Second Taile

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Summary: It's hard to be a regular person when your father- the greatest ninja in the world- and the Kyuubi, the most powerful demon to ever walk the land, are sealed inside you. Not to mention you're also a hanyou.


"Damn it! Naruto, you brat, you better still be alive when I get there… or… you just better be alive!" An old white haired man with face paint and a wart on his nose was dashing through the trees at an unimaginable pace. If you weren't a ninja that is. Even still, the speed was quite fast for a 60+ year old ninja… and that was because he was Jiraiya, the legendary frog sannin… and because he was finally going to find his long lost student, Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto Uzumaki was born in Konoha-Gakure. He was hated by the village because he was the 'container' of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He acted like an idiot so the villagers would pay attention to him, even though it mostly hatred. He vowed that one day he would be Hokage- the strongest ninja in the village- but when he failed a mission he got rid of that vow.

The mission was to retrieve Sasuke, a fellow ninja, who went AWOL. Naruto, along with four other ninja, had tried their best against enemy ninja… but they failed. Two of the ninja were slightly wounded. The other two however, they were lucky to live. Naruto was not so lucky when he was excused from the hospital.

The hatred of the villagers grew; they blamed him for their precious Sasuke's betrayal, until Naruto could no longer stand it. He started to return the hatred, he didn't need the village and they sure didn't need him. He made a new vow, he wouldn't be the Hokage- he would be the strongest ninja in the world.

He left with Jiraiya to train. Those who cared about him (which was very few) thought it would be a good break… but when he left Jiraiya they started to worry. Naruto traveled the world, learning new techniques and jutsus, becoming stronger. He left breadcrumbs for his old teacher; enough to lead him on but too few to actually catch up. It wasn't until Naruto had turned 18 did the world recognize him as greatest ninja ever; it made tracking him easier… until he had disappeared again.

Now Jiraiya was on the hunt again, having been 'on the hunt' for more than 10 years. His sources had told him that his student was in the Land of the Spirits… a place that normal humans were forbidden from entering. But Jiraiya would follow, find, and bring back Naruto, hopefully. The Land of the Spirits was a place for drifting souls, summons, and demons. And Naruto was in the Village of the Kitsune, the most powerful demon village.

"Hyperactive brat better be alive!" Jiraiya's pace slowed down as he neared the demon village. The youkai, demon energy, was strong, and the air seemed heavy. He pushed on though, he was so close.

The Kitsune Village looked very similar to Konoha: same high wall, similar building structure, and the same mountain on the far side of the village. But the wall was of living trees, the buildings looked as if they were part of a forest, and the mountain had a carving of a nine-tailed fox instead of the faces of people.

Jiraiya stopped at the gate, surprised there were no guards. He was even more shocked when two foxes had transformed into human-like beings. When they let him inside, however, he was stupefied. "Why?" he asked them.

"Naruto-sama, was expecting you to come eventually." The fox demons stated before the gate opened and they turned back into fox-form.

The road led straight to a large crowd of kitsunes, in their human and in their fox form. On a stage were four people: an elderly kitsune holding a crying baby, and a young couple who were dead. The young man being Naruto.

The revelation of Naruto's death would have been enough to make the mighty sannin faint; if the heavy youkai hadn't gotten to him first.


The elderly ninja eyes opened, to see the face of an elderly fox. Jiraiya looked around the room, besides the bed he was on there was a table and a chair. The kitsune changed into her human form and sat down. "This was his room. That is why you are awake." The old kitsune sighed, "He expected you to be here a few months ago… it must have been horrible to come expecting Naruto-sama, only to find him and Ichiko-hime dead."

The human did not respond, only moving so that he was sitting instead of lying down.

"I forgot, you do not know about Ichiko-hime either. He did say that he hadn't seen you in more than 10 years… but to us demons that is such a short amount of time. Perhaps I should start with when he got here, we do have many hours to wait." She said in her old, wavering voice.

"For what?" Jiraiya asked quietly, his past decade of life now rendered useless.

"For the child; but that much more recently in the story… I shall start with a few years back. When Naruto-sama came to us." The kitsune began the story, as she was reading it from a book.


Naruto-sama was a strong human. Not only was he able to withstand the youkai he was able to defeat many of our strongest warriors without killing them. Instead of conquering our village like we had feared he asked if we could help him.

It had surprised our leader Shippou-sama, for he believed such a strong ninja would not need our help. That was until he showed us the seal on his stomach. Naruto-sama was the jinchuuriki of our lord, Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Unlike the hatred that we knew he feared when he came, we treated him with utmost respect. He also received the interest of Ichiko-hime, our First Princess. As time went on interest turned into affection, and they were married, despite him being human. 'Things happened' and Ichiko-hime was pregnant.

Naruto-sama didn't know, but when a demon gives birth she must exchange her life for the baby's to maintain balance. When dealing with a hanyou, however, matters are different.

When the child was born Ichiko-hime had died in front of Naruto-sama's eyes. Even with the exchange of lives, the baby was starting to die… so Naruto-sama gave up his life for his child's. He didn't want to live without his wife or child; he gave the child his soul, not knowing what the consequences would be.


"He, along with our lord Kyuubi-sama, was sealed inside of the baby hanyou." The old woman finished her story, tears streaming down her cheeks. Jiraiya's face stayed dry, trained as a shinobi of Konoha, but he was crying on the inside.

The door clocked open, and a younger nurse kitsune held a small blanket covered bundle. She carefully gave the bundle to Jiraiya, who held the baby just as carefully. A blond head popped out and blue eyes smiled at the old man.

"She resembles her father… doesn't she?" The elder kitsune stated more than asked, delighted when ninja smiled back at the baby. "What will you name her?"

"Natsuko, because she is like the summer sun." It was cheesy, but he meant it… a child of Naruto, demon or not, was going to be special.


"Come on Ji-sama! Hurry, hurry!" A blonde girl was running circles around an old man.

"Natsuko, we do this every year… I'm not going to move any faster with you doing that." Jiraiya had become much, much, more responsible ever since the discovering death of Naruto and that he had to raise the young hanyou.


"Why do I have to take her? Doesn't she have relatives here?" Jiraiya asked the elderly kitsune. The baby had been taken away to be prepared for the journey to the Human Land.

"You must take her because she is a hanyou. If a hanyou is kept in a place too long with too much youkai their demon side will take over their body and their human side will be destroyed. If they are raised in the human world, however, their human side will have control while their demon side is merely asleep. You are the closest human relative to Natsuko-hime, therefore you must take her." The kitsune explained, making hand gestures to further the explanation.

"Just me? There are others who care about Naruto." Jiraiya tried to wheedle his way out of it. If Naruto had directly asked for it then he wouldn't say no, but Jiraiya wasn't exactly a good father figure.

"Naruto-sama gave instructions for the raising of his child if he was ever incapable of raising her himself. We changed it since she is a hanyou, but it still follows his original plan. 'When my child lives in the Land of the Humans she will be under the teaching of Iruka-sensei, Tsunade-baa-chan, or Ero-sannin. Wait, maybe not Iruka-sensei since he probably still lives in that damned Konoha. So, maybe just Tsunade-baa-chan or Ero-sannin… if they're not in that stupid village. If ever my child has to go to Konoha-Gakure then I want him/her to be at least a jounin level at the age most are a genin so that he/she can prove to those-' oh dear… he really does despise that village doesn't he?" The fox demon skipped over the many foul words describing the Konoha villagers before she continued reading.

"Ah, here we go! '- villagers that it is not about what you are, but who you become. For a month or so, the child shall return to Kitsune-Gakure to learn how to control his/her demon side. And if Tsunade-baa-chan or Ero-sannin is reading this then you better fix up your act 'cuz if my kid is a pervert, drunk, or a horrible gambler I'm going to… to… do really bad things.' We will take the child for a month, after her birth-month. Be careful with what you do with her, we have eyes and ears everywhere."


"Ji-sama, I can see them!" Natsuko ran behind her uncle-figure and started pushing; it was very strong for a 6 year old.

"All right, it is bad to rush an old man. You go ahead." Jiraiya smiled when he saw the two figures. Even though he loved the little girl he needed a break.

The little girl ran ahead, only stopping to pet a fox near the road. "Ba-sama! Nee-sama!" She ran straight at the older woman and hugged her, though Natsuko's face was only at the woman's stomach.

Jiraiya caught up to the three women, catching his breath. "Tsunade-chan. Shizune-chan."

"Jiraiya… I guess it is our turn to watch over Natsuko?" The blonde woman said, "I see she already has her first stripe."

"She prefers to call it a whisker." Jiraiya looked at Natsuko, an out of place red stripe on her right cheek.

"Stripe and whiskers; this thing on her face? What is it supposed to be?" Shizune, Tsunade's student, asked. She was not allowed to enter the Kitsune Village when Natsuko turned one, so she didn't know.

"It marks her strength as a ninja," Tsunade explained, holding Natsuko's face in her hands, "One stripe means genin, two means chuunin, three is jounin, four is ANBU, five is Kage, and six… she'll be as strong as her father."

"Stronger, actually." Jiraiya corrected, patting the top of Natsuko's head.

Natsuko shook her head free and scowled, "I'm not a baby, or a puppy." She fingered her stripe,

"I'm going to be the strongest ninja ever, even better than Tou-sama!" She vowed, just like her father did before her. "Then, when I'm strong enough, I'm going to prove Konoha wrong!" She really was just like her father.


Naruto Words:

Ninja: yeah, you should already know what that is...

Sannin: a group of three ninja that Jiraiya and Tsunade were a part of

Konoha-Gakure: Hidden Village of the Leaf

Kyuubi no Kitsune: Nine-Tailed Fox Demon

Hokage: literally 'Fire Shadow'

Jutsu: a ninja skill or trick that involves hand seals

Youkai: demon energy, kind of like aura

Kitsune: fox, usually for demon foxes though

Hanyou: half-demon, usually half human half demon

Jinchuuriki: literally 'human sacrifice' but is what the containers of the demons are called

Shinobi: another word for ninja

Sensei: teacher

Genin: lowest level of ninja

Chuunin: in-between level of ninja

Jounin: high level of ninja

Kage: strongest ninja in the ninja villages

Ero: perverted


Family words and suffixes:

(O) Ji: uncle

(O) Ba: aunt

(O) Baa: grandma

(O) Tou: father

-sama: very high respect... can be similar to Master or Mistress

-hime: Princess

-chan: for familiar or younger females and little children


A/N: First Naruto fic ever! This idea has been annoying me since ever! So I decided to right it… review please… flames are okay too!