Former Fox of Leaves
A Naruto Fanfiction


"Man, all that food sure was good," Naruto idly hummed aloud, dawning a smile as he leapt from one tree to the next.

"Hmph. I think you let that food go to your head a little too much," Kyuubi scoffed.

"And just what's that supposed to mean?" Naruto questioned with a scowl. "It was pretty lucky that that Jiraiya guy offered to buy me a meal after all. Otherwise, I could've starved or something!"

"Something about it just doesn't sit right with me. You were too quick to trust, if you ask me. I get the feeling Jiraiya wasn't being entirely honest."

"Puh, you don't think I should trust Tobi either, so why should this time be any different? Besides, you said he probably didn't even know about us, so why are you getting all nervous now?"

Silence followed, which wasn't doing at all well for Naruto's mood or patience at all.

"Well?" he demanded.

"I'm just getting a weird feeling, like something's coming. I think we should keep on our toes and be prepared for enemies, especially ones from the Leaf. It doesn't hurt to be a little cautious."

Naruto hummed. "…I guess you're right about that."

Could he have been too quick to judge? That old man had seemed really nice and sincere, a lot more than what he was used to, especially with people from the Leaf.

Then again, Kyuubi had seemed really paranoid as of late for whatever reason, way more than he would have thought, so maybe-

"Oi, brat! Look out!"

Naruto snapped to attention just as a net seemed to burst out of nowhere from the cover of the trees just ahead of him, the teen tensing as he landed on a branch and quickly dodged out of the way, only narrowly missing getting caught in it.

"Man, that was close," he breathed, now-red eyes wide as he simultaneously wondered exactly who it was that was attacking.

His gaze swept over the surroundings but he didn't immediately see anyone.

Hiding, huh? Guess I'll just have to find some way to flush them out, he thought silently, focusing his other senses to detect where they might have been.

His keen ears only barely heard the sound of blades cutting air behind him and whirled around on the branch, deflecting a pair of shuriken with the kunai still in hand, but he still couldn't see his attackers.

"They're on the move around us, and fast. They're not just any shinobi either, from what I can sense."

"Is that so?" Naruto hummed aloud just under his breath. The thick foliage of the forest was going to prove troublesome, but perhaps if he got to somewhere more open, he could gain an edge.

Kyuubi seemed to have similar ideas.

"I'd bet these guys are specifically after us."

So let's give them something to chase and show themselves, right?

Whirling around, Naruto leapt through the trees, intent on getting somewhere more open, putting on a burst of speed to get ahead and keeping his senses alert.

Before he'd gotten far, a horrid, high-pitched screech rent the air from above and made Naruto quickly switch directions as a figure appeared from the tree leaves and cut through a branch just in front of him, appearing to be lightning held in the figure's palm.

"Whoa…what kind of attack was that?" Naruto gasped, unable to help but glance over his shoulder.

"A unique jutsu belonging only to Kakashi of the Sharingan. Just as I thought, your pursuers are ANBU from Konohagakure, extremely elite shinobi. We're going to have to be extremely careful here."

"Just great," Naruto mumbled, feeling a greater rush of Kyuubi's red chakra pooling outward, no doubt a little loan from the fox for just such the occasion. "I guess we'd better show these guys our full power then, huh?"

"No complaints from me on that one."

One of the masked figures leapt in front of him to cut off his route, armed with a short sword and already lowered into a fighting stance.

Naruto charged in fully with kunai ready to combat the short sword, the other figure parrying his blows until he was backed against the trunk of the tree.

The blond took a swipe at the man with his claws, but the figure dodged away nimbly, landing on another tree not far away, while a second ANBU leapt in at Naruto to take his place, taking more initiative to attack rather than defend like the other one had been doing.

The tip of the blade managed to graze the boy's shoulder before he managed to drive the second ANBU away with a swipe towards his stomach, the figure retreating.

When the first moved in again, the boy leapt away through the branches, only to have another figure cut him off. He swung under and up onto the tree branch with his free hand and kunai, aiming a kick at the guy who blocked him and tried to through him off balance.

He used the kunai to keep himself from skidding back and lunged forward, trading a few intended kicks and punches before the ANBU feinted back, then kicked him hard and sent him crashing into the tree trunk behind him, slumping down.

The teen groaned slightly, having been dazed, but quickly shook it off, casting a glare at the figure.

"Naruto Uzumaki, we're Konoha ANBU, and we were sent to bring you back to the village. We'd like not to have to bring you back by force, if possible, but we will subdue you if necessary."

Were these guys serious?

The blond couldn't help but laugh slightly as he staggered to his feet, cracking a condescending smirk.

"Yeah right. Like I'd actually ever want to go back to that place." He sorely wished he could see the guy's expression behind his mask, but he supposed he'd have to go to a bit more manual labor to remove it himself if he wanted that chance.

"Very well, we were warned as much before tracking you down. If that's how you want it, we have no problems doing this the hard way."

"Go ahead and try it," Naruto challenged with cool ferocity, making a quick motion with his hand, the ANBU glancing down as he heard the tell-tale sizzling of a paper bomb on the branch just below his feet.

"When did he-?" the ANBU started, stopping mid-sentence as he seemed to finally realize it best to retreat, leaping away just as the paper bomb exploded, splintering the branch and providing a bit of smoke cover for the teen to likewise leap away into the cover of the bushes below.

Guess these guys are really Leaf ninja after all, and I really wasn't expecting them at all. But how did they manage to find us?

"I can't help but guess that Jiraiya had something to do with it. I told you that you were too trusting, brat."

Hey, it's not like you told me I should get away from him when we first ran into the guy either! Naruto couldn't help but point out unhappily.

He quietly huffed in frustration even as he wracked his brain for how to go about this.

There were at least three ANBU after him that he could tell, a standard squad size, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were a few more in hiding somewhere.

He sensed a figure bearing down on him from above and leapt back out of the bushes, skidding on the dirt as several figures surrounding him.

Five…there's at least five of them, he counted silently.

"Six," Kyuubi corrected. "Kakashi isn't among them. He's somewhere around us in hiding, I'm sure."

"Six against one, huh?" the teen muttered with a cracked smile. "Those are definitely some interesting odds."

Without either replying or saying a word, two of the ANBU rushed in at him with kunai, the boy having to defend against either one and definitely having to work hard to deflect both of their blows, though his enhanced speed from Kyuubi's chakra was a definite help.

A third joined in, and Naruto spun around, producing a shuriken and throwing it towards their leg.

They easily dodged and kicked his back, sending him forward towards the ground. He caught himself with his hands before he could face-plant and leapt up to a tree branch, dropping down on the other side, giving a yank to the wire he held in hand so the shuriken arched and caught the guy around his legs, pulling him ungracefully into the air.

With a flick of his wrist, he sent a few kunai, but on contact, he disappeared in a puff of smoke that was instead replaced by a log.

In less than a second, the guy appeared behind him, lunging with his own kunai.

Naruto dodged to the side, just barely missing the blade, and spun-kick around to knock the guy in the side before leaping away onto a tree branch and then through the trees.

"Don't let him get away!" one of the ANBU shouted behind him, Naruto casting a glance over his shoulder.

"Man, these guys are persistent," Naruto muttered unhappily.

"What did you expect? I did tell you they were elite ninja. They're not going to go down or lose track of us so easily like those Jounin we've faced in the past."

"Heh, then I guess it's time to whip out a more powerful technique," Naruto hummed, even as he wove a few hand signs and gathered up a bunch of Kyuubi's chakra, taking in a deep breath as he twisted around to face them.

Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!

He spun himself around even as he shot a huge blade-like gust of air out of his mouth, creating a maelstrom of wind that sliced through trees and anything else unlucky enough to get caught in it.

One of the ANBU was sliced clean in half, falling the forest floor in a heap of blood and guts, the others pulling back and struggling to avoid it.

"Fall back and regroup!" one of them called as they retreated, a second not quite making it before being minced into ribbons.

Naruto stopped and landed on a branch, eyes scanning the surroundings, many of the trees and foliage having been leveled and scattered.

"Looks like that managed to get rid of them," he grinned, still visually searching from where he stood just to be sure.

"Yeah, but that won't be the last we see of them. We should get a move on. The less time we give them to regroup, and the further ahead we get, the better."

Naruto only nodded his agreement and spun on his heel, leaping away.