Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, Humour, Tragedy

The Fox Thief

By: Vicis Est Eternus

"You're insane."

A boy, tall and lithe in stature, threw a grin to the speaker, before winking conspiratorially. "I don't know what your talking about," his innocent tone was ruined by the wicked grin, but it was not supposed to be convincing, it was supposed to be funny.

"You can't steal from a ninja." The other argued, pleading for the sake of his friend, "they'll rip you apart for trying."

The other merely rolled his eyes, before letting them fall skyward in exasperation. He shook himself, fell back on his heels more, and faced his shoulders to his friend, Haku. "Ah, but I'm not actually stealing from Ninja, I'm stealing from their charges."

"They are paid so that you won't be able to do that. They will stop you, Naruto." The other, slighter and feminine, looked down, off the cliff, to where a wide dirt road lay, cutting itself through the thick forest like a serpent. "My Blood Limit isn't strong enough to handle all of them."

"Haku, you were trained by Zabuza; I'm sure it will be."

"You were trained by no one!" Haku argued, but his words hit a seemingly brick wall, because the blonde boy merely waved him off without a care. "I taught you all that you might know about being a ninja, but you have no jutsu, and you refuse to follow my taijutsu stance…"

"I haven't died yet, have I?" Naruto asked gleefully, before letting his body fall so that he sat on the grassy cliff with his legs stretched out. He held himself up by his hands, and leaned to look up at the sky, his deep blue eyes mirroring the colour of the cloudless sky. "I'm too fast, and when I use that, not even you in your mirrors can catch me."

"I fear the repercussions of that…" Haku murmured to himself, not meaning for Naruto to hear, but his friend did anyway, and rolled his eyes. He shifted all his weight to one arm to allow movement enough for him to shove the other boy.

"If it kills me than so be it. You know what they all said before; demon, demon, demon – if I die, then so what? I don't care if I do, and its not like I've missed anything that life has to offer. I lost my virginity, I loved a girl, still do, regardless of whether or not she died, stolen, cheated, had a blast while doing it, and have you as my friend. What could I be missing – besides kids. I don't want to have a kid. No. Just – no." He listed, tapping his fingers away, until the last point where he pointed and glared threateningly at Haku, in case he should mention that aspect of life.

"You don't know the love of a mother or father."

"And neither do you," Naruto argued, "you only know the pain of family, so therefore, I'm already better off than you are."

"You won't grow old-"

"Who wants to get old and wrinkly?" Naruto gasped, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the thought. "Best to die young, no? Then we can go to that afterlife thing that she always preached about and be young while we do it." He paused, as if in realisation, before resuming again, "Um, well, if that isn't what you want, Haku, I'm not going to make you agree with me – you can live as long as you want to!"

Haku smiled sadly, before sighing and allowing his shoulders to slump. "You don't get to choose such things, Naruto, unless you plan to commit the act yourself."

"Hell no! No way am I ever going to off myself! I like me too much." Naruto ended with a lighter tone, and Haku, still looking at his friend sadly, didn't comment on the obvious change of tone. Naruto was horrible at serious comments, he knew, and he also knew that the boy already felt as if he had lived lifetimes…

"Naruto, you were thrashing last night. Did you have another one of those nightmares?" This question made the blonde pause, no, freeze, before his mouth pulled itself down, and a light scowl morphed on his fair features.

"Something like that. Its just… it was of a little girl, with this stunning red hair… and then I was back again, and it gave me a headache. It's like seeing through ten pairs of eyes, you know? And then this guy shows up, and it feels like somebody has taken by body, and compressed it and then shoved it inside someone's gut, and then darkness. Same old, same old. Still don't know where they come from, so don't ask."

Haku nodded, before gazing out once more onto the stretch of road. "They should reach here before sundown, if they continue at the same pace, or later, if their client requests frequent stops. Are you going to-"

"I already did," Naruto grinned, thankful for the change in subject. "They won't know what hit them – and don't ask. It's going to be a surprise for you too-" He broke off, gazing off into the distance, before frowning again, and gave his head a quick shake. "Actually, I want you to put a small genjutsu over my traps; I don't want any of them seeing it."

"What if they sense my chakra?"

Naruto grinned savagely. "Don't worry about that." And, without his realizing it, once more the thin whiskers on his face darkened, and his teeth grew slightly longer, and along the edges of his stunning blue eyes, red once more formed.

Haku never told Naruto this, but he was almost certain that the words that Naruto spoke of himself – demon – were completely and irrevocably true.

Chapter One: Team Seven's First C Rank!

The five were silent; or rather the four had taken a break of their bantering and at that particular moment, happened to be quiet. The merchant who hired them, an old woman dressed in the most outlandish clothing and covered with every trinket she owned, hobbled along, her thin lips held a cigar between them, and one of her young guards – a girl with pink hair – looked at the old woman in disgust. How could she smoke something like that? It got in your lungs and turned them black, but even when the girl informed the old woman, all she got was a lackadaisical shrug.

Eyeing her once more, Sakura eyes the bright red, blue and gold trimmed dress of the woman in disgust. It wasn't traditional, rather, it was the newer style of dress, were the skirt flared out and the breast was pinned high, making the woman's – rather impressive – cleavage seem even more prominent.

Her sagging face held no beauty, and even the appearance of beauty in the woman's heavy make-up did nothing to smooth over her age. Bright blue eye shadow, painted in an ark to the woman's heavy eyebrows, and long, fake eyelashes. Blush that was applied too heavily to have the subtle effect it was supposed to have, and lips too thin and stretched for the bright red lipstick to hold any effect.

She was voluptuous, and crude, and very, very demanding. She let you know if she didn't like something, but seemed to draw a line at a person's natural features. For Sakura, the woman criticized her make-up, her squealing voice, and her fawning of one of the other teammates, telling her that only sluts fawned, so the girl better stop. For Sai, the dark, awkward teammate that strangely enough was put in on their team at the last moment, cutting out the other girl that would have been on their team, the woman told him – in no flowery manner – that if he didn't shut up she would stomp on his balls and make his voice so high pitched her old ears wouldn't be able to hear. For Sasuke, the one she criticized Sakura for fawning over, she told him that he was an ass, and that he should ride that pole up his ass even higher so that it could impale him and then set an example to all other asses what happens when your too up-tight.

For their sensei, Kakashi, she merely eyes him critically, and then, as she spun around on the road, just outside the gate, she told him that she had a niece that had quite a sense of humour, and would probably be able to make him smile.

Sakura didn't understand her, because Kakashi had been smiling when she said it.

Sakura's thoughts paused, then halted, then spun back to a moment. Ah, right, the critical woman had nothing to say to the man, even after having to wait for a good hour for him, about… well – anything! She could have mocked his posture, his laziness – his attitude, but… all she did was basically imply that he and her niece will get along quite well.

And – what Kakashi said in response? 'I'm sure her jokes got better since last time!' AND THE OLD WOMAN LAUGHED!

It was a conspiracy; they knew each other.

Mami Sato, the old woman, whose first name, 'Mami', meant 'true beauty', huddles along the dirt path, thankful that the three brats had finally stopped bickering. She kept pace with Kakashi; stealing furtive looks every now and then. Ah, yes, the little boy whom she had met when he was very much like the ass had grown up rather well. Turned out a lot like that other boy – Obito, but thankfully not too much. She didn't know if she could handle him acting exactly like the moron – with all due respects – of the team. Kakashi was always too smart for that.

"So, Kakashi, looking forward to see Emi, again?"

The jonin shifted, lowering the hand that held a bright orange book away so that he could look over at her. "Emi?" He asked, before dragging his attention back to his novel. "Depends if she's the same as always." He answered cryptically; accurately aware of the three pairs of ears well trained on the conversation.

"She's definitely changed, Kakashi!" The old woman laughed heartily. "You might find you a challenge." Ah, thankfully Mami had understood the need for… vagueness. Emi was always one that was hard to handle, and, even though she was three years younger, always acted like a child.

Oh, well, then again, last time he had seen her; she had been a child – a child who he, Obito and Rin had to babysit her. Ah, what… fun times.

"She recently won an art competition." The woman mentioned, tipping her head to the right slightly, like she was remembering. "She made this… disturbing statue made of weapons. I really don't understand how she won – something about it being uniquely abstract." The woman shuddered heavily, the fat underneath her chin shaking violently at the effort.

"Sounds like her." Kakashi said noncommittally – he knew nothing of Emi having an interest in art, though, now that he thought on it, she did have an unhealthy interest in his teams kunai and shuriken.

"I think you'll be surprised when you see her, Kakashi," the old woman said pleasantly, "she's turned into quite the beauty."

"Quite a beauty indeed, if she needs her aunt to vouch for her." Kakashi told her, rather pointedly, as, regardless of the – now thought of – fond memories he had of Emi, they did not mean he was going to become interested.

"Hmm? No, course not. I just want the girl to stop sleeping around. She says that its an artists release and that I shouldn't try to bind her spirit, or some nonsense, but I figure, that if someone were to… ah… woo her, and then she might start to like them and gain a taste for commitment, you know?" The old woman explained, and Kakashi inwardly winced at the information being fed to the brats. Hopefully, they didn't understand that the woman expected him to sleep with Emi, woo her and give her such a time that she would pin for him, and then, eventually grow from the experience and find someone to settle with.

Because it would be awkward if they did.

Still, peaceful silence, but a surreptitious glance at Sakura, and he realised that she was just barely holding her indignation in.

With a slight shock, he recalled a time when Emi looked exactly like that, but at the time, it was because his team had taken back all their weapons she had managed to con off them. "We'll see." If she really was similar, but older, than the Emi he knew, the chances are he might make his team stay a little while longer after their mission was finished, to work on… um… tree exercises. It would only take a moment to show them how to do it, and he knew Sai most likely already knew how.

Yes, he could give him pointers.

Mami remained silent, and this time, when Kakashi was drawn once more into his book, the main character had dark brown hair and dark blue eyes – he giggled slightly, which caused the old woman to laugh uproariously, strangely enough.

He glanced once more at Sakura, and irritatingly enough, she seemed to understand where the conversation ended, because she was glaring at him with all her might. Her sensei shrugged, he hadn't gotten laid in over a month; he deserved it.

As they walked, and the sun began to bleed into darkness, Kakashi froze as something trailed along the edges of his senses. He paused, but it was so slight, he continued their trek onwards, to the grand market city of Yuuta.

They continued to walk, closing in on the distance between them and a cliff not far off, a wall hit all of them choking, suffocating, crushing them, but stand they did. Even Mami Sato felt it, and began to whine slightly under her breath.

Kakashi, however, froze, not in fear, but in recognition.

He had only felt such malice and darkness in a chakra signature once, and that had been during the Kyuubi attack. To his knowledge, only one boy could have had it, the chakra, though he did acknowledge that it was possible that the demon had changed hosts, as the child host had been kidnapped when he was three months of age…

It made the situation no less dire.

With quick movements, he had lifted the old woman, and briskly ordered the rest of his genin's to run towards the city, but not to use the path. They, in their panic at the heavy pressure, needed to be yelled at, before they nodded and disappeared at a run.

Up on top of the cliff, hidden by one of Haku's genjutsus, was Naruto, his eyes a blood red, with a wicked smirk on his face. He continued to reach inside himself, and drew on the unnatural power within himself with a single thought to the creature it belonged to – a creature he told no one of, not even Haku.

Thanks, Foxy.

A/N: Hello! First Naruto Fanfic! Hope you like it!