The wind drifted amongst the leaves, the only noise to be heard amongst the night. A hooded man in a brown cloak walks in the overgrown forest; continuing along like a moving painting. He stops at a branch sitting next to a tree, sitting down on it with a sigh.
Light sears across the night sky and a great force rips the trees out of the earth, being smashed against each other, they fall in a horrendous fashion. Destroying the earth and firing splinters. The cloaked man seemingly sits calm and still in the center of all of this, but he grips his knee tightly, unsure of what to make of this destruction. He turns slightly towards the light and an aftershock speeds across the forest wreckage, bringing a firestorm with it. The cloaked man is now back on his feet and runs at a great speed, swiftly jumping around and rolling under any wreckage as he makes his way towards higher ground.
The forest is now a torturous scene of fire and heat, chocking the smoke choked, strangling the man's lungs with smoke. He presses on until a tree falls in front of him, trapping him within a cage of fire. He takes off his cloak and wraps it around one of his hands, then he jumps at the fallen burning log and uses his shielded hand to propel himself over. The cloak around the man's hand catches fire in the process and the man rips it off; the hand is now burnt severely on it's palm. The now uncloaked man finally makes his way up a great hill which does not support any trees or fire.
"I cannot die, not while I still have things to protect... precious things" Minato says this as he turns around to face the chained Kyubi. "Sealing Technique: Dead Demon Consuming Seal!" As Minato utters these words a demonic figure appears behind him and begins enchanting. After stopping, the demon god of death casts his arm into Minato's body and rips out his soul. Minato grunts and bears his teeth with a face of pain as this is happening. The demon god then sets his gaze upon the Kyubi, which snarls back in return before the demon god sends out his arm, through Minato, into the large nine-tails fox and drags the Kyubi's soul into Minato's body. The Kyubei shrinks in size until it is half of it's original height and the weight of the chains forces the, still unnaturally large, nine-tails fox into a immobilized position. Minato turns around and now smiles at his wife Kushina, who had been holding their child silently all of this time. "Minato..." Kushina whispers as she puts the baby boy down on a ritual altar and turns away to start coughing. "Kushina!" Cries Minato as he drops on one knee near her weak body in hopes of offering her comfort. The chains start to slip off the Kyubi's smaller frame and the creature of hatred sees his chance. "Fourth Hokage!" Bellows the Kyubi as he stretches out one claw to kill Minato's son. Minato and Kushina both react quickly and block off any danger to their son, sacrificing themselves body and soul.
But the claw never impales them, instead it has been stopped by another man who has been impaled in his right shoulder by the Kyubi. "You damned fool!" The mysterious man smiles as he grasps hold of the Kyubi's claw holding it in place. "Every creature of any intelligence, whether pure or malevolent, should give parents a chance to say goodbye to their child." The man retorts to the Kyubi's curse and gains an almighty roar in return. "You... this was our sacrifice to make." Says Minato as he faces the back of the mysterious man, studying the burns across his body, smelling the smoldering wounds. "Now who said I was going to die from this." The burned figure spits out blood before continuing again. "You should be with your child, I don't know of the circumstances surrounding this incident. But I understand the situation. Go say goodbye to your son, don't waste this final opportunity." Minato turns with his wife, both very tired, but they smile for their son. "Kushina, what do you want to say to Naruto?" Minato says as he puts his arm around her and draws her close. "Naruto, grow up strong and eat well. Eat plenty of vegetables, don't trust Jiraya Sensei and become a fine young man." She says this and faces Minato. "Is there anything you want to say to Naruto?" She asks.
"Your mother has already said most of the things I want to say Naruto. So I just want to add that you should never give up. Your life is the precious thing that we give ours to protect." After saying this to the baby Naruto, Minato puts one hand against Kushina's back and forces the other into a seal sign. His hand glows for a second before returning to normal. The demon god finally moves again as he takes out a knife and grins. "Minato, I'm getting cold." Whispers Kushina.
"We don't have much longer." says Minato with a sigh. "I love you Kushina." Minato turns and embraces his wife. "I love you Minato." She whispers into his ear as the leaves drift across the hilltop.
The chains fall and fade into non-existence. The nine-tails is gone. The last man standing turns to face the husband and wife who have sunken onto their knees. 'Even when they die they still keep their ground, what amazing people' thought the man as he walks towards them. His torn clothes show off the burn marks and a large gaping hole in his shoulder, but the wounds heal rapidly and the blood drips off of his body. He stands still for a moment and puts his hands in prayer and speaks out "I don't know if you can hear me, but I promise to protect your son and allow him to become the man you both wanted him to be."
Another man appears with a black staff and a dark ninja-like outfit. "Who are you?" The newcomer asks. "Daremo. Might I ask for your own name, stranger?" the man called Daremo says this as he turns around and finally shows his clean cut, brown eyed, mid-thirties face. "I am the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi." he says to Daremo and Daremo chuckles in return. "Well I don't know what Hokage means." He says turning back to look at the baby. "But this child is precious. They called him Naruto, so that will be the name he goes by when I take care of him." Hiruzen darts in front of Daremo and points his black staff at Daremo's throat. "I cannot allow a stranger to look after Minato's son." "Be that as it may I know nothing about this world, so you'll have to look after him anyway. For the first few years at least. I will return once I know everything there is to know about this strange land." Daremo finishes his statement and picks up Naruto in order to hand him over to Hiruzen. "Look after him, the brave sacrifice of the parents must be honoured and I will one day return to do my fair share." Daremo concludes as he walks away, back down the hill in the dead of the night. Naruto remains silent in Hiruzen's arms and the older man smiles at the innocence of the young blonde boy with the demon fox inside of him.