- Author’s Note & Warning -

#1. Inner Demon is divided into two Parts, Part 1 ends at chapter 51. I started writing this story after I had just finished reading the battle at Valley of the End between Naruto and Sasuke, so I have changed and introduced many things in Inner Demon.

#2. I have introduced a lot of new characters, all of them are related to Akatsuki. Only three of the nine Akatsuki members are canon characters, the rest are original characters, in this story, Orochimaru is still part of the nine Akatsuki members. I have also introduced Akatsuki sidekicks/students, Akatsuki members don’t necessary have another Akatsuki member as a partner, there are some where they are partnered with Akatsuki sidekicks instead. Itachi and Kisame remain as partners in Akatsuki missions.

#3. A lot of new abilities, bloodlines, techniques and summons are introduced as well, during their first appearances, they will be noted and explained in the “Glossary” section at the bottom of each chapter.

#4. The story isn’t necessary told in a linear manner, there are many flashbacks which may confused you. Quite a few of the plot elements revolved around flashbacks, and some plots are purposely left hanging until the right moment to be revealed, in which case, I will provide numerous “Author’s Note” inserted in the paragraph to tell you which chapter you may find the answer (if you wish to be spoiled). To facilitate easier reading and to remind you of any major plot advancement, I have inserted a “Preview Chapter Recap” in every chapter, and a “Summary” after every ten chapters.

#5. This story has no obvious pairing (among the kids), but there are characters of opposite gender having feeling for one another. There are no kissing, sex, yaoi or yuri.

#6. There are violence and deaths.

11 September 2007

I just found out the names of canon Naruto’s parents, they are Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, but since I started Inner Demon in March 2004 back when their names were not revealed, I have officially screwed up my fanfic. I will thus forgive myself and continue to use my names for Naruto’s parents, not to mention they have different skill-sets from the canon parents and appearance (for the mother).

I wonder if Sakura’s mother’s name has being revealed or not, I no longer follow the anime or manga, I only found out about Naruto’s parents by chance.

17 September 2007

- Summary -

Twelve years ago, a great and powerful demon attacked Konohagakure. Defeated by the fourth Hokage of the Hidden Village, the demon was sealed into the tiny body of the young child.

Prologue
Chapter 1: Yondaime
Completed: 13 March 04
Last Updated: 24 August 07

“Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin (#1 – read the Glossary at the bottom of the page) eh? Kid, I have always known that you are crazy, but this… Do you understand what consequences your action will bring?”

Yondaime remained silent, an unusual silence between the fourth Hokage and Gama Bunta, his old friend, mentor and companion. Under normal circumstances, the young man would be seen rebuking back at the Boss Toad word for word, but today, he kept his peace, choosing instead to spend all efforts on the task ahead. His white and red Hokage coat fluttered in the strong wind, caused by the brutish attacks from the fierce demon, each swing of the demon caused trees to be uprooted from the bloodied soil and Jounins to be blown away, thrown around like old worn toys. With their numbers diminishing and their defences waning, there was no time considering for a second option.

“I’m talking to you, boy! Answer me! Is this the only way---”

“Boss,” he shouted back, not that there was a need to, the old toad could hear him perfectly since he was standing on the old toad’s head, but this was how his life had always been, full of enthusiasm and energy, one could almost feel the life and vigour in his words. The young Hokage had his fair share of ups and downs, joys and desperations, but even as he knew his life was coming to an end, he had no regrets. Gama Bunta already knew that Yondaime would not accept any other suggestions at this point of time. “I very well know what will happen, the child that I need to seal the demon in will face a harsh life, to be treated as a substitute for the demon, to be hatred, to be the object of anger for all who will survive this battle today. But there’s---”

“Boy! I’m talking about you! You are going to die! Wa--- Wait a second! You are going to seal the demon within a child?! Are you losing your mind already?!”

“For the container to survive the sealing, it must be a child, someone young enough to not have a solid foundation of chakra yet. The jutsu will have to be modified to suit the requirement of this sealing, I will need to have both the chakra of the child and the demon to co-exist, or else it will be futile to even try---”

“Who do you have in mind?”

There was no time for answer, the demon had finally took notice of the two of them, the powerful chakra aura radiated from the Hokage in preparation of the jutsu was fearsome, it drove her insane, but all she could think of was to devour him, and consume his seemingly never-ending chakra. Charging in, the demon chose to ignore the pitiful attacks by other Jounins and their summoned creatures, and instead preparing to pounce right onto Gama Bunta.

“Here she comes!” Gama Bunta braced for impact, drawing his katana out, he prepared to jump as well. The timing had to be precise, to leap off when the demon almost land back on her feet. As Gama Bunta had just arrived upon the battlefield, he had no time to fully flesh out his strategy (if any at all), for now, all he could do was to keep him safe until his preparation for the forbidden jutsu to be completed. He knew that for the casting to be a success, he would need to bring Yondaime close, a lot closer than they were now.

“Let’s do it, Gama Bunta!” The young Hokage crouched down to create a lower centre of gravity while using chakra to cling onto the ancient toad, he focused both hands into forming a series of complex jutsu formation. Halfway through, Gama Bunta sprang without warning, causing him to almost slip off the surface, worse still, his jutsu was interrupted.

Yondaime continued to struggle to get a stable foothold, to escape from the attack of the demon, Gama Bunta had jumped to an impressive height, almost reaching the clouds. Nevertheless, the demon did not let down on her attacks, following the Boss Toad, she pushed herself upwards, claws and fangs wide opened.

“Incoming!” Gama Bunta shouted.

It would be hard to dodge an aerial assault, but the same could be applying to the demon as well. Now was the chance for the Hokage to get really up close and personal. Directly below them was the demon, still heading upwards as the two of them began to fall, drawn by gravity. Silently praying to himself, Yondaime leaped off from the back of Gama Bunta, and quickly reinitiated the jutsu with double the effort while keeping his legs in close together to accelerate the fall.

Seeing the little man falling towards herself, the demon waved her gigantic claws at him. Even with the jutsu underway, Yondaime dodged the attacks by releasing gentle flow of chakra from his body, diverting from all attempts to shove him away. Just when the two of them were at their closest, the eyes met, an unfamiliar feeling came upon them. Gama Bunta threw his katana at her, followed by a small stream of fire. The flames did no harm to the demon, but that was not the purpose of the attack. As the demon shielded her eyes from the flame, Yondaime landed hard onto her left shoulder, rolling a bit, almost nearly falling off the edge of her shoulder.

Still keeping the hand formations in order, he yelled out the attack, using his voice to summon the forbidden jutsu, “Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin!” Uncovering her eyes, the demon turned and was surprised that the man had landed on her shoulder, she turned her head to face the human Hokage. The two of them were so close that their lips could almost touch one another.

It felt like a void, a great emptiness that appeared right before her, a presence that overwhelmed her, a fear of death was upon her. Unseen to all eyes but his, a Shinigami materialised behind the Hokage, dagger in his fanged mouth, hands fanned out by his side with razor sharp claws on both his hands. Yondaime reached out the flat of his palms and placed them onto both sides of her chin.

I sense Death? Am I going to die?

It was right in front of her, a small but powerful presence that was lusting for her soul.

Still in mid-air, the demon tried to shove the little man away from her shoulder, but found that she could no longer move. Not able to even turn her head away from her fear, she was forced to come face to face with both the only man who dared to come this close to her and the death that would soon overcome the two of them.

Already falling past the lighter demon, Gama Bunta looked upwards to see the falling demon with the Hokage on her shoulder. Noticing the demon’s movements being petrified, the older toad realised that the jutsu was already working its way into the demon’s body.

The demon finally reached the highest peak of her jump, piercing the clouds, but eventually, the momentum slowed down and left her hanging among the clouds the both of them were in. However, it was not long before the body started to turn headfirst down, spinning downwards in a spiral pattern, accelerating the fall once again.

Step-by-step, the young man took a step back at a time, his hands parting from the demon’s flesh, drawing her soul from its body. There was an unnatural calmness between the two of them, even with their deaths approaching so fast, they felt no fear.

Back on the ground, Gama Bunta landed as gracefully as a gigantic toad possibly could without causing too much of he Jounins standing around the landing side. His eyes were still on the falling demon above him, even as the shadow given off by the demon started to grow larger on the ground under, Gama Bunta understood his duty. Unlike Gama Bunta, she could not land properly like he did but would instead crash like a mountain due to be being petrified. The impact from the demon could very well cause a tremor so great that would wide out half of the village. Gama Bunta must hand on and accept the punishment but would he be able to handle the impact?

Jounins nearby were given the order to flee from the scene, as Sarutobi-sensei watched the falling demon. He called out one of his Jounins to bring along the infant, and he leaped on towards the soon-to-be crash site. From tree to tree, he raced against time to arrive there in time, should the Fourth failed to survive the fall, he would need to be there to take over the soul to finish off the sealing.

Back in the sky, though falling and spinning at an astonishing speed, the blond Yondaime was still standing firm, his hands now several feet away from it was when he first started out. Struggling to take a step at a time backwards, he continued to drag the soul out with the help of the Shinigami behind him, who had his hand in him, grabbing hold of his soul. He opened his eyes, he gave a one last look at the demon before him, the souls had almost come out fully from their bodies, and the demon was still staring at him. Giving his last words in soft whispers, which even the demon could not have possibly heard it, “Live well in your new life.”

The moment the soul of the demon detached from her body, the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure fell off the shoulder of the demon as the Shinigami behind him started to dematerialise. The soul of the demon was now compressed to the size of small sphere, held firmly by the hands of Yondaime, before losing his soul, he managed to curved himself up into a tight ball, keeping the soul sphere close to his chest.

The demonic flesh crumpled at the lost of its essence. Gama Bunta eyed the sky as the demon’s body dissolved into fine dusts, keeping track of the falling Hokage. With his size, Gama Bunta did not have any difficulty catching the Hokage with his soft tongue, but what he feared came true, the little human did not move nor jerk even with the harsh landing, though something shiny was embrace close to his chest. The huge toad, master of his kind, felt so helpless and he remained silent, waiting for the arrival of the Third, with the sleeping baby in his arms.

---

Once appeared a powerful humanoid demon, one swing of its arm could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. To fight the demon, the people assembled the shinobi, one brave shinobi was able to seal up the demon at the cost of his life. The shinobi was called the Fourth Hokage also known as Yondaime.

The Fourth sealed the demon into the belly button of the only newly born infant on that day, a pink haired girl of the Haruno clan. Thus begun the adventure of Haruno Sakura of becoming a shinobi, with the secret of the ‘Inner Sakura’ sealed within her known only to the adults of Konohagakure.

- Next Chapter Preview -

Uzumaki Naruto returns with Jiraiya-sensei to Konohagakure, but even after so long, he cannot forget what happened four years ago.

- Glossary -

#1 :: Fuuinjutsu Shiki Fuujin (Demon Soul Seal) – A forbidden sealing technique that will summon the Shinigami, God of Death, to seal the target’s soul along within the Shinigami’s body for eternity. However, Yondaime was able to put the target’s soul into the container instead.

- Author’s Note -

“Inner Demon” started out as a one-shot fic, meant to be humorous take of a what the fierce second personality showed in the anime and manga could be. However, as I continued, I started to wonder how this Sakura would look at this new scenario, and what Naruto would be doing without Kyuubi inside him.

The bold conversation or thoughts represent a loud voice from either a powerful summoned beasts or demons, you will see a lot of those eventually.

There was recently a review asking why Yondaime chose a child not his to be the container, and my suggestion is to read chapter 6, 11 and 25 to find out why.