Naruto: A Different Life
By: Marina StormFire
Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

"regular speech."
"demon speech."
'thoughts.'
'demon thoughts.'
/human memories/
/demon memories/

Note: Many thanks to the following authors for allowing me the use of some of their ideas to bring this story to life: Agent-G, Dragon Man 180, MaxFic, and sakurademonalchemist.

Prologue: Single Star in Neverending Darkness

Konohagakure no Sato, The Village Hidden in the Leaves
October 10

The Sandaime hokage sighed with exhaustion. That was the worst night ever recorded in the history of Konoha. The demon fox had somehow escaped Kushina Uzumaki and had attacked the village, killing hundreds of shinobi and villagers alike. There was to be a council meeting to determine the damages and the small snoozing blonde infant's fate... not that it was known that he now housed the most powerful of the biju.

Speaking of the infant, his red-headed and violet-eyed mother was hovering over the cradle where her little baby boy was snoozing without a care in the world, even as she was being tended too by a medic-nin, who was being sworn to secrecy as to her patient's former status as jinchuriki.

"There… you should be just fine. All you need now is rest. With rest and a bit of time, you should heal completely. You're lucky at all to have survived having the Kyuubi ripped out of you. By all rights, you should be dead. But what that little boy needs, at the very least, is his mother if not his father." The medic-nin said, as she finished healing the young mother and widow, who said nothing. So much death and destruction… so many would want her little boy dead or worse, turned into an emotionless weapon.

'I'll be damned to hell before I let anyone harm my baby.' Kushina thought to herself fiercely, as she gently stroked her boy's whisker-like birthmarks.

Suddenly, an ANBU in a bear mask appeared in the Hokage's office. "Lord Hokage, Lady Uzumaki, both the Shinobi and Civilian councils have gathered and are waiting."

The Sandaime, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded acknowledgement. "Kushina, are you sure you want to do this?" Hiruzen asked gently, wanting his successor's widow to be certain of what she was agreeing to.

Kushina's violet eyes met the old Hokage's dark solemn gaze with her own full of determination. "Damn straight, I intend to do this. I'm going to make perfectly clear to those senile old bastards and sons of bitches on the civilian council, that if they so much as DARE harm my baby, there's going to be hell to pay."

Hiruzen nodded grimly, and hoped to whatever gods were listening that there wouldn't be a bloodbath, because if Kushina so much as FELT a threat directed at her baby, she was going to unleash hell—even in her weakened state, she could still be deemed an A-rank threat.

"Very well, shall we?" he asked, as he held out a hand to the young widow. Kushina stared momentarily at the old man's hand, before standing and picking up her little sleeper. Turning back to the old man, she said, "Let's go, and whatever laws you make concerning my boy, you'd better think them through first and that I'm the only one, aside from yourself, who's exempt from said laws."

The old man nodded. "You alone, Kushina, would have been exempt from them to begin with anyway. You are, after all, the boy's mother. When will you tell him about his burden and his father?" he asked, as they walked toward the council chamber.

"I'll tell him about the Kyuubi when he makes genin. His father though…" she seemed to choke on that part, before swallowing and continuing. "I'll tell him about Minato… when he makes chunin. Though make no mistake, I'll tell my boy stories and hope he connects the dots and figures out why it was kept a secret from him."

He nodded once more. "And what of the last name? Surely you know Iwa will be hunting down anyone with Minato's last name." Kushina nodded slowly.

"We'll both maintain the Uzumaki name. But when he gets older, it will be up to him whether he'll take up his father's name or not. I won't force him."

The old hokage nodded understandingly. "Very well. Brace yourself then, Kushina. The civilians want someone to crucify. And if they have their way, it will be your son."

The redhead scowled something fierce, and started leaking subtle killing intent. "Over my dead body." She growled viciously. Hiruzen gulped and again prayed fervently to whatever gods cared enough to listen that there wouldn't be a bloodbath.

They walked on in silence until they reached the council room, which the two ANBU guarding the room, opened the doors, allowing the Sandaime and the fourth's widow inside and closing the doors behind them.

On the left side of the room, were the civilians that made up the civilian council, which also included the Hokage's advisors—Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzo Shimura, and on the right side were the shinobi clan heads that made up the Shinobi council—including Inuzuka, Hyuga, Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Uchiha, Aburame, Sarutobi, and Uzumaki.

Sarutobi escorted Kushina to her place between the Hyuga and Inuzuka clan heads, as Uzumaki clan head, before taking up his place between the Civilian council and the Shinobi council as Hokage. There was a moment of silence as the Hiruzen got his thoughts together. Finally, he addressed them all. "Now that we're all here, and as tired as everyone is—no doubt, we'll start with the damage reports. Shikaku, if you will."

Shikaku gave a long-suffering sigh. "As troublesome as it is, the kyuubi took out just under half of our shinobi forces and roughly an eighth of our civilian population that hadn't managed to get to safety in time. The village itself took quite a bit of damage up to just before the 4th arrived to take care of it."

There was some murmuring and few loud concerns—that didn't quite get ignored…until the old one-eyed warhawk spoke up, much to Sarutobi and Kushina's disgust.

"And what of the kyuubi? Surely the Yondaime knew that it's impossible to kill a bijuu."

The old hokage sighed. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to bring up that particular issue. So much for high hopes, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Kushina glower at the one-eyed warhawk.

For a moment, there was absolute quiet… right up until one of the Sandaime's former teammates, Homura Mitokado mindlessly blurted out, "He created a jinchuriki, didn't he?!"

The majority of the clan heads inwardly sighed. Even they knew that if something like this got out to the general public, there could be… scratch that, WOULD be chaos galore.

The Civilian Council took one glance at each other and as one started in on the questions. "Where is it, Sandaime-sama?" "Kill that Thing and finish what the Yondaime started!" and "Who is the jinchuriki?"

Hiruzen closed his eyes, now thoroughly agitated by the civilian council, and focused his anger into killing intent, directed at the Civilian Council. "ENOUGH! If any harm comes to the child, that results in their imminent death—then for all we know, the seal could disappear and the kyuubi set loose. Minato wanted the child seen as a hero for they are all that stands between us and it."

Kushina, in the meantime, tried to keep her baby asleep. But with all the yelling and shouting, her baby started whimpering which quickly escalated into full-blown crying.

The Civilian Council, the Hokage, and the Clan Council all turned to stare at the red-headed Uzumaki clan head, who paid no attention to them, started humming an old lullaby from her own childhood to quiet her baby, which miraculously worked. Slowly, but surely, he quieted until he was asleep once more.

After a few more minutes of making sure that her baby was completely asleep, she glared at the civilian council and spoke, "And before anyone questions why I brought my baby here, I don't trust certain people to take care of him while I'm dragged to this gods-forsaken council meeting."

"But, Uzumaki-dono, surely you could've left him with your lover, whoever he is…" one civilian, the Director of Civilian Affairs, Ayame Fujikawa started, but was cut off by the hot tempered clan head. "My lover is dead and among the many ninja who fought the 9-tails."

"His name?" another civilian- elected representative, Akira Kaneda, asked curiously.

"His name is of no matter to the civilian council. Only the hokage and I are the only ones privy to that information and deemed a need-to-know basis."

This sent the civilian side of the village council into a rather furious/curious frenzy, when they looked at the Hokage, who nodded, confirmation of the Uzumaki clan head's claim. They were furious that they had to apply to the Hokage for the information, and curious about whom the child's father was.

Danzo Shimura narrowed his eyes. He, among others, knew that she had been the previous jinchuriki—but if this child jinchuriki was who he thought it was,then he wouldn't be able to get at them unless something happened to the Uzumaki redhead.

"Back on topic," Sarutobi said, bringing everyone back from their frenzied and/or rebellious thoughts. "I'm making a law right now as an S-ranked village secret. No one is to harm or speak of the Kyuubi or its jailor to the younger generation. Doing so will result in immediate death."

There were quiet murmurings, but no objections were made.

"Now, if we're through with that particular topic. We can begin repairs on the village that can be distributed as D-rank missions for the genin teams." One of the better advisors, Koharu Utatane, spoke up. "while the genin teams work on the repairs, the chunin and jounin can rotate and do the burial detail and missions, while resting when they can."

"Thank you, Koharu. It seems you've jumped the gun again and lessened the work, only for me to sign the paperwork that will make it official." Hiruzen said jokingly, earning several chuckles from the shinobi side of the room. "If that is all, then this meeting is adjourned." With that, several people broke out in murmurings, as they left the room.

Kushina breathed a sigh of relief. Her little boy hadn't been ousted as the new kyuubi jinchuriki. Carefully, she got up, cradling her baby snoozer in her arms and making sure his baby cap covered his telltale blonde hair that he'd inherited from his father and ensuring that the baby blanket was snug around him, she made her way to the door, leading out of the council chambers.

"Ah, Kushina-san!" a booming voice called, surprising many still in the room, and nearly made the new mother jump several feet in the air, while her baby started to wake and squirm at the loudness of the voice. Rearranging her little boy over her shoulder, she patted his back gently, as she turned to face the three men who were walking toward her.

"Inoichi-san, Chouza-san, Shikaku-san," she greeted as she settled her baby firmly, yet evenly against her chest and shoulder, so she wouldn't drop him. "How may I help you?"

Shikaku risked a quick glance at the old one-eyed warhawk, who was still sitting in his chair and staring at the redhead clan head. That stare alone, boded ill for the Crimson Seal Mistress. "Need an escort home?"

Catching the glance, momentary as it was, directed at Danzo, she knew she couldn't afford to be absent from her son's life. Smiling at the three men, tiredly, she replied, "I hope it's not too much trouble. I don't want to keep you from your own families."

Inoichi shook his head. "We've already asked the Hokage to send word to our families that we're alive and that we'll be home shortly."

Kushina nodded. "In that case, I could use an escort. The medic-nin told me to take it easy, 'cause I just gave birth, among other reasons. I'm not sure I'd be able to fight back if I were attacked, much less be able to protect my baby boy."

The three men glanced at each other as she said that last part, while looking at her shoulder, where her baby was now wide awake and curiously trying to look around. With a nod that was shared with the other two, Chouza spoke up, much quieter now.

"Perhaps, we should get a move on before it gets any later." As he took up the rear and his former teammates took up flanking positions at Kushina's sides.

45 minutes later, the original InoShikaCho trio had escorted the two Uzumaki back to Kushina's apartment. Before she opened the door, she turned to the 3 men. "Thank you for the escort. I really appreciate it."

"Not at all, Kushina-san. Feel free to come by the compound anytime. I'm sure that Yoshino would love to help dote on your kid. Which by the way, what's his name?" Shikaku asked, as they discreetly watched the shadows for potential threats.

"Naruto," Kushina replied with pride in her tone, as she readjusted her little boy so that he was laying with his back supported by her arm and cradled against her chest. "the Storms next heir."

The three men looked at each other, then at the redhead. "the… 'storms'?" Inoichi asked curiously, only to have Kushina shake her head, a secret smile on her lips.

"Sorry, I can't say. Clan secret, you understand. Thanks again for the escort."

While slightly put out that they wouldn't know what exactly she was talking about, the three former teammates understood where she was coming from.

"Like Shikaku said, it's no problem at all." Inoichi said, as he saw a flash of movement from the corner of his eye.

"Go on inside and settle your little one, Kushina-san. Our womenfolk are probably going to want to visit you in the next few days." Chouza put in gently, as he started to tense. There was a tenseness in the air. Something was going to happen.

A/N: Konnichiwa, Minna-san! This has been on my mind-among other stories, for quite a while. Ideas bouncing around and no outlet. But I hope this flies over the lot of you well. Plz R&R. Let me know what you think: if it's good or bad, suggestions, comments, things you liked, the things you didn't like, and what can be improved. But as in all my other stories, when you review, please constructive criticism ONLY, and Flamers will be ignored.

'Til next time!
~Mari-chan~