Underneath the Underneath
By: FlameXFullmetal
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I never have and never will.
A/N: Hey there! Next chapter is here! I hope that this will flow better than the previous version. One of the many changes I made was removing the multiple long-winded explanations. They will still appear but they will not occur together and hopefully, I will be able to reduce their length. If you intend to leave a review please keep the language appropriate and do not tell me to go kill myself. Thanks! With that said let the story continue!
"hello" people (bijuu in human form) speaking
'hello' people (bijuu in human form) thinking/coded hand signals
"HELLO" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity yelling
"hello" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity talking
'hello' bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity thinking
hello jutsu
************************New Concerns**********************
The hospital was alive with activity as the staff struggled to save the life of two patients that had wound up in the emergency room several minutes earlier. The circumstances of their injuries made no sense however at the moment their job was to save the life of the two. Questions could be asked later. Outside of the emergency room, the Sandaime paced relentlessly. He had been made aware of the events surrounding the chaotic movements of the hospital staff by a massive wave of chakra that had swept through the village. By the time that he had arrived at the scene, Naruto was unconscious with a Fuma shuriken nearly cutting him in half and nearby Mizuki Touji was lying in a pool of his own blood. The man was missing several of his limbs and appeared to have struck his head on a now toppled tree. He had ordered the ANBU to bring the chunin to the hospital and had carefully brought the blonde himself. Now as he waited for news he found himself growing agitated.
Nearby, Iruka was in a similar state. He too had felt the chakra and immediately identified it as Naruto's. He had not gotten off on the right foot with Naruto in the beginning but he liked to see the boy as a little brother now. He had no idea what Mizuki had been thinking as he had clearly recognized the shuriken embedded inside of the boy. He was furious at his childhood friend for daring to hurt his outoto, but at the same time, he was confused as to why Mizuki wanted to hurt him. Naruto had never done anything wrong and the fact that someone was willing to try and end his life for no reason was foreign to him. As a shinobi, he knew that people died frequently, however, there was usually a reason. A mission that happened to pit two countries against each other, war, assignation jobs, etc. He just hoped that the energetic blonde would be okay.
As the doors swung open they noticed the doctor in charge of the surgery to try and repair the damage done to Naruto's internal organs looking quite panicked.
"Sandaime-sama, the seal…" He managed to breathe out quietly so that no one nearby could hear him. The color drained from the faces of both shinobi as Hiruzen ran through the doors. As the only person in Konoha with the fuinjutsu knowledge, he had to try and do everything he could to stop the seal from breaking. However, the sight that greeted him as he entered the room only made his stomach drop.
Naruto's body was quickly being covered in Kyuubi's cloak whilst the medic-nins were attempting to heal him. As the cloak began to thicken and then stray from his body taking a solidified form, Hiruzen's eyes darted back to the seal on Naruto's stomach and blanched to find that it was cracking quickly. Too quickly to fix. Once the form took shape everyone in the room felt their blood run cold to see Kyuubi in all of its foxy glory swinging its nine tails staring at her previous host. Albeit the fox was smaller than everyone remembered but there was no mistaking it.
"Everyone move away from him. I will heal him and now that I am in this form it should be easier. I will not trust your kind with my vessel. I do not see what it is about this village that Naruto wants to protect but it is his wish that I do not harm it should I ever gain independence. I will allow you to move him to an actual room as I have no intention of allowing him to sleep on the floor." Kyuubi all but ordered. Nodding numbly one of the medic-nin jumped up and swiftly but carefully moved Naruto to an isolated room in the northern corridor. Curling around the bed, Kyuubi placed a tail over Naruto's still form and began to pulse with a brilliant red light. Tempting fate, Hiruzen stepped into the room and managed to find his voice.
"How is it that you can heal him more easily than before like this and how did you get free?"
"I can heal him more easily as my chakra is not being detained and held back. Besides, we still have a small link. One of my tail's powers is healing which I can choose to use by my own will." Looking up at the old Hokage Kyuubi felt a tinge of remorse as she recognized him as the mate to the woman that had been killed the night of Naruto's birth. "I apologize for the death of your mate but I can assure you that I was not the one that took her life. At the time that she died, I was still sealed inside of my previous vessel." Kyuubi spoke honestly startling the ANBU and the Hokage.
"What do you mean that you were not the one that killed Biwako?" Hiruzen felt his heart flip-flop. Did this mean what he thought that it meant? Had someone learned of Naruto's birth and purposely set the Kyuubi free?
"Not now I need to concentrate and focus on the kit. When I am done I will inform you and the shinobi council of what I know. I warn you though, I will not hesitate to attack the civilian council or those so-called elders. I do not trust them as far as I can throw them." That told Hiruzen a lot seeing as Kyuubi could throw quite a distance.
"I understand. Although I will need assurance that you will not attack the village."
"Unlike you humans" Kyuubi spat the word distastefully "We demons keep to our words. I promised him that I would not attack Konoha and I intend to keep my promise. I will not leave him unattended. Should I or he be attacked I will strike back with lethal force. Do you understand?"
"Very well." Hiruzen turned ordered everyone from the room and then looked at some of the ANBU. "No one goes in that room and no one learns of what has transpired outside of who I decide to tell is that understood?" They all nodded in affirmation and Hiruzen left to inform the council of what has transpired. He knew that he was going to have a headache before the day was over.
*************At the council meeting**************
"I have just returned from the hospital and have both good and bad news," Hiruzen said gaining the rapt attention of the people in front of him.
"What do you mean?" Hiashi was already in a bad mood. He had just been informed of the Haruno spawn's attack on his daughter and he was one the verge of screaming in frustrations having been in another meeting with the clan elders demanding that Hinata or Hanabi be branded.
"Naruto is in critical but stable condition." He reported. The shinobi nodded knowing that was to be expected with the Kyuubi. The civilians, however, were not as happy.
"So what's the good news?" Sakiri Haruno asked.
"The fact that he will live is the good news." That didn't bode well with the clan heads.
"Then what is the bad news?" Hiruzen never got a chance to answer as the door flew open and Jiraiya stormed in.
"What the fuck happened to Naruto?" Everyone froze wondering how he had found out.
"What makes you think that something happened to Naruto?" Homura answered hoping to calm the irate sannin. Jiraiya spun and a frog that looked as if it was sitting on a scroll came out of hiding.
"This is the key to the Kyuubi's seal. It is used to tighten and loosen the seal as necessary for Naruto to gain the Kyuubi's power. The scroll should be filled with the sealing formula." As the scroll opened the room paled and gasped could be heard as they noticed it was blank.
"This means that the seal has been damaged beyond repair and that the Kyuubi is free." The annoyed summons answered.
"What do we do? This is a catastrophe!"
"SILENCE!" Hiruzen roared. This made everyone return to their seats and Jiraiya took his seat as well. "As I was saying because Naruto came extremely close to death due to an unprovoked attack by one of our shinobi," Hiruzen growled.
"What will we do Hokage-sama? Any minute now the Kyuubi is sure to finish what it started twelve years ago." Inoichi mused.
"That will not happen." This got everyone's attention. "The Kyuubi has made a vow with Naruto that it will not attack Konoha. However, the deal did allow for lethal force should the Kyuubi or Naruto be attacked. As of right now, the Kyuubi is at the hospital giving Naruto much needed medical attention." Hiruzen actually liked the shocked expression that they gave.
"You mean that the Kyuubi is obediently sitting at the hospital healing a human and abiding by an oath that it was forced to take by its vessel?" Chouza said incuriously. Hiruzen nodded.
"How can we believe that the demon will keep its word?" Koharu demanded.
"For one it appears that the Kyuubi has taken a liking to Naruto. A feat that some might call a miracle. The bond must have been formed over many years and I doubt that it was easy. Secondly, I feel that there is something that the Kyuubi wants from Konoha and it has offered to give us every detail of the night that it attacked. Which may explain the cut on Minato's leg and the fact that the ANBU guarding Kushina and Biwako were not killed by the Kyuubi but rather a kunai? It could be attacking right now but it is not. Is that not proof enough of its promise?"
"It could be leading us to a false sense of security!" Danzo argued. As much as he hated to admit it, there was no one in Konoha that could stop the Kyuubi should it decide to attack. Therefore they needed to find a way to destroy it.
"It took everything that Minato had just to seal Kyuubi. It took every ounce of his strength to do so. Kyuubi has vowed not to attack providing that we leave it and Naruto alone for the time being. Do you really want to give it a reason to attack?" everyone shook their heads. They had lost too many the last time.
"Everything that we have discussed here is a triple S-ranked secret. I expect it to remain a secret as we do not need a mass lynching. In the meantime, Jiraiya and I will look for ways to ensure that the boy remains in control of the Kyuubi and that the Kyuubi can cause no harm." Everyone nodded. Danzo was wondering how he could get his hands on the demon boy to ensure that the Kyuubi would obey him. If he controlled the boy and the boy controlled Kyuubi it would be just perfect.
**********************T.B.C************************
A/N: Shorter than the other chapters but hey it's a chapter right? I hope that this doesn't seem rushed or disordered. Thanks for all of the support! Ja ne!