Life as a Fox

Chapter 10 *2012 EDITION*

NSW

Six Months later

Naruto sat proudly as he watched his Sensei Kakashi take the stage fully garbed in the Hokage uniform. Tsunade sat in a chair behind Kakashi, smiling happily and Naruto even detected a little moisture in her eyes. Kakashi was hailed with applause and cheers; even a few wolf whistles from old friends and comrades of his.

Kakashi did the usual speech all Hokages had to give, and then the usual proceedings followed afterward. Soon it was over and done with; and all of them got to go up to Kakashi in private to congratulate him. There was a silence as Kakashi looked down at him. "Naruto...you should have been the one who replaced Tsunade, not me." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Come on Kakashi, some of them are still against me going on solo missions by myself, not to mention all the scrutiny I am getting for applying to-" he stopped himself. "Ah...never mind."

Hinata looked at him. "What is it? What did you apply to?" Naruto looked everywhere instead of her eyes. "Well you knw how they changed the Anbu...so now they're an elite ninja rank, like - the best of the best, and they have good pay..."(Note in this fanfic Anbu before they were thought to be a shady group.) Naruto said hinting to them.

Then he continued on, confessing the small secret he had kept since he was a kid "...and I always told myself even when I was human, that if I didn't make Hokage I would make Anbu, and not just any Anbu the Anbu General, top leader of all Anbu. In some cases he even out ranks the Hokage!" He said excitedly.

Hinata sighed and Shikamaru said. "Oof, Naruto stop it with the tail." Naruto stopped wagging his tail, he didn't even know he had started wagging. Kakashi looked at him. "You really have thought things out did you, even when you were a human."

Naruto grinned. "Of course, what did you guys think? I only thought of Ramen and rescuing…." He trailed off there, Then he sighed and looked away. "Well, if you really thought I did think of only that, you were wrong. I was always thinking of how my life would be."

He looked back up and smiled softly. "But come on its time to be happy. You're the Hokage! Aren't you going to be happy? Oh and by the way, you're going to have to be on time now Kakashi" Kakashi sighed. "I know." He said disdainfully, as if he was dreading it.

Naruto laughed. "Let's celebrate, and before you even say it, I am not thinking of Ichiruka ramen. I have a more...elegant place in mind." He then lead them to a place called the 'Howling Wolf'. All of them looked at him "Are you kidding me?" Naruto shrugged. "What?! Okay look, they're a five star restaurant and club, and grill together in one; and...they allow pets." Naruto grinned and started to smooth his ever unruly wolf fur.

Hinata sighed. "Naruto, you're not going to get it like that." So she bent down, and started to comb him with the comb she always carried. "Now let me fix your Hitai-ate." She straightened it, "What do you think?" he said, prancing around like a show dog. "Do I look good or do I look great?" Kiba laughed. "Oh yeah, the poodles will be all over you."

Naruto's high trot he had going fell apart. "What?! P-poodles?! What are you...? Why would you...?! ...Kiba you are weird! Then he proceeded to growl at all of them who were laughing so hard - even Hinata was hiding her chuckling as she blushed red.

Naruto sighed and sat down. "I am going to chew all your shoes when I get home." Naruto muttered under his breath, Kiba then said "Do that and I will have Hana fix you." Naruto yelped and tucked his tail in-between his legs. "Y-you,…wouldn't. . .dare…would you? Hinata! Would he!?" Hinata sighed and glared at Kiba, hitting him in the arm. "No he wouldn't right Kiba?" Kiba looked away and said. "Yeah, I won't fix you, or have Hana do it either." Hinata nodded. "Very well, now lets go eat!"

They got a few tables together and all of them sat down to eat, Sakura sat next to Hinata and Kiba, and on the other side of the table sat Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino, Guy, Lee, Neji and Ten-Ten sat next to Kakashi and Naruto sat next to the table.

Of course every child in the restaurant fell in love with him and came over to pet him or give him treats. Sakura and Hinata watched what he ate like hawks, trying to monitor his health had proven to be their number one priority since he had revealed himself.

Sakura's voice once again cut through the air. "Fluffy! No! You can't have that!" Naruto regrettably relinquished the chocolate candy once more, He laid down and sighed. the waitress came and took everyone's order but stopped to coddle Naruto and give him a few dog treats. He took them at once, but when she was away spat them out. "I hate beggin strips"(the dog treat kind) he said. Hinata chuckled at this.

Half-way through the other's meal Naruto was already done with his boneless chicken. A child came by and gave him a rib; Naruto couldn't help but gulf it down. That proved to be bad decision, it got stuck at an angle where he could still breathe but it felt as though it was trying to rip through his throat. He coughed several times, the pain bringing tears to his eyes. The freighted child ran away to his parents. Naruto hacked and hacked until Hinata noticed him and freaked "Fluffy! What's wrong?!" Naruto finally choked out. "Bone…stuck."

Kiba was at his side in an instant - he had, on many occasions, dislodged bones from Akamaru's throat. He slanted Naruto's head, and told Hinata to hold it at that angle; then Kiba hit Naruto. This caused the bone to loosen, and it shot out of his mouth to land on the floor. Naruto was relieved and collapsed in a daze.

Hinata scrunched her nose at the bone that looked so very gross on the floor, "Are...you okay?" She asked softly, as Naruto coughed a couple more times because of the irritation in his throat, "Yes" he croaked. Soon two people, a man and women, walked over with the teary-eyed child. "We are so sorry, is he okay?" Hinata nodded. "Just a little dazed but he will be okay." The child sniffed. "I didn't mean to hurt him." Hinata smiled at the little boy. "No its okay, just next time ask first if it's okay to feed him stuff."

Naruto rose and butted his head playfully into the child's side; he then bent his front over and wagged his tail meaning he wanted to play, He ran around the now-laughing child. The boy was small compared to Naruto, but the boy was not afraid of him. He hugged Naruto as Naruto licked his face, and panted like a dog would.

The couple apologized once more and thanked them for being so calm, but before they left the boy asked his parents for a dog, "I don't know." the mother said but the boys begged. "Please, oh please! I want one like Fluffy, big and Fluffy!" The father then asked Hinata "Um, this is probably a little inconsiderate of us but...does this dog by any chance have any offspring?"

Naruto broke into another fit of coughs and Hinata blinked a couple times. "No, he's not...of age yet." Naruto stood shocked at what was going on. "Well are you going to breed him by any chance?" the women asked, Kiba then butted in. "well you see he's a special dog, and Inuzaka were still training him, and we only pick certain ones to breed. The pups this one might have would probably not for commercial sale use. You should try Hana's animal rescue - they have many good dogs and pets for good homes, try there" Kiba gave him his sister's business card, they thanked them once more and continued on.

Naruto slunk under the table to hide from embarrassment, and to hide from Sakura - he didn't want to hear it. Finally, as all of them sat down to finish their meals, Naruto muttered just loud enough so they could hear. "They wanted to buy...one of my kids?" He said questioningly, Kiba dropped his chopsticks, and then put his head down. Giggles could be heard. Hinata was turning red and Neji was covering his face with a hand, Kakashi was chuckling and Sakura was trying, and failing, to drink while snorting.

The Ino snorted, sounding very much like an excited pig, and all of them burst out in laughter,. Not just any laughter, I mean tears-in-the-eyes, 'oh god my ribs heart', suffocating laughter. Needless to say Naruto was quite embarrassed during the walk home.

Three days later Naruto was summoned to the Hokage's office. Naruto went in thinking he had a mission but only to find that instead of Kakashi in the office it was a man in Anbu Robes. He wore a mask that had two curves representing tusks with angry red lines around the eyes, and he stood with his hands held behind his back.

There was a silence then the man spoke in a deep voice, but with a hint of age in it. "Fluffy?" the man questioned, and Naruto nodded. "I am Mammoth. I have reviewed your request to be admitted into Anbu Corps Training, at first I was hesitant so I looked up your known stats. They were...quite impressive, there are very few wild demons left." he said, with no emotion in his voice.

Naruto nodded, and he continued. "But I have questioned many trusted sources of mine and each one say the same thing, that you are a hard-working, strong, sharp, talented being, and above all the most loyal and trustworthy. Many trust their lives with you and these are the makings we are looking for. So, it is with my authority that I and the entire Anbu corps accept you as one of the few acceptable candidates."

Naruto's chest swelled with pride, he couldn't believe it - he had been accepted. He, a wolf demon known only as 'Fluffy', had been accepted in! The man continued. "But don't think you're Anbu yet, you are merely a trainee, one of thirty to be exact. You have yet to pass training camp, each and test we give you, and then the final exam before you can enter the ranks and earn you mask." Mammoth said pointing to his face.

Naruto nodded. Mammoth stepped forward and placed a scroll, a grey cloak, arm guards, and a vest on the desk. "These are your trainee clothes, get them fitted and study this here". he said pointing to the scroll, "...and say good-bye to whoever you have to, 'cause tomorrow at 6:00 sharp you and the others will be in this office dressed and ready to go. You have no need to pack anything, but if you wish to take a picture or a small memento of home you may do so."

Naruto nodded and took his things, he ran all the way home. He and Hinata quickly fitted the clothing until the cloak and guards fit perfectly to work on his body. Then he opened the scroll.

It stated the following: "Welcome Newest Anbu recruit. You have been given this scroll of Information to make your training easier - to understand, that is. Anbu boot camp will last exactly three months and during that time you will reside in the barracks. You will have no contact with anyone outside the Anbu. You will be fed three times a day. There are no fees. There will be three final written exams and three final field exams, then one Final test overal. Be prepared - this is hard grisly work. You are training to become the village's elite - the best of the best. We will throw everything at you and, if you die (which several have), we will just move unto the next recruit. There will be no weaklings among us. If you have changed your mind do not appear at the given meeting point.

These are the Fields of study you will be training and tested on: ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, long range heavy weaponry, short range heavy weaponry, long rage artillery, short range artillery, geography, humanities, political science, leadership skills, sealing techniques, tracking, teleportation, traps, defensive maneuvers, offensive maneuvers, elemental affinities, jutsu creation, advanced human anatomy study, spying, assignation training methods, camouflage, poisons and antidotes, combat skills, documentation forgery, projectile weapons and battle strategies, and explosives."

The list seemed endless to Naruto but he gritted his teeth and said to himself "I will not back down, I can do this." Then he cleaned up his room, went out to say farewell to his many friends, and finally laid down both dreading and anticipating the next day.

Naruto woke up at 5:30, he put everything on and rushed to the tower. He was one of the first few gathered, but no one paid any attention - everyone was too caught up on nerves to do anything. They fidgeted nervously, some like Naruto remained calm and kept their nerves together others did not. There was a few females in the room, but other than that it was all men and one demon-wolf.

Suddenly Mammoth appeared with four other Anbu. They separated those gathered into four groups, then they had them follow them to the training barracks. They were the only trainees. They got themselves situated in their rooms, then the rules were spoken and they were off to their first lesson. The Anbu followed them around for the first week showing them were to go, then left them to fend for themselves. Naruto felt good about himself - he had proven he belonged, few bothered him about him being there; but there was still some at the feeding times that did.

Mammoth read the transcripts of the first of the written exams. It was for s sealing technique, a subject he himself still struggled with, and apparently everyone else did except for three. At the top of that here was Fluffy, with a perfect score, then came the exams for each of the weaponry exams combined into one.

Fluffy was the top but one of the top ten, he always was top ten. In any exam, he amazed everyone by how he was able to make anything adapted to him as though he was a human it was an eerily resemblance, but Mammoth took it as a challenge he wanted to see how far he could bend him till he broke, he wanted to see what type of character this Fluffy was, but unknown to Mammoth, he would find that Naruto would bend but never break.

Three months later

Mammoth was the 6th Head Anbu general, and one of the duties of head general was to access the newest recruits in the training corps; and one of those new recruits had much interest going about. His name was Fluffy, and he was believed to be a wolf-fox demon. He was skilled and intelligent - his written exams had proved that. Mammoth himself on the inside was rooting for him and was impressed with how he seemed to show more dedication and heart then all the recruits put together.

All 30 applicants stood in three straight rows of ten, (cause 3*10=30 XD) as Mammoth entered the room. He paced the ground in front of them, Fluffy was in the first row, his shoulders were back, his head high and his ears foreword. Hiis eyes never moved, he looked like a proud statue of a wolf, Mammoth smirked beneath his mask before removing it.

Sorry the chapie took so long there was inside turmoil between me and my Beta's about how to upload, when, and which parts to upload. I hope to not keep you waiting as long next time.

NSW