-Naruto-
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Fuzzy's been talking about meat a lot. Naruto isn't really one to judge (he talks plenty about ramen), but he thinks Fuzzy might be trying to hint at something. There's only so often when you talk about hunting and survival and stuff like that until you're probably trying to say something, right?
Oh! Maybe Fuzzy wants to teach Naruto how to hunt? That sounds awesome! It'd probably be a really useful shinobi skill too!
Naruto skips off to tell Jiji he's going camping. Jiji is pretty confused, but Naruto clears it up by saying he thinks Fuzzy wants to teach him how to hunt. Naruto escapes while Jiji is panicking.
Ok, what should Naruto bring? Oh! Kunai! Naruto's been getting really good with kunai, and ninja probably use them to hunt stuff! Sasuke usually has some extras when Naruto's wear out, so he'll stop by Sasuke's house. Naruto should probably bring some food and blankets and stuff too. He should stop by his apartment first, actually. Jiji will probably have a bunch of the ANBU there to catch him so he doesn't go camping to learn from Fuzzy. That's fine, though. Naruto's really good at getting away from those guys!
So, what else should he bring...
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-Kurama-
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Kurama is pleased with this development. His little idiot brat is getting smarter; of course it'd be a great idea to learn how to hunt! So what if Kurama may have sped along the realization a bit; he'd prefer if Naruto started asking him about things instead of just waiting for him to chip in with his thoughts when Naruto's already doing something.
Besides, this may not be his child, but what kind of self-respecting fox would let a young kit never learn how to hunt? The shinobi will wait too long and worry too much about Kurama "corrupting the kid" or something stupid like that. Be better caretakers and teach him how to take care of himself already!
Actually, Kurama has a thought.
"Hey Naruto, you've gotten us a little out into the woods, but I can teach you more effectively if we share chakra. It doesn't have to be a lot, but if the shinobi looking for you sense it they'll freak out and probably won't stop trying to catch you to try to contain me for the rest of your life. They're already pretty on edge as it is. We should probably head out farther tomorrow so we can communicate and they won't notice. Not incredibly far, I can conceal my presence somewhat after all and you're very good at being sneaky, but far enough that it'll be much harder for them to find you."
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-Naruto-
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Naruto was happy to spend the day getting as far away from the ninja as he could if it meant he could talk more with Fuzzy! He hadn't really gotten to have an actual conversation last time, so he was really looking forward to this!
Naruto didn't have as much practice with disappearing into a forest as he did in a village. He was covering his tracks as best as he could, with advice from Fuzzy of course, but Leaf ninja tend to be very good at tracking through forests. He'd probably get caught at some point, so he figured he'd just get far enough away and cover his tracks just well enough to have time to hunt as much as he could. Getting caught wasn't the end of the world anyway, since he was planning on going back once he was done.
Naruto wished that Jiji wasn't so scared to let him talk with Fuzzy. It's not like he was gonna start rampaging in the streets or something! Actually, he kind of already did that on Halloween... and the time he first tried coffee... and the cookies... actually, every time he has coffee... But those were a different kind of rampage! Fuzzy has totally never convinced Naruto to ever do anything that was a bad idea or bad for the village at all!
So Naruto spent the day getting as far out into the woods as he could, and ate the food he packed for dinner before he started hunting.
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-Kurama-
.
"You want to focus on the scents and sounds. Sight is good, but it will only take you so far. Night is the ideal time for a fox to hunt, so sight only does so much. Besides, hearing and smell are far better developed. Try patrolling a bit; move carefully but quickly. Just be sneaky. You want to cover a fair amount of ground to increase the odds of running into something."
Naruto is taking well to Kurama's hunting instructions. It helps that Kurama had Naruto transform into a fox; hunting this way is far more natural. And it might help Naruto improve his hunting skills in his natural form, too. Either way, it's just easier for a fox to teach another fox how to hunt rather than a fox trying to teach a human.
"Keep an ear, or nose, out for small things. Things like rodents and small birds are best for a fox your size to hunt."
It had been a few hours. Naruto was used to tracking people's movement through his emotional powers, but animal emotions feel a bit different from human ones. Still, he was learning fast. He'd almost caught a rat earlier! Although it was probably better he didn't get that one. Rats are vicious when they're caught.
Kurama paused when he noticed Naruto had stopped moving. Ah, it seemed he'd noticed a bird.
"Alright, crouch down... imagine that you're a coiled up spring. Watch it... JUMP!"
Naruto was very proud of the bird he caught.
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-Kakashi-
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Kakashi was downright flabbergasted when he finally found Naruto, who was apparently on his way back to Konoha with a few big sacks full of meat in tow. He said he had just come out so far so that Fuzzy could teach him how to hunt, and now he was going home for a celebratory meat party?
Kakashi is too tired for this. He follows Naruto back to Konoha, gives the Hokage his report, and crashes.
He doesn't want to know why a bunch of random shops and houses had bags of meat dumped in front of them, labeled as presents from Naruto with a cute fox face doodle on the note. Everyone in Konoha has given up questioning anything concerning Naruto, so they're just holding a big grill party in the marketplace to get rid of it all.
