Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

Unfortunately I don't own Naruto.

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Chapter 1: Hensei

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Angry tears flowed freely out of her eyes as she threw another kunai at the practice dummy. Sasuke had left and Naruto had failed to bring him back even with the help of Neji, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba and Akamaru. Even Lee, despite his injuries had tried to help out and what had she done…nothing.

'What in the world was I thinking!? He was standing right in front of me and instead of fighting him if he would leave I threatened to scream!? What kind of a kunoichi am I!?'

Three more kunais ripped the dummy into pieces, just like the other twenty one practice dummies she had destroyed.

'Stupid Sasuke… How could he just leave me and Naruto like that!?'

She walked up to a tree, unknowingly gathering some chakra in her fist. She let her anger out on the tree. Punching it with all her might. The chakra enforced punch caused the tree to collapse, she felt splinters dig into her skin but she just couldn't care less.

Naruto had left four months ago to train with Jiraiya. And Sakura, she still hadn't even found herself someone who could make her strong.

'Why am I always so weak!? Always watching as others do all the fighting.'

She walked up to a boulder, this time aware that she was building up chakra in her still bleeding fist. When she had gathered as much chakra as she could she swung her fist and let it collide with the boulder. The sickening crack of her knuckles breaking was heard, however the sound was rather small compared to the noise of the boulder being reduced to a large pile of rocks.

Sakura looked at her hand. The skin was shaved of when she hit the rough surface of the boulder and she could even see white bone penetrating through her flesh. She ignored the screaming pain as she now used her other hand to gather chakra and curled it into a fist.

She slammed her fist into the ground, once again breaking her knuckles. The strength of her chakra enforced punch caused the ground to split open and create a small earthquake. Sakura's legs began to shake as the pain finally got to her. She was completely covered in dirt and her hands were throbbing with pain. She lifted her head as footsteps were heard in the forest in the now destroyed training area.

A large wolf about the size of a horse calmly walked up to her. It was definitely no ordinary wolf; its fur had a crystallized blue colour and made the dark blue markings stand out in the gentle light of the full moon. One of the markings stood out to Sakura, the dark blue circle with the shape of a flower in it on the wolf's forehead.

The wolf stilled in his movements when he was about one metre away from her and regarded her with his silvery eyes.

"That was an interesting performance."

Sakura was breathing heavily from exhaustion. She sure had gone beyond her limits today. Still she eyed the wolf wearily, that it could talk disturbed her greatly. "W-who are y-you?"

"My name is Hanabusa."

"O-okay." He didn't seem like he was planning to harm her. "A-and w-what are you?"

She could only hope he wasn't insulted by that question. But the wolf smirk that appeared on his face had no ill intent.

"It is rather rare that a human does not try to run away from me. It is even rarer that they ask questions instead of trying to kill me."

"You gave me n-no reason to kill you. And besides I wouldn't get very far if I were to run in my current condition."

"True."

"Then why are you here?"

She had finally managed to get her breathing under control. She watched as the wolf, Hanabusa observed her with his deep silver eyes.

"Have you ever heard of Inugamis?"

"Inugamis… Yeah, my mom used to tell me bedtime stories about them."

"I am one of them."

"N-nani!?"

Sure she had known this was no ordinary wolf, but an inugami? The wolf's hard stare softened at the look of confusion written all over her face.

"Inugamis exist. And I want you to become one of them."

"What… but how? Why?"

"A lot of inugamis started out as humans. You have just shown me that you have the potential to become an inugami."

Sakura let out a dry laugh. "Potential, me?"

"Look around yourself. You have completely changed our surroundings with nothing more than chakra and your bare hands. I can tell that you want to prove that you are not weak, that you can take care of yourself and others. It is that kind of determination that I am looking for."

"How do you know so much about me?"

"There are several ranks of inugami. The lowest rank is Guardian then comes Whisperer, Canine Warrior, Silver Fang and then the highest rank, Alpha. There is only one Alpha inugami, me. The first inugami to ever be born. I have power that matches a god, which allows me to have knowledge on every single being.

I am the only inugami that is a god, all other inugami are considered divine beings."

The markings on Hanabusa's body began to glow as he walked closer to her.

"But when a human is turned into an inugami they need an owner. I wonder who is destined to be your owner, Sakura."

Hanabusa pressed his black dog nose against her forehead. Sakura felt a soothing warmth run through her body, then everything went black.

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Sakura woke up with a content feeling; she hadn't slept that well in months. She blinked as she noticed her surroundings, a destroyed training ground. The sky was painted with pink and light blue hues; it was still very early in the morning. And why did everything look so big?

Suddenly she remembered why the area had such a big crater. Her chakra punches, which had also destroyed her hands. She immediately turned her gaze to her hands. But instead of bloody hands her eyes met a pair of snow white paws!

Finally all memories of last night returned. Had that wolf, Hanabusa really turned her into an inugami?! Maybe he had healed her hands when he did that. She looked behind herself and noticed that she had become a canine. Her fur was white and just like Hanabusa she had markings all over, but instead of dark blue, her markings were black with thin lines of mint green. She stared at her bushy white tail for a long time. So Hanabusa had spoken the truth when he said he wanted her to become an inugami. But then why did everything around her look so… big? Suddenly realization downed upon her.

"I am a puppy!?"

Her words came out as barks. But Sakura didn't even notice that, in her mind she was to busy asking herself questions. Was she going to be a dog forever? No, if the stories her mom used to tell her were true then inugamis had a human and a dog form. Was she going to be a puppy forever? And how would she get her human form again? And who was the owner Hanabusa spoke about? Would it be Kakashi-sensei or Ino or… Oh please don't let it be Ino!!

Footsteps were heard across the clearing, Sakura swiftly turned around and her eyes met a pair of sea foam eyes that belonged to none other than Sabaku no Gaara.

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Gaara had no idea why he even walked this way but somehow he had the feeling that he had to go here, it was as if something was calling to him. When he arrived at the destroyed training ground he was met with a pair of emerald eyes that belonged to a young wolf.

The wolf had unblemished white fur with black markings that had thin mint green lines in them, the wolf's tail was a bit long compared to it's body and the tip of its left ear was pastel pink. But the wolf's eyes really got his attention, he was sure he had seen them before. Gaara's eyes widened. The kunoichi on Naruto's team, what was her name again…

"Sakura."

The wolf's ears twitched as he said her name and then barked in response. Gaara had no idea what to do now. Was this an illusion?

"It's not an illusion boy, get closer."

"Shukaku. Why would you want to get closer?"

"I've lived for hundreds of years but I've never seen an inugami. So curiosity I guess."

Inugami? Gaara walked closer to the strange looking animal, it made no move to run so he took that as a good sign. He kneeled down in front of the puppy.

"Well what are you waiting for!? Pet her!"

"Pet her? The homicidal demon that is sealed inside of me wants me to pet a dog!?"

The demon clearly didn't feel like answering as sand wrapped itself around Gaara's wrist and forcefully brought his hand closer to the little inugami.

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Sakura watched warily as Gaara's hand came closer. Sure she had noticed that sand was swirling around his wrist, but something told her he wasn't the one controlling it. She guessed it was Shukaku, and if she was right about that then running could be a fatal mistake. Finally Gaara's hand touched her forehead.

She felt a jolt of electricity and immediately jumped back. Using her paw to rub the stinging spot on her forehead she looked at Gaara. He had pulled his hand back as well and was now rubbing it with his other hand.

Gaara stood up with a frown on his face, Sakura could feel a small amount of fear run through her body. She could only hope he wasn't angry at her. But he just turned around and walked away.

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Gaara was still holding his stinging hand while he walked away.

"Stupid demon."

"What, how would I know that would happen?"

"Haven't you gained any knowledge in those hundreds of years that you were alive?"

"Watch your words kid!"

Suddenly he felt a tug at his still stinging hand and heard a small thud behind him; he turned around and noticed that the puppy lay on the ground with a surprised look.

He narrowed his eyes; a string of chakra was wrapped around its neck like a collar. From the chakra collar he could only barely see the chakra string that led to his hand. His eyes widened, he and this puppy were bound together!

He had to go to the hokage with this. He began walking again, ignoring the barking coming from the small wolf.

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Tsunade looked up from the paperwork as the redheaded sand nin walked into the office, followed by a puppy?

"Here are the documents of the elders of Sunagakure."

A scroll was dropped on her table but Tsunade didn't even notice anymore. She stared at the small wolf in amazement.

"Gaara, where did you find this inugami?"

Both Gaara and the wolf blinked at her. Of course Gaara was the first to speak.

"A training ground here in Konoha, we somehow got bound together by a chakra string."

Tsunade shot Gaara an amused smirk. "The only way a human and an inugami can be bound together is when the human pets the inugami. The great Sabaku no Gaara, demon of the sand was petting a puppy!"

Gaara scowled, causing Tsunade to laugh out loud. While she still had her laughing fit she took something out of her desk. A large silver bell with red ribbons attached to it.

The bell began to tinkle, Tsunade let go of the bell and let it float in midair. The bell kept making tinkling noises and then suddenly flew towards Sakura.

Sakura only had the time to let out a startled yelp before the bell collided with her small furry body. Strangely enough there was no impact but the bell disappeared in a sparkle of light. Sakura blinked and looked around herself.

A soft swirl of pink light surrounded her body. It looked strange but it didn't seem dangerous. A few leaves seemed to mix with the swirl of light. A flash temporarily blinded Sakura. When she opened her eyes again she felt happiness and relief wash over her.

She could see her legs, arms, she was human again! Her happiness was only short lived as she noticed that she was naked! In front of Gaara! She yelped and quickly hid behind a bookcase.

Tsunade began laughing again while Gaara looked like he had just seen a ghost. Sakura growled a little, Tsunade may be hokage but this wasn't funny.

"This is not funny Tsunade-sama!"

The older woman let out one last giggle. "I think it is. Watching this makes me understand what it must've looked like when I got my inugami."

That got both Gaara's and Sakura's attention. Tsunade took of her haori and threw it at Sakura who gratefully wrapped it around her body and stepped out from behind the bookcase, not making eye contact with Gaara. He had seen her naked! How was she ever going to live this down?

Gaara had apparently already recovered from his shock and turned his full attention to Tsunade.

"Your inugami?"

"Yes, I got mine when I was twenty four years old, his name was Dan. He died during the last Great Ninja War, when we were both twenty seven years old."

The room was quiet for a moment then Sakura broke the silence. "Do you have any information that could help me, Tsunade-sama?"

"I do. But first look behind you Sakura."

She did as she was told; her eyes grew as big as saucers. She had a tail! A large, bushy white tail with a few black and mint green markings!

"Nani!?"

"You should see this too."

Tsunade guided her to a mirror; Sakura looked at her reflection with wide eyes. She had a pair of white dog ears as well, but the tip of her left ear was the same pink as her hair. The dog ears were just above her human ears. Great! She had four ears!

She turned around. Gaara was staring at her with a stoic expression. Sakura quickly averted her eyes. What was going on with her? Tsunade looked at the two standing in her office.

"Sakura, when you were in your inugami form you had markings on your body, the marking on your forehead was a circle. That means that you're a Silver Fang."

Sakura's eyes went wide once again. Gaara growled a bit, he didn't seem to know what they were talking about.

"Silver Fang?"

Tsunade nodded. "There are five ranks of inugami. The lowest rank is Guardian, they have a swirl on their forehead. Then comes Whisperer, those are the inugami with a triangle on their forehead. After that comes the Canine Warrior, with a crescent moon on their forehead. The Silver Fang, with a circle on their forehead. They are extremely rare and the strongest inugami you can find. Because there is only one Alpha, a god, he only ever appears to inugamis and inugami owners. He has a circle with a flower pattern on his forehead."

Gaara nodded at the information. "Then what about the inugami owners you mentioned?"

Tsunade smirked. "Every inugami that wasn't born an inugami needs an owner. Usually the first person to touch a newly turned inugami becomes their owner and they are temporarily bound together by a chakra string."

Sakura looked at the hokage with a horrified expression. "Tsunade-sama, you mean…"

"Yes Sakura, you are now the property of Sabaku no Gaara."

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End of chapter 1.

Chapter title: Hensei- metamorphosis

INNER ME: Please review!