(Do not own or claim to own Naruto)

Prologue: 3rd Person's POV:

They were thieves, a team of four, plus one hound, a small team, easy to sneak into a village in the dead of night. Their hound, a German shepherd mix, was their eyes and ears as they bypassed any shinobi on duty. They wore no forehead protectors, with the symbol of their village. The hounds Master, a female spy, signaled the entire group to freeze where they stood, they were waiting. The old man in charge of the up keep of this villages forbidden scrolls was doing his timely walk around the building, checking to make sure no living soul but him were on the grounds, that no scroll was to be touched. She looked at the hound, who awaiting her signal obediently. As soon as the old man opened the door to the building to go back inside, she gave the signal. The hound charged forward, silent as his ancestor in the wild, and pounced on the old man, clamping his mouth around the throat of his victim cutting off any sound that would have escaped.

The hound back off his prey, his Master coming up behind him eyeing the pool of blood that was forming around the body of the old scroll keeper. "Good mutt, very good." She praised, walking forward, her teammates following and spreading out. "Bring the body inside, we don't want to draw attention." She told one of her teammates. The hound stayed close to his Master, his soul duty to follow her every command, and guard her. A victorious smile played on her lips as she found the scroll they had been paid to retrieved. "Jackpot!" She called to her teammates in a hushed tone.

"Hey! The old man! He's alive!"

"You didn't kill him?!" The hounds Master raged, hitting the creature upside the head. "You soft heart good for nothing beast! Kill him!" She ordered, turning away from the hound.

"He's gone. Must have sneaked out when our back were turned." One of her teammates informed.

"We need to get out of here!" Another suggested.

"Fine. Lets move. We got what we wanted anyway." She sighed. "Your going to get it when we get back to base, you stupid mutt." She promised, hitting the hound upside the head, causing it to yelp.

"Leaf shinobi ANBU, closing in!"

"We got to scatter!"

The group went in different directions, hoping to throw off their pursuers.

"This is all your fault, if you had just killed the old man." The hounds Master raged, as she and the hound started running. The animal only grunted as he dodge weapons that were expertly aimed, too busy running for his life to focus on what she was saying.

Tsunade's POV:

Tsunade waited patiently in her office for her ANBU to report in, sipping on a cup of sake, and absently looking at one of the many piles of paperwork on her desk. A team of rogue shinobi had gotten into their village and stole a forbidden scroll, the old old Scroll Keeper was lucky to have been able to get away to send a signal to alert, the shinobis on duty, and to have survived such an ambush. This incident allowed her to take a very needed break from all the never ending paperwork on her desk. Sensing her ANBU close, she stood up from her desk, as the three man cell of Konaha finest entered her office. Two were carrying a body, and deposited their burden to the floor One was obviously not human, but a dog. The ANBU moved out of her way, as she walked from behind her desk, to examine to two un-moving bodies, that were now getting blood all over her floor.

"The scroll, that was stolen?" She asked, eyeing the dead body of the woman spy.

"We could not find it. She must have hidden it, before we could retrieve it." Came the answer.

What happened to bringing her back alive? And What about the mutt?" Tsunade inquired.

"We tried our best to follow your orders, Lady Hokage, but in the end she took her own life. The dog was found beside her, apparently she had meant to kill it as well, but failed. When we approached the creature attacked." The ANBU team leader informed.

Tsunade listened as the ANBU updated her on the events that occurred, moving her eyes away from the dead spy and to the dog in question. It was a German shepherd mix, with was she was not sure. She would have to go to the Inuzuka Clan for that information. If it wasn't for the distinct fur coloring, no one would have been able know it was a German Shepherd. The animal was too thin for its size, and Tsunade with her medical trained eyes; even though she is not a vet, was able to tell this animal was severally underweight. Her eyes went to the kunai knife in its side, it was amazing it wasn't dead just by that alone. Besides the most recent of battle wounds, the animal had injuries that looked day old, some already infected from not being treated. This dog did not look anything close to it a shinobis companion, it looked more like a mangy starved mutt from the streets. The lack of a village forehead protector and family crest, had Tsunade suspecting that maybe this animal wasn't really a ninken. Considering his poor state she was also starting to believe, he was not the dead woman's to begin with, and she was willing to bet money on that.

"These injuries?" She asked, instinctively going into doctor mode, despite it being over an animal.

"The ninken was already badly injured when we found them. We can only take credit for the kunai knife." One of the ANBU answered.

Tsunade was about to speak again when the dog's eye snapped open and sprang to his feet, snarling. She could see the intelligence in his eyes, and the dog took in his surroundings. The ANBU stood at the ready, but she waved them down. The intelligence that was in this animals eye intrigued her, she was ready to terminate the hound just yet. Her doctor's eye noted how the dog seemed to favor its right front leg, and the gash at the throat, it was a small wound, and for some reason it worried her. The dogs snarl sounded very off

Already she was getting an idea, and if this dog was intelligent like the Inuzuka Clan, and the Hatake hounds, then they would be able to find out where and who wanted the stolen forbidden scroll. "I am the Fifith Hokage, Lady Tsunade. You are currently in Kahona, Village Hidden in the Leaves." She said, as she watched the dog. He looked like a ninken, but the aura he gave off was a bit different than a ninken. Hopefully he could talk, or else she was about to feel very stupid. "Now, who are you?"

Dog's POV:

Instinct took over the second he realized that he had somehow survived, after the mission he compromised, just by showing a little mercy to the old Scroll Keeper. That didn't matter now, his Master had gotten her revenge when she had aimed for his throat, when the Leaf shinobi were closing in, on their position. The sight of his Master's lifeless body next to his, had him jumping to his feet and letting a snarl rip through his damaged throat. He ignored the pain that flared all over his body and the kunai knife still in his side, but that was not first priority at the moment. He needed to get out of this alive first. The woman in the room was the only one not reaching for a weapon, so she was the one who was the leader, the alpha in the room and possibly the strongest.

"I am the Fifith Hokage, Lady Tsunade. You are currently in Kohona, Village Hidden in the Leaves." She said, in a tone that confirmed she was indeed in charge. "Now, who are you?"

He held no hope of fighting his way out of here, his body was too damaged at the moment. He'd have to talk his way put pf as much trouble as possible and endure whatever punishment was coming to him. He'd be lucky if they just didn't kill him altogether, after all he was just a useless ninken. E opened his mouth to answer the Hokage, but all that came out was a painful wheeze. Eyes widening, he tried again, and ended of in a coughing fit.

"Hmmm…..." The Lady Hokages brown eyes were sharp and seemed to look deep down into his soul. He didn't like that. "You can understand me, yes?" She asked, quizzically.

He nodded, his head slowly.

"Can you talk?" She asked.

He shook his head once, for no.

"I see." She sighed. "This must be, because of that cut at your throat, then. This mean we will have to keep to the questions the require yes and no answers."

He just waited for her to continue, snarling only slightly. He was just relieved that he was still alive.

"I am going to assume that this kunoichi was your summoner?"

He wanted to laugh at the word summoner. If he was a summons then, he would have left long ago. He shook his head no. His Master had no need for a summons, just to use him as she had seen fit.

"You were found next to her body." The Hokage stated, eyes narrowing slightly.

"-m-maste-wheeze…." He tried to correct her. It hurt to try and talk.

The Hokage's eyes drifted to the dead body of his ex-Master. "She was your Master." The woman's eyebrows knitted together, before quirking one up. Her eyes sweeping over him one more time. He got into a defense stance. He didn't like the glint he was seeing in this woman's eyes, she was plotting something. He could feel it in his gut. "Detain the mutt for me. I want him kept here. I have something to discuss with a the council." She said, walking out the door. "Knock him out again if you need to."

He let another snarl rip from his damaged throat, before dodging the first shinobi to block his path from charging the Hokages back. He yelped when his nose slammed into the doors that had closed too fast for him to escape.

Tsunade's POV:

As the Fifth Hokage, it was her job to protect and run the village, but as a doctor it was her duty to heal the wounded. Tsunade knew she was going to have a hard time convincing the council to let the mutt live, but she believed that the dog was not the kunoichi's that was leaving blood stains on her office floor. He looked too intelligent to belong to scum like that. No, he was a high class summons, and their only hope to finding the scroll that was stolen. Instead of immediately sending the creature T&I, she would rather try to sway the summons to their side. It would be great for morale if they could obtain more allies. Especially, after what had happened with the Uchiha brat and the death of the Third Hokage. It would show that the village was still capable of getting stronger, after such tragic events.

The dog, most would think it foolish to even keep the creature alive. However summons, were just as able as shinobi, and could be preferable partners when it came to sniffing out a target on a mission, or delivering messages to and from traveling shinobi. She was willing to bet everything she owned that for once her gut was right about this one. It would make her look like a fool otherwise should she be wrong. She had already decided the dogs fate, as soon as she saw his condition, he would become one of their ninken.

No summoner would treat their summons in such a way. She would heal the creature and hopefully in the process find the scroll that had been stolen and the rest of the thieves before they decided to strike again. The dog, would be of great use to them, if such a thing were to happen.

Already she was making a mental list of the injuries that needed to be tended to, and plans to call in a vet too. There was probably more injuries internally, that were invisible to the eye. The Inuzuka Clan was next on her list to contact.

TBC