Chapter 21

Life as a Fox

NSW

Naruto's world slowly started to come together, half thoughts and recollections formed across the landscape of his mind, slowly the clouded haze lifted, feeling started to drift slowly back into his limbs. He felt cold, cold and heavy, he was lying on something hard and flat, it could be the floor, but it wasn't, he felt elivated, ah that was it he was on a table, a metal table.

He cracked his eyes open, he saw a movement of white in front of him, a person, tall, light blonde hair pulled back in a bun, with bangs framing her face, black eyeliner edged green eyes. She wore a white lab coat and was writing down something on a metal clip board, Naruto glanced around slowly, there was several people, all of them wore white lab coats, three men were at a computor, most of the others seemed to be preping and organizing different tools.

The women glanced down, she quickly whistled, everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered eagerilly around her, she got out a recording mic and began to speak eagerilly into it with a monotone voice. "subject has awoken and seems to be slightly dazed and confused, however subject does not show any signs of distress or wild behavior."

Naruto tried to move but could not, he looked to see that he was strapped down quite snuggly to the table, he could only move his head three inches off the table. He looked around at all the people all of them had the same almost hungry in awe look. "where am I"? he said, gasps all around, "it can speak it can speak!" there was a flurry of movement as people began to write things down.

The women stepped up to him, "do you have a name?" she asked, "my name is Wolf Heart, Konoha elite Anbu member, now where am I"? he stated harder. The women giggled in delight, "such a find! the scientific community will be very pleased". Naruto growled "I am speaking plain human where the hell am I!" he roared, trying to snap at her.

She backed away, "oh my, its advancments in the human speech is dead center, its almost as if it can think like a human which is propusterous concidering the underdevelopedness of the frontal lobe." Naruto growled "I'll show you underdeveloped you blonde nit wit". The smirked, "interesting, it has full color vision."

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes trying to concentrate his chakra, warning beeps went off, and suddenly he felt elecricity pulse through him halting his efforts immeietly. "I wouldn't do that again, we can't have our beautiful creature escaping now can we? thats why we used these prison chains, usually ment for ninja behind bars, it halts their chakra flow, but we find it quite usefull in keeping our demon alive."

Naruto growled "I am not yours, I am a Ninja of the village hidden in the leaves! and even they do not own me, I am my own spirit!". He snapped, she smirled and waved him off, "your rambling will not do you any good, you will be with us for probably the rest of your days so get used to it".

Naruto growled lowly, ignoring the pain of the chakra restraints he concentrated just enough to break the chain that secured his shoulders, he lunged out as far as he could at her, grabbing whatever with his jaws, he ended up grabbing the clip board, he didn't care he tore it from her hands, while three men suddenly appeared pushing him back down to the table, he started to wrestle with them but to no avail, he had limited mobility and strength so he ended up being rechained again, he growled and dropped the Clip board that was dented and had holes where his teeth punctured through.

The scientists stared in amazment at this feat, the women seemd to be slightly shaken, then a dark look pooled into her eyes, "strap that thing down tight! and put a muzzle on it! and get men armed with shock poles! we'll have to break this demons spirit I guess". Naruto closed his eyes and let them do what they wanted, no matter what no one could break his spirit.

Shikamaru,Neji, and Kiba stood facing Kakashi and a man known as Mammoth, three other men in cloaks and masks stood next to them. Akamaru sat panting next to Kiba, a samll strand of drool fell from his larage mouth. Mammoth spoke "the six of you will track down the kidnapper and aprehend him and rescue Wolf Heart." No one moved as Mammoth took a pause, Mammoth continued "the man's name is Waya Teiku, he is classified now as a S-rank nin in the bingo book."

All of them nodded knowing the severity of the mission, "you, Inuzaka, your one of the best trackers? is that correct?" Kiba nodded, "I would know Fluffy's scent anywhere", Mammoth nodded, "good, you are probably the most importent member of this team, however Vulture here will be lead in command, meaning you will do as he says, all of you is that clear?" all three of them nodded.

Mammoth nodded his head slightly "good, move out", all of them turned and quickly left, hitting a dead run as soon as they exited the tower, Kakashi watched after the seven blurs(seven because of Akamaru), "if not for my duties I would be there with you" he said, then sighed as he looked at his desk full of paper work, "why can't I hire an idiot assitant to do all these dumb forms".

Mammoth chuckled "I would say my job is a lot more better then yours, I can basically grab any man to be an office assitant I actully do it as a form of punishment sometimes." Kakashi got a glint in his eye, "very good idea, I'm going to go see if I can find someone worth punishing." Mammoth smiled from ear to ear beneath his mask as his old comrade in arms, the very one he taught all those years ago, and his best friends son walked out of the office, "like father like son eh Sakumo?".

Naruto howled in agony as pain ripped through every fiber of his being, he couldn't stop the sounds even if he wanted to, it was too much, they had gone to far. His internal clock told him he had been here at least two days, and in those two days they had ran almost every test imaginalble. Blood tests, tissue samples tests, he had fluid form his eye drawn by a large needle and they ran test on that, they gave him x-rays and other kinds of scans, they completlly photographed every square inch of his anatomy and were now studying it on the computer moniters.

But then they wanted more, they wanted to run more tests on diffrent kinds of demons, and that was when the Interigation began, he had not given away anything, because of two reasons, he didn't know of any other besides Gomeg, and he certianlly wasn't going to sell out his friend and because he would never give in to there demonds, he couldn't do a thing about the blood and tissues but the mental information that they wanted, no they could never get that, never.

But now they were doing something completly unheard of to Naruto, he had a small reackoning that they were doing this also to get him to crack but he wouldn't. The deed that they were doing that was causing this unbearable pain, was this, Bone Marrow samples, while he was AWAKE. The drill bit stung like nothing he had ever felt before, the pain you could not describe, fianlly his body just passed out from it which was a sweet release for him.

He awoke later on, he knew not how long he was out, he was too tired, and hurt to care. At least they had the decancy to wrap his arm. He looked over at the Blonde scientist, she seemed ot be the head leader when Teiku wasn't around. Oh yes, Teiku himself introduced himself to him, and also ran a few tests as well. Anger boiled in Naruto's stomech, speaking of food he was quite hungry, they only fed him now and then, but not alot.

The blonde female walked over, "well now somebody has had a rough day, I bet your hungry right?" Naruto found himself nodding, she smirked, "well I have this nice juicy steak here" she said snapping her fingers, a younger male Naruto had not seen before stepped foreword, he was about 16 or 17, and had short brown hair, and was tanner then most.

The boy stared at him with a mixture of fear and curiosity, and a hint of sadness. Naruto looked levellly back at him. "now this steak could be all yours if you just tell me one teensy little bit of information" Naruto glanced at her, but the scent of the steak hit his nostrils causing him to salvate. "where are your kind hiding"? she asked, Naruto spoke calmly, "I told you already, they fled, and the ones that have stayed hide themselves from other demons". Her eyebrow twitched, "then how is your race surviving! we know you are out there! when do you come together then? huh? mating season!".

Naruto shrugged, "do I look like I know?", she slapped him hard, "yes you do, you openly told your kage, and the Raikage that some demons from packs and herds, where are they!", Naruto said slowly but with heaviness, "they are gone. they have feld to a place far away form humans. because they are smart enough to know better."

She smirked, "then what about you, why did you join with humans?", Naruto sighed "because there is some good within some humans, and I am lucky enough to find those humans that act on the goddness in them, rather then the wikedness." She frowned and furrowed her brow, she sighed angerilly and stalked away.

She whistled "all right everyone take a night off, its not going to go anywhere anyway." everyone left, accept the teen holding the steak, "umm... exuse me, I would like to give you some food, but if I do please don't hurt me." Naruto nodded, "I promise, please would you remove the muzzle?" the boy sighed "I can't I'm sorry, but I can slide it into your mouth at the very edge."

Naruto nodded, he hated this muzzle it was completly metel and only had small holes in random places to let in air, but it was quite small he could barely open his jaws at all only enough to get some water that they poured into his mouth via a tube at the very edge of the muzzle. And it also only allowed him to talk but it was very limited. The boy ripped off chunks of the steak, and began to feed it through, Naruto could feel the warm meat slide into his lips, being careful not to snap he quickly flicked his toungue over to retreive the meat.

The boy looked over his shoulder, as he fed in meat, Naruto finally stopped him, "too much and I will get sick." the boy nodded, "I better get going anyway, they'll be looking for me", "who are you?" Naruto asked "I'm, Waya Tomi, Teiku is my uncle...sorry" he said flatly. Naruto shrugged, "its nice to meet you Tomi, I'm Wolf Heart, but you can also call me Fluffy." Tomi smiled, "nice to meet you Fluffy, I have to go".

"WAIT"! Naruto yelled, Tomi jumped "sorry, but where am I?" he asked. "oh! your in the land of Hot springs, my family has owned land here for generations." Naruto nodded "good thank-you Tomi, you may go if you wish". Tomi nodded and ran to the door, "I'll cya tommorow Fluffy" he said before leaving. Naruto sighed and closed his eyes, "come on people hurry up and find me!". he said to himself as he closed his eyes for some much needed sleep.

Kiba and Akamaru worked tediously, the kidnapper Teiku did coverup some of his sent but not Naruto's, so he was able to track him by that, they were apperently headed towards a small country called the land of Hot springs, Kiba has been there a few times on various missions, but other then that, there wasn't much else.

They moved as fast as they could to reach the country, he was even able to trace Naruto's scent to a rather large town but after that, the scent was lost to the smells of the town. "he's somewhere here" their leader looked at him, "can you not narrow it down a bit?" Kiba growled "no, do you know how many smells are here? everyday? and all of them are being replaced everyday, it was a wonder his scent had died out on the road, at least I gave you a basic area".

The man sighed gruffly, "fine then, we'll have to go into information gathering mode, first thing is first, lost the hatei-ate" all of them nodded and took theirs off. They walked into town the Anbu members had taken off their cloaks and masks, Vulture their leader was a tall man with scars under his eyes and on his noes which did give him a menacing but bird like look.

The next man, was shorter and stockier, but had a large stomech, but he also was muscular. He grinned at all the ladies in town, "Panda control yourself" said Vulture, Panda shrugged "what I like the ladies, sue me" he said shrugging "we are on a mission, to rescue Fluffy, you alone should know how serious this is". Shikamaru glanced at the other man that spoke, he was tall but not as tall as Vulture and more wider though not as wide as Panda. "oh come on Rooster, when we took our last test for Anbu, wasn't it Fluffy who decided to go off and stay at Gomegs place?".

Rooster glared at Panda, "that was because I was injuried dummy! and that badger was my only hope", "and who's fault was that I wonder"? asked Panda. Afew anger marks appeared on Rooster, "at least I did something!" "BOTH OF YOU SHUT-UP" yelled vulture glaring down his nose at them, both silenced and looked away from each other.

" wait, so you were on the final test with Fluffy"? Kiba asked, both nodded. "he told me about you guys then, and how you lost your leader...Toyi?" both had a sad expression for a few seconds, "yeah, we always called him 'the runt' during Taijutsu practece, he was the smallest...human in the class." Kiba nodded, "I see...hey, how did you guys spar with him anyway?...Fluffy I mean".

Both looked at each other, "very carefully, he can't really punch, but he can spin his body and flip it in a way so when he does hit the force is equal to the of a punch, and he has his 'iron jaws' to attack with as well, so you have to from either behind or above, but he still can defend against his weaknesses pretty damn well."

Kiba nodded, "I taught him that stuff, the spinning and twirling anyway, he gets it from our signiture attack." Panda smiled, "well you did good, so what the plan boss?" he said directing the last part to Vulture, "we are getting a hotel room, then I am going to go see if I can dig up some information on the Waya family."

All of them nodded and followed him to a Hotel called the Dancing Dragon, downstairs was a room used by all guests that was a bar/ entetainment area, with a small stage in the corner, and a fireplace on the far wall. The hostess looked at them "how many rooms and for how many nights?" she was an older women some grey just starting to appear in her hair, her voice was hoarse with age and for having to speak and yell loudly to run her buisness.

Vulture set some money down "two rooms for one week". the women counted the money, and nodded, leading them up the stairs to two rooms at the end of the hall, "one room on the left, the other the right, supper is at 6:30, you can choose to have it delivered upstairs or with the rest, if you want a wake-up call please leave your name, room number and time on the sign-up sheet by the entrance". She then handed them the keys to the rooms and bowed to them and left.

Vulture turned to them, "you three take the room on the left, we will take this room." the group split their ways and went into their rooms, The three of them stopped when they noticed there was only two beds, Kiba sighed "I 'll sleep on the floor with Akamaru". Neji went to the far bed, "I choose this one". Shikamaru plopped his stuff down on the last reamining bed.

Once they had switched into civilian wear, which was just simple Black pants and a shirt, Shikamaru choose grey, Kiba choose black and Neji choose white.(for shirt colors). Kiba then got out a coller and leash for Akamaru, "come on bud, lets go for a walk". Akamaru barked, Neji glared att he dog, "that thing better not bark at night."

Kiba shrugged "only if something moves, so don't toss aorund so much k"? Neji rolled his pupiless eyes. Shikamaru lit a cigarette, "I thought you were going to quit?" Kiba asked, Shikamaru shrugged "nah, I like it to much". Kiba sighed, "okay, but remember Sakura is going to nag you to death if she see's you", Shikamaru shrugged "let her, I'm good at ignoring her, but I odn't know how lee puts up with it."

Kiba shrugged "thats because Lee is hopelessly in love with her." Shikamaru shivered, "I don't know why, Sakura is nice and all, but she's super scary at times, I mean remember when Naruto had that crush on her"? all of them laughed "yeah, didn't seem to long ago, anyway that is kinda out the window for obvious reasons".

Shikamaru paused, "you think Naruto ever will find love though? I mean lets say a female Demon comes along, do you think it would work?" Kiba shrugged "I don't know, Naruto still views himself in a human perspective, he might not, he might see her as an animal" Neji shook his head "no, Naruto wouldn't view...wait a second this isn't even happening! Naruto hasn't even met another Demon save for Gomeg the badger and the Biju."

Kiba nodded "right right, I mean we still have to rescue him for petes sake, why are we standing here talking about him?" Shikamaru nodded "right come on, lets go" all of them then walked out and began to look for any evidence or information on Fluffy and and the Waya family.

Hope you enjoyed, please review

NSW