This series is taken from Second-Chance Dogs: True Stories of the Dogs We Rescue and the Dogs Who Rescue Us and fitted for the Naruto verse if he had gotten a wolf-fox as a child. I do not own Second-Chance Dogs or Naruto. All I own is Kitsu and the idea to shape these stories together.
The day they visited the Nara shelter, it's fair to say there were at least four desired outcomes in our village. There were the people's version, which was predicated on the idea that, because they'd cut his confidence down so much, no real decision could be made about a pet, and confirmed the premise he was "just looking."
There was the Inuzuka boy's version, which entailed his friend breezing through the adult animal section, onward to the puppy room, and at the sight of all that cuddly fluff, the child's guardian's reservations about a baby animal would melt.
There was the guardian's version, which hoped that just before they arrived at the shelter, someone would drop off a perfectly trained guard dog that loved children and was capable of protecting one.
Naruto, the boy the "dog" would protect, and his ward (that he did not yet realize was there), shared their desired outcome. Generally, the ward's plans were what Naruto wanted; it made life easier, and he could get on with the important stuff, like freedom and revenge. And on this day, Naruto's desired outcome was a friend to love. The winter was over, a nice, clear spring Saturday was ahead of them, and already Naruto had visions of running his friend, playing with his friend in the woods or in the school yard, and sneaking his friend into class. His ward's only demand in the shared plan was a big friend, one with heft.
The three on this mission piled off the streets and into the shelter, each of them with their vision of how they would exit–Inuzuka with a puppy, the guardian with a guard dog, and Naruto with his friend, largeish in size. Spirits were high as they walked through and looked at animals and their descriptions. They were not good, they realized, at choosing a pet by consensus. The few they chose to spend time with in the common area of the shelter were compromise pets for all of them, and they seemed to know it. They walked around again. The first time around, Naruto and his guardian had stopped at the cage of a wolfish looking creature who immediately left the far corner and went to take a sniff of this young boy, but no one else was thinking this was his pet, so they moved on.
On their second pass through, Naruto approached the same cage and was distraught to find it empty. One of the volunteers assured him that the animal, Kitsu, was just out on a walk. Being new to the animal rescue world, they really didn't know how long that walk would take, and by then, the morning was gone and lunch seemed like a good idea.
On the promise that they would return another day, they made their exit. With so many possible outcomes, somehow they had managed the least likely one–the one championed by the people not even there. As they walked away from the building, the guardian saw Naruto glance back at the building, at the animals going on their walks, at people coming and going with animals. He turned his head away from him, but the disappointment was so thik it was almost visible in the space between boy and guardian.
The guardian misses a lot as the leader of the vilage. He knows he's missed the people's hurt feelings and glad tidings and dashed hopes. And on this day he couldn't say he was being particularly intentional. He was likely thinking about what paperwork he had left in the office. But he will ever be greatful that he didn't miss that look on his young ward's face. He slowed to a halt, turned to the boy, saying, "Naruto, we should go back, don't you think? Maybe that animal is back from it's walk now."
That animal, Kitsu, was back, and greeted Naruto with a leap up as if they'd been sepparated too long already.
And though Kitsu was always, from that day, more Naruto's friend than anyone else's, Naruto's version of having an animal would have to shift. Kitsu went home with him, shy and quiet. For weeks, Kitsu didn't reciprocate Naruto's cuddles. And during the time they were together, Kitsu never did more than they needed to and wouldn't sleep with Naruto on the bed. Kitsu was a Halfbreed Wolf-Fox, and what she loved to do catch a scent and follow it. But though the Nara say this creature is known for it's "distinctive call," Kitsu never vocalized. Ever.
Naruto had another vision for Kitsu he didn't share with them at the time but had since told his guardian. He envisioned a pain free world, where Kitsu could run and run, full tilt through Konoha with ears perked and mouth in a wide open smile catching every scent possible. and when she'd had enough, she would lope back home and sit on the front stoop, waiting for Naruto to let her inside to her soft bed and clean water. It turned out Kitsu was completely on board for that vision! Before they wised up to the need to collar her, she was a master at sneaking her way out of the apartment and taking off at a gallop. after a few escapes, they did find out–Kitsu knew her way back home.
They all became smitten with Naruto's quiet hound, who loved sun and scent but hardly bothered to lift her head when Naruto came in the door. Though she let Naruto lie on her, disguise her, or move her out of the way, she was kind of the anti-social fox, allowing affection but reluctant to give her own. Somehow, though, her quiet patience resonated with all sorts of people. The mothers in the village made it a point to walk their kids down Naruto's street so they could say hello to Kitsu as she basked in the afternoon sun in the yard. The Mail Nins, instead of giving the "please keep your Nin-kin inside" notice, offered her treats. In appreciation, Kitsu memorized the striped pattern of both Mail nin uniforms and their bags, and would stop anywhere she saw one, waiting for a morsel.
During all those years, a lot more was taking place in his little world. The boy was in the trials at the accademy, the village was constantly trying to break him, the people still had not fully recovered from the Kyubi attack, and the boy was an orphan to boot. There were days when the village wanted nothing to do with him, and his guardian was too busy to spend any time with him. But everyone participated in taking care of Kitsu–walking, bathing, feeding, rubbing that pink belly in the sunshine. Even the village, the ones who originally thought "no pet" was an option (Oh, Konoha!), made sure she got what she needed and much of what she wanted. On tough days, when his guardian couldn't find any kind words to give to anyone, he'd pick up Kitsu and Naruto and they would take a walk, only talking to Kitsu, and things would be all right.
Some days the only being anyone liked in Naruto's life was this quiet halfbreed. Some of the best memories had of those years involved sleepovers at his guardians compound, relaxing after playing ninja and nin-kin, Kitsu curled up in the middle of the living room, the Inuzuka boy sprawled out on one side of Kitsu and Naruto curled into her side on the other. Day by day, she knit Naruto and the village together. It's not far-fetched to say she saved them from self destruction during those early years.
The fifth year Kitsu was with Naruto, one thing started to change–she seemed as happy to be with him as he was with her. She began getting up to greet him at the door, and came to sit by him in the evening, pushing her side against his knees, turning to get another ear scratched. She would thump her tail when he came to find her after school, sniffing for news of his day, and for the first time, she spoke to Naruto.
I am not one who understands the way of dogs, that it the Inuzuka's splace, so I have no idea what that meant from her point of view. But I know what it meant for them, the humans in her life. What she started five years earlier by capturing Naruto's heart blossomed into a great calm that came over an anxious village. That year, when Kitsu began to respond to their consistent ministrations on her behalf, it seemed as though she liked them, if this fox could like them, and trust them, well... maybe they could trust others and their capabilities. I don't know of a greater gift anyone could offer to another.