Gusts of wind and thunder roared as bolts of lightening crashed. A kitsune ran through the forest, a small streak of wet fur. Another bold of lightening flashed and the kitsune squeaked; surprised. The kitsune crouched, frozen in fear. His usually shining golden fur was soaked to his tanned skin and a dull red.

Searching frantically in vain, the kitsune ran. 'Home' was all that rang in his one track mind. He had to get home. A fierce determination was all that was driving the small fox. But the sea was miles away! How could he to Umigakure before they did? No! He would not doubt his abilities! He was strong enough to take on all of those humans! The kitsune squinted his eyes and his paws clawed at the ground to push him farther.

Though this is what he thought, one puny demon was not enough to take on all of those humans. But the thought drove him on.

After what seemed like hours of nonstop running, the rain was letting up a bit and the thunder had ceased. The kitsune lifted his head to sniff the air. The air was salty; he was almost there! He turned to his left and spotted a familiar tree. It had a primitive carving of waves and a shore beside it. It was a stop point for demons on missions to store their clothes.

Then it was safe.

The kitsune stopped under the special tree and took three deep breaths. Did he have enough energy to? He would try, though.

The kitsune's damp fur receded into flesh, and damp blonde tufts of hair appeared on his head, his paws grew fingers and toes, he grew taller, and his face turned human-like. The only thing that didn't change was his tail, whiskers, and fox ears. He stayed in crouching position and stretched animalistically, mewling softly out of habit.

"Ah, I had the energy, then." He gave a goofy grin and stood. He was glad that he was alone on this mission as he 'revealed' himself. He reached into the tree and pulled out a black shirt, jeans, and boxers. He changed into them quickly and set off.

After half an hour of walking, he spotted a girl sitting alone on a rock. She had long black hair that shone like silk and a grey seals tail. She didn't seem to have any ears.

"Naussica!" he called. The girl called Naussica turned at her name and a mixture of surprise and relief washed over her face. She waved back. "You're back so soon, Naruto?!" she called.

Naruto jogged happily to his friend, Naussica. As he reached her his smile disappeared and it was replaced with a concerned look.



"I need to see Granny Tsunade."

Naussica's smile faded and she lowered her hand. "About your mission, right?" she asked rhetorically. Naruto nodded. She sighed. "She should be at the tower."

Naruto thanked her and walked up the hill. He stopped at the top and looked down at the village by the sea. His tail swooped from side to side.

This was his foster home, Umigakure. Naruto was chased out from his old village, Konohagakure, when they realized that he was from demon heritage.

FLASH BACK

"What the Hell is that thing?!"

Naruto stood, confused, on the side of the street as people threw disgusted looks at him. What was going on?

Naruto looked down in shame and gasped. There was a fox behind him! He jumped in surprise and the villagers got the wrong idea, thinking he was wild.

"It tried to attack us!"

Naruto looked disbelieving and even more confused seeing that there was no fox behind him. He felt something sweep against his leg and he stiffened. He didn't move or avert his eyes. He only moved his right arm to grip the small fluffy tail curling around his leg. He yanked.

He yowled in pain and the villagers jumped in surprise and some even yelled at him. He also noticed that the villagers had odd things of flesh sticking out of the side of their heads. Were those supposed to be ears?

'Am I that different?' Naruto thought to himself. 'Am I monster then?'

Naruto opened his mouth to talk when a small child around his age, probably six, turned the corner to see the villagers ganging up on him. The child ran up and was the only one who actually got close enough to reach out and touch Naruto. But he turned around to face the villagers and splayed his arms out protectively.

Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed that the boy had a wolf's tail. And he didn't have the same ears as the others, either. Instead, his raven wolf ears camouflaged in his hair.

The villagers were too taken aback too respond and the boy turned to Naruto and quickly grabbed him 

by the sleeve. Naruto was so confused that he didn't object to getting away. The boy dragged Naruto as far as outside the Konoha gates and turned to the blonde kitsune. Naruto saw that the boy had onyx eyes and that he didn't smile much, either. His skin was pale and his raven hair stuck up in the back.

"What were you doing back there, dobe?" he finally spoke.

"What did you call me?!" Naruto shot, taken aback at the sudden rudeness from his savior.

"Dobe." The boy said slowly, as if Naruto didn't hear him. "What were you doing back there?" he repeated. "You should know we can't go out and be that open about it." He put an emphasis on his 'it.'

"What do you mean?" Naruto cocked his head.

The boy analyzed Naruto up and down and Naruto felt uncomfortable. The raven wolf boy raised his eyebrows.

"Ah, I see," he said, talking to himself out loud. "You're new, aren't you?"

"Ne?"

FLASH BACK OVER

Naruto ran down the hill and hopped the last few steps to the giant blue-green gates looming over the village. He looked up at the guards.

"Takeru! Hana! Open up!"

The guards looked down at Naruto, excited. "Hey, Naruto's back! Go ahead!" Naruto took a couple steps until he heard his name being called.

He turned to see a raven wolf. As it was running, its fur receded into flesh. By the time it reached Naruto, another demon stood. He had raven hair that stuck up in the back, his skin was pale, and had wolf ears and tail.

"'Morning, Sasuke." Naruto greeted cheerfully.

Sasuke just stretched and yawned without reply. He straightened up and uttered his usual, "Hn." He looked at Naruto. "When did you get back?" he inquired.

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly. "Just now. How was your half of the mission?"

Sasuke's face fell. Naruto immediately understood. "The old toad was right about Konohagakure. What 

about Sunigakure?" Naruto asked.

"Same there as well," Sasuke answered bluntly.

Naruto bit his lip until he drew blood. So the old toad, Jiraiya, was right. The two villages had banded together to attack Umigakure, the demon village. Naruto guessed that the humans had put up with them long enough.

He smiled and suddenly grabbed Sasuke's sleeve and ran down the road, dragging Sasuke along with him.

"Naruto, let me go!" Sasuke demanded angrily.

"We have to find Granny Tsunade!" Naruto replied without looking at him, still dragging Sasuke. "The guards said that she was in her tower, but I'll bet anything she's at that gambling place!"

Sasuke finally wrenched himself from Naruto's grip but followed anyway.

Sure enough, when they arrived there, they found a woman with at least eight bottles of alcohol at her table in front of a machine. She had her blonde hair in pigtails and a jacket with the symbol for 'gamble' on her back. She looked in her late twenties or early thirties, but she was actually in her sixties. Her lion ears were poked up in concentration and her tail swung back and forth unconsciously.

Next to her was another woman younger than her. She had short and straight black hair and worried onyx eyes. She held a pet pig that wore a jacket. She seemed to be berating the older woman.

"Lady Tsunade, you should be doing paperwork and you have that bill to sign!"

The pig seemed to agree with Shizune and replied with an, "Oi, Oi."

"Yeah, yeah…" Tsunade waved them off without even looking away from her machine. She noticed Naruto and Sasuke in her side vision at the door.

Ten minutes later Tsunade sat in her Mizukage chair with Shizune standing beside her.

"Report!" The Hokage bellowed.

Sasuke stepped forward and began. "They wish to infiltrate Umigakure by force and number. Attack date is unknown. They seem dull-witted, too. The estimate of the attack would be sometime this month." Sasuke stepped back to allow Naruto give his information.

"It's pretty much the same thing from Konoha," Naruto said, bored.


Tsunade growled. "They wish to kill my villagers? My family?" Her growling was louder. "They will have to rip through me to get at them!" She pounded loudly on her desk.

"That's being irrational, Lady Tsunade!" Shizune disapproved loudly.

"She's right, Granny Tsunade." Naruto gave a toothy grin. "They'll have to get through all of us!"

"We'll give them scars they'll never forget!" Sasuke added.

Tsunade didn't reply until she smiled.

"Right!"