Gone

Author's Note

Thanks for all the reviews guys! I'm so close to my goal of 30 reviews by chapter 6! So far, it looks like I'm going to beat my record which makes me very happy!

With that said, ONWARD!

Enjoy and hope you like it!

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“Because you died four years ago in that forest.”

“Died? Huh? What do you mean I died? How can I have died if I’m here and talking to you! If I was dead, wouldn’t you be dead too?” A confused Naruto asked.

“I saved your life when you died and brought you back brat.”

“Using a forbidden jutsu? But shouldn’t you be dead?”

“Don’t be stupid brat. I kept your soul and chakra from leaving your body.”

“How is that possible?”

“It’s easier to explain if I just show you brat.” The Kyuubi came forward. Everywhere was raw skin or was bleeding. Kyuubi’s head remained barely unscathed. Naruto flinched at the severe injuries marring Kyuubi’s body. Naruto asked “How are you going to show me?” Kyuubi rumbled “Come here brat and I’ll show you.” Naruto shook his head and said with a look of determination on his face “No way in hell! I’m not that stupid!” Kyuubi snapped, irritated with the brat that was his host and container “Shut up and come here brat. If you don’t, you’ll be in for a nasty surprise. Naruto sighed but obeyed. The minute he stepped up close to the cage, there was a slash across his arm. As blood began welling up, Naruto snarled in rage “You bastard! You trick-“ Kyuubi interrupted with a “Quiet brat!” Kyuubi’s own blood dripped into the wound, healing it shut slowly but surely. Before Naruto could answer, a loud explosion rocked his body and Kyuubi was gone, so was the caged room.

Naruto woke up with a third person view of himself fighting with the nin. However, it wasn’t long before he was aware of the nin exploding. Naruto watched his unconscious body soar through the air to crash land in the clearing, and when the smoke cleared, everything the Kyuubi had been saying made sense. Naruto’s body lay on the ground, sunken in from the impact. Naruto’s eyes were shut, but his body was twitching with the spasms of death until he died. From what Naruto could see, his left leg was completely shattered, that even when healed by nin and Kyuubi, Naruto would have walked with a limp. Naruto’s right arm was away from his body, and connected to his shoulder by only a few tendons. Naruto winced, feeling the pain, even though he was all healed already. Naruto’s head had a gaping hole with his brains exposed.

But that wasn’t what terrified Naruto. What terrified him was the chakra flowing out of his body, along with a silvery blue mist that had begun to rise from his body. Before it could completely dissipate, red strands of chakra shot out from the seal, capturing the silvery mist in a strangle hold and dragging the wriggling mass back into the body. A gasp of breath escaped Naruto’s throat as his soul returned to the dead body. As the chakra bled away, red chakra emitted from the seal on Naruto’s stomach, forming a tight cocoon of red chakra around Naruto’s body. At first nothing seemed to happen, but Naruto’s leg that had flopped like jello, straightened out and began to heal. Skin began to grow back on Naruto’s arm as his arm reattached itself slowly.

Naruto watched as a year passed before he was finally healed and the red chakra faded completely from his body. Another year passed as the chakra surrounded Naruto yet again to finish doing what it had to. When Naruto came to, his eyes were the red fox eyes, he had the fangs, and a single, red chakra tail.

Naruto woke up in the room with a start to stare at Kyuubi. The Kyuubi said “Brat, I saved your life. I grabbed onto your soul and dragged it back to your body and healed it.” Naruto said confused “I got that part, but what’s with the eyes and tail thing? I didn’t let you out from your cage.” Kyuubi rolled his eyes and said “Stupid brat. You have your own tail.” Naruto said slowly as understanding burned through his eyes “I’m part fox demon now?” The Kyuubi leered in a way that made Naruto suddenly feel like he was about to be eaten “So the brat gets it.” Naruto got to his feet and shook his head in denial. He asked “But! I haven’t showed any sign of it! Nothing!” The Kyuubi rolled its eyes and said “Brat, you are showing signs of it. Your sage form is no longer useful and you can’t use it.” Naruto looked stunned, panicked even.

“Don’t have a panic attack brat! You’re stronger than that pathetic Sage form since you’ve gained some of my power. You use the chakra from around you now, as well as my chakra. Your abilities, if you train well, will match that Uchiha brat again.” Naruto blinked and said frowning “It sounds like you’re about to add a but to that.” The Kyuubi nodded and said “Your power will come with a price. Every time you use it, you’ll be stronger, but, you’ll lose some of your humanity. Not that you were ever fully human in the first place.”

Worry edged Naruto’s tone as he asked “What do you mean by that?”

“Your pupils will remain slits, like a fox’s eyes. You will have small fangs, and you will never be able to touch another animal, much less be too near them for they will attack you out of fear.” Naruto shrugged and said “Animals hate me anyways.” The Kyuubi continued on as if it hadn’t been interrupted “Your Uchiha brat will not be able to recognize your chakra pattern anymore. It also means that you are invisible to the Byakugan and unreadable by the Sharingan.”

“The good outweighs the bad Kyuubi.” Naruto thought they did anyways.

“For now.” The Kyuubi conceded, but that wasn’t all it had to say. It continued “You’ve been kissed by death brat, what that means is that the next time you die, not even I can bring you back. I don’t think that will matter because you will have my immortality now. As a price, you will heal a little faster than normal humans, but it will probably be the same as human rate healing all the same.”

Before Naruto could say anything more, he was waking up to Sakura shaking him awake. She said in a panic “Naruto! Naruto! Oh thank god!” Naruto rubbed at his eyes as he asked “What’sa matter Sakura-chan?” Sakura wiped the unshed tears of panic from her eyes as she said “You weren’t waking up! I thought you’d died! God don’t scare me like that Naruto!”

Naruto rubbed at his eyes as he sat up and sleepily looked around. It was day time much to Naruto’s surprise; it felt like he hadn’t slept at all. Naruto shook his head and said “Nuh uh, I was just sleeping.”

“I wouldn’t have believed you were sleeping if you weren’t breathing.”

“I’m awake now Sakura. What’s up?”

“You said to wake you up today remember?”

“I did?”

Sakura bonked Naruto on the head and said “Idiot, don’t you remember you said you wanted me to help you with Recon today?” Naruto stared at Sakura with wide eyes and shook his head. No, he didn’t remember. Then again, Naruto hadn’t been very good with remembering things.

“You said that today we were commencing the plan ‘Operation get Sasuke back’.”