Chapter 10: Kiba

Naruto paced, thinking of what he should do with Kiba. There were so many possibilities. If he didn't like one command, he could always change it and have him do something else.

He heard Sai and Kiba approach and stopped pacing. "Thanks, Sai. Can you give us a minute? I'll come get you when I'm ready."

Sai nodded with a smile. "Sure thing." Sai quickly left.

Naruto bit his lip to keep himself from giggling at the thought of what he was going to do to him.

"So, what's up?" Kiba asked him. "Sai brought me over here for a reason, so out with it."

"Well, I…"

Naruto looked down. Akamaru was with him. This may be a problem. What if Akamaru barked? What if he warned Kiba that something strange was happening? What if he tried to bite Naruto in order to protect his master? If he expected this to work, he couldn't have the dog around. It was too big of a risk.

"Say, Kiba?"

"Yeah?"

"Mind if we talk alone for a bit?"

"We are alone."

"No, I meant…" He glanced down. "Akamaru."

Kiba looked down. "Him? What about him?"

"Well, I said I wanted to speak with you alone. So…"

Kiba looked offended. "Don't tell me you have a problem with Akamaru. Since when?"

"No, no, I don't."

"Well, if you want to speak with me, you can do it with him here."

"But I said alone."

"Consider Akamaru and I one person in that case."

"Well, you are usually always together…" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. This was going to be difficult.

How was he supposed to get Kiba alone? This was a bad idea. Why did he want to do this to Kiba in the first place? He should have known it would be almost as impossible as getting a date out of Sakura. What was he thinking?

There had to be a way to get those two apart. Maybe if he threw a stick and had Akamaru chase it. No, that wouldn't work. Dog or not, he was a ninja hound. He was well trained and wouldn't be that easily fooled. Besides, he had never actually seen Akamaru play fetch before. Not unless Kiba was the one doing the throwing.

"The thing is, Kiba…" He had to come up with a good lie to get him alone with Kiba. "I, uh… It's about… Shino."

"What about him?"

After he said Shino's name, a plan came into mind and Naruto knew what he should say.

"He's been kind of a pain lately. And I have this secret I wanted to let you in on, but Shino keeps popping up all over the place. He expects to see you and Akamaru together, so I figured that if we have Akamaru move a little further away from us, not only will he help us keep watch for him, but it would also throw Shino off. Get what I'm saying?"

He hoped it would be enough to fool him.

"Oh!" said Kiba with a big grin on his face. "Why didn't you just say so? Yeah, no problem. Akamaru, go keep watch for Shino over there, boy."

"Bark, bark!" The dog ran off.

Kiba chuckled. "Yeah, I know how it is. Shino. Man… I tell ya." Kiba shook his head.

As he talked, Naruto discreetly pulled the necklace out of his jacket and held it up.

"I tell ya. The guy claims he has better stealth than me and Akamaru. Seems to think a dog doesn't know how to be quiet. What an insult. Akamaru's great. We've sneaked up on tons of guys and they never knew what hit them. Shino doesn't know what he's… talking… about."

Kiba stopped talking, catching sight of the necklace. His smug smile diminished and he became calm.

If Kiba hadn't been so eager to show Shino up, he might have suspected something or asked more questions. Instead, his eagerness clouded his judgement and he fell right into Naruto's hands.

Kiba grew sleepy and listened to all of Naruto's instructions. Within a matter of minutes, Kiba had fallen under Naruto's spell and was leaning against the stone wall fencing the park.

"When I snap my fingers and say the word 'sleep', you will fall back into a trance and do everything I say. When I snap my fingers and say 'awake', you will wake up and not remember being hypnotized. Do you understand, Kiba?"

Kiba nodded his head up and down.

"Ok. When you wake up, you will forget about me telling you to keep watch for Shino and about having a secret. Awake." Naruto snapped his fingers.

Kiba woke up and pushed himself into a standing position. "So what's up, Naruto?"

"Oh, not much." He snapped his fingers. "Sleep."

Kiba closed his eyes.

"Ok, Kiba. When you wake up this time, you will…" Naruto smiled at the thought. "You will want to play fetch. Like a dog."

He wanted to make him act like a dog, too, but he would save that one for later.

"Awake." He snapped his fingers.

Kiba woke up and looked around. Then he looked at Naruto and asked, "Wanna play fetch with me?"

"Sure." Naruto picked up a fallen twig and threw it. "Fetch!"

"I got it! I got it!"

Kiba ran after the stick and picked it up and put it in his mouth. He hurried back to Naruto and asked him to throw it again. He did and the same thing occurred.

Over and over again, Kiba chased after the twig and brought it back in his teeth. After a while, Naruto started to get bored with the game and wanted to stop, but Kiba wouldn't let him. He wanted to keep playing.

"You can find someone else to play with you, can't you?"

"Good point. See you later, Naruto." Kiba whistled. "Let's go, Akamaru! Come on, boy!" Kiba carried the stick in his fist and ran out further into the park to find someone else to play with.

Satisfied with what he had done so far, Naruto started to wander around for someone else to torment.

Deeper in the park, Kiba came across two friends who would hopefully play with him.

"Hey, guys!"

Lee and Neji looked up. "Hi, Kiba."

Kiba handed Neji the stick. "Throw this."

Neji looked at the damp stick. "O…k." He gave the stick a toss and watched, baffled, as Kiba ran after it.

Kiba picked up the stick, put it in his mouth and ran back to Neji.

Realizing why the stick was so damp, Neji looked down at his hand in disgust and tried wiping it off on his pant leg.

"Throw it again."

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"I will!" Lee volunteered, throwing his hand into the air. Kiba handed him the stick and watched Lee hurl it far away.

"I got it! I got it!" Kiba called excitedly as he ran after it. No one had thrown it that far before. This was fun!

Lee's eyes sparkled. "This must be a new form of training!"

"What kind of training is that?" Neji asked, repulsed. "He's asking us to throw a stick while he chases after it. That's called playing fetch."

"Perhaps that is why his bond with Akamaru is so strong! What was thought to be no more than canine games is actually a way to get stronger and form bonds with your companions! This is why Kiba's attacks are so strong and his bonds so deep!"

Neji didn't believe it. "No, something else is going on. This doesn't seem like training to me."

"I want to join in this new training! Teach me, Kiba!"

"You cannot be serious." Neji gave him a look, though he actually wasn't all that surprised.

Lee was already running with his arms in the air, begging Kiba to allow him to learn this new training of his.

"I don't know if it's training," said Kiba. "I just wanted to play fetch."

"With Akamaru?" asked Neji.

"He can't throw the stick the way people can. I suppose if no one else wants to play with us, I can have him transform into me and play together."

Neji frowned. "Who else have you played with today?"

"Just Naruto. He got tired of it and told me to find other people to play with."

Neji frowned again. "Naruto, huh? Alright, then."

Suspicious, Neji left the others to go find Naruto, knowing he was up to something.

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