Full Moon Rage

by Dawning the Mask

(Adopted from Maskmaker88) On a normal night in Konoha, Naruto goes through an unusual and painful change, and is left as a Werewolf. After leaving the village to master his new abilities as a beast of the night, he returns to Konoha in hope of starting a pack and seeking out the perfect fight. He's thirsty for combat and can't wait to see what the Shinobi of Konoha are capable of.

3. Chapter 3

Getting into the Hokage's library seemed like a nearly impossible task to perform, especially for someone like Naruto who preferred to wade into the thick of combat with claws swinging. The security alone would be toilsome to slip around, if that was at all possible. After all, the Hokage had three personal ANBU members watching out for him in the shadows at all times, and any one of them could spot Naruto easily. The rest of the building had at least fifteen Chunin or Jonin, he couldn't tell since both groups wore the same damn jackets, and a receptionist who could be a trained ninja out of uniform. He actually had to survey the building more than thrice in order to count how many people were inside and figure out their basic routs, and after taking a forth check, he determined that the Hokage was not inside. This meant he wouldn't have to deal with the three ANBU unless there were some inside he couldn't see, which was very likely going to be the case.

All in all, it seemed this extra assignment had been set up to really challenge his ability to remain silent, and Naruto couldn't help feeling the familiar and addictive sensation of his heartbeat racing and his adrenal glands going mad within him. This is what he lived for. Without another thought, and wanting the feeling to last, he leapt from the surrounding walls of the complex into the open third story window closest to where he needed to be. He landed on his hands, so as to keep his entrance as silent as possible, and slowly lowered his legs onto the ground. The room he had entered was no longer in use at the moment and had its door closed and lights off, not that that would serve a problem for his eyes. From what he could tell, it was a storage area with walls lines with large filing cabinets, with only a single small table and chair which were likely used to review specific papers.

Naruto knew he had to be quick about this, as Mizuki said he had an hour to enter and exit the building, and he had spent forty minutes surveying the area. He pressed his ear to the door, closing his eyes and listening for any footsteps. 'Three people,' he thought. 'One walking this way, the other two have stopped nine to ten meters away from here… perhaps into another room?' He waited for the single person to pass by the door before attempting to open it. Unfortunately, that one person was standing in front of the door where Naruto crouched in front of. He swiveled one hundred and eighty degrees and pressed his back to the wall next to the door just as he heard a dreadful 'click' from the handle. The door lazily swung open and the lights turned on, causing Naruto to squint as his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. The person who had entered the room remained hidden by the door; however, Naruto could hear the horrid sound of scraping metal as one of the file cabinets was pried open and rifled through.

The teen stood stalk still, heart thumping so hard from the fear that he could feel the blood pumping through his jugular. And yet, despite this tense situation of possible failure and sudden discovery he had found himself in, he had the widest grin on his face. Mizuki had said the assignment would be difficult, but he never said it would be this fun! Were he not in a situation that demanded stealth and subtly, Naruto would have loved nothing more than to let a howl out. But he would remain quiet and refrain from such elating things until he was well away from the tower when he could scream in delight. For now, he had a troublesome intruder to deal with; an intruder who was still flipping through the papers of a cabinet.

Eventually, there was another metal scraping, followed by the lights going out and the door swinging shut. Naruto waited until the person had been out of his hearing before he tried to leave once more. He pressed against the door as he turned the knob so he would keep it from making a 'click' before opening. Once he could move it, he swung the door open to let just a sliver of hall light enter the room and pressed his nose to the slit of light and gave a sniff. 'Those two people down the hall are gone… there's someone in the room across this one.' He brought his eye to the light to see if said person's door was open or closed. Closed. He kept the sigh of relief he wanted to make for later, he wasn't clear yet. He wasn't even started.

Once secure in knowing he was clear to move, Naruto opened the door far enough for him to squeeze through and closed it behind him. He didn't bother hiding the sound of his footsteps, seeing as the building had plenty of people in it and anyone hearing him walk would likely assume it to be one of the Chunin and or Jonin walking around. That didn't mean he would go about this casually. Any ninja walking down the hall would have an easy time finding him, since the hall itself was far too well lit for him to go silently through the shadows. No, he'd take things slow and steady with his unmasked footfalls, even if the library was only four doors down.

It was on that note that Naruto suddenly heard the door behind him make a 'click.' He had moved too far away from the filing room to get back in time, and dodging into one of the other rooms was taking a gamble that their doors were unlocked. Sometimes he could react well in situations like this. He had moments when his quick thinking would kick in and he'd come up with something clever that could help him. This was not one of those times.

Naruto bolted down the hall with as much strength and force as his legs would grant him. If he could just reach the library door, he could break it down and grab the scroll. Sure, it would take marks off his use of stealth, but he'd rather pass the assignment than attempt getting one hundred percent and failing because he was spotted during his first ten minutes in the building. That, and he didn't want to be laughed at by Kiba for screwing something like this up so badly if he was caught. He had managed to get a good meter of distance before tripping on a nail head poking out of the floor and landing on the ground with a painful 'thump!' 'God dammit legs, you're useless!' He cursed himself. He turned his head to see the door was almost opened, and once again, he panicked to think of something.

It wasn't a cleaver or even a half brained plan so much as it was him acting on the barest form of instinct and hoping against hope that it would work. Even calling it instinct suggested a semblance of forethought; this was not thought out well, however. Naruto pushed himself from the ground with a great deal of strength, not to get back onto his feet, but to launch him high into the air where his back touched the ceiling. As soon as he felt the hardwood roof make contact with his armor, he focused the right Chakra into his hands and let his claws out. The process was quick and painful for him, as his normal fingernails were torn off to be replaced by a set of black wolfish claws, a sensation much like having bamboo shoved underneath his nails. Without a second thought, he jammed his fingers into the roof, claws locking him in place. The act of keeping his entire body held up by his fingers was obviously was a strenuous and harrowing task; especially when his lower body was acting like a crowbar and pulling him downwards the more he kept it pressed to the roof.

He could feel some bones cracking in his hands as he waited for whoever was coming down the hall to pass, but they had yet to come into sight. 'Hurry up, you shithead!' he mentally screamed. The pain of holding himself there was becoming excruciating. 'Gah! Why the hell did I think this was a good idea?!' He finally heard the sound of footsteps approaching, which got his heart rate up again as he waited and hoped to remain unseen by the intruder. 'Crack, pop,' went his left thumb and index finger, forcing him to bite his lip to the point of bleeding. 'Fucking hurry you ass!'

Finally, finally the person came into view. It was, surprisingly, one of the secretaries he had spotted from his surveillance of the building. The man, for whatever reason, was carrying a small mountain of boxes that went height enough that they very nearly touched Naruto's chest. He was mumbling something more than loud enough for Naruto to hear without his keen senses, but the words were just background noise to the agonizing 'pop, crack,' of his hands and fingers. By the time the secretary was beyond the teen's sight, Naruto had lost the use of every finger except his left ring finger, both pinkies, and his left thumb. He didn't bother waiting for the other man to be well out of earshot to get moving, he just let go and immediately regretted it as he felt several claws ripping out, making him bite an entire chunk out of his bottom lip, which of course, bled all over his new armor. 'Fuck!' he wanted to scream and curse at the secretary for being such an inconsiderate bastard, but all that came to mind was, 'You wanted this assignment.'

He looked down at his twisted up fingers and held back another curse. 'It'll take a while for them to fix,' he thought, continuing his careful trek down the hall. 'I may need to sit and wait before I actually grab the scroll. Last thing I need is to drop it because my fingers couldn't hold on. That door better be fucking unlocked, or I'll just kick the damn thing down.'

Naruto eventually reached the door to the library, and as he had predicted, it had a lock. "You son of a…" He sighed and grabbed the knob with his less busted up hand. "Alright, you want to play it hard, let's play it hard." Naruto squeezed the door knob with all his strength and violently twisted it to the right, breaking it off and making the door slowly swing open. He winced when he felt another 'pop,' from his right thumb as it came out of its socket. "I hate you hands," he whispered bitterly.

The library was just as he had imagined it. There was nothing but shelves, books, and scrolls; as well as a closed window which would thankfully be his exit. Finding the Scroll of Seals hadn't been any kind of challenge. He assumed it was the scroll the size of a child resting atop a pedestal with a plaque that claimed it to be the Scroll of Seals. 'Did a student trying this assignment get the wrong scroll last year?' With the objective of his assignment within his grasp, Naruto opted to sit back for a minute to let his fingers fix themselves before attempting to pick the obviously heavy and awkward to hold onto roll of paper and wood. His bottom lip had returned long ago, thankfully, as he would be lost without his ability to properly swear at others without it, now he just need his hands back.

With his spare five minutes, Naruto sat back in a folded up chair he managed to dig out of a corner and observed his body fix itself. The process in which his bones, flesh, muscle tissue, cartilage, and/or organs repair themselves was something of an odd fascination for him. According to his mentors, the healing that occurred while he was in the form of a human was faster than that of most Werewolves. He put it off as the Fox trying to keep him alive, and despite his disinterest in getting involved with it, the way it fixed things was an interesting sight to behold. Cuts and any open wounds would burn and seal up with an orange glow about them and release steam from the heat, but broken and dislodged bones would react in a way like they were being forced and welded together; which was incredibly uncomfortable for the body, but an interesting sight to behold none the less. It sort of felt like invisible hands were pushing every broken bone back together again like a puzzle, no matter how complex the injury. And once the light orange glow that radiated beneath his skin died down, he knew he would be ready to go.

With his hands fixed, he made a fist a few times, as this sort of healing often left him feeling a bit stiff. Once he was certain his hands were back to working condition, Naruto approached his target. He was about to lift it from the pedestal and cushion from where it lay, but halted when he realized just how easy this was. Ok, so keeping himself hidden in the filing room and hall had been a challenge in and of itself; but the latter was only difficult because he had done something monumentally stupid and physically straining in order to remain hidden. Had that secretary never posed a problem and the filing room remained silent throughout the endeavor, Naruto would have only needed to unlock the library door, grab the scroll, and leave. No, he wouldn't treat this situation as just a simple task of grab and go, even if he had less than three minutes to get out.

Naruto looked around the area of the scroll and pedestal for any traps and trip wires. From what he observed, it was just a marble pedestal, satin pillow, and scroll. A scroll that just happened to have been written by the first Hokage and filled with Jutsu meant for advanced students of the Academe. 'Maybe it just is that easy,' he thought, placing his hands on both sides of the scroll. 'Maybe I can just…' 'Snap!'

"Shit," he whispered. There was a trap, a trip wire so small and thin he hadn't noticed it was going from the scroll to a loose wooden panel in the floor. Upon removing the wooden board, Naruto found a torn slip of paper with the kanji for 'keiteki,' written on it in ink. That meant he had either summoned a formidable foe, or he just tripped the alarm. The latter was more likely the case. Already, he could hear the footsteps of several people heading towards the library. "Dammit, I'm going to lose marks for this, but…" since stealth had gone out the window, Naruto decided he might as well follow it. He tucked the scroll under his arm and wasted no time trying to open the window and instead ran through it. Glass scattered everywhere as he sailed across the gap between the building and the wall that surrounded it, a good amount digging into his exposed flesh and regretfully open mouth. Still, the adrenalin rush from this made it more than worth the pain.

He eventually landed on the wall, where he could see several ninja running into the library and heading for the window. Naruto wouldn't give them the time to see him as he made the 'ram' seal and seemingly vanished in a swirl of wind. Far in the distance, when he was well out of sight, he let out the howl that had been building in his chest ever since he started this.

Naruto's dojo…

Naruto reappeared in front of his dojo, where an impatient Kiba waited for him. "This place is a fucking dump," Kiba said as he walked off the steps of the dojo.

"Yeah," Naruto smiled and dropped the scroll, making it roll out a few feet. "I've been meaning to fix that." He looked around for the little puppy the other teen had with him before, spotting him taking a piss on the rock on his lawn. He shrugged and looked back at Kiba. It wasn't like the dog was making the place any dirtier.

Kiba looked at the other teen, and then to the scroll splayed out on the ground. "So… I'm guessing that's the reason you're late? 'Cause, you know, I've been sitting in this shit hole for a half hour and I think my sense of smell has been permanently ruined."

"Hm?" Naruto looked down at the paper that lay rolled out next to him and shrugged. "I just got this from the Hokage residence itself, that's all." He hadn't realized it until now, but after what happened during the assignment, it felt good to brag, he even felt the corners of his mouth lift up into a grin. "Pretty cool, huh? It's part of a special extra assignment for Mizuki-sensei. He said I needed to be able to sneak into the Hokage residence and take the scroll without being seen. He's even gonna give me some time to learn a Jutsu from here, I figured I'd share it with you. Maybe it'll make our match a bit more interesting if you knew an A or S ranked Jutsu, instead of that kiddy shit they teach at the Academe." Naruto kneeled down and pressed his finger on the first thing he saw. "There's an entry on something called a "Kage Bunshin" that seems promising, take a look."

"A or S-rank?" Kiba approached the scroll and kneeled down, rolling it out further to read more. "Hell, I've never heard of this kind of assignment before, but if it'll land me and Akamaru some extra punch, we're in." he began looking through the numerous outlined Jutsu, most of which seemed a bit too complex or dangerous to attempt. "Which one are you taking?"

"I like the sound of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It says here, "Let your Chakra wash over you. Let it flow through your body, but unlike regular Bunshin, don't attempt the Jutsu as soon as your chakra has spread out. Rather, once it has reached out, bring it in to match your form? If done right, the user will be able to split their Chakra evenly to however many clones they create, and the Clones should be capable of performing Jutsu of their own." Not a very solid way of putting it, but it sounds perfect for me… I'll give it a try. You found anything yet?"

"Exploding Fist Technique," Kiba read off, cringing as he read the repercussions for failing the Jutsu described. "Too easy to die from. Bone Shatter Technique, has the chance to liquefy my skeleton if not done exactly right. You sure we should be trying these? They all have warnings about death and or horrible mutilation to the body."

Naruto waved his friend off as he stepped back to try the Kage Bunshin. "You just gotta find the right one for you. Alright, here goes nothing." He placed his hand in the 'Ram' seal and copied what the text said. First, he let his Chakra flow freely, which was simple enough for him. Next, he brought it in, compacting it to keep it from leaking out of his body, and said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A large puff of smoke came from his body, a feeling he didn't entirely find pleasant, which was eventually carried away by the wind. When he could finally see, Naruto found himself surrounded by dozens of identical versions of him. "Whoa!" They all shouted in unison, which caused Kiba to jump and turn around.

"Holy shit!" he shouted. "I've never seen that many clones before!" he stood up and approached one of the many Narutos littering the field and poked it in the chest. "They're even solid! How do you feel? Splitting your entire Chakra pool that many times had to hurt!"

"Not really," Naruto shrugged. "You could say I've got a lot to spare. Alright," he stepped up next to Kiba and turned to address his clones. "You can dispel now, I'm gonna try and see if there's one more Jutsu I can get before Mizuki gets here." They all nodded and made the 'Ram' seal with their hands before disappearing in several puffs of smoke. Once the area was clear, Naruto returned his gaze to Kiba and smiled. "Pretty cool huh? Did you find anything on there that suited you?"

Kiba nodded and pointed at the scroll with his thumb. "Yeah, I found something that'll work with Akamaru and I, but I'm gonna wait until I'm a bit stronger to try it out."

"Really? Why?"

"Well," Kiba's face took on a deep grimace as he recalled the exact words from the text. "If I fuck it up just a little, I'll end up killing Akamaru and leave me crippled, so… yeah." Akamaru barked in agreement and hopped up onto his master's head.

"Suit yourself," Naruto walked towards the scroll and kneeled down to pick it up. "Guess I'll just…" he stopped what he was saying when a pair of all too familiar two toned shoes came into his peripheral vision. He looked up, even though he knew who it already was. He was met by the usually calm and collected Victor; only his face no longer held its neutral expression. Instead, the other Werewolf was glaring into Naruto so hard, he half expected Victor was attempting to make his head explode with his mind. "Uhh… hi."

Victor reached down and picked the teen up by the back of his neck, his grown out claws digging quite painfully into Naruto's flesh. "You," he hissed his words out like a snake. "What… why…" he looked like he was having the hardest time choosing his words, something Naruto found happened very little with Victor. "I've been gone for less than twenty four hours, and you managed to steal the Scroll of Seals!" it seemed he had found his voice. Unfortunately for the teen, it was an enraged one. "And not just steal it, you stole it from Hokage-sama's residence!?"

Naruto wanted to smile and say something like, "Yeah, impressed?" but apparently he had messed up somewhere, and his only reply was a pitiful whimper.

"Naruto… why!?"

"B…because I was told this was an assignment from one of my teachers!" he protested, finally finding his voice.

That seemed to snap Victor out of his anger, though he still kept a tight grip on the teen. "What?"

Just then, Victor took an involuntary step forward as a large metal object came out of seemingly nowhere and cut his head clean off and sent it rolling under the porch. Naruto looked on in shock and horror as he realized who had thrown the object. Up on top of the boulder that sat in the yard, Mizuki stood, a massive shuriken slung over his back and a malicious grin plastered on his face. "Good of you to retrieve the scroll, Naruto-san," he said. He hopped off the bolder and looked down at the unrolled parchment, a look of disgust replacing his confidant smirk. "I see you and the Inuzuka decided to read through the scroll." He kicked it over to roll it up and followed it. "I told you this had to be done with no witnesses, Naruto, but you just had to screw up and get seen by several Jonin, didn't you?"

Naruto, who long before his teacher started talking had been dropped by his decapitated father figure, stood stock still with a mixture of shock and confusion on his features. "Why?" he asked. No other words could come to mind despite his training in situations just like this. Rogue ninja, he had spent a week at the most learning what to do in times like this. If he could run, he was advised to. Heroics meant nothing if he wound up dead because he tried to take on a ninja with a higher rank than him. If he could take the ninja on, he was to still run, and only subdue them and attempt interrogating them before turning them in if there was no other choice, and only if he had a very good chance of beating them. He thought when the day came that he was betrayed by another ninja, he'd be ready. But there he stood, wordless and surprise from something that came right out of left field for him.

Mizuki on the other hand had managed to keep his air of confidence mixed with slight annoyance as he picked the large scroll and slung it over his back, taking out his last massive shuriken and idly spinning it in his arm. "You know," he walked back to lean against the rock as he spoke. "When I heard about these monsters called Werewolves, I'll admit, I was a bit scared. I mean, who wouldn't be? Bigger than a man, stronger than a mountain, and as ferocious as a wolf. Who wouldn't think they were frightening? Then I heard they wanted to live in peace with us…" He paused to let a small chuckle out. "That's sort of funny, that they'd think they could live with us." He looked at the headless corpse of Victor and let his sickening grin return. "I heard they couldn't be killed, but I guess that was just more lies that the Hokage fed us."

"Why?" It was all he could keep asking, all that came to mind. Everything else, sound, sight, taste, and touch went numb. Victor had just been killed. What was he supposed to feel, to do or say? The only thing that he could blurt out was, "Why?!"

Mizuki turned his head to Naruto and laughed. It wasn't a soft chuckle either; rather, it was an almost psychotic bellow that made both Naruto and Kiba back away from the disturbed man. "You… you really are that stupid, aren't you?" he pushed off from the rock and approached the boys, shuriken spinning faster in his hand. "I lied, you idiot. There is no "extra assignment." I just needed an idiot the village could blame for stealing the Scroll of Seals while I got away." He looked at Kiba, and his grin finally faded to an annoyed scowl. "But you just had to involve the Inuzuka brat, didn't you? Had to make things difficult for me by bringing that stupid monster here." Mizuki leapt back onto the bolder, stopping the shuriken from spinning and held it back, ready to throw. "I wonder if the Inuzuka dog bleeds like the rest of us?" he leaned forward and hurled the shuriken towards Kiba.

Said teen was about to try and dodge the oncoming weapon, even if he was laying on the ground after seeing someone decapitated, but stopped when a blond barricade in brown armor leapt in front of him. There was a loud 'shunk!' heard as the shuriken went through Naruto's back and came out the right side of his chest, splattering blood all over the ground and the Inuzuka. Kiba looked on wide eyed as more and more blood seeped from his friend's wound as Naruto hunched over. "U…Uzumaki?" he couldn't quite grasp what had happened. One minute he was trying to avoid death, the next minute his friend was kneeling on the ground with a giant shuriken sticking out of his back. He reached out to grab the other teen's shoulders, but halted when Naruto's head came up, eyes changed from light blue to a deep yellow with rhombus shaped pupils.

Naruto opened his mouth, an act that let quite a bit of blood dribble out, showing a set of elongated canines. "Run," he commanded, his voice deep and gruff. "Find someone… bring them here. Get help Kiba." The other teen refused to move and remained staring at Naruto with an expression of terror. "I said. RUN!" This time, Kiba complied and stood to run.

"What the…" Mizuki jumped off his spot on the rock and began heading after the Inuzuka boy, taking out a set of Kunai. "No you don't!" he tried to toss one of his weapons at the teen, but his projectile ended up falling uselessly to the ground as something caught him by the ankle and caused him to trip over and the scroll to fall off his back. He assumed it had been the body of Naruto which caused him to lose his footing, even though he was sure he avoided it during his chase; however, upon looking at his still caught ankle, he realized his assumption to be frightfully incorrect. For it was not the same blond haired teen whom he had fooled that tripped him, but what appeared to be a yellow furred beast with a snout of dripping fangs and the eyes of a hungry and ravenous animal that stared back at him intensely. "W-what the…"

"I don't like being lied to, Mizuki-sensei," Naruto growled. He yanked on the teacher's leg, dragging him a few feet closer. "And I especially don't like traitors." His grip on the ankle tightened until he could hear a soft 'crack' that made Mizuki's eyes widen in pain.

"What… what the hell. I just… how are you…?"

"What, this?" Naruto used his free hand to wrench the weapon from his back and tossed it aside. "I've had worse." The split hole in his chest let off a bright orange and yellow glow as it forced itself closed, flesh weaving back together to leave a visible scar which soon became covered in his repairing armor. Naruto gave another tug on the leg, bringing Mizuki underneath him where he could meet his eyes closer. The look of fear he saw in the teacher was something he normally took little joy in making others feel, but he'd make this one exception to revel in it.

Mizuki reared his other Kunai back. "You… you fucking monster!" he shouted as he brought his weapon down. The knife hit home, right through the top of the skull with a sickening, 'splack!' The tight hold around his ankle loosened more than enough for him to wrench it free and stagger to his knees, nursing his fractured leg. His grip on the handle of the blade tightened, and with a grotesque, 'squelch,' he dislodged the knife from Naruto's skull and brought it up over his head to strike again. He placed a lot more strength into his blows as he brought the knife down over and over again, each stab opening the teen's skull and tearing bits of grey matter out. "You. Little. Shit!" he screamed with each blow. "How dare you. Lay your filthy. Fucking monster hands. On me!" he raised his hand again, but was stopped as Naruto's furry mitt grabbed him by the wrist. The grip wasn't very tight, though Mizuki had to struggle quite a bit to free himself.

Naruto managed to prop himself up with his other arm, though the damage to his brain made it exceedingly difficult to keep his balance. His sight was blurred to an incoherent mesh of colors and shapes, part of which were blacked out. "Glerbtebeck," he gurgled. Ok, so it wasn't the most fear instilling thing to have said, but at least he had the ability to speak. He couldn't form actual words, but he could say something. Unfortunately, his grasp on Mizuki had been gone for an unknown amount of time, it could have been anywhere between an hour to a minute, and his enemy had gotten away from him. From what he could tell, there was a moving blob in the corner (or was it the bottom?) of his eyes. "Cafffft rnnnn." Again, not really words, but something.

In truth, Mizuki had broken free from Naruto; however, his attempts to run off were delayed by the fracture in his ankle. The teen had apparently done more damage than he had originally thought, as any effort he made to place even a bit of weight on the affected area sent rivets of pain up his leg. He looked back at said teen and thanked Kami he was still gurgling out nonsensical words while trying, and failing, to remain upright. All Mizuki needed was a workable splint, something to ease the pain so he could use his injured leg to aid in his escape. He'd only need to do a simple Shunshin and he'd be gone, a mile away in less than an hour. He just needed some sturdy wood, and unfortunately for him, all the trees around him were burnt.

Back with Naruto, his sense of smell had finally returned, albeit jumbled and confused. From what his nose told him, the entire area was burning, and a sack of sugar and chalk dust had been poured everywhere and then mixed with vinegar. Oh well, baby steps. It had been a long time since he had taken damage to the head. Or was it? Something certainly happened before that involved brain damage. His natural regeneration and the Kyuubi's Chakra could only do so much when it came to delicate parts of the body. It took only one incorrectly connected sulcus to do serious damage to his mind, so the process of putting the brain back together was a very delicate one. If he was missing a few pieces, he could only hope the Kyuubi could fill in the blanks properly. "Caaaannnnnn't. Ruuuunnnnnnn." Finally, actual words! It was a task and a half to spew them out in the right way, but it was progress. Speaking of which, his sight had finally stopped its incessant swirling about and had come to a nice, clear image of his filthy yard, where Mizuki was nowhere around.

"Ah, here we go," Mizuki said as he came across a tree with branches strong enough to use for a splint that didn't immediately turn to ash upon contact. It had taken him a few minutes, but it was worth it for the wood. He sat against the burnt trunk and took out some spare wire to tie the wood to his ankle. It takes only a few tight knots that make the sharp wire dig into the wood and hold it steady, and his splint is ready. With his leg looked after, he had only one last thing to worry about before running off, the scroll. He could see it just where he had left it, though when he noticed Naruto was nowhere to be seen, his mind panicked. 'Dammit, where the hell is that thing?' There was a blood trail that streaked a few yards from where Naruto had been when he tore into his skull that ended near the large rock Mizuki had stood upon before. 'I just need to grab the scroll and run. Werewolf or not, there's no way he can keep up with me with his wounds.' He approached his target slowly, senses on high alert for any sudden movements or sounds. Each step made him wince, not just from the pain it caused his leg, but the ground had a lot of trash on it which would make a crinkling sound whenever he stepped on it. 'Just a bit closer. God dammit, where is he?' He tightened his grip on the bloody Kunai in his hand as he reached down to pick the scroll up.

He retracted his hand immediately when a familiar furry arm ripped its way out of the earth and took a hold of his wrist, bringing with it Naruto with his head intact. "Mizuki!" he roared, pulling on the man's arm to bring him closer.

Mizuki reacted just as he did before, hand reared up with blade at the ready. He swung his hand down and landed another blow to Naruto's head. "Don't touch me yo-*cough* wha?" he stopped talking as his lungs filled with smoke. He didn't have time to wonder what happened, since Naruto had released his grip on his wrist, which caused him to lose his footing and fall back. On his bad leg. A loud 'crack,' rang out, which he praised Kami for not being his leg but just his splint, as he fell over on the ground; however, as soon as his back met the dirt, another set of furry arms tore up to the surface and held him down by the arms and legs. One of the sets of fur dug its way out and walked up to the pinned down teacher, letting out a vicious snarl as it made its approach.

"Do you know what Lycans do to traitors, Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked, kneeling down next to the struggling man. He received no reply, only grunts of exertion and a fearful look. Naruto took a spare Kunai out from Mizuki's belt and spun it lazily in his fingers. "We skin them alive and pin their hides to the front of our homes." He stopped the kunai's spinning and placed it at the man's cheeks. "I'm going to start cutting into you now. As I cut, I'll eventually start asking some questions. If I like the answers, I might stop, or I might remove a small limb. Either way, I'd suggest screaming." Mizuki granted him that one request.

..

It was pretty easy for the ninja sent out to find Naruto's place to locate the area. Kiba's instructions helped, and all they had to do after that was follow the sound of screaming; though once they had actually gotten there, it had become silent. The Hokage himself had decided to join in on the search, though he never explained why to the others. When he arrived at the front yard, he and the ninja with him were met with an odd surprise. Naruto sat on his front porch covered in small and large blotches of blood, the Scroll of Seals next to him. He had on a friendly and welcoming smile as he stood and bowed low to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama," he spoke in a calm and formal tone. "I have the scroll and the real traitor here."

Sarutobi looked Naruto up and down with wide eyes. "Naruto… you're covered in blood."

The teen came up from his bow and let his grin widen. "Oh, don't worry, it's not my blood."

"Where… where is Victor, I thought he went out looking for you?" This was becoming far too eerie for his liking. According to Kiba, Mizuki was to blame and had attempted to kill him and Naruto after decapitating Victor. It was that tidbit that compelled him to join the search in the first place, as well as the fear that Mizuki would kill Naruto.

"I did indeed," said a voice from inside the dojo. Victor walked out the doorless doorway and gave Sarutobi a deep bow. "Hokage-sama, I give my sincerest apologies for not informing you where I was going earlier. It appears Naruto is not entirely to blame for the theft tonight; rather it was under the influence of Mizuki, an instructor at the academe, that Naruto acted so foolishly."

The Hokage looked around the area once more for the aforementioned instructor, but found him nowhere. "I see, and did Mizuki get away?"

Naruto shook his head and walked into his home, then came out with a hogtied and horrifically mutilated Mizuki slung over his shoulder. "No, I managed to detain and interrogate him before you arrived. After gaining all the information I could, I reattached Kokoro-sensei's head." He tossed the teacher off the steps of the dojo where he landed before the group of ninja.

Sarutobi had to wince a bit when he saw the man. Both his hands, along with his right arm up to his broken humerus, were missing, and the word "TRAITOR" was carved into his chest. "You… interrogated him?" the Hokage asked. He knew Naruto being raised by Lycans would make him have a tendency towards violence, but this was more than he had expected. It wasn't even what Mizuki looked like that frightened him, he'd seen more horrific and brutal forms of torture performed, but that Naruto would comfortably turn to this was more than concerning. "I need to see you and Victor in my office. Now." He managed to find his voice finally. He looked to the other ninja. "Take Mizuki to a holding cell, and get a medical-nin to look after him." The men and women nodded and carefully picked the sliced up teacher off the ground. Naruto, meanwhile, followed Sarutobi back to the Hokage residence.

..

Hokage Residence

..

Naruto and Victor stood before a very frustrated Sarutobi. He paced back and forth in front of his desk, trying to find the right words to start with that didn't come out too harsh. Then again, he figured harshness should be needed. "Explain," he said firmly to Naruto.

Said teen swallowed a lump he didn't know was in his throat when he was fixed with a powerful glare. "Right… um… well, Mizuki uh… he came to me after I passed my Genin Exams and… and told me that I could take an, "extra assignment," if I was willing. I uh… I felt the exam was too… too easy and said yes. He said I needed to sneak in here and take a large scroll called the Scroll of Seals and deliver it to him quietly. I told him that my house was out of the way and perfect for the drop off. After getting in and sneaking through the hall-"

"I saw the holes in the ceiling with some claws in them," Sarutobi interrupted. "I assume they were yours?"

Naruto nodded and laughed nervously. "Yeah… that sorta hurt a lot. Uh… anyway, after that, I triggered the alarm when I took the scroll and ran out."

"You smashed right through the window and showered glass over several yards."

"Right," he scratched the back of his head. He was starting to feel very small at this moment. "I went to my place where Kiba was waiting," he could see the Hokage was about to interject once more and quickly continued. "Because he and I were planning on having a sparring match there… which I forgot about during my escape. When I got to my place, I unrolled the scroll and-"

The Hokage face-palmed as he mumbled irritably, "You read from the scroll, didn't you." he received a reluctant nod and sighed. "Kiba too?" Another nod and another sigh from him, this just got better and better. "Which Jutsus did you read?"

"I don't know what Kiba read," Naruto backed up as he saw the angry look he received for that from Sarutobi and Victor. "But I learned and used the Kage Bunshin Jutsu.

The mention of the Jutsu made both the Hokage and Victor stare wide eyed and shocked at the teen, the former speaking what they were both thinking. "You… how many did you make?"

"Um… twenty five… I think. I didn't really count them all before getting rid of them. Why?"

"Twenty five," Victor finally spoke up, although his tone suggested he was utterly taken aback by Naruto's claim. "You created twenty five Shadow Clones?" he received a confused nod and stepped back. 'I suppose it makes sense, as his condition would allow the use of such a Jutsu…' he straightened himself out and cleared his throat before continuing. "What happened after that?"

"Well," Naruto continued. "Then you showed up and scolded me. And then Mizuki… he cut your head off with his large shuriken."

"You were decapitated?" The Hokage asked, looking disbelievingly at Victor.

Said man showed his neck where a thin scar ran. "It was quite painful. Thankfully, my eyes were opened during my headless experience."

Sarutobi almost didn't want to ask, but curiosity was a powerful force. "What would have happened if your eyes were closed?"

"I would have been forced into a slumber that would end only when my head and body were reunited. The flow of time for the victim, however, varies randomly. A few minutes away from the body can be perceived as less than a second to decades. This can often drive the victim insane if they perceive it as a long period of time. If the body and head are not rejoined within five days of separation, the Werewolf will expire."

"It's news to me!" Naruto exclaimed. "I picked your head up ready to bury you when I saw your ff… eyes staring back at me! You have any idea how ffff… surprising that is?" He was doing everything he could not to swear in front of the Hokage, but found it exceedingly difficult. "I just about shhh… dropped your head!"

"We've told you decapitation is survivable so long as someone brings your head to your body," the older male replied.

"I didn't think you were serious!"

Sarutobi loudly cleared his throat to gain their attention. "I believe you have yet to finish, Narto," he said.

"Oh… uh, right. So… after that, Mizuki told me that he lied and that he planned on using me as a scapegoat while he got away with the scroll. He tried to attack Kiba, but I managed to intersect his projectile with my back."

"With your back?" Sarutobi asked cynically.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded and smiled. "It kind of hurt. A lot. After that, I told Kiba to run while I was turning. I also kept Mizuki from following him by tripping and holding him down for a while." He rubbed the top of his head and winced when he felt a painful spot where one of his stab wounds had been. "Then Mizuki stabbed me in the head… I don't know how many times. Everything went black while my body tried to repair itself. When I was once again functional, Mizuki had left and the scroll was still nearby. I figured he'd come back for it, so I used the Kage Bunshinto make five clones of myself and we each used my Shinju Zanshu Jutsu to hide underground and wait for him. When he returned, one of my clones performed a distraction while the other four pinned him down. Once I had him trapped, I decided to interrogate him."

"By torturing and mutilating him," Sarutobi cut in. "At what point did you deem it necessary to do this?"

Naruto returned to his nervous demeanor under the Hokage's harsh gaze, lowering his head in shame. "I'm sorry, to both you and Victor. I lost my temper when I realized Mizuki had tricked me into doing this that I… I wanted him to pay for betraying me and this village. I know what I did was wrong, and that it wasn't my job to interrogate him as I am only a Genin. But," he looked up, his shameful expression replaced with a more serious and urgent one. "I did obtain vital information from him, if I may divulge it." He received a nod and continued. "After some convincing, Mizuki informed me that he had planned to bring the scroll to Orochimaru."

Sarutobi's eyes widened, then narrowed at that name. it had been well over a decade since he heard anything about his former student, despite the teams he had sent out to gather information that would later end up being dead ends. "Are you sure he said that name?" he asked sternly.

"Pale skin, long tongue, and uses curse seals delivered through a bite," Naruto replied. "Orochimaru apparently gave him a curse seal on his right arm, so I removed it." He could see the quizzical look Sarutobi had about that, so he reached into one of his pockets and held out a square slice of flesh with a strange tattoo on it.

"Where's the rest of his arm?" the Hokage asked, though he had an inkling as to what the answer was going to be.

"I stored it away for later consumption. Since I haven't eaten today and have no money until I'm of age to claim my father's bank account."

Yeah, that was what he thought. Sarutobi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did you get anything else from him? Does he know where Orochimaru currently is?"

Naruto shook his head and placed the skin back in his pocket. "Unfortunately, he doesn't know where he is. He told me he was instructed to seek him out after putting a list of ingredients together at one of Orochimaru's hidden labs." He reached into another pocket and produced a slip of white paper which he handed to the Hokage. "Apparently, he had the ingredients ready and hidden nearby which he planned to use at the lab. I made sure to destroy the ingredients before you arrived, and tied him up. The paper has the list, as well as how to use the items specified and the location of the lab. I was sadly unable to get anything else from him since he passed out."

Sarutobi read the paper over. From what he could tell, the desired elixir would boost the consumer's power, most of the ingredients were lethal to consume alone, which suggested the dangers the potion held. "Thank you, Naruto." He knew he shouldn't be thanking the boy for what he had done, but his need to find his former student outweighed his need to scold at the moment. "But," That didn't mean he was going to refrain from giving a punishment. "You still acted recklessly, damaged public property, stole a valuable and dangerous Jutsu, and endangered the life of a village Clan member. Not to mention your recklessness in harming Mizuki, enemy or not. I can't simply let such things go, and you will receive punishment. However," he relaxed a bit as he pocketed the paper and moved to sit at his desk. "You aided, albeit unknowingly, in revealing a traitor in our ranks and protected fellow Shinobi from harm, even at the risk of dying at a ninja of higher rank and skill than you. Because of this, I will not revoke your status as a ninja outright like I normally would in these circumstances." The Hokage relaxed in his seat and took his pipe out from its drawer. He really needed the nicotine at this time. "First, you'll need to pay the two thousand Ryo needed to repair the door to the library, the library window, and the ceiling."

Naruto bowed low and said, "I understand, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage lit his pipe and took in a long drag. "I'm not finished," he said, smoke coming out with each word. "Next, you will need to perform a total of ten D-Ranked missions on your own, and you will receive no pay for this. Consider it community service. Oh, and you are not permitted to use your Shadow Clones, or any other Jutsu for that matter in order to make your tasks easier. These D-Rank missions will have to take place after you've had time to train and or work with your Genin team during your free time. Do you understand?"

Another bow and another, "I understand, Hokage-sama."

"Does this seem fair to you, Victor?"

"It's not my descision to make, Hokage-sama," he replied.

"Very well, Naruto, you may head home for now." The teen nodded and vanished in a swirl of wind, leaving the Hokage and Victor alone. "So," Sarutobi said, looking at Victor with a curious tone. "You lost your head?"

"I got better," Victor replied.

Not really a great place to leave off in my opinion, but it was all that I could come up with. I also hated how the pacing turned out here, but reading it over, I couldn't really think of any way to fix it without making what I'd put in be padding, and I didn't want that. On a more frustrating note, I had to watch the Mizuki Strikes Back Arc again to make sure I had the details of where the curse seal was and what information Orochimaru gave Mizuki were correct, and let me tell you, the anime has not aged particularly well, or at least the filler hasn't. If you spot anything wrong in this chapter, or any others, don't hesitate to point it out. Other than that, hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to the next. I also hope I'm doing ok so far. Anyway, see you next time.