Without a Fox
By Jamnaz79
Warning: This is a Naruto story. I just tossed it into my random stories for the hell of it. I had an itch to write it for a while now and just put pen to paper.
Notice: I do not own Naruto. I do not claim to own the manga or anime versions or any of the characters used within this fan fiction. I do not make anything off of this and only write this for the hell of it and hope someone might enjoy it.
The debate internal within herself was resolved when she saw the sixth tail sprout from the side of Naruto. The boy's skin at this point had been shredded off as if he had been dragged through a cheese grader. His body was writhing in pain under the cloak of vile, demonic chakra. She could see the final tail starting to form as she darted forward desperately. She was not fast enough as one of the tails wrapped itself around her neck starting to squeeze. Tsunade used the last of her strength to reach upwards and slap the seal onto the belly of her godson. She watched as she felt her life being choked out of her as the boy's eyes flicked for a brief second between red to blue before finally blue. Naruto looked at her for one moment and whispered, "Baachan…"
The boy fell to the ground at her feet to lay motionless in the destroyed office.
~~~WaF~~~
"It is gone Hime."
The words came from the window only moments before an extremely tall, white haired man leapt through into the office of the Hokage. Jiraya of the Sanin, teammate of the Hokage and godfather of the red haired boy as the topic of discussion joined the group of elders in their meeting with the Hokage. He didn't seem to care much that he was interrupting their talk even if a slight grimace came over his lips.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura turned to look at the tall man with surprise on their faces. It was definitely not good news. In fact it was news that could ruin the village losing not only the Sharingan but the nine-tails fox and both just a few months after an invasion. The Hokage's face dropped in sadness and frustration. Shimura Danzo didn't react at all merely staring at the seal master without any hint of emotion.
Senju Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage frowned at her teammate, "So you saw him and investigated the seal?"
"Yes Hime. I checked out the boy and it is gone. The seal structure is still in place but the nine tails is completely gone from him. Naruto is no longer a Jinchuriki." Jiraya answered with a grimace as his eyes swept over all of those in the room before coming back to the beautiful blonde. "How was your examination of him?"
"Naruto was fine when I last looked him over. I plan to bring him back out of the medical coma tomorrow. For now it is best that he rests and allows his Uzumaki healing to fix the problems from the removal of the fox. From what I determine from my medical scans the removal of the fox allowed his Uzumaki healing factor to kick in at an even higher standard than before. It was almost after healing the boy from the foxes deadly chakra all of these years it became stronger. That is in addition to the fact that Naruto displayed his mother's famous chakra chains." The blonde paused a moment to allow her words to sink in. Her eyes glanced down at the file before her studying the medical report closely. "I have also determined that due to the loss of the Bijuu chakra being released continuously into the boy there is a good chance his control will become better. From my examination he has coils currently larger than anyone I have ever seen even if they have shrunk slightly. The main point is we are lucky that Minato-kun's seal not only removed the fox but didn't destroy Naruto's coils."
"The boy was a genius." Jiraya smiled wistfully with a sigh.
"The fact remains, we have lost the sharingan and the nine-tails. The boy should have been given to me ages ago by Sarutobi so I could have gotten his emotions under control." Danzo spoke with a firm tone of voice. There was disappointment dripping from his voice as he shook his head with concern. "We must plan for the inevitable attack from Kumo or Iwa."
"Sensei was correct in his way of thinking. Jinchuriki need their emotions to control and harness the power of the beast. But, I do agree we need to make plans because this is a bad situation. We need to make certain nobody knows what happened to Naruto's tenant. Hime, I was going to take him on that training mission. I will do that still just now it will be to teach him his heritage instead of to control the beast." Jiraya stated seriously as his eyes met firmly to the eye of Danzo. He broke off his gaze and turned to look instead at his teammate. "This will give time before anyone can figure out what took place. Important Time to get stronger for Konoha and I will promise you when I return the boy will become as powerful as a Kage."
Koharu looked at the Toad Sage in surprise, "The boy was impressive with his victory over the one tail in the invasion but I doubt he could become that powerful."
Homura disagreed with his teammate, "It is a good plan. The boy has powerful genes. If the Hokage is correct and the boy may actually have inherited his mother's chains then with proper training he could become an S rank shinobi in time. He has trained a Hokage before…"
Danzo frowned as he looked around the room slowly, the one armed man leaned against his cane before he spoke up, "It makes sense to solve the problem of information slipping out but it does not answer the concern of having no Jinchuriki. We need one for this village with our current strength."
The pair of elders both gave a swift nod of agreement with the war hawk and turned towards the Hokage. Homura spoke up, "We need to acquire another Bijuu."
"There is one that might be possible to acquire…" Jiraya stated with a glare not at all happy about the prospect of bringing Jinchuriki to Konoha. Still if nobody knew of the burden that they would carry they would be treated better here. "If you do acquire her there should be ground rules. Nobody can know about her. Nobody can know about her burden. Akatsuki will be after her just like they are after Naruto. But, if you truly believe this is the best for Konohagakure and worth the risks then I suggest the seven tails from Takigakure. The village dislikes the girl and if you provided enough jutsu and payment they would give her up. The leader Shibuki would need to be explained it would be for her safety. I will provide a packet of documents about the threat of Akatsuki, it should be enough."
The distaste of the situation was easily heard in the voice of the spymaster of Konohagakure. The room fell silent as all eyes turned from the large man to the Hokage. The beautiful woman had her hands folded together onto the table in though as she frowned. Her eyes studying her teammates face before nodding once with her decision, "I will allow the girl to be acquired but she will not be treated like a thing but instead a person. She will become a Shinobi of Konohagakure. We will have to earn her trust. Is that understood?"
After seeing the nod of agreement from the three elders Tsunade turned her gaze back to her teammate, "The gaki can be safely awoken tomorrow. How soon can you get the gaki out of town?"
"As soon as he is awake I will take him. But, I want those scrolls first before I leave." Jiraya answer caused a number of raised eyebrows and looks. The large man simply shrugged his shoulders once, "They belong to the gaki. They are his legacy and he will need to learn them now."
"Very well Jiraya. I will trust you to tell him of his legacy after he is out of the village. "The blonde stated firmly for all present while concluding the meeting.
~~~ WaF ~~~
The first thing that came to Naruto's mind was the sight of the white ceiling of the hospital. A barely audible groan escaped his lips at the fact that he had ended up here yet again. Truly the boy had always hated this place and tried to keep away from it no matter what. There was a breeze coming from the open window. A window opened by a tall white haired man who was now staring down at him carefully inspecting over his seal free stomach. His voice cracked as his dry lips protested his speaking, "Erro-Sannin?"
"Yeah kid it is me. Looks like you went through a tough time." Jiraya spoke as he poked once at the stomach of the boy with a bit of chakra before he stopped and pulled the boy's shirt back down. He looked up and met the gaze of the boy with a sad smile, "How you feeling?"
A rare grimace came over the lips of the boy. He looked like death warmed over, his skin pale as a ghost. The fact that the boy wasn't jumping up and shouting was a large enough statement by itself. Still the stubborn red head muttered out, "I will be okay."
"Did Tsunade tell you what happened?" Jiraya question to the boy and was answered by a single nod.
"I failed my charge from the Fourth. I failed to protect Sakura." Naruto stated firmly.
"You didn't fail Naruto. You simply weren't prepared for what happened. Not many would be for that type of situation. The important question is what will you do now? Will you sit there and mope about a lost fox or will you get up on your feet and follow your dreams. I know what it is like to lose someone Naruto. I have lost far too many that I cared for in my days including the Fourth Hokage. But I learned you can either give up or find something to live for. It is what you decide in tough times like these that truly make the shinobi." The stern gaze of Jiraya was a rarity on the face of the Sannin.
A defiant look crossed the face of Naruto for a moment, "I will become Hokage someday no matter what. It is my promise and I always keep my word."
"That will be good enough for me kid." The large man reached out and ruffled the fiery hair of the boy with a smile, "I will be back tomorrow to pick you up. We are going away on a little trip for a few years together. We are going to see if you have the skills inside to be up to becoming Hokage someday."
The pale blue eyes shined with determination as the red head met the gaze of his unknown godfather. The first smile of the meeting split his lips as he spoke up, "I will do it Ero-Sensei, with or without the fox I will do it."
Author note: A quick chapter for this idea just to round out what would have been chapter one. I would have him take a different training trip then cannon. It would be interesting to see how skilled a Naruto that is properly trained could become.