The lost soul..

Naruto stood in the archway where the hallway opened up from its narrow passage onto a slightly more open part of the hallway that had the exit/entrance to the eastern courtyard and another entrance/exit to the Hyuuga's private gardens. Blocking his passage were the five heads of Konoha's most renowned clans.

"Uzumaki." Tsume breathed out as her loyal companion, Kudomaru growled and snarled at the boy in red.

Naruto looked at them with an intensely disinterested gaze before he spoke. "Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka, Inuzuka. The four of you need not die here. You need only to swear loyalty to me, and my cause, and you will be allowed safe passage away from this compound. Should you prove yourselves trustworthy then I will allow you to once again take the position of clan heads of your respective houses."

"And Hiashi?" Shikato asked narrowing his eyes slightly.

Nauto's gaze flickered to the pale eyed clan head. "He is too dangerous to be left alive." Was his simple answer.

Shikato mentally cursed. Hiashi was indeed the only true threat to the blond. Not in raw power, he doubted anyone short of one or both of the remaining sannin, or Uchiha Itachi had any real hope of defeating this monstrosity that they had created.

Hiashi's threat was in the political realm, Shikato knew, that no mater how much pull or influence he had in certain circles of Shinobi, that no one had the kind of political pull like Hiashi.

Where the blond held his force together by grudging respect, fear, or people who were indebted to him, Hihashi held his force together by three things, one, the natural prestige he possessed as the Hyuuga clan head, diminished as they may be. Two, his calculative mind. And third the fact that many believed him to be the last hope of defeating the blond before he starts yet another Great War.

Shikato knew also, that should they submit to him, that he would limit, or downright remove all of their political power, meaning that the chances of one of them coming close to organizing a revolt, would be nigh impossible.

So…in reality, this was it, this was a make it or break it effort to keep their children from having to suffer the horrors of war.

He weighed his options, should they fail or surrender, then Naruto would no doubt pursue his ambition, and eventually fail when two of the villages united against his now diminished one which would lead to the destruction of the hidden leaf and all of its inhabitants, including their children.

Or they could make a stand, have the possibility of failing but also have the possibility of winning where then they could name a new Kage, unite the village again and work on undoing the damage that this short, but nonetheless destructive, civil war had caused.

Hihashi spoke up narrowing his pale eyes to a fearsome glare. "Fool boy. You cannot hope to defeat us here, we are five of Konoha's strongest Shinobi, you are strong, true, remarkably so but even you have no chance of defeating all of five of us."

Tsume spoke up next. Not only that, but our clan techniques complement eachother, The Hyuuga and Inuzuka have been paired in teams practically since the founding of our clans and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio is legendary."

Naruto spoke, his voice a drawl of simple facts.

"Inuzuka clan techniques, are based around close range combat, weaknesses are mid to long range techniques. Usually earth type manipulators. Hyuuga, also focuses on close range techniques, weaknesses, a blind spot just along the base of the neck.

Akimichi, also close range fighters, weaknesses, techniques use up great amounts of chakra and are extremely slow.

Yamanaka clan techniques, involving the mind mid to close range techniques, weaknesses is that the caster will either fall unconscious, or must remain perfectly still while the Jutsu is being cast, the jutsu moves very slowly as well. And finally the Nara the clan strengths are the unusually high IQ's as well as the ability to paralyze an opponent using shadows, weaknesses, are that they have naturally low chakra capacities and the paralysis uses greater amounts of chakra the stronger the opponent. Did I leave anything?

The five clan heads facial expressions visibly tightened.

When they had created him, trained him. They had given him everything, they had laid out all of Konoha's knowledge, all of its techniques. The techniques of the clans and their weaknesses. In the hopes of creating the perfect weapon one that could help any of the clans, or who could destroy any that might have gone rouge.

But in the process they forgot one thing…

When handling any weapon there was always a risk, of gaining serious injuries.

Hiashi growled and spat out his next words. "You still do not have a chance, your theories are good but lets see you put them into practice."

Naruto spoke again, his voice hollow and dead even as his red eyes gleamed beneath his hood. "While it is true, that I would have no chance at defeating you if I was a normal Shinobi…we all know that I…am far from normal."

The five clan heads tensed as the red chakra grew in intensity. The bloodlust and rage rolling off of the beast's power was almost suffocating.

Naruto spoke again, his red eyes flashing beneath his hood and glowing with an eerie light.

"The will of the Shadow guides me."

"The strength of the Demon, empowers me…you…"

"Cannot prevail." His voice grew darker then, the voice altering device making it sound more like a feral growl of some animal.

Chouza, having had enough, rushed the blond and aimed a massive fist towards him. But Naruto merely leapt straight up, busting a hole through the ceiling where Tsume and Kudomaru soon followed up after him.

The Inuzuka clan head barely had time to land on the ceiling before she heard a voice coming from above. "Kaze no Yaiba"

She snapped her head up just as a crescent shaped wind blade headed straight towards her. She couldn't leap off the roof before the chunk she had been standing on fell as the wind blade cut through wood and stone, sending her crashing down into the other four clan heads.

Naruto then formed his next set of handseals. "Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu!" He yelled shooting out six fireballs. Five hit the roof of the house and the last was aimed to go into the opening he had made.

Just as the ball of flames was about to enter the building and fry the remaining occupants a shout was heard from the inside. "KAITEN!" A whole chunk of the house's east wing was blown to bits, flaming debris and splinters of wood exploding everywhere.

Somehow, Hiashi had managed to form the Kaiten to move around the others, yet still make it powerful enough to push away the attack.

Naruto landed and then had to leap back as Chouza attacked, his fists the size of giant mallets.

His feet touched the ground again as Hiashi appeared infront of him, his movements fast and precise, his Juuken stance practically perfect.

Naruto moved from side to side avoiding the man's attacks rather easily when he heard a bark behind him, he turned in time just to barely catch Kudomaru's form as he barreled into him spinning with the Inuzuka's signature Tsuuga.

He managed to mold chakra into his back, just in time to avoid most of the serious damage, reducing the tearing, bludgeoning force to a strong impact.

Hihashi, having seen the dog's attack before the blond due to his Byakugan leapt back just as the dog hit the Jinchuuriki, sending the ninja straight for him. He began spinning. "Kaiten!".

Naruto slammed into the defensive technique, sent spinning through the air, he managed to gain his bearings and looked in time to see himself heading towards the Akimichi. Chouza's fists were reared back ready to deliver a clapping motion that would no doubt crush him between the ridiculously proportioned hands.

He timed his maneuver and placed his palm on the earth, bringing himself to a screeching halt, practically laying on the floor as Chouza's hands clapped together, loudly above his head. He pushed himself off the floor somersaulting backwards, he landed behind the Akimich clan head. He grabbed the man by his hair, pulling him back while he himself moved forward and delivered a brutal kick to his spine.

Chouza's mouth opened with a silent scream of pain, Naruto reared back his blade, poised to deliver the killing blow when he realized that he suddenly couldn't move. His blood red eyes shifted to the shadow that connected with his, his eyes then shifted to the struggling Shikato, as he pulled more of the volatile red chakra from his seal.

Shikato fell to one knee, grunting in exertion. Sweat dabbed his forehead. "Inoichi!" He panted. "Hurry the fuck up!" He managed to gasp out as the red chakra struggled against his jutsu.

"Right" The blond haired member of the team spoke as he finished his handseals. His form didn't slump, but the spike in the blond haired mans chakra indicated the attack had been sent.

Naruto forcefully pulled out more of Kyuubi's chakra from the seal, the red violent chakra thrashing against Shikato's hold.

He could feel Inoichi's attack getting closer and closer, he could not grant the fool control of his mind the results for both of them would be…less than pleasing.

His salvation came in a rather surprising yet painful form. Chouza, having managed to gain his bearings felt the rather strong grip on his hair that Naruto still had and spun around, acting on instinct he lashed out, growing his arm to ridiculous proportions. The enlarged appendage slammed into Naruto's side sending him flying, while also cracking a few ribs.

This however, proved to be a real problem for one Nara Shikato, as he too felt the effects of the attack, while he didn't go flying, he did feel the snapping of his ribs.

Naruto landed on all fours, grunting slightly as he focused Kyuubi's chakra, hearing the sound of snapping bones slightly muffled he knew they were healed again, but that didn't mean Shikato was all right.

The scarred man was clutching his side with a dribble of blood coming from the corner of his mouth.

Naruto stood but felt a rumble beneath his feet, he managed to shift his position to the side just in time to avoid Kudomaru as he emerged from the ground already using a Tsuuga. He was unable to completely avoid Tsume however, as the Inu-Kunoichi came from the ground behind him. He managed to dodge somewhat, but the Clan head knocked away his sword and delivered three jagged claw-like slashes across his chest.

He grunted and kicked Kudomaru as the dog lunged at him from behind. Tsume landed on the ground, he was slightly behind her to her left. She spun around, trying to deliver an elbow to his face with her left arm, he blocked it almost lazily, she tried again, this time with her right arm, he blocked again.

Now gripping both her elbows in his hand, he roughly jerked his hands downwards, now gripping her wrists and twisted her arms behind her back. The woman grit her teeth refusing to cry out, a sickening pop sound was heard and her left shoulder bone seemed to move beneath her skin, indicating it was now dislocated.

A gasp of pain escaped her. He didn't let up, and her resistance with her right arm increased, not wanting it to suffer the same pain as its twin. Snaps and crunches were heard as his grip tightened around her left wrist, it was now, no doubt broken. She still didn't cry out, nor did the resistance in her right arm falter for a second, her teeth were gritted against her lower lip so much that blood appeared.

Naruto was forced to release her however as Hihashi dashed onto the scene, his Taijutsu, again fast and deliberate. Naruto pushed chakra into his gauntlets, blocking the famed Gentle fist with precision and sureness of one who knew the style inside out.

Hiashi gnashed his teeth as again, a palm thrust to the boys shoulder was diverted, followed by another to his upper chest, and again to his stomach. He was using all the speed he could muster and yet still this boy was batting him away like nothing more than a mere fly.

Finally, after several more blows were exchanged between the two it paused in a deadlock, as Naruto gripped Hihashi's wrist, stopping him from striking at his heart with an open palm thrust and Hiashi did the same, gripping Naruto's metal covered hand as the gauntlets claws were poised to puncture through his chest cavity.

Hiashi's brow creased with effort, his years spent off the frontline had dulled him some, the boys physical strength was superior to his, his experience though, was leveling the playing field.

Naruto growled low in his throat, his crimson eyes danced with the embers of the flames as they locked onto Hiashi's pulsing Byakugan.

The two tore their gazes away from each other as a rumbling sound reached his ears. Naruto and Hiashi looked to the side as they saw Chouza rolling towards them, his fiery red mane of hair was now longer and stronger, giving him more traction, speed and cutting ability.

Hiashi leapt back Naruto knew Chouza would follow him, and would eventually lead him into Shikato's Kagemane, as he could see the man, fighting through the pain in order to form the seal in preparation for the Jutsu.

Thinking fast, he did the only thing he knew would keep him out of The Kagemane.

He leapt up, and landed atop the rolling Chouza. His shadow was connected directly to the larger mans, if Shikato tried to hold him, he would stop Chouza as well.

He pushed chakra into his feet to keep the sharp hairs from cutting them and walked on the rolling ball like a giant hamster wheel.

A battle cry to his right caught his attention, he turned, still keeping his balance and saw Inoichi approaching with two Kunai. He raised his gauntlet covered fist, a clang of metal was heard as he used one gauntlet to block one Kunai and caught the man's wrist with the other.

Throwing him aside he managed to turn in time to block Tsume's attack, her, now sharpened claws swiping away at him. If only for the sake of his stability on the roiling meat tank that was Chouza Naruto kept his ground, refusing to move back at all, he was lucky that he had the center of the rolling pinball, unlike Tsume and Inoichi, as they both, had been standing on the edges of him, a much more difficult area to keep a good footing on.

Which was revealed as Tsume lost her footing and fell forward. Naruto ceased the opportunity, raising his knee up, she slammed right into his toughened kneecap with enough force to send her up, and falling onto her back instead of her stomach.

But he wasn't finished, he raised his metallic hand, the nail like claws on the piece of armor ready to pierce her like a stuffed pig when Kudomaru lunged at him, the canine's fangs biting deep into his forearm. He growled, using his other arm he latched onto the annoying dogs throat and with a horrible crunch, his bite slackened Naruto threw him aside like an old rag.

He turned again, this time kicking away Nara Shikato before he could deliver whatever attack he wished. He turned again, this time coming once again, face to face with Hyuuga Hiashi. The wielder of the famed "All seeing eye" managed to deliver a hard palm thrust, he felt his stomach clench and spasm as wounds appeared on his navel. He coughed up blood, the coppery liquid staying on his lips and dripping through the bottom of the facemask.

However, this momentary opening allowed Hihashi to gain a better footing on the rolling Akimichi as Naruto was forced back.

Again the two exchanged blows, blocking and parrying as required while trying to seize openings in the others attacks or defenses.

However, their exchange was cut off as Chouza slammed into one of the walls of the clan estate, catapulting both off of him, along with chunks of wood and boulders that made up the wall. Naruto righted himself in mid air and turned, gaining momentum, he swung his leg, slamming it into a rock the size of a footrest or small coffee table.

The large stone was rocketed towards the enlarged Akimichi slamming right into his side. Though the thickened hair took the brunt of the attack, his transformation was undone, he rolled on the ground a few times before coming to a dazed stop.

Naruto then spun around again in mid air, with the use of his wind chakra and kicked the Hyuuga clan head right in the ribs with a brutal drop kick, sending him crashing into the burning estate.

"TSUUGA!"

Tsume slammed right into his back, the full force of the Inuzuka's signature attack catching him off guard, the woman's claws tore away at him, his blood seeped from the newly created wounds.

He was shot down into the building, into a different part of the compound from where Hiashi had fallen.

As he hit the floor he ignored the flames around him and rolled forward, getting to his feet and unsheathing his sword.

Tsume fell through a moment later. Her features feral and her eyes lit up with fury. The thought of her now dead partner Kudomaru adding to her rage.

She saw a shadow slip off down the hallway, the flames burning the compound were affecting her vision and the smoke was getting in the way of her sense of smell, the sound of burning wood also affected her hearing. But she paid no heed to this in her anger and rushed after the shadow.

When she reached the end of the hall and turned, her eyes widened at the collapsed hallway, she hadn't heard a crash so that meant it was there before, no one could have gotten past that. She heard a slight sizzling sound and looked down to a small exploding tag, she leapt back, but couldn't avoid the blast entirely, the shrapnel and splinters pierced her arms as she crossed them infront of her in hopes of blocking it.

She fell back into the hallway, she opened her eyes and saw another exploding tag on the ceiling directly above her. Her eyes widened before the tag went off and the ceiling collapsed overhead.

Naruto emerged from the shadows of the hallway, his form like a specter, flames danced around his feet and seemed to part for him, allowing passage as he approached the fallen clan head.

Tsume's breaths were ragged and uneven, a jagged pipe, fell from the ceiling and had pierced the right side of her chest. She was visibly struggling to keep breathing, her eyes were dilated and unfocussed. As she approached she turned her fading eyes onto him. Somehow, she had managed to gather the strength to speak. "Please…" She gasped. "Stop…this…it…will…end…in…failure." And as such, she gasped her last.

Narutostared at the woman. His red eyes, though burning with unholy flames from the demons chakra were cold and unflinching as he stared at her now dead form.

He said nothing as he stepped past her, down the hallway, flames would consume the remains and leave nothing but ash.

Shikato and Inoichi staggered over to the large form of one Akimichi Chouza. The overly large man groaned weakly as his two comrades helped him into a sitting position. "Urgh, what happened?'

"The Uzumaki managed to hit you with a big rock and threw Hiashi into the estate, Tsume hit him and he also fell into the house, she followed after him."

The large Akimichi managed to stand. "Damnit what the hell are you two doing helping me we have to save her!" He said angrily. The other two stood and together they began running towards the house. An explosion sound reached them, making them run faster then a second explosion hit.

When they were finally in leaping distance of the roof the entire wall exploded in a great blast. The three crossed their arms in front of themselves in order to block the debris and shield their eyes from the heat. When they looked up again the fear in their hearts multiplied as they stared at Naruto standing above the burning ruins. Crimson flames seemed to tower behind him, like a great wall from hell itself, his face, invisible, beneath his hood. His blade, gleamed in red light.

Chouza felt fear grip his heart at his next question. "Tsume...where is Tsume?"

Naruto remained silent before he responded. "Dead."

His fists cracked as he clenched them. His rage was almost visible in his eyes as well as the eyes of Inoichi and Shikato. "You fucking monster." He was almost frothing at the mouth. Tsume had been a good friend of his, for many years.

"You…I'll kill you." His voice was a hateful whisper, but became an enraged yell. "YOU FUCKING BASTARD I'LL KILL YOU!"

In a second Chouza had placed the first of his clan pills into his mouth, his chakra tripled and Naruto's eyes momentarily widened in surprise. He pulled out a full tail of the Kyuubi's chakra to supplement his own power until he would still be above the Akimichi's chakra output.

He was surprised however at the extreme speed boost the red haired Akimichi had as the man appeared next to him and delivered a solid fist to his face.

It hurt.

A lot.

Naruto flew to the side of the building, his back cracking as bones gave way, he grunted and again felt Kyuubi's chakra mend and heal, even as the bone fragments remained in his back. Before he could move, Chouza was upon him, his fists flying, hitting his right cheek, then his left, then his right, his left again.

His facemask shattered showing his bruised cheeks that were quickly healing. His mouth opened to take in air, showing broken and knocked out teeth which he quickly spit out lest he choke, new teeth regenerated quickly.

Chouza, seeing the damage he delivered completely undone in mere seconds screamed in rage, growing his right hand out he slammed it into the blond, pinning him against the wall, using the full weight of the Akimichi's jutsu to crush him against the wood splinters and concrete rubble. Naruto struggled to breathe, his breath coming out in short, quick pants as the Akimichi continued to crush him, his ribs soon snapped under the strain, coming dangerously close to his heart and piercing his lungs

He focused as best he could, forming and molding the red chakra as it formed tendrils that went over Chouza's hand and stabbed into his forearm, trying to push him back. The red haired man screamed, and struggled against the pain, trying to continue pushing down on the blond as the red chakra began pushing him off.

The Akimichi cursed and put the second pill in his mouth as Naruto's chakra tendrils spread and pierced his stomach and legs, his muscles doubled in size and his chakra output tripled. He ignored the injuries and crushed him with renewed vigor. Naruto grit his teeth and again struggled to breathe. At he attempted to take another breath he suddenly felt a grip tighten on his neck. He snapped his eyes open and shifted his eyes down, seeing a shadow clenching around his neck. He felt the edges of his vision grow dark.

"Inoichi! Fry this fuckers brain!" Chouza yelled coughing up blood.

The blond haired man nodded before forming another set of handseals.

Naruto felt the presence enter his mind, his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he finally passed out.

Chouza, Shikato and Inoichi each breathed a sigh of relief. Just before they each felt his chakra spike again.

The three teammates looked at the blond as his head snapped up, his hood falling back revealing his blond hair and crimson eyes. Yet these eyes were different, where once they held nothing but cold apathy, now they were dancing with sick insanity and bloodlust. His teeth shined as a psychotic grin spread across his features his fangs growing until they were practically touching his lower lip.

His chakra spiked again and the Akimichi suddenly screamed in pain as red chakra spikes exploded from the blonds entire body piercing his arm with the jagged thorns. He cursed and was about to place the third and final pill in his mouth when Naruto appeared infront of him and harshly grabbed him by the mouth pulling the taller man down so he was at eyelevel. "Ah, ah, ah" He chided, his insane grin widening before he plunged his fists through the mans chest.

Chouza gave a small jerk before his form slackened.

Inoichi and Shikato's eyes were wide in horror as they saw their friend's body tossed aside the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki's smile never left his face as he turned to them, the flames behind him once again covered his face in shadow, only his softly glowing eyes and wicked smile were visible.

He slowly brought his blood covered gauntlet up to his lips and licked some of the crimson liquid off of it. His insane grin never leaving. "I must thank you humans. Had you not weakened him I would have never been allowed free. Its been so very long since I've tasted human blood."

Shikato and Inoichi's eyes widened in pure terror. "K-kyuubi?" The shadow user asked.

The demon chuckled. The fear he could feel coming from them was almost palpable, filling his senses. He savored it like a fine wine, enjoying every second of it. "Correct human, the stress on his body, and especially his mind, was far too much for him to handle at one time. Giving me temporary control, at least till he recovers. I must thank you especially for that human." He gestured to Inoichi. "Were it not for your mind attack, his defenses would have never weakened enough for me to take over." He laughed as Inoichi seemed to pale.

"Now then…I have a limited amount of time…" He threw off his gauntlets and took a stance, his natural claws spread wide as if he was leaving them an opening.

He licked his bloodied fangs, enjoying the metallic coppery taste.

"And I want to make the most of it!"

Hiashi groaned as his mind returned to the conscious realm. He clutched his head and stumbled slightly as he stood. His eye's blearily looked around before he regained his bearings. Noticing he was in the south wing of the compound.

The building was burning all around him.

The roof collapsed behind him. He jumped and turned around. He looked up and saw a silhouette of a human, hidden by shadows, glowing eyes and gleaming fangs glaring back at him.

He took out some Kunai and threw them, but the figure merely vanished as the knives hit him.

Hiashi activated his byakugan.

Again a sound was heard behind him, close. Too close infact he spun around, in time to see a shadow run into a room. He dashed after it but as he was going to enter the doorway a small explosion collapsed the hallway. He jumped back and felt the bite as three claws slashed his side. He gasped and held his wound, gritting his teeth, he took a slight step back where the floor gave way. He stumbled falling on his back he stood up again, hearing laughing sounds coming from all around him. He stood and glared, looking all around the hall for any sign of him. "Show yourself you coward!" He yelled.

"As you wish." Hiashi gasped spun around, was grabbed by his throat and slammed into the wall. He gasped, trying to breathe he struck the tenketsu in his arm and struck his chest hoping to loosen the boys grip.

He looked down at the sick grin on the boys face. "Hn, foolish Hyuuga. I'll enjoy this." The fox said with sick glee before twitching his wrist to jerk the mans head to the side exposing the base of his neck.

The Hyuuga heads eyes widened as the boy moved in and bit down at the junction between his neck and his shoulder, biting deep into the artery. He gurgled before once before the blond yanked with his teeth pulling a whole chunk from his neck. Blood fountained from the injury, hissing as it met the burning wood. He died seconds later as the demon fox savored the taste.

"Hn, my fun is almost over I see." He said to himself as the edges of his eyes began to turn blue. "I hope you enjoy what I drank fool boy."

The eyes turned blue completely and a fierce scowl formed on his features. He spat out the blood and wiped it with his sleeve. "Damnable creature!" He snarled, both at his lack of control and the disgusting taste in his mouth.

He stared at the dead clan head for a moment before he turned and left. Leaving the body to the flames.

From ashes to ashes.