Author's Notes

Now I know that I've already written a story similar to this one in concept, but I felt trapped with the other idea. I feel like I'll have more creative freedom with this story then the first one. I'll leave that up to you to decide whether or not that seems true. I put a lot more thought and effort into this story then I did (Konoha's New Kyuubi), and I hope that it shows in my writing.

LEGEND BELOW

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

''I kinda wanted to know.'' = Normal thoughts.

"You dare to defy me!?" = Unknown speech.

''That's what I thought.'' = Unknown thoughts.

Konohagakure-no-Sato, a village hidden deep in the depths of the land of fire. It was a legendary village, one filled to the brim with stories bordering on insane and sometimes unbelievable. The place was one of the most powerful cities in the elemental nations, and it held that title for a very good reason. Famed for producing some of the most powerful Ninja to ever exist, and some of the worst threats to ever grace the planet as well. It was a ninja village that had never known defeat, and it had its powerful warriors to thank for that.

But for all of its amazing accomplishments, it had also suffered greatly in the years since its creation. Some of the worldwide legends that they produced were also widely known for going rouge, leading a life of crime and violence. Many of the ninja that the people apprised had either left the village, or simply quit, and left to seek out a new life.

Madara Uchiha, one of the most powerful men to have ever lived, and the close friend of the very first leader to the village, Hashirama Senju. This man's legacy was a hard one, filled with rage, hate, loss, dispair, and at the end, betrayal. It was said that his life had led him to madness, and the end result was chaotic disaster. A fight took place that shook the nations forever, a battle never to be forgotten. In the end, it was his best friend that took him down.

Then came the second ninja world war, and all the legends that arose in the chaos. This war would prove to be the one that truly left its scars on the world. For every battle they won, they lost a great number of their own to the chaos. By the time of the second shinobi world war's end, they had lost more then fifty percent of their fighting force. Not that their enemies fared any better, but it was still worth mentioning.

However, it was this war that produced three undeniable legends. The first was Tsunade Senju, the sole granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, and holder of the title, strongest woman in the world. She was a woman famed for her superhuman strength, her world renowned healing abilities, her beautiful womanly features, and her rather massive bosom.

Then there was Jiraya, a man famed as a sage of sorts. He was know for the creation of many new and powerful Nin-jutsu, as well as his ability to summon powerful toad warriors that would assist him in battle. The man was also known as a pervert, though he claimed to be the biggest pervert in the nation, so it wasn't hard to believe.

Then came Orochimaru. A man that was overtly affected by the war, more mentally then physically. A man already mentally unsound from an estranged childhood, suffered painfully from the horrors of war. Though extremely powerful, and overwhelmingly smart in his own right, he still came up short when it came to the village's moto; The will of fire.

These three had become known as the Legendary Trio. They had proved to be one of the strongest teams in the world, and that title has yet to be passed on to another. However, after the war's end, things changed.

Tsunade had been a victim of loss one too many times, and after the rather bloody loss of her lover Dan, she developed a crippling fear of blood. Unable to escape her past, she became a drunkard and left the village in a sort of extreme long term mission. A mission that would most likely never seen an end till the day she died.

Orochimaru, so affected by death around him, became addicted to finding a way to live forever. His theories eventually gave way to experiments that slowly became more and more inhumane. Where he once experimented on dead animals, it eventually led to human experiments. He eventually began to experiment on his own body in his search for immortality. One day word got out about his horrible deeds, and he fled the village and was labeled as a missing-Nin.

Another war took place years later, a war that would spell the end of all wars for many years. By this time in history, all of the elemental nations had felt the pain of loss, and simply did not have the manpower to mount any more wars. It was partially thanks to a treaty that konoha made that stopped all of the fighting for a time. But this last war still had its drawbacks, and because of it, the world was once again changed forever.

Not even a year after their victory over their sworn enemy, the village hidden the stone, something horrible took place. No one really remembered how it truly happened that fateful night, but everyone remembered the terror that enveloped them when it did. It was in the dead of night when it happened. One moment all was quiet, then suddenly as if from thin air a beast was summoned. A monster so terrifying that many died merely from the killing intent that the beast produced. It was a fox. A nine tailed fox. Only one of its kind existed, and it was famed in legend as being the strongest creature in the entire world. It was also known for its destructive potential, and the untold devastation that it could cause if it so desired. Towering over the village, it's many tails swung about, reeking havoc and chaos. If not for the timely intervention by the Fourth Hokage, the village would have seen its end that night.

The death toll that night was great, and the ones lost were unreplaceable. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed his own life to seal the beast into the body of his newborn son, effectively putting an end to the beast's rampage. With his dying breath he begged the aging third Hokage to protect his child, to allow him to be seen as a hero to the villagers. The third had promised him that he would do so, and he had faith in the village as a whole.

With the beast defeated and the battle over, the third Hokage thought it right to show the village their hero. For it was because of the fourth Hokage's sacrifice and his newborn son's that the village was still standing. He had faith that they would be thankful to him, and see him as a hero just like the Fourth hoped.

But they were wrong. When he made the declaration to the village council, their response was anything but positive. The council had immediately called for the boy's death, calling him a monster, an abomination of life. The Third had pleaded with them to see the good of the situation, but they were abstinent. They would not listen, their minds were already set. Knowing that they would most likely go behind his back and try to kill the child, he hastily created a law that would hopefully do some damage control. It was a simple rule, that if broken was punishable by death. The rule was that no one was to tell anyone outside of the council about the child's containment of the Kyuubi. But they found a way around that, and soon enough the entire village was aware of his exsistance.

The child's safety was in jepordy, and without his help he was sure that he wouldn't survive the night. In an attempt to hide him, he placed him in an orphanage with other babies. He was hoping that because the villagers didn't really know what he looked like that he would be able to hide him. At the very least he just needed to protect him until he could hold his own in life. But accomplishing that would prove to be harder then he thought possible.

As the years slowly passed by, the village's treatment of young Naruto got gradually worse. The Hokage's personal ninja made sure that the kid wasn't killed, but there was only so much that they could do with their busy lives. There were times when his guardians had to be called away for an important mission, leaving him unattended for days on end. Those were the days of his life that would shape him into who he was, and what kind of person he turned out to be in the end. Those were the times in his life that almost broke him, but for some reason he carried on. If one thing was for certain, it was that Naruto was very strong in mind, and it would take a lot to put him in the ground. But the village was tempted to try it anyway.

They would do so much to him, and somehow so much of it went under the radar, letting the punishment continue unaltered. He wasn't free from those his own age it seemed, as the parents had spoken ill of him to their own children, and in turn the children grew to hate him as well. When he was finally old enough to attend the Ninja Academy he was freed from the orphanage entirely, as on his sixth birthday the Hokage got him an apartment to live in away from prying eyes. It was sad to know that something as minor as a rundown apartment was the best thing he had ever received in his life. But the boy loved it like it was his own, and couldn't even bring himself to hate it at all.

His time at the academy, however, would prove to be another test in his life. The teachers there hated him just about as much as the rest if the villagers did. But they were bound by their oath to teach, and couldn't just kick him out. That being said, that didn't stop them from altering his education to a painful degree. His teachers would mistreat him, and punish him for even the smallest of things. The sad thing was, the poor boy was extremely starved for attention and would act out just to get someone to notice him. This of course acted against him, and got him in trouble, and in turn punished.

The boy would try and make friends with the other kids, but they would ignore him or make fun of him. The few times he actually started to become friendly with someone, they were eventually pulled away by their parents and tricked into thinking he was a monster. By this point in his life he had become desperate. He would do anything for attention, attention from anyone, young or old. If the kids didn't like him, then maybe some of the adults would.

Then one day he was approached by one of his ninja guards. The man was someone he had seen many a time, watching him from the shadows. He knew that the Hokage had placed them around him to protect him, but he didn't know why. The man that approached him was nicknamed Snake, mostly like due to the snake mask that he wore.

The man had asked him if he wanted a friend. Of course, Naruto didn't even hesitate to answer. He would do anything for a friend, and he would do anything to keep that friend. So naturally, he accepted the friendship of the ANBU Ninja, never knowing the conciqences of doing so.

From that day forward Naruto would meet up with Snake in his apartment, doing various things. The man said that he was interested in his hidden power, and would do everything he could to unlock it for him, because he was his friend. Naruto trusted him, and allowed him to do whatever he wanted to him. Snake never hurt him, so he had no reason to believe he ever would.

Sometimes Naruto would miss an entire day at the academy, instead spending his time doing mineal tasks for snake. These tasks ranged from the collection of random objects, to the gathering of certain items that snake said he needed. It didn't matter what they were, he gathered them no questions asked.

No one ever really noticed when Naruto would vanish, because he was always back the next day. The only ones that actually took note of his disappearances was a few select children who did not allow themselves to be blinded by the villagers unplaced hatred. Namely Shikamaru Nara, heir to the Nara clan. Kiba Inuzuka, heir to the wild Inuzuka clan. And Hinata Hyuuga, heir to the famed Hyuuga clan. These three had recently come together as the only few that actually saw Naruto as just another kid. There were a few others, but their reasons were different.

Then one day, Naruto simply vanished. Now it wasn't unusual for the boy to disappear for a day or so, but when close to a week passed without hide or hair of him, it was a cause of alarm.

The day before he was last seen, Snake had come over for another visit. This time, however, something was different. Snake had been getting sickly as of late, and nothing seemed to cure his illnesses. Snake said that Naruto could save him, and all he had to do was allow him to temporarily take over his body. A little off put by the declaration at first, he didn't stop snake from attempting his so called forbidden Nin-Jutsu.

The result of the jutsu was disastrous, and it would only be days later before Naruto was found alone, Snake long gone by then...

It was nearing the later half of the afternoon, and the sun was still up in the sky above the Ninja Academy. The time for learning had just come to an end for the day, and the children had begun to file out of the room, their minds set on what they were going to do for the rest of the afternoon. Iruka, Naruto's homeroom teacher had been rather distracted all day, and it had really started to show. His body was on autopilot as he gathered together the children's homework and assinmeants, but his gaze had been locked onto the window for the past twenty minutes.

He was worried. It had been a few days now since he last saw Naruto, and the stress had been eating away at him. Iruka was another one of the very few in the village that didn't see the boy as a monster, and had even befriend him on a certain level. It would be all to easy to simply hate the boy, but he wasn't like that. He was brought out of his dazed state when he noticed the last few students preparing to leave, and he reached out to them before they could.

"Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru." He called out, grabbing the attention of the three ninja in training. "Are you three busy at the moment?" He asked. The kids shared a glance with each other, before turning back to him.

"No, not really." It was Kiba who spoke up, hands behind his head in a relaxed position. Iruka seemed to ponder something for a moment, before he spoke up again.

"If its not too bothersome, could the three of you go by Naruto's place? I haven't seen him in a few days and I'm starting to worry about him." The man asked, though his face was pleading. It was the Hyuuga heiress that spoke up next.

"W-We'd be happy t-to Iruka-Sensei, right Kiba, Shikamaru?" She responded, eyeing the two boys. Shikamaru seemed to stare off into the distance while Kiba stood there playing with his pet dog Akamaru. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance, and slammed her foot down on theirs, easily gaining their attention. "Right boys?"

"Gah! Yeah! Yeah!" Kiba responded, cradling his foot.

"Ow. Troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered, now paying a bit more attention to his teacher.

"Thank you. I'm sorry to task you three with this, but I simply don't have time to do so myself." Iruka stated, a thankful smile adorning his face. "Do any of you know where he lives?"

"U-Um, I do." Hinata stuttered. The three of them turned to her at her response, and she blushed bright red at their playful looks.

"Well, either way, you should be heading out now. I don't want you three out late, you hear?" Iruka stated, glancing up at the clock. The sun would be setting within an hour or two, and he didn't want them out that late. It would be on his head were something to happen to them.

"Yes Iruka-Sensei!" They all responded. The two boys quickly left the room, quickly followed by Hinata who bowed to Iruka before leaving.

A few minutes later found the three ninja in training on a set course for the Red-Light-District, the part of town where Naruto's apartment was located. Shikamaru looked as if he couldn't be bothered, while Kiba was having trouble not running over to get it over with sooner.

The walk was rather silent, the only sound the quiet late day conversations between some of the villagers. People stopped to greet the trio as they passed, offering up smiles as waving as they went. Hinata waved back out of respect, that and she had to keep up an image in public lest she get punished by her father for acting out.

"So what do you think's wrong?" Kiba asked, his gaze locked onto a stray bird that had busied itself with patrolling the skies. Shikamaru hummed in thought for a moment before turning to him in response.

"Not sure.. Maybe he got sick?" Shikamaru responded in a reaching tone. Kiba mulled the response over for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, no way! You ever seen Naruto sick?" He said with laugh. Shikamaru thought about it before he realised that Kiba was right.

"W-Well, Naruto-Kun's n-never been sick before..." Hinata muttered, looking down nervously. This statement had the downside of drawing the two boys attention to her. "W-Well I m-mean..." She stuttered, nervously pressing her fingers together. "I-I-I, u-m.."

"Whoa! Hinata, relax! We ain't making fun of you." Kiba laughed, patting the girl on the back in a sort of friendly gesture. Didn't really have the desired affect, as she was still blushing up a storm. Damage control Kiba! Damage control!

"Oh hey, look! Is that the place?" Kiba said, pointing at a run down looking apartment. Hinata snapped out of her daze, glancing at the building. Genius Kiba, genius.

"Oh uh, maybe not that one..." Kiba laughed nervously. In retrospect, maybe the building covered in offensive graffiti wasn't the first place he should have pointed out. He tried to continue walking when he noticed that Hinata had stopped. "Hey uh, common Hinata, let's not stick around a place like this, we gotta find Naruto." Kiba tried reasoning, taking another glance at the building. The walls of the apartment building were covered with aggressive slurs, such as monster, evil creature, and even demon. It made Kiba sick just looking at it. He honestly didn't know what whoever lived there had to do to earn the wrath of the people, but it must have been pretty horrible.

"Kiba-Kun... T-This is where N-Naruto lives." The statement caught the two boys off guard. Shikamaru's head snapped up in shock at what she said, and Kiba looked like he was green in the face.

"W-Wait.. Hinata, you can't possibly be serious!" Shikamaru said, his tone hopeful. Hinata's head was down, her hands balled into fists at her side. Her lack of a response was a loud indication of the fact that she was telling the truth. The boys turned back to the building again, truly taking in the sight of it. To them, they couldn't believe that someone as kind, loving, and caring as Naruto would live in such a place as this. It just didn't seem possible.

"N-Naruto-Kun's always been treated like this. I wouldn't be s-shocked if he was the only one l-living here..." The Hyuuga heiress muttered.

"What?! Why?!" Kiba practically shouted, fuming at the thought. A few stray tears fell from Hinata's eyes, her gaze locked firmly onto the top window of the building.

"I don't k-know..." She stated, her voice weak. "But they a-always insisted on calling him a M-Monster..." By this point the Hyuuga heiress was shaking with barely restrained emotions. She started walking forward, trudging up the delapidated stairwell towards the top. She wasn't going to just stand around out here while her friend was hurting, it just wasn't who she was.

The two boys shared a concerned look with each other before quickly following after her, intent on checking up on their friend. The stairs creaked and groaned under their combined weight, the building's lack of general maintenance obvious. They passed by many different apartments on their way up, Hinata's assumption about the lack of residence spot on. Most of the doors they passed were broken down, exposing the old shadowy living rooms of times long gone.

It was ominous, unnerving even. With the thunder pounding overhead it painted a stressful scene, one that had the three ninja in training jumping at the slightest sound. As the trio approached the top floor, one of the weaker sections of floor gave way under their weight, resulting it what would have been a dangerous fall if not for their twitchy nerves saving them from the pain.

Kiba gave a weary glance to the newly created hole in the floor. The fall was easily two hundred feet down, lethal for anyone not trained in the ninja arts. A nervous laugh escaped from him as he ushered the group forward a little faster, eager to get to Naruto's apartment and out of the rain.

The one big pitfall aside, the three didn't have too much trouble scaling the building to reach Naruto. It was then that they reached his front door, and surprising to say, but his front was not in nearly the major disrepair that the rest of the building was in. The one main window was even still intact, unlike the ones one the back side of the building. It was also devoid of any graphety, which was probably due to how dangerous it was to even reach his front door... Well, dangerous for a civilian anyway...

"I sure hope he's home..." Kiba muttered, already shivering from the affects the rain was causing. Shikamaru was quick to act, knocking on the door and calling out his name.

"Naruto! Are you there?" Shikamaru called out, his voice being drowned out by the rain. He waited for a moment, but no response came his way. Unwilling to give up so easily, he knocked again, harder this time. "Naruto! Hello!?" He yelled louder, his voice echoing throughout the stormy night. He stood back next to Hinata and Kiba in wait, but after a few moments passed they knew they weren't going to get a response.

"Maybe the guy's not home..?" Kiba said, though from the way it sounded he wasn't so sure of that himself. He would have said more, but stopped himself short when Hinata opened the door and let herself in. Concern quickly filled the minds of the trio at what they saw on the inside.

"O-Oh my.." Hinata muttered, staring in shock at the destroyed interior of Naruto's apartment. His living room was trashed, with most of the furniture torn up badly. Pillows were shredded, leaving their stuffing strewn about everywhere. It looked as if something exploded in his living room... "No!" Hinata shouted suddenly, running headfirst into Naruto's house. Before the two boys could ask what had her upset they spotted the shredded remains of Naruto's trademark orange jumpsuit littering the ground.

Both Shikamaru and Kiba quickly joined Hinata who was kneeling down next to the bloody torn remains of Naruto's clothes. Shikamaru stood back, his mind reeling at the sight. The blood was everywhere, but there was no sign of Naruto or his... body. Shikamaru took a shaky breath to try and calm his racing mind. He scanned the room, looking for anything out of place. Then he saw it. There was fur littering the ground, untouched by the blood. It was a firey orange in color, and it seemed to trail off into another room.

"Kiba..." Shikamaru muttered quietly, gaining the other boy's attention. The ferel looking ninja in training was quick to join back at his side. "I think there's something in here..." He informed, pointing to the doorway that led to the small bedroom only a few paces away. Kiba was quick to use his nose, catching the live sent of something else in the house, something distinctly not human. And yet... "I think we shou- Kiba what are you doing?!" Shikamaru hissed as Kiba went to open the door. By this point Hinata had stood up and joined up with Shikamaru again.

Shikamaru would have tried to stop him, but he was more worried about what lay on the other side of the bedroom door that Kiba had just opened. The opened with a loud creek as the rusty hinges strained against the weight. Hinata's voice caught in her throat at the sight before her. Her eyes couldn't leave it, no matter what her brain said. In the dark, almost lightless room lay before them all a fox, a nine tailed fox to be precise. It's crimson colored fur shone in the darkness surrounding it, its tails coiled up to it protectively. It was large, definitely larger then any normal fox had the right to be. It was larger then Kiba's mother's ninja hound, and those dogs were large. She could only compare the beast's size to that of a clidesdale, one of the largest horses known to exist. It's face was framed with two thick lines of black fur that started from the flare of the eye and extended all the way up into its ear, ending at the tip. It's face seemed to be pulled into one of extreme discomfort. Her eyes glanced down to the white claws that gleamed in the darkness, sharpened to a dangerously sharp point.

The beast looked powerful and extremely dangerous. And yet, with it sleeping there, she found it beautiful in a strange sort of way. It also looked as if it could tear them apart in a matter of seconds, easily. Yet that didn't deter her from thinking that it was cute in strange way. Like a giant stuffed animal, very cuddly.

"W-Wait.. I-Is that...?" Hinata muttered suddenly as she caught the sight of something around the beast's neck. Drawing the others attention to it they were quick to spot what she did. A white collar was situated around its neck, a collar that connected to the tattered remains of an orange jumpsuit belonging to one Uzumaki Naruto.

"How did that thing even..." Kiba trailed off, too shocked to even respond properly. He turned back to Hinata who was too busy not paying attention to him to pay attention to him.

Meanwhile Shikamaru's mind was racing. He was slowly starting to connect the dots as more and more things began to make sense. The attack from the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune eleven years ago was no secret, nor was the way that in its defeat it suddenly vanished into thin air. Many of the higher ups knew the reason, but the main majority was left unaware. It was common knowledge however, that the villagers of Konoha seemed to suddenly turn their grief into hatred, and that hatred had been directed at young Naruto. The explanation was unknown, but Shikamaru had deduced that it had something to do with Naruto's uncanny resemblance to a fox, with his whisker marks and more angular face and pointed eyes. That seemed like a very childish reason to direct all their hatred on him, but he realized that there was something more behind it. There had to be, and he believed that what lay before them was that proof. It seemed impossible, but it also seemed like it was the only thing that made sense at the moment. The other two had a similar train of thought, although for different reasons.

''Well, here goes nothing...'' Shikamaru thought, before surprising the other two as he walked towards the sleeping fox. "Naruto..?" He called out uncertainly, teaching out towards the fox. The response he got he would have to wait to determine whether it was a good one or not. Tightly closed eyelids snapped open, revealing the blood red slitted eyes that lay beneath. Shikamaru flinched back from the suddenness of its reaction. Shikamaru would only call what happened afterwards as chaotic, as the second the fox's eyes opened it started scanning the room wildly, as if looking for something or even someone. But when it couldn't find whatever it was looking for, it became greatly dismayed.

"No... No No No...!" It spoke suddenly, the dispair in its voice very apparent as it stood up, its limbs shaking under its own weight. Shikamaru and the others stood back suddenly as its tails began to wave sporadically, as if they had a mind of their own. The trio fell to the ground as a stray tail flew overhead, nearly taking Kiba's head off. "H-He-... He left me..! Why.!?" It started to cry out, slamming its claws to the ground in agony. They watched on in morbid curiosity as tears began to fall from its eyes before it fell back to the ground, its strength giving out. The tails that were flying around also gave out, landing back on the ground with a thud. Now the beast was left laying there, tired, exhausted, and emotionally drained from whatever problem troubled it.

Hinata felt horrible as she stood there watching it struggle, unable to do anything to soothe the strange beast's woes. She couldn't help but compare it now to a puppet that had its strings cut as it lay there almost lifelessly, the energy it had seemingly sucked away. Silent tears fell from its eyes as it lay there, staring blankly at a wall, completely oblivious to the three human's next to it. Kiba was content to stay there and not move, and Shikamaru was busy trying to calm his racing heart. It was Hinata that dared to approach the beast after its little outburst. With her heart pounding in her ears and her breathing heavy, she shakily approached the fox with an outstretched hand.

"H-H-Hey there b-big guy..." The Hyuuga Heiress said as she slowly inched her way over to it. It's gaze was still locked on the wall, the only sign that it even heard her was the slight twitch of its ear. Deciding to try and push her luck, she continued closer to it. Sneaking up at its side she slowly placed her hand upon its head, gently petting the crimson fur. It was probably the softest thing she had ever felt in her entire life, and that was saying a lot. She could visibly see the tension in its shoulders start to fade away under ministrations, and its breathing began to slow. It was only then after it had calmed significantly that it actually took notice of the three people in its room, and more importantly, the supple hand that was petting its head.

It's vision was blurred by the tears, but it clearly made out the shapes of three people it knew by heart. Red eyes panned up to meet the pale eyes of its friend, the Hyuuga Heiress, Hinata.

"Hina- Hinata..?" His voice was dry and raspy, but still managed a deep dark tone. The trio's eyes widened as the fox spoke her name, and the reality finally struck them. The nine tailed fox that lay weakened before them, was non other then their friend they had been searching for. Naruto.

His body trembled as Hinata swiftly brought him into a hug, as awkward as it was, but it meant everything to the fox. He tried to stand up but his legs shook under his weight before he collapsed back to the ground. The other two were at his side without a moment to waste.

"Woah! Alright! Let's not do that again!" Kiba urged as he stopped Naruto from trying to stand up again, lest he hurt himself. The fox wearily turned to face the fairle looking kid.

"Kiba..." He muttered, before turning to face the other member of the group. Shikamaru gave the kid turned fox a lazy wave in response. "Wha-What are you-?" He rasped out before being shushed by Hinata who's hands were quickly putting him to sleep with how comforting they were.

"It's okay N-Naruto-Kun, just r-rest now." Hinata said as she gently urged his head to join with his paws of the floor. He tried to resist for a moment before ultimately giving in to her order and laying back down. Hinata deftly ran her fingers over his frame, and something quickly became very apparent to her. She could feel the bone under the fur and skin, and not much else. The reason being became apparently obvious when a loud growling was heard coming from Naruto's stomach. She quickly bent down, running her hands over the massive fox's belly, the rib bones outlined because of lack of nourishment.

"You're s-starving!" She exclaimed in abject horror as another loud growl echoed throughout the room. It was then that the other two actually took the time to look the fox over in detail, and sure enough they found that he was thin, dangerously so. His limbs were lacking in muscle definition and fat, and the same could be said for the rest of his fur covered body. His ears wouldn't stay up and his eyes looked like the light had faded away, leaving behind a soulless husk. And his lips were dried and cracked, showing the level of dehydration he was at. It brought tears to the young Heiresses eyes.

"Crap! Kiba, do you have anything on you?" Shikamaru grunted, as he ran to the bathroom sink to try and fill a bowl of water. He knew it wasn't much, but it would have to do for the time being.

"Oh uh, um, yeah yeah!" Kiba responded uncertainly as he patted himself down for food of any sort. The only thing he had was a nutrition bar that he snagged from the academy cafeteria earlier that day. He didn't think it would put a dent in the fox's stomach, but he at least hoped that it would hold him over long enough for them to find something more suitable. His mind was still reeling at the fact that his friend was somehow turned into a fox, or that his friend was always a giant nine tailed fox, he didn't know which was the truth. But even then, that didn't stop him from acting when it was required of him to do so.

Kiba deftly tossed the bar over to Hinata who caught it without turning away from Naruto. The lavender haired girl gently pet the fox before sliding her hand down under his chin, gaining his attention. His eyes glanced at the bar in her hand as she raised it up to his lips, and at her prompting opened his mouth. He swallowed the bar whole, before resting his head back down. Hinata knew that it wouldn't satisfy him, but she was doing what she could with what she had. She resumed petting him when a pained whine escaped him, his eyes closed and his breathing slowed.

Shikamaru ran back into the room with a bowl of water, and at his prompting Naruto opened his mouth again. The water had a soothing effect on his dry throat, and when the bowl was empty Shikamaru ran back to fill another. An uncomfortable silence followed after that, with the only sound being the poor fox's pained whimpers. The sound was slowly pulling the Hyuuga Heiress's heart apart. The girl was already an animal lover to begin with, so this was a real test of her resolve.

An hour had passed since the trio found Naruto. After the initial shock wore off, the three Ninja in training took it upon themselves to make sure that they did everything they could for their friend in need. At least now that Naruto was out of threat of death via starvation or dehydration, they could work on figuring out how to help him with the other major problem...

For example...

"What are we going to do..?" Kiba asked out loud, glancing around the room with a nervous fervor. Now that they knew Naruto wasn't going to die, the reality of the situation started to dawn on them. What were they going to do? They couldn't spend the rest of their lives taking care of a giant nine tailed fox. None of them even knew how to care for normal foxes, let alone this one. That problem aside, how in the world were they going to hide him? It wasn't like no one would notice that Naruto suddenly disappeared off the face of planet, people would notice.

In fact, people had noticed, that was the main reason that they found him in the first place. They couldn't keep this a secret forever, the truth would eventually find its way to the light one way or another, no matter how much they tried to stop it. That and the fact that they still had lives of their own to attend to, and it would be very hard to just vanish for random amounts of time every day without being noticed.

In fact, the sun had already gone down a while ago now, and they could be sure that their respective family's had noticed that their children had yet to come home from school. If they didn't leave now, they would be in serious trouble. They knew that, and yet, one of them was having trouble pulling herself away.

"Hinata, common. We've got to get going." Shikamaru urged, trying to separate the young Heiress from the fox's grasp. Hinata was practically in tears at the thought of having to leave Naruto alone in the situation he was in.

"B-But... We c-can't just leave him!" She responded hotly, her eyes puffy. The pineapple haired teen sighed in response, as he had already had this conversation with her once that evening. He knew he would have to play into her caring role to even attempt to pull her away from her friend in need.

"I understand! But we don't have the necessities to care for him here. Do you even know how to care for a fox in general?" Shikamaru stated with a frown. Hinata pulled back at that. She really didn't want to leave him, but Shikamaru was right. Hinata didn't know how to care for a fox. More importantly, no one here knew what it took to care for a Nine-Tailed-Fox, so they wouldn't be of much help anyway...

That and the fact that Naruto most definitely did not own enough to survive for even two days alone. Ramen was not enough to keep a two thousand pound beast alive, or at the very least healthy, for very long. Yes, she would have to leave him.

"N-Naruto-Kun...?" Hinata prodded, shaking the fox lightly to gain his attention. He had been resting ever since they fed him earlier, but woke to her gentle touch. He blearily brought his head around to face her, the way his eyes sagged pulled at the young Heiress's heartstrings.

"I-I wish we didn't have t-to, but we cannot stay. I-I'm sorry, but-" Hinata stated quietly, gently petting the massive fox in an effort to calm both his nerves and her own. But a fear began to take hold of his mind. He didn't want to be left alone again. He felt so lonely when Snake abandoned him, he couldn't bear to go through that again, especially in his current state of mind and body.

"What? No! Don't leave me!" His voice was shaky as he tried to stand again. Hinata pulled his head into her embrace in a vain attempt to calm him back down. "P-Please don't leave me alone here..." He muttered quietly, which sounded quite strange considering his deep growly tone of voice attained from the transformation.

"We'll be back, you can count on it." Shikamaru chimed in, adding his attempt at assuring the fox. He pat the fox on his head, his hand getting lost in the fur.

"Yeah man! We ain't gonna ditch you! We're here for you dude." Kiba assured in his own way, flashing a bright smile for affect. All of their responses helped assure him, but his heart still worried.

"Now c-come on. You need your rest." Hinata said softly, her petting finally getting the better of him. He eventually started to fall asleep after some coaxing, and the trio silently snuck away. It was dark out, and they knew that it was going to be hard hiding this from their parents. But that wasn't going to stop them from trying. Over everything that they believed in, taking care of their friends was first as a priority.

END