Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 3 – The Hunt
"Sakuraaaaa! Where are you taking me?" People stared as they saw a blond-haired boy being dragged through the crowd by a pink-haired genin. Naruto had been sitting eating ramen when Sakura had rushed in, told him to drop what he was doing, pay for his food, and come with her. She then proceeded to drag him through the village, never telling him where they were going or what they were going to do.
"Just follow me. Sasuke thinks he has an idea of where we might be able to find Kitsune." Naruto groaned. The three of them had been searching for any sign of Kitsune for the last three weeks – since Kakashi had told them about Kitsune – and had dragged Naruto into the search whenever they could. At first, Naruto had just gone along with it, letting Sakura drag him around, but lately he had been putting his foot down and resisting Sakura's attempts to get him to help.
"Come on! Don't you remember what Kakashi-sensei told us? If we find Kitsune, he would teach us something. I'm sure he would still teach you something, even though you aren't a shinobi."
"Just wait a second forehead! What is this about someone other than your sensei teaching you?" Naruto groaned as he saw a girl with a long blonde ponytail and blue eyes standing in the way, hands on her hips and glaring at Sakura.
"Well, Ino-pig, Kakashi-sensei told us about one of his old team mates. And guess what! He's around our age too! He retired already, and is living like a civilian. Apparently if you can find him, he'll teach you something." Sakura glared back at the blonde. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find my team mates."
Sakura took hold of Naruto's am once again and dragged him off. As he passed by the blonde, Naruto gave her a little wave. Soon they reached training ground where the two other members of team 7 were waiting.
"What took you so long? I didn't think it would take that long to find Naruto." Sasuke was impatient, glaring at the two of them as they approached.
"Well we ran into Ino-pig on our way here, and she wanted to know what we were doing." Sakura sat down, pulling Naruto with her. "Now tell us what you found out!"
"Well I was looking through some old files at my house and I noticed that Kitsune had worked with some of the Uchiha before. So I learned some things about him that were mentioned about him. I know he doesn't like to eat vegetables, and eats out all the time."
"Well that only describes a large portion of the village. Why am I even here anyways? I don't even want to find Kitsune. He obviously left the shinobi ranks for a reason, and doesn't want to be reminded of it. Why else would he just disappear off the face of the earth? Sooner or later, you guys are going to get in trouble, and I don't want to be there when that happens." Everyone looked shocked at Naruto's outburst. They had never seen him angry before, so they just sat there with dumbstruck looks on their faces as Naruto stood up and left the training grounds.
"I still say we find him."
An hour later the three of them were walking through some of the less-used training grounds, in the hopes of finding Kitsune training in one of them. Sakura followed Sasuke and Sai as they crept through the trees. Suddenly she could feel it. He was near; there was a suffocating aura around the trio.
"What are you doing here?" She jumped at the voice, turning around as she jumped. Behind the team stood Kitsune – wearing regulation ANBU uniform with a fox mask fit securely on his face. As Sakura continued looking at him, she noticed that he had a black bandana on his head, hiding his hair from sight. He stood with his feet shoulder width apart and his arms crossed over his chest. Just by his voice she could tell that he was annoyed.
"Are you Kitsune?" Of course Sasuke would skip right to the point, eager to learn something new.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Depends on what you want." Oh for the love of kami ANBU dialect was difficult to dissect. They were always so cryptic, never letting you know exactly what they wanted or what they actually meant.
"We heard that if we found you, you would teach us something." Sasuke was good at hiding his terror. He stood his ground, staring Kitsune straight in the eye. "So fight me."
'It's strange to hear him laughing" thought Sakura, "it makes him seem human." As soon as Kitsune heard Sasuke's request, he doubled over laughing, causing everyone else to exchange looks, wondering if Kitsune was insane.
"And why would I do that? I could finish you off standing on one leg, one arm behind my back, and only using one finger."
"Hn. I want to test my abilities. Fight me."
Kitsune shrugged. "If you want to. Not my fault when I kick your ass." With that, Sasuke charged at Kitsune, clearly intent on harming him, but Kitsune just kept dodging his attacks, never throwing any punches himself.
"What's wrong, Sasu-chan? You too much of a baby to actually hit me?"
"It's Sasuke, not Sasu-chan. And how do you know my name anyways?"
"I don't think me knowing your name is very important. Isn't that right Sakura, Sai? For not being on duty for two years, I still hang around the village ya know. I do pick things up.
"Have we ever seen you before? Seriously! Stay still dammit." Sasuke was getting frustrated, because he hadn't even managed to touch Kitsune, nevermind managing to injure him at all.
"Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. It's not like I go around going 'Hey everybody! I'm an ex-ANBU named Kitsune!' That would be idiotic, considering I never wanted to have to be a shinobi anymore. Stupid Kakashi, putting words in my mouth."
"But you'll still teach us something, right?" Sakura turned her eyes on Kitsune, giving him a pleading look.
Kitsune sighed. "Yeah I guess. Hmmmm. What to teach you…..OK. Lesson number one: There is only one way to learn, and that is through action. Ok. Well time for me to go. See ya!"
With that he disappeared, leaving the three genin with bewildered looks on their faces.
"Did that…just…happen?" Sakura looked at her team mates, both of them sharing her confusion.
"I believe it did."
"That was a great trick to pull on them, Naruto. When I told them that you would teach them something, I thought you would actually teach them something important, not just tell them some random stuff about life.
"Hey! My life lessons are super important! I wouldn't be alive without them!"
"I think that's actually due to the giant furball of yours."
"Oh shush. He may help a bit, but you know it's my lessons that really do it."
"Yeah. Keep telling yourself that."
Hey thanks for reading this third chapter of Change. Please send me a review telling me what you want to see in the story, and I'll try to incorporate them into the story.
Until next time,
needsmoreYOUTH
