Chapter 14:

It was time for a group effort. All the kitsune were going to work together of this illusion. When kitsune got together and used their fox fire as one, the illusion was much greater. They could even create an entire reality that humans would perceive as real.

Naruto and Ryosuke led the fourth man to the rest of the hunters. Ryosuke kept looking back to make sure Naruto was still following. His injury was painful and slowing him down, but Naruto insisted he could still keep up and didn't need help.

There were the men. Ryosuke ran forward and ran between their legs. The hunters stopped and tried to track the fox with their eyes. Naruto ran around them while they were all distracted by Ryosuke and hid behind a tree. Naruto attempted to climb it but his injury made it difficult. Ishi and Seki came down to help push him up into the branches.

"I thought you were at the farm," said one of the hunters.

"I was but then two foxes showed up and ran into the woods. One of them's injured. It fell for the trap I set up."

"You idiot! I told you no traps on the farm! The man has horses there."

"Yeah! No kidding!" The hunter showed his bloody ear to the others. "The damn thing was biting my head, too!"

The kitsune began to snicker. Their friend Jack was beyond words. That horse was willing to do anything for his fox friends, limitations or no limitations.

"If that farmer's animals get hurt, do you know what will happen to us? Wild animals only! We are here to hunt down foxes and nothing else."

"I got it, I got it. Don't worry, I only set down one trap. We'll clean everything up when we leave."

"Which happens when we finish the job."

The kitsune got into position in the trees and...

"Fox fire."

Right before their eyes, the trees began to sink into the ground and the hunters were staring at a bare landscape. They huddled together, back-to-back, looking frightened. Tall buildings and lights took the place of the trees, leaping from the ground like rapidly growing flowers. Colorful lanterns and kites hovered overhead, connecting to the buildings. Everything was colored orange, yellow, pink and purple. It looked just like a festival.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Maybe we ate some bad food or something?"

"So, you're seeing this, too? It's not just me?"

"I'm seeing it but... I'm not sure if I'm believing it."

Aurora smirked and sent down two flames of her own doing. The flames took on the shape of two matching women in skimpy outfits and G-cups. The twin girls skipped over to the men and held up bottles of sake, two in each hand, making eight in total.

"Gentlemen, welcome!" they sang cheerfully. "Would you care for a drink?"

The hunters stared at the women open-mouthed. "This can't be real."

"We're dreaming this, right?"

Wanting to get in on the action, Naruto followed Aurora's example and conjured up his own women which looked a lot like his Sexy Jutsu and had them skip over to the men, giggling and squealing with delight.

"Oh, look, girls! Some strong men have come to play with us!"

The men were frozen, his faces beat red, as the blond girl came running over and started touching them from head to belt, which had the men squeaking.

"Th- this isn't real...!" one of them whimpered. "This can't be real. Can it?"

"They feel real to me!" One man had Naruto's women pressed tightly up against his chest and back, their large breasts mushed against his body. Unable to resist, the man pulled them in for an embrace and steam started to shoot from his nose. "This is amazing!"

Another hunter had his eyes shut tight, shaking his head from side to side. "This isn't real, this isn't real! It's a dream! It has to be a dream!"

"If it's a dream then it's a good one! Just enjoy it!" The fourth man wrapped his arms around Aurora's girl and held her tight. "If this is a dream then, damn it, I never want to wake up! This is perfect!"

"I know, right? I never get women to throw themselves at me like this! This is a dream come true!"

Aurora's girls waved the sake bottles in the air, tempting them. "Shall we open up a bottle or two, boys?"

"Yes, we would love to drink with you."

Naruto's girls bounced in place and rubbed against the men. "Oh, please, let's have a drink! It's so yummy! Like you!"

"Ah, screw it!" The men gave in and spent their time attending to the women on their laps.

This was a time when Naruto was perfectly happy not being able to feel what the Sexy Jutsu was feeling. Since it wasn't a jutsu and therefore not clone, or himself, but mere illusions, Naruto didn't feel anything. The men could grope as much as they wanted and he never felt a thing. Which was a very good thing because Naruto's girls were getting a beating. These men were very rough with them which the girls seemed to like just fine. They were even kissing the girls and it was a kind of kissing Naruto had never seen before.

"You ok?" Ishi asked when he saw Naruto grimace.

"Yeah..." Naruto gulped, feeling a little sick watching them. "I'm just so glad it's not me..." Normally when he did this sort of thing, it was him transformed as a girl so he felt everything. It was fun to tease the men and it was always hilarious to see their reactions, however Naruto never went as far as these illusions did. He never kissed a man on the lips and he never let them touch him like that. It was just too disgusting.

"Your girl illusions are great, Naruto," said Superu. "Aurora's the best at it, then again she's the only one willing to try. But you're pretty good at this."

"I practice. I invented my own jutsu. I call it the Sexy Jutsu. It's when I transform myself into looking like a girl to surprise men. It's really funny. It's a ninja trick."

"Oh, I see. Do you do this stuff with that skill, too?"

Naruto felt sick again. "Uh... no. It's just gross. I'd rather have a girl touching me than some pervy old man."

"Good thing it's just illusions and not really you, right Naruto?" asked Ishi.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Naruto muttered. "I was just thinking the same thing."

The illusion went on for some time. It certainly seemed like hours had gone by, and the men were still going at it. The girls Aurora had conjured were doing a strip tease for the men while Naruto's illusions sat on their laps and rubbed their chests and faces, cooing in their ears. They tossed money into the air and the men filled their pockets. Naruto was wondering how much longer this was going to go on. He had had enough.

"I found the girl I'm going to marry," declared one of the men loudly. "All of you!"

The girls giggled and cheered and continued to flirt with the men.

The sake bottles kept coming to their lips. No matter how much they drank, the bottles never emptied. The girls never got bored with them and they never complained, no matter how or where the men touched them. What was especially odd was the fact that the blond girls all looked alike. Could all ten of these girls be identical and related? Even their outfits were the same. Everything about this was odd. Where did they all come from all of a sudden? How did this huge city appear in the middle of the forest like this and why were there no other people around? They all felt really good and yet none of them felt drunk even though they had a lot of sake. Something just didn't seem right.

The laughter died down and the lights started to go out. The women were getting fainter and fainter until the men could no longer feel or see them. The sake bottles vanished from their hands and they found themselves back in the middle of the forest sitting in the dirt.

"What the hell just happened?"

The wads of money the women were tossing into the air had turned back into leaves. The lipstick around their faces and necks were gone as well. Now there was no proof that women were here at all.

As a matter of fact, something else was missing.

"Where are our weapons?"

"They were just here a moment ago."

The men started searching but it was no use. While the men were distracted, Ryosuke and Seki had gone down and snatched up all their weapons and carried them off. The arrows were snapped in half and the blades were hauled off to the edge of the woods. The hunters were defenseless now.

"What the hell just happened?!"

"I knew it! I knew something was wrong!"

"So, it was all a dream?"

"I think we hallucinated off of something."

"Come on! We didn't eat anything funny."

"Then what do you think happened?"

"How the hell should I know?"

It was time for another trick. "Fox fire."

Leaves began to crunch as someone walked closer to where the men stood, still looking very confused and frightened. The men looked up and saw a woman standing between the trees, watching them.

"Ok, what fresh hell is this?" One of the hunters stood, looking very annoyed, as if a child who wouldn't take no for an answer was about to taunt him once again. "Hey, you. Lady. Are you real or just some trick?"

She didn't move or speak.

"It's a trick. Maybe someone set up a dummy to try and spook us."

The woman began to move. She stepped forward and came closer to the men. The closer she got, the more she began to change. Her hair turned black, her skin became white and her eyes became dark. When she was right in front of them, she threw back her head and screeched so shrilly, it made every man flinch and cover his ears. Her skin began to melt from her face and gathered in a pool around her feet. Her skeletal face grinned menacingly at them before being swallowed up by the puddle of skin and then claw her way back out, becoming more and more frightening as she moved.

"What the hell is that?"

"What's going on here?"

They had no weapons to defend themselves. If this was real, they were in trouble. They had no way to kill it.

The woman melted again and this time when she did, the pool turned blood-red and spread until the men were standing on top of it. The puddle surrounded them. Their reflections started to climb out of the blood and reached for them with crazed expressions and grasped their necks. They were being strangled by their own reflections.

"No!"

They screamed and pushed themselves away, afraid for their lives.

"This is a freaking nightmare!"

"It's not real!" one called to the rest. "None of this is real!"

"Why is this happening?!"

They were scared. These men were really, really frightened.

The pool disappeared and the men were once again left alone in the woods.

"That's it! I'm out of here!" yelled one of the men. "This forest is haunted! Freaking haunted!"

"Get a hold of yourself! We still have a job to do."

"Then we'll do it in the morning when there's light and no freak show!"

They were going to come back. The whole point of this was to make sure these men never came back and never set traps again.

Naruto had an idea. He jumped down from the branch and onto one of the hunters. His paws entered the man's back and he started to slide inside. The man jerked and swayed and grunted.

"What's up with you now?"

"Maybe he's having a hallucination of his own?"

"Yeah, that's the funny thing. Why are we all having group hallucinations? Seems weird to me."

The hunter stopped jerking around and stood, leaning against a tree for balance. "You know what, guys?" he said. "Maybe we should call it quits, you know? Let's get the hell out of here and no matter what I say, let's never go back. Ok?"

The others weren't buying it. "Are you ok? You're acting a little funny."

"No, I'm not. I'm just scared of this freaking place, that's all. Come on, let's get out of here."

This was Naruto's second time using fox possession. So far, it seemed to be going pretty well. However, the other hunters seemed to know something wasn't right with their friend. Naruto tried to persuade them to leave the forest and give up on their hunting trip. When he tried to speak again, no words came out. Something was wrong. He couldn't move. He felt a strange tightness in his own body, as if something were pressing in on him.

"Get out!" a voice kept yelling. "Get out! Get out of me!"

Naruto couldn't keep control. He had to get out before he was crushed to death. It certainly felt like it was about to happen. Naruto pulled himself out of the hunter's body and tried to get away.

It was too late. He was too slow. Someone grabbed him by his tail and held him upside-down.

"It's a fox!"

"But we don't have our weapons anymore."

Naruto watched them carefully, hoping they would just give up and let him go.

"Not a problem." The hunter that had a hold of his tail swung the hand that held him and threw Naruto into the side of the tree. Naruto's body was smashed into the trunk, letting out a yelp of pain. "We'll bash the damn thing's head in." He threw Naruto into the tree again. He beat him against the tree as if he were a dusty rag.

"Stop it!" Naruto screamed.

The beating stopped.

Still hanging from his tail, Naruto panted in relief. The hunter lifted Naruto up to his face and studied him. "Did this fox just... talk?"

Naruto kept his mouth shut.

"You're losing it. It couldn't've. Right? I mean, foxes don't talk."

"This one did."

"No way."

The hunter pulled back to throw Naruto into the tree again. This time Naruto held out his paws to absorb the blow and turned his head around to look him in the eye. "I said for you to stop that!"

Screaming, the hunter dropped him on the ground. "It did talk!"

Naruto didn't care if they knew. He didn't care if these hunters got the curse. Maybe it would make them a little more sympathetic to the kitsune. Maybe it would do them a world of good.

"It's a demon fox!" The hunter tried to stomp on him. Naruto's legs moved quickly but his body couldn't keep up. He was stomped into the ground. They were going to kick him to death.

"Naruto!" The other foxes came to his rescue. Aurora was first, leaping in front of Naruto to take the next hit for him. The very fox who didn't trust him and swore she could never accept him was now shielding him with her own body. Also stepping between him and the hunter was Superu and Seki. Ishi landed in front of the other hunters who looked ready to join in on the kicking. Sonar was with him. Lunabell, Sammi and Eago watched from the trees, their eyes gleaming dangerously at the hunters.

The hunters started to back away. "What the hell is this?"

"These foxes aren't normal."

"We are not mere foxes," said a voice. "We are kitsune. And you have invaded our home. Humans left us this forest and the mountain. This is our territory. Humans do not venture here. This is our land."

The hunters turned around. Ryosuke was walking slowly toward them from the trees, his green eyes aglow.

"This forest is home to many kitsune. Many call this land our home. We will protect each other. Do not cross a kitsune's path. Do not harm a kitsune or a friend of a kitsune."

As Ryosuke walked, his body started to change. He was growing bigger and bigger. He was the size of Akamaru now and still growing.

"You cannot hunt us down like common animals. You cannot kill a kitsune so easily."

The hunters coward as Ryosuke grew to the size of a bear and his fur started to turn to flame.

"Leave us in peace unless you want a kitsune's grudge to be on your heads. Leave this land and never return. If you stay, you will pay for hurting our friend. You will be punished for your actions. Leave now."

The hunters were shaking. Ryosuke was huge! He looked like a demonic fox. His eyes were glowing and his fur was on fire. Even his voice had changed. It sounded deeper and louder. As terrifying as he was, he was also magnificent. He looked like a god. When he spoke, he sounded like a king of great power and pride. One that was very loving and one that was very vengeful. One that could protect and one that could fight.

The leader of the kitsune.

"Leave now," he ordered again. He bent his spine so he could fit among the trees which he had now grown to the size of. "Get out of our home."

The hunters were speechless, quaking where they stood. They huddled together for protection like frightened kittens. "We're sorry," one of them whispered. "We... we didn't know..."

Fire erupted from Ryosuke's mouth and his tail whipped the sky. "Get out!" he bellowed. "GET OUT!"

Screaming in terror, the hunters fled the forest, running as fast as they could. They begged for mercy and forgiveness. They kept running even long after Ryosuke had ended his illusion cloak and returned to normal size.

"We did it!" a cheer went out among the kitsune and they all began to celebrate. "They're gone! We won!" They ran in circles and barked happily and danced in place.

Naruto struggled up into a sitting position.

"Naruto...!" Ryosuke came rushing over and nudged his face with his muzzle. "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine." Naruto was bleeding all over the grass and his left arm was at a strange angle. His back was aching and his head was spinning.

"He's hurt!" Lunabell cried. "He's hurt bad!"

"What does he need? We'll bring it!"

"I'm fine," Naruto insisted. He had sustained greater injuries in ninja battles so in comparison this was nothing. "I heal fast. I'll be ok."

The kitsune weren't going to take no for an answer. They helped Naruto to the falls and had him drink from the pool of clear water. They licked his wounds clean and tried to gather food for him to eat. Ishi dug up some of the food they had buried for later and brought it to the water for Naruto to snack on. Since there was no stopping them, Naruto shared the food with them and drank the water.

As for Naruto's arm, the foxes weren't sure what to do. They didn't have anything to brace it with and their medicine wasn't as good as human's. Naruto had the bright idea to bend it back into place and then hope for the best.

Lunabell and Ishi gripped Naruto's arm in their teeth. "Ready?" They pulled in opposite directions until there was a snap.

"Oww!" Naruto howled.

"Sorry!" Lunabell dropped his arm. "Are you ok?"

"It's looking better," commented Ishi.

Naruto's arm was straight again but it was impossible to put any weight on it without pain. At least he had three other limbs he could walk on. "Thanks, guys. That's much better."

"Maybe we could try binding it like humans do."

Ryosuke went into the forest and returned with one of the ropes from the trap Naruto had set for the hunters. "We can use this to bind it."

Sammi ripped two twigs off a tree and brought them over to Naruto. "We can use these, too, right?"

"Yup. Put them on either side of my arm and tie them together with that rope." Naruto showed them what to do and the kitsune tried their best. They used their teeth to pull the rope tight around the twigs and worked together as a team to try tying it up. It wasn't easy. Their knot was very weak but Naruto didn't complain. He knew this was the best they could do without hands. "Thanks, guys."

"Feeling any better?" asked Lunabell.

"I'll be fine."

The kitsune didn't leave his side for the rest of the night. They remained with him, asking him every few minutes how he was feeling. Only Sonar left to find food that night. He returned with so little but every bit of it he offered to Naruto first. Ryosuke told Naruto that this was how they did things. The injured and young were fed first as well as any females who were expecting pups. Naruto claimed he was full from the food they gave him earlier and told them to eat instead.

Lunabell kept to his side all night, watching his wounded arm and paw as if staring would help them heal faster. Seki and Ishi stayed closest to Naruto, keeping him warm with their fur. Ryosuke paced the area, keeping watch over Naruto and the rest of the party. Every now and then he would leave and come back carrying something in his mouth. Sometimes it was a dead mouse, sometimes a twig for Naruto to gnaw on, which he said would help. Once he returned with the discarded bag Naruto had left in the woods the other night when he brought them food. He had stuffed it with leaves and told Naruto to lay on it so he would be more comfortable. He checked Naruto's wounds and nuzzled him. When he at last came to a stop, he rested beside Naruto and talked with him for a while. He asked what Naruto liked to eat best and what his friends were like and where his village was. Naruto answered all his questions and told him and the kitsune about his home. They all listened with interest.

Naruto could completely understand why they wouldn't want to leave their home, even if it meant being killed. Even if he was threatened, Naruto wouldn't abandon the Leaf Village. He would stand and fight for it. He understood them and they understood him.

Home was home. Nothing would change that. It would be next to impossible to make Naruto budge when it came to leaving the Leaf Village. Anything to keep it safe.

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