A/N: Hey there awesome reader! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and feel free to leave a review, they're much appreciated! That's enough from me, so get reading why don't ya! ;)

Naruto saw the scroll that Kiba had fixed in his rugged hand. It appeared archaic and had a rustic look to it, hinting that the scroll could have been many decades, or even centuries old. Naruto gingerly reached for the scroll from Kiba's hands, still worried that it could be booby-trapped and end up killing the both of them.

'Get a hold of yourself Kit! If it was booby-trapped your puppy would of been blown sky-high by now!' Kyuubi barked, trying to hurry her Jinchuuriki.

"My Puppy?!" his face turned crimson red, especially so after realizing that he shouted it out-loud, which was happening a lot recently.

"Teh! A Puppy? I'm a full-grown wolf foxy; and I'll prove it if I have to!" Kiba winked at Naruto, hoping to see Naruto try to cope with both embarrassing himself and being flirted at.

Naruto had enough of being taken as a sissy fool, so he grinned like a cheeky fox and responded.

"I wouldn't mind seeing some 'proof'." he purred, shocking Kiba with his newly found sassy fox persona.

"I-I w-was uhh..." the other boy stuttered, turning red as he didn't expect Naruto to respond so confidently and... flirtatiously.

Naruto saw Kiba had gone red, sending all kinds of signals to his mind.

'Hey uhh Kyu? D-Do you think he likes me?!'

'Hmm he's blushing almost as much as you, but it wouldn't be fair to make such assumptions on that... I'll keep watch on his body language and let you know later Kit, I need to be certain.'

'Heh, thanks Kyu!'

"Ugh Naruto?" Kiba finally recovered from Naruto's flirtatious comeback to get on with more pressing matters while shaking the scroll in his hand to emphasize that.

"Oh, right!" Naruto took hold of the scroll, but accidentally touched one of Kiba's fingers, causing him to shudder slightly.

'Kami, that was only a touch with our fingers...' the blonde gasped.

Kyuubi mentally slapped the blonde, 'By Kami hurry up and open that frickin' scroll already!' she barked, getting tired of Naruto's girly behaviour around Kiba.

'Ok Ok!'

Naruto finally rolled the scroll open much to his surprise, as this wasn't any particular Jutsu, or even a group of offensive mind controlling Jutsu which they were looking for, but instead...

| Defense against Genjutsu: Amulets and Talismans |

"I don't see why you picked it out Kiba, we need to find the actual..-"

"Read it, baka." he replied, signaling how important this find was.

Naruto sighed then opened the dusty scroll. He rolled it open continuously, coming across depictions of necklaces and trinkets that were made from special materials through clan rituals, listing the needed materials as rolled and rolled the scroll out for what seemed like ages, becoming less focused the further down he got to.

"There!"

Kiba pointed his index finger at a few sentences explaining just another Amulet, but something was different, yet familiar, with this certain necklace...

The description said:

'An ancient heirloom of the Senju Clan of Konoha, this amulet is said to protect its wearer against Genjutsu that controls the body and mind. A highly sought after piece of enchanted jewelry that has been strictly passed down the Senju line, now held by the one of the Sannin, Princess Tsunade.'

Naruto was in awe after realizing that the necklace that Tsunade recently gifted Naruto, was in fact this legendary Amulet as shown in the book.

"Woah... good job Kiba! If this scroll is true then we can just put this one on you, and ask Tsunade for help to make another one with the instructions here."

Naruto's excitement was short lived, however, as he noticed he couldn't feel the Amulet around his neck.

"Crap, where's my necklace?! he yelled.

Naruto was frantic at this point, as he knew he had put it on earlier in the day.

"No... for Kami's sake what if The Manipulator shows up an takes control of you again! We can't afford to-!"

Naruto stopped his rant and looked down to Kiba's hand which was held out in front of him, his eyes growing larger the more he took in what he saw. By the end of it Naruto's eyes looked ready to pop out of his head after he realized that Kiba was holding a necklace: which was Tsunade's Amulet.

"W-Where did you get that from? Don't tell me you took it when I weren't looking!" He accused, pointing his finger at Kiba with deadly intent.

"How could I manage to take it off your neck without you knowing, when I clearly haven't even been near you? You're such a moron sometimes Naruto!"

Kyuubi also snickered at Kiba's remark, saying something about him 'knowing the truth' and 'your idiocy' or something along those lines, as the yet again humiliated blonde tried blocking out her mocking voice. Naruto blushed at realizing how ridiculous his accusation was, so he gave Kiba the chance to explain how he really got hold of his amulet.

"How did you get it then?"

"I found it on my beanbag, you must have dropped it there after running for your life!" he laughed.

"Wait, how did you know I ran for my life?" The blonde curiously replied, not realizing he confirmed Kiba's suspicion.

"Akamaru told me."

"Oh." The blonde dumbly replied, remembering that the huge dog could communicate with others in its clan.

"Well anyway, we gotta get this scroll to Tsunade and hopefully get her permission to create a new amulet." the blonde chirped, knowing that they should only go to confront The Manipulator with ample protection.

"Good plan, but an obvious one..." the other boy winked, trying to add some light-heartedness again.

Naruto turned away while trying to hide his emerging blush, Kyuubi weren't helping, with her making reference to how sexy Kiba's winks were, among other things. Naruto blocked both Kiba and Kyuubi from his mind and began walking back to the exit, with Kiba following him while still laughing.

Both boys walked back towards the door to the Standard archives, engaging in general conversation to try to help reduce the anxiety of The Manipulator's influence. Naruto was starting to feel confident and secretly excited about the whole ordeal, as it had proven to be a challenge that has already made Naruto a stronger and smarter person, which to him is one step closer to achieving his dream of becoming Hokage.

Kiba on the other hand was still wondering about what he should do about his new confusing feelings for the blonde jinchuuriki. He was skeptical about having romantic feelings for him as he thought he had never experienced those feelings, for anybody. The handsome Inuzuka had been flirted to by Ino, Tenten and most of the other girls in his age group, but he never felt as interested in them as they were to him. Naruto however had given Kiba strange, yet otherworldly feelings that he couldn't categorize other than being... indeed, strange. But for now he'd just see him as his best friend still, nothing else. They both continued to think to themselves while engaging in idle chatter, as they fast approached the exit.

"Naruuu!"

Both boys just made out the person's appearance by the exit: black shinobi boots, 3/4 length black pants and a belly top. It was clearly Sai. He stopped in front of the two shinobi, having a surprisingly natural smile adorn his features, something which Sai usually found very difficult to achieve.

'He must have found something we can use! Naruto chirped to himself, feeling huge optimism like the mystery was fast on its way to being solved.

"Why hi there Kiba, Naru!"

Naruto cringed again at hearing that awful pet name, Kiba saw this and tried to stifle a laugh.

"Uhh hi Sai, did you get anything we can use?" the blonde awkwardly replied.

"Why yes, I did! Would you like to see what I've acquired?"

"Well obviously!" Kiba barked, getting annoyed the more he heard Sai's pointless stalling.

Sai pulled a book out of one of his pouches in his ninja belt, it was relatively small but was called the "5th Addition Shinobi Databook", sparking the interest of the other two teens.

"I managed to obtain a confidential book of records that has the recorded skills and attributes of the Rookie 9!" He grinned. Naruto at first looked perplexed at why Sai brought this particular book.

"Why would you bring us one on the skills of the Rookie 9? Whoever this manipulator is, they are the enemy!" he shouted, seeing the manipulator in his head as an evil grotesque mass of snakes, like Orochimaru.

"From what you explained to me and Sakura was that the possessed Kiba said quite envious immature things, such as "You think you are the best" and so forth. So I thought that it must be one of the Rookie 9, as after all they are all weak compared to you and that has probably created some extreme jealousy!" Sai smiled bluntly.

"Weak?! At least I don't attack with a frickin' paint brush!" the brunette snarled.

Sai turned to the brunette and gave his usual horrifically creepy smile, not knowing how to react to Kiba's response so decided creeping him out would silence him either way.

While Sai and Kiba argued, on Kiba's part mostly, Naruto was thinking to why any of the Rookie 9, his supposed peers and friends, would try to get him or Kiba killed. The blonde truly didn't want to have to interrogate his friends, but if it would stop him and Kiba, or more people, getting possessed then it was a risk worth taking.

"Sai... let me see that book".

"Righty-O! You must go to page 32 to see Rookie 9's stats. I'd recommend looking at the Genjutsu section for any real idea to who could have cast the Jutsu!"

'Well who would've thought! We were going to look at the Taijutsu stats until you just told us...' Kyuubi sarcastically scolded.

"OK... thanks Sai, it means a lot that you helped us out, I'll read this later!" the blonde grinned, grateful that there are still people he can trust and count on.

Sai deliberated on how to react to his 'Naru's' thanking, and decided to show some camaraderie and hug his Naru in a death-grip. While Naruto was struggling to breathe, he heard growling and turned towards the sound to see Kiba showing his incredibly sharp teeth to Sai.

'Oh, well isn't this very interesting...' Kyuubi added.

"K-Kiba?" Naruto worried, thinking he was the one being growled at.

"O-Oh, erm I just s-saw a rat! Yeah I thought it was gonna bite you Naruto so I scared it away hehehe..." Kiba lied awfully, trying to make a good alibi for his spontaneous growling.

"Oh, really? To me it sounded like you was growling at me for holding Naru!" Sai replied, humiliating the now blushing brunette.

"N-No I wasn't, you liar!"

"OK, OK that's enough you guys." the blonde muttered, getting tired of the arguing. He left Sai's grip and regained his breath, then began to walk to the exit of the Standard Archives.

"We gotta get moving Kiba, thanks again Sai!" Naruto shouted his thanks to Sai, with Kiba following behind him.

"Bye Naru, and mutt!" Sai smiled, pissing Kiba off even more.

"Why you arty-dobe! I'll shove that paintbrush right up you're a...!" He was cut off by Naruto yanking him out the door to try to stop another attempted murder from occurring. Both teens walked towards the Hokage tower, Naruto hadn't opened the Data-book yet as he wanted more evidence before making assumptions on his friends. The blonde led the way to Tsunade's office, as he had a greater experience with the volatile "baa-chan" then Kiba did.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Come in!"

Naruto opened the solid Oak door and confidently waltzed in, with a hesitant Kiba slowly walking in too, bowing his head to the Hokage while Naruto didn't even think of doing such a thing.

"Baa-chan, you knew that Amulet you gave me protected me against Genjutsu, right?"

"Well yes, It's common knowledge in the Senju clan, but how do you know, and why did you ask?" The princess inquired, very much surprised at Naruto's sudden curiosity of her heirloom.

"We found a scroll in the restricted archives in the Genjutsu section that said this amulet could be replicated, we need another one."

"What?! Why would you need another one?" She demanded, now wanting to know why Naruto and Kiba are making such appeals.

'You're gonna have to tell her Kit if you want her help, so get it over and done with!' the fox advised.

'...Fine'

Naruto explained the situation to her with Kiba pitching in every so often to help make the situation sound more valid to the scrutinizing Hokage. After about 10 minutes of explaining to her, she then had to think about where to go with the surprising revelations.

'So Kiba got possessed, and they believe it's by a Genjutsu caster that could be in the Rookie 9...' she thought over, trying to make sense of it and see if their current investigations are leading them in the right path.

Naruto and Kiba both watched the thinking Hokage anxiously, hoping she would lend her assistance in crafting another Amulet at least. Tsunade was not known for being very compassionate, but her beloved knucklehead Naruto had given her a soft spot that often showed.

"I'll go to the head of the Senju clan: Mokuzai, and instruct him to gather the resources to build a second Amulet of oak. It should be done within a day or two so go preoccupy yourselves until then".

"Thank you baa-chan!" Naruto ran around behind her desk and grabbed her in a hug much like Sai's: a death-grip.

"Thank you so much Lady Tsunade!" Kiba also ran around to give her a hug, his emotions getting the better of him, eternally grateful that she helped them two times when she could have stopped them at first notice.

However, Tsunade wasn't much for hugs, as was evidently shown when her Ballistic Fists of Destiny smashed into Naruto and Kiba's face, sending the devastated teens flying out of her office to great effect. They both recovered after about 5 minutes with the help of Shizune, who was sent by Tsunade to tend to them if she managed to almost hospitalize them. Shizune bid the boys good luck and returned to the office.

"Ughh my head..." the blonde groaned.

"Guhh I know, she sure has a strange way of showing her affection!" Kiba exclaimed, getting used to Tsunade's Kicks of pain and Punches of destiny as her form of boys stood up and began to walk/limp down the stone steps outside of the tower. They both eventually reached the bottom and decided it best to go back to their houses to get some rest, It was 11pm after all. Before they parted ways, Naruto was reminded by Kyuubi to give Kiba the Amulet as he was at greater risk, or so they thought.

"Kiba, I think you should wear this amulet for now." Naruto extended his hand with the Amulet on show.

"Nah I'll be fine. It's your amulet after all and you could be possessed too!"

"Kyuubi can often break me out of a Genjutsu, so I guess there's less chance of me being controlled by this weird Jutsu, you need it more than I do..."

He walked over to Kiba and placed it around his neck. His warm breath now on Kiba's neck. Azure and Hazel eyes met, giving both boys that same weird feeling in their stomachs again, making them breathe heavier than normal. They both weren't expecting this, at all, but they decided to see if taking a risk could be worth it.

They both stared into each others eyes for what seemed like an age; 'the eyes being the window to the soul' was definitely true in this case, as both boys looked and saw pure emotion within each other; something they both still couldn't explain.

'Go for it Kit.' Kyuubi encouraged.

Naruto leaned in, taking in the beautiful aroma of Kiba more deeply than ever before: a handsome smell both hygienic yet inherently masculine that was a pleasure to smell. Kiba done the same, yet feeling he was being scanned by Naruto's eyes while fully appreciating the blondes foxy-allure too, as the scent of Vanilla gave a familiar yet undeniable smell that was most definitely Naruto. Both boys moved closer, so near to connecting and truly creating something between both teens. Kiba placed one of his soft yet masculine hands on Naruto's left whiskered cheek.

Both lips were just centimetres away.

'It's about time you've got to this point... well done kit.' Kyuubi proudly congratulated her kit for making it this far, but he still needed to make the final move.

Their lips slightly touched, already sending sparks through each-others bodies, then

"Naruto!"

Both boys span on their heels, separating from each others hold.

''Who the HELL has just ruined my kits moment!?' Kyuubi was enraged,.

The voice that stopped Kiba and Naruto was a girl: it was in fact Sakura, who ran towards the blonde; looking incredibly crestfallen after being interrupted from what looked to be his first kiss with Kiba.

"What is it Sakura..." Naruto sighed, not able to be angry with her as sorrow was forefront in his mind.

"My mission got cancelled so I was just on my way to the Hospital to access the files, until I saw you two." She clearly had good intentions of wanting to greet the teens, but if she had realized what they were about to do, she wouldn't even of thought about intruding.

"Well we're fine, we just found out that my amulet can protect the wearer against Genjutsu, so Kiba's wearing it." He remembered just a second ago of putting it on his neck, then taking in his aroma...

Sakura noticed how downtrodden Naruto was, which surprised her as he would normally be buzzing all over the place with excitement at figuring out a way to help stop the manipulator. However it was when she saw Kiba that she begun to realize what she could have intruded upon, he looked frustrated and... cheated, almost.

"O-Oh Kami I'm s-so sorry! I-I'll meet up with you guys tomorrow sometime!" She ran off trying to leave the boys as fast as she could, as if it could rewind time somehow.

Naruto was the first to speak after the lengthy and incredibly awkward silence: "W-Well it's getting late and all so I guess we should head back to our houses..."

"Yeah I guess..." Kiba almost sounded less downtrodden than Naruto, but he didn't let his emotions show as much as the blonde did; it was something an Inuzuka was often forbidden to do.

"I'll s-see you tomorrow then..." Naruto started to walk off, but was shocked by hearing something which he thought must have been imaginary.

"Dinner tomorrow?"

Naruto heard, he slowly turned around to make sure he was hearing correctly.

"W...What?"

Kiba took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself to repeat those heavy words.

"I said... Dinner tomorrow!" he almost shouted, as if trying to get it across without having to tortuously repeat himself.

"..." Naruto stood gobsmacked at Kiba, not knowing what to say as he certainly weren't expecting it, but rather for them to both part ways.

'Say yes, say yes you baka!' Kyuubi shouted at Naruto, trying to jumpstart the numb teen. It worked with great effect as he shook his head slightly and looked straight on to Kiba.

"U-Uhhh yeah! T-That would b-be great!" he stuttered madly, not really believing what was happening.

"Great! We could stop by my place for Six?" the brunette beamed with surprising confidence, not letting himself mess up such a crucial moment by sounding like a drab-towel.

"Y-Yeah... that'd be amazing." Naruto whispered towards the end, clearly forgetting that the Inuzuka had superior hearing, which caused Kiba to grin madly.

"I'll see you tomorrow then Naruto! Goodnight!" Kiba shouted while running off, clearly happy with the response he got.

"O-Ok, night Kiba!" He responded with just as much energy, feeling ready to burst with nervous excitement at what just happened.

'Can you believe this Kyu?! He asked me out to a date... it's so surreal!' the blonde jumped around in Kyuubi's cage which he mentally visited, ecstatic in the change of events.

'Well done Kit. I forgot to tell you earlier, but I knew he had felt something for you earlier.'

'Why didn't you tell me?' He replied, more curious than frustrated however, as he was still too happy to be mad at her.

'I needed to see if you had grown up enough to pursue a relationship without me always giving you a heads-up, which you pretty much proved. You've got a fine catch there kit, and I'm sure he'll be great in bed too...'

'Kyu!'

Naruto and Kiba both made their way back to their own homes, both however feeling slightly different to what just occurred between them. Kiba knew there was something about Naruto which made him stand out among the rest, and that feeling was also felt in their short kiss. He wasn't still sure if it would work out, or even if his family would allow such a relationship, but knew that the date was a perfect indicator for all those questions anyway.

Naruto on the other hand couldn't have been anymore excited. He had high hopes for Kiba being the best boyfriend he could ask for, worlds better than Sasuke was. He decided to think back to how he had indulged in a relationship with Sasuke, but how he had his heart-broken after he was abused so much by him.

Tears formed in Naruto's eyes, remembering how awful Sasuke treated him. How he was treated like the dirt underneath the Uchiha's feet, a tool at most. He remembered all of those painful things so he hoped that, unlike Sasuke, pursuing a relationship with Kiba would make his life better, not worse. He already knew Kiba to be loyal, protective and surprisingly caring of his friends, and of him especially.

But now that Kiba has the Amulet, Naruto didn't need to worry about the brunette being hurt or forced to hurt others. And hopefully Kyuubi could help protect Naruto from the controlling Jutsu also. Although the manipulator was still out there, both boys could hopefully afford to spend the next day away from the whole crises. They needed to wait for another amulet and more clues from Sakura anyway; so a day of eating Ramen and spending quality time with Kiba was definitely at the top of Naruto's agenda.

But not so much of someone elses.

A/N: As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter!