Saa Saa... Lookie here. Naruto is gonna get into his first MAJOR action packy battle thing now :) Fun Fun. Ah well.. This is one of my favourite chapters anyway.

Speaking of favourite chapters, Fortune's Fool is officially finished. It will end at a wopping 11 and a half chapters (sorta twelve, but the last is hardly half the length of the rest). I was rather bitter sweet to end it; I had a lot of fun writing it, but all things do come to an end I guess... Ahh well. Chapter updates will slow to once a month (this has potential to shorten), since I want to draw out the story as slowly as possible since its so laughably short. Plus this gives me more time to write King Kyuubi (who's plot will be reviled in the last chapter, if I haven't posted it by then), and Inari's Bane (though its highly unlikely; I have this odd inklink of Naruto recieving part of Kyuubi's pelt as a birthday gift, but as to what he would actually DO with it is beyond me. Fur clothing in Naru-world just seems gody to me, lol. Suggestions anyone? Laughs.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing...

Legend:

"Ramen!" - Aloud speech

'Damn!' - Thinking/ Thought speech

'Fool.' - Kyuubi thought speech

"Hark!" - Kyuubi Speaking

"Eh?" -Fox/misc speech

Fortune's Fool

The Noblest Ninja

By Mirazhe1

Naruto was slightly surprised as he smelled the all too familiar sent of Inari-Zushi as he entered the steakhouse. The sweet sent glided past his nose, enticing him to follow, but he stubbornly declined; he had his addiction and it was Ramen and nothing else. He wasn't the type of person to cheat on his all awesome Ramen like that. Kyuubi, on the other hand, was another story. An old saying catnip is to cats as Inari-Zushi is to foxes drifted through the vessel's mind. Knowing this, Naruto worriedly looked down at his tenant who had a dazed look to his eyes and drool dripping to the floor. The vessel quickly cut most of his supply of chakra going to the fox demon's body, causing it to slump tiredly. It still breathed, but looked exhausted and sullen. Naruto could hear the wordless cries of Kyuubi to let him have just the littlest bit of Inari-Zushi, but he knew better. Ignoring these silent cries, Naruto flashed a foxy smile as the waitress handed him a menu and led him to a booth.

The vessel sat, setting Kyuubi's tired body in the seat across from him, and lazily flipped through the menu, idly pondering what to order, other than at least one box of Inari-Zushi to use as blackmail to get a few new Justu later. He blinked as a lazy "Troublesome" caught his pointed ear. He straightened from his slouched position, annoyed that he couldn't quite see over the booth even then, but eventually peered over the seat to the next booth over. He was surprised to see a spitting image of the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho group, though younger. But how odd it was, to see that the Ino part of the group was definitely female.

"How troublesome," said one of the group, one of which Naruto decided was from the Shika side of the the spectrum. "Its pretty stupid to spy on someone when you have no spying skills." Yes, he was definitely a Nara.

"Who said I was trying to be sneaky," Naruto said with a vulpine grin. The rest of the group was looking at him now as he leaned on the back of his seat to look over the booth.

"But you don't deny you were spying," the Nara said. He peered at Naruto for a long moment before sighing. "Your annoying." The vessel shrugged, obviously not caring. The Cho of the group gazed at Naruto as he devoured his chips obviously agreeing with his friend. The Ino looked broken between sides. Their so called conversation was cut short, however, as the Ino-Shika-Cho's food arrived and Naruto's waitress came to take his order. As a final word, Naruto merely turned and plopped onto his bum to sit in his seat the proper way.

The vessel was happily opening the door of the late Yondaime's estate a few days later, Kyuubi grudgingly following. His blackmailing plan with the Inari-Zushi had been an amazing success, and he had gotten a few good Justu from it. He looked about his father's house with pride. Though the fact Yondaime was his father was not new to him, the fact he was actually living in a house that he had inherited from his father was. And boy, was it cool; it was giant, filled with scrolls, books, and interesting weapons. Though it was a house, it wasn't quite a home just yet, but Naruto was working on it. He stayed up late through the night, reading scrolls or experimenting with minor Justu, when in the earliest hours of the morning, Kyuubi, sitting in his lap, perked up.

"Kittling.. Lower thine weights and gather thine supplies. A battle nears," The fox demon said ominously as his nose twitched, testing the air. Naruto nodded, removed his vest, pulled off his shirt, and hefted off the weights that lay beneath. Though he lowered them and the weighted vest to the floor carefully, the wood cracked and groaned dangerously from the weight even with the gentle desent. He retreated into a room, but was back a moment later wearing arm guards and no doubt light Shinobi armour he had acquired in his travels under his shirt. He carried a supplies belt, filled to the brim with smoke bombs, explosive tags, and even soldier pills just in case, along with a full Kunai and Shuriken holsters, both of which he put on.

Naruto quickly paced away once again, retrieving a smaller, odd looking as the knives and kunai handles stuck from the top, weapon holster and pair of gloves from the kitchen (the vessel suspisiously asked Kyuubi how they had gotten in the kitchen of all things, and he could practically see the fox scuffing it's feet on its caged floor and adverting his eyes). Slipping the black metal plated gloves into his pocket, the vessel assisted his tennat's body in strapping on the holster. And not a second too soon, as the ground quaked beneath them, causing many scrolls and items to crash to the floor in the house. Kyuubi jumped up to Naruto's shoulder, and with a seal, they poofed away.

Naruto and Kyuubi poofed back into existence in the lobby of Hokage tower, which looked as though a tornado had flown through. Oddly enough, Godaime was there and not in her office, bellowing orders. The vessel made his way to her via ceiling (it was much to crowded below) and hopped down next to her. Tsunade seemed unsurprised.

"Whats going on?"

'Foolish Kittling, I told thee before. A battle!'

"We're being attacked. We think its the Missing-nin organization King of the Whites was paying. They're prolly pissed that we killed off their income," Tsunade answered quickly, reading a report that was handed to her. She handed it to a person and gave them an order Naruto didn't make out. "I just sent most of our most powerful or destructive ninja to the east wall," Godaime answered his unasked question. "The heaviest of the attack is on that wall so I need ninja that can take out many enemies at once. Team Asuma have been assigned there." Tsunade paused to sign a paper.

"The Ino-Shika-Cho?" Tsunade nodded.

"Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji," She said, managing to produce an exasperated sigh between franticly signing papers. "They have yet to successfully finish a mission and I don't want them flaking out on the village now. Get over there, take out as many enemies as possible and make sure Team Asuma does too." With a nod, the vessel made a seal and poofed away once again.

When Naruto arrived at the East wall, that was now a battle field, it was eerily silent. The enemy appeared as if they retreated for the moment, and, since no one actively protected the wall at the moment, Naruto guessed it was being fortified from the inside, if the calling commands of workers on the other side meant anything.

Many bodies, both Konoha and Missing-nin, lay scattered about, rather dead. Everything was dully illuminated by the sliver of a moon overhead, making all objects look black, white, and the miles of gray in between. Kyuubi's tail twitched slightly and both the fox and Naruto seemingly disappeared, they ran so fast. A short pause, and with a whistling noise, a rain of Kunai came down, most of the sharp weapons thudding into the ground. Both Naruto and Kyuubi watched this from far away in a tree, as the vessel chucked a wooden kunai, painted dark green. It flew through the air silently, and Naruto was rewarded for his efforts when the body of a foreign ninja thumped to the ground, the wooden kunai protruding through a bloody eye socket.

With a nonchalant sniff, Naruto caught the sent of one of the Ino-Shika-Cho and proceeded to follow it through the tree tops. He finally found them, after killing many ninja along the way, huddled in a small clearing, dirty and bruised but relatively unscathed. The team tensed Chouji stepped to the front in a defensive way as Naruto hopped from the canopy to the forest floor, but they visibly relaxed as they saw his headband.

"Your the back-up? How troublesome.." Kyuubi, on Naruto's shoulder, flicked his tail, snorted and looked to the trees.

"Whatever. Its not safe here, we need to leave." A wooden kunai silently flew out from the undergrowth to the canopy and for the second time that battle the corpse of a ninja dropped to the ground. A kitsune bunshin stepped into the undergrowth, looking ackward. "Jeeze, these guys just drop like flies." With that, the bunshin popped into non-existence; It had proved it's point and now the Ino-Shika-Cho were definitely ready to move. They took to the trees.

"We need to find another safe spot," Shikamaru stated, looking about lazily for a potential area as they ran. Chouji made an approving noise around the quiet munching of his chips.

"What'd do you mean? Our mission is to eliminate as many of the enemy as possible.." Naruto asked with a frown, as he looked behind them. They were going in the opposite direction of the enemy, according to Kyuubi's nose. Ino scoffed, in that ditzy arrogant girl sort of way.

"Stupid. Out of all of the Rookie Nine, ours is the weakest team. Even if we work with a strategy," Ino shot a glare at Shikamaru, who looked away and muttered something, "We always turn out the losers." Ino's wishing to be on Sasuke-kun's team went unsaid.

"From what I've heard, your team has never successfully completed a mission, D-rank or otherwise. How do you know your losers if you never try in the first place?" Team Asuma didn't answer, Ino and Shikamaru looking away as Chouji gave a shrug as he devoured a chip. Naruto sighed in an irritated way, and Kyuubi's nose twitched, eyes narrowing. Jumping to the front of the group, the vessel stopped, causing the group to halt. "If you just tried to complete a mission, it would be less troublesome in the end. We're going back and we're going to complete our mission."

"And who gave you command of this team," Ino said doubtfully.

"Godaime. And she told me to get you to do your mission, even if it means kickin' you in the ass to do it." The team frowned in disapproval until a crash came through the trees behind them. Naruto's eyes widened as a large group of nin blocked their escape; he had failed to sense these nin and failed to notice Kyuubi's warning.

'Foolish kittling, pay attention.'

The enemy, either incredibly strong or incredibly sneaky, tensed, drawing kunai and preparing justu, but never produced an attack.

It was their turn to be surprised as an odd sound hurled through the undergrowth. Before they could react (this proved they were merely very sneaky), the enemy was mercilessly slaughtered as twin "Gatsuga"s tore through them. As the attack stopped, Kiba and Akamaru stood before them grinning wolfishly (albeit, splattered in blood). Naruto smiled, glad to see someone familiar, leapt over to Kiba's branch, and greeted him roughly.

"Kiba," The vessel said with a large, foxy smile. "Didn't expect to see a weakling mutt like you here."

"One to talk, fox-spit," The dog-nin joked back. Naruto was silent, only for a moment; he had never quite gotten over being called Demon-spit so many times in his youth. But after a short moment he smiled again, he knew Kiba meant well. Kyuubi, however, hissed laughter in a foxish way at the irony. Kiba continued, "You need any help here? Figured you would; could smell ya with with these weaklings a mile away." Ino went into a silent rage, whether from being called weak or agreeing with him, they didn't know.

"Nah," Naruto replied, without hesitation. "We can win this." Kyuubi yipped in agreement. The dog nin and his partner laughed heartily. "Whats our position?" Naruto asked more seriously now. Kiba slowly sobered from his laughing fit.

"The enemy's first wave retreated an hour ago and they've been regroupin' since we gave them a good beating," Kiba grinned widely at this. "They've sent enemy scouts out, mostly ninja, but they're relitively easy to take out. Allied scouts suspect they're gatherin' reinforcements." The dog-nin's wide grin shrank quickly, though, as another thought came to him. "But watch your back, Naruto. I sented Uchiha earlier, when the enemy first attacked; there were alota enemy sents near him and very few Konoha-nin. Figured the stubborn bastard would be too high and mighty to radio for help and went to go save his sorry Uchiha ass. When I got there, he was gone. All tha' was left was a few corpses of Konoha ninja, with a bunch of kunai stickin' out of 'em." Kiba paused, frowning, then continued. "There was lota blood around.. But the kunai were Uchiha's. I could smell it."

Naruto, along with Shikamaru and Chouji, frowned deeply, while Ino looked on in horror.

"S..Sasuke-kun would never do such a thing!" Ignoring her, Naruto looked to Kyuubi on his shoulder.

"Tenko." Kyuubi nodded, and leapt away through the trees. After a few minutes of gathering information from Kiba, such as were Sasuke's sent led to, the vessel received word from his tenent.

'The dog speaks truth. The traitor's scent leads away to the enemies post; Mine eyes can see the smoke from their camp,' Stated Kyuubi solemnly from within Naruto's mind. While the fox demon's body was far away, his soul and mind was still within his jailers navel. Naruto cursed aloud.

"And this was the noblest ninja of all," The vessel said sarcastically. Shikamaru, recognizing the quote, snorted at the way Nartuo morbidly twisted it to the situation. However Naruto smiled. "But who cares! If the bastard wants to run away and hide behind an army, then we'll slaughter the army, break his legs, and drag 'im back to Konoha!" While Team Asuma looked disbelieving, Kiba and Akamaru laughed loudly.

"Of coarse! Lets kick some ninja ass!" Akamaru uttered a deep bark at this.

"Gather together all the Konoha-nin you can and take them to the wall. We need to be ready for the next wave. We'll catch up in a bit." The dog-nins nodded enthusiastically and bounded off. The vessel turned back to his team. "So, you guys ready to fight?"

"Not really," Chouji as he popped a potato chip in his mouth. After a moment, Ino spoke up.

"I think we should go with him," She said, backing away from her team to stand by Naruto's side. The vessel blinked, not expecting a girl to go into battle so willingly.

"Its too troublesome, we'd get killed. Konoha will probably win anyway," retorted Shikamaru. Chouji stood off, looking indecisive. While Ino was generally correct, he couldn't leave his friend so quickly.

"And what if Konoha doesn't win?" she continued.

"Then we run away. We aren't missing-nin if the village we defect from doesn't exist."

"That which does not kill you, will undoubtedly try again," interrupted Nartuo. "The enemy is out for revenge; they won't stop till every member of Konoha is six feet under an' pushin' up daisies." Shikamaru hesitated, uncertain.

"We should go, Shikamaru.. We'd be worse than Sasuke if we just left now," Chouji finally spoke up, moving to stand beside the vessel and mind-nin. The shadow-nin paused, mentally debating the possibilities as he stood before them before sighing.

"Your all so troublesome.. Fine, we'll fight, but we need to come up with a plan."

"Way ahead of ya," Naruto said with a foxish grin as he pulled small pills eerily similar to soldier pills from his utility belt.

The battle field was ghostly quiet as the Konoha-nin silently prepared themselves for the upcoming battle. The pale beginnings of false dawn began creep over the horizon, lightening the wall of Konoha in pale grays and pastels. A large section of the forest around the wall of Konoha had been cleared with the last wave (they had been coming and going all night in small amounts, slowly saping Konoha's strenght), leaving the ninja open and visible to the world.

According to the scouts, the enemy had, in a weak display of strategy, sent most of their ninja in the repetitive waves, obviously expecting Konoha to fall sooner. All that was left now was a few samurai and various ranked missing-nin. ...Well OK, hundreds of samurai and various ranked missing-nin. Even with the relative weakness of samurai, the Konoha nin were weak from the attacls, and with the number of hands advancing, traps and sneak attacks would have been useless. Surely an all out battle was about to ensue.

The Ino-Shika-Cho stood off from the main group a ways, carefully holding the little pills offered to them by Naruto. Said vessel and his partner were absent, supplying more of the pills to various Konoha ninja (whom obviously didn't know of the Kyuubi; the ones that did flat out refused to even acknowledge the vessel's presence). They silently thought back to how Naruto explained; explained battle tactics, explained how the pills were souped up soldier pills (of his own design) and how they would give a huge temporary kick to your justu and chakra. Apart from extreme exhaustion afterwards, they were harmless, being made of strong herbs and natural steroids.

But even as the Konoha Ninja prepared and reiforced the wall, the enemy was advancing. The shining armour of samurai and the quick, darting forms of ninja slowly rose over the hill, solemnly marching to battle. As the ends of the army's lines broke over the hill, Naruto spotted a lone figure behind them, standing dark and smug. His keen eyes made out a few details, and Kyuubi snarled through his teeth. Uchiha Sasuke. Standing behind the army to watch Konoha's destruction like the smug bastard he was.

All down the line of Konoha ninja, team captains called out warning. The ninja braced themselves, those supplied with pills quickly swallowed them.

Naruto, rejoining his team, silently pulled his black gloves from his pocket and slipped them on. The metal plates attatched to the dark fabric seemed to melt and reform into cruel looking talons over already clawish nails on Naruto's hands. Kyuubi, at his jailer's feet, nimbly twisted and clutched a few small, ordinary looking knives in his teeth from the odd kunai pouch strapped to his back leg.

Regardless to the near overwhelming boost of chakra, the Ino-Shika-Cho looked doubtful as they gazed at the advancing army. Their numbers were overwhelming.

"We're out-numbered," Ino stated fearfully.

"This wave's a lot bigger than all the other ones," Chouji stated blandly, a bit appalled by the sheer numbers.

"Don't worry. Just stick to the strategy: split 'em down the middle, I'll keep the path clear, and we go get Sasuke," Naruto replied calmly. Shikamaru nodded, but frowned.

"Its a good strategy.. But with a very low success rate. Very troublesome."

"Saa, don't worry. It'll work, I promise," Naruto said with a foxy grin. The team looked at him disbelievingly. The vessel seemed to pout for a moment, as Kyuubi mentally laughed at him, until he spotted Kiba not far off, with his own temporary team. He looked antsy, ready to jump into the fray as Naruto's pills took effect. "Ah common guys. Be like Kiba over there." He gestured to the dog-nin and his partner, who were snarling with a wolfish grin as the enemy advanced. "Don't think of it as being out-numbered, think of it as unlimited target selection!"

Though the team didn't exactly laugh at this, it seemed to break the tension and their attention turned to the enemy a little more readily this time.

At last, as the Konoha nin rushed forward in unison to meet their enemy. Many merely began to hack and throw around justu in a mad attempt to kill as many of the enemy before they met exhaustion. The Ino-Shika-Cho, Naruto, and Kiba, however, hardly moved from the wall and kept their distance from the army. They did, however, meet at the estimated middle of the enemy's mass and began their plan.

"Kagemane no Jutsu!" cried out Shikamaru in a very un-Shikamaru type way. Immediately his shadow came to life in the dim light, stretching beyond its normal length across the battle field to easily capture a huge group of the enemy in its vice. The samurai (and even a few low ranking ninja dumb enough not to get out of the way) struggled but it was futile. Their free comrades around them failed to notice their plight or chose to ignore at as they were rather busy dying.

Now Chouji stepped up next to Shikamaru, who, with the pills effect, effortlessly held down the masses. "Bubun Baika no Jutsu!" His arm grew to monstrous proportions, and with a sweeping motion, sent many of the captured enemy, along with many of their comrades, flying through the air. The attack had left a large dent in the front of the opposing army. Ino, standing behind them, ran to the front.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Her body slumped to the ground, and her team mates slowed her fall. The enemy was beginning to notice this small band of ninja killing off their comrades and advanced to attack. Shikamaru and Chouji fended them off with kunai and minor jutsu to protect Ino's body. The dogish partners anxiously waited for the mind-nin to awaken, their signal to attack. While the pills had upped Ino's effitancy and speed to preform the jutsu, it would still take a while to switch through so many bodies. Slowly, a trend formed as the enemy along the middle of the army began to turn on themselves and kill their comrades.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kyuubi darted off to help disorganize the flanks of the army to aid their fellow ninja. Kyuubi sprinted forward, ran up Naruto's back, and leapt high into the air. The fox demon twisted, letting the knives in his jaw fly up. Naruto turned away from the army and preformed the jutsu silently (for he knew Sasuke was watching his every move from far away) and the knives were engulfed in red chakra.

While when they had first been thrown they had been tiny and insignificant, they grew as they fell, until they came crashing down to stab deep into the earth, their size taller than that of Hokage tower. While doing a lot of damage to the poor souls they stabbed through, the shockwave of such huge knives stabbing into the earth made many inexperienced fall to their knees clumbsly, easy pickings for the Konoha ninja who had seen and prepared for the attack. Satisfied, Kyuubi fell back onto Naruto's waiting shoulder and they sprinted back to their little band of heros.

The vessel prepared himself as he saw Kiba preform a huge twin "Gatsuga" with Akamaru. As the dogish partners leapt out of the line of fire, Naruto leapt forward into the air and twisted his taloned hand back. With a furious "Kitsune Claw!", his hand surged forward, chakra charged claws first. Chakra few through the air from his taloned hand, spinning in the shape of bloody crescent moons. The attack cleaved into the army, cutting through weapons, soldiers and bodies, to part the army into two and make a long, wide path to the other side. Naruto smiled at his handy work as gravity pulled him back to earth. Konoha had a fighting chance now.

Naruto descended, carefully snatched up the waiting Kyuubi, and ran after his friends who were already making their way down the newly made path. The army, however, began to close into the sides, shrinking the gap. The vessel desperately threw his taloned hands together to create seals.

"Kitsune kage bunshin no jutsu!" His own small army of foxes sprang into existence, instantly attacking the enemy and pushing them back. The team finally made it to the other side of the army, spotting Sasuke not far off. The traitor looked on in horror as the team advanced toward him, muscles tensing as he was about to spring into a run.

And the sun finally rose over the horizon.

Oops... Did I just type a cliffhanger when you now have to wait an entire MONTH for me to update? My bad :) Lol. Yall must hate me.

A few notes: I say Inari-Zushi just because thats how I've seen it written, many times in fact, so Im sticking with the z for now.

And also, you can blatently see that Im a uber fan of the whole "Totally outnumbered, huge army breaking over the hill at pre-dawn" cliche, but oh well. Lol. Don't worry, you'll be seeing it again soon. Wink wink.

Oh and did you guys like the total Kitsune Claw, Inuyasha rip off? Lol. Well its slightly orriginal, with Naruto needing the gloves to power the attack up and all... cough, remember this, cough.

Anyway, even if you have to wait a month, wait around to see Naruto remeet Iruka and confront Shukaku and Gaara...

A few more chapters and you'll see Naruto's summon. Wink.