Wolves and Strays
"It's been a long time since I was your fathers summon, boy," a deep voice shook the black forest around Kakashi.
The jōnin was kneeling in front of the entrance to a large den. A small dog glared at him from across the clearing and two more that looked closer to wolves snarled at him, blocking any escape.
"It has, Tsukimaru," Kakashi said evenly, ignoring the dogs. A huge silver wolf stepped out of the darkness of the den and into the open forest. One black eye stared down, studying him carefully. The other eye was milky white behind a long, jagged scar.
Long fur glinted in the moonlight as the old wolf circled Kakashi. "Your father left the pack and our debt is paid. The dogs you summon now are outcasts and strays like you. They are no longer part of us. You know this."
"I do."
The wolf snarled and launched itself toward Kakashi. His jaws snapped inches from the jōnin's face, but Kakashi did not move.
"You have no fear," the wolf chuckled lowly. "This reminds me of old times, Hatake. But now your father isn't here to keep me from tearing you apart like a toy for pups." Warm teeth dripping with saliva closed around his neck gently, pressing into his skin. Kakashi stayed still.
"I ask for your assistance," he said formally.
Tsukimaru withdrew and stared down at the shinobi, licking his chops. "And will you leave us the way you did before? Or, perhaps, the way your father left us?" He growled and snapped his jaws in front of Kakashi's face again. "Maybe I should I just save you the trouble, boy."
"You left him," Kakashi glared right back at the giant canine, emotion and anger leaking into his voice for the first time. "His pack said nothing when the entire village turned from him. His pack did nothing as the child who they once considered their pup turned against his father. His pack did nothing as he took his own life." Fury shook Kakashi. "I was wrong," he spat. "but do not ever make the mistake of thinking I would leave again," he hissed. "I have come to claim the debt you owe to the Hatake family."
Tsukimaru chuckled coldly. "A debt in contention. What do you want from me?"
"Training," Kakashi replied, still glaring at the wolf. "Two of the genin in my team have enemies stronger than I am, and the third has an uncle I need to deal with. My pack and I need training."
"Do you wish to surpass the title of the White Fang?" the wolf asked. A predatory smile spread over his jaws.
Kakashi smirked, thinking of Naruto and Obito. "I will surpass the title of the Hokage, Tsukimaru."
Tsukimaru threw his head back and laughed. "Well brat, your ambition sure has grown." The wolf sank low to the ground and Kakashi tensed. "You have two days to convince me, Hatake Kakashi. It has been a long time since I've had the chance to test my strength."
The giant wolf sprang forward. A black shadow with silver hair met him in a clash of fangs and metal.
Around them wolves and dogs alike howled, calling others to watch as the two battled.
The kidnapped orphans were being kept upstream half an hour away from the town, in an old cave that had long since been abandoned. Moonlight shone on the wet rocks and glinted along the edge of Kubikiribōchō as the three Genin snuck towards the camp.
When they got closer they began to make out sounds. Sniffles came from silently crying children. The guards were mostly silent, circling the camp.
"This had better get a good haul," one muttered to another. "These kids aren't worth half of what we've got before."
Naruto growled but Sakura held him back. Using hand signs she instructed the boys to scout around the camp, taking note of guard shifts and whether they were up against shinobi or the usual civilian bandits.
They jumped into the trees silently.
An hour later Team 7 came back together.
"None of them looked or moved like ninja," Sasuke said in a low voice.
"There are seven kids and three guards," Naruto added.
"The cave only has one entrance that I can see," Sakura said. "Anyone have ideas?" She looked at Naruto, whose face scrunched up in thought.
"If I distract the guards you can knock them out," he said. "Then we sneak away with the kids."
"All seven of them?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow unbelievingly. "The town doesn't want any more mouths to feed, especially ones that they didn't care about in the first place," he added.
"Let's take them back to Konoha!" Naruto's face split into a wide grin.
Sasuke hit him on the head. "How are you going to explain us coming back with seven extra kids?" he hissed.
Naruto clenched his fists and glared right back. Red chakra swirled around his body and a feeling of smothering fury exploded from him.
"We will not just leave those kids there," Naruto's voice grew dangerously cold. "They have nobody. Just like- just like we used to."
Sasuke froze and stared at him.
Sakura forced herself to breathe as Sasuke froze. She sank to her feet, trying to catch her breath and staring at the ground with wide eyes.
It was the fox's chakra again. Sakura felt her body shake. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think. After a few seconds though, her body stopped shaking and her hands stilled. She looked at them in surprise.
The chakra didn't hurt.
She felt the same killing intent, the same emotion, and the same paralyzing fear. But it didn't hurt.
"Fine," Sasuke spat, turning his head away.
The chakra dissipated and Naruto saw Sakura.
"Oh no I did it again!" he cried. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, Sakura are you okay?" He ran to crouch in front of her. Sakura could see tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm such a good-for-nothing-"
Sakura burst into quiet giggles and wrapped Naruto in a hug. The boy froze.
"Thank you, Naruto," she whispered. She stood up and smiled down at him, holding out a hand. "Let's go save some kids."
Naruto had transformed into the grey wolf from the legend, howling and circling the kidnappers' camp.
As the guards went to go investigate, Sakura hit them with the blunt side of Kubikiribōchō. It dropped them like stones and she quickly tied them up. Sasuke watched out for any others with his Sharingan and called Naruto back when it was over.
Once everything was clear, the three cut the children's ties loose.
"Where are you guys from?" Sakura asked with a smile, sinking down to meet them at eye level. Their eyes widened in terror and they scooted further into the cave.
Sasuke tapped her shoulder. His hands flew in signs that Sakura could just barely make out in the moonlight.
Your sword and my eyes scare them, he said. Let Naruto do this.
Sakura nodded and they stepped back, leaving Naruto to convince the children they were safe. She and Sasuke frisked the guards expertly and then removed all their clothes, leaving them butt-naked and tied up in the forest.
Eventually, a tiny child who looked no bigger than five peeked out of the cave. Sakura couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, but they walked straight up to her.
"Can I touch your sword?" the child asked, voice ringing clearly through the forest.
"Be careful," Sakura smiled as she held out the blade. The child put their hand gingerly on the cold steel and stroked it.
One by one, the other children came out. Some of them wanted to touch Kubikiribōchō, some of them wanted to look at Sasuke's Sharingan. Two of the kids stayed back with Naruto and stared at the other shinobi in fear.
"It's okay," Naruto told them. He linked his fingers behind his head with a broad smile. "They're my friends."
"Do you have anywhere you need to go back to?" Sakura asked them once they'd all gotten used to the shinobi.
"Our momma," one of the older ones said, holding a smaller kid's hand. "She's in the village I think."
"I want to find my dog," another sniffed and rubbed his eyes.
The rest of them shook their head no.
"We found that devil cat, we can find a dog," Sasuke said. Sakura laughed as the little boy's face brightened immediately.
"We'll take you back to the village," Naruto told the two. "But you've gotta pretend you've never met any of us before." They nodded seriously. "The rest of you can go wherever you want, but you can also come with us to Konoha in two days," Naruto added. Then he winked at them. "We're playing a trick on the whole village," he said. "None of them think we're ninja."
"Woah!" two or three of the kids exclaimed. "Really?!" Naruto nodded seriously.
"We won't be able to feed you or set up a place for you to stay until then," Sasuke said. He blinked and his Sharingan disappeared. Some of the kids made disappointed whines, but he ignored them.
"That's okay," the smallest, who had asked to touch Kubikiribōchō first, said. "We can help you trick them." Four other children nodded enthusiastically.
Sasuke almost groaned.
The two kids went back to their mother as Team 7 led the other five to a different hiding spot Naruto had found in the village.
"Okay," Naruto announced loudly. Some of the kids shushed him and he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," he whispered. "You guys can hang out here until we leave."
"Shinobi-san," the boy who'd lost his dog, Akio, tugged on Sasuke's shirt.
"What- oh you want your dog, don't you?" Sasuke sighed as the boy nodded.
Sakura glanced at the sky. "We have about four hours before daylight. Naruto's clones should last if we don't get back right away too."
"Fine," Sasuke said. He bent down to look Akio face-to-face. The glowing red and black of the Sharingan spun in his eyes and Akio swallowed nervously.
"Where did you last see this dog?"
The team found the Akio's dog, named Hime, just as dawn was lighting the sky. The dog (that looked more like a small wolf) jumped up and licked his face happily.
"I'm going to bed," Sasuke said. He crossed his arms as if daring anyone to contradict him.
"Lazy bastard," Naruto smirked. "I'm gonna go check on the kids."
"We'll meet you in the room then," Sakura replied. Naruto gave her a blinding smile and then tore off with Akio and Hime. Sakura and Sasuke wearily made the trip back to the inn and fell asleep almost immediately.
For the next day and a half, the five orphans that had decided to go with the three shinobi snuck around with an uncanny ability to avoid the villager's eyes. They spied, stole, lied, and giggled their way through the hours with an instinct that impressed even Sasuke. Sometimes they would slip the ninja little notes and papers of information, other times they met them in bathrooms or outside buildings.
"They're everywhere," Sasuke muttered to Sakura at one point. "Like fleas." She just smiled and waved to another, who was on a roof and lowering down a hook to a loaf of bread.
The smallest one was a boy named Reo, the tallest was another boy named Touma, then Akio, and then two girls named Akari and Ichika. Reo was the bravest, Akio the most emotional, Touma was a fighter and had a large assortment of scars and bruises already. Akari had dark red hair and was quiet and watchful, and Ichika had bright blue eyes and a contagious laugh.
None of them had even close to the level of annoyance and mischief that Naruto managed, however.
"Aniki, can we go to the bathhouse? Please, please, pretty please?" Naruto begged with wide eyes in the middle of the road.
"Naoki, that's expensive," Sasuke sighed.
Naruto stared up at him with pleading eyes. "Pleeeeeeease?"
Sasuke grinned suddenly. "Mom knew you'd want to go, so she gave us a little extra money for it. We'll go tomorrow." Naruto leaped into the air with an ecstatic yell. "I think it'll make Suki feel a little better too," he told Naoki.
Naruto's eyes widened dramatically. "You like her, don't you?" he accused. "You like Suki!" he yelled, pointing a finger dramatically. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"No," he told Naruto patiently, though the urge to knock him on the head was almost overwhelming. He could feel the villager's eyes on him. "Even if I did, she has too much going on. I can't add to her sadness or her pain."
Naruto tilted his head and studied Sasuke. "But Hikaru-nii, what if you could take some of it away for a little while?"
Then he skipped off again, to go chase chickens or some other ridiculous thing Naruto was prone to do. Sasuke wondered if the fox demon had temporarily possessed his teammate but immediately discarded the thought.
He looked at Sakura, who was both talking to a group of younger women in the town and still managing to look listless and empty. Sasuke smiled. She wasn't Suki.
She was Sakura.
With that, he followed Naruto to try and curb whatever trouble he was causing the town now.
"Well," Kakashi said, staring at the three genin, five children and one dog smirking at him as they dangled their legs in the warm river. "I think I may have missed a few things."
"No one in the town found out about us," Naruto crossed his arms defiantly. "Just people outside the town!"
"We adopted some fleas," Sasuke added.
"Also knocked a few civilians out and left them naked in the forest," Sakura grinned at their jōnin-sensei and handed him a large stack of paper with a thorough description of Ōtaki in it.
"And we're coming with you!" Reo piped up. "Also, you have really cool hair!"
"NO, he does NOT!" Naruto argued. "His hair is lame!"
Akio tilted his head, studying the jōnin as the girls giggled together. "I like it."
Kakashi stared. Then he scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I don't know what I expected," he said. "But Konoha's two days away and I could use a real bed."
Five kids and Naruto cheered, one dog howled, Sasuke smirked, and Sakura smiled a little sadly.
Kakashi flexed his shoulder, where a set of deep bite marks from a silver wolf were bandaged tightly. He smiled.
They were worth it.