Chapter 11:

Naruto couldn't leave their side as the only one among them who could see through the kitsune's illusions. That made tracking Mikale down even harder. Shino was correct about one thing, though. The fact that Mikale was keeping his distance and preferred to pick them off one by one meant that he was still weak. This was their time to attack. If they did so all at once there was little hope for the injured fox.

Come the afternoon, Naruto caught Mikale's scent and knew where to find him. This was the only time Naruto was going to leave their side. It was all a part of their plan to take Mikale down.

Crouching behind a bush, Naruto waited for his chance to pounce. His eyes were focused straight ahead, ready to spot even the slightest movement. When he saw a patch of grass move separate from the rest he knew it was time. This was his target. He sprang out for an attack.

Mikale turned and saw Naruto right behind him. His wounds were still healing. Naruto could see the cuts on his body slowly mending. The bleeding had stopped but the pain was without a doubt still with him. If they waited any longer, Mikale would be completely healed and back up to his full strength.

"Still want a fight, one-tail?" Mikale asked him with a snarl. "Alone, are you? As I expected. Your friends are in no condition to help you fight now. They've been weakened."

"If you don't think they're a threat anymore, then why are you still trying to get rid of them?"

Mikale scoffed. "Why not?"

Naruto curled his lips, showing his fangs to his enemy. "I'll make sure you never hurt my friends again!" He sprang and bit Mikale on the neck.

Now that Naruto made the first move, Mikale was willing to engage Naruto but to return the attack in spades. They rolled over each other, biting and scratching. Naruto could feel that Mikale was weaker. There was a slight pause between strikes, as if he had to push through an intense pain. Mikale's body was warning him not to fight. He wasn't ready. Determined, Mikale ignored the pain as best he could and drew blood from Naruto's shoulder, missing his neck.

Kicking his hind legs, Naruto managed to get his paws under Mikale and threw him off. Naruto changed back into a human and used his Shadow Clones to hold Mikale down. He drew a kunai from his bag, ready to put a stop to Mikale.

Inside Naruto wasn't sure if he could take the life of a kitsune. A part of him felt like he was murdering a human, an equal. Why he felt like this he wasn't sure. There was always a part of him that didn't want to kill his opponent, even in the heat of battle. The merciful part of him. Another part of him knew it had to be done and that this was the only way he could help his friends. This would lift all their curses and return everything to normal. He had to kill Mikale. If he didn't, he would just keep coming back. Mikale was too dangerous to keep locked up in a cage somewhere. With his fox tricks, he could easily find a way out. Mikale had to be killed. There was no other way. Even if he showed Mikale mercy, he was never going to remove the curses from all those people. Even if Naruto begged him. Mikale would not be convinced. It was amusing to him. The fact that Mikale found hurting and cursing people fun really got Naruto's blood boiling.

Too much.

His clones all popped and the real Naruto had a fox tail again. He was feeling too much again. Having strong emotions brought out the fox part of him which had everything ninja about him disappear. He couldn't maintain the jutsu as a fox. Any part of him that became fox broke his connection to his ninja arts.

"Damn it!" Naruto tried to calm himself down but when he saw Mikale get up and run away, Naruto was angry all over again. "I can't let myself feel conflicted or angry or scared or anything. Not too much. I'll lose my jutsu again."

Mikale was quick on his paws. Naruto couldn't keep up with his human legs. After a few steps, Naruto changed back into a fox and chased after him on all fours. Just as he was catching up, Mikale scrambled up a tree and jumped from branch to branch, escaping from above. He hopped from tree to tree, then back down on the ground.

When Mikale looked back, Naruto was too far behind to be considered a threat. "Ha! Still no match for me."

"Hyah!"

Mikale felt something jab him in the ribs. The unexpected jab and the pain that soon followed had him standing still for a moment, trying to figure out what happened. Then the pain came again on his muzzle. "Ow!"

"There you are!" Neji started jabbing his fingers into Mikale's body over and over again. Lucky for Mikale, a little less than half of those jabs were misses. Mikale scrambled away, but just when he thought he was safe, Neji turned his body in his direction and attacked again.

Mikale knew this was the ninja he had cursed. He couldn't see. Believing Neji only found him because of the noise he was making, Mikale thought he could get away from Neji to a safe place by running through the trees. Being blind, Neji wouldn't be able to pursue him in the forest. Neji would be tripping over everything in his path. Thinking he had a fool-proof plan, Mikale ran off deeper into the forest.

When he looked back, he was amazed to see Neji following him. Not only that, but he was moving at a swift pace. Mikale watched Neji, expecting him to trip. There was a log in front of him so surely that would do the trick. Shockingly, Neji jumped right over the log, as if he knew it would be there.

"No way!" Mikale was speechless. How could Neji do that? Mikale looked at Neji's eyes. They were still closed. Neji couldn't see at all, yet he moved around as if he could. How could this happen? Neji couldn't have possibly memorized the location of every single hazard in the forest, knowing exactly where each and every tree, rock and stump stood. "How is he..?"

Neji turned his body in his direction and started throwing one fist after another at the fox. Mikale conjured an illusion, making the air in front of Neji feel as if it were fox fur. Mikale intended to fool Neji into thinking he was still attacking Mikale even though he would have sneaked off. Since Neji could not see, there was no point in making him see an illusion. Fooling his sense of touch was good enough.

However, Neji passed right through the illusions and took perfect aim directly at Mikale's true body. Neji's fingers jabbed Mikale in the gut and he fell. Mikale knew he was in danger if he stayed on the ground. He quickly got to his feet, despite the pain, and ran up a tree.

"How the hell is he doing that?" Mikale gasped for breath. That blow to the gut knocked the wind out of him for a moment. "He's not guessing. He knows where I am."

Even now, Neji was standing below the tree, looking up at him. Neji's eyes remained closed, yet he acted as if he could see him perfectly. It was baffling.

To fool him, Mikale caused a noise to the left of Neji while he escaped from the right in absolute silence. If Neji was going based on hearing, he would go to his left, following the noise.

Astonishingly, Neji wasn't fooled. He turned to his right and attacked the fox again with perfect aim. Mikale just barely got away before another blow could hit him.

"How?!" Mikale panted as he ran. "How is he doing that?! How can he see me?"

Neji pursued. He ran after Mikale, never tripping over any of the rocks under his feet or logs or fallen branches or anything else in his path. It was as if he knew. He may as well have been flying over the forest floor. He never stumbled once. For a blind person, this was astounding.

The trees started to thin out, giving Neji more room to run and less hiding places for Mikale. Mikale looked back to see if Neji was still following him. He was and he was not alone. Shikamaru was running alongside him, in perfect sync. In fact, too perfect. Their steps were perfectly matched. When Neji jumped, so did Shikamaru. It was like watching images in a mirror.

Mikale faced forward again to keep from running into anything. He didn't notice the shadow linking the two ninja together on the forest floor.

"Shikamaru?" Neji called.

"Still here, Neji."

"I know that since I'm still moving," he said. Since Neji could not see, the plan was for Shikamaru to do the seeing for him. Since Shikamaru could not think of any plans himself, he would act as Neji's eyes and his body. Using his jutsu, he would navigate Neji's body, pointing him in the right direction so he could attack the fox. Since Mikale's illusions were focused on Neji and no one else, Neji could ignore them, relying on Shikamaru to attack where he needed to. Also, since Mikale was using illusions that didn't effect sight, Shikamaru wasn't fooled. He couldn't feel when Neji was tricked into feeling, and since he still had his sight, even when Mikale tried to trick Neji's hearing, Shikamaru could still see the real fox and where it was going. "Where is it now?"

"Ahead of you. We'll keep our distance for now. Shino said to keep our distance."

"Actually he told you to do that."

"Same thing."

Mikale passed another tree. From that tree came another kitsine. Naruto landed on Mikale's back and started biting him again. "Get off me!"

"Remove the curses!"

"Never!"

Neji frowned. "Is that Naruto's voice?"

Shikamaru stopped running and so did Neji, still linked together by a shadow. "Yeah. They're fighting."

"Mikale and Naruto? Who's winning?"

"Uh... I can't tell. They keep moving."

"Shouldn't we help?"

Shikamaru frowned. "Uh... Uh..."

"Right, right. Shino said to stick to the plan. Since you can't see outcomes and can't formulate plans, it would be dangerous to have you go rushing in to help, even with the best of intentions. Never mind. Forget I asked."

Again, Shikamaru felt uselss because of his curse. However, linking him and Neji together was a good idea on Shino's part. Their jutsu were still working and this way Shikamaru could still be of valuable help.

Mikale threw Naruto off and jumped on top of him. Naruto pushed against Mikale's chest, his snapping jaws dangerously close to his neck.

Sakura watched from behind the same tree as Shino. "Shouldn't we help? We have to do something."

"No, Sakura," he told her. "Let Naruto handle it."

"But he's in trouble. Mikale is-"

"If we go rushing in, we could end up trapped in another illusion. Neji's already weakened Mikale a little further. And if you go in to help, Mikale can curse you. You're the only one who hasn't been cursed yet and I'd like to keep in that way."

Sakura didn't like it. They were leaving Naruto on his own to fight Mikale. Even injured, Mikale was stronger than Naruto, being a two-tails. She hated to think of the worst-case scenario, but if Naruto wasn't powerful enough...

"You damn fox!" Naruto threw Mikale off. "I'm not going to let you hurt my friends ever again!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep!"

Naruto crouched down, hissing. Mikale hissed back and the two collided. Fangs and claws were everywhere. They were both raised on their hind legs, their paws pressing into each other's upper bodies. Snout met snout as they bit each other on the nose and jaw, making snorting and yelping sounds with each contact. Naruto shoved Mikale to the ground and Naruto pounced. Mikale rolled out of the way and grabbed Naruto by his tail, pulling him back with his teeth. Naruto kicked him in the face.

"I think Naruto's doing just fine, if you ask me," commented Shino.

Sakura couldn't help but worry about her teammate but seeing Naruto battle as if they were on equal ground made her feel more confident. She knew he could do it. "Come on, Naruto," she whispered. "You can do it."

Naruto threw Mikale down. Mikale lay on the ground, bleeding. Naruto stood over him, panting heavily. He was winning. In his condition, Mikale wasn't ready to fight. Naruto's instinct was telling him to go in for the kill. His heart told him to help his friends. He had to keep them safe. He had to remove their curses. As a fox, he had to eliminate the threat. Naruto opened his mouth wide and moved in.

"Naruto, please don't!"

Naruto stopped. Sakura was looking back at him from on the ground. She was bleeding and looked terrified.

"Please don't hurt me anymore!" she cried hysterically.

Naruto was frozen.

Sakura gasped from behind the tree. "That dirty fox!"

Mikale had transformed himself into Sakura to get exactly that reaction from Naruto. Naruto would never hurt his friend. Unknown to Mikale, Naruto had already injured Sakura once before when the Nine-Tails started to take over. He didn't mean to and it still effected him to this day.

That was why Naruto couldn't move. Everything had shut down. Even if he knew it was a kitsune trick, his reaction was automatic. It was enough to leave him frozen and trembling.

The fake Sakura gave him a wicked foxy grin and slammed him into a tree. Mikale changed back into his fox self and laughed. "That was too easy." He pressed his paws against Naruto's windpipe, choking him. "This is what happens when you make friends with humans. They'll only drag you down. One way or another, they'll get you killed."

"Naruto!" Sakura came running out from her hiding spot to help. She couldn't stay hidden anymore. She had to help. "Naru-"

Something grabbed her around the neck. Human hands were strangling her.

"Just let him handle it," came Shino's voice. "If he dies, that's fine. Maybe he deserves it."

Sakura tried to pull Shino's hand off her throat but he was too strong. The harder she fought, the tighter his grip.

"We have to stay hidden or the fox will get us, too. If I have to choke you to keep us all safe, I will."

"Sakura!" Shino started to come out of his hiding place to help her. He saw a clone of himself strangling Sakura. It wasn't really him but to Sakura it was all too real. Even he couldn't distinguish the imposter from reality. He had to help, but if he came out then he could end up in an illusion, too. Even if that wasn't a possibility, how would he dispel the illusion? What could he do?

"Sa-" Naruto couldn't even call out her name. Mikale pressed even harder, cutting off Naruto's remaining air.

"This is perfect," Mikale chuckled wickedly. "Once I finish you off, I get to kill the other humans at my leisure. I thought about keeping you alive to watch, but you're more of a pain than I thought you would be."

Naruto pushed against Mikale but he wasn't budging. His head was throbbing and his vision was starting to blur.

Mikale moved in close. "I can't wait to see the look on your female friend's face when she sees your dead body. Maybe I'll tear out her throat once she's finished screaming. Or maybe I should do it before so she can't even call your name as you die."

Naruto felt Mikale's breath on his face, blowing his fur back. Mikale opened his mouth to bite.

"Unh!"

Mikale's paws left Naruto's throat. Naruto doubled over, coughing. Air returned to his lungs and he could breathe again.

"Get- No! No! Wait!"

Naruto turned around. Mikale sounded like he was in danger. Had his friends come to help even though the plan was for them to stay back so they wouldn't get caught up in an illusion?

Neji could hear different sounds but culdn't place them all. He had no idea what was happening. "Shikamaru, what's going on? Is Naruto ok? What's going on with the enemy?"

"Uh..."

"What?"

"There are... two foxes."

"One's Naruto and the other is Mikale."

"No, no," said Shikamaru. "Two two-tails."

"Two of them? So there are three foxes in total?"

Naruto watched silently.

Shino disappeared and Sakura could breathe again. It was all an illusion. She looked around for Naruto hoping he was still alive. She saw him just a little further from where she stood, watching something. She turned her head to see for herself.

There were two foxes, both with two tails, in the dirt. One was Mikale and he was pinned down. The other had Mikale in his jaws.

"Seki..."

The fox dropped Mikale on the ground. He was still alive, but he was badly wounded. Seki panted, a look of rage on his face. "That was despicable, even for you," he said. "Transforming into a friend to make him hesitate? Teasing his heart? Then attacking his friends when they try to help? No..."

Mikale started to get up, shaking.

"Everything you've done is one worse thing after another. Just stop."

Mikale hung his head. "Alright. Alright, just... Just please spare my life." Mikale lowered his ears, keeping his head low in an apologetic manner. He acted like he was sorry. Even his voice was quiet and sad. Maybe the threat on his life was enough to scare him into giving up. Maybe having another fox here, outnumbering him, made him see that he would die if he continued. "Please."

Seki nodded. "Remove the curses and leave Naruto and everyone alone. All humans are off limits."

"Yes, yes. Fine."

Seki nodded again. Then he turned his head to look at Naruto. "Are you al-"

"Watch out!"

Mikale pounced as soon as Seki's back was turned and went right for his neck. Naruto shoved Seki out of the way, taking the hit himself. Mikale's jaws closed around Naruto's throat.

Sakura shrieked.

Seki couldn't pull Mikale off without taking Naruto's throat with him. He had to pry his jaws open first. Seki lifted himself up and started to change his front paws into human hands. As a two-tails, he could transform himself into a human if he so desired. In this case, it was necessary. With one hand on each jaw, Seki pried Mikale's mouth open and threw him down. Mikale was already on his feet and racing up a tree. He saw Naruto below and jumped from branch to branch, knowing Seki wouldn't leave his injured friend's side.

As Mikale jumped from his current branch, something sprang up from another tree. In midair, Seki and Mikale met, but it was Seki would moved first. "Curse!"

Mikale's face froze with fear as his body was afflicted by the kitsune's curse. His body was transfigured into a glass statue and fell. His fragile body smashed on impact with the ground. From this high up, there was no way he would survive as a piece of glass. Mikale was shattered and never coming back.

Neji opened his eyes. He blinked a few times to adjust to the afternoon light. Things were blurry at first but then he saw trees and sky. "I can see." Neji looked around, taking it all in. "I can see! I can see again!" It was like being lost in the dark for days and finally finding his way out. Neji was so happy and relieved.

Shikamaru was smiling, too. "It's me again! I'm back!" Shikamaru jumped for joy. "I can think clearly again! I feel like myself again! It's all there! Everything is back! I can think! Yes!"

Shino could hear a familiar buzzing sound coming from his sleeves. He welcomed his bugs out into the open air with a smile. He felt whole again. He just didn't feel like himself without his bugs. They were a part of him. When they were gone, he felt like a piece of his soul was gone, too. Now he felt complete. He felt like himself again.

"Sakura!" Shikamaru called. "Our curses have been lifted. We're back to..."

Shikamaru stopped. Neji and Shino gathered around. Naruto was bleeding from his throat and Sakura was trying desperately to stop the bleeding. She tried to use her jutsu to help heal him but it wasn't working. Naruto was in his kitsune form. Jutsu wouldn't work on him, not even medical jutsu.

"Naruto," Shikamaru called. "Naruto, change back into a human. Hurry so Sakura can heal you."

Naruto shifted back into a human and Sakura set to work mending his injuries. His neck was first. Even if he was a fast healer, the injury itself was pretty bad. He wouldn't be able to heal fast enough.

Everyone stood silently over Naruto, waiting. Even Seki was willing to stand among the humans to make sure Naruto was safe. After a few minutes, Naruto was able to speak to them. He smiled and gave them a thumbs-up.

"You are very lucky, Naruto," Sakura told him, now mending his other injuries. "That one fang just barely missed your jugular. Just a centimeter more that way and you would have bled out. Another fang just grazed your artery. Just! Thank God it wasn't punctured. A couple of his teeth hit a vein or two but I managed to stop the bleeding and your natural healing ability is taking care of the rest. Your body's already on the mend so you'll live."

"Thanks, Sakura. And leave it to you to lecture me while saving my life at the same time."

Sakura was tempted to give him a good smack but resisted so she could work on healing his other injuries.

"Our curses have all been reversed," said Shikamaru. "Which means those under other curses must have returned to normal as well."

"Lady Hinata and Lady Tsunade..." Neji murmured. "They'll returned as well."

"Indeed," said Shino. "Kiba as well. Along with Akamaru."

Naruto grinned. "Then we've won. That's something to celebrate." Naruto pulled away from Sakura. "I'm fine, you can stop now."

"If you're sure..."

"Naruto."

Naruto looked down at Seki. "Yeah?"

Seki gave him a tender smile. "Thank you for saving my life." If Naruto hadn't pushed him out of the way, Mikale would have killed Seki while his back was turned.

"You saved mine," Naruto answered. "Back when he was choking me. Thanks for that. And thanks for helping my friends."

"You have done the same for my friends. I would do the same for yours."

Naruto smiled. "By the way," Naruto said suddenly, "how did you know where to find us? I thought you were still watching the Leaf Village."

"I was. Kakashi told me to come find you. He said you would need me. That one fox wasn't enough."

"Kakashi-sensei did?" Naruto wasn't hurt knowing that Kakashi sent for back-up. He was very grateful and happy to know Kakashi cared that much about him and his friends to send for help just in case they needed it. It wasn't that Kakashi thought Naruto wasn't strong enough to do it on his own. He just wanted to make sure the people he cared about were safe. He really did love them. Even far away, he was still looking after them.

"Thank you, Seki," Sakura told him. "Couldn't have done it without you."

"And it's good to see you," said Shino. The last time they spoke, Seki was hiding in Kakashi's body. Shino had yet to see Seki in his true form. "What will you do now?"

"Now?" Seki asked, baffled.

"You came to assist us because Kakashi told you to. Now that Mikale is gone, what will you do?"

Seki looked down. He looked troubled. Naruto wondered if it was because Seki had taken the life of a fellow fox. A part of him, however, thought it was something deeper than that.

"No," he said. "There are still things I have to do."

"Alright." Shino didn't press him any further.

"I'm happy that your curses are lifted and that Naruto is alright." Seki turned to Naruto. "Naruto, I must go, but we will meet again. There is just something I have to take care of first. Look to your pack. Make sure your village is safe."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know yet." Seki nuzzled Naruto farewell. "Until our paths cross."

Naruto was confused. Seki had to leave for some unknown reason but he meant to see Naruto again. Crossing paths? Why would he word it like that? Did he expect Naruto to keep traveling? He must have, otherwise he would have said he would meet Naruto again in the Leaf Village.

"Bye for now, Naruto. Good to see you." Seki quickly turned and ran into the forest. Soon, not even Neji could see where he went.

"Well," Shino broke the silence. "We should head back to the Village."

"Right." Neji started to head in that direction. "I have to check on Lady Hinata. Who knows what that fox put her through?"

"I'll send by bugs back to the place we last saw Kiba. Hopefully he and Akamaru are doing alright. I'll have to give them the good news if they haven't already figured it out."

The group started to walk back to the Leaf Village. Naruto hesitated. He remained where he was, staring after Seki who had been gone for several minutes.

"Coming?" Sakura asked him. When Naruto didn't move, she walked back, thinking he was injured and couldn't walk. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah..." Naruto stood up. "Just thinking."

"About what? Seki? He's fine. Don't worry about him. Everything's ok now."

Naruto had an uneasy feeling he couldn't shake. "Then why do I feel like it's not?"

"Oh, I think I know," she said with a slight grin. "It's because Seki left before he could remove your curse. You're still part kitsune."

"Yeah, he didn't change Naruto back," said Shikamaru. "You think he forgot?"

"No." Naruto shook his head. His gut was never wrong. Now even his instincts were backing him up on this. "He didn't change me back on purpose. He didn't forget."

"Then why?"

"Because I still need to be a kitsune."


This isn't over. Not by a long shot.

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