Author's Notes

Revised as of 03/06/2022

Uploaded

08/04/2021

LEGEND BELOW

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

''I kinda wanted to know.'' = Normal thoughts.

"You dare to defy me!?" = Bujuu/Naruto talking.

''That's what I thought.'' = Bujuu/Naruto's thoughts.

Chapter 8

A new mission...

"Alright then, team 8... So you believe that you're ready for more responsibility?" Another three months had passed since we last checked in on our lovely bunch of characters, and in that time they had been doing nothing but completing low ranking missions, and training.

In the case of Naruto, he'd been honing his skills in the transformation department, and working on reining in his raging anger which he swore existed purely to mess with his life.

As it stands, it'd been relatively the same day in and day out for nearly nine months straight, and team 8 felt like they were more then ready for it.

Ino and Sakura felt conflicted when the conversation drifted towards asking their sensei for a higher ranking mission. Luckily for them, Naruto had their backs, and would be the one to, convince, Kurenai into letting them go.

And that was another thing that had changed in the time spent with the new team 8. At first, when his world was flipped upside down years ago, he found solace in Hinata, and his few close friends. He violently pushed anyone and everyone else away, too afraid of being abused again. He was done making friends, he was vulnerable, and he knew it all too well. Everyone was practically an enemy in his hate filled eyes, and the higher ups in the village were seriously concerned with him acting out on that hatred.

But slowly, he began to broaden his list of friends. Obviously, Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara were among the first of those people, for obvious reasons. That trust and friendship eventually spread to the rest of the members of the Hyuuga clan, mostly the lower class early on. After a dire incident some time back, the rest of the white eyed people put their trust in him as well, and he in turn did too.

He eventually came to see the Hyuuga clan as family, because unlike the general population, these people didn't judge based on who he was, or where he came from. They didn't immediately cast him to the side like the rest of the world, and even treated him as another member of their extended family. When that realization settled in, he felt much of that burning anger and resentment he'd held onto for so long, just begin to slip away. For the first time in his entire lifetime, he had a family of sorts. People that truly cared for him, and weren't afraid of him.

After that, his trust practically didn't extend outside the clan walls, and sadly, the Hokage wasn't immediately on the list of people the fox trusted. The realization hurt the man deeply, but he understood the reasons behind it. Which was partially behind the reasons why he'd been doing all he could for the fox.

But when he was first placed on team 8 as Hinata's quote unquote, guardian, he was sure he was going to hate the rest of the team. From first glance, both Ino and Sakura seemed extremely vain and lacking in any skills. Of course, since the first in his life was protecting his Princess, the very idea of having to entrust her life to a group of inexperienced ingrates made him want to blow a goddamn gasket. But it was only a couple of months in that the girls of team 8 ended up proving themselves to him, in multiple regards.

First and foremost, they weren't slackers, by any means. Sakura was a mute, due to an attack on her as a child, and resorted to sign language to communicate. Ino Yamanaka was her best friend, and only one in their age group that knew sign language fluently. As a results she almost always acted as a sort of translator in most conversations. They were best friends since childhood, and had a rivalry that assisted in helping them grow as people, and as ninja. Besides for their fan girl tendencies when it came to a, in their words, particularly hot piece of ass, they were serious hard working girls.

Eventually Naruto came to trust them as well, and was much more relaxed ninja their presence now, then when the team was initially made. He even let them in on some of his secrets, like the fact that he could transform and was Hinata's practical spirit guardian. And that he was a/the Kyuubi no Yoko. That conversation went over partially well, if he said so himself. It was quite surprising really. It also helped that they absolutely adored him and gave killer head pats...

Eventually, the team got fed up with the lack of action, and demanded a tougher mission. Which was great, because Naruto had been extremely patient with the Hokage so far, but couldn't handle another D-rank mission. He needed to get out of the village, otherwise he was going to lose it and kill someone. Not his fault damn it.

This, of course, leads us up to the present. Team 8 had just requested an official C-rank mission, a mission that would take them outside the village boundaries, and into foreign territory. Standing in front of the Hokage's desk was the entirety of team 8, with Naruto, who had dawned his small fox form, resting comfortably atop Hinata's head similarly to that of Kiba's Ninken, Akamaru. His golden white fur came as a shock to the Hokage, but he'd likely find out the cause at some point.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to storm in here..." The aged leader stated with a small grin. "I had honestly thought you all would have burnt yourselves out on D-ranks months ago..." The revelation that the could have asked for a higher ranking mission sooner did not sit well with any of the members of team 8.

"You're saying we could have just simply asked for a mission and you'd have given it to us...?" The bright blond haired girl retorted, eyes twitching. The Hokage seemed to grin wider.

"Well young Yamanaka, when you put it like that... Yes, yes indeed." The girl had to back off, lest she blow up. Breath girl breath...

"Fffffffuck..." She couldn't escape the strangled curse that slipped past her purple puffy lips, as she rubbed her temples. She could feel a headache quickly rising to the surface. She could practically feel Naruto grinning at her from atop Hinata's head.

The fox found out pretty early on in their relationship as team members that the pretty young blond, who was supposed to be daddy's perfect little girl, had some anger issues, and a legendary mouth. She'd often act up against others to spite them, knowing it'd upset her father. Her mother couldn't be happier with it.

"Stupid... shit ass... bitch..." The angered mutterings of one pissed off Yamanaka aside, Hiruzen turned his attention back to the rest of the team.

"Yes well. Let's get down to business." Hiruzen was happy to finally be able to poke fun at his ninja again without fear of Naruto tearing his head off. Since Jiraya's return, both the men had been practically walking on eggshells around the fox. And rightfully so. You couldn't imagine the immense relief when the Kyuubi's legendary hatred began to be tamed by their very own princess. That being said, it was still very easy to set him off, but the result was less dangerous then before.

"Kurenai-Chan, are you sure that you're ready for this?" There was an unnatural softness to his voice when addressing the black haired woman. The Yuki reached for her arm, seemingly out of a nervous habit. Whether she was aware of it or not, she'd been biting her black lips, show just how apparently frazzled she was. She knew she shouldn't be, as a Jonin of Konoha, and a damn good ninja, she should theoretically have nothing to worry about. But that part of her mind just kept screaming at her that everything was going to go horribly wro-!

"Kurenai?" Hiruzen spoke again, knowingly pulling her out of the train of dark thoughts she'd been pulled down. He could see it in her face, even though she tried to hide it. She wasn't mentally ready or prepared to do this, but even so she wanted to prove herself useful to her village.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama?" She asked, her neutral face staring back at his caring one. He could see right through that seemingly unfazed facade, right through the the scared little girl on the inside.

"Do you believe that you and your team is ready to leave the village on a higher ranking mission?" The Hokage carefully studied the faces of each member of team 8. The pink haired girl, resident mute of the team, Sakura, had this determined look on her face. Good.

Ino seemed in a foul mood, but he suspected that he was almost entirely to blame for that. But she too, seemed ready. Hinata, well... The girl seemed to carry herself professionally, holding an air of elegance and power to her stance. There was no doubt that out of the three members, Hinata was much stronger then Ino or Sakura. But, as was shown by her actions, she didn't flaunt herself.

"Y-Yes, Hokage-Sama. We are ready for more responsibility." Kurenai stated. Hiruzen seemed to stare at her for a few moments, contemplating something, before finally relenting.

"I see. Well then, team 8, I have a mission for you. It isn't something that you all shouldn't easily be able to handle." Following his statement, he handed Kurenai a scroll containing their mission requirements. He gave the woman a moment to look it over, before continuing. "Your mission is to protect your charge during his journey back home. The danger you should face during the mission should be limited to nothing more then simple bandits."

The team spoke quietly amongst themselves about this mild revelation, leaving Kurenai to continue speaking with the Hokage. While the younger members of team 8 seemed upset at the rather easy sounding mission request, they weren't going to bite a gift horse in the mouth. This was going to be their very first C-rank mission, they couldn't mess this up. If this mission went downhill, that kind of bad reputation would stick with them for the rest of their career's. So far it has been a flawless run on D-ranks, and if they had their way, this would be the beginning of their flawless run on C-ranks.

And Hinata, well. She had actually requested that Naruto try to hold himself back for the duration of said mission. He had at first vehemently denied the request, but she eventually got him to relent. She knew he found it stupid, but their victory in the ninja world had to be on their own time, it's just how the world worked. If Hinata went throwing out Naruto like some kind of battle monster every single battle, which would most seemingly result in a victory practically every goddamn time, faith would be built up in not her, but her quote unquote pet. Because again, that's the way the world would view a single women singlehandedly controlling the goddamn Kyuubi, as if he was her loyal trained pet...

Of course, in the privacy of their own home, he wouldn't deny the truth to that statement. He was his Princess's pet, nuff said. In the open however, he'd probably kill you for insinuating something so.. well, embarrassingly true.

The way it was, Naruto started out with insane power, but zero control, which left him floating in the water so to speak. While his team had little power, and worked to build it. Naruto's weakness was his lack of skill, but that was a weakness he'd been working on over the course of well over two plus years.

"Oi oi oi!? Whash' all dis...?! Buncha' teens..!?" Naruto's mental musings were cut off by the drunk ranting of an old man, led into the office by the Hokage's personal guard. In stumbled a man clearly drunk off his knickers, while cradling another bottle of liquor in his hands.

"You expect me ta' trust a buncha' kids to save my life...? They look just outa' preschool..." He spit, nearly stumbling over himself. Naruto felt his hackles rise in anger. Who was this no name to question his or his team's abilities? And to claim that they couldn't defend him, the nerve!

Hiruzen saw Naruto quickly getting riled up, thought fast, and moved to intervene. It wouldn't do if a paying client was killed by one of his own.

"There's nothing to worry about, Tazuna-San. My team here is more then prepared to defend against the common thug." The Hokage responded clearly, shutting the old man up.

"Yeah yeah..." The ragged old man, Tazuna, griped back rudely. Before pointing at the little fox atop the Hyuuga princess's head. "Look at dat' 'ne, can't eve' leave 'er damn pet at 'ome..." Said little fox glared murder at the pointed digit, and was heavily tempted to bite it off. Hiruzen started sweating nervously. "What, you havin' pretty princesses doing da' dirty work now.. Justa' buncha' girls..?"

The room immediately got considerably hotter, Ino and Sakura started visibly sweating bullets. Flame started seeping out from Naruto's mouth akin to liquid fire, his eyes twitching violently.

"Now now, don't tempt the fox. I won't stop him if he decides to cook you." Hiruzen stated placatingly, realizing just how close to the edge the man was wandering. Following his statement, Tazuna caught sight of literal goddamn fire leaking out from between the little monster's black lips. That almost comical sounding warning didn't seem so comical anymore, and he wisely shut up. Naruto snorted, blasting real fire from his nostrils. His point was made, very, very clearly.

"Wonderful! Now then, onto business. Team 8, this is your charge. It's your job to protect him, and keep him safe." Sarutobi explained, before frowning. "However, I won't be held accountable if little Kurama-Kun here decides to torch him if he continues taunting him..." He stated seriously. As much as a bad reputation that would bring, he honestly wasn't going to risk his relationship with Naruto over a dumb drunk man.

Tazuna threw a shaky look at the Hyuuga, and more importantly, the little demon atop her head. He cursed himself silently. He knew his mouth was going to get him in trouble eventually, and this time it was with a ninja and her little murder beast. He swore to himself that he'd stop drinking after this, lest he suffer the wrath of those he inadvertently pissed off.

"I-I see..." He managed to wheeze out, too fearful for anything more. This at least managed to sooth Naruto's burning anger that had arisen.

"W-Well then.. I.. shall accept your s-services..." He hoped that would suffice for the time being. The girls on team 8 seemed a bit upset, while Kurenai looked indifferent, as usual. Naruto turned his nose up at the man, refusing his apology, while letting another flaming breath go. It was really starting to get hot in there by that point.

"Understood, Hokage-Sama." Kurenai commented. The woman turned back to her stewing team, crossing her arms. "Meet me at the village gates in one hour." With her piece said, she left in a swirl of leaves. The rest of the team gave their respects to the Hokage, before making their leave as well. With them gone, that left only the Hokage and Tazuna.

The ragged man glanced at the village leader nervously, to which said leader raised an eyebrow at him as if to say, 'the hell are you waiting for?' With nothing left to say, Tazuna left the office...

"Well… What do you think?" Moments after the last guest left Hiruzen's office, Jiraya appeared from seemingly nowhere. The toad sage had his arms crossed, a look of thought etched across his face. He'd been silently watching the entire encounter, judging the the team from the shadows.

"If I'm being entirely honest…" Jiraya started, frown lessening. "I think the kid's come a long way. You saw how easily he held his form together. You also know how easily his form is disrupted by his anger, and a year ago what happened here would have reverted him no doubt." He stated. He was honestly happy with the progress Naruto had made since he reappeared in his life.

"Yes.. However, that boiling anger still remains. I thought you said he'd be over this issue by now. Was that not the whole reason we held the entire team back for so long?" Hiruzen questioned, giving the toad sage a pointed look. Jiraya just frowned again.

"No, you've got it all wrong. That wasn't to reduce his anger, that was simply giving him enough time to learn to control it better." He stated seriously. "Hiruzen, that deep seated rage in his heart will most likely never vanish. You must understand that. The original Kyuubi, and all it's unimaginable hatred has been poured onto the boy. You should be thankful he hasn't snapped and murdered everyone within miles…"

Hiruzen just sighed, rubbing his temples to soothe the oncoming headache. He knew it was too much to ask for that anger he contained to simply vanish with time. But he just couldn't help it, he could only hope.

"Yes well, I had hoped he had a little more control over that rage. You saw the way he looked at Tazuna. He nearly torched him for insulting the women on his team!" The old man retorted. Jiraya simply grinned.

"You're coming at this from the wrong angle. Yes, you are right, he nearly torched the fool. But, why was he so righteously angry?" The toad summoner asked, and then continued. "He was angry because someone insulted those he cared about, and that includes his entire team. He's beginning to put his trust in people again, and is treating his team like his family, whether he is aware of it or not."

Hiruzen had the decency to look surprised. He hadn't made that connection at all, yet with it right in front of his face, he couldn't deny what his student said. He supposed the fox had made much more progress then he initially thought.

"And, let us face it. If you had this scenario happen perhaps six months ago, well… Let's just say you'd most certainly have one less client by now. He looked ready to kill, but he didn't, even after the man continuously insulted his people." Jiraya stated, seemingly deeply amused. "That, Hiruzen, is progress." He smiled at that.

"Hmm.. It seems like I was mistaken in my initial assumption." Hiruzen stated, before clapping. "Your insight is truly astounding! You should take over for the Hokage positi-"

"Hell no. Nice try…" The white haired sage snorted, failing to keep a grin off his face.

"One day I will get you to take this hat…"

The sun was still high in the skies above Konohagakure. After the meeting at the Hokage tower, team-8 split apart to gather their gear, before joining Kurenai at the village gates roughly an hour later.

Sakura and Ino were geared up in a similar fashion, lightly, but with just enough to get them by on the road. Just a decently sized bag did them well. Hinata had packed a bit more, but nothing too extravagant. Normal supplies and a small tent that would fit the three girls comfortably inside. Kurenai, seemed to follow the Hyuuga's idea as well.

When they arrived, they seemed to realize a little too late that the distance they were going to travel would prove a bit annoying when having to carry so much gear. Yet, before anyone could really say anything, Naruto offered to carry everything for them. And before a certain princess managed to get a word in edgewise, Naruto grew in size, back to his normal massive size.

His retention of his golden white form seemed to confuse the villagers more then upset them, seeing a softer colored Kyuubi then the usual red. They still dodged him at every turn.

When everyone was finally set, all they had left to do was wait for Tazuna to arrive. For a drunk fool, the old man actually arrived sooner then anyone anticipated. The man seemed jittery, and his nervousness was only amplified when he saw the little fox from earlier, and the fact that the little fox wasn't so little anymore.

Naruto threw an annoyed glance at the man, but a commanding pat from his rider stopped him. The Hyuuga princess leaned down over the fox's back, mouth next to his large furry ears. She softly explained that killing the client wasn't the best way of completing the mission, go figure.

So, with nothing else keeping them back, the team finally made their leave. For the first time in their adventures as team 8, they left the protection of the village walls. From here on out it would be their skills and teamwork that would keep them safe from harm.

That or Naruto torching anyone he thought posed a threat to those he cared for, that too…

The sun hung low in the skies, casting a harsh glow over the land. It had been six hours since Team-8 left the safety of the hidden leaf, and it had been six hours of nothing but walking. It started out a quiet journey, but three hours in the silence became unbearable. At least to Ino and Sakura, who spent the next two hours talking between each other.

It was a rather one sided sounding conversation, since only Ino was really speaking. Sakura would just sign back to the blond, usually followed up with emotive body language. It was hard being a mute, but having a friend as great as Ino alongside her made it bearable. It also touched the pinkie's heart when she learned that Naruto learned simple sign language just to speak with her.

But after five long hours of walking, even chatting became a bit much. At some point both girls expressed their exhaustion, and Naruto offered them a ride on his back next to Hinata. It was also smarter to save their energy if they ran into trouble.

Eventually however, the comfortable silence had to be ruined. As they continued down the road, something stood out to Naruto. It didn't seem like the others noticed, but he certainly did. There was a hidden presence on the road beside them, and once he caught onto it, he also caught wind of the scent of two separate people other then his own.

"Kurenai-Sensei." Naruto spoke up suddenly, glancing at the dark haired beauty from the corner of his eyes. "I sense an enemy presence." He was sure of it now, no doubt about it. Enemy Ninja, undoubtedly.

Kurenai nodded slightly, letting him know she heard him. If they were to visually reveal that they knew of an enemy presence, they would blow any chance of a surprise attack. So for the time being they would continue on silent, pretending to be unassuming.

The team continued down the road at a normal pace, quickly nearing two distinct puddles of water. Hinata frowned from atop the fox, but said nothing. A gentle kick from her foot and a slight tilt of her head was all that he needed to know. Those puddles, weren't puddles at all.

Slowly the team casually approached the puddles, nearing them, passing them and moving on forward. As if on cue, the moment they all passed the spots of water, two separate ninja burst from their hiding spots. The fox didn't even turn around before he lashed out with a massive tail swipe, only just barely missing the men.

The enemy ninja seemed to waste no time with talk before charging the one they presumed was the leader of the group. Both Ino and Sakura leapt from atop Naruto's back, surrounding Tazuna with kunai drawn.

Kurenai leapt back, narrowly avoiding the duel claw swipe aimed at her. The ninja were armed with two large seemingly poisoned steel claws that were connected to each other with a chain, most likely used for team tactics.

With their initial surprise attack having failed, the ninja weren't prepared for the fox when he swiped at them again. This time Naruto's attack struck true, and the chain attaching the two ninja was cut in half. Surprised and caught off guard by the fox's presence and powerful attacks, they failed to get away from the Hyuuga Heiress as she appeared behind them, immediately disabling them with her clan's special jutsu.

Momentarily stunned by the Hyuuga Heiress's attack, they were no match for the massive white gold furred tail that came flying after them like a bat out of hell. Like a train hitting them dead in the face, the two ninja were instantly rendered incapacitated when hit with enough force that their body's broke the trees they were sent through…

Taking this as his chance, Naruto moved in for the capture. The two enemy ninja suddenly found themselves hoisted up into the air by their arms, each pulled taut to the sides by large powerful tails, of which their were now five visible.

"Is it over!? Did we win!?" The fox's ear twitched at the voice of his blond teammate as her composure finally broke once the fighting ended.

Sakura's nervously twitching face said as much as it needed to. She was scared for her life, and her heart was still racing from the encounter.

Hinata was obviously much more composed then the other two, seeing her almost blankly stare the enemy down, fingers charged with her clan's signature attack, ready to lash out at a moment's notice.

But even then she was still shaking, heart beating vibrantly beneath her breasts. He could smell the fear emitting from her form, the other two girls as well.

It was his many, many hours of training to rein in his anger that saved the two men from being reduced to a puddle the moment he got his deadly claws on them. They should grant themselves lucky that he was only pinning them down, and not ripping them in half.

He wasn't going to risk his precious people like that, and hadn't taken his eyes off of them for even a second. His piercing red eyes staring balefully at them, watching for any signs of resistance. If they tried to do a one handed jutsu, he'd rip their damn arm off.

"I-.. I think that's that, Ino-Chan." Kurenai stated surely, brushing the dust off her shoulders. She stepped up to the bound ninja, carefully prying the sharp as spikes golden tail away from one of them.

"Now, please tell me everything…" The black haired beauty requested. "I really don't want punish you…" Of course, their response was expected.

"How about you go fu-" The man's rant was cut short when without even a twitch of his eyes, Naruto broke both his ankles in an instant with his tail's crushing grip. His screams were quickly drowned out by said fox's second tail once more.

Frowning thoughtfully, the red eyed Yuuhi turned to the other bound ninja. She hoped he'd give her a better answer then his friend, and by his ghostly pale expression, she was sure he would…

CHAPTER

8

END