-Forth chapter is up, enjoy and review! (Oh and sorry about the chapter titles getting mixed up, the chapter that is supposed to be northern winds won't be along for a while and chapter three is supposed to be Vulpecula)–

Chapter Four

Stealth Test

Time Lapse One Year

Shiro, after one long year, had finally forgiven the demon lord within her. At first, as a morning ritual, she would insult him and then force him to relive her most horrid beatings as payment for his deception. But after awhile, Kesshoo spoke up, telling the young kunoichi that holding grudges against the apologetic fox wasn't the proper behavior for an honorable ninja.

Said Shiro had just awoken from an extremely insightful dream with Kesshoo would had taken to teaching the new ice user special jutsu and history.

"Morning kit, did you sleep well?" Kyuubi yawned from within her mind.

'Yes I did Kyuubi, so what on the agenda today, more water walking?' One of her black tipped tails twitched in slight annoyance at the thought.

"Have you forgotten what is today kit? You even made me promise not to put you through morning exercises so that you would have plenty of energy for the exam."

Shiro froze.

Shit, shit, shit! With all of this training I'm bound to surpass even Sasuke-teme and that wouldn't bode well with that damn civilian council. They would say I had help from Kyuubi-

'But you did have help from me, I taught you the basics of chakra control and the Fox Fang style, which I say you are a natural with."

He purred proudly as the memories of the first few attempts at the complex and difficult form of taijutsu ran through his mind. Shiro growled.

'Not helping Kyuubi, and stop listening in on my personal thoughts, if I wanted you to hear them I wouldn't try to keep them from your ears you sorry excuse for pocket lint!'

All eight of her fluffy fox tails lashed about angrily as she reprimanded the fox.

'Hey, now its just a small test to see how much you progressed and I have ability the to hear your private thoughts through your mate mark, if you truly wanted me to stop you could return the favor and you could with hold your own thoughts and as fair compensation I won't hide my own wonderments.'

A lecherous grin split Kyuubi's maw as his crimson eyes glittered with all sorts of wonderfully perverted thoughts, many in fact having to do with an older version Shiro underneath him as he pounded her into any flat surface available. Personally, he just couldn't help himself, Shiro, even if she was only nine, was showing signs of a fine lineage. Images flooded his mind of a mature Shiro, naked, hot and begging him to do all sorts of things to her flushed body.

Kyuubi shivered in delight, his whole body turning hot while his fur deepened to a deeper and in most opinions more attractive shade of red. Of course being within Shiro's body posed a few problems. One, she could feel his arousal even if she couldn't yet tell that was the issue and two; she could easily escape his grasp. Besides, mind fucking wasn't nearly as satisfying as the actual thing and she was too young for what he had in store.

Shiro staggered as the heat from Kyuubi flooded her.

Whoa, I must be getting that bug everyone has been talking about.

Shaking her head to trying clear her senses of that feeling, she continued on in her rush to the academy. As she leapt nimbly from rooftop to rooftop, both Kyuubi and Kesshoo's voices echoed in her mind.

'Tell me kit, how do you know this Uchiha anyway? He isn't in your class.'

'Yes Shiro-sama, please tell us of your acquaintance.'

Shiro sighed, not only at their questioning but also at the hateful glares cast in her direction. Even with the powerful henge disguising her hanayou form, they still saw her as a monster. Turning sharply, she began her tale of how she met Sasuke when Iruka had taken her to her favorite ramen shop after some punishment for a prank on Jiji-san. The little bastard had come to Iruka seeking extra tutelage and a new fighting form, orders from the council.

Almost immediately she didn't like the boy, he was cocky, arrogant, and believed he needed, no, deserved more than any other shinobi in training and somehow he managed to woo all of her fellow kunoichi into stalking puddles of idiocy. She huffed as she entered her classroom, but was swiftly cornered by her teacher before the others saw her.

"Shiro, you are to go to Iruka-sensei's class today and are going to finish out the remainder of your academy years in his room."

Before Shiro could protest or ask why, she was nudged out the door and towards Iruka-sensei's room. Flinching slightly at the loud slam of her old sensei's door, she stalked off to find the only sensei willing to actually try and teach her. Hopefully she was lucky enough to get there early enough so that she could slide in unnoticed and take a nap in some dark corner until it was her turn. But sad thing is, luck just didn't like her very much.

Just as she had sneakily entered the classroom, Iruka caught her and dragged her to the front of the room.

"Class, we have a student who just transferred and is here to take the first year exam, I would like you all to meet Uzumaki Shiro."

She glowered at the appraising stares, but blushed slightly at some of the rather blatant heated looks from a few of the guys. Kyuubi growled softly in a protective way as she swiftly deposited herself in the only available seat, the one next to the Uchiha Prince himself. The boy simply sniffed in disapproval and turned to look out the window.

"That brat, he is everything you said at first glance, oh how I wish I could kick him down a few notches."

'You and me both fuzzy.'

The exam itself went by swiftly as did the simple fighting form examination, soon after parents came to either console or congratulate their child on their scores and left Shiro to sit on the sole swing of the academy, wondering where she should train and be secluded while there.

'Well that was boring, let's have some fun and spar!'

Shiro stiffened as she felt a presence behind her.

'Maybe later Kyuubi.'

"Shiro, I hear that you passed."

"Yes I did Mizuki-sensei."

Shiro chirped in a bubbly voice as she pretended to tremble with excitement. She hated to do it, but it was apart of her façade, if she acted the calm mature way outside of class or when she spoke with others, most of the civilians would say she was under Kyuubi's spell.

"Well Shiro since you did so well, why don't I get you a head start on your training for the next exam, it will be over stealth and I have the perfect test to see where I can start working with you?"

She masked her suspicion instantly behind her mask of happy-go-lucky attitude. Mizuki had never liked her no matter how hard he tried to hide it, she saw the same dirty glares the villagers gave her. Shiro nodded happily and stood up so that she could face him properly.

"What do you have in mind Mizuki-sensei?"

'Shiro-kit, what are you doing, you know that this is most likely a trap!'

'Shut it Kyuubi, I know that he means ill will, but let's see what I can glean from this, ya?'

'More and more like a fox everyday, I can remember when you would have stepped into it dumbly or flat out refuse without giving it a chance to bear some fruit.'

Shiro told him to shut up again and then returned her attention to the plotting older male before her. During her little talk with the fuzz ball, Mizuki had promptly led her away to a more secluded spot and told her about a test scroll hidden in the Hokage's office and if she got it for him he would pass her in the true genin test and she would be able to skip out on the one her team received. After a few more details he gave her the time and place of return.

She nodded eagerly and took to the rooftops with a painful grin plastered to her fox-ish face until others were out of sight.

'Are you gonna' do it?'

'Yes, the scroll he described sounded like the scroll of seals and if I get it a few hours before the drop point where I can expose his true intentions, I might be able to learn a thing or two neither your or Kesshoo knows.'

Kyuubi nodded, but a grim frown replaced the normal smirk. He didn't like the feeling of this at all, his kit may have been a half demon, but she was inexperienced compared to Mizuki and sometimes it wasn't strength that won the battle. Kesshoo's dry whispering voice, a voice that could easily have been mistaken for the winds, echoed faintly in agreement.

'What is with that vixen? A year ago her whispers were louder than my roars to me, now I have to strain to catch her words.'

Just then, said vixen appeared, still glorious in appearance, yet translucent in a way. The ghost like image further increased with the glow of the blue fox fire.

"Kyuubi-sama, I wish to speak with you if that is okay." He nodded and shifted into a more comfortable position. "First off don't not tell Shiro-sama what I am about to reveal to you, now in the one year I have spent merged with out beloved Shiro-sama, I connected with my fellow Star Souls to see if merging with a human would cause any problem. As of yet, I have found nothing that hints at harm for Shiro, but I have found something that Shiro-sama will hurt from. In two years time, I shall absorbed fully into her body, this will cause her to become a full demon to allow for her to carry the rest of my power, don't worry Kyuubi she won't exceed eight tails. In truth, eight is her full potential of power if she were to ever call on my sealed powers. You will be expelled from her form and I, I will be absorbed completely and my soul sent back to the Celestial Planes so that I may once again slowly take in the universal energy that surrounds us."

"Why must you be absorbed? Didn't the merging process go as planned?"

"Yes, it was executed perfectly, but this wouldn't have happened if you had revived her inner beast. If it wasn't for you turning her into a hanayou, Shiro would have absorbed you through the seal and you would have disappeared when she turned eighteen. But, when I merged, I became the foreign presence to be slowly destroyed by the seal."

"So kit is going to become a full demon at your expense? She isn't going to like this, you are like her mother, guiding and the giver of the love she was void of for eight long years. What are we to do in the mean time?"

"In the mean time, I will remain silent, I must preserve my strength so that I may last the tree years, the last thing either of you will hear from is my goodbyes, now I must go, even this small conversation has left me drained."

Kyuubi rose to try and stop her, to ask her more questions, but she was gone, an icy blue rose in her place. He sighed, a sense dread overcoming his unease. Shiro would be devastated if she disappeared, plus he didn't think she would be too happy with being a full demon and have him out and about. He whined softly at the idea but shook it off as he concentrated on watching Shiro perform her 'test'.

Shiro snorted with amusement and disappointment as she tried out her sexy no jutsu technique on Jiji-san, who of which was collapsed before her with a bloody nose and a happy dazed expression. Kyuubi laughed at first, but as he saw the image in a small mirror that looked to the window he found himself immediately aroused. He looked away swiftly and to his now extremely solid problem.

'Damn it! I thought this only supposed to happen when I was in heat! But then again I haven't screwed anyone since the week before I was sealed and that cat demon wasn't very satisfying to begin with '

"Pervert…"

Shiro muttered as she passed her savior and idol. It didn't take long to find and take the scroll so she had plenty of time to learn its secrets. And to her utter disappointment, no one noticed the fact that she was fleeing the building with a scroll that was almost as big as she was.

The run to the meeting place was short and she quickly rolled open the absurdly large scroll.

"Hmm, the shadow clone jutsu, know that one already," She skimmed through the techniques, finding it sad that she most of the first ones, even if she didn't use them. Then one caught her attention. "This doesn't look too hard and I think Kyuubi will like it."

At this, Kyuubi's soft fuzzy ears perked up slightly, he couldn't see what she successfully hid from him, but from her tone it didn't sound evil. Perhaps she had finally gotten over that wall that kept her on the stiff and uneasy friendship side and onto being nice to her prisoner.

For ours she practiced the complex sign pattern until she felt confident enough to try it out. Inhaling deeply, she gathered her chakra and executed the technique.

"Four Prong, Partial Release Jutsu!"

Four fingertips glowed with a small yellow fire on her right hand before she brought it down to her stomach. The effect was instantaneous, a stream of red chakra poured out of the weakened seal until a small crimson fox sat before her. The little creature looked about dazed and confused.

"Hey kit, I thought you were learning a new technique, does it involve me? And what happened to your mind? It looks like the forest."

Shiro smiled and picked him up, cuddling him softly. Secretly she had always wanted to do this and the truth was, she had actually come to like the demon lord.

"I brought you out into the real world Kyuubi, you only have as much chakra as a trained ninken, but I didn't think it would be a good idea to give you too much chakra too soon."

"What!"

He jumped from her arms and started to scold her, telling her that even if he had minimal chakra the Hokage and many others would still recognize the signature.

"Just cover it up, you don't have much so it shouldn't be too hard, so stow it you little puff ball."

Kyuubi huffed but obliged, his crimson eyes staring at her with an odd gleam.

"So why did you bring me out?"

"Because I thought you might like to breath fresh air again and feel the grass beneath your paws."

She swooped down and picked him up again, scratching him softly behind the ears. He purred, but stiffened as the snapping of a branch sounded behind her. She turned around and looked at the man in confusion.

"Iruka-sensei?"

-And cut! What will Iruka think? After all Shiro has stolen the scroll earlier on then Naruto in the show and manga, so he might not be so attached to our heroin, or is he? Find out in the next installment! –

(REVIEW!) :I