Spider and Fox

“Whatever fate decided to throw the world for a whirlwind, really knew what they were doing.” The thought was impossible to route once it took hold. Inu found he didn’t mind. Not when one of his charges’ names meant maelstrom. As to why this earth shattering, so impossibly true thought even existed, sat below him. 

A child, not even six years of age, sat curled beside a white wolf pup with crimson eyes—the same colored eyes the child’s clan was renowned for. Uchiha Sasuke. The youngest of the Clan Head’s family, and the brother of one Uchiha Itachi who so happened to be apart of Inu’s team on any mission outside the walls. 

“Itachi’s going to kill me.” Inu knocked his head back against the tree trunk. Following the kids out last night, he was not expecting to find an Uchiha prodigy out at almost midnight, let alone for Naruto to sink his claws into him, and so quickly at that. 

“His name’s Sasuke. You’re due soon, aren’t you? You really should decide a name ahead of time.”

“I have. His name will be Naruto; he’ll be the same age so get along, okay?”

The voice rose unbidden, excitement and happiness ringing in his ears as if someone boxed them and Inu wrapped his hands in his pants legs, knuckles white with the grip. He should’ve known.

She knew after all. Wild, crazy, unexpected, that was all her. Did she know what her son was capable of? Even before he breathed his first, did she truly understand how much of a maelstrom this child was going to be?

Deep inside, something stirred, something guilt ridden and heavy and why couldn’t he breath? Inu knocked his head against the tree harder, a flare of pain forcing the overwhelming thoughts back and the ANBU inhaled. He’d known just seeing Naruto would be difficult. Naruto and Gumo were like trying to control a fire, he was burned for being too close every time. But now…

Adding Sasuke to the mix, could he really handle this mission? 

“They will know each other as brothers.”

It didn’t matter if he could. He had to. Because the scent of incense and a death shroud burned his memory worse then trying to conquer the flames. 

Exhaling, Inu turned his focus outward. There was Sasuke and Themo, bickering about something or another. They were so alike, it was scary how easily they’d clicked. Under the shade of another tree nearby, Gumo, adorned in clothes three sizes too large, dozed, whiling away the afternoon’s late spring heat. Above him, Diapha sat on a tree branch, crawling along on her belly. 

Some days, Inu didn’t know how much of the wolf was a wolf and not a cat in disguise. And then there was Naruto…

In the middle of the clearing, clad only in a pair of shorts, Naruto stood with Pakkun, the Den Mother, and Kirum. Inu wasn’t too concerned about what they were talking about. Not when, a few moments later they pulled away and Naruto slid into the beginning of a taijutsu kata. 

Behind his mask, Inu quirked a slight grin. The blond had ninja blood, it was so painfully clear to see. Too much energy to burn, a mind for thinking outside the box, and instincts, that even this young, could make a Chunin weep. Inu had seen more then once, how the child would sniff the air cautiously before Pakkun or the Den Mother would call his attention back. 

Movement beneath him had Inu turning his gaze back to the Uchiha. Sasuke approached the gathering in the middle of the clearing, saying something before he slipped into the beginning stances of his clan’s style. That had the ANBU arching a brow. Surely…

Nope, he was. 

While young, it made sense he’d already know at least the beginner level. Clans were prickly like that, introducing their children from a young age to the family style and now it seemed Sasuke was showing Naruto. 

“Interesting.”

XxX

Mama Kōri wanted to show them how to fight like wolves. Like she’d taught Kirum, Diapha, and Themo. Sasuke tried to show them how his pack, his clan he’d called it, fought. 

“Why not both?” Gumo had asked and the pug sitting on the engawa, sneezed interest before stepping off to join the huddle.

“Can you mix Uchiha with wolf?” 

Naruto sat, Kirum sprawled over his lap, and watched them all. If he were being honest, he wanted to do both. Their Den Mother had showed them a form, a kata the day before that was the beginning of the Wolf style but then Sasuke had stepped in and showed one of his and now Naruto was curious; intrigue resting in the tilt of his head. 

He was five but he knew that shinobi all had really cool fighting styles. Mama Kōri had said it’s how they protected themselves, that they were her pups and should know how to protect their pack. 

Den Mother tilted her head, an ear flick thinking. “The stories speak of summoners mixing styles with ours for many generations but some simply cannot be combined. This will require some research.”

“I could bring some of our clan scrolls.” 

That had Pakkun-Inu stiffening, and even Mama Kōri’s eyes narrowed in on their new friend. She would not attack him though, Naruto knew this. She hadn’t hurt his black-haired friend when he entered their territory and now that Themo seemed glued to Sasuke’s side she wouldn’t hurt him now. This the blond knew for sure. Believe it. 

Sasuke shrugged under the scrutiny, a hand firmly entwined in Themo’s fur. “If I bring them back here, we can compare them to your knowledge, Den Mother and see if they’ll work.”

Scrolls? He remembered seeing those before. The Matron would often have a stack of them on her desk. While he and Gumo didn’t know what the scribbles meant, they’d found it fun to pour water into the bottle of black goo the caretakers used to make the scribbling lines and listen to them bitch about the scrolls being messed up. It was a fun prank indeed. 

A dark grin pulled tugged at his lips at the memories before something else occurred to him. Naruto jerked up, staring at Sasuke in surprise. “YOU KNOW HOW TO READ?”

Kirum flinched under his hand and Naruto winced, looking around the circle apologetically. “Sorry.” They’d, or instead he—Gumo was always quiet—had gotten good at staying calm, only speaking in soft tones around his pack. Their ears were sensitive and he didn’t want to cause them any pain. It didn’t mean he remembered that all the time. This being one of the few occasions. 

Sasuke tilted his head and Naruto could almost see the curious but it was garbled with think and confused. “You don’t?”

At that, the blond fidgeted, glancing at Gumo for help. His brother shrugged, tugging at a lock of hair falling over his cyan eyes. “The caretakers said we were too stupid even to bother teaching and none of the other kids wanted to risk losing their dinner privileges for being caught trying.”

Twin growls broke the air, Den Mother folding her ears back distaste and Pakkun-Inu, their friendly stray pug baring small but strong—they’d seen the brindle dog haul a deer back by himself—teeth with hate in every tense line of his frame. Naruto huddled closer to his canid sibling, fearsorry, under their fury. 

He knew it was his fault the caretakers didn’t like them. That there was something so utterly wrong with him, the villagers tried to take it out on both of them. But to see their mother and the friendly pug looking so angry it made him want to run and hide. 

“Sorry,” he tried again, closing his eyes against the building pressure. He wouldn’t cry, not here in front of his pack. It was a close thing, though. And then came the slobbery kisses. 

The blond sputtered, opening his eyes to find Mama Kōri standing over him, showering him with long licks that tickled his scarred cheeks. He giggled, reaching up to wrap his arms around her head in a hug and buried his face in her fur. There was nothing he could hide from Den Mother, she always knew what went through his mind, be it the no-longer-night-terrors or even if he’d accidentally kicked too hard when they play wrestled. 

When she wrapped a paw around his shoulders in a hug, he felt more then heard the sigh that escaped her windpipe. “Never apologize for something that is not your fault, pup. The humans in that den were not Den Mothers. A true wolf knows the failure of the pup falls only on the shoulders of the adult.”

After a moment he pulled away, looking up at her with shining eyes and she gave him another lick, softer, more minor, across his forehead before looking at the group. “That goes for all of you, even you, Sasuke,” Sasuke straightened, eyes tracking their Den Mother. “You are all pups, one in the same, taught and raised by your pack. You are not born knowing how to talk, or walk, or read. You are taught by your Den Mothers and your pack to do these things. If you cannot, if you lack such basic skills it is not your fault. It is the fault of the pack as a whole for failing in their duty. The pup who is not taught by the pack will one day become the one to destroy it.”

She fell silent, returning to her position in the circle and as one they lowered their heads, and replied,  “Yes, Den Mother.”

Mama Kōri shook herself. “I believe that’s enough for today. Sasuke, if you are willing and will not get in trouble with your pack, then bring the scrolls. Pakkun-Inu and I will discuss the matter of combining the styles. For now go play.” With that, she tossed her head in the direction of the forest. 

Kirum was the first up, nipping Themo’s ear with a loud yip of, “You’re it!” Recognizing the game, Naruto took off for the trees to look for a place to hide. Themo was fast and with Sasuke’s ability to climb it wouldn’t be long before they caught up. 

XxX

Watching the pups run off, Inu waited until they’d disappeared into the trees before dropping down into the shadow of his perch. As he did, the Den Mother and Pakkun made their way to him, settling down around him so that the she-wolf watched the direction the pups were playing. His ninken held no qualms, sitting on his right and watching him intently. 

“You heard?”

He’d heard, alright. Illiterate, even at five. By the time he was their age he was graduating the academy, becoming a genin. And while he knew he was a genius, Inu was not so socially inept as to not recognize the brothers should at least know their letters. Something dark and bloody boiled in his gut, sparking like lightning and he wanted nothing more then to set the orphanage on fire. 

Instead of chasing the urge, he pushed it away, leaving it for his next mission outside of Konoha and instead gave a sharp, birdlike nod. Those scrolls had been better off as kindling then. Even if the kids had bothered to look at them, they wouldn’t have known what they were. 

That said, he turned to the she-wolf. “And you, Kōri-san?”

She huffed amusement, her gaze never leaving the direction of her focus. “I knew how to read before I left the den, Inu-san. All Wolves of the Shiroi ōkami Contract need to know how to read the contract so that we are not abused by our summoner.” 

“You’ll be teaching the pups to read then, I assume?” Pakkun was on point, as always. 

The she-wolf nodded, “I’d planned to ask you for the materials but since Sasuke has so kindly offered, I might use those instead.” Her expression fell, lips pulling back in a silent snarl. “I’ll not have any of my pups be illiterate. Why those stupid humans think the wolf for the prey is beyond me.”

“Humans do stupid things,” Inu sighed, leaning back on his heels as his gaze wandered in the direction of the siblings. His chakra pinged off the estate wards, informing him without a doubt where they walked in their childish games so he felt safe enough to continue their conversation. Which brought him back to something he was curious about. 

“Maa, Kōri-san?” When she flicked an ear listening he stated quietly, “you never did say what became of the pack.”

All at once her countenance fell. It wasn’t so much an all out change as a shift of the muscles beneath her fur, lending her a tired, lone wolf air. Her tail tapped a slow rhythm on the ground before she sighed reluctance. “I was still in the den when the last summoner died, so I’m unaware of the full reasoning but after he died, the pack elders and the Alpha conversed for seven moons before they decided it was time to leave. The Hatake were extinct and there were no others in Konoha they deemed worthy of the contract. We returned to the Moon Forest and that was where we stayed. After I came with litter from a Lone, I was removed from the pack contract. Our Den Mother always spoke so highly of the Hatake that I decided I’d be better off here then in an unknown forest where my litter could die at any moment.”

She glanced at Inu then, a quick fire, barely there reaction, before she huffed, “I chose correctly.”

It wasn’t a thank you but it was close enough. She had her pride and Inu understood that. He nodded his head in return. “You did. It has turned out well for both sides.”

He wasn’t her pack, nor vice versa. Maybe, had he signed the contract, it would’ve turned out differently, but the ANBU learned long ago should’ve, would’ve, could’ve only counted in Kunai and Explosive Tags. 

And ghosts didn’t haunt him all times of day with the scent of incense and the memory of a death shroud. Maybe he should’ve taken Inoichi up on that last psych eval…

Who was he kidding? He had another five years on his contract. Even if the head of the T&I department had done something, Inu would’ve ended up back in ROOT instead of at home dreaming about said ghosts. 

Pushing away all thoughts regarding Konoha’s darkness, Inu instead asked, “Will you allow them into the village more often now they’ve hunted?”

“If you mean Naruto and Gumo alone, no.” The Den Mother stated with such certainty, the ANBU recognized the threat for what it was. “One of their siblings, if not all of them will go. I’d have a pack takeover on my paws if I said some could go and not the others. And now with Sasuke,” she gave him a stink eye as if the Uchiha running into Naruto that night had been his fault—it wasn’t but she wouldn’t believe him anyway so let old bones lie. “I’ll have to allow them more freedom into the other territories. Before I do, though, I intend for them to at least know how to use tooth and claw to protect themselves.”

Nearby, childish laughter and puppy howls echoed through the trees. Inu tuned his chakra into the wards, confirming his thoughts, and he rose. “A fair assessment, Pakkun?”

“Imma stay, Boss,” the pug shook his head. 

With that, Inu leaped back into the tree, returning to his hiding place as the first of the pups broke through the tree line.