I was thinking about changing the rating of this story to 'M' due to sex scenes. If I don't change it, I'll just hint at the sex. Let me know what you think of that idea.
Sarutobi sighed. It really wasn't Naruto's fault for not knowing about the demon fox that almost destroyed his homeland. The boy hadn't yet attended the academy where he would learn the history of the village and he also had no parents to tell him of such things. He could have learned from the other villagers during a festival that commemorated the defeat of the beast, but it was understandable that the villagers would be afraid to tell him of the demon when they considered the boy to be the fox himself. Although, that apparently wasn't far from the truth now.
When he thinks about Naruto's life, it's a wonder the boy is as advanced as he is. Naruto had lived almost his entire life alone. He could only learn by watching people and with most actively shunning him, it wasn't surprising he was ignorant of many things that most people took for granted as common knowledge. The Hokage would not be surprised at all if the boy was not able to read.
"Naruto, your form is that of a kitsune, a fox demon," Sarutobi explained.
"Demon?!" Naruto asked, taken aback.
"Yes, Naruto. Do you of the Kyuubi attack that occurred eight years ago?"
"Kinda. I heard people talk about the Yondaime saving the village from a nine tailed demon."
"Tell me, Naruto, have you noticed how many tails you have now?" The Hokage prodded. He then waited patiently while Naruto turned his head and counted the appendages.
"Nine. Huh… so the Kyuubi was a fox. Wait a minute… I'm the Kyuubi?!" It was kind of amusing to watch the boy figure it out, but then realization turned to horror. "So I really am a demon!" The boy-turned-kitsune exclaimed.
"No, Naruto. You are not the fox. Well… at least you weren't," Sarutobi was quick to explain, but found himself at a loss in this particular situation.
During the conversation between the Hokage and the giant fox, the army of masked ninjas was attempting to restrain the beast. So far, the only thing that seemed to work was wire or rope. The chakra restriction seals, which were a pain in the ass to draw on fur anyway, could not contain the raw power that the beast possessed. After the third seal literally exploded, that course of action was abandoned.
After the more sophisticated methods of restraint proved futile, the ANBU decided to simply hog tie the monstrous fox. After its legs were bound, they wrapped a large amount of wire around the nine great tails, thus making one giant tail that stuck straight out.
These operations would have been easy if it weren't for the massive size of the fox's body. It required the ANBU to work in large teams and pass the wire in a coordinated effort. Of course, this also required a large amount of wire. When they ran out of ninja wire, they switched to rope.
After the fox's appendages were bound, the ANBU moved onto tying the demon down as best they could. This involved throwing numerous ropes across its body and then binding said ropes to several of the trees in the area. After they were finally done, a blanket of rope covered the fox.
The last precaution they took was to muzzle the fox with the remaining rope. They even wrapped thick steel cable, which they saved specifically for this, around the demon's snout. Naruto still seemed to be able to speak, but his words were now mumbled and slurred.
"…so the fox had to be sealed into a newborn baby with underdeveloped chakra coils, namely you." Sarutobi was nearing the end of the explanation to how the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto. Naruto was both relieved and angry at the same time. Relieved that he had not done something horrible to earn the scorn of the villagers and angry because they hated him for something of which he had no control.
"But why did he choose me?" Naruto had become more intelligible as the cable around his snout had slightly loosened during their conversation.
"I cannot say, Naruto." The boy was not sure by his tone if he really knew or not. In all honesty, Naruto was starting to think it was because he was an orphan who no one would care about. As if sensing his bitter thoughts, the Sandaime addressed Naruto again.
"Naruto, you need to know that he wanted you to be seen as a hero."
It started out as snickering, but then deep and malicious laughter was heard throughout the darkness of the early morning. The contingent of ANBU that still remained a little ways away from where the Hokage and Naruto were talking began to get nervous. Sarutobi himself was a little disturbed at just how evil the laugh sounded.
"Demon brat, the hero!" Naruto finally ended his fit of laughter.
Sarutobi cringed. It seemed that Naruto had heard one of the more popular names that were spoken behind his back and occasionally to his face. "Naruto, I am truly sorry for the way you have been treated. It is unfair. We can talk about that later, but right now we need to know what exactly happened to you and what we can do to fix it."
"Fine," Naruto spoke half heartedly. He then proceeded to tell the old man about the giant mouth and eyes, and what strange words were spoken to him after he was 'eaten'.
Sarutobi pondered on the strange happening and came to the logical conclusion that the fox had somehow given the boy a new body after his was destroyed in the explosion. The Hokage could not; however, figure out why the fox would give Naruto his own body. Was it the only way to continue living or was it some kind of trick? At least Naruto was alive, although now he had to figure out what to do with him.
He had long heard of the folklore that kitsune could shape shift into a human form. That did not change the fact that he didn't know if it was true or how to accomplish such a trick. In the tales he was told, there was something about putting part of their fox magic into a hoshi no tama or star ball. This was usually a jewel of some sort the fox always kept near. In legend, if you were to take the star ball, you could extract a favor from the kitsune. The problem with the Kyuubi was that it was a bijuu, one of the nine tailed demons. He had no idea if it was really considered a kitsune. The only answer he could come up with was to somehow talk to the fox inside of Naruto.
"My boy, do you know of meditation?" The fox-boy gave a hesitant nod. "Do you know how to meditate?" The Hokage asked hopefully. Of course, his answer was a negative. He sighed. They were going to have to do this the hard way.
"Naruto, I will have to knock you unconscious. I want you to think of the place with the puddles and nothing else, okay?" When he received a nod, he walked directly in front of the large nose and performed a strong sleep inducing genjutsu. His rotten luck as of late continued and Naruto's large vulpine eyes just stared at him in confusion. The genjutsu had no effect.
Okay, they were going to have to do this the real hard way. The Sandaime slowly climbed onto Naruto's giant muzzle. When he was securely in place by gluing his feet with chakra, he bit his thumb, went through a few hand seals, and slammed his hand down on the red fur. To Naruto's surprise, a large monkey wearing clothes appeared in a puff of smoke.
Naruto wasn't the only one surprised, though. Enma, Sarutobi's summon animal, screamed like a little girl monkey after he stared into Naruto's evil crimson eyes. After he jumped off of Sarutobi and the Hokage finally stopped laughing, Enma was given a short explanation. Then, according to the old man's instructions, the monkey king transformed into a giant adamantine staff.
"Okay Naruto, this will hurt you more than it hurts me." Naruto barely had time to sputter before the Hokage brought the staff down hard onto his massive skull. Everything was silent for a moment until Naruto let out a loud howl.
"What the hell, old man?"
"I am sorry, Naruto. That was supposed to knock you out. But no matter, just slip into blissful unconsciousness." Naruto did not like the crazed look in the old man's eyes. What he didn't know was that Sarutobi had superimposed both the Yondaime's face and a stack of paperwork over his large foxy head.
'Take that you yellow haired bastard. You want some more paperwork.' Thought the Hokage as he repeatedly bashed Naruto on the head. The nearby ANBU were now more afraid of their Hokage than some elaborate trick by the Kyuubi.
Needless to say, Naruto's head hurt later, but he was still painfully conscious. Conscious and grumbling about crazy old men who liked to beat people with sticks. By that time, it would not be long before the sunrise and the Hokage decided to move Naruto to someplace more secure than the forest outside Konoha. They did not need a bunch of people freaking out because the Kyuubi was back. There was no doubt that some word had spread back in the village, but he would figure out some way to explain things later. Right now he had to hide a 500 foot fox.
The best place that came to mind was the forest of death. It would usually be suicide for an eight year old to live there, but not when that eight year old is a giant fox. So, the Hokage had the ANBU untie Naruto's legs and the whole troop, fox included, headed slowly and quietly for the forest of death. Several ANBU contributed chakra and concentration for a giant invisibility genjutsu to hide boy's now massive body.
It took about an hour to sneak into the forest of death. The fox's legs were tied together once again and an area genjutsu covered up the giant's presence. This was more than enough as the forest hid most of the fox from outside view, and even then, the part of the fox that was above the tree tops was far enough from civilization that no one would even notice.
Everyone was very tired at that point, so the Hokage had the ANBU take shifts staying awake while the rest went to sleep. The old man himself decided to rest in the forest to make sure no other incidents occurred. Naruto, despite being tied up in an uncomfortable manner, managed to fall asleep rather quickly.
When the Hokage awoke the next morning, it was to the sight of a huge red fox sprawled out as far as it could while still being tied up. It was disturbing how it could look cute yet evil at the same time. As it inhaled and exhaled in its sleep, the leaves and small limbs of trees in front of its nose swayed to and fro.
Shaking his head, Sarutobi left instructions for the ANBU on site and then headed into the village to do damage control. He eventually left the forest and entered the main thoroughfare of the village. To his immense pleasure, there was no great pandemonium. He was sure that there were rumors flying around but at least there was no hysterical screaming.
First he went to his office, as he knew there would be representation from the council there to summon him. Sure enough, there was. He also noticed his stack of paperwork had increased. So, in a foul mood, he followed the man to the council room. Sarutobi was already upset with them because the baby he ordered the ANBU to retrieve ended up being the daughter of a poor farmer. He wanted a baby from a clan so they wouldn't have to endure the hardships Naruto had to.
The Shiki Fuujin, or dead demon imprisonment seal, did not require an infant, just a child whose chakra coils have not developed and hardened into their final shape. There were definitely children of that requirement in the clans and yet the child he received for the sealing was from a family with no standing in the community.
Finally, Sarutobi arrived in the council room where he was met with the faces of the clan heads and top members of the village. Danzo was also there. He had no idea why Danzo was considered important. The man had just been a thorn in his side since as long as he could remember. What was worse was the fact that his old teammates were Danzo's staunchest supporters. The Hokage had let things go for a long time because of his old teammates, but maybe it was time to cut those ties. They were his advisers and yet they seemed to like Danzo better. Besides, he didn't really like them when he was still in a team with them.
All the chattered died down once he coughed loudly. He then proceeded to tell everyone of the situation. Predictably, a large portion of the council called for Naruto's death. Not only would he never execute Naruto, but he wasn't sure he could kill him.
"He cannot be killed," Spoke the Sandaime, "Which of you will learn the Shiki Fuujin and give up your soul to seal him, because I will not."
That shut them up. Now, all he had to do was wait until Danzo spoke, which would be in about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…"
"Hokage-sama, we should see this as a great opportunity. Naruto could be turned into the greatest weapon Konoha has ever had." Danzo had a particularly creepy light in his eyes as he finished his passionate speech.
"Danzo, he is a five hundred foot tall fox demon now." The Hokage said dryly, "He already is a weapon."
Danzo scowled as he heard a few snickers. How dare the Hokage make him look like a fool!
"Now that you have been informed of the situation," Sarutobi spoke before anyone else could babble, "I must return to the forest. Homura-san and Koharu-san, a minute of your time please."
As the three former teammates left the council room, Sarutobi did not miss the glance the other two shared with Danzo. So they were all part of some little club now, huh? Well, too bad for them that he was not in a mood to stomach it anymore. Dealing with the headache a nine-tailed fox causes was enough to make even his saintly patience run short.
"My friends," Sarutobi started, "I seem to no longer require your services as my advisors."
"What?!" Both of his now ex-advisors shouted.
"Indeed. Please refrain from entering the council room and other such restricted areas now. I must go, but I'll see you both around." With that, Sarutobi left the slack jawed duo, his mood considerably better, and headed to the forest of death to check on Naruto.
Naruto awoke feeling rather stiff due to being tied up in an awkward position. He was confused at first but eventually remembered. It saddened him to think about it. When he wasn't normal before, how would people treat him now? He wasn't worried about them hurting him physically, but he did want to be accepted.
He was pretty sure the Hokage still thought of him as 'Naruto', but what about the kids his age. The parents did not let them play with Naruto, but he never gave up hope that someday they would. Now that he was a huge demon they would all just scream and run away. And what about the Ichiraku ramen man and his daughter, Ayame. Besides the Hokage, they were the only ones that were nice to him.
Admittedly, that was the reason he liked ramen so much. He associated it with the kindness he received from the older man and his daughter. Also, he did have a little bit of a crush on Ayame. It was only natural. She was one of the three people who would give him the time of day, she was cute, and she even smelled like ramen. She was a few years older than him, but that didn't deter him one bit. The only way she could be more perfect for him is if she wore large amounts of orange.
He snapped out of his musings when a particularly strong itch assaulted him behind his ear. He couldn't reach it since he was tied up, so he tried to turn his head and rub it against the ground. He didn't take notice of how much he was freaking out the ANBU still stationed there. Naruto was rolling around on the ground, knocking down trees, when the Sandaime returned.
"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?" Shouted the old man.
"My ear itches damn it!" Naruto shouted back.
The Hokage rolled his eyes before shouting, "Hold still." Naruto calmed down and then held still while lying on his back with his legs in the air. Then, Sarutobi walked next to Naruto's head where the ear joined the skull and scratched with both hands.
"I can't even feel that, old man!" Naruto whined.
The Hokage frowned, but then pulled out a kunai in each hand. He then proceeded to dig them into the flesh and move them all around. Apparently, this worked as Naruto's legs snapped the bindings. Then, one of his hind legs started kicking the air.
Sarutobi was amused at his actions but disturbed that the bindings did next to nothing. Eventually, Naruto stood up, as his legs were getting stiff, and stretched like a cat. Or in this case, a fox.
The Sandaime was going to speak to Naruto, but all of a sudden, a deep growl filled the air. Sarutobi, fearing that the boy was upset, questioned him.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" he asked.
Naruto looked as sheepish as a fox could and if he wasn't covered in red fur, his blush would have been visible.
"Uh, that was my stomach," He said, "I'm pretty hungry. You got anything to eat?"
"Well," the Hokage started, "…Damn."
Mitarashi Anko was jumping through the trees of the forest of death. It had been four days since the Hokage had declared training area 44 off limits, but this was where she liked to hang out. It was her spot. So, she just jumped the fence and bounded away into the trees. She was never one for 'rules' or 'chain of command'.
As she made her way towards the tower in the center of the forest, she heard a strange noise. Making sure to conceal herself, the snake jounin snuck closer. The sight that greeted her just confused her more. Why were there cows in the forest of death? Not only that, since when do ANBU herd cattle?
This was too strange. She was about to march up to the ANBU and demand to know what the hell they were doing with cows in her forest, but something else happened first.
Now, what Anko didn't know, was that since the Kyuubi was essentially made up of the five elements, it was very close to nature. Being very close to nature, it fit into a forest without even giving off a presence. Also, large trees were in the way of her view and she hadn't bothered to look up. Finally, Naruto was not making any noise or movement in order to keep the cows calm.
So, Anko was rather surprised when, all of a sudden, a giant gaping maw, equipped with huge razor sharp fangs, descended from seemingly nowhere and tore into the defenseless bovine. So surprised, was she, that she did something very unlike herself.
She screamed like a little girl.
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