The smell of blood hung thick in the air. Bodies laid strewn over the bridge as if a child decided they didn't want it's dolls anymore and just threw them without a care to where they landed. A lone woman walked through the massacre, covered in the blood of the lifeless corpses around her. Her face had the look of disgust on it at she surveyed the area around her. In the distance she could hear cheering and celebrating as the newly liberated village feasted at the conquest of their former oppressor. Ignoring the sounds of celebration she could hear multiple footsteps approaching her. Turning she waited for the two men, boy and small woman to join her.

"You felt it to, didn't you?" asked one man gruffly. His face was covered by bandages and his eyes reminded her of a shark. He was never one for emotion, as such displays made him uncomfortable, but this was a special case. The woman nodded, worry gnawing at her insides. She too felt the pulse of life force from their blonde companion, now there was sign of that life force anywhere.

"We should head to the Leaf and check up on him. He may need our help." The boy said softly. His face was covered with a mask, and if not knowing he was in fact a male, those there would have sworn he was female. His build was slight and when his mask was removed, his features incredibly feminine.

"Kyuubi would have contacted us if something was seriously wrong. I trust in his judgment." The woman replied, but her worried tone gave away her confidence.

"We should at least see what's happening in Leaf. We haven't been there for a while," the other man put in. His long, white spiky hair was held back by a metal hitai-ate that had the kanji for 'oil' engraved on it. Just as the blonde woman opened her mouth to reply, a red blur shot out from the mist that shrouded the village and headed straight for the group. Instantly on guard, the group stood ready to attack the unknown presence.

Just as the blur reached them, the man with bandages swung his giant sword at it. The greatest defence in his opinion was offence. The blur dodged instantly, vanishing from sight for a moment before appearing in front of the blonde woman and knocking her down.

Startled that something had broken through her defences, the woman prepared to fight back, before she registered the familiar presence. Furry paws planted themselves onto her chest and pressed down with urgency. Her heart froze over with terror and dread. Their worst fears had happened.

"Take me to him!" she demanded. The others around her stopped at the urgency in her voice, before they to, recognized the red blur. Nine red tails whipped about in a frenzy.

"Kyuubi... what happened to Naruto?"

...

Sasuke paced outside of the locked operating room. It had been four days since Naruto had brought Kyuubi back to life and after the initial shock of learning that Naruto was the master of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the legendary Nine-Tailed fox, had worn off slightly, strange thoughts had been plaguing his mind.

At first he thought it was the idea of power that had attracted him to the boy, a ninja his age with unknown skills that he could learn, power he could achieve – but now he wasn't so sure. Seeing the connection between the boy and fox had stirred something within him, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. It was almost a yearning, a longing for that sort of bond with someone. But he shunned away from that idea. The last time he had that type of bond, it had been with his older brother... and he had killed everyone else Sasuke held dear then left, leaving him alone, his only friend the nightmares of the massacre. And then he witnessed one of the most amazing things in his life, the boy had summoned legendary spirits and healed the certainly dead fox.

The amount of power he felt emanating from the blonde was staggering, and his initial plans of forcing him to teach and train him resurfaced. He could kill Itaichi with this! This boy was the key to his vengeance! But then they had been thrown out the room, and for some strange reason, only Kiba had been allowed back in. He could understand the fox keeping Kakashi out, he has been single-mindedly focused on eradicating the demon since he found out its true identity. And there was some sort of sore history, which he bet the fox was a big reason of, between Kakashi and Naruto.

Turning his head slightly he saw Kakashi charge at the door yet again, lightning spewing from his palm and crackling up his arm, only for it to dissipate upon contact with the wall, and a gust of wind throwing him back to where he started from. Each time the wind got more violent and rough and each time Kakashi got back up, slightly angrier, before charging at the wall yet again. Sasuke rolled his eyes at his sensei's stupidity. If he just stood back and thought logically about the situation then he might realise that the fox and the boy hadn't killed or hurt anyone in the entire time they were in the village.

As he studied the door, he realised that no movement had happened since Kiba had entered. So how are they surviving? It had been four days, Sasuke didn't know about the foxes being in there, but Naruto and Kiba had to eat something. Sasuke resumed his pacing, pondering the problem. Kyuubi was awake in there, Naruto not. Kiba was in there but from what he had observed of the canine-boy's skills, he wasn't able to use the shunshin jutsu yet. The elemental foxes could obviously move through matter, if the room's defences were anything to judge by, but are they able to hold solid material and transport it through walls? He wasn't sure, so he classed it as maybe in his mind.

An Anbu attempting to use a katon jutsu on the metal hinges of the door to melt them off jump started Sasuke's memory. In the gennin exams, Kyuubi had teleported in a ball of fire and then brought back the hundreds of birds for Naruto to heal. Kyuubi must be the one getting food for the two boys in there! That means he is leaving the room, which means the target of Kakashi and the Anbu is not even in there at the moment! Sasuke snorted, and all-knowing Uchiha he is, but even as a gennin he was able to work this out before the revenge driven Kakashi and squad of Anbu. Maybe if he could distract the Anbu and Kakashi with this information he would be able to work out a way to get into the room and speak with the blonde boy, if he's conscious.

A small tremor ran through Sasuke's body. If he's conscious. He didn't know why but that one sentence sent a trill of fear through him. He shook his head. If he wasn't conscious then he wouldn't be able to teach him anything... that what the fear was of. It has to be it. He didn't care about the boy; he had no bonds to the blonde. No. He would never have bonds again, they hurt too much.

Making up his mind, he turned away from the obviously futile attempts at breaching the room and walked out of the hospital.

...

Inside the operating room was silent. Naruto still lay upon the metal table in the centre of the room, surrounded by greenery that shouldn't be able to grow and blossom inside the concrete walls. A boom of thunder sounded, waking Kiba from his slumber. It was how he was woken every day, or whenever the spirits decided he had slept enough. The windowless room made it hard for him to determine when it was night or day, so when he got tired he slept, and then the foxes would wake him when they decided he had slept enough. Over the past few days they had settled into some sort of a routine. They were less hostile then when he had first met them, but not quiet on the same level as friends. More like acquaintances or colleagues, human and fox united under the same cause. Naruto. Every time Kiba thought about the blonde his mind was filled with worry. He barely knew the blonde boy but for some strange reason he felt a strong connection to him. So each day that Kyuubi didn't return with help and Naruto's skin grew colder and colder, he grew more and more desperate.

He remembered a couple of hours after Kyuubi had left, he asked the fox of Water and Ice to fetch some blankets and a futon for him. He could still feel the ice cold tips of the needle sharp icicles levelled at his throat. It had taken all of his courage to push them aside and tell them it was for Naruto and not him. That made the others pause, mid-leap at him. Akamaru had whined a why? sound; and he told them because the table was cold and Naruto would get chilled on the metal table. Water and Ice nodded his agreement and melted into a puddle of water before disappearing completely, only to reappear later with multiple pillows and blankets made from silk. Kiba laughed when he saw the insignia of the Uchihas on the pillows and blankets; at he knows that they'll be the best.

A sharp prod by a wet nose in his back forced him to resume his routine. The foxes got bored with staying in the one room, only leaving when Kiba needed food or drink or to relieve himself. Naruto didn't need any of those things as the spirits fed him energy somehow. Tuning their chakra pathways to his and replenishing his health. Entertaining themselves with repelling the ninja outside the room only went so far, so they did the only other thing they could do. Train Kiba. Well that what they told him, but he rather call it torture.

They gave him the idea on the second day after they had a contest to see who could throw Kakashi the farthest. Using the same form of communication Kyuubi did when he spoke to Kiba, by placing a tail on his skin. He also gave them names, as Water and Ice, Lightning and Sound, etc. tended to get a bit tedious when saying it over and over. So, they were Ember, Aqua, Terra, Sparks and Gale.

Terra was by far the gentlest of the five, meditating for a solid two hours first thing when he woke. The only thing was the others would do all they could to distract him such as encircling him in fire, drenching his clothes in icy water, giving his body random zaps with electricity and forming mini tornados around his mediative form, And if he so much as twitched in reaction to them, he had to start the two hours again. It was a long process but Kiba could ignore all but the strongest jolts of electricity from Sparks.

After meditation was dodging and flexibility from Aqua. He had to learn to flow like water, smooth and graceful... by dodging razor sharp icicles hurtling from all directions. Being friends with Hinata had its advantages, such as learning how to dodge attacks coming from behind you, but that didn't really come in handy when there were ten large icicles come from every direction. He was glad he was raised in a veterinarian clinic and knew the basic healing jutsu; otherwise he'd look like a bunch of ribbons.

Ember taught him how to improve his techniques with Akamaru, using fire to separate them and force them to go through any means to return to each other. Before they had a point five of a second to react to an attack from one of the other spirits,

Gale was working on his chakra control, making him stand upside down on the ceiling for extended periods of time, whilst wind blew at him from all directions, making him unstable. Once he mastered that, Gale got Aqua to make a pool of water for him to practice water walking... whilst avoiding tidal waves made by the two of them together.

Then there was Sparks. Out of all of them, he was the harshest. His choice of training was to improve his pain threshold, so if he ever got interrogated, he wouldn't talk. So that meant being shocked constantly by him until he could bring a piece of rice to his mouth with chopsticks, without dropping it. As they progressed the tasks got more difficult and the shocks more deadly. That fox certainly had a vicious streak in it.

He was about to settle in to his mediative position when the excited yips of the spirits filled the room. Ember and Sparks the most active. Curious, but wary this was another ploy to make him move, Kiba stayed still. If it was important, they would tell him... right? Akamaru listened to the yips in interested before nudging Kiba's leg. Kiba opened an eye and looked at his pet. Akamaru wouldn't do anything to distract him in his study, so it must be alright to move.

"What's happened?" he asked the spirits, still not moving from his spot, just to be sure. He felt a tendril of a vine creep along his sleeve until it reached his bare skin. The Uchiha boy has staked out the area where we usually retrieve your sustenance and set up traps at the other places we have visited in recent human days. He is quite intelligent for a human. We are discussing the best way to dispose of him.

That startled him. If it was the only thing he learned from the foxes, is that the best way usually meant the most fun way... for them. Sasuke Uchiha is probably going to be hanging upside down by his intestines off one of the Hokage monuments or something. We hadn't thought of that. A good idea. I shall put it forward to my brothers. Terra loped off to join its brethren.

"Akamaru?" a whine answered him. "Did I just suggest a way to kill the only heir to the Uchiha clan?" a short bark, yes. "Do you think they would actually try it?" another short bark yes. "Shit..." he rushed to the foxes, where they looked like they were going to depart, a noose made from one of Terra's vines between them.

"Wait, wait! You can't kill Sasuke!" he said desperately, Akamaru barking in agreement next to him. The foxes paused and as one tilted their heads to the side in a silent question of why?

"Because he is the last Uchiha, that's why! If you kill him the Uchiha's will die out! And you cant just go round killing people!" Ember's eyes widened, you could see the white fire around his magma eyes. A ribbon of flame danced of to Kiba as lightly pressed on his skin.

What do you mean, they will die out? I gifted the Uchiha clan with mastery of the flame in the beginning. They are the elite of you humans. The last I checked in on them was to remove my power from the one that that killed your ruler the First Hokage. How have they been eliminated like common cattle?

Kiba shook under the intensity of Ember's voice. "I-I don't know everything, just rumours. Everything that happened has been classified as an S-class secret. It's been generations since the First was alive and ruling, the current ruler is the Third and he's an old man. About four years after the Kyuubi incident, an Uchiha went rogue and killed everybody in the Uchiha district leaving only Sasuke alive. Now Sasuke is heel bent on killing him and avenging his clan." Utter silence filled the cold room Kiba shivered slightly as the heavy atmosphere pressed in around him. Suddenly the room filled with white hot flame as the fox of Fire and Magma seemed to explode.

Oath-breakers! Kin-slayers! Betrayers! Murderers! I should have killed him when I had the chance! This mistake must be rectified!

Kiba grabbed Naruto and threw him into the furthest corner of the room and covered him with his body, shielding him from the rogue flames. Gale leapt to cover him, using his wind to blow away the majority of the fire from the two boys. Aqua leapt directly into the fray, fighting Ember's fire directly, making the room fill with steam. Terra started making earthen walls to contain them whilst Sparks took over the defences of the room, making sure no Anbu take advantage of this one week moment and break through. A loud explosion shook the room. It took Kiba a moment to realize that the explosion didn't occur in the room, but outside of it.

An ear-splitting roar pierced the air, commanding fear with its ferocity. The fires instantly died down, all spirits on alert. Kiba crouched in front of the unconscious blonde, ready to attack whatever was outside the room, Akamaru just in front of him, fur in end and lips bared in a silent growl. The sealed doors blasted inwards, metal twisting out of shape at the force that took them off their hinges. Kiba went over all he had learned the past four days in his head as he drew chakra into his hands. In the doorway stood a well endowed blonde woman, with a very scary look on her face. Behind her the sounds of screaming could be heard as well as many vicious growls and... was that a toad croaking? The woman's eyes scanned the room, passing over Kiba as if he were invisible.

"Where is he?" she demanded of the Guardians who stood before her. Kiba noted her dishevelled appearance and slightly damp clothing. He also noticed that the Guardians were leading her over to him.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Kiba said defensively, still not trusting the woman who had randomly appeared out of nowhere. She stopped and glared at Kiba, before looking confused. She looked towards Terra with a questioning look on her face. A vine detached itself from the earthen spirit at snaked over to place itself on the woman's ankle. Seconds went by in silence, in which Kiba gathered more chakra as discreetly as he could. The woman's face went from confused to shock, and then worried. Before Kiba could blink, the woman had thrown him across the room and dived to the side of the blonde who he was shielding.

"I couldn't even sense him..." she muttered worriedly, her hands glowing green as she examined him. Kiba got up painfully and limped over to the woman.

"Who are you?" he asked again, but softer as he recognised the advanced healing chakra that was being emitted from her person. The blonde woman spared him a brief glance before focusing all her attention on Naruto.

"His mother," she replied curtly. Kiba nodded in understanding and gave her room. He knew from experience never get between a mother and her pup; he had the scars to prove it. Although he still didn't trust her fully, and kept his posture and chakra on the ready, in case she tried anything. A disgusted snort made him whip his head around to the door that was blown open, before feeling a jab to the back of his neck and he fell into the embrace of unconsciousness.

"Is this really the standard of Konoha shinobi these days?" the bandaged man asked no one in particular. "He totally forgot about the Anbu outside."

"It's not his fault, he couldn't sense them if he tried. You took them all out remember?" laughed the older man with white, spiky hair, which was covered in an unknown slime. The bandages over the other man's face creased along the lines of the grin he was wearing.

"But he didn't sense us," added the youth, stepping over the unconscious body of an Anbu unfortunate enough to have been their opponents. The older man raised an eyebrow.

"You expect a gennin to be able to sense someone of your skill? Even I have trouble doing that sometime!" he pointed out. The youth just shrugged making the older men laugh, and walked over to the blonde woman, who had begun muttering under her breath. He looked over her shoulder and his eyes widened. Naruto's skin was paler than his mask, his breathing was near undetectable and shivers racked his frame. He looked nothing like the bubbly blonde he knew. He cast a fretful look towards the other two men, and they instantly quietened.

"How is he?" asked the bandaged man gruffly, only those who knew him would be able to hear the worried tone in his voice.

"Not good, I can't do anything by myself. Kyuubi!" she yelled, never taking her focus off the blonde that was now lying in her lap. He appeared beside her instantaneously, blood dripping from his claws and fur rippling in anger. His rage quickly died when his eyes took in the blonde's condition. A furry tail appeared in her hand and the two held a conversation using their innermost thoughts, taking about ten seconds to the others, but to them it was hours. They could only do one thing to help him. It would give him unimaginable power and it would change his life forever

...as well as outcast him more so from other people

... and make him hate them forever