Naruto wasn't sure when it began, but he did remember a time, when the pupils of his eyes had not yet become slitted, that a squirrel yelled at him for shaking his tree. He had shaken the squirrel right onto the ground from a 20-foot height. Although, if the squirrel hadn't been wanting help to reach a particular acorn, Naruto never would have climbed that tree and shaken its limbs. It wasn't his fault.

That had been when Naruto was about five. His ability to talk to animals had just begun to manifest itself, allowing Naruto to speak to small creatures such as rabbits and mice. And squirrels. As his ability grew stronger, his pupils became more and more slitted. Naruto figured that since he could talk to Kyuubi in his own language, that of the foxes, his eyes slowly became that of the Kyuubi's due to their bond. Now, at fifteen, Naruto's pupils were basically fat lines, and he could talk to any and all animals.

Sometimes his gift was in fact a burden. Naruto had to place a genjutsu over his eyes to hide the fact that they weren't human, and when an animal needed help when he was in front of anybody, he had to ignore it until he was free and hope that said animal would forgive him.

Naruto tried to repay the animals of the forest for Konoha's use of their trees and loss of life due to rebellious ninjas, which is how he ended up taking care of a wolf cub. Its mother was killed by a group of ninjas during training, and the cub found its way to Naruto's doorstep with the advice of many helpful birds. Naruto has now been taking care of the pup for two years, during which time the cub has grown into a ferocious-looking beast. The wolf (named Seishi by Naruto) has never been allowed to follow Naruto to training, or on missions with his team. He always had to stay in Naruto's apartment while he was away. Only when Naruto was there was he able to roam free.

Or at least until some angry villagers decided to get rid of Naruto once and for all by burning down his apartment. Only Seishi was in it, however, and he just broke through the bathroom window to escape. Not knowing what to do, he started following Naruto's trail.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

20 miles outside Konohagakure

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Naruto stiffened as he felt Seishi's presence behind the team. Kakashi noticed his tight posture and turned to him.

"Something the matter, Naruto?" He asked.

"I'm hungryyyy! Can we stop already?" Naruto complained flawlessly. After hiding behind the idiot façade for just about his entire life, he had gotten pretty good at snapping into his mask at a moment's notice.

Kakashi rolled his one visible eye at Naruto's idiocy, not expecting any more from the loud-mouthed teen. They made camp nearby. Naruto volunteered to go get firewood so he could have a chat with Seishi.

Naruto slowly moved through the forest, knowing that once Seishi knew that he was alone he would appear. He didn't have to wait long. A gray blur soon shot through the trees and skidded to a stop in front of Naruto, who raised an eyebrow.

"And what exactly are you doing out here?" Naruto asked. Seishi managed to look sheepish.

I didn't have anywhere else to go.

"Why not?"

Some people came and made your house hot. I had to leave through the clear wall in the room with the waterfall.

Naruto had to think for a moment—Seishi had an odd way of describing things. He wasn't very good at remembering the actual names of man-made items. Naruto finally deciphered his message. He closed his eyes.

"You mean they set my house on fire and you escaped through the bathroom window?"

I guess so.

"Wonderful."

Naruto opened his eyes and sighed. Now he would have to find somewhere new to stay when he came home from the mission.

"I suppose you'll have to just follow me, since I have nowhere else for you to go. Just make sure you're not seen. I do not want to explain you to Kakashi."

Seishi nodded his huge head and melted into the surrounding forest. Naruto felt pride swell up at how well he did it. Not too long ago he could barely even find his way through the thick trees, and now he was travelling through them like a pro.

Naruto's happy mood dwindled as he walked back to camp, picking up stray branches along the way for firewood. (He never cut them off of a live tree—it was like chopping off the finger of a human for no reason.) He kept remembering Seishi's report on his house. Or lack thereof. I can't believe they burned it down. I knew they were stupid, but come on! If they think I'm a demon, why would they want to anger me? Idiots. Good thing I'm not, although I wouldn't mind for some of them to go mysteriously missing. A maniacal expression spread across Naruto's face as he thought of the many ways he could dismember, maim, or put the villagers through other various forms of torture.

When he came within sight of their camp (A normal person, even if they were ninja, would still have to go a ways before they could see it. Just another piece of evidence of Naruto's tenant.), Naruto wiped the expression off of his face and plastered on a dumb, hyper one. He waltzed into camp, slightly swaying from the load of firewood in his arms.

"Check out all this wood I found! I bet none of you could ever hope to get this much on a single trip!" He said. Loudly. He put on a show of stumbling with the wood, and almost (on purpose) dropped it once or twice. Sasuke had to get up and take it from him.

"Dobe." Naruto screwed up his face.

"Hey, I got way more than you ever could, Sasuke-teme!" Sasuke just scoffed and laid the firewood near a tree. Naruto inwardly smirked at the success his act was having.

Kakashi started a fire with the firewood, and the group gathered around the blaze.

"Okay, our mission is to deliver this scroll." He removed a tightly sealed scroll from his vest pocket. "It's going to the chief parishioner of Wave country, and we need to make sure it gets there safely." Team seven nodded. "But first, we need to eat to keep up our strength." Kakashi produced four nutrition bars from the vast expanse of his pants pocket and passed them out, keeping one for himself. They ate them quietly (somewhat odd for Naruto's pretense, but then again he was a little preoccupied with thoughts of his destroyed home.) and laid out blankets to sleep on. Naruto laid his on the edge of the forest, and the rest lay around the fire. The last thing Naruto remembered before falling asleep was the furry back of a wolf pressing against him. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The next morning

0o0o0o0o0o0

When Naruto woke up, Seishi was gone. But he had been replaced by two squirrels, a chipmunk, and a hedgehog. He quietly shooed them away, promising to talk to them later. Naruto yawned and sat up.

He glanced around the campsite to find out what everyone else was doing. Sasuke and Sakura were still sleeping, Sakura having curled up next to Sasuke sometime during the night, and Kakashi was nowhere to be found. Probably spying on some defenseless girl or something, he thought with disdain.

Naruto sighed and decided to talk with the animals who had kept him company during the night. He stood and quietly crept into the surrounding forest.

Almost immediately the hedgehog came to greet him. Salutations. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog's uptight demeanor, but went along with it.

"Salutations. Can I help you?" The hedgehog bobbed his head.

Bad men with metal stars chased my family and me out of our den. I have knowledge of many other animals in similar predicaments.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Bad men with metal stars—that sounded like ninja with shuriken. But there shouldn't be any ninja around here. He would have to keep that in mind. "I'll try to help." The hedgehog bobbed his head once again.

That is all I ask for. With that, he was gone.

Naruto was still pondering over the mysterious ninja when he cam across the squirrels and chipmunk. They were waiting in a tree for him. He easily jumped up on the branch just below them and got down to business.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

The chipmunk nodded. Our trees are being cut down. Many of us have already had to move our homes because of it.

Yes—we have had to evacuate our home, as well. The squirrels agreed. Naruto sighed. Another case of homes being built in animals' habitats, no doubt. Although he didn't totally disregard the fact that it could be something more.

"I'll talk with the people who are cutting them down and see if we can work something out."

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes behind Naruto. The squirrels and chipmunk scampered off, throwing a quick Thank you! over their shoulder as they left. Naruto inconspicuously withdrew a shuriken from the pouch on his leg, but otherwise did nothing to show that he was aware of the person behind him.

"Naruto! There you are! I've been looking all over for you—you can't just wander off like that. You would probably fall into a bear trap or something." Sakura all but yelled. Naruto rolled his eyes and turned to face her, putting the shuriken back in its pouch on his way. The girl didn't notice.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan! I had to pee and got lost." The lie rolled off his tongue expertly. He had had years of practice, after all.

Sakura huffed. "That is just like you, Naruto."

I've never been truly lost in my entire life. Why would I start now? And for your information, there are no bears around here, so therefore no bear traps. Couldn't she be a little observant for once in her life? Naruto asked himself. I guess that would be too much work for her.

The two made their way back to camp, Naruto being practically dragged by Sakura. Kakashi had returned from wherever he had gone, and he and Sasuke were cooking fish over the fire. Oh, great. I'm a vegetarian. I guess Seishi's going to have a feast tonight.

Naruto sat down by the fire and reached out for the biggest fish. Sasuke swatted his hand away.

"They're hot, Dobe. Don't touch them. And you didn't help catch any, so you get the last pick."

"But Saaasukeee, I'm huuungryyyy." Naruto replied in a perfectly fake, whining voice. "And Sakura didn't help either." And neither did you, seeing as the smell of fish is prominent on Kakashi's hands, not yours.

"She was busy getting you. Loser."

"I'll show you, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto yelled. He sprang at Sasuke, but Kakashi caught him by the scruff of his neck before he could go any further.

"Naruto, the fish are done. Hurry up and eat so we can get going." He said. Naruto pouted, but took the smallest fish when it was offered to him. He unobtrusively stuck the fish in a side pocket to give to Seishi later on. Within minutes the group was ready to continue on to Wave country.


Okay--there it is. I don't know when I'll be able to update or even write more, but eventually it'll get done. Maybe. Hopefully...

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