Three

The voices gathered in the wind like a choir preparing for a concert. Soft and harsh tones mingled to create a harmonious music that sang with each gust that howled through the forest. Birds and other songful beasts added their own notes to the symphony that filled the air with echoes of life unblemished.

The night after meeting Mirai, Naruto first heard the song, discovering it accidentally when he tried to sleep too early in hopes of curing growing boredom once his new friend returned home with her mother. It startled him at first, and he spent the night alert in fear of being found by hunters or an unknown predator stalking the dark, but soon came to enjoy the music. For a few days, he started to decipher the lyrics. He learned that the various things living in the forest communicated what was happening in their respective wood parts. The deer reported that men with rifles were on the prowl in the early morning hours, encouraging all does to keep an eye on their fawns to prevent a tragedy. On the other hand, the birds passed along gossip about the village and warned that another expansion of the walls was to begin in spring. Wolves and the few remaining bears still awake conversed with the squirrels about the harsh winter ahead, with many packs preparing to migrate to better hunting grounds.

All animals, however, and a few of the talkative trees spoke of a new creature that lived in their lands with curious words. They said it walked on two legs like a man but looked like a wolf. Birds, who had been keeping an extra close eye on it, said its presence brought comfort. Prey animals, such as the deer, reported that it had eaten a few of their herd but said they felt no malice in its actions. It did not take him long to figure that they were speaking of him, and that brought him a much-needed feeling of acknowledgment that he was not some mutation doomed to a life of solitude but could find his place within the world if not with humanity. Their curiosity turned to respect when he tried to clean the trash from around the lake near his temporary home. He tried to respond to the animals, but they only shook their head sorrowfully, unable to understand what he was saying. The thought, while discouraging, did not stop him from trying to learn how they spoke. To learn how to speak, one needed to be silent.

The map provided by Mirai granted him a good idea of the limits of the forest, allowing him to travel around to meet its many inhabitants. Out of all of them, the wolves took the most significant interest in him and came the closest to understanding him. They spoke to him directly despite his inability to respond, pointing out fruitful hunting grounds and dangerous areas where humanity's presence was the strongest. He simply nodded along with their words and offered a fresh kill to the entire pack as thanks. Their friendliness caused him to move his makeshift shelter closer to their den, and soon enough, they welcomed him into their hunts and lives.

Naruto's daily meditation and reflection on the lake shore came to an erupting end as Mirai crashed through the bushes with a giggle. Azure eyes opened slowly when she took a seat on his lap and started to pull his white mane. The concept of personal space was missing in the young girl's chaotic mind, but he kept his temper in check around her. She helped him more than she could ever understand and provided an outlet for his loneliness.

"You're early." He stretched out the kink in his neck before moving the girl off him to stand. Mirai's class schedule typically kept her way until late in the afternoon. Had he known she would be around for midday, he would have forged her a basic lunch of berries. He carried her backpack and motioned for her to follow. "Did your teacher let you out?"

"Nope! Iruka is in a cranky mood because his girlfriend dumped him, so I decided to take the afternoon off."

"Mirai…"

"It's just one day!" Mirai smiled at him widely, winning the argument before it began. This was far from the first time she skipped class to visit him, a habit that had gotten her in trouble at home and brought more patrols out into the forest. Thankfully, the child knew better than to reveal him or his location to anyone.

"This is the last time," he sternly warned with an extra growl at the end. "You need to make sure you're grades are good if you ever want to be a ninja."

"I want to be more like you, Mister Coyote! Wandering around the woods, hunting all day, free from stupid rules." She crossed her arms with a huff. "Stupid Iruka is saying that the Hokage might be moving the graduation age to ten, so he's been making us do stupid practice fights."

Naruto paused and tilted his head. "Ten? Why?"

Mirai shrugged, kicking a small rock. "Dunno. Momma is not happy about it."

He wasn't either. The thought of Mirai, eight, heading into battle in a mere two years horrified him on a deep level that reminded him too much of his old life. "You could always drop out. I am sure your mother would enroll you in another school."

"Can't. Hokage closed the schools."

"Why?"

"Can we just play a game or something?" Her lips started to tremble as tears began to roll down her face. Questions swirled within his head at what was going on inside the village. For the first time, he started worrying about those he remembered within Konoha.

Sakura Haruno closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm the throbbing migraine brought on by the rhythmic pounding of a bed frame against a wall, followed by the faint grunts of the other room's occupants. It had been going on for over an hour with little signs of stopping, and she wondered how anyone could have such stamina to fuck that long without pausing or slowing down. She was getting tired of their sex without even being part of it. Typically, their habitual horniness would not have gotten on her nerves, but with Tsunade in the hospital suffering from a mystery illness, her mind needed silence in order to properly unravel the mystery that threatened to end her teacher's life. Her two-bedroom apartment provided everything she needed to work undisturbed, when her roommate decided to bring over a special someone. The noise ceased suddenly, and she held her breath waiting for it to start again.

The door to Sasuke's room swung open with Kiba emerging like a proud warrior fresh from a grand conquest, swagger and all. His fingers fiddled with the buckle of his belt. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of sweat radiating from the man. "How's it hanging, Sakura? We didn't realize you were here."

For a split second, she debated sending him out through the wall with a single charkha-enhanced punch but decided against it for the sake of her teammate's happiness. She failed to see what he saw in Kiba. "Fine. Just working."

"What's got your noggin boggling?" Kiba plopped down on the couch beside her and looked at the medical texts on the coffee table. She doubted that he understood any of it. The Inuzuka were not known to be among the smartest clans of Konoha, with Kiba's dumbness being legendary among their friend group. "Looks pretty straightforward. My sister can probably help you out! Want me to give her a quick call?"

"Hana is a veterinarian."

"So? A doctor is a doctor."

Sakura fought back the urge to pound him into a crimson paste. "A veterinarian specializes in animal medicine. I am a medical doctor meaning that I specialize in helping people."

"Aren't humans animals?" Kiba's grin started to crack the finely crafted mask she wore to maintain a semblance of friendliness in his presence. Thankfully, salvation came in the form of a shirtless Sasuke who glared at his boyfriend.

"You're pissing her off."

"Eh? No, I'm not! We're best friends. We're the new Team Seven!"

The new Team Seven.

Sakura frowned at the adjective. With the delicate peace of the Elemental Nations being shattered by the emergence of a new, unknown Hidden Village, Kakashi ordered that Team Seven be reformed to serve as the next generation's Sannin on and off the field. Despite her protests that her estranged teammate was irreplaceable, Naruto's self-imposed exile forced them to find a replacement to fill the spot. While missing the former knucklehead dearly, Sasuke agreed that Konoha needed a team to root for and searched for a replacement. They interviewed many possible candidates in terms of both combat ability and propaganda value. Still, they struggled to find one that matched all the criteria. Her first choice of Konohamaru, the closest in terms of personality to Naruto, was rejected due to his age and lack of experience. Shikamaru was off the list due to him most likely to be named Kakashi's successor. Eventually, after much debate, Kiba Inuzuka was chosen as the replacement, thanks to his special friendship with Sasuke and his popularity among the village youths. She doubted he could keep up with Sasuke or herself in a fight. Still, she respected his abilities as a tracker and knew he played his role as a 'hero' perfectly.

"Can you two go fuck off somewhere for a while?" Sakura scanned the book's page for relevant information before dejectedly turning to the next. "I am trying to focus here."

Sasuke pointed to the door. "Kiba, go home. I'll collect you later." The bluntness of the tone left little room for argument, and the Inuzuka male departed without another word to avoid the wrath of the Uchiha.

"Thank you."

"I was done anyways." The jovial mask he wore whenever around Kiba or in public faded back into the cold, stoic face of a defeated man. She knew that Naruto's exile and their falling out affected him greatly, but still struggled to imagine how hopeless he looked without his brother. It seemed fate enjoyed robbing him of brothers. He kept up appearances to encourage Konoha, believing that is what Itachi and Naruto would have wanted, but he was a shell of a man behind closed doors. "Any update on Tsunade?"

"She's coming in and out of consciousness too much to question her what happened." She looked at her empty coffee mug, and Sasuke took it to the kitchen for a refill. "Her chakra stabilized her after the attack but refuses to rejuvenate. We've tried transfers, but it is like filling a car. Eventually, it drops to dangerous levels and won't refill until we put more in."

Sasuke returned with fresh coffee and a bottle of water for himself. "Could it be the seal on her forehead?"

"Shizune thought that, but we've deactivated it along with her genjutsu." She knew that her teacher would throw a fit upon learning that she was lying in bed with her appearance unaltered. "Lady Katsuyu is just as confused as we are. Any update on the investigation?"

"Possibly. Tsunade was always a private person who kept her affairs hidden from even Shizune. Kiba and I ransacked her house the other day looking for any leads the ANBU might have missed." Sasuke took a sip of water and remained silent with a conflicted look. "We think we know why she left the village."

"Oh?"

"She was visiting Naruto."

Sakura took a deep breath and nodded. It made sense. Her teacher viewed the blonde as a grandson, viewing him as the last spiritual link to her own long-dead family. While everyone decided to respect Naruto's wishes for isolation, Tsunade refused to allow him to go believing that his personality change came from the traumatic experiences of the war and his mistreatment as a child.

"There's one issue," Sasuke continued with an increasingly heavy frown. "We can't find Naruto." Seeing the confused expression on her face slowing turning to rage at being left in the dark, he held up his hand to hold back her anger. "I didn't tell you given you've been focused on your teacher."

She slammed the book shut with enough force to crack the table. While she was far removed from the teenage girl who enjoyed pummeling anyone unlucky enough to upset her, Sasuke's revelation and Kiba's stupidity pushed the limits of her restraint. "And when would have been a good time to fucking tell me? Tomorrow? A month from now? Years?"

"Preferably never," he admitted with seriousness. "I have been searching for him for almost a week now with the help of Tsume. His cottage was a ruin when we found it like a wild animal had been unleashed inside. We think the same creature that attacked Tsunade went after Naruto."

"Great. Truly wonderful. Our teammate, our real teammate, is probably lying dead somewhere in a ditch. Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"He isn't dead."

"Oh? And how the fuck do you know that?"

"I spoke with Kurama." Sasuke rubbed the bite marks running up his arm that she assumed came from Kiba or Akamaru. "After some tense negotiations, she revealed that she did feel Naruto's presence faintly but had been unable to make contact with him. She's currently looking for him while I focus on the creature."

"That makes me feel better." Sakura sighed and reached for coffee, but her hand never made it. "Wait. She?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." He rubbed the marks once more. "Either way, that's the extent of the investigation. Kakashi and Shikamaru think our monster is related to the village from the Land of Whirlpools, but I have my doubts. Our spies and encounters with their ninjas have revealed nothing that would suggest it. They're far too subtle to resort to something like this."

The Land of Whirlpools, once considered an abandoned and cursed land, had made an infamous name for itself over the past year thanks to a new hidden village occupying the ruins of Uzushiogakure. What began as a joke within the Shinobi Union became a severe threat as numerous smaller nations began sending contracts to the new village instead of using the five major nations. Their mysterious daimyo, emboldened by their ninjas' success, signed trade agreements with countries considered unimportant by the wider world and was rumored to be preparing to announce a defensive pact against foreign intervention. The Land of Fire, due to sharing the most prominent land border with the rising power, called upon Konoha to mobilize to the regions most likely to come under attack in the event of war.

"Knocking out Lady Tsunade would be a big blow to us," Sakura countered. "She is our greatest medical ninja with years of experience. In the event of Kakashi being called to the frontline in a war, she would be the most likely choice to help run the village in his absence."

"Good points, but they've been careful not to trigger a conflict with us. Going after a former Kage is the quickest way to war, and I don't think they're ready for that yet." He paused to finish the rest of his water. "There is something else I want to share that you might not like…"

"Ready?"

"Let's get 'em, Mister Coyote!"

Naruto's howls thundered through the trees. With Mirai on his back and wearing a goblin mask, he charged out of the forest in a fury of snarls while the young girl cackled with manic glee like an imp from the depths of hell. The young couple, previously enjoying a romantic picnic in the flower-filled meadow, screamed at the monster barreling towards them. The man, who looked tough and wore a headband marking him as a shinobi, dashed towards the village with enhanced speed. The girlfriend, clad in heels unsuitable for running, tripped and cried out for him to help her. He continued forward on all fours towards the blanket, where a small basket and an unopened bottle of wine waited to be enjoyed. Mirai grabbed the basket with one hand on their first pass while he managed to snatch the wine in his maw. Seeing the shinobi regaining some courage, he withdrew back to the forest and forced himself to go faster to put as much distance between them as possible. After ten minutes of sprinting, he stood up to move at a jogging pace and helped his young accomplice onto his shoulder.

Mirai held onto the basket with both hands. He reached up to remove her mask to see the massive grin plastered on her pale face. Crimson eyes, those of her mother, sparkled with a childish delight that was infectious. "Too freaking easy. I hope they brought ramen or something and none of that gross fish paste."

Ramen. The delicious noodles brought a smile to his muzzle. While he enjoyed hunting game in the forest, the cooked food from Konoha reminded him of a long-ago time when he lived among the humans as their close friend with ramen bringing back the most vivid memories. It was Mirai's idea to chase people away from their picnic baskets, an idea she apparently stole from one of her favorite cartoon bears. He knew the risks of attracting unwanted attention, but between the food's ability to recall who he formerly was and the joy it brought to his friend, it made their game worth it. The ineptitude of the village's guardians showed each time they stole someone's lunch or dinner with the patrols only arriving on the scene hours long after Mirai returned home.

The young girl opened the basket. Her squeal told him that something good awaited them. "They have Ichiraku!"

"Ichiraku?" He tilted his head at the word but felt joy at the sound of it. Glimpses of an old man and his eager daughter flashed in his mind.

"Yup! They have the best ramen in the entire world! Momma doesn't let me go there often because it's unhealthy, but the teachers will order a bunch of bowls for the class that does the best in sparring."

"Sounds like my kind of motivation. I could eat this stuff every day of my life." He held up a hand as a silent request for something to nibble on while they returned to his home. Mirai gently placed a pair of dumplings before stuffing one in her mouth. "Thank you, pup."

"You're welcome, Mister Coyote."

"Have you been doing your homework?" Naruto held out his hand for more dumplings.

"Of course. Momma gets mad, and you'll be sad."

Shortly after their friendship began, he learned that the young girl preferred not to do her homework in favor of coming out to visit him immediately after school. The gesture, while touching, was starting to negatively affect her grades and caused issues at home. He told her that she could only visit him after all homework was finished, or she'd hurt his feelings. The ploy worked, and her grades climbed again to heights higher than they had been. Now, every time she scored well on a test, she would run straight to him with the paper and sticker her teacher would provide. To further encourage the behavior, he placed each test on a special wall to start a collection of her achievements.

"And you won't skip class again?"

"As long as you let me play with the puppies."

They reached the small cave near the wolves' den he called home. It lacked much in terms of amenities but was starting to feel comfortable thanks to the variety of trinkets brought in from Konoha by Mirai. He placed the girl on the mound of blankets he called a bed and fetched two jugs of water he had collected earlier that day. Both devoured their respective bowl quickly, uncaring of the mess they made. The taste triggered more flashes of memory for him, reminding him that he used to meet his friends for lunch or to celebrate a mission. More importantly, he remembered how the villagers would always buy him a bowl to thank him for everything he'd done.

After cleaning up the trash, Mirai produced coloring books from her backpack and multiple packs of colored pencils borrowed from the Academy. He remembered a few of the faces in the coloring book, such as the First and Second Hokage, but struggled to name the others. His blue eyes narrowed at a few of the names that seemed familiar. Just as he was about to lose interest, he froze upon seeing the black-and-white picture of a spiky-haired man with the caption 'Fourth Hokage' at the bottom of the page. He took a yellow pencil and began to color the man's hair as carefully as possible. Flashes of memory filled his head at the smiling face of the man.

"Who is this?"

Mirai looked up from her delicate task of coloring Jiraiya's skin purple. "That's Lord Fourth! Minato Namikaze. Yellow-Flash! He kicked a lot of butt."

Minato Namikaze.

They continued to color in silence with Mirai focused on making the Toad-Sage look as goofy as possible and Naruto struggling to remember the importance of the Fourth Hokage in his life. He finished his coloring page first and, unlike usual, decided to keep it for himself in hopes of using it to gain some unknown insight. Once Mirai 'finished' hers, he escorted her back towards the forest's edge to ensure she got home safely. The young girl threw her arms around him.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she promised, but Naruto shook his head.

"Focus on your school work tomorrow. I'll be busy hunting."

Mirai looked disappointed at the response but offered no protest. "I guess it's okay. Uncle Shikamaru is coming over tomorrow anyway."

"Really now? Hoping he brings you another gift?"

"Yeah! He bought me some board game the last time. It's really confusing."

"Maybe he'll teach you how to play if you ask nicely."

"I'll ask him tomorrow!" Mirai gave him one final hug before darting towards the path back to the village. "Bye, Mister Coyote!"

Tsume liked Sasuke Uchiha.

She hated to admit such a fact and never in a thousand years would have believed that she would think of the last Uchiha in a positive light. He violated the virtue of loyalty in search of more power, helped spark a war that nearly got both of her children killed, and then was able to walk away a free man thanks to being friends with Naruto and a student of Kakashi. In many ways, he was the living embodiment of everything she hated about Konoha. Yet, somehow over their time working together, she could see the soft-hearted man underneath the layers of coldness and knew that he genuinely carried a love of humanity. That alone made her begrudgingly accept his relationship with her son.

"Coffee?" She held out her thermos to him.

"Is it spiked?"

"What do you think?"

"Praise be to the holiest of spirits."

They sat together in a hunting stand overlooking an elaborate trap that involved a dripping chunk of deer surrounded by foothold traps designed to take down bears. It was a crude setup that she had deployed in similar instances to capture or kill predators. If worse came to worse, at least their prey would be lured to them by the prospect of an easy meal. She had no doubt their combined strength could overcome any animal bold enough to get close enough to the village.

"Any word from the Nine-Tails?"

"None." Sasuke shivered at the strength of the liquor in the coffee and returned the thermos to her. "She's not one for mindless conversation."

"I can respect that." She peered over the edge. "Think we'll catch anything?"

"Maybe. Our creature was spotted not too far away. I wonder what the witnesses meant about the 'goblin' on its back."

"That's probably trauma speaking. Eye-witness testimony is notoriously fickle when it comes to exact details. It is not uncommon for people to remember details that are not real when it comes to stressful situations." Tsume took a sip of coffee. "For example, I once interviewed a lady who claimed to have been attacked by a mountain lion. Turns out the fearsome 'lion' was a particularly mean house cat."

"I see." Sasuke adjusted the scope on the high-caliber rifle mounted on the stand. "I never used one of these before."

Tsume smiled and moved closer. "It is pretty simple. Bullet goes in here; push this back, and pull the trigger when you're ready to shoot. Not my favorite weapon to hunt with, but it is useful in certain situations."

"I would like to try hunting."

"It's very different than tracking or hunting people. Animals...don't really think like us. You need to put your mind into a different frame." She smiled slightly at the thought of gaining a hunting partner. He might not have been the rugged canine enthusiast she dreamed would hunt and mount her on the same day, but Sasuke was going to be part of her family nonetheless. "Maybe I'll take you on my next trip. Just us."

"Yeah...I think that would be-"

A sharp bark from Kuromaru silenced them both. Tsume positioned herself behind the rifle, nestling the stock against her shoulder in preparation. She scanned the forest floor below for movement but could detect her partner. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead at the building anxiety. She lived for this thrill and felt good that tonight would be the night she claimed a legendary prize.

"Sense anything, Uchiha?"

"Nothing."

"Lower left. Bushes are moving. Here it comes."

It stood taller than anyone she had ever seen by at least three feet. Thick white fur covered its vaguely humanoid body. Azure eyes stared into the darkness towards the deer meat on display from a wolf's head. Diamond-shaped ears flattened as the creature, for she knows it not to be of the human race, snarled with uncontrollable rage. It approached the traps and carefully stepped around them to reach the prize. The intelligence on display told her that this was no simple beast. Kuromaru's words rang out in her head.

There's something much bigger going on.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "It is like it has no chakra."

"What?" Tsume risked breaking her line of sight to look to her human partner for an explanation. "That's impossible."

"It should be," agreed Sasuke with a frown. "It's like I'm looking at a void. I've never seen anything like this. We need to capture it alive."

With a harsh sigh, Tsume pushed the rifle aside and nodded. Capturing the beast alive made the job more challenging, but if what Sasuke said was true, something much bigger was happening.

There was an itch inside her brain.

Tsunade walked through the dark forest of her dreams like she had done for countless hours. Her throat felt dry, and her alcoholism demanded the taste of sake. This was not her first experience being trapped in the void between life and death, but this was the longest she spent in the endless limbo as fate decided if she would return to the living or pass on to be forever reunited with her loved ones. She did not care which way the gods decided to take her destiny. While lonely and not particularly exciting, her life in Konoha gave her some contentment in her old age. However, seeing Dan again after all these years was tempting.

In the distance, she heard the howling of wolves. The nocturnal song sounded beautiful above the slight humming of the medical machines in the real world. Early on, she tried to find the source of the howling but gave up after never seeming to get close. It did not matter. Near or far, she could always enjoy their song.

That took awhile to do!

Apologies for the huge delay in this chapter. My computer died and took all of work to hell with it. Thanks to living in the middle of nowhere USA, buying a new computer was a difficult task that made me regret moving out here! Luckily, chapter four should be out somewhat quickly.

Since the poll has been up for awhile now, it seems that Kurenai is pulling ahead by a lot. Sakura has done a lot better than i thought, too. I'll leave the poll up for one more chapter.

Thanks!