Warnings (first and only): Rated M due to mature language and eventual scenes down the line. Very eventual slash that will not come up until a ways into this fic. Be prepared for longevity. Not going to be a quick fic.

Prologue

Naruto woke slowly, one eye peeked open lazily as he took his sweet time coming back to consciousness.

A faint breeze drifted around him, ruffling the ends of his hair. He sniffed, the air was stale and warm, not cool and earthy, and when he curled further on his side he stiffened as his muscles locked, twinges of sharp pain rocking through his body. Almost as if he'd been laying on stone for hours rather than the soft grass he'd fallen asleep on.

He froze, both eyes now open and wide with confusion.

Wait a goddamn minute.

Naruto lurched to his feet, blinking rapidly as all sleepiness left him. He immediately fell to a crouch, biting back a pained moan as he rubbed the top of his head furiously.

FuckfuckfuckfuckOw!fuckfuckfu—

Who in the world thought it'd be a good idea to put the ceiling so stupidly low? I mean, heck! Naruto wasn't the tallest shinobi to ever took a breath—by a long shot, but that freaking hurt!

He squinted from the lingering aches, one hand still rubbing the growing bump on his head—

Naruto froze.

Dread began to pool in his stomach like bile. He was frozen still, h-hand still s-still…

"What the fuck?!"

He lurched at the unfamiliar whine that ripped from his throat and fell back, landing roughly on his backside.

Pain exploded up as tiny bones were pressed against the sharp corner of what seemed to be a square wooden box.

"Ow!" Another whine, though this one was more of a high pitched keen escaped his lips.

Furry lips.

Maybe he was finally growing in some facial his mind whimpered uselessly. The extra… appendage that ran just above his butt curled around his smaller body in comfort.

He twitched, seeing stars as he suddenly found it quite difficult to take in oxygen.

Reality was a bit too real to take right now.

"Hey, did you hear that?"

His felt his ears flick up at the unfamiliar male voice that pierced his panicked mind. He body was rocking slightly, he noticed, as if he was on a ship and the waves jerked about his inertia freely. It sounded like the smooth crackle of a dirt and gravel mixed road under the weight of a wheel if he listened carefully. Was he on a carriage? A cart maybe?

"What?" A different man questioned his companion. His voice was an obnoxious, slithery tone that reminded Naruto too much like Orochimaru and he expressed thus through a weird gurgle-hiss that came from the back of his throat.

"Oh." The second man cackled, and Naruto flinched at the too-high pitch. "Ignore it. it's just some entertainment I found in the woods. Must have hit its own head or something, the stupid thing."

"Another rabbit?" The first man sounded somewhat appalled. "Come on Katou, leave the poor things alone, what'd they ever do to you?"

"Nope, not a rabbit." He grit his teeth, he could taste the sadism in the man's self-satisfied tone as he corrected him. "A fox." His companion gasped.

"Well that changes things." Naruto's breath caught as he heard a sudden change in the previously reluctant man's voice. The dread was building in his stomach again. "Mind if I join you this time?"

Join him? Join him for what?!

"Hmm, yeah I suppose… hell I guess we should see if the stupid thing is even still alive first. Don't know what made it cry out like that earlier, I haven't even started yet… "

A small hole was carved into the ceiling of the… crate he had been placed in. Daylight poured in, casting a shade of light that created a halo on the bottom-center.

A finger suddenly poked through the hole, wriggling about innocently.

Naruto found himself following the calloused digit in interest. He bared his teeth.

"FUCKING SHIT!"

"Katou!"

"Little fucker bit me," 'Katou' spat.

Suddenly the top of the crate was lifted, breaking apart evenly from the cut-out on the top and Naruto immediately backed into a corner, his eyes squinted in pain at the sudden change in light level. He didn't release the finger he held vindictively between his smaller, but sharper teeth.

Three large dirtied hands descended upon him, two belonging to a different pair than the index finger caught between his teeth.

Naruto growled furiously trying to wriggle away as they grabbed at him roughly, bruising his much softer sides as they all but threw him from the box. "You're gonna get it you little monster—!"

"… What are you doing Katou-san, Fukoi-san?"

The first man dropped his hands immediately, taking a innocent step back from the obvious wrongness he'd just been a part of.

"Uchiha-sama!" he shouted in surprise.

Naruto blinked, his grip loosening as his jaw went slack. What?

"W-We were just—"

"Well?" The smooth tenor cut through the stuttering man, stripping his would-be excuses to the useless ribbons of lies.

Katou jerked his arm abruptly, forcing the hanging fox to release his grip unless he wanted to loose teeth.

Naruto growled. His throat vibrated at the animalistic sound and he caught himself as he twisted in the air, landing on all fours. Oh kami-sama. He bent the upper part of his body instinctively, his chest brushing the ground. His bristled tail high and affronted. He was ready to attack if the idiot tried to touch him again.

He could feel the stare burn into his back as the youngest Uchiha caught sight of his flailing body.

For a second something that felt eerily familiar; a burst of suffocating lust for—for something spread throughout the quiet dirt road like wild fire.

And then it was gone. Pulled in and tied up like a nice combustable package ready to blow.

Naruto swallowed his shock. His smaller body shook at the of sudden onslaught of emotion coming from the twelve year old.

Katou's gulp was audible beside him, and Naruto's nose wrinkled as he caught the stench of urine as well. "Uchiha-sama we were just—" he sputtered stupidly.

"Torturing innocent animals?" Sasuke interrupted, a stiff edge on his normally indifferent tone. Naruto could feel the glare Sasuke was giving the terrified civilian. It was really weird. And uncomfortable. "Tch. Disgusting even for you, Katou-san."

"I-I wasn't." Katou huffed. He looked like he was going to start crying in frustration. Naruto nearly grinned in pleasure, flashing his newly bloodied canines. Shows him right, the cruel bastard.

Sasuke merely raised a dark eyebrow. The companion, Fukoi, flinched sharply and turned back to grab at Katou's shirt sleeve, who'd suddenly gone quite pale. "We'll just be getting back to work now," he shuddered. The two civilians threw the broken crate back onto their cart, packed with other farming and hunting supplies and all but raced away, pulling it behind themselves in anxious, spastic jerks.

Naruto could feel Sasuke Uchiha as he crouched behind him. Twelve years old, and five years worth of killing intent gone from his presence. Well, mostly. Let's just say it wasn't at the level he was used to, ok?

Naruto didn't dare turn around despite the overwhelming curiosity unfurling in his chest, keeping low to the ground. His… 'tail' remained bristled with lingering agitation.

What the heck was going on? Where was he? Was this Konoha? He could see the Hokage Monument from the distance, but he couldn't quite make out Tsunade's profile... and why was Sasuke twelve again? Why was he, Naruto the infamous gusty ninja a… a bloody fox?!

"Hey."

His ears fluttered back at the unfamiliarly familiar voice of the youngest Uchiha. He still didn't turn.

"Hey!" He flinched and whirled around as the word was repeated, but much louder. Sasuke watched him blankly, a near perfect mask of indifference. But Naruto knew better.

He saw the anger and barely concealed disgust in the younger's form. Read it plainly in the tightness of his brow, the slight turn of the his head, his gaze focused on him and yet to the distance at the same time, like it was a children's book he'd reread over and over.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Sasuke said, a bit calmer. Softer. He stretched a hand out towards him. Naruto skirted back in shock. The kid sounded uncharacteristically… gentle. Kind-of. It was weird and out of place and wasn't making his churning mind and gut any less sick.

Confused but lured by the familiar chakra that radiated from his former friend—he wasn't a henge, he had become quite an expert on noticing the differences between henges' and real people over his years of training with Jiraiya. Naruto took slow, measuring steps towards the Uchiha.

His paws felt too light as they padded on the dirt road and he resolutely avoided looking down as he walked forward, not wanting to see the tiny footprints he knew would be there.

Sasuke stayed still, remaining crouched as he carefully moved closer.

Naruto sniffed at the fingers outstretched towards him, tentatively, and decided not to act on the urge to bite them as he did the villager's. He glanced up at the still boy that loomed above him patiently.

Naruto shook his head internally for what he was about to do. He paused for another nervous second, then brushed his head against the other boy's fingers in thanks.

Sasuke let him do this for a moment before slowly bringing his other hand up to stroke Naruto's… fur. Naruto's eyes shut involuntarily, the smooth strokes oddly comforting. When the raven skimmed his sides to reach the bristled fur of his tail though his eyes widened and he jerked back with a pained hiss.

"They hurt you." Sasuke's expression stiffened further, and for a brief, startling second Naruto thought a flash of red would appear… but the kid's eyes remained dark.

Naruto cocked his head to one side, curious to this new side of the Uchiha. Was that concern he saw? Huh.

"Tch." Sasuke shifted to sit on his heels and turned his head to glare after the long-gone civilians. "They're lucky I've only promised myself to kill one man."

Naruto wanted to cough to break the tense moment but was scared it end up sounding weird coming from his new body.

"Where did they even find you?" Sasuke fixed his attentions back on Naruto, still seeming perturbed. He stared back into the fox's strangely aware eyes for a second then scooped him up, being extra careful with his sides and tail.

Naruto blinked at the sudden altitude he'd gained as the Uchiha stood to his full length. The novelty wore off quickly.

He started to wriggle.

"H-Hey." Sasuke kept his grip firm, withstanding the fierce wiggling valiantly. "You're going to injure yourself further if you keep that up. I'm trying to help you."

Naruto stared at him. "What the fuck did you just say?" he gapped.

All that came out of course was a strange bark that wasn't quite dog-like.

Sasuke smirked. He seemed to take his vocalization as a go-ahead, as he started to walk him further down the road.

"W-Wait, Sasuke, y-you bastard! Let me go! I'm not going anywhere with you!—"

The youngest Uchiha didn't so much as blink at the strange yips and other nonsensical sounds coming from the fox in his arms, Naruto's vocabulary becoming increasingly vulgar as he was ignored, and continued on walking. Not even the uneasy looks from passing civilians deterred him as they walked further into the main part of Konoha.

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a/n: hi there. hope that was an ok cut off, it's pretty late and my laptops gonna die from battery dehydration. next chapter should be up by tomorrow. stay tuned folks~ 'hushed whisper: "reviews are love"'