Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Beasts of War

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Chapter One

Growling out of sheer annoyance, the towering genin calmly stalked down the bridge with purpose as Sasuke remained on the defensive against the Demon Brothers while Sakura was engaged in combat with Haku and Kakashi was dealing with Zabuza. Tazuna, left unguarded by his team mates, was frozen in place by the immense killing intent that choked the very air he breathed. Everything had been one bad idea after another ever since Sasuke demanded a higher ranking mission. Why couldn't that irritating pup just relax and take it easy for a little while?

Standing at 6'8", the humanoid wolf-man had a heavily muscled and intimidating stance, his body covered in light grey and white fur with soul-piercing amber eyes. Like always, he was dressed in a pair of baggy black pants on his digitigrade wolf-like legs with white cloth wrapped around his lower legs from his knees down to his permanently raised heels, a brown leather belt around his waist with a brown leather strap crossing his torso from his left hip to his right shoulder, another leather strap reached out from the one that crossed his chest and connected with a leather strap that ringed his left shoulder where it connected with the rest of the leather harness that covered his middle and lower back with a pair of longswords sheathed in leather scabards and strapped to his lower back at an angle with both handles sticking out at his left side and running parallel to each other, a necklace of metal rings and short lengths of decorative chain hung from around his neck with a large fang dangling from it, dull grey metal plates hanging from the belt at his hips with intricate designs adorning the curved steel thigh armor, dull grey metal guards on his knees and shins with similar decorations on them as his thigh armor, dull grey metal bracers strapped to his forearms with a metal plate covering the back of his hands and knuckles with the same decorative designs embedded on them, a single metal pauldron on his left shoulder that had the same decorations with a plate over his heart with several leather straps securing the armored plate to his body, and an emerald gem earing on his left ear with a beaded leather string hanging from it that had a second emerald gem dangling from the end. Engraved on the chest plate was Konoha's stylized leaf symbol.

"Fools..." 17 year old Kurotsuki Naruto growled under his breath before grabbing the handle to his bottom sword with his left hand in a reverse grip while grabbing the top sword with his right normally. Drawing them in an instant, Naruto kept his left sword in a reverse grip before crouching down and tensing his legs. Jumping and flipping in mid-air, Naruto landed in the middle of the triangle formed by his team mate and the Demon Brothers. Without missing a beat, Naruto kicked Sasuke aside with his right foot before spinning to his right. Blocking Meizu's claws with his left sword, Naruto slipped his right sword under his left blade and attempted to skewer the rogue shinobi, only for him to jump back to avoid injury while Gouzu came from Naruto's unguarded right side.

"Get back here, dog-boy!" Gouzu spat as Naruto jumped to his left slightly to dodge the Demon Brother's clawed swipe, only to jump back to his right and slam into him, knocking him back. Spinning to his left, Naruto thrust his left sword back, stabbing the narrow blade through Gouzu's right shoulder and making the chuunin scream in pain while clutching at the blade still speared through his shoulder.

"Gouzu!" Meizu exclaimed before lunging at the towering wolf-man, his clawed left hand being blocked by the blade of the lycanthropic shinobi's sword in his right hand. Maintaining the deadlock, Meizu glared into Naruto's eyes while drawing a kunai with his right hand, attempting to stab the furred man in the throat, but his efforts were for nothing as Naruto twisted his right sword and turned it to the left, shifting the leverage and changing the angle Meizu's left hand was pushing on the blade, causing the previously downward-pointing blade to swing around. "AARRGH! MY HAND!"

"That was your own fault." Naruto growled quietly as he roughly pulled his left sword from Gouzu's shoulder, spinning to the right as he tilted his right sword to his sword for a thrust. Meizu's head was loped off before he could draw breath for another scream while Gouzu's throat was skewered by Naruto's right sword. Kicking Meizu's body over with his left leg, Naruto pulled his sword free of Gouzu's corpse and let the carcass collapsed. Noticing the look of fear he was getting from Sasuke, Naruto snorted and turned toward the area Haku and Sakura were fighting. His eyes narrowed as he caught the masked female's scent.

While only one opponent this time, Haku was incredibly quick and there were too many unknown factors concerning the kunoichi. The Demon Brothers were simply too predictable in their tactics, but this one would prove challenging. That meant a different approach was required. It was obvious that Haku's preferred combat style was from mid to long range with her senbon. Thus, speed and close combat weaponry would be required. His claws would do just fine.

Sheathing the swords, Naruto ran the tip of his clawed right index finger over a hidden seal on his left bracer, causing his sheathed swords to vanish in a cloud of smoke as they were sealed away in a seal stained onto the leather hide covering his lower back. Channeling his chakra into his bracers, more pieces of metal armor spread to cover his hands completely with segmented plates armoring his fingers, leaving only his two-inch long claws uncovered, the bracers extending to reach just above his elbows while covering his forearms completely. At the same time, the metal guards on his shins and knees changed into similarly designed armor, leaving only the pads of his paw-like feet uncovered for better grip on the ground and the claws on his toes for combat.

"Go protect Tazuna, Uchiha. We can not allow him to die." Naruto growled coldly at his team mate, who could do nothing more at that moment other than obey. Scrambling to his feet, Sasuke quickly ran over to Tazuna, unable to rid his mind of the memories of watching how Naruto slew the Demon Brothers. Not even his brother had been so instinctually methodical on that night...

"Alright...Round two." Naruto growled as he formed a Shadow Clone and crouched down, both brutes digging their claws into the stone floor. As if given the signal to pounce, they both took off on all fours, but as they neared the vicinity Sakura and Haku were currently engaged in combat, Naruto and his clone mirrored one another's movements and slapped their armored hands against the ground while kicking off the ground, resulting in them flipping forward rapidly and repeatedly while simultaneously using their chakra to harden their fur into hair-thin blades, both becoming a spinning ball of claws, fangs, and blades. It was a technique normally used only by the Inuzuka, but a 'friend' of his had been nice enough to teach it to him. "Gatenga!"

"What the-" Haku was caught off guard as she looked to her left to find two grey spinning masses flying through the air in her direction. Unable to complete the handseals for her Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors technique, Haku was forced to break the deadlock between them and jump back, narrowly avoiding serious injury as the two blurs were revealed to be that wolf-man on their team and obviously a clone of his, both landing shoulder to shoulder in low crouches on all fours between Haku and Sakura. Haku narrowed her eyes behind her mask as she switched out the senbon in her hands for two of the few kunai she carried on her. "Seems like Ookami-kun wants to play, too."

"Hmph...You wish, bitch." Naruto and his clone snarled in unison before they sprinted forward on all fours, splitting up in order to flank Haku as two more clones formed between them. Slamming their hands onto the ground and flipping just in time to avoid being struck with the kunai thrown at them, the four lycans curled into a ball once again. "Gatenga: Jiyuusatsu!"

Almost as soon as their made contact with the ground, they rolled towards Haku from either side at swift speeds in pairs. Jumping up with the intention to dodge and to make them collide with one another, Haku was shocked when the four suddenly started to circle in place, their left hands extending out from one another and their armored knuckles connecting in a continuous shower of sparks as metal rubbed against metal at high speeds, the connecting sustained with chakra. One of them suddenly pushed off the ground with one of their feet in mid-roll, causing him to get thrown into the air and collide with Haku.

"Gatenga..." Naruto started as he unfurled from a ball and grabbed Haku's shoulders with his clawed hands as he flipped over her body in mid-air, only to continue with the flip and throw Haku back down into the center of his three clones as they continued to spin in place. "...Ookamino Soukutsu!"

"AHH!" Haku could only scream as she disappeared amongst the rolling balls of shredding needle-like fur, flesh-ripping claws, and gnashing fang-filled jaws. Landing a couple feet away in a low crouch on all fours, Naruto slowly stood up before forming a single handseal with his right hand, dispelling his clones and leaving Haku's corpse to fall to the ground, motionless and mauled to the point of being almost unrecognizable. Dragging the tip of his right index finger across the same hidden seal as before, his armor returned to normal and his swords reappeared.

"Are you hurt, Haruno?" Naruto inquired quietly, yet still a little coldly as turned his head slightly, but not enough to see Sakura, who stood several feet behind him. He knew she was scared, having never seen such brutal behavior before. Then again, she had never seen real combat prior to this mission, so it was to be expected of her. However, he didn't face her because he didn't like seeing people afraid of him. He didn't turn around because he didn't want to scare her any more than she already was. It would cause untold problems for his team's dynamics.

Then again, it could already have been destroyed by his decision to intervene...

"N-No...J-Just...Just don't come near me..." Sakura muttered frightfully as she took a few slowly steps back, only to turn around and run back to where Tazuna and Sasuke were. Sighing heavily, Naruto knew what he would have to do once they got back to Konoha if their behavior didn't change. He would have to request a transfer. It had happened three times already in the past year. He was two years older than his current team mates and had graduated two years prior to them. His first team had refused to be near him after watching him tear apart a group of bandits during their first C-rank mission six months into their career, not unlike now. His second time had been more tolerating of him, but they could only take so much of his behavior before Naruto was forced to transfer once more.

"...What has been done can not be undone..." Naruto muttered before the sound of a thousand chirping birds reached his ears, but he didn't react to it. He simply took a deep breath and closed his eyes, listening for any other enemies. Hearing the foot steps of almost...two hundred people and smelling only the rancid stench of booze, pitiful hygiene, and greed, Naruto knew Gatou was making his move. Drawing his swords in the same fashion as he had earlier against the Demon Brothers, Naruto started walking through the thinning mist towards the incomplete end of the bridge.

"Naruto? Where are you going?" Kakashi inquired as he pulled his hand free of Zabuza's chest, the body falling to the ground as soon as it lost the support that had been holding it up. Naruto didn't answer, but the jounin saw the look in his wolf-like student's eyes and heard the sound of many people approaching just as the mist cleared out. Coming to a stop, Gatou stepped out in front of his employees and was about to say something when Naruto hunched forward and suddenly sprinted towards them, his left sword held out in front of him as a defense while his right sword was cocked back and leveled for a spearing stab.

"Shi-URK!" Gatou's curse was cut short as Naruto's right blade slipped between his lips and punched through the back of his neck, the tip of his five foot long and three inch wide sword stabbing into the throat of a taller man behind the short tycoon. With a single swing as he spun in place, the blade cleaved through Gatou's jaw and the other man's neck while Naruto beheaded a handful of others with his left sword, kicking off the ground and leaping further into the horde with a horizontally spinning flip, his blades slicing through flesh, bone, and make-shift armor as if the bandits and civilian mercenaries were simply made of air.

"Oh, god..." Kakashi whispered in shock, unable to think of anything else as he watched the genin that had been transferred to his team about a month and a half ago simply slaughter...No. Massacre the bandits with feral tenacity, heartless precision, and brutal execution visible in every attack, every movement he made. Raising his left foot and stomping down on the bent knee of a bandit weilding a spear, Naruto ignored the howl of agony as the joint was painfully dislocated, the cry silenced a moment later as Naruto swung his left sword up and stabbed down, the blade stabbing through the man's upper back, through his left thigh, and into the ground. Swinging his right sword around and behind him, Naruto blocked a katana from slicing through his back. Parrying the strike as he pulled his left sword up out of the spearman's corpse, Naruto punched the new swordsman in the throat with his left hand before swiftly stabbing behind him and skewering the heart of a axe-wielding thug with the blade of his left sword. Ripping his sword free and spinning in place once more as he crouched down, Naruto gutted a handful of others while cleaving a few forelegs from the thighs of their owners.

Another hellish symphony of screams and wails followed as Naruto continued the relentless and unending assault...

It wasn't much longer before Sakura fainted, Sasuke purged the contents of his stomach where he was standing while Tazuna managed to hold it a little longer, running to the side of the bridge and disposing of his stomach's contents over the railing. Kakashi wasn't much better, flashbacks of his experiences in the Third Great Shinobi War flying around his head as his skin grew pale and moist with a cold sweat, his hands shaking slightly. He had seen only two other people in his life that fought like that, that had similar physical conditions like Naruto's wolf-like physiology...

Everything started to make sense to him now. Naruto was one of them...

He was from the Kurotsuki clan, who were a branch family of the much larger Shishisensou clan...

He was a Beast of War...

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"..." Kakashi was silent as Sasuke and Sakura left the Hokage's office, both still feeling the psychological scarring from Naruto's killing methods. Said teen was standing a few feet away from the jounin, idly contemplating the pros and cons of another transfer. Once he was sure his two permanent students were out of ear shot, Kakashi spun around and faced the Sandaime, who was calm and collected as if nothing was wrong, with a look of outrage while jabbing a finger at Naruto, who wasn't at all concerned with the man's feelings. He was used to it by now. "Why the hell didn't you warn me about him?!"

"Because I saw no need to. It's not like Naruto-kun is a threat to other Konoha shinobi." Hiruzen responded, folding his hands in front of him and leaning back in his chair, leveling a calm and unphased stare upon the one-eyed jounin that was on the verge of having a mental breakdown right before him. "He simply doesn't have any qualms with killing, like most of his people, may they rest in peace."

"That's exactly my point, Hokage-sama! He's not fit for-" Kakashi was interrupted when he found a razor sharp straight-edged longsword held directly in front of his throat.

"I am more than fit for shinobi work. It is your students that are not." Naruto began before slowly turning his eyes on Kakashi. Instantly, his amber orbs narrowed and grew cold. "You, along with many other shinobi of considerable influence in their lives, have been coddling them. The life of a shinobi is not about glory. It's not about being famous. It's not about money or women. The life of a shinobi is one of death, blood, killing, deceit, theivery, manipulation. Your male student seeks only revenge against his older brother, which will lead him down a path that will undoubtedly result in him betraying Konoha for more power. Your female student seeks only the Uchiha's affection and simply refuses to take her chosen career seriously, which will result in either her death, the death of others around her, or a fate worse than death itself. As for myself, you've seen what I can do first-hand. Now, which one out of the three of us will survive the longest?"

"..." Kakashi didn't answer while Naruto removed his sword from Kakashi's neck, sheathed the five foot long blade, and crossed his arms over his chest while nodding towards the chair set before the Hokage's desk. Shaken up and mentally disoriented, Kakashi found himself unable to disobey and sat down.

"Look, I'm sick of transferring all the time just because my team mates get scared of a little blood. So, I'm not transferring. It's too much trouble." Naruto responded calmly and slowly, wanting to make sure Kakashi understood what he was trying to say. "By transferring so much, not only am I denied the ability to participate in the Chuunin Exams that year like I had been denied for the past two years from transferring teams, the team I'm put with and the team I left are denied as well. Thus, Konoha's precious fucking Uchiha won't be able to become a chuunin should I transfer; if the damn brat's even lucky enough to survive...Anyways, I'm going to stick around with Team 7 until after the Chuunin Exams before being removed from your team, whether I'm promoted or not. After that, you'll never have to deal with me again. Sound good?"

"Y-Yeah..." Kakashi muttered with a shaky nod. Snorting at the man's mental state, Naruto glanced at the Sandaime, wordlessly suggesting a psyche evaluation for the jounin. Naruto then bowed to the Sandaime slightly in departure, making his way to the door a moment later. Pausing just as he grabbed the door handle, Naruto decided to leave Kakashi with a few more parting words. "Just so you know, I may look like a monster, but I'm more human than you think. Why else would I fight so hard to keep others from having to stain their hands with blood?"

Without waiting for a response, Naruto left the office and then left the administrative building; he never showed it, but talking about his fallen kin always plucked at his heart-strings. It was their greatest strength and also their greatest weakness. The Kurotsuki, like all of the other Shishisensou clans, were the most brutal fighters because they wanted to delay the young having to stain their hands with the blood of others. Because of it, it became the downfall of many Shishisensou, but it was an honorable death that many would pray to recieve before going into battle. That belief gave them unwaivering determination which gifted them with a great fire that fueld their tenacity and feroucity, allowing them to slay dozens, if not hundreds, by themselves with every battle just because they didn't want another to suffer the horrors of taking someone's life...

As he stepped outside, Naruto closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through his nose, relaxing completely as the myriad scents of nature soothed his mind and body. Exhaling slowly, Naruto opened his eyes back up and started walking, ignoring the looks of fear and disgust he was getting from those he passed. He had grown up with them and was often 'hunted' as a child by those seeking to kill the last of the 'monsters'. He found it all rather amusing, yet ironic. They sought to kill the only monster that wished to protect them, to give his very life for them in order to ensure they lived to see the next sunrise.

"Ookami-kun!" A female called out from behind him, making him pause while his ears perked up slightly. Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto found the source running in his direction while waving at him; Hyuuga Hinata. She was one of the scarce few people that saw Naruto for who he was, not what he was.

Standing at 5'6", Hinata's dark indigo hair was waist-length and pulled forward to hang over her left shoulder in a smooth glossy curtain, her skin was a pale light cream in color and free of blemish, and her eyes were a soft shade of lavender unlike the usual stark white pupil-less eyes of the Hyuuga clan. She was dressed in a pair of baggy black pants, a black short-sleeve skin-tight top under her incredibly baggy lavender hoodie that had white sleeves and lavender cuffs, black kunoichi sandals on her feet, and her hitai-ate tied around her neck on a black cloth. Like usual, she had the hood pulled over her head and her hands were hidden by the cuffs of her sleeves.

"Phew...I thought I would never find you..." Hinata muttered as she paused to catch her breath, one hand resting on her chest. Taking a deep breath, Hinata looked up at him and smiled cheerfully. They had first met when they were kids and after hanging around him long enough, Hinata eventually lost her stutter and learned to stand up for herself. Mostly because Naruto had been rather scary and intimidating even back when he was only six years old with Hinata being five at the time. Because of the impact he had left on her life, Hinata had started developing her own Gentle Fist style and was even working on her elemental affinity of Water, despite the fact she had only become a genin a little less than two months ago.

"You...were looking for me? I wasn't aware I was even being sought out..." Naruto muttered quietly, scratching under his chin out of confusion. Hinata stared up at him blankly before giggling happily, her eyes squeezed shut and face divided by a broad grin. She then threw her arms around his waist as best as she could and hugged him with all her might, though it wasn't much when compared to Naruto's. Smiling faintly, Naruto gently placed a hand on Hinata's back, returning the gesture in his own way. "I've missed you, too. How have you been?"

"I've been good. Oh! I finally came up with a name for my new technique!" Hinata exclaimed with limitless energy that was barely suppressed by her own body. Naruto could only chuckle at her reaction, internally wondering if it was a good thing she had finally opened up to people. "I call it Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist."

"Oh? A new one, you say?" Naruto remarked as he started walking down the road while Hinata nodded, falling in step beside him as she stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. "I would like to see it some time. Plus, I could prove useful in its development. It's a lot easier to refine taijutsu against another shinobi than it is against a wooden training post."

"Y-Yeah. You've got a point there." Hinata remarked sheepishly, her cheeks gaining a light pink coloring to them as she turned her eyes down to the ground, biting her bottom lip with a shy smile. For the past few years now, she had developed a crush on the wolf-man beside her, but she just couldn't bring herself to confess. Every time she tried, something interrupted her or she just completely lost all of her courage, reverting back to how she used to be prior to befriending Naruto. "W-Would you like t-to help m-me out with it to...tomorrow?"

"...I would love to, Hinata, but I've got something to do tomorrow." Naruto responded, making Hinata sigh heavily before stepping in front of her towering friend, glaring up at him with her hands on her hips.

"I thought I told you to stop scaring everyone. You're never going to make friends if you keep scaring them off." Hinata chastised, succeeding only in making Naruto give her a flat look, blinking out of slight confusion. It wasn't like he was getting another transfer or anything. Naruto sighed and raised his left hand, dropping it on top of the Hyuuga heiress's head and smiling faintly.

"I've got you, don't I? That's plenty for me." Naruto responded as he walked around her, his words and gesture making Hinata blush heavily before she recomposed herself and turned, running slightly to catch up to him. Truth be told, he honestly wished he had more friends, but he wasn't lying. Hinata was the only friend he honestly needed. Besides, it wasn't like he could exactly restrain himself in combat. He was, in more ways than one, an instinctual animal.

"Yeah, but still! You need more than one friend, Ookami-kun." She responded while stuffing her hands back in the pockets of her hoodie, peering up at Naruto from his right side. "I mean, if everyone is afraid of you, then they aren't going to be so willing to help you out when you're in trouble. Papa says the Council has been trying to find a reason to lock you up. They say you're too much of a 'loose cannon' or something like that."

"That's only because they know that they can't control me just like they couldn't control my clan." Naruto remarked gruffly, rolling his eyes at Hinata's comment. The Councils have had it out for his people for years. Up until their 'extinction' during the Kyuubi attack, the Councils had hated his kin because not a single one could be controlled by any means. Bribery and blackmail was pointless and ended up with people being 'broken', using hostages only ended in a lot of people dying, and threatening one's life was an even greater moronic idea; most of them lived for the sake of fighting. Hell, genjutsu barely worked on them and that was only possible through the use of doujutsu, but even then, it was a gamble. The effectiveness of the genjutsu usually depended on what branch family the Shishisensou came from, but that didn't matter anymore.

He was the last one...

"Well, this is my stop." Naruto muttered as they came to a stop at the gates to his clan's compound. Unlike other compound walls that were only about ten to twenty feet tall, the walls of the Shishisensou clan compound were easily fifty feet tall and made of solid granite with steel rebar reinforcements and even a large array of seals on top of that. Scattered all throughout the compound were great trees with a thick leafy canopy that hid everything below them and the gates were solid metal and just as tall as the walls, making it impossible for someone to spy on them through normal means. Now, only Naruto lived there and still maintained the compound during his spare time, finding the task relaxing and soothing even though it reminded him, daily, that his family and clansmen were no longer alive.

"...Do you have to go?" Hinata whined while grabbing onto Naruto's hand with both of her own, staring up at him. Her pupil-less lavender eyes were filled with honest heartbreak, having never liked leaving Naruto alone, especially when it involved leaving him alone in the Shishisensou compound. He idly recalled when they had first met; she had dragged him home and practically begged her father to let her 'keep him'. Luckily, the man said no, but that they could still be friends. Sighing quietly, Naruto reached over with his other hand and gently pinched her nose with a slight smile, making Hinata squeak and cover her face with her sleeve-covered hands, blushing heavily as she glared at him fiercely.

"Hehe...We'll see each other again, Hinata. Don't worry." Naruto reassured before pushing her hood back and ruffling her hair, making Hinata blush more heavily and glare at him more heatedly, swatting his hand away before straightening her hair out and pulling her hood back up over her head. By the time she finished, Naruto had already made his escape, the gates groaning as they shut behind him.

"Mmnnn..." Hinata glared at the gates, her flushed cheeks puffing out as she stomped her foot in annoyance. Huffing, Hinata turned on her heel and left the area. It was always the same whenever he had to leave. Why couldn't he just say 'good bye' or 'good night' like a normal person?

As the gate shut behind him, Naruto could only stare at the expanse of homes lining the walls of the compound with a dead look in his eyes. In the center where the largest tree in the compound was set, the clan head's home had been built around the base of said tree and was four storeys tall. Now, it was Naruto's home, the sole survivor and the child of the fallen Shishisensou clan's leader. Entering his home, Naruto paused for a moment, listening to the deafening silence as he whispered quietly to the empty shadows that greeted him.

"I'm home..."

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Gatenga- Dual Revolving Fang

Gatenga: Jiyuusatsu- Dual Revolving Fang: Double Play

Gatenga: Ookamino Soukutsu- Dual Revolving Fang: Den of Wolves