Call of the Hunt

I don't own Naruto, Werewolf: The Forsaken or anything connected with World of Darkness.

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"English"

'Thoughts'

(Spirit's Talking)

"Japanese"

o!o Scene change

/?/ Different point of view

/VV Flash back

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Chapter 7

He studies the locus that's his third find since he arrived here, those this is the first one he's founded without any promptings from Kyuubi though. The feeling of fear and paranoia were attempting to eat at his mind. He hadn't thought that a simple hunt would lead him to a valuable commodity as a loci, but it had and he can only hazard a guess that it's a recently created locus as well, which meant that something was going on in this part of town and he most likely will have to kill his first human if only to keep another loci of fear, or even, rage from being created. He moves forward and picks up the crystal shard pendent on a length of leather hide.

He glances around the basement; he shifts into his Urhan form in order as to not draw any attention to those that live in the building above. He had at first thought that their paranoia was caused by that spirit of fear, since it's been a while since he saw an emotional spirit grow to that size since Kyuubi came out of his belly and killed off all of those attacking spirits that were attempting to kill him and Kim to a lesser extant.

He's just about to enter into his more common haunt when something catches his eye. He stops and studies the hidden figure; he sniffs the air as his ears scan the area. With a quick decision, he trots to where he last saw the shadowy figure. A quick sniff at around the general spot tells him that a nuzusul had been this way recently.

He's curious as to what a nuzusul was doing close to his boundary, but he also wants to get the pendent back to his lair. He's indecisive, if he goes after the nuzusul with the locus pulsing out those emotions, it'll only increase the nuzusul's alertness and flight instinct. On the other hand, if he does take it back to Kyuubi then he loses the nuzusul's trail and he then doesn't learn anything in connection with this nuzusul since for all he knows, this guy, the scent is that of a male, could be getting ready to under go his transformation and he really wants to have some kind of connect with the Uratha before they've undergone their first transformation.

He finds a grove by a wall; he puts the necklace there and a shift into his Gauru form, he pushes a dumpster to cover the spot. Once that's done, he goes back to his Urhan form and goes after the nuzusul's trail. He travels through this part of the city at a steady loop, not going too fast so he can keep checking around to make sure he's still following the right trail.

He also takes note of any abnormalities as he continues to follow the trail. Soon he finds the nuzusul he's been trailing; he pulls back and shifts into his Hishu form. He decides to invoke his Gift Know Name as he stares that the dark skinned teen with matted hair. The knowledge of the teen's name enters into his head; the teen's name is Lance Timber, no nickname and no deed name, which doesn't surprise him since Lance was a nuzusul.

He watches as Lance seems to be hiding from something. The door of the club opens and out walks a man wearing a trench coat, he stiffens slightly as he realises that this man was being influenced by a spirit. The Ridden turns, glancing towards where Lance was hiding, he notices the glowing six eyes peering out of the man's chest. He wonders what kind of spirit it was, but as a drunken young guy exits out of the club, grabbing the Ridden for support.

The Ridden's human host looks at the drunken teen in amusement. He bits back a growl as he watches as the Ridden chats with the teen; he knows that something was going to happen with that teen. It's a known fact that Ridden take possession of a human in order to create emotions in others so he can feed off of them. He wondered just how many spirits left their hosts in order to help in the attack against him…

He trails Lance who trails the Ridden who's walking with the drunken teen. The Ridden seems to realise that Lance was following him, but he knows that the Ridden hasn't spotted him nor has Lance. He's trailing in his Urhan form, knowing that Lance was the one who's more likely to spot him then the Ridden, seeing how Lance was the more nervous of the two and the more likely to be watching his back as much as watching the Ridden.

The Ridden guides the party to an alleyway with a lot of garbage in it. As the Ridden takes out a good size dagger, Lance attempts to tackle the spirit possessed man. The drunken teen's just dozing away and he shifts into his Urshul form, waiting for the prefect moment to strike. The moment came as the Ridden overpowered Lance, getting to be on top of Lance, the dagger's close to Lance's neck.

With a snarl, he tackles the Ridden away from Lance, he snarls, baring his teeth as he gives the Ridden a levelled look. Panic flashes on the Ridden's' face. (Leave that body now and I'll not pursue you when you leave, remain in that body and I'll rip that being's head off and then track you down and feed off of you while you're still alive!) He tells the Ridden, the spirit residing in the chest shimmers and the spirit bolts out of the body, leaving the body to collapse on itself.

He watches as the winged spirit flies off into the night sky, leaving him alone with Lance and the sleeping teen. Lance was currently fixated on him, terror and awe on the African American's face. He glances down to the drunken teen before staring into Lance's face for a few minutes. He heads off at a loop, leaving Lance to deal with the slumbering teen.

Once he's far enough away, he shifts back into his Urhan and heads to where he left the necklace. He makes a note to tell Kyuubi about Lance, knowing that the nuzusul was getting close to his first change since Lance has begun to notice spirit activity. While he doesn't know when Lance stated to notice it, it means that either this November or December, he's going to be having another Uratha around that'll hopefully, help him patrol around the large stretch of territory that he's claimed to without other packs to challenge him about.

True, the fox spirits help but they're not that worried about the things he's worried about. In the end, he finds that the fox spirits were only really good with information about what's going on beyond this city; he never could tell Kyuubi that his children and their children weren't doing a proper job of patrolling around the lands they've laid claimed to. There were times when he really wondered if Nido and the rest of them cared about what kind of spirits could lurk in the corners of this section of land. 'Or they just don't see the point in stopping them…' He thinks in disgust, considering what kind of lives spirits lead in the Hisil, they don't seem to care about what kind of echo their effects of their actions have on the spirit world around them.

He could see why Uratha are on such terrible relationships with those living in the Hisil. In a way, it seems as if they, the spirits are just short sighted spoiled children that only seek to please themselves in the here and now. Then if things go badly, they're glad to lay the blame on the humans and do some selective memory erasing where they're pleasures are what caused the humans to react in that way. He wonders what kind of things are growing in places within his boarders that have yet to let themselves be known.

/?/Kyuubi

He feels the tentacles wrap themselves around his neck, his many times Great-Granddaughter named Niki just stands by, impassively watching him struggle with this abominable shadowy creature attempts to consume him. He snarls an order to Niki, but she snorts and turns her back on him, enraging him, but since he can't take if out on the offending bitch, he turns it onto the thing lurking in the sewer that's trying to pull him into itself. He decides it's time to remind the world of just what the Fox Lord is capable of.

With a snarl, he expels Essence and grows to his full height, which was two hundred miles. Niki stares up at him, the bitch pales and he snarls before one of his tails shots towards the spot where the tentacles were trying to drag him. He pins Niki to the ground with a single claw and his tail breaks through the road with easy, spearing the lurker in the sewers. The thing howls in pain and he uses his free paw to make the hole bigger.

It's not long before the abomination is dragged to the surface. The thing has the nerve to try and merge with him. With a single snap of his jaws, the blob of shadows dies, he swallows the thing whole. He glares furiously at Niki, not caring for the ruin his Materialization had caused to the surrounding area of warehouses. (Traitorous bitch of my spawn! You think you'd get away with that, didn't you? It seems that you think I've grown weak since my banishment, huh? Now you will tell me who else had a claw in this or so help me, I'll kill of your husband and your broods!) He orders Niki, it's not long before he realises just how wide this decay has spread. It appals him that he had just welcomed them into this territory, thinking that they'd abide by the vows and rules he made recently and ages ago.

It takes him a while to calm down, he notices a few humans have seen him but the terror that's coming off of him in waves would most likely convince them that they're better off forgetting what happened this night. Soon enough, he shrinks to about ten feet in height and calls Nido to his side. His eldest son looks slightly annoyed until Nido notices Niki being pinned to the ground by him. (Gather them all, Nido. It seems there are those in the family who have decided that it's of more profitable to sell out my head then to live in a comfortable, well managed territory.) He snarls and Nido nods rapidly, vanishing so quickly that an after imagine was left behind.

Niki whimpers and he knocks her out. He gathers her body up with one of his tails. He shifts into the Hisil to travel to the center of the territory that he had Naruto set up around. He felt slightly for the pup, since from the sound of things, there were things lurking in this land that were promised the honour of killing the solo Urtha of this territory once he's out of the way.

o!o

They've came, gathered in the Hisil echo of the park closest to Naruto's den, there were tens of thousands of them from around the world. All of them have his blood running through them in one form or another. Nido and Nido's siblings were in truest forms, settled before him. It smoothes his heart to know that none of his own children were among the guilty, but the same could not be said for their broods.

He used an ability that allows him to check to see who broke faith with their family vows and that are on the verge of going against their bans when it comes to serving the family's interest. A rough estimate of three eights of those gathered have either violated either vows or on the verge of breaking the family ban. He's upset that there were so many that have gone beyond that point. He had been hoping that it would only be one tenth of the family or even one twentieth.

As soon as they're settled, he begins addressing the mob of blood kin lounging before him. He sits up, causing them all to become prepared for what he has to say and why they had to attend this without any preparation or a day's warning. (This night I took to the hunt, I followed someone I thought I could trust. She led me into a trap and had the nerve to turn her back on me when I ordered her to help me kill the blasted beast. I not only killed the thing on my own, but I consumed it in one gulp.) He says and a few of those that Niki had named shift nervously.

(I then demanded her to tell me why she would turn on me, to help an enemy over aiding a family member. She talked, not just about her actions but of other conspiracies, of deals others of this family have made known to her. She also mentioned that I had become weak, that I'm a disgrace to all things since I willing made a pact with an Uratha!) He says, he glares at those that had been named and others that were becoming corrupted.

(Haven't you, oh Lord? Where were you when the Boarder Marshes were strengthen?) An uppity whelp asks. (In a world that's no like either of known realms. In a world where flesh and spirit are renewed without needing to rely on Loci, where there is only the physical. Where no Wounds exist, where man is not so numerous as this world, and where Essence is combine with physical energy to make a fused energy call Chakra. I myself, had been a being of both flesh and spirit, like an Uratha. Sure, those humans that use Chakra are a threat but luckily, they're too busy doing degrading jobs and fighting in senseless wars to be much of a problem.) He replies and adds thoughtfully, (I left this realm as a mere spirit, much like you all, and returned as something more, something that doesn't rely on the 'right' type of Essence to keep its sanity, I am what I hope to guide you to be. But for now though, I don't know the rite that would open a functional gate to that world, I had arrived there by accident and returned by accident.)

A murmur erupts from those before him, some didn't believe that, but those that had been on hunts with him had seen him consume tons of tainted spirits of not just tainted by Wound energy but also of fear, hate, loathing, and other such corrupting Essence. He had pretty much abandoned any ideas of really by trying to rule as much of the gurihal since he's seen just how decay that world is and what kind of effects it has on in Hisil, on not just his family but on any spirit he's seen since he arrived. He also believes that Naruto might be the key to opening such a gate since it was Naruto who when from Hidden Leaf to Hisil and finally to gurihal.

He sits back, watching the vast mob before him debate on this subject. He's curious as to how this would end, so he reframes from stepping in. He'll call a halt to it when it becomes a brawl. He can only hope that his family will be patient and will feed off of the nature Essence the Loci's giving off in the following years without any real complains.

/?/Naruto

He blinks as he attempts to figure out where all the fox spirit had gone off to; he hasn't seen or heard from any of the fox squatters. He found a few bat spirits fluttering about before they headed off to their hunting ground in the Hisil. He couldn't help but reflect that his territory was becoming something of a nature park, only with temporary possessions going on, between an hour to about a week.

Of course depending on the time allotted for spirit possessions that a spirit is allowed to do is depending on just how big of a service can be called on when they're services are needed. Oddly enough, he can't use certain themed type gifts and those themed under the Mother Luna's and Urfarah's lists are those any Uratha can use, but in the end, he's limited to those under those Knowledge, Shaping, Technology, Elemental, and finally, those themed under his Auspice, the crescent moon. There are five ranks when it comes to Gifts and Rites and they correspond to the number of Renowns one has in those Renowns that either the tribe values or their Auspice.

He can preform Rites and Gifts up to two bands, corresponding to the number of Renowns he has currently has which were two in Cunning, two in Wisdom, and a recent Renowned awarded to him from a Lune, Purity. He's gained his second Wisdom Renown from October and the one for Purity, ironically, for how 'clean' his territory is, which really made him wondering how he could earn that one when he has like, tons of spirits who do often times, possess people on a semi-regular basis. Considering how many deals he has with any number of Animal, Artificial, and a few Elemental spirits and from those deals, he's filled up his all of his Gifts lists up to rank two and he hasn't had a chance to perform Rites since he needs to be with a Ritual Master to teach him Rituals, though he does know a few that the fox spirits can do, but again, he can't do any of them since he's not a fox spirit. He doesn't feel comfortable leaving the territory for a long time in order to study under a Ritual Master, well until another Uratha was around to pick up his duties, which means that if Lance Timber does undergo his change during the next few months, he has time to train Lance before spring arrives so he can get a proper introduction with a Ritual Master of his tribe.

After about an hour, he gives up trying to locate any fox spirits and head to the basement to put the pendent in that circle Kyuubi and the other spirits have set up to contain any new Loci he finds and they have yet to addend to. Once he puts it in the center of the ritual circle, he heads off to nap until Kyuubi returns from where ever the nine-tails spirit fox was.

But as he lies on his mattresses, his thoughts turn to the big upcoming holiday called Christmas. He wonders how he'll gather enough money so he can buy Kim and her aunt Christmas gifts…