Hunting

There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy.- Unknown

Naruto moved slowly through the trees, alert and searching for his prey. Konoha's forest was hated by foreigners, but loved by the natives for one simple reason. It was huge. At night no light could penetrate the damp bottomless depths of it's interior, and during the day shadows cast could conceal a ninja better than any jutsu. For the shinobi that grew up with the trees, home field advantage was a very real and welcome trait. Naruto was no different.

Even as his heart beat raced, Naruto forced himself to calm down and think. The spy was somewhere around, Akamaru had picked up the scent and informed Kiba that an intruder was on the premises. The trail however split off in different directions and so too did their group.

I don't see anything, but this smell. He was definitely here. Still is... Naruto growled low as demon chakra wormed its way through his veins. All around him color began to seep from the environment as his pupils became slitted. Textures came to the forefront, allowing the demon container to see things he would normally miss. Like the way those leaves were blending unnaturally. The shape of an unusually tall and muscled human faint against the random placement of foliage served as a beacon for the sensitive eyes. Bingo.

Naruto reached into his pocket for his cell phone, wondering why he hadn't gotten one a long time ago. It made things so much simpler. Quietly he dialed Kiba's number, and didn't have to wait long before it was answered. "Kiba, target is ten miles east of the monument. I'm going to take him out."

"Him? No way! I called the next one and you know it fox-boy!"

"But you'll take so looong to get here." Naruto whined. After channeling the energy it needed an outlet. Random soon-to-be-dead ninja was the perfect target.

"No we won't. Five minutes. You can wait five bloody-"

"Scrusssh. Oh. You're breaking up. Sorry Kiba, got to go!" Naruto snickered and hit the red 'end call' button as he pulled various sebon out of his kuani pouch. The needles reminded him of Haku, a person who would always have a special place in his heart. Haku...told me to fight for my precious people. But his precious person returned the favor.

Naruto tapped his chin with a single needle. "Dog-boy won't mind if I make him easier to track, will he?" The ninja started to move, alerted by Naruto's vibrating pants as Kiba tried to call back. "No you don't!"

The sebon whizzed through the air to hit the targets neck, narrowly missing his jugular. Naruto followed like a demented squirrel, bouncing from tree to tree with a manic grin on his face and claws creating an unshakeable grip on the old bark.

The spy jerked the sebon from his neck while cursing as drops of blood trailed from the minor wound. He dodged the next barrage of needles, but was unable to avoid the human ball of energy that slammed into his torso began to stab him repeatedly with the pencil-like weapons.

Naruto moved fast in his efforts to do damage while staying out of the enemy's grip, but not fast enough. Eventually the shinobi yelled in pain and frustration as he started to free-fall toward an unhappy branch. Specks of blood flew from Naruto's mouth when they hit, his body squeezed between the ancient tree and the heavier ninja.

"You little shit!" Naruto winced as his face was punched in, but at the same time giggled internally as his shadow clones poofed into existence. In sync they kicked the spy up and away, none of them noticed Naruto's nose crunch itself back into place.

The blonde prepared to jump after his victim, when said person suddenly changed direction and rocketed down. As the falling progressed Kiba could be seen, foot extended in a familiar stance, dropping after the brutally mauled enemy. Naruto barely cleared the area as the poor soul crashed through the beaten branch, leaving several stains on the splintered ends.

Amazingly the person was still alive, though his movements were jerky. "Heh. Looks like you could use some help."

Unimpressed, Naruto crossed his arms as his eyes disappeared in his 'thoughtful' look. "You stole my move! The Naruto Rendan!"

Kiba stuck out his tongue, one foot in the back of the ninja they had been after. "Yeah, so. Why waste what you so generously set up?"

"But it's MY move."

"And you took the idea from Sasuke-teme. Admit it."

Naruto stood there like a fish, his mouth opening and closing. He had no replies to the truth. "Well, I...uh.."

Kiba couldn't take it anymore, the look on his friends face was priceless. He clutched at his sides as laughter erupted, accidentally digging into their injured foe's back-bone. Said ninja moaned in pain wondering why the village of Konoha was filled with kids, and why they had so much raw power. "D-don't worry about it, N-naruto." The dog-user struggled to get himself under control. "I-it's what we do, you know? Adapt other techniques to suit our needs."

"Yeah. I just never thought about it before...maybe you should uh, check the guys pulse. Aren't we supposed to 'question' before 'disposal'."

Kiba kicked the man over, while Akamaru circled the site on alert. "Oi. Is there anything we should know?"

"I don't think that's how you question an enemy..."

The older nin twitched his hands, only to discover half his fingers were broken. He wouldn't be able to use a jutsu to escape. I'm not telling these Genin anything... "Like I would break to some newbie genin."

Naruto gained a curious look as he tilted his head, still slitted eyes giving him a feral look. Kiba's own animalistic nature didn't help the matter. "Genin? Who said we were genin?"

Pure fear rushed through the man, so thick that with their heightened senses the boys could smell it. A red energy pulsed from Naruto, causing Kiba to look his way. "You're not genin?"

Kiba and Naruto flexed their hands, claws popping out threateningly. Kiba wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Did he just..."

"That's disgusting. Just kill him already before he loses anymore dignity." (But don't you enjoy the power. It's your choice if he lives or dies...the rush! Stupid boy! His dignity means nothing! Nothing!) Naruto felt odd. For a second he felt as if he had an out-of body experience. The dieing solider deserved a proper death, didn't he? But the old man invaded their territory of his own will and by doing so asked for a royal ass-kicking.

Naruto leaned down and jerked the man's head up as his fox like eyes bored into his victims searching for the answer. A stray beam of light pierced the leaves, striking a headband. "Hey Kiba. This guy is from the stone."

"So?" The dog-user took a kunai and gripped it, ready to slit the throat of the stone ninja; he still considered it his kill.

"If I think about it, out of the fifteen illegal foreign nin's we've killed, eight have been from the village hidden in the stone."

Akamaru said something, to which Kiba agreed, and told Naruto to take the headband. Naruto did so, wishing he knew dog-speech. I bet I could learn something else! Kiba can talk to dogs, and Shino talks to bugs...toads don't count. They speak human. I'll have to find something else.

Kiba cleaned his kunai on the now dead Stone ninja's shirt. "We should tell Iruka-sensei."

The Tsuchikage frowned from his throne. His camouflage specialist had yet to report in using the communications scroll. Cold, granite eyes watched the blank roll of parchment passively. Strange things had been rumored to have happened in Konoha, the village that took their forces down to a third of what they were. The Yondaime Tsuchikage leaned back and sighed. There was yet to be any confirmation on what the Snake Sannin claimed.

"It's obvious they have taken precautions against appearing weak, with two consecutive attacks Konoha's military force will be non-existent compared to ours combined." A yellow eyed man said. Behind him an expressionless boy stared ahead, as if he didn't care that he was privy to a war meeting.

"I apologize, Otokuo, but after the dismal failure of the Sand Sound invasion, you should see why I hesitate to commit many of my people. Konoha has a habit of surprisingly strong resistance." The Tsuchikage steepled his calloused fingers and waited for the response of his guest.

"Yeah,about that. What kind of idiot attacks a Kage with no back-up? Loser! If he hadn't been older than dirt you would have lost more than those arms."

He was 'older than dirt', I didn't expect him to be able to put up much of fight. Besides I summoned the First and Second to deal with him.

"And they lost. Why? Sarutobi learned from them, he knows they're best stuff. MORON! You would have done better to summon a different villages past kages!"

Orochimaru sneered and shook his head. "There were, unexpected complications. The demon vessel released his control prematurely, among other things."

"And this great jinchuriki of yours was defeated by a genin, the lowest of his class."

Sasuke blinked and turned his attention to the wiry man sitting on a chair of stone. It rose from the ground as if the entire room had been carved out of the mountain. "Naruto has little to no skill, but don't underestimate his raw power."

"Ah. An interesting point Sasuke-kun. The Ichibi was defeated by the Kyuubi, it makes perfect sense."

"Kyuubi..."

The Tsuchikage laughed, the sound echoed around the room. "If it was the Kyuubi, then why would have any hope of taking the village? Not even a Kage can defeat a tailed demon, at least not without great sacrifice."

"There is a simple seal to lock the demon's power away, honored Tsuchikage. I had used it before to effectively shut the demon vessel down, only my old teammate Jiraiya's seal can nullify it. Distracting and disabling the Toad Summoner will be easy, leaving your revenge unprotected."

The Tsuchikage closed his eyes in contemplation.

END.