I am ashamed to say that this took far longer than it should have. My inspiration for writing had dropped to nonexistent. I finally got it out though, so I hope people like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
The two days between being informed of their mission and the day they left for it were the worst days of Naruto's life back in Konoha. He had been trying to mentally and physically prepare as best as he could, hoping that they were the sort of team that liked to turn in for the night, and he wouldn't be missed during a watch. Sasuke had been spending a good portion of his time with him at his apartment, partially because he was going over everyone's strong points, but also because he was lonely.
"Kaori is normally amazing at hand-to-hand combat, but she also has an impressive amount of chakra, so she is a great asset. Sakura doesn't have that much chakra, but because of her lower level she is able to control it flawlessly, and as such she has pretty potent punch, as well as genjutsu." Sasuke explained at one point, Naruto could only nod in response, before going back to brushing his hair. It was the morning they were to leave, and while Sasuke had gone over all of these details before, apparently he didn't feel that the new guy on the squad was able to remember them. Naruto was getting ready, making sure that he had everything set for the trip, double checking the content of the seals on his wrists, and putting everything in order as it should be.
"I'm ready to head over when you are. I figure we could get food on the way." Naruto said once he was done. He turned back to where Sasuke was sitting to find that Kurama had taken a seat and was talking with him.
"Hisoka, you and Arashi aren't related, but why do you say you are?" Sasuke asked.
"My soul is bound to his. I am only here today because of him, and because of that we stayed together." He answered, avoiding the explanation of the bound souls.
"Are you the same age?" Sasuke asked.
"In this body I am." Kurama smirked, knowing that he was delving a bit deeper into in than Naruto wanted.
"This body? How old are you really?" The raven haired boy had never been that curious in his life, but it was obvious that Hisoka, or whatever his real name was, was hiding something big.
"I am older than both of you combined, at least. I won't give you an actual age but I'm older than you think." The answer did well to cover the bases without giving away anything really important. Sasuke's shoulders sagged a bit as he accepted the answer. He knew at some point he'd get a real answer but for now that was the best he could hope for.
"Are we ready to leave?" Arashi asked, getting a nod from Sasuke. As they walked out of the apartment, Hisoka poked his head out and right in front of Sasuke's eyes changed into an old woman.
"Look at my handsome young men, off on their first real mission!" He spoke in a heavily dotting manner.
"Hisoka!" Arashi snapped, sounded very much like a growl.
"What? I can't have some fun?" The red haired boy smiled back, having gone back to his normal look.
"No, you can't." Arashi responded, obviously in a foul mood then.
"Well, in all seriousness, have fun." Hisoka gave a huge grin and slammed the door behind him.
"What even….?" Sasuke muttered to himself.
"Our clan has some weird capabilities. They don't really pertain to chakra either. I can do that too, but only because I'm bound to his soul. That bastard, he wasn't supposed to show anyone that." Arashi sighed, before glancing at Sasuke.
"What even is it?" The other boy asked, not deterred in the slightest.
"That is a body transformation. More times that not he uses it to pick up women. For the most part he's a huge player. If you seen a handsome red haired man in a black suit wandering around, that's him." Arashi muttered, walking towards the North Gate where they would be leaving through. Sasuke followed, wanting to know how it was that he was able to change like that, but somehow he already knew he wouldn't get an answer. Naruto was seething inside, fully aware that Kurama had done that on purpose, to get Sasuke to ask questions. Naruto for the most part wanted to get a ranking in the village and then do something better with his life. He'd considered running with a pack for sometime, however that involves finding one, and finding one that he could stand to run with. Naruto was one of the only ninja born werewolves in existence, and because of that many tribes didn't want him around. He was automatically seen as alpha, because of the capabilities he had.
"What took you guys so long?" Kaori asked, having made herself at home in a tree by the gate.
"Someone got distracted by my brother." Arashi pointed at Sasuke, who had the decency to shrug in response. It wasn't another minute before Kurama came running into the area with a scroll in his hand.
"Arashi you forgot this. You'll need it for this trip." He handed it to Naruto, who glanced over it once, finding that it was raw meat, from a hunt Kurama obviously did last night, packed into the scroll.
"Thanks Hisoka. I'll use it." Naruto thanked him before sealing it into his arm. He'd have to remember to take it out before his change, because if he forgot, not only would it be bad for those in the area, but the meat would go bad after a certain amount of time and that could be worse. The smell of rotting meat was horrendous for Naruto due to his sense of smell. While the genin waited for Kakashi to arrive, they all chatted about what they expected out of the mission. Kurama hung around with them, doing his best to piss Naruto off while he did. Kaori found him intriguing. He wasn't like the other genin, in that he didn't seem to feel like he needed to constantly prove himself. Nor did Arashi but she found that Hisoka had this air around him that made her think that he was strong and shouldn't have to prove it.
"Where were you guys before you came here?" She asked, breaking the conversations slightly. She'd been spacing out on her own for a moment.
"Well, we've traveled all over. We've made friends in multiple places, other hidden villages, other countries outside of the elemental nations, we've been all over. Before here we were actually living in the forests outside of the gates." Naruto responded, getting a nod from Kurama. Finally, after what seemed like forever, and after dodging questions about who trained them, Kakashi finally showed up with Tazuna.
"You brats ready to leave? Lets go, I have work to do." Tazuna sneered at the group, getting annoyed faces from everyone as they filed out the gate. Walking was getting boring, but Naruto couldn't do anything without seeming like a weirdo, so he shoved his hands in his pockets an walked quietly, right behind Kakashi. It wasn't until they'd passed a puddle did the sadistic side of him flare, and he shoved his hand into the puddle, pulling one of the adversaries from it by his neck.
"You thought you could sneak up on us. But your poisoned blade won't do you any good." Naruto sneered, his canine teeth hidden behind his face mask. He squeezed his opponents throat until he could feel the muscles and flesh burst under the pressure, causing the man's windpipe to collapse. One last action finalized the foreign ninja's fate, as Naruto extended his claws into his neck. Blood poured from the wound, over his hands and down the clothing of the almost dead man.
"Arashi, you can put him down now. We have the other one." Kakashi instructed, as Naruto chucked the body off of his hand.
"You're pretty bloodthirsty aren't you?" Sasuke asked. Kaori had been surprised by the action, however she shrugged it off after having knocked out the other opponent.
"The demon brothers. Now why would they be after a simple bridge builder?" Kakashi asked, getting a guilty look from Tazuna.
"I needed to get a group of ninja for protection from these people, because the bridge I'm building will stop Gatou's control over Wave. I didn't have enough money to pay for a higher ranking mission, and Konoha is one of the only villages that we trusted enough to help us." Tazuna explained, putting his hands up in front of him as an effort to shy away.
"I say we keep going. We already took the mission, if we keep with it, not only would we doom the country to be without their bridge builder because these two guys were lackeys, but we'd fail the mission and not get paid." Naruto reasoned. I also do not want to get stuck in the village when I change, he added in his head.
"We might need back up." Kakashi spoke out loud, but he got dissent from his students.
"We can handle this, it just means you have to get off your lazy ass for a change." Kaori spoke with a shrug. It got a chuckle from the group, but things quickly sobered up again. They walked in a certain formation around Tazuna after that, pace quick and senses on overload. Naruto could feel the day ending in his bones, feeling them creak unpleasantly as night grew closer. This always happened before the transformation. Within days of the full moon, his body would hurt more and more, while his temper would flare to almost murderous intent. He wouldn't be able to sleep, which wouldn't help the situation, and on top of that his hormone levels soared through the roof. He had never had an issue with it before, however he could feel the effects of them as the day wore on, and knew that getting away at some point during the night to try and relieve the tension would be for the best.
"We'll set up camp here, off the path, and we will take turns on the lookout." Kakashi instructed, while Naruto subtly created a clone that went to the tent provided for Sasuke and him while his actual body snuck off into the forest. He had virtually no plan, and as soon as he got a good enough distance out he transformed, which helped to alleviate most of the pain, and stalked though the forest. It wasn't long before he'd hunted and his stomach was full, which helped his temper as well. He was sure he'd heard his surrogate father call the term, hangry. Hungry and thus angry. Naruto stalked closer to the camp, keeping his body hidden stealthily, and staying outside of Kakashi's sensory range.
"I am aware you are here. You may be outside of my senses but you're causing the forest to go quiet. No sounds in a forest is suspicious." Kakashi called, causing Naruto to curse at his slip up. He'd forgotten that even humans were ignored by the creatures of the forest, but a lone wolf was to be feared.
"I am simply curious as to what group of humans have entered my forest." Naruto spoke, knowing his voice wouldn't be recognized. It wasn't his forest, but because he was speaking the human language any other creatures wouldn't know that.
"You yourself are not human? Yet you speak our tongue fluently." Kakashi inquired, his head perking up from his book he seemed to always be reading.
"I'm not a simple creature." Naruto all but snarled at the implication. Since he'd been turned into a half human half wolf, his pride had soared through the roof, a pride that could only come from being something more than just simple. He stepped into the area where the camp was set up, and allowed his full, large and intimidating form to be seen. Unlike some werewolves, his wolf form really did look like a wolf. Some were a strange hybrid of both, but his was full and pure. The line he'd come from had never bred with humans, all had bred with other werewolves and the blood was continued as such. Because of that, the past wolves that took over his blood line, followed those humans who were born of the other werewolves. They had the blood in them but no way to awaken it. Apparently Naruto's parents were part of those lines, both of them, however they were never changed to wolves. His blood was pure.
"You are not human, I should not have suggested as such, if you can speak our language you must be a god of some sort." Kakashi marveled, not coming close to Naruto but still inspecting him. This caused Naruto to snort in amusement.
"You think into things way to much. I'm just a wolf who has some human in him." He responded, knowing full well that the others were now awake.
"Kakashi, I don't mean to scare you, but there is an alarmingly large wolf sitting in our camp." Kaori spoke, walking as quietly as she could up to Naruto. He turned his head towards her, and decided that rather than fuss with them he'd go along with it.
"I'm sure he's aware. As you can see I'm not exactly quiet." He joked, causing the girl to fall back and away from him. He'd originally thought it was shock, but the emotions were closer to awe and amazement.
"What are you doing out in this forest? You are the same wolf correct?" Sasuke demanded.
"I am a wolf, nature is my territory, is it not? Am I not allowed to travel? I stumbled upon your…ragtag group of ninja and stopped." Another bullshit answer, Naruto thought, but it would have to do.
"I would not be nearly as suspicious if it weren't for the fact that we are not near Konoha anymore." Sasuke commented, walking closer.
"I hunted in Konoha because I'd heard it had prime prey. I did not have to reveal myself to you here." Naruto spoke with a snort.
"What's your name?" Sakura asked. She seemed to have thought through the situation somewhat, to not have been as surprised by his presence and talking.
"Takeo." Was all Naruto said. He wouldn't reveal his real name, nor his pseudonym from his human form. He was doing everything he could to keep his identity hidden.
"That's all? No other name for you, just Takeo?" Kakashi asked, still curious about the large wolf. Kakashi had never seen a creature the size of the wolf that wasn't a summons. He'd seen summoned creatures that were larger, but not natural wolves.
"It would be normal to find a wolf in the wild, yes, but you told me you were a werewolf. So part of you is human." Sasuke spoke, remembering the conversation from the woods.
"I did indeed. I never told you where I lived, nor where I was from. Wolves travel, they roam, it is not strange, just a coincidence." Naruto countered, knowing that he wasn't actually doing a very good job of covering his ass. A moment later a clone he'd made of himself early on came out of the woods, proceeded to nearly piss himself, completely an act, and fall to the ground.
"What the fuck?! There's a giant wolf in the camp!" His clone cried. Kaori would have laughed at her teammates exclamation if not for the fact that the "giant wolf" was standing very close to her.
"Yes Arashi. Thank you for pointing that out to us." Kakashi spoke sarcastically. His pupil had gone off for a pee break, and obviously hadn't noticed the wolf.
"I see that you all are on edge. I did not mean to startle you little one. Nor did I mean to interrupt your….trip." Naruto chuckled to himself, at the thought of calling himself little one. He wandered out of camp, knowing that Sasuke was likely to follow.
"Why are you here?" Sasuke asked.
"Would it offend you to hear that maybe I was concerned? It is not every day that us werewolves reveal our natures to humans. Fear and hatred factor greatly in why we hide. You are one of the only I've met who listened to me even after watching me hunt." Naruto stated, not entirely lying. He was worried about how Sasuke would handle the mission, especially since there was no telling how hard it would actually be.
"I'm not offended. Somewhat confused, but not offended." Sasuke shook his head. Naruto sighed and nodded.
"I'm going to leave now, be careful young one, the woods following this path are not safe." Naruto warned. It was somewhat of a surprise to him that he was being so caring towards a human. As he jogged off he made sure that there was no smoke when he substituted with his clone, before dispelling it. Naruto sighed as he finished his watch, knowing that most of the animals in the forest were going to avoid their camp because he was there. Most other creatures could sense his presence and that he was more powerful than they were. It made his watch easier, however there was still the possibility of bandits. That would prove more of a challenge to him. Soon the sun rose and the other members of his team were up and ready for their mission to continue, while Tazuna had slept through the night completely unaware that they'd had a visitor.
The rest of the trip into Wave was as uneventful as one could imagine, until a small white hare passed Naruto's path. He stopped and placed himself between it and his team.
"Well, we know what you're afraid of now, wolves and itty bitty bunnies." Kaori smirked, grabbing the hare before Naruto could say anything.
"What season is it?" Naruto asked, getting confused looks from his teammates.
"Spring, obviously! Has your fear gone to your head Arashi?!" Sakura answered, not realizing why he'd asked.
"That hare is white. They are only white in winter meaning…"
"It was raised inside…"
"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Naruto shouted, tackling Tazuna to the ground while Kakashi took Sakura down with him. Kaori and Sasuke ducked of their own accord, as a large sword whipped over their heads powerfully.
"Smart kid you got there. Anyone else would have overlooked a random rabbit, but that one noticed it." A figure appeared on the sword which had embedded itself into a tree.
"When you live in nature for long enough, a domesticated snow rabbit that was still white in the spring looks suspicious." Naruto replied, not taking his eyes off of his opponent. The man had pale skin, with the lower half of his face covered with bandages. His short black hair was spiked up on his head, while his eyes were narrowed and cruel looking. He was a tall man, and muscular, obviously strong enough to carry the sword that was bigger than most genin.
"Zabuza Momoichi. Demon of the Mist." Kakashi muttered. A wave of killing intent filled the air, knocking most of the genin to their knees. Naruto stood firm, not affected by the power that washed over him. Instead, he sent a concentrated burst of his chakra out, that cancelled the KI outright.
"I'm impressed. A natural hunter AND strong chakra. Where did you find this kid Kakashi Hatake, Copycat Ninja from Konoha?" Zabuza commented, showing he knew who Kakashi was as well.
"He's my student. Now, why are you here?" Kakashi demanded.
"Isn't that obvious? He's here for Tazuna. You won't be getting him. Neither you nor your assistant!" Naruto shouted. He'd smelled another scent on Zabuza that was distinctly female, suggesting that he'd spent a lot of time around another human being.
"How in the hell did you know that?!" Zabuza leapt at him, preparing to attack, but Naruto was ready, he charged a few of the seals on his wrists, before two twin dao swords appeared in his hands. He blocked Zabuza's attack and countered in the same motion.
"You are very skilled for a brat! What's your name?" Zabuza asked as he continued to attack Naruto.
"Arashi Kurokawa." He replied, grunting against the force of an overhead downward swing of the executioners blade. He was able to keep up with Zabuza's attacks, however they were more powerful than he was, considering he was not allowed to use his strength outside of emergencies. It was sealed up with his werewolf form, which he could tap into, however it would show changes to his features.
"Where did you learn to use these swords? They aren't from this area. I've never seen any like them before." Zabuza pursued, fairly chatty for having engaged in a fight to the death with an enemy.
"They were from my father. He trained me to use them as he did. Are we not attempting to kill each other? Are we really conversing?" Naruto asked, trying to distract the other man. Sasuke would have chuckled if not for the fact that he was suddenly very afraid for his teammate.
"We are indeed trying to kill each other. I expected it to be a lot easier, but oh well, I have other ways." Zabuza threw his hands together then, creating the signs for a jutsu. Naruto cursed, however his vision was suddenly filled with mist.
"If only you'd made this easier on yourselves. I never would have had to take such measures to defeat you. Especially you, brat." Zabuza's voice filled the air, echoing off of trees and the water near them.
"Get behind me, all of you, I'll finish this. Thank you Arashi, you gave me the chance to measure his speed." Kakashi nodded to his student, who surprised him as well. Naruto took a stance, nodding his head back to his teacher, helping to protect Tazuna if needed. He could still smell the taller man, as he hadn't left the area yet, but without his other senses, he couldn't pinpoint him. The way the sound bounced in the area also did not help, he couldn't hear the sounds of his movement. As soon as Kakashi engaged with Zabuza they were able to make out the figure on the water. It wasn't until Kakashi had ended up trapped in a bubble that was progressively filling with water that Naruto turned to Sasuke.
"Do you know how to water walk?" Sasuke shook his head.
"Can you swim?" He asked again, getting a nod this time.
"Good, I'm going to launch you high into the air, Zabuza is distracted by Kakashi right now, we just need to get him from all sides to rescue him. Think you can keep him distracted long enough for me to pop that bubble?" Naruto asked, while Sasuke analyzed the terrain.
"If you need help I'll get you." Naruto spoke, before turning towards Sakura and Kaori. Both girls were shaken looking, but there was a glimmer of strength in both of their eyes.
"You both will protect Tazuna, Sakura how long can you hold a genjutsu?" He asked.
"Two minutes tops, but it'll put me out of commission." Sakura answered.
"That's plenty of time. Kaori, do you have any weapons on you other than kunai?" Naruto asked, getting a negative. He unsealed a set of tonfa from his seals then. They each had a small morning star at the end.
"If you pump chakra into them the stars release on a chain to be swung. Be careful though." Naruto warned, before the girl did as he instructed. Sakura began the hand signs for her genjutsu, before both girls disappeared. As long as Sakura wasn't moved within that time, the genjutsu would hold. Naruto turned back to Sasuke and they shared a look.
Time to get their sensei back.
I hope people liked this one, it took literally forever. Please let me know!