Author's Note

SoulRetriver13, long time to talk. LOL Hopefully I'll actually get this fanfic somewhere! Eh? Heehee. By the way, just so everyone knows. I don't write slash fics, I'll probably never write a slash fic. So unless there is actual romance in the manga (none of the anime filler crap) there will probably never be romance in my work. So don't look for it in here. Anyways, my chapters will probably come in slowly unless I just sit and write all day, which I rarely ever do. Anyways, enough of my babbling!

Chapter 2

The Hunt! The Taste of Human Flesh!

"As you know, this small village relies heavily on its crops and animals. Its our source of income, our way of life," Lord Zen looked over the three genin before him, quite confident that his terrible problems were soon to be over. "The attacks started a few months ago, it seemed to happen every few weeks. Once or twice every month. We figured it was wolves or some nearby beast from the forest that had found its way down to our village every so often. We tried to find it before, but its attacks were so far apart, most of the time we could never find it. We were never able to discern any type of pattern.

"But recently, the attacks have become much closer together. First it was weekly, then twice a week, now its as often as three times a week. Our farmers can't take much more of this, we're losing money and cattle fast. The farmers have started rumors about the kind of beast that it may be, and are too afraid to hunt it down themselves. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I contacted Konoha." Lord Zen bowed, his head almost reaching the floor. "Please! Help us!"

"Don't worry Lord Zen," Sakura gave him a sympathetic smile, "we'll find this beast and bring an end to your troubles!"

"I'll bring that beast in single-handedly!" Boasted Naruto, giving the biggest smile he could make.

"Thank you! We've prepared a room just for you-"

"That wont be necessary, we're starting our hunt tonight." Interrupted Naruto.

"No, we're going to rest tonight. We've walked all day, we need some rest." Explained Sasuke, fueling Naruto's anger. "Please, show us to our room." Naruto looked at Sasuke and grimaced, he didn't want to waste the night by sleeping.

"Ah," Lord Zen looked at Naruto to Sasuke, and back again, then nodded, "Right, I'll have someone come up and show you to your rooms right away." He clapped his hands once. There was a puff of white smoke, which quickly dissipated to reveal a ninja bodyguard crouched down next to Lord Zenryu. The ninja wore a black vest, with a gray long-sleeve undershirt. His pants mirrored his vest in color, adorned with a dozen pockets and pouches. The old village leader whispered into the ninja's ear quickly and silently. The ninja nodded, formed a two finger seal, and vanished.

In a matter of minutes, a bellhop was at the door.

"Please, let me take your things, your rooms are this way!"

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Naruto rubbed his arms for warmth, attempting to get the blood flowing faster. Team 7 had awoken early in the morning, before the sun had reached the horizon to spread its rays of warmth across the world. The farms were spread out quite far, so covering the entire outside ring of the village was very difficult. The team had decided to stay at a single farm every day until they had some leads. They had separated to cover at least three farms per day. The sun made its usual trip from East to West, leaving nothing but shadows in its wake. Naruto had wandered around the farm, trying to look for any clues. Lucky for him, one of the animals that had been recently taken from the village was from this farm.

Naruto looked closely at the scene of the fight. The pig had definitely fought back, and attempted to run away. But whatever had chased it down was much faster, and smarter. Footprints were trampled over and over, to the point of being discernible. That, and the attack at this farm had been almost two weeks ago. Everything changes with time. Naruto tried his best to find some sort of information, but gave up when the sun began to set.

The blonde-haired ninja sat atop a wooden fence built around the farm. Twilight had arrived, brief, but noticeable. His time at the farm wasn't over, he was to stay there until midnight. It seemed the attacks lately had all been at night. Naruto looked away from the farm, out into the grassy plains that connected to rivers and forests. Twilight had passed, and the brilliant moon now gave light to the darkened world.

"C'mon, come out tonight. I'll be the one to find you for sure…"

Naruto quickly dropped off the wooden fence and looked over the black plains. He felt something coming, a shadow, moving closer. It was coming his way. He rolled under the fence for cover, attempting to hide from the beast. Naruto strained to hear the incoming shadow, but he couldn't. It was a professional killer. This is it, its my time to shine!

Naruto spun around, jumping up and over the fence.

"You're mine!"

"Idiot."

Naruto came crashing down with a punch, which was easily pushed away by the shadow.

"I came to bring you over to the Serian's Farm, the one Sakura was watching. It seems she's encountered something," said Sasuke as Naruto landed on the ground, dumbfounded and angry at himself for the situation he put himself in. "And if you do encounter something, don't be a moron and attack it wildly, and don't yell at it, that's just stupid. Now, let's go." Naruto bit his lip in anger and frustration, furious that Sasuke had been able to humiliate him so easily, but followed nonetheless.

It wasn't long before they had arrived to the Serian's Farm. Sakura was talking to the Serian family, explaining exactly what had happened. Sasuke and Naruto waited silently until she had finished. After a few minutes, the family receded back into the house. She sighed and walked toward her teammates, it seemed to Naruto that she was favoring her left leg.

"Sakura, what happened!" Naruto asked loudly.

"Be quiet Naruto! We have to keep this quiet, remember? Anyways," Sakura began her tale, "I was out in the back with the horses…"

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Sakura ran her hand against the horse's beautiful black coat, shivering in excitement. The pink-haired ninja had always been fond of horses. Twilight had passed, the moon was out. It was dark inside the barn, there was some lighting, but barely any. The horses had to sleep after all. Sakura spun around, the unusual chakra signature was close again. Sakura closed her eyes, trying to calm herself, to determine where exactly it was coming from. It was getting stronger… and closer.

Sakura ran out of the barn, slamming the big red barn doors wide open. The sound of crashing wood against wood brought a snarl from out of the darkness. Sakura gasped in fear, wide eyes scanning the huge field of crops. She took a deep breath and walked slowly forward, pulling out a kunai from her leg-pouch.

There you are! Thought Sakura, as she saw a moving shadow in the darkness. The moons illumination wasn't enough to discern the figure, but she could tell that the thing was much bigger than her. Another snarl. It turned. It's seen me!

Sakura dived to the ground as the beast bounced at her. Its claws dug into her right leg, slicing away at her flesh. Sakura winced in pain, her blood staining the ground. She knew she was in trouble if she didn't get away. This thing was too big, too fast, too strong. She flung her kunai at the moving shadow, hitting it square on the side as it was spinning toward her. It yelped in pain and drew back, bouncing away quickly and away from the farm.

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"It was the same thing we saw in the forest. It had the same chakra signature, I'm sure of it."

"It's not afraid of humans," said Sasuke coldly.

"Huh? So what?" Asked Naruto.

"Sasuke means: this thing, this… beast, has no reason to fear man. It means, that this creature has fought a human before. And… won." Explained Sakura.

"Wait! You mean… it's killed… a human!" Asked Naruto.

"Not only killed a human, its tasted human flesh. This thing doesn't just kill for fun, and it didn't know Sakura was out to kill it. It knew it could kill Sakura without a doubt of its mind, and it knew it could eat her," Sasuke looked up at the moon. "This is bigger than we thought."

Maybe we should tell Kakashi about this." Suggested Sakura, looking over at her bleeding leg. The blood had long coagulated, but the pain was throbbing.

"No, we can do this alone. Kakashi is busy with his own missions anyways." Sasuke turned over to look at Sakura. "Let's go back to our rooms and get some rest. We'll try again tomorrow."