Chapter 23 News

The high noon sun was baking down on the village a little worst then normal for being early fall. The towering structures of grand government buildings provided some shade as Itachi Uchiha walked down the thousand pulse steps to the giant red stone square. This square was located right in front of the giant royal city which was located in the very heart of the massive village. The entire demon feline village covered an area ten times the size of the Leaf village with dozens of satellite villages around it. However with the lost of population from the far large sections of the villages where shut down and empty of life however the square in front of the palace was crowed. As Itachi walked across the square he passed a large golden statue of the first demon lion king flanked by two silver statues of a panther and tiger warrior.

For a moment he stopped to look at the statue and back at the massive building behind it. The closest building was the giant red stone gate house which was second in height only to the central palace building. The gate house had two massive blood red flags with golden trim with the seal of the royal family on it. A side profile of a golden lion with its claws out and its mouth opened wide. All the buildings in the massive 200 acre complex looked strangely the same with red stone, with yellow glazed tiles for the tiered roofs. (Think the Forbidden City in China)

"They never do anything small." thought Itachi as he looked at the structures which could be seen from miles away. He turned his back on the palace as he walked the rest of the rest of the way across the giant square; over one of the many foot bridges before he entered a more residential area of village, this section was home to many of the royal guards. It was forbidden for any male who wasn't a member of the royal family or one of the main clan from sleeping inside the walls of the royal city. Finally he reached his goal a small food standoff bridge.

When he entered the smell of freshly cooked fish filled his nose as he sat down beside a bright orange tiger, with a plate full of fish.

"I remember when I had to steal to get food like this." said the tiger as he took a bite of the breaded fish.

"I remember when I first meet you…your body was being used as for the lack of a better term a puppet." Said Itachi

"Ya, because I didn't know you until they told me you where part of the Akatsuki." said Yahiko as the original founder of the Akatsuki looked at him. "You knew Nagato more then you knew me. Too bad that they couldn't turn him…that stupid Demonic Statue justu."

"I guess." said Itachi as he placed his lunch order "I mean how long did they keep you locked up?"

"Before I turned, let's see I die when I was twenty four which was seven years after they turned the 4th Hokage and his mate and they finally turned me eight years after that." stated Yahiko as the thirty two year old tiger looked at Itachi. "Not that age really matters now that we live millions of years."

"Don't you miss it?" whispered Itachi as he checked to make sure the cook wasn't listening "Don't miss being human?"

"Some days yes." answered Yahiko "But I look at it like this, if they hadn't taken me I would be dead. True I lost my humanity but it is better than death."

"And that doesn't upset you?" asked Itachi as the door to current behind them opened as the last guest arrived.

"Sorry for being late…doctor visit." said Konan as she sat down, like Yahiko she was a tiger only with deep blue fur with black strips running through it. White fur ran down her front, a rather noticeable bump could be seen, as Yahiko placed his hand on her stomach where their child was growing.

"Sorry I couldn't make it, they wanted me to give a report to the crowned princes' cousin." said Yahiko

"I am only two months along I can handle going to the doctor by myself." stated Konan as the two of them smiled as Itachi lifted his glass to his lips.

"Yahiko and Konan won't be much help….they are too vested in their new life." thought Itachi as Konan looked at him.

"Any word about the attacks?" asked Konan

"Too many " stated Itachi "Nothing for sure, some say they hit Earth country, other say Wave and still others said Lightening. They couldn't have hit all of them and have left as much of the army as they did behind."

"I see." said Yahiko

"Any word on your clan?" asked Konan

"Hard to call the Uchiha clan a clan now." said Itachi "I am the only one who became a cat, Sasuke is the only one who became a snake and the rest was split up amongst the wolves, bears and horses. The Uchiha clan has been divided."

"Your folks became wolves right?" asked Yahiko

"Ya, not that I have seen them since they turned." stated Itachi as he lowered his head a bit showing a surprising amount of emotion "Not even my mom wants to see me."

"Well you did kill them." stated Yahiko as Konan glared at him.

"To prevent another world war when they weakened the Leaf but all it did was drive them into the demon camp." stated Itachi "I even heard they had another child…I don't even know if I have another brother or a sister."

"Speaking of gender can they tell yet?" asked Yahiko in a voice that reminded Itachi a lot of Naruto when he dealt with him.

"Not until I am 14 weeks along, I am only nine weeks along." stated Konan with a smile

"What aren't you telling me?" asked Yahiko

"Well I was going to tell you tonight but…" said Konan with a smile "Twines."

"Twines?" asked Yahiko as he just looked at Konan who nodded her head.

"Yes." answered Konan as her own food arrived.

"We are having twines!" yelled Yahiko as cats on the street stopped before looking toward the happy soon to be father and the embarrassed soon to be mother. Everyone of them was smiling, births where something to celebrate in the demon villages since they were now so rare.

"Congratulation." said Itachi calmly as lifted his glass back to his lips as Yahiko and Konan got their hands shook by the people who had been watching.

"Check please." said Itachi as the cook himself walked up.

"This meal is on the house." said the tiger with a smile as he showed the long scar that ran across his face probably from the long ago war. "It isn't everyday that news like this happens."

"Thanks." said Itachi as he stood up and walk away.

Elsewhere in the demon world Seth Namikaze was lost in his thoughts as he sat on a large flat stone by a crystal blue lake. Seth looked into the blue what his feet a good two feet above the water. The foxes who were taking a walk through the park on their lunch breaks paid no mind to the young fox sitting by the water's edge.

"Seth Namikaze I believe." said a voice from behind Seth as he turned to see an older fox with fourteen tails. He had deep brown fur couldn't hid his advance age as he walked up toward Seth stopping on a much smaller rock.

"Your Malik Kettu leader of the Kettu clan." said Seth "You are head of the high council."

"Well I wouldn't call me the head of the high council, just one among equals." stated Malik "However I want to know what is going on with you Seth. You look like a kit with a lot on his mind."

"There is nothing you can really help me solve." said Seth

"Sometimes just telling someone else what is the problem is the best way to solve the problem." said Malik with a smile

"It's my pack." Stated Seth

"Ah….let me guess it is about your brother?" asked Malik

"I don't have a brother….he was born a human not a demon. He is not my brother" stated Seth as he looked out over the water "He doesn't care about demon tradition or anything that has to do with our race, he worries about the humans."

"Now Seth you don't mean that." stated Malik

"Yes, I do." snapped Seth

"No…you don't." said Malik "You love your brother, just like you love your parents even though they where humans and your sister even if she likes human culture over her natural one."

"I just don't get them." said Seth "Why do they care so much about the humans?"

"Seth try putting yourself in your parent's and brother's spot." said Malik "Try to imagine how you would feel if they turned you into a human and then told you to forget everything about being a demon. I would bet you would fight it."

"It isn't the same." stated Seth

"Isn't it?" asked Malik

"Being a demon is better than being a human." stated Seth

"True, but to them they were still ripped out of their human form and placed into a new form." said Malik

"That may explain my brother but my parents had 20 years as demons why do they care about humanity?" asked Seth

"I am not totally sure they do care that much about humanity itself." stated Malik as Seth looked at him "They cared for what they left behind."

"What are you talking about?" asked Seth

"Before even your sister was born, your father came to the high council and begged for permission to have Naruto turned." said Malik as Seth's eyes widened "He wasn't asking for his humanity back…he was asking for us to take Naruto's humanity away."

"That doesn't sound like my dad." said Seth

"Your dad just wanted his pack back together but he lost his motion by a single vote." said Malik "If he had won Naruto would have been turned before his third birthday and your pack would have been together all this time."

"I still don't feel it would have changed anything." said Seth

"I think it would have changed everything, your parents are among the few who where turned but we left loved ones human. They had that contention to the human world, their oldest son was human and they had been taken from him." said Malik "To a parent to be forcedly separated from a child is hell itself."

"Well he is with us now so why are still siding with the humans?" asked Seth

"Well Naruto and what is the name of the vixen?" asked Malik

"Sakura." answered Seth

"Thanks, well the two of them have good friends who are still human, once they turn they will likely accept demon hood." stated Malik "Just give them time."

"But Naruto took it from me." said Seth as Malik raised an eyebrow wondering what the long kit was talking about. "I wanted to be second chair, then first chair of the pack and finally become the head of the general assembly."

"I see." said Malik "So when your father has to resigns from his clan spot after 25 million years, Naruto as older brother would take his spot for another 25 million years. By then Naruto would likely have a son of his own to take the spot."

"It's not fair, he doesn't even want it but because he is the older brother." stated Seth

"Well Seth you know there are ways around that rule." stated Malik 'If your father and the council rules him incompliant but that isn't likely going to happen. From his file he may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he is smart."

"That means my only hope is to defeat him in a duel but that isn't going to happen either." Stated Seth as he looked at his two tails

"Well it is too early to say that Seth, you are but a young kit." Stated Malik "I mean you aren't even in a squad yet and you have a second tail…most kits don't get their second tail until they spend at least a year with their squad leader in training. Your dad is almost a ten tails and your mother is almost an eight tails. Your sister is advanced for her age and you should be around the same strength as your father when you are Naruto's age now."

"Doesn't matter." said Seth "Naruto is too powerful."

"What are you talking about has Naruto finished turning?" asked Malik as Seth nodded his head.

"He mated with Sakura and they finished turning." Said Seth as Malik waited to hear the strength report on Naruto and Sakura.

"What are their strengths?" asked Malik

"Sakura has seven." Answered Seth as Malik nodded his head; it was in the middle of the range they expected for Sakura

"Naruto has twelve tails." added Seth as Malik's eyes widened that was a lot higher then they estimated.

"Twelve?" asked Malik as Seth nodded his head "Well that changes things."

Meanwhile in the Namikaze den Sakura sat at the kitchen table with a salad in front of her but it just didn't taste as good as it had when she was human.

"I recommend you put some meat on it." said Kushina as she sat put a plate of Naruto's baked chicken leftovers on the table. "Foxes are natural Carnivores and while we can eat anything a human does it tastes better with some meat on it."

"Thanks." said Sakura as she took some of the chicken on her salad as Kushina sat across from her. Naruto was in the shower and Minato had been sent out to get some items for dinner so that left Sakura and Kushina alone. "Listen I know you probably saw way to much this morning."

"Ya…I did." said Kushina "Next time you and my son do anything like that…lock the door."

"Will do." said Sakura as she waited a moment "I know this may be weird but I have a question. Seth said I was a mate-in-waiting before I actually did it with Naruto."

"You want to know what your statues in the family is?" asked Kushina

"Yes." answered Sakura

"Just because you had sex with my son doesn't make you his mate." said Kushina

"What!" yelled Inner Sakura

"Unless something happened in the human world since we were taken I don't sleeping with someone atomically means you're married to them." stated Kushina

"I guess that makes sense." said Sakura "So what is needed to be…."

"Sakura Namikaze?" asked Kushina as Sakura nodded her head. "Pretty much the same thing that is needed for human marriages. Someone normally the guy has to propose then comes the ceremony and the village council has to approve it. Something they normally rubber stamp."

"I see." said Sakura "So what is a demon wedding like.'

"Jumping a little ahead aren't we." said Kushina as Sakura looked at her.

"I just want to know." said Sakura "You had to go though it didn't you?"

"No…Minato and I were married in secret before Naruto was born." said Kushina before she laughed a bit "In fact Naruto was born nine months to the day of our wedding."

"On the first night." laughed Sakura

"Well our first night as Mr. and Mrs. Namikaze but not our first night." laughed Kushina "But they transferred the marriage over to the demon world but even if they hadn't we would have been mated."

"How so?" asked Sakura

"Because under demon fox custom if a couple have a kit together they are mated no ceremony or council approval needed." Stated Kushina "The only other way apart from that is for a couple to be together without mating with anyone else for 25 million years."

"But I guess by then they normally have a kit or two." said Sakura as Kushina nodded her head.

"Well the few natural born demon who can still have kits now have an average of seven kits." said Kushina as Sakura's eyes widened.

"Seven?" asked Sakura "Never heard of birth control?"

"They are trying to save their race." said Kushina

"I have been meaning to ask you…." started Sakura

"Yes, the birth control justu you know works the same as a demon as it does as a human." stated Kushina

"Good." said Sakura

"Ya…and it is common for the oldest kit to have kits of their own before their third brother or sister are born." said Kushina "They want the humans to do the same thing so their population can go up."

"Won't that lead to over population?" asked Sakura 'The total human population having seven kids per couple?"

"If the human world and the Demon world where the same size." Said Kushina "They demon world is about ten times the size of the human world and at the moment with all the demon races it has a population of the land of fire and let's say wind together."

Meanwhile in Iwagakure their elder Kage awoke to find himself chained up along with the other elders of the village and the older members of the village. They were packed into a room that less than fifty feet long and fifteen feet wide. It looked like one of the cold meat refrigerator that was used in the meat packing warehouse.

"Lord Tsuchikage." said an old woman as she looked at her Kage "Your finally awake."

"What is the situation?" asked Onoki as he looked around at the last living members of his generation. He knew most of their faces from the years they had spent together in the village or even when they were growing up together.

"The situation is you are all about to die." stated Orochimaru as he appeared in the only way out of the room.

"Orochimaru?" asked Onoki

"Yes, old man." hissed Orochimaru as Onoki looked at the giant white demon snake. "Now I hope you all enjoyed your lives because you have at most five minutes left to live."

"What do you mean? You demons want humans why would you kill us?" asked Onoki as Orochimaru smiled as a forked tongue poked its way out of his mouth.

"The simple answer is your too old." stated Orochimaru "You are too old to breed new young and or the transformation itself would more than likely kill you. So we are not going to waste the time and the drug turning you."

"Why are you here?" asked Onoki

"To watch you die." Laughed Orochimaru as he placed a small box down in front of Onoki before turning and slithered away "I would say hold your breath but it won't matter."

With that Orochimaru close the large metal door leading the way out. A few moments after the door close the small box in front of Onoki became to release a think cloud of white smoke. Onoki held his breath as he fought against the restraints trying to get his hands free so he could try a justu. All around the other people began to foam from the mouth and shake uncontrollably as their souls left them. Finally only Onoki remained as his lungs burned from the lack of air. Finally he couldn't hold it anymore as he breathed in the gas. Instantly he knew was done for and he would soon join his wife. Outside Orochimaru watched the scene though a small window.

"You are sick snake." stated Vachan as the tiger walked up to the head medical researcher of the demon snakes and the one of the key players in the turning of humanity. "We could have killed them all in when they are knocked out."

"What is the fun in that?" asked Orochimaru "Besides the councils want those weapons left over from the demon lizards removed. I am just using them."

In the leaf war room located inside the Hokage building Tsunade was looking over the latest reports.

"Has it been confirmed?" asked Tsunade as she looked toward Shikamaru Nara.

"Yes, Iwagakure along with every village in Earth country has been taken." stated Shikamaru "And reports are that Mountain Country and Stone country likely shared a similar fate."

"I thought their plan was to hit all of us at the same time?" asked Tsunade

"Plans change." said Shikamaru "They may not be hitting us nation by nation."

"Ok…let's say they are taking nation by nation how long until they hit us all?" asked Tsunade

"Judging from the population size of the villages they took." said Shikamaru as he looked down at the map which showed the location of every village and the average population of each along with other military details "I would have to say between seven and nine strikes in total to take the entire world. That is if they behave like we think they are."

"What about if we all fall back to a hand full of villages?" asked Ino "Have the Sand evaluate to here."

"How would the village absorb all those people, we would run out of supplies." stated Shikamaru

"And it would make a big target." stated Sai

"There has to be something we can do?" asked Ino

"If we fall back to fortified positions we will either run out of supplies or they will strike us to get all the humans they can in a single attack." stated Sai

"And Iwagakure would have been the best place to hold up and they took that out first." stated Shikamaru

"There has to be something we can do?" asked Ino

"Only thing we can do is put my plan into action." stated Shikamaru "I sent a message to Temari about my idea and she was already working on a similar plan. She agrees it is our best play."

"You can't possibly be serious?" asked Kado as he looked at his father as the two of them moved toward the front door of the Namikaze den.

"If Seth is correct." said Malik "Then we have the youngest demon ever to become a 12 tailed fox."

"I don't see how that is possible." Said Kado

"You spent twenty years inside his head and you write the report on him." Said Malik

"I predicted he would be at the very least an eight boarding a nine, more than likely he would be a nine like his dad since they are about the same in strength but twelve tails at his age…there is no way." stated Kado "Seth must have miss counted."

"Well only one way to find out." said Malik as he knocked on the front door of the Namikaze den. The door opened to show a large blonde fox with deep blue eyes, black whisker marks on the side of his muzzle and twelve tails moving behind him.

"What took you so long?" asked Naruto as he looked at the two wide eyed foxes.

Well I hope you liked this chapter. I wasn't sure if Yahiko had died before the 4th Hokage in the anime but in my story he died after so he was taken. Now I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I ask that you keep on reading. Thanks Wilkins75.