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Without a Fox: Senju Style
Chapter 2: Talent
By Jamnaz79
Beta: ?
Notice: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in the story. I only write for the hell of it and for a bit of fun and hopefully to have others enjoy. I take no profit or anything from this story.
The Hokage broke from his thoughts to look up at the man, "Very well. The boy shall be known as Uzumaki Naruto, till he becomes a Chunin. Only then may he be told his legacy and father. You shall watch over and see him raised properly. But I will be watching and if there is even a hint…"
"There will not be. I give you my word Hiruzen." Danzo stated firmly before he reached down and gently picked up the baby boy. His single eye look downwards at the newborn baby and a rare small smile edged onto the corners of his lips. Yes, this boy will become his greatest achievement. He would see the child become something not seen since Hashirama!
~~~ WaFSS ~~~
5 years after the Kyuubi attack
The daylight started to break over the horizon as the young boy was awakened with a bucket of ice cold water tossed onto him. A loud scream echoed through the Shimura Clan residence as the youth flew up out of the bed slamming his head into the ceiling before falling back down. Rubbing the top of his head Naruto looked over towards the old man and his two masked personal guards that always seemed to be around. Both the men wore standard ANBU black armored pants and shirt along with plain white ANBU masks while at the moment they held a pair of buckets. Danzo himself stood at the edge of the bed with a slight smirk at the corners of his lips, "Naruto, today you start your training. You will awaken before dawn every day from here onwards or else you will experience unpleasant circumstances. Understood?"
"Hai Ojiisan." The cerulean eyes of the young boy with blonde with fiery highlights hair sparkled with excitement as he answered his grandfather. Jumping out of the bed he ran at once towards the dresser to begin pulling out his little black ANBU pants and a blood red shirt with a White Uzumaki swirl on the back. Putting on a pair of Shinobi sandals he ran from the house in a puff of smoke towards the training grounds.
"He appears to be excited Danzo-Sama" One of the two NE ANBU spoke before he too disappeared into the shadows to follow the young Uzumaki heir.
The layout for the training grounds of the Shimura compound is a small pond with a large forested area. Between the two is a grass filled plot of one hundred square yards with multiple training dummies setup and a pair of circles drawn for sparing. Naruto sat in the middle of the field as Danzo and his lone accomplice walked up, "Your training will start to basic stretching and exercises daily. Next you will spend time working on your Charka, learning about it and controlling it. A time will be spent for chores and finally learning the needed skills for life and leadership of the clan will come after lunch. You will be awarded one hour a day for free time to enjoy yourself then finally at the end of each day I expect to see you in my office if I am available to discuss the day and play a game together."
Danzo watched the boy go wide eyed at his adopted grandfather as he realized his freedom was just stripped away for the training he kept pestering him to start. After the nod of the boy Danzo continued, "I will first explain to you Chakra. Charka is the combination of physical energy available in every cell in the body along with the spiritual energy gained from exercise. Together these two energies combine to form charka which is distributed through your body by tenketsu points. A shinobi will channel this energy and release it by following a formula for each jutsu. The key Naruto is not simply to have the most chakra but to control it. Every Shinobi can use Chakra but learning to control and manipulate the shape of the Charka is the most important. For the next few years we will concentrate on your control and shape manipulation. You need to develop precise control and manipulation skills for the shape of your chakra to control your bloodline. First, Naruto I want you to kneel down and close your eyes."
Naruto at once knelt down and crossed his legs before him. At the instructions of his grandfather the boy's hands rested on his ankles and his elbows against his knees with his eyes kept closed. "Now I want you to breathe in and out slowly Naruto. I want you to focus on my voice. Look into yourself and feel the charka. Pull it from your stomach to surround yourself." For a few minutes nothing seemed to happen, a bit of sweat slowly started to roll down the forehead of the boy. Finally, a thin layer of blue light started to glow over the body of Naruto "Wonderful Naruto, you have it. Now I want you to practice this for the rest of the week then we will start on control."
~~~ WaFSS ~~~
Three weeks later
For the past three weeks Naruto had continued to access his chakra learning the feel of it. He spent hours at a time just meditating, feeling the warmth and flow of his chakra. It was an exercise recommended by his grandfather to learn and know the charka inside of him. In addition to teaching Naruto to understand how his own chakra felt it taught the boy patience and discipline in meditation. At first, Naruto would not last more than five to ten minutes in an attempt at meditation. But, with a little encouragement by one of the ANBU NE agents smacking his back with a stick whenever he moved, Naruto learned to sit still and be patient. Once the painful lesson in patience set in, Naruto began to notice the warmth of his own chakra flowing through his body. The boy could feel the ebb and flow as it circulated in him and rippled over his skin whenever he pushed it out.
It was while the boy was concentrating on learning the feel of his chakra that he started to feel other's chakra in the area. The more Naruto concentrated his attention on the feeling of the world around him the brighter each of the chakra signatures started to glow in his mind's eye. Over the next week, Naruto started to concentrate on the different signatures of the charka in the environment around him. He was able to locate signatures always in the trees of the compound. Zeroing in on those signatures the boy began to notice difference in the chakra of each person. Some of the Shinobi in hiding would have charka that felt warm like a roaring blaze in the middle of a winter storm, while others would feel solid and firm like the ground beneath his feet. Over the weeks, Naruto concentrated on each of the different feelings of charka around him trying to expand outwards from his house towards the rest of the small city, each time Naruto tried this he started to feel a bit further in distance and a bit more distinct understanding in the signatures that he found.
~~~ WaFSS ~~~
Opening his eyes to slits Naruto saw his godfather walking towards him with the Hokage. A bright smile erupts from the boy, "Jiji! Come see what I can do!" Giving a quick hug to the boy and a pat on the back the Hokage says, "Indeed, I have heard from Danzo that you can use your chakra now?" Stepping back from the embrace of the boy Hirzuen looks him over with a smile 'It appears that Danzo was the correct choice to raise the boy. He looks happy and healthy every time I see him."
"Watch this Jiji!" Naruto settled down and the bright smile disappears from his face, taking instead a serious edge of concentration. Slowly folding his legs before himself his hands form the rat seal. The boy starts to glow brightly at once the chakra encasing him in a blue aura. Opening his eyes he smiles again towards the Hokage, "Jiji why do you have four others hiding around you?" Naruto proceeds to point towards the tree, "One." Then he points at the pond, "Two." Next Naruto turns and points at the nearby group of rocks before calling out. "Three." Seeming to enjoy the game the boy finally points at the shadow of the Hokage, "Four. Are those your ANBU?"
The Hokage and Danzo look back and forth in open astonishment for a moment before Hiruzen turns and looks proudly at the Uzumaki heir, "Naruto, tell me how did you know that they were there?"
Naruto excited to impress his godfather and the Hokage pipes up, "I can feel them Jiji. That one by the rocks has chakra that feels like the earth. The one by the water feels like the water. The one behind you feel like Fire and Lightning. But, the one by the trees, He feels different. I feel Water and Earth but something more almost the trees themselves!"
Danzo for a brief moment glances towards the trees making a note to remember that interesting fact. The Hokage looks at the boy rather stunned at this development, "You are a sensor Naruto-kun, a very powerful one if you can feel the type of charka of others." Glancing at Danzo a moment before smiling back at the boy, "This is an unexpected development, definitely a useful one. You will need to practice very hard little Naruto-kun."
Kneeling down before Naruto he places a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Did you know Naruto that Tobriama Senju, the Nidaime Hokage, was a sensor? So was Mito Uzumaki if I remember correctly." Giving another quick glance towards Danzo and receiving a nod in return he smiles back at the child, "If you continue to develop this power and concentrate on it you will have a better understanding of charka. It is said you can even become so adapt that you will know what and when an enemy will react. Work hard on this Naruto-kun and perhaps someday you will take this hat from me."
"You bet I will Jiji. I will take that Hat I promise!"
~~~ WaFSS ~~~
Nine years after Kyuubi Attack
Naruto sat at the small desk frustrated at he tried to read the book before him. Ojiisan had given him the book on the History of the Uzumaki Clan and expected him to read it prior to his daily talk together. This had been the regime for the past four years now. Since the age of three Danzo had given something to Naruto to learn and expected him to think and learn it himself. At first it was puzzles or coins to count. Then he would give Naruto an item and instruct for the boy to tell him everything he could find out about the item. Sometimes he would have his personal ANBU hide clues to track and find a hidden item in the house. There would always be one of his Ojiisan's ANBU in the shadows that would answer his questions. But, Naruto knew that asking too many questions to cheat would be frowned upon by his Ojiisan. A shinobi should be resourceful. Of course, though reading was something different and far more difficult. Still his Ojiisan was fair and firm with him and always gave him a chance to prove himself with something more difficult. This time was the first time he gave a real adult book to read and expected Naruto to understand it. Each night for the past week they have discussed a chapter in the book. Another sigh of frustration escaped the lips of the boy as he looked at the huge words with a frown, "Purple shadow, can you sound out this word for me?"
A chin length brown haired woman wearing an ANBU plan mask stepped from the shadows behind the boy. Hovering over him at fixe foot six she reached up and removed her ANBU NE mask to glance at Naruto with a smile. The woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties, having brown eyes and two purple rectangle marks over her cheeks. The boy had given her the affectionate name of Purple shadow from those very marks on her cheeks. The Kunoichi had been assigned by Danzo to watch his adopted grandson since he was brought to the Shimura Compound as a baby. She had watched his first steps, taught him to speak, fed and clothed the boy. Always the Elder received a daily report on the child and would spend at least an hour or two a day with him. But for many respects Purple shadow had raised the child and in turn he had cracked much of the NE conditioning with her new maternal instincts. She had started to remember even bits and pieces of who she was prior to becoming a Root ANBU. Looking for now over the shoulder of the boy she spoke up, "That word is Prohibited Naruto-kun. It means to stop someone from being able to do something. In this case the Uzumaki clan held off the armies of Kumogakure, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Takigakure from attacking their village of Uzushiogakure."
The young boy looked at her with surprise in his eyes, "We fought off all of those villages at once? That had to be a huge army!" Not waiting for her response he looked back into the book reading the story of the battle of Uzushiogakure's fall. While the text was very hard for a boy his age, Naruto dove into the history of his clan stopping only every fifteen minutes or so to ask for another word to be explained. After three hours of reading, Naruto's cerulean blue eyes focused on his friend with a hard determination of anger, "Purple-neesan where was our allies? Why did they stand alone?"
The young woman looked directly into the boy's eyes before speaking firmly a hard truth, "Allies sometimes are concerned with their own interests Naruto. Konohagakure tried to go and assist Uzushiogakure but we could not make it in time. When our shinobi arrived there was nothing left but rubble and corpses! A lesson to remember, A Hokage may make allies but depending on them solely will lead to your own loss. We must be strong on our own. That is why we have so many parts of the tree."
The angry glare in the eyes of the boy soothed as he considered her words before finally nodding his head once, "I will remember Purple-neesan." His eyes fell back onto the book with a frown considering the conversation his grandfather had with him a few months ago.
Flashback
It was the night after the Hokage's visit when Naruto learned he was a sensor and Naruto was too excited to sleep. He tossed and turned for hours then finally got up to get a class of water. Walking down the stairs he passed the room of his grandfather's study. Seeing the light still on he stopped and knocked waiting for the Elder to call out to enter. Danzo was seated at his desk with a pile of scrolls open for study before him. Glancing up to see his grandson there dressed in his pajamas with little Slugs and Toads on it that the boy's Purple-neesan had gotten for him last birthday, "Naruto, it is past midnight you should be in bed asleep. Tomorrow you have a busy day planned. We shall be working on your calligraphy."
The boy walked next to the desk and sat down in the chair facing his grandfather, "I am sorry Ojiisan. I just could not sleep tonight. I am too excited after Hokage-sama told me that I could become Hokage someday."
The old man behind the table put down the scroll then offered a rare smile towards the boy. He let his eyes study the face of the child. He still had the chubbiness that his mother had when younger but already the bright blue eyes of his father stood out. The bright blonde hair mixed with streaks of his mother's red told of almost a war for control of the genes of the young boy, "You were very impressive today. I am very proud of you. Come here a moment."
Naruto stood up and walked next to Danzo, while the old man lifted him up onto his lap. Then he picked up a drawing from one of the books to place before them. The drawing was a picture of a giant tree that was labeled with different names on it. "Naruto-kun, Konohagakure no Sato is like this drawing of a giant tree. The leaves of the tree represent the Shinobi. They are sent out on missions and bring money and resources to the Village to support the growth of the future. But, sometimes the leaves can wither and fall during times of winter or war. Still when the spring comes to our Village they grow again anew to flourish with the will of the Village. The branches are represented for the Villagers. They support the Shinobi holding them up to meet their needs emotionally and physically. Just like the branches hold the leaves of the tree here to reach the sunlight and nutrients. Working together the two will grow strong and solid enough to weather any storm. The Hokage is the trunk of the tree. He supports and holds up the branches. He chooses the leaves that are necessary to go onto missions; the Hokage decides when leaves are expendable to protect the branches. The Hokage, Naruto-kun, must determine which ninja to send to mission that may be cause the death of friends or family. A Hokage must make the hard choice and determine if the high cost is worth the success of the mission. If the rewards of the mission are worth risking the assets of the Village, no life Naruto is more important than the Village itself. Not my life or yours can come first before the success of the Tree."
Danzo catches the boy in firm glance, his eyes hard as diamonds then a smile touches his lips, "Someday, if you become Hokage you will need to make these difficult decisions. Naruto, you will need to be prepared to make the logical, emotionless choice with planning and the information available. You will fail, but you will learn from that failure, because that is what a good leader does. I will teach you everything you need to know my grandson. But, you will need to strive with all of your ability to become worthy of the Hat you desire. Will you make the effort to do that?"
The blue eyes of the young boy looked at this grandfather with sheer determination, and fierce loyalty, "You can count on me Danzo-sama. I swear it on my nindo that I will become worthy of being Hokage. I will become the Trunk that supports the Great Tree!"
Seeing the smile on his grandfather's face Naruto flushed with pride. Then glancing back at the drawing the boy taps the drawing of the roots with a blank label, "Ojiisan, you told me of all the other parts of the drawing. But, what do the roots represent?"
That was when the brightest smile spread over the lips of Danzo as he watched his perhaps too intelligent grandson. 'That dear grandson is where I come in.'
End Flashback
A knock echoed through the room, at once Purple Shadow put on her mask and leapt into the shadows hovering behind the boy. The boy put down the book he was reading about his family, quickly standing up and walking to the door. Opening the door Naruto revealed his godfather standing there waiting appearing tired this evening. His shoulders seemed to drop more than normal. At once Naruto lowered into a bow before the Elder and stepped to the side for him to enter, "Evening Danzo-sama. Please come in."
Danzo walked into the room looking around before picking up the book that Naruto had been studying, "Ahh a history of Uzuiogakure. I once saw your mother reading it. It is always a good idea to learn about the history of your clan. You need to be proud but not arrogant, always remember that Naruto. An arrogant Shinobi is someone that overestimates themselves and then ends up a dead shinobi. Even a genin can kill a Kage if they are not taken seriously." Pausing for a moment to let the words sink in Danzo then closes the book and puts it down. "I came here to check on you Naruto. But, since you are up, let us play our nightly game. Tonight let us play a western game of chess."
Right away the boy walks over to his shelf and pulls down a chess board. He places the board onto the table then quickly sets up the board before taking a seat across from his godfather. The game starts as each considers their moves and strategy carefully, normally these games can take up to hours to complete lately. Danzo had not lost of course but he allowed the boy closer each time to let him see the strategies beneath the game. Danzo paused a moment considering his next move, "Tell me what you would do in this situation if you were Hokage."
A new game that he had started to play with his grandson was to give him a situation as a leader to consider how to resolve it. The boy nodded his head and folded his arms over his chest to listen to the problem of his godfather. "The Kumo Ambassador came to Konoha to sign a non-aggression pact. While here he snuck into the Hyuga compound and stole the Heiress. But, he was stopped by her father and killed. Now we have a dead Ambassador which had been granted safety from the Village and an upset Hidden Village. They are demanding that the man that killed their ambassador be turned over as compensation."
The boy frowned at the idea as he stared hard at the pieces of the board game on the table. While picking up a rook he slid it forward to take a bishop before speaking up, "If they are as strong as us then we need to be strong. We cannot give up one of our Clan Heads just because they are upset. If we are weak now then we will be considered weak always in their eyes. They will feel that we can be bullied. We need to show them that we are strong but appease them at the same time in a different way. I would not give them Hyuga-Sama but I would pay reparations in Ryo to them to show that we understand their pain. In addition, I would hint that if they did not accept it might be necessary to release to others how they are trying to kidnap bloodline children."
The boy looked up from his move as his grandfather unconsciously took the rook with his queen. "Check mate Naruto. I fear you lost this round, but you are learning to play very well." The old man stood up slowly then turned and walked to the doorway closing it afterwards. The boy sat there watching the Elder go then looked back to the board with a frown trying to figure out how he lost.
~~~ WaFSS ~~~
"I do not like this idea Danzo." Hiruzen stated firmly while seated behind the Hokage desk. The man was rather irate about over their current discussion. They both had very different ideas of what was necessary for a particular young boy under the Elder's care.
"You gave me the choice of how best to raise him. I will not send him off to that silly Academy. It is useless and you know it. The Academy has been so watered down to mass produce shinobi and allow the civilians a chance to join our ranks. It doesn't matter if they often only become fodder in the general corps. It will stunt Naruto-kun's growth." Danzo explained with a slow patience that was not represented on his face. The normally stern and emotionless mask was cracked as only happened when Naruto came up. In this case there was anger burning in the man's eye while an ugly frown marred his bandaged face.
Hiruzen let out a sigh as he considered the words of the retired ANBU commander. In a way he was right. They had allowed the Academy training to be made weaker over time. The Civilian Council wanted their children or at least some of their children to have the chance to become shinobi. By lessening the requirements they gave the chance for those children to join them. It didn't matter that most of these recruits never became anything special beyond a Chunin. It still gave a strong core to draw from when in need, or as Danzo had just put it fodder. While he didn't want to lose his people, the more missions completed the stronger Konohagakure could claim to be. Especially since the nine tails had caused so much damage to the Shinobi Corps. That didn't change the fact that he wanted Naruto not to remain segmented away from his peers. Sure the boy was close to his own adopted granddaughter but she was one of the few friends that the boy seemed to have his own age. Not to mention he didn't like the idea of Danzo having complete influence and control on the boy's future outlook. He needed to experience other views then the old war-hawk. "How about we make a compromise?"
All emotion was wiped away from the bandaged elder as the man raised his single visible eyebrow at the possibility of an agreement, "Name your terms Hiruzen."
A small tick mark appeared on the Hokage's brow at the lack of respect of not using his title. On the small bright side it showed that their debate had gotten to his rival. Hiruzen smiled for the man before he spoke up, "I will allow Naruto to be taken as an apprentice to you till one year before he is set to graduate from the Academy. He will be allowed tutors from both of us to enhance the boy's skills. I am certain with a war-time training program you will be to produce an exceptional young genin. But, once that is completed he will be apprenticed to another of my choosing to round out his education for around three years. That should place him ready for when Konohagakure no Sato would have the Chunin exams next."
"Who would you apprentice him to?" Danzo requested at once. It was plain to see from the wrinkling of his brow that he didn't like the idea of the possibility of another ruining his grandson's education.
"The same person that taught his father might have a few things he could pass on to the young man. That is if I can convince him to take on the boy." The Hokage leaned back into his chair watching the Elder. He knew he had the man's interest now. "It would give him a chance to get to know his godfather. Also who better to take the boy around the elemental nations to help him grow than Jiraya-kun?"
Danzo didn't like it. Not only would the man be able to get his claws into his grandson and perhaps ruin the boy's outlook on the world. But, the man was a known pervert. Naruto would be a teenager then, the last thing he wanted was the ruin the boy's mindset. Still, he wouldn't let that be known to Hiruzen or anyone else. He couldn't voice those type of concerns. He had a reputation of being above such nonsense. Still it would be an opportunity for the boy to learn things from a skilled shinobi. He could see him given a few missions and be protected on those mission when he made mistakes that every young genin makes. Most importantly the boy would have a chance to perhaps learn some of the techniques that the sage seemed to guard. Perhaps Naruto could even learn the fabled Sage mode from the Toad Hermit. He could use his resources to keep a watch out on the boy in case of trouble. "Thirteen…"
"Yes, that should be more than enough time to have him prepared. We both were done with the Academy at twelve due as was many other generations. I would expect you can make him to be a high level genin while still a happy child." Hiruzen smiled at the very idea of Naruto-kun coming into his own.
"The boy will take the hat from you someday Hiruzen." Danzo stated the line that Naruto warmly shouted whenever he visited his Jiji with no little amount of pride mixed with conviction. The two men changed topic of the meeting to other concerns for the village. It would not be till much later in the evening at home that Danzo reflected on the words he told Hiruzen that his dream was no longer for himself to become Hokage but for Naruto to someday surpass him to that goal.
Author Note: There were slight changes in this chapter from the original storyline. But I hoped you liked it. As you can see I am going with a very different long term plan then the original story I wrote up. I hope you all enjoyed the story so far. Thank you for all of the reviews and suggestions. I hope you all keep at it with the reviews.