Author's Notes – I claim no rights or anything associated with the Naruto series and/or its characters.  Please leave me your comments and reviews telling me what you think. Thanks!

 "..." regular speech, '...' beast speech, *...* mental telepathy

Chapter Nine: power increase

A week had passed by as every morning the squad got together to train. They never bothered telling their captains what they were up to. Sasuke taught Sakura how to gather her power into her fists to make them hard as steel. This way she could use that energy to give her almost super human strength that could almost rival Sasuke's own. During their training Shikamaru learned that he could make clones of himself through the shadows. Each clone doubled his shadow possession hold and he also learned how to use his shadow to strangle hold a person. Temari's wind attacks grew far stronger as she also learned of a few close range wind attacks encase that she couldn't pull off any of the long range attacks. Both Naruto and Gaara worked with their beast halves learning how to control not only their power but changing in and out of the form at will. Naruto seemed to have an easier time shifting than Gaara did. But after a while he was able to control it. Within that week of training no one knew of what happened to the mysterious group that was attacking the other villages.

"Why do you think they stopped?" panted Shikamaru in exhaustion after their training session.

"I don't think that they have stopped. I think that they are planning something big." panted Gaara shifting back to his human form. The team was getting used to seeing the boys take on their other forms as a few times their beast halves would take control over their bodies to allow everyone to get used to their presence and the sound of their voice which was different than their normal human voices. When the beasts took control over their human bodies while in human form there were certain characteristics that allowed everyone to tell it was the beast and not the actual human. For Gaara, it was his eyes which looked like Shikaku's actual eyes and the line designs on his face which was much more vibrant in color. For Naruto, it was also the eyes which looked like Kyuubi's actual eyes and the whisker lines on his face were much wider.

"What ever it is...means that something terrible is bound to happen. I can feel it in the wind." stated Temari.

"So how are you three adjusting to your new place?" Sakura asked.

"It feels weird. Doesn't feel much like home yet." the three boys replied in a unified voice. This caused the humans in their group to laugh. The three monstrous boys house was at the far end of the village near the mountains and forest. This gave them the perfect place to be their normal selves and gave Naruto a place where he could go full feral without hurting anyone. They had just recently moved in there several days ago and was still getting used to the change.

"Kurenai is looking for us." replied Naruto as his super sensitive hearing could pick her voice up from the training cliff platform that they were at.

"Dam just when I was starting to relax." moaned Shikamaru.

The squad made their way back down from the training grounds finding Kurenai Yuhi along with Kakashi Hatake and master Jiraiya.

"There you guys are. What in the world have you six been up to?" asked Kurenai.

"Training!" they all replied at once.

"Well we have a mission that is going to involve all of us. The elder has received reports that the in the land of wind in the village hidden in rain known better as Amegakure village has been attacked by our mysterious group. It is led to believe that they are still there." stated Kurenai.

"In which case, we need to go and find out whom this group is and to stop them." added Kakashi. Smiles stretched across the squad's faces as this proved to be a perfect opportunity for them to test out their new found abilities.

"Naruto and Gaara we are going to have to rely on you two to get us there quickly. Unfortunately there is too much rocky terrine for us to use a toad for travel." stated Jiraya. Both Naruto and Gaara nodded their heads that they understood as the group proceeded to leave the village.

Once they were a good distance away both Naruto and Gaara transformed into their beast forms as Sasuke transformed into his altered form. Both Kyuubi and Shikaku laid down allowing the group of humans to climb onto their backs.

*How far is this village?* asked Kyuubi as he stood back up.

"It is a good days journey depending on the weather. Lets hope that the sky remains clear. It isn't known as the village hidden in rain without good reason, Naruto." replied Kurenai. This caused both Kyuubi and Shikaku to whimper.

*It had to be water, I hate water. And I am not Naruto. I am Kyuubi the beast that resides with inside of Naruto.* Kyuubi replied.

*Then lets hope that it doesn't rain both you and I know that our powers don't work too well against, around, or even in water.* replied Shikaku. The look of shock stretched across the three elder human faces as this was the first time that they were hearing the beasts contained with inside of Naruto and Gaara.

*All right everyone hang on tight!* both beasts snapped at the humans as they took off.

Both Kyuubi and Shikaku proved much quicker when they were in control over their beast forms as they made the journey quickly having no trouble with the terrain. The weather did begin to look a little bleak as storm clouds rumbled over head. This made both Shikaku's and Kyuubi's fur stand on ends.

"This isn't a natural storm. There is something supernatural about it." stated Sasuke as he landed down onto the ground besides the two beasts. The two beasts began to shift back into their half human forms once everyone was off of their backs as they handed control back over their human halves.

"Sasuke is right. This storm doesn't smell normal. Could this be how this group has been attacking the other villages?" asked Naruto.

'It's not possible to control storms. Only demons have that power but what I am smelling is a mix of human and demon together.' replied Kyuubi mentally.

'Is it possible that there are others like us out in the world?' asked Shikaku.

*No, there were no demonic experiments ever performed. Only animals that are closely related to the monsters of myth and legend.* replied Gaara. The group slowly entered the village feeling uneasy as something felt wrong to them.

"Where in the world is everyone? This place feels like a ghost town." stated Temari. Naruto got down onto his hands and knees as he sniffed around. His senses couldn't pick up any human traces as Sasuke activated his Byakugan scanning the area.

"I am not detecting any humans in the area. What about you Naruto?" asked Sasuke as his eyes returned back to normal.

"Nothing. I can't even pick up any human trail. The only smell that I am getting is demon mixed with human."

"All right, I am confused. Aren't you three the only ones whom existed in that lab?" asked Jiraiya.

"There were others like us but they died. There were never any demon experiments, only animal. So it is next to impossible for demons to be combined with humans unless it wasn't done through natural means." replied Gaara.

"You mean by supernatural means. Dark magics." stated Kurenai as the three boys nodded their heads.

"Naruto can you tell us if they are still close by?" asked Kakashi. Naruto closed his eyes as he sniffed the ground again focusing on the scent. It was slightly different than the one that he was picking up in the Iwagakure village. The two demons smelled human but also a mix of wood with poison and the other of electrical energy and storm clouds. They were both still pretty close by.

"There is two of them. Still close by but I can't tell where." snarled Naruto as he opened his eyes. Sasuke combined the powers of both his Sharingan and Byakugan eyes scanning the area again when something caught his attention.

"MOVE!" he shouted out as everyone scattered out of the way.