Chapter 34

A/N: Another short chapter after a long wait. Sorry guys. Hope you enjoy.

Naruto was off duty at the time and was attempting to make some ramen for dinner when the alarm came. He was forced to abandon his beloved noodles and headed over to the site. He was so tired of dealing with these vampires. As if his life wasn't complicated enough.

By the time he got there, the vampires were attempting to break into the armory. By the look of things this battle wasn't going very well. They hunters were trying their hardest to keep the vampires at bay but they're were just too many of them.

Even with everyone doing their best the vampires managed to break into the building and steal guns, ammo, and other weapons. A few hunters chased after the thieves. They had taken some serious firepower and they couldn't afford to let the enemy get away with them.

Naruto hung back in order to help the people that were injured. There were so many wounded. With barely any first-aid knowledge, Naruto felt useless. But he also couldn't just leave the people who were hurt and vulnerable. He gathered the people who needed the most help to a central area. Someone must have gone to get help since they only had to wait a few minutes before a team of medics came rushing in.

Now that these guys were safe, Naruto was ready to go after the guys who stole the weapons. Together with a handful of hunters that could still fight they began the chase. Hopefully, the others managed to catch them, or at least slow them down so that the rest of them could catch up.

Luckily, in their haste the vampires didn't try to cover their trail. The trampled plants and broken branches were practically neon signs that showed them the way through the forest. Naruto urged the rest of the hunters to hurry, the sound of fighting was up ahead.

"Oh no," Naruto groaned at the sight before them. All the vampires had been slain and the weapons retrieved, but now they had a whole new problem. Everyone in the vicinity stood absolutely still. No one wanted to startle Sasuke and cause him to go on another rampage.

Naruto wanted to go over and beat some sense into the idiot that pointed the gun at Sasuke. Yes, it was a common reaction to defend yourself while frightened, but drawing attention to yourself was just plain idiotic. He could see the poor man trembling in terror. Fear makes people irrational. And sometimes even more stupid.

"Stop don't! You'll only make him mad!" Naruto shouted. Another hunter tried to stop the terrified man and more were yelling at him to let go of the gun. Naruto was astounded when other people around him began shouting at the other hunter that was still trying to fight for his gun. They were yelling at him to lower his weapon. They were actually on Sasuke's side. This was absolutely amazing, more than he ever would have expected.

This was proof that not everyone in the association hated Sasuke. Others have noticed him in a positive light rather than just fearing him. It warmed Naruto's heart to hear them supporting his friend. He knew Sakura would be just as happy too once she found out.

But when the gun accidentally went off and the bullet struck Sasuke everyone knew that they were now in serious danger.

Naruto grabbed the nearest person to him and shouted, "Tell someone we need the strongest tranquilizers we have!" They had to somehow knock him out. "Don't shoot him it's only going to aggravate him!" he yelled at the man with the gun who now had gone stark white with fear and worry.

Naruto knew that he had to stop him. Sasuke was trying too hard to get people to trust him again. He wouldn't let his best friend's effort go to waste. But running in as a human, Sasuke's current target, was practically a death sentence. Morphing into the fox demon was his safest option. At least that way he could defend himself if he needed to. But he hadn't trained with Sasuke in this form before. He had no idea how he would react. But he was left with no other choice.

Part of him was worried but a larger part of him believed in Sasuke. Even if he wasn't fully himself in this form, Naruto had seen that part of Sasuke's self-conscious still was still somewhat in control. While Naruto didn't put his faith completely in the monster before him, he still trusted his friend with all his being.

Naruto transformed in a poof of smoke and put himself between Sasuke and the pair of hunters that had only just escaped being caught. He stood there and didn't move. His ears were perked up but his head and nine tails were lowered. He didn't want to appear to passive but if he showed too much aggression it may lead Sasuke to think he was an enemy.

Sasuke growled at him and took a step to the side to try to follow where his prey had escaped too. Naruto shifted so that he blocked Sasuke's line of sight. He had to keep him distracted and away from the others. He flinched when Sasuke snapped his jaws angrily. He was getting annoyed. Naruto growled softly in reply, he had to remain firm.

The two stared at each other, neither breaking eye contact. With a final huff, Sasuke turned away and began to walk in another direction. This was not what Naruto had expected. Sasuke had to stay here while the others came with the tranquilizers. It was too high a risk to leave him to wander. What if he came across another hunter party? Or innocent civilians?

Naruto ran around him to block his way. Sasuke didn't like that. He snarled and bared his fangs at him. A warning. But Naruto stood his ground. Naruto was ready for Sasuke's attack. It was practically expected that he would lash out at him for standing in his way.

Sasuke's teeth closed just inches away from Naruto's muzzle. He retaliated with a swift slash that was easily dodged. Naruto didn't want to fight, but this way he would at least hold Sasuke's attention while reinforcements arrived.

They exchanged snarls and snaps but it didn't escalate much more than that. Naruto could tell by Sasuke's body language that he wasn't being as aggressive as he could be. His fur lay flat and his tail wasn't swishing around angrily. Sasuke was annoyed, but he wasn't looking for a real fight.

Just because Sasuke wasn't interested in a battle didn't mean that he was any less dangerous. Naruto shouldn't have let his guard down. He yelped when claws tore his ear and slashed down the side of his face. While he was distracted Sasuke tried to move around him and escape. But Naruto had one last trick. Before Sasuke could shoot past him he chomped down on his tail. Sasuke was not going to be happy with him. Instantly, Naruto received a kick to the jaw, making him yelp and release Sasuke's tail.

Naruto was seeing stars from the force of Sasuke's last kick. By the time he regained his bearings and could think clearly Sasuke was disappearing into the shadows. Quickly scrabbling to his feet Naruto chased after him. Just where was Sasuke going in such a rush? From what he heard when Sasuke transforms like this he is normally on the war path. But this time, something was distracting him.

He began following Sasuke's scent through the underbrush. Sasuke wasn't running at top speed either. If he was, Naruto wouldn't be catching up to him this quickly. Then he caught on to another scent.

Angry growls echoed through the forest. Naruto skid to a halt as he nearly ran into a tumbling mass of fur, claws, and teeth. He stood there unsure what to do as Sasuke and Itachi fought it out. The two of them snapped and clawed at one another, but no serious damage was being done. With a final heave Sasuke threw Itachi off of him. Itachi landed in a heap in a mass of thorny bushes. The other wolf wasn't harmed as his fur protected him from the brambles. But the thorns caught and tangled in his fur, greatly slowing and immobilizing him.

Naruto ran over and tried to help Itachi get unstuck. He didn't want to fight Sasuke alone. Together they two of them had a much better chance of subduing him. But while he was trying to free Itachi, Sasuke slipped away.

Sasuke was starting to get mad. First it was the humans, then the fox, and now a wolf. Everything was getting in his way. Each obstacle was annoying but none of them were any major threat. He lowered his head toward the ground. This scent. He had to follow it. And every time he was forced to slow the more anxious he became.

He growled now there was another scent obscuring the trail he was trying desperately to follow. It was odd. It smelled like wood. Not the scent of the forest but of cut wood. Sasuke's ears perked as a rattling sound reached his ears.

He was then suddenly surrounded by a squadron of wooden figures. Some were humanoid looking while others more closely resembled animals. They clicked and clanked as the limbs shook with every small movement. With a roar, he threw himself at the closest wooden figure. The wooden parts splintered easily as he tore into them. Once crushed, the beings were immensely damaged the rest of it crumbled to fragments.

"Why do you always do this?"

Sasuke looked around the dark forest but couldn't see anyone besides the wooden puppets. He couldn't find the source of the voice that was vaguely familiar to him.

"Now I have to make so many more puppets. Not to mention all the souls that just escaped. Why must you be so destructive?" Finally, Sasuke caught sight of a figure sitting in the branches of a tree. It was a while since he fought with Sasori.

Glaring at the man lounging in the tree Sasuke began to give chase. But before he could even get to the trunk of the tree a wall of fire surrounded him. He backed away from the fire the tips of his fur smoking.

"Why are you complaining? You're always looking for an excuse to play with those creepy looking dolls of yours," another voice spoke up. Another familiar figure materialized behind the wall of fire. Deidara was leaning against the same tree Sasori was perched in. Neither of them seemed remotely concerned while battling against Sasuke.

"It's a waste of materials," Sasori grumbled. With a flick of his wrists more puppets flew towards Sasuke. There was not much space to maneuver as the flames surrounded him. Sasuke growled and swatted at the bodies that flew at him. A few more shattered by the force of his attacks but he was starting to become overwhelmed.

Deidara tapped his foot impatiently as he watched Sasuke destroy more puppets. "Hurry up I'm starving. Finish this up and let's get outta here," he complained. The fire began to spread inward along the pieces of broken wood.

Sasori glared at the fire demon and raised both hands, summoning the remaining puppets he had with him. They simultaneously flew at Sasuke with limbs clicking as they waggled in the air. This time Sasuke couldn't stop them. He was cornered, the flames licking and the tips of his fur, burning it. He managed to catch one of the puppets in his jaws but he was then swarmed by the rest of them. The wooden bodies clung to him and wouldn't let go.

Sasuke thrashed but no matter how hard he shook the puppets didn't budge. Then he felt small pricks speckle across his body. The puppets were stabbing him, injecting him with something. Suddenly, Sasuke felt his limbs become heavy. He slumped to the ground the puppets still weighing him down. His eye lids began to close as sleep was overcoming him. He gazed between the flickering flames out into the darkness. With one final push, he tried to stand to give chase one more time. He managed to lift his head and chest before sliding back to the ground. By the time his head rested on the ground he was out cold.

When Naruto and Itachi caught up them, Naruto was shocked. Sasuke was weighed down by a pile of wood, surrounded by small patches of dying flames. He raced towards Sasuke only to stop dead in his tracks when, what he thought were just pieces of wood and scraps of cloth, suddenly came to life. His tails waved furiously behind him as the growled at the line of puppets that floated eerily between him and his friend.

"Whoa is that a fox demon?!" Naruto's ears perked as a young man peered around the puppets. He felt a nudge from Itachi and glanced at the wolf. Itachi didn't seem concerned with the presence of these strangers. He walked past Naruto and the puppets to check on his brother. He sniffed at him and checked for any visible injuries.

While Itachi was inspecting his brother, Deidara had gone up to Naruto to get a better look at him. "Never seen a fox demon before." Deidara raised a hand to pet Naruto. Not wanting to have some stranger touching him, Naruto flattened his ears and growled. Immediately Deidara retreated. He pouted and glared at Naruto. "Yeesh, you guys are all the same. Those two dogs won't let me touch them either," Deidara grumbled under his breath.

Naruto was a bit weary of the two strangers. They weren't human by the smell of them. These guys also took down Sasuke without too much effort, but they didn't look very threatening. With a poof of smoke and a loud popping noise, Naruto returned to his human form. The transformation scared Deidara, who jumped nearly a foot in the air.

"What the fuck?!" Deidara peered at Naruto who cocked his head to the side, just as curious. "Foxes are such strange creatures," he mumbled.

Naruto frowned, that was rude, "Who are you?" he asked ignoring the jibe.

Deidara puffed up his chest to appear more intimidating. "We're members of the Akatuski."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "The what?" He had never heard of them before.

His lack of knowledge seemed to physically deflate the weird guy in front of him. "We're friends with these two," Deidara said, pointing at Itachi and Sasuke.

"Same here," Naruto nodded. An awkward silence formed between the two blonds.

Itachi walked up to Sasuke and continued to inspected him. He sniffed at his fur and could smell the tranquilizer that knocked him out. Sasori floated down from the tree to land next to Itachi. "It's been a while since we had to control your brother. Did you know what caused him to lose his temper," Sasori asked.

Itachi shook his head. He had been chasing some fleeing vampires when he caught Sasuke's scent. Only to find out that he had already transformed.

"Sasuke's been training, so something big must have happened to make him lose control," Naruto spoke up.

Sasori nodded and looked at Sasuke to Deidara. "Pick him up."

"What? Why me?!" Deidara complained loudly.

"Because he's heavy and I'm tired," Sasori explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Itachi would have offered to carry Sasuke himself but he never got a chance to offer with the two of them bickering.

Sasuke was having a very weird dream. It was as if he was wondering through a haze. Shapes were blurred and colors were dull. He seemed to be floating around aimlessly. Then suddenly loud voices broke through the dull buzz that was a constant sound through the dream.

He blinked wearily, eye lids heavy. It wasn't often he woke up like this but when he did he knew that he had been tranquilized the night before. With a groan, he lifted his hand to rub his tired eyes.

"Hey, he's waking up." A voice near him spoke. There was a jostling as people in the room began moving around.

"How are you feeling?" It was Itachi's voice. After a glance around the room with blurry eyes, he concluded that he was in his brother's apartment lying on a bed. Sasuke could only groan in response. Even the tiniest movements took quite an effort. Getting up was unthinkable. But something was bothering him, a small annoyance in the back of his mind. He was forgetting something important. But he was too tired to think. The tranquilizer was still working its magic on him. Itachi was saying something to him, but he was couldn't make out the words. On top of that he was too exhausted to reply anyway. Well, whatever it was, it was going to have to wait until after he could sleep off the sedative.

"Is he going to be okay?" Naruto asked as he peaked over Itachi's shoulder. Sasuke had woken up for a second only to fall back asleep. Those two guys must have used some really strong stuff on him.

Itachi stood up from the bed. "He should be fine," Itachi said. "The tranquilizer that Sasori used is very strong. It has to be, in order to stop him when he's rampaging like that."

"Do you know what caused him to transform? I thought he was getting control of everything?" Naruto started questioning him.

But no one had answers for him. The only person who could was Sasuke, and he wasn't going to wake up for at least another hour. Itachi shrugged and Naruto sighed. "What about those two guys?" Deidara and Sasori were lounging around in another room, but they could still hear them bickering occasionally.

"They're friends of mine. After I left home I joined a gang of bounty hunters. There was safety in numbers and it was better to be the hunter than to be hunted." Naurto could see the logic in that. Lone wolves are especially vulnerable. "The Akatsuki is made up of a bunch of different kinds of creatures. Those two are a bit more, excitable than the others."

Naruto snickered, Itachi probably had something more colorful to say about them but he was just too nice. Itachi continued to explain a little more about his comrades with Naruto while they waited for Sasuke to awaken. When Sasuke would lose control, it was normally Sasori who would subdue him. His puppets were expendable and could be laced with a strong sedative to knock him out. This way no one had to risk being harmed.

It was nearly two hours later when Sasuke began to wake up again. This time he was able to shake off the drowsiness and stay awake for more than a few moments.

"About time you finally woke up," Naruto joked.

Sasuke frowned, "Shut up." His voice was rough with sleep and almost slurred making it even more amusing for Naruto.

"Sasori and Deidara knocked you out," Itachi spoke up. "No one on your side was hurt when you lost control. But there are many wounded and even a few more casualties."

Sasuke was relieved that he hadn't attacked anyone, but it was also disheartening to hear how much damage they had taken over all.

"How's Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shrugged, "She's probably at the hospital, like your brother said, there's a lot of people that need medical attention."

Sasuke's heart plummeted. "Did you see her? Hear from her at all?" Everything was slowly catching up to him from the night before. He had been following Sakura's scent away from the hospital, away from the battle. Naruto shook his head. "Call them, see if she's there," Sasuke shouted. Startled, Naruto pulled his phone from his pocket left the room to make that call.

Sasuke knew that she wouldn't be there. But he could still hope that she somehow got back on her own. He swung his legs off the side of the bed and sat up quickly. But that was a mistake. The quick sudden movement made his head spin. He shook it off and quickly tried to stand, but Itachi stopped him and forced him to remain seated.

"What happened?" Itachi knew something was wrong. He could see the panic in Sasuke's eyes and smell his fear. He knew that it would have taken something drastic to cause his brother to transform and if anything happened to Sakura that would definitely set him off.

"I think she might have been captured," Sasuke answered. He shut his eyes tight, trying to remember all the details. "I was tracking her. And there was another scent mixed in with hers. A wolf."

Itachi was stunned. That was impossible. There was only him and his brother, there wasn't any other wolves or packs nearby. Something was horribly, horribly wrong.

"We have to find her."

"And we will," Itachi answered. He stood up and walked toward the door. "Wait here. The tranquilizer still hasn't worn off completely." He could see that Sasuke wasn't happy with his instructions. Waiting was the last thing that he wanted to do. But Itachi had a point, chasing after Sakura was a bit beyond his physical capability at the moment. "I'll call you when I find the trail."

As Itachi was leaving Naruto came rushing back into the room, his face pale. "No one has seen her." It was horrible news, but expected. With one more glance at his brother Itachi left. He would find Sakura and her kidnapper. It was hard to watch Sasuke fall apart before; he did not want to have to watch that happen again.

It didn't take long for Itachi to find the trail that Sasuke had been tracking the night previously. Sasuke was right, there was another wolf in town. He called his brother to relay the message. Sasuke and Naurto had informed Tsunade and the others that Sakura was missing. They were putting together a recovery team and meeting up with him.

Itachi decided to track the scent as far as he could while the others caught up. If he could find any leads then the faster they could find Sakura. The trail led farther and farther away from town and deeper into the forest. He came to a stop just past their territories limits.

It was nearing night fall then he found it. A cave that lead down into the earth. The front was well disguised and he nearly passed it by, but Sakura's faint scent led him to the opening. He backed away from the entrance and called the others. He knew Sasuke wouldn't wait for any more people. As soon as they got there, they would storm the cave.