I'm glad my story has been keeping you interested so far! The favorites and alerts made my day after a boring day at work! A quick note, Rend is polite for a child because of the way he was raised (expect flashbacks) but he will be pretty rowdy in a good way.

CHAPTER 2

The Next Morning

Little Naruto nearly dismissed yesterday's gift as a cool dream, until he felt a warm tongue licking the side of his face. "Good morning Brother!" Rend 'thought' as he projected his words into his companion's mind. The still drowsy child replied a simple, "mornin..." and a few mumbles before his eyes widened. The harsh screaming of a child could be heard by every citizen in Konoha at 5:30 that morning.

"YOU CAN TALK!" yelled Naruto, making the wolf flinch.

"Not yet Brother, I'm just putting my thoughts in your head so you can hear me." Rend stated.

"Umm... does that mean you can read my mind?"

"Nope, I can only put my words in your head."

"STILL THOUGH THAT'S COOL!"

"Please, Brother... stop yelling..." Rend pleaded in his thoughts.

"...And my name's not 'Brother' either! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

"My name's Rend Razorjaw! Isn't it the greatest name ever!" Rend barked aloud as he thought.

The two continued to talk as the day passed, talking about how they both had similar dreams and Rend explaining the fact that they were linked. Naruto dreamt of being the Hokage one day in order to gain the people's respect and Rend wanted to become the strongest Okami. Due to the fact that the both of them were both children, neither could really understand exactly what that meant, but they both grasped the fact that they would never separate. The rest of the day was spent with Rend eventually teaching little Naruto how to project his thoughts into the young wolf's mind. That didn't mean the child was slow to learn at all, it was just difficult to explain it in a way that a five year old could understand. After that was established, Naruto and Rend did everything together. The ability to leave the house and talk to his companion without looking crazy made Naruto confident enough to take Rend on a tour of the village the next day. After a week or so, the still sour villagers started to cry out their fear of the demon's new pet and would attempt to harm it at any chance. It would prove to be a fool's mistake every time, because the normally unbreakable defense Naruto held up against the insults crashed instantly when Rend was harmed. The child would bit, scratch, and punch anyone who dared hurt his brother.

Naruto Uzumaki and Rend Razorjaw, Age 7

Hiruzen Sarutobi found out about Naruto's 'brother' two years ago, and he still felt immense pride in the fact that he had bent Danzo's laws to work in his favor. The law partially stated that the demon boy should be not be under the care of an adult due to his dangerous nature. The Hokage used this to grant his favorite gaki his own apartment to protect him from the abuse of the orphanage. This very same clause of the law was used to stop the council from complaining about the wolf. His words at that time were, "The law states that the boy can't have any adult supervision, but it did not say he couldn't have a pet. And besides, its a wolf! The wild animal could easily turn on the boy and that would end your worries FOR you." That quieted the council for a while as they eventually allowed it. It had pained him to talk about Rend that way, as the Okami had spoke with him through his thought projection on multiple occasions, but he knew it was the only way to sell them on the idea without risking an uprising. Naruto also told him about the kind Toad Man who gave him his brother. Hiruzen instantly recognized his student's hand in things, but simply kept it a secret just as Jiraiya did as a show of trust toward his student. He did however make certain to spend time with the two whenever he could, taking them to a place called Ichiraku Ramen whenever he could. The duo of Teuchi and Ayame were not only skilled at what they did, but neither of them held a grudge against the boy.

Today the duo wold not be joined by the Hokage, so they decided to play a little game they liked to call "Cat Tackle" which basically consisted of chasing some of the villagers' pets around until they pounced. Using one of the abilities of the Okami clan, Rend made a deal with the felines of the village. He would be allowed to practice hunting them, as long as he didn't harm them and sniffed out any population of field mice he could. This time was different, as it was the boss character of the entire Cat population. The Fire Daimyo's pet Tora, the paranoid and abused feline that wouldn't even connect with her fellow felines. Honestly this wasn't just a game, it was a mission from the others to bring her back into the feline society. A male cat with black fur covering all but his left front paw gathered information on the target. The cat, named Swiftpaw offered, "From what I've gathered, on the days before the Madame notices that she's gone, Tora tends to wander the Aburame grounds. The quiet humans that live there really don't pose a threat so she lays low there. From then on, when the humans realize that she's being searched for the elders tell the children and the children who control the bugs alert Tora by the bugs themselves."

"Detailed as always Swift!" Rend said to the cat, though Naruto only heard their respective sounds.

"But of course! Your brother saved me from the screeching pink haired human!"

"And she still holds that damn grudge too..."

Flashback: Naruto, Age 6

Rend started to realize that he could actually understand what other animals said to each other. Because of this, he started to try to converse with any creature that stood still long enough to listen. There were not many. But he would not be denied due to his stubborn nature so he continued on until he found the cat he would later know as Swiftpaw. The black cat was walking at a painfully slow pace as his eyes dulled with distress.

"What's wrong with you Mister?" Rend asked

"Oh great, I must look as rough as my day's been! Oh well, since you asked I need a shoulder to cry on."

Swiftpaw introduced himself, then went on about a certain pink haired woman who doted on him almost daily for the past few months. The woman, Councilwoman Haruno, would always snatch the poor feline up and rake her "sweet talking" voice into the cat's ear before shooing him off as soon as she noticed her daughter coming along. Of course Rend wanted to help, so he told Naruto about the situation. That led to a very nervous Naruto knocking on the enemy's door and asking her to stop pestering the cat. She immediately started spouting out about he was stepping out of line by even addressing her, she called him a bastard and a demon and yelled that he should go home before she finished what the Fourth Hokage started. Crushed by the harsh treatment the woman gave him, he almost when home before seeing the cat in question getting scooped up by the Haruno elder. He regained his courage.

"Stop it! You're hurting him!"

"Get away from me, you cursed little Bastard!" She said as Swiftpaw squirmed under her grasp.

"You're being too rough on the poor thing so let him GO!" Naruto yelled and Swiftpaw's eyes widened. He couldn't understand what Naruto had said but he knew that the boy was determined to help him. So he did what any cat would do to a threat and clawed at the woman.

"YOU SEE? HE DOESN'T EVEN WANT YOU HOLDING HIM YOU OLD BITCH!" Naruto screamed and caught the falling cat as he ran away from the stunned woman.

Flashback End

After receiving a good luck cheer from the informative cat, the duo sneaked into the Aburame compound. The area was well kept, but still in its essence very true to nature. The grass grew at a length that would house the insects with ease, without looking unkempt and there were many different types of plants and trees. These things would allow the younger bug users to bound with nature as well as other types of insects instead of solely relying on their clan's trademark. Rend kept his nose to the ground in an attempt to find any fresh feline scents in the area. This part would not prove difficult, since the only cat that travelled in this area was the troublesome Tora. Rend led Naruto deeper into the compound where they two eventually spotted the ribbon wearing target. Unbeknownst to them, they were also spotted by one of the children of the clan. The child started to alert the cat of their presense, but decided that it would be wiser to watch their actions first. Naruto advanced by using every obstacle he could to obstruct his target's view while Rend stalk within the grass. Shino sent one of his kikai out to warn the cat but a tad too late as the two rushed the cat from both sides, which caused the feline to make a beeline toward Shino's hidden position. The two quickly redirected themselves toward the cat and pursued at a determined pace until Naruto crashed into Shino, while Rend continued his pursuit of Tora.