Spider and Fox

Sasuke kept his word. Three days later found all of the pups, including Naruto and Kirum leaning over a scroll talking about tah-joot-zoo. The going was slow, there were a lot of words but Mama Kōri and Pakkun-Inu padded between the three groups, helping when it was needed. Sasuke was the fastest, helping Themo along even as he read the scroll himself. 

“You’re doing well.” Naruto blinked, craning his neck to look at his Den Mother and he smiled, an expression so full of teeth and happiness it forced his eyes closed. 

“Thank you, Mama Kōri. Kirum keeps messing up on the cun-sonn-its but we’re having fun.”

The ball of fluff beside him moved, reappearing with a puppy paw digging into his back and Naruto squeaked, rolling over to dislodge the offensive object. “It’s not my fault you can’t tell a T from a J.”

Naruto grabbed at Kirum’s cheeks, forcing him back as he tried to grab hold of the blond’s clothing for all three seconds. What would’ve continued into a play squabble was abruptly cut short as a bigger set of jaws separated them. 

As Mama Kōri set Kirum down, Naruto sat up, heat rising up his ears in embarrassment. He looked at his feet, finding the dirt covered soles very interesting when their mother huffed. “You will have your play time soon, right know is the time for learning.”

“Maaama,” Diapha whined, and Den Mother nudged Naruto gently as she walked by. He watched her go, tail swinging gracefully as she approached Gumo and their blue-eyed sister fighting for the scroll they were supposed to be reading. 

“No, Diapha, you are not allowed to chew on the scroll.”

Although, Naruto’s attention was quickly caught when a cold nose nudged his hand instead. The blond blinked, turning back to his canid brother and he smiled, sorryjokenotmean a small nonaggressive expression that had the white pup’s tongue lolling from the side of his mouth. 

Forgivenfunny

Kirum padded up to him, gently bumping Naruto’s chin with his head and the blond sighed, sinking his hands into the thick fur. His siblings were the best. 

Besides Themo; the sarcastic sekigan could jump in a lake.  “Nah,” he thought after a moment, “Den Mother would make us go after him.”

Actually…

A glance back showed Mama Kōri was busy lecturing Diapha about protecting pack culture and Pakkun-Inu was distracted by Themo and Sasuke. The lake wasn’t far. It's just a bit outside the territory borders. If they were quiet, they could probably slink away without the adults noticing. 

Naruto grinned, leaning down so his words met Kirum’s ears alone. “Wanna go swimming?” 

A flick of the wolf’s tail was the only tell. With that, Naruto slowly rose to his feet and crept away from the group. Kirum followed, paws not making a sound. Thankfully, Den Mother had decided to hold these lessons under the shadow of a giant oak. It was easier for them to reach the bushes and disappear within before she could notice.  

Once they were far enough away, Naruto tapped Kirum’s shoulder. With a split second, “You’re it!” the blond was gone, running in the direction of their destination.

Around trees, over rocks, through dense brush, he ran, well aware of the wolf racing behind him. He heard the clacking of needle sharp puppy teeth each time his brother grew closer and each time, he would jink to the side, or let the dips in the ground catch him to avoid those jaws.  

They’d been running together since the season changed and the pretty pink blossoms grew; while he wasn’t perfect at it yet, it had become that much more difficult for Kirum to catch him. 

Finding the game trail heading in the right direction was easy, trying to stick to it while keeping an eye out for a wolf jumping at him like a jack rabbit not so much. As the trail took a hard turn, back tracking toward the den, Kirum bounced off a tree trunk and finally knocked him down. 

Naruto huffed, giving an extended oof of expelled air when Kirum sat on him. 

“Got…you…” the young wolf panted, tongue lolling from the side of his mouth and the blond giggled, laying back with his arms above his head. 

“You got…better at…jumping,” speaking was hard when one was being sat on, and Naruto was pretty sure a paw was stepping on something that made it more complicated still. 

Kirum nodded, laying beside him, and rolled over to mimic Naruto’s position. “That last one was hard. How are you so fast? You’re almost as fast as Mama.”

The five year old thought about, completely discarded all the thoughts that sounded too much like Mama Kōri giving a lecture, and shrugged. “I have to keep up with you, don’t I?”

Something rumbled through the pup’s chest that sounded like, “True.” and Naruto finally sat up, taking in their surroundings. Light could be seen through the trees, a breeze blowing a scent of musk and fish in his direction. He inhaled, and licked his lips. Fresh fish sounded really good.

His stomach seemed to agree as it gave a growl that could give Kirum a run for his tail and Naruto nudged the wolf. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

With a huff, Kirum was up and together the brothers walked the remaining distance to the lake. In the tree line, they paused, their Den Mother’s warnings about being aware of their surroundings having been drilled in deep enough to warrant the caution of checking for others nearby. When they found no one, they emerged onto the rocky shore line, and ran for the water. 

Kirum hit first, a long loping run that had him diving into the clear water and splashing Naruto in the process. Not to be outdone, the blond waded in until the water was to his waist and dove after his brother, managing to grab a hold of the wolf’s leg and pull him under. 

It was rough and tumble, purely play. Mud squished between his toes, the taste of muck in his mouth, water sluicing off every part of him weighing down blond locks until they covered his eyes. Still, through water logged ears and nose burning from snorting water, he heard himself laugh. Felt Kirum’s happy yips and growls as they floundered and squabbled like the siblings they were. 

Until, at last, they wound up on the rocky shore once more, sprawled in the late afternoon sun. Kirum rested his head on Naruto’s chest, both breathing softly after their fun and wrinkled fingers found their way into the rapidly drying, algae slick fur behind the wolf’s ears. 

Behind them a bush rustled. Assuming it was their Den Mother come seeking them for wandering away from their studies, he tilted his head back, her name on his tongue. Only…

It wasn’t Mama Kōri.

There stood a human in a black cloak, their face covered by a blank white mask. This was like no human he’d ever met before though. There was no emotion, no hatred, no fear, nothing. Even villagers with all their meanness at least felt like it. It’s how he and Gumo, before they found their Den Mother, knew to avoid certain shops or streets. He could feel the hatred and fear before he saw them. 

This one though…he tensed. 

Kirum, who’d been dozing off, picked up on his warywarning and raised his head, glaring the human. He didn’t bare his teeth—Mama Kōri had warned them about showing threat first—but as Naruto rolled over to look at the human properly, he could see the beginnings of a snarl pulling at his brother’s lips. 

“Who are you?” the blond finally asked, getting to his feet in case they needed to run. He already didn’t trust villagers, he trusted this strange human even less. 

“Uzumaki Naruto,” The human began, and scowling, Naruto interrupted him, putting a foot forward as he pointed at himself. 

“That’s my name, you can’t have it.”

But the human continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “The Hokage has summoned you. I am to take you to him immediately.” The way they spoke was as emotionless as the void in the air surrounding them and something in the blond’s gut said run.

Den Mother would tell him later it was his instinct. Later, she would lick his forehead and nuzzle him like a blind pup. 

Later was not now. 

Still, he listened, tearing off down the shore to the closest spit of forest that was away from the weird human. Before he could reach it, though, the human appeared in front of him, hands stretched as if to grab him. 

Naruto knew this game, had played it with his siblings enough to recognize the trick and instead of dodging to one side, he knelt. Kirum ran up his back, using it to launch himself at the human. Only then, did he skirt to the side, aiming to kick the human in the leg. 

Distracted by a face full of wolf, Naruto landed the hit and then took off, glancing behind him to ensure his brother was following. He wasn’t. 

The blond skidded to a stop, heart in his ears. “Kirum!” But the wolf wasn’t listening. Even from where he stood, he could hear teeth snapping, the human struggling to fend off the attack. 

A loud yelp of the canid kind broke through the air. His brother fell to the ground, pooling blood discoloring white fur. 

“KIRUM!”

Naruto scurried to the wolf, ducking under grasping arms and fell to his knees. His hands hovered over the wound, unsure what to do. Finally he tried to grab two handfuls of fur and pulled. If he just closed it, the blood would stop and his brother would be okay. Right?

A menacing snarl, bloodthirsty in that it sounded so familiar, broke him from a stupor of bloodfishsmudscent and Naruto looked up as a blur of white flew by, the strange packdanger human skidding down the shore on their back. Another human stood over them, angerfearsorrow bleeding through every taught muscle. 

One human, he couldn’t have held off anyway, now he had to deal with two? He was going to be taken, Kirum was going to die because he wanted to go swimming. 

The new human divided into two. While one moved closer to the packdanger the other turned to them. 

Swallowing, Naruto leaned protectively over his brother, hands pushing on the wound to close it. If he was going to be taken, Kirum was coming too, he would make sure of it. 

But…

New Human did not reach for him. They squatted, and Naruto sucked in a breath, seeing the white hair peeking over a red painted mask. He recognized this one. Their scent Lonesorrowgrief permeated the territory, never on ground level but always in the trees. It carried on Pakkun-Inu when he would go explore the territories. 

Mama never said the scent was bad…

“Help me,” he sniffled, looking down at his brother. Beneath his hands, the pup’s breath was becoming shallower. “Save my brother, please.”

The Lone watched him, still as a snake lying in wait, before they nodded, and slowly rose. Each movement they made Naruto could see, and when they crouched down to pick up Kirum, Naruto reluctantly pulled away. 

Before the Lone disappeared, they turned back to him, an eye shadowed by the mask they wore. “Return to your den, don’t make your Den Mother worry more.” and they were gone. Kirum and the human Naruto had just trusted him to. 

XxX

Inu was careful. As careful as if he were carrying an injured teammate and not a wild wolf pup. But he’d watched this pup grow. Sage strike him before he let it end like that. 

A meeting with Sarutobi, the same damn meeting they’d done every week since the boys ran. A simple debrief that never took more then fifteen minutes had been drawn out because…

The soft whimper caught Inu’s ear. He looked down, only vaguely registering jumping a clan compound’s borders as he found the pup twitching in his grasp—which was way too tight. Forcing himself to ease his grip, Inu aimed toward the back of the compound. It wouldn’t do for the ANBU to harm him more out of misdirected anger. 

“Easy,” he murmured instead, watching an ear not so much turn as twitch. “You’re safe, you’ll be back to your pack in no time.”

He ignored the packs of dogs surrounding them, ignored the byplay as they realized what he carried. When he reached the end of a paved stone path, there stood a ninken more significant then most in the compound. In fact, Inu wouldn’t be hard pressed to say he could match Kōri-san for size. 

As he passed, he nodded to the Alpha before entering the building. Inside, he looked around, barely taking in the bags of dog treats and dog food before he crossed the room. While he wanted to get the pup healed as quickly as possible, if an ANBU came through the front door of a veterinary clinic with a bloody wolf pup in hand, things would not go well.

This clan relied on both Shinobi and civilian clientele in order to bring in income outside of village missions. The civillians, for as stupid as they sometimes acted, would flip a fit and panic with the amount of blood he currently had on him. 

Hence the back door. 

Just as he was about to reach for the door on the opposite side of the room, it swung open revealing a woman wearing a medic’s vest. She had long brown hair pinned back in a tight pony tail and large brown eyes. But the most prominent feature were the sizeable red clan markings on her cheeks resembling fangs. 

“Wha?” she gasped.

“Help him, Inuzuka-San,” Inu pleaded quietly in return. 

Before another breath, the woman was in front of him, a hand glowing green as she ran a diagnostic on the pup. Then she frowned, “This isn’t good.” Without further explanation, she took Kirum from him, turning and going back through the doorway she’d come from.

Silent as a shadow, Inu followed. He trusted this Inuzuka, Inuzuka Hana, with his own ninken and while it wasn’t needed often there were a few training sessions that would’ve come out worse without her aid. 

Halfway through a hall full of doors, she turned into one room, setting the pup down on a table before going through the cabinets. While she searched, the ANBU made himself comfortable in a shadowed corner, ensuring to stay out of her way, but close enough for the pup to know he was there. 

It was only after she had the wound cleaned and green chakra was weaving through the flesh that she asked, “What happened?”

Inu tilted his head, remaining silent and she sighed. “Right, ANBU secrets. Can you tell me where you found him?”

How much could he tell her without giving it away? Adult wise, only he and the Hokage knew where Naruto and Gumo were hidden but if the ROOT agent had been any proof, it also meant Danzo probably had an idea if not narrowing it down as he stood there.

But Hana also knew about the Hatake Contract, she’d been the one to come hunt him down on one of his ‘vacations’ as Inoichi-san liked to call them, and ask about the mentions in a book she’d read. 

He knew they were thought to be long gone, having disappeared after his father died. Which they had, but the pull was strong if Kōri-san had returned. Which meant he’d just settle on a middle ground and let her hunt him down during another vacation.

“The wolves live.”

Hana glanced in his direction before she nodded and proceeded to carefully clean most of the blood from the pup’s fur. “The wound doesn’t appear to be from a normal fight. Pups will brawl, and sometimes go overboard but this was too long, too clean cut,” she stated as if speaking to herself.

Better for any listening ears. 

After she managed to get him to stir long enough to swallow a treat covered pill, she continued, “The blood loss is bad, but he will recover in a couple days time. I’ll need to speak to Kaa-san about keeping him in the house to observe him.”

Did he mention Inuzuka were crazy? They were without a doubt one of the more feral clans in Konoha. But it was nothing he hadn’t expected. He’d just need to inform Kōri-san and not get his throat torn out in the process. 

Then she murmured lowly, “solid meat, yes?”

Inu shook a hand in a ‘so-so’ manner and she nodded. “About three months old, not old enough for solid food so milk and meat mixture then. Separation from the ninken will be important, they’ll try to bully him into rank and he’s too young to put up much of a fight.”

That earned a snort. He’d seen what the pup could do. As young as he was, he was still strong enough to hold his own against regular ninken. While not a part of the Summons Contract, he still had the chakra rich blood that made Summons so formidable. Even at three months old he could hold his own. 

His expression of amusement seemed to settle Hana and she gave a slight grin of her own. If the contract ever did return to Konoha, Inu knew this would be the Kunoichi to offer it too. She had the fierceness of a she-wolf and the gentleness of a Den Mother ready and willing to protect her own. 

By this time, the wolf pup had curled up on the table, sleeping soundly from the medicine she’d given him and she nodded to Inu. “He’ll be fine. Come back in two days time and I promise he’ll be raring to return to his pack. I’m sure you have a Den Mother to reassure.”

Understatement of the century. 

Kōri-san was going to chew him up and spit him out. 

Nodding his thanks to the Inuzuka, he shunshined away from the compound and halfway to the Hokage tower. There were several things he wanted to speak to the Hokage about. Including why his standard fifteen minute debrief had turned into a two hour knock out drag down fight because of a group of elders that had no right sticking their noses where they didn’t belong. 

And yeah, if a part of him that spoke fluently in pack wanted blood for the blood of the young he wore, he was going to get it one way or another. Because nobody, nobody hurt his pack and got away with it.