New Opportunities: The Fox and The Tanuki:
Hello everyone! This is the first chapter to the rewrite of my original story The Fox and the Tanuki: The Sandaime's Decision
This Rewrite will be much better than the original in context, style, build up, characterization, and grammar.
Please tell me what you think and thank you for reading.
Please Follow and Review.
*I do not own Naruto or any of its Characters*
Chapter 1: Prologue.
'The day seems to get longer as I get older.' Thought an old man in his office. He stamped another document from his ever-growing stack of paper. Just a normal day for an ordinary old man.
However, this was no ordinary old man. He was a man that had survived two Ninja Wars, fought other great warriors to a standstill, trained three legendary ninja now known as the Sannin of Konoha, and partook in the battle of the Kyuubi vs Konoha. He was the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Now reduced to a glorified paper pusher.
'*Sigh*, I just hope Naruto-kun will be okay with me showing up late today for ramen. The damn council seems to know when I like to spend time with the boy.' He thought to himself as he stamped another proposed civilian legislation with a big 'Denied' Kanji.
He leaned back into his chair and thought about his surrogate grandson. The poor boy who was forced to live a harsh life. All because of people who feared an innocent child and what was forced inside him.
'If only I could do more to help.' He thought sadly, reminiscing on all the times he was stopped by the council when it came to Naruto.
The council didn't use to have that much push when it came to decisions in Konoha. Sadly, its members seemed to have gained alot of political power in the village between the time that the Yondaime Hokage died and Sarutobi took back up the mantle as the village leader. They truly had no shame. Using a hero's death for their political agenda.
During the period of no leadership, they got several laws passed that stripped many of the Hokage's powers. Now he had very little executive strength to fight them, especially in regards to his grandson.
Despite it all starting six years ago, the people still didn't change their prejudice towards Naruto.
At first council wanted to kill the jinchuuriki, but he put his foot down and said no to their demands. He told them that The Yondaime sacrificed his life for the child and wanted him to be seen as a hero. While it stopped them from killing he baby at that moment, they did not follow the Yondaime's last wish.
They instead treated Naruto as if he was a Kyuubi reincarnate.
They released his status as a jinchuuriki right after they learned of it, and the people of Konoha instantly blamed an innocent child for what happened.
He tried to calm the populous down, but they were too thick headed to listen. The civilians wanted blood and were willing to do anything for revenge.
He used when little power he had to release a law, stating that if anyone mentioned the Kyuubi incident or information about Naruto's status as a jinchuuriki, then they would be executed. The Hokage also made it law that anyone caught assaulting Naruto would face punishment, depending on how serious the attack was.
It scared the citizens for alittle bit and they left the young Naruto alone. Sadly after time passed, a very short amount of time at that, they regained their confidence and went after Naruto once more. They didn't care for any law the Sandaime passed, too blinded by a need for revenge.
They pulled out all the stops when it came to hurting his favorite jinchuuriki.
The council managed to gain full control of Naruto, as he was technically a civilian, and the orphanages of Konoha, meaning they dictated how Naruto was raised.
The Sandaime was livid when he learned this information, but he had no power to stop it, especially when his own advisors stood against him.p
He knew exactly why they would want Naruto to live poorly in the orphanage. Especially Danzo.
His one eyed former best friend was after Naruto since he day he was born, and would love to have Naruto in his hands as a loyal weapon.r
While he had no concrete evidence, he knew Danzo still had his ROOT Program active. Unfortunately, Danzo was good at covering his tracks, so he could never convict him for what he was doing.
All the Hokage could do was assign an ANBU guard to watch Naruto. Usually he would try to get Weasel, Hebi, Inu, or Neko, but they were also needed for other missions very frequently. That meant he had to rely on other ANBU that were questionable when it came to how much they cared about watching the child.
Naruto had it hard in the orphanage. He learned how they treated him and fired the staff for child abuse, but another took that person's place and had the same attitude towards the blond.
Eventually, they flat out kicked Naruto out of the orphanage, leaving the four year old boy on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back. If you considered rags to be clothes.
The Hokage found the boy and immediately tried to help. He still remembered when he came across the poor innocent soul in the middle of a dingy street, running in fear.
—-flashback—-
The Sandaime Hokage was stressed out and tired as he walked down a street in the Red Light District.
Naruto Uzumaki had disappeared from the orphanage two months ago. Apparently they kicked him out because they didn't want to raise a 'no good demon' anymore. He was so angered that he wanted to kill the head caregiver. He did, actually, when he saw Naruto's old room.
Broken floorboards, a spider infested, moth eaten mattress, and a threadbare blanket. It was almost enough to make the old man cry in despair.
He sighed and tried to forget those awful memories and think for the future. He had to find the boy and help him, but where could he be?
*clang*
The Hokage stopped and turned his head to the left to see a long, pitch black alleyway. Nothing seemed to move and it became deathly silent once again. He wondered if it was a homeless person or cat rummaging through garbage.
*clang* *Crash*
'It seems to be coming closer.' He thought to himself. He turned his whole body to look down the alleyway as more noise emanated from the darkness.
*CLANG* The crashing of metal and stomping grew closer and he began to make out voices.
"It's getting away!"
"Don't let it escape!"
"Kill the demon!"
"Finish what the Fourth started!"
The voices were now screaming and he wondered what they were yelling at. His ANBU was watching him and knew if anything happened, they could handle it. But he personally wondered what could be going on.
His curiosity was answered when something small and fast barreled into his legs.
The Hokage looked down to see a young child.
One with sun kissed blond hair, tears streaming down beautiful blue eyes, ripped up, ragged clothing, and a terrified look plastered on his small face.
The boy turned around to face the alleyway and backed up into the Hokage's robes, afraid of what was following him.
Sarutobi looked up to see a crowd of about a dozen men with makeshift weapons, all looking down at the child, who was apparently their target. One of the men stepped forward with a happy smile on his face.
"Hokage-sama! Thank you for the help! Now we can end the demon and finish it off before it kills anyone else!"
The Hokage looked down at the child who was now looking at him with fear, and he knew immediately who the child actually was.
He kneeled down and put his hand on the child's shoulder, noticing how he flinched heavily and closed his eyes under the touch. He cursed the orphanage once again for their treatment to Naruto and gave him a small smile. "Do not fear, my dear child. No one shall hurt you tonight." The child opened his eyes with hope swimming in them. Before he could say anything else, his eyes closed once again and he passed out into Hokage's arms, mostly from exhaustion.
The Hokage stood up with the child now in hands and glared at the small crowd of people.
"Inu, kill these people. Leave none alive. They should know better then to try to kill innocent children." He said coldly.
The Hokage turned around with child in arms and walked away from the sounds of screams and slaughter.
—-flashback end—-
He eventually got the child to trust him after a few months and did as much as possible to help the boy's situation.
He got him a furnished apartment away from wandering eyes. The council demanded to know where the 'demon' was, but he refused to tell them. He threatened to kill anyone who spoke the word 'demon', 'fox', or 'Kyuubi', in his presence while referring to Naruto. It seemed to shut them up for awhile. Even Danzo seemed somewhat scared, but said nothing.
Naruto had a stable life in that apartment. While it may have been lonely sometimes, at least he was safe.
Weasel and Inu would spend time with him when they were off mission, and the Hokage visited once or twice a week to watch the boy and get ramen with him. He would make sure they were not followed, so nobody found out where the child lived for several months. Hebi would also come over and teach Naruto from time to time as well!
It didn't last long though. One of the civilian council members bribed an ANBU who watch Naruto to give up where he lived. Apparently, the ANBU cared very little for who he was guarding and gave up the location for cheap.
Lets just say when the Hokage found out, he made sure the ANBU regretted what he did.
Sadly, the damage was done. The council member released the address to the public and they went after Naruto instantly.
The boy's safe haven was destroyed in a day.
The Sandaime tried to move him to new locations, but they found out where Naruto lived in a matter of weeks or days after the move.
He could only do his best, but sadly it was him versus a whole village.
He reached to grab another document to work on when he was interrupted by someone knocking on his door.
"Come in." He responded.
His assistant walked in with a small stack of papers in hand. "Good evening Hokage-sama. A nin from Suna came to the gates a few moments ago to drop off these papers for you." She then handed the papers to the old Kage, who looked at them curiously. 'What could Suna want?'
"Thank you. You are dismissed." He told his assistant, who then bowed and exited the room.
Before he even had the chance to read the first sentence, he was interrupted yet again, but this time by an ANBU in a dog mask, who flashed into the room with something in his arms.
"Hokage-sama. I regret to inform you that Naruto Uzumaki was caught in an attack." The Hokage jumped out of his chair and was next to the dog ANBU in a flash. He looked down at the small child and grit his teeth. Naruto had cuts and bruises on his face, fresh blood on his skin all over, obviously his, and clothes that had been slashed and ruined. He looked up at his trusted ANBU
"Why did not take him to the Hospital first?" He asked seriously.
"I tried, Hokage-sama, but they refused to treat him." The dog masked ANBU said irritatedly.
'Damn civilians.' The Hokage thought angrily.
"I managed to save him before he got any serious damage. I knocked out most of the attackers, but some escaped. There is a large number of people incapacitated in an alleyway as of now."
"Thank you Inu. You may leave him with me. Now please go and collect any of the people that are still unconscious and send them to Ibiki for questioning."
The masked ANBU bowed his head and handed the child off before disappearing in a flash of leaves.
The Hokage looked at the unconscious, damaged child in his arms and sighed. He was innocent and pure. He should not be subjugated to such a harsh life.
He carried the child over to the couch at the corner of the office and set him down gently, as to not irritate his wounds. As he looked at the blond's face, he could see some of the wounds closing already and knew that it was probably his tenant. Most likely protecting Naruto to protect itself.
Naruto usually healed on his own because of the hospitals not treating him. He supposed the Kyuubi being in Naruto did have one good use. It was a great medic when Naruto needed him.
The Hokage went back over to his desk and slammed his hands on it. He sighed and closed his eyes, irritation evident on his face.
'Is there anything I can do for Naruto that doesn't get stopped by the Civilian Council?!'
He relaxed himself somewhat with a few breaths. He needed to collect calm down or he might make a brash decision.
He opened his eyes to looked at a familiar stack of paper on his desk from earlier. 'Oh, that's right. The papers from Suna. What was it that was so important to them?' He grabbed the papers and started reading the first paragraph.
'To the Hokage of Konohagakure, we invite you to Sunagakure in hopes of fixing and resolving any problems with the treaty that is currently in progress. We would ask that you message us back as soon as possible by informant or summon, as our hope is to complete the treaty with haste and efficiency.
You are welcome to come to Suna with your own group of ANBU, under surveillance of course, and a guest of your choice.
Please message us your response as soon as you receive these papers.
The Kazekage of Sunagakure, Sabaku no Rasa.'
He skimmed through the rest of the packet to see that it was the treaty proposed by Suna and any changes that they wished to make to it. It seemed they wanted alot from Konoha, which explained why they would need to talk to him personally.
A light bulb went off in his head.
A guest.
He could bring a guest with him. One that his council could not control and had no authority over. He was allowed to choose whoever he wanted. 'Would it be wise to bring Naruto though?' He asked himself.
He thought about it and knew if he left the blond in Konoha alone, then he could be in serious danger.
Inu was scheduled for assasination tomorrow.
Hebi was still on mission for the next week
Weasel was guarding a high profile merchant on a trip through Konoha.
And Neko was coming with him.
The only way to protect Naruto while giving the child a taste of safety and freedom, was to bring him as his guest.
The Hokage turned to the young injured boy resting on his couch. He smile sadly, seeing that most of the injuries were all but sealed up.
'Perhaps this may be an opportunity for you, Naruto-kun.' He thought to himself.
((End Chapter 1))
Thank you for reading the rewrite. My original had alot of problems so I hope this one is better in the approach.
To my loyal readers of the original, I hope you like it. Trust me, the rewrite will be worth it.
For those of you who don't know, these are the ANBU:
Hebi: Anko
Weasel: Itachi
Inu: Kakashi
Neko: Yugao
Hope that helps!
Please follow and review. Tell me what you think of he new story.
Until next time! See ya!