Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a happy one. And for you that don't celebrate, I hope your holidays of this season are/were good. Many thanks go to nartohaloevovled for his work as a beta reader. Has the brain bleach reached you yet man?
And now! READER REVIEW SHOUTOUT!
Lina Ben: Hey, are you a new one? That's cool! I'm glad to see a new face popping up along with returning readers, makes me all warm and tingly inside. Thanks for the praise, and even if it's not this story, I do normally work on some sort of writing every night.
WINDxNINJA: How gay is too gay exactly? Anywho, Naruto is currently avoiding males and females alike, so I suppose that it may go into the 'too gay' category, but that's not a derogatory term in my book. Thanks for the review, and I hope I continue to hold your interest.
Ana-chan: ^.^ Glad to see you're enjoying it, just remember to keep breathing please ^.^;; I'd feel bad if someone laughed themselves unconscience...
badkidoh: Still glad. Updated.
Kitty Otaku: Welcome to the story, I'm glad that you've enjoyed it so far, and hope that you continue to.
bandgsecurtiyaw: Thanks, I hope it continues to hold your interest.
and finally, JadeStoneTheYounger, who has had me smiling at the reviews they leave since the very beginning: I'm glad that you like the story, and you continue to. Here's the update, is it soon enough?
Anywho, I'm glad that all of you have stuck around, and that the new ones are coming in as we follow the adventures of Naruto in his jutsu. If anyone has a request for a character to run across Naruto, please let me know via PM, and I'll see what I can do... Canonical characters only please, no fan characters.
Icha Icha: Animal Magnetism
Chapter 5: Hounded by the Inuzuka
Naruto sighed as he woke up, his eyes slightly blurry from his nap wondering what had woken him. As he Rolled up and started rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he heard something out of place in his garden, voices. He went towards the waterfall that fed lake. He slipped into the water and scanned the surrounding area nervously. The scent of the water filled his nose, but he could still smell something over it. It was like a wet dog, and dog piss mixed together... he'd smelt it before though, where he wasn't certain where, or whom.
Then he saw them: Kiba Inuzuka and his older sister Hana with their canine companions in tow, entering the clearing he had rested in. With a silent bout of swearing he dove under the water, hoping that it'd help him hide from the noses of his pursuers. Swimming deeper, he made for a small cavern that he had found years ago, it would give him an escape route to the south of the Hokage monument, but for now he just wanted to use it to recover from the sudden swim he had to take. After all, he had to go back for his clothes if nothing else. Taking stock of his supplies, he almost let out a groan of dismay as he realized that being only in his boxers meant that he only had a loop of ninja wire, and a pair of sheathed kunai strapped to his inner thighs.
Surfacing in the cave he gulped down air as he swam towards the shoreline. He should be safe here for a few minutes, after all, he'd dodged the other ninjas by diving into water, and the Inuzuka clan should be the same right? Pulling himself out of the water, he shook himself off, trying to warm himself up and grumbling about the sudden invasion of his garden. He was willing to bet that Kiba was pissing on his trees right now, and that Hana had dug up some of his flowers. It would take years for him to recover from this invasion.
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt something small, warm, and fuzzy rubbing against his leg. At first he'd put it off as his tail, but that was currently soaking wet, and not fuzzy. Looking down, he saw a pair of small green eyes gleaming at him from a red fur-covered face. Groaning he picked up the small fox kit and held it up at eye level, inspecting it curiously. It looked harmless and cute, but he knew that the mother had to be close by, and he really didn't feel like dealing with another pissed fox today, Kyuubi was enough thank you very much.
Setting down the little ball of fluff, he tried to get it to leave, but instead he or she kept rubbing itself against Naruto's legs affectionately. Grumbling about the fox, he stalked around, trying to warm up.
Just as he was about to give up trying to warm up, he saw the water bulge out and four forms burst forth. He recognized the two human forms, and knew the other two canines would be their animal companions. Before they had even touched the ground, Naruto had turned and bolted out of the cave in a panic. He didn't want to run into Konoha naked, but it'd be better than getting caught by them.
Bursting out of the cave with the fox matching him stride for stride, Naruto took the hardest, most insanely difficult route possible to try and lose the trailing animals and ninja. Leaping off a cliff, he growled in annoyance as he tried to figure out a way to get away from these two. He knew that they'd be on him like a dog on a bone, so he had to pick a way that would get him some separation from them.
A hand seal later, and ninety other copies of himself appeared in the air surrounding him. He needed to disappear, and with the ninety of the others flanking him he figured that he'd be able to get away nicely. Splitting up, all the clones and the original went in ninety different directions, all in an arc towards Konoha. The real Naruto used the clones to screen his strategic evasion tactics, scooping the fox kit into his arms, trying to hide it with his body so that the clones wouldn't stand out from the others. Then a smirk crossed his face as another idea popped into his mind, half of the clones henged into identical replicas of the fox kit and curled up into the other clones arms.
Naruto smirked as he heard Kiba and Hana chase off towards the one that was going straight, instead of himself. Instead of going into Konoha, he and a few other clone pairs hooked back towards the cave's opening to head back for the cave's opening that he'd just bolted out of, he really wanted his clothing back. The clones spread out as soon as they got near the cave, creating a mess of tracks for them to follow. Naruto took the moment to look down at the kit in his arms curiously, only to find it had fallen asleep. Sighing he sat down next to the water and tried to figure out what to do.
The Inuzukas had caught a couple of his clones that had disappeared, giving him the memories that they wanted to know what was going on, and were very aggressive in their mating habits. Flattening his ears he let out a sigh as he tried to think about what to do now. Standing up, he began walking away from the cavern's pool, petting the fox kit in thought.
Slipping out of the cave, he used his clones as scouts, most disguised as various woodland creatures and a few remain in their natural form to throw off the trackers. His path was a simple one, made more difficult by his having to leap from spot to spot in order to lessen the scent trail that he was leaving. He figured it would be harder to track him if he touched fewer spots. Getting into an easy loping rhythm he soon found himself on his favorite overlook to the garden. From here he could see the stones he had laid out in a replica of the Konoha swirl, and the entire field of flowers that grew around it. All the colors he could imagine in a random explosion of colors
It was an amazing sight, that always managed to make his heart beat with pride. It was a beautiful expression of his heart spread out before the eyes of the world, open to anyone who could see it. He would love to get a small place built up here, giving him the beautiful view that he could share with someone. Maybe after this jutsu ended, he'd be able to find someone to share it with. But for now, he had to slowly pick his way down, made all the more difficult thanks to the fox kit in his hands.
Getting back to his garden, he was fairly surprised that nothing had been destroyed or peed on. In fact, save for the foot and paw prints littering the ground, he'd have never guessed anyone had come to his secret garden. Upon arriving at his camping spot, he smiled seeing his clothes next to the smoldering embers of his fire. None of his other clones had been attacked yet, so he had to assume that he was safe for a while, and that the dog users were busy elsewhere. Setting the kit down next to the fire, he pulled on his clothes and smiled feeling the familiar weight of his weapons settle into place. Sitting down next to the kit, he let out a yawn and shook his head, eying the sun to see the time. It would be dark soon, so he might as well stay here overnight, and look for a better place once the sun had risen again.
Adding some more wood to the fire, he let out an annoyed sigh, vowing to kick Jiraiya's ass for pulling this stunt on him. With another yawn, he pulled the fox kit close, having decided to protect it, since it seemed to be alone right now. Besides, having someone to go through this with him might just help keep him sane, even if said someone was a fox with no clue what was going on.
Closing his eyes, his last thought was that he'd have to figure out what gender the kit was, and then give it a name. Sleep found him easily that night, and so too did Kyuubi.
Naruto found himself in a familiar and dank sewer, walking forward he traced the path towards Kyuubi's prison slowly, knowing that he had to go, or Kyuubi'd never shut up about it. That was about the time that he stumbled upon what was possibly one of the most mentally scaring scenes in his life. Kyuubi, the great and powerful fox demon was no longer there, in his place was a feminine looking man, putting on lipstick while looking into a mirror. Something told Naruto this would be a long and disturbing night.
To be continued
