Howling Wolf
By Shadow Itachi SU
Chapter 1
Dark Day
S I/N (SIN): Ah yes, another, Hashi Leo story^^ With her wolves, yay!
Growling with anticipation, it's white pelt shift in the light breeze, it's maw hanging open, ready to attack. Finally it's target is in sight after two minutes of waiting in utter silences, it watched the woman with long brown hair, with her bangs hanging over her right eye, the other is brown, she wore a green vest, with a long dark blue sleeve shirt, and dark blue pants. A hostler at her left leg, and another on her right, her hair was tied, and she stepped light. But not light enough for this creature to easily detect her, it gave a soft growl as it waited for it's pray to come closer to it.
It watched in silence, waiting for the other to give a signal, the breeze ruffled it's russet fur, it's amber eye watched, it sat in a crouching position, watching the woman as well, it seen that she had a Kunai in her right hand, keeping it hidden from it's white companion.
Shifting it's paws from left to right, ready to strike, it watched the woman's back, watching, waiting for the signal from the white pelted creature that was on her left, and waited for the russet one to pounce out on it's hiding place. It's pelt lifted some allowing it's grayish black hairs to stand on end, the woman stopped to take in it's surroundings; Forget it, you won't find us, the gray maw moved slightly, mouthing out it's own thoughts.
She watched her surroundings, waiting for something to come out and attack, possibly the white furred creature, then the russet, then the gray, she seen nothing, she smiled slightly, but it disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. She looked up, seeing the green leaves fluttering in the wind, she listened to it listened to the trees talking, she learned from her three wolves that the trees can talk, weather there was such a light breeze, or a gust of wind. Look, behind, us, she heard them whisper, she wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, or if they really talked. A few more minutes passed, just listening to the light breeze, then, something attacked. The white creature moved fast, aiming for the arm so it could try to pin the woman down. Next reddish brown fur shot out, then a gray fluff sprang into action, she moved out of their way easily, but was tacked down by the flash of gray.
"Very good, your all getting better," she spoke, a smile on her lips.
"Your going easy on us!" the russet one whined.
"Hush," the gray one barked, "We are not yet trained to take her down at her full force."
"Yes, just keeping quiet is more difficult then attacking her," the white one spoke.
"Don't worry," she said to the three, "You wolves have lots of time to practice," she smiled at them.
"Yes, Leo no Danna," the three said bowing their heads to her. She smiled down at them, then she heard something from the distance.
"Something is coming, battle positions," she said and stood to face the intruder. She noted the features of the person, or persons, since she sees two of them, rice hats with white strips of paper coming from them, black cloaks with blood red clouds on them, a tall one, and a shorter one. "That's new," she said to herself. She watched them as they got closer, the small one looked like it was crouching, almost as if it was going to attack or something; This should be fun, she thought with a slight smile. She looked to her sides and noticed that the wolves have disappeared into the trees; Perfect, she smiled and looked up to the two approaching her.
She seen that the tall one was motioning to his shoulder, she turned her head to her left and seen a giant white spider; GROSS! She thought in almost panicking. She took it off her shoulder and started petting it, smiling "Aren't you the creepiest thing I have ever seen, yes you are," she said sweetly, smiling; I 'Hate' bugs! Even spiders! She thought still smiling and petting the thing. After that she placed it on the ground and stepped away from it, hoping it would get the gesture and leave her alone. It did, it walked over to the tall one, whom was now closer, and stopped a good distance away from her. She looked up at both of them, watching what they will do outside she was calm, and collective, on the inside of her mind she was like; Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! That thing touched me, it's eight legs, oh my goodness it was so huge! Ah!
"Who are you?" the small one called to her his voice rough, and sounded almost shallow.
"Ookami," she answered shortly, giving a false name; Can't let them know that I'm Suzume Leo, never know what it might cause. She thought watching the two carefully, "And you two are?" she put on a small smile.
"Sasori," the short one said; Sasori, where have I heard that name before? From somewhere, I know that. She thought nodding to the shorter one.
"Deidara, un," the other spoke; Now where have I heard that name? These two are very familiar, but..all well I'll find out soon enough. She thought and nodded to the taller one.
"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing all the way out here?" the rough voice asked; he sounds bored, she noted, almost smiling at the thought.
"Nothing really, just on look out, really boring," she said offhandedly.
"Is that so? So what were the wolves doing?" she smiled at them; So he has noticed my wolves' chakura's has he, very interesting.
"I was training them, just something to pass the time," she said still smiling; Better watch myself around them, I maybe a Jonin rank, but I can still get hurt if I'm not careful, she thought.
"How did you know of our approach, un?" she shifted her gaze to the tall one; So he does have a voice, she thought smiling.
"Tree have eyes," she answered him, the white pelted wolf walked out from hiding to look at these men, he growled slightly at them before turning to, Leo.
"Is it wise to talk so freely around them?" the wolf questioned, she just smiled down at him and looked over at the two men.
"Ookami no Danna, someone approaches," the russet one spoke bounding over to her, "From the west, appears to be an intruder, from the Mist from the smell of it," he said.
"Alright, Renmaru, Skit, check it out, Rose keep an eye out for any more," she said to her three wolves, the gray one was still hiding among the trees, but no doubt that she has heard the command.
"Understood," the two males said and ran towards where, Skit had spotted the ninja from the mist. She looked back up at the two.
"Your a Jonin?" the small one asked.
"No," she said, not showing that she had lied to them, and still keeping that smile, she heard her wolves howl, a warning; So, it appears to be a ninja, she noted to herself, watching the two.
"Ookami, will you be here again tomorrow?" she looked at him, and gave a thoughtful look; Now why would he want to know if I will be here tomorrow? She thought.
"Yeah, at least until I get a mission," she smiled at them, the second set of howls were heard then; Last warning, she thought; They are getting ready to attack the high rank ninja now, she added the note.
"Good day, until tomorrow," Sasori said and turned around, the tall one didn't move for a few moments, "Deidara," the small one growled out, then the last howls that was limited, this was her cue to leave. She smiled at them and waved, leaving them in her wake; Alright, a high rank Mist ninja is intruding the lands, what to do, she smiled as she did a few hand signals and turning into a white pelted wolf, with the signature burst of flames during the transformation.
After a few minutes of running to where her wolves were last located, she jumped out and caught the mist ninja by the collar and dragged him down, flipping him in the process.
"What the fuck! Get off me you mangy mongol!" he yelled.
"I beg your pardon!" she growled at him, in shock, "If you must know, my pelt is well groomed!" she barked at him.
"You talk?"
"Of course I talk! I'm a Leaf ninja, you must know my name by now, you mangy waste of my time!" she growled at him.
"Oh, so sorry, Suzume Leo," He got on his hands and knees doing a very low bow.
"You bowing to a dog? Man, mist ninja's are stupid sometimes," someone said from the distance, the Mist nin jumped up, looking fumed by the comment.
"If you must know, leaf ninja! This is Suzume Leo!" he bellowed out.
"Woof," Leo barked and barked at her wolves to leave to the forest.
"That? Leo! Ha!" the leaf ninja said acting very snotty, she rolled her eyes and growled at the Leaf ninja, "That mutt is nothing but a worthless flea bag!" he laughed again. She folded her ears back, pinning them there, and growled at him, flames started to leap from her closed jaws, threatening to burn her. Inhaling deep, she blew it at the Leaf ninja, then jumped into the forest after her three wolves, returning to her post. She heard the distant yell of, "I told you so!" she knew it was from the Mist ninja, she there really was no need for her being there longer then she had. Bursting through the trees back to her original post, she looked around, making sure that the two have really left. Breathing a sigh of relief, she turn to her original form and jumped into the tree, and laid on a branch, on her stomach, her right hand hanging, other laying her head on, her right leg bent at the knee also hanging, her foot resting under her left knee that was straight on the branch. She purred feeling comfortable there, her wolves guarding the area while she took a small nap, she knew her wolves would wake her up if there was someone unfamiliar to them approaching them.
"They have her running raged, did you see those faint lines forming under her eyes?" Renmaru barked quietly to the other two, making sure not to wake their, Danna.
"Yes, but it's her job, and she is doing the best she can in her time," Rose said laying under a tree.
"But there are other ninja's that can be right for the job if given the chance," Skit said from the spot across from the both of them.
"Yes, but, Ookami no Danna does an even better job then them, so it seems right that she is put into those missions without a second thought of the others," Renmaru said.
"But still, they need to give her a break sometimes," Rose said, yawning a bit.
"Yes, she's not just some robot they can boss around, she a human being like them, that needs rest," Skit said.
"I know, but these other humans can't see that clearly, they think that they can do anything they want without first reading the ones limit on things," Renmaru said, "Let's just pray that she will be okay during these hardships that are about to happen," he said looking up.
"Yes, things are only starting to go down hill," Rose said, also looking up.
"Going up wasn't easy, but going down too fast is even harder," Skit said following his two companions, "Most can't keep up, or stumble along the way, some even tripping, and can't get back up," he added.
"Life truly is like a mountain," Rose put in.
"Doesn't matter what is on the other side," Renmaru added.
"As long as you make it to the other side safely, and alive," Skit said.
"We will do all we can to help her along that climb, but she has to do all the work herself," Renmaru said looking over at, Leo.
"We can pick her up, but it is her choice to keep moving forward, or stay there and never leave that spot," Skit said looking over at, Renmaru.
"We can brush off the dirt, and help clean some of the cuts, and wounds, but it's her choice to leave them, or bandage them," Rose said.
"It's her choice, she can either move on, and remember, or remember the hurt, and stay hidden from the world," Renmaru said, "Let's do a quick look around, notify any one of us of anything suspicious, split," Renmaru said and started to walk forward, leaving a clone of himself to stay with, Leo.
She woke up, feeling a lot better then a few hours before, getting up from her spot in the tree, she looked around the area, only, Renmaru remains in her sight.
"Renmaru," she said, her voice soft and a bit rough from the sleep, "Where are the other two?" she asked.
"Scouting, nothing has been found yet, how did you sleep?" the white wolf asked her turning his full attention to, Leo.
"Fine, but from the look on your face says that I need more sleep," she smiled at the white canine.
"Yes, you do," he replied, in a humorous tone, she smiled down at him, trying to regain some felling her limbs, that were currently sleeping along with her. She took out a bottle of water from a branch where she kept most of her supplies, and drank from it greedily, quenching her dry throat that was screaming at her for hydration to be poured on it. Half the bottle was emptied, before her wind pipe was satisfied with the sudden wash of the water, and allowed her to stop so it can get some air flowing through it.
"When do you think we can head back?"
"I'm not sure, there was no given time, so it must mean that, the Hokage will send someone to get you," Renmaru answered.
"It appears so," Leo commented and jumped down from her resting branch, and walked over to sit with her wolf.
"You should rest more, your looking more and more like that Uchiha kid that turned mad."
"Sasuke's not mad."
"I was talking about his older brother."
"Oh, yeah what is with him, he just slaughters his whole clan without a real given reason, except to test his abilities."
"Sometimes even the kindest hearts can break," Renmaru said and stayed quiet watching ahead of him, like something was coming. Then howling was heard, giving off a warning at first, then it sounded like they were going to attack the intruders. Leo heard this and quickly turned herself into a white wolf, much larger then her white companion beside her and gave a powerful howl to stop her wolves.
A slight yipping was heard, signifying that they were laughing, she gave another howl, and moved forward, she made her size grow with each step until she was the height of a grown man. She held her head high and looked down at two figures that were a good two hundred meters from her.
"That's a big dog, hm..." she heard his voice crack slightly, but it was quickly covered by a grin. She folded her ears back, not liking the smell of them, she could detect the slightest scent of blood on them, and was that poison?
"So your the guardian protecting these parts," the small one said, his voice rough with age, and he was hunched over, like he was actually an old man. "We are just passing by."
"Access, denied," she growled, making her voice grow deep, making her sound like a grown man, and making it rough like it was well aged. She watched as the taller one shake, and she growled even deeper, lowering her head, to attack them if they don't leave right away. She watched as the tall one step back a few, still shaking.
"My apologies," the small one spoke, and tossed something over to her, "Now will you let us pass?" she took a step forward and sniffed the offering, it smelled of flowers, something she wasn't used to around these parts, something must be wrong with it. Never had she smelled a dead body having the scent of flowers. She placed a paw near the head of the covered body and used her teeth to rip the cloth away from it, the scent of a powerful poison was lingering there, she growled even more.
"Foolish," she growled at the small man, "Do you think you can fool me?" she growled and her mouth was starting to lap with flames.
"Danna..." she seen that the tall man was taking even more steps back, and started to shake violently, she looked down at the body and set it a flame. She pelt started to make noises, lightly at first, but growing in sound as she moved closer to the two. Growling even more at the small man, her mouth started to lap even more with flames. Her wolves were yelping and moving further away from them, "D..Danna?"
"Merely a display of threats," the small one spoke, "No use in fooling your great sense of smell. We shall leave," he turned and started walking away, she watched as the tall one was still shaking and she barked at him, making him jump and follow his master quickly. She watched them walk away from her, keeping them in her sights until they have disappeared from her view. She gave a powerful howl of warning, and turned around heading back to her post.
"Why always have them give you a dead body?" Renmaru asked her once she was a normal sized wolf and sat down beside him.
"My father's debit, apparently he skipped out on giving the alpha wolf some sacrifices before he died. Now I'm stuck with them, the wolf said that if I give him five thousand bodies, dead or alive, he would be under my control."
"So, how many do you have now?"
"Five hundred."
"You have a long way to go," Renmaru said watched the pathways. She laid her head down on her paws and shut her eyes.
"Father! Don't go!" a five year old girl yelled, tears staining her face, "Don't leave!"
"Leo, promise me you will grow up right," she watched his smiling face, hardly any fear in his eyes, "I'm going to be the wind someday, the great wolf of the skies," he smiled even more and stood up and walked through the gates, turning himself into a great white wolf, with pelt looking like smoke and he ran growing wings as he did so and took flight up to the skies, towards the battle field.
"Father!" she yelled wanting to go after him, to stop him from going, but was held back by a man, her father's friend.
"Darling daughter," he said, "He's doing a great thing for our country, let him go," he said, his voice cracking slightly.
"Leo!" Renmaru barked, she sat up with a jolt and looked at where Renmaru was pointing. It was the same two men that she scared away earlier.
"Were looking for the guardian," the small man spoke. She plopped back down on her stomach knowing that she wasn't a wolf anymore, and closed her eyes.
"He's not here, may I take a message?" she asked using a deep voice.
"Tell him to get over here now," the old male said, in a harsh voice. She lazily looked up at him, gave a yawn and stood up slowly.
"Fine, but it's your funeral, he hates to be disturbed when he's slumbering," she said and walked towards the thick brush, "Keep an eye on them, and make sure they don't do anything funny," she told Renmaru before she left the two men, in the wolf's care. She started running towards a large cave that was a good distance away from where she was staking out, and created a clone of herself, and told it to lead her out of the woods when she turned herself into the great guardian wolf.
The clone lead her through the easy path, then onto the main road, she followed her clone, making herself grow in size before they reached the two men, and her wolf companion. Once there she growled deeply, and told the wolf and the clone to leave them be.
"How dare you awake me," she growled at them, then shook her pelt, that started sparking with the movement of her fur, "What do you low life's want now?" she growled at them, holding her head high.
"We ask for passage," the small one spoke, sounding impatient, she growled down at him.
"For you two to pass, you must bring two bodies, for your failed attempt from the last time," she growled.
"What? But we only brought one, hm!" she barked at him for silence.
"For each failed attempt, you must bring another," she growled, "Since you tried to poison me, another hast to be brought," she growled.
"What a rip off, hm!" the tall one shouted, "It took forever to get this one for you! Now we have to bring another one, hm?" she made no move to bite, growl, or speak, just waited till the tall man finished his ranting.
"Take him," the small one spoke, the tall one stopped his ranting and looked at his company.
"What?" he yelled, "You can't do that, hm!" the short man threw the wrapped body at her feet, she smelled the body, not detecting any strange scents from it. But she did start to feel a bit dizzy, she looked up at him and growled slightly.
"What did you do to this body," she growled, fire starting to lap from her closed mouth, fangs bared.
"Suzume Leo," the small one spoke, "I know your the guardian of these woods also, so come with us peacefully, or we will use force."
"Not in your life," she growled, still using the deep voice, but her vision started to become blurry, and one side of her started to grow weak; What did he do to me? Probably a type of poison, it must be some sort of powder, that would explain it. But even the powder has a scent, how is it that this has no scent at all? Even with a nose like mine. She thought trying to stay standing, finally having enough of this, her pelt started to spark, she knew how to get rid of this dizziness, but it was risky, it might actually do more harm then good. As her pelt charged with electricity, she watched the two, and growled, waiting for them to do something.
"It's not going down, Sasori no Danna, hm..." she growled slightly; Do they really think that I will go down that easily? I'd die fighting before I would go down, she thought and lowered her head, ready to attack them. "What do we do?" her mouth started glowing with fire, she wanted to test it first, make sure it doesn't do any harm to her, then spat on the body with the powder. Slight crackling was heard, once the fabric was burned, some wood shavings was there, then it started to smoke, it was a strange scent; Damn, they knew that I was going to do the same thing, she thought and used her fore paw to toss it towards them. Using that as a distraction for them she snorted forcing the particles of the power out of her nostrils. She watched as the powder leave her nose and float around, then fell away from the cloud. She stepped back causing a large crack from her pelt to sound, signifying that the fur was charged; I hate waiting for my fur to charge, I also hate doing it to, uses to much chakura. She thought and moved again, making an even bigger sound, and tried it again this time successfully lighting her white pelt on fire. Her eyes started to focus once more, and she didn't feel dizzy, which was a good sign.
"Force it is," she heard the small mans rough voice, then suddenly metal shot out of the dark smoke towards her, as expected, it went through her. She leaped at them, snarling, and snapping her jaws. With each attack they used, it just went through her, it was like she was really made out of fire. She grabbed the tail with her fangs tightly and growled, using all of her strength she tossed the old man to a tree, only for the man to turn to sand. Something was crawling up her leg and she looked at it, only for it to explode, and do no effect to her. She looked up and seen the shocked face of the tall man, growling with furry she charged at him, he jumped up and she followed after him.
He landed safely on a bird, smirking, until wings sprouted from her shoulders and come flying towards him with full force, she turned into a white dog with wings and cut the wing from its bird, then turned back into the dreaded fire dog, with blazing flaming wings. She watched as the bird and its rider fall towards the ground below, she wouldn't give him a chance to run, she caught him by the collar of his cloak and threw him slightly so she could get a better hold of the man. She had his mid section in her fangs and tightened when ever he tried squirm or wriggle free, until he was finally still, and she loosed her grip only slightly.
She could smell that his cloak was starting to singe from her flaming mouth threateningly trying to burn him slowly. A puppet shot out of the trees towards her, she growled, earning a frighted look from the blond man, the puppet body went through her, yet her jaws were still solid. Flapping her wings once to stay air born, she watched as the puppet made another attack, she glided out of its way and watched another failed attempt to try and injure her.
"P..put me down, or..or you'll regret it, hm..." the blond tried, she growled and tightened her jaws slightly, this caused the man in her mouth to whimper, and shut his eyes tight, she watched as the puppet made another series of attacks, which all failed. She had enough of this and flew down, causing the trees to burn from the fires touch and pass through her wings, she picked up the old man and flew away from the trees. He tried multiple times to stab her in the stomach, but failed, miserably, until she dropped them into the sandy country known as Sunagakure, and literally dropped them from two thousand feet in the air. The fire blew away with the wind once it blew, and watched them try to get up, still shaking. She blew fire at them and watched them flinch from it, then flew back to Kohonagakure, where she was safe within it's wooded area.
"Their a hassle," she growled to herself and landed at her favorite spot. Her form getting smaller to a normal sized wolf, then human, she stumbled slightly, then fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Renmaru emerged from the forest, along with, Rose, and Skit, also Renmaru's clone.
"What happened? Why did they attack you like that?" Skit asked shaking his russet pelt.
"They must have seen my transformation earlier when we were going to get the, Mist nin," she said, taking in a few shaking breaths, "They must have known that I was lying also, and went to prepare an attack."
"It would make sense, but why were they after you?" Rose asked, a gray ear flicking once.
"I don't know, but it seems like I'm getting myself into deep shit," she said, ready to black out.
"Rest, we will guard," Renmaru spoke softly, that was the last thing she heard before she fell into sleep, letting the darkness surround her and offer rest.
She woke up with a jump, and looked around wildly, until she seen a familiar silver haired man.
"A bit jumpy are we?" the man asked lazily, not looking up from an orange book. She growled slightly, causing the silver haired ninja to step back a few, "Easy, I'm not looking for a spar right now, just came to retrieve you from your post."
"Alright, but I'm taking the day off tomorrow, I've had enough of this running around," she yawned and started to head back towards the gates of the Hidden leaf village. She passed by the guards easily, by turning herself into a wolf and threatened to BBQ them if they don't let her pass. They knew who she was, and they knew how mad she gets when she doesn't have enough sleep, they just hoped that the Hokage won't let her out tomorrow, or there will be hell to pay. She was just as bad as her sister, to bad she let the anger over come her, which caused the girl to die of her foolishness of her own anger.
"You're not going out tomorrow," the Hokage reassured her, and she was glade for it, if he didn't give her the day off like he did, then something different would have happened. "You can rest for tomorrow, and the next day you can head out on normal missions. Most possibly to hunt down those two S-ranked criminals that you threw in Sunagakure."
"Well they shouldn't have woken me from a nap, oh what was the deal with that Mist nin?"
"Mist nin? I have heard nothing about it."
"Really? I thought that someone from Kohona would have reported it, especially the one with auburn long hair."
"Do you know the name of this Leaf ninja?"
"No, I don't believe I've caught it, he was really snotty though, that Mist nin sure knew me thought."
"Who was the Mist nin?"
"Well, he had short black hair, and brown eyes, and wore a standard ninja outfit."
"Hm, think you can track these two down?"
"Yeah, the leaf should have burnt hair by now, and the Mist nin should still be around, if not then I'll track them down with scent."
"Good, you can do that...er..." he stopped, when she growled, she knew that he was going to say 'Tomorrow' but she wouldn't allow it, "The next day after tomorrow," he finished quickly, she nodded and left. "She get's scary without rest..." he mumbled to himself and went back to work.
She arrived at her small home, that she usually shares with four men, but they are hardly home, so she gets it to herself some times, and tomorrow they will still be gone, so she can rest without worry, unless something comes up. She hoped not, she really needed to sleep.