Chapter 17
NSW
Life as a Fox
Naruto padded through the streets happily. He couldn't believe it he had spent almost four months living in the Anbu trainee compound and now he was out and about in the city. Everything seemed old and new at the same time; it was like a whole other world within Konoha's streets.
Naruto stopped by Ino's flower shop she was behind the register rearranging some flowers, Naruto stood on his back paws and leaned onto the counter "good day" he said Ino screamed and jumped away then saw it was him and glared and bobbed him over the head with a rose.
Naruto chuckled "Ino-Chan are you alright? Did something happen?" suddenly a voice said both of them looked over to Sai who came in carrying small potted plants. Naruto looked at him then to Ino, then back "okay, what did I all miss?" he simply stated.
Ino closed the shop up and lead him to the back of the shop, He sat down on a chair and waited for her to explain "tea?" she asked "Naruto nodded "but not too hot" she smiled and began to pour some tea into a decorative bowl for him.
Ino then sat down Sai went back out to un-load more stuff "well you have been gone for what? Four months?" Naruto nodded. Ino stirred her tea then blew on it to cool "well, were to start, hm well Hinata and Kiba are now engaged" Naruto jumped "what!" he exclaimed.
Ino nodded "and so are Ten-Ten and Neji, and then there's Sasuke . . ." Naruto narrowed his eyes and growled, "What did He do?" Ino shook her head "he didn't escape or anything, it's just one his wives is now three months pregnant."
Naruto shook his head "that does not concern me, I do not put the sins of the father on the child" Ino nodded "very well, any way you should get home, I bet Hinata has been dying to see you" Naruto smirked "I am, but first I need some flowers."
Ino jumped up and clapped "yay! What kind? For who and what purpose?" Naruto sighed "its not a date if that's what you think, I just want some forget-me-nots for Hinata" he smirked.
Ino nodded "coming right up" she then rushed into her shop and began to wrap up some flowers "these will be on the house" Naruto sighed "no that's okay I should pay, you" he said reaching into his Anbu vest.
Ino gasped "wow! You really are an Anbu now, this is so…different, any way the flowers are my gift to you, take them" Naruto thanked her and left.
Hinata sat looking through the cook book wondering what to make tonight when she heard the familiar flap of a doggie door and claws on the floor, "Akamaru you better not have dragged in mud or something dead" she called out while still reading.
The sounds suddenly ceased, and the house went quiet. Hinata put the book down and turned she gasped when she saw the beautiful bouquet of Forget-me-nots she touched them lightly trailing her fingers on the petals. She said out loud "you know Kiba I actually prefer Lilies, Forget-me-nots are Naruto-"suddenly a voice called out "yes?"
Hinata swung around Naruto stood in the doorway wearing an Anbu vest and grinning. She leaped for him "oh Naruto"! And hugged him fiercely. "I can't believe it! Your home! You're finally home! Screw supper was going out tonight to celebrate"!
Naruto rubbed his forehead against her "I'm sorry I was gone so long, and now I am an Anbu, so I will be even gone longer, but its okay I get vacation, some medic leave here and there and most importantly very good pay, and dental" he said smirking widely revealing the missing tooth he lost in taijutsu practice.
Hinata groaned and lifted his gum "Naruto you are going to ruin this body t-…well never mind where do you want to eat?" She stood up suddenly Naruto looked at her he whined, "Hinata are you worried about me?" she looked at him tears in her eyes.
She wiped them away "how can I not be, we lost you once, I don't want that to happen again, and now you have the most dangerous Ninja job, the death rate for Anbu is 90%, Kakashi barely lived through some of his missions."
Naruto bowed his head "I know Hinata, I know, but I need to live my life, I need to have goals and something to aim for, otherwise, I am just nothing but a ghost on the wind, and believe me I never want that again." He padded up to her and nudged her hand.
She sighed and placed it on her head "promise me Naruto, promise me you will still be there when I need you, and I need you to be there at my wedding, you're walking me down the isle." Naruto bowed his head "I would be honored."
Naruto went into his room and put his stuff away, he then came back out. Hinata set out a bowl of Ramen for him "there you are" she said patting his head. Naruto greedily dug in slurping the noodles up with vigor. Just then he heard the front door open and close, his nose told him it was Kiba and Akamaru.
He turned to them when Kiba walked into the kitchen; Kiba jumped and swore "Naruto! You're back!" Naruto nodded and slurped up the noodles. Kiba went over and gave Hinata a kiss "so what's the verdict?" he asked Naruto puffed his chest out "You are looking at Konoha's first Demon wolf Anbu member."
Kiba held out a hand "High….paw" he said correcting himself Naruto put his paw into his hand. For a moment he remembered back to the time he had a hand, and fingers and even thumbs, but Naruto shook the thoughts away that was then, this is now.
Naruto finished his noodles and jumped down. "Kiba where should we go to celebrate?" Hinata asked taking off her apron and putting away cooking supplies Kiba scratched his chin "I don't know somewhere nice, and allows animals" Naruto nodded "how about that place we went to celebrate for Kakashi?" Hinata nodded 'sure, why not?"Hinata then went to the phone to call everyone to see who could come.
Shikamaru was on a mission but Neji, Ten-Ten, Lee and Sakura (who were dating now) (I don't remember if I have mentioned that before sorry) Ino and Sai couldn't make it because they had a reservation at another restaurant.
They all sat down and had a good time, they discussed the newest things that had happened in Konoha (respectfully they stayed away from the topic of Sasuke). Then when Hinata started talking about her wedding plans, all the guys groaned and Naruto sighed inwardly.
Hinata after hearing the negativity shrugged "well I guess us girls will have a day out to talk about it" Kiba muttered "thank-kami" under his breath. Hinata elbowed him, "just you remember, you the one that asked me" he nodded "I know" and patted her leg, then quickly gave her an Eskimo kiss.
Naruto yawned "you getting tired already"? Sakura asked. Naruto nodded "yeah, the last test took a lot out of all of us, but we were passed" he said sitting straighter. Hinata looked curious "what was the test?" she asked. Naruto hesitated for a second then said "well, I can't go into detail, for various reasons of course" he explained " but, I will just say it took all of our skills and everything we learned to pull through, even though we still lost…" Naruto stopped and looked away from them.
He stared into the distance for a while then finally at the mention of his name he finally finished what he was going to say. "Mammoth purposely gave the team the worst of all of us to lead", he told them, then continued "only so he could see if they would rise to the challenge" there was a moment of intense silence as he let the information sink in. "Well, he didn't" he finally stated, the angrily he tore a piece of bread and ate it, swallowed and said "and Toyi ended up paying with his life."
Hinata gasped and the table went silent, Naruto looked down at his plate, "as you can imagine I take death quite seriously". He paused. "I firmly believe that you should not set a person up to fail", looking around he spoke to them, looking each in the eye. "Too personally find the weakest link?" he exclaimed "and then set him out to get hammered first?" he shook his head "just so you can either get rid of them or try and make them stronger".
Naruto sighed looking down at his plate, "it's not right, it goes against every basic instinct I have wolf or otherwise, but this is something they taught us, that emotions and feelings, are unneeded and can hinder your judgment, it really is quite confusing."
Naruto looked back up "but they say only the strong of the strong will survive and the truly strong person is one who rises to overcome his weaknesses, so am I wrong to believe in my emotions? "He asked them "but then look at Kakashi he is an ex Anbu and he says that those who forget their comrades are trash, who is to believe in this world?"
Naruto laid his head on the table, "maybe the only way to excel in Anbu is to be one of the heartless, and disturbed. Only finding release from their memories of what they have done through alcohol and sex."
Sakura coughed when he mentioned sex "what?" he asked looking at her. She cleared her throat "well, I… is it true? I mean the rumors?" Naruto nodded "first lesson in basic survival class, when one come back from a mission that wasn't very pretty, 'you may feel detached and more prone to violence, and or suicidal thoughts', 'find something that will fill your time and take your mind off of stuff'." He quoted, Naruto took a breath and continued, "The most popular are, Drinking, Sex, and sometimes beating a person or thing up."
Sakura took a long drink from her drink "interesting" there was another awkward silence. Naruto looked over at Sakura who was avoiding contact a slight pinkish tint to her cheeks, Naruto rolled his eyes and stated "Sakura I will probably go drinking then try and mate with a human." Then he added "no matter how drunk they are" he stated simply.
Hinata stifled a giggle, while Sakura turned bright pink, Naruto grinned. "Oh, I forgot you're a visual thinker, aren't you?" she covered her eyes "I take that as a yes then" he said. The table roared with laughter, "so naruto? What else did you learn"? Asked Kiba. Naruto shrugged "lots of stuff, new jutsu's, new techniques, it's really neat, I also took this advanced human anatomy class, so I know where exactly to bite a person to kill them or to knock them unconscious, it is really awesome." He said happily.
Another pause, "what it is"? He asked when they kept staring. He smirked, showing off his missing tooth yet again, "you're not going to have any teeth by the time your 40" Hinata stated Naruto shrugged "who knows if I will make it" Hinata gasped "don't say that"! Naruto rolled his eyes "no I mean really, do I age like a human or am I going to age like Akamaru and be dead in ten years, sorry Kiba" Kiba looked sad "I don't want to think about my buddy being gone right now, but I know he is, he's technically middle aged now."
Naruto nodded "and although I only feel young, and think young, my body seems I don't know more mature then it should be" Hinata stared off into space, "Kiba how long do wolves usually live"? Kiba looked at her "15 maybe 20 years depends", she looked at Naruto "and how old does Naruto look?"
Kiba looked at him and studied him "about five or six years old" Naruto glowered at him. Kiba shrugged "so if Naruto ages like a dog, he will be 40 in about four or five years" Naruto groaned and slammed his head into the table, but forgot he had a muzzle, and instead hurt his nose awfully bad.
They left the restaurant and strolled casually down the street. "So, back to the anbu…reattachment stuff, how are you supposed to drink? You're a dog" Naruto glared back at Sakura, "well it would be a lot more simpler then the bestiality I would have to commit" Hinata snorted laughter once more as Sakura this time turned bright red.
Hinata looked down at him "still we have to somehow slow your aging down or something, you can't die in 15 years!" A laughter chimed out, "oh you human's you forget, he is also a demon wolf" Naruto turned to the voice, it was Megumi, she stepped out she his most of herself beneath a purple garb, hiding her godliness, but her beauty could not be hidden.
Naruto stepped to her "how long then will I live?" she smiled "Demons age like normal until there body is fully mature, then they age like humans, one year at a time, but they can outlive human's especially if you are a demon turtle, or fish" Naruto sighed "so I am not going to die old, or I mean young…err….you know" she laughed and shook her head "of course not silly, now as for the alcohol and stuff, demons have a digestive similar to humans, I designed you that way so you can live among humans not to hide from them, but sadly…"
She sighed Naruto went up to her and rubbed his head against her, her touch, and her scent filled him, his heart yearned to be closer to his creator, he loved her but not in a romantic way, but like a child loves his parent, or a student his sensei, that was his love.
She leaned down and scratched his ears, "your journey is a long one Uzumaki Naruto, and I gave you this body for that purpose." Naruto nodded she moved even closer to him so that only he and him could hear the conversation "do not worry my pet, you did not cause Toyi's death, you are not to blame rest easy, my love."
Naruto sighed, his soul lifted, he thanked her and stepped away, but not before she gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Go and rest, your journey has just begun, your destiny is a long one, but will end in greatness, for all of you" then with that she faded with the wind.
Naruto sighed the said "well I guess I better get ready for tomorrow, I start doing missions now", Hinata sighed "and so it begins".
sIGH IT SHOULD BE RIGHT BUT i DON'T KNOW ANYMORE...