An answer to dracohalo117's FeralNaruto Challenge!

I was searching the site and found this challenge. I liked it and wanted to try it out. Here's just one chapter, making this a one-shot unless I get enough views for this. At least 50 views and 3 story alerts before adding more to it.

I'm still figuring out a scene where both Team 7 and 8 are together. So here's Team 7 (Sakura, Kiba, Sasuke) being rescued first; Team 8 (Shino, Hinata, Takato [OC, dead, not significant]) will be saved next.

Beast Hidden in Fire

Chapter 1

"Kukuku…"

The chuckling snake was closing in on them. Sakura was crying over Kiba's downed form; Akamaru lay unconscious at his side. He had to stop him. He had to save them.

Sasuke closed his eyes and focused what little chakra he had left.

Sharingan!

The Uchiha opened his now crimson eyes, tomoe spinning like mad. He watched as the pale, snake-like man got closer, walking at a leisurely pace. Sasuke flew at him, throwing shuriken at wild abandon, praying to distract him long enough for Sakura to get Kiba and Akamaru out of here.

The bastard smirked and the shuriken were suddenly veering off course, embedding themselves in the foliage. Sasuke closed the distance between the two and threw as many taijutsu combos as he could.

Punch, Missed

Feint, Kick, Blocked

Duck, Leg Sweep, Grabbed and thrown into a tree

Nothing he did worked. As he lay there, the snake-man turned his attention to Sakura. She screamed and tried fighting back when he grabbed her hair. The snake just chuckled some more.

"I expected so much more of the Last Uchiha," he said. "Pity you aren't as talented as your brother." Sasuke surprisingly didn't care about the mention of his brother. All he could think about was saving Sakura from this man's clutches.

"And you're an even greater disappointment, girl," he smirked at the captive Sakura. Tears ran down her cheeks as he tightened his grip on her hair. "With all that power just waiting to come out, I expected a vicious counterattack."

Sasuke didn't understand what that man meant, but Sakura stopped struggling and turned deathly pale. She shook and trembled as she stared at the snake-man fearfully.

"So you are aware of your…gift," he whispered to her almost too quiet for Sasuke to make out. "Why don't you call upon that wondrous power, girl?"

Sakura shook her head as the tears ran harder than ever. Sasuke was torn at the sounds of her renewed pleas for help.

Someone…help us…

Sakura and Sasuke's prayers were answered when a red blur tackled the snake-man through two trees. The dust cloud obscured their view as Sasuke dragged his body to Kiba and the released Sakura. They could hear the roaring of some sort of animal as well as the curses the man was spewing.

The dust settled enough for them to see who, or rather, what rescued them. The snake-man was thrown out of the freshly made clearing by some sort of wolf!

The wolf was a bit larger than a normal wolf; its shoulders were as tall as Sasuke. Its fur was a burnt red, very dark, and very shaggy. It spiked around the shoulders and rear. Its tail was half the length of its body, fur spiked out near the end. The wolf's paws were odd; the rear paws were larger than they should have been, despite the wolf's abnormal size. The front paws were stranger still. They seemed like a pair of furred hands, with small claw-like nails.

The most unique features, however, were the eyes. They weren't the eyes of a wolf. They were the eyes of a human, bluer and deeper as the darkest depths of the sea.

The wolf's head slowly turned as it watched the surrounding forest, its nose twitching. It was obviously still searching for any more enemies, especially that man.

Satisfied that the man was gone, the wolf turned to observe the downed and exhausted Team 7. Sasuke was standing shakily on his feet, a kunai was held in a guard position. He watched wolf warily as it slowly approached them. Sakura was staring at it in wonder. Something about the wolf called to her. Kiba had woken and found the wolf staring right into his eyes.

Fuck…that's a big wolf…

The wolf's scent reached Kiba's nose. He immediately got to his knees and bowed as submissively as possible. The scent of an Alpha was so powerful that he had no choice but to submit. Sasuke stared at Kiba in bewilderment but decided to follow the mutt's example. He was too worn out to put up any sort of fight, especially against a strange wolf that took down someone that had beaten him so easily.

The wolf moved passed the bowing boys and nudged Sakura with its snout. Sakura grimaced at the wet feel. The wolf snorted as if it had smelled something too strong for its sensitive nose and backed off a good foot. It bowed its head at her and Sakura gasped as the wolf seemingly vanished; right in front of her eyes!

Team 7 stared at the spot the wolf once stood. In its place, lay an Earth Scroll; just the one they needed. They nodded dazedly at each other and took off to the Tower as fast as was safe.

…sssshhhh…

The red-haired Sand nin was impassively staring at his prey. His sand shifted and squirmed around him, blocking the incoming ninja tools and insect swarms. The other two Sand nin watched the fight, wincing at every near-miss the remainder of Team 8 suffered.

Shino dodged the incoming waves of sand quickly, silently thanking their sensei, Kurenai, for teaching them the abbreviated Body Flicker. Hinata's moved in similar patterns, dodging with minute uses of the abbreviated Body Flicker and hurling an occasional shuriken or kunai to find a weakness in the red-haired nin's defense. Poor Kaito-san had stumbled upon these Nin and was captured in the living sand before speaking a single word. Shino and Hinata tried to negotiate for their teammate, but the stoic redhead simply willed the sand to kill Kaito.

Shino and Hinata were horrified by the mercilessness displayed, but were quickly attacked by the redhead. Now they were trying to escape with no avail. They were completely on the defensive, unable to retreat and attacking had no effect.

Hinata's Jyuuken strikes temporarily rendered the sand inert, but it quickly recovered in less than a second. Shino tried to use his kikaichu to drain the chakra of the redhead's sand. But the chakra was too caustic for the beetles. The best Shino could figure, the chakra in the sand had a mind of its own and the chakra used seemed to be the embodiment of the desert itself.

"Hinata," Shino whispered to the Hyuuga. They had gained a momentary reprieve while the redhead was preoccupied with 'speaking' to his 'Mother'. "While I distract the Sand Nin, please retreat to the gate as fast as you can." She looked ready to argue when the Sand Nin attacked once more, screaming for their blood.

"GO!" Shino shouted at the trembling girl as he sent a wave of his kikaichu to meet the oncoming sand. Hinata's face was streaked with tears as she stood frozen. Shino's bugs were annihilated by the sand and they were both about to be consumed by it.

"N-no," she whispered as the sand slowly crept up their bodies. "S-someone…a-anyone…S-save…Us!" Her eyes shut tightly as she felt the sand tighten its grip painfully. And just as it got too much to bear, the sand was swept away and she felt like she was flying. Hinata opened her eyes and beheld a beautiful sight.

She was on the back of a dark red wolf, larger than any she'd ever seen! The wolf carrying a grey bundle in its mouth and was bursting through the forest at high speed, weaving left and right, over and under the trees. She held on tightly and sobbed in relief. Someone had saved her…

The wolf slowed, coming to a complete stop in a clearing near the center of the forest. Hinata got off the wolf and bowed deeply, thanking it as sincerely as possible. The wolf dropped his burden from his jaws, revealing the unmoving body of Shino.

"Shino-kun!" She got to her knees and checked the still figure. She was gladdened to find that he was merely unconscious. Hinata looked up to thank their savior once again to find the wolf a mere inch from her face. She gazed up into the too-human eyes gazing at her and was mesmerized by their endless blue depths. The wolf nuzzled her gently, taking her scent in deeply. Hinata giggled as the wet texture of the nose brushed against her neck.

Grasping its head tightly, she nuzzled against the wolf and whispered, "Thank you for rescuing us, Ookami-sama. I'm forever in your debt." The wolf pulled back and did the most amazing thing.

"You..welcome…flower…" It Spoke! It was very guttural and the words weren't exactly right, but the strange wolf actually spoke to her! Hinata's mind raced as she thought of all the possible explanations.

A rogue summon, trapped in this plane?

An animal affected by the lingering chakra accumulated after years of exposure?

A lesser demon living in Konoha?

The wolf whined softly as it smelled the growing fear emanate from the young girl. He nuzzled the wonderful smelling hair the girl had in an effort to calm her. The feel of the silky fur broke Hinata out of her reverie and she held back another giggled that threatened to escape her. There was no way this sweet and brave creature could be a demon.

"M-my ap-pologies, Ookami-sama…" she muttered into the wolf's ear, hugging his head slightly. The wolf gave a deep, rumbling growl that made her want to curl up and sleep her aches away.

The next morning, Shino awoke to find the redhead and his team gone and himself in an entirely different clearing. 'Hinata!' Shino leapt to his feet and looked around frantically to find his surviving teammate. There at the base of the tree slept Hinata; Shino would have let out a sigh of relief if it wasn't for the sight of what she rested on.

Shino stared into the glaring eyes of an enormous dark red wolf; its glaring tightened when Shino began to reach for his weapons pouch to pull out a kunai. He stopped immediately and the wolf to relaxed itself. The wolf jerked its head softly and snorted, indicating that Shino was to come closer. He complied slowly, taking measured steps toward the strange beast and his sleeping teammate.

'I must be swift. When I am in range, I will grab hold of Hinata and leap into the tree above. Once sufficiently high enough, I'll race straight to the tower as fast as I can. Hopefully this wolf can't climb trees…' Shino planned as he got closer to the wolf.

But before Shino within three feet of the pair, the wolf nudged Hinata, snorting to wake up the girl. Hinata awoke, dazedly rubbing her eyes and yawing cutely. She smiled kindly to the wolf and it nodded its head in his direction. Hinata's eyes caught sight of Shino and untangled herself from the wolf's fluffy tail.

"S-shino-k-kun," she muttered, hugging the stiff Aburame slightly. The wolf growled a bit, seeing the girl embrace the boy that smelled like a large hive of beetles.

The flower girl was his!

"I-I'm g-glad y-ou're alr-right," she stuttered. Shino titled his head at Hinata in acknowledgement, never taking his eyes off the glaring wolf.

"Where did that creature come from, Hinata?" he asked her quietly. The wolf still heard, since its ears twitched in their direction. The creature was obviously very intelligent, capable of understanding speech and sensing hostile intent.

"O-oh," Hinata said happily. Shino was mildly baffled by her change in mood. "Th-this is Ookami-sama," she said, still smiling sweetly at the wolf. It preened slightly, smug at the affection in Hinata's voice. "H-he saved us f-from the S-sand Nin yesterday." Shino's brow leapt up in disbelief.

'Saved them?' He thought incredulously. It seemed too good to be true. As he thought of the possibilities on the wolf's origin, Hinata walked back to the wolf and sat beside its head. She softly petted the wolf, scratching behind the ears and the scruff of the neck. The wolf's tail thumped in delight; this girl knew exactly where to find the most wonderful places!

"Hinata," Shino said to her. She stopped her ministrations and the wolf whined at Hinata but growled at Shino in protest. It was angry at the bug boy for stopping the girl's wondrous hands. "We only have two days to procure a Heaven Scroll from another team if we wish to pass this portion of the Chuunin Exam. While Kaito-san's death was a terrible happenstance, we must continue on. If we merely wait out the last two days, we risk being attacked for our scroll by other less powerful, but equally skilled teams similar to the Sand Genin. It is not likely that this wolf will deign to secure us a scroll whe new are not in danger"

Hinata nodded sullenly and was about to get up when the wolf growled. It got up and stuck its head into a nearby bush, procuring a tattered Heaven Scroll. It was slightly ripped at the ends and soaked in certain spots, but otherwise intact. He dropped the Scroll in Hinata's lap and laid his head next to her, whining softly. Shino was gob smacked, but Hinata giggled and gave the wolf a small peck on the forehead in thanks.

"S-see Shino-k-kun, Ookami-sama s-saved us again," She said smugly to the slack-jawed Aburame. She turned back to the happy wolf that she was till rubbing and scratching. "Ookami-sama, w-will you e-escort us to th-the tower? Please Ookami-sama?" she begged quietly. The wolf just snorted in agreement. He would gladly do that and more for the flower girl, just as long as he could get more scratches.

Minutes later, the two genin found themselves at the base of the tower in front of the doors they needed to enter. Both bowed in thanks to the wolf, Hinata stuttering, "Th-thank you once ag-gain, Ookami-sama. My debt to y-you has g-grown." The wolf, now going by Ookami, nodded and spoke once more, shocking Shino who had been unconscious the first time.

"…welcome…flower…" Ookami growled. He nudged up Hinata's left sleeve with his snout. Confused by Ookami's actions, Hinata held up the sleeve. She gasped as he nipped her forearm slightly drawing blood. Ookami licked the spot and Hinata felt a small surge of chakra from the bite.

The blood morphed into a red crescent moon. Hinata and Shino looked to Ookami for an explanation. The wolf growled and said,

"…mark…energy…call…" He struggled for a moment, but then continued. "…flower…call…I…come…fight…protect…" Hinata looked confused, but Shino 'ahhed' in understanding.

"Hinata, what Ookami-san means is that you just send a portion of your chakra to the mark and he shall come to you. Call for him when you need his aid and he shall give it." Hinata smiled in understanding and hugged Ookami's head tightly, nuzzling into his fur.

"Th-thank you for th-this gift, Ookami-sama. I-I am happy to call y-you friend." She said. Ookami growled happily and said in turn,

"Flower…friend…Ookami…happy…" He backed away from the two young Nin and growled as he turned away. "Safe…flower…call…fight…" Hinata got the message. 'Stay safe; call me when you need me.'

They bowed to the disappearing wolf and entered the tower.

And there's the first chapter of Beast Hidden in Fire. Tell me what you guys think…