Strength of Fist and Heart
by Darklion74

A/N:

Disclaimer is in chapter one. Surprised, weren't you? Well for further entertainment, Kyuubi, my muse (God help me), will read off your reviews, I think. He's a bit foul tempered so I need to keep him on a leash to make sure he doesn't cause too much...

"Keep WHOM on a leash? And where was the meal you promised me? I'm STARVING!!"

-Sigh- See what I mean? Anyways, back to the story.

Chapter Two
And the Brat Makes Three

Mitarashi Anko knelt in the office of the Sandaime Hokage, her face bedraggled and her hair messed up, which was normal for the young Chuunin, but her expression was worn and without life, which wasn't. Her eyes were on the floor, tears showing in her eyes.

The Hokage let her kneel there for over an hour, without saying even one word except to keep silent for that time. His face was stern, in fact, it was almost murderous in expression. After the hour passed, he stood up and looked at the Cursed Heaven Seal on Anko's arm. He performed another jutsu, as a few seals appeared in a faint spectrum of color, then disappeared. Sandaime merely sighed and sat back down, his face softening, but the anger still apparent from his voice.

"A possession jutsu and a very strong one too. Must have been a gift from him. Where did I go wrong in teaching that boy?"

Anko gasped and went to speak, but fell silent and turn to the floor.

Sandaime's tone of voice became neutral and business-like. "You are cleared of all charges save one, being outside of the city without prior authorization. I'm fining you one half of mission pay for the next month."

Anko looked up, surprise on her face. This sentence was all but an exoneration, almost complete redemption, something she could not possibly deserve after seeing that face. "I can't accept this, Hokage-sama."

The anger came back. "What do you mean, you can't accept? I told you that you were free..."

"No! That is why I can't accept it. All I see is that child's bloodied clothing in front of me. That wolf chewing on it, but I don't see the clothing, I see him being chewed on. I hear the screams from that child... I can barely sleep. I'm supposed to be a ninja, damn it! I'm not supposed to be having these nightmares... I'm not supposed to..."

Anko's tear-ridden rant was cut short when the Sandaime's hand was placed gently on her shoulder. His eyes had softened, and his voice had concerned compassion for it. "You are not merely Shinobi, you are also human. As the letter of the law goes, Orochimaru gave you that possession seal. It broke fully the moment you saw the boy's torn rags of clothing. I think, however, I have a way that you can start on the path of atonement, if only in your own mind."

Anko looked up, her eyes seeking answers.

"You are aware of what's happening this year in the Lightning Country, yes?"

Anko opened her eyes wide, not expecting that question.

Tsunade was resting after another losing day at the casino... she seemed to lose money almost every single time she found a casino. This merely caused the other people in near her to sigh, that being five-year-old Naruto and of course, Shizune. Three years had passed since that day and Naruto was beginning to learn a few things, as Shizune thought he was old enough to learn the arts of the Shinobi. Everyone was in one of the hotel rooms, while Shizune had managed to keep enough cash hidden on her to spend for the room, and for lunch.

Naruto however was not a happy camper as his current target was a rat who ran off with the last bite of his sandwich. He ended up peppering the floor with needles, but not hitting the rat once. The rat merely looked at him, chomped down the last of Naruto's meal, stuck its tongue out and ran into a hole in the wall.

"Come back here you lunch-stealing piece of cat food!"

Tsunade merely spoke in an icily calm voice "Naruto."

The five-year-old boy merely froze in his tracks, his eyes wide with fear. Over the last three years, he knew that tone of voice, and that it was useless to run from it. He meekly stepped over to Tsunade, his fists together and his index fingers twirling around each other nervously. "H-Hai, Tsunade-kaasan?"

Tsunade merely smiled, her icy tone of voice conveying the importance of her words and her hand stroking Naruto's chin. "Do you remember what I said about practicing?"

"Ummm... you didn't want me to practice? You then said I could learn from Shizune-sensei..."

Tsunade's smile merely intensified, as her tone slowly became more heated. "No, no, no, my boy. Did you remember the other thing I said about practicing, or should I say where you could practice?"

"Oh yeah not to practice..."

Naruto gulped audibly as he remembered Tsunade's rule. "...inside."

"And why were you practicing inside? Trying to get a rat, eh? Or were you aiming for my new shoes!?"

Tsunade merely pointed at two red-heeled shoes that were totally perforated with needles.

Naruto gulped. It wasn't that he was a bad boy by nature, he just seemed so animated, as his eyes filled with tears. "G-gomen, okaasan! I didn't mean to do that..."

"Then why did you do..."

Tsunade merely oofed as Naruto hugged her with all of his five-year-old might. Then he said the four words that always stopped a possible rampage, not because it was contrived, but that the fear in the boy's mind was real, more so than any rampage that Tsunade could do.

"Please don't leave me!"

It was always the same, Tsunade didn't want the child to be left alone. She had grown fond of the brat, very fond in fact. It was almost as if, after looking at Naruto, and seeing the past, that part of her past came back, as he reminded her in a few ways about her long departed little brother. Also that she appeared in a way to be the son... the very child, she never had.

Tsunade sighed and calmed the crying boy. "Big boys don't cry, do they Naruto?"

With that, Naruto stopped crying, as if something else came back to him, his pride. He was a big boy now, he was five years old and trying to be a ninja. Ninjas don't cry, do they? He shook his head and smiled lightly.

"Now, I think it's time you learned something. If you're going to be this reckless, you'll need to know how to fix things up. Now, let's take a look at these shoes, they're in pretty poor shape, don't you think?"

Naruto grimaced and nodded.

"Now listen, this is something you do if it is needed, understood? Not if someone else wants it, but needs it. It has a bit of a toll on one's body if done too often."

"Tsunade-kaasan, what does toll mean?"

Tsunade merely smiled sadly, remembering the genjutsu she constantly wore to hide what her medic-nin skills did to her in response. "It means a price. It will hurt when you do it, but you do it not to hurt yourself, but to help another."

"Something like what you did to help me against that bad wolf?"

Tsunade nodded.

"Is that why you use... genji, genja... ummm..."

Shizune intervened. "Genjutsu?"

Naruto nodded then looked seriously at Tsunade. "Is that why you hide yourself in genjutsu, okaasan?"

Tsunade and Shizune opened their eyes wide. 'The boy can see through genjutsu? Shizune, what have you been teaching this boy?!'

"How did you know this, Naruto?"

Naruto merely explained that during Shizune's lessons, she tried to make a few things that weren't there to make him dodge and train. When he didn't move he explained why, that his old bite mark started to sting a bit and made the make-believe things seem less real. Just as the bite wound always stung a bit whenever he saw Tsunade.

Tsunade was aghast. Naruto could see through her genjutsu, and it was all because of that damned wolf. It gave him the ability to be all but immune to illusion. Even the one that makes her look young. "Naruto... I..."

Naruto placed a small finger on his surrogate mother's lips, then hugged her tight. "Okaasan is still Okaasan."

Tsunade started to shake, then shudder, as tears slowly fell down her face, then for the first time since her beloved Dan died, she cried, long and hard. Not for all of the aching and angst, but for the first time, just as she accepted Naruto for what he was, the vessel of Kyuubi... he in turn had accepted her, and all of her flaws.

Even Shizune had tears in her eyes. "Tsunade-sama."

The voice brought Tsunade back and stopped the tears, as she coughed slightly, then wiped the tears from her eyes. "Naruto-chan. Shizune and I are going to take turns teaching you, and your first task, is to fix the other shoe, using what I'm about to show you."

Tsunade then knelt to one of the destroyed shoes, removing the needles from around it, closed her eyes as a ball of blue chakra formed in her hand and pressed it toward the shoe. The cured leather seemed to close and the needles simply came right out of it. She then slowly explained the use of chakra and how it was used to do this. Naruto paid rapt attention.

And thus began Naruto's training, guided by the Legendary Sucker, Tsunade.

After everyone went off for a good night's sleep, Naruto had another good dream with all of the fuzzy bunnies he could think of, as well as pigs that could fly. But he also had something else interrupt his dreams, that of a large shadow that streaked out of the grass. It made him turn and run, to run away from this shadow that seemed to be hungry, as it had black teeth that almost didn't seem real, but in fact were real. This was the wolf that bit him, the teeth that made him see beyond mommy's genjutsu makeup. As the wolf went in to strike...

...he woke up with a fright, only to see a man in an iron mask that had a dog painted on it staring at him unseen behind the mask.

"Yo."

Naruto was nonplussed. He remembered this guy, the one that came from somewhere to talk to Tsunade every once in awhile. Naruto always had that nightmare when this inconsiderate masked man was about to show up. The kid never appreciated the facts that the guy only came at night and seemed to always wake him up.

"Tsunade-kaasan is in the other room. Now lemme sleep Kakashi-San."

The leaf ANBU looked over Naruto with a bit of a glance, nodded, then vanished only to appear in the other room, as Shizune had her arm-darts already loaded, tipped with venom, and aimed at the intruder. Tsunade merely sat in her chair, and looked over the bill for the room.

"So, Kakashi. What does Sarutobi-sensei want to speak to me about?"

Hakate Kakashi, age nineteen, ANBU captain within the leaf, merely shrugged. "He just wanted to know how the kid was doing. Only the four of us know he's alive, you, Shizune-san, Hokage-sama, and me. He wants it kept that way for a few more years."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. This was not the usual message that her former sensei sent, even if it was the normal courier. "So Kakashi, what does he intend for Naruto."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow lazily from behind his mask, as he leaned back against the wall, seeming to not have a care in the world. "Simple, he wants you to train him for the next six years, then return him to be accepted as a Genin from the Leaf Academy."

Tsunade rose from her chair to grab Kakashi by the throat. "And what do you mean by taking Naruto from me? If I remember correctly the Leaf tried to kill..."

Kakashi merely behind Tsunade, as even Shizune couldn't tell where he was. His voice was now calm, but had a bit of mirth in it. "Now, now, Tsunade-san. Please stop molesting that log. What would Naruto think if you were into that sort of stuff?"

Tsunade's blood began to boil as she crushed the log in her hand with her bare fist, then slapped Kakashi mildly, meaning he only bounced off of one wall instead of crashing through it. "PERVERT!"

"Ow, ow... well, yes I am. But it wasn't the Leaf that tried to kill him... it was another one of your teammates."

"Jiraya? Now why would he... no... it couldn't be..."

Kakashi nodded. "Possession. Katsueki Batafurai no Jutsu. Supposedly a very powerful one, as well as subtle, usually accompanies other Seals as an add-on."

The discussion continued, unaware of footfalls from the hallway.

Naruto was indeed usually a very polite boy, as Tsunade drilled manners into him at an early age. Aunt Shizune was usually the one who taught and helped the boy with the basics of life, while Tsunade taught him manners, medic jutsu, and controlling chakra to turn into enormous strength. But that crash that came from next door, woke him up again and he padded quickly but silently next door.

"it wasn't the Leaf that tried to kill him..."

Naruto almost stepped back from that statement from behind the door. 'What? That was a lie! The leaf DID try to kill me, then that wolf certainly would have if it wasn't for Shizune-sensei and Tsunade-kaasan.'

"...it was another one of your teammates"

Teammates? Okaasan's teammates? What was going on? Was there something more behind the Leaf trying to kill him?

"Jiraya? Now why would he... no... it couldn't be..."

"Possession. Katsueki Batafurai no Jutsu. Supposedly a very powerful one, as well as subtle, usually accompanies other Seals as an add-on."

With this, Naruto fled silently back to his room as the discussion went uninterrupted. The five-year-old had heard enough. It was true, the leaf didn't try to kill him. From what he had heard, he reasoned it out. It was someone else, some mean man who put that seal on that scary lady. Someone else who used that possession to try to kill him.

He thought that from what Tsunade told him, that Jiraya, though a pervert, was actually a decent fighter and somewhat a decent man. But it was clear, Jiraya had something to fear from him and wanted him dead. But why use that scary lady?

It was clear enough, as he cut himself with a kunai.

"I vow to make you pay for what you did to the Leaf and to me, Jiraya."

A/N:

The author comes out as a demonic fox-like creature sits behind the desk with a stack of reviews.

"Review time with Kyuubi! I'd like to thank everyone for reading this little work of mine and note that not all of my chapters are going to be done in as quick a fashion as this one. Now, please allow the evil fox that is my muse to answer your reviews. Take it away, Kyuubi!"

"Whatever. First in our reviews are La-La and David with words of encouragement. Hmph, like this guy really needs it."

"Kyuubi... watch it!"

"Fine, fine, looking down the list, similar hopes from gopu and Wormkaizer. Hoping for a NaruHina fic, eh? Heh heh, nothing I love more than dashing hopes."

The author taps his foot impatiently. "No comment on the pairing yet, though I have an idea."

"Next up is... Naru-chan?" The fox laughs insanely and starts to froth from the mouth.

"Nice way to refer to my PRISON OF ETERNAL DAMNATION, Angelmidori, this muse feels loved... NOT! Next, yadda-yadda more niceties from Peter Kim, mr. mistery unknown guy, another somebody, I think, Night-Owl123, Kurisuteru-chan, Odor, demonic-haku, izumi, etc, etc. Some of whom note that this is a fairly new twist with using Tsunade as the brat's teacher. Yeah I gotta admit that is unusual, for the only grace that it's almost never, if it has been ever used."

"Okay, back to your cage!"

"No, no, no, you are NOT sending me back to Naruto yet, not until I finish the others. Gelionlegends has something I want YOU to answer fully."

The author reads then takes a thoughtful pose. "No idea."

The fox sweatdrops. "You are certainly a source of no useful information. No information at all to be exact! However as for meeting Jiraya, I think that will..."

The author coughs lightly. "No trade secrets, fox!"

"Fine! But now I have something to address to the conservative side of Maboroshi-hime. The plot is a tad-overused, eh?"

The fox goes psycho and tries to run amok tearing the desk apart and eating the equipment, shouting obscenities at every opportunity. The author is forced to collar the fox and shove him back into the seal. "BAD fox! No dinner for you!"

An audible whine is heard from the stomach of Naruto.

Thus ends "Review Time with Kyuubi!" I may not have him answer EVERY review from now on, but note on the more detailed ones, as this is cramping my fingers in typing so much. Hope to see everyone for the next chapter!