So, here we are again, with me procrastinating on the chapter...again. I'll try to push these out more consistently but no promises honestly, and I know this chapter is short but it's more of a close out and bridge into the next arc so I didn't want to make it too filler like.

As usual I don't own Naruto or any properties related.

Enjoy

Naruto saw it several times over in the split second between action and reaction: hearing Tayuya move, the sickening thunk of metal sinking into flesh, and seeing her crumple to the ground with several kunai embedded in her back and arms. The blonde caught her as she fell, seeing her eyes close as feelings of confusion, rage, and grief began to overwhelm him. It took several moments until he realized that once again it was raining, as though Kami herself was crying at their sudden misfortune and in stark contrast to the near cloudless day they had set out from the town enjoying. Looking in the direction the kunai had come from, Naruto was appalled to see his long time crush and fellow member of Team Seven standing not far away, smiling and waving to him as she hurried towards the pair.

"Naruto, there you are! I've been looking all over for you, when I heard you left the village I knew something was..wrong…?"

Sakura had begun talking animatedly as she approached, she petered off quickly however when she noticed that her blonde teammate didn't look happy to see her. In fact the usually cheerful boy looked as though he was torn between sadness and rage as the color of his iris changed from it's usual ocean blue to a savage blood red, while at the same time the teen's pupils became more angular almost like slits.

'Something is wrong…did knocking her out not stop the genjutsu…and his eyes..is that..?'

Naruto heard Sakura, but not really. Already the blonde was trying to administer aide to the former Sound kunoichi and also deal with the shock of seeing her limp and near lifeless body lying before him. Even as he began treating her wounds with his basic first aid knowledge, Naruto could feel her pulse slowly weakening, and could almost see her already pale skin beginning to turn a more ghastly color.

'I can save her gaki, but you'll have to give me control.'

Inside his mindscape Naruto could see the cage and the malicious eyes that glared at him from behind those giant bars. Even after so many years the sheer size of the Kyuubi still sent a small shiver through him, reminding him that the only thing standing between him and certain death was the seal of the Fourth.

'Come on, you and I both know she doesn't have long left. Take my power and save her.'

Naruto knew the fox was more than likely trying to trick him, to try to take control of their joined space while his guard was down, but Naruto couldn't find it in him to say not to what could be his only opportunity to save the redhead. He had to do whatever it took to save his friend, and right now that seemed to include taking the fox's offer.

'RRRGH…Fine you damn fox, but you better not hurt her you hear me!?'

The Kyuubi simply grinned, enveloping his host in a miasma of red chakra and sending chakra coursing through the boys body via his chakra network. The grin ceased after a moment however, as he felt control of both the boys body and his own chakra being yanked away by a new and darker presence.

"What the-"

"Thanks for the opportunity fox, I'll be sure to make it count."

The voice wasn't one Kurama recognized, however this time there seemed to be something different about it than usual. It was the Gaki's voice, but somehow much much colder.

Sakura had begun to move again albeit slowly towards her teammate and the incapacitated enemy kunoichi, at least until Naruto began moving again. Her eyes widened as she saw red chakra enveloping the blonde, elongating his fingernails into a claw like shape and making the lines on his cheeks even more pronounced before the miasmic chakra began bubbling and produced a single tail of red chakra from his back. Backing away slowly, the pinkette was shaken by the sudden transformation, then she froze; when Naruto looked in her direction she experienced a fear that she hadn't known since the Forest of Death, since Orochimaru showed them what true murderous intent was. The eyes she saw were definitely not Naruto's, they were that awful shade of bloody red and the irises were slits, also she could see that any warmth and compassion that had been there was extinguished now. She could feel the killing intent emanating from the boy in waves, and she felt he was directing most of it towards her.

"N-Naruto…what are you…?"

Naruto removed the kunai from Tayuya's back, feeling her body convulse slightly as an involuntary reaction to the weapons being pulled from deep within her flesh. Letting the kunai fall to the ground without much worry, the blonde placed a clawed hand over the wounds, watching intently as they were cauterized one by one. The Jinchuriki knew they would require proper healing and disinfection later, but for the moment he just needed to stop the bleeding and stabilize the redhead as much as possible. After the last wound was closed, he could hear Tayuya's breathing begin to slow and become slightly more regular, and with that he once again stood and looked at his former teammate.

"You wish to know what I am? I'm all the villages' hate, all of the pain and fear that's been bottled up for so many years. I am the true Naruto Uzumaki, and I have you to thank for freeing me, Sakura-chan."

Seeing the revelation of what was happening dawn in the pinkette's eyes brought a feral grin to his face, and as Naruto approached her he could see she was trembling uncontrollably. The other Naruto might have felt sympathy, the need to reassure and comfort his friend even after what she had done. That was what made the other one weak, and what made him strong. He would give the girl that had played with their feelings for so long what she deserved.

'Don't hurt her…she's my friend..'

Even now he showed such weakness, but that could be ignored. All of that could be ignored now, since he was finally in control. Seeing Sakura move he deftly caught a kunai aimed for his arm, twirling it on a single finger before sending the projectile knife back with much greater force, laughing as it sliced through the elbow pad and the skin below it on the girl's right arm. Before the kunai had hit the tree behind her however, he saw her gather chakra and charge forward, obviously intent on hitting him with one of her earth splitting punches. To her surprise, as Sakura brought her fist forward to connect with his midsection, Naruto caught it in one of his clawed hands, stopping the momentum completely as the shock wave from the force of her punch resounded around them.

Seeing the look of utter shock plastered across her face, the Jinchuriki slammed a palm into her stomach, lifting the pinkette off the ground from the force alone before sending her flying into the same tree as the kunai had hit earlier, now with a hole bordered by singed cloth exposing her midriff where the hit had connected, also showing the beginnings of a burn from the miasmic chakra touching her skin momentarily. Even without much knowledge of medicine or the human anatomy, he knew there would be major damage to the surrounding bones and possibly the internal organs.

"N-Naruto, stop..please.."

"I'm not the kind hearted idiot you knew, in fact let's get rid of the confusion right here and now. You can call me Menma and I am the revenge we so righteously deserve."

As he spoke, Menma felt a second tail of chakra beginning to form and, knowing the third would soon follow and their limit not long after, began to speed along his plans. Walking over to Sakura he kneeled beside her, watching as she was slowly healing herself and blood dribbled from between her clenched teeth, the early signs of the internal damage caused by his attack.

"I won't kill you, that would be a waste of my time, but know next time you see me I won't be as kind."

With that said Menma stood and lifted a leg before bringing it crashing down on the girls right arm, both feeling and hearing the resounding crack of bone as her forearm bent in with the force of the blow, before hanging limply at an odd angle by her side. Grinning, he watched as Sakura cried out in pain before turning away. Menma began walking back to where Tayuya lay on the ground, still unmoving as he approached. He was almost halfway back when he felt it though, as he stopped mid stride and doubled over in pain, Menma felt a spike in the Fox's chakra, emanating from his stomach.

'That's…definitely not good..'

'Maybe not for you brat, now it's truly my turn.'

The last thing Menma felt before blacking out was the third and fourth tail simultaneously emerging, sending his chakra skyrocketing and beginning their transformation as the Kyuubi's chakra took over.

Tayuya awoke to loud screaming, an almost unbearable heat, and a feeling of intense pain arching through several areas of her back. Once she had found the strength to turn her head, however, the pain was all but forgotten as her eyes adjusted to the sight in front of her.

Sitting against a tree several hundred feet away with a hole in the clothing around her midsection and what appeared to be a broken arm was the pink haired kunoichi that she had seen in the last town, more alarming and much more important in her mind however was the blonde who was between the girl and her. Naruto was currently enveloped in a roughly hewn sphere of red chakra, with tendrils lashing out at the area directly around him, and that's when she realized the screaming was coming from him.

'I have to..help him…'

Tayuya didn't know exactly what drove that thought, but it seemed to pierce the very center of her being and give her a new found strength she wouldn't have otherwise known she had. Standing slowly, the redhead began to walk towards her blonde friend, already feeling the intensifying heat emanating from the orb as she closed the distance as fast as she could. As she drew closer, the former Sound kunoichi could feel the waves of heat literally burning through her clothing, though at that point she didn't much care, at least until she heard the pink haired girl's voice.

"Stop! You need to run before he gets done transforming or else he'll kill us both!"

Her reply, in her typical fashion, was to hold up a middle finger in the girl's general direction and give a very blunt reply.

"Go fuck yourself Pinky!"

The girl was probably right, but Tayuya knew that Naruto wouldn't leave her if the roles were reversed, even through the few weeks they had spent together she knew that without a doubt. She licked her lips as she closed the distance, though at this point it didn't help very much since they were immediately chapped again from the heat. After what felt like another eternity of slow, steady steps Tayuya finally reached the blonde, with only her underwear and chest bindings that hadn't been burned away completely. Reaching into the sphere of chakra and grabbing the boy's arm, she nearly pulled away as the red chakra attacked her entire arm and burned her skin, before she tightened her grip and pulled him down towards her. Ignoring the intense pain as the chakra assaulted any part of her body that it came into contact with, Tayuya cried out in both pain and exertion.

She could see his skin beginning to literally peel off from the prolonged contact with the chakra, and from that alone knew that she didn't have very much time left before he was too far gone.

"Shithe-Naruto-Kun! Wake up already, and don't you dare let that pansy ass cock sucking fox have control! Please Naruto! Please!"

If the heat weren't so intense Tayuya knew she would be crying profusely by now, both from the pain and the torrent of emotions that were consuming her as she held the boy close to her. Suddenly the chakra that had so far been burning her body both inside and out became much less intense, and more surprisingly still it seemed to be healing the now cauterized wounds she had received from the kuai. Watching in dumbfounded shock, the redhead saw the tails that were swishing around wildly a moment before begin to disappear one by one until the last one had almost completely evaporated. As this was happening, she saw Naruto's eyes flutter open slowly before making contact with hers. The smile she saw just then very nearly melted every defense she had ever built around her heart, it was so open and honest, so obviously meant for her. As Naruto came to, she knew, deep down and away from her now crumbling defenses, why she had needed so badly to save him despite the danger to herself.

"Tayuya..what happened, are you ok? The last thing I remember you got hit by those kunai and then-"

"Don't worry shithead, you saved me and everything is alright now. We need to get out of here though before more ninja from your village show up."

"Alright…but..why are you naked?"

The question was so casual that it caught her completely off guard. However, looking down Tayuya realized that he was right, the only things remaining of her clothes were the scraps of her panties that were barely held together, and as she watched the last of her now smoldering chest bindings fell away from her exposed breasts. After helping the boy stand fully and making sure he was steady, she walked back over to where their packs were laying haphazardly on the ground. Grabbing her pack first, Tayuya dug through it and brought out an extra pair of panties and shorts that were inside, as well as a maroon top much the same as the purple one that had been burned away just a few minutes earlier, the only difference being this one also had slits to show off her shoulders and allow for easier movement as well. After finding everything she needed, the redhead went behind a tree and quickly changed into the new outfit before burning what little remained of her old one.

Walking out from behind the tree afterwards, Tayuya was somewhat surprised to see Naruto standing, though haggard looking and no doubt exhausted, with both packs slung over his shoulder instead of checking on his now passed out teammate with the pink hair. Deciding against questioning his decision though, or the feeling it produced in both her chest and core, the redhead walked over and offered a small smile to her blonde companion.

"C'mon shithead, let's get out of here."

After receiving a curt nod from him, the two quickly left the area, leaving behind only the aftermath of the incident and the unconscious Sakura still propped up against a tree for the team of Konoha ninja that followed.

It was at this point, as they left the catastrophe behind, that both travelers realized that the rain had at some point stopped and it was once again a bright and sunny day with no clouds in sight. It seemed appropriate to them both though, and somehow not strange at all compared to what they had endured.

Alright so there it is, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and hopefully I can get a few more out quickly now that I'm back (again).