A Different Sacrifice
Chapter Two- The Recovery
Author's Note: Well, the first chapter is over and done with, and onto chapter two. I know that my cliffhanger wasn't all that much of cliffhanger that made you think, "Did he really just kill off Naruto?" or "Is this a story without Naruto?" The point of my cliffhanger was to make you think "Is he going to meet Kyuubi and have it be a good/nice Kyuubi?" or "How is Naruto going to survive this?" Well, hopefully you thought one of those two things, as they were what I was aiming for, as I would never write a Naruto story without Naruto. END Author's Note
Summary: On the day of the attack of the Kyuubi No Kitsune, when the Yondaime Hokage was forced to make a deal with the Shinigami, and sell his soul in exchange for sealing the Kyuubi No Kitsune in his son Naruto, a different sacrifice was made. The Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sacrificed himself in Minato's place and died to seal the Kyuubi No Kitsune. This is the story of A Different Sacrifice.
Naruto watched as Minato and Kakashi walked back inside of the house. Looking back at the training post, he reached into a pocket in his all black vest, and pulled out five kunai. It still bewildered him how a simple seal that his dad had put into the pockets of his vest made them nearly ten times larger than the pocket would actually be.
Taking a few steps back from the target, Naruto took three deep breaths and on the exhale of the third, through each kunai in each hand as fast as he could, hoping for all five to hit the target. He had no such luck, as only two had managed to hit training post, with the others missing and imbedding themselves into the trees behind the post.
After seeing his failure, Naruto walked back over to the post, and gathered the kunai, before walking back to the same spot. This time, he prepared to throw them one at a time. He held one in his right hand, and the other four in his left, and threw the first at the post.
It hit dead center. He threw the other four right after the other, and they all landed in a perfect line down the post. Gathering the kunai up again, he prepared to throw all five at the same time again. Throwing them, this time three hit the post.
'Much better. Next time I will try to get four.' Naruto thought. 'But for now, food sounds good.' Naruto had barely begun to take one step towards the house after putting away the kunai, when pain erupted in his shoulder, and he fell forward in the grass.
"Ahhh!" Naruto gasped at the pain, but he could hardly breathe, as he closed his eyes and the world went black.
*****************Unknown Location*******************
"So how went the assassination Hanari? Is the damned child dead?" A man sat in a chair behind a desk, staring across the table at a very young girl, maybe at the age of seven years old. The girl had dark brunette hair, with bright blue eyes contrasting with her dark hair.
"I hit him with the kunai sir, right into his shoulder blade, and it most certainly hit his arteries. I have little doubt that the target is dead sir." The girl had a dead, flat and emotionless voice, deeply unsettling to anyone who would not be expecting it.
But the man barely blinked when he replied" Good, with his son dead, my only target now will be the Kakashi boy. But he will prove to be much more of a challenge to kill than the boy. Now go talk with our Uchiha contact, and give him this. I have a plan for Kakashi already." The man reached across the table and handed Hanari a letter. "This should inspire more of a fire in Fugaku, hopefully it will set our plan in action."
The girl took the letter, tucking it into a pocket in her dark lavender jacket. "Yes Danzo-sama, as you wish." The girl left the room, and Danzo stared at the door as she left.
Naruto opened his eyes, looking at a white ceiling above him. He tried to turn his head to look around, but found that there was a brace on his neck, preventing his neck from moving. He wiggled his fingers and toes, and found that he was actually alive.
'Where am I? Why do I have a brace on my neck?' Naruto was starting to get frantic, before his memories came back to him, and he remembered the intense pain, and then blacking out as his last sight was the grass that he had fallen onto.
"H-Hello?" Naruto stuttered out. He could barely talk, his throat was so dry. "Hello!"
Naruto could hear a door open, and then a familiar face appeared in his field of vision. "Hey there little bro, how do you feel?"
"Kakashi, can you get me something to drink? I'm really thirsty and my throats dry." Naruto's voice was weak and feeble, as if Naruto hadn't spoken for weeks.
"Yeah, yeah, there is actually a glass of water right here on this table for you. But I guess that you can't even see it… I guess we should have thought of that when we left this for you. But here, let me just feed you the water."
Kakashi held the glass tilted to Naruto's mouth, and he drank the entire tall glass of water in only four huge gulps. "Ahhh, thanks Kakashi, I was really thirsty. Now, where am I? And what happened?"
Kakashi sighed, and seemed to think for a second. "Now Naruto, I am going to be one hundred percent truthful with you right now. You know how your dad is the Hokage, and how he killed hundreds of people in the Third great Shinobi War right? Well, he killed those people to protect this village. But, killing that many people made him many enemies, people that hate him for what he did to protect his village. And when enemies wish for revenge against someone who they can't kill, they may kill those close to them, namely you and me Naruto. Someone tried to kill you three days ago, and they would have succeeded and in a minute, your dad will explain how you are still alive okay? Now you should be able to walk, so let's get that brace off of you."
Naruto was in semi shock that someone had actually tried to kill him just to get back at his father. But he went with Kakashi, as they both left the hospital and Naruto followed absently behind Kakashi. The whole way back, Naruto was in deep thought. 'Why would they try to kill me for something I had nothing to do with? Maybe that is why I am training already, when all of the kids that I meet at the park say they haven't started to train yet.'
'Well, I guess that means that I really will have to try to master everything that I can, and become a great ninja like Dad and Kakashi, so that no one can hurt me for something that I didn't do. And I will show whoever tried to kill me that they will not be able to hurt me again, and I will become strong enough that Kakashi and Dad will not have to save me, and I can protect myself.'
When Naruto finally looked at his surroundings, he saw that he was standing in the Hokage's office, and his dad was walking towards him, and Naruto smiled, and ran to his dad, wrapping his dad in a hug.
"Oh Naruto I am so glad that you are okay. We were worried at first when we found you, but we saved you. We may have both passed out from chakra exhaustion later, but we saved you. I was so scared." Minato was in tears hugging his son, and Kakashi too stepped forward and hugged them both.
The three of them separated, Minato walking back behind his desk, and Naruto and Kakashi simply stood in front of the desk. "Now, with what happened, and how close Naruto came to dying, I believe that we really will have to step up his training, and as fast as possible I want you Naruto, to be able to protect yourself from anyone who would wish to harm you. And to do this, I have assigned your Godfather a mission, to take you with him in his travels throughout the Elemental Nations, and to train you to the fullest of your potential, and you will return in three years to enter the academy as a normal student, and to graduate as a genin."
Naruto stood speechless for a second, before asking his first question, "Who is my godfather?"
"Your godfather was my sensei, and one of the legendary Sannin (Quick fact, Sannin literally means "The Three." Pretty lame right?) Jiraiya, the Toad Sage of Konoha."
"Wow, that's sooooo cool, I can't wait to meet the man who trained you to be so awesome Dad! But I have another question; do I really have to go for three years to train? Couldn't I just go for, like a year?" Naruto asked.
"Yes you could only go for a year, or even just two, but I want you to be at your best, and in those three years, there is something else that Jiraiya will be training you to use, and that will take three years for you to even somewhat be able to control and use."
"Oh, what is it that I will be leaning to use Dad? It must be super awesome if I need to spend a whole three years to learn to even just learn to control." Naruto joyfully exclaimed.
"Naruto, as you know, when the Kyuubi attacked on your birthday, and the Sandaime Hokage sacrificed his life bravely in my place to defeat it, The Third sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi into your body, in a seal on your stomach."
Naruto blinked unbelievingly, and then the realization of what his dad had said set in. "I- I hold the Kyuubi in my body? How is that even possible?" Naruto asked skeptically.
"Well, first off, the Kyuubi is a sentient being, made entirely of chakra. When you seal that chakra away, the consciousness of the Kyuubi would be sealed with it. So, with the help of the Shiki Fuujin, the Sandaime sealed away the Kyuubi and his chakra into your body."
"But remember Naruto, now that all of that chakra is inside of your body, you can use it at will, once you train how to. And as another plus, the seal also absorbs the Kyuubi's chakra, and turns it into your own chakra, in a slow enough process that it won't overload your chakra system."
"Wow. This is a lot to take in, but why was I never told that I held the Kyuubi? Shouldn't I have had the right to know before now?" Naruto demanded. "And is that how I am still alive right now Dad? Did the Kyuubi save me?"
"Naruto, don't forget who you are. You may be very smart and very bright for a kid your age, but that does not mean that you are not still only five years old." Minato sternly reprimanded Naruto. "My plan was for you to not even know that you contained the Kyuubi, until you were a jounin ninja. There are enough people out to kill you for who I am, imagine the number of people who would wish to kill Konoha's Jinchuruki. There are reasons for what I do Naruto, I only wish for what will be best for you. And one of the reasons people may want you dead for having the Kyuubi is that it will grant you powers, and highly advanced healing is actually one of them."
"I- Well, I guess that that kind of makes sense. I'm sorry; I just can't believe that I contain the Kyuubi, and that I can use the power of the Kyuubi. So when do I get to meet Jiraiya-sama?"
"Well, Jiraiya should actually be here in just a few minutes actually, and here." At that, Minato reached across the Hokage's desk and handed Naruto three scrolls. "Now, the first scroll," Minato indicated a scroll with a white seal "Contains your clothing, and some other things. The scroll with the blue seal, contains ninja supplies, kunai, shurukin, explosive tags, and a ninjato, which you will begin to learn to use in your last year of training with Jiraiya."
Minato seemed to sigh for a second, before resuming. "Now Naruto, in the last and final scroll with a red seal contains hundreds of jutsu, from the low power, academy level jutsu, all the way to high A level elemental jutsu. You are not to go into the red scroll without Jiraiya's permission, and he will hold onto that scroll for the deration of the trip. Now, Kakashi will go walk you to the village's southern gate, and you will meet Jiraiya there on your first stop, out to a small village in fire country."
Kakashi cleared his throat before speaking, "Are you really sure that it is necessary to send Naruto away to train with Jiraiya-sama? I am sure that Jiraiya-sama would do a fine job of training Naruto to be a legendary ninja as you, he or I, but think about the places that Jiraiya-sama would take him? Do you want your 5 year old son to be raised in brothel houses?"
Minato seemed to frown for a second, "You know Kakashi? I did not even think about Sensei's own personal habits. Maybe someone else should be sent with them to make sure that my son never sets foot inside of a place like that."
"Exactly Sensei, I would not trust Naruto alone with Jiraiya for one minute, let alone three whole years."
"Well, then I guess you can go too Kakashi. From now until further notice, you are being placed on a three year long protect and training mission. Happy?"
"Yes sensei, I would hate for Naruto to be raised by Jiraiya, to become like Jiraiya." Kakashi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and smiled down at him brightly. "Alright Naruto, lets go meet Jiraiya-sama down by the gate."
"But Kakashi, wont we have to go stop by the house to get all of your stuff?" Naruto asked.
"Nope, I knew that I could get Sensei to let me go with you, so I already have all of my stuff packed into a couple scrolls in my pockets." At that, Kakashi looked back up and smiled at Minato.
"Am I really that easy to talk into things?" Minato asked while his cheeks got red.
"Haha, you sure are Dad." Naruto said while laughing. "And look Kakashi, you made Dad blush!"
"Hahahaha. Alright Naruto, let's go." Kakashi ordered. "Jiraiya-sama is probably waiting down at the village gate by now."
Naruto and Kakashi walked out of the office, and began to walk down the tower, on their way out of the village for the next three years.
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Author's Note: And I know that some readers out there will think that I am rushing the story, having Naruto leave the village at such a young age, and that I will make him some incredibly super powered jinchuruki that will be stronger than anyone at the age of eight when he gets back. But be assured, I will never do that, and he will not be that strong, at all when he gets back from his training trip.