Hunted: The Demon Chronicles

In a world rampaging with monsters, people like me are a necessity. What am I? Well…

I'm a Tamer.

Chapter One: Testing

It was the day of graduation and the day I would receive my Birth Partner from the Dimensional Gate. I was anxious and scared. Every year, at least one recruit is killed by their Birth Partner. It was risky business dealing with demons even if you were bound by fate. I found that destiny is cruel to some and unfairly kind to others. Thankfully, I was a lucky girl. I've escaped injury more than once and have stumbled upon many gifts and supportive friends during my years of training.

You see…I'm a recruiting Tamer, Sakura Haruno and today, I would meet with fate.

_ 3333

"I'm about to shit my pants. How 'bout you?" Asked Kiba. I gave him a blank stare and nodded my head. Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, Hinata and I were all eating breakfast together at a small diner, but it seemed no one would touch their food…except Choji. He ate all his food, ours and ordered more.

"I'm not scared!" Choji said through a mouthful of eggs.

"That's why you are eating yourself into a cholesterol –induced coma." Shikamaru scoffed. "We're all scared shitless."

"I'm not all that frightened." I lied. "Just nervous as hell…" Now that last part was the truth.

Hinata looked up from her bangs and said nothing. She simply stared. We could all see the cooling terror in her pale eyes. Kiba sighed and patted her on the back. "Don't look so depressed, Hinata. You're a great recruit. You'll do just fine. Besides, I'll be there next to you the entire way."

"All the way until the Dimensional Gateway." Choji grumbled. Kiba flashed him a furious glare. "It's the truth! We are on our own at that stage. There's no point in sugar coating it!"

Kiba clinched his teeth. Hinata's eyes dropped to the floor, wide and filled with doom. "Choji has a point, Kiba." Shikamaru began. "But, Hinata." He placed his hand on hers and smiled. "We'll be waiting for you."

For some reason, the fear in my own heart began to soften. I placed my hand on top of Shika's and grinned. "We are all coming back alive."

"With a kick ass demon partner!" Kiba added his hand to the pile. Shika, Kiba and I looked at Choji, smiling expectantly.

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled. "Don't die, guys." He placed his hand on top of Kiba's and chuckled. "We have your back, Hinata."

Hinata gazed from under her bangs and began to tear up. She smiled and whispered, "T-thank you."

Everyone was beginning to gather their courage and hope within each other's support. With my friends at my back, I believe I can do anything. You see? I am a very lucky girl.

"Hey, you kids!" called the manager of the diner, "The ceremony is about to start. I don't want to be blamed if you're late!"

We all looked at each other and smiled weakly.

"Let's go, guys." Shikamaru sighed. "Fate is waiting."

_ 333

"Everyone! Gather around and listen up!" One of the Sensei ordered. I couldn't help but notice his demon perched on his shoulder. It was a little owl. Cute. "For the first stage of the graduation ceremony, you must take a written test."

"Ugh. Another one?" Shika groaned quietly. I chuckled.

"You will be tested on how well you know your material. Now, enter the testing room and begin!" Owl Sensei said.

Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji followed behind me towards the testing room. We were surrounded by fellow recruits. There must have been at least fifty recruiting this year, which was half the usual amount. I guess people stopped sending their kids to Tamer School, because they'd like them to live longer.

When we entered the testing room, Shika picked the desks closest to the window and sat down. We quickly picked seats next to each other and waiting to receive our test.

"When you get your test, begin immediately! We have no time to waste." Owl Sensei said. "If we miss sunset, you have to wait another year to graduate!"

The Dimensional Gate only opens once every year at sundown. This was my only chance, because I wasn't going to go through another year of training.

We were handed our test and began. The first question was easy enough and the rest were simple common sense Q and A.

What will be the first thing you do when you enter the Dimensional Gateway?

Easy. I'll greet the Goddess of the Gateway and present her my stats…if she doesn't deny me first.

When a recruit enters the gateway, they must present their Birth Symbol and color to the Goddess of Destiny and Space. Wither or not she thinks you're worthy decides if you move forward. If you pass, you are asked several questions dealing with your soul. The questions can range from "What's your favorite band?" to shit like, "What is the meaning of life?" If you answer that part correctly, then you are given your demon partner that was tied to you by fate the moment you were born. This is the most dangerous stage, because if your demon decides that fate can go fuck itself, the demon will kill and eat you. It would be a miracle if one would return alive after a demon has denied them. But who the hell would want to come back after being deemed unworthy by a lowly demon? The humiliation would be enough to kill them anyway.

But…if you pass all stages and receive your demon, you are an official State Tamer and from there receive your Birth Symbol on a State necklace, showing you are legally allowed to hunt and destroy rouge demons. This is the ultimate honor.

And It. Would. Be. Mine.

An hour past and we were still in the testing room waiting for others to finish. Choji was still hunched over his paper, wide-eyed like a frightened deer. We only had a few seconds left and he didn't look nearly done.

"Times up! Put your pencils down!" Owl Sensei announced. Choji grimaced and slammed his pencil down.

"Please tell me he didn't fail." Shika whispered to me. He sounded annoyed.

"Hope not." I sighed.

"How many times did we tell that idiot to study?" Kiba growled.

Hinata looked worried for Choji but didn't say anything- just twiddled her fingers together nervously.

Owl Sensei began to walk out the room, waving to us to follow. "Let's head to the physical room!"

Choji looked sick with worry. The next test was going to be even harder for him…the physical endurance test.

Three hours passed…and I felt like my legs would fall the flip off. The Endurance Test was brutal and I completely lost my group in the rush. We had to make four laps around the entire village without stopping and then had to spar for a whole ten minutes with Owl Sensei himself. Most of us managed to crawl through it, but some didn't even try.

I didn't see Choji, Shikamaru or Hinata anywhere and hoped that they managed to finish. Kiba came from behind me, huffing and puffing like a tired dog. He smiled.

"That was fun!" He said…yeah, Kiba has a sick fetish for exercise.

"Yeah, a total hoot." I grumbled. "Where's everyone else?"

He shrugged. Uh oh…

What if they didn't— and before I could even finish the thought I saw all three of them passing the End Post. Shika and Hinata had Choji's arms thrown over their shoulders as they dragged him into a slow jog. Choji's feet were "moving" but the majority of his weight must have been carried by Shika and Hinata. I smiled at the funny sight.

"We had to carry the bastard half the damn way." Shikamaru complained as we all sat in the lunch room. We were having a thirty minute break before the Dimensional Gate.

"My arms hurt." Hinata mumbled. It was the first time I've ever heard her complain openly.

"I didn't ask for your help." Choji lay on the floor under our table and sulked.

"You're lucky we did." Shika retorted and kicked his side.

"You're all lucky you guys didn't get disqualified." I added.

Our thirty minutes were up. It was time for the final stage. Time for the Dimensional Gateway…time to shit our pants.

Section Two of Chapter One: Demons

Demons. They're the only living beings alive that can go against fate or destiny or whatever you want to call it. They were once the freest, most powerful creatures on the planet, ruling the world we know in a pit of chaos and darkness. But one demon stood out among them as the most powerful, the Goddess. She could see their wrong ways and cast them into an empty dimension called Lazuras, which then left Earth to the rules of Mankind. The demons within Lazuras were infuriated and demanded freedom. The Goddess took pity on her people and made a covenant with them.

"Each demon will be given a chance to return to Earth if they were to swallow their evil pride and bow to a human's will."

The Goddess believed that if humans and demons were tied to each other by a bond, they would create balance of power on Earth and in doing so, create peace.

This made the situation even worse. Demons began to violently riot against the Goddess, but the deal was set. Each demon was tied by fate to one human to be born the following year. The demon's were either forced to work with humans or kill their birth partners in Lazuras during the bonding and be left inside the dimension forever.

It was easy to see why demons began to corporate with the humans…

But. Something went wrong during the centuries.

A few demons, who had been gathering their strength in Lazuras, broke away from the gate and were free to roam as rouges on Earth with no human partner to control them. It was then that the Tamers were forced to create the State Demon Hunters. Strong Tamers hunted the rouges and the rouges hunted the Tamers.

An all out war had begun against the rouge demons and mankind.

It's up to new recruits like me to make our bond with our demon partner and survive. We have to fight for the world's balance and peace. We have to become strong. We have to hunt.

We have to protect our home…no matter what the cost.

To be continued…

Authors Notes.

Hi! I'm Blue! Well, I just wanted everyone to know that this is an almost original story. I just used the Naruto cast members as my characters. Don't worry! You'll be seeing Naruto soon in the upcoming chapter!

Any questions? Leave a comment and I'll get to it as soon as possible.

Please review and tell me what you all think! XD