he asked curiously.

Naruto remained silently gripping his kunai and simply looked at Gaara with his icy glare.

"Ha! The punk is scared shitless…" Kankuro snickered.

"No…" Gaara said, smirking. "He is standing his ground… he gave her the headband as a sign of farewell… he is prepared to die." Gaara looked Naruto deep in the eye. "But he is also vulnerable… his killer intent isn't nearly as much as it was then." He then turned around. "I will fight you… when you show me how much alike we are…" he then walked off into the bushes with his two siblings behind.

The blonde sighed in relief as he dropped the kunai to his feet and fell back against the tree behind him. "Damn… I need to get back to Sakura and Sasuke… I'm sure that they are ok. Sakura isn't stupid and Sasuke… well… I guess he'll be alright if he gets ambushed by crazy fangirls, hehe" he coughed as he laughed, causing a lot of pain to his burning lungs. "I'm not cured of my fever yet…" he then picked the Kunai from the ground and began walking northwest again…

* * *

Sakura's location.

Just after Lee came and rescued her.

I am Rock Lee... and I am not amused!" said the bushy-browed young ninja as he took an offensive stance. "You shall pay for the un-youthful actions you enacted upon Sakura-chan!" he then bolted forward in a flash of green, kicking Dosu in the stomach.

Sakura was shaking. She wanted nothing more than to cover herself but the icy fingers of fear kept her in place. 'Did… did he…?' she looked down to her pink sex. "No blood… so he didn't take it…" she managed to sigh and relax… if only a little. She then managed to reach over to grab her panties and dress and hastily put them on.

"Are you ok, Sakura?" Lee asked, not once relaxing from his elegant stance.

Sakura was not alright. She felt dirty, filthy like some kind of whore. She wanted nothing more than to die in that moment for just looking at that disgusting guy's cock, let alone actually touching it. "I…" she puked, yellow bile gushing onto the green grass.

"Do not worry… you need not speak… I will make them pay!" he said as his eyebrows contorted into a frown.

Dosu's visible eye grew wide with amusement. "You!? Defeat us!? Hahaha" he soon had a laughing fit. "What a joke!" he growled as his laughter died down. "you are dead!" he then charged forward.

Lee calmly looked at his adversary and analyzed his movement. 'hmm… he moves too openly and he is slow… he has confidence in his attack… and… I feel something ominous about that thing on his arm…' He then dodged the slow, clumsy blow and jumped back.

Dosu smirked. "Gottcha…"

Lee then felt the force of a powerful taijutsu punch hit him in the stomach. "What is… _gack_!" he coughed up blood, staining the floor red with blood.

"Ha! You can dodge my blows but not my sound… that sonic boom is the same as a wind release jutsu!" he said as he rubbed the metal device. Lee fell to his knees. "And now to finish you off…" he moved his hand so it was right next to Lee's face.

Sakura gasped. 'a blast that close will… I… I cannot sit here!' she hastily grabbed a kunai with a shaky hand and tossed it at Dosu.

The hunched ninja parried it with his metal device. "I'll take more than that…"

Lee snapped to attention and gave a swift kick to his adversary's chin, sending him skyward. He then appeared right behind him in midair "Leaf shadow dance…" his bandages then started wrapping Dosu up like a mummy. "Front Lotus!" he yelled as he turned Dosu upside-down and smashed him into the ground.

"Zaku, did you soften the ground for…" Kin then looked to her unconscious comrade. "Uhh… pathetic!" she then saw Dosu in a mess; his head was bleeding and he was obviously unconscious.

Lee then reverted back to his original stance. "Back off… or face my flames of youth!" yelled Lee with a burning passion. "I give you a chance because you are a girl and obviously took no part in the shameful activity that befell Sakura…"

Kin sighed. "Fine… but this isn't over, pinky!" she then threw her two comrades over her shoulders and disappeared into the forest.

Lee fell to his knees. "Oh, Gai-sensei! I hope I have made you proud!" he said while balling his fist in victory. He then turned to Sakura. "Sakura-chan… are you ok?" he asked with concern.

Sakura was shaking. She looked absolutely terrified. "I… I just…" she managed to stutter. She looked at herself and felt utter disgust. "I… I should have died…" she said, taking a kunai.

"No, Sakura! You are brave and strong! You have much spirit within you; I just know that you will overcome this!" Lee said with passion.

Sakura looked at her reflection in her kunai. All she saw when she looked at her beautiful, long, pink hair was that damned Oto-nin grabbing her by it and making her do his bidding; it disgusted her to no end. She quickly took a clump of it and cut it off; the individual strands falling to the ground. She kept cutting off hair until it was around shoulder-length. "There… I… I can't get grabbed by my hair anymore…" she said with a shaky voice.

Lee looked at her with concern. "Sakura-chan… if you want, you could come with me… my team could help you." He said, hoping that she would come with him.

"No… I can't just leave Sasuke-kun… I… I'm sorry for what I said to you before… I was so stupid and… I hurt a lot of people…" she said solemnly.

"What are you talking about!? You? hurt me!? NEVER! my flames of youth can never be extinguished by mere words!" he said with his fiery passion. "And… if you ever did hurt someone… you can fix anything with an apology, yosh!"

Sakura looked into space. "What if… what if that person is gone?" she said, regret heavy in her voice.

Lee looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean…?" he then looked around. The only one there, other than Sakura and himself, was Sasuke who was naked. "Say… wasn't Uzumaki Naruto on your team?" he asked while scratching his head.

Sakura let alone tear fall down her face. "yes… but…" the tears were now falling freely down her face. "but he… died… protecting Sasuke-kun and me!" she then sobbed loudly.

Lee stood up silently. "He was a brave shinobi… the fires of youth burnt strong within him!" he then put his right hand on the left side of his chest in a salute. "but you…" he then took Sakura's hand. "must honor his sacrifice and live! You must prove that the fires of youth burn just as strongly in you!"

Sakura squeezed his hand. "Yes… I… I can't be a broken little girl…" she rose to her feet. "I… I am a kunoichi of Konohagakure! I will protect the one I love and I will honor Naruto's sacrifice!" she then looked towards Sasuke. "I… I still am his..." she said, making Lee slightly hurt inside.

"I am glad that your flames of youth haven't been extinguished…" Lee said as he walked off into the forest.

"Lee!" Sakura called to the green-clad shinobi. He turned to face her. "Thank you… I… I hope that… we can become… friends?" she gave him a sad smile.

Lee grinned ear-to-ear and jumped, punching the air. "YES!" he yelled, making all the birds in the trees take flight. "Sakura-chan, you have made me very happy! I will always come to the rescue if you need me… this I promise!" he then raised his thumb and gave her a dazzling smile. After that he disappeared into the trees.

Sakura then turned and dressed Sasuke. When she finished she slung him over her shoulder. "Ok, Sasuke-kun… I will prove my love to you!" she then began walking towards the tower.

* * *

Naruto's position half way between the tower and the large fence surrounding the forest.

Nightfall.

Naruto had found a small clearing that contained a pool of water that then went into the river. He fell to his knees. "I'm… exhausted…" he said while taking in gulps of breath. "I guess I should make camp… I can't see in the dark as well anymore…" he then sat down on a rock that was sitting on the edge of the pool. "I bet there are some nice fish in this pool… and I could take a bath…" he then looked around the nearby trees for a vine and checked his surroundings. "Ok… there is nobody around me as far as I can tell…" he took off his shirt, revealing all his recent scars. He had never had scars before since all his wounds healed almost instantly and he found it curious how the blood dried. He then took off his pants and boxers.

The water was cold and made him gasp as his lower body entered it. He had had the good sense of threading the vine through his only kunai and tying it around his neck. "Now let me see if I can't catch a fish…" he coughed slightly, his fever not entirely gone. After several failed attempts of catching his dinner, he finally managed to get his hands on a fish. "Gottcha!" he then bit into its slimy, wet head; killing it instantly. "Hmm… I've never tried sushi. I wonder how it tastes…" he said, licking his lips.

Meanwhile Hinata had been keeping an eye on him using her Byakugan. Her team was already almost a full kilometer away and in the morning Naruto would be out of range. She blushed as Naruto striped and examined his wounds more closely. "Hmm… Naruto is hurt…" she looked at his forehead protector, that she had kept secretly from Shino and Kiba, and sighed. "Please, Naruto-kun… please be ok…" she said as she deactivated her Byakugan.

* * *

Dawn.

Naruto opened his eyes sleepily and rose to his feet. He washed his face in the pool's water and reattached his ninja tool kit to his right leg. "Ok… time to go!" he then began marching further into the forest. He noticed that he could think more clearly ever since the extra seal was placed on him; as if all his anger, rage and bloodlust had dissipated.

He heard a cracking sound and took hold of his kunai. A girl then came out from behind a tree, holding two bodies. "Who are you?" she asked. She was an oto-nin with long black hair.

Naruto tightened his grip on the kunai. "Me? I'm no one… just keep going and we can all walk away happy." He said while cautiously examining her movement. He was feeling somewhat better since the day before but he was in no condition to fight someone who was at their full strength.

The sound ninja placed her unconscious comrades on the ground next to her. "No, I've had a stressful couple of days and now I need to unwind…" she said as she pulled several needles from her kit.

Naruto gritted his teeth. "Alright… if you want…" he got into a stance, hunching down an all fours and holding his kunai back-handed. 'I hope that my basic taijutsu is enough… then again I have never really fought without the kyuubi's chakra…' a droplet of sweat rolled down his face as the tension rose.

Kin threw her needles at Naruto who jumped and deflected them in midair. He then jumped off of a tree and tried to get to her throat. She dodged and punched him with several needles in-between her fingers. "Ha! You were right… you _are _no one!" she laughed.

Naruto winced as his wound squirted blood. 'Damn… those needles can kill me if I'm not careful…' he then threw his kunai into the air and moved forward to strike his opponent. 'I hope this works…'

Kin prepared he needles. 'I'll hit him right in the eyes when he is close enough… then we'll see how well he can survive while blind!' she then threw the needles at the blonde genin.

Naruto smiled as he jumped up, the needles narrowly missing his feet as he ascended, and caught his kunai. "You are too overconfident!" he then came crashing down on the oto-nin, embedding his kunai into her arm and pinning her down onto the ground. "Now who's nobody, hmm?" he smirked.

She tried to struggle, but Naruto was stronger than he looked. "Heh, not bad… for _no one_!" she smirked. "Now what? You gonna rape me? Take my scroll? Or both?" she asked in a monotone voice.

Naruto looked at her curiously. "I don't _do _rape… and I don't even know where the rest of my team is… why should I take some stupid scroll that will way me down?" he asked in a cold voice. "I would appreciate it if you gave me a soldier pill, one of your needles and, if you have any, a small piece of wire…" he said while getting off of her and taking his kunai back.

She looked at him quizzically. "Fine… I can respect a shinobi who is strong." She then gave him the items. "Might I ask you from what village you are from?"

Naruto lifted his shirt and examined the wounds he had received from the needles. "I'm from the hidden leaf…" he said as he tied the piece of wire to the needle in his hand.

Kin looked at him incredulously. "YOU!? A strong shinobi like you comes from the _hidden leaf_?" she asked, holding back her laughter. "I was beat by a leaf shinobi… I am a disgrace…" she bitterly remarked.

Naruto painfully stitched the small, bleeding holes on his abdomen to the best of his abilities and then took a soldier pill. "No, you were just overconfident… my village is full of weaklings" he said with a bitterness that appealed to Kin. "By the way… you wouldn't happen to have crossed my teammates? We were… separated…" he said solemnly.

"The only leaf genin I came across was a weak pussy with pink hair and that lazy good-for-nothing Uchiha…" she said looking at her teammates. "And that thick-browed weirdo…"

Naruto grabbed Kin by the shoulders. "Where are they!?" he yelled.

Kin looked at him wide-eyed. "I… I don't know… I just ran… I think that they are headed for the tower…" she said nervously.

Naruto seemed to relax a little but he was still nervous. "Did… did you fight?" he asked.

The sound ninja swallowed, if she told him that her comrade had raped the pink-haired girl then Naruto would undoubtedly kill her. "We… we were going to kill the Uchiha but we were stopped by someone called Rock Lee…" she said nervously.

Naruto then started walking northwest again. "Thank you! Good luck with the scrolls!" he said as he disappeared into the vegetation.

Kin picked up her comrades. 'Orochimaru-sama… why didn't you tell me that there were _real _ninjas in Konoha?'

* * *

Sakura's position.

Sakura had walked all night and all day with her black-haired teammate over her shoulders and was now bordering on exhaustion. "I… I need to find a… place to rest…" she was very nervous about what to expect. The realization had hit her in that moment when she was forced to be that oto-nin's plaything. She was a girl, alone in the woods with dozens of guys roaming around waiting for easy prey. Every shadow was a stalker, every sound was an assault. She had tried to look tough for Lee but she was really terrified. "Once… you are awake… Sasuke-kun… things will get… better…" she said, trying to convince herself that it was true. She found one of the rivers that flowed through the forest and a cave near the bank.

She laid Sasuke down gently onto the floor and went out to the river. She felt so filthy, walking around with such ugly, messy hair and having touched… she wanted to just bathe a little and wash away all the pain and suffering. She looked at her reflection in the water and drew a kunai. After a while her hair was even and neat and Sakura took a moment to make sure that there weren't any bold spots; after she was done she took some water and washed her face and arms. She then heard a sound from within the cave.

She moved towards the cave cautiously, taking out a kunai and hiding it behind her back. She peeked into the cave, eyes darting side to side. "Sakura…" came a voice. The pink-haired kunoichi smiled and ran inside.

"Sasuke-kun!" she yelled happily, throwing her arms around the Uchiha.

"What… what happened?" he asked sleepily.

Sakura let go of him. "Well… that guy, Orochimaru, bit you and gave you some weird thing on your neck… you then passed out and I took you to a safe place and… kept you safe…" She said with a blush.

Sasuke looked at her curiously. "Is something wrong? Your hair is different…" he said while squinting at her.

"W-well…" Sakura took a deep breath. "I-I w-was…" she tensed her muscles and was sweating.

"Well? Out with it!" Sasuke said irately.

Sakura closed her eyes tight. "We were attacked and… one of the enemy ninja… started to… rape me…" she said as a tear rolled down her face. "If… if it wasn't for Lee… I would have lost my virginity…" she said solemnly.

Sasuke looked at her with a blank expression. "Well… you wouldn't have needed help if you were stronger…" he said matter-of-factly. "But I guess it isn't your fault… you aren't an Uchiha, so I guess it is expected… I pity you…" he said as he walked out of the cave.

Sakura smiled. "Of course! Anyone who isn't you would have been the same in that position!" she said happily, as if she took that stupid logic to heart. "Well… maybe not Naruto…" she said, her face saddening once more.

Sasuke turned around and grabbed Sakura by the collar, various black markings covering his skin as he did so. "I said… don't you EVER compare me to that joke!" he growled furiously.

Sakura looked at him with utter fear in her eyes. "Sasuke… you're… scaring me!" she cried.

Sasuke's markings retracted and he let her down. "So… where is the little shit, anyway?" he asked as he surveyed his surroundings.

Sakura looked to her toes. "I… I haven't seen him since he… he was defeated…" she said solemnly.

"Great… we'll be disqualified for losing a teammate… oh well; at least we won't have to have that asshole ruining my image." Sasuke said irately.

Sakura, for the first time in her life, felt like Sasuke was wrong… but she decided to remain silent. "So… I think we are close… about three more kilometers and we should be there…" she said, hoping that Sasuke would make all her uncertainty and pain go away.

Sasuke's stomach then growled. "First I wanna eat… then we move!" he exclaimed.

Sakura yawned and lied down. "You… you go catch some fish, Sasuke-kun… I'll… I'll just sleep for a while…" she said as she closed her weary eyes.

"Hm, lazy…" he said as he went to the river.

Sakura then fell into a deep sleep. "I love you… Sasuke-kun…" she said as she lost consciousness.

* * *

The tower.

Near sundown.

Kiba, Shino and Hinata all approached the large construct and took a second to relax before entering. "_Phew_, that was some walk, eh boy?" Kiba asked Akamaru, who then barked happily. "Hopefully that blond-haired loser is lying in some ditch with his throat wide open, eh?" he said with a dark smile.

Hinata tensed and stood up, glaring at Kiba with a ferocity that the Inuzuka had never seen before in the young Hyuga. "Don't say something like that about Naruto-kun, unless you want to be the one in the ditch…" she said in an equally furious voice.

"He will be alright, girl…" came an icy voice.

All team eight looked toward the origin of said voice. "Wait… I remember you… y-you were…" Hinata was now getting back to her usual shy self. "You are that shinobi from Suna…"

Gaara was leaning on his gourd, bearing a calm expression. "Yes… and you were with Uzumaki Naruto…" he then walked over to Hinata and looked at her closely. "What is it about you? How is it that… you could change him with just one touch?" he looked deep into her eyes.

Hinata felt very uncomfortable under the scrutinizing icy gaze of the sand ninja and tried to move away; only to be met by a floating wall of sand. "I…"

Gaara then gave a grunt. "Your eyes are special… I can't read them… is that why he changes the way he does around you?"

Kankuro rested a hand on Gaara's shoulder. "I think your scaring her, little brother…" a glare from the short redhead made the cat-eared sand ninja take a step back.

Gaara then backed away from Hinata. "I will see when he gets back… what makes him change… what gives him purpose…" he then started walking inside.

"That's if he is alive… he looked like shit before, hehe" Kankuro said while following his brother.

"People like him… don't die so easily…" Gaara said somberly.

Hinata looked quizzically at the group of sand ninjas. "Oh, Naruto-kun…"

* * *

Naruto's position; three kilometers southeast from the tower.

Sundown.

Naruto was feeling hot and tired; the painful stitches on his stomach having increased the strain on his body considerably. He tripped on something. "What the…?" he looked to see a severed leg lying on the ground. "What the hell happened here?" he looked around, seeing various scattered body parts and he inspected them closely. They were all either ripped or crushed off of the rest of the body and he found small patches of… "Sand… there shouldn't be sand here… so why is it all over the place? It is as if someone made a dessert out of nothing…" he then remembered something. "Gaara… of the desert…" he decided to keep moving, since there was nothing he could salvage.

He continued moving until he felt his legs grow weak. "I really need to get this damned seal that bastard placed on me under wraps…" he said as he put his hand on his abdomen. He then got up after his short rest and pulled out his kunai. "Ok… if I'm going to survive in this damned forest, I'll need to train myself to fight without the chakra boost…" he said as he targeted a tree. 'I was lucky back there… that oto-nin was tired from carrying her comrades and overconfident in her own abilities…' he kicked the tree and pushed himself off of it, throwing his kunai with accuracy before landing gracefully on his feet. It had hit the tree dead in the center of its trunk. "Good…" he then fell to his knees. "Ok… so chakra is… limited…" he said as he staggered to his feet. "Let's see about my plain taijutsu skills…" he got into his fighting stance and prepared to assault the tree. He attacked it quickly with weak punches and ended his onslaught with a furious kick that made a crack in the tree.

After a couple more hours of training the sun had gone down and Naruto had reached his limit. "Damn… that fucking bastard will pay… I swear it…" he said as he gasped for air. He hadn't been this vulnerable and weak for two years… The memory of what happened caused him to dig his fingernails into his palms, making them bleed. "I should go to sleep… I will reach the tower tomorrow." He lied down and closed his eyes. "I… will never be that weak… again…" he said as he fell into sleeps embrace.

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke's campsite.

The morning of day three.

Sakura's eyes slowly fluttered open and she sat up silently. She had dreamt about many things the day and night before. She dreamt about her encounter with Orochimaru, about her being raped, about Lee's brave actions, about Sasuke's terrifying outburst and… about Naruto. She had been thinking about him and about the way she had treated him. Her most noticeable memory was when she had pinned him down and beat him in the wave mission. 'I… I didn't want to admit that… he scared me… he terrified me… the way he acted, how cold he was and then… the way he liked killing…' she thought to herself. 'But… he protected Sasuke-kun and me… he saved my life… and… I treated him like dirt… now he's…' she had no more tears left, only an aching feeling in her heart remained; a burning guilt and regret that hurt her even more than being raped by that Oto-nin.

"You awake? Good…" Sasuke said as he sorted his things. "Whatever that asshole did to me, it makes it difficult to perform Jutsu… I'm afraid that even my amazing Uchiha prowess is limited for the time being…" he then turned to leave the cave.

Sakura rose to her feet and stretched. "Don't worry, Sasuke-kun… we'll get through this!" she then wrapped her arms around him.

"Get off of me!" he yelled.

She was taken aback by the anger in his tone but decided it was nothing. "I'm so happy that you are awake, Sasuke! I… I was really worried…" she said softly.

Sasuke started marching west without paying attention to his pink-haired companion. "Yeah, yeah; just don't fall behind…" He said irately.

Sakura followed Sasuke through the tough terrain, thinking about things as she went. 'What will Kakashi-sensei say? He… he was very close to Naruto…' she looked at the ground as she walked, bumping into Sasuke a couple of times.

"Hey, watch it!" Sasuke said as she bumped into him again.

Sakura was brought out of her thoughts by Sasuke's voice. "What will we tell Kakashi-sensei?" she asked nervously.

"The truth. We tell him that that loser died while I survived… I mean that punk had it coming… that's why I am an elite and he is just a common thug, a piece of trash that should serve me, not some equal teammate!" he continued to rant.

"But… he saved us… so many times and we…" she began to say with a broken voice. She had cried so much with the guilt and was hoping that if Sasuke comforted her… the bad feelings would just go away.

Sasuke, however, turned around and glared at her with his Sharingan; the black marks covering his skin once more. "Don't. Go. There. I can take care of myself… I don't nor ever will need that piece of shit!" to add emphasis to what he said he punched a tree, shattering it into millions of wood chips.

Sakura then remained silent for the rest of the walk. 'But… you saved me…' she thought as a tear went down her face.

After a few more hours of walking they reached the final kilometre. "Ok… we will need to go through this final stretch of forest… the tower is in sight!" he said while advancing.

Sakura felt uneasy, like she was being watched. 'it is just the trauma from the oto-nin…' she thought to herself. After a couple more hours of walking her feeling of being watched just got worse and worse until she was looking over her shoulder every few minutes. "Sasuke… I think we're being watched…" she whispered cautiously in his ear.

"Nah, if someone was watching us I would have sensed them…" he said, brushing off her concerns.

A half-hour later and Sakura was now panicking. "Sasuke…"

"Look, I told you that there isn't anybody around here! Now stop being a loser and keep walking!" he said angrily.

Just as the words left his mouth, several figures appeared and took shape. They were rain ninjas wearing diving suits. "Ahh, you should listen more to your girlfriend, boy!" said one of them.

"Wait… you jokers must be with that stupid Amegakure ninja that made the mistake of attacking us!" he said with a laugh.

"You punks killed Oboro? Good, we were hoping to repay the favour!" said another one.

"Come and try it… AHH!" Sasuke charged at the many ninjas, only to go right through them. "Clones… damn!" he then started slashing wildly at the group. At first his attacks were coordinated, going through clone after clone after clone singly, but after a while he started to attack franticly and was screaming hysterically like a scared little girl. "Damnit! Come out and face me you cowards!" he screamed.

There was a laugh. "But you are so fun to watch… I think we'll just sit here while you act like a woman who just saw a rat!"

Sasuke had had enough. These bastards were making a mockery of him and his proud Uchiha blood wouldn't take it. "Sharingan!" he activated his Kekkei Genkai and started looking around. "found you- ahh!" his curse mark started burning and he fell to his knees from the intense pain. "Shit…" he couldn't move.

One of the rain ninjas came running out of the bushes and kicked Sasuke, sending him tumbling into a tree. "Now there is just one left…"

"hey she's rather cute, Mubi…" said the second rain nin.

"You are right, Kagari…" the two ninjas began laughing and approached Sakura slowly.

"S-stay back!" Sakura was afraid. She was very afraid. These two were obviously going to try something and she wasn't sure if she could stop them. She began slashing from left to right in a panicked succession.

"Ha… she is adorable… and look, her boyfriend has abandoned her; how sad… she's all alone" Kagari said in mock sympathy.

"You forgot about me…"

Both rain shinobi turned around, receiving a slap in the face each. The owner of said hands then stepped forward toward Sakura. "A-a-a… PAPER-BOMB!" Mubi screamed before both explosive devices detonated simultaneously.

The explosion sent blood and gore flying in all directions, the light obscuring the one behind it in shadow. Sakura dropped the kunai she was holding and just stared in shock. "Na… ru… to?" she managed to say.

"Hello Sakura…" Naruto said with a smile.

Sakura just stared in disbelief. "Naruto?" she then lifted her hand and poked him in the left shoulder. "You… you are…"

Sasuke walked up to Naruto, having recovered from his curse mark, and marched up to Naruto. "Where have you been, you useless trash!? We almost failed because you were too lazy, or too stupid, to hurry up! Honestly… Sakura has been more useful to me than you have! Kakashi-sensei will be ashamed that, because of you, I almost failed!" he continued to rant about all he had been through.

"At least I wasn't screaming like a little girl…" Naruto said, not paying attention to Sasuke's rant.

Sasuke punched Naruto with all his strength, blood spattering all over Sakura. "Don't you **ever **belittle me…" he then walked over to what was left of the rain nins and took their scroll. "we're lucky… it's the heaven scroll." He began walking towards the tower without saying a word.

Naruto wiped the blood from his face. "Damn that bastard…" he mumbled before a hand stretched out to him. He looked curiously at its owner.

"Let's go… I will help you…" Sakura said with a sad smile. Naruto took her hand and was surprised to be enveloped in a tight hug. "I'm… sorry…" said the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Sorry? For what?" Naruto asked.

"For… everything. For treating you like I have after you were so nice… I realized that… I kinda… like having you around…" Sakura said with a blush. "Come on… lean on me!" she then put Naruto's arm around her neck and helped him walk since he was dizzy from the punch Sasuke gave.

Sasuke looked over his shoulder, his Sharingan blazing with fury as his skin was covered in black markings. "You bastard…" he muttered under his breath.

* * *

**A/N: **hi! I wanted to apologize again for taking so long last chap and so I wrote this super fast!

I also apologize to any of you who didn't like Sakura getting raped or who wanted her to lose her virginity… but she needed a reason to change and be ooc. (or at least more ooc than normal).

So… I guess I'll just ask you to review and stuff and thank you for reading!


End file.

Naruto, Angst