II: Answers and Questions

Present day on the Road to Konoha

"So, where were you and Sensei during all this?" asked Tsunade.

"Well," Jiraiya began, "I noticed something was wrong when I went to visit him to give him his birthday present on the sly. When I opened his window his room was trashed and all his possessions were torn to shreds. I was worried and went to confront the matron…"

Konoha: Five Years: Nine Months: Six days Ago

Jiraiya was worried. Naruto, his seven year old godson was missing, his room trashed, and no one claimed to have seen him today. "At least there's no blood-that's a good sign right? I should have taken him in when he was still a baby! How did I let Sensei talk me into leaving him at an orphanage so I could keep running my spy network?" Jiraiya dropped from the roof of the orphanage into the enclosed backyard, where he had seen the matron playing with some of the children. "Excuse me miss, have you seen Naruto, little blond boy about this tall?" Jiraiya frowned at the look of disgust that flashed across the woman's face.

"Naruto? There's never been a boy by that name here. Now, please excuse me, I have children, to look after." Jiraiya grabbed the woman's shoulder.

"Are you sure Miss? Never heard of Uzumaki Naruto-I'm sure The Third would absolutely love to hear about this."

Scowling the woman grumbled, "I said there never was a boy named Naruto here. I didn't know you were looking for the Demon too. Maybe if you hurry you'll be able to get some of the action. Last I heard it was giving the hunters quite the chase. Take what you want as a trophy, but I have dibs on its head-it'll look fabulous over my fireplace. Besides, I set up this little fox hunt, so it's mine by right as organizer," the woman said smugly, not noticing the look of shock and horror that was spreading across Jiraiya's face. "The entry fee for the hunt is 50,000 ryo, payable to…"

Before she could finish Jiraiya sucker punched her in the gut, lifting her three feet off the floor. "That 'DEMON'is my GODSON,"Jiraiya growled, "You're coming with me, bitch." With that Jiraiya slung the unconscious woman, who was now foaming at the mouth, over his shoulder and shunshined away in a swirl of leaves.

Skidding to a halt in front of the Hokage's tower, Jiraiya stormed into the reception area. "Get me Sensei and tell him it's about Naruto." The receptionist looked up from her 'work' (actually a game of solitaire) barely lifting an eyebrow at the sight of a large man with a larger woman slung over his shoulder (hey, ninjas are weird).

"Naruto's already been here. I've set him up with an appointment in," she looks down at her appointment book, "two weeks. Knowing him, whatever it is can wait."

By this point Jiraiya was pissed, and as much has he hated the woman slung over his shoulder, this lazy bitch was now number two on his shit-list. Seething with rage at the apathy that might have just cost him the closest thing he had to family, Jiraiya lashed out with a foot, catching the desk and flipping it over the receptionist's head and into the door behind her. Jiraiya stormed into the Sandaime Hokage's office. "Naruto's gone missing. Apparently a group of drunks decided to have themselves a 'fox hunt' after this whore," he spat, dropping the matron on the floor, "decided that Naruto wasn't welcome at the orphanage anymore."

Before he had finished speaking Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, was already pulling out his crystal ball, flashing through the hand seals and muttering the jutsu under his breath. "Something's wrong with his chakra, I can't find him!" Flashing through another set of hand seals Hiruzen readjusted his crystal ball's focus. Sighing with relief as the ball refocused with Naruto's distinctive orange jumpsuit swimming into view the Hokage said, "He's still alive. The tracking seal I placed on him is still functioning…" trailing off his eyes widened as the now Kyuubi controlled Naruto struggled down an alleyway, his many wounds obvious. "Kami…Jiraiya we have to hurry he's already half dead!" the Hokage cried as he jumped up and grabbed his robe and hat before leaping out of the window and running off, Jiraiya quickly catching up.

"Why the hat Sensei?" Jiraiya questioned. Despite the urgency of the situation he was genuinely curious as to why his sensei grabbed his hat before running off.

"I want those responsible and all who witness, to know what happens when you threaten one of Konoha's own. I'm not stopping them as Naruto's Jiji, Sarutobi Hiruzen, but as the Sandaime Hokage, whose job it is to protect those who live within Konoha's walls."

For the first time in its long life, the Kyuubi was tired. It had learned much in its short time controlling Naruto's body. It had always known the feel of the hunt, but that was as the thrill of the hunter, not the terror of the hunted. It thought it had known pain, but compared to the boys wounds, the sealing was a bad sunburn. But the exhaustion it felt right now was something that the Kyuubi had never had experienced before. Its body was made of pure chakra, so it couldn't get tired, ever, but now he was tired. It had run as hard and as long as it could but the boy's body couldn't take much more. It was taking all of the Kyuubi's impressive control just to remain upright and walking now.

His vision was swimming from blood loss, so the Kyuubi didn't notice the alley he was in was a dead end and staggered into the back wall, knocking himself down in the process. After dragging himself upright, the Kyuubi looked towards the mouth of the alley only to see its only path of escape cut off by the mob. "Shit, what a way to go, eh, Ningen?"the Kyuubi questioned.

Not hearing a response the Kyuubi looked into the seal the Kyuubi saw that the mortal brat had moved from his wrist to the crook of his elbow and was gently snoring. "How could those villagers confuse him withME? He looks about as threatening as a new born kit!"Unknown to the Fox, a new emotion had filtered through Naruto into him. Curling up around the sleeping Naruto, the Fox murmured aloud, "You're not bad for a mortal, Kit. I wish I could have done more for you, but if I used any more chakra your chakra pathways would have exploded, kind of defeats the whole purpose." The Fox placed a large paw/hand over Naruto, "All I can do now is make sure you're comfortable when you die…" In the physical world Naruto's body collapsed against the wall, no longer having the strength to stand. Deciding that no-one deserved to die alone, the fox prepared to enter Naruto's mindscape and the seal within. As his eyes were closing two shapes blurred in front of him, one white and the other green. Blinking at the sudden intrusion the fox wondered what was going on.

Seeing the mob through the crystal ball and seeing them in person were two very different things. Through the ball you couldn't smell the blood and fear from Naruto, or the sake and smoke from the mob. The way they had landed caused Jiraiya to be in front, with the Hokage standing in his shadow, barely visible to the mob. "Oi who d'ye think ye are?" The leader of the mob slurred. "Tha's The Demon Fox tha' is! Ge' out o' our way, we needs to kill it! We'll be 'eroes, get medals an' everythin'!"

Despite the gravity of the situation the man had asked who he was and it was polite to tell people the name of the person who killed them. Besides, his introduction annoyed people, and annoying people was always a good way to start the fight. Slamming his palms on the ground he summoned Gama underneath him.

As soon as he summoned Gama, the Kyuubi went back into the seal momentarily and woke Naruto up, "Hey, Kit, wake up! You don't want to miss this!"

Rubbing his eyes groggily Naruto asked, "What's goin' on?" Smirking, the Kyuubi pulled Naruto up so he could see through his eyes again, while trying to do his best to protect Naruto from the excruciating pain his body was in. After all, this looked promising and who would want to miss something like this because you had a dozen kunai lodged in your back?

Jiraiya and Gama fell into their favorite poses. "Thanks for asking! Mount Myoboku's Gama-Sennin, Member of the Legendary Sannin, The Gallant Jiraiya!" Pausing momentarily to enjoy the confused looks on their faces Jiraiya continued, "You'd better remember it because it's the last thing you'll ever hear!" the smarter ones were already trying to run. "Oh, no you don't! Gamayudan (Toad Oil Bullet)!" Jiraiya sprayed the mob, including those trying to escape, with thick, slimy oil, immobilizing them for what was to come.

Stepping to the side so the mob and the large number of people gathered around them to watch (from a reasonable safe distance, after all ninja were dangerous, and the one with the frog claimed to be the Gallant Jiraiya) could see just who was standing behind him, the whispers started when they saw the Hokage.

"It's the Hokage were saved!"

"No, you fool he has a soft spot for the Demon!"

"What's he gonna do? Arrest us? The council hates the Demon more than we do! We'll get off with a fine! Hell, they'd give us medals if the Demon kicked it!"

"Oh man I knew this was a bad idea, were so dead!"

"Danzo-sama I have failed you," One in the back whispered. Jiraiya made a mental note to keep a closer eye on the old warhawk, despite the anger clouding his vision.

"I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, after hearing the confessions of the accused, sentence you to immediate execution for the crimes of: Assault and Battery, Attempted Murder of a Minor, Attempted Murder of a Clan Heir, Attempted Murder of a Clan Head, Attempted Genocide of a Clan, violation of an S class secret, and Child Abuse."

The silence was deafening. Then the screams started, "What clan? He's an orphan!" one shouted, another cried "GENOCIDE?! THERE'S ONLY ONE OF HIM!" As the screams got louder more and more people gathered on the roofs and across from the alley, watching and waiting to see how the Sandaime would carry out his orders of execution.

"SILENCE!" Hiruzen bellowed. "I believe most of these crimes are self-explanatory and obvious. However, let it be known that not only is Uzumaki Naruto the last known Uzumaki of Uzu no Kuni, he is the direct descendant of the last clan head, which while technically only a clan heir, crimes against him are legally judged as if they were made against a clan head. And yes," he said turning to the man who had claimed that 'there's only one of him', "There is only one of him, that's what 'The Last of the Uzumaki' means. If you kill him there will be no more of them, ever, which is Genocide!" Hiruzen snarled. "And, now it's time for your sentence to be announced: Death by Burning."

Bringing up his hands he began the seals slowly and carefully announcing each one as he made it "Ram…Horse…Snake…Dragon…Rat…Ox…Tiger: Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet). Most of the ninja watching had backed up a good distance by the third seal; all but the most moronic civilians had backed up by the last. The screams and smell of burning were horrible-even some of the ninja watching turned green and many civilians had emptied the contents of their stomachs. But long before the screams had died down, Jiraiya and Hiruzen had gathered up the barely conscious Naruto/Kyuubi and shunshined to the Konoha General Hospital.

"We need a surgeon and a private room now, this is an S ranked mission, pay to be received on successful rehabilitation of the patient." After what he witnessed tonight, the Hokage had no faith in the people of the village when it came to Naruto. So he appealed to the one thing he, knew would work, their greed. Sitting in the Operating Room, watching as the surgeons bustled around Naruto while nearly panicking at the state he was in (whether it was from concern the wellbeing of the patient or their wallets Jiraiya wasn't sure). It was a long night for both Jiraiya and the Hokage.

Inside Naruto's Mind

"So you're the reason why everybody hates me? What did you do to piss them off so badly?" Naruto and the Fox were sitting in the seal talking about things while they waited for Naruto's body to be healed enough for Naruto to ask the Hokage questions about his past and his family. Even if he was the last one, he wanted to learn all about them. The Kyuubi had offered to tell him but Naruto wanted the Old Man to explain why he hadn't told him about his clan. So, instead they were talking about why the village hated him so much and how the Fox had gotten sealed inside him.

"Well, when you were born the seal that kept me in your mother weakened enough for me to try to escape…"

Naruto interrupted loudly with, "Wait you knew my mother? Wait, wait, wait! YOU WERE SEALED INSIDE HER TOO!?"

"You didn't know? I never really talked to her much. She had me sealed up tighter than a miser's purse so I don't know much about her or your father, but the Hokage definitely knows-add that to the list of questions you want to ask him. Anyway, Kit, don't you want to hear the test of the story?"Naruto made a zipping motion over his lips and sat at attention, eyes shining with curiosity. Chuckling, the Kyuubi continued, "No interruptions or I won't finish the story. Where was I? So yeah, I felt the seal weakening and tried to make my escape, 'cuz her seal made yours look like a day at the beach. I'm not sure how it happened but while I was struggling, some dude in a cloak and a funny mask actually pulled me from the seal. Before I could even blink he activates his Sharingan and used a Genjutsu, because the next thing I knew half the village was destroyed and the Fourth had summoned me to the woods where he, stole my Yang Chakra sealed it in the Shinigami. I'll admit before he dumped my Yin Chakra and my mind into you I tried to kill you because I hadn't been free since your village was founded, and it's always so hard to think when I'm not inside a physical body. But he and your mother blocked my claw with their bodies before finishing the sealing. That's the last thing I really remember before waking up during your fight."Scratching his head the Kyuubi paused for a moment, "Sorry about trying to kill you like that, my chakra is pretty potent and angry… it's always so hard to think straight without a flesh and blood body shielding my mind. So, any questions?"

"Just one, what's your name? I mean it's rude to keep calling you Fox, and Kyuubi is just a title…so do you have a name? If you don't I can try to give you one!" Naruto said cheerfully.

After stopping to think for a moment the Kyuubi decided to speak, "You're the first person to ask for my name since it was given to me. My name is Kurama. Pleased to meet you."

"Uzumaki Naruto, likewise." Naruto said offering his tiny hand to Kurama.

Chuckling, Kurama held out his pinky for the boy to shake. "Now get some rest we have a busy day tomorrow."

The Next Morning

Jiraiya woke with a start. Something was wrong with Naruto, he could tell. Shaking his Sensei, awake he turned to see Naruto staring at him with bright red eyes. "We need to talk before the Kit wakes up."

A/N

To those wondering while Naruto is inside the seal and touching Kurama, the seal allows Kurama control Naruto's body. And the thought of a seven year old Naruto treating Kurama like a giant stuffed animal was one of the reasons I decide to write this story

Ciao

Xahn777

A/N 2.0 (8/28/2012

Formatted, a few minor changes to the grammar, but this chapter needs to be rewritten completely before I'll be satisfied with it.

BETA'd By TheCookieMonster77