Predator and Prey

"Naruto, why'd you stop?" The cat asked. Naruto's eyes narrowed before sniffing the air.

"Do you smell that?" He asked the Exceed. Kurama raised his nose to the sky and inhaled.

"Hmmm...smells like...dinner!" Kurama grinned widely before looking down at the sands. Below the levitating duo were a pair of sand tiger-fish.

These creatures were shaped like regular tiger-fish, but they were the size of adult Bengal tigers. Instead of fins, they sported muscular limbs with paws, but the tail and dorsal fins remained. The paws had three sharp, golden claws that allowed for them to dig swiftly beneath and through the the sands as they looked for their prey.

Their diet consists mainly of lizards and cacti making them omnivorous, but their carnivorous nature reigned supreme. They are not required to drink water as they act like whales, taking in whatever water vapor is in the air through a small hole at the top of their heads and their bodies are made so that the water instantly condenses and is sent to a special storage organ.

"Sand Tiger-Fish huh?" Naruto said as he watched them jump into the air before diving beneath the sands. There were about four of the creatures and Naruto suddenly a got wild look in his eyes as his draconian instincts took over.

"Time to hunt." He growled. Kurama nodded before jumping off of his head and sprouted his wings. The fox costumed cat grinned widely before roaring. Kurama glowed a crimson colour and fire coated his body.

"Fire Rocket!" The feline yelled as he crashed into the sands. A large shockwave of fire raced out from the cat's point of contact with the sands. Two tiger-fish were sent flying through the air, burnt in numerous places. The two airborne creature righted themselves in midair and were about to land on the sands in order to escape, but Naruto appeared beneath their falling forms and took a deep breath.

"Fuuton: Tora no Tsume/Wind Style: Tiger Claw!" Naruto's hands were suddenly surrounded by slashing winds which took the form of claws. He leaped and slashed at the tiger-fish multiple times before landing on the ground. The tiger-fish were suspended in midair before slash marks coated their bodies and they split apart into pieces. Blood and organs meeting the sands and staining it red.

The other two tiger-fishes stared in shock at the blonde as it saw him cut down their pack members like they were nothing. The two quickly turned tail and were about to dive down into sands. However, before they could do so, Naruto appeared in front of the two jumping tiger-fish as they attempted to get away. The two quadrupedal fishes released a sound that appeared to be a cross between a tiger's roar and a bear's growl. The blonde dragonslayer seemed amused by the terrifying sound.

One charged him, but the blonde simply raised his hand and poked the tiger-fish in the middle of its forehead just as it was about to hit him. His hands positioned in the shape of a makeshift gun.

"Fuuton: Rekudan!" A small wind bullet suddenly shot out of Naruto's fingertips and began to drill its way through the skull of the sand tiger-fish, impaling its brain and killing it. The remaining tiger-fish growled as it tried to put up a fight. It slashed at Naruto with its claws, but the blonde dragonslayer merely laughed as he dodged the attacks with no effort at all.

The tiger-fish slashed downwards before following up with an upward, diagonal strike. Naruto backed away from the first strike, but leaned backwards so his upper body was parallel to the ground as he performed a move out of the Matrix. He then gained a cold look in his eyes before lashing out with a brutal kick to the fish's face sending it spiraling through the air before it was caught in the claws of the kitsune that was a transformed Kurama.

"Fried or Grilled?" He asked Naruto. Naruto thought for a while before throwing him the dead body of the other sand tiger-fish which the fox caught in its other clawed hand.

"Both." Naruto grinned.

"Gotcha!" Kurama said before heat energy was released from the kitsune's claws. The fox's single tail swished back and forth with glee as the sand tiger-fish roared with pain before it stopped. Both fishes were smoking in the hands of the kitsune before he threw them to Naruto. The blonde raised his eyebrow in confusion as he caught the two fish.

"Not gonna eat?" he asked the kitsune. Kurama shook his head as he transformed back into his costumed cat form.

"Nah, I ate my share already. Nice job with the dicing, could have done better with the slicing though" He commented. Naruto rolled his eyes at the Exceed before digging into his meal. Naruto then froze as he chewed on the flesh he had just bitten out of before glaring at Kurama. The red eyed cat glared back at his partner.

"What?"

"The fried one is a bit burnt" The blonde commented causing Kurama to sweatdrop.

"Ungrateful brat" he mumbled as he watched Naruto continued to eat. After the small meal, the two continued to walk through the desert for a few hours. Naruto and Kurama had nearly finished their entire water supply and they had finished their food supply two days ago which is why they had resorted to eating the sand tiger-fish in the first place.

Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow as he watched Kurama hover next to him. The hood of his costume was the only thing keeping the tiny cat from suffering heat stroke.

"Any...idea...how long before...we get out...of this...FUCKING DESERT!" Kurama wheezed. He was very dehydrated and the dry desert air did nothing to soothe that feeling. Naruto quickly caught the cat as his wings vanished in a shower of light particles.

"Fuuton: Shunpo no Kazejin!" Naruto said. He had used the technique before to aid in their travelling earlier, but the desert was just so vast that he ended up realizing that even with the use of his technique, they were getting nowhere and he was losing valuable magic power. However, now was not the time for such concerns as Kurama needed to get to some place shady and cool soon or he'd be suffering from a delusional cat with heat stroke.

'Kurama's annoying enough when he's normal' The dragonslayer thought. Naruto continued moving at sound barrier breaking speeds before jumping into the air and a grey-green magic circle appeared beneath him.

"Fuuton: Tobu!" Naruto suddenly began to race through the air, sound barrier breaking once again due to the speeds he was moving at. The world began to blur around him. He suddenly began to get tunnel vision as the speed began to affect him, but as he was flying, a green blob crossed his vision before vanishing. Naruto froze as in the air before looking back. He looked down at the small, dehydrated cat in his arms before looking back in the direction of where he saw the blob.

'If that was a mirage, I'm gonna cry' The blonde thought. He quickly raced towards where he saw the blob and his eyes widened when he saw the wide expanse of vegetation before him.

.....

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