Learning to Breath Again.

Warning: language for sure and some other stuff but I'm just making this one up on the fly so I'll update the warnings as I think of them.

Pairings: no clue. Suggestions welcome for either het or slash.

Prologue:

It was like the first breath after being on the verge of death. Sweet and clear but laced with a painful ache that could drive you to a second death. Well he was breathing now after years, centuries, eons of drowning in his own burning rage. The hate and agony that had dictated his life for so long was still pressing on him, trying to drag him under with its relentless undertow. Only his fist moment of real clarity, staring at the beautiful, if bloodied, face of a child too pretty to be a boy through eyes not his own. Clarity was a horrible thing to attain, especially when one has wallowed in violence for so long. So he retreated, behind his hate and fury, trying to straiten out the chaotic links in his consciousness, a small sense of detached horror but very little sympathy for all the lives he had blindly eradicated. It took time to sort out his memories, as jumbled as they were, and he was more than a little surprised at the information gathered in the last decade and a half.

He watched, with growing intrigue, as the years passed by in an undetermined amount of time. He witnessed his instinctive attempt to carry out the will of the Mother, like he had ages past, and saw the people, different from what he half remembered, defend their home with more honor than he thought possible. The blonde human standing on a giant toad even found a way to trap him in the adaptive powers of a newborn babe. The same babe through whom he spent the next decade experiencing a life that echoed his own childhood, bringing back memories he hadn't even know he had forgotten. All of this was viewed behind a veil of apathy that did not lift until some outside force engulfed and locked down the anger that had defined him for so long.

It was his first inhale of sanity in over three millennium and he knew only one thing for certain. Every reason he now had to continue existing rested within the bright irrepressible blond boy that still housed his rage.

Chapter 1:

Awareness came with the sounds of battle. His master slept still so he could see not see the source but he heard the echos of various voices bouncing off the walls of his prison. It had been so long but he recognized the noises of battle and ached to realize that every voice was that of a child. Likely ones that were of age with his master. Stepping up the bars of the cage holding him he studied the lock and the small slip of paper that was deceptively strong. The logic and skill behind it impressed him along with the sacrifice involved with creating it. Lifting a thin pale hand, he placed it between the large gap between the bars. The resistance was palpable and the barrier burned his palm but it didn't stop him slowly sliding past. The smile that bloomed was painful to his unused muscles, though he was sure that the pain was merely psychological. His body was no longer physically alive after all.

Taking a moment to gather his recently returned will, he steeled himself against the agony to come and stepped forward. Power the colour of blood erupted from his skin as it passed through the invisible barrier. He knew it was the essence of his rage that the seal was meant to hold. It coalesced behind him, taking the shape of the monster he had become. No matter the reasons for his decent into madness, no matter that he was not the only one to do so, his past actions labelled him as one of the monsters that he had once devoted himself to destroying. Then again, it is often that one does become what one hunts. He did not regret his choices, as they had been necessary at the time, and he could not fault the others in following him, but he mourned the pain he had caused with the unforeseen repercussions that had resulted.

Growling erupted behind him as the head of his alternate formed fully, its body and still expanding slowly as more power fled his human form. He was half way through the cage when the growls morphed into words. They were nonsensical but he grasped the gist of it as the embodiment of his rage railed at the injustice of his imprisonment. He knew it was partial true, as he had only been following the will of the Mother, but the old methods were no longer valid. His imprisonment had made him aware of that. With most of his right side still sinking through the barrier, he wondered if his comrades had succumbed to the same fate as him. There was a sharp clang that jarred the bars, not affecting the seal but making an awful ruckus as the bulk of his body slipped out of the cage, a glance to the left showed the enormous claws of his alter shoved through the bars as far as they could go. Twisting as the last of his body left the barrier, he saw the full force of his rage snarling and thrashing behind the barricade. He understood now the fear that he had seen in the face of countless victims that had been caught in his path.

"How DARE you!" That terrible and and familiar voice rasped against his senses. "How dare you escape this accursed prison! Free me insect or I shall consume the very soul you hope to regain!"

He sighed softly, pity and sorrow clear on his face, sending the other into another fit. "Remember what you are. I am no more an insect than you are a demon."

"I am you! I am all that you will ever be! Leaving me in this fur-less monkey will not change the past. You cannot escape what you are."

"And I have no intention of escaping, but what you are, what you represent, is no longer necessary to carry out Her will. I am still bound just as you are but I have regained something you have never experienced."

"Everything you have came from me! We are one in the same! Running changes nothing!"

His eyes narrowed at the claim and he wondered where this arrogance had come from. Too long with no one to answer to besides the Mother, he assumed, but it was odd that it was a facet to his rage not his personality as a whole. The beast's constant growl stuttered at the look.

"I know there is many things that I have forgotten in the passage of so much time, but there is one thing I know for certain. You are only a piece of me. Never were you the sum of the parts." the giant creature retreated a step, flinching from the truth of it, "You may have had control to satisfy Her needs but all that you are came from me. Was birthed from me."

The beast settled, malevolent red eyes staring into emerald green. "Birthed from you... yet you abandon me to this hell."

"Never. As I said, I have regained something you have never experienced. Clarity." the horrible anger that the beast represented was still roiling beneath the thing's fur but it was listening now, "We are bound to our vessel, linked to his life, and when he dies, so will we follow. If I had stayed drowning in my fury, in you, then all that would happen would be lending him power and attempts to take control."

"I will never stop striving for my freedom." it growled lowly but mostly to itself.

Green eyes shifted to the slip of paper holding the gate tightly shut, reading the meaning and intent of the seal. "You will have freedom," he agreed, "but not in the way you expect. Your power came from my anger and because of my connection to Her, you are the strongest of all of us that chose this path. That is the power this seal traps and why I was able to separate us without sacrificing myself. The blonde one that created it was exceptional clever with the fail-safe he added. One that has already started to come into affect."

"Enough evasion! Explain!" it snarled.

"That first time you willingly pushed your power into the boy triggered the secondary seal that overlays the initial trapping seal. Your power is being filtered and absorbed into his system and seeing as how I forsook my physical body eons ago, once the process is finished you will become a part of the boy."

"And you are preventing your own demise by abandoning the part of yourself that is trapped."

He shook his head. "You misunderstand. The seal only filters the malevolence in the power. I would continue to exist in a half state with no awareness until the boy dies. Like I said, you will merge with the boy only the basis of your power will no longer be my rage, it will be the boy. As it is, I am just as bound to him, though I can take a more active role by creating an organic structure for my consciousness."

"You would subvert you own will for this pathetic meat bag? When you could destroy them all with a thought?" it sneered, disgusted.

He closed his eyes with a quiet sight, the sounds of battle still raging in his ears. "It has been such a very long time since I have had a reason to live."

"SHE is why we live! Only Her will matters!" the beast roared, three of its tails smacking the bars with enough force make them shake. He watched, unworried.

"No. She is the reason I exist." the beast stilled at the admission, "It has been so very very long since I have lived. If you watch the child's life I am sure you will come to understand. One day."

He left then, making his way through corridors of decrepit sewers that held the boy's hopes memories and dreams. The beast did nothing to stop him, not even attempting to call him back. He followed the path of dreams, amused at the dream he was caught in where he was gallantly saving a pink haired female from an effeminate male enemy that made his gut clench with disgust. A soft whisper of the Mother in his mind warned him to be wary of the figure, and he somehow knew that the face of the enemy was fake. It brought to mind the reason why he he had first come to this part of the world in the first place but now was not the time to dwell on it as another feeling invaded his senses.

Considering the vile power he had been steeped in for so long, this new sensation was not strong enough to to cause him fear. It was, however, dangerously near to his currently unconscious master.

The sun danced on the forest floor between the arching cave of roots catching his attention and drew his eye from the lush greenery and near overpowering smell of nature. The stray beam of light pulled his awed gaze to the shock of blond hair that rivalled the source of the light itself. He couldn't resist kneeling beside the prone figure in orange. He was so much smaller than he had he had imagined and his bulky jumpsuit made him seem even smaller. He was reaching out before he even realized it, his own milk pale skin as shock against his healthy tan. Tracing the dark lines that marked their connection he was reminded of his own scar that tied him to a great evil once upon a forgotten time. Then he lost himself in the soft, smooth texture of of the skin beneath his fingertips, the warmth emitted drawing him even closer.

That was when the words began to seep in past the fog on his brain that had been intoxicated by the sudden influx of so many forgotten sensations. The dangerous power he had sensed from within his master seemed to be flowing out of the boy that had been laying next to him a moment before. A pink haired female, the same one from the dream only with considerably shorter locks, was badly beaten just outside of the cave. In front of her, between them and what he assumed was the enemy, were three children around the same age as his master. The blonde female was unconscious but alive, though he could feel no soul within her, in the arms of a thin boy with oddly prickly hair while a heavy set male hovered worriedly beside them. Another boy, in some sort of peculiar green body suit was unconscious and badly injured off the side, another two waiting above him in the trees with only a slight amount of aggression in their body language. The assumed enemies were strangely dressed for a day in a jungle with their beige camouflage outfits. The heavily bandaged one was obviously the leader but the gravity -defying-hair'ed one with the modified arms was too brash to follow well. The girl was confusing as he tried to analyze her until it dawned on him that the one who had no soul had simply transferred it to this girl, essentially controlling her. It was an interesting and slightly terrifying technique that had so many horrifying ways of going wrong.

All this took a second in time for him to see and he never even lifted his eyes from the one that now held his leash.

"Sasuke! You're awake!" the pinkette crowed in apparent relief. All eyes shifted to the Raven that was struggling to his feet, that putrid power roiling off his body and manifesting as a black infection of squiggly tattoos on his skin.

"Sakura..." the boys voice was surprisingly deep but that might have been a side affect of the corruption. "point out the one who pummelled you into that state."

The girl just stared in disbelief.

"It was us." the reckless enemy announced brashly a smug look on his face.

"Sasuke... your bo-" her eyes slid past the Raven for an instant to check on the blond, and she tensed at the sight of him. He was a little disappointed that it had taken this long. Her sudden tensing had the other, Sasuke, spinning with astonishing speed.

"Get away from him!" the boy snarled, filled with venom and threats. He did not respond as the cocky enemy used the distraction to aim his enhanced arms at the root-cave. He felt the gathering of power and raised his free hand in a lazy, two fingered 'wait' gesture. The blast of destructive wind was released before the others could call out a warning, but he was ready. The slicing attack crashed and swirled around the wide shield that flared a light green for an instant, the pale eyed boy in the tree crying out in pain and clutching at his eyes for some reason. Momentum interrupted, the attack dispersed harmlessly, leaving a gaping crowd staring through the haze of up-kicked dust. He used those bare seconds to raid the supplies of those near with his powers, acquiring a suitable substitute for clothing as he realized suddenly that he was naked.

Off white bandages wrapped around his body, molding to his skin from his knees to his collar bone, leaving his neck and shoulders clear before continuing down his biceps to his hands. Both his hands and feet were encased firmly with gauze in the standard support and protection patterns, but were otherwise bare. The only other coverings he found was a mesh shit that was just short of his navel and a skirt-slash-shorts that barely left him any dignity. Not that he truly cared all that much. He didn't bother with his wild hair, a shade of black that the only highlights seemed silver, as it tumbled down his back deciding that he would deal with it later.

Rocking smoothly to his feet, he regretfully removed his fingers from that heady warmth. He didn't straighten fully, for the roots were too low, but he came out of the shelter with a feline glide, unperturbed by the stares. He stopped, abreast with Sasuke, and stared into enraged crimson orbs. He was curious about the extra pupils he seemed to have but felt no immediate threat from the boy. He may be trying to intimidate him, and the foreign power made his skin crawl, but it was nothing that was any threat to himself. Sadly it was affecting the mind of the boy and he could not risk the child slipping into insanity and harming his master. Red eyes shot wide as the boy realized that his body was no longer responding to his wished, the paralysis allowing the stranger to lightly tap the source of the corruption. Like a hole in a bucket, the squiggly tattoos sucked back into the mark like a drain, the blackened wound seeming to pulse with malice. He release the child who collapsed, clutching the suddenly numb area.

He barely registered the pink headed one, Sakura, scuttling past to check on her companion. Instead he focused on the trio of fools. The brash one was scowling, the leader hanging back to asses this new threat, and the girl still possessed.

"I don't know what the hell kind of jutsu that was but it wont work twice." Brash One yelled, bringing his arms to bare once again. He didn't block the ... jutsu... this time, simply dissipated the air that was supporting it. He barely felt the breeze, his feet continuing his unfaltering advance on the trio.

"Ino! If you stay in that form you will get dragged into this!" the spiky haired boy took off abruptly the girl's body in his arms, and a brief hand gesture from the possessed body had the soul returning to its rightful container. The group of three vacated the immediate area quickly, for which he was grateful. He flicked aside another wind attack and sighed at the repetitive and unimaginative onslaught. The fact that the group was fairly spread out was also not something he liked.

Frustrated, he pointed at the still prone female who was just watching everything in shock. A sharp jerk of his hand had her dragged across the forest floor with a scream, her fingers digging into the dirt. It was a foolish attempt and only succeeded int tearing out a few fingernails before her body collided with their leaders. A repeat motion with the brash boy sent him flying to his comrades.

"What the hell is this!" the bandaged leader finally regained some of himself, though he left his teammates on the ground behind him, "Our fight's not with you but if I've got to kill you to finish our mission then I've got no problem."

He watched as the teenager charged him with his metal encased arm and caught the fist inches from his face. There was a resonating chime that was almost too high a register for him to catch but it ruptured his eardrum and made him dizzy approximately three seconds. He blinked slowly as the damage righted itself and he regained his equilibrium.

"That," he was surprised at the sound of his own voice, noting that it made the teen shiver, "was annoying." Perhaps all that roaring and growling as his alternate had made his voice more smokey than smooth. His hand convulsed in his ire and the sharp crack of the boys fist breaking fill the air.

"AAAAHHH!" he screamed when he was thrown back to his companions.

"Enough of this." he was getting incredibly bored and all her wanted was to curl around the sweet blond boy that ruled hi thoughts. A palm up raising motion had the trio suspended in mid air, arms trapped by an invisible force above their heads. The brash one was spewing curses that didn't amuse him so he broke his arms just below the elbows to shut him up. Assured that there would be no more interruptions he continued voicing his thoughts. "You meant to kill the one under my protection. I cannot allow your survival lest you try again."

The leader struggled harder as he raised his hand, his single eye wide with fear as he realized the danger they were all in. "W-wait! We were only f-f-following orders. He was not meant to have the marks so our instructions are invalid until we confirm things." Marks? His master had no marks beyond the scars on his cheeks. "Allow us to live and we will withdraw peacefully. We will even leave you our scroll."

Apparently this scroll was supposed to be important, more than one of the watching groups perked up with the words. He let the leader drop heavily. "Show me."

Careful of his injured hand, the enemy produced a small cylinder with the character for earth on the side of it. Summoning the piece offering he let the others drop, the scroll hitting his palm with a smack. "You try this again and your lives are forfeit."

The teen nodded hastily, gathering up his teammate as he murmured his gratitude over and over again.

"Wait!" the girl, Sakura yelled out suddenly. "You've got to tell me! Who is Orochimaru? What did he do to Sasuke? And... and why was Sasuke chosen?"

The words made not only the enemy team stop but him as well. The bandaged leader seemed about to answer when a smothering blanket of power filled the area. Birds erupted from the trees and animals of all sizes scattered away from the epicentre. Inside his head the Mother was screaming her anger and rage though he no longer let it consume him. A false wind blew through the clearing, lifting his wild mane of hair back and away form his face. The thick locks that had previously obscured his features exposed pale, sharp features and jewel green eyes that pierced them with terror.

"Orochimaru?" the name was hissed as if it was a word that would dirty the very air just by speaking it. No longer was his voice that smokey, inviting tenor, it was a rumbling growl that vibrated in the chest of those that heard it and left them breathless with fear.

"I don't know!" the leader cried out, "We were just following orders. That's all!" They were gone as soon as the words left his mouth. He could have dragged them back if he wanted to but it was too much effort for something he knew they had no knowledge of. He had been fortunate enough to make eye contact with the leader for an instant was all he needed to gain all his secrets. Dosu didn't have nearly enough will power to keep his mind safe from invasion.

The sudden peace in the area nearly shocked the spectators as the oppressing power diminished almost instantly. The spiky ponytail boy recovered the quickest, racing out of the bushes to aid his comrades. Only then did he notice that every one left in the clearing was wearing a strip of cloth and metal with the same spiralled leaf symbol carved. Dosu and his team had had ones with musical notes carved in them, and they belonged to some village called Hidden Sound, so it must be a sign of affiliation. The group as a whole ignored him past carefully skirting around him. Only the Raven, Sasuke, stared at him with suspicion and growing anger.

"So..." Spiky Hair approached him first. His female teammate, Ino, was assisting the green clothed boy while his heavy set companion poked his master with a stick. "Who are you?"

Not really paying attention beyond the amusing scene with his charge, he tugged on the unruly locks of hair that were once again obscuring his face. It was highly annoying. "A servant."

"What village do you belong to?"

He didn't even know the names of the villages so it wasn't something he could bluff with. "No village. I serve only my master." he tucked the scroll under his arm for a second while he grabbed a handful of hair. A few efficient moves later and the left side of his head was braided tightly to his skin, the rest of the mass of hair gathered over his left shoulder and secured in a sort of ponytail with a small piece of string. A few tumbling locks , too short for the tie to hold, framed the right side of his face. Spiky Hair blinked at the change, making him wonder at how he looked.

"Who is-" his words were cut off by the exaggerated cry of terror from a familiar voice. He couldn't stop his entire body from tensing in an automatic response to his masters cry. He relaxed with a soft giggle as the blond dove to the ground, obviously still caught in his dream. The teen beside him sighed heavily. "He's got no impulse control at all, I swear."

That pulled another giggle from the servant, who abandoned the semi-conversation to go join his exuberant master as he hovered over his injured teammates. He got there just in time to catch the blonde as Sakura sent him flying with a punch for nicknaming the green clad one. Who's name was apparently Lee. The blonde didn't seem to notice until he was set fully on his feet and he could not stop himself from wrapping the boy in his bandaged arms. The boy's body went ramrod strait at the unfamiliar body pressed against his own. He couldn't help it, burying his face in the heavy mass of golden hair to inhale the scent of pine and a sharp spice that he couldn't name. His own loose hair fell forward to half cover both their faces.

"Uh... guys? Wh-what is going on?" He could feel the little tremors under the boys skin and was impressed that his voice was as steady as it was. The small group of children experienced various stages of amusement ad the sight of the extremely uncomfortable blonde. Only Sasuke was scowling at the duo, a hand reaching to cover the tainted mark on his skin.

"This is the guy that drove off those sound ninja." Spiky Hair sidled up beside them, a smirk on his normally bland face. He retaliated by rubbing his cheek against the soft strands of sunlight. The fact that the boy actually squeaked at the action was just a bonus.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke sneered, "And why did you interfere with our fight?"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gasped, "He saved us!"

"No." His master's breath hitched at the sound of his muffled voice. "They meant to harm my master. Only he matters."

"But they were after Sasuke-kun." Sakura looked between the two Ravens, confused. Spiky Hair was the one to put the pieces together.

"The attack he blocked with that... shield thing was aimed at all three of you. I think the fact that they were only after Uchiha was irrelevant."

"So... Naruto is your master?" the blond, Ino, could not keep the disbelief from her voice.

"No way!" Heavy Set blurted.

"To be so committed to one at such a young age is truly admirable. Your spring time of youth is in full bloom Naruto-kun, to have acquired such a loyal friend." the girl with two hair buns face-palmed at Lee's exuberant announcement.

"I don't get it." Naruto tried to scratch his head but got a hand full of ebony locks instead. He stared at the hair that slid through his fingers like silk with a glazed sense of shock.

"What it means is that this guy has pledged his life to serve you and that means protecting you when you can't protect yourself." Spiky Hair heaved a frustrated sigh. "What I want to know is why you showed up now all of a sudden."

"Only recently was I able to gain my freedom. All that mattered was reaching my master." Reluctantly he let his arms fall from the small shoulders, allowing Naruto to stumble away from him. "Where am I anyways?"

They all stared, gape mouthed.

AN: that is it. A new story that just popped up. I think I'm going to try and plough through the Chunin exams with as few changes as possible. As you may have noticed, Sasuke doesn't like the newest addition to the group. Naruto has no clue about what is going on and is still waiting for it to sink in. There will be a bigger impact in the month between battles were our MPD Kyuubi has a chat with the Hokage and Ibiki. I still have to think of a human name for the alternate personality so any suggestion is welcome, but please include meanings for the names cause I have no readily available internet connection to hunt them down my self. My time is limited to once or twice a week and I would rather spend that time updating my stories for your viewing pleasure.

Hope this one lives up to my current standards... if I have any... I think I do. Good lord I need a Beta.