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Minato's breath hitched. He felt like something had pierced his heart and carved out a chunk of flesh before twisting around twice more. "N-Naruto? Is missing?"

The Hokage nodded gravely, face more strained than Minato had ever seen. "He usually sends a fox summon each week to report his progress, but I have yet to receive one in two weeks. At first, I assumed it merely slipped his mind, but Naruto in his full Hunter-nin mindset rarely makes trivial mistakes such as this."

"Can we not send our summons to search the Summoning Plane for his foxes?" The ANBU Captain suggested frantically, fists clenching and unclenching to distract himself from the panic growing inside him.

"I thought so as well and made an attempt with my monkeys. However, Naruto's summons are of a…different origin. They do not exist in the same plane as typical animal summons."

Minato grit his teeth in frustration. He had never read or heard of the existence of another Summoning Plane even in his extensive study on Sealing Arts. Jiraiya-sensei had never mentioned anything like that either. But this wasn't the time for that!

"Hokage-sama, what did his last summon say?"

"Naruto's last update was from between River and Wind south of the Rain border reporting his plan to return within two weeks. However, he has not yet arrived nor has he sent another update," his forehead creased.

"That area has always been hostile territory to Fire Country, especially the land surrounding Amegakure. The recent skirmishes along those borders have only added to the danger. I am dispatching your team to his last known location. Not only do you know him best, but your team is also the best tracker in Konoha. Naruto's trail will be difficult to track. Notify me of your location regularly. Make haste!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!"

Once at ANBU Headquarters, the ANBU Captain paced impatiently as he waited for his team to gather. "Lion, Leopard, Jaguar! Where is Tiger?"

"Captain, I last heard he was headed to the Training Facility."

"Fuck," Minato growled. "I'll get him. Meet me at the West Gate immediately!"

All three ANBU-nin flinched as Cheetah cursed. Their Captain almost never swore; it went against his principles of proper etiquette. And if he did, it was only when something had gone terribly wrong – incidents involving his teammates. This must be worse if he was swearing for something outside of their team. Not wasting any more time, their Captain scowled and activated the Hiraishin kunai on Tiger and disappeared in a bright yellow flash. The remaining three glanced at each other in silent alarm before they also shunshin-ed hastily out of the hall.

Once all five had gathered at the gate several minutes later, Cheetah gestured jerkily for them to depart, only revealing their mission once they were traveling at full speed.

"We have a Silverlined-Red for search and retrieval," he passed them the scroll. "The target is a Konoha shinobi, Uzuhara Naruto. I'm sure you have all heard of or met him at Headquarters. He has been on a solo mission in the western nations for the last three months. We have heard nothing from him since two weeks ago." He paused for a moment. "If you have any suspicions of betrayal, I myself vouch for his loyalty to Konoha." All four teammates nodded their complete trust in their Captain. And if they thought it strange that an ANBU shinobi was taking a solo mission – and a long-term mission at that – none voiced their concern.

"When we last heard from him, he was in hostile territory south of Rain. As we all know, Rain is notorious for its unforgiving treatment towards all foreigners. With his massive chakra stores, he must be in dire circumstances to be incapable of sending a summon. At this time, he is either imprisoned and suppressed," Cheetah swallowed thickly behind his mask, "…or dead."

Cheetah's teammates knew to remain silent when he did not continue the briefing. They had all seen how close Uzuhara and their Captain had become, and it was obvious the typically collected and level-headed man was having difficulty maintaining his composure. He was well known throughout ANBU for his composure during missions, so what was it about Uzuhara that made him lose control? They feared the consequences if Uzuhara was truly found dead.

The silence stretched for miles before he resumed speaking, his voice now grounded and determined. "Uzuhara Naruto's skills rival mine." Four pairs of eyes widened in disbelief. "His chakra control is better than the best I have ever seen. He primarily uses Wind jutsu which is his chakra affinity, but is well versed in all types. I believe he may have developed an affinity for Lightning as well." A wry grimace graced his hidden features as he thought back to Naruto's Combat Assessment where his own water jutsu had been turned against him as a conductor for electricity. That had been an impressive blow, and Naruto had done it with a broken, mangled arm.

"His taijutsu and kenjutsu are unpredictable but brilliant. He likes to combine the two for deadly, offensive attacks. Finally, Uzuhara is a Seal Master and expert Infiltrator. This combination of skills, particularly the chakra control and infiltration specialization, may make him impossible to track even with our expertise."

That was saying a lot. ANBU Team 9 was the best tracker team, and they ranked fourth in the organization based on their operational capacity. Even more astounding was that none in the team was older than twenty. Reaching that rank with the oldest member at seventeen years of age and holding the position for three years was unheard of. Team 9 was a force to be reckoned with and still had room for growth.

But just now, he had suggested that the best may not have the skills to track Uzuhara.

"Hokage-sama has assigned no time limit for this mission. We are to retrieve Uzuhara no matter what."

For the remaining two days of grim travel, they said nothing aside from the bare necessities, all five busy mulling over the mysterious shinobi that was Uzuhara Naruto.

Leopard and Tiger had been in the gymnasium when Uzuhara had fought Jackal and his lackeys. They'd seen for themselves the power the blonde held within that lean, unassuming body. When it had been unleashed against the six veteran ANBU, all of the surrounding shinobi had been shocked at this rookie's competence and drive. The guy kept fighting with more skill than his attackers even when he looked close to falling dead! After that impressive performance, they had to admit Uzuhara's skills were certainly up there and the possibility of rivaling their Captain wasn't far-fetched.

They also knew what Cheetah meant by 'massive chakra stores.' Uzuhara fought until the end with one massive amount of chakra, and when he visibly snapped, a second, even greater chakra had replaced the first. To have both enormous chakra sources suppressed seemed impossible, which could only lead to the conclusion that Uzuhara was dead.

However, to be killed with those skills seemed just as unlikely…

The team arrived at the intersection of Rain, Wind, and River borders in record time, only passing one skirmish along the way. Turning to his team, Cheetah addressed them with ANBU hand signs for caution.

:Leopard, Tiger, and Lion to the north; Jaguar with me towards the south. Keep alert and radios on.: With a collective nod, the two teams split in search of hints to Uzuhara's whereabouts.

Even without Uzuhara's own stealth making it difficult to track him, the area itself made the task tricky; there was evidence of skirmishes and fights everywhere. Trampled ground, toppled trees, burnt vegetation. The damage was so severe that they could barely distinguish one mark from another.

BZZZT

"Leopard here. We're fifteen miles north of split point. We think we've found Uzuhara's trail… Damn, you've got to see this for yourself. This is crazy…."

Before Leopard's voice faded out, Cheetah and Jaguar were already on the move. Cheetah grabbed his teammate by his waist and activated Hiraishin to Leopard's three pronged kunai.

They reappeared at a devastating scene. A half square mile of the forest had been completely demolished. Charred remains of vegetation, decaying corpses, and shattered weapons littered the ground. A quarter of the earth looked overturned, and another quarter was flooded with blood tinted water.

"Naruto…this is definitely Naruto's work," the ANBU Captain muttered, professionalism slipping as he stared in awe. He could feel the residue from Naruto's chakra still crackling in the air. "Don't step over there! That's one of his explosive seals, and those pitch black ashes are from a technique only he would use." Cheetah bent down to examine the rancid remains of a decaying body. "This is about a week and…three to four days old."

"Captain, these shinobi are from Rain." Tiger held up a battered forehead protector with an engraving of three vertical lines. "No, almost all from Rain, and there are some unidentified ninja here." Team 9 swept their eyes over the broken bodies. There had to be over a hundred.

"Spread out and search! And take caution; our greatest threat here is Naruto's explosives. They're deadly, and they'll be everywhere."

The Team 9 carefully picked their way through the rubble and mud. Minato couldn't stem the pride and affection that welled up within him. This was the first time he had seen Naruto's work – not training or combat practice but real work – and the damage was mind-boggling. To his left, there was a group of shinobi with deep gouge-lines crisscrossing their bodies. If he wasn't mistaken, that was the work of the 'Fuuton: Shinkuuka (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)' jutsu. He also passed a decent sized crater which was most likely formed by the tornado-like blast of 'Fuuton: Atsugai (Pressure Damage).'

Minato absently wondered who would make it out alive if he and Naruto fought each other in a life-or-death battle. No, he never wanted to fight against Naruto like that.

BZZZT

"This is Leopard in the west. There's nothing in this area."

"Lion. No sign of Uzuhara in the east side."

"Jaguar. South side is clear."

"Tiger. The north is also clear."

Cheetah sighed in relief. "I found nothing around the center either. We at least know he hasn't died here. Everyone, circle the perimeter for any trail leading out and gather up north."

When they regrouped, Tiger reported a trail leading northward.

As they pursued the trodden path to what they were sure was Amegakure, rain began to drizzle down on them. The dark sky and depressing wetness wore down what little optimism they had remaining, leaving them looking and feeling like drowned cats. The muddy trail soon ended at a side gate of the village's outer wall, an ominous, looming structure with seemingly impenetrable defenses.

:How do we know for sure that he's somewhere in there…?: Lion hand-signed.

Five pairs of eyes swept up the wall in apprehension, all thinking the same question. They only had assumptions to follow and no idea where Uzuhara would be if he had been captured. Infiltrating Amegakure was always dangerous, but entering blind without direction or target was stupid on top of that.

It was the Captain's call to enter or not. Climbing the wall was out of the question. They could take the place of guards, but verification was conducted every half hour. Visitors were required to pass through multiple security checks and were monitored throughout their stay. The use of Henge in Ame was risky; Ame-nin were skilled genjutsu users and were more in tune with techniques of disguise. Was there no way in?

An idea began to form in Cheetah's mind. Their goal was to enter undetected, and if entering among people was impossible, they just needed to get in without mingling. There was one feature shared by all large villages, one that was out of sight and out of mind: the sewage system. People never thought past their own homes in regards to waste, and any who knew of its existence avoided thinking about such revolting aspects of daily human life. It was widespread and most likely unmonitored.

Cheetah suddenly sucked in a sharp breath as another idea followed. He recalled a puzzling incident from months ago which he had forgotten to explore. Gamabunta. The Chief Toad summon had somehow recognized Naruto by chakra alone, even when they had never physically met. This might be the only lead they could find.

:Wait, I think I have a way to check,: he signed quickly.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu…" he whispered.

A small puff of cloud materialized in his outstretched hand. When the cloud dissipated, a little red toad sat obediently, eyeing him warmly.

"Don't speak, Gamata, just listen," Cheetah whispered. "I want you to carry messages between me and Gamabunta. Would you do that for me?"

Gamata smiled.

"I need you to ask him how he can sense Naruto's chakra and if he can locate Naruto."

Gamata vanished with a puff, and returned a minute later. "Chief says he can't tell you, but he can sense him if he uses chakra," the little toad reported in whispered croaks.

"Can you sense him?"

Gamata shook an apologetic negative. "I've never met him."

"Can you ask Gamabunta to send someone who might?"

He vanished and returned. "Chief says Gamakichi." Another puff sounded and a light weight plopped on his head.

"Shh! Gamakichi, don't say anything," Cheetah cut off the toad's usual exuberant greetings. After a promise of treats and a gentle rub on the toad's head, Gamata puffed away. "Gamakichi, Gamabunta says you can sense Naruto's chakra," he whispered, lifting the tiny toad off his head. "Can you sense him now?"

Gamakichi furrowed a toad brow. "No," he answered in an irritated croak.

"Not even a little?"

"Maybe," he closed his eyes and frowned. Several minutes later, he hopped and croaked loudly. "In there. Maybe!"

"Shhh! Inside the walls?" A little pressure around his heart loosened as the toad nodded. "Can you tell where?"

"No. Do I still get a treat?" The toad croaked hopefully.

"Yes you do. Can you find him if you get closer?"

Gamakichi hopped happily. "Maybe."

"Alright, if you find him, I'll give you an entire bag of treats."

"Okay! Got it! No problem!"

"Shhhh!" He turned to his teammates.

:Jaguar, you're best at stealth. Take Gamakichi and see if you can get in and find Naruto's location from underground,: Cheetah instructed while studying the wall with narrowed eyes.

Nodding, Jaguar disappeared from view.

An hour later, he returned with jittery shoulders, still gagging from the smell of waste. :The entrance underground is loosely guarded. The Amegakure leader's tower is located in the center which holds a high security prison deep underneath. The only other prison is for civilians, so Uzuhara should be somewhere in the tower. I've scouted it out.:

:As if this place isn't secure enough,: Lion commented with a shake of his head, irritation bleeding into his hand signs.

:Alright, let's head in. Tiger, stay behind as lookout.:

After ten minutes of slow, careful maneuvering, four Konoha-nin disguised as Amegakure civilians finally made it inside the village sewage system. They rushed through the putrid, winding tunnels with Jaguar leading the way. The stoic man cringed and signed, :It took me a few tries to find the right path, but there's a consistent pattern to it.:

Jaguar slowed to a stop next to a rusted door and nodded to his teammates before wrestling it open to enter the drop shaft with a ladder leading upwards. :Captain, I already disengaged the traps.:

Cheetah nodded his appreciation for both Jaguar and cleaner air. "Kushiyose no Jutsu…"

Gamakichi popped onto his head again. "Gamakichi, can you find him in there?"

"Maybe…"

The ANBU Captain sighed in frustration. "Let's go then."

As they were about to begin climbing, a loud croak shocked all four shinobi into whipping out their kunai.

"Minato! I found him! I found him! A big flash of chakra!" Gamakichi hopped gleefully. "One bag of treats?"

"Yes, that's great, but shhhhhhh!"

Naruto stared, eyes half-lidded, at the thick metal door across the cell. Perfect. Just perfect. He was in another dingy cell with wrists shackled against a wall, again. He felt painfully sore all over and barely had the strength to draw shallow breaths, and the Ame-nin had left him hanging on the damn wall. The air was chilly and his clothes, which were now tattered rags, did nothing to retain heat.

If he could, he would have banged his head back on that stupid wall at his horrible luck. Instead, he smirked wildly.

Negotiations in River Country had been a little disappointing but he had deemed it good enough for now and had headed back north to run one last sweep of the area. When he had closed in on Rain, he somehow found himself pulled into a fight between shinobi of a small ninja village and a mass of shinobi from Rain.

This was more than a skirmish. It was Rain's arrogant show of power to its surrounding villages. It was domination.

Neither Naruto nor Akashiori could figure out how it happened. One second he was running, and the next second he was being attacked. It baffled him how he hadn't sensed anything until he had already stepped into the clearing. Then he got dumped into a violent free-for-all. It was chaos and pandemonium and madness. Shinobi kept attacking him when all he wanted to do was get out of the mess. His patience wore thin with every idiot that attacked him even after seeing how easily he'd taken out the previous idiot.

So he decided if everyone was going to kill each other, why not help out so he could be on his way to Konoha sooner, and so they didn't have to waste much more of their precious time in dying? It was an act of goodwill, you see.

Akashiori had to admit, it was fun. There was a strange sort of satisfaction in blowing people up with big, flashy jutsu instead of the cleaner, more efficient ones he usually used on missions. Wow, didn't he sound like a bloodthirsty psycho? He snorted to himself. He was in his ruthless Hunter-nin persona and was a psychologically traumatized killer. If that didn't amount to a bloodthirsty psycho, he didn't know what did.

In no time, he had taken out half of the shinobi and tripled the size of the clearing. He didn't lose control. No, he intentionally and gleefully let some of his control go. Unmasked and disguised, Akashiori was having a ball. So he blasted and sliced and then blasted some more.

That was until reinforcements from Rain arrived.

First, it was another large group of more skilled shinobi – B-rank. They were easy. Then a mid-sized group of A-rank shinobi. Challenging. Finally, a small group of five terrifyingly strong shinobi arrived. These were impossible. Amegakure's leader had had enough of the devastating damage to his forces and came personally to see what had gone so wrong with the simple village takeover. Apparently he received alarming reports of an unrivaled enemy threat and came to fix things himself because the first thing the man did was sweep the battlefield for him.

The instant the leader's eyes met his, Akashiori knew he was screwed. He'd heard about this man during the Fourth Shinobi World War because this was the dolt that turned Akatsuki into a homicidal peacemaker.

Hanzou.

He knew he couldn't beat Hanzou – at least not yet. Give him a few more years of intense training and he could probably manage with difficulty, but definitely not right then; this man was recognized by everyone as the strongest ninja of this time. And as he predicted, he got flattened on his ass by the guy, then knocked out by the creepy poison he breathed out.

Then began the interrogation – and don't forget the torture that always comes as a set. They had taken his pack but couldn't get through his seals, and they couldn't tell who he was or where he was from by the non-descript clothes he had been wearing. His new henge seals had helped as well, modifying his appearance to a brown-haired, brown-eyed, unremarkable man, until they decided to stick his hands in fire as part of the torture programme. They had been shocked at the sudden change but ecstatic at seeing his true appearance with the distinctive whisker-like scars on his cheeks. He could only hope that the skin-colored paint hiding his Konoha tattoos held.

After realizing with another shock that their prisoner immediately healed everything they threw at him, the Ame-nin had taken to dosing him under massive amounts of poison to stop him from misbehaving while they interrogated him.

Who are you?

Where are you from?

What were you doing there?

Where you alone?

Did someone send you?

What do you know?

Tell us what you know!

He was so drained all the time. His was physically drained. The poison made it almost impossible to keep food down, and his and Kyuubi's chakra were spent on keeping him alive. He was sapped of sustenance and of life giving chakra. But mentally… Mentally he was overwhelmed – 'flooded' if you wanted to be poetic. He relived terrible flashbacks of his previous torture, memories of dead comrades and bloody battlefields, the anguish of betrayal and loss, and finally loss of his entire world. Sometimes he wanted to weep. Other times he wanted to cackle. A few rare times, he wanted to see Minato's smile.

Neither Naruto nor Akashiori had ever been tortured by poison before, and he realized it was worse than physically violent torture because now he was in constant pain, and different levels of pain depending on the stage of the poison. At least injuries from physical torture, no matter how severe, were superficial for his jinchuuriki body. Poison, on the other hand, tried to kill everything inside at once. And in this jail cell, he had the pleasure of suffering both. The vomiting, shivers, hallucinations, crawling pain under the skin, whippings, bone-breaking, and all other creative things they came up with. Surprisingly, it was his previous experiences with torture that allowed him to stay strong – perhaps he had developed some type of immunity… He snorted at the thought.

He needed to escape. He needed to escape before he lost the rest of his mind. But security was too tight, that paranoid bastard Hanzou. The entire village was in constant lockdown, so while he could have escaped a cave like the last time, this metal prison within metal walls was too much for him.

He had one other option, but there was a problem with that as well.

'Kyuu, how are you doing?' Naruto entered his thunderstorm mindscape, a safe haven which allowed him to escape the physical and psychological pain for short moments.

'I don't know how you get yourself in these situations, kit,' the demon fox grunted. 'I can only stay two steps ahead of the poison.'

'S-Sorry,' Naruto clenched his hands in the fur matted down from strain of healing his body. 'Thank you…'

'Hanzou's black salamander poison is the most potent I have ever encountered. Even after the power from merging with myself of this time, I am having difficulty overriding all of the effects. If it was any other poison, you would have been fine,' Kyuubi grumbled at his injured pride.

'Why is this different?' The shivering blonde settled on the ground and chuckled darkly.

'Black salamander poison attacks on three different levels. Firstly, it attacks your nervous system with neurotoxins which cause paralysis. Secondly, it eats away at your chakra coils. Not the chakra itself, but the coils, which is much deadlier. Thirdly, it corrodes your body tissues,' Kyuubi explained. 'Everything at once combined with physical injuries give me no time to rest.'

'How long would I have to live if you stop healing me?'

The fox gave him a suspicious look. 'Twenty seconds at most.'

'Hmm, I wonder if that would be enough,' Naruto whispered thoughtfully.

Kyuubi growled a warning. 'What idiocy are you scheming now?'

Naruto's lips drew back in a feral grin. 'You know the little 'idiotic' jutsu that got us into this entire mess? My time jutsu might be our only option out.'

The fox fell silent.

'Kit… For once, you may have suggested something intelligent.'

'I can be a genius once in a while too,' Naruto attempted to form a triumphant smirk, but it twisted into a grimace. 'Can we dredge up enough chakra to go back to before we fought Hanzou?'

'That is two weeks,' Kyuubi took a moment to analyze their chakra stores. 'If we store both our chakra, two weeks may be possible.'

'How long will you need to store up enough chakra?' Hope entered his voice and the mindscape's storm abated. Maybe he could make it home.

Home.

Such a sweet word. He wanted to pet it and swallow it.

Kyuubi cleared his throat for Naruto's attention. 'With the amount I can spare after healing you and if I pull back from fully healing you, I estimate five days.'

Naruto jumped. 'I-I think I can get enough of mine in that time too,' he said shakily, shoving his disturbing thoughts aside. 'I'll use mine for the activation boost and you'll pump everything you have plus whatever I have left over for the transport. We'll also have the mass of chakra from the twenty second time window before I die.'

'Twenty seconds is a rough estimate. You will be a hair's breadth away from dying.'

'Well, that won't really matter right?' Naruto giggled in another brief fit of madness. 'I'll die anyway if I stay. But if we can make it back that far, we'll merge with a healthy – healthier – body.'

'We will only have one shot, kit,' Kyuubi sighed, shuddering from another wave of strain. 'It will tax our minds.'

'We'll just have to make it count. Sleep will help right? Great, I'll get to it,' By the last word of the fumbled sentences, Naruto had curled up in a ball and forced his unstable mind into sleep, the idea of 'home' at the forefront of his thoughts.

Next day, the experimentation began. It seemed Hanzou had become very curious about his body. It was twenty four hours of precise torture for four days. They applied different jutsu and cut his body using excruciating methods, recording each response and each scream diligently. Hanzou came to observe time to time with a thoughtful expression on what you could see of his face that wasn't covered by his respirator. Naruto snarled at him each time but could feel himself breaking down.

It was the fourth day. The pain was excessive. He wanted it to stop. He refused to beg.

I want to die.

No, I want to go home.

He wanted to take the beautiful word stab it into his heart.

'K-Kyuu…h-how much more can I take?' Naruto sobbed when he finally had the chance to sink into his mindscape. An increasing number of disturbing thoughts and urges were popping into his mind. Always the word 'home.' Sneezing when gushing blood created tickling sensations. Wanting to rub his face against sponges. Wishing to hold Minato's hand tightly. Wondering if Sasuke would eat riceballs soaked in miso ramen broth with a kunai.

Naruto pouted through his sobs. Minato would never want to be friends with an uncoolest kid like him…

'Your sky has cracked, and the ground has begun to quake regularly. I can see a fissure forming down the middle,' Kyuubi was lying as a pile of red fur, shuddering and breathing shallowly. The experiments were taxing, and both of them could barely move after storing all spare chakra for the time jutsu they planned to use the next day. However, they both knew it would be nowhere near the amount needed for two weeks of time travel. The experiments had taken more chakra to heal than the torture. 'You are almost broken, kit.'

Naruto squeezed into Kyuubi's form on the dried, barren land and whimpered before he was again pulled out into consciousness.

When his hazy eyes opened, Naruto vaguely saw Hanzou's muscular figure standing in front of him, studying his bloody but half-healed body with that thoughtful expression again.

"Little warrior, you are fascinating," his deep, muffled voice filled the silence.

Naruto forced out a brief snarl before breaking into a coughing fit.

"Even after two weeks, you have yet to be broken," he gripped the blonde's chin and yanked it to the left to watch a gash on his cheek knit back together. "What will it take to break you?"

His grip tightened painfully. "You are the first to survive my poison. You withstood the torture. You endured the experiments. All others would have broken long before, my little warrior. I have not been this fascinated in many years," he chuckled cruelly. "If we could replicate your bloodlimit, my power could grow exponentially."

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut. A hand slapped his face, the sharp smack of skin hitting skin cutting through the chilly cell.

"Do not close your eyes!" Hanzou barked.

Naruto shot him a half-lidded glare and spat at the large man's face. "Idiot. It's not a bloodlimit," he informed him with a smirk.

The man wiped the spittle off his arm where it landed instead. "I did not want to resort to this since pride is a man's greatest asset. However, if you won't tell us what we want to know, I will follow through," he wrenched the prisoner's head backwards with a fistful of blond hair.

Hanzou trailed a lazy finger from his ear, down Naruto's exposed neck, across his collarbone, and slowly circled a nipple before grazing the hardening nub with a sharp nail.

Naruto's eyes snapped into those of a wild animal, and his body jerked away reflexively.

"NO!" A scream tore from his raw throat. He bared his sharp teeth and attempted to rip his bloody wrists out of the metal cuffs. "Get off me! Don't touch me you bastard!" The sounds from his throat grew into pitiful wails and dropped to become threatening growls. "Stop–"

Hanzou watched the panic-stricken reaction through eyes widened in surprise.

"So this is not your first," a sadistic leer twisted on his face, and he reached to stroke again.

Naruto snarled and snapped his jaw with abandon, terror taking root in his mind. No, go away! Stop…d-don't touch! Run. Run. Run.

'Kit! Kit! Focus, Naruto!' Kyuubi tried but failed to snap him out of his craze. 'Akashiori! FOCUS!' He roared.

Naruto froze.

'Kyuubi.' Akashiori replied stonily.

'Yes, Akashiori, focus. Half of your sky just shattered. We cannot let this go any further,' Kyuubi spoke quickly before the boy lost himself again. 'We must activate the jutsu now.'

'We are early,' the Hunter-nin stated as he calmly analyzed their reserves.

'It matters not. We must escape this encounter. Activate the jutsu now!' The demon fox barked out the command.

Akashiori nodded dutifully and began to gather the chakra they had stored over the last four days.

Hanzou stared quizzically at the boy's peculiar actions. His body had suddenly stopped wrestling against the restraints, eyes glazing over and focusing and glazing again repeatedly. For a moment he thought the boy had finally gone mad. Now though, his eyes were sharp as he nodded in agreement to something.

Then Ame leader felt it. A large mass of chakra was gathering around the boy's body, thick enough to form a visible, shimmering layer. Red. Blue. Violet. It engulfed every inch of his blood-stained skin, and before the Ame leader could move a muscle, all of that power was instantly sucked into a single condensed point on his hip.

"Jikan Makikaeshi (Time Rewind) no Jutsu!"

The boy winked out of the cell.

Before Akashiori opened his eyes, he took stock of his body and surroundings.

'We are still in the cell,' the Hunter-nin felt the cuffed wrists, drained body, and splitting headache. 'I-It was not enough,' he shivered from the beginnings of panic. "Do you know how far we have gone, Kyuubi?'

He received no answer.

'Kyuu?' Akashiori hastily sank into his mindscape.

As before, the sky was still half shattered, revealing the dark nothingness beyond. The ground was still split, the land was still barren, and what was left of the sky was still thundering. The only difference was the giant fox's trembling form. His nine tails lay limp on the ground, and he had buried his head beneath his front paws.

'Kyuu…?' Uzumaki Naruto's concern and distress slipped into Akashiori. He pressed an equally trembling hand on the fox's side to stroke upwards instead of downwards. He wondered if he could find 'home' under the fur. Maybe it was playing hide-and-seek. If he found it, he would glue 'home' to his forehead like that leaf exercise in Academy.

'Kit, I am fine,' Kyuubi answered weakly. 'Merely mentally exhausted. However, our chakra stores have been restored to that of this time's.'

'Can you determine how far back we have landed?' Akashiori struggled to regain control before more of Uzumaki's insanity escaped. He realized their body may have merged into the one of the past, but his psychological state remained unchanged from the future.

'From what I can tell of our physical state and chakra level, I believe we are four days in the past.'

'Only four days?' Akashiori's shoulders slumped in horror. 'Only four days…" He repeated in an angry whisper. 'It was nowhere near enough. Those fucking experiments!' He snarled with hate and desire for revenge. He wanted to burn the world and then find 'home.' Akashiori froze, dread filling his core; those weren't his thoughts! Another Naruto popped into his mindscape and barreled into him. One Uzumaki Naruto and one Akashiori fought each other with every skill they possessed, each trying to knock the other out of their mind. Both Narutos thought simultaneously that this must be the worst case of schizophrenia in the history of mankind.

Akashiori was losing.

Naruto's anguish and madness were stronger than Akashiori's cold desire for revenge. Their skills were equal, but Naruto's fighting style was more vicious than Akashiori's controlled form. Akashiori knew he was lost as the sky splintered even further. His rationality had been the only thing keeping his mindscape in stasis, but as he lost ground, the mind crumbled, giving Naruto more power to fight his restraints.

Akashiori disappeared with a loud crack. Not even Kyuubi's shouts could bring him back.

Uzumaki Naruto opened his eyes to reality and twisted his face into a gleeful, maniacal grin. Now he could unleash his madness upon the world so he could start his journey to finding 'home.' Once he found home, he could share ramen with Minato, Naruto thought too cheerfully. He gathered their spare chakra in his weakened body and mashed it together with his fury and anguish.

'Kit, no!' Kyuubi shouted.

Naruto ignored the warnings and forcefully manifested a flaming violet tail with his anger as the main source of power. It felt so good!

'Naruto, stop! I'm still trying to heal your body!'

Naruto threw his head back as he had wished to do last time he was in this past, but instead of banging his head against the wall in frustration, he laughed hysterically. 'But Kyuu, dear friend, I'm using my madness instead of your chakra for most of the tail, so it should be fine, should it not? See? It's purple!"

He gathered angry heat onto his wrists and melted the vexing metal cuffs that had pinned him to the wall for two weeks of hell. "Finally, I'm free," he announced to himself, rubbing gingerly at the inflamed skin. "Hello, stupid door. You're in my way." He angrily punched the metal once, twice, three times until it blew off the hinges. Flexing his bruised hand, Naruto triumphantly stepped through the doorway in anticipation for the warm blood that would flow from his enemies' bodies.

Blood for blood.

He had already shed his blood for two weeks. Now it was their turn.

Naruto tore out the throats of the first two guards with his bare hands, blood splattering over his face and shredded rags. Two weeks of poison and imprisonment left his body weak, but as long as he could force himself to move, he could kill. Aiming for the throats was the easiest, and that was how the next four died. He swiped a short sword from a lifeless body and turned it over in his hand eagerly, looking forward to the next pitiful prey that stumbled his way. He didn't have any chakra for ninjutsu, but he had taijutsu and kenjutsu at his disposal.

He sneered.

Tearing them apart with his hands was much more fun anyway.

Naruto gutted the next swarm of guards with jerky motions; his body was still stiff and, but that would fix itself as his anger fueled Kyuubi's chakra into healing him. This was just the beginning. He could already taste the death in the air as he left mangled remains of corpses and pools of blood behind him. His face was frozen in an insane smile as he worked his way towards the surface. This was merely a sample of freedom – he was going to get the full deal soon.

Naruto roared as he ripped apart another wave of Rain shinobi. "Die! You bastards. You all asked for it, so die!" Picking up a bloody kunai, he rammed it into a forehead before pulling it out and slashed another shinobi's throat.

Then he staggered.

A flash of confusion crossed his mind. He was losing power and coordination. What was going on?

Pausing before another group attacked, he took stock of his body. Naruto growled. He was running out of chakra that kept him going, and his muscles already weakened by poison were tiring. Infuriated by his analysis, he tried to pull out more chakra but found nothing to grab.

'Kyuu! What is going on?' He snarled.

'I am blocking you from accessing any more of my chakra.' Kyuubi answered just as angrily. 'Both of us need it to stay alive, but in your state you will drain us in one fell swoop. If you are going to fight, learn to conserve and attack efficiently, stupid brat! You will not receive any more chakra from me unless you do so.'

Naruto roared his frustration but wrestled his tail back in to conserve energy as the fox demanded. If he planned to decimate the rest of this place, he needed power to do so. Naruto snorted as another bunch of sloppy guards charged at him. Whatever. These maggots weren't worthy of his chakra. His sword and bare hands could take out every single one of these pitifully weak rats that called themselves ninja.

Suddenly, he was smashed across the corridor into a stone wall. Snapping his head up to glare defiantly at the culprit, he felt a mad grin split his face. He shook with excitement as the biggest fish presented himself.

Hanzou.

"Hanzou!" He screamed. "I am going to carve out your sick face!"

Naruto was beyond caring about his own life now. There was no doubt he would lose against this man, but he was determined to get in at least one hit for one last bit of satisfaction in his life. Naruto stopped and frowned for a moment. His mind told him he had one regret. What was it?

His only regret was that…he would never have another chance to tug on Minato's hair. Naruto pushed the thought aside.

Despite his insanity and failing coordination, Naruto moved fluidly through his familiar kenjutsu-taijutsu style. He had decided to injure the Amegakure leader so he was going to do it. He may not have said these words aloud, but it was still a promise, and he never went back on his word. Even in madness this was his nindo, and he was going to follow through without fail.

While Naruto could only fight physically, Hanzou attacked with both taijutsu and ninjutsu. The long-range ninjutsu attacks made it difficult to close in on the man, but he would make sure his taijutsu-kenjutsu was enough.

Ducking under a powerful punch, Naruto finally found an opening and dug his sword in the man's inner thigh to slice deep into the flesh. He would have cut down to the bone if a chakra enhanced fist hadn't shattered his shoulder. Regardless, he felt unparalleled delight in watching the large man stumble. Ignoring the mind-numbing pain from his injuries, Naruto dove to aim for a critical point on his stomach but was deflected by a ball of fire released from Hanzou's large hands. The blonde screamed as flame ate his side but pressed forward again for what he knew was going to be his last attack.

He had to make it count.

As the man's uninjured leg whipped around to dig into Naruto's still-burning side, he smirked wickedly. Sacrificing the last of himself for one final hit was worth the price, he thought. He crushed the instinct to jumping away from the impending, fatal attack and, instead, skimmed fingers over multiple tenketsu points from Hanzou's inner thigh, up the hip, and across the pelvis, releasing pulses of compressed chakra with each touch. Moments later, he was slammed into another wall. He fought to keep his eyes open to see the aftermath of his attack even as his blood-drenched, broken body dropped down to the ground. With all his remaining strength, he kept himself sitting upright against the rough wall to watch the anticipated show.

Hanzou's hip and leg gave out.

Naruto threw his head back and howled in laughter. "Take that, fucker! You'll never get those tenketsu points back. I burnt them all closed with chakra! You're ruined!" Who cared if that was an exaggeration? He certainly didn't. Because of his own injuries and limited time, his work had been sloppy. Hanzou would regain use of at least half of those tenketsu points, but the other half had been permanently closed.

It was enough.

It was better than enough!

His heavy eyelids began to slide shut. He basked in the ecstasy of extreme satisfaction even as he felt himself slip away with every minute he sat there. He heard fighting and shouts of men in the background but did nothing to avoid any further attacks on his person. This cold prison floor in Amegakure among the sea of blood and Ame-nin corpses would be Uzumaki Naruto's death bed. He didn't even bother to open his eyes as he happily waited for the killing blow which was surely closing in.

"Naruto!"

The blonde whipped his head around to stare incredulously at the owner of the voice, then winced at the jolt of pain which flared in his neck.

Minato…

Insane laughter escaped again as he realized how damaged his mind and body were. He couldn't move and was hallucinating his brains out.

"Naruto!" The apparition called out as it ran to him frantically, reaching out with a hand coated with green healing chakra. Why was he still dreaming about being healed?

Naruto's eyes widened as the pain in his charred side faded bit by bit. "Wha…? Minato?" He couldn't be real… This was an image his broken mind created for the last few seconds of his life…wasn't it?

A mad giggle bubbled up. "Just what I wished for…" Naruto raised a heavy hand to tug gently on the apparition's hair…but his hand didn't pass through the image. He felt the soft strands and saw blood from his thumb and index finger smear onto the gold. He was real. He was here. Minato was here!

The sight of the man filled him with warmth. Or was that the healing chakra? Maybe both?

Naruto would have brushed his fingers gently across the frowning face, but a small, tranquil part of his mind stilled the hand to keep from staining that beautiful skin with his dirty fingers.

"Minato…" Naruto breathed out. "Minato," he repeated the name like a sweet prayer. It was the only thing he could think of…

Then a wave of insanity rushed through him. He grinned widely. "Minato? Will you promise to eat ramen with me and Tobi in hell?" But instantly, another thought followed, causing Naruto's shoulders to slump and expression to drop into that of despair. "No, that can't happen, can it? Me and Tobi are going to hell, but you – you'll go to heaven. I'm sure of it." He sniffled.

Minato looked into Naruto's wild eyes in confusion. "Naruto…? Are you alright?"

The sniffling continued as Naruto snickered. "That question again. You ask it too much. All the time. But it's nice. I love it. My answer is 'noooope, I'm not alright,'" he began cackling. "I've lost my mind. My sanity is gone. My mind is in shambles. I don't think I can be fixed this time. This time my home is going to be that pretty insane asylum. Home…" He continued to laugh even as tears spilled down his cheeks. "Minato, I've finally passed the point of no return…"

"Oh, Naruto…" sorrow filled Minato's eyes. "Not yet. You haven't crossed that line yet. I'll fix you. I'll fix you, okay?" He reached out a hand to hold the smaller blonde's cheek as he continued to heal the many wounds that weren't healing on their own. He could barely locate the wounds beneath the thick layer of red.

Naruto jerked away. "No! You can't touch me. You'll be tainted. The blood and the…" Naruto trailed off in humiliation. "Just don't touch!"

Ignoring his pleas, the hand settled carefully on a bloodied cheek. "I'll fix you."

Reflexively, Naruto relaxed at the touch and couldn't help but lean into the warmth.

Safe.

He was safe in Minato's hands.

He felt warm all over and his body didn't really hurt anymore.

He gave into an urge and turned his face into the protective palm to press a light kiss on the warm, warm skin.

Safe.

Naruto smiled up softly.

Safe and warm.

Suddenly he tensed. Footsteps closed in on them. More than one person – three people. He hoisted himself up with strength he didn't know he possessed and slipped around to block Minato from danger. He snarled at the approaching men and dropped into his taijutsu form. They weren't going to get through to this precious person as long as he lived. He would take every one of them out before they could touch a single golden hair.

He leapt at the attackers, but before he could take one full step, something snaked its arms around his chest. He flinched violently and was about to twist around to rip its throat out but froze when its low, soothing voice washed over him.

"Naruto, don't attack. They're on our side. They're friends."

There was a moment of skeptical silence. Minato.

As if strings of a puppet were cut, his muscles gave out and would have crashed to the ground if he hadn't been supported from behind.

"Captain, what happened here? It's like…a massacre," one of the men exclaimed. "Don't tell me Uzuhara did all this."

Minato nodded.

"Damn…" Someone else whispered his disbelief. "And they're all dead?"

Naruto's head snapped up at the last word. "Hanzou! Where's that bastard?"

They all looked at him in confusion.

"Where. Is. Hanzou!" Naruto punctuated each word with an attempt to escape. "He was right there."

"He wasn't here when I arrived… S-So you fought him…" Minato shakily pulled Naruto's form flush against his own and buried his face into the smaller blonde's hair at the thought that the struggling bundle in his arms could have been killed moments before he had reached him.

Naruto stopped struggling and laughed darkly. "I got the sicko. I got his tenketsu points. And don't forget that thigh!" As he remembered the last incident four days in the future which he barely escaped in time, tears trickled down his cheeks again, washing down the blood in its path to expose trails of grimy skin under his glazed eyes.

The four members of Team 9 flinched as he barked out a splitting laugh which was soon replaced by shallow coughs.

"Damn you Hanzou. I swear I'm going to kill the bastard early," Naruto promised in a hoarse whisper. "I've already done half the job. Next time, his ass is mine…"

Possessive arms squeezed tighter. "It's okay, Naruto. Let's leave that for another day. We're getting out of here first."

"Out of here…" Naruto's breath hitched. He grabbed Minato's arms firmly and cranked his head around for a glimpse of the man holding him. "Minato! Will you take me to 'home'?" He asked full of hope. He felt a fragment of his mind settle back in its rightful place. "I want to go home," his voice dropped in volume with every word. "Can we go home…?"

Naruto relaxed as he felt Minato press his warm cheek against his bloody one in agreement and whisper reassuringly, "Of course I'll take you home," and everything faded away.