Summary - The Akatsuki are somehow (by some impossible and unforeseen twist of fate) turned into cats. Yep you heard me, cats. Every last one of them! So why is Naruto now stuck looking after them?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters; they're the property of Masashi Kishimoto.
The characters are gonna be out of character, so please don't comment on that, because I've already pointed it out. And if you do tell me that then you're just gonna look like some silly idiot, who likes to point out obvious things.
This story may or may not contain shounen-ai at some point, just though I'd warn you incase you don't like that kind of thing, but I'm still a little unsure about that one little factor so bear with me for now.
"Normal talking"
'Thoughts' and 'Naruto talking to Kyuubi'
'Akatsuki cats speaking'
'Kyuubi talking to Naruto'
"When Naruto's in his mindscape he and Kyuubi will talk like this as well."
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Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home
A shadow flew along an exposed patch of undergrowth. The leaves rustled and a small burst of wind followed in its wake. There was a flash of colour, like a flame in a dark room, before it fades out of sight again.
The young blonde shinobi had been running almost non stop for two days now. And the breaks that were taken are brief.
He'd find somewhere well hidden by shrubbery to rest, and then check on the cats. Just to make sure that they weren't suffocation each other or something like that. They were all stuffed into the one sake after all, room was scarce.
Then he would set off again. Since the jinchuuriki had no idea when the Akatsuki could wake up from their temporarily comatose states he was really pushing himself to get them to a secure location, as soon as possible.
He was doing extremely well considering the mild chakra depletion and the fact that he was almost dead just under 48 or so hours ago.
His goal was to reach Konoha without running into any 'rescue parties'. Then, he'd sneak into the village, stash the bag of cats at his apartment, and wing it from there. Well actually, he was already pretty much 'winging it' seeing as he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. 'When don't you?' 'Shut up Kyuubi!'
The built up stress was starting to get to him though, and Naruto was becoming very…twitchy. Each and every sound was making the blonde flinch and his eyes darted around the surroundings, waiting for anything that would come at him.
As Naruto leant against a tree to catch his breath a faint rustling started up, just one branch away from the one he stood on. Every muscle in his body tensed as he stared hard at the area the sound was coming from. A tan hand slowly crept down to his weapon pouch and he remembered that he only had one kunai left. Cursing silently he crouched down on the branch, ready to spring into action. The leaves rustled and the noises got louder as whatever it was approached. The hand resting near his thigh suddenly dove to the single kunai, and griped it securely, before throwing it into the foliage with deadly accuracy. There was a terrified squeal and a thunk. Naruto stood up straight and peaked through the leaves.
A small brown squirrel was frozen, petrified, with the kunai buried in the tree trunk only inches above its furry little head. He stepped onto the thick branch and crouched down to remove the kunai before gently stroking the squirrel and bringing it to his chest with one arm and murmuring faint apologies over and over. It recovered quickly and scampered away into the tree top. Naruto smiled a bit with a slight feeling of déjà vu before turning to leap to the next tree.
Right before he sprang forward the blonde froze as something gently nudged him, right in between the shoulder blades. He stared ahead with wide blue eyes, but he wasn't focusing on anything in the distance. No, every sense was zoned in on the bulging bag slung over his aching shoulders. The nudge came again, stronger this time, and quickly followed by another. The teen's heart thumped hard as he ever so carefully climbed down from the tree. With the blood pounding so loudly in his ears he could only faintly hear the air rushing into already abused lungs as his breathing rate picked up.
Gently, he lowered the bag to the forest floor and watched with a detached sort of horror as it shifted around slightly. The young jinchuuriki reached for the tie at the top, with shaking hands, and let the string fall loose.
Taking a deep shaky inhale and gulping silently, the shinobi pulled the entrance open slightly and peeking in with caution. He sighed in relief when he saw that none of them were actually awake yet, but they were starting to, and that was enough to keep him edgy. Gulping again Naruto went to remove the slowly awakening animals, but hesitated. Hardening his resolve he reached in and gingerly lifted the Itachi-cat from the pile. He laid the cat on the ground, followed by another slightly smaller one with rough redish colored fur. It reminded Naruto of cinnamon for some reason. This was followed by a golden cat with long shiny fur and a long sweeping tail. Then another with sleek silver fur, and ears that seemed permanently folded backwards. This one was also wearing a necklace-like collar like Itachi, but it was a simple chain with a strange symbol dangling from it. The next cat to be removed was peculiar. It had long wild fur that was completely black, save for a single circular patch of ginger fur, which covered its entire face. The two that followed were even weirder. The first was black and white, with very small ears. That would make it normal, except for the fact that the black and white was covering one side of its body each, splitting it down the middle. The second was a strange almost fleshy kind of brown, with a pattern of dark stripes crisscrossing its entire body, in a way that made it look like its body parts were all held together by stitches. Then there was a bright orange one with wild spiky fur, and several black dots on its face. The very last two were completely normal, except that they were both a different shade of blue.
All in all it was a pretty weird bunch of felines. This of course, was completely understandable. Heck, Naruto would've be surprised if they weren't a little bit freaky, they were as humans, so why not as cats too.
The blonde sighed heavily as he looked around a bit and leapt up into a nearby tree which seemed reasonably comfortable compared to the others.
'I guess I'll just have to stay put and wait for them to fully regain consciousness now'
So, the shinobi hunkered down, and watched and waited anxiously as the animals bellow continued to stir and shift around.
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Naruto brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, and squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he massaged his fingers over the closed lids.
He may have been a shinobi, and contain a demon that gave him way above normal stamina levels, but he was still human, and the lack of sleep made him weary. It had been several hours now since the Akatsuki had first began to stir, and they were yet to actually wake up.
The blonde let his eyes flutter open and he blinked rapidly. It took a few more seconds for Naruto to fully realize just what he was seeing, and when he did, a startled gasp slipped between parted lips. Luminous grey eyes were staring up at him, narrowed pupils focused with a gaze so piercing that he shuddered involuntarily.
The cat's eyes slowly slid from his frozen form to its surroundings, taking in the numerous other animals laid out around it. Naruto continued to watch it and felt a certain degree of awe. The bright orange cat was taking everything in with almost unbelievable calmness, considering it must have noticed just how wrong things were.
It placed both front feet flat on the ground and gracefully hauled itself onto all four legs. With not even the tiniest wobble, like it had been doing this for the whole of its life. That unnerving gaze went back to the blonde, who had managed to unfreeze himself once more and landed on the ground with a barely audible thump. With cautious slowness the jinchuuriki approached the cat and maneuvered to a sitting position, just a little distance away from it. The silvery eyes never left him. For what seemed like forever they simply stared at each other, sizing the other up.
"You have obviously noticed the changes you've gone through" Naruto suddenly spoke up, breaking the tense silence that had settled around them. "I don't know how this happened to you, all I know is that it did" he continued on after a slight pause.
The cats gaze was burning through him now. It looked like it wanted to speak, but the blonde couldn't be certain. 'I can make a link' Kyuubi's voice sounded in his head, distracting him.
'A what?'
'A link, one that will make it so that when he wants to speak you'll be able to understand' A few seconds of silence passed as the blonde considered it before he answered.
'Do it'
'As you wish kit'
The blonde shinobi blinked slowly as he came back to reality and looked once more to the feline. "Kyuubi has just offered to make a link between us, it will allow me to understand you if you wish to speak." Naruto told the brightly colored animal as it swished its tail and waited patiently. Though he had already told the demon to create the link he thought it would be better if he relayed the message to the cat about it first. It nodded once in consent.
A small sliver of the Kyuubi's chakra manifested before it blinked out, the blonde nodded to the cat. "It's done"
'Why are we still alive?' was the first thing the animal said as the newly created link was tested.
Naruto felt a little bit surprised by the question but he quickly recomposed himself. "Because I decided against killing you" he stated honestly.
'Why is that?' the cat pursued as its head tilted slightly. Naruto could hear the genuine curiosity in the low voice.
"I could lie to you and say one of the few good reasons I have thought up since we left your base, but when the decision was first made I honestly didn't have an excuse. I just knew that it felt wrong." For some reason he couldn't help but tell the whole truth when that silvery gaze was locked on him.
'Interesting' the cat replied as its eyes narrowed a bit. Naruto got the distinct feeling that he was being smirked at. 'You Uzumaki Naruto are a strange shinobi, an enigma' the cat told him 'and a fool' he continued.
Naruto frowned at that. He knew it wasn't really what it appeared. The other wasn't trying to insult him. He was stating something he saw as a fact. And it was right too, he was a fool; this decision was reckless and stupid. But he just couldn't seem to really care. "I am aware of this, and I don't really care" he replied in an even voice.
The cat smirked again 'yes, definitely interesting' he mused, as those intense eyes once again went to the surroundings. Naruto followed its gaze.
As Naruto's eyes swept over the last cat twin red orbs looked back at them. The blonde almost allowed a sound of shock to escape him, and smothered it at the last second, but he couldn't stop his body from flinching.
Itachi blinked slowly and took everything in with what seemed just as much calmness as the other before him had.
The ebony furred feline also used as much grace when he got to his feet.
'Itachi' the ginger cat said the name like a greeting, acting completely normal. As if they weren't 1 tenth their normal size and covered with fur.
'Pein-sama' the Uchiha greeted back, his tone respectful. It seemed Kyuubi had connected all of them when he'd established the link.
Naruto's eyes flickered to the orange cat in front of him. So this was Pein huh. If his knowledge was correct, then this orange cat was the Akatsuki leader.
The Uchiha's scarlet gaze came to rest on the young jinchuuriki and then returned to Pein, it was a silent question.
'It seems that Naruto-kun has decided to keep us alive' the feline said in his low voice. This shocked him. He hadn't expected the Akatsuki leader to so easily admit their helplessness, and at his hands no less. He was the one that they were meant to be hunting. But the hunters could easily become the hunted, if Naruto so wished it. Only it wouldn't be much of a hunt, he could just slaughter them right here, no problem. And even if they did fight back, it wouldn't last long. They were only cats after all.
Itachi gaze snapped back to him as he searched his face, trying to lift the truth from his blue eyes with his own red ones. Despite not saying anything, it was clear what he was looking for. The singular word hovered silently.
Why?
The sharingan might have been absent but Naruto was still hesitant to meet the Uchiha's gaze. That bloody colour was unnerving with its almost hypnotic quality and he had to force himself not to look away.
'Naruto-kun' Pein's voice broke through the tense atmosphere and Itachi's piercing gaze was averted. 'I am curious as to what you intend to do with us'
Naruto just stared back at him almost blankly for a good few seconds. Then slowly he began to speak. "I want to make a deal with you."
'Oh, and what would you want to do that for?' Pein asked with an expression that seemed almost . . . amused.
"I want your word, that if I help you to regain your original bodies you'll promise not to pursue me again, until I have fulfilled my promise to bring Sasuke home, one way or another. Without any outside interference from you or anyone affiliated with your organization." Naruto worded cautiously, trying not to leave any loopholes.
The Akatsuki leader leered at him. 'What do I have to ensure your end of the bargain?'
"You have my word. I never go back on a promise, it's my shinobi way!" The blonde stated with a confident expression.
The Akatsuki leader considered him for a long moment, and then his face formed a feral grin, making the black dots stretch out.
'Deal'
Itachi stared silently back and forth between his leader and the blonde jinchuuriki throughout the whole thing. His expression was blank.
The three figures turned their eyes back to the other members when they heard the faint sounds indicating their awakening.
One by one they all awoke, all with varying reactions. More than half of them looked thoroughly freaked out though. Someone even voiced their…confusion. 'What the hell!' it was that silver cat, the one with the folded back ears. 'Shut up Hidan' Mr. Stitches (as Naruto had dubbed him) told him in a rough irritated voice. Hidan turned to Mr. Stitches with defiant angry eyes and looked ready to start a heated argument, but quickly backed down at the look sent his way by the leader.
'Pein-sama, what has happened to us' one of the two blue cats spoke up. Naruto once again found himself surprised when he heard the clearly female voice.
'I am unaware of the exact details but I believe our current state is owed to an unexpected side effect caused by the sealing jutsu when it backfired.' He told them calmly as he sat before them with a dignified pose.
'Wow, nothing fazes this guy does it' the silent blonde thought as he took note of the amount of composure the cat seemed to exude. This was quickly followed by 'I can't believe there's a woman working in the Akatsuki!'
The young shinobi felt an unpleasant tingle run down his spine and quickly discovered the source of his discomfort. More than one of the Akatsuki was looking at him with what looked like a cat's equivalent of a murderous expression. They obviously blamed him for the current situation. This was kind of unjust really since they were the ones who started it, Naruto thought with a childish pout. He never did like getting blamed for things he didn't do.
'Why is he here?' the golden furred cat spoke up, confirming his suspicions. The voice was angry. But there was also some curiosity laced into it.
'Naruto-kun has made us an offer, which I have already accepted.' Even thought the voice was quiet it instantly drew all of their attention. The Akatsuki shifted their gazes from their leader, to the jinchuuriki, and back again. 'It is obvious that while in our current states we can not possibly get back to the way we were, so it is suffice to say we could be stuck like this' the ginger stated and the others shifted nervously, they weren't happy about that little fact. 'However, with the aid of an outside source we could find a way back to our original forms.' Pein's eyes moved to the blonde that still sat in front of him. The others followed, and their expressions changed. They had caught on.
'Why would he do that? We're his enemy's! How can we trust that he'll hold his end of the deal?' Hidan spoke up with an indignant loud tone of voice.
Some of them made sounds of agreement and turned their eyes back to the ever calm leader.
'We don't' Pein told them honestly.
They all stared with shock and confusion. But even as cats they wouldn't dare question him, so no one said anything else.
'I assume we'll be traveling to Konoha now' Pain addressed the silent blonde.
"Yes" Naruto nodded as he rose slowly from the ground. The jinchuuriki now towered ever them. "If I'm correct then we're only a day's travel away" the blonde hesitated "but it may be longer." He didn't need to say the rest; they all knew what he meant.
Obviously they no longer retained the abilities of their former bodies, so their traveling time would be hindered. The Akatsuki would have to do things the old fashion way; running bare foot on the ground, without the aid of chakra.
He paused for a second "I'll flare my chakra so that you won't have to keep visual contact" then leapt up into the trees again and began moving forward. Bellow him he could hear the cats as they ran through the undergrowth. His enhanced hearing could easily pick up the sound of soft paws thumping against the leaf strewn ground, and shrubbery rustling with their passage.
Naruto would have to remain conscious of them, and stop regularly. Pride made them stubborn, so even if they were pushed past their limits they wouldn't inform him, they'd just keep going. But he was too relieved to get truly annoyed at that. 'Thank god they didn't bring up how I got them all this far' that would have been just too awkward, and god knows how they would have reacted. He shuddered at the thought.
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Naruto sat completely still as he rest up in the leafy branches. His body was turned away from them, but he still gave the cats constant sidelong glances.
It was almost like he was dealing with a bunch of aggressive, abnormal, bad tempered children . . . with extensive knowledge of the language's less fine points. Hidan had just got into yet another fight with Kakazu.
In the little time that they'd been traveling he had learned all of their names.
The blonde was beginning to get a strange feeling though. And it was starting to unnerve him. It wasn't really protective, that wasn't the right word for it, but he got the feeling like he had some kind of responsibility to them now. It was like he had to look out for them.
He didn't like it. This was something that could easily become an attachment, and that was not something he wanted.
They were the Akatsuki for crying out loud! S-class missing nins and badass extraordinaires! But he had made a deal, and now he had to stick to it. That was his nindo, his ninja way. He just kinda wished that it wasn't.
With a heavy sigh he stood up straight, they'd rested enough. It was time to move again.
Naruto's eyes suddenly went wide and he snapped his head around to stare into the distance.
Someone was coming!
The cats had obviously sensed it too, they were backed closer together and a few of them had raised fur. It bristled along their backs, rising into ridged looking spikes.
The blonde dropped from the tree and landed right next to them in a defensive position, single kunai at hand. His blue eyes glinted as he narrowed them and continued staring in the direction he'd heard the possible threat approaching.
Then the faint wisps of chakra hit him. The young jinchuuriki inhaled sharply. Not enemies. They were Konoha shinobi, and he knew them well. But there was no way he could let them see the Akatsuki, let alone try to explain them.
"You have to hide, now!" he told them in a low urgent voice, and thanked the gods when they listened to him. With cautious steps, the cats quickly retreated into the surrounding shrubbery. The already low signatures lowered even more, making them seem like something smaller than they were. If anyone else could feel them now they'd simply think they were birds or something.
The familiar signatures grew closer and closer as they closed in on him and Naruto walked forward to greet them.
Four silent figures dropped from the canopy in front of him. From left to right it was Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi.
"Naruto!" Sakura cried out as she literally flung herself at him. The sudden connection as she hit him with her full body weight was painful, and the blonde couldn't help the small sound of discomfort from escaping. "Ahh" he half gasped half groaned into her fragrant shoulder. Strong and floral with an under layer of something sugary, as well as strawberry scented soap; it was exactly how he remembered that uniquely Sakura scent.
"Oh I'm sorry" she apologized as she realized what she'd done and withdrew to look over him with assessing eyes. He knew he must have looked like a right mess, because those mint green eyes were sharp with worry.
"Gods Naruto" she suddenly got teary. "I can't believe you're still alive, I thought for sure you were dead! Sakura practically sobbed out as she clung to him again, like he was going to disappear.
Now Naruto was panicking. "Ah Sakura-chan, don't cry, please don't cry" he pleaded with her as the water works continued.
After a little while, and some awkward back patting from Naruto she eventually calmed down and drew back with only a few sniffles.
"I'm sorry" she apologized for the drama "but I've just been so upset these last few days" she explained as she gave him a watery smile. He grinned back softly. "It's okay Sakura-chan."
"Maa Naruto, it's good to see you" Kakashi spoke up with a closed eye smile. Despite his calm exterior Naruto could hear the genuine relief in his sensei's voice as he stepped towards them. The silver haired man's single uncovered eye was swimming with unsaid emotions. And he looked even scruffier than normal, like he'd been agitated for days. The jounin had been worried for him, very worried.
"Yosh Naruto-kun you truly are in the spring time of youth! Nothing can squash your burning flames of youthfulness!" Lee exclaimed loudly as he cried a stream of tears and Neji gave the blonde a soft smile. Though the stoic Hyuuga didn't say anything his eyes spoke for him, 'I'm glad you're alive'.
"We should take you to the hospital" Sakura said firmly as she looped an arm around his. She didn't want to leave him just yet.
"Yes, and then you'll have to report to Tsunade-sama" Kakashi told him as they turned towards the village, back the way they'd came.
Suddenly Naruto remembered his furry little friends, still hiding in the bushes. He'd been so caught up in the reunion that he'd almost forgotten about them.
As the blonde went to follow the others he shot a quick pointed look to the bushes behind him, and preyed that they understood to follow. Luckily they did spot it and did understand. So as the Konoha shinobi disappeared from sight they slinked from the undergrowth and followed after the jinchuuriki's now memorized signature, at a measured distance.
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"Safe!" the blonde sighed as he slumped to the floor against his front door.
The news of his amazing escape from the Akatsuki's clutches had instantly escaped, like some kind of gossip bunny on steroids had been going around, spreading the seeds of rumor. As soon as he'd escaped the clutches of a mother henning Iruka and a persistent Tsunade the young shinobi had been swooped on by all of his friends.
Well, at least he didn't have to worry about messing up his carefully forged story. He'd had to repeat it so many times already; Naruto didn't think it was possible to forget it now.
Funnily enough, the entire time he'd been surrounded by the very people he'd been longing to see, all he could think about was the Akatsuki.
They'd followed the blonde the rest of the way to Konoha, but once the cats had reached the outer walls they'd had to stop. It would have looked very peculiar, and suspicious, if an entire pack of freaky looking felines just came waltzing in through the front gates. And they couldn't exactly sneak in on their own anymore. So they'd remained outside, waiting for the young shinobi to smuggle them in.
Naruto would have to wait a little bit longer before he went anywhere though. The cover of night would make things a lot easier, and safer.
So he sat in his dingy, quiet apartment, and waited impatiently for the last rays of the sun to fade, and for the darkness to seep into the sky and shroud the village in its embrace.
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The blonde ran trough the shadowed alleyways of his childhood like a phantom. One second he was there, a flicker in your periphery, and then he was gone again.
Naruto knew these streets well, and he took comfort in the fact that he could easily outmaneuver just about anyone while in the mess of twisting passages.
Some were wide and others were so thin that only one person could barely slip down them at a time, and some were cramped with so much discarded junk that you couldn't even get through them. And he knew them all.
With a self assured grin Naruto leapt silently over a trashcan, his shadow momentarily flying along with him as a lamp light flashed over head.
As he neared the city walls his movement became more calculated, more cautious. He had to make sure no patrols found him.
With a muted sigh of relief he slipped into the encompassing forest, just outside the towering walls, and began his search. It didn't take long. They soon found him, and all ten cats separated from the shadows to stand near him in a patch of illuminating moonlight. It made their eyes glint and their coats seemed to sparkle, while his golden skin shone in a way that made the blonde look almost ethereal.
With a silent gesture for them to follow they all disappeared into the night again.
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Huzzar! I finally finished the chapter. This took longer than I thought it would.
Sorry for making you wait, but there it is. I hope you liked it!^^
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