Chapter 3

The howl of a dog sounded next to his ear and Sasuke shifted in his sleep. Growling, he turned to the culprit. The mangy mutt was new to the scene, so it didn't know to keep his mouth shut. Too used to freedom, it barked in protest at being caged. Its barking started a chain reaction to the rest of the dogs and all of them started barking, disturbing Sasuke's much needed sleep.

Lifting his head, Sasuke barked once sharply and all the dogs quieted. Snorting, he laid his head back down on his paws. Dogs were pack animals by instinct, and always obeyed the pack alpha. Sometimes, it was good to be on top.

A year ago, Sasuke had freedom. Sure, it sucked scrounging around dumpsters or hunting rabbits in order to survived, but at least he was free. He could roam wherever he had wanted and no one would have stopped him. He had a few close calls with animal control, but he had been able to outsmart them. He thought he would never be caught.

Until a year ago when a group of men cornered him behind his favorite dumpster behind a butcher shop and tranqed him before he realized what had happened. He woke up in a cage and a couple other dogs. Later, they were unloaded into a large abandoned building on the outside of the city with other caged dogs. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. They had just been recruited in the illegal dog fighting ring.

Sasuke had tried to escape plenty of times. He was still working on his next one, but the owner of the ring was a smart s.o.b. He had placed shock collars on all of the dogs so that if any of them got out of hand, they would only be able to go a short distance and the dog would immediately keel over from shock. Also, all of the guards were armed with tranq guns so that if any had escaped, they would be shot down and taken back to its cage.

What the owner didn't know was that Sasuke was smarter. Despite his canine appearance, he still had the brain of a human, and the adaptation of one as well. In the ten years since his transformation, he taught himself how to survive and adapted to every situation.

Sighing, Sasuke thought about the first few weeks after his transformation. Mikoto and Itachi had called the police and a two month manhunt had been underway to find him. Eventually, the police had given up and his mother and brother called in teams of private investigators and even posted rewards to anyone with any information about him.

Fugaku never once questioned Sasuke's disappearance. He was interviewed by several reporters and police officers, and each time he stated that Sasuke had been known to run off for days at a time and returned as if normal. After a year he barely acknowledged that he had a son named Sasuke. He ran his company with an iron fist and taught Itachi how to run the company. A month before his capture, Sasuke read of his father's death in the newspaper. According to reports, he worked himself to death, something Sasuke would have no trouble in believing.

Sasuke had hoped to return home then. He had hope to reconcile with his mother and brother, even if he remained in his canine form. A hope that had broken when he got captured and forced into the ring.

Sasuke tapped his tail on the cage floor in thought. He had to find a way to get out. Humans and guns he could outrun, but the damn shock collar was another thing. Over time the other dogs had figured out that they wouldn't get shocked if they stay within a certain range to avoid being shocked, but since Sasuke was smarter than the average canine, they kept the collar on him and caged to keep him from running off.

The owner of the fighting ring wasn't very smart, but he was smart enough to know that Sasuke was his meal ticket.

"All right, everyone, let's get ready," yelled the ringleader, a heavy set man wearing a three pieces expensive suit and a cigar nearly permenantly attatched to his mouth. He leaned down and blow a smoke ring into Sasuke face. "You're going to make me a lot of money tonight, aren't you, boy?"

Sasuke got up, turned around in his cage and presented his rear end to him before flopping back down on the floor. Gato laughed.

"You're a real stubborn one, aren't you?' he said. "Why you haven't broke yet is beyond me. Mizuki, why do you think that is?"

"Some dogs are like that," said Mizuki, the dogs caretaker. "Got a mean streak a mile long. Safer for everyone that he's in the cage instead of loose where he could possibly tear a person's arm off."

Gato laughed loudly.

"If he does, then we better have ringside seats," he said. "Get him ready for the ring. He's our champ, you know."

"Yes, sir," said Mizuki. Gato left and Mizuki smiled sinisterly at Sasuke. "Come on, boy. Boss man wants you amped up for the show."

Sasuke snarled as the human reached onto a table and picked up a needle syringe and a clear bottle. He didn't have to read the label to know what was in it. Another helper had a catchpole ready as another opened the cage. Sasuke didn't given them time for either. As soon as the door open, he was out like a shot. He ran around the table and cages, confusing the handlers until he ran toward the open door.

He was a foot away when a jolt of electricity shot through him. He yelped and snarled, shaking his head to get rid of the feeling. Not one of his brighter moments, but he wasn't about to let Mizuki stick the needle in him. One of the handlers got close and Sasuke used the only weapon he had. His teeth. He wrapped his jaw around the man's arm and bit down. The man screamed and fell to the floor with Sasuke on top. Sasuke felt several pricks to his rear but that didn't lessen his hold on the man's arm.

Sasuke may be a dog now with limited resources, but that didn't mean he would go down fighting. He'd find a way out of this hell hole and get back home. That was his last thought before he blacked out.

When he woke up again, he felt more alert than before. He growled. The bastard injected him. Another reason to tear his throat out. Looking around, he saw that he was in the starting gate. They were bringing him in first. It must be punishment for trying to escape. He also noticed that his collar was off. They always took it off for the fights, but they kept the tranqs on hand.

'So that's how they want to play it,' thought Sasuke as he shook off the last of the ketamine that had been pumped into his system along with whatever drugs they had given him. He heard Gato over the microphone as a handler stood by the cage, ready to open it and let Sasuke out after the introduction.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the terror of the alley dogs, the devil dog himself, Akuma!" yelled Gato and the doors opened. Sasuke sauntered out and growled at the surrounding audience.

'At least he gave me a decent name,' thought Sasuke as he turned to his opponent. A sniff brought a snarl to his lips. His opponent wasn't just a dog, but a wild dog. He had to watch himself. Wild dogs weren't really fighters in the wild, but when cornered, they had jaws that could break bone. They were also hard to domesticate unless from birth, which meant the trainer had this guy that long.

As the only intelligent canine in the ring, he felt he should warn the dog off, so Sasuke gave a "Back off or get hurt" growl, which the wild dog ignored. It snarled back at him, straining its muscles to get to Sasuke but waited until the signal like it was trained. Sasuke could see a lot of pain and anger behind it's dark eyes. Sasuke was surprised it didn't back off. Usually dogs were quite smart and could sense when their opponent was smarter or stronger than them and back away, but this one had a bone to pick and was going to use Sasuke to do it.

Sasuke sighed sadly.

'Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you.'

A bell rang and the dog leaped toward Sasuke. Sasuke jumped to the side and shoved the dog, trying to assert control over him. Sasuke had found that the easiest way to end a fight with the least injuries, or casualties, was to show the dog who was boss, but this dog didn't seem to take the hint.

Instead of backing down, the dog twisted and clamped its jaws on Sasuke rump. Sasuke yelped and kicked the dog in the jaw to dislodge it and aimed his teeth at its neck. More forceful control had to be shown. The dog again twisted before Sasuke could do more than scrap his front teeth on the skin before it locked its jaws around Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke snarled in annoyance and did a very human move. He dropped to his back and kicked the dog off. It flew over Sasuke and landed against the fence surrounding the ring, falling on its side. Sasuke rolled back onto his back and faced his opponent, waiting for it to regain its senses and attack Sasuke again.

The dog struggled to get up and face Sasuke. Sasuke knew it was going to charge again and prepared for it. He needed to end the fight quickly before the dog's heart burst from whatever drugs that were injected in the dog's system. By the way the dog was panting and the way it shook, Sasuke could tell that whoever owned the dog gave it an overdose and the dog was almost on its last legs. Sasuke would be doing it a favor by taking it down.

Like Sasuke had predicted, the dog launched at him and Sasuke did the same. Unlike the dog who had been going for Sasuke's throat, Sasuke shoved the dog mid-leap and both landed on the ground, the dog on its side and Sasuke on his feet. Sasuke opened his mouth for the first time since the fight started and clamped his teeth around the dog's neck. The dog struggled and twisted to get Sasuke off it, but Sasuke kept the dog down and snarled. Eventually, the dog's struggles died down and it lay on the ground, panting. When it did, Sasuke let go and the dog laid on its stomach submissively and Sasuke sat down on his hunches.

"What the hell are you doing?!" yelled Gato. "Finish it!"

Sasuke scoffed and turned away. He had thought about killing the dog, but he rejected the idea like he did every week when he was forced to fight. He didn't want to kill an animal just because it was forced into a situation that it didn't want.

Gato snarled infuriated at Sasuke before turning to his men.

"Shoot them both!" he yelled.

This time, the handlers held up actual guns, not the tranqs, and aimed them at Sasuke and the wild dog. Sasuke snarled and turned to Gato, getting ready to jump. If he was going down, he'd take the oversized toad with him.

Next thing he knew, the doors to the warehouse were thrown open and a voice over a megaphone yelled, "This is the police! Nobody move!"

Which was, of course, the worse advice anyone would give a group of criminals. Leaving the two dogs in the ring, the spectators scattered and Sasuke heard footsteps running after them. Turning around in the cage, Sasuke noted the only way out was by jumping the fence. Luckily, he had enough for a running start.

Stepping back until his rump hit the other end of the fence, he gave a running start and jumped the fence. He nearly cleared it but his back knees hit the top of the fence and he tumbled to the ground. He landed on his side, hitting his head on the ground first before the rest of his body followed.

Pain hit him, but only slight. Luckily for him, dogs had thick skulls. It would take a car crash for them to be knocked out. Scrambling to his feet, he ran toward the door. Now that his collar was off, it was the perfect chance for him to escape. Immediately, yells echoed around the warehouse as Sasuke dodged one officer or dog handler after another.

"A dog's loose!"

"Catch it!"

"Hurry before it escapes!"

Sasuke dodged around legs and catchpoles. Once, a catchpole looped around his neck, but he twisted and grabbed the pole before the lasso could tighten around his neck and yanked it from the handler's grasp. He shook the lasso off and ran back toward the door. An officer spread his legs and attempted to grab Sasuke, but Sasuke easily slipped under him and ran out between his legs. Really, did they think that because they looked intimidating would make him scared? It might have worked with a normal dog, but not with Sasuke.

With a doggy smirk, he ran out of the warehouse and ran down the street.

XXXXXX

"Well, Kyuubi, are you excited?" There was a bark from the back seat and Naruto laughed at his partner. "I can tell you're psyced. I am too. I love our job."

Naruto sighed sadly as he drove down the road.

"This might be our last job together, old man. The captain said you're getting too old, no matter how good you are. They're giving me a new partner and I'll have to retire you."

A wet nose nudged his cheek and Naruto laughed as he reached behind him and petted his furry partner. Today would be their last crime scene together. The K-9 departement had decreed Kyuubi was too old to be a police dog and wanted to retire him to breed more police dogs. Naruto was against it, of course. Kyuubi was only six years old. He still had a couple years left on the force, but Kakashi said that it wasn't their choice and this would be their last run before he gets a new partner.

Naruto didn't like the idea of a new partner. He had Kyuubi since he had joined the K-9 unit and he was descended from his mom's first dog Kitsune. Kushina had been in the K-9 unit after Naruto's father died because she couldn't stand the thought of working with another human partner so she took the family dog and started training her. Since then, Kushina and Kitsune had became an infamous pair in the police and crime world, putting a lot of criminals away and took down a lot of drug rings.

By the time Kushina had gotten sick, Kitsune was already nearing retirement so they allowed her to stay with Naruto and his mother in the final months. She had already had several puppies by then and were going to be trained as either police or service dogs by the Inuzukas. A week after Kushina died, Kitsune had left and was found the next morning by the cemetery grounds keeper. She died curled up on Kushina's grave. She was buried in a pet cemetery specialized for police dogs.

Kyuubi looked exactly like his grandmother, right down to the red fur and the black tipped tail. When he had been born, Tsume Inuzuka doubted he would live because he had been so small and malnourished, but Naruto didn't care. He took Kyuubi home, raised him and trained him to became one of the best police dogs on the force.

Now, Kyuubi would have to retire. How was he going to say goodbye to his best friend? How was he supposed to do that?

Out the windshield, Naruto could see the lights of the police cruisers surrounding the warehouse that was their destination when he felt a tug on his head and he reached behind to swat Kyuubi in the nose.

"Kyuubi, what have I told you about tugging my hair?"

Kyuubi growled in disagreement and grabbed a tuff of Naruto's hair and tugged. Laughing, Naruto reached around and shoved him away.

"Get off, you big galoot," he said

He turned back around just when a black shaped jumped out in front of him. He slammed both feet on the brakes but it was too late. His cruiser hit the animal before either had time to stop. The dog, for that was Naruto found out that it was, flew ten feet down the street and rolled two more. Putting the car in park, he threw the door open and ran out.

"Shit!" he cursed loudly. "Shit, shit, shit!"

A summer at the Inuzukas gave him basic canine biology. He immediately knew that it wasn't one of the K-9 dogs because it was only him and Hana there to check for drugs and Haimaru wasn't all black. That meant he, for Naruto had checked for gender and saw that it was male, was either a stray or a fight dog. Naruto hoped it wasn't the latter. He was unconcious at the moment, and by the multiple cuts and scrapes, Naruto hoped he didn't have internal bleeding.

"Hana!" he yelled, calling for the other police dog handler. "Hana, I need some help!"

Hana ran over and looked the dog over. Haimaru went over to Naruto's cruiser to greet Kyuubi.

"Broken front leg," she said. "Two broken ribs, possible a fractured third, and I don't even want to know about its insides."

"Can you save him?" asked Naruto almost in tears. The thought that he could possibly have killed a creature was tearing him up.

"If we get him to the clinic," said Hana, "but the unit..."

"Yeah," said Naruto sadly. He wanted to save the dog, but he had a job to do.

"Go on, Naruto."

Naruto looked up to see his department captain, Kakashi Hakate, standing next to him. His English bulldog Pakun, more mascot than police dog, stood next to him.

"Kakashi-sensei?" said Naruto confused.

"We only need one dog," said Kakashi. "Get that one to the clinic and let Kiba take a look at him. Maybe we can save it."

"Yeah," said Naruto with a grateful nod. A lot of police dog handlers don't believe that dogs in fight rings were worth saving, but it was regulation to give each dog a chance. He turned to Hana. "Hana?"

"Tell my brother not to make a mess of this one," she said with a smile. "I think it's okay to move him, but gently. We don't know if his neck is broken or not."

Naruto nodded. Gently, both dog handlers lifted the massive dog from the ground toward Naruto's cruiser. Kakashi got Kyuubi out of the back seat and into the passenger side so that Hana could set the dog onto the back seat. They secured the dog with a seatbelt and Hana even wrapped a blanket around it's body to keep it from shock.

"You sure it's okay?" asked Naruto before getting back into his cruiser.

"Go on, Uzumaki," said Kakashi. "We'll be all right here."

"Just let me know what happened," said Naruto as he got into his cruiser and took off toward the city.

TBC