The Chakra Huntress
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own all the new characters in this story.
Chapter one:
Naruto yawned as he sat up in the tent. It was the middle of the night, but something told him to wake up. He looked at his sleeping comrades and frowned. Something wasn't right. Slowly, so not to wake up Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto pushed his blankets off him and got dressed. He opened the tent flap slightly and peered out.
Nothing.
Naruto stepped out. He could feel eyes on him. He looked about and spotted a break in the trees. He headed for that, as he had a nagging feeling that that was where he had to go. He followed the path that was lighted by the light of the full moon, and it eventually opened up onto a clearing. Naruto stopped, his mouth open. Before him stood a 100ft waterfall that came cascading from a cliff that glittered as if it held different coloured crystals in it, reflecting the moons pale light. The pool was still, save for the few ripples made by the waterfall. Cherry trees in full blossom stood serenely around the pool, with hundreds of flowers scattered underneath them. Fireflies flew above the pool, adding their own light to the moons, reflecting off the water.
Naruto stood there, drinking in the beauty that he had stumbled across, until something caught his eye. Underneath a cherry tree, lay the form of what appeared to be a dog. Naruto cautiously approached the dog-like creature. It did not move, but lay with its eyes closed, its noise twitching slightly. Naruto knelt beside it and saw a long gash on its front left leg. He inspected it. It looked infected. Naruto held out a hand to touch it when a voice suddenly said,
"Don't do that, it hurts."
Naruto stared at the creature, who now had one eye open, staring at him. The eye of the dog sent chills down his spine. The eye was red with a slit for the pupil. Not only that, but two slightly curved lines with much smaller lines passing through it at right a angle where on either side of the pupil. Naruto glared at it suspiciously,
"You spoke, didn't you?" He asked it. The dog sniffed and sat up, shaking it head, making a laughing noise. Naruto then realised that it was no dog, but a huge black wolf.
"Who else could it have been, kid?"
"I dunno. Say, where did you get that cut?"
The wolf looked at its leg and said, "I can't remember. In a fight or something."
"What were you doing fighting?"
"I was doing a mission for my master."
"Oh?"
"Don't go into it kid!"
"Sorry."
The wolf sighed and looked at Naruto with its red eyes.
"What's you name?" The wolf asked curiously.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
"What an interesting name."
"Thank you. What's yours?"
The wolf looked at Naruto and chuckled.
"I wouldn't normally tell people, but, if you want. My name is Kanzuho. I am a demon wolf, of the Demon Desdemona's clan."
"Demon…Wolf?" Naruto asked. He had a strange feeling that he knew what they were, and yet he didn't. Strange.
"Yes. My mistress told me to search for a missing Demon."
"What Demon is that?"
The Wolf stood up.
"I told you kid, don't mess with those kinds of things!"
"I'm sorry… Where are you going?" Naruto asked as he saw the Demon wolf turn to leave.
"I need a quiet place to heal."
"My camp has medical supplies, I can help you."
Kanzuho looked at him.
"Really? You can help me?"
"Yes, I can!"
The wolf limped up to him until their faces were inches apart. The wolf sat on its haunches.
"Where is this camp thing of yours?"
"In that direction." Naruto said, waving a hand in the direction of the tent. The wolf nodded and stood up.
"Lead me there then."
Sakura slowly woke up and sat up. She looked about. Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke were still asleep, but Naruto was no-where in sight. She then heard noises outside and she heard Naruto's voice say,
"There. Is that better now?"
Then, another, unfamiliar voice responded,
"Hmm. It will do for now. Thank you."
Sakura frowned. She didn't remember anyone else on this mission. She shook Sasuke's shoulder and he reluctantly woke.
"There's someone out there with Naruto." She whispered to him. Sasuke hurriedly got up and went outside, with Sakura following him. She stepped around Sasuke and stopped, just as Sasuke had. Naruto was sat beside the fire, bandaging the leg of a wolf.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" She asked. Naruto looked up at her and said,
"Morning! I'm helping my friend. What's wrong with that?"
"You have a dog for a friend?" Sasuke asked acidly. The wolf bared its teeth and snarled at Sasuke, who seemed unfazed. Naruto waved a hand at them.
"Kanzuho is a Demon wolf."
"Demon wolf?" Sakura asked, confused. Naruto nodded.
"He's here searching for a missing Demon, but he got into a fight and got hurt."
Sasuke laughed.
"And what Demon would that be? Or are you making things up?" Before Naruto could reply, the wolf stood up and walked to Sasuke. It looked up at him with evil looking red eyes and said quite clearly,
"That is none of your business, boy."
"It talks!" Sakura asked, shocked at the thought. Naruto shrugged,
"Why not?"
"It seems wrong!"
"I see no problem with it. I myself like talking to animals." Came the voice of Kakashi. Sakura turned around to look at their sensei. He walked forward and knelt beside the wolf. It looked calmly back.
"Ah, a Demon wolf. What is your business here?" Kakashi asked curiously.
The wolf sniffed,
"If you lot are going to be so persistent, fine. I am looking for the missing Nine tailed fox demon, Kyuubi, on orders of my mistress, Desdemona, the twin demon of Kyuubi."
Sakura stared at the wolf. What the? She thought. The Nine tailed demon fox was dead, the fourth Hakage killed it!
Kakashi shook his head and said,
"I'm sorry, but you will not be able to find your masters twin. Kyuubi was defeated by a powerful ninja." The wolf snarled,
"He was not defeated; he is too strong to be defeated!"
Kakashi shook his head, and then looked at Naruto, whose eyes had gone flat during the conversation.
The wolf, Kanzuho, looked at Naruto, who looked calmly back at it. The Kanzuho's eyes seemed to widen. Naruto nodded slowly and the wolf chuckled.
"Interesting." He commented.
What was going on? Sakura thought, exchanging a glance with Sasuke. He shrugged and asked the wolf,
"What are you going to do?"
The wolf sat down and said slowly,
"My master isn't expecting me to return for a few years… I think I shall stay with you lot."
"Why?"
"I've never meet a member of the Uchiha clan. It would be interesting."
Sasuke stared at the wolf, who, looked calmly back, its eyes gleaming in the light of the sunrise. Sasuke them humphed and walked off. Kakashi watched the boy walk away and sighed. Sakura stepped next to the wolf, who looked up at her. She looked at its evil looking eyes.
"What did you mean by Kyuubi's twin?"
The wolf sniffed and walked over to Naruto. It lay sat down next to and laid its muzzle on his lap. Naruto, almost absently, stroked the wolf's head while staring out into the forest, his eyes lost in thought.
"To answer your question, female, the wolf Demon, Desdemona and the Nine tailed fox Demon are twin demons. Kyuubi went missing a few years back and I have been sent to find him. Though it seems impossible now. I must rest, but I think you are interesting people. So I will stay with you for a while, ok?"
Sakura sat down beside the fire as Naruto turned his head to look down at the wolf. The wolf looked calmly back at him. For some reason, Sakura thought that it looked as if they had known each other for a long time, and yet they didn't, strange. Just then, Sasuke came to join her by the fire. He looked at the pair and whispered,
"What do you think?"
"I dunno, I don't think we should leave the wolf, but it's really strange. It seems that Naruto and the wolf have known each other for a long time, isn't that weird?"
Sasuke looked at the pair and nodded sharply. Sakura sighed and started to make the breakfast as the sun came over the horizon to bath the forest with its soft light.
At the end of the day, they arrived back in Konoha. Kanzuho looked abut and commented,
"Pleasant." Naruto rolled his eyes and walked into the village ahead of the others, with Kanzuho walking beside him. Kakashi watched the odd pair. They seemed to know each other, though they had really been together for one day. Sakura shook his arm and he looked down at her, she was frowning as she watched Naruto and Kanzuho argue in front of them.
"Is it just me, or do those two seem, well, I dunno. They seem to know each other really well. Have they met before?"
Kakashi thought about it, and then remembered what Kanzuho said about finding the Nine tailed fox demon. He must know that Kyuubi is sealed within Naruto. What does that wolf want?
Kakashi shrugged,
"They're a strange pair, that's all." Sakura looked unconvinced, but let it slid. They went to Tsunade to report the missions' success. When she saw the Demon wolf, she raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. When they were about to leave, Tsunade asked him to wait. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and the wolf went out. Tsunade waited until they were out of ear shoot before she spoke,
"Do you know of a woman by the name of Kiyomi?"
Kakashi frowned. The name was familiar to him. Then he remembered, she was a S- Class missing Nin, extremely dangerous. She was like Orochimaru, finding new ways to make herself more powerful. It was rumoured that she was able to suck out someone's Chakra and turn it into her own, and then kill the one she had absorbed the chakra from.
"I've heard of her, why?"
"Keep on guard. On a mission, Gai saw her around Konoha. Keep an eye out for her; we don't know what she's planning."
Kakashi frowned, and then nodded, then walked out.
Naruto yawned as he woke up and looked about, seeing that Kanzuho had gone, properly hunting or something like that. Several months had gone since they had returned, and the Demon wolf was still with them. For some reason, Kanzuho stayed with Naruto. Naruto didn't mind, he was good company, but they had a habit of arguing. Also, Kanzuho had decided to live with Naruto, who, at first complained, but after being bitten a few times, he fell silent. But, Naruto actually enjoyed the time that they had together, and Kanzuho always gave him helpful tips whenever he was training. Kiba was curious about Kanzuho and said that he had never come across a wolf before, especially one that talked. Akamaru didn't seem to like Kanzuho very much, which is not surprising since Kanzuho described Akamaru as 'A butt licking puppy with as much intelligence as a stone.'
Naruto slowly got up and dressed, going into the kitchen. He made himself a bowl of Ramen and sat down to eat. After he had finished eating, he prepared to go meet Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and Kanzuho. As he was about to walk out the door, however, he stopped. Something wasn't right. He then felt pain he his stomach, which made him cry out. He fell to his knees, clutching at his stomach.
Suddenly, Naruto felt rope being tied around him, and pull him away from the door. Naruto blinked several times, trying to clear his blurred vision. He tried to stand, but realised that he couldn't move, he couldn't even turn his head. Above him, he could hear someone laughing. Naruto glared up at the figure standing over him.
"What do you want?" Naruto asked rudely. The figure ignored him and said instead,
"Thank you Daiki, you gave him the right amount of poison."
"My pleasure, Master Kiyomi."
"Poison?" Naruto heard himself say. Kiyomi, who was that? What did she want? The figure looked down at him and laughed,
"Don't worry Demon, it won't kill you. I need you alive for now." The figure knelt and Naruto realised that the figure was a female. She was not particularly pretty, with small black eyes and nose, with a wide thin mouth and it looked like as if she had no eyebrows. She wore, from what Naruto could see with his blurred vision, a plain black cloak down to her ankles. She had straight dark brown hair down to her waist, with a fringe that covered half of her face. She smiled at him.
"What do you want?" Naruto asked again. Her smile widened,
"Your Chakra dear boy. You have an enormous amount of Chakra that I want, and then, when I have finished extracting yours, I shall then absorb the chakra of the demon inside you, got that?"
Naruto glared at her, trying to get his body to move so he could free himself. She chuckled,
"There is no point in trying to break free, you can't, and even so, my servants will stop you. Don't worry; I will not kill you…yet."
Ohh, cliff-hanger! What do you think? R&R!