Life as A Fox

Chapter 71

NSW-The Forsaken Author of the Lost Story (see my bio for explanation)

Naruto and Fenrir walked at the front of the pack. The entire pack followed them. All the pups, all the elders, every last one. Naruto led them to the others who waited. Naruto was welcomed among the other members of the army, but the wolves were not as welcome.

Naruto silenced most of the arguments and spoke frankly "The wolves of this valley have committed some terrible mistakes, but we shall not judge them as that, think of yourselves, how far would yo go to protect and save your herd? What would you do to save your family from the brink of death? The wolves only did what they could to survive, they now know that it was wrong, and are willing to make up for it, but right now we cannot have disputes among us, we have to stand as one against the enemy...now...who is with me?"

He looked about, the demons all nodded Naruto was right, now was the time to put past grievences behind them. They accepted the wolves among them, but made sure to keep a watchful eye on them. Naruto turned to the main generals of the army, Gomeg was leader of the healers. Arthis and Imasen were leaders of the cavalry troops. Sokol was put in charge of all the fliers, and he had many others underneath his command to help.

The archers were under the command of Brek the great bear. Bulmug and his fierce earth chargers stood along with Dither and his berserker. Naruto organized them all. The faster moving creatures were put in the front of the line, while the heavier and more weighed down demons were placed in the back.

It was slow-moving going through the cave pass, the fliers easily flew out of the valley, but for the demons on foot, it was very slow indeed, at least at first. Bulmug and his men finally came up and using their amazing prowess, they shifted and moved the earth by stomping the ground in special patterns, like a dance they worked together and the cave opened larger and larger.

Soon Instead of moving through the cave in a single file trickle, they were moving in mass numbers out of the valley. The demons at first were hesitant being in this new land, but Naruto led them and guided them through. A large cloud of dust signaled where they were, the shaking of the earth of so many numbers also forwarned others that they were coming.

Naruto had made them all take a rest and he took the best of the hunters and went into the forests, there they hunted and collected as many animals as they could. That night all the meat eaters ate heartily, especially the wolves, that night not a pup went hungry which made Fenrir very happy.

Naruto looked up to the stars he was comforted by them, Fenrir turned to him, over the days him and Naruto formed a special bond, one of kinship. Neither one before had a person that had the same burdens as the other. Both were alpha's, both had responsibilities, both had to go unselfishly outside of themselves to do what was best for the pack.

Fenrir spoke "You said, that you knew about how I felt, about losing pack members, the fear of losing them, please explain this to me" Naruto sighed it was always a sore wound bringing up the past, but he knew that the more he talked about it the less it would hurt.

He turned to Fenrir, "The humans, in ways are not that different from us, they have families and packs, people who they care about most in this world. I had three young human pups to guide and take care of, to teach the ways of the warrior to, to train."

Fenrir nodded "I understand, you had responsibility over three humans, you must be greatly respected among them" Naruto nodded "both me and Gomeg are, the humans of Konoha, you will see for yourself soon enough, but they do not judge or hate like other villages, they have compassion, understanding, a will of fire that never burns out, always steadily burning."

Fenrir nodded "If this is true, then I am quite glad to offer my services, I thank-you once agian Naruto for helping my pack" Naruto nodded "of course, we are kin? Are we not?" Fenrir smirked "of course, now the human pups?" Naruto nodded "right" he said getting back on track "well, I trained them good in stong, I even formed soul lines with them."

Fenrir was astonished by this "soul lines? with humans!...Is that...even possible?" Naruto shrugged "I don't know, but I guess it is so" Fenrir looked away deep in thought. Naruto continued "I...well, some bad humans from outside of our village, they are the humans we demons are so used to, hateful and spiteful to our kind, they wanted to destroy the village, much like the humans who now march towards Konoha at this moment."

Fenrir nodded "there will always be those who hate and discriminate Naruto, you can't change everyone" Naruto nodded "I know this, but you still have to try, that is the only thing you can do" Fenrir nodded "Some do not even do that, the fear of failure...will dishinder some from trying, they think if they don't try they don't fail...but even that in itself is failure."

Naruto smirked "You are a very insightful wolf Fenrir" Fenrir nodded "why thank-you, but you are not too foolish yourself" Naruto chuckled at this. "The humans had stolen something precious from them, wisdom that the humans had written down to remember forever, secrets of Konoha that few knew, sacred things."

Fenrir listened patiently. Naruto sighed "I lead my pack against them, during a blizzard we hunted them down and fought, one...I lost in the battle. We managed to take the precious thing back..but I felt the cost..was too great, to lose something equally as precious to me."

Fenrir bowed his head showing that he greived for Naruto's loss. Naruto continued "we retreated, thinking we were safe, that the storm would cover up our tracks, but some humans they have special abilities, and these humans...they could see our energy sources even through a blizzard, miles away...we were ambushed, I lost one more, and another wounded greviously."

Naruto growled lowly "I will always resent that man, but I managed to mark him for the rest of his days, and one day I will finish the job, I know revenge is bad, that to go looking for blood is bad, but...I cannot let that man live happy after...after what he took from me."

Fenrir nudged Naruto with a shoulder "It is okay Naruto, revenge is a good emotion, like anything, you just must make sure you do not let it consume you, do not let it take over you." Naruto nodde "I know, I once had a human friend who let that exact thing happen" Naruto said casting his eyes away, looking into the night.

He sighed as he continued his story "I ran...I ran myself ragged, I was not to far from deaths door myself, I tore myself to peices...to try and save her, but by the time I got to Konoha...there was nothing they could do" Naruto bowed his head, a tear leaking from his eye.

Fenrir whined. Naruto turned to him "Losing all of my soul lines...was a terrible thing...few demons can recover from it, but...somehow I got through it, I mean...I lost myself I betrayed my human friends, I ran away for a time...but it was worth it, by my running away, I ran into...my one true love."

Fenrir grinned "Ah, I guessed you were mated." Naruto nodded "Of course, how could I not, she is the most beautiful creature, and together we have brought three pups into this world" Fenrir chuckled "that is good, I know they will grow to be fine wolves...I myself have not yet found the one to call my own, but my mother...the old Alpha female, she fills in until I find the true alpha female of the pack."

Naruto nodded "I see, so your father was Alpha before you?" Fenrir nodded "He was, that he was, sometimes I think, I could never be as good as a leader as he, at times I think, I am letting him down, that I am not strong or smart enough as he was, that I will always be in his shadow." Naruto nodded he knew only to well "Same here, my father...his legends and stories live on to this day, it's hard sometimes, son's of famous people, we are either living up to them...or trying to live them down."

Fenrir yawned "well, it was nice chatting with you Naruto, have a good rest, we need our strength for the coming days." Naruto nodded "of course we will" Naruto looked over the many still lumps of demons as they slept among each other. Mates with mates, pups with their mothers, tigers slept side by side with lions and deer. It was strange to see all these different creatures, come together in such a short amount of time, to trust and respect one another, it made Naruto realize just how special demons were, he wondered briefly, why did the gods hate creatures that had so much love to give?

Gaara of the sand was quiet as he looked about the troops who were practicing. Other ninja were fortifying the walls, and digging a long trench for the ground ninja to have as a place to hide from attack. They also were setting up blinds and stakes, things that would slow an enemy's charge. Above his head the Gyrfalcons were flying through intricate air patterns and battle practices.

They screeched and cawed to each other. That was the only noises that could be heard. The pounding of several forges, the roaring of fire as weapons and armor was being made. The dull thudding sounds of shovels and axes as the trench was dug, hammering of nails and creaking of wood as temporary shelters were made for the ninja. Pathways were cut in the earth as well, leading from the wall to the trench.

In case of the need for retreat and also a safe way to get supplies to the ninja and to get wounded and dead out of there. Gaara sighed slowly. He absent-mindedly weaved various shapes with his sand. It had become second nature to him that he didn't even notice. Bee walked up to him "Hey" he said. Gaara let go of this sand, it scattered to the ground then slowly drifted up into his gorde.

Bee balanced a blade on his arm and was swinging it around in half circles with ease. "You know, it's this part I hate the most, the waiting for it to begin, you know the battle is coming, and all you can do is prepare and prepare and fortify everything, and yet it feels like it will never come...and then it's here and you realize 'oh shit' we forgot to do this or we forgot to do that"

Gaara smirked at this, Bee could turn anything into a joke, at a time like this, sometimes humor was a welcomed release from the somber atmosphere of a war camp being built. Gaara turned to him "So, how are you taking it"? Bee glanced at him Gaara could just faintly see the contour of Bee's eye beneath the sun glasses. "I am presuming you are asking about Naruto right?" Gaara nodded.

Bee shrugged "I don't know...I kinda always knew that deep down...he wasn't gone, there was no way in hell that that boy was gone, he wouldn't stand it, he would curse and back mouth all the gods until he was kicked out of heaven if need be" Gaara nodded. "Naruto was...no is stubborn, he always gets his way no matter what." They heard a chuckle from behind, they turned to see a tall tan wolf, with piercing green eyes.

At her feet sat three pups, scrabbling and playing with each other. "You two both know my mate so well" Gaara nodded to her "You must be Yume" She nodded "yes, I am, Naruto spoke of you often, he called you two brothers" Gaara and Bee felt happy for a moment. Bee glanced down "I am guessing these are your pups?" Yume nodded "yes, we named them together, Minato, Gin and Mashi."

Bee smiled "beautiful pups, just like their mother" Yume laughed "you humans flatter me way to much" Gaara spoke "no, we humans just speak the truth, you have a radiant beauty." Yume grinned and padded over "you two are just like him, always telling me how good I am...I ma happy...it makes his absence...less then what it is" Gaara nodded and turned looking out.

Yume barked for the pups to follow her. They ran over to her and played around her and on Gaara and Bee's feet. Bee winced as Mashi bit his toes. Yume gave a low growl, Mashi stopped. Bee chuckled "he's a brave one I will give him that" Mashi looked up and barked at him. Gaara spoke "I am sure he will be here soon." Yume nodded "I both want him to be here and don't" Bee glanced down "what do you mean?"

Yume sighed "this will sound terrible when i say it but, if Naruto stays away, he will be safe, and if...we were not to prevail I could escape and we could live together in the wild, find a new home...like I said it sounds bad, but I don't know what I could do if I lost him..." Gaara nodded "that does not sound terrible, your fears are plausible, you are both wolves, well...at least Naruto is one now."

Yume looked to him in surprise "what do you mean? He was always a wolf" Gaara swore in his head, he didn't know that she didn't...then again, it would be a hard thing to explain. Yume spoke "Naruto...was not always a wolf...my mate?...Please...tell me" she said fianlly. Bee spoke "We thought you knew..." Yume spoke again "knew what?" "That Naruto was a human before."

Yume's heart stopped beating, she for a moment, had no idea what to do, what to think, that the person she loved most in this world, the one she had pups with...had been lying to her this whole time?

So, a lot is going on, and the war hasn't even started...man I bet this will go past 100 chapters...yay!

NSW