Yes, yes. I feel kinda terrible that I'm bringing out yet ANOTHER story. My plates already too full yet I'm stacking on more. However, I feel that this needed to be done and it had to be done properly. Like, there was no one else who possibly could've incorporated this well enough. That…and no one seemed interested in taking up the story when mellra posted the challenge for it. So the two of us decided to tag-team on it. We each do a chapter while helping the other give ideas to the next one and the next, though the story is obviously posted on my profile. And since it's a literal team effort and not just me writing, neither of us is going to realistically limit ourselves even more after making another story. BUT….before any of you get to reading this story, we BOTH suggest that you read the manga that inspired it in the first place. Not 'One Piece' or 'Naruto' obviously, but 'Oumagadoki Zoo'. The second central character, Shiina, is who Naruto is going to be based off of this time around. Plus…the manga is entertaining as hell and ends on a pretty amazing note. Though I wish that it'd be continued, I'm content with the ending. Don't worry though. This story is kinda like a side-project for us, but it's an important one. Our main stories are still out top priority and we'll do those as often as we usually do.

But in my opinion, this is too good to pass up. Though I believe that to those of you who have not read mellra's challenge story of this then you should check that out to get the gist of how this chapter is going to go down. But since I'm writing the first real chapter there are going to be a lot of different things and extra's to place. Now sit back and enjoy the epic-ness.

Chapter 1:

Rabbit Run

At the first half of the Grand Line, known to everyone as 'Paradise', resides a Winter Island known as Drum Island. Its icy drum-shaped mountain peaks, known as the Drum Rockies, reached so high that they go on for miles on end and can be spotted easily from the vast blue sea. Being a Winter Island it obviously always snowed, had blizzards, even the occasional hail at times. But that didn't mean the conditions for living there were unsafe. Actually, it is the location of the Drum Kingdom and had quite a few decent sized settlements all around the island. It contained four different villages which are Bighorn, Cocoa Weed, Gyasta, and Robelle. At the peak of the tallest mountain is Drum Castle, where the current ruler of the royal family lived. Or used to live, since there was barely anybody inhabiting the impressive castle. However, all of the real hustle and bustle is located in Bighorn where interesting things always tend to happen.

"Dammit, brat!"

"We'll get you for this!"

"You got nowhere to run this time!"

"Hahahaha! You wish! No one can ever catch me!"

What was currently taking place at the moment was a few adult villagers, all covered in unusual mounds of snow on a non-snowy day, chasing a small child. The child was wearing a heavy jacket with the sleeves and neck being orange and the rest being white. He wore a big, puffy red scarf, blue heavy pants, and black boots. His most noticeable features though were his very bright blond spiky hair, three whisker marks on each cheek and azure colored eyes. He gave a big grin as he looked at him before he stuck his tongue out at his pursuers, making them even more riled up than before. If you're wondering why he is being chased like this, well it is because the young blond had just pulled one of his harmless pranks. Harmless as in, no collateral damage. The only damage was to the pride of who his unlucky targets were.

It wasn't even anything very complex. He just gathered three wooden sleds from a storage shack, brought them up to a large hill, and piled a large mass of snow on each before sending them sliding forward. The same villagers that were chasing him through Bighorn were the same ones who had their legs swept from under them as they fell into the snow piles. Then the sleds, still having momentum, carried them into even bigger mounds of the frozen water. Again not impressively creative but he was just a 5-year-old boy after all. But even if he didn't do something as grand as paint a mountain, it still had the desired effect.

"Get back here brat!"

"How can a kid run so fast!? What are you!? Part Laphan!?"

"You're all just slow!" Naruto laughed again before sliding down a hill. The adults made the mistake of trying to stop since they ended up slipping onto their rears or fronts and began to tumble and roll. Naruto heard a small rumbling, making him look back and gasp to see a comical snowball headed towards him. He slid out of the way and let it pass, making it slam into the side of a large building and blowing apart. The previously trapped villagers groaning in discomfort as they were cold and dazed. Naruto finally made it down before he got up and laughed at them all.

"Just look at you guys! You never had a chance! I'm untouchable!" He bragged with mirth. He would've walked off to somewhere else if a firm hand hadn't grabbed the scruff of his coat and hefted him up into the air.

"Untouchable, hmm?" Said a slightly gruff, female voice. Naruto paled as he slowly turned his head and looked up to his captor. She was a bulk of a woman, who had a similar shape as a Hiking Bear. She wore a black, white spotted heavy coat that goes to her knees, brown wool gloves, blue scarf and white boots. Her brown hair was done in a bun as she seemed to be in her late 30s, early 40s, with the most unamused look on her face.

Naruto gulped as he gave a light wave. "Uh…hi there, Marian. How'd ya' find me?"

"The same way I always do. I follow the trail of trouble and screaming. You always seem to be at the end of it." Marian replied as she walked over to the men who were getting back up to their feet. When they all looked to glare at Naruto he just turned his head and pouted. "Now…apologize, Naruto."

"No." He said harshly, crossing his arms. If there was one thing you couldn't make him do, it was apologizing! Marian's eye twitched before giving him a hard shake.

"SAY YOU'RE SORRY!"

"I'M NOT APOLOGIZING! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

After hearing that the 40-something woman gained a glint in her eye. She gave a smirk and said, "Oh, can't I? If you don't say that you're sorry…then I'm taking away your ramen privileges for an entire month."

Naruto gasped loudly and flailed in her grasp, adopting circular white eyes. "WHAT!? THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU CAN'T TAKE AWAY RAMEN FROM ME AGAIN! NOT FOR A WHOLE MONTH! I COULDN'T DO IT!"

Marian smirked. "Then apologize. And you have to mean it." She set Naruto on the ground. He glanced up at the angry males while were waiting for their meaningful apology. Naruto sighed, knowing that he was cornered and decided to make this as realistic as he could.

"I'm sorry…for pranking all of you like that. It was a bad thing to do and I promise that I won't do it again. I'm really for real sorry!" He exclaimed with a mopey-childish expression. The males looked to each other before two of them grumbled under their breath and walked away. The one in the middle sighed and rubbed his head.

"You know he's just gonna keep doing this again and again Marian. It doesn't matter what you say or do, but this boy is always going to bring trouble to him in some fashion. I don't think he's ever going to stop with these ridiculous pranks."

Naruto glared at the man, dropping his 'sad' look at stomped his foot. "Hey! You don't-"

"That's enough, Naruto," Marian said, cutting him off. He just grumbled again while she looked at the man once more. "And I apologize for what happened as well. I made the mistake of letting him out of my sight for too long and this happened. So I'm sorry, as well."

The man gave another tired sigh. "You don't need to start apologizing Marian. Fine. Okay. I accept, alright?" He walked off while they heard him muttering to himself. "I need a hot bath with a steaming bowl of soup."

Marian turned her attention back to the young blonde, lightening up her harsh gaze. Naruto looked away again, not able to meet Marian's eyes. "What in the world am I going to do with you, boy? Why do you always feel the need to act up whenever you get the chance?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. Just because." He replied almost instantly, but Marian shook her head.

"I'm not going to believe that for a second. This has been going on for too long now, and it's time for you to stop this." She said in a stern tone, making him flinch. This time he really did have a look of regret on his face and it nearly broke the giant woman's heart to see that look on that bubbly face. Not to mention those whisker marks didn't help at all either. She got down on a knee (Not that it mattered with her height) and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "Naruto…I know that you can be pretty difficult. I know that living in a place like this can be difficult too but these pranks are just grating everyone's nerves. They aren't fun anymore and you just seem to make yourself out to be someone the villagers don't want to be around."

Naruto's eyes dropped as his pout returned. When he felt a large hand on his shoulder he looked back to see her with a small smile. "Look, if you manage to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day then I'll let you eat all the ramen you want. Now run off and I expect you back at the orphanage before it gets dark. Alright?"

"Sure." He said a little distastefully before he put his hands in his pockets and walked off. Not feeling the least bit perked up. Marian sighed herself as she stood up from her spot, watching the child walk off. A part of her feeling that she didn't really do much to accomplish anything, especially considering that this had to be the umpteenth time she told Naruto that he had to stop these senseless pranks. She had no idea how to get through to the boy and she was begging to lose what little patience she had left.

"Marian?"

Hearing her name being called, and hearing the crunching of snow behind her, the large woman turned to see her younger sister walking toward her. "Oh. Hello, Maria."

Negikuma Maria has the same build as her older sister, allowing one to mistake her as a Hiking Bear without getting to know her. One could practically call them twins if they made an attempt to look like each other, yet there were still a few distinct differences in appearance. Maria, unlike Marian, had more of a natural and gentle face. Her hair was black instead of brown and instead of it being shaped in a bun, it was in a small afro. Not to mention Maria was 4 years younger than Marian. Her attire consisted of a dark brown coat with brown buttons that cover her whole body. White fur was on the ends of the sleeves, the hood, and the bottom of the coat, along with light brown frills on the chest. In the middle was a dark brown stripe where the upper body separates from the lower body. Finally, she wears a light red scarf and dark brown shoes that have white fur at the top.

Standing next to her big sister, she watched with a sad smile as she saw the blond walk off into the woods just outside of town. "More problems with little Naruto, huh?"

"When aren't there any problems? Maria, I just don't know what to do with him. I mean he was fine when I was raising him in the beginning but he got more and more difficult as time went on. He keeps pulling these pranks, making some of the villagers pull out their hair and he doesn't even like to interact with the other kids all that much. He'll even go so far as to try and distance himself from them." Marian said. Maria, however, gave a small giggle.

"Everyone except that cutie, Hinata. He likes to spend time with her at least."

That made Marian chuckle a little bit. She remembers the day those two officially met. It was 2 years ago when they were both a tender 3 years-of-age, finally ready to be toddlers. Marian took the kids to one of the many hills around town but made sure that it was one of the small ones so the younger ones wouldn't get hurt. In comes, Naruto on a sled that she gave him herself and he practically flew down the slope. Everything seemed all well and good until Naruto crashed into a pile of snow, making the sled get stuck and him flying through the air screaming his head off. Marian and some of the others screamed too, not willing to watch Naruto's inevitable crash but there was a surprised yelp instead. It seemed that a young girl had broken Naruto's fall, making them both land in another bed of snow with the girl's mother giving a cry of shock.

The woman ran over to check on her daughter and Marian ran to check on Naruto. Instead of two badly injured children, Naruto was instead in a laughing fit while Hinata was busy giving a tiny cute, but very noticeable, blush at the male on top of her before Naruto got off and helped her up. The women weren't even given a chance to speak as Naruto already flew into comments and questions. Saying multiple things like 'That was awesome', 'Who are you? I'm Naruto' and 'Do you wanna play?' When she was properly composed she introduced herself as Hinata Hyuuga and gave a nervous 'hello' to the enthusiastic blond.

Coming out from her memories she gave a bigger smile on her slightly more gruff-looking visage. "I'm glad that Naruto has a friend in that girl, at least. Who knows what he'd be like if he didn't have anyone his age to pal around with."

Maria nodded but gave a giggle. "I'm still waiting for the day that those two marry! Oh, I'm going to be so happy for them!"

Marian waved a gloved hand at her gushing little sister. "Please. I know he may be young and all but something tells me that even when he grows up he won't know a thing about romance."

Maria patted Marian's shoulder. "Then I guess it's up to you and me to teach him about it. Who else better than us?"

Marian rolled her eyes. "You mean who else better than you. I plan on staying single, so no way am I going to be any help teaching Naruto anything along those lines. You're more qualified for the job than I am. I only know how to take care of kids the best that I can."

"I can help you! Don't be like that." Maria said with a light laugh. Marian just sighed once more and tried to walk away. Maria, not wanting her sister to take the easy way out, kept her company to talk her to death about all the tips and tricks that a woman needs to give a proper 'talk' to a coming-of-age kid. The whole village could practically hear Marian's groan of discomfort.

As the two sisters went off to do whatever it is they were going to do, Naruto was walking through the woods. It had started to lightly snow just a minute or so back but he didn't pay any mind to it. He'd be more surprised if it didn't snow, being an island that always had the stuff. He honestly hasn't even seen real grass yet, since the environment is too cold and had hardened the soil incredibly. Only in picture books has he seen any normal grass and flowers. The kind that does grow has evolved to be pretty hardy and are mainly herbs used in medicines or cooking. Besides that though, he was still mulling over his 'talk' with Marian. This had to have been the 76th time that she had gotten on his case about pranking people. Of course, he knows the number. He does need to keep track of all of his ideas, after all. Though it seemed on the surface that he was acting out for no reason, he did have a purpose for doing so.

The truth was….he was bored. That's it. No trying to get attention, no being neglected by others…but bored. Bored to near death one would say. Why is he so bored, you ask? Because when you live on a small island, in the same village, surrounded by the same people…life tends to roll by pretty slowly. And not in a good way either. All he ever wished was for something exciting to happen. Something that would blow his mind and actually really knock his socks off. He only pranked nowadays just to give each day a bit of a 'spark' or something along those lines. He's been taken to some of the other villages on Drum before, like Gyasta and those few times to Robelle. But no matter where you go, all in all, it was the same thing. A Winter Wonderland with the only changes being different buildings and different people. Maybe everyone else is accustomed to it but something in his gut always told him that there was more out there in the world, full of nothing but adventure and mayhem.

Naruto wanted to do nothing but experience it. It was a feeling he got in his gut whenever he stared out into the sea. Marian had told him that he was found on a wrecked ship that was a way out from the island and drifted into Drum Island waters. The unnatural weather currents of the Grand Line is what had done the damage to it and left it unmanned, so a rescue party went out to search it. The ship was entirely battered, scarred and had a few dried blood stains in places with just the faint cry of a baby on board in a hidden room under the deck. No one knew the cause for the stains though. Perhaps the ship was being raided by pirates before it got caught in a storm. It was most certainly too massive for any-old pirate attack.

Not to mention that none of the people here were all that interesting themselves. No one to tell grand stories to tell which could keep him on the edge of his seat. No one knew anything about combat, so he couldn't learn any moves from someone in case he needed to know how to fight for some reason. Just normal people, with normal lives, even though this island was also supposed to be a kingdom. Why anyone would want to rule someplace like this he would never know, nor did he really care. He's never seen the king of Drum Island before but people say he's a cool guy, yet his son was an ass.

Back on the subject though, Naruto didn't have that many friends either. Maybe he talked to a few at times but he never really tried to connect with anyone, especially since some of the kids are jerks…except for Hinata of course. They may have met because of an accident but Naruto was glad they did. She was really shy, timid and had kind of a small voice but he liked how nice she was. Lately, he'd sneak out the orphanage to her house and knock on her room window if they haven't seen the other for a while. They'd spend time talking before Naruto had to leave. Of course, he'd either successfully sneak back into his room or he'd be in more trouble than he's worth but he always thought it was worth it.

So when he heard that same girl being cornered by three other kids, kneeling and crying in her hands, Naruto instantly got angry and ran right over to them. He obviously alerted the trio since he was crunching snow as he ran. They turned around to see him charging and couldn't do anything when the blond slugged the slightly taller kid in the middle with a good punch to the face. He yelped in pain as the other two gasped at seeing their friend get hit.

"Hey! Leave Hinata alone you jerks!" Naruto yelled at them, making said girl wipe her face and look at him.

"N-Naruto?" She said relieved, as he stood in front of her. He didn't respond as the other boys finally gained their bearings. The one in the red winter hat and earmuffs that Naruto punched had a swollen cheek and a bloody nose, which dropped a few beads of red onto the snowy ground.

"Agh! Y-you hit me!" The boy said as he stumbled back but had help from his other two friends to keep him balanced.

Naruto gave them a hard stare and held up his fists to them. "That's right! Because you were picking on Hinata and made her cry! So I'm gonna thrash you for it, ya' know!"

"Stupid! Now you're gonna get it!" This time the tallest kid on the left spoke before Naruto charged at them again, just as they ran to him. The three bullies all brought their arms up and got ready to punch the blond but Naruto was faster. He dropped to the ground and allowed the snow to slide him under the legs of the lead kid he attacked. Surprising them the three did their best to stop and not fall forward. Before they could turn to face him, Naruto rammed into the middle kid from behind, pushing him to the ground. He didn't have much time to do anything after that for the largest kid slugged him in his left cheek and sent him to the ground, as well. The tallest kid didn't hesitate either and jumped on the blonde, throwing punch after punch himself. Naruto did his best to cover his face and block as efficiently as he could, but some punches got through anyway. He too was now sporting a bloody nose and a slightly busted lip, but he was still full of adrenaline.

Taking a chance he swung out his right leg as hard as he could and felt satisfied when it made contact. Presumably, with a below the belt shot. The boy cried out and fell to his side, holding his private area while some tears gathered in his eyes because of the pain. Naruto, face bruised and battered, scrambled to his feet and slammed a hard kick to the tallest kids own face. The kid gave a loud scream of pain as he moved his hands from his crotch to his aching face, feeling some blood dripping from his own nose. Naruto wasn't in the clear yet as the leader kid and the fat one were both coming at him with flames in their eyes.

He tried to back up but he hit a tree instead, stopping him from going anywhere. With no way out he decided to duck at the last minute, making them both crash into the tree. Looking up to the fat kid he wanted to get payback from hitting him in the face. A split second decision later and Naruto was gripping his trousers before he gave a very hard yank. The kid gasped as he found his pants immediately around his ankles instead of covering his legs, exposing his white underwear. The lead bully and Hinata gasped at the crude tactic, while a chilly wind blew through. The kid's legs instantly feeling frozen over.

"AHH! WHY'D YOU DO THAT!?" He screamed as he bent down to try and pull them up but Naruto wasn't going to let that happen. With all his strength he pushed the big guy and made him fall over that third kid, who was still on the ground. Naruto then proceeded to kick him while he was down as well. Since he had more meat on his bones then the lanky, tall one he really laid into him with the footwork. But he made the mistake of turning his back on the lead kid. He was reminded when he felt another fist colliding with the back of his head that sent him to the snow-covered floor. Groaning in pain, he tried to get up but was hit once again. This time on the right cheek. That was all he could take before he was laid out, not able to move. Though he was still conscious, not willing to let himself pass out while Hinata was still around these jerks.

Taking deep breaths and wiping the blood from his nose, the lead kid said, "And that's what you get, shrimp! Trying to be a hero and everything! And because of some ugly eyed girl-monster!?"

Naruto's head shot up in anger. He ground his teeth as he gave the fiercest glare he could muster. The bully's two friends finally being able to get their bearings as they got back up from their own little mishaps. Though they were both still in obvious pain. The big one was walking with a limp from Naruto kicking him multiple times in the leg and side. The tall one still had blood running from his nose and a swollen eye. He was holding his stomach because of the attack that was made where no sun shines. "You take that back! Hinata isn't a monster! She's nice! And she's cool too!"

"No! I won't take it back! And she must really be awful if she's hanging around someone like you, shorty!" He walked over to the defenseless blond and kicked him hard in the ribs. Naruto gave a shout of pain as he held them while turning to his side.

"N-Naruto!" Hinata cried, as she began to shed tears again. Luckily that was the only hit that the kid wanted to get in before he took Naruto's scarf. He ran over to his friends, stretching it out as they got the idea. They proceeded to pull, stomp and rip away at the thick piece of cloth until it was a shambled mess.

"You think you're so cool. Wearing this stupid, ugly scarf." He mocked before they walked off of it. After a minute or so they had left an injured Naruto and crying Hinata by themselves. Naruto groaned as he stared up at the dull sky, snowflakes lightly falling on his wounds and swollen face. The cold made them both ache and dull the pain at the same time.

Hinata immediately got up and ran over to Naruto's side. "Naruto! You're hurt!"

The blond shifted his eyes over to her and managed to sit up. He winced a little from the soreness as he rubbed his face. "Don't worry, I'm alright." He said in a glum tone. Hinata's eyes began to tear up again as she felt Naruto's face or herself. She felt him visibly jerk as he sucked in air through his teeth from the pain.

"But…but look at you! Your face is swollen and you're bleeding." Before her tears could fall she herd Naruto grumble before wiping the corners of her eyes. She was met with a very bright smile, which he usually only shows to her on a daily basis. That same smile that made Hinata blush a tiny bit as her face became heated.

"I told you, I'll be okay. I mean did you see me? It was 3 on 1 and I still managed to fight them all off. If I was taller and stronger then I could'a sent them running with no problem, ya' know!" He managed to get back up to his feet with Hinata doing the same. "But are you okay? What did they do to make you cry like that? I mean…what that jerk said about you…"

Hinata's eyes shifted downward as her mood dropped as she nodded, "T-they…they were…making fun of me. They said…that my eyes are w-weird and I looked l-like a monster." She sniffed sadly. This time doing her best to not cry since Naruto wasn't going to her allow her the liberty to do so. Though his anger was coming back quickly with the only thing stopping him from chasing down those guys again is comforting his friend. Before she knew it he had pulled her into a tight hug. Her sad mood being replaced by a surprised one while she gasped.

"No way! You aren't a monster. Like I said, you're cool. And…and nice and everything. So forget them." He pulled away from her, as he smirked. He rose a fist to his battered face. "And if they talk about you like that again then I'll just have to beat 'em down even harder than I did today! Believe it!"

Hinata felt her blush becoming more prominent as Naruto told her nothing but compliments. She smiled at how positive he always was with her or how he's always defending her if he can help it. And with how he came to her rescue just now, she felt as if she could just melt from the happiness. Of course, she did still feel bad that he had gotten pretty hurt from those other boys but he didn't seem to care in the slightest. His only concern was for her. She didn't understand it but that made something in her chest flutter. It was an unusual feeling that she didn't understand but she knew that it was not a bad one. Her eyes drifted over to Naruto's scarf, very tattered and ruined to the point that it can't be properly worn anymore. She walked over to retrieve it before walking back over.

"Um…your scarf. It's…" She said in a meek tone but Naruto placed his hands in his pockets.

"Ahh, so what? It's just a scarf. I can get another one."

Hinata looked down at it, slowly rubbing her mitten-covered hand through it. "But…but Ms. Marian got this for you."

Naruto grinned a little with a shrug. "I know. She can just get me another one. Maybe if she made it I'd care for it a lot more. You can keep it, Hinata."

Hinata opened her white eyes a bit more. "Are you sure? You want me to have it?"

The blonde just grinned wider, making his bruises a bit more prominent. "Why not? Think of it as a keepsake from me. Anyway…I was going to walk around the woods for a little bit. I'll see you back home, okay?" Hinata just gave a slight nod, to which Naruto smiled at. He then began to run off into the vast whiteness and the thicket of trees. Hinata watched him leave until she couldn't see him anymore. Holding his scarf close to her chest she gave a big smile before she made her back to her house as well. No doubt about to tell her parents about what had just transpired here.

A while after he left Naruto was found sitting on a fallen log, surrounded by a few trees. He was holding snow to his face, trying to dull the throbbing that he still felt. "Jeez. I hate those guys. Next time I see them I'm going to beat them up even more, even if they haven't been picking on Hinata." He sighed to himself. "And I just know Marian is gonna yell at me about fighting…again. I hope she doesn't take away the ramen she promised me."

Opening his eyes he stared at the ground for a minute or so. Not finding anything particular to focus on his cerulean orbs began to wander around the landscape, trying to find something of interest. He didn't get his hopes up since nothing ever changed in the scenery on this island. White snow, thick trees, Hiking Bears, and a round white and pink object that was…wait, a what?

"Huh? What's that thing?" Interest finally peaked, Naruto got up from his place and walked to the object. He bent down to pick up it getting a better look at it. His blue eyes lit up in wonder as he was holding what appeared to be some kind of fruit. It was snow-white, nearly camouflaged in the snow. Though what made it stand out were those pink markings all over it. Actually, they were pink triangles, which dotted the surface. Finally, there was a healthy green stem to literally top it off. "Whoa! A fruit! Where'd this come from!? And…how come it looks so weird?"

He turned the fruit around in his hands but besides its odd look, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary with it. Besides, it was incredibly rare to even get fruit on this island. It's not exactly the most tropical of places so this was sure one interesting find. Naruto's stomach gave a low rumble meaning the obvious. He grinned. "Well I don't know how it got here but I sure do know what I'm gonna do with it! It looks weird but I bet it taste's awesome!"

He needed no other incentive before he opened wide and took out a massive chunk of the fruit. Its contents a ripe pink on the inside, just like the triangles on the skin. The juice dripped from it and Naruto's mouth as he chewed it happily…for about a couple of seconds. After those seconds were up his demeanor changed. His face had turned blue as he fought to not try and throw-up while his eyes went comically wide. It appeared that the fruit tasted worse than it looked. Disgusting!

If Naruto had to put it into any possible words, it would be like a mixture of trash, moldy cheese, rotten milk and Hiking Bear poop! Yes, it was that awful. The rest of it dropped from Naruto's hand into the snow as he forced himself to swallow what he already ate. After a few more traumatic 5 seconds he fell to the ground and grasped out his throat, hacking and coughing. "BLECH! What the heck was that!? Ugh! That was the nastiest fruit I ever ate! No way am I going to eat weird fruits ever again!"

Sitting back up, he glared at the fruit for giving him probably even a worse experience than those bullies a while back. He was about to get up and return the favor with the strongest kick he could muster…though he had to deal with this itchy sensation that he was feeling. Growling low in discomfort he scratched at his arm pretty hard, already uncomfortable with the how his skin was stinging. But then it didn't just stop there. That itchy feeling moved through his body entirely until it became unbearable. His body shook as he hugged himself tight, not feeling too well.

"Ack! W-what was…in that…" he couldn't even properly speak anymore. The itching became burning, and soon the burning felt like it was pushing outward. Naruto could feel his entire body was beginning to shift and change around. He gasped as he realized that white hair began to quickly grow from his uncovered hands, with slightly sharpened nails. Hastily taking off his jacket and saw the same happening to his arms and chest. The fur grew on his face, which also started to become a bit more elongated. Mainly in the nose area. His whisker marks actually stretched off his face and became real. He felt his teeth changing structure. His two front teeth grew to some pretty large incisors that looked as if they could bite through bark effortlessly. His other teeth grew as sharp as canines which could rend flesh if they had too. His blond hair shrunk away and was replaced by a mat of white as well. His ears seemed to move from the side of his head to the top before they continued to grow and grow until they were each a foot tall. The right ear having a circular notch in the side going to the middle of it. Panicking, he removed his boots as well, watching as his feet became a bit bigger. They also grew to rabbit-like feet, instead of human-shaped like his hands. They became long, flexible, strong and had pink pads below the toes. Finally, felling an uncomfortable tug at his backside accompanied by a small rip, he turned to find that he had a short, fluffy tail which swished from side to side.

Naruto sprung to his feet and looked over to new, furry form. He started inhaling and exhaling deeply as his breath began to quicken. His body was still shaking but not from any more shifts in his look, now from complete terror and shock.

"Wha….wha…WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!? WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!? WHAT-WHAT IS-WHY AM-WHY AM I…" He couldn't form a complete sentence without his words stopping in his throat. A breeze blew through once again, but since he was sporting a very thick and resilient coat of fur he didn't even feel it. Not even on his exposed hind-paw pads. He slowly glanced over to the magical fruit that seemed to have done this time him, which seemed to have been slowly losing its color and looked a bit shriveled.

"I gotta get help!" With that in mind, he ran as fast as he could back to the village. In his swirling emotions he didn't even notice that he was running at about 3 times the speed he was capable of before, while his light feet traversed over the snow like it was solid. It was just a little over a minute before he was running towards the entrance of Bighorn. He didn't pay any mind to all of the people, not even thinking about how they'd react to his new look. But he felt that if he could just find either Marian, Hinata or…any of the tiny amount of people he was close to and explain whatever the hell was going on than they could find some way to fix this. Someone had to know how to fix this!

"Hello!? Marian!? Hinata!? Ms. Maria!? Anyone!?" He cried out as he crossed into town. Because of his earlier yelling and his abrupt appearance and the center of Bighorn his immediately caught the attention of everyone present. Naruto was looking around at the people frantically, not liking how they were giving the reactions they gave. Some weak-willed ones gave shouts of fear as they backed away from him. Others gave whispers to each other but Naruto's incredibly sensitive ears could pick up on every word. "Hey! Will someone just listen to me!?"

"Oh God, it talked!"

"What kind of Laphan can do that!?"

"And why is it wearing clothes of all things?"

"Wait, are they starting to become smarter!?"

"You mean that they've been spying on different villages or something? No way! Laphan's are just fat, vicious rabbits. They can't do this…can they!?"

random man pointed a gloved hand to Naruto, looking at another random male. "Well, the proof is right there! And if this one is that smart then…are they going to run everyone in all the villages out of our homes!?"

A mother pulled her son closer to her, not liking how he was getting closer to Naruto. "Honey, get away from that thing!"

Naruto's cerulean eyes were beginning to glisten with water. He didn't like how everyone was making it seem as if he was some-kind freakish Laphan who came to hurt them. He tried to walk over to a man, but he had grabbed a woodcutter's ax and held it at the ready. Naruto flinched back at the sight of the much-sharpened weapon.

"P-please. I just…" he looked around to everyone as he took a few steps back, "I need…I need help. Please!"

His ears picked up something being thrown at him while his new reflexes allowed him to dodge the rock by tilting his head. He looked to see that the one who threw it was one of the kids that he had fought earlier, with his little posse with him. "We don't wanna help some kinda freak like you! You weirdo, monster, Laphan thing! Go away!" He picked up more rocks and began to throw them but Naruto kept dodging them with ease, realizing that he no longer felt sore. All of his wounds had to have vanished when he transformed. But that didn't stop the pain that was beginning to form in his chest and just got bigger. Now his friends were throwing rocks at him and he felt anger begin to well up at them once more.

He fully turned to them and caught a rock that was aiming at his face. Without effort he crushed it into dust with a crack, making the kids flinch. "I will beat you down if you keep messing with me! I've had it with you losers!" With a snarl he took a few steps towards them, making the boys scream in fear, drop the rocks they held and fell to their butts. Naruto only took three slow steps before a flinched back as a bang was heard and the snow beside him, exploded. He turned around to see that a villager was pointing a smoking rifle at him, while some of the others had gone into their houses and came back out with more. Now his own fear came back in full force. His arms were raised to show that he meant no harm but the villagers didn't seem to believe that anymore. Dammit! Why did he have to go and lose his temper like that!? Now any hope he had of Bighorn's populations listening to him very incredibly nonexistent!

"Get the hell out of Bighorn! Leave us alone or else I'm not gonna miss next time!"

"Yeah! Get a move on!"

"We don't want trouble but you'll find some if you don't know what's good for you!"

'No. No. No, no, no, no, NO! This can't be happening!' Naruto thought frantically as he backed up some more. Gazing around, he saw that nobody was on his side. Marian was looking at him with a hatred he's never seen before with her sister right next to her. Weapons were poised and kids were frightened. Yet in the corner of his eyes, he turned his head to the right to see that Hinata was standing off to the side with her parents in front of her. She was looking behind her father's leg, with his old scarf in her hands. They both gazed deeply into each other's eyes for a while, the young Hyuuga seeing something incredibly familiar in the rabbit-boy's features. 'Hinata…at least YOU have to know it's me! We're best friends!'

The moment he thought that he saw her white eyes light up in recognition and disbelief. His heart jumped at the thought of her figuring it out. He didn't know how, but when he saw her mouth move he felt a speck of elation that almost outweighed the pain. He could make out her saying his name. It wasn't audible but his sharper eyes just knew that she did!

'N-Naruto!?'

He gave a bit of a happy smile as he slowly raised his hand in her direction but the next gunshot shot at the barrel beside him. He jumped back entirely with his powerful legs before he gave one last look…and ran. He ran and ran and ran. Faster and harder than he did when he arrived. It helped him a tad bit to know that Hinata had realized it was him…but everyone else? Not a chance. Not even remotely. He had no home anymore and he didn't know how to change back! Meaning that if Bighorn ran him out then all of the other villages will too. He had nowhere to stay but in the forests with the ACTUAL Laphan's. How could they even think that!? He was obviously too different to be one! And there is no way that they could be as smart as him! Or wear clothes! Or even be as skinny as he is!

"IT'S NOT FAIR AT ALL!" He screamed out to the air, arriving back at his previous location. The fallen log with his discarded boots and jacket and the fruit was entirely shriveled up now. Great. There goes any kind of proof he had about turning into…this. This rabbit…thing. He couldn't find any strength to keep himself on his feet anymore. Trudging over to the log he plopped down onto it, bringing his knees to his chest. "It's not…not fair. Why is this…happening?"

The emotions swelled up more and more until he couldn't help but let them all out. His head fell as the tears followed suit, running down his face. He was just so confused, angry and sad at the same time. But most of all, he was lost. He had no home and he had no friends entirely. He couldn't even see Hinata anymore and for some reason, that alone struck a chord in him so hard in him that he shed many tears on that fact alone. Gone with the warm bed. Gone with the hot meals. Gone with having fun with his pranks or even the possible future companions.

He was alone. And it seemed as if he was going to stay that way.

For a long time, he didn't move from that spot at all. The sun was setting and he had no place to stay. Well, he apparently couldn't get cold anymore, since normally staying outside for so long without much to keep warm with could give someone frostbite. The only articles of clothing he still wore being his heavy pants and a thick sweater with a shirt underneath. His boots and heavy coat were nearly piled under the falling snow, which was falling even harder, while he was still scarf-less. Naruto had to have been outside for an hour or so but nothing changed. He felt cozy and warm in his thick but lean fur. Maybe a victory against the weather but everything else? Yeah, not working so well. He stopped crying a while ago, having run out of tears and was just lying back on the log.

'I should probably go look for some shelter. Maybe some kind of cave to hide in. I can't stay outside forever.' He thought though he didn't feel motivated enough to lift himself up. Of course when his large ears twitched at something approaching his location he gasped, shooting up quicker than he thought he would. His right ear twitched by its lonesome this time, alerting him to where the footsteps were coming from. Not only did he hear them over the wind his heightened senses allowed him to differentiate between the two of them. One set sounded like a pair of heavy boots, crunching the deep snow beneath them. There was also the sound of shuffling heavy clothes behind them. The other pair of steps was a lot softer and lighter, which gave slight clopping noises. Hooves, he had to guess.

After he picked up their sounds, he picked up their scent afterward. The first one with the boots was obviously a man that seemed to be in his middle ages. The other was…unusual. The scent of an animal came in first. A reindeer, no doubt. He's seen a couple of them over the years to know what one smelled like, even before he had changed. But at the same time, this reindeer scent…was also mixed with a…human one? If his eyes were capable of getting any wider then they'd probably pop out of his head. This scent…was just like him! A mix of human and animal!

"Is this person…the same as me!?" He said to himself, unknown sources of elation emanating from him. In the back of his mind, he could also smell medicine and herbs on their persons. Doctors? He got up from the log entirely and turned to face the newcomers when they came within eye-shot. It was only a few seconds after that they were both right in front of him. He rose what would've been an eyebrow if he…had any in this form. The obvious man of the two was a pretty tall fellow. He had a lean figure, strange crossed shaped hair hidden beneath a top hat and carried a doctors medical bag. The other figure was about the size of a small child. Smaller than Naruto by about 2 feet, which actually made him feel better about his own height. He was always called a runt by others for being a bit shorter than the average 5-year-old. He could practically hear Marian nagging about eating his vegetables. Anyway, the little one was a reindeer apparently, but it could stand on its hind legs, had a blue nose and wore his own top hat. It was colored pink with a big white X in the middle.

The three stared at each other for minutes on end, not knowing what to say at their recent discoveries of one another. The reindeer went to hide behind the leg of the man, but half of his whole body was sticking out. Naruto blinked in confusion at the weird action but didn't address it. Seeing that just looking at them wasn't going anywhere he decided to speak first. "Um…w-who are you guys?"

The reindeer gave a loud gasp of shock and had a frightful look on his face. "AHH! A TALKING RABBIT!"

Naruto's own shock came back, making him jerk backward. He landed on his rear-end and pointed at the smaller animal. "HOLY CRAP! A TALKING REINDEER THING!"

In an instant, the man got between the both of them. He placed a hand on the reindeer's hat while holding his other one out to Naruto. "Now, now, Chopper. You both need to calm down. You're getting worked up over nothing." When the man looked to Naruto with a wide smile the rabbit boy calmed down on the spot. He never expected to get such a nice reaction from someone he's never even met. It was much better than being shot at by his former villagers. "Now, I believe that introductions are in order, hmm? My name is Dr. Hiluluk. This little guy is my faithful assistant and adopted son, Tony Tony Chopper. Might I ask who you are, young man?"

Naruto was a little reluctant to speak at first not knowing if he could fully trust this man. But his instincts were on high alert and this Hiluluk person sounded sincere enough to be a nice man. Swallowing nervously, he responded. "I…my names Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Smiling, Hiluluk removed his hand from Chopper's hat and slowly got closer to Naruto. Not to startle the boy he sat down a few feet in front of him, his smile still present. "Naruto, hmm? What a nice name. Though I'm wondering why you're out here all by yourself. I can tell that something had to have happened but I'd like the details from you. Besides, it's my job as a doctor to take care of ailments."

Naruto was a little bit reluctant but, seeing at the moment that he literally had nothing else to lose he began to speak of how his life has been up to now. How he was found as a baby on a wrecked ship and was an orphan for 5 years. How he had never felt truly at home in Bighorn and began to play pranks when his 5th birthday came around, for a bit of excitement. How he made a single true friend in Hinata and saved her from bullies earlier. Finally, how he had eaten this weird fruit that turned him into a rabbit before he was chased out of Bighorn for trying to get help over the situation. Naruto was holding back a few stray tears, not wanting to get deep into the current memories. Hiluluk just kept nodding in understanding while Chopper looked at Naruto in wonder.

"He's…he's just like me." He whispered, remembering how eating a Devil Fruit had him being chased out of his hearing. Unknown to him, Naruto's ears easily picked up on the words making the former blond gasp on the inside and glance to Chopper. Hiluluk had gently placed a hand on Naruto's ears and rubbed his head. With his other arm, he wrapped Naruto into a hug, bringing the boy to his lap. He rubbed his head lightly and spoke.

"Chopper." He said, without looking back.

Chopper took a few steps forward, standing next to them. "Um…yes, Dr.?"

Hiluluk did turn his head this time and gave a very bright smile. "I believe that from this day on…you're about to become an older brother!" He said with enthusiasm. Both Zoan users widened their eyes at the declaration, while the Dr. looked down to Naruto. "Do you like the sound of that Naruto? To be a part of our family? I promise that we don't care if you're a human, rabbit or whatever you are. You're still a perfectly normal boy in my eyes. I don't have a lot…but a home is something I can most definitely give you. I'd be happy if you said 'yes' and I think Chopper would like to have someone around his age, who's like him, to play with."

"A…a home? Y-you really mean I…" Naruto practically couldn't even comprehend what he had just heard. He never thought he'd have a true home before. No one in Bighorn was definitely going to adopt him and it would've been too much of a hassle to look for one anywhere else on the island. After becoming a rabbit-person, just being in a human village was entirely impossible. No one would be able to stand the sight of him…but this random stranger just…came from nowhere…and with such ease, invited him! To have him as family! Naruto couldn't help when he reached arms around Chopper and Hiluluk, bringing them into very tight hugs. He let out the tears he's been holding back, but this time they were ones of joy. The other two were a bit alarmed at the reaction but quickly returned the gesture, Chopper knowing exactly what Naruto was going through. And being a sentimental one, he couldn't help but cry right alongside his taller but younger adopted brother. His brother, who was slowly beginning to revert back to his human appearance without his knowledge but wouldn't have cared if he did.

Timeskip

Seven years. It had been a grand total of seven long years since Naruto had been kicked from Bighorn. Since he became half-rabbit because of the Devil Fruit that he had consumed. Apparently, it was called the 'Hop-Hop Fruit Model: Snowshoe Hare' from what he read in a copy of some sort of Devil Fruit Encyclopedia Hiluluk had… 'acquired' from a supply caravan of King Wapol's. A rare type of Zoan Fruit, even among its kind, like Chopper's Human-Human Fruit. Their powers allowing them to become 'Perfect Hybrids' to the animal that the fruit possessed instead of their hybrid forms being part animal and part human. Though if Naruto had to guess, when Chopper took his 'Heavy Point' it'd probably be the reverse, being an actual animal 'man'.

In those years so many things had changed his life. Changed in ways that both helped and hurt to such extremes they were defining points in his character compared to the boy who used to pull pranks or was pretty anti-social. It had only been two years after Naruto was adopted by Hiluluk and those were some of the happiest memories of his life. Okay, so while the man claimed he was a doctor is apparently wasn't his forte. He's had rounds of patients who didn't really appreciate a doctor who couldn't do what he was supposed to. But if anything, the man could work wonders on someone's heart. To him, and even to Naruto, that's where the real healing counted at most times. Anyone can heal a wound but it takes true skill to heal a spirit. Naruto would know, since its how Hiluluk made him feel so welcome and never anything else.

Chopper also filled out his role as the best big brother he could possibly be. Not only did they connect near-instantly once they were able to properly speak or do activities with each when they had the chance. They were entirely inseparable and liked to do nearly everything together. If one was somewhere then the other was probably just a few feet behind. Chopper was honestly really happy that he had someone his age too, not only play with but who perfectly understood what he was going through about being an outcast. Chopper even taught Naruto how to properly shift back and forth between his human and rabbit form. That was when they discovered that Naruto had no 'full beast' rabbit form. Good thing too, since Chopper wouldn't feel comfortable about his younger brother becoming something akin to a Laphan and prank him.

But even if he could, Naruto would never do anything that mean to his brother. Even if it would've seemed pretty harmless he still doesn't appreciate when those he cares about are hurt, tormented, sad or scared. And the last thing he would want to do is give Chopper a heart attack. Hiluluk even got them both interested in becoming doctors themselves, as well as the idea of pirates. Even with the new king Wapol (who had risen to the throne only a few short months after Naruto's adoption) as the terrible tyrant he was, Naruto appreciated every little moment.

Though on most other occasions he would even sneak down to Bighorn in the dead of night to Hinata's house. He'd always lightly knock at her window until she woke up to see him. She was a bit startled at first about her secret puppy crush having been turned into a rabbit, but she understood a bit more after Naruto explained it was because of a Devil Fruit. Something she's heard her father speak of and go into detail about when she asked him about it. So at least 2 to 3 days every week Naruto would sprint down in the dead of night to come and visit his only friend in Bighorn, and they both loved the other's company. He told her about how he had become adopted by an amazing man, and even had a brother who had powers like him. How he was training to become a doctor and maybe even a pirate one day. She always loved how he had new tales to tell and listened intently. The more he went to visit, the longer they usually talked, even if it was about nothing. They just missed the other's company from being away from the other for an entire month until Naruto had the idea to visit her for the first time.

But not everything could stay nice and happy forever. Tragedy reared its ugly head when Hiluluk became ill from a deadly disease that he had no knowledge to cure. So, despite not wanting too, he had driven Chopper and Naruto from his home, not wanting his two sons to see him in such a state and then inevitably die. But that didn't stop either of them from trying to help their father. Remembering a special mushroom that could cure any sickness from one of the doctor's medical books the two boys went and searched for it. The journey was a harsh one and got even worse when they encountered Chopper's previous herd of reindeer. They didn't appreciate their outcast returning along with one who was just like him…so they attacked. Chopper and Naruto barely got out of there alive but not before getting the mushroom. After shedding many tears from reuniting with one another, and with them disclosing their journey along with the mushroom to Hiluluk, he took it without hesitation. He left right after saying that he had errands to run.

But even their good intentions came at a very high cost. They were visited by Dr. Kureha afterward. A 133-year-old woman who were a complete master in the field of medicine, unlike their father. When they told her of how they had given the mushroom they found to save Hiluluk, she shot them down instantly. Apparently, that mushroom was no cure…but a poison. A very potent and highly toxic one that was supposed to kill the recipient within a day after it was consumed. The symbol that Chopper saw beside the picture in the book may have looked like a Jolly Roger but in actuality, it meant that the ingredient was deadly. Shedding tears of sadness and regret they ran off to find him before worst came to worst. They had tracked to him Wapol's castle, where the evil king lured him there on the grounds that the 20 doctors he had were also stricken with a disease. Of course, it was a trap to bring the last two doctors in Drum to him without any effort. Hiluluk wouldn't let Wapol execute him but he also didn't want his boys to feel an immense wave of guilt from having unknowingly poisoned him. Either way, he was going to die soon so he chose option 3. He drunk one of his own failed potions and died with a content smile on his face on the spot, saving his boys in his own and final way one last time.

That didn't stop their sadness from reaching a high point, bringing them to tears. But it was instantly replaced by rage when Wapol began to laugh at the doctor's last act. The boys went on a rampage, Chopper going into his Heavy Point to do damage. Naruto, obviously about to go raving rabbit on anyone he deemed as an enemy. But Dalton stopped them. Dalton was one of Wapol's guards who actually cared about the people on the island, who was also a Zoan Devil Fruit user. Holding them both down, Dalton begged for their forgiveness while pleading for them both to leave before Wapol ordered his men to kill them both. It took everything they had to overcome their rage and not fight back but they knew that they seriously had no chance against a whole army. Not to mention they all had weapons while the boys didn't. So they left. They left and mourned the doctor's tragic passing, which they bore witness to. Instead of grieving forever, they went to Kureha instead. They both pleaded for her to teach them both everything that she knew about the medical arts so that they could properly honor Hiluluk's memory. Kureha was reluctant at first, but she also had to honor Hiluluk's last words to her, to teach the animal boys to be proper doctors if he couldn't do the job. So she accepted and took them as her students.

The five years after that was pretty rough for the two boys. Kureha didn't take any kind of excuses no matter how difficult the task. All she ever asked for them was to put their all into whatever they did. Good thing that the boys had a ton of motivation and then some to strive for nothing but the best results in their studies. If anything, they were nearly as skilled as the elder doctor herself. Yet a few months afterward a pirate called Blackbeard along with four other men raided Drum Island. They were so fierce and powerful that Wapol had taken most of his forces and left the island himself. Never saying when he was returning but everyone was hoping that it was forever. With his castle unguarded, Kureha had seen it as an opportunity for her and the boys to move in. At a time, they would come down to each of the villages on Drum to treat the sick (With the doctrine declaring of obscene amounts of payment) before heading back up to the castle, waiting for Wapol's imminent return.

Yet the boys had done more than just training to be experts in the fields of medicine. They were also incredibly adept in the field of combat as well. It was mainly because of Naruto's hatred at himself for feeling so weak and useless at not being able to do anything against Wapol. Sure, Dalton stopped them but it was obvious they would've been slaughtered if they had attacked. So Naruto suggested that he and Chopper also train physically just as much as they trained mentally. Each and every day after Kureha was done giving them lessons they would use whatever means to help their battle instincts and combat prowess grow. A workout consisting of 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats every single day, would then be ended with a series of laps around the very large castle. Sometimes, Naruto would do these exercises in his normal body, with his logic being that if he could get his natural body to a stronger point then his rabbit powers would also increase in strength naturally.

They would occasionally spar against one another, with Chopper using his available combat-oriented 'Points' and Naruto fighting in his rabbit form. Neither of them held back because they knew that an enemy would fight with everything they had to win. Other times they would battle the occasional Laphan, whether they be in groups or not. Kureha stopped scolding them after they had done this more than a few times. She believed that if the boys were that determined to die then she wouldn't stop them but she'd be more and more impressed each and every time they came back. A year later, Chopper had the ingenuity to invent the Rumble Ball. A special drug that would allow him and Naruto to bring out latent powers of their Devil Fruits. It gave Chopper new 'Points' and allowed Naruto access to his own set as well, yet the rabbit was still more for fighting than Chopper's was. So Naruto helped Chopper to learn to use all of his current and newer 'Point's in combat scenarios, while he tried to get a hang of using his own.

But that fateful day came…when Chopper accidentally went too far. While the Ruble Ball was a very special and powerful drug that boosted their potential they can't be taken one after the other. Once one has been eaten a second can't be taken for 7 hours, or else the new powers would spring out randomly, not giving Chopper or Naruto the abilities they wanted. Chopper was too curious and took a third one which transformed him into his 'Monster Point'. It was only through sheer luck that he didn't rampage on any of the villages, destroy anything or hurt Kureha and Naruto. When he came to after passing out from the experience (Which also left his body too weak to move) Kureha made him promise to never become a monster like that again. While Chopper promised her that he wouldn't they didn't factor in the white-furred eavesdropper who heard every single word, an entire room and hallway away. What Kureha saw as a mistake, Naruto believed it to be an opportunity for his big brother to have a trump card up his sleeve in case he needed it. When he presented the idea to Chopper to learn how to train his Monster Point in secret, the reindeer rejected the idea initially. He may not have remembered what he had done in that form but he was beyond worried for him once Kureha described what he was like. Nothing but a beast.

So Naruto pestered him each and every day until he relented on the second week after the incident. Without Kureha's knowledge, the boys would sneak off in the dead of night, to the most secluded of areas around the woods where Chopper wouldn't disturb or frighten anyone. It was a tough thing to do, having to get far away enough from the castle, the villages or surrounding animals than having to come back with Chopper practically immobile so Naruto would have to carry him and speed run back home, but they made it work. In between these secret outings, Naruto also figured that if they were going to help Chopper get control of 'Monster Point' then he should learn to be more versatile with his newer ones that required the Rumble Ball. Naruto didn't feel that he needed to do much of the same since his rabbit form was naturally a lot stronger, faster and more fluent than Chopper was. So all of this was to help his brother catch up, so to speak.

After the next two full years of the continuous training and transformations (With Naruto trying to get Monster Chopper under control by shouting things that sounded familiar, no matter how vague, and avoiding the attacks sent his way) Chopper has actually mastered the ability. He was perfectly coherent when he transformed now and wasn't physically exhausted when he returned to normal. Though he could only be in 'Monster Point' for 3 minutes that seemed like enough time to do some major damage to any opponent. In regards to Chopper's new powers, he no longer required a Rumble Ball to access them and even learned how to use them all in combat. Now he only needed a single Rumble Ball and that was to transform into Monster Point. Though even with all of, Chopper's new abilities that didn't mean that Naruto was left behind at all. In fact, he only seemed to excel at the same pace if not higher in his abilities. While he hasn't mastered his 'Point' abilities to the same degree as Chopper, he felt more at ease fighting with his own skills. At times he would take on hordes of Laphan at a time by himself, instead of with Chopper. Now he could fight an army of them without so much as batting an eye.

He worked on honing his 5 senses even more than what his natural abilities allowed. He would sometimes roam the castle or the woods with a blindfold on, only using his hearing, smell, sense of touch (Including his whiskers), and taste to get "visuals" of where to go and how to get there. This fine-tuned his perception to a razor-sharp point like none would've believed. His physical training got more and more intense depending on how strong his muscles became. So he had to get creative. Instead of the workout that he and Chopper have been doing for five years straight, Naruto would now do twice the amount. It got to a point where he couldn't even stay in the castle to train most of the time. Sometimes he would break a tree down and attempt to bench press it. Even with the enhanced strength from training and from being a rabbit, he could only ever do 50 of them in a row. 100 if he used his legs. Large trees are large trees, no matter how you slice it. Though, he being able to do that was impressive enough. Along with strength came flexibility and agility training, by bounding through the treetops and any other obstacles in the snowy, dense foliage.

He had learned to incorporate these new developments into his unpredictable, lighting fast yet powerful fighting style. Kureha decided to help him out in his struggle to obtain strength herself in the only way she knew how. It was in Robelle when she had asked for two sets of 100-pound dumbbells from a large man who requested her medical assistance. While it was mainly for Naruto she knew that Chopper still liked to train with his rabbit brother when he got the chance to.

Chopper needed to be in his Heavy Point to get a proper workout with the dumbbells, yet having the same thinking as Naruto, if he could keep increasing his base arm strength then his Arm Point would be much more effective in combat. Though Naruto didn't use them on his arms…but his ears. Yes, he was trying to build up power in his long ears. While it sounds comical it's actually a very dangerous thing to consider. Getting smacked by one of Naruto's ears before would feel akin to a wet towel slapping you in the face. Not a pretty experience. Yet it's even more gruesome if the muscles in them were getting just as much development as the rest of his body. So Naruto would just sit in an Indian-style position, his face contorted into a strain with sweat dripping down his face. His ears hung to the sides as the ends were wrapped around the dumbbells lifting the lumps of iron with all of their might until they felt as if they were going to be ripped out of his head. It is safe to say that he could put an indent in solid concrete nowadays, or knock someone out cold. He experimented with a random Laphan when he was attacked by one. They seemed to have made it their personal mission to get him or Chopper whenever the chance presented themselves but their luck has been running dry with the passing of each year.

Finally, as an added bonus for Naruto staying in tune with his animal side for so long, his brain developed to where he can understand animals just as well as people. Chopper could do so automatically since he was a reindeer first and human second. Naruto was the reverse so his brain had to "work" to properly understand the new and very unusual speech patterns animals spoke. A growl could be a sentence, a snort could be a comment or single word, etc. Naruto found this little "secret power" to be handy in its own little way, since any animals that weren't vicious or easily frightened had been able to direct him and Chopper to the locations of several medicinal herb locations. Sure, he could pinpoint the location with his sense of smell but it was a tough job if the snow was heavy or if the herb was buried in an area full of nothing but the stuff. At other times he and Chopper would even have small talk with some, just to pass the time.

All in all, Naruto's life after the death of his father has been nothing but entirely productive. He now felt very confident in his and his big brother's abilities, both as doctors and as fighters. Though they don't go looking for fights, (Since they can curb stomp Laphan these days) they mostly just continue to practice everything they've been taught or self-taught. Naruto still made sure he could make time to visit Hinata in Bighorn, which the lavender-haired girl was very happy about. She was still there to comfort him through any of the tough times that he felt that he was going through and on some rare occasions he would sleep in her room. The idea of it made her blush deeply but it was never with him in the bed. She always had a spare sleeping bag and pillow in her closet for him to use. He only ever slept in his human form, not wanting him to get any fur on it. He would then wake up early while she was still sleeping so that he wouldn't get caught by her parents (Or little sister Hanabi. Something else she told Naruto about years back). He would roll up the sleeping bag, put it in her closet, shift back to rabbit mode and leave out the window while closing it; vanishing into the whiteness.

On other matters, Naruto was currently in his rabbit body, which he is close to always was in these days. Both to follow in Chopper's footsteps, and because the cold did nothing to get through fur that warm. At 12 years old he stood a little bit over the height of others his age, without counting the ears. The main reason why is because of all of the vegetables he's prone to eating. Especially carrots; his rabbit side practically craves the stuff. He even had an entirely different change of wardrobe. Naruto was sporting a plain but sleek black jumpsuit with matching boots. He had brown work gloves covering his hands, a belt around his waist which carried his compact medical bag, and a cozy orange scarf around his neck with white X's on it. He was alone at the moment, wandering around the woods at the base of the mountain for the usual medical herbs or anything of that nature. Kureha and Chopper had headed down to Cocoa Weed to treat some patients, and no doubt exploiting them for most of their profits at the same time.

The three saw fit that Naruto could better use his talents to gather more natural-based supplies. After many hard years of enhancing his skills and abilities, he had no trouble finding anything they needed from the outside, no matter how deep it was under the snow, the stone-like dirt (Which he could dig through with ease), or how treacherous the path. It was ironic that Naruto was quite a bit more in tune with his animal nature than his big brother was, who was an animal, to begin with. He just chalked it up to role-reversal. Chopper was shunned from his herd because of his normal appearance and worked to try to be more human. Naruto, however, found that he was a lot more capable as an animal and worked to try and feed that side of him as much as he could. Not saying that Chopper lost his touch in his natural field, but Naruto was the one who wanted to take his rabbit perks to higher levels, which he successfully had done.

Speaking of which, Naruto stopped walking when he came up with a patch of 5 small trees that were grouped in a semi-circle. With a single quick whiff, he gave a grin revealing his fanged teeth. A trait that was very un-rabbit-like. "Alright! I must've hit the jackpot here!" Going to the center tree he knelt down and began to move away handfuls of snow at an alarming rate. In only seconds the five-inch pile was gone, leaving nearly bare dirt and a mass of light green moss. He took his compact medical bag from his belt and unzipped it, showing a cache of assorted berries, small twigs, and small flowers all in clear bags. Removing another plastic bag, he began to scoop the moss into it. "This stuff is going to be perfect to use as both a healing remedy and a muscle relaxer. And thanks to the snow, it's still perfectly moist. That'll make it a lot easier to break down and mix in with other ingredients."

Once he gathered up all of the moss he zipped the bag closed before tucking it back into his bag. Placing the bag on his belt, he wiped his gloved hands in the wet snow to remove any stray moss from them. Believing that he had enough things to get for the day he left the little patch of trees and into the open, making his way home. At that moment, Naruto's right ear jerked to the side as he picked up movement. Stopping, he turned to see 5 large figures walking out from more trees. Naruto wasn't even surprised that they were Laphan's. After all, he practically encounters them all the time whenever he's on an outing, with the occasional Hiking Bear. At least they were friendly, so Naruto was friendly back. Even had a couple of conversations with a few of them. They were pretty interesting animals, which made it a shame that the humans here didn't really know all that much about them personally.

The Laphan, however, were very much different. Besides being rabid man-eaters in nature they particularly despised Naruto and Chopper. Naruto, more so since he had been using them as training dummies whenever he needed a good work-out. It got so bad to the point where the Laphan would form hordes and wait to ambush the thinner rabbit. Sometimes in the day but usually in the dead of night, hoping that would increase their chances of killing him. No one told them that Naruto used that to his advantage to increase his perception training regimen years back. Now the few that were here were growling loudly, gritting their fangs. Droll dripped from their maws at the thought of finally having the human-rabbit man for lunch.

Naruto rolled his eyes as he sighed. Reaching into his medical bag, he pulled out a fresh carrot before he popped it into his mouth like a cigar. He gave a light stroke to the green, leafy stem before he turned his body to the Laphan's giving them his full attention. "Well look who it is? You guys just never seem to learn, huh? I kick your asses all the time but you keep coming back for more. You're tenacious, I'll give you that." He held up his right gloved-hand, extending the index and middle fingers just as the lead Laphan took charge on all fours. Naruto deduced that this guy was the leader considering that he was twice the size of the other four. Drawing his right arm back he waited until the leader was in range, trying for a swipe of his claws.

"Rabbit Peace!" Like a pistol, Naruto sent his arm shooting forward as it crashed into the Laphan's face. The force of the blow stopped the charge on the spot, as a few fangs were knocked out of his mouth. The strike was also accompanied by a miniature shockwave that sent the Laphan flying from Naruto. He flipped, tumbled, and bounced in rapid succession; falling over his ass multiple times before he crashed into a very large boulder. It was destroyed when the killer bunny's body impacted it, stopping his momentum entirely. His nose was bleeding while swirls were in his eyes. The other four Laphan looked at their downed leader for a moment before roaring and charging at Naruto, thinking they could jump him with their numbers.

Naruto just shrugged to himself before slightly tensing his legs. The four rabbit monsters converged onto Naruto intent on ripping him to shreds. They possibly could've succeeded if he was just standing there…which he wasn't of course. They looked around in confusion, wondering where their smaller, similar-animal-based, nemesis had disappeared to. None of them noticed the shadow overhead that was getting larger and larger by the second. Before they knew it a crash sent three of them flying onto their stomachs and a few feet away from each other. They quickly got up and turned to the source, which happened to be Naruto who was standing atop the fourth Laphan's head. The monster was also out-cold with its face in the snow.

"And he sticks it!" Naruto declared to himself as he struck a 'ta-dah!' pose. "Neat, huh? Wanna see it again?" He looked to the remaining three Laphan, wondering for a second if they were going to ease up but he knew better. He did just take out the leader a minute ago and that didn't deter the group in the slightest. He was proven right a second after when the remaining three charged. Already bored with these guys he decided that he would take them out quickly. Stepping off of the Laphan he was on, he held his carrot in his right thumb, index and middle fingers. His right leg flew up faster than the large animals could see and struck the first one in the chest. The force sent him flying away and crashing through a few trees. The second one went for a slash with his left arm, but Naruto's own left hand shot up, grabbing the arm with too much ease. He lifted the Laphan up, swung him back and sent him crashing into the third one, making him fly. With his grip still holding, he slammed the beast into the one that he was using as a stepping stool. His eyes caught the final one who was flying, and in a burst of snow, he was on the move. To the average person, all they would see was a blur of black and white, dashing over the snow to its target. Naruto removed his right hand from the vegetable and drew his arm back again as it took the previous shape of 'Rabbit Peace'.

"Rabbit Bitch Slap!" He yelled once the Laphan fell to a low enough height and Naruto was at a close enough distance. When the Laphan was about to hit the snow upside-down, head-first, Naruto's hand flew towards it and connected first. Deciding to put some effort into this, Naruto's thick boots easily got a good footing in the snow and allowed him to properly shift his weight. The force of the blow sent a pile of snow around him flying as his arm was thrown skyward. The Laphan gave a loud cry as he spiraled into the air, becoming nothing more than a sparkle to show how far it was going to go.

Getting out of his stance, Naruto took a single bite of the carrot. He grabbed it quickly before he fell while he chewed its contents. He wasn't even slightly winded or exhausted from that little scuffle just now. Honestly, he was getting tired of fighting Laphan's all the time. They were just too easy and it wasn't all that fun anymore. Naruto had the drive to want to push his strength to higher limits if he was able, just as much as his medical knowledge. Though he felt stagnated here on Drum. He hit a block and he didn't think he's improving like he used too. "Guess that's what I get for training too hard. Though now that I think about it, there hasn't been a horde of 'em around today. I'd normally have to fight off 30 of those guys every time I come out here," he shrugged it off, "Eh, whatever. Not my problem. If they finally got the message that fighting me is pointless than that's good for me."

Looking up, he saw the cable that led up to the mountain high above him. With a light hop by his standards, he landed on the wide cable. His ears twitched a few moments later as he saw that a large avalanche started to roar down the mountainside too. "Geez, and not too soon! Who the heck 'caused that thing!? Whoever it was, I'm glad I'm not them." Putting the event in the back of his mind, he began to sprint up the cable back to the mountain where home was.

Hours Later

Naruto was with Kureha. At the moment she was supervising and doing her own work, as he took all of the ingredients he found and was grinding them all down so that they could be properly placed into a special blend. The doctrine herself was in no way normal, even if she was human. Not only is her age pretty absurd at 138, but her body seemed to remain a tiny spec of youth, even though it still couldn't fully escape the passage of time. The only indication of her age was her face, and even then she could still pass as a grandmother. Never mind, great, great, grandmother. Her hair was a grayish color which fell over both shoulders. She had two pairs of glasses on her head, one for reading and the other pair were sunglasses. She wore a tight teal and white belly shirt (Decorated with pink flower petals) with a belly button ring, and purple pants held up by a brown belt, with a pink jagged design on the left leg.

If there was one lesson that Naruto had learned from the woman, it was to never address her age. Else she will send you flying through a wall with a very well placed punch. He would've had the scars to prove it, had it not been for his resilient body. Sometimes his outspokenness will land him in trouble down the road, but that's what Chopper is for. To make sure he doesn't do or say anything rash, like how an older brother should be. Calm and collected when it counts the most, compared to Naruto's headstrong nature. Said animal-human doctor caught their attention when he shouted at them from the outside.

"Doctrine! Naruto! Come here quick! There are some people here who need help!" He screamed in panic.

Alert, they both dropped what they were doing (Carefully, of course) before running out into the courtyard. They found Chopper was in his Brain Point as he usually was. Near him, lying in the snow was three people. Two men and a woman. One of the men who had black hair seemed to be in his mid-teens and was not at all dressed for the weather. He only wore a red vest, shorts, and open-toed sandals. His body was practically frozen over entirely and it seemed that he was nothing but frostbite as his skin was bluish-black. He was going to need very serious treatment immediately. The other slightly older one with blonde hair seemed to be more appropriately dressed yet he housed very severe wounds. His clothes were scuffed and his back was slightly bent at an angle. Then came the orange haired woman. Like the black haired man she seemed to be a teenager as well, however, she was very sickly. Her face showed nothing but a very intense fever as she breathed heavily.

Naruto kneeled next to the woman and lightly lifted her head, supporting it. "Chopper, what the hell is this!? Who are these people!?"

Chopper pointed to the frostbitten guy. "I don't know but I just helped him from falling off the mountain! He climbed all the way up here with the other two all by himself!"

Dr. Kureha nearly gasped but didn't since she wasn't prone to doing so. However, she was most definitely surprised while they boys could hear interest peak in her voice. "He climbed this mountain with his bare hands? That's almost three miles of sheer rock to go up!" He shivered terribly and uncontrollably making the mirth in her features vanish. "His entire body is on the brink of frostbite. What was he thinking dressing like that for such a climb!? Draw some hot water and throw him into it."

Naruto nodded to her as he looked at the guy. "Yeah. No problem."

Chopper was busy observing the other man's wounds. He pulled open his coat and shirt, revealing all of the bloodied scars he had coating his torso. "This guy is bleeding a whole lot," he pressed a hooved hand over a few different places on his chest, "he has six broken ribs and a spinal fissure. Can I operate on him doctrine?"

"Sure. Go ahead. Naruto, the girl." She demanded. Naruto stood and moved from his position to allow the doctrine to get a closer look at the girl herself. "Apparently the most critical of our three patients is this girl. This one's dying." She looked at the rabbit man. "Naruto! Have phenicol, cardiotonic and chialshirin ready for me!"

Naruto rose an eyebrow. "Hm? She has an infection?"

Kureha looked back to the girl. "Yes. And the infection isn't from anywhere on this island."

Before she knew it, the black haired boy's cold and bloody hand grasped at her arm, surprising the three of them. Especially with how he was still conscious after all that he had forced upon himself. Slowly he turned his head to face her, doing his best to speak. It was difficult since his teeth kept chattering audibly, along with many pants of obvious exhaustion.

Kureha gave him a knowing look. "Don't worry boy. I'll make the bleeding kid and the sick girl better. You can rest easy, alright?"

He gave two very hard and loud pants, showing his freezing breath. He gave a shorter one before he managed to form words. "Those two are my f-friends, o-okay!?"

Kureha felt herself give a slight smile at how much heart this boy had. In such a terrible state yet he only cared about those he considered his friends. It reminded her of Naruto a lot, though Chopper had that heart as well when it counted. "I figured that kid, I'll save them so don't worry," she said before she turned towards the other two. "Chopper! Naruto! Let's begin treatment!"

She picked up the girl, making sure to support her head a bit. Chopper entered his Heavy Point and delicately picked up the blonde haired man. Naruto grabbed the black haired kid, just as he passed out from his own injuries and the unforgiving cold that was destroying his body. There was a straw hat a little bit away from him too. Figuring that was this guy's Naruto went and grabbed it before they all headed back to the castle.

It took a while to get them situated for proper care. The two men were taken into one room where Chopper decided to treat them like he asked. Kureha scrounged around a little until she found the perfect type of medicine she needed for the girl. Giving it to Naruto she allowed him to make the antidote himself, whilst overseeing her state of being. It had been a few more hours into the day until the girl had begun to regain consciousness. She was lying under a heavy blanket and a soft bed with a large pack of ice on her forehead. Her first sight was that of a large window to her left, some kind of mask figure on the wall and the stone ceiling.

She heard the sound of something, akin to a plate or bowl, being placed on a table. What followed was grinding sounds, making her turn her head the right. Her vision was slightly blurry though she could make out a pretty tall person wearing a lot of black. Though…was that white fur covering his head? And a fluffy tail? And long ears? She blinked in confusion as her vision fully cleared, just as the animal-person turned around allowing her to see his face. He looked like a…rabbit. A rabbit with a human body. A carrot hung from his mouth while his eyes were a very interesting shade of crystal blue. She sat up on her bed and pulled the covers down a bit.

She spoke in a weak voice. "Hello?"

The rabbit man grinned a bit, showing off his very unnerving fangs as he took a few steps over to her. She didn't freak out though. Mainly because she didn't have the energy to do so and this honestly wasn't the strangest of things she had seen. A hand holding the middle area of the carrot, the rabbit spoke in the voice of a young boy. "Cool! You're finally awake. So how's your fever doing?"

"IT'S TALKING!" She nearly screeched, somehow with her slightly agitated throat. Naruto's ears flattened against his head, feeling as though they were ringing. Damn super sensitive hearing.

"Jeez! You don't gotta shout!" His ears lifted up as he began to pick his right one from irritation. "Yeah, I can talk. So what? You're saying animals can't talk?"

She blinked a bit before she composed herself, not expecting to be having a conversation with a rabbit. "Oh. Uh, sorry. You just caught me off guard, is all. I mean I've never seen a talking animal with the body of a person. It's honestly kinda weird."

Naruto blinked himself giving her a dull look. He kept it up for a bit unnerving Nami before he took a bite out of his carrot. Chewing it a bit he swallowed and spoke. "Well…I have a rabbit tail and I have rabbit feet if that counts. Anyway, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Who are you lady and how's your fever?"

"Well…I'm Nami and...My fever? Um…well I feel better, that's for sure.

When she heard a slightly sinister sounding chortle she turned her head around to see Kureha standing there, a bottle of her favorite plum sake in her right hand. "Well your fever seems to have gone down, that's for sure," she grinned, "You happy?"

Naruto took a bite out of his carrot and looked at her. "What's up doc? See you're breaking in some of the spoils from Cocoa Weed."

She gave a chuckle as she walked over to Nami. "When am I not?" She pressed a finger to the younger woman's forehead and gave a 'Hmph' before swinging her head back and taking a multitude of swigs.

"Who are you?" Nami asked. Seeing that the doctrine was busy indulging herself Naruto decided to answer.

"This is Dr. Kureha. The last remaining doctor in Drum Island. Also known as the "Witchdoctor" by everyone else."

Just as he was finished explained Kureha finished drinking for the moment and gave a content sigh. "Yes, it's gone down several degrees, should be alright."

"But if you're the doctor," Nami started as she looked around the room, "then that means we're on-"

"Looking for how I stay so young?" Kureha interrupted while trying to strike a 'sexy' pose. Naruto sweatdropped as he leaned back a little, waving his hand in front of his face.

'No one is gonna ask you that. Ever.' He thought to himself.

She glances at him with a slight gleam in her eyes. "Got something you wanna say, brat?"

Naruto's fur stood on end before he went back to making more medicine. "Nope! Just doing my own thing over here is all!"

"N-no. That's no it." Nami said to Kureha, very clueless about the doctrine's previous antics. The fire crackled heating up the room to warm temperature. Naruto figured that he would go back to making a bit more medicine for Nami and something that could help ease the pain more, thanks to that moss that he picked up from earlier. While he was doing that Kureha took another swig from her bottle, wiping her wrinkled mouth with the same arm.

"Anyway…yes, you're in the castle on the mountain."

"In that case, there were two other people who showed up here with me, weren't there?"

"Yeah, they're sleeping in the next room, very deeply. Two real tough guys." Kureha said as she sat on the bed beside her. Naruto scooped the contents of what he was making into a small wooden bowl. Adding some water to make it moist, he placed a spoon inside. Walking over to Nami he presented it to her. When she looked at it, she only saw a light, greenish-blue slop with a slight tangy scent.

"Here. This should ease up any head trauma and relax your muscles. I also added blueberries and a banana so it doesn't taste like total crap." She took the bowl in both hands, staring at what she was supposed to consume. Blinking she took a spoonful and ate some. She shivered at how it tasted like raw spinach but did catch that fruity aftertaste, which wasn't too bad. It was pretty good even.

"Thank you." She said.

"No problem," Naruto responded.

Kureha lifted Nami's shirt to show her belly. There were some purple splotches on it. "This is what caused your sickness."

"Really?" Nami questioned.

Kureha continued. "You were bitten by a bug called the Kestia. It's a poisonous tick that thrives in jungles with high heat and humidity. When it bites you it produces a type of bacteria into your body. These bacteria lay dormant for 5 days, causing severe pain. It causes a high fever, severe infection, mild carditis, and arthritis. Not pleasant. Given the infection's progression in the infected area, I'd guess you'd been infected for about 3 days now. The pain you'd been feeling must've been terrible, but still, it would've eased up in 2 more days without any treatment at all."

Nami seemed confused by that. This disease was as horrible as Kureha explained it to be, which she would know. These past three days had been so terrible she felt as if she would've died at any moment. She couldn't help but ask, "It would've gone away in 2 days?"

Naruto and Kureha gave grins, unnerving Nami. Naruto momentarily pulled his carrot from his mouth. "Yeah. It would've done its job by then…caused you'd have kicked the bucket by then lady. Good thing you got super lucky, huh?" Naruto said, placing the vegetable between his fangs once more and crossing his arms. Nami gasped in shock about how close to death that she had become. So close that she couldn't even believe it. Part of her wondered what would've happened if they didn't make it to the top of the mountain. "It's called the 'Five Day Disease'. You should be thankful to the doctrine more than you realize. We thought that it died out 100 years ago but she still keeps the anti-biotic for it around, just in case. Ha! Were you walking around some kinda old jungle with your stomach out or something!?"

They both gave their own laughs, with Naruto's being boisterous and Kureha's sounding like a witch's cackle. Kureha sighed. "No, that's just ridiculous."

Nami gave a simple deadpan looked. "Uhhh…."

The two looked at her in confusion before giving their own deadpan expression.

"Does this situation sound familiar to you at all? What a crazy girl you are then." Kureha said with her hands on her hips.

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "More like stupid."

Nami growled at him. "Hey! How was I supposed to know about some kinda century-old killer disease!?"

Kureha then pushed Nami back down, before saying how she needs to rest so the medicine can properly work. While it'd normally take 10 days for anyone with this disease to heal because Kureha has such advanced medicine Nami had 3 days at the most for her to be back in her usual shape. Nami tried to protest afterward saying she didn't have time to waste since she and her friends had to get a person called Vivi to Alabasta. Kureha pushed her back down, held a very sharp scalpel to her neck and threatened her to stay. Either, Nami and her friends would leave here fully healed or dead, Kureha declared and or threatened. Naruto couldn't help but roll his blue eyes at the doctor's scare tactics. With the way she both looks and acts, was it really that hard to believe that she would let a person die by themselves or even induce her own injury to them if it meant to save them? He just hoped that Nami would listen to her crazy advice and do nothing for the next few days.

His ears twitched again as he heard Chopper beginning to panic, making him turn his head to the doorway. "What the-"

"AAAAAGGGHHHHH! SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEEE!" Before the three of them knew it Chopper came barreling in (Knocking over many things in the process) with those two guys hanging onto him for dear life. And Naruto really didn't like the looks that they had in their eyes.

"HOLD ON, MEAT!" The one with black hair said, trying to take a bite out of Chopper's arm before believing that wasn't enough and then trying to put practically all of him inside.

"Hold on Luffy, let me cook this guy up first!" Said the one with blonde hair, holding onto the other arm. Chopper ran out of the doorway, screaming bloody murder as his voice faded out. He then ran back in through the door in the back of the room, yet Luffy had gotten off of Chopper at that moment. He walked backward and looked at Nami.

"Nami!" He said.

"Nami, dear!" The other said, skipping over.

"You look like you're all better!" Luffy said, wearing a big smile.

"Getting there, thanks," Nami said, having sat up and looked at them. The blonde haired guy placed his left hand on his right bicep.

"Right! One tasty venison dish for Nami coming up!"

Naruto's eyes twitched as they took on a cartoon-ish white. A few tick marks were appearing over his head as he very much didn't appreciate how these idiots were trying to eat his brother alive. He found that Chopper was trying to escape the two of them by sneaking away but they turned to face him. He gasped, slowly looking back to face them. They held looks of hunger in their eyes as they jumped for him.

"COME BACK!"

"WAAAAGGGHHHH! NARUTOOOOOO, HELP MEEEE!"

The rabbit in question growled as both hands extended both index and middle fingers. "CUT IT OUT, YA' DAMN IDIOTS! DOUBLE RABBIT PEACE!" Before they knew it, their heads were embedded in the concrete as smoking trails left them skulls. Their lower half's were stuck in the air, while their bodies twitched. Naruto, still with anime-white eyes, had his own trails of smoke leaving his gloves from the amount of power that he put into those attacks. "TRY TO EAT MY BROTHER AGAIN AND I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'RE HURTING MORE THAN YOU'RE HEALED!"

"NARUTOOOO!" Chopper jumped into his little brother's arms with streams of tears coming from his eyes. The only thing coming from his mouth were sobs and incoherent babbling about how he wasn't food and that he didn't taste good. There were some thanks mixed in there too for stopping the crazy men, while Nami just gave a big sweatdrop at the very unusual sight. Kureha took another swig of her sake.

"Naruto, try to make sure you don't bang them up even more? That would defeat the purpose of them being treated, wouldn't it?" She said with a knowing grin. Naruto huffed and glared at the two, who were giving muffled groans under the concrete.

"I'm not gonna make any promise, doctrine. That's their fault."

"Right, right," she looked to Nami, "You better make sure that your friends know about staying in line, or they're going to get more of Naruto's special treatment. I assure you it's not at all pleasant."

Nami placed a hand to her forehead and sighed. "I see. I don't know if I can ever keep them in line on a normal basis…but I'm sure they'll get the message if that's what they're expecting each time they do this."

Naruto glared at her. "Good! I want them to try that again! See where it gets them!"


Jesus, I thought this was never going to get done. Anyway, there it is. The 1st chapter, though I REALLY wanted to do the part where Naruto and Chopper fight Wapol's two lackeys. And of course, Luffy fights Wapol since it's a symbolic fight and everything. But I just couldn't squeeze it in. If I tried then this chapter would be TOO damn long, and I didn't even expect to break over 19,000 words by NOT getting there. Thought that I could do it but I guess that's what I get for overestimating how much I write. I should've known I couldn't. Anyway, like I said before, this is a joint story between me and mellra. So, I released this chapter….he'll be working on the second one. Then I'll be working on the third and so on. Though we will also be collabing on a chapter from time to time. Might really be able to get pretty far if we do things like this.

As per any questions you have about Naruto and Chopper's power-levels (NOT DBZ, Abridged or otherwise) then I think I can answer a few off the bat. YES! Chopper is WAY stronger initially then he is in canon. Meaning that not only can he use ALL of the available Points he used in Part One with no Rumble Ball, it was taken a step further to give him the benefit of controlling 'Monster Point'. Same as he does after the 2 Year time-skip. Not only that, because of Naruto edging him on, day after day about physical training along with their medical skills, he's an even more capable hand-to-hand fighter. Meaning that a lot of his opponents can be owned with 'Heavy Point' alone, since he not only just has the brute strength of that Point to work with. He's faster, agiler AND 'Heavy Point' is even stronger. Things like 'Arm Point' and 'Jumping Point' are enhanced as well. With 'Arm Point' he could easily punch through solid iron and 'Jumping Point' can be used for kicking attacks this time. 'Guard Point' can allow him to tank cannonballs or other heavy-hitting things a lot better than normal.

Thanks to helping Naruto with fighting many Laphan's all the time, he is even capable of fighting through hordes of enemies and is not SO much of a coward anymore BECAUSE he's strong. So, he won't be part of the "Weakling Trio" with Nami and Usopp...a good portion of the time. Things like ghosts and such DO still scare him. Hell, ghosts scare Naruto, too. BUT he IS still Chopper and Chopper has not changed personality-wise as you have seen with Luffy and Sanji. He is still gullible, can still be frightened if the threat is high or spooky, and he loves cotton candy. But Naruto just brought out the capable side of him, which will be lot more of an asset in the future. Example? Enies Lobby rolls around, he'll dominate Kumadori. Seriously, it'll practically be no contest.

And I'm sure that if you knew Naruto, then he'd do anything to get stronger. Especially if he has a reason to want it. And since he and Chopper are so close, is it THAT hard to believe he'd persuade Chopper to train as hard as him? Not really and it's most definitely going to pay off. (It was all mellra's idea though. I won't take credit.) For Naruto, he'd already be very strong because rabbits have VERY strong limbs...or at least strong legs, heh. But Naruto's been working on his arms and ears as well. Now pile training in a bunch of varying ways for years on end, every day on top of that and yes…he can bench press a tree and send a Lahpan flying into the sky with a single attack. That's the benefit of all that One Punch Man training while NOT being able to down all of his enemies in a single punch. The training was more of a gag if anything. And his jumping prowess? He could jump up Drum Mountain in nothing short of a good amount of full-strength hops. Just a few minutes later and he'd reach the top. Now if you remember, Naruto does have his own Points, yet he needs a Rumble Ball to use them and he has no Monster Point to speak of. However, he does keep Rumble Balls just in case he ever needs them, but he feels more comfortable fighting with his natural abilities.

Hope that helps some. No doubt we'll get more of those sweet questions, so we'll answer them as best we can.