Chapter 13: Inner Demons

Naruto sat in the stands, waiting for his match to start, sitting alone in his seat while his classmates sat several feet away from his, distancing themselves from him. 

He didn't care. He was used to it. 

He was always alone. 

The matchups were apparently different from last time. It went like this: 

Sayuri Uchiha vs. Neji Hyuga

Shikamaru Nara vs. Temari of the Sand

Shino Aburame vs. Dosu of Sound

Naruto Uzumaki vs. Gaara of the Sand

It was weird. 

Naruto watched as Sayuri and Neji traveled down into the arena. 

This wasn't supposed to be happening, it was supposed to be him going down there. His world was distorting. Nothing was the same. 

He couldn't change anything. 

He suddenly stood up, gaining weird looks from the other Genin participating in the Third Exam and began ascending up the stairs. He had to get away. He had to breathe. 

"Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked bitterly. "Aren't you going to watch your dead teammate's match?" He said sarcastically. Naruto stopped for a moment and turned his head back, meeting Shikamaru's angry gaze. 

"When Asuma dies, you'll understand the pain I feel. Or maybe that won't happen, nothing is going as it should anyway." Shikamaru stood up, rage covering his entire face as he marched up to Naruto. 

"What the hell is that supposed-" He stopped when the tip of Naruto's sword hovered mere centimeters away Shikamaru's throat, ready to pierce it through at any second.

"Or perhaps it'll be when your father dies? Or when Konoha is destroyed? Would you perhaps stop looking at me with those judgy eyes? Damn, Nagato really hit the nail on the head with the speech he gave me as I laid on the ground helpless with several chakra rods pinning me to the ground. Do you know pain, Shikamaru?" 

Shikamaru, who was now sweating, took a small step back from the eerily calm blonde. "I'm not sure how to answer that." 

"I am. You don't. Maybe you'll leave me the hell alone now?" Sheathing his sword, Naruto walked up the stairs again, disappearing through the doors. 

"Did he just threaten to kill you?" Ino asked, angry. Shikamaru let out a small sigh of relief and shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I don't know anything about this Naruto, something's changed." With that, he went to sit back down, tucking all of that information that Naruto had just given him into the back of his brain, deeming it unimportant. 

Naruto sat in front of the Memorial Stone, his eyes downcast to the dirt. "Hey guys," He looked up, a small smile on his face. "Never thought I'd take the Chunin Exams again huh? I think it's funny. Everything is slowly changing around me, things that shouldn't be changing, and I'm powerless again to stop it. It's happening all over again and I don't even know who the enemy is.

"Obito isn't really a bad guy anymore, he's just a more hyped up version of Kakashi-sensei. He probably knows some things about me aren't in the academy reports, but I don't think he knows I'm from somewhere else. Only the old man knows and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't tell anyone else." He was frowning again. "I, I never really talked to you guys after I came here. Sorry for that," His hands balled up into fists. 

"I'm sorry that I couldn't save any of you." He stood up and dusted off his pants. He had gotten new clothes thanks to Hiruzen the other day, something more suited for a shinobi. 

He had on a pair of black shinobi sandals with dark brown cargo pants with a light grey long-sleeved shirt with black stitching at the hems of the shirt with his sword strapped to the side of his hip. 

"But I promise I will shape this future into the correct image. I won't let it distort any further." He placed a single hand on the cold stone. "I'll talk to you all soon, I promise." With that, he disappeared in a yellow flash. 

Naruto appeared back in the stands almost instantly, his arms crossed over one another as he observed the now finished fight between Shino and Dosu, with the latter losing to the Aburame by a hair. 

"Will Naruto Uzumaki and Gaara of the Sand please proceed down to the arena to begin the fourth round of the Third Exam!" Hayate ordered into the intercom, his voice surrounding the entire stadium. 

"Good luck, Naruto!" Obito shouted from further up in the stands. Guy, who was sitting next to his rival, was frowning. 

"I hope you didn't focus too much on Sayuri-chan, Obito. Naruto-kun will need all the help he can get to beat this guy, especially after what he did to Lee the moment he got serious!" Obito waved him off. 

"Have faith Guy, this is my student we're talking about after all. I'm sure he has a few surprises up his sleeves." Guy let out a tired sigh.

"I hope you are right, my rival." 

"Uzumaki, you shall prove my existence." Naruto cocked his head to the side.

"I never knew what you meant by that, but now that I think about it I don't really care. Let's begin our fight Gaara, I want to win and face Sayuri." Despite Sasuke being dead, Sayuri was around his strength around the Chunin Exams, and his rivalry had rubbed off on the girl. 

"She doesn't want to face you," Gaara laughed. "You're a monster just like me," Naruto smirked and popped his neck. 

"Then you know you're outnumbered nine to one," Gaara gripped his hair and began muttering nothings under his breath. 

"Calm down, I shall drain him and feed him to us, patience mother patience!" He urged silently. Hayate felt his nose crinkle up in disgust before beginning the match and jumping away. 

Gaara immediately sent two tendrils of sand towards the blonde, who dodged each tendril by moving just inches away from them, unharmed as he began walking towards his fellow Jinchuuriki. 

"Woah, he moved so fluently!" Sakura gasped, surprised that Naruto could do something so skillful instead of using more violent methods to just brutalize his opponents. He was taking calculated steps and dodging each and every one of Gaara's attacks. 

Sayuri looked at Naruto with an angry yet interested gaze, still mad at what he had said the week before. She knew better than anyone what it was like to lose everyone you loved. 

And he knew she did. So why did he say what he said? She shook her head, dismissing the question and watched the fight continue. 

"SAND BULLETS!" Gaara shouted as a wall of sand appeared behind and began spitting out bullets made of sand at high speeds towards Naruto, who flicked out his sword and cut through some of them while dodging the others, flipping and weaving through them while maintaining the same steady pace as he walked calmly to Gaara, who was beginning to get more panicked as time passed, none of his attacks having landed yet. 

"What's wrong, Gaara? Mother not protecting you?" Naruto mocked gently as he was now ten feet away from Gaara, his sword hanging by his side, but ready to be drawn at any moment. 

"Shut up!" Gaara roared as the sand became more wild and predictable. Naruto suddenly took out a three-pronged kunai and threw it into the air before throwing another regular kunai in the air at a faster rate of speed, connecting with the three-pronged kunai as it began heading towards Gaara. 

He then took out two more three-pronged and hurled them towards Gaara, one towards his feet and the other straight for his head. "You're a fool!" Gaara laughed as he jumped back, avoiding the kunai as it hit the ground while using his sand to dodge the other two. 

"And you're just a gullible as I thought," Naruto whispered as the regular kunai descended from the sky and landed on the lone three-prongd kunai on the ground, hitting the bottom of it as it gave it enough momentum to rehurl itself back at Gaara, just above his ahead. 

Forming a Rasengan in his right hand, Naruto flashed a bright yellow to the three-pronged kunai in the air, taking ahold of it with his left hand before spinning and plunging the Rasengan straight down into Gaara's head, causing the red head to go right into the ground head first, a large crack forming in the earth due to the pressure the impact had. 

Naruto then flashed back, spinning the kunai of his father on his index finger with a small smirk. "Sorry Gaara, you're just too tough to go easy on." He was lucky. 

Without the Flying Thunder God or the Rasengan, both products of his father and the late Second Hokage, he probably would've lost to Gaara unless he resorted to either Kurama's chakra or a Rasenshuriken, which would damage him out of his next match and most likely kill Gaara. 

The crowd in the stands looked at Naruto with shock as he stood triumphant over and enemy they surely thought would turn him into nothing but tomato paste. 

"How in the absolute living FUCK does he know the Flying Thunder God technique?" Obito questioned aloud, surprising Guy by his vulgar language.

"Despite his showings in the preliminaries, you're student is filled with burning hot youth!" He exclaimed, giving him a thumbs up. "I'm also glad he got that extra hit in for Lee." 

Sayuri and the rest of the Genin looked at Naruto's small smirk on his face in awe. He had taken out arguably the most troublesome Genin in the competition in less than three minutes and less than ten moves. 

"How strong are you dobe. . ." Sayuri trailed off, practically seething with jealousy. There was no way he had gotten so strong so fast and it was impossible to hide his strength so well for so long. 

Was this the outcome of having the Nine-Tails sealed inside you? Did his power originate from the beast's power? So many questions yet so little answers. 

"NO!" Gaara shouted as sand began swirling around him. "I refuse to accept defeat by someone like you with a smile on his face! How can you smile like that as if you're one of them, you're just like me! A demon!" Sand began gathering on Gaara's right side, his right eye turning a golden yellow with black star-like pupils, his mouth widening as drool began coming out of it, revealing sharper canines. 

"I'll make you feel what you're supposed to feel! Like me!" Naruto looked at Gaara sadly as feathers began descending from the sky.

"I guess Orochimaru isn't dead after all, I should've sought him out myself after hearing Kabuto speak. Oh well, time to have some fun, huh?" 

Then an explosion rippled through the air. 

"COME HERE UZUMAKI! FEED US WITH YOUR BLOOD!" 

And done. How was it? Good? Bad? Rushed? Yes? No? Comment? Please? No? Okay. 

Til next time my lil demons!