Life as a Fox

Chapter Five*2012 EDITION*

NSW

Naruto stalked the streets once more, hiding in the darkness. 'I am starting to feel like a rat with all this hiding in the darkness, but to save the village I must stay low' he thought to himself. He made his way to a place few travel, it was the Home of the forth Hokage left as it was, only a few people took care of the grounds, and a person in anbu went into the house to make sure the house stayed in top form, for it was a lasting memory of the fourths heroism.

The house would have been Naruto's if had returned alive and claimed his birth right. But it was not so. So Naruto then decided to break into his house instead of claiming it, the only thing he cared about was what was in his fathers private study.

So Naruto did just that, he eased in, making sure to disengage all alarm seals placed by the Anbu. Naruto smirked and thanked his mothers heritage for giving him the ability to basically see through and disengage all these complicated seals.

Naruto walked the halls of what should have been his childhood home if it wasn't for Madara but he didn't mind, his apartment was just as good, and he had very good substitutes for his family, plus the fact of knowing his parents where technically with him all along soothed him as well.

So he continued on to the study. Once more he looked for seals, broke through them and entered the room, it once might have been a large room, but it was so filled with papers and scrolls, piled high to the ceiling. Naruto gaped 'so this is where my cluttering nature comes from' as he weaved his way through the maze of paper mountains.

Naruto settled down and began to just read, Naruto studied critically everything, locking it to memory, few new of this but when Naruto wanted to learn something, he used a small knack of ingeniousness to do it. Like Shikamaru, Naruto was also a genius when he was motivated enough, and due to the fact that he had to measure up to a S-class criminal within the body of an animal, really motivated some people to learn all they could.

He flew over the information comprehending and memorizing it, with dead on accuracy. If he was human and did this people would have freaked out if they saw him, Uzumaki Naruto, studying this intently.

Naruto even went through some scrolls that had many good wind type jutsu's, Naruto also committed them to memory and thought of ways of enhancing them or making the usable to this form. Naruto reached into a darker side of Fuinjutsu, the nasty stuff, Naruto shivered but continued on, if he knew he would ever battle Sasuke in the future he would have to somehow be able to get around the Susanoo.

Then an idea came to his head, if they could seal away an entity like the nine tails, was it possible to seal something out? The Hyuuga clan had stumbled upon it without even knowing it, they where, in a context sealing a person's chakra nodes close for a matter of time. So was it possible to seal something a person has lets say a jutsu, or ability indefinably? Well the Hyuuga clan also solved that as well, the Hyuuga clan can on a will, seal a person's ability away.

Naruto smirked, it could be possible to seal Sasuke's Susanoo out of him? So that he could never reach it, but it might require a price, something in return like the person's soul? Like when you do the sealing of a nine tailed beast inside your new born son, Naruto though harder, accessing an ancient wisdom, then it came to him.

When a person gives something up like there soul, they actually do it so they can save time and make up for the lack of something they don't have, then Naruto thought even harder, Jeriyah and orochimaru both stumbled onto something but never investigated further, the use of the five elements, if one had the use of five elements (if only for a small amount of time) that person would then be 'whole' and thus be able to do many things considered impossible, without sacrificing themselves.

So if Naruto was able to concentrate all five elements, he would be able to seal of the Susanoo! His heart lept at the thought. Now it would take a lot of elemental chakra, and a lot of time...he would have to get it right, so if he had five clones...each using the different chakra natures, then go through the different signs he already had in his head… crap! He would have to write this plan down before he forgot it.

Naruto found an empty scroll, got some ink, then quickly solved out how to write by using the only bushy thing he had, his tail, Naruto dipped the tip in the ink and began to write, his tail flying over the page, each intricate pattern of each kanji perfect, as he wrote down the instruction and the actual jutsu he then when finished with the final draft which took half the night to make.

Āto o fū tome ko miya wa: Tatakai no kami okotta,which translated over to 'Forbidden sealing art:raging god of Battle' because the Susanoo was just that, a raging god of battle. One that grew stronger with hate (sometimes) unless Naruto was able to seal off the necessary chakra to summon it, the Susanoo only works when a certain amount of Chakra is left, and feeds off of it, also it only works as long as Sasuke can see, Naruto noticed this when Sasuke was battling Kakashi.

Naruto sighed, knowing he should get back to Hinata, but he looked at all the beautiful scrolls and papers lying their ready to be read holding wisdom that could make him even stronger. Naruto shook his head 'since when did I become so interested in learning?' Naruto smirked it was ironic, in a way he really was dead, he barely recognized himself any more, instead of loud and bright, he stayed quiet and dark, waiting from shadows, instead of goofing off and having fun he was staying reserved and training and studying to the extent of breaking into past Hokage houses to learn what was in them.

Naruto started to put everything away, but this was what he had to do, when this dark cloud that only he could see was past then he would be able to come back as his old self. But right now His village needed him, Tsunade needed him, and more importantly his friends needed him.

Naruto then went back outside to find Hinata, he followed the scent until he spotted her with many others standing in front of the hero's stone, Naruto went up to her and whined she looked down "there you are Fluffy, off visiting you female friends I bet, or getting in trouble, any way I am glad you came back, this is the Hero's stone they just added all the names to it"

Naruto sighed it was very embarrassing having to be talked to like this, but he would have to hold out until the time came, and if right on queue he caught the scent of a very familiar person. One that sent his blood to go cold with a strong hatred towards that person. He turned it was Sasuke, he held himself back from jumping on him at that moment, but he did growl just a little.

Hinata looked down at him, "Fluffy, its just Sasuke, I know you haven't met him, but you usually take so good to new people, come on now calm down," Naruto did, but he kept staring at his own name forever etched in that cold stone...as Sasuke weaved more lies of how sorry he was and blah...blah...blah.

It sickened Naruto to now end how they all nodded and seemed to share his loss, and accept him, Naruto kept his rage deep within him, controlling it so he could use it in a precise manner. He slipped deep into his unconscious and just thought, thought about what to do, what to train, how to train, and did come up with more stuff, and by that time Sasuke was gone and Hinata was calling him to leave, Naruto was about to leave when he saw Kakashi.

He was saddened, and he had taken of his hitai-ate (thank-you Bloodkitsune11) and was looking at it sadly no one else noticed it, Naruto's sharp ears picked up his mumble of "I shouldn't be a ninja, I have let to many die" then he dropped his Hitai-ate, Naruto went over to it, it laid in the mud. Kakashi started to walk away, Naruto barked, Kakashi turned. Naruto picked it up and carried it to him, Kakashi looked surprised, Naruto sent it gently on his foot and sat down looking into Kakashis eye.

Kakashi looked down at this strange yet strong animal, and looked into its eyes as it sat down, he could not name it, but it was as if the dog spoke to him through those eyes, it seemed to say 'do not give up' as if it wanted him to keep going. Kakashi was feeling as though he was wrestling himself, Naruto had always kept going and he wanted to believe in Naruto but now he was dead, like so many of his other comrades. 'Rin,Obito, Asuma, Jeriyah, Yinidame-sensei, and now...even Naruto...so many.' He thought to himself. Had always believed in going on and keep moving, yet they had died, and he lived, in fact he even came back once from death during the battle between the Peins.

Should he give it another chance? To put on that symbol that had went through so much? That had been splattered with so many tears and drenched in so much blood? The very hitai-ate that his sensei, the fourth Hokage gave him? Should he put it on, and keep moving? What was the point? He has lost almost everyone he had ever held dear to him. Then Sakura who had noticed Kakashi and Fluffy walked over to them, saw what was happening, she sighed softly then just as softly said.

"Kakashi, your not giving up are you?...look I know you lost a lot of people, but you have to remember that you meet new people as well, if you stopped being a ninja, who would be my sensei? You are the only person I would have left, plus, think Kakashi...take your own words of advice. 'Those who break the rules are considered scum, but those who forget about their comrades, are even worse then scum'". Kakashi gazed at her thoughtfully, he looked back at all the years, all the friends he had lost, even the newest casually was there, Naruto smiling proudly at him, standing next to Obito, Jeriyah, Asuma, and his sensei the fourth Hokage.

Kakashi nodded as he smiled thoughtfully beneath his mask. Sakura was right, no matter how much pain there is, sometimes just keep moving on is the only thing you can do, because even though you are lost in a dark cave, if you keep moving...your hands following along the walls and guiding your small steps... odds are you will find the light.

Kakashi looked down at his hitai-ate, he picked it up and put it back on. Then rested a hand on Fluffy's head, "thank-you Fluffy" he said and turned to Sakura and nodded, bringing her into a brief hug, before nodding to her and poofing away in a cloud of smoke. Sakura looked at Fluffy who looked at her, she sighed and walked over to the stone and rested a hand on Naruto's newly engraved name, "we need you now more then ever Naruto" Naruto sighed and said inwardly ' you don't know the half of it'.

Naruto and Hinata continued to train, getting stronger each day, while Naruto snuck to his fathers study each night to read and study. He also practiced his jutsu to seal the Sasuno, and many more, adding a few more jutsu's to his list, both water and wind type.

By the time Naruto felt he was back up to his usual level a month had swiftly went by. Naruto now knew he had to keep tabs on Sasuke from now on, and just as he had thought, everyone was back to trusting and pitying the Uchiha. Naruto kept his emotions in, saving them for that day, until then he practiced more of his speech. Sometimes to see how good he was, he hid in bushes and called out to people. It seems he was getting excellent, one day he even had a very long nice chat with a blind man in the park.

Despite all this Naruto still felt he was inadequate. He had to somehow test himself, practicing with dummies brought you only so far, Hinata had not been on any missions that required him, he was always left at the compound with the other dogs. Naruto decided one day to go out and see if he could track down Sasuke, so Naruto did so, and fate was on his side, because Sasuke looked very suspicious today.

Naruto followed at a distance, every often or so the Uchiha would turn to glance over his shoulder. Then he slithered into the alleyway of two buildings and followed it until it lead to a dead-end wall, or was it? Sasuke paused momentarily then slipped through the wall; it rippled slightly, like a pool of water, and then steadied. Naruto waited a few moments before following him through.

Naruto entered in, it was a small room that lead to some steps, Naruto followed the waving dark steps down a ways before he heard voices, "Sasuke you are here", Sasuke answered "yes my lord" Naruto settled down and began to listen in, most of what they said was uninteresting, they talked of civil matters, what people they had, what people had said from other towns, what information spies had brought in.

Then finally Danzo said "Tsunade has been said to indulge in her Sake even more due to her 'stress' and 'grief', this is a perfect time to try our first plot. The sound of a drawer opening was the heard, then "this contains a poison, odorless, tasteless, and has no apparent effects until the user tries to use his or her chakra, then the person will go into a very violent seizure and have a massive attack on the nerve endings...effectively stopping the heart."

Naruto was shocked by this, there was a silence then Sasuke then said "so into her private Sake stash? Where no one has tested for poison?" Danzo chuckled "Not a complete fool are we? Yes that's exactly what I want you to do, in fact you can do it today, I have a letter made for her to come interrogate suspicious traitors immediately, go and give this to her, she will leave, Shizune will follow after her leaving you to find the stash in her office, come back when you have delivered both messages".

Naruto growled lowly, how dare he be so coy? Thinking he had Tsunade figured out to a key...but when Naruto thought about it, that was exactly what Tsunade did, she just bolted out of her office and Shizune was left chasing after her, neither one cared if someone was left standing awkwardly in her office.

The sound of two chairs scooting on the floor, made Naruto scuttle as fast as he could out of the building. He quickly then immersed himself in digging in a trash can when Sasuke came out. The raven looked at him and laughed, "wow Hinata, he really is a proud and noble beast digging in the garbage for moldy food" then he stalked away, 'jokes on you' thought Naruto ' you didn't even notice that this trash has no food in it tenge' Naruto jumped out and trailed after Sasuke once more.

Danzo was surprisingly right, once Tsunade read the letter, she ran out of the office and Shizune ran after her, completely ignoring and forgetting about Sasuke. Sasuke then began to scope out for her stash, Naruto watched all of this from behind a secret wall jeriyah had showed him with a peep hole, so Jeriyah could 'check up' on Tsunade.

Sasuke found the stash quickly, it was hidden beneath the rug in a secret compartment in the floor. He opened it, and poured the contents of the packet into each Sake bottle. Naruto waited until Sasuke was gone, then jumped out and began to collect the stash. He kept an ear cocked to listen for Tsunade coming back. He picked up each bottle gingerly, then carried them to a blank scroll, and sealed them away. He tucked the scroll into his hitai-ate, then quickly ran downstairs to the kitchen where he knew they had Sake. He brought back the right number of bottles and placed them in the secret compartment. Then shut the small door, and flipped back the rug.

Naruto then got out as fast as he could and ran to his fathers study. He put the scroll down, grabbed a bigger scroll, and sealed that scroll into the bigger scroll; he then marked the big scroll as 'evidence' Naruto then ran back to the compound before he was missed.

Naruto was lying comfortably on his side, when Kiba and Hinata came in laughing, "Man that movie was hilarious"! Kiba exclaimed, Hinata grinned widely "yeah! I agree!" Hinata came into the room. "Fluffy, how are you boy, hey guess what! in a few days I am going on an actual mission outside of the city, wanna come along"? Naruto barked happily tail wagging.

Hinata laughed and leaned down to pet him, "good boy" then they heard a knock on the door, Kiba answered it. It was Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, and Lee. Hinata gasped and leaped for joy, "I can't believe it! We can finally meet for the first time without missions or war's getting in the way!" Sakura giggled "you are getting just as loud as the Inuzaka's Hinata! I remember a time you could barely speak!" Hinata laughed "yeah, I know" Naruto walked over, "hey Fluffy, who's a big strong dog, yes you are" Ino said petting him and making him roll over to scratch his tummy (which Naruto actually liked).

Hinata laughed "he is so pampered, I spoil him" Kiba laughed "yes, yes you do" Hinata elbowed him in the ribs, "quiet, its not like you don't pamper Akamaru" Kiba sighed "but he's just a puppy still" everyone broke into laughter, "once again, maybe to you", said Shikamaru.

Just then Tsume walked in "ah! Nara kid!" she exclaimed happily, "good just the guy I needed, listen I need you to think of some other ways to test the dogs intelligence" Shikamaru looked at her, "huh"? Tsume sighed "Fluffy, he's aced all of my intelligence tests, I need more tricky ones" Shikamaru looked at the dog, "sure let me think about it".

Then Shikamaru bent down and resumed his normal position when concentrating, after a few moments of awkward silence, he opened his eyes, then looked to Fluffy "Fluffy, I want you to go get a shogi board" before anyone could interject saying that a dog couldn't possibly know what that is, Naruto had left and dragged one back.

Shikamaru smirked "well, we have one mystery solved, the one to why he is so smart, he understands human language", they gasped except Tsume, "yeah so does Kuromaru, and most dogs" but Shikamaru shook his head, "no you see, I didn't show him what I wanted before asking him, I told him in plain tongue as if I was asking one of you, Kuromaru could probably do that as well, but Akamaru?" Shikamaru said glancing at the said dog that was chasing his own tail.

Tsume gave a shrill whistle, Kuromaru walked in, she looked to him "Kuromaru, you can talk to Fluffy in dog tongue right?" Kuromaru nodded, "well ask him what he can and can't do" Kuromaru nodded then turned to Fluffy. They started to give small barks and whimpers as they spoke to each other. "Say I can't talk" Naruto said."why?"Kuromaru asked. Naruto growled "because! They can't know a thing! not yet, do you want Konoha destroyed?" Kuromaru sighed "fine, but excuse is needed" Naruto thought for a moment, "my vocal cords aren't right" Kuromaru shrugged it was worth a shot.

Kuromaru turned back to them "voice of his, unable to speak to you." Tsume nodded, "see Shikamaru Kuromaru is not as dumb as you say him to be" Shikamaru glanced at the dog, "I never said he was dumb, I was just saying if I told him to get something he never heard of before, he would not be able to get it".

Hinata looked at Shikamaru "what do you mean?" Shikamaru sighed "well Hinata you found him in the wild, how many wild dogs do you know, that can understand what you say and know what a shogi board is when I know none of you play it, let alone tell your dogs what it is", Kiba looked at Fluffy "he does have a point, hey Kuromaru, can you ask him where he was before he came here"?.

Kuromaru looked at him "well what is story"? Naruto sighed "my father was a wolf and got shot when I was just a pup, and my only other brother died during the winter. My mom raised me and we stayed together until she got trapped and killed for her fur, I wandered lost for a while until an old man took me in and nursed me to health."

"He always played shogi by himself, and told me about it, talking to me as if I was human, but then some bad men came and attacked us I tried to fight, but couldn't the man died and I ran, I then fell into a river and met Hinata, the reason why I protect her is to make sure none of those who treat me nicely will ever get hurt when I am around".

Kuromaru turned and told them what Naruto had said, "interesting" Shikamaru said scratching his chin "oh Fluffy, that is so sad" she then reached down and hugged him tightly, "but you are a sweet and kind dog, and don't worry nothing like that will never happen" Naruto sighed but let her hug him.

Shikamaru then sat at the board, "the old man ever teach you to play" Naruto barked and walked over, and sat by it, Kuromaru then said "yes, old man taught Fluffy all of his tricks, you wont defeat me pup, Fluffy says" Shikamaru smirked "pup am I?" then the game commenced.

Shikamaru stared. Mouth agape, he was absolutely flabbergasted, he could think of nothing, he was speechless, he couldn't believe what had just happened, never and he meant never, has anyone ever bested him like this dog did. The dog just sat their staring intently, while the girls kept back giggles and the guys stifled laughter.

Then Kiba could not contain it "you just got beat by a walking fur ball,'pup'amaru." Kiba said making pun of what Fluffy had called Shikamaru. Everyone had a good laugh as Shikamaru crossed his arms and said "this is so troublesome".

Naruto nodded to Shikamaru then left, he waited until late night before he got up again and went to train once more. Naruto sighed as he walked to the training grounds, "I really should stop calling so much attention to myself, it could blow my cover" he said quietly to himself. Naruto looked up at the moon, 'someday I will be able to talk freely and laugh once more' he thought to himself and continued on into the night.

Hope you enjoyed the revision.

NSW