Spider and Fox

Breathe in, count to ten. Breathe out, count to seven. Chakra stirred, gaining speed as it pulled in the sand around him. It was heavy, slow, weighed down by water but still it answered his call. Dozens of feet below, it rose, flowing from the lake bed until he imagined it boiling up and rising into the air. 

His instincts howled Danger, and cyan eyes snapped open. Concentration broken, the water swallowed him and he floated below the surface, watching as a form flew through the air where he’d been sitting previously. 

“Seriously?” He growled, the sound muffled by his surroundings and the redhead kicked his feet, breaching the surface after only a few moments. Channeling chakra to his hands and feet, he climbed up, balancing on the surface as he turned to the one who’d almost collided with him. 

Ruto popped up several feet away, pushing long blond hair out of his eyes and he tread water. 

“What the hell, Ruto?” he called out, storming up to help his brother regain his equilibrium. As angry as he was, he wasn’t about to let him swim back to shore just to rejoin them. Ruto had the worst control out of all them, climbing up and out was still beyond his abilities unless someone was there to lend him a hand. 

The blond grinned sheepishly, shaking himself to be rid of the worst of the water. “Sorry, Gumo, Themo and Sass pulled a quick one on us.”

He turned around, catching sight of their siblings crowing at one another on the other side of the lake. A distance away, Kirum was trotting toward he and Ruto, fur matted together from his own dip. 

A sharp whistle came from the shoreline and Gumo sighed. So much for getting more practice. Ruto clapped a hand on his shoulder, the grip tightening when his concentration wobbled, and the blond nodded at their teacher, “Come on, when we get back to the den, I’ll see if I have any raspberries left as an apology.”

“You have a deal.” With that, they made the trek to join the others, pausing a few times along the way when it looked like his brother was about to dip under again. 

On the shore, Hana-sensei and Shisui-sensei stood, their expressions impassive as they looked at each of the water logged siblings. Then Shisui, true to form, burst into a giant grin, “That looked like one hell of a fight. Naruto, what did you do wrong?”

The blond grumbled, crossing his arms, “I wasn’t watching where I was going and Sass kicked my ass for it.”

“Environmental awareness.” their sensei corrected, “We’ve been over this. Just because Kirum has your back now, doesn’t mean he always will. There will be times he’ll be too distracted to keep you from getting hit. It’s your responsibility to ensure nothing can sneak up on you. Kirum?”

The wolf, now almost to Gumo’s hip in height, bowed his head, ears folding back in embarrassment, “I was distracted when Ruto went flying and Themo put me down.”

Hana-sensei nodded. “It is always important to be aware of your packmates and how they’re doing but never allow it to drop your guard in a fight. Always be aware, never distracted. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sensei.” they bowed their heads in unison.

“Now then,” Shisui-sensei clapped his hands, “Back to the den for supper then,” his grin turned mischievous and Gumo’s shoulders tensed with excitement, “I believe it’s time for a run through the village.”

He and his siblings cheered. That was the fun part of their days. Each night was never the same. Some they spent exploring parts of the village, others Itachi-sensei and Tenzo-sensei tasked them with hunting them down. Gumo enjoyed learning from all four of their teachers. Most days, Hana and Shisui were with them, trading off at dusk for Itachi and Tenzo but sometimes they switched, and Itachi-sensei taught them how to use kunai and shuriken while Tenzo-sensei made a game of hiding their chakra signatures all day. 

“Alright then, on your mark.”

Ready for this, Gumo leaned down, fingertips resting lightly on the rocky shore. Their teachers parted to either side and Hana-sensei raised a hand, “Get set…”

The redhead took off first, climbing the nearest tree with ease of practice before channeling chakra to his feet and jumping. Somewhere behind him, there was laughter and Ruto’s windfoxpine scent flooded him. 

Dropping down, he grabbed a branch to swing back up as his blond brother ran by overhead. When Gumo landed on a branch, he chased after him, a feral grin stretching over his features, “This win is mine, Ruto!”

“Yeah right,” his brother laughed, diving under a low hanging branch, “Watch out for Themo, you know he’ll—” his warning was cut off, a flash of white slamming into Gumo and sending him careening out of the tree.

“Damn it, sekigan,” Gumo shouted, reaching for a handhold. Only instinct and quick reflexes from years of fighting with his siblings saved him from faceplanting into loamy soil. As it was, his toes barely brushed a bush before he was pulling himself back up. By the time he caught up, he could smell smoke from the irori.

He pushed the red-eyed wolf in turn and Themo huffed a laugh, “It’s not my fault you have slippery paws.”

“I’ll show you slippery paws,” he growled, tackling the wolf and sending them both to the ground in a ball of fur and limbs. They wrestled where they landed, kicking and biting until someone pulled them apart.

“Alright, that’s enough.”

The stern voice had them both freezing, and Gumo looked up at the silver-haired wolfinhumanskin with wide eyes, “It was his fault, Alpha.” he said automatically, pointing at Themo who hung from their leader’s other hand. 

Alpha Kakashi arched his single brow, looking from him to Themo and back again, “It doesn’t matter who’s fault it is. You both know better then to throw each other out of trees. What if one of you landed wrong and broke something?”

“Why would I ever throw my sibling out of a tree?” The sekigan’s tongue lolled from his mouth, innocent in perked ears. 

But Alpha wasn’t fooled, he shook Gumo before setting him down and cuffed Themo’s ears, “Knock it off. Your Den Mother and I have both told you more then enough times. If I catch you again, I’m grounding you from the village.” Then he set the red-eyed wolf down as well, “Now go on, I believe Kirum won anyway.”

As Themo slunk off, something occurred to Gumo and he looked at their Alpha with wide eyes, “Wait, if you’re back does that mean?”

He nodded, “Diapha’s waiting at the den for you.” The redhead took off, running into the clearing where he could see his sister sitting beside their mother. 

“Diapha,” he called, running toward her. 

Her ears perked up and when she saw him, she ran at him. They tackled each other in a hug and he laughed, ruffling her scruff with both hands. When she got him with a slobbery kiss, he spluttered, sitting up to wipe off his face. She grinned, brushing up against him and nearly smothering him with her coarse white fur. 

Gumo spat out a mouthful, glaring up at her with baleful eyes even as a smile pulled at the corners of his lips, “I missed you.”

“And I you,” Diapha nudged him, “It’s boring being in that stuffy building without you.”

That was something else that changed. Every day, Alpha would take one of his siblings along when he went into the village. Ruto and he never went but Diapha, Themo, and Kirum traded off every third day. They always brought back stories of stuffy buildings, stuffier humans, and quite proud of themselves if they managed to scare a human who looked at them for too long. 

“Training’s not as fun without you,” he agreed, getting to his feet, “Although you missed Ruto getting thrown across the lake.”

The blue-eyed she-wolf’s ears perked up interest, “Really? How did that happen?” Side by side, they walked up to the engawa where Ruto and Sass were unrolling storage scrolls. Their mentors weren’t allowed in the den, that rule had been laid down by Mama Kōri back when they were still intruders, and had stuck since. 

Instead, they gathered on the porch to eat, picking off of trays and out of bowls the siblings had gathered during their adventures into the village. As they settled down, Ruto opened the last scroll to reveal covered bowls of ramen.

His brother’s stomach growled loud enough for them to hear and Gumo smirked, “Hungry, Ruto?”

The blond blushed, sitting down while they waited for Alpha Kakashi to take first pick. His eye crinkled in the way that meant he was amused and wave his hand at them, “The hungry go first, you pups can have first claim.” Given the go ahead, Gumo reached for the raspberries, taking a handful and dropping them into a bowl before looking over the other bits they’ve hunted and foraged. There was a division of the food portions, part being cooked, the other raw. 

Their teachers always preffered the cooked, but Gumo found he enjoyed a mix of both. Raw tasted better while the cooked was easier to eat. 

“Alpha?” he asked once everyone was eating. Alpha Kakashi rolled a shoulder acknowledgement and Gumo frowned, “Why don’t you let Ruto and I come into the village with you?”

Shisui started coughing, beating on his chest and while he waited on his leader to answer, made note to avoid the smoked snake. If it was that hard to chew, he didn’t want it. 

“And why do you want to go into the village?” he asked in return, silver eye observant. 

Gumo knew this game, they’d all done it at one point or another since Kakashi-san beat Mama Kōri in battle and took the title. He set down his bowl, straightened his back, and looked his Alpha in the eye, “You always take our siblings into the village during the day but you never take either of us. I wanted to know why.”

“A valid argument,” he heard Tenzo-sensei murmur. 

Alpha Kakashi chewed slowly on a field mouse, his mask having been removed for the meal. Only after he swallowed did he respond. “Gumo, how old are you?”

“Seven, almost eight, Alpha,” Gumo responded proudly. “Ruto and I will be eight at the beginning of leaf-fall.”

Wolfinhumanskin nodded, “That is why. When you turn eight, then I’ll start taking you two with me. Your teachers tell me you’re good at getting around the village without being seen but when your birthday comes, I plan on taking on your training myself. This’ll involve day trips into the village and being around more humans then you’re used to.”

“Really?” Ruto gasped before he realized his interruption and closed his mouth quickly. Their leader simply smiled at him before he nodded.

“Yes, I’ve been working close with your teachers to ensure you’re at a proper place to increase your training. Which means your water-walking has to be spotless,” the way he eyed Ruto made it clear who he was talking about. 

Gumo always found it amusing how his brother would be given what seemed an impossible task and pulled it through. The best part to him, though, was the determination that colored Ruto’s blue eyes to resemble the lake. When his brother nodded, Alpha Kakashi turned back to him. 

“As for what that means for you,” he pointed at the metal crate Gumo used to use to pull sand from when they first started training under Mama Kōri. “I want that crate filled with dry sand from the bottom of lake. If you two can complete those tasks before or by your birthday I’ll take you into the village, do we have a deal?”

With that, Gumo averted his eyes, backing down from his challenge, “Yes, Alpha.” 

The rest of supper continued on with their usual fanfare. Diapha told them stories of the stuffy humans she’d met, pups who’d come up to try and pet her before their parents pulled them away. A favorite human their siblings liked to talk about was a man they’d only come to know as The Hokage. Those stories were always filled with interesting tidbits like an orange book she sometimes saw him trying to sneak glances at and the sweet smoke that clung to him like a second scent. 

Alpha would sometimes catch her before she said something or another but by that point, he and his siblings had learned there were just somethings that weren’t allowed to be said. 

After the dishes were cleaned in a bucket of sand and rain water, and the scrolls were put away, the sun had set, leaving the sky filled with stars. They said their goodbyes to their Den Mother and followed their teachers into the trees. 

On the edge of the forest, where lantern light illuminated the sky and buildings stretched before them, Hana-sensei and Shisui-sensei turned to them. 

“You pups have fun with your exploring,” Hana smiled, one hand resting on Ichi’s head. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Shisui grinned, one hand on Sass’s shoulder. “Try not to get Tenzo-sensei and Itachi-sensei into too much trouble now.” With that they were gone, disappearing in a flurry of leaves. Hana-sensei rolled her eyes but said one final goodbye before leaving as well.

Travel well, Nichi’s tail flicked. 

When they disappeared into the shadows, the siblings turned to their night mentors. Itachi arched a brow, the quirk in his lips showing excitement, “Who remembers what we practiced last night?”

“Hands signs,” Ruto chirped.

“What kind of handsigns?” Tenzo-sensei asked.

What was it they’d been learning? Gumo frowned, looking at his hands. It was… comtalkspeak he tried to remember what they’d been shown and looked up at their teachers in question. Tenzo gave a tightlipped smile before he crouched down. 

“Close, try it like this.” He folded a hand in a way that resembled what Gumo had done, if only slightly different and when the redhead copied it, his teacher nodded. “That’s it. What’s the difference between these and the ones used for jutsu?”

“We can’t use either,” Themo huffed, ever the pessimistic one. 

“Not true,” Itachi-sensei correctly him gently, “The five of you have an unspoken language already, but other humans can’t read that. In a situation where silence is necessary, hand signs can save someone’s life. That’s why we’re teaching you these. So you’ll be able to read them and communicate with your siblings and back again. Now, what is the difference between the sets of signs?”

Brow furrowed, Gumo mentally compared the jutsu signs to the handsigns they’d been shown. With the jutsu signs, he felt when his windsanddune chakra flowed through his body but there was nothing of the like when he used these. His chakra remained stationary, a sand dune stored by his heart. 

“These don’t use chakra?” he asked quietly. 

Tenzo-sensei nodded, “Yes, jutsu signs call your chakra and help you shape it, these are purely for communication purposes.” with that he stood eyeing them all, “We’ll go into other signs with more detail on another night but for tonight we’re going to practice with only a few of the more important ones. Once you have these down, we’ll give you your assignment.”

Danger, Enemy, Fall Back,Hold, Forward, Help and Friendly were signs they quickly became familiar with. His fingers felt odd, trying to make the shapes but after a little while, Gumo was able to go through them without much effort. 

Once he and Ruto were able to go through all of them without tripping up, Itachi spoke up, “Now then, your goal for tonight is to pay attention. Tenzo or myself will give you a sign, you are to translate it to your packmates. Each time you misread a sign or someone disobeys will be another night we repeat this drill until you get it down, understood?”

“Yes, Sensei,” they replied.

With that, Itachi-sensei stepped aside, holding an arm out to the village at large, “Go on, then, remember to be vigilant.”