Chapter 15: Two-tail Rage

The room's atmosphere felt dark and cold. The tails behind Naruto swung side-to-side slowly. His lips were black and his eyes wouldn't stop appearing more ferocious than before.

His new appearance alerted Mumi of the threat she was now in. She took her attention off of Nia and onto the jinchuuriki.

"So, you truly are a beast..." She said with a knowing look, "I just wonder which tailed-beast you possess? It must be the nine-tails since you're from the Hidden Leaf..."

Immediately, Naruto growled and dashed forward; he extended his tail and wacked the woman in a blink of an eye. She went flying through the roof and revealed where the outside was. He followed her out and left Nia where she was.

Her eyes were barely open.

'W-What... was that...?' She asked herself upon seeing what her comrade had become.

The dark aroma stayed in the room but also traveled outside. Because of Mumi being attacked, her jutsu was undone and Nia was free from the petals. She fell to the floor and winced in pain.

'Ah! That did NOT f-feel good.'

A leaf gently and swiftly fell right ahead of her. Nia wondered where that piece of nature came from and slowly looked up. Her eyes widened in astonishment.

'The outside!' She cheered in her head.

Suddenly, a blood curdling scream reached into her hearing and placed her in a deep fright. She froze and thought of where that might've came from.

The scream was definitely of a woman. In fact, the scream was from Mumi, who was trying to defend herself from the jinchuuriki. Naruto growled loudly and the sound of trees being sliced and the ground receiving craters could be heard miles away.

Nia gasped upon the realization that Naruto might've been in big trouble. Weakly, she pushed her battered body up. Her legs wobbled as she stood and her head felt as if it would give out and knock her into unconsciousness.

To her left, she saw a clone of Naruto's who had somehow yet not vanished. However, it was holding its eye as it limped weakly towards the kunoichi.

"What's happening out there?! Where did the original go? Is he alright?!" Nia threw an army of concerned questions.

"I-It burns..." The clone said in agony, "It burns s-so much...!"

"What...?"

With pain, the clone removed it's hand away from its eye and used it to lift Nia up into its arms bridal style. With all its strength, it kicked off the ground and hopped from wall to wall until it and the girl made it to the light of day.

The clone gently placed her on the ground and vanished right after. The chakra that got drained while in the cavern rapidly came back and was eventually restored in Nia. Because her legs were only bruised mildly, she was able to stand without too much difficulty.

The land she saw around her was nothing but destruction. Chopped trees laid around while smoke risen out of certain places. Nothing seemed to be anywhere near beautiful.

"Narutoooo?" The girl called out in the hopes that she could see her friend.

"Stay away from me, you horrible beast!" Mumi's voice could be heard several yards away.

Naruto's claws screwed deep in the earth and his aura blazed. In the distance, Nia finally spotted the transformed genin after following the woman's voice and looked in horror at what had already occurred.

The woman carried many deep wounds near vital spots and was struggling to even move. She was sitting up using her elbows and had her feet weakly push her back across the burned grass.

"I knew jinchuuriki's were strong, but I've never imagined them to be this strong!"

Nia looked down at the earth style user with solemn eyes, "Of course they be this strong! Taking in their chakra would most likely kill you, stupid! Why would you even consider doing that in the first place?!"

"I wanted more power! Why else would I do it!" Mumi retaliated.

Nia payed her no mind and kept her eyes on Naruto. He now had three-tails as his seal was getting weaker with each passing second he stayed out of his base form. The wind picked up and his aura was wavering all over along with his tails.

'I don't get it... Bee can control his tailed beast but... Naruto seems to have no control over his...' Nia watched as her friend frantically looked all around himself.

She took a step forward, "Naruto! Calm down! Please!"

"What in the hell are you doing?! He'll kill you in the state that he's in."

Nia ignored Mumi's warning and got a few feet closer.

Inside Naruto, a battle of consciousness was occurring. Naruto was winning thus far and could hear Nia's voice.

Outside, he lowered his face to the ground, trying to keep control of his body and mind. He mumbled about how he was doing his best to stay conscious but was worried that the fox inside him would prevail in taking over his mind and body.

"Don't let that happen then, Naruto!" Nia shouted back, "You can control that thing inside you if you try hard enough! It's possible! I've seen it happ-"

"N-Nia! Pervy Sage is the only one who can stop me! G-Go find him!" Naruto interrupted as he felt as though his mind would slip away at any second.

"But... I can't leave you here! What if-"

Suddenly, inside of him, the nine-tails had punched Naruto into the deep depths of the water outside his cage after managing to provoke the young man about how he always gets his friends in danger and how he was the reason Sasuke died and why Nia was being tormented in front of him.

A enormous yellow flash shot straight into the sky and blinded Nia and Mumi during the process.

The strong wind that came along with it, pushed Mumi several feet back while Nia used her strength to stay upright and guarded her face with her arms. Moments later, the light died down and a ferocious roar echoed throughout the land. It was so loud and vicious that the nearest village that was about ten miles away, could hear just fine.

It was the village Nia had been in with Naruto when the woman kidnapped the jinchuuriki.

*****

There, Jiraiya was heading back to the inn as it was approaching 8:00 A.M. The roar of Naruto stopped the sannin in his spot. A terrible feeling clenched his gut.

'Don't tell me...' He looked ahead of him as a large light seemed to simmer down, 'Naruto!'

Immediately, the man ran in the direction of the inn to see if his students were in bed. When he got there, no bodies were laying in the bed and his students clothing were missing. All he saw was Nia's robe but Naruto's was nowhere to be found and on top of that, his bag, which contained his clothing, were gone too while Nia's stayed in place.

A smell entered through Jiraiya's nose, causing him to sneeze.

'Pollen?' He concluded as he rubbed his nose.

On the ground, he spotted numerous flower petals and observed them.

There's no trees around here that could possibly be blown in here...

The sannin looked to see if the window was open and surely it was. When he inspected the window seal, he saw a sandal print that resembled the shaping of Nia's. However, Naruto's shoe print was nowhere to be found. Jiraiya's eyes widened.

Could it be... that an akatsuki took Naruto, and Nia went chasing after him...!

The old man took another look around and saw that his theory was wrong: there were no signs of struggling and no blood could be spotted anywhere. The pervy man jumped out the window and sprinted in the direction of where the strange light and roar appeared to be.

He narrowed his eyes, 'I'm positive Naruto transformed once again! That roar was definitely at least the sound when he has reached four-tails...'

Jiraiya placed his hand on his chest where Naruto had clawed him deeply, 'Naruto in that form nearly killed me despite us being very close. I heard from Kakashi that Naruto even attacked Sakura, his supposed love, mercilessly and was close to killing her while that Yamato guy was their team captain.'

In concern, Jiraiya bit his lip, 'If Nia's near him, there's no way that she could get Naruto to come to his senses. They've only known eachother for less than a month while I and Sakura known the guy for years. Not that knowing him would make a difference. The only people who could possibly stop his rampage without using a sealing paper are all dead. I hope Nia makes the right decision and scurry herself out of there or else she's toast!'

*****

At the battlefield, Nia trembled as she witnessed Naruto desecrating the land around with a giant ball of chakra. The aura he gave off was of complete darkness and lost of sanity. The boy had truly lost control of himself.

"STOP NARUTO!" She yelled with an ache in her tone.

It was hard to watch someone as kind and gentle as Naruto be unable to control what was inside of him. She was always used to seeing the jinchuuriki of her village keep their beasts tamed yet this beast, was being untamed and reckless.

"UZUMAKI!" The girl yells once again to get Naruto's attention.

It worked, but not in the way she hoped. His white eyes stared into her chocolate colored ones. The kunoichi saw how lifeless and cold they were. It was as if she was looking at the soul of a puppet or doll.

Without hesitation, Naruto began to form chakra outside his mouth then aimed it towards his victim. There was no time to do anything, but jump high. He released the bomb and it rampaged the path ahead. Unfortunately, the woman he had met in the village was in the path and was killed.

"Oh my god!" Nia gasped as she observed the great tragedy that occurred.

Hearing her, Naruto aimed his tail to the side. Quickly, the girl back flipped out the way but placed her hand on the tail in the middle of it; receiving a burn. She blew on it after landing before rapidly holding out a sign and screaming, "Paralysis Jutsu!"

Naruto stopped and didn't move a muscle. Nia took the chance to hurry and gain as much distance as she could. However, not more than ten seconds passed before he was able to break out of the genjutsu and continue his reign of destruction. He searched for his opponent but didn't see her.

The female genin hid in a thick bush and watched her transformed comrade with eyes tinted with shame.

'I did this...' She blamed herself, 'I couldn't defend myself and he must've gotten angry or helpless about being chained to a wall.'

Her bangs then covered her eyes; She was thinking of the way others have treated her in parts of her life:

You're ugly! I don't wanna be friends with you!

Why do you even live looking like that? Actually, how do you live?!

Ugly as FUCK!

Ugly as SHIT!

She's the definition of ugly.

I feel bad for her; she's so ugly.

Fugly!

Forever alone.

She'll never find anyone.

Ugh!

Eww!

Yuck!

*Vomit noises*

She's STILL ugly even WITH makeup! Ugly bitch, I swear man.

With the company of an aching pained heart, a few tears rapidly and silently slid down Nia's cheeks; She was caught up in her insecurities once again. The things others have said about her caused deep scars on her beaten up heart. Her mind was constantly focused on her appearance; Truly, the girl was traumatized by the words and now found it hard to trust anyone. Especially men.

The name is Naruto Uzumaki, jerks!

Leave her alone!

You're alright now. No one will dare mess with you again! Not while I'm here anyway.

Friends are supposed to be there for one another. I'm just trying to lend you an ear that'll listen to whatever you have to say.

From this moment forward, you can always count on me being there for you; I never turn my back on my friends.

I'm gonna get you out of here alive, Nia. I swear I will no matter what.

I never go back on my word! That's my nindou: My ninja way!

Stop! Stop hurting her! I'm the one you want, right?! Beat me up instead!

I told you I wasn't going to abandon you already... No matter what you say, I ain't going nowhere unless you're with me too.

I don't care if you believe you're not worthy of staying alive right now or that no one will care about you if you die. You're still my comrade and friend! I'll never let you die!

You're crazy if you think I'll just let you die here alone!

I was told that that who abandon the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends... are worse than scum!

I'm not scum nor am I worse than it!

Naruto's way of words and the tone he used to express them ignited something in Nia's heart and soul. She felt as though she found a new reason to go on.

"I'm not gonna abandon this guy and leave him to die..." She watched as the white-eyed jinchuuriki seemed to be looking into the sky.

'Naruto's still there... I just need to find a way for him to get his conscious back...'

Nia pushed herself up out of the bush and front-flipped in front of her opponent at the moment.

"Nine-tails!" She shouted and pointed a finger, "Get the hell out of Naruto's conscious! Let him be back to normal!"

Inside Naruto, the fox could hear everything that Nia was screaming at him.

'This brat thinks she can get away with calling me out like that?! I'll show her why I'm so fearsome...!'

In the water, Naruto was still under it drifting away while appearing asleep. He couldn't hear anything from the outside.

Outside, Nia clenched her first, ready for battle. Did she think she was crazy for standing up to a transformed jinchuuriki? Yes and no. Yes because she knows how powerful jinchuuriki can be. Bee's able to control his beast and when he does, he's way stronger than Naruto is at his current state; No because this was a battle to save someone who had saved her on few occasions rather it was emotionally or physically. It was time to pay the favor back.

Still quite fidgety, Nia kept her composure and stood with a fire of determination anyway. Her breathing calmed yet her blood boiled.

'People shunned him cause of what's inside him and they shunned me cause of something outside of me; Things that can't be controlled nor changed...! In a way, we're similar in a strange opposite way...'

Immediately, Nia began to sprint towards the jinchuuriki with speed, 'Because of this..'

Naruto slammed a tail hard on the ground in the hopes of squashing his opponent. Nia ascended high, dodging it. However, it caused the ground to crack and a large shockwave to happen.

"I WON'T LET YOU DIE EITHER!"

Chakra surrounded her foot and using her speed, she slammed it across the jinchuuriki's face as hard as she could. It took a few seconds, but eventually her kick was powerful enough to make the four-tail beast hurdle several yards away on its side. The girl gracefully descended to the ground as her foot felt burned.

When making contact with his transformed state, her foot was exposed to the shroud and received a pretty bad burn. There was no doubt that her foot would no longer be able to perform the same move again. Despite that, she was still relieved that she was able to do something.

'Still though...' She thought as she leaned more on her good right foot, 'That kick hurt like hell as it made contact with his skin! I should stay away from doing that again unless I wanna be unable to walk for the rest of my life.'

Suddenly, something sinister appeared behind her. Nia turned only to be met with a fist full of fury. A direct hit was made to her face and she was forced hurdling back yards away; crashing through remaining standing trees and raising the dirt off the ground.

The tailed creature chased after her and dug its hand in the ground. It came out of another hole and grabbed the girl by the wrist, burning it as it did.

Not too far, Jiraiya had finally caught sight of the two and grunted in dismay. Naruto was holding onto the girl, who received burn marks on the left side of her face, while intently staring at her.

It made soft aggressive noises as opposed to its louder roars. Jiraiya found it strange and hid behind a nearby tree to get a closer look.

He saw that the creature had almost a sad expression on its face yet seemed as though it wanted to kill the girl in front of it at the same time. Nia, who had received its punch unexpectedly, was badly injured and couldn't open her left eye. However, her right eye were in complete tears.

"U...Uzumaki..." She cried quietly.

'Huh?' Jiraiya watched, 'What's she doing? Playing dead is the best way to stay alive!'

The tailed creature continued to stare. What was it waiting for? Why didn't it just finish killing off the kunoichi?

"Don't h-hurt yourself... You got me...?" The girl spoke. She then got serious, "Just go ahead... K-Kill me..."

No noise but Naruto lowly growling was heard. She stared deeply into the creature's empty eyes as if she was searching for a pair of lively ones inside it.

"Remember what I said...? About not wanting to live? I... I meant every word. I wanted you to leave me to die."

Jiraiya had an appalled expression after hearing Nia's words.

"I don't wanna live, Naruto." She cried with a sincere despair in her tone, "I wanna give up and never fight to live the life I have as a badly treated, rejected, monstrous-looking woman. I want the pain to go away..."

Inside him, the strong water currents was slowly beginning to calm. It allowed whatever outside noise to enter through. He was able to hear the girl despite still not being able to move.

'Nia...' He thought as he started to float to the top of the surface.

"Please... Get rid of me." The girl pleaded, "You don't need me! We've only known each other for about a month anyway! This is your chance."

'What is she thinking?!' Jiraiya stopped hiding and came into plain view.

The creature heard his movement, turned back and roared viciously. It stopped holding Nia by its hand and instead wrapped its tail around her arms and waist. She didn't have her glasses on but she could hazily see what was going on in front of her.

'Jiraiya-sensei...'

Aggressively, the tailed creature slammed its hand to the ground, causing a large shockwave and strong winds. Jiraiya jumped back and shielded himself using his extended hair jutsu.

Again, it roared. However, no matter what it did, it wouldn't free Nia from its grasp. It looked back at her from time to time as Jiraiya threw hair needles at it to cut the tail that wouldn't release his female student.

'What's this...?' He noticed what the thing was doing, 'Is it... protecting her...?'

It stood on all legs and watched closely at Jiraiya. The sannin grabbed a thin paper with a seal in the middle of it out of his clothing. He knew the consequences of his actions would be worth dealing with just as long as his male student returned to his old self.

"Naruto!" He yelled.

In response, the creature lowly growled. Nia slipped in and out of consciousness a few times. The four-tailed beast glanced yet again at the girl. It shook its tail every time she would close her eyes; keeping her awake.

'That's it...' Jiraiya witnessed the scene, 'Subconsciously, the beast is responding to Naruto's deep feelings. The feeling to protect someone.'

Kicking off the ground, Jiraiya aimed for Naruto's forehead. Quickly, the creature also aimed it's tails at the sannin. The old man dodged them but the last one hit him through the shoulder.

He grunted in pain then immediately pulled the tail out and dropped to the ground. His hand was burned and so was the spot on his shoulder that was pierced. The creature roared and dashed towards Jiraiya with incredible speed then sharpened its claws.

'Not this again.' Jiraiya thought as he struggled to stand, 'Get slashed by those and I'll be a goner!'

The old shinobi shifted to his right, dodging the attack then used the second he had to hurriedly place the seal on the beast's head. He then dropped to the ground, holding his bleeding shoulder.

Naruto, on the other hand, risen to the surface of his mind and his tailed beast was forced back into its cage. It grunted and roared upon realizing the seal had been strengthened once more. On the outside, Naruto's body had returned to normal, but just like the other times, his skin was horribly burned.

Jiraiya frowned.

'My god... Those burns won't be going away for a couple weeks at least.'

He then looked ahead of his male student and saw his female one not moving at all. However, she was still breathing and suffered from somewhat major burns to parts of her body and face but not nearly as worse as Naruto's.

Jiraiya bit his thumb, performed a few hand signs, then yelled, "Summoning Jutsu!"

He slammed his hand onto the ground and a puff of smoke was the result of his action. Once cleared, two medium sized frogs appeared. One was yellow and the other was orange; Both had purple markings around their eyes and stomach and wore clothing as well.

"Hey!" Gamakichi, the orange frog, greeted his summoner.

"Hey Jiraiya," Gamatatsu, the yellow frog, greeted as well, "Watchu summon us for?"

"It's nice to see you two again; You sure have grown. You're as tall as Naruto now I bet." Jiraiya smiled weakly as he panted too, "I su-summoned you cause I... I need a favor from you. If you turn around... You'll see why I need y-your assistance..."

The two toads noticed Jiraiya's weakened state then realized the injury he had.

"Holy snikes!" Gamakichi gasped, "What in toad's name happened to you?!"

"N-No time to explain... Just-"

"Ooo Naruto!" Gamatatsu hopped to his friend once seeing him lying faced down, "You alright, Naruto?"

Of course, the male didn't reply as he was out of conscious. Seconds later, Gamakichi spotted Nia not too far behind.

"Eh? Who's this chick?"

"Hmm?" Gamatatsu looked back and observed the girl, "How am I supposed to know? Maybe she's Naruto's friend...?"

Suddenly, Nia stirred. The toads caught wind of this.

"Hey look Gamakichi, she's waking up."

"I know that, Gamatatsu...!"

The kunoichi's eyes were almost pupil-less. Her vision was still blurred and her body felt extremely hot. Being held by Naruto's tail caused heat to seep into the fabric of her clothing and wound her skin. Even so, she was was somewhat worried if her friend was alive.

'Where is he...?' She weakly scanned the area, 'Where is he...?'

"Gamatatsu! Gamakichi! Your job is to carry these two in your mouth and get them to a hospital as quickly as possible. When you do, give someone my coordinates and have them give me some help also. Do I make myself clear?" Jiraiya ordered.

"Yes Sir!" Gamakichi saluted while Gamatatsu simply nodded.

The two rolled out their tongues and wrapped it around the teens' bodies. Gamatatsu carried Nia while Gamakichi did so with Naruto. While the two were in process, Nia finally saw the torn skin from Naruto's face, neck, and hands. It surprised her to see him so burned.

'Oh my god...' She gasped as she continued to watch Gamakichi place Naruto carefully inside his mouth, 'T-That's terrible...'

Seconds later, she slipped out of consciousness after Gamatatsu closed his mouth but not before thinking if Naruto was alive or not.

----

A/N- This chapter was pretty dark from Nia's point of view. Sorry for the swearing in this but it just has to be done to put emphasis on her situation. Um, I hope it wasn't too you know, dark and depressing. Anyway, I sincerely hope you guys liked this chapter. Please comment and vote before you leave! Thx for reading.