Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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A Tale of Tails

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Chapter One

Deep within the dense forests of one of Konoha's more secluded training grounds, a multi-colored blur darted through the trees, ricocheting between their trunks at incredible speeds as flashes of razor sharp blades darted through the air in various directions. Even as the blur double-backed and looped around through the woodlands as if following an unseen track, each thrown blade hit its mark dead-center regardless of where the targets had been placed. After hitting every single target that had been set up in the large clutch of trees, the blur finally shot out of the foliage, skidding for several feet before finally coming to a complete stop in a three-point crouch.

Standing back up to their full height of 5'7", the figure lightly dusted himself off, bearing a slender and lithe athletic build balanced between strength and speed. However, they didn't exactly look normal. Looking more like an anthropomorphic fox, the person's piercing icy blue eyes glanced off to the side, their predatory slit pupils adjusting to the unfiltered light of the sun's glare. Obviously male, the teen bore digitigrade legs that ended in clawed paws, clawed paw-like hands, two long backswept fox-like ears atop his head that twitched at the slightest noise, and a long fox tail extending from the base of his spine. His body was covered in a dense coat of short red-orange fur that turned into black on his fingers starting at the knuckle, his eyes ringed with black that ran back towards his temples and up into his fox ears. His face had a slight stubby muzzle-like shape to it, but it wasn't much.

He was clad in a pair of grey three-quarter length pants held up by a plain black leather belt that bore the engraved metal plate of a Konoha hitai-ate as a belt buckle, a sleeveless mesh top over his furry torso, skin-tight black fingerless elbow-length gloves on his hands and forearms with blood red metal bracers strapped to his arms over them that had three short claw-like protrustions of crimson metal sticking out just above his knuckles, black cloth bindings wrapped around his forelegs from his paws to his knees, blood red metal greaves of similar design as his bracers strapped to his shins that covered the tops of his paw-like feet, and a blood red scarf wrapped around his neck that was pulled up over his nose like a face mask while the rest of it trailed half-way down his back behind him.

An X-shaped harness made of several black leather straps criss-crossed his torso over his top that bore a dozen black kunai holsters scattered all around it that were all within easy reach of his nimble hands, three more strapped to the side of either thigh, and a larger-than-average dark grey equipment pouch centered along his lower back just above his tail. Set at his hips were a pair of black leather holsters that craddled his twin silver trench knives, both having been custom-made for a more comfortable grip with jagged knuckle guards.

"Hmm...Impressive." Hatake Kakashi praised casually with an eye smile aimed at his student, a stop watch held in his hand as he leaned against a nearby tree that stood alone in the clearing. "You finished thirteen-point-four seconds faster than your previous record. You've gotten much faster than you were last week."

"Hmph. Of course I have. I've been training harder then I was back then." The fox-like genin grumbled with a huff, hooking his thumbs in his pockets as he easily balanced on the padded balls of his paw-like feet, his toes subconciously flexing slightly and causing his claws to lightly scrape at the ground. "Besides, my speed is my greatest weapon. It stands to reason that I would try to get better."

"Now, now, Naruto. No need to get so defensive." Kakashi sighed out with a disarming wave of his hand, pocketing the stop watch. "No one's judging."

"Hmph..." Naruto snorted quietly again as he looked away and glared off to the side, something that made Kakashi frown slightly beneath his mask.

He still couldn't believe what had happened to the poor boy. As a young child, he had been kidnapped and experimented on by Konoha's greatest traitor to date; Orochimaru. No one could really figure out what the man's reasoning was behind singling out Naruto that night, but then again, no one could predict what that mad-man was going to do next or even imagine what he was thinking about. In the end, Uzumaki Naruto had been changed in more ways than just his body and DNA. He had gone from a bright-eyed and hyperactive kid to the steely-eyed and focused sixteen year old he was now. It had been by sheer chance that the base he'd been at had been found and raided by the ANBU. He was brought to Konoha and it was discovered that he was, in fact, the same child that had gone missing less than two years prior to his rescue.

Regardless, there were definitely some lasting physical and psychological scars from the entire ordeal...

"I'm gonna go get my knives." Naruto mumbled before suddenly sprinting back into the forest in the form of a grey, orange, and red blur, leaving the jounin behind. Sighing heavily again, Kakashi closed his lone eye and ran a hand through his gravity-defying silver hair.

"Sometimes, I just can't help feeling like I'm failing as a sensei when it comes to that boy." The jounin mumbled out to no one in particular as his hand slid down to rub the back of his neck.

"Don't worry. He'll come around eventually." Haruno Sakura commented from her spot on a branch above him, lounging across it on her back while staring up through the thin canopy of leaves the tree provided, keeping the sun out of her eyes. Her bright bubblegum pink waist-length hair had been pulled back into a top-knot ponytail, her piercing emerald green eyes peering out from between her loose chin-length bangs. "At least, that's what I like to believe."

Like usual, she was dressed in a pair of really baggy dark red capri pants with a white sash wrapped around her slim waist with one end of it left to hang down to her knees in the front, a sleeveless dark red midriff-baring top that hugged her upper torso snuggly with her family's white ring emblem decorating the middle of her chest and upper back, dark red full-finger elbow-length gloves on her hands and forearms, black kunoichi sandals on her feet, and her hitai-ate tied around her waist over her sash with a strip of dark red cloth. Set behind either hip was a basic equipment pouch while a single kunai pouch had been strapped to either thigh.

"Yeah, well...Don't hold your breath." A more disgruntled voice spoke up from deeper amongst the branches on the other side of the tree. Leaning against a thick tree limb, Uchiha Sasuke kept his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest, dressed simply in a pair of black pants, a dark midnight blue turtleneck top with three-quarter length sleeves that fit him like a second set of skin with a cloth face mask attached to the collar that was pulled up over his nose and the Uchiha fan symbol decorating his back, and black shinobi sandals on his feet with a basic kunai holster strapped to his left thigh and an equipment pouch set behind his right hip. "He's been like that for the past nine years. I think that's about as 'cuddly' as he's gonna get."

"Hn. People said the same thing about you, Sasuke-kun..." Sakura countered with a smirk, her eyes glancing over to her team mate and old crush. Sasuke didn't open his eyes, but his brow knitted in a slight scowl without deeming her response worthy of a verbal retort. Thinking of something, Sakura frowned. "He should have been back by now. It doesn't normally take this long..."

"I'll bet my next paycheck that he went for another one of his 'runs'." Sasuke remarked, making Sakura pout.

"No one in their right mind that knows him would take that wager." Sakura grumbled. "That's a sucker's bet..."

"At least I was never stupid enough to bet against him in the past." The Uchiha responded, getting an annoyed half-hearted glare from Sakura and an eye smile out of Kakashi.

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Elsewhere, Naruto was blurring through the heavy woodlands, letting the rushing wind deafen the chaotic storm of thoughts surging around in his mind as he pushed himself to his absolute limit. His claws ripped at the earth under his padded paw-like feet with every step he took, his sharp-sighted eyes darting from one thing to another as he weaved through the trees, bouncing from tree trunk to tree trunk to help make any course alterations he made all the more easier and quicker without losing speed. Even though he was only a genin, a month out of the Academy, Naruto was the fastest of his generation and even faster than most of the chuunin in the village.

Launching himself from one last tree, Naruto took to the air as his feet left the crest of the cliff-faced hill, closing his eyes and letting the wind soothe him in its comforting embrace. Spiraling through the air as gravity slowly started to grab hold of him once more, Naruto shifted his center of balance with the help of his tail, waiting an extra second before finally opening his eyes. Twisting and flipping his body one last time, Naruto resisted the urge to hook his claws into the ground again as his feet made contact with the grassy slope of the opposing hill, the two split down the middle by a narrow river. Sliding down the slope, Naruto leaned back slightly before eventually falling to his back as he slowed down more than enough to stop.

Just lying there, his chest heaving with each labored breath, Naruto just stared up at the partly cloudy sky with a blank look on his humanoid vulpine face, his arms stretched out to either side of him. As he laid there, his mind completely void of thought, Naruto slowly became aware of how his tail was twitching ever so slightly. Lifting a hand up, he lazily dropped it on his tail, trapping it under his padded palm to keep it from twitching any more. He hated it; his tail. When it came to the people that knew him well enough, they could tell almost exactly how he was feeling at that moment based solely off what his tail was doing. Why did it have to be subconsciously controlled?

Shaking his head as he got back to his feet, Naruto dusted himself off and started heading back towards the village. He'd deal with Kakashi lecturing him about leaving without permission tomorrow when they meet up in the morning. For now, though, he just wanted to go home. To keep from dealing with the villagers' glares of hatred and whispers of fear and distrust, Naruto kept to the roof tops, appearing as a mere blur of grey, orange, and red as he sped across them in the direction of his home, right along the far edge of the residential district near one of Konoha's largest and most heavily forested parks. It didn't take him long to reach his apartment building, easily balancing himself on the narrow metal guard rail lining the edge of the top floor balcony.

Standing up straight and balancing himself on it as if he were standing on solid flat ground, Naruto boredly stalked along its length until he reached his door. Finally dropping from the railing as he fished his keys out of his pocket, Naruto unlocked his door and put them away, but didn't open the door right away. Inconspicuously using one of his claws, he hooked it on a thin, almost unnoticable metal ring that was connected to a somewhat elaborate tripwire-pressure plate combo trap that would go off the moment the ring was released from the door being opened. Had anyone opened his door without knowing about it, they would have been turned into a pincushion the moment they stepped over the thresh hold and into his apartment.

It had happened a couple times in the past, thanks to the stupidity of his more zealous haters...

The ones that openly debated the fact he was even human...

The ones that swore he was the Kyuubi no Kitsune incarnate...

Ear twitching and rotating slightly to focus in on a faint noise off to the side, Naruto smirked slightly without looking towards the source. Heading straight for the kitchen, he pulled out a bag from the cupboard and filled a small bowl with its contents. A soft mewl came from the ground beside him before the being that made it hopped up onto the kitchen counter with weightless grace. Smiling warmly, he gently scratched the cat behind its ear as it sniffed at the food he had put out for it.

"Sorry, Ren. I got a little side tracked again." He quietly apologized to the pitch black feline as it sat on its haunches and started eating, purring quietly as it did. Putting away the bag of cat food, Naruto went to his fridge and retrieved the container of left-over sushi he'd saved from last night's dinner. Leaning back against the counter beside his pet, Naruto ate his own food in silence, paying no mind to the emptiness that plagued his apartment...

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"Fuck you, Naruto." Sasuke growled out at his fiery red-orange furred teammate with a small glare, hissing in pain while Sakura rolled her eyes and finished tending to the multitude of minor scratches on his hands and face. Naruto, who had been staring off to the side, glanced over at Sasuke with a flat look, slowly blinked once, and then looked away again. As apathetic as he seemed, the slight twitch in his tail showed that he found a little enjoyment from Sasuke's discomfort. "It's because of you that we keep getting stuck with tracking down that damn little furball."

"You really think a fox is going to help us if it doesn't want to?" Sakura quipped in response, making Sasuke all the grumpier about his predicament while one of Naruto's ears twisted around slightly to focus in on what she was saying. Although she didn't notice it, Sakura still knew it was wise to watch what she said about her distant blue eyed teammate. Even if she didn't think before she spoke. "They're capricious and rather whimsical. If they see no point in something, they won't do it. You were just dumb enough to think Naruto would actually want to give us a hand...and really, Sasuke? A toy mouse? That was your fool proof plan to catch Tora?"

"Hn..." Came the Uchiha's trademark grunt as he glared off to the side, actually pouting a little at the mild chastizing he was getting from the pinkette. Stuffing his bandaged hands in his pockets, Sasuke shuffled off to the other end of the balcony to brood in silence, leaving Sakura behind in the middle of it, their wayward teammate crouched atop the railing at the other corner with his elbows braced on his knees. Glancing between the two, Sakura sighed quietly before deciding to try her luck again.

"Hey...What are you thinking about over here?" She questioned softly with a warm smile, trying to be friendly; not that it really worked, anyways.

"What importance are the thoughts of a fox to you?" Naruto shot back quietly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye as his ears flattened back and his tail slowly swayed from side to side cautioningly, the claws on his feet gripping the stone border he was perched on. Sakura flinched immediately at his response, feeling guilty for her choice of words a minute ago while talking with Sasuke. Shaking it off a moment later since it was quite common for him to take such small things very personally, Sakura sighed softly and turned around before leaning back against the rail a couple feet away from him.

"I'm sorry...Poor choice of words. I didn't mean to offend you." She sincerely apologized, keeping her eyes down on the ground as she spoke. The only signs that showed Naruto had calmed down were his claws releasing the stone rail and his tail no longer swaying, though his ears were still pinned back with aggitation. "I'll try to watch what I say next time."

"Hmph...That'll be the day..." Naruto mumbled under his breath as he stood and stalked along the railing until he was near the middle of the balcony, his hands in his pockets as he stared out over the village of Konoha. Before Sakura could react to his words, Kakashi appeared not too far away in a puff of white smoke, alerting them to his sudden appearance via Shunshin. Not even looking at the man, Naruto was the first to speak. "So...what's our next mission today? Painting another old man's fence or babysitting some merchant's spoiled brat again?"

"Neither. I decided to reward the three of you with your very first C-rank mission." The silver haired jounin returned with an eye smile as all three genin looked at him in surprise, though Naruto's eyes shined with curiousity more than anything. "We've been hired on for a bodyguard job from here to Wave Country until our client has finished the construction of a bridge. We'll be gone for at least a couple weeks, so pack accordingly and meet me at the main gate in half an hour."

"Hai!" Sasuke and Sakura acknowledged rather eagerly before they took off while Naruto stayed where he was, staring at Kakashi inquisitively, his head cocked to the side ever so slightly.

"I thought C-ranks were only given out to chuunin...We're only rookie genin, so why the sudden change of pace?" Naruto questioned as he crouched down so that he and Kakashi were more eye level with each other, his tail swaying once more, only with a barely contained eagneress to explore outside of Konoha's walls.

"I thought you of all people would have appreciated a new challenge." The jounin's answer made Naruto glare off to the side with a faint blush staining his cheeks beneath his fur and scarf. Chuckling for a moment, Kakashi shook his head slightly. "I figured it was about time to put you three to the test. You've been doing pretty well in training, but you won't get much experience or realize your full potential if your skills aren't put to actual use."

"Hmph...Whatever." He huffed while standing up atop the railing, turning back towards the village. After a moment of silence, though, Naruto turned his head ever so slightly, but not enough to look behind him. "For what it's worth...thanks. Not many call me a person these days."

"Oh...Well-" Kakashi trailed off when Naruto suddenly lunged from the railing and dropped to the rooftop of the shorter adjacent building, darting off to his apartment. "...You're welcome..."

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"They're all a bunch of brats..." Tazuna grumbled, pausing to take a swig from the sake bottle in his hand. "Especially the super hairy one in the back. Hey! Are you even human?"

"Naruto..." Kakashi mumbled cautioningly to the genin in question, the teen's eyes having narrowed angrily on Tazuna instantly upon hearing his comment. Noticing the almost invisible shift in Naruto's body language, Kakashi lashed out to grab the boy, but he'd already moved. In the blink of an eye, Naruto closed the gap between him and Tazuna before coming to a full stop directly in front of the bridge builder, their noses barely an inch apart as Naruto growled in his throat, his hands still stuffed in his pockets.

"Keep talking shit, old man..." Naruto snarled quietly through his scarf-mask, totally disregarding the sudden fear that filled the man's eyes. After a couple seconds, he let out another quiet growl before walking back to his place at the back of the group, ignoring the sharp-sighted glare he got from Kakashi. "Let's just get going already."

"Alright, let's go ahead and get moving. We've got a good bit of walking to do before we reach Wave Country." Kakashi instructed with Sakura and Sasuke flanking Tazuna as the bridge builder started walking. Grabbing Naruto by the shoulder, Kakashi waited a moment before walking alongside the fox-like teen and speaking quietly so the others wouldn't overhear them. "I know you deal with a lot of people treating you poorly because of your physiology, but next time you threaten a client like that, there will be consequences. Understood?"

"Loud and clear, Scarecrow." Naruto quietly growled out, his eyes narrowed irritably as he jerked his shoulder out from under the jounin's hand. Walking a little faster to catch up to the others, Naruto left Kakashi behind him while drawing one of his kunai, idly twirling it on one of his fingers to help distract his mind from all of the hatred and abuse he'd been forced to endure since he could first remember. Why, he didn't know. Why did that snake fuck pick him for his twisted experiments? Why'd he have to take on the appearance of a fox, a creature that had become the symbol of hatred and pain to the villagers of Konoha? Why him?

Why him?!

Catching the scent of something on the wind, Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts after getting a few miles down the road, his hand snatching the kunai in a reverse-grip as his ears folded back and his eyes narrowed. As a quiet growl rumbled in his throat, Sasuke slid up beside him casually. However, if one looked close enough, they'd notice how his eyes were slightly narrowed as well, glancing from side to side in search of some kind of threat.

"You noticed, too?" The Uchiha mumbled quietly, not really expecting a response from Naruto. He'd spent enough time around Naruto to learn the basics of how to read his body language. The moment Naruto stopped playing with his kunai, Sasuke knew immediately that the gut feeling he had was not just paranoia. Something wasn't right.

"Poison. I can smell it." Naruto mumbled back quietly as he listened for anything out of place, his eyes still glancing around as his tail started to flick back and forth with aggitation. He didn't like being hunted. "We're not alone anymore..."

"Try to keep up, you two. We've still got a long way to go." Although he'd noticed the sudden tension in his two male students behind him, Kakashi didn't pay them any attention, instead reading his book. However, he was not oblivious to the cause. Slowing down just a little bit, Kakashi watched as Naruto and Sasuke moved a little quicker to catch up to Sakura and Tazuna, though he noticed how Naruto put at least one of his teammates between him and Tazuna; the boy really needed to chill about some things, though he understood why he held grudges...

It wasn't long after that as they strolled past a harmless puddle off to the side of the road before the water started to rise up and take the form of two individuals. Both wearing a scarred hitai-ate of Kirigakure, the near identical twins immediately moved to spring their trap, a bladed chain connected between their opposing clawed gauntlets. With a quick synchronized flick of their wrists, the chain was quickly wrapped around Kakashi before he could react and pulled tight, trapping him in place.

"What?!" Kakashi exclaimed as he was bound, catching everyone else's attention. Almost immediately, Sasuke and Naruto fell into their personal fighting stances while Sakura stood guard in front of Tazuna.

"One down..." One of the twins wrasped out through his rebreather, his hitai-ate bearing two horn-like spikes on it. A moment later, they pulled as hard as they could, causing their chain to shred Kakashi's body into a half dozen different pieces.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried out while Naruto, snarling angrily, rushed forward while channeling chakra into the knuckle spikes on his bracers. Instantly, twin sets of three crimson claw-like blades the same length of the average tanto extended from his knuckles.

"Two down!" The one horned twin growled out as he and his brother flanked the charging, albeit strange, genin while lashing out with their bladed chain. They did not expect for the weird boy's blue eyes to flash red as he twisted his body into a horizontal lunging spin, his chakra-infused claws easily shredding their chain before they could wrap him up in it. Landing between them, Naruto immediately dropped into a crouch while kicking at the legs to one of them, forcing him to jump back. Capitalizing on it, Sasuke engaged the two-horned assassin while Naruto focused on the one-horned assassin.

However, instead of fighting the genin, the twin assassins rushed to attack Tazuna, thinking the pink-haired girl guarding him would be easy prey. They weren't prepared for the fox-like teen to charge one of them at blinding speeds, planting a foot in the one-horned rogue's side before kicking off with enough strength to send him flying into a tree. Springing off of the one-horned Kiri rogue and launching himself towards the other, Naruto twisted his body into another horizontal spin, his claws outstretched. Unable to react in time, the two-horned nuke-nin was bestowed a good number of cuts and gashes all across the front of his torso, his left arm, left side, and across the front of his thighs.

"ARGH!" The wounded assassin cried out painfully as he hit the ground and tumbled for a few feet while Naruto easily landed on his feet just beyond where the ambusher had been running. Just before he could press the advantage, Kakashi landed in front of Tazuna, totally unharmed, confusing and shocking his students along with Tazuna.

"Nice work, guys. You did better than I had first thought." Kakashi praised casually with an eye-smile, getting only an annoyed growl from Naruto as he retracted his claw-blades. Ear twitching at a sound, Naruto kicked off the ground at full speed, slamming his right elbow into the one-horned rogue's chest hard enough to smash him back against the tree a second time, knocking him out with the force of the impact. Along with cracking a rib or two. "Still...What would two Kiri chuunin want with a simple bridge builder, I wonder?"

"Uchiha." Naruto barked out before tossing a spool of wire at Sasuke, pulling one out for himself. As Naruto started binding the one-horned rogue, Sasuke moved to take care of the other, giving Kakashi and Tazuna time to talk for a moment in privacy as they stepped off to the side. Not feeling too nice at the moment, Naruto grabbed the assassin by the back of his top and started dragging him over to the other one, dropping him on his face carelessly and waking him up.

"Ngh...Fucking freak..." The one-horned assassin growled out as he rolled over and glared at Naruto, angry that he'd been beaten so easily by a runt. Glaring right back at him, Naruto pulled his scarf down and bared his fangs at him in a snarl, snapping his jaws with a lurch. Startled by the sudden action, the one-horned assassin flinched back slightly, only to get kicked across the face by the tailed genin, nearly knocking him out again. "Ugh...Damn, you kick hard."

"Deal with them before I lose my temper and kill them..." Naruto snarled at Sakura and Sasuke as he made his way across the path, leaning back against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest and head bowed with his eyes closed. He was slowly losing his eagerness to venture anywhere outside of his own apartment, let alone beyond Konoha's walls...

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