Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto, if we did, we would both be living somewhere else happily, and not screw up on who we sell the rights to….
A/N: Because Dragon-Wolf Tamer has a bit of collection of stories on its (ha, you thought I would reveal who we are) profile, we decided I'll end up hosting this story and working on it. It's co-written with Dragon-Wolf Tamer, and oddly enough… well, just read.
Tamer of the Beasts
Chapter1: Joining the Pack
"Hmmm, what to do, what to do," a heavily robed man said while sneaking along the floors of the Hidden Leaf forest, "It's been quiet lately..." He was atempting to conceal himself from sight as he had on a brown and green cloak that looked like the forest floor. His face and head were under the hood, and he demoted his mobility into a crawl. Though, as soon as he said his line, he heard a grunt nearby.
"Uh… that's a very unusual sound around here, that sounds like a kid" the man whispered to himself as he crawled along the forest floor towards the grunting. He blended in very well with his surroundings, passing by many creatures that, even with their senses, were unable to notice the man crawling. He made his way towards the low noise he was able to hear, and notice something that really upset him.
"Okay, why are you napping on a log kid," he said as he began poking the disheveled blonde awake, "Come on, what are you doing here?"
The kid sat up and began looking around, "Huh… I'm alive?"
"Alive?" the man said as he began feeling warm in his cloak and attempted to take it off, "what, were you dared to stay one night in the forest and were half-scared to death You're parents must be worried about you right now."
"Parents?" The boy replied and he thought about that for a moment as he finally was able to remove his hood. He had unusual amber eyes, nothing a normal person would have unless it was an animal or a bloodline jutsu. His hair was extremely unusual as t first glance, looked like normal dark gray/black hair, but looked unusually thick… sort of like fur.
"What's a parent?" the boy said and the man knew what the kid was, an orphan.
"Uh, never mind that, do you have a name kid?"
"Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki"
'Doy… not that clan again….' The man thought as he tried to remember something, 'that's why most of my friends are summons…well, can't really blame them all for that, it was one nut-job that sealed us for his own use.'
"Uh-oh," Naruto said as he heard something, "they're coming."
"Who's coming?" the man said, having his introduction cut off by the sudden fright of the child.
"There it is!" someone shouted from afar and the man turned to see a small contingent of villagers that all shot glares at the boy standing next to him.
"Okay… you seem very popular," the man said as the boy started shivering.
"Get that demon!" One man said as the amber eyed man flinched at that word.
"Demon? Now what am I forgetting about the Uzumaki clan… right… one of their own had the demon fox sealed inside her… don't tell me the kid has it now,' the cloaked man took a peek at Naruto's back and saw the seals drawn on him, 'yup… she did.'
"Help," the cloaked man felt a tugging as Naruto tried to get his attention.
"Well, as many leaders of armies know, there is a time where retreating is the only option," the man said picking up Naruto, "and that time couldn't be any closer to mauling you, let's go!"
"Hey, who the hell is that?" Someone from within the crowd shouted as they began giving chase.
"I don't know, but he's helping that brat, get him as well, for all we know, he could be one himself," another villager shouted and a smile appeared on the amber-eyed man's face.
No matter what he did, the villagers somehow kept chase of him and Naruto, eventually, he began to tire out.
"I can't run on 2 legs…" He panted as Naruto gave him a weird look.
"You only have two legs"
"Ack, didn't mean to-" the man said as he noticed the incoming mob, "Naruto, get off that log."
Naruto leaped off the wooden object as he was told, and the amber eyed man lifted t up, showing very little strain in doing so, "I'm not afraid to use this, I'm warning you."
"What can you do with a log?" A villager shouted, "we have knives and kunai, and all you have is a stupid piece of wo-"
"Fly common wood of the forest," the man shouted, flinging the log into the air and using a quick hand sign to use a bit of wind jutsu in guiding the log on its flight. Suddenly, many villagers were knocked to the ground by the object, all too amazed to realize that the two were getting away.
'Okay, why are they attempting to kill the nine-tailed jinchuriki?' the man thought as he kept making his way through the forest.
"I think we lost them," Naruto said as the man was glad to stop running on two feet.
"Okay, let's take a quick rest," the man said sitting down on a rock, "do you know why they are all angry at you?"
"I don't know, they just never liked me from the beginning… I didn't do anything to them, I swear sir," Naruto sighed and sat on the ground, "Everyone hates me, and I don't know why."
'Poor kid,' the man thought as he looked around to see if anyone was around, 'he's all alone… no one he could talk to, no one who would be his friend. Now I'm starting to get homesick… get that idea out of my mind right now, I have to get this kid out of here and go hunt some food down before I go back.'
"Hey, uh…" Naruto tried to ask the man for something, but realized that he didn't know his name, "wait, what's your name?
"Oh right, we were cut off," the man replied, "I'm only just called Kaoken… I sort of like the name."
"Why?"
"It means guardian, and it sort of what I do for a living… well, among other things, but I mainly try to def-, uh, never mind that, It's not very important."
"Oh, okay," the blonde replied, "Look out!"
Suddenly, Kaoken felt incoming projectiles and ducked out of the way of a thrown kunai.
"Oh great, ninja were in that mix of angry mobs as well?" Kaoken said as he took Naruto and ran… 'What mess did I get myself into? Why didn't I just hunt for food and bring it back like I was told….'
"Split up, try to get them surrounded," one man ordered as the large mass of enraged villagers, some sporting a bruise from the log attack, spread out and tried to encircle he two.
"I heard that…" Kaoken shouted and tried to think of a solution to this problem. They sent the shinobi to block from the front as they were the fastest, and the rest of the villagers would get the side covered. While thinking of what to do, Naruto shouted an idea.
"Climb the tree."
"Well, we are somewhat screwed, but okay," Kaoken said and quickly climbed up the nearby tree, 'Darn it, if only I could openly transform, then we would have an easy time getting out of here. Orders are orders; never show our form in public of the humans unless commanded by our master. No master, no open transformation. Darn summoning contracts.'
Moving around the tree a bit, the two were able to get in a spot where nothing could be thrown correctly to hit them, and it did not look impossible to travel along the trees.
"Ready for some tree hopping kid?" Kaoken said and Naruto, looking at the villagers climbing the tree, nodded frantically. Quickly, Kaoken went from branch to branch, leaving the shinobi behind who followed.
'Not as fast as I wanted this to go, but I'm only using two legs…' Kaoken thought as he was making great time… until…
"Hey watch out!" Naruto shouted as Kaoken noticed that the branch he was about to land on was breaking.
"Oh what the heeee-" Kaoken screamed as the branch immediately snapped, sending the two plummeting to the ground. Kaoken quickly maneuvered himself so that he could land on his feet, and was able to safely reach the ground.
"Wow, that was amazing," Naruto cheered quietly as he saw that neither of them were harmed. Not too many people, not even shinobi, would be able to survive a fall like that.
"Thank you, thank you whoever gave me the athletic ability to land like that," Kaoken said as Naruto looked panicky around.
'Okay, this is ridiculous, what child has to live in fear and suffering like this' Kaoken thought and an idea popped in his head, 'screw it, my mate is going to yell at me for not telling her before hand on who will be our master, but I'm tired, hungry, and I hate being in my transformation all the time.'
"Hey kid," Kaoken said as Naruto turned to him after scanning the area.
"Yes?"
"Want to be able to meet some of my friends later and come live with us for a bit?"
"Really?" Naruto said excitedly, "No one has ever offered me to live anywhere."
"Well, there is only one problem," Kaoken said as Naruto stared at him, "Well, actually two. You have to sign a contract with your blood if you want to see my friends and family."
"Uh, okay," Naruto said and Kaoken searched his pocket for a knife and summoned the summoning contract.
"The other problem… are you afraid of animals… ones who look kind of scary?"
"Well, you said they're your friends and family, and you seem nice, but you are not a monster or anything," Naruto said and he started looking confused at Kaoken, "What are you?"
"Can't tell you right now, I'm ordered not to tell unless you are our master with this contract," Kaoken said as he gave Naruto the knife and scroll, "Nip your finger with the blade and write your name with the blood."
"Umm…" Naruto struggled to force himself to cut his finger, only to realize it didn't hurt as bad as he thought. He attempted to write his name onto the contract, but…
"I don't know how to write," Naruto said and Kaoken groaned.
"Let me help you with that," Kaoken said as he guided Naruto's hand to spell out the name, "Okay, that's one. Now finish off the contract with a mark you would use to summon us… usually having 5 fingers covered in blood and stamping the scroll will do."
Naruto began smearing the blood on his hands to his fingers, not worrying about the wound that much, and was about to stamp down onto the contract, but…
"There they are!" someone shouted from the woods and Kaoken groaned.
"Oh boy… quickly stamp down on the document, I'll hold them off for a bit." Kaoken leapt to his feet, and ran towards the mess of bushes.
"Wait, what? Did he leave me?" Naruto whined as he noticed he villagers were beginning to surround him. Naruto looked around and saw no way out. "'What was that about holding them off.'
"We got him now," a man said as the crowd began coming closer. Naruto had no idea anymore what to do, but he remembered the contract.
'But… he left me,' Naruto thought as he noticed he did not have much time to live, 'Well… I'm dead anyway, why not just leave my mark on something. Naruto slammed his hand onto the contract, completing the agreement. Nothing happened though and Naruto was quickly grabbed by his shirt collar by a random villager who held the knife that was on the ground to his throat.
"We finally got you, you demonic brat, say your last words now!"
"Help help me, Kaoken help!"
"Begging for someone to come and help in the middle of the woods, you just wasted your last words."
As if on cue, a howl pierced through the air very nearby the group, and the villager drop Naruto in surprise. As quickly as Naruto hit the ground, the man fell to his knees as a creature quickly glided from the bushes and had it's teeth buried on his neck, blood oozing slowly out.
"Wha-What the hell is that!" one person said throwing a kunai at the monster, only to have it be deflected by its tail. What stood in front of them could be either considered amazing or frightening. A large gray-furred wolf, larger than the common wolves of the nearby lands stood before them. The fact that it was large wasn't the unique part, but scales covered the front of its legs, between the eyes, stomach, and wings… dragon horns stuck from its forehead, and razor sharp teeth were already showing what they could do. The jaw seemed a bit extended as it tried to form the shape of a dragon for a wolf's head. Its tail was scaly on one end and furry at the other. The beast released the man, allowing him to fall down to the ground, dead, and turned to the group of villagers, who were slowly backing away.
"Its-it-it's another demon!"
"An-Another demon coming to Kanoha? How-How?"
"No more," a brave, or foolish, man said running at the beast, shouted as he attempted to stab the monster. The Dragon-wolf just merely side-stepped the attempted stab and plunged a claw into the man's chest, piercing anything it went through.
"Tha-that's fast," another villager said as he noticed the speed of that dodge, as if it just teleported to one side without even trying, "that thing might even be faster than the fourth Hokage was"
The wolf began to growl at the group of men who began to back away from it. But since they were not leaving fast enough, it decided to give a mighty roar at them; quickly making them all retreat out of the area.
Naruto witnessed all this and was looking at the two dead bodies on the ground. He was slowly cowering on the ground, and saw the wolf turn to him.
"Do-Don't come any closer…" Naruto said picking up a kunai from the ground and wielding it as he stepped backwards. The hybrid just approached the boy calmly, and Naruto kept backing away until he tripped over a fallen branch. An expression of confusion appeared on the face of the creature and Naruto looked at the monster. If it was going to kill him, it would have done so by now. The creature stood there, staring with amber eyes at the boy.
"Back away…" Naruto said and the creature did so. Naruto wondered what was going on for a moment, "sit."
The dragon-wolf hybrid did and fell to a sitting position. Naruto saw some people in his village have pets, dogs, cats, and rabbits. Though, they were expensive and the store keepers threw him out when they saw him browsing the animals, shouting "You are not going to eat or hurt them demon!" To Naruto, this reminded him of the villagers having dogs, and having them play around or so, as big as it was.
"Roll over…" Naruto said and the Dragon-wolf began to roll on the ground. Naruto began to laugh at how something as big and frightening as this was rolling from side to side, "Okay, stop, and sit."
As it sat back on its hind legs, Naruto noticed the eyes of the wolf, and began wondering.
'Wait… those eyes…,' Naruto thought as he kept looking at the wolf's eyes and realized what was in front of him, "Kaoken?"
The wolf gave a smile of approval at Naruto and gave a low growl… a voice began to play in Naruto's mind.
"Sorry about that, my transformation was taking a long time to dispel, and I couldn't let anyone see what I was."
"Wait, you mean you're not human?" Naruto asked and the wolf shook its head.
"That my friend was a transformation jutsu I use to travel in areas where humans roam. I'm a Dragon-wolf… an extremely and almost forgotten animal and summoning… well, almost forgotten until today."
"Wow, thanks for saving me and scaring them away," Naruto said and Kaoken stood up and give Naruto a lick, "Hey stop that… it tickles."
"That's the idea… and oh yeah, you are the only person that can understand me and the rest of my pack."
"Pack? Wait, there are more of you?"
"More of my kind, yeah. I did say friends and family… that contract was for "all" of us. You now are our master of the pack… or was it you own our pack, I don't remember. It's been like 10 years since that darn contract was bonded to us, and I was only a pup at the time."
"So I'm your leader of your pack?" Naruto said and Kaoken began to think for a moment.
"Well… actually, no. I think it was own our pack. You can summon us and command us, but that's under contract. My mate is actually the leader of the pack. And I don't suppose you have mastery over summoning jutsu?"
"I'm only 4 years old," Naruto said and Kaoken began thinking.
"Well… I'm not too familiar with summoning myself… only some elemental jutsu. Only the Alpha of the pack is allowed to help with that… and by that, I mean the stronger alpha. Ow, don't make me remember having to fight my mate and waking up with a severe head-ache and claw marks all over me… oh wait, that was only 2 months ago- You made me remember, darn it!"
Naruto began laughing at the distress of his new friend who began whimpering, "Okay, so what now?"
"Well, you don't seem too well-liked around here… and you need to meet the rest of the pack, hop on my back, you're living with us."
Curious to see the rest of his summons, Naruto got onto the back of the Dragon-wolf and, getting a running start, Kaoken was eventually to hold himself up into the air. The two flew off over the trees, and were quickly away from the forest, and the Hidden Leaf Village itself.
A few days later, Kakashi was sent into the forest. The hokage said that Naruto hadn't been seen around for a long time, and reports came in from the hospital of a demonic wolf dragon creature was in the forest. Kakashi summoned his dogs to sniff out any trace of Naruto, and Kakashi s led to a spot where two decaying corpses lay, and some blood was on the ground. The dogs followed the scent to the blood puddle, and Kakashi used his Sharingan to find any trace of chakra on it. It was no doubt, it was Naruto's blood, and it seemed to stream across the ground as if he was being dragged or was backing away bleeding. Finding no other trace of Naruto or the creature mentioned, Kakashi returned to the hokage Tower.
"So what do you have to report in Kakashi?" The Hokage said and Kakashi thought of what to say.
'Maybe people would forget about Naruto if I said he was dead… I don't know if he is, but if he does return later, he may not be remembered as a demon or anyone at all' Kakashi thought as he looked at the Hokage, "Naruto Uzumaki is dead… I also found two dead bodies nearby and a stream of blood that belonged to Naruto. I believe whatever killed those two took Naruto away."
"How unfortunate…" the Hokage said standing up, "the life of a child now gone… the Fourth Hokage said to protect the child with the demon sealed inside him, and we have failed to meet his wishes. Gather his stuff from the apartment he lived in and we will prepare a funeral for him."
"Yes Hokage," Kakashi said puffing out of the room.
'I know Kakashi doesn't truly know what happened, and I think I have an idea what he is trying to do, but where ever you are Naruto, don't forget the people here who did care about you…' The Hokage thought as he went towards the door to give the orders.
A/N: Okay, we couldn't help making a story about Dragon-wolves. And yes, Naruto is going to live away from the village until he is old enough to enter the Ninja Academy I'm not too sure how this chapter came out, but I've been having a lot of computer troubles with typing lately… so I was annoyed typing half of this due to the computer slowing down.
Yes, Kaoken means guardian unless the site I got that from was lying to me. And another disclaimer: Dragon-wolves were not my idea, and the soul property of Dragon-wolf Tamer. The only wolf I own in this fic is the oc I made here. The rest of the wolves and the other oc is Tamer's idea. And speaking of Dragon-wolf Tamer is editing this chapter and doing the next one.
Read and review.
"I am, alright then… I didn't' really expect that, and you will never find out what gender we are, even though my friend Dragon-Wolf Omega almost gave it away… hehe, not this time," -Dragon-Wolf Tamer.
