life as a Fox

NSW

Naruto was right, more Anbu died, and not just Anbu several Jounin had died as well, all of them slaughtered with the same wounds, soon every ninja in the village was muttering to themselves quietly about what was happening. Trying to keep it from reaching the ears of the civilians they tried to cover it up, but civilians were at times like little rats, sticking their noses into things, and finding stuff they weren't meant to find, then they scurried back to their little holes and bred fear and suspicion among their family and neighbors.

But apparently all attacks, were made only on Konoha nin, no other nation had received anything else. So many began to wonder if one of the other nations was behind it? or was it just a grudge held against Konoha, and if it was a grudge, who was holding it and why? Either way times were tough for all of them, for ninja it was a world of fear, the killings were at random, it didn't matter if you were going on a class D mission or a class A, it didn't matter if you were a Jounin, or sadly even a Genin (three had died with their sensei, only ten miles form the main gate).

Every morning Naruto would look out at the snow, that had fallen, it was usually only a dusting, something that would be melted away by mid day. He would wonder every morning if somewhere that same pure innocent white snow was dyed red with the blood of one of his family, or if some poor students and their sensei were dead as well.

Civilian luckily were never attacked, only Ninja, so Ninja stopped doing escort services, because if they did do escorts, then the civilian would most likely be attacked because of the presence of the Ninja. The attacks did their toll on the Ninja, they had grown weary from the constant strain of being alert, few smiled anymore, they put up a front though, the image of being strong, but really all of them were afraid, afraid for their lives.

Mammoth one day called Naruto into his office "what is it sir?" he asked "I am tired of this Wolf Heart, I need answers now, that is why I am sending you out, no gear no nothing, you will go under the disguise as a regular little woodland animal, and track these bastards down? you got it?" Naruto did not get angry with Mammoth he knew Mammoth had not been sleeping, and had worked himself so much his body got sick, (he now had a stomach flu, but he tried to hide it)

Naruto nodded "I agree, I will do as you say, I will get answers for you Mammoth, or die trying" Mammoth swung his head over he looked at him sadly "for the sake of the Anbu, don't die trying, we need you, we need all". Naruto nodded "very well" Naruto then left he didn't have to worry about bringing, stuff he was just going to go home and say good-bye to Hinata and Kiba, and his students.

Hinata clutched unto him, not letting him go until she had sobbed herself he kept telling her that he would be careful, that he would be allright, that she shouldn't do this to herself, not when she was only three months away from having the baby. She agreed with him but couldn't help but worry, Kiba had to fianlly pull her away gently.

He turned to Naruto and said one thing "you know what will happen if you don't come back" Naruto nodded knowing full well. He glanced at Hinata who was cradled in Kiba's arms, looking so vulnerable and fragile. His heart hardened at this, he would survive, and he would bring answers, that everyone in the village was looking for, "Kiba...do you have any hair dye?" he asked an idea springing into his head.

Naruto ran through the dusting of snow, which still survived in the forest, much cooler and protected form the harsh sun that would have melted it. He went to the latest killing scene and tried to track them form there, he remembered how Raven had spoke, they attacked from the trees, so he sniffed and scented the trees in the area, at first he picked up nothing, but then he smelled it, the odor of a man, who had sweated much.

Naruto did not recognize the scent, most ninja from the hidden leaves...smelled like leaves, and forest they smelled like the scents of the village, it dind't matter if they had their own scents to them which everyone did, but they all had a base scent which Naruto could identify. This scent smelled like fire and smoke, hinted with a tang of blood.

Naruto growled and followed the trail, it winded and veered all over the place, making it a slow process for him, as if the man knew that they would try to track him by scent, he was good, but Naruto was better. As the man got more and more away from the place, he grew lax in his attempt to hide his scent, grew lazy then gave up all together, he did not hide his tracks, he did not mind when branches ripped a bit of his clothing or caught strands of his hair, long and a pale white with a tint of silver.

Judging by how high up the hair strand was, Naruto could see that this man was taller then most and by the way he carried himself, by judging the tracks, he was a slim well balanced man. Almost graceful, Naruto's stomach growled violently, he sighed and began to tracks down a rabbit a few meters from the trial, he killed it and ate, not caring it was raw, he actually preferred it that way, he just made sure Hinata and the others didn't know.

After heating he of course felt thirsty, so he went to a nearby brook and drank his fill, the ice cold water was perfect, he smirked as he looked down the hair dye had did the trick, he knew that he would be spotted right away as 'The White Demon' if he was white, but thanks to his Black coat he would now look like an ordinary wolf.

He went back to the trail and tracked them another three days, he said them because the man he had followed joined with seven others in an abandoned campsite, that looked well used. The wood they burned he could tell was the smokeless kind so he guessed they had did all their base of operations here, he also found a map that was scribbled into the earth, with X's on it where the attacks were.

A vile anger shot though his system, but he took a deep breath and controlled himself he would find them. So after resting briefly he continued to follow them. Then he finally found their home, deep deep in a place that was between the land of Hot-springs and the Sound, their trail led to a small village. Naruto staked the village for three days, it seemed normal, at day tome the children went out and played, staying within view of the village of course.

The village itself sat in between the joining of two large hills, and to its back was nestled a large rock what could have been an ancient sea bed at one time. On either side of the village grew large pine trees old and very large they stretched into the air some of them almost 75 feet. Naruto payed close attention to the number of huts/houses, at the most there could have been 25 maybe thirty, so not to many, there was a few large huts but Naruto decided one was a meeting hall or safety shelter, a placed they gathered in times of need.

He had once read in a book that ancient people during winter would all gather into one large lodge and live the entire winter together there, maybe these Hill people still followed this tradition to this day. The other large structures he marked off as animal stables, due to the smell they gave off. Naruto finally after studying the village had came up with the conclusion that they posted no night guard, most likely because there was no reason to, they lived nowhere close to a place where people would travel to, they mostly lived secluded.

Naruto wandered into the village on the third night, all of them asleep, he had noted that during the day when the children played, and the women worked (all of whom had the same long silver/white hair, and pale silver eyes) a certain group of men about twelve to fifteen went into the large meeting hall. The other men about seven or eight of them went out and hunted, while another couple or so trained a group of about sixteen adolescent boys.

He had yet to see what they were training in, mostly because they would disappear into a hole in the rock wall behind the village, he guessed it might lead to a training ground carved inside the rock. Naruto would check on it later, first he snuck into the large building, and looked up to the rafters. He almost yelped out in surprise.

Bear heads, Wolf fur's, Deer heads, anything from an animal you could imagine was stuffed and displayed, from a full body grizzly, standing eleven feet high, to a pair of wolves standing next to each other, a smaller female in front slim and white, with gray marking through her fur, to a black male standing beside her. They both looked towards something in the distance, their eyes and ears alert, he let out a slow breath, wondering for a moment if they could have been demons, posing as real wolves, like most do.

He bowed his head to them, he knew they had been hunted ages ago, the dust on their fur revealed that information. Luckily there was large bundles of fur's and blankets in the middle of the rafters, he grinned and leaped up to situate himself among the furs. He got himself comfy then waited until morning.

Naruto awoke to the sound of the door opening, he suppressed a yawn and moved very carefully, to the edge, hoping to sneak a peak at them. The main man everyone followed was the man he recognized by sent, he suppressed a growl. This man was the one who had killed he knew that. He was tall, and slim which Naruto figured. He looked to be about thirty, maybe more or less it was hard to tell when they all had a gray silver hair.

Naruto waited, they all sat sat down, after starting a big roaring fire, which crackled and cast off a nice homey glow, Naruto for a second thought how amazing it would be to lay next to a fireplace curled up with the flames at his back, with a nice fur rug beneath him. He let out a soft quiet sigh at the thought. 'someday' he thought.

The men brought out cured meat and freshly baked bread, Naruto's mouth watered. How amazing that bread smelled, and that meat almost mad his stomach growled, he chewed a cord of leather to keep his stomach quiet. First they talked about random village affairs, how much more meat to dry and to store, some spoke of what their children did last night, or what their wives made for dinner.

Naruto almost fell asleep form boredom until the leader spoke "now to business, the village of Konoha, we have tested their abilities, they have grown aware now, and are fighting back, in one of those last attacks one of their Jounin killed one of our own, they have jutsu's thousands of them, that we have no idea, and have never seen before, they have people with abilities that do surpass our own, ones that can see through walls and trees, can see right through your skin and see everything."

The man muttered to themselves."They also have those with abilities to control you, with your own shadow, others who can take control of your mind, and others who can turn themselves several times bigger then this building". The man continued to speak "we may have killed a few fleas here and there, but they still stand as one of the most prominent forces the world has ever seen, they have more children in one of their classes then we possible have in our village."

One man spoke up "so what do you want us to do?" The man got up and went to the fire slowly turning a log then he looked up onto the mantle where a wolf skull was mounted, jaw open as if attacking the face before it. "we need to know the secrets of those clans, we need to learn the jutsu's of this nation, if we wish to defeat them"

One man spoke up "how do we defeat them? you just said they out number us" The man turned and smiled "easy, one by one, like a great forest that they are, we slowly chip away and cut down every tree, first the large ones, the ones protecting the smaller weaker ones, and soon one day, there will be no forest left."

The man stepped to the table "Soon the Chen clan will be the most powerful and feared clan, we will be the ones to single handily bring down the village of the leaves, a feat no one, has ever done before". Naruto thought to himself 'not if I have anything to say about it' The men then went back to talking about village affairs for another hour, then they slowly dispersed.

Once the last man left, Naruto began to make his way across the rafters, towards the window he had spotted. But suddenly the door opened, Naruto dashed and his behind the black wolf that was mounted in the rafters. He copied the position of the wolf, and hoped he blended. He watched the man go to the table and crawl underneath it to pick up something he must have dropped and forgot.

It was a pair of glasses he cleaned them, then he walked over to the fireplace, he looked at the wolf skull, he slowly reached out to touch the wolf skull. Naruto couldn't help himself he growled the man jumped away from the wolf skull, he looked at it closely, then around the room, he shook his head and hurriedly made his way out.

Naruto sighed as he relaxed, then nodded to his brother and sister he lept to the window, looking around he then dashed for the forest. But he paused as he heard a voice yelling commands from within the rock. He couldn't help himself, he had to study their fighting skills, and their weird ability. He snuck up towards the opening, one last look over his shoulder he entered.

He scurried through the stone tunnel that was lighted by lanterns here and there, following the echo, he came to a large opening, it was a huge cavern. He leaped up and hid himself behind some rocks before anyone saw. The sixteen or so boys, were practicing, each had a large rock they were targeting, He finally saw what it was, it was chakra chains, but they weren't chains, well they looked like them, they were kinked but other then that, they were whips.

Each boy created one with chakra in his hands, then he would throw his arm back and while the whip was in mid air, the boy out stretched his hand, as he controlled the whip form then on with chakra. The whip struck the rock, latching on with thorns, then the boys would clench their hands then pull back, and the whip pulled back with them, the rocks crumbled and tore away.

Naruto watched and studied, their movements, he then times how long it usually took for them to hit the target. From what he could tell it was usually three to five seconds depending on the distance, what he did not is, they could not move while doing this, something that helped them out, which is why they probably hid themselves, he also noted that, they had a small chakra supply, but they controlled it and used every single particle of it to its absolute maximum.

Naruto nodded happy, he knew their numbers, their abilities, and their name and plans, he considered it a job well done. He descended form his perch and began to sneak away. But then a voice rang out "okay turn in" so as one the huge group stopped and turned towards the entrance, where he stood with a lantern to his back lighting his form.

The boys paused, he ran for it, he heard the boys speak "a dog! a dog there was a dog!" Naruto ran as fast as he could through the veering caverns, he heard footsteps behind him a grown adult spoke "what color was it!" "black, it was black" a voice spoke they slowed a bit "it wasn't white?" Naruto thought to himself 'so they know about me?' The men still chased after him, he looked back, they were around the corner.

"that's no dog, it's a wolf, and it has a chakra signature" the man said his eyes glowing! Naruto swore "It's the demon! the demon of Konoha STOP IT" he yelled Naruto ran faster he looked forward only to notice the wall in front of him 'I knew there was another turn' he thought to himself before running into it. Luckily he turned and hit it with his shoulder, "argh" he said only to have a whip hit above his head, he began to run, only to have another hit his shoulder.

Luckily he had studied enough to know, to go towards the target, like a fishhook, they were curved thorns, so by going forward it loosened the thorn and it slipped out. Rather then pulling back and losing half of your skin trying to rip it out of you. The man was surprised at this, as his target ran away, with a minor flesh wound instead of a gaping hole.

But luckily his partner was smart and went for a leg that was in forward motion, the demon didn't have time to pull of the same trick. Naruto instead felt helpless as he felt as though something just bit a chunk of his leg off. He looked down he could see his muscle and a small portion of his bone. Luckily adrenaline was halting pain at the moment, as he ran as fast as he could away.

By the time the two men got to broad daylight, they were momentarily paused and blinded as the sun hit their eyes. They opened them and saw not one, but twelve black wolves, all of them wounded running different directions. "he will be the one heading for the forest come on" Naruto grinned as he hid himself in a hey stack in the stables, how wrong they were.

He waited until the village was called to track down his clones. When it was empty he simply walked out of the main gate of the village and ran for home.

He was good until the adrenaline stopped, and the full pain of the wound hit him, he whimpered when he applied pressure, so he had to hobble on three legs for a ways, then he tried to find something to staunch the blood flow, he knew he lost a lot of blood. But he had ended his trial by walking upstream quite a ways.

He noted that there was no tracking dogs in the village, just mangy small mountain dogs, of a sheep herding breed. Mostly docile unless there was a sheep around. He lay down in a small abandoned burrow and licked his wound. He had to get to Konoha, to receive medical attention. He got up after a bit, the wound had slowed on the bleeding but a few small droplets came from it.

Taking care not to step on it, he limped all the way home. It took five days, and by the end of the fifth he was exhausted and twenty miles form home, he dared to risk howling, only because he was out of energy to do anything else. He let up a howl, a howl he put the last bits of energy in, hoping his students, or Gomeg could sense and know to come to his rescue.

Gomeg sensed the howl, the cry for help. His demon in him reacted to the demon power emitted form the howl, to far away to be heard, but he sensed it. Gomeg growled and ran for Mammoths office, asking for an escort he bolted in and leaped onto the man's desk "Listen to me and you listen good, Fluffy has survived his mission but he is in bad shape, I need four men to come with me and bring him home you got it young in?"

Mammoth rose "very well, lead on" Gomeg nodded and they gathered three other men, and they traveled, Gomeg on Mammoths shoulders pointing the way. He on occasion would send a few yips himself answering Fluffy, telling him he was coming. Finally they found him, they were surprised to see a black wolf instead of white.

He had hid himself in a small opening of a tree trunk, when he saw them he had dragged himself out. Gomeg got to work right away, he had lost much blood. "what happened to you?" Fluffy grinned "I found our enemy" Fluffy turned to Mammoth "small village three days on four legs, five days on three, so probably seven days on two" he said jokingly, "small, only forty at the most, all have silver white hair, and eyes, the Chen clan, they plan to cut the leaves down one by one".

Mammoth grinned underneath his mask, it was nice to finally have answers, to know their enemy. Fluffy continued "there ability is chakra WHIPS, with thorns, about three to five second delay, and they have to stand still to concentrate, so someone would have to be the bait, while another pinpoints them and attacks, if you are hit move towards them, the thorn will fall out, like a fishhook, make sure to do it while not running".

He said glancing at him leg. Mammoth leaned down and placed his hand on Fluffy's head "you, are a wonderful creature Fluffy, just wonderful, rest, you are in good hands". Fluffy grinned then slowly his eyes closed as he drifted to sleep.

The information was soon spread throughout the Anbu, first they sent out the best and fastest spies to confirm Fluffy's story, they found the village, already preparing itself for a move. So two men stayed behind to be long-run spies and to keep track of them, while the rest headed back to inform Mammoth. Kakashi was informed and soon the entire Ninja population was debriefed.

Naruto was treated like a king for a few days as Hinata waited on him claw and paw.(XD) His students kept on wanting him to tell him what happened again and again. Naruto told them five times before he said enough was enough and had to rest. Naruto glanced out the window, the snow was falling down he knew that the snow and winter was here to stay.

He randomly turned to Kiba who read a book called 'what young fathers need to know' Naruto spoke "I want a fireplace" he said Kiba slowly pulled his head out of his book and looked at him "what?" Naruto nodded "a fireplace, and nice fur rug, preferably bear, right here, can you just imagine it, it would be perfect, get one soon"

Kiba stared at him "how much blood did you loose again?" Naruto bared his fangs "I am being serious, a fireplace, I want one" Kiba rolled his eyes "I have to pay for a kid, I can't buy you your every whim" Naruto glared at him "I would pay for it, I just want you to order one" Kiba rubbed his face "no" Naruto sighed "worth a try, how about for a birthday gift?"

Kiba turned to him "how about if you bring it up, I will get one, then I will stuff you and place you next to it" Naruto grinned "as long as I am on my pillow, I am cool with it" Kiba chuckled "or maybe I will turn you into a nice fur coat for Hinata" Naruto glared at him "come now, don't be absurd, you would need many of me to cover her" Kiba got a smile to his face then he yelled out "Hinata, Naruto just called you fat".

"WHATTTTT" came a screech, as the floor quaked as a pregnant women stomped towards them, her bulging belly could be seen before her actual self "who called me FAT?" Naruto whimpered "no one, oh great and beautiful Hinata" Hinata suddenly became an angel where there once was a demon, "oh thank-you you are so sweet".

Hinata looked to Kiba, who had his feet resting on the living room table "FEET OFF THE TABLE"! she screamed "why do you do this to me? do you not care about me at all! I am having your baby and you keep ignoring me! I hate you YOU BASTARD" then she stormed away. But suddenly came back "I am so sorry I didn't mean that, I love you"

Kiba smiled unsure of what else to do "I love you too" Hinata kissed him then pranced happily away. Naruto and Kiba glanced at each other "pregnant women are scary" they said at the same time.

Next installment done, I am trying to finish as much as I can before college so maybe a new chapter every day yay!

NSW