Chapter 16

NSW

Life as a Fox

hey everybody sorry it took so long for the upload I was busy with the Wizard of Oz performance my school did I was the Wiked Witch, yay! and I was awsome, so any way heres the newest chapter hope u enjoy.

Chapter 16

The group of four traveled bedraggled towards home Goza carried Ichino across his back, and Ainu limped silently behind them. Naruto lead them this time, his tail trailed limp behind him, but he still held his head up to some degree.

He knew they were close to home he could already smell the soft crispness of thousands of trees carrying their scent upon the light breeze. Naruto's heart ached as he longed for home, but more importantly his heart ached because of the empty place upon their team, Toyi was dead, killed on his final test, all because of one error that all of them trained not to do.

He had froze up, he had let his emotions get the better of him, and because of that he paid, his entire team paid, but his toll was the biggest for he lost his life not a few drops of blood.

Naruto closed his eyes as he remembered all that had happened….

A paper bomb attached to a Kunai struck the branch above their heads, Naruto leaped backwards as fast as he could, Ainu, Toyi, Goza and Ichino did so as well, suddenly three men came charging, Goza intercepted them with a few well aimed kicks and punches.

Naruto looked around wildly, looking for enemies, four more men came at them, and Naruto jumped way from Ichino's side and used a fang over fang. The four men dodged him quickly Naruto landed and turned toward them his fangs bared.

The men paused then one screamed "a vlerwolf!" Naruto grinned those days in the library pulled off, Naruto flicked his ears into a familiar jutsu and sent out his 'call of the wolf no jutsu' twelve wolves emerged from his open howling mouth and leapt at the men, one deflected the wolves by casting a 'water dragon jutsu.'

Naruto launched towards them, Goza was at his side, together they fought the four men off, Goza ducked underneath one and came closer to one, he quickly pulled out a kunai and stabbed him in the back through the ribs and hitting the heart in one clean shot.

The man screamed, causing one of them to froze up, Naruto took his chance and launched at the mans throat. He gripped it in his jaws feeling the throb of his jugular with his lips; He squeezed until he tasted the iron tang of blood then let go.

Naruto launched at the other man, but was knocked away with a sound punch. Naruto caught himself on a tree branch and looked over to see Goza killing the man that had punched him, suddenly he felt a pain in his arm.

He looked over to see a kunai sticking out; He knocked it off and looked for its point of origin.

But then he looked over to see twelve more men coming at them, Naruto swore, he jumped up to some higher branches and looked down, he created 18 clones and had each one do a fang over fang they attacked with a vicious ferocity.

Naruto and his clones killed five and injured six. The seven remaining men called a retreat. The group took this opportunity to run like hell, and like hell they did.

Naruto lead the way, his nose accurate enough to be able to scent the right direction they should be heading, Ainu followed him Ichino was in the middle followed by Toyi and Goza.

They ran at top speed flying over small creeks and cracks within the earths dust, leaping over fallen rotting logs and other debris, Naruto thought they had a good chance to out run them if they stayed at this clip they would leave the borders of this land by nightfall, and in a day or two they would be home.

Naruto's heart leapt at the thought of home, it lifted his spirit and he suddenly felt a huge source of energy come from nowhere, Naruto stretched his stride to its fullest, fueling chakra into it to move even faster.

Naruto stayed like this for a minute when suddenly a burst of color appeared next to him it was Ainu, she was panting heavily "Fluffy! Slow down! We can't keep up with you"! Naruto instantly shortened his gait.

He slowed way down until the others caught up with him he hung his head "sorry, my instinct got the better of me, I apologize I won't let it happen again" All of them were panting from the running but they all nodded "its fine, just remember you roll with humans not other wolf…Demon…things."

Naruto smirked at Goza's confusion, but then he thought he heard a noise, he snapped his ears foreword so they could catch all the sounds. It was just a chipmunk this time, Naruto growled, "We can't stop not until we are home, and we have to move out on Anbu double time if we want to live."

They nodded and followed him, Naruto took them the straightest way he could find, knowing it would be stupid and a waste of time to hide under the branches of the trees in the forest, they moved fast and hard for the rest of the day, and only stopped when the rest of them could no longer keep going or see.

Naruto rested very little they relied on him to warn them if something was coming or not. They ate greedily that night, they were hungrier then a starving pack of wolves (no pun intended). After they used the last remnants of their strength to eat it, they decided to camp that night about ten miles away from the border.

Naruto despite all his efforts, still fell asleep, it wasn't until morning did he notice that there was no sound at all, no birds chirped nothing moved. Naruto woke with a start and snapped at them to wake up but already he could see almost two- dozen men coming upon them.

Naruto turned toward them and put his head down he ran at them, quickly forming his Wolf brigade charge. Around him a sphere of chakra formed creating a shield that protected him, but destroyed enemies.

He charged blindly into the group clipping a few, some of them leaped backwards and threw kunai and shuriken at him, the were deflected by the shield, and bounced back creating dangerous ricochet around their own people.

Naruto lost momentum and so the shield dropped, he leapt into the air so he could dodge some Kunai. Naruto however couldn't do much after the first initial attack whenever he tried to create enough concentration or try to weave the signs for a more advanced jutsu someone would always attack.

There ranks soon closed in around him, Naruto looked to see where the others where, he could see Goza and Ainu fighting side by side, while Ichino and Toyi stood back to back defending themselves.

Naruto growled, "Why are you attacking us!" he yelled the men halted, one then said, "Because you have the blueprints to our advanced mining machine! You guys are stealing that which we have worked so hard for."

Naruto dodged the fireball aimed at his head, "and why so many attacking me? And not the humans? Who have stolen your blueprints"? The men glared at him "you are a Vler wolf our ancestors have been trying to wipe you out of our lands since the day they came here! We must follow in their foot steps!"

Naruto flipped away from an attack this time in mid-air he created 'twelve water dragon no jutsu' so when he landed dragons rose at his feet and attacked roaring with all there might.

That caused enough of a distraction for Naruto to slip into the woods and cast a genjutsu of his own creation. 'Ancient demon art: relm of the night wolves' the men who had cornered him looked this way and that when suddenly he caught their feeble consciousness in to his dagger like mind and trapped them there.

To them they seen a flash of white then all the world went into grayscale colors, they could see no one except each other, they looked around there was nothing except for thick rolling mist and a black forest jutting out from dark gray earth.

Suddenly a voice rang out, it was a male voice but it seemed to loom over them surround them and over power them, at once they were huddled back to back against each other. 'You fear, the darkness of the night, you fear the creatures that lurk . . .and you should . . . but you have made a mistake to try and destroy that which belongs here, that which is far mightier and greater then any puny human…' one man called out "what are you! Show yourself!" then a great rumbling shook the earth, they fell onto their knees in the mist.

Suddenly they looked up a great Vlerwolf stood looming over the trees, his fur was pure white and sparkled of silver, his eyes were metallic gold luminescent eyes. The men quickly scuttled backwards like crabs, their fear to great for any of them to think about trying to escape the jutsu.

The creature spoke once more "I am BORMIN! King of the Vlerwolves that roam these woods! Your kind has greatly angered me! You have hunted and killed my people! Prepare to meet their vengeance!" then with that strange glowing eyes loomed out of the mist, they heard growls and feral howls, and all of a sudden the light began to fade, as hundred-no thousands of Vlerwolves surrounded them cutting them off from both escape and from life.

They screamed and all of them fell to the ground as each of them imagined dying by the fang of a Vlerwolf.

Naruto smirked and walked through the group of unconscious men, he then looked around for the others, he saw none, he cautiously scented for them, then followed their scent only hurrying when he smelled blood.

He overcame the crest of a hill and looked down eight people had cornered his team against a large limestone cliff that jutted out randomly on the plains, Naruto moved in, flying over the ground hitting the men with a blind sided powerful attack that used many clones.

Naruto's attack of course broke through the line, letting Ainu, Ichino, Toyi and Goza to launch attacks and escape. Goza panted "where were you?" Naruto shrugged "capturing twelve guys in a Genjutsu, where were you?" Goza deflected an attack "we'll talk later."

Naruto dodged a windmill shuriken thrown at his head "agreed" he said flatly. Goza then took out two very large special Kunai and charged the enemy yelling as he did so. Naruto followed after him.

One man parried Goza's Kunai with a sword, he was quite strong and skilled, finally him and Goza got locked in a power duel, Goza smirked "pretty strong aren't ya?" the man growled "I am Boku, and you stole my clans blueprints, and have killed some of my friends of course I would be strong, I have to be . . . to Kill you!" he yelled and attacked with a dangerously volatile aura.

Naruto backed Goza. Ainu and Toyi were quickly knocking the remaining seven out, Ichino was once again injured he leaned against a rock, looking very pale, Naruto was about to go over and help when a man jumped up, Naruto was the only one who saw him, Naruto could tell by the signs he weaved it was a lightning attack, then he looked to see where it was aimed, it was Toyi.

Toyi was cleaning off his blade and was really paying attention, Naruto knew Toyi's grade in awareness was barely passing when he took the class in Anbu training, the sensei had always said it would get him killed if he didn't learn better, Naruto tried to bark out a warning to Toyi, but fear had taken over his vocal cords and was unable to get the warning out in time. By then it was too late.

A flash of white and a moment of intense heat filled the air around him, for a moment he thought he was hit, but then his eyesight told him different, the scent of burned flesh hit his nostrils almost making him sick.

He then seen Toyi land crumpled and not moving a few yards away a small tendril of smoke wafting from him. That sent Him, Goza, and Ainu into a frenzy, they launched attack after attack, kept on hitting and drilling them faster and faster, none of them men could retaliate they would barely dodge a jutsu and another would follow, it one by one they dropped like flies.

None could stand up to the brutality of them, finally only Boku was remaining, he was bloodied and gasping, sweat trickled along his face and arms. Naruto went in for the kill; the man saw Naruto and shook his head "screw this! We'll just make another blueprint!" and he ran.

Naruto was about to chase after him the instinct to kill his prey remained strong however he knew his teammates needed him. Naruto ran over to Ichino "are you okay?" Ichino nodded "just a flesh wound"; he then ran over to Toyi, Ainu already kneeled by him. He bowed her head and was crying.

Naruto didn't need to ask, he already could sense the body was empty of a soul, Goza swore and kicked the ground, after several moments Ichino joined them, Ainu stood and started to bandage his wound, Naruto then moved towards Toyi's body, he began to look for the special scroll they needed to pass the test.

Once he found it and dug it out he carried it to the others who had moved away from the reminder of death and placed it on the ground. "Here is our ticket to becoming Anbu members, if you decided you don't want to be one make you way back to Konoha by yourself, those of you who want to still be follow me in the morning."

Then with that Naruto picked up the scroll and moved some ways away and curled into a ball and slept, Naruto had known somebody needed to take control, they needed a leader, and no one was stepping up to the plate so he was, he was sad for Toyi, and knew he could have done more to help him, but you could not keep looking back on what you did wrong because then you will never look forward and do it right.

The next morning he walked over to them and looked into each other's grim, exhausted faces. Ainu stood "I am going to be an Anbu, but I am not going to leave Toyi without burying him." Goza nodded standing with her, Naruto looked to Ichino, he stood stiffly "my mother always said, when a person asks you to jump, you reply 'how high', I'm with you Fluffy all the way, and you saved my life."

Naruto nodded "very well, Goza you can do earth Jutsu can you create a hole for him?" Goza nodded and walked over to Toyi's body, luckily no birds or scavengers had come for the meat yet, but Naruto could see them on the horizon.

Naruto once again leaned down to the bloated body and grabbed something off of him. Lifting the I.D off the body Naruto tucked it into his own small special vest that had pockets that he could open and close.

Naruto then turned to the rest of them, Goza lifted the body and put it into a hole he had dug, Ichino covered him, then Ainu put a rock for a head stone and a small bundle of wild Flowers.

There was a moment of silence, then Naruto said "it is time" they nodded and moved off in step with him. Naruto looked back on last time at that small grave looking so alone and small in the wild vastness of the wilderness.

That was how their Anbu test finished the four of them walked into the Anbu training grounds, it looked like two or three groups finished before them. Naruto walked right up to Mammoth and handed him the scroll.

Mammoth nodded "good you finished, your team passes" Naruto glared at Mammoth "Sir, I am not the leader of this team, Toyi was, and I took his place because no one else would." Mammoth tilted his head to the side. "Are you insinuating something, Fluffy"?

Naruto looked him right in the eye "you bribed an entire nation into thinking that someone stole their blue prints for a machine that they had built and designed, we had to fight and run for our lives every second, you gave us a person who was unfit to lead on purpose, you set him up to fail, you set him up to die, you wanted him to die" He spat.

Mammoth was taken aback, "It is my duty to weed out the strong from the weak" he said taking an authoritarian tone, "well next time remember that some of those weakling's you weed out are someone's son, or someone's daughter, someone cares for them, not all of us are nameless identities in masks and cloaks, we are people before we Anbu, and the thing about people is we build bonds, and you can't stop that no matter how cold hearted you are." Mammoth was silent. "Or think you are" Naruto added then turned and walked to his friends.

While he walked Anbu members on both sides Senior and greenhorns stared at him, he walked his head high not caring, then a small clapping sound started Naruto stopped and turned it was Mammoth, Mammoth was clapping.

He chuckled then said "Fluffy I must salute you, you are the only one to ever call me out like that, and you speak the truth we are people before we are Anbu, however as an Anbu we must learn that our emotions will get the better of us, and will cause us to make mistakes, people will make choices on other people, you need to be able to make a choice based on the success of a mission, not the survivability of the members."

Mammoth stepped forward "like it or not, the four of you in your group have unconsciously passed this part of the exam, you could have wasted time and effort by dragging a decaying body with you, but instead you choose to leave it behind, you left him behind in enemy land were no one will ever find him again, you may say I don't care about the people I send but you have made the same decision as I have, like or not you have became good Anbu members."

All of the people present bowed there heads, Naruto was the last to do so, Mammoth smirked "okay all of you go to the medical ward and get checked out, then each of you will be called into my office individually."

Naruto looked around out of the 6 teams only three were present, and Naruto's team had lost a member so only 14 people stood there "sir, what of the other teams"? Mammoth paused before saying "not all the teams were as smart nor as lucky as you" then he turned and walked away.

Naruto was shocked 14 out of 30 contestants passed the test, 14 people were the newest of the Anbu, and he was one of them.

Naruto was checked out, then he was led upstairs, to the third floor were Mammoth had his office, Mouse sat diligently outside the office in his own little desk, Mouse nodded to the man who led Naruto.

The man with the raccoon mask nodded and left, Naruto looked at Mouse who pointed to the door, Naruto stepped forward and entered. The room was as big as the Hokages and seemed to be an exact replica, the desk was at the far edge of the room next to the windows, and the Anbu symbol was stamped into the floor in red ink.

The Konoha emblem hung on red fabric around the room, and then stacks of papers littered the desk and the three chairs behind it. Mammoth sat at the desk writing some forms, he looked up "ah, Fluffy, nice to join me, I trust everything is well health wise?"

Naruto nodded "good, good" he mused and looked down at his paper there was a silence. Naruto stepped forward "Sir?" he said Mammoth looked up "huh? what…. Oh yes right come here I have something for you" then he looked around the room, then he tried his desk, "oh wait yes that right I forgot Mouse was supposed to bring the box up, Fluffy can you go down to the mass hall? I'll be right behind you just have to finish up with some stuff."

Naruto was very confused but did as he was told, when he left the room Mouse was gone, Naruto sighed and went down the flight of stairs and turned left into the Mass Hall, it was dark, but at the head table he saw the box Mammoth was talking about, he padded over his claws hitting the smooth stone floor.

He paused 'wait a second, the echo is wrong' he lifted his nose into the air, and flicked his ears, but he didn't need to cause all of a sudden the lights flicked on to an astounding brightness then his ears were overcome with the sound of an entire large room full of people yelling out congratulations.

Naruto looked around at all the people, surprised but then saw all the cheering faces he laughed with them, then Mammoth came up from behind "did you really think I would be that stupid as to forget my box of special masks?" he laughed "they fall for it every time" Naruto followed him up to the table.

Mammoth dipped into the box then brought up a mask, it was different than normal masks, it looked to be made of a metal instead of clay, it also was in the shape of a wolf's head, and Naruto bowed his head as Mammoth.

Mammoth then turned to the rest of the audience "brothers and sisters today we welcome a new sibling among our family! I present to you Fluffy the Demon Wolf of Konoha, who's name shall now be WolfHeart when he wears this mask…" and with that Mammoth leaned down and place the mask on Naruto.

It fit him perfectly the eye holes just rimmed his eyes so his sight was not blocked, it also was quite light and easy for him to slip on and off, a protective and comforting material lined the inside so the mask didn't rub to hard and chafe his fur and skin.

Naruto turned to his new comrades, pride swelled within him, he was now an Anbu, and he was WolfHeart the first and only Demon Wolf to ever serve in the Anbu core. Then a chant filled the room as the Anbu around him screamed his name until it was a roar "WOLFHEART,WOLFHEART, WOLFHEART!".

Naruto smiled suddenly a howl built up his chest, he leaned his head back and let it flow out, putting in all his happiness and pride into it, the Anbu howled with him.

GAH! I AM SO SORRY I LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN! I DON'T KNOW WHY I WAS SO SURE, ANYWAY THIS IS REALLY CHAPIE 16 SORRY ABOUT THAT AGAIN!

PLEASE YOU CAN HATE ME ALL U WANT I CAN'T BELEIVE I WAS SO STUPID(AGAIN)

(AGAIN) I AM SO SORRY!