Enjoy the chap!

Chapter 18: Determination

Shika POV

I felt a familiar tug on my ear.

"Dad! I want to train!" growled my son's impatient voice. I groaned as I turned over.

"Tamaki, I'm tired. Go and play with your friends," I suggested placing a paw over my nose. Tamaki growled again, but he left me alone. I sighed as I turned over on my back staring at the clear sky. I sighed. No clouds today... I heard paw steps again. I thought it was Tamaki until I saw Temari standing over me. She settled in next to me.

"What are you doing?" she asked sounding bored.

"Looking for clouds, but there aren't any today," I answered. "With all that's happened I'm surprised I have time to relax at all." Temari pawed the ground as she looked anxiously at the our pup Tamaki.

"He's not the same," she said leaning against me. "Tamaki hasn't been socializing with the other pups. He's distanced himself away from everyone."

"Yes, I know. It seems like the only thing on his mind is to eat, train, and sleep. He's training so he can go into battle with us... He's preparing himself so he can save his sister." I spotted him not too far away trying to fight with Akio, Sasuke's pup. I heard Akio's voice from far away.

"Tamaki, I'm not going to fight you," he barked at him. "I'm older now and I might hurt you." Akio stared at the smaller pup with worried green eyes.

"So?" Tamaki growled back. "The Akatsuki wolves are going to be even bigger than you!" Suddenly I spotted Sasuke coming out of his den with Sakura. Sasuke padded up to the two pups.

"Why don't you get lost you little pipsqueak," Sasuke snapped at Tamaki.

I bared my teeth preparing to get up. He thinks he can talk like that to my son...

"Shika no!" Temari snapped nipping my ear. "If you start a fight we'll just have more wounded and you don't want to worry Sakura."

I growled quietly as I settled down again. Tamaki finally retreated to find someone else to challenge.

"That was a little harsh don't you think?" Sakura said to Sasuke as he watched Tamaki go. He only snorted.

"Let's go Akio, Hakuro," he barked to his pups. They followed him into the forest. I stretched and yawned.

"I guess I should probably go train with Tamaki before he gets the whole pack irritable." I stood up to find Tamaki pestering Tenten about battle moves.

"How does that work?" I heard Tamari yip as I got within earshot. Tenten groaned.

"I don't know how it works. Why don't you ask your father to show you how it works?" snarled Tenten reaching her limits. I picked Tamaki up by his scruff and he barked in protest.

"Hey! Put me down!"

"We're going training," I growled as I took him into the forest.

"Really? Cool!"

I rolled my eyes. Since when is training cool? I sat him down as I reached our training place. It was free of trees and had soft springy grass to soften any falls.

"What moves are we learning today?" Tamaki wagged his tail. The last time I'd seen him happy like this was when he'd had his first patrol with his sister. Now training seemed to be the only thing he drew attention to. I shook my head.

"We aren't learning anything today. We're going to see what you've learned and practice that." Tamaki cocked his head to one side, confused. "I'm going to attack you and we'll see what you've got." Tamaki nodded. I leaped forward and took a swipe at Tamaki. He dodged to one side and lunged for my side. I turned quickly and swatted him away. "Come on you can do better than that!" Tamaki got up quickly and aimed for my legs. I tried moving away, but he locked his jaws around one of my back legs. He yanked my leg and caused me to trip. He thought I was vulnerable and lunged for my neck. I flipped over at the last second and Tamaki ate dirt.

I pinned him to the ground in a matter of seconds. He was panting hard looking at me with wide eyes.

"W-Whoa...," he growled as I let him up.

"Don't let your opponent pin you. If that had been a real battle you would have been finished. You need to think about the outcome of your actions as well. Did you think I would just lie there while you lunged for my neck?" I covered everything he needed to improve on. "Besides that you put up a good fight."

Tamaki gave me a big grin and wagged his tail. "Let's go again!" Suddenly I heard a low growl come from Tamaki's stomach.

"How about we hunt first?"

Yumi POV

"We should feed the prisoner," growled a voice. My vision was momentarily as I tried to grasp my surroundings. Why was the den so cold? Where's mom and dad? Tamaki? I stood up feeling sore. I walked forward and ran into a wall. I lifted my paw up to feel the surface, but my paw slipped through. I saw an all too familiar dog peering at me. It was the blonde dog that had captured me. It all came flooding back to me. I'd been kidnapped away from my family.

"Where have you trapped me?" I growled at the dog. I realized that there were bars in front of me, not a wall. I bit one of the bars and the strange surface scraped against my teeth painfully. I hadn't made a scratch. The dog laughed.

"There's no way to get out." He stood up picking up something that looked like a rat. He threw the rat to me. "This is a cage made by humans."

"Cage?" I looked around noticing the bars were all around me and there was something flat and hard above my head and under my paws. "You better let me out right now!" I snarled baring my teeth at the dog. "My dad and mom will come for me and so will my brother!"

"You mean that pipsqueak that Blade killed?" The dog laughed. "I doubt he'll come to save you!"

"No!" I howled and tried to bite the dog through the bars of the cage. "You're lying!"

The dog just chuckled. "Even if your brother was alive it will be too late to save you."

"Deidara!" snapped a wolf I couldn't see. Then I saw a wolf emerge from the shadows. He had multiple piercings on his muzzle, face, and back. "Stop arousing the prisoner. Some wolves need to rest."

"Just having a little fun, Pein," Deidara growled lowering his stance. I remembered seeing this before in my pack. Every wolf lower than the alpha must show respect to them by kneeling to them.

"What are you going to do to me?" I howled loudly again. Pein glared at me and I shank back. His eyes were a strange color that I couldn't identify. He walked over and slammed his paws on top of my cage. Then he scraped his claws across the surface and made a loud horrid scraping noise that hurt my ears.

"So this is the source of all the noise, huh?" Pein growled stopping the noise. "I see we will have to silence this." Somehow he opened the cage and pulled me out by my scruff and threw me to the ground. He clamped his jaws around my neck. I yelped in pain and his grip tightened. The pain was so intense that I couldn't cry out anymore. Finally Pein picked me up again and put me into the cage. "I hope not to hear anymore noise." Deidara nodded. I curled up on the hard floor. Trying to catch my breath again. When I could breathe normally I crawled over to eat the rat they'd given me. It wasn't as tasty as the birds we'd caught on our first patrol. When I'd finished I curled up again and went into a troubled sleep.

Temari POV

I yawned as I padded over to Naruto's den with Shika.

"You should get some sleep. I'll go meet with Naruto," Shika growled.

"He said he wanted to meet the beta," I argued stubbornly. Shika didn't argue anymore as we entered Naruto's den. Naruto allowed us to come inside. We sat in front of him and Hinata. "We're here as you asked."

"I want to start the attack tomorrow. The Akatsuki Pack needs to be defeated," Naruto informed us. "I don't want anymore innocent wolves getting hurt." Shika and I nodded in unison.

"Sakura and I will stay here with the pups. Yoshino's pack will be here to protect us," Hinata growled quietly.

"Shikamaru will lead the pack into battle," Naruto looked at Shika. Shika's eyes widened in surprise.

"Me?" he said shuffling his paws. "Are you sure you don't want Temari to lead?"

"I'll be gathering up old friends to join our battle. I want you to lead. You have proved your loyalty many times to this pack." Naruto smiled. "Or is it too troublesome to take the offer?" Shika hesitated for a moment looking down.

I pushed him playfully. "Take the offer, furball!"

"Alright, I'll lead the pack," he finally agreed.

Naruto's eyes gleamed with excitement. "We start tomorrow."

XxXx

I slipped out of my den as Naruto called the whole pack out for a meeting. Shika sleepily came out after me and yawned widely.

"I knew we were starting today, but did it have to be so early?" Shika growled irritably as he stretched. I ignored his complaints as Naruto spoke. He was instructing the pack and assigning roles.

"This is the day of Akatsuki Pack's downfall!" he howled and the pack howled with him. He turned to Hinata and nuzzled her gently. "Take care. I'll be back soon." Hinata nodded. Naruto jumped from the top of his den and retreated into the forest. Shika didn't seem to notice the pack was waiting for his move. I shoved him hard in the shoulder.

"Hey, idiot! The pack is waiting for you," I whispered in his ear.

"Hm?" Shika looked around. "Oh, right. Let's go." He shook out his ruffled fur and barked, "To the Akatsuki border!" Shika ran forward and I followed along with the pack. Shika had a determined look on his face as if he was certain this battle would be won. I had to share his determination. We would win this fight. I heard a smaller set of paws next to me. Tamaki was racing by my side. His stubbornness had won him a place in the battle. I looked around me. All the wolves here had the determination to win this battle. I forced myself to run faster right next to Shika. We were already past the border. Suddenly Shika skidded to a stop, his fur bristling. A dark orange wolf stood at the entrance of the clearing with multiple piercings.

"Pein...," I snarled baring my teeth. A large pack of wolves were standing behind him.

"Naruto was too much of a coward to face me directly?" taunted Pein. "Instead he sent his pack to their death beds!" I growled and scraped my paws against the ground. Shika bared his teeth and let out a low growl.

"Attack!"

The whole pack launched forward and the Akatsuki did the same. The two packs collided in a flurry of claws and teeth. I clashed with a black wolf and threw him to the ground. I swiped my claws across his muzzle before he slashed at my chest. He leaped for me, but at the last second I rolled out of the way and he crashed to the ground. I leaped on his back and snapped my jaws around his neck. He gasped for air and struggled under my weight. Another wolf slammed into me knocking my to the ground. I was dazed for a moment before I got up quickly slashing at the next wolf who came at me. I caught occasional glimpses of my pack mates as they struggled. Another wolf came at me head on and tackled me sending us both rolling. I kicked the wolf up and stood shaking grass from my fur.

Suddenly I felt another blow to my shoulder and whirled around. The wolf was too fast for me and knocked my legs from under me. I realized who the wolf was in an instant.

"Kankuro!" I growled trying to stand up.

"Who is this Kankuro? I am Blade of the Akatsuki!" the wolf snapped.

"You were my brother!" I snarled. "Do you not remember?"

"I've never met you in my life!" he howled coming at me again. I didn't have time to react as his teeth sank into my neck. I kicked and thrashed trying to throw him off.

Was I going to die at the claws of my own brother? "No!" I kicked Kankuro hard in the stomach and sent him flying backward. I hopped up on my feet and jumped on him. I held him down and scraped my claws against his body. He howled in pain. Kankuro wriggled from my grasp and scraped my muzzle with his claws. I jumped back panting and Kankuro did the same. "Do you remember the promise we made when we were pups, Kankuro?"

He stared at me panting heavily. "I told you! I don't know you!"

"Remember you told me that you'd beat me when we were older?" I growled trying to force the memory back to him. Kankuro looked like he was about to attack again when he froze. He wasn't glaring at me anymore, but looking at the ground in confusion shaking his head. I ran forward at full speed. Before Kankuro could get his bearings our heads collided with a loud crack. We both sank to the ground. My head throbbed painfully as blood blurred my vision. My exhaustion suddenly took over and I blacked out.

How did you like it? By the way the black wolf Temari fought was just a random black wolf, not a Naruto character. Review so I can make the next chapter! I'm am sad to say this, but this story is coming to an end, but do not fear I will be making a prequel to this story on how Uzumaki pack was born.